The Blood of His Cross

[0:00] Let's do the Word of God now, to 1 Corinthians 1.! Amen.

[0:31] I'll let you control it then. Oh, sorry. We hate it when the technology interrupts everything, but sorry.

[0:42] So the cross, it's dynamite. Literally, it's dynamite for us who are saved. It's powerful. There's tremendous power in the cross, in the blood of Jesus shed for us. Life-giving power. Transforming power.

[0:53] It's unleashed by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a supernatural force and a life-giving energy. A transforming power. It's the power of the blood of Jesus.

[1:04] Amen. It's by the cross that we have life. It's by the cross that He rescues us, out of the control of the enemy of our soul. It's by the cross, by the blood that He shed, that He destroys the whole of sin that takes captive so many.

[1:18] Friends, it's the power of the blood this morning that we want to be reminded of. There was a legend, a story of a knot that once held a wagon in a place called Gordium in Asia Minor.

[1:37] And this item was held by this rope tied with an intricate knot. And it was said that whoever could untie that knot would become ruler of Asia. Alexander the Great came along and he severed that knot with one strike of his sword.

[1:50] And so the Gordian knot apparently is some proverbial item. But when you think, really, our sin can be like that tangled knot that is impossible to undo by any of our own strength, by any wisdom or doing of our own.

[2:08] The Lord Jesus comes and He strikes that and breaks that tie. He breaks that bondage. He takes it away. The way that we're bound by sin, He set us free. He's set us at liberty.

[2:19] And there's a wonderful picture there. Christ and the power of the cross that sets people free when we trust Him. Another story of a man who was a general who served under an emperor, Cyrus.

[2:33] And while he was away, the wife of the general was accused of treason and she was sentenced to die. The general returned from action before the sentence was carried out and he pleaded with Cyrus the king for his wife's life and to allow him himself to die in his wife's place.

[2:51] And Cyrus was touched with that and he said, love like that must not be spoiled by death. And so he pardoned the wife. And so the general and his wife left the palace and the husband said to his wife, did you notice how kindly the king looked upon us as he gave us that free pardon?

[3:09] And she said, no, I had only eyes for the man who was willing to die for me. She wasn't interested in what the king had done, but the one who was willing to die for her.

[3:21] And friends, when we come to this time of reflection, of remembering our Lord's death, our eyes are upon Him. The one who has given Himself for our sin.

[3:33] And all the religions and philosophies of man are weak and ineffective. They are powerless. There's no power there when it comes to dealing with man's greatest problems. They lack that unique soul-saving power of the gospel.

[3:47] You know, when we've been out witnessing, we often strike people who have got all kinds of fanciful ideas. And they trust in their own opinions. And they deny the book. They deny the message.

[4:00] They deny the gospel. They deny the only saviour that can help them and save their souls. And yet, they're blinded in their unbelief. But friends, this blood, this blood of Jesus, our saviour, has amazing power.

[4:14] It's mighty. It's energising. It's compelling power. And I want to put to you three truths, three powerful truths about the power of the blood of His cross this morning.

[4:26] It tells us that there is peace because of the blood of His cross. In Colossians 1 verse 20 it reads, And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, the power of the cross brings peace.

[4:48] He makes peace possible. Now, Christ is the mighty peacemaker between man and the Father. We think around our world today, and it's a world filled with conflict and fighting and warfare.

[5:03] And it's been going on for decades, for hundreds of years, fighting. Some fighting, some wars are even centuries old.

[5:15] And all the efforts of man have failed to bring lasting peace to some of these wars. Apparently, it's only 8% of the time since recorded history began that the world has been entirely at peace.

[5:34] So, the world's been at war almost continuously. But friends, there's an even greater war that is on today. The war for the hearts and souls of men, of women and children.

[5:47] For families who have no peace and harmony. Where lives are filled with chaos and trouble. To hearts that are troubled and strife-torn. Christ can bring His peace, friends.

[5:59] He can bring peace to your heart. He can bring that calm, that rest, that peace, that relationship. Restored with the Father. We see a lot of roadworks lately.

[6:20] There's bridges being built. There's bridges and underpasses being talked about. And sometimes we kind of take not a lot of notice about bridges. We're so accustomed to them. They're not really a marvel for us.

[6:32] But apparently, the world's first bridge was built in 2650 BC. Across the Nile River. But friends, the world's most important bridge was built in AD 30.

[6:47] At Golgotha. That was the world's most important bridge. When the Lord Jesus bridged that gulf between sinful man and a sinless God. He bridged that gulf, that chasm.

[6:59] And He brought peace. He brings peace to the troubled soul. And where there's unrest and heartache. When there's fighting against God. He brings rest and comfort.

[7:10] He's the ultimate peacemaker. And friends, His blood makes it possible. Makes that peace. That ultimate peace possible. For you, for me. That trust Him. We could be made friends with God.

