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Week number three in our series that we've entitled,
I Have Faith. the receipt. Everybody say that.
I have the receipt. Now, I went to BJ's. I go
to BJ's every Saturday, all right? And for some
reason, I've just got to have, we've got to have
eggs, we've got to have apples, got to have gas
in the car, even though the receipt doesn't apply
to that. We get the cakes and things that we
bring for church at BJ's. What else did we buy
yesterday? We drink coffee from BJ's. They've
got organic coffee that we get. But anyway, and
I always go through the self -checkout lane.
How many of you like those self -checkout lanes?
It's just the fastest way to get out, right?
So you go scan your card. You go scan your items
in your cart. You don't even have to take them
out of the cart at BJ's, unlike other places
like Costco. You've got to take it out of the
cart. But at BJ's, you leave it in the cart.
You hit all the barcodes. They give you the receipt.
And even the computer, when you check out, says,
make sure you get your receipt. Because if you
don't have your receipt, you're not going to
get out with the items that you purchased. Yeah.
To prove a point, the line to get out of BJ's,
because they only had one person checking receipts,
they came across someone that didn't have...
every item in their buggy on their receipt. So
we were in a standoff trying to get out. The
lady checking the receipts and checking the buggies
is on the radio calling in for reinforcement.
We're trying to figure out how the person who
missed one of the items in their buggy is now
going to pay for it. It makes it interesting,
right? But then someone walked from the counter
and took my receipt and checked it. So I was
able to bypass. And then it's funny that they
started in the back and went to the front. So
the people in front of me weren't happy that
I was getting out before they were. But anyway,
you have to have the receipt. The receipt is
the proof of purchase. And if you ever get questioned,
everybody say question. If you ever get questioned.
If you have the receipt, you're good. If you
have the receipt, you have proof that you have
purchased it or it has been purchased. Because
we all get questioned. We all get questioned
by the enemy. Can you really have that? Can you
really do that? Well, If we have a receipt and
know what's on the receipt, then we can have
what the receipt says has been purchased for
us. This series, if we will let it, is helping
us be more established in one of the most central
truths of the Christian faith. And that is, what
was purchased and what is provided What was purchased
for us and what is provided for us through the
blood of Jesus. Because if you don't know that
it was purchased for you, then you don't have
it. It may be available, it may be purchased,
but if you don't know what was purchased, then
you can't... Enjoy that privilege or experience
what Jesus purchased for you. The Word of God
contains a detailed receipt of what Jesus purchased
for you and for me with His blood. And that's
what this series is about. This is week number
three, but we took what would have been week
number one as something that we all should know,
right? See, the blood's not just an illustration.
At church, and even Jesus used parables, right?
And they were illustrations, earthly things that
are attached to something spiritual or to something
heavenly. But the blood is not just an illustration.
It's not just symbolism, symbolic words. It's
covenant reality. And it's full of spiritual
power. This is the one that we kind of took for
granted. Maybe we shouldn't have, but Hebrews
9 .22. If you ask most people who go to church
on a regular basis what the blood of Jesus did
for them, most people, like I said, who've gone
to church for any time, they've probably heard
this verse. Now, I was on the road for 20 years,
and then I was at a campground for nine years.
And I probably shared this verse, I can't say
every message of the hundreds, maybe thousands
of messages that I preach, but the vast majority
of them, I was given a gospel presentation as
part of the message because I would never see
a lot of those people again. It was just one
time that I was with them. But Hebrews 9 .22
says this, without the shedding of blood, There
is no forgiveness. There is no remission of sin
without the shedding of blood. So Jesus purchased
our forgiveness. He made forgiveness possible
by his blood purchase on the cross. Okay? Because
if He wouldn't have died on the cross for us,
if He wouldn't have shed His blood for us, we
would be hopelessly and helplessly lost. There
would be no forgiveness. So this verse is one
of many receipts in God's Word that says, hey,
my forgiveness was purchased with the blood of
Jesus. I have the receipt. So the blood of Jesus
makes forgiveness possible. His purchase makes
forgiveness possible. His purchase does not give
forgiveness to everybody. It's only the people
who receive His forgiveness by faith in what
He did and faith in Him and confess Him as Lord.
