Songs We Sing | The Blood

Everything changed, it's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don't walk like I used to, I don't talk like I used to. I've been washed from the inside, I've been washed from the inside out. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood. I cannot explain, but nothing's more real to me than the presence of God. When my heart exceeds, when my shame hit the worst side, when my sin met the most high. I've been washed from the inside, I've been washed from the inside out. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood. Could have only been the blood. It's never been about performance, perfection, or striving for excellence. I tell you, it's only talk of life. It's never been about preserving or burning. It's a gift that's freely given. And I tell you, it's only by the blood. Does anybody want to be holy and righteous, purified, spotted? And I tell you, it's only by the blood. Does anybody want to be worthy, forgiven, justified, or delivered? And I tell you, it's only by the blood. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood.

Could have only been the blood. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood. These are more than just songs that we sing. They're spiritual truths. Theological precedence. Foundational beliefs. ...wrapped in a melody, shrouded in sound, declarations and affirmations, anthems of praise that reverberate from generation to generation. With one voice, we echo the promises of our God. These are the songs that we sing. We've been in a series all the month of July called Songs We Sing. Obviously today is the last day. If you happen to be with us for the first time today, I want to encourage you to go back and watch all of these. I believe they will bless you in a great, great way. Here's why we are calling it Songs We Sing. The Bible says in Psalm 33 and 1, let the godly sing for joy to the Lord. It is fitting for the pure to praise him. Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre. Make music for him on a ten-stringed harp. Sing a new song of praise to him. Play skillfully on the harp. Sing with joy. Then we come to the New Testament. All over the Bible, sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything. Any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our master Jesus Christ.

Again, I want to remind you that when you read the Bible, we are not being suggested to sing in the Scriptures. We are being instructed by God to sing. We don't sing songs in church to God simply because somewhere along the way a Christian thought it would be a good idea to do that or that some staff member felt like it would add something meaningful to the service. The Bible commands us as believers to make a joyful noise unto the Lord because what God knew is that when we sing the Bible, not just hear the Word of God preached, but sing it because we don't just write songs that are inspirational out of the air. We write songs out of the Scriptures so that our theology becomes doxology. As we sing the Word of God, we are reminded of just how powerful and awesome our God is and why we can put all of our trust and our faith in him. Today we're going to end out our series by diving deeper into the song we just sang called The Blood by Bethel Worship and a man named David Funken. Here's a couple of the lines in that song that I love so much. I love the beginning. Oh, everything changed, it says. It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don't walk like I used to, praise God, you shouldn't. I don't talk like I used to, thanks be to God, we shouldn't. I've been washed from the inside. I've been washed from the inside out and then the bridge, I love the bridge. It's never been about performance. It's never been about perfection. It's never been about striving for acceptance, why? Because it's only by the blood. It's never been about deserving or earning. It's a gift, praise God, that's freely given. Let me tell you that it's only by the blood. From Genesis to Revelation, through symbols and ceremonies and even structures, the scriptures

point constantly to Jesus and speak specifically to the redemption of humanity and tells us over and over and over that we are redeemed only through the shedding of the blood of Jesus. In fact, Hebrews chapter nine and verse 22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. All that we have, all that we hope for, hangs and hinges on the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That's what we're gonna talk about today, the power of the blood. We're gonna launch from Revelation chapter 12. I'm gonna give you a lot of Bible today and I'm gonna give you a little biology today. I'll show you what I mean in just a moment. We're gonna launch out of Revelation chapter 12 because of something very important that it describes and that it says. Here we go. Revelation 12. Now, a war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil or Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him, and I heard a loud voice in heaven. That's John writing, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brothers have been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Now watch this. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. They conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. Let me get us started down the right path by sharing with you three things that make the blood of Jesus.

