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This is week number seven in our series entitled,
I have the receipt. Now, if you've ever been
to BJ's or a Costco, some sort of wholesale center,
you know that before you check out or after you
check out, you take your receipt. your proof
of purchase over to another counter before they
let you leave the building. And someone looks
at your buggy, they look at you, they look at
your receipt, and they verify, they make sure
that you've scanned every single item before
they allow you to leave. Why? Because you're
entering into an agreement with the store. Once
those goods are purchased, they belong to you.
They can't come back, you know, like a week later
and be like, oh, well, we changed the price of
this item. We want that item back. No, you've
entered into an agreement with them and those
items belong to you. And we've been talking about
the blood of Jesus and how it's a central truth
of the Christian faith. But we've looked at what
was purchased and what is provided through the
blood of Jesus. And that's what this series has
been about, because the word of God. Contains
a detailed receipt of what Jesus purchased, what
Jesus provided with his blood. And that's why
this series is called I Have the Receipt, because
the word of God reveals so many great promises,
so many great. things connected to the blood
of Jesus. And it's been a great series that we've
been on. So let's recap a little bit and look
at some of these things that scripture reveals
about the blood of Jesus. So the blood is not
just an illustration or symbolic religious verbiage,
as some of you who maybe have grown up in church.
you know, have heard about it or thought about
it, it's actually full of covenant reality. And
it's full of spiritual power, as we've seen.
So let's turn to Scripture. Hebrews 9 .22, as
we've looked at, says this, Without the shedding
of blood, there's no forgiveness. Everybody say
forgiveness. So the blood of Jesus makes forgiveness
possible for the believer. And then we looked
at in Colossians 1, 13 through 14 says, for 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.
Say purchased and then say forgave. So God. purchased
us he not only forgave us he purchased us too
as we saw so the blood of jesus it paid the price
it purchased our redemption and this verse tells
us that he brought us out of darkness he bought
us from the kingdom of darkness and then transferred
us into the kingdom of in christ his son And
then we looked at in Hebrews 9, 13 through 14,
says under the old system, the blood of goats
and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse
people's bodies from ceremonial impurity. Verse
14, just think how much more the blood of Christ
will purify our consciences from sinful deeds
so that we can worship the living God. Here we
see that Christ's blood also deals with the effects
and the eternal damage of sin. Not just sin in
general, but it deals with sin's effects on us
and how sin has internally affected us and damaged
us. Christ's blood can cleanse the conscious,
is what this verse says. It cleanses our minds
of all guilt and condemnation. And from these
things can come up from, as we saw from past
experiences, past actions on our part, maybe
some sinful actions done to you. But thank God
that his blood cleanses us, not just salvation,
not just for eternal life, but it cleanses our
minds in the here and now of sin. And it removes
that power of sin over us. And then we saw in
Hebrews 10, 19. And so, dear brothers and sisters,
we can boldly enter heaven's most holy place
because of the blood of Jesus. And as we learned,
the blood of Jesus grants us bold access to God.
This is another great truth. in God's word about
the blood of Jesus. Let's continue with more
that we've looked at. In Hebrews 12, 24 says,
So as we learned, the blood of Jesus speaks.
It has a voice. The blood of Jesus speaks mercy.
It speaks. It speaks acceptance. It speaks peace.
It speaks reconciliation and covenant favor.
So the blood of Jesus, it speaks these better
things over us. And then we saw in 1 Corinthians
15, 57 says, but thank God he gives us victory
over sin and death. Everybody say victory. He
gives us victory over sin and death through our
Lord Jesus Christ. And then we saw in Revelations
12, 11, it says, and they overcame him, talking
about our enemy, our adversary, the devil. It
says, and they overcame him, speaking of a future
thing that will happen, but we overcome him now
by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their
testimony. As we saw the blood of Jesus, it secures
our victory over sin, death, and the enemy, and
all demonic forces. As the believer, we have
authority in Christ over these things. These
things no longer rule over us. And then in 1
Peter 2, 24, we saw that who himself bore our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having
died to sins, might live for righteousness, by
whose stripes you were healed. And we looked
at that word healed as meaning wholeness. When
we look at the original Greek language, it means
wholeness for the believer. So what does this
mean? It means that the blood of Jesus purchased
healing for the whole person, for the physical,
for the mental, for the emotional. The blood
of Jesus provides wholeness, provides healing,
restoration of the whole person. He's not just
concerned about your salvation. He's concerned
about your mental arena. He's concerned about
your emotions. And these things can often get
in the way of our worship and our life served
and surrendered to God. And God's saying healing
is more than often just what we think about.
the whole person, and the blood of Jesus provided
that for us. So, as we've seen, the blood of
Jesus, it not only makes forgiveness possible,
it not only perches us out of the kingdom of
darkness, not only cleanses our conscience from
the effects of sin, not only grants us bold access
to God, it not only speaks better things over
our lives, it not only secures our victory, It
not only makes us whole. Today, we're looking
at how the blood of Jesus establishes covenant.
