Faith is more than a feeling or a theory. It's
a decision that moves your feet, opens your hands,
and activates God's promises. In our brand new
book, Faith Act, Jeffrey and I take you on a
powerful journey through some of Scripture's
most transforming moments, where ordinary people
dared to obey and saw heaven move on their behalf.
Order your copy of Faith Act today on Amazon.
Today we're starting a brand new series. Some
of you saw the post online, but the title of
the series is, I Have the Receipt. I Have the
Receipt. Right. Well, if you got a receipt, that
means that you've paid for it, or it has been
paid for. So, does anybody have a, does anyone
have a BJ's membership? or a Costco membership.
If you've never been to BJ's or Costco, you might
not know what I'm about to say. You might not
have experienced this, but when you go to those
wholesale clubs, and especially if you do self
-checkout, but even if you go through the register
and everything, you have to hold on to your receipt.
Look at the person beside you and say, hold on
to your receipt. The reason why you have to hold
on to the receipt is because after you finish,
checking out and you go to the door to leave
the store there's someone standing there and
they want your receipt and they take your receipt
i don't know about everywhere i mean you know
at costco they don't always but down here at
this bj's in davenport they're going to look
at every single item in your shopping cart they're
going to count them and like this was from Friday,
we bought 10 items. So the guy at the door had
to see all 10 items, and he looked to make sure
it was the correct receipt, and then he signed
off on it. He put a little scribble on there.
That can't be his name. Maybe an initial or something.
But here's the deal. You can't get out of the
store with a buggy with items in it unless you
have your receipt. I mean, you can leave, but
the buggy can't leave. Right? Because they're
going to check and make sure that you paid for
it. But when you have the receipt, that means
it's yours. Even if you get questioned, it's
yours. Has anyone ever walked out of a store
and had a little alarm went off? Because the
cashier forgot to take off the little thing to
make the alarm go off. And you better have your
receipt if you want to leave with that item.
Right? You better have it. to make sure that
it's been purchased, to make sure that it's been
paid for. Everybody say, I have the receipt.
I have the receipt. Now this series will help
each one of us. It'll help us to be more established.
Hopefully we are established to a degree, but
I believe this series will help us become more
established. And one of the most central truths
of the Christian faith. And that's this. What
was accomplished through the blood of Jesus?
What is provided through the blood of Jesus?
So, what did Jesus purchase? Not with a credit
card, but with his blood. What did he purchase
to accomplish something for you and for me, to
provide something for you and for me? What did
he purchase with his blood? Here's the deal.
I walked out of BJ's and I have the receipt.
Well, Jesus walked out of the empty tomb and
he had the receipt. But he didn't hang on to
the receipt because he's not going to need it
where he was going. He gave it to us. So we have
the receipt. God's Word contains what we could
call a detailed receipt of what Jesus purchased
with his blood. Now, the blood of Jesus. is not
just an illustration. You know, sometimes in
church we've got illustrations. Like our stained
glass window last week was an illustration, the
light coming through it was an illustration of
the glory of God. Right? But the blood is not
just an illustration. It's not just symbolic
religious verbiage. The blood is a covenant reality.
Jesus' blood is full of spiritual power and what
he accomplished for us. Now, this is probably
the verse I've known the longest about the blood
of Jesus. Maybe it is for you too. But as an
evangelist on the road for 20 years, I quoted
this almost every time I preached. Without the
shedding of blood, There is no forgiveness. So
the blood is not just an illustration. And some
people are like, are we really going to talk
about blood? Yeah, we're going to talk about
blood for eight weeks. So listen, because it's
more than forgiveness. But without the shedding
of Jesus' blood on the cross, you and I would
be hopelessly and helplessly lost. He died for
us. He died in our place on the cross. He shed
his blood for us. And the Bible says he took
that blood. He took that blood into the holy
of holies, not the earthly one, but the heavenly
one. And put it on the mercy seat in heaven.