[7:20] Because of the peacemaker. The Lord Jesus. And His blood is that amazing power. And His power is available right now. To bring peace to your soul. If you're astray from God.

[7:31] For you to have that harmony. That restoration. That peace with God. And also, this powerful blood. Also has power to effect a wonderful, fantastic purchase.

[7:44] There's a wonderful purchase that comes because of the blood of Jesus. It says, as we read there in Acts 20, verse 28. Paul addressed the Ephesian elders.

[7:57] And he says, Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock. Over with the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. To feed the church of God.

[8:07] Which He hath purchased with His own blood. The church of God says, He has purchased with His own blood. This substance, the blood, is the only one that has the power to ransom, to buy a soul.

[8:22] All the wealth of the world is powerless to do that. There's a great purchase. We are bought. Now I was listening to an account of the end of the Titanic.

[8:37] And of a man who was an evangelist there. On the ship as it was going down. And there were people trying to pay to go onto the lifeboats.

[8:53] But there wasn't enough. There wasn't enough lifeboats on the Titanic. And all the wealth that the sailors were offered didn't buy a place on the lifeboat.

[9:07] And they went down with the ship. And friends, we can't buy salvation by our own effort. By our own intent. And at the close of it, when the Titanic had gone down, they had two lists.

[9:23] Saved and lost. And friends, that's the reality, isn't it? You're in one category or another. You're in the saved or you're in the lost.

[9:35] And friends, there's a great transaction that has been made. That has purchased your salvation. That transaction that makes salvation possible.

[9:46] That awesome price is the purchase price of the blood. It's priceless, precious. That price was paid. It's the very blood of Christ. And it says that Paul tells the Corinthians, he says, For ye are bought with a price.

[10:01] Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. We're no longer under the ownership and slavery of the devil. We who were once enslaved by the old slave master of sin can know his setting free power.

[10:18] And the blood of Jesus has that awesome power to set the captives free. There was a gem dealer who went to a gem and mineral show and he was looking for some precious stones.

[10:29] And at one table there was a blue-violet stone that was the size and shape of a potato. And he looked over it and talked to the vendor and he said, You want $15 for this?

[10:43] And the seller, realising the rock wasn't really all that pretty as the others on the table, he lowered the price to $10. And that stone has since been certified as a 1905 carat natural star sapphire.

[10:59] About 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. And at this time this was written, it was appraised at $2.28 million. So it took a lover of stones to recognise the sapphire's worth.

[11:13] Friends, it takes the lover of your soul to recognise your worth, to recognise the value of ordinary looking people just like you and me. And he's recognised that value such that he's paid his very precious blood that you can be saved.

[11:28] Now, you've probably heard me recount this story before. There was a little boy who needed a blood transfusion. And his sister had the same blood type.

[11:47] And so this boy was the ideal donor for his sister to donate some blood. And the doctor asked the young chap, Would you give your blood to Mary? And Johnny hesitated and then he smiled.

[11:59] And as his throat started to tremble, he said, Sure, for my sister. So they were wheeled into the hospital room. Mary, pale and thin. Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke but their eyes met.

[12:11] And Johnny grinned. And as the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. And he watched the blood flow through the tube. And then a little time later, slightly shaky, he said, Doctor, when do I die?

[12:24] He was thinking that he was going to give his life for his sister. Of course, that wasn't the case. It wasn't that he was giving his life for his sister. But he had a willingness to so love his sister.

[12:37] Friends, the Lord is so willing. He was so willing to pay that generous price of his precious blood. The precious price, the price of love. In the New Testament, there's 290 references to the love of God.

[12:51] 290 times, God has declared his love for man. But those same chapters, in those same verses, there's more than 1,200 references to the atonement, to the blood of Jesus, to the precious price of God's love that took him to the cross.

[13:06] Friends, there's power in the blood of Jesus this morning. The blood of Christ has amazing power. Power to bring peace. Power to purchase you out of the devil's ownership. And friends, there's also dynamic power to give us a wonderful purity.

[13:20] A deep down within purity. The writer of the Hebrews says in Hebrews 9 verse 14, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

[13:38] Friends, the power of the blood has awesome soul-cleansing power. This is the most powerful stain remover that can affect a purification from the inside out. It can wash our hearts, our minds, our conscience, make us clean and pure as can be.

[13:54] The blood is the cleansing power for the strongest stain of sin. The most wretched sinner can have their hearts clean by the blood of Jesus. And friends, all that defilement, all the stain, all the rottenness, all the foulness and pollution can be taken away.

[14:13] Friends, there's so much more we could say about all of this. It's been said the Lord Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves.

[14:29] Think of the brutality of the cross. He was crucified on the garbage heap of the town at a crossroad so cosmopolitan that had to write the title above his hand in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

[14:44] And here was the place where the thieves would curse and the soldiers gambled. And this was where our Lord died. Try to imagine yourself on that Friday as the cross was placed in the ground.