Those are the people. who can take hold of that
forgiveness. But it has been purchased for every
single person in this room. For every single
person up and down Highway 27, it's been purchased.
Whether they have the receipt or not, it's been
purchased. But they have to have the receipt
before they can have it. Right? Colossians 1,
13 and 14 says this. For he has rescued us from
the kingdom of darkness. Hallelujah. He has rescued
us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred
us into the kingdom of his dear son who purchased
our freedom and forgave our sins. So here's forgiveness
again. Everybody say forgiveness. His forgiveness
again, but we also see something else Jesus purchased
with His blood that we have the receipt for if
we are in Christ. He purchased us out of the
kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. We've been bought, we
looked at in week one. We've been bought at a
price, a very high price, and that price... is
the blood of Jesus. He purchased us. He redeemed
us. That means he bought us out to bring us in.
So the blood of Jesus paid the price for our
redemption. He bought us and brought us out of
the kingdom of darkness. And we have the receipt.
We have the receipt. Hebrews 9, 13 and 14. We
talked about this last week. And I haven't known
this truth. I mean, I know I've read these verses,
but I haven't really known and acknowledged this
truth until recently, I have to tell you. Even
though I've been in full -time ministry now for
getting close to 35 years next year. in 27. But
listen to the word of God. Under the old system,
the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of
a heifer could cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial
impurity. Now listen, just think how much more
the blood of Jesus will purify our consciences.
Did this truth bless anybody last week? How much
more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences
from sinful deeds so that we can worship the
living God? The blood of Jesus, he bought this
for you. Now whether you're experiencing it or
not is up to you. But it has been purchased.
People walk around with guilt and shame and condemnation
all the time. Even good church people walk around
with it, deal with it. But Jesus, The other verse
that we looked at, I'm not reading it, I'm not
re -preaching last week's message, but he sprinkled
our consciences with his blood to cleanse us,
to cleanse our conscience. So in Christ, our
conscience should never condemn us because Jesus
purchased something. And if we really know it
and stand in it, anytime our conscience tries
to bring us down and beat us down, we can say,
oh no, I have a receipt. Let me tell you something,
because sometimes the thoughts that come into
our mind can be from the enemy. Sometimes it's
just our own, you know, human reasoning. Sometimes
it's the enemy whispering. In our minds, and
sometimes we think it's us, but it's the enemy
saying, no, not really. You don't really have
this. No, I've got it. My conscience has been
cleansed, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus.
My conscience is purified, so I'm not going to,
no, I will not. accept that condemnation and
shame and guilt anymore. And we did talk about
the conviction of the Holy Spirit in relation
to the condemnation of the conscious or the condemnation
of the enemy. The conviction of the Holy Spirit
is always bringing you up. He's not tearing you
down. He's bringing you out. He's bringing you
out and bringing you up. He's not telling you
you're no good and you'll never make it and you're
worthless. That's not the Holy Spirit talking.
So, that's all the preaching I'm going to do
for last week's message. If you're interested
in this and you want to listen to the first two
messages, just go to anywhere you listen to podcasts
and look up Elation Church. And you can have
those full messages. Christ's blood deals with
the effects and internal damage of sin. Not just
the outside. Not just forgiveness. His blood
deals with the effects and damage of sin. Christ's
blood can cleanse the conscience of all guilt
and condemnation. Listen. from your past actions,
and from your past experiences. Because sometimes
our consciences are condemned because of a situation
that we were in. It wasn't necessarily a result
of our personal sin, but it was a result of someone
else's sin, and then we can still be condemned
in our consciences. Christ's blood can handle
both. It did handle both. The blood of Jesus
not only makes forgiveness possible, the blood
of Jesus not only purchases us out of the kingdom
of darkness and transfers us into the kingdom
of his dear son, the blood of Jesus not only
cleanses our conscience from the effects of sin,
And the damage of sin, the blood of Jesus, listen,
don't just say, oh, I knew this. I believe you
can have greater revelation of what we're looking
at today than you've ever had in your life. So
don't just brush it off because this is a big
deal. The blood of Jesus grants us direct access
to God. In Christ, when we are in Christ, the
blood of Jesus gives us direct access to God.
