PAID IN FULL

UNDERSTANDING AND APPROPRIATING THE

POWER IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS

‘We Overcome by the Blood!’

Pastor Tayo Adeyemi

                                                                  Sunday 10 April 2011

Foundation Scriptures: 1 Peter 1: 18-19 & Revelation 12: 11

We continue today with our series, Paid in Full, in which we are seeking to broaden our understanding of the power in the blood of Jesus. Having laid a foundation last week that the life is in the blood, we are today building on this understanding. We know that God requires that blood must be shed to atone for sin and this was foreshadowed by the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament and culminated in the shedding of the blood of Jesus at Calvary. It is not sufficient however for blood simply to have been shed but for us to fully benefit, we must learn to apply the blood, this being how we overcome (Revelation 12: 7-11). This will be our focus today as we look in detail at the four benefits of the blood, but firstly however, we will underscore two foundations looked at last week:

They Overcame by the Blood of the Lamb

(i) The Life is in the Blood: Everything about Jesus is encoded and encapsulated in His blood. When He shed His blood for us, He literally poured out His life for us and therefore whatever Jesus can do, His blood can do. Everything that Jesus did when He physically walked the earth, you can expect to receive through His blood. When you embrace the blood of Jesus, you embrace the totality of His life because the life is in the blood.

(ii) The complete package of our salvation was procured through the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus: When Jesus said “my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed” in John 6: 55 He wasn’t trying to be melodramatic but was simply stating a profound truth that His audience could not grasp. You need food for four basic purposes: (i) sustenance (ii) strength (iii) stamina (iv) satisfaction. Through His broken body you receive healing, strength, the capacity to endure and the satisfaction of all good things which God has made available to you (Romans 8:32). Every time you appropriate what God has provided for you through the broken body of Christ, you are eating His flesh.

What about drinking His blood? Well, you drink for two main purposes: (i) survival and (ii) system cleansing. Every system in your body needs fluids for survival and for getting rid of toxins and without proper hydration, will shut down. Most people cannot go past 8 days without drinking. You need the blood of Jesus for spiritual survival -  your salvation, redemption, forgiveness and cleansing are all procured by the shed blood of Jesus. When you appropriate all the things that Jesus purchased when He shed His blood for you, you are drinking His blood. But I want you to notice that it was not possible for Christ’s body to be broken without His blood being shed. The moment His body was broken, His blood was also shed

“What can wash away my sin?”

 With that foundational understanding, let’s look at four benefits of the blood that you can receive:

1.                   Forgiveness and Cleansing:  In Matthew 26: 28 Jesus speaks of His blood as having been “poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many”. In Ephesians 1:7 we understand that “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” and in Hebrews 9:22 we are told that “For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” Let me remind you that sin is a very, very, very ugly thing. Sin is vile and evil and corrupts everything that it touches, it spoils good things and destroys great potential. Sin hurts God and pushes Him away. It is a slap in the face of God. On top of all this, sin is a spiritual matter. It is not just a social ill or a behavioural malady. It is a spiritual problem which is why you cannot fix sin with therapy or psychoanalysis. The root of sin goes far deeper than that. To tackle a spiritual problem you need a spiritual solution. To deal with a spiritual stain you need a spiritual stain remover. To overcome something as powerful as sin, you need something even more powerful; you need the blood of Jesus. Isaiah 1: 18 says “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson they shall be as wool.”

In the Old Testament, God accepted the blood of animals as atonement for sins but the blood of these animals did not deal with sin at its root. At best, it was a temporary cosmetic measure, merely covering the sin for a while. The blood of bulls and goats was never a permanent solution. The answer lay in the blood of a man and not just that, a man who had never sinned because a sinner cannot redeem another sinner just as a prisoner cannot take bail for another prisoner. That man was Jesus. In shedding His blood, he paid the price for our sins. Not only do we receive forgiveness, we are also cleansed and the stain of sin is removed from our lives and we stand guiltless before God. You can come to God and receive forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. All you need to do is to come to God just as you are.