That ought to make you smile at least. Because
he did it for you. Did it for you. Without him
shedding his blood, there's no possible way that
we could be forgiven. But salvation is more than
forgiveness. Sometimes people think that salvation
is it. Forgiveness is it. If it was, that'd be
good, right? That'd be good. But... Just like
in the last series, when Jeffrey and I started
studying to prepare this series, I mean, we're
just finding verses all over the place that we've
probably read before, but they never really stood
out before. Just like we saw verses that contained
glory, and we would just read through that like
it was a filler word, like the word glory was
just a filler word. But it's not. It's not. So
salvation is more than forgiveness. Today we're
going to talk about the blood of Jesus being
a purchase. Not just purchasing our forgiveness,
but purchasing us. Hello? The cross was not merely
suffering. It was a transaction. There's a transaction
that took place. The blood was and is the price
of redemption. Ownership changed hands because
of the blood. The blood of Jesus is the purchase
price that redeemed believers out of darkness.
See, before Christ, we were children of darkness.
So the blood of Jesus redeemed us, purchased
us out of darkness. What else did it do? It transformed
us into the kingdom of God. And it established
our identity as God's very own possession. It's
more than forgiveness. It's a purchase. 1 Corinthians
6, 19 and 20 says this, Don't you realize? This
is for those who are in Christ. Don't you realize
that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?
We use this verse in our series about the glory
because, you know, the glory of God moved out
of the Holy of Holies and moved into us. We display
the glory of God. The glory of God is displayed
among His people because He no longer is in a
temple. Made by men's hands. You are the temple.
Don't you realize that your body is a temple
of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given
to you by God. Now listen, you do not belong
to yourself. Why don't you belong to yourself
anymore? When you come to Christ, you don't belong
to yourself. I mean, how long after I came to
Christ was it until I realized that I didn't
belong to myself anymore? Can anybody witness
to that? I mean, you come to Christ and it's
like, I still think I belong to myself. You might
be sitting in this room today and you might be
living your life like you belong to yourself.
Not during church time, but... Monday through
Friday or Saturday or whatever. We can still
live our lives like we belong to ourselves. Y
'all quit smiling when I said that. But we do
not belong to ourselves. Why? Because God bought
us with a very high price. God bought you with
a high price. So you must honor God with your
body, with your life. You honor God. That's just,
that's the response, right? If I'm his, shouldn't
I honor him with my life? If I acknowledge that
I'm his? I should be honoring him. Look at the
person beside you and say, we're just getting
started. See, this passage is not based on emotional
spirituality. It's based on a covenant fact.
The believer belongs to God by purchase. So my
receipt says, I've been bought. I've got that
receipt. I've been bought. I belong to God. The
cross was a purchase. Everybody say that with
me. The cross was a purchase. 1 Peter 1 .18 says
this. For you know that God paid a ransom. Get
this. Let this sink in. You know, we should know
that God paid a ransom to save us from the empty
life we inherited from our ancestors. Has that
verse ever spoke to you like that before? You
know that God paid a ransom. And he paid a ransom
to save you from the empty life you inherited
from your ancestors. Because we were all born
in sin. We were all born children of this dark
world. Right? And when God bought you, it was
not that he just said, oh, I'll just speak and
create some gold and some silver. Since he spoke
it all into existence anyway. He didn't say,
well, I'll just make some more gold and silver
and that'll be the price that I'll pay for all
these people. Your redemption could not be paid
for with silver or gold. It was not paid with
mere gold, just mere gold. Or silver. Because
they all lose their value. They've been gaining
here recently, but if you would have bought earlier
this week, you would have lost your shirt. Because
it plummeted back down, right? What were you
purchased with? It was the precious blood of
Christ. The sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That's
what you were bought with. Not just any old blood.
Sinless, spotless blood. The blood of God himself.
The blood of Christ shed for you. Paid a ransom.
There's a Greek word, lutroo. I'll just say it
like that. You can say it however you want to.
Here's what it means to redeem, to ransom, or
to liberate, to set free. To redeem, to ransom,
to liberate. You can't carry this illustration
to the extreme, but one way you can look at it
is if you had an item and you needed some money
and you went to the pawn shop. Has anybody ever
been to a pawn shop before? You've been to the
pawn shop to say, okay, you want to sell it or
you want to pawn it? I hope to get it back, so
just give me $100 and then I'll come get my $140
and buy it back next week or whatever. But they
give you a redemption ticket. They hold on to
it until you come back and the agreement. of
the redemption. Like I said, the illustration
definitely doesn't carry all the way through,
right? But it's a purchase. But it's not just
a purchase of something that should not belong
to you. It's a purchase to bring it back, to
liberate it, and to bring it back to yourself.