We could even put it this way. We're going to
look at the verses, but I'm going to go ahead
and give you a teaser. Boldly access. Bold access
to God. Last month, one of my friends was in
Tampa. And we've been friends a long time. You've
probably never heard of his name before. His
name's Russ Lee. Sings with a group called New
Song. He also had a personal number one song
on Christian radio, national number one song.
When he went solo for a while, he was with a
group, Truth, and you've got to be really old
to know who Truth is. But anyway. Well, you might
have heard of Winter Jam. You might not have,
but I forgot what year it was, maybe 10 years
ago. Winter Jam was the largest attended tour
in the world, according to Billboard magazine.
For that year, it was the number one attended
tour. Anyway, Russ and New Song, the group that
he's in, they started Winter Jam, and then they
have other Christian artists come. Well, it had
been about three years since I'd seen Russ, since
I'd been here. And I called him and told him
we'd like to come see him. Well, he told us to
come around back where everybody parks their
buses and the semi -trucks and all that. And
he met us outside the gate behind the arena in
Tampa, and he gave all four of us one of these.
Now, it's not a lanyard, but it's a... It's cloth
with a sticker on it. And he said, put these
on. Well, I put mine on my shirt, and then it
started peeling off a little bit because my shirt
was slick, I guess. So I put it on my jeans.
I put it on my leg right there. And if I would
have been backstage or in the parking area of
the buses without this, the security guards or
the police, would have quickly escorted me out.
Okay? The concert lasted, it was probably like
a four -hour concert, all kinds of Christian
music at the concert, in the arena. But I had
this on my leg, so in the middle of the concert,
Russ said, come on back after a certain band
played, come on back and have dinner with us
in catering behind. Behind the stage. So in the
middle of the concert, we all got up and we walked
out and we walked right beside the stage and
we didn't even stop. We acted like we owned the
place. We didn't stop because these were visible.
I mean, I could tell that they were looking,
but when they saw this that said all access,
they had different ones with different words
on them. But when they saw the one with all access,
they smiled. The security just smiled and waved.
Now, if I wouldn't have had this, they would
have tackled me. Because nobody's just going
to walk right beside the stage, right to the
back, and then we walked in the catering room.
Big old buffet catering. Guess what? I could
have anything that I wanted. Big chest just filled
with, I mean, we just got waters, but it had
all kinds of sodas and different things in there.
I could have got anything I wanted. I could have
went back and ate three or four plates if I was
hungry. I had full access to walk anywhere I
wanted to walk in the arena in Tampa. I just
wanted to share that with you because the blood
of Jesus, has purchased your access into the
throne room of eternity, into the very throne
of God. Listen, there's been times when I've
met people that I've been kind of timid, which
is kind of strange to be a preacher and then
kind of be timid when you meet people. But people
that I respect and I honor, I mean, sometimes
I kind of get timid. You probably don't believe
that when I'm up here, you know, taking authority
over the room. But when I'm in somebody else's
room, sometimes I get timid. But listen, you
don't have to be timid coming into the presence
of God. The blood of Jesus has purchased. You
have direct access. But you've got to know that
you have that receipt. That's on your receipt.
Hebrews 10, 19, reading through verse 22. And
so, dear brothers and sisters, so, dear brothers
and sisters, we can boldly, everybody say boldly.
