The Power of One Blood

By Pastor Bob Rasmussen

The Holiday season is upon us
- Halloween in particular
Billy Graham, a very famous preacher
- I read somewhere that sometime early on in his life, he was told, Billy, if you want to reach more people, don’t talk so much about the blood
- We see that many churches are the same
  - Sermons based on a single line of scripture
  - Messages that are more like life coaching or self help, with hardly a mention of the Word of God, let alone the blood of Jesus
  - Where the focus is more on lights and spot lights focus on the praise leader, rather the One who truly deserves it, and that is Jesus
From the very beginning, there has been blood mentioned in the bible and how important it is
We know that Adam and Eve sinned, and brought sin into the world and they had 2 sons Cain and Abel
One of the very first mention of making sacrifices is in Genesis 4
- Genesis 4:1-8 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 8And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
The sacrifice of blood was the only way that anyone had an opportunity to be forgiven of their sins.
There are so many days in the old testament that required a sacrifice to God – it gets very confusing but the process was the same – a sacrifice of blood to get right with God.
It did not matter if you were rich or poor, there had to be a sacrifice of blood.
When God sent the flood and rebooted the world, the very first thing that Noah did when he did was what? He made a blood sacrifice.
- Genesis 8:20-22 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
- Genesis 9:15-17 and I will [compassionately] remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the rainbow is in the clouds and I look at it, I will [solemnly] remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This [rainbow] is the sign of the covenant (solemn pledge, binding agreement) which I have established between Me and all living things on the earth.”
For those that may not know it, the rainbow is about a promise from God to mankind, not a symbol of perversion – know that!
How about Abraham?
Abraham. God said, “Abraham, I want you to go and take your son. Isaac. I want to you to offer your son, Isaac, as a sacrifice”. Abraham did not doubt God. He didn’t argue with God. He obeyed God implicitly. And he took his son on a three-day journey to Mount Moriah, where Jerusalem is located today. And there, he laid his son on the altar, took his knife, and was ready to plunge it into his son’s heart, when God reached out in mercy
- Genesis 22:10-14 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be see
Not only can we see a prophetic image of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Son of God, we see that the sacrifice still required blood.
Do you believe in God that much that you’d do what Abraham did? No wonder he was called a man of faith. It is no wonder he’s called the father of nations. He believed God and God saw implicitly that he was willing to offer the only son, because God had told him to do it. The blood is so important in sacrificing for God.
And then remember that night in Egypt? All the plagues had come. But Pharoah just would not yield to God.
- Plagues of blood,
- Frogs, imagine the stench!
- Lice or gnats
- Flies
- Livestock
- Boils
- Hail
- Locust
- Darkness
The Lord tells Moses that the 10^th plague is going to kill the firstborn of all men from Pharoah to the maid servant and all of firstborn of the beats.
The Lord tells Moses what they need to do:
- Exodus 12:5-7Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
In other words, go out and get a lamb. I’m going to destroy the firstborn of every family in Egypt. I want you to get a lamb, slay it, take the blood, put it up on the doorpost. And when I see the blood tonight, when I pass through Egypt, killing the firstborn of every house in Egypt, there’s a judgment upon Egypt because of their refusal to let the people of Israel go, I will pass over. It’ll be a sign.
And when the death angel came across Egypt that night, and there was groaning and moaning and wailing in Egypt because the firstborn of every family died, unless, unless what? Unless the blood was there. He didn’t say, “When I see your good resolutions, when I see all your religious credentials”. He did not say when I review your good works. When I see your degree or your bank account. No, He said, “when I see the blood, I will pass over”.
Moving forward to the new testament, we see that there is a new lamb that would be sacrificed, and that was a man named Jesus.
- John 1:29-32 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
Jesus went about His ministry, teaching, healing, preparing for the ultimate blood sacrifice, himself.
What a tremendous burden to carry, yet He did so, and thank God He did
Most of us know how brutal the crucifixion was. Jesus was whipped, taking those stripes for us. 39 lashes with a horrible device, drawing so much blood. And I am sure the Romans treated Him with tender care from the beginning. No, they were brutal soldiers.
We see the prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah
- Isaiah 52:13-15 Indeed, My Servant (the Messiah) will act wisely and prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished and appalled at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form [marred] more than the sons of men. So He will sprinkle many nations [with His blood, providing salvation], Kings will shut their mouths because of Him; For what they had not been told they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.
That Jesus would be marred more than any man speaks to the beating and whipping He took – and the blood that would be shed for you and I
And then they placed a crown of thorns on His head
It was not a crowning ceremony like for a King or Queen
Thorns savagely push down on His head, cutting and digging in to His flesh, causing more pain, and even more blood.
We know that Jesus was then crucified – a horrific way to die. Pastor Jeff mentioned the Passion the other day. I think everyone should see it once – it does a very good job of displaying how horrible the death of Christ was.
But the good news came 3 days later, when Jesus was resurrected, came out of that grave, after giving himself as a lamb of God, His sacrificial blood, for each and everyone of us, glory to God and Hallelujah! Christ is alive! Jesus is alive, the conqueror of the grave, the giver of everlasting life, amen!
We just had communion here a couple weeks ago.
I remember when I was in another church that believed differently than we do.
We had communion every week – it was almost a robotic action, just a line on a church bulletin so I would know how much longer I had to sit in that pew. Anybody else go through that time in your life? Just going through the motions without really thinking about the blood that sacrificed for us?
- John 6:53-56 And Jesus said to them, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood [unless you believe in Me as Savior and believe in the saving power of My blood which will be shed for you], you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood [believes in Me, accepts Me as Savior] has eternal life [that is, now possesses it], and I will raise him up [from the dead] on the last day. For My flesh is true [spiritual] food, and My blood is true [spiritual] drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood [believes in Me, accepts Me as Savior] remains in Me, and I [in the same way remain] in him.
I want more of Jesus each and everyday. And when I participate in communion – and you do not just have to do it at church! It should focus on self-examination and how it should produce brokenness and confession, and the absolute need for Jesus in our life
This world keeps getting crazier and crazier. Lord come quickly. Everything that is going on in politics, the war in Israel – when that day when Jesus comes, I want to be like those in Egypt so long ago – that I am covered by the blood of Jesus.
Paul announced it when he said in Acts 20:28
- Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
What a tremendous price Jesus paid for His church for you and I
Paul proclaimed in Romans
- Romans 3:23-25 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
The blood of Jesus was not a one and done. Jesus did not go up on that cross to just forgive us of our past sins, because no matter how good I try to live my life, I am going to make mistakes. We try not to, we try to live as close to Jesus as we can, but we’re people, and we’re messy.
But when I miss the mark, I can look to Jesus for forgiveness.
- 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
An angel explained it in Revelation:
- Revelation 7:14 These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Thank you Lord
Picture this
Job and testimony
- Courtroom
  - Judgement
  - Mediator
  - Covered by the blood
- Jail
  - John 8:32-36 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
- Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
- Revelation 12:11 … And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Diminishing of the value of blood in society