[14:58] And if you could picture that you're on that cross, that you are thrown backward with your shoulders against the word. And the legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of your wrist.

[15:08] And he drives a heavy square wrought iron nail through your wrist and deep through the word. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful to allow your arms to still have flex and movement.

[15:23] And then the cross is lifted into the place and fastened on the upright, set into the hill. And your left foot is pressed backward against the right foot. And with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving your knees flexed.

[15:39] You are now crucified. And as you slowly sink down with more weight on the nails, on the wrist, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along your fingers and up the arms to explode in your brain.

[15:52] You push yourself upward to avoid this stretching torment. But now you feel the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves of your feet. And as the arms fatigue and the cramps sweep through your muscles, knotting down with deep, relentless, throbbing pain, with these cramps, comes the inability to push yourself upward to breathe.

[16:18] Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. You fight to raise yourself in order to get even one small breath. And what follows is hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain, as tissue is torn from your lacerated back as you move up and down against the rough timber.

[16:43] And then another agony begins, the deep crushing pain within your chest as your heart cavity fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over.

[16:54] The loss of fluids has reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air.

[17:08] And finally you feel the chill of death creeping through your tissues. You welcome its approach. This is the brutal reality of the cross. Friends, this is what we're talking about this morning.

[17:21] This is our Lord who loves us so. And let us be reminded of the power of His blood shed for us. And take a personal stock of that as we continue now. I'll ask the ushers to come as we take the cup together.

[17:36] and they'll pass that to you. And let's prayerfully keep that heart of considering that that foolishness that is the cross today that the world would count as foolish and yet we know it's the wisdom and power of God.

[17:53] It's the awesome deliverance of God. It is the answer of God for our deepest darkest hurts and needs this morning.

[18:04] It's the power of God. The Bible says that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.

[18:15] And friends, there's wonderful power in that message today for everyone that believer that says to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

[18:25] So that's everybody. That's all encompassing. That's really all the categories of humanity. You're either a Jew or you're a Greek. But thank God the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.

[18:41] That's Romans 1 verse 16. So friends, this cup and bread represent our Lord's shed blood, its torn body that we can take heart in that today.

[18:59] And as a believer we can partake. if you've yet to believe and trust Christ as your Lord then let it pass. This is not for you. But you can believe in an eye blink of faith.

[19:12] You can say, yes, I do believe. Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that power that he wants to give me peace. That power that he wants to purchase my soul and make me his own possession.

[19:27] that power to give you purity that can cleanse every stain, everything that you're ashamed of. He takes that guilt away and he makes your heart clean.

[19:39] The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. You know, there was a preacher that had some dream of that but the devil appeared and unrolled this big furl, a big roll, a big list of all of his sins and the preacher said, oh, you've forgotten something because there's something to add to that list.

[20:03] The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. So even though the devil, as it were, in the man's dream or reflection, he had this idea the devil had so much that he'd accumulated of all his sin that Jesus' blood takes all that sin away and can bring absolute forgiveness and cleansing to our hearts.

[20:29] Praise him. We'll just wait for one another for a moment as we think of this precious memorial.

[20:42] I know around the world they've got memorials about some particular things that have happened around this time of the year. of sad things.

[20:54] We've got a memorial of sad in a way that he suffered but a glad thing because it affects our salvation and nothing can compare with that really.

[21:06] Amen? Nothing can compare. As far as memorials go, this is the ultimate to be reminded of his great love, the power of his blood.

[21:17] Praise him. The power of the blood of his cross. Praise him. Let's go to prayer as we are reminded of the precious body of our Lord, Brother Peter, as we consider that.

[21:36] Thank you Father again Lord for what you did on the cross Lord for us. Not only is it just a remembrance Lord, it's a daily remembrance for us. It's where we can come to you Lord at the foot of the cross.

[21:50] Again to be cleansed from our sins because we are former sinners but we still sin Lord. And this is where we can get our forgiveness. And again we thank you Lord for your broken body that was even broken before it was on the cross Lord.

[22:09] And it broke down even more when it was on the cross. Father thank you for that Father. And we do eat this in remembrance of you Lord. Thank you. Amen. Yes praise God.

[22:21] This is a symbol of that forgiveness that he affects in a soul that trusts in him as you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you shall be saved. And he takes that sin.

[22:34] This is really a picture of just that spiritual work. let's partay. Let's partay. My brother kneel to come as we again.

[22:49] Think of the blood shed for us. Father as we come before you just holding this cup with truth Lord which represents the blood we thank you that you are willing in obedience to your father and have love toward us to go to that cross to shed your blood.

[23:15] We just give you praise and glory in my precious name. Amen. Let us drink together. Praise the Lord. Amen.

[23:28] Praise the Lord.