Incredibly special and incredibly unique. Number one, you gotta know that it is sacred blood. It is sacred blood. There has never been blood ever in this world like the blood of Jesus, and here's why. Because we now know that the dominant blood type of a child when it's born is determined by the biological father. So what makes the blood of Jesus so sacred? What makes the blood of Jesus so holy is because remember that while Jesus had an earthly mother, he had no biological earthly father. He had no biological, he had a heavenly father. When the angel announced to Mary that she was going to be conceived and have a son, the angel made it clear that it would not be Joseph with whom she was engaged. Remember this? We preach it at Christmas all the time. Bible says that Gabriel told her that the spirit of God is going to come upon you, and that which is conceived in you will be of the Holy Ghost. He will overshadow you. So it was his heavenly father that gave him his bloodline, not his biological father or not Joseph. So the blood of Jesus is holy blood. The blood of Jesus is royal blood. The blood of Jesus is God's blood. The blood of Jesus is sacred, sacred blood.

And because it's sacred, it's saving blood. Because it's sacred, it's saving blood. It has unique power to redeem and to save and to deliver. Let me show it to you. 1 Peter chapter one. Knowing that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things like silver and gold, he's talking about being redeemed, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of the lamb without spot or without blemish. Romans chapter five, eight and nine. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners, and we have been made right in God's sight. How? Not by good works, not by deeds, not by how moral you are, not by any of those things. We are only made right by God and with God by the blood of Jesus. Even at the Last Supper, remember in Matthew 26, Jesus was breaking bread with his disciples right before he was going to be offered up on the cross as a sacrifice for humanity. And the Bible says he broke bread, said this is my body. And then when we take communion, we remember this. He took the cup of wine and he passed it around and he said this, this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. And I'm pouring it out as a sacrifice

for the sins of many. It's sacred blood, it's saving blood, but it's only saving blood because of this, it's shared blood. Now it has latent power, but the only way the blood of Jesus will have power in your life effectively is when you share it, when you participate in it. Before it can have power in your life, it has to be received in our life. There must be a moment in my life, there must be a moment in your life where we are convinced, yes, it's sacred blood, yes, it's saving blood, and then we put all of our hope in it and share in its ability to redeem us and to make us whole. In fact, in one scripture where Jesus was talking about this idea that we have to share in his blood, it kind of freaked him out, and you'll see why in just a minute, but in John chapter six, he really takes this graphic way of describing what it means to share in the blood of Jesus, but don't miss his spiritual implication. Here's what it says. So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, it's hard to hear, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up

on the last day, for my flesh is true food, my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood, he keeps doubling down on this man, abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whosoever feeds on me, he will also live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread that our fathers ate and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum, and when many of his disciples, as you might imagine, heard it, they said, bro, what is he talking about? I mean, he keeps doubling down on this cannibalistic idea of feeding on his flesh and drinking his blood, but Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about it, he said to them, you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before, it's the Spirit? He said, don't miss this, don't overthink what I'm saying to you, it's the Spirit that gives life, I'm not talking about the flesh at all, because that's no help, the words that I have spoken to you, they are Spirit and they are life. They were naturally freaked out, but Jesus said, look, I'm giving you a spiritual insight, I'm giving you some spiritual implication.

I am using a graphic example to simply illustrate the power of sharing in my blood and explaining to you that these words were not meant to be understood as physical, the power they possess are in the spirit. And if you understand its spiritual implication, you have life and have it more abundantly. You have eternal life. In other words, Jesus said I'm trying to compare the material world to the spiritual world to help you better understand the power that my blood possesses to save and redeem. Well, for the next few moments, I wanna do the exact same thing that Jesus did in John chapter six. I wanna give you a biology lesson today, okay? Some of y'all didn't pass biology, I'm gonna take you back to school this morning. All right, I'm gonna give you some biology and then I wanna lay alongside of it the theology of the blood of Jesus. So I'm gonna show you what actual blood in your body provides for the human body and I wanna share with you theologically what the blood of Jesus does in the body of Christ, okay? Three important things to know about blood in general that also applies to the blood of Jesus Christ. Here we go. Number one, you need to know that first of all, blood in and of itself offers continuous provision. In your body right now and in my body

flows a red river of life. Your bloodstream extends to and through every millimeter of your body and in that river, there are little vessels of floating boats called red blood cells. They are loaded with cargo that provide everything that your body needs to be healthy and to be vibrant and to be alive. You and I are made up of approximately 100 trillion cells and as those cargo boats float through our bodies, those cells are taking out of those boats what they need to survive and thrive. So those boats are carrying things like oxygen, nitrogen, amino acids, sodium, potassium, calcium and many, many other things. They're not just important to you, listen, they are vital to you. They are the difference between life and actual death. You can live a couple of weeks without food, you can live a couple of days without water but you can't live a couple minutes without blood. Our ability to live is completely dependent on our blood continuing to flow and all of those little cargo boats carrying to our body what they need. So I said that to say this, whenever you hear the gospel and you put your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross, the Bible says that you and I are washed clean

