OPEN: This week, on Thursday the 22nd, the Red Cross will be having a blood drive at the Knights of Columbus Hall over on 17th???
Several years ago, the Red Cross in small Oklahoma town posted signs all over town with these words:
I gave my blood - Christ gave his.
I gave a pint - He gave all.
The needle is small, sharp - The nails were large, dull.
The table soft, restful - The cross rough, painful.
The nurses kind, gentle - The soldiers cruel, mean.
The crowd applauds my sacrifice.
"They that passed by reviled him."
Mine is for O Positive.
His for positively all.
Mine, at best, will prolong a life for a while.
His, without doubt, can save all forever.
APPLY: In Isaiah 53:5 tells us “by His wounds we are healed”
I. That’s an interesting phrase – “by His wounds we are healed”
Note that it didn’t say “by His words you are healed.” In His earthly ministry, Jesus would often heal people by simply saying something. Like the time when He healed a paralytic:
"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Luke 5:24
Other times, Jesus healed people by His touch, like the time Jesus healed Peter’s Mother-in-law.
Matthew 8:15 tells us “He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.”
He spoke and brought physical healing. He touched people and they were physically healed…
But Isaiah doesn’t tell us that “by His WORD you are healed” or “by His TOUCH you are healed…”
He said: By His wounds we’d healed!”
What is it about His wounds, that would heal us???
Isaiah 53 goes into great detail about Jesus’ wounds. Look again at verses 4-5:
“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Look again at those words:
stricken by God,
smitten by him,
afflicted.
pierced for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities
Those are the wounds that bring us our healing
How many of you have seen the movie: “The Passion?”
In that movie, you saw His wounds in graphic detail.
You saw the gross and horrid whipping of Jesus by the Roman soldiers
You saw the blood dripping from his lacerated body and smeared across the stones of the courtyard where he’d been chained.
And what struck me was how much attention was paid to the blood. So much so that Mary - the earthly mother of Jesus - mopped it up with a cloth she had with her.
More than one commentator complained about how much blood there was in the movie
One author described it as being pornographic
William F. Buckley (a devout catholic) was asked about it in a Time interview and even
he stated that he felt it was excessive.
II. But then… the Bible is bloody book
Just take a short reading through some of the Old Testament books that describe how God expected His people to worship, and you become overwhelmed by how much blood was involved in asking God to forgive the people their sins.
So, it’s little wonder that the writer of Hebrews tells us: …the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22
The Bible is a “bloody” book
ILLUS: Back in 2003 Russel Moldovan wrote an article in the Lookout magazine, and he said that in their church’s sanctuary, there is a cross that stands 15 feet tall and it’s 8 feet wide.
It weighs about 300 pounds.
Years ago the men of the church hewed it from two enormous logs. It stands erect in the middle of their sanctuary. Each year their congregation reenacts the passion of Christ with Jesus hanging from that… cross.
Today where Jesus’ head would have been, there is a large red stain. It was left over after their last performance - when some of the imitation blood of Jesus had rubbed off.
Recently one of our drama directors made this observation: . She explained that one Sunday morning during Communion she looked up and noticed the blood on the hewed cross and thought to herself, “What a mess. Why didn’t I see that before? I need to get a ladder and clean that off.”
Then it hit her. “I can’t do that. Why am I trying to clean up the cross? It is not mine to clean. The cross belongs to Jesus. The blood of Jesus belongs there."
Why does Jesus’ blood belong there?
It belongs there because it was His wounds (the wounds that Jesus endured) that shed that blood
It was His wounds that has brought us our healing.
The blood belongs there
III. Now, Isaiah 53 tells me that His wounds brings me healing…
But, how could His wounds “heal me?”
1st – His wounds heal me of the penalty for my sin
The Apostle Peter referred to this promise when he wrote: “(Jesus) himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
Jesus’ wounds healed me, WHEN He bore my sins in His body!
