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    27 The Blood of Jesus: Ephesians 1:7-12

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    Dex
    The document discusses the centrality of Jesus' blood and the cross in Christianity. It argues that God chose the blood of Jesus as the means of salvation, and that forgiveness of sin can only come through the shedding of blood. It highlights several ways the blood of Jesus reconciles, redeems, cleanses, justifies, and enables believers, including through the New Testament, creation of the church, Lord's Supper, and baptism. The key message is that salvation comes only through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    27 The Blood of Jesus: Ephesians 1:7-12

    Uploaded by

    Dex
    101 views4 pages
    The document discusses the centrality of Jesus' blood and the cross in Christianity. It argues that God chose the blood of Jesus as the means of salvation, and that forgiveness of sin can only come through the shedding of blood. It highlights several ways the blood of Jesus reconciles, redeems, cleanses, justifies, and enables believers, including through the New Testament, creation of the church, Lord's Supper, and baptism. The key message is that salvation comes only through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

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    The document discusses the centrality of Jesus' blood and the cross in Christianity. It argues that God chose the blood of Jesus as the means of salvation, and that forgiveness of sin can only come through the shedding of blood. It highlights several ways the blood of Jesus reconciles, redeems, cleanses, justifies, and enables believers, including through the New Testament, creation of the church, Lord's Supper, and baptism. The key message is that salvation comes only through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    101 views4 pages

    27 The Blood of Jesus: Ephesians 1:7-12

    Uploaded by

    Dex
    The document discusses the centrality of Jesus' blood and the cross in Christianity. It argues that God chose the blood of Jesus as the means of salvation, and that forgiveness of sin can only come through the shedding of blood. It highlights several ways the blood of Jesus reconciles, redeems, cleanses, justifies, and enables believers, including through the New Testament, creation of the church, Lord's Supper, and baptism. The key message is that salvation comes only through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    THE BLOOD OF JESUS

    27
    The Blood of Jesus
    Ephesians 1:7-12

    “In Him we have redemption through His blood . . .”


    (Ephesians 1:7).

    As we think specifically about the precious blood of


    Jesus, a “holy hush” falls over our hearts because we know
    that we are entering the “Holy of Holies” of the Scrip-
    tures.
    The centerpiece of the Bible is the blood of Jesus!
    Nevertheless, people today are horrified by the subject of
    His blood. Some claim that Christianity needs new sym-
    bols. Such a view impugns the intelligence and the char-
    acter of God, for God chose the blood of His Son as the
    means of our salvation! He made His Lamb the center of
    all history (Revelation 13:8). The cross is the place where
    we see how our sin hurt God the most; it also is the place
    where we see how God loved us the most (John 3:16). The
    theology of heaven is Christ-centered, cross-centered, and
    blood-centered.

    The Enormity of Sin


    No book in all the Bible clashes more violently with
    the modern mind than Leviticus. “How did this book get

    111
    THE AGONY & GLORY OF THE CROSS

    into the Bible?” we wonder. In our reading of the Bible,


    we usually skip it. However, this is a most important
    biblical book. It is where God detailed the sacrificial sys-
    tem of the law of Moses. It is filled with priests, sacrifices,
    and blood! God, in that book of law, was teaching the
    exceeding sinfulness of sin (Romans 7:13). It implies that
    God and sin cannot mix.
    Sin contradicts God! It cannot be overlooked. Every
    sin and every impenitent sinner will be punished. Sin
    cannot be excused even by a divine decree—the right­
    eousness of God prevents it.
    Sin’s sting is the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:56).
    Forgiveness of sin can only come from the shedding of
    blood. Under the Law, forgiveness of sin required the
    blood of animals (Hebrews 9:22). The Law is our teacher
    to bring us to Christ, the final and full offering for sin (Ga-
    latians 3:22–29; see Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11).
    The old sacrificial system of Moses, with its blood of
    bulls and goats, could not take away sin (Hebrews 10:4).
    In addition, man could not perfectly keep the Law (Acts
    15:8–11), and not even the blood of mankind could atone
    for man’s guilt. What man could not do for himself, God
    did for him. Robert Coleman counted 460 specific refer-
    ences to blood in the Scriptures.1 No one who carefully
    reads the Scriptures can miss the fact that Jesus’ shedding
    His blood for our redemption is at the center of Christian-
    ity. The testimony of the Holy Spirit is that Jesus’ blood
    has created a “blood bank in heaven” that is always full.
    Paul said that Jesus died for our sins according to the
    Scriptures (1 Co­rinthians 15:1–4).
    1
    Robert Coleman, “The Gospel of Blood” (http://www.preaching.
    com/preaching/pastissues/robertcole­m an.htm; Internet; accessed
    1 December 2006).