by the blood of Jesus and in that moment, yes, we are forgiven, we are justified, we are holy and we are reconciled to God but don't think for a moment that just because you prayed a prayer, gave your life to Jesus, that was it for the blood. It only applied one time to your life and now you're done with it. You are just getting started with the blood of Jesus. It continues to provide all that we need in life, not just to survive but the Bible says in John 10, to have life and to have it more abundantly. Look at Romans 10. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? He said yes, we are reconciled to God through the death of Jesus on the cross but now that we've been saved, we now have the ability to live a different life and to live a different way because of the life of Jesus. Let me say it to you this way. He is saying that Jesus gave himself for you so that he could give himself to you. He gave himself for you so that he could give himself to you. See, Jesus still has a body. The Bible says the church is the body of Christ and that that body still has a spirit, the Holy Spirit

and you and I are cells that make up the body of Christ and the blood of Jesus continues to provide all that we need to not just survive but thrive in a difficult and broken world. What I'm saying is this. His blood still floats grace and mercy to you when you need it. The blood of Jesus still provides help when we're hurting and we're wounded by life. His blood still carries comfort when we are fearful and full of anxiety. His blood still brings us hope when life is uncertain. His blood still offers healing when we are broken. His blood still gives us strength when life gets heavy and overwhelming. All that we need to live a daily life for him and to be salt and light in this world is still found through the blood of Jesus flowing through the body of Christ. It continues to provide all that we need. So there's a continuous provision that blood gives. Let me give you a second thing. Blood also has cleansing properties. I don't know how much you know about biology but blood possesses. is a dual purpose. It does two things in your body simultaneously. Not only does it bring to the cells nutrients that we just talked about, but it also takes away toxins

and impurities that are produced by your body. Your blood right now is in a constant state of detoxification. It is detoxifying all of these things that our body produces that are harmful and not good. It is taking away metabolic waste. It is taking away and neutralizing free radicals. Listen man, God did an awesome thing when he created the human body. It is mind boggling what he did and how blood operates in the body to cleanse it and to purify it. As your blood is flowing constantly, it's doing two things. It's giving you health and nutrients as well as taking away things that would be harmful to you. I said that to say this. The scriptures clearly tell us that the blood of Jesus also serves this dual purpose in our life. Not only was it shed to pay the initial penalty of sin but it gives us new life, but that also through it, we are constantly cleansed. We are constantly cleansed from the sin and the enemy that would accuse us and threaten to condemn us. Watch this. First John one and seven. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

I want you to help me with this. And the blood of Jesus, what's this word? Cleanses us from all sin. It doesn't say we have been cleansed. That's past tense. That's true. But he uses this word strategically and specifically. It is eternal present tense. He is saying it continues to cleanse. He is saying it's still cleansing. He is saying it is an ongoing work of God in your life. Why? Verse nine. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Our souls have been redeemed. It's true. But you and I know this. We still live in a broken body. We still live in a sinful body. And this body still lives in a broken sinful world. And you and I have not had perfection. We still stumble. We still fall. We still sin. We still get it wrong. But there is a continuous provision that the blood of Jesus operates in and through our lives on a daily basis to constantly cleanse us

from sin and undoneness. So there is this beautiful work of the Holy Spirit through the blood of Jesus. There is a continuous provision. There is this constant work where the Bible tells us that we are saved and redeemed daily, that he constantly is working to keep us free from sin because of his blood. But number three, watch this. Blood has conquering power. When God created your body and created this bloodstream, again, he did an amazing thing. Because let me say this to you. Throughout all of history, the greatest threat, you know this is true. The greatest threat to humanity and to the well-being of humanity has never been war or famine or pestilence. It's not been. Not the greatest threat. The greatest threat to humanity has been bacteria, virus. It's been disease. I'll give you an example. 8.5 million people died in World War II. But in 1947, just two years after the armistice was signed, 25 million people worldwide died of an influenza epidemic. Three times the amount of people died in one year versus all of World War II because of influenza. In 1348, the Black Plague swept across Europe and killed one third of the entire population of Europe.