He bore MY sins…
He stood in MY place and
He rec’d the punishment I SHOULD HAVE received
ILLUS: R.G. Lee tells a beautiful story about a mountain school that had a hard time keeping a teacher. Partly because of where they were and partly because there was a group of big, rough boys who took pride in running the teachers off. The biggest and roughest of them all was named Tom.
A new young teacher won over the boys, however, by letting them write their own rules for the school. It turned out that the boys expected the rules to be very strictly enforced with a rod. This was during the days when corporal punishment was allowed in schools. For example, cheating would be punished with five strokes of the rod, and stealing with ten strokes. All punishment had to be given with the offender’s coat off.
Everything went well until one day Tom’s lunch was stolen. A frail little boy in hand-me-down clothes that were too big for him admitted his guilt. The students demanded that this boy be whipped. When the teacher called the little boy up front, he came whimpering and begging to leave his coat on. The other students insisted that he obey the rules and take off his coat.
When he did, a deathly silence settled over the room. This frail little boy had no shirt on and his emaciated body looked like skin stretched over bones. The teacher gasped and dropped the rod. He knew he could never whip that little boy.
Suddenly, big tough Tom strode up and stood between the teacher and the boy. "I’ll take it for him, Teacher, after all it was my lunch he stole." And then Tom pulled off his coat. Reluctantly the Teacher started. After the third blow the switch broke. The teacher threw it in the corner and said, "That’s all. School dismissed."
The frail little boy laid his hand on big Tom’s arm and through his tears said, "Thank you, Tom, it would have killed me."
2nd – His wounds heal my life of the emptiness that sin can bring to my life.
Again Peter wrote: “For you know that it was not with … things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” I Peter 1:18-19
You were called to a different form of life than you used to live
You were REDEEMED from the “empty way of life” that you learned elsewhere
Because of that, now…
You should treat your wife/husband different – because they don’t belong to you anymore – they belong to Jesus – who bought you with His blood.
You should treat your children different – because they don’t belong to you anymore – they belong to Jesus – who bought you with His blood
You should treat your boss or your employees different - because your work relationships don’t belong to you anymore - they belong to Jesus – who bought you with His blood
Are you beginning to catch the drift?
You behave differently now because you don’t belong to you anymore… you belong to Jesus
He BOUGHT you
And so… everything you have
… everything you are
… everything you hope to be…
it all belongs to Him
AND SO… you live differently
You don’t live according to the empty ways of life that you might have learned from
… your parents
… or your friends
… or MTV or VH1 or CMT
… or your favorite TV programs/ movies/ books
You focus on living for Jesus in the way you learned from Him - that would please Him
QUOTE: John Smithson once said
“Before I came to Christ, I practiced sin and committed acts of righteousness. Now, I practice righteousness and commit acts of sin.”
In other words: Before Smithson came to Christ… sin was normal and righteousness was an aberration. Righteousness was an “add on” to his life.
BUT, when he met Christ… righteousness became the goal of his life… and sin became the exception to what he wanted to do with his life
Why would he say that? Because he realized – his life didn’t belong to him any longer. It belonged to Jesus – who bought him with His blood. Smithson committed himself to living for Jesus in the way Scripture taught him. In a way that would please Jesus.
CLOSE: There is life in blood… that’s why we have institutions like the Red Cross who ask people like you and I to give our blood so others might live
In his book, "Written in Blood," Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from 2 years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked.
Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister."
Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room, nary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned.
As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny’s smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence, "Doctor, when do I die?"
Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he’d agreed to donate his blood. He’d thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he’d made his great decision.
When people donate their blood to the Red Cross, they give blood so that others might live
But – as Johnny, learned they don’t have to die to save others with their blood.
…because a few moments of discomfort is ALL the sacrifice that is req’d…
… to save a physical life.
But the healing Jesus brings is far more serious…
And it required that Jesus give ALL His blood…
… and that He die a terrible death
so that we might be healed
All He asks in return is that we give ourselves to Him and live for Him
