Purchased with His Own Blood

[0:00] In Acts 20 we hear Paul address the elders of Ephesus.

[0:17] ! He calls them together and he's saying goodbye to Ephesus.! In his parting words he says this, Acts 20, 28, I want to talk about a great purchase here which we reflect on every week at Communion time.

[0:47] A tremendous transaction made. It's God's saving work of atonement. Atonement. It's the Bible's central message. Atonement. Atonement with God, if you like.

[1:01] Salvation is not by attainment of man's works, but by atonement. By God's work. By God's finished work.

[1:13] Not by attainment, what we have done, but by atonement. At one man with God. What he has done. What he has made possible. And this text tells us that God has purchased his own church with his own blood.

[1:29] Just some thoughts around this concept of purchase. Of purchase. Consider a purchase. Now we all make purchases. Pretty much so. All the time. Week by week we go down the shop and we make certain purchases.

[1:44] And I put it to you that there are some elements that are common every time you make a purchase. Every time you make a purchase. Firstly, there's a price. There's a price. There's a price.

[2:00] A price tag on everything that you purchase. There's a price to it. And a purchase for it to take place. It has to have a price. Man fell into sin at Eden. A penalty was set for man's sin. A price was set for man's sin. Man sinned it.

[2:21] A universal price. A costly price. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Death. Death. It's God's lawful judgement. An expensive price certainly isn't it?

[2:35] The penalty for our sin is death. It's beyond our power to pay. This price is too high. Too high for us to pay.

[2:46] Secondly, when a purchase is to happen, it calls for payment. Payment. Payment has to be made in order to purchase something.

[3:01] Someone has to pay. For a purchase to be complete, it has to be payment made in full. The blood of the perfect Saviour makes it all possible. The church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

[3:18] Now there was a time when a little boy and his father were going on a drive in the country. They were going out into a country road. It was a beautiful spring afternoon.

[3:29] And suddenly out of nowhere, a bumblebee slipped into a window of the car. And suddenly this little boy was very afraid. He was petrified of this bumblebee as it was buzzing around inside the car.

[3:47] Because this boy had an allergy to bee stings. His father quickly reached out and grabbed the bee and squeezed his hand. And then he released it. But as soon as he let go, the young boy became frantic again.

[4:03] As that bee was buzzing around inside the car. And Dad sensed the son's terror. Once again he reached out his hand. But this time he pointed to his hand.

[4:14] There still stuck in his skin was the stinger of the bee. You see this, he said. You don't need to be afraid anymore. I've taken the sting for you.

[4:26] The bee could no longer hurt the boy because the dad had taken the sting. The price for this purchase, this eternal transaction for our atonement is death.

[4:39] The word says death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Corinthians 15 O death, where is thy sting? Sorry, yeah that's right. O death, where is thy sting?

[4:52] O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[5:05] Amen. O death, where is thy sting? The Lord Jesus took the sting of death. He made that full payment. He bore our sin debt and paid it in full.

[5:16] Fully paid. God's righteous, wrathful judgement against sin was paid. What a payment! What a payment! What a payment! A universal payment!

[5:27] He himself bears the guilt of the sinner. It was one sacrifice for all time. He was numbered with the transgressors. He was counted as a sinner, as cursed, and he stands in our place.

[5:41] What an awful, dreadful price. A dreadful price, the full payment of our sin. The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

[5:53] On August 16th, 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 225 crashed. Just taking off from Detroit Airport.

[6:04] Killing 155 people. One survived. a four-year-old girl named Cecilia.

[6:15] And I actually had a look on the internet and she's only just talking about it. Only about a year ago she started to talk about what actually happened on that day and there's a documentary coming out about her called Soul Survivor.

[6:32] And this girl, Cecilia, news accounts tell us that when rescuers found Cecilia, amongst the burning wreckage of this plane, they did not believe that she had been on the plane.

[6:45] They thought she might have been in one of the vehicles that was on the highway where the plane had crash-landed. But when the passenger register was checked, sure enough they found Cecilia's name.