God created us. Hello? God created us. And in
the Garden of Eden, we handed over authority
to the enemy. God had given us authority in this
world. We handed it over to the enemy. It's not
like God pawned us off. We pawned ourselves off.
And redemption is God saying, I made you. You're
mine. I know now you're a child of darkness.
under the control of the enemy, but I'm going
to die on the cross and purchase you back with
my blood. Here's where it helps. Redeemed to
release, to set free, by paying the full ransom,
to release on receipt, Everybody say, I've got
that receipt. To release on receipt of ransom.
To restore something back into the possession
of its rightful owner. Rescuing from the power
and possession of an alien possessor. I really
like that one. Rescuing from the power. and the
possession of somebody who shouldn't be your
owner anyway. So redeemed carries the meaning
of being purchased or bought back with a payment.
So Christianity, unlike all the other religions
of the world, is not just kind of a religious
self -improvement with good teachings. I mean,
come on, let's be honest. All religions have
some good teachings trying to help people morally,
right? All of them do, to some extent. But that's
not what Christianity is. Christianity is not
self -improvement, even though there's been a
change in my life, hopefully a change in your
life, but that's not the foundation of what it's
all about. It's about deliverance through a price.
It's about redemption. I'm about to preach myself
happy. We're not purchased with silver or gold,
but with the precious blood of Christ. We weren't
just helped. We were purchased. Let that sink
in. We're not just helped. We're purchased. So
we belong to somebody. And they had a receipt
and gave it to us. The blood is heaven's proof
and the basis of our standing, the basis of a
believer's standing in Christ. Faith rests on
the covenant act of Christ, not on our personal
performance. And listen, that's the way it began.
And that's the way it continues. Jesus didn't
buy you with his blood so that you would be back
under the bondage of a rule system. That if you
broke the rules or didn't do everything exactly
right, then you're good for nothing anymore.
That's not the way it works. Our faith is in
the blood of Christ. That covenant act. We entered
into a covenant with Christ. It's not based on
our personal performance. Even though most religious
experience tries to turn you back into self -righteousness.
In order to be in right standing with God. Hebrews
9, 12 says this, with his own blood, not the
blood of goats or calves, because that's Old
Testament. That's Old Covenant. They would sacrifice
goats and calves and doves and different things
to try to, you know, cover. Everybody say cover.
To cover. the sin. So it's not with the blood
of goats and calves because they were just temporary
and they were just symbolic of what was coming.
With his own blood, Jesus entered the most holy
place one time. Everybody say one time. Once
and for all. Once for all time. And secured our
redemption forever. One time. Secured our redemption
forever. So it's an eternal redemption. It's
a complete redemption. It's not a partial payment.
It's not an ongoing debt that Jesus has to keep
going back to the cross and dying more and more
and more and more. No, it's one and done. It's
not an ongoing debt. It's not an unfinished work.
He even said on the cross, it is finished. It
is finished. So as followers of Christ, we shouldn't
live under an uncertainty, a religious uncertainty.
We need to live under this covenant certainty,
not an uncertainty anymore. Redemption means
that all old claims are broken. Let that sink
in. All old claims are broken. There used to
be some claims, some spiritual claims against
us. Now they're all broken. Purchase implies
that there was a prior bondage before Christ.
And there was a bondage before Christ. We should
be able to see it. We should be able to agree
with it. Right? Before Christ, we were under
sin. We were in sin before we could become in
Christ. We were under sin. We were under darkness.
We were under condemnation before Christ. And
the sad thing is, Some of us have remained under
condemnation after we're in Christ. Who spent
some time under condemnation after you were in
Christ? You spent some time still under condemnation.
Still under sin. Still fooling around and dealing
with darkness. Anybody but me. But we didn't
have to be. Didn't have to be. We didn't have
to be. Colossians 1 .13. For Jesus. No, I'm sorry.
For God. He, God, has rescued us. We could say
the Father in this sense. For the Father has
rescued us from the kingdom of darkness. Look
at the person beside you and tell them, I've
been rescued. I've been rescued. He has rescued
us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred
us into the kingdom of his dear son, into the
kingdom of Jesus. Because Jesus is the one who
purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. You've
got to know this. The kingdom of darkness has
no authority or power over you. So if you live
under that mentality, it's time to break that
off. It's time to break it off. I'm going to
tell Jeffrey's story. I don't know, you might
need to tell it because I might not remember
it all, but you were at work. And was it a blanket
or something? What was it? Yeah. It was a blanket.
And somebody had like been fired or something
or something went down. So they left this blanket
and said that they put a curse on it. And the
leadership, the proprietor, I mean, like the
head leadership in his department, they're just
like freaked out. Yeah. There you go. Wait a
minute. You need to say this. People online can't
hear you. So. Every time someone tried to take
it home because the proprietor left, went to
a different line of business. But when the proprietor
left, she left it. And then, you know, several
other leaders were like, well, I'll take it home.
I'll put it on my bed. It looks nice. But every
single time someone tried to, like, take it,
they'd get a speeding ticket. One got into an
accident. One, like, got sick the week that they
brought it home. And they were just certain that,
like, it was this object. Yeah. Do you want to
continue? I can tell it. Okay. You can tell it.
I don't care. But you need to stand up here if
you're going to tell it so people online can
see it. Anyway, so Jeffrey, being the assistant
pastor, the first question was, were they asking
for holy water? They asked if you were a priest.
If you did exorcisms on items, if you're a priest
and you do exorcism, you come up here and tell
it. Come up here and tell it. I'm trying. I'm
not trying to drag it out. So, yeah, so they
asked me, they were like, do you do exorcisms
at your church or your, you know, do you? perform
them or just your dad or, you know, they had
it all like built this whole case in their head.
And so I, if you need it, we'll do it. And I
just said. I just said, well, what is happening?
Because at this point, I didn't know what they
were even talking about. Like, literally, I was
just working, you know, my normal job, and then
they bring you down to the leader's office, right?
You don't know, like, what's happening? Am I
in trouble? And then they're just like, the first
question is, and there's five leaders around
me, they're going, do you do exorcisms? Okay,
so we just... That's the context of the situation
that I find myself in. And I said, no. And they
were like, well, aren't you like a pope or a
preacher or like a priest or something? And I
said, I'm the assistant chaplain or, you know,
the assistant pastor of the church. And they
were like, oh, so you don't do that. So we'll
have to get someone else. And I was like, well,
tell me what are you trying to do? And then the
lady said, well. Do you know where to get holy
water? Because I watched this movie, and if I
have some holy water, I feel like we can dip
this item into the holy water. I can't tell my
joke. Shoot. I can't tell what I actually said
in that moment, because it would be... But if
you know how to make holy water... Anyways, we'll
just keep moving on. Somebody knew, maybe JT,
maybe Robert knows how to make holy water. You
can just fill in that blank. But I told them
how to make holy water and we all laughed. And
then I said, well, hand me the item. And they
were like, giving me almost like third degree.
Like, well, if you touch this item, if you handle
it, like bad things are going to happen to you.
And I just clearly looked at them. I said, look,
nothing is going to happen. Hand me the item.
I'll dispose of it. So sure enough, like I take
it and I walked it over to the compactor and
I threw it away. And I said, the item has been
taken care of. I called him up. I said, the item's
been taken care of. And ever since that point,
it was fine. But the leaders were like genuinely
concerned. Like they asked like three or four
times going like, did anything happen? And I
said, nope, I don't believe, you know, I'm covered
by the blood. I knew it. I was like, I'm covered
by the blood. I don't have to deal with that.
So, yeah. So. Here's the deal. We've been rescued
from the kingdom of darkness. None of that mess
has any power over us. When we're in Christ,
if you know who you are in Christ, none of that
mess has any power over you. That's the point
of this story. It might have some power over
somebody who's not in Christ, but it's not going
to have any power over you. Because you've been
rescued. You've been redeemed from the kingdom
of darkness. There is no fear when any of that
stuff happens. You've been rescued and redeemed
from the kingdom of darkness and translated into
the kingdom of God. How are we redeemed from
the kingdom of darkness? Because we've been purchased.