2.                   Access: Sin separates us from God; God hides His face from sin and the only way that we can be allowed into God’s presence is if we are carrying blood. Jesus Christ, our High Priest has passed through the heavens carrying His blood and has once and for all, procured and secured a new and living way for us to come into the presence of God our Father. So now, we can go into God’s presence with no fear, no hesitation, no condemnation and no intimidation. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple, which was 60 feet long and four inches wide, was torn in two from top to the bottom. This was God signifying that there will be no more separation between Him and His people.

3.                   Protection: In Exodus 12 God gave the children of Israel detailed instructions about the Passover Lamb. The blood of Jesus has the power to protect you from all evil and from every attack of the devil. When you come under the blood of Jesus, the enemy cannot do you any harm. Dwelling under the blood of Jesus is dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. As a believer, you must understand that you are in the midst of spiritual warfare and there are demonic spirits that have been assigned to afflict and attack you. But the blood of Jesus is your sure protection from any assignment from hell. When you cover yourself and your loved ones with the blood of Jesus, you build a shield of defence against every attack of the devil, from sickness, disease, accidents, violence, robbery, demonic attack and even natural disaster. Whatever you apply the blood of Jesus to the devil cannot touch and is off-limits to the enemy. You should apply the blood of Jesus to (i) yourself (body, soul and spirit); (ii) your family, calling each person by name; (iii) Your house (apply a blood-line); (iv)your car; (v) your finances and other assets; (vi) your career, business or education; and (vii) Trains and planes against crashes and terrorist attacks.

“Go on the offensive...! Lift up the standard of the Blood!”

4.                   Deliverance: Sometimes the enemy afflicts us. This affliction can come in any form or fashion. The bible never promised us that there will be no affliction, indeed in Psalm 34: 19 we are told that the afflictions of the righteous are “many”, however we are promised total deliverance.  If the enemy succeeds in striking a blow, don’t fall to pieces in despair and don’t let people or the devil bring you under condemnation. You are in a combat situation and the chances of getting hit are real and present. When you are hit in the battle the enemy expects you to retreat in defeat and nurse your wounds in hiding. What he doesn’t expect is for you to go on the offensive and charge at him in aggression. And so when you do that you take him by surprise. When the enemy comes against you lift up the standard of the blood. And charge at him with the power of the blood and proclaim your victory in the blood of Jesus, remembering that the blood reminds the devil of his defeat at Calvary and his ultimate judgement at the end of time. In Zechariah 9: 11-12 we are assured deliverance because of the blood of the covenant and restoration of double for all our troubles and in Isaiah 49: 26 [MSG] we are told “Your enemies crazed and desperate will turn on themselves, killing each other in a frenzy of self-destruction.”

As to how often you should apply the blood, for forgiveness, cleansing and access, you should do it daily. For protection, let the Lord lead you but I suggest once a month, preferably on the last day of the preceding month and for deliverance as necessary. In answer to the question ‘to plead or not to plead’, despite the view held by some that it is not scriptural to plead the blood on the grounds that we need not beg and we should do no more than sprinkle the blood, I believe that it is just a matter of semantics. In any event, to plead does not always mean to beg as any lawyer will tell you it means to make a case or argue a case. You can plead, sprinkle, pour, spray hose-pipe or paint - the important thing is that you know what you are doing. God doesn’t really care as long as you present Him with the blood of Jesus. A simple rule of thumb may help: when you are dealing with God, you plead the blood; when you are dealing with the devil, you apply the blood; for deliverance you invoke the blood of Jesus, which means you call forth, call upon, summon or declare to be binding.

With this understanding, I urge you to wholly embrace everything that the shed blood has procured for you. Take hold of the forgiveness and cleansing by the blood, accept and enjoy the access to the Father that the blood has provided and operate under the protection and deliverance is guaranteed by the blood of the Jesus in the knowledge that everything you could ever possibly need has been Paid in Full.