RELEASING AND APPLYING THE BLOOD OF JESUS
(week 19/15)
OLUBI JOHNSON
1John 1:7-10 NKJV: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Hebrews 9:14 NKJV: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
1Peter 1:2 NKJV: elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
Hebrews 10:22 AMP: Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.
These scriptures reveal to us that the blood of Jesus FREES US:
1. From punishment in hell by forgiveness of sin:
Romans 3:23-26 NKJV: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (25) whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, (26) to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
2. From a guilty conscience to approach God without condemnation and so with confidence:
Romans 8:1-4 NIV: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (2) because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (3) For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, (4) in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Hebrews 4:16 NIV: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
3. To serve God by the Spirit by giving us access to the life of God:
Romans 8:10-13 NKJV: and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (13) For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Now, we RELEASE this cleansing power of the blood of Jesus by confessing our sins WITH OUR MOUTHS with an HONEST and SINCERE attitude of HEART:
Psalms 32:3-5 NIV: When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. (4) For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah (5) Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Proverbs 28:13 NKJV: He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever CONFESSES and FORSAKES them will have mercy.
In our article next week, we will see how to RELEASE and APPLY the blood of Jesus in more detail.