Everybody say, establishes covenant. Now, throughout
this series, we've made a lot of statements about
covenant, but we've not really defined what a
covenant is. So let's talk about that real quick.
A covenant is an irrevocable agreement between
two parties. And as we look throughout Scripture
from beginning to end, we see that God is a covenant
God. We see Him make covenants with Adam, with
Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, and David. And
today I want us to look at two individual ones.
Now, God made many covenants with these people,
but I just want to focus in on two of these because
I... think that they reveal a great truth that
we can see. So in the book of Genesis, Genesis
15, God made a covenant with Abram. Abram is
soon to be Abraham, but he's still called Abram
here. His name is still Abram before God changed
his name. And God does something very unique.
Abram asked God a very serious question. He says,
after... Well, Abraham asked God after God had
told him, you know, your descendants will outnumber
the stars in the sky. And after he. showed him
all this land. God showed Abram all this land
and said, this would be the land of your descendants
and you're going to have a son. And after all
these things, Abraham asked God, he goes, so
how will I know? In Genesis 15, 8, if you want
to look at it, I encourage you to read it after
this podcast. But in verse 8, he goes, so God,
how will I know? How will I be sure that these
things will happen? And as we've said, God is
a covenant God. And as we see through the rest
of this chapter, we see this is how God shows
Abraham how he can know, how he can be assured
of his promises that will take place. And so
what God does here is animals were cut in half
and laid on opposite side of each other. And
now this seems a little barbaric, but this was.
custom in their day. This was tradition. They
would cut the animals in half and most of the
time both parties would walk between them as
a sign that if someone broke the agreement that
their life would be on the line or they would
perish. But this time something unique happened.
God God laid out everything, but then he kind
of put Abram into a trance or to sleep, some
translations say. But yet he was still able to
communicate with Abram. Abram was still cognizant.
He was still aware of what was happening, as
we see. And he sees, Abram sees a smoking cauldron
and a torch of fire pass between these cut animals.
And this shows us that it was representation
of God walking through and making this promise
and making things sure to Abram. And it reveals
that God is showing that he alone. is the one
who guarantees the promise. It wasn't like it
was up to Abram to fulfill his side. No, it was
God was showing him in that moment because he's
saying, God, how can I be sure? And God's like,
watch this. I'm going to walk through. I'm going
to make sure the promise comes to be. It's not
in your effort. It's not in your ability. And
then when we turn over to Exodus later on, we
see Moses. And I actually want to read this account.
It's found in Exodus 24, 6 through 8. And it
reveals another covenant that was made in the
Bible that carries a lot of significance. So
let's read it. Again, Exodus 24, verses 6 through
8. Moses drained half the blood from these animals
into basins. The other half he splattered against
the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant
and read it aloud to the people. Again, they
all responded, we will do everything the Lord
has commanded. We will obey. I just want to insert
there, I wish they would have obeyed and done
everything the Lord had commanded, right? But
they did respond that way. And then in verse
8, then Moses took the blood from the basins
and splattered it over the people. declaring,
look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord
has made with you in giving you these instructions.
So quickly, I want to point out the blood was
sprinkled on the altar and then it was sprinkled
on the people. And we see this is the first covenant
in the Bible where this takes place. Often blood
was put on the doorpost or just put on the altar
and things like that. But this time the blood
is not only on the altar, it's on the people.
And this is very interesting because God established
the covenant with Moses and his people with blood.
And the blood, it was not only applied to the
altar, it was applied to the people. And as we
continue to read through the scriptures, we see
that the purpose of the covenant, of a blood
covenant, restored fellowship. It's for restoration
of God and man and what sin had divided and separated,
his blood restored and mended. Because without
blood, there's no access or fellowship of sinful
man with a holy God. And after this takes place,
we read in Exodus 25, 8, says this, God tells
them, Have the people of Israel build me a holy
sanctuary so I can live among them. So in other
words, this could not happen until after the
blood was applied to them. That's when now they
can worship him. That's when they can communicate
with him and build this tabernacle where God's
presence would now dwell among his people. This
is what God wants, but sin has kept that from
happening. So just like God established covenants
with these in the Old Testament, When we go over
to the New Testament, we see Jesus establishing
a new covenant with us, with his blood. Let's
think back on the night before Jesus shed his
blood on the cross. He got together with his
disciples in the upper room to let them know
what was about to take place. So now let's turn
to Luke 22 20 and read. It says this, after supper,
he took another cup of wine and said, this cup.
is the new covenant between God and his people.
An agreement, say an agreement, an agreement
confirmed with my blood, which is poured out
as a sacrifice for you. So notice that the cup
was the agreement and his blood was the confirmation
of it. And that is what is poured out as a sacrifice
for us. And as we know, the next day when he
shed his blood on the cross, that is when the
new covenant was established. That's when God
said, it is finished. It is done, meaning it
is completed. That's when that covenant went
into effect, when that blood left his body, right?