[6:58] And Cecilia survived because even as the plane was falling, her mother, poor as she can, unbuckled her own seatbelt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter and wrapped her arms and body around Cecilia and then would not let her go.

[7:18] Cecilia was saved with a hug by her own mother. Nothing could separate that child from her mother's love. Neither tragedy nor disaster, neither the fall nor the flames that followed, neither height nor depth, neither life nor death.

[7:37] Like that child caught in the middle of disaster, so we have been trapped by our own sins, spiralling down to our inevitable doom.

[7:48] But our God has wrapped himself around us. Our God has loved us so much that he left heaven's glory and became a man, down to our own level and covered us with himself.

[8:03] He covered us with the sacrifice of his own body. What a price! What a payment! What a saviour! What a saviour! The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

[8:20] So we see a price has been set of death. The wages of sin is death. We all are due that.

[8:31] It's a universal price. There is a payment made. A universal payment. A payment of blood shared.

[8:42] And thirdly, we see when a purchase is made, that there is also another feature when a purchase is made.

[8:54] When a price is paid, there is a possession. A possession.

[9:05] A change of ownership happens. When you go to the shop and purchase something, when you make a payment of the price, you receive that which is paid for.

[9:19] And it becomes your possession. You own it. There is a change of ownership. In Ephesians 1.14, it tells of a purchased possession. The work of the cross has a universal power.

[9:32] But it only takes effect when a transaction is made. Now I believe that the price is a universal price. The payment is a universal payment.

[9:44] But the possession is when the difference happens. That it's not universal. It's only to those who receive. It's as if there's a cheque written for you.

[9:55] But unless you cash it, then the payment is not made for you. But when it is made, there's a change of ownership. Ephesians 1.14, a purchased possession happens.

[10:07] And we know the word says you're no longer your own. You're bought with a price. You are his. You have become his possession. Your ownership changes.

[10:18] And friends today, God's provided a way for men and women to have that wonderful relationship with God. Where that wonderful price, that awful dreadful price that has been set of death, the wages of sin is death.

[10:37] But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the payment. The payment made. Christ's death cancels out and pays for in full the price for our sin.

[10:50] And we see a possession is acquired. Just as you go down the shop, there's a change of ownership. The church of God, which he had purchased with his own blood. I'll ask the ushers to come as we now distribute the cup and the bread.

[11:06] And so we've got our ushers up. David, Ian, Mastarki and Bob. Let's prayerfully consider that wonderful purchase that he's made. We're saying that the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood, with his purchased possession, we that know him and trust him today, are made members of his own body and become partakers of his everlasting life.

[11:30] God, this invitation is to anyone that will come unto him. Whosoever will, may come.

[11:41] And let him drink, let him partake of that wonderful gift today. I urge you, if you've not trusted Christ, it's as simple as Leon shared earlier.

[11:53] I'm calling on the name of the Lord. If you call on his name, you shall be saved. Call on him now.

[12:04] Trust him now. For time and eternity. Just as the Father took the sting, Christ took the sting of death.

[12:18] He's taken it away. We no longer need to be afraid of death. Because the sting has gone. He has taken it. And just as Cecilia was wrapped around and saved with a hug, so our God's great love extends in that sacrifice of himself in the person of his son for our sin.

[12:43] And a great transaction is made possible, an eternal transaction, a wonderful victory. The Church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.

[12:56] We are that people today, if we've trusted him. We are a member of that Church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.

[13:11] Let's prayerfully consider that the Word says to examine ourselves.

[13:28] Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Examine yourself. And so let him eat and drink of that cup.

[13:39] What a bitter cup. What a dreadful price. An awesome payment. And a wonderful reality that we can be God's own possession.

[13:51] As we possess eternal life, and he possesses us as his rightful property. A change of ownership has happened. You become sons and daughters of the living God, by virtue of his love.

[14:11] Of the bloodshed, of the finished work. We prayerfully hold together and join us one. Let's pray for you. It says that in that same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread.

[14:29] After he had given thanks, and he broke it. He said, take it. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Let's prayerfully reflect on that as we meditate on his love for us.

[14:45] Let's pray for you.