Our freedom has been purchased by the blood of
Jesus, and we have been forgiven. The blood not
only forgave sins, it executed a transfer of
ownership. Listen, the enemy's claim is now illegal.
Any previous claim is illegal after redemption.
Fear may still attack or try to attack you, but
listen, it has no authority to control you anymore.
If you're in Christ by the blood of Jesus, fear
has no authority to control you. Sin may tempt
you, and it will continue to tempt you. But listen,
sin no longer... has power to rule over you.
It is not your master anymore. And why is that?
Because we have a receipt. Your past may stick
up its head and try to accuse you some more.
But listen, because of the blood, it can no longer
define you unless you let it. See, if you continue
to let fear control you, it will. If you let
temptation master over you, it will. If you let
your past define you, it will continue. But because
of the redemption, it doesn't have to anymore.
It doesn't have to anymore. We can be free. Remember,
there's freedom in redemption. Here, faith enforces
what the blood has already secured. It's going
to take your faith to enforce it in your life.
If you don't know it and believe it, act on it
in those situations, when it tries to rear up
in your life, it's not going to be evident in
your life. It takes faith to enforce it. That's
why we need to know what the blood has purchased
for us, what the blood has made available for
us. We need to know it so that we can act in
faith. See, when we're redeemed, we shouldn't
be negotiating with darkness. There is no negotiating
anymore. We're not negotiating bondage. We're
resisting with covenant identity who we are in
Christ and what Christ has given us and made
available to us. The blood is not only a mechanism
of forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness. It is a revelation of
value. The price paid, don't miss this, the price
paid communicates something. It communicates
the worth that God has placed on what he's purchased.
The price paid communicates the worth God placed
on redemption. Write down anything else. I'd
say write down this next one. The value of any
item is determined by the price that somebody's
willing to pay. I don't care if you put it on
Facebook Marketplace and put $10 million on it.
If no one is willing to pay $10 million, it's
not worth $10 million. The owner... does not
get to place the value on something. The purchaser
is the one who places the value. We were in Arkansas.
Went to this guy's house to go eat after church.
And we went to his house. He said, Dean, I got
to show you something. And he took me into his
office in his house. And he had a... clear plastic
cube with a red stuffed animal. Anybody remember
Beanie Babies? It was a red pig. Had it in a
glass case. Had to show it to me. I went to his
house, he had to show it to me. And then he told
me something that I still haven't got over. In
20 years, probably since I was at the man's house.
More than that now. He said, I just bought that.
And I got it for $300. What did the Beanie Babies
cost? What did they cost? $4 .99? $5? $6? He
was proud that he had paid $300 for a Beanie
Baby. I'm talking a grown man. I didn't tell
him what I was thinking because I still wanted
to eat after we left his office. Listen, that
$5 or $6 Beanie Baby. It was worth $300 because
that's what the man paid for it. I would never
pay that for it. But that beanie baby was worth
$300. Listen to me. What are you worth to God?
I mean, I can look at myself in the mirror and
I can say, I ain't worth much most days. I think
the science teacher back when I was in high school
has probably gone up with inflation now, but
I think I used to be worth, if you just took
all the stuff that I'm made of, mostly carbon
and hydrogen and oxygen, and bottled it up to
sell it, I think it was like $8 and something
is about what I was worth. At that time, that's
back in the 80s. I might be worth $25 now. Who
knows? Thirty bucks. Science teacher told me
I was worth eight bucks. Well, my science teacher
didn't purchase me. What are you worth to God?
Listen. This is hard to wrap your brain around.
You are worth Jesus. You're worth Jesus. That's
what God thinks of you. And we look in the mirror
and we beat ourselves up so often. Right? Has
anybody ever beat yourself up before? In your
own mind, in your own thoughts. You just beat
yourself up and beat yourself down. But we've
got to realize something. We've been bought.
We're not our own anymore. We've been bought,
and that price was Jesus. And if God didn't think
you were worth it, he wouldn't have bought you.
Hallelujah. Our identity. needs to be anchored
in redemption, not anchored in experience. Listen,
not anchored in our experience in this broken,
fallen world, but our identity needs to be anchored
in redemption because our worth is not measured
by our past anymore. Our worth is not measured
by our feelings, which are fickle. Our worth
is not measured by any present struggle that
we're facing. Our worth is measured by the blood
of Jesus. And listen, to live beneath that, to
live beneath redemption is to live beneath the
price that was paid for you and for me. For us
to live our lives beneath that reality and that
identity. Look at the person beside you and say,
we need to step up then. We need to step up.
So how are we going to apply this truth? How
are we going to apply it? Here's a couple of
things to think about. Faith agrees with what
the blood has done. Not only believes, it speaks
in a line. with what the blood has done over
your life, what the blood has purchased. Some
of us are going to stay in bondage till our mouths
are liberated to say what God said. So faith
agrees with what the blood has done. It speaks
accordingly, then it acts accordingly. So hold
your head up. Look at the person beside you and
tell them, hold your head up. Hold your head
up. Because of who you are in Christ. Not because
of who you are, but because of who you are in
Christ. The Bible talks about boasting in what
Christ has done. We've got to get the wine out
of our voice. We can't even say the right words
and still have a wine in our voice. Hello? If
you've got a wine in your voice, you haven't
grasped the reality of what the blood has purchased
for you. If you've still got a wine in your voice.
We've got to speak our covenant identity. We
like to speak our struggle most of the time.
We like to speak our struggle. We like to speak
our problems. We like to speak our uncertainty.
We've got to speak covenant identity in agreement
with what the blood has purchased for us. You've
got to replace language of uncertainty with language
of redemption. Instead of, I'm trying to get
free, because a lot of people spend a lot of
time trying to get free, struggling, because
you think you've got to obtain your freedom,
and you don't realize that Jesus has already
obtained your freedom. As long as you're trying
to fight for it, you'll never get it. So instead
of saying, I'm trying to get free, say, I have
been redeemed and I belong to God. Because if
we're in Christ, we have. We've got to confront
temptation with our identity. We talked about
this in our life group going through Romans.
I mean, this is just full of this kind of language,
right? We've got to confront that temptation.
We've got to use our words. We've got to use
our mouth. We've got to use our understanding
and us being established in what the blood has
done for us. And we need to say, look, sin, you
are not my master anymore. You used to be my
master, but you're not anymore because I'm not
my own because I've been bought with the blood
of Jesus. So get on out of here. Leave me alone.
I'm not going to listen to your nonsense anymore.
You're not my master. Listen, that's not my nature
anymore. I'm in Christ. Old things have passed
away. All things have become new. So that's not
my nature anymore. I've been bought. I belong
to God. Our response to Jesus purchasing us.
should not be guilt -driven behavior anymore.
How many of you are like, I'm feeling that because
I had a lot of guilt -driven behavior in my relationship
with God because the religion that I was dealing
with was a little messed up, didn't understand.
Hello? So our response is not we're so guilty
that now we're going to try to act better because
we just feel guilty all the time if we don't.
If we understand that we've been purchased and
we belong to God, our response is gratitude -driven
consecration. Listen, integrity becomes worship.
Because we're bringing glory to God with our
life, right? Integrity becomes worship to God.
Purity becomes worship to God. Obedience becomes
worship. Generosity becomes worship. I want to
say this together. Everybody get... Like we're
in third grade and we're going to read off the
board. But don't just say it like you're reading
in the third grade. Let the truth of what you're
saying sink in as we say it together. Right?
Here we go. One, two, three. I am redeemed by
the blood of Jesus. I am bought with a price.
I belong to God. Spirit. soul, and body. The
enemy has no claim on me. I will glorify God
with my life. Who wants to say it again? Let's
say it again. One, two, three. I am redeemed
by the blood of Jesus. I am bought with a price.
I belong to God, spirit, soul, and body. The
enemy has no claim over me. I will glorify God
with my life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The blood
not only saved you, the blood needs to be what
defines you. Defines you. Everybody say, I have
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