One out of every three European died during the bubonic plague. It's always been pestilence. So let me go back to biology, okay? Here's how it works. A virus is an invader that enters the body. The blood recognizes the body has been infiltrated and then it declares war on that invader and white blood cells rise to the surface. They mobilize and they attack. In fact, the way that a doctor or the medical community will test you to see if you are having an infection is that they will test your white blood cell count. And when a doctor or the medical community sees there is an abnormal rise in your white blood cells, it is an indication to them that you have an infection. Something in your body is going wrong. Your body has mobilized for war. Now, while I was researching for this message, I discovered something I didn't know. I realized and recognized and read that most white blood cells do not live very long at all. In fact, most white blood cells only live for about 10 hours or so. But listen to this. God designed some of them to live in your body for 70 or 80 years. There are some of your white blood cells that God specifically designed to live for 70 or 80 years, and those that are special

that have been granted this type of longevity possess what is called a chemical memory. They remember and encounter invaders. They work in close cooperation with antibodies. Think about an antibody as informants. Antibodies gather the name, rank, and serial number of every invader that comes into the body, and then they relay that information to the white blood cells so that the white blood cells know exactly what to look for on their search and destroy mission. Stick with me. I read that one antibody knows one kind of disease. So one antibody will recognize polio. One antibody will recognize measles and so forth and so on. This is the reason when you're a kid or you have children, there's so much immunization that has to happen. We take our kids to the doctor. It's terrible. They give them shots after shots after shots after shots. Why are they doing this? They're introducing an extremely mild form of these diseases so that the antibodies can make a file of it and learn to recognize these invaders if and when they come into our life, and it gives the body a massive edge moving forward. In fact, as I was researching, I discovered that doctors actually have a phrase for it. Sometimes doctors will refer to this as wise blood or blood that has been educated, blood that has been informed,

and blood that has been educated. I told you all of that to tell you this. Listen to me. Jesus's blood, the blood of Christ, is the wisest blood that you will ever encounter on planet Earth. Why? Because the Bible says that sin is a disease, and it has attacked us and crippled us and overcome us. And how many sins did Jesus bear on the cross? All of them, baby. There wasn't one sin that he didn't encounter. Bible says in 2 Corinthians, for our sake, God made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. First Peter said he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live in righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed. The Bible tells us that when he hung on that cross, he took every evil, horrid, despicable, unimaginable sin in his body on the cross and paid for those sins once and for all. He paid for them through his death, but he conquered them through his resurrection so that you and I could be free. There is nothing the enemy can dream up and throw at you that will win because of the blood of Jesus. There is no temptation, there is no sin,

there is no power that the enemy or all of hell can dream up that the blood of Jesus does not have the name, rank, and serial number of and has paid for it once and for all. It's why Romans 8 says, there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because of his blood. Because his blood has already paid for all of these sins and has paid and covered you and I forever. There is now no condemnation. No matter what happens, no matter what the enemy says, no matter what he throws at you, the blood of Jesus is the wisest blood that you will ever encounter and because of it, it has set you and I free and whom the Son sets free is free indeed. I wanna show you this. I wanna make a connection here that's so important because I one time was sitting in a congregation and I heard a young preacher preach something and he meant well and he was just young but I heard him say something and I said, no, that's not really right and I wanna show it to you because listen, if you go back to Revelation 12 and we saw how they overcame, you're gonna read these words again

and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. If you're not careful or if you read it too casually, you will think that he is describing two distinct things and that's the way I heard this young man preach it one day. He preached the blood of Jesus which is true but then he said we also overcome because of our stories, the testimony that we endured, the testimony that we overcame, the testimony that we were addicted and now we're not, the testimony that we didn't lay down but we stayed faithful to God and we fought the good fight of faith. That's not what Revelation 12 is saying. It is not two distinct things. They are supported. supportive and connected. Let me show you what I mean. Our testimony is not our story. It's not our individual story. That's not what Revelation 12 is saying. Our testimony is not something that we have that we add to the blood that brings victory. Our testimony is and will always be that it was nothing but the blood. It was nothing but the blood. See, because I know your story has a nuance and so does mine. But at the end of the day, if you boil it all down, our stories are exactly the same.