We can boldly enter heaven's most holy place.
Why? How? How? Because of the blood of Jesus.
By His death, Jesus opened. Everybody say, He
opened. Jesus opened a new and life -giving way
through the curtain. into the most holy place.
And since we have a great high priest who rules
over God's house, let us go right into the presence
of God with sincere hearts, fully trusting him.
For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled
with Christ's blood to make us clean. And our
bodies have been washed with pure water. Go right
in. Look at the person beside you and say, you
can go right in. You can go right in because
you have the receipt. The blood of Jesus opened
the way into God's presence, giving believers
bold access, secure standing, and confident prayer.
Access is not earned through spiritual achievement.
How many of you thought that it was? How many
of you have had a time in your life where you
thought your access to God was something you
had to earn through spiritual achievement. Anybody?
I hope you've never thought that. But chances
are, the majority of the people in this room
have thought that at one time or another. Access
is not earned by you. It's purchased with the
blood of Jesus. It's not earned through spiritual
achievement. Access is granted through covenant
blood. The blood of Jesus. So this verse gives
us three realities. Entry, everybody say entry.
See, there used to be a barrier. Used to be a
barrier keeping us, keeping us out. But the barrier's
been removed. The other reality is boldness.
We can boldly go. See, there's confidence to
approach. That was given to us, purchased with
the blood of Jesus. And drawing near to God.
See, I don't recall anybody even teaching me
this, but I always felt like, To come to the
presence, come into the presence of God, it's
like I almost had to be like lower than a worm.
Just kind of broken and pitiful. I mean, I've
heard people preach the Old Testament thing about
being broken. Just broken. We're just broken.
Got to be broken. Broken. Somebody say that's
Old Testament. Come on, say it's Old Testament.
Broken. I'm just pitiful. I'm just so broken.
It's Old Testament. Old Testament. We're in our
new covenant in Christ. That Jesus said that
he sealed with his blood. That's where that new
covenant entered. That's how it came into effect,
is with the blood of Jesus. We're under a new
covenant. See, the barrier was real, and the
barrier is still real today. Because sin creates
separation. And we're all born in sin, and we're
all guilty. So sin created this separation. In
the Old Testament, they had to have sacrifices,
and we talked about this in our last series on
the glory of God, but the priest could only enter
in one time a year to bring a sacrifice to cover
the sin of the people. But Jesus accomplished
what he accomplished once and for all. And he
took his blood to the mercy seat, the real one,
not just the image of it in the Old Testament,
but the real one in heaven. Sin created this
separation between God and man. And it wasn't
just an emotional distance, but it was a spiritual
distance. Without the atonement, Without Jesus
dying on the cross to reconcile us back to God,
without the atonement, access to God's presence
was restricted. It was restricted. But listen
to what happened. Matthew 27, 50. Listen to what
happened. Jesus is on the cross, right? Then
he shouted out again. It's finished. He released
his spirit. At that moment, right then, the curtain
in the sanctuary, the veil in the temple, the
curtain that protected people from experiencing
the glory of God. when they weren't prepared
or called to be the one to enter into the glory,
at that moment, the curtain was torn. This is
a very thick curtain. It's not a very thin curtain.
It means inches thick curtain. And it was torn
in two. It was ripped in two from top to bottom.
So if it was ripped from top to bottom, who ripped
it? God ripped it. So the curtain was torn in
two from top to bottom. The earth shook and even
rocks split apart. When Jesus laid down his life
on the cross, when he released his spirit, the
tearing of the veil communicates that the old
system is now fulfilled. The barrier was removed.
Access was open. A new and living way was open.
The blood is holy and precious. I mean, we've
got, how many more? Five more weeks on what Jesus
purchased with his blood. Made available for
us. But the blood is holy and precious because
it grants what humanity can never secure on our
own. It grants a living fellowship with God.
Without the blood, we can't have a living fellowship
with God. The blood created this new and living
way. Access is not granted by the believer striving.