But then this is... What we see in the natural,
what takes place on the earth, was wonderful
and grand and God willingly laying down his life
for us, but something else takes place. We see
what happens in the natural in the gospel accounts
of his death and burial and resurrection, but
Hebrews gives us further revelation of what takes
place and what took place in the spirit realm.
So I want us to turn now to Hebrews 9, 11 through
15. Now, some of this overlaps with some of the
things we've been reading, but now I want us
to read it all in one long stretch and see what
was accomplished in the spirit realm and what
took place. So let's read verse 11. So Christ
has now become the high priest over all the good
things that have come. He has entered that greater,
more perfect tabernacle in heaven, which was
not made by human hands and is not a part of
this created world. And with his own blood, not
the blood of goats and calves, he entered the
most holy place once and for all time and secured
our redemption forever. So I want to stop real
quick and just talk about... Remember, he shed
his blood on the cross, on the earth. We could
call that even, you know, on humanity. He shed
his blood in the earth. And then now we see that
he did something in the spirit realm too. He
takes his blood with his own blood. He enters
the most holy place, the holy throne room of
eternity. He takes that and with his blood, he
secures our redemption forever. Picking up in
verse 13 says, Under the old system, the blood
of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
could cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial
impurity. But just think how much more the blood
of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful
deeds so that we can worship a living God. For
by the power of the eternal spirit, Christ offered
himself to God as the perfect sacrifice for our
sins. That is why he is the one who mediates
a new covenant, say new covenant, new covenant
between God and people so that all who are called
can receive the internal inheritance God has
promised them. Who's the called out ones? How
do we know? Well, New Testament church is called
the called out ones. As we've seen, if you come
to a Lation church, often we talk about this,
that the church, the ecclesia is the called out
ones. So we're called out and we can receive,
those who are in Christ can receive the. eternal
inheritance God has promised them. And we often
talk about the promises of God. And through this
series, we've been looking at what the blood
of Jesus has purchased and provided. And we could
call those the promises of God in our lives.
So it's the covenant, the covenant established
by the blood of Jesus. the covenant is an irrevocable
agreement then that secures our our inheritance
and guarantees his promises so what inheritance
and what promises what do we see and what have
we been talking about in this series well it's
forgiveness right it's freedom from the kingdom
of darkness it's entry into the kingdom of god
it's cleansing of the conscious from the effects
of sin and its bold access to God. And our inheritance
includes divine declaration of good things. It
includes victory over our life. It includes healing
and wholeness, restoration of the whole body.
And how do we apply this truth? How do we genuinely
receive it? We've talked about this. Well, We
have to acknowledge what Christ has done. Christ
did something in the earth and he shed his blood
on the cross and then he takes it up to heaven
for our eternal redemption is what the verse
says. So it needs to eternally be on our minds.
We see the blood being in heaven in the book
of Revelation. We see the blood having impact.
And if it's that impacting, if it's that weighty
to the kingdom of God, shouldn't it be weighty
to us? Shouldn't we constantly keep it in our
attention? We need to acknowledge the blood each
and every day. And when we do that, it affects
us. It affects our minds when we don't focus
on other things, when our mind's not turning
to our problems, to our circumstance. If we can
focus our attention. on the blood and what the
blood has accomplished and what the blood says
instead of what our thoughts say and maybe what
others say about us, if we can acknowledge what
the blood says and say, you know, I have the
receipt in the word of God and I'm standing on
this, that's when you know that your belief system
begins to change because What you believe is
how you act. And when that belief starts boiling
up on the inside of you, then you start to act
on it. And you say, I'm in a covenant with God.
I have the receipt. It's all been established.
I have an irrevocable agreement that's been established
by the blood of Jesus. Amen. So we have to align
our words then with this covenant truth. We're
not aligning our words in just, whatever we think
and something that we've made up. No, we're aligning
our words with this agreement that God's made,
with this agreement that God settled in his word.
So we align our words with this covenant truth.
And as we've done each week, we practice that.
We don't just say it. It's not just information
to us. We're going to put his word into our mouth
and we're going to align our words. So wherever
you're at, no matter how silly you feel, go ahead
and say it out loud. Say this with me and just
repeat after me. God is a covenant God. I am
in covenant with him. I remember the Lord and
his finished work. I honor the blood of Jesus.
and the covenant it established. I am in irrevocable
agreement with God that was mediated by Jesus.
Redemption, victory, wholeness, and freedom are
my inheritance. His blood secures my standing
with Him and in Him. Amen. Let's say that one
more time together. One, two, three. God is a
covenant God. I am in covenant with him. I remember
the blood. I remember the Lord and his finished
work on the cross. I honor the blood of Jesus
and the covenant it established. I am in an irrevocable
agreement with God that was mediated by Jesus.
Redemption, victory, wholeness, and freedom.
So as we've seen today, the covenant is God's
chosen structure of relationship and promise.
We see that terms are established in the covenant.
Access is granted by the covenant. Blessings
are secured. And identity, identity is defined.
So the new covenant established by the blood
of Jesus, it secures our standing with him and
it secures our standing in him. This online worship
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