We were crippled by sin, we were overcome by sin, we were conquered by sin, and there wasn't a thing that you and I could do to free ourselves from the power of sin. It was and will always be only by the blood of Jesus that we are free. That's our testimony. Thank you. Maybe you've seen it, but there's a famous pastor named Alistair Begg. And he preaches this sermon. And he said, I've always wondered about the thief on the cross. And when he shows up to heaven, and this angel meets him at the gate and says, why are you here? He said, I don't know, man. I was just hanging on the cross next to this dude. And I looked over and just asked him to remember me. And the angel says, well, do you understand the doctrine of justification? And he goes, bro, I don't know what you're talking about. And he goes, well, do you understand the doctrine of sanctification, that you've been made whole? And he said, bro, you're talking Japanese. I don't know what you're saying. Well, do you know the tenets of the church? And do you know the doctrines of faith?

No, I don't. And he says, the angel looks at him in his mind and he just says, well, on what basis should I let you in? And he said, bro, the man in the middle told me I could come. Now, that's it, y'all. That's it. That's all there is. If there's anything you add to that, it's a mistake. There's nothing you can add to it, nothing. Listen, it's the blood. It's always been the blood. It will only be the blood. There is no sin that is greater than the grace of God. There is no sin that is greater than the blood of Jesus. It is wise blood. It is redeeming blood. It is sacred blood. It is saving blood. It is only the blood that makes you whole. It is only the blood that makes you free. Nothing else. There is no testimony that we have that we can add to it. The testimony that we have is the blood that was shed. We have applied it to our lives through faith. And we put all of our faith and trust in the blood. And because of it, we're free. Because whom the Son sets free is free indeed. In 1876, a Baptist minister by the name of Robert Lowry, he also was a professor at Bucknell University,

he wrote a hymn that would remain an anthem of the church for time and memorial. I talk about my mother a lot. I miss her so much. My dad pastored for 32 years, seven different churches in the state of Florida. My mother played the piano at every church my dad ever pastored. And I can't tell you how many times it wasn't in the programming, they hadn't planned it. But I can't tell you how many times my mother would just feel inspired by the Holy Spirit. And she would just begin to play and sing this hymn that was written in 1876. I was always on the front row. My mom wouldn't let me go anywhere else so she could keep a close eye on me. I've never known a woman who could pinch worse than my mother. I got scars on my legs to this day. But she would play the piano and keep one eye on me the whole time. But I'll never forget all of these years, she would start to play this hymn and it would ring in my ear because I was so familiar with it as a child. And she would sing it. And she would sing it with such conviction. I would watch tears stream down her face. And she would sing this hymn written by Robert Lowry.

What can wash away my sin? Good Lord, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, no other. nothing but the blood of Jesus. And she would sing it from the depths of her soul. And I remember as a child how it impacted me, that she had fully understood that her redemption was tied only to the shed blood and the power of the blood of Jesus. And so it is for you and so it is for me. It is sacred blood. It is saving blood. But listen, man, it's shared blood. And if you're in this room and you have not yet shared in the blood of Jesus, if you're watching online and you're at one of those correctional facilities or you're at the university campus and you have not shared in the blood of Jesus, don't you dare leave this place today without sharing in the power of the sacred saving blood of Jesus. It's the only thing. It's not how good you are, you can't be good enough. It's not how many good deeds you do, you can't do enough good deeds. The Bible says our righteousness, Isaiah 64,

are as filthy rags. What's he saying? He said your best moment, your best self on your best day is still garbage compared to the standard of perfection that God has. It's only through the blood of Christ that we are made whole or we are made free. Praise be to God. And if you're here, he has made a way through his blood, through the shedding of his blood, for you to know peace that passes all understanding, for you to have freedom that you could never have in any other way. Doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you've done, there is no sin that is greater than the blood of Christ. There is no sin that is greater than the grace of God. There is no sin that can outpace the grace of our heavenly father. And he's offering it to you to come home today and to find freedom. Can we pray? Father, I thank you.