    112
    THE BLOOD OF JESUS

    The perfect blood of Jesus reconciles us (2 Corinthians


    5:14–21), washes us (Revelation 1:5; 7:14), redeems us (Ephe­
    sians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18, 19), cleanses us (1 John 1:7), justifies
    us (Romans 5:8, 9), sanctifies us (Hebrews 10:10; 13:12),
    propitiates for us (1 John 2:2), gives us peace (Ephesians
    2:13–16; Colossians 1:20), and enables us to overcome Satan
    (Revelation 12:11). The real, historical, full, and final pay-
    ment for our sins is the blood of Christ. With John we say,
    “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
    world!” (John 1:29, 36).

    The Power of His Blood


    We see the power of His blood in its linkage with the New
    Testament (or new covenant; Matthew 26:26–28; 1 Corin-
    thians 11:25, 26; Hebrews 13:20). Every word in the New
    Testament drips with the blood of Christ. When you read
    the Scriptures and fail to find Christ, you are misreading
    them. The blood of Abel cries out to God from the ground
    (Genesis 4:2–12; see Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51). The blood
    of Jesus speaks of better things than does Abel’s (Hebrews
    12:24). “Listen” to the blood (Hebrews 9:11–22)!
    We see His blood’s power in its creation of the New Testa-
    ment church (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25–28). Millions of
    sacrificial animals and birds were offered under the law
    of Moses, but man was still mired in sin. Aren’t you glad
    we are not under such a law system today? Animal blood
    could only buy some time, by rolling the sins forward for
    a year. The blood of Christ bought one glorious thing—the
    church!
    The Old Testament says life is in the blood (Leviticus
    17:11, 14). Jesus gave His blood to release us from our sins
    (Revelation 1:5). He died for us on the earth so that we
    might live with Him in eternity (1 Thessalonians 5:10).

    113
    THE AGONY & GLORY OF THE CROSS

    The price of something grows out of its value. Jesus


    considered His church so valuable that He was willing
    to purchase it with His own blood (see Acts 20:28). The
    local church, with all its faults, is still the most powerful
    group on earth! To minimize the church is to denigrate
    the blood.
    We see the power of His blood in the supper of the new
    covenant (Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 10:16–21; 11:24–30). There
    is one way, one body (the church), one bread, one blood,
    one supper, and one life! The blood is the fruit and the
    infinite power of the cross. The Lord’s Supper proclaims
    Christ’s death until He returns (1 Co­rinthians 11:26).
    We see the power of the blood in the baptism of the Great
    Commission (Romans 6:1–5; Galatians 3:26, 27; Colossians
    2:12). John said that three bear witness on earth—the
    Spirit, the water, and the blood (1 John 5:3–8). In baptism,
    sinners are clothed with the Christ of the cross. It is His
    blood that bestows upon us the right to enter heaven.
    The world wants salvation without the blood, without
    the Bible, without the church, without the Lord’s Supper,
    and without baptism. This is not God’s plan! Our salva-
    tion comes through the blood of Jesus!

    The cross . . .
    there is no other way!

    114

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