Thank God For The Blood

Thank God for the Blood by Greg Godwin

Romans 3: 23-25 says that 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. Thank God for the blood!

Not a Figment of Our Imagination

Paul does not deal with the history of Jesus’ living but with the theology of His life. It is here that we find in the first four books of the gospels — Mathew, Mark, Luke and John — the details and the daily documentation of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, proving His existence. Jesus is not just a figment of our imagination, but He walked on the sandy shores of Galilee. It proves the historical facts and it gives us the geographic whereabouts, where He was in His 33 1/2 years. We see in the first four gospels the behind-the-scenes account of His power encounters of disease, devils and false religion. We see Him responding to the faith of the people whereby they are healed and delivered of those diseases and spirits that have had them bound, and had them living without any hope. But most importantly we experience the deep details of His passion in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John culminating with the crucifixion and the resurrection. It is here in the gospels that we read of the agony that He felt when He prayed in the garden. We read of the betrayal of Judas as he slips out of that upper room for 30 pieces of silver, and he delivers the Christ to an angry mob. We hear the cries of the crowd who holler, “Crucify him” but give us Barabbas, a notorious criminal of that day.

Wounded For Our Transgressions

It is in the gospels that we read of Him carrying the cross member, some 75 or 150 lbs., across His back. He has already been beaten at the whipping post with a cat of nine tails; we see the bloody details as His flesh is being ripped from His shoulder all the way to the heel of His feet. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity. Sin in mankind had to be dealt with, and when we look at Calvary we see the wrath of God poured out upon one man for the sins of the whole world. It was God’s violent passion that was unleashed upon the man Christ Jesus because in Him dwelt the fullness of sin, the fullness of the Godhead was in Him bodily. But that’s not all that was in Him; when He drank of that cup in the garden He took into Him the sins of the whole world. Peter said He bore our sins in His own body. The reason you see the bloodiness of Calvary was because God released His wrath upon the man Christ Jesus against our sin. My sin! Paul said when he looks at the theology that we’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God. This becomes a key ingredient to revival and growth and being all we can be in the church when we remember that if it had not been for the cross, if it had not been for the blood shed from Emanuel’s vein, if it had not been for agonizing prayer in the garden, none of us would be here.

One Drop of Blood

We see the details; we hear Him cry out, “It is finished.” We see Him buried in a borrowed tomb; we see the resurrection on the third day, and all the glory and the splendor. It’s not the details, the theology if you will, that need to be established. The book of Romans gives us the theology of the why — why He was wounded, why He was bruised, why He shed blood like He did. One drop of blood would have been enough, but why did they have to pierce Him in the brow, why did He pray until sweat became as it were great drops of blood? Why did they whip His back like raw hamburger meat? Why did they run nine-inch nails through His hands and His feet? Why did they hang Him on the cross, why did they spear Him in the side and out of it came blood and water? I’ve come to tell you one drop of blood would have been enough to save the whole world, but Isaiah said he would pour out His soul unto the death. Sin, sin is the problem.

Keeping God In Our Minds

When we look at Romans chapter one, the need is established; man refused to glorify God when they knew Him. They changed the truth of God into a lie, and they turned the glory of God into four-footed beasts, creeping things and corruptible things that corrupt man. They didn’t think it was worthwhile to retain God in their knowledge, in their minds, so He turned them to their own thinking, and the details of man’s demise is staggering. What you don’t want to do is block God out of your mind. The greatest mistake we can make is to try to start building walls and keeping God out of our thought processes. I want to think about Him. I want to keep Him in my mind so I can get Him in my spirit! We’re living in a world that wants to keep God out of its mind. Statistics show that 1.8 of every two marriages is ending in divorce, 4,000 abortions a day, 35,616 people were infected yesterday and will be infected today with a sexually transmitted disease, 18 suicides per day, 100 per week and 6,500 a year. There are more pornographic businesses and stores in the United States than there are McDonald’s restaurants, by a 3 to 1 average. This world and this country are trying to put God out of their minds.

Plead the Blood of Jesus

Somebody needs to stand up and say, “I plead the blood of Jesus! I plead the blood of Jesus on this country. I plead the blood of Jesus on my mind.” We need a revival of truth, and that truth is that we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. You don’t have a gene defect, you don’t have a chemical imbalance, it’s a sin problem. You have to get your heart right, and right now. You need to begin to say in your heart, “God, forgive me of my sin, forgive me.” It doesn’t have anything to do with how much money you have. Rich people are going to go to hell, poor people are going to go to hell, people from every nation are going to go to hell, but it’s only because of sin. One writer asked, what is sin? Man calls it an accident; God calls it abomination. Man calls it a blunder; God calls it lies. Man calls it a defect but God says it’s a disease. Man calls it chance; God calls it a choice. Man calls it fascination; God calls it a fatality. Man calls it infirmity; God says it’s iniquity. Man calls it liberty; God calls it lawlessness. What is it that’s causing all these problems in this country? It’s sin, it’s only sin. It’s sin that put us in this economic downturn, the sin of greed. Everybody’s stomping on everybody, creating little institutions and little departments to satisfy the greed of somebody else. The details of men blocking God out of their mind can be read in Romans 1 — they are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity, and they are full of empty murder and strife.

Christ Jesus Is Our Mediator

We have to understand every service is important; you don’t know who’s sitting on the pews with you. When Paul deals with the theology of sin he drives the nail in the coffin by saying we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. He said there is none righteous, no not one. We have all sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression. But no matter what we’ve done or what we’re thinking about doing, the blood of Jesus can liberate us. Our problem is a sin problem, not a race problem, not a money problem; it’s a sin problem, and Jesus took care of the problem. There is one God and one mediator between God and man, it’s the man Christ Jesus! The oneness doctrine is more than just man’s idea; it is the invisible becoming visible. When you look at Calvary and see that man hanging on a tree, it’s simply a face on grace. No man can see God at any time because He’s a spirit.

Nothing but the Blood of Jesus

Revival will come not because of a fancy program but when we realize this is not a man’s doctrine. This is straight out of the holy scriptures; flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father which is in heaven. Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father.” He didn’t say if you’ve seen “us,” he said if you’ve seen “me.” It doesn’t take four or five Gods to whip one devil. We read the details of resurrection morning when Christ takes the keys of death, hell and the grave. The devil doesn’t even have the keys to his own house. The devil wants you to think he’s locked you up and you can’t get loose, but the devil is a liar. On resurrection morning, Jesus took the keys and the devil can’t keep you locked up. It’s the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus caused him to turn the keys over. What can wash away sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. The shed blood was an atonement. No matter what you’ve done, no matter what’s been done to you, the blood of Jesus can take care of it.

Transcribed By Susan Thomas