It's not granted by your current spiritual mood.
It has nothing to do with your feelings. Hello?
It has nothing to do with your feelings. No matter
if you feel like it or not. The blood has purchased
your access. Access is granted through entering
into a new covenant. Ephesians 2 .13. Everybody
needs to be in control whether you're distracted
or not. You don't want to miss it. But now, you
have been united with Christ Jesus. Once, Every
single one of us. We're far away from God. But
now, you have been brought near to Him. What
has brought you near? You've been brought near
to Him through the blood of Christ. The Bible
says if we draw near to God, He will draw near
to us. And that only becomes possible Because
of the blood of Jesus. Because that's what he
purchased. Our access doesn't fluctuate based
on our recent obedience, doesn't fluctuate based
on our personal feelings, doesn't fluctuate based
on our personal spiritual confidence, even though
those things, if you allow them to, if you don't
know that you have the receipt of what Christ
has purchased for you, they will keep you out.
Unless you know that they can't. And stand on
the truth of God's word that says that they can't.
Because their access is anchored in the blood.
Listen, your standing is not built on self -worthiness,
but blood -worthiness. Your access remains because
the price that Jesus paid remained. So let's
look at this verse again. Let us come boldly
to the throne of our gracious God. Everybody
say boldly. Have you noticed the word boldly
in these verses? I mean, I've heard them. But
am I living like I believe it? Am I accessing
the throne room of heaven boldly. Let us come
boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There...
So, wait a minute. If we don't come boldly, are
we going to receive? Just think about it. Let
us come boldly to the throne of our gracious
God. There, when we come boldly to the throne
of our gracious God, there we will receive His
mercy. We will find grace to help us when we
need it the most. Boldness is not arrogance.
I know some bold people. that the only reason
they're bold is because of their arrogance and
their pride. That's not what this is talking
about. When we talk about being bold, we're not
talking about some arrogance. We're talking about
a confidence. God is looking for a boldness that's
based on confidence in what He has done and in
what He has said. God's looking for that kind
of boldness. And God wants us to have that kind
of boldness. Not based on us, but based on what
He's done and what He said. This will change
your life. Boldness honors the blood. Think about
that. Your boldness coming to God, what you're
doing is you're honoring the blood of Jesus in
your boldness and in your confidence. Because
if you approach him not bold and the opposite
of boldness and the opposite of confidence, then
you're not honoring the blood of Jesus. To approach
God timidly as though unsure of acceptance, that
undermines the purpose of redemption. This is
good. The blood of Jesus was shed to produce
confidence, not fear. The blood of Jesus was
shed to produce nearness, not retreat. The blood
of Jesus was shed to produce intimacy with God,
not distance from God. This is what he bought
for us with his blood. And the only way we connect,
everybody say connect. The only way we connect
is through faith. The only way we connect to
forgiveness, right? It's God's grace. He did
it all. He provided it. But we connect. Because
of His grace, but we connect through faith. Without
faith, we're not connected. This applies to every
promise of God in the Word. So faith responds
to covenant access with bold confession. We're
not, well, God... I read your word. It says this,
and I'm not really sure, but I'm going to say
it. Faith responds to covenant access with bold
confession and confident prayer. Confident prayer
based on what he's made available to us. Boldness
is what receives grace in time of need. Bold
confession. Bold praying. Let us go right into
the presence of God with sincere hearts, fully
trusting Him. Fully trusting Him. This access
has two sides. Jesus opened the way with His
blood, but we must respond. We're not going to
have this access until we respond to what the
Word says, right? We must respond by drawing
near. We must respond by coming to God boldly
based on what He has done, based on the blood
of Christ, based on what He has promised. Not
arrogantly, but with a God confidence. Because
if we really trust Him, if we really trust Him,
There's going to be a confidence with it. So
how do we apply? From now on for the rest of
your life, when you approach God, approach God
on blood ground. Approach Him on blood ground.
