Good morning.
I would like to ask you to turn to 1 Peter. We will read just a few verses from 1 Peter, chapter 1. We will begin at verse 15 and read through verse 19.
But like as He who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living;
because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.
And if ye call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear:
knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers;
but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.
I would like to reread verse 19, because here is where the burden is:
But with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.
Let us pray.
Lord, we again, once again, as always, come to Your Word in total dependence, waiting for You and asking You to take what was penned by the Holy Spirit and make it alive to us.
Lord, we are asking You and believing today that Your Word will speak to us, that You will go beyond every hindrance. You know there are so many, Lord, in us, in those who speak, and in those who hear. So many things prevent Your Word from coming through in its full power.
Now, Lord, we are asking today that that would not be the case, that You by Your Holy Spirit would transform us in Your presence, and we would hear Your Word just like we heard it the first time, in a living way. For we ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Well, brothers and sisters, some of you may remember—and some of you I may have to remind; I think probably the latter is the most obvious case—it was in March, in the spring, that I first shared from 1 Peter.
Now, you may ask, why have I not shared since March? There is at least one good excuse: Linda’s transplant. I can explain with that. But some of you may not remember back to March, and I understand that.
I began sharing from 1 Peter, and I do not know if you remember that burden, but it was that the testing of our faith is more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire. That was the burden that we began with.
Now, to understand 1 Peter, you need to understand a little bit of the circumstances that these dear children of God found themselves in. If you do not have an appreciation of their circumstances, I think it is impossible to understand the burden of the writer.
These dear saints found themselves in great difficulty—terrible circumstances. When the writer wrote to them, he said, “You are tested. You are taken beyond the limit. You are tried with fire.” The trial of your faith.
He called them sojourners and pilgrims. There is a word that occurs in 1 Peter more than any place in the New Testament except for the book of Acts, and that is the word suffering.
These dear saints found themselves in great trial and affliction. They found themselves under great suffering. Their circumstances were terrifically difficult.
Now, I do not want to depress all of you at the outset, but if you do not understand those circumstances, you will never appreciate what the writer had to give to those dear saints of God. They were going through deep trials of affliction. They were scattered. They were sojourners. They were pilgrims. They were suffering simply because they were Christians.
It was not popular then to be a Christian. I do not think every athlete stood up and said, “I believe in the Lord Jesus.” It was not popular to be a Christian. They suffered deeply.
But it seems to me, as I meditated on this book and read this book, one word sticks out throughout the book. It is this little word: precious.
I do not know if you noticed that word, but it says the proving of your faith is more precious than gold that perishes. And in these verses that we read, it talks about the precious blood of the Lamb.
Now, it just happens that this word precious occurs more times in 1 Peter than anywhere else. I believe there is a word for us as the people of God.
Maybe we are going through difficulties. Maybe our circumstances are trying. Maybe we are sojourners—we should be. Maybe we are pilgrims—we should be.
But it seems to me that these dear brothers and sisters made a discovery. The discovery they made was that they found the things that were precious.
And, brothers and sisters, I wonder if we could not do the same in our circumstances. Do you know that the proving of your faith is precious? Do you know that? It should give you hope. It should not cause you to despair.
Do you know the precious blood of Jesus? Do you know the precious promises of God? Do you know the Stone that was rejected, that was more precious than anything else?
If you do, you can discover what these dear saints discovered. This was the burden of the apostle Peter.
I believe, above everything else, it is a word of encouragement. I believe it is a word of reminding. You remember when Peter wrote and said, “I like to remind you”? He was reminding them of what was precious.
These saints who went through so much, these saints for whom it was so unpopular to be Christians, who went through such trial and such testing, discovered what was precious to God. To me, that seems to be at least the message that I have discovered in this little book.
Now, the proving of our faith is more precious than gold that perishes. Do you know that, brothers and sisters? How that puts a different light on our circumstances. How that should lift us: to know that everything we go through in our circumstances is for a purpose, everything in our circumstances to an end.
It says that in the end, at the revelation of Jesus Christ, your faith may be unto the praise and honor of His glory. That explains everything we go through, though it be tested with fire.
You know, that is the most extreme test. That is a test. Have you been through testing with fire?
I remember watching the World Trade Center. I think this is one of those remarkable events in history that you will never be able to erase from your memory. I remember when those jets hit that building—three hundred and sixty-plus miles an hour—and two-thirds of the columns that supported that building on one face were taken out in an instant.
But you know, there have been many engineering studies, and all of them say the building failed the test. Did you know that? It was not the planes that took the building out. It was the fire.
The proving of your faith is precious, though tested with fire. That is the message in 1 Peter. Brothers and sisters, I hope that helps you.
It tells me certainly, when the apostle Peter wrote these dear saints in 1 Peter, that all they were going through was not for waste. All they were going through had a purpose. Everything they were going through had an end in view.
And that must have lifted them to be a real testimony to the Lord Jesus. That is the first account of precious here in 1 Peter.
Now today, what we would like to look at is this second word. In verse 19, it says that you have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, such as silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but by precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot: the blood of Christ.
Now let me ask you this: Do you know the preciousness of the blood of Jesus? Do you really know how precious the blood of Jesus is? How many times this morning did we pray that?
But these saints had more than that. They had a sense, through what they were going through, of how precious the blood of Jesus really was. They knew it was precious. They apprehended how precious it was.
And because they knew the blood of Jesus was more precious than gold, they discovered who God really was. So this is the burden for today: the preciousness of the blood of Jesus.
Now, this word precious in this context has to do with worth—valuation. That is why it talks about gold. That is why, when he talks about the testing of our faith, the proving of our faith is more precious than gold that perishes.
The same thought is here in verse 18: you have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, such as silver and gold. This is a valuation thing.
It is not precious, you know, like a puppy. Everybody thinks—this amazes me—babies and puppies are the most precious things on earth. They say, “Look at that baby. Isn’t he precious?” It does not matter if he is ugly as anything, but they are always precious. “Look at that little dog. Isn’t he precious?”
That is not the meaning here. It is not a sentimental, gooey, emotional thing. It is that they valued the blood. Do you understand the difference? I know that is a bad habit I still cannot break. Do you know the difference?
The blood of Christ is more precious than gold and silver. Oh, that we would know its value.
So this is the burden. Now there are three thoughts that we would like to share, and hopefully get through:
These three things—for God, for Satan, and for man—give us somewhat, I will say somewhat because others may have more light than I have, but somewhat a complete picture of the preciousness of the blood of the Lord Jesus.
First of all, we will consider that the precious blood provides us access to a holy God. Now, that is a remarkable thing.
I think sometimes we read this context and forget the context. Look again with me, if you will, beginning at verse 15. This is why I began there:
But like as He who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living;
because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.
That is the context. You have to understand this context. If we do not first of all, dear saints, see the holiness of God, we can never appreciate the preciousness of the blood.
The problem is, we always speak of the love of God. Now, there is nothing wrong—do not get me wrong; do not misquote me. I have been misquoted enough. Do not misquote me. We need to speak of the love of God.
But do you know there are two hundred and ninety references to the love of God in the Bible, and there are thirteen hundred to the atonement of the precious blood? What a difference.
We need to see the holiness of God. I wonder, dear saints, if we have lost the sense of the holiness of God. I wonder, in this world of relativism, have we lost the sense of the holiness of God? This is the whole context.
I recently had been praying, been asking the Lord, “Show me Your holiness. Oh God, I do not see Your holiness. Show me Your holiness.”
I listened to a tape just recently. As a matter of fact, it was a tape given to me years ago, and I have to confess unfaithfulness. A brother gave it to me and asked me to listen to it. He saw me a few more times and asked, “Have you listened to the tape yet?” I had to confess I had not. I did not have a good excuse.
But there was this brother—you may have heard of him; I had never heard of him, and I do not remember his name—but the name of the message was Ten Shekels and a Shirt. It sounds a little strange.
But in this tape, this brother came under such an anointing, and he talked about the holiness of God. How that struck my heart. I thought, “Lord, we devalue Your holiness.”
Do you know, if you really saw the holiness of God, you would agree with His judgment on you completely? Dear saints, I do not think at the great white throne judgment there will be a single argument from a single person, because that day, when eyes are opened to behold the holiness of God and the darkness of sin, I think even the condemned will say, “Amen.”
This is the holiness of God:
Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.
And listen to how complicated the Lord makes it. The Lord has a way of doing that. He says, “In all of your manner of living.” Oh my, that one trips me up. I wish the Holy Spirit did not add those little parts.
I can theorize all day with you about the holiness of God—how He dwells in unapproachable light, how He is uncommon, above everything else. But when it comes to tell me, “Be ye holy as God is holy in all of your manner of living,” that means in everything, not just your speech.
Peter uses this word conversation to mean all of your actions. It is not speech. That is why it says a godly woman, without the word, may win her husband by her manner of living. It is not speech. It is all that you do.
Do we see the holiness of God? Oh, saints, I think we really need to pray, “Lord, will You open our eyes? Would You open our eyes to see the holiness of God?”
That is the context. I was drawn back to Isaiah 6. Many of you know it. When the prophet was brought into the presence of the Lord, in the year that King Uzziah died, he saw the holiness of God.
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and His train filled the temple.
Above Him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.
I have to admit, I have not seen that: the whole earth filled with His glory. Thrice holy. If you are going to appreciate the precious blood, you need to see the holiness of God.
We often go about it the wrong way. We often preach to people about legalism. We often dwell on this part: “Be holy in all of your manner of living. Clean up your act. Dress different. Talk different. Act different. Walk different.”
I believe one thing will solve that: if we see the holiness of God. If you see the holiness of God, it will affect the way you think. It will affect the way you dress. It will affect the way you talk. It will affect the way you walk.
Brothers and sisters, it seems to me that we need to see this context. Then the second thing that Isaiah saw—in this context, it says in verse 5, when he saw the holiness of God—he said:
Woe is me! for I am undone;
because I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips:
for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
It is interesting: he talks about the lips. Why did he not think about it, right? Oh, this is a whole other message; we have to be careful about it. He thought, “I am a man of unclean lips.”
Does that not take you back to the thought in the New Testament that James said about the tongue being the most unruly of all members?
What he saw, in other words, when he saw the holiness of God, was the blackness of himself. It is no use, brothers and sisters. It is absolutely no use to preach to people about their blackness all the time.
If we start with your blackness, all you will see is blackness. There will not be setting free. But if we begin with the holiness, and if we really see Him who is holy, we will see our blackness.
That, to me, is the difference between legalism and revelation. One has seen something, one has beheld something that is so different than I am, and is caught up with a vision of that One who is so absolutely different than I am, and then is transformed in the presence of that One.
The other talks down and tells us what we ought to be and what we are not. You see the difference? Am I making that even somewhat clear to you today? Oh, we need to see the holiness of God.
I remember—well, let me put it to you this way. When Jonathan Edwards spoke his famous message, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, man, you know he read the message, I understand. Of course, none of us were there that long ago to know. But he read this monotone message, and the Spirit of God fell on it.
Those who were so imprisoned to sin saw the holiness of God. It says they held on to columns, afraid they would slip into hell.
There is another time in church history when the Spirit of God moved so much that they saw the holiness of God. It says they fell down flat on their faces and did not move. The policemen used to come around thinking these people were drunk or dead.
They saw the holiness of God. The policemen would turn them over, smell their breath, check their pulse, and they knew they had seen the holiness of God.
Saints, this is the context of the precious blood. May the Lord help us.
This has been my prayer. I have also been praying, “Lord, show me. Show me my sin, that I would value above silver and gold the precious blood.”
I will admit, I am a little afraid of that prayer. But that is the prayer the Lord has put on my heart: “Oh Lord, the precious blood—do I value it?” This is what these dear saints did.
Some people say the greatest contrast is between the colors—if you call them colors. My daughter is an artist; she might argue whether these are colors or not. Is black and white a color? I thought it was a color all the time. The greatest contrast is between black and white.
But that is not the greatest contrast. The greatest contrast is between the holiness of God and man. There is no greater depth. There is no greater distance. There is no greater expanse in that contrast.
Dear saints, what we need first of all is to see a holy God, and that the precious blood of Jesus provides access to a holy God. That seems to me to be at least the message here.
Now, what can bring these two utter opposites together? What can possibly span this gulf? What can do it? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can wash away my sins? That hymn writer said, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” What can make me whole again? “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That is the only thing that can span this impossible gulf.
I have a bad habit—this is confession, in case you did not figure it out. I once in a while say, “He or she is a good person.” Do you ever do that? Now, I am not talking about believers necessarily. Once in a while I do. I say, “Well, he is a really good person.”
If you saw the holiness of God, you would never say that again. You could not say it. The expanse is too great. The difference is too great. You can never utter those words again: none is good but God.
I find myself saying that: “Yeah, but he is a good person, you know.” Have you ever done that? Oh, come on, you can admit it.
We need to see that the only thing that can bridge this mighty gulf is the precious blood of Jesus.
Do you know, brothers and sisters, that the holiness of God is satisfied because of the blood of Jesus?
We have a misconception. I have told people this before, and I hope maybe it will help some of you. Others may remember, and if you have heard it before and do not want to listen, you can take a pause.
But we sort of think of the atonement like a presidential pardon. A presidential pardon is full release. It is complete release. This high chief executive can make a decision all by himself that this person is pardoned totally from what they have done.
We sort of think of that. I have heard people illustrate the atonement that way, but it is not like that at all. It would be much closer if the president said, “Let him go. Execute me.”
You understand the difference between the two?
This God who was holy, uncommon, unlike us—to the nth degree, the two were as far apart as they could absolutely be—said, “I will go and be executed in your stead, and impose upon you the precious blood of Jesus.”
That is atonement. That is real pardon.
Look again at Isaiah 6. Maybe that will help. This is what happened after Isaiah saw that he was a man of unclean lips and dwelt among a people of unclean lips.
Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips;
and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is forgiven.
“Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is forgiven.” Is that the right way to pronounce that word, expiated? I think the English majors are all nodding their heads.
It means, if you look at the Amplified Version, that your sin is completely forgiven and taken away. That is what the precious blood of Jesus does.
He does not just forgive in part, but the whole thing is taken away because of the power of the precious blood. All of our sins are taken away.
This remarkable word is Isaiah 1:18:
Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow.
Brothers and sisters, no stain is deeper than the stain of sin. I remember recently hearing this radio advertisement. It always tickles me when I hear it, but you will know why in a moment.
This advertisement says there is a product, if you buy it, that will remove every stain. It is called “Stain Devil.” I think, oh, how blind. There is a stain that cannot be removed but by the blood of Jesus.
Oh, it is precious. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. This is the forgiveness that our God brings.
But, you know, it is not where it ends. Not only does God forgive, but He forgets. That is an amazing story.
Turn