Pray with covenant confidence. We're not beggars.
Look to the person beside you and say, I'm not
a beggar. I'm not begging God. Boy, my prayer
life, I mean, I want to say most of the years
I've been preaching, out of almost 35 years,
my prayer life has been begging God to do what
I want Him to do. It ain't about just begging.
We're not beggars. We're children. We're children.
Granted access. We don't take a number and get
in line. We don't beg. Oh God, please, please,
please, please, please. We're not beggars. We
also don't come to God thinking that we've earned
something. That's easy to do. Especially when
we become When we go through those phases of
being spiritual teenagers, like we've got everything
figured out and we're doing it all right, all
the time. Everything's right. Just like an 18
-year -old that thinks her parents are idiots
and they know everything. So we never come to
God saying, look, you know how good I've been.
Hello? You know what I've done for you. You know
what I've given up for you, God. You know how
faithful I am. I saw you bless somebody else
and they ain't even been in church in the last
two months. I've been every service. If you're
going to bless somebody, you ought to bless me.
Come on now. That's not coming to God on blood
ground because you're not going to earn it. Not
by performing. Approach God. Father, I come to
you in the mighty name of Jesus and by his blood.
And that's the only reason I'm here. Because
I'm blood -balked. And I'm standing on blood
ground. And my confidence is in what you've done
for me. Not in my ability, but in what you've
done is what my confidence is in. So I come before
you boldly. Bringing a request to you based on
who you are and what you have said. That's the
way we approach God boldly. You know, we've got
to start refusing spiritual distance as normal
Christianity. Well, you know, I'm just not as
close to God as I used to be. You know, I go
through these seasons and sometimes, you know,
I feel close to God and sometimes, you know,
just right now I'm just not feeling very close
to God. You know. This is not normal Christianity.
That's a roller coaster. Go to a theme park if
you want to ride a roller coaster. Mike. Mike
really likes the Guardians roller coaster at
Epcot. He will never get on it again. We got
him on it. But he can say he's ridden it. But
that's not supposed to be normal Christianity.
Distance results in loss of peace, loss of clarity,
loss of power, loss of joy. The blood does not
call believers to observe God from a distance.
but to walk with God in intimate fellowship.
That's what Jesus paid the price for. So that
you can walk with God. So we need to build a
lifestyle. We can say of glory. Everybody say
glory. Or of the presence of God. Build a lifestyle.
Need to have daily habits. Cultivate the awareness
of God in His presence and our accessibility
to Him. And worship leads us into that atmosphere.
Scripture aligns us with who God is. Prayer is
talking with God and fellowshipping with God
and spending time with God. That's how we apply
this. Because if we just visit God every Sunday,
We're not taking advantage of everything that
Jesus has purchased for us. I want to say these
things together. Going back to the third grade,
where we're going to read these things together.
We're going to put our words in agreement with
what we've learned today. Okay, are you ready?
Again, I want to stand up. So if you want to
stand up, let's stand up and say it. She'd rather
stand up and say it. All right. Don't just say
it like you're reading something in the third
grade. Take ownership of what you're saying and
say it with confidence. Are you ready? One, two,
three. I have bold access to God by the blood
of Jesus. I've been brought near. I kept at a
distance. I come confidently to the throne of
grace. I live in full assurance of faith. I draw
near to God, and he draws near to me. This is
setting our words in agreement with what God
says about us. Let's say it again. One, two,
three. I have bold... Access to God by the blood
of Jesus. I've been brought near, not kept at
a distance. I come confidently to the throne
of grace. I live in full assurance of faith.
I draw near to God and he draws near to me. Somebody
say every time, every day. When I draw near to
God, he draws near to me. Because that's who
he is. Jesus gave me access. But if Jesus not
only saved you from judgment, it opened up the
way into God's presence. This online worship
experience was brought to you by the friends
and partners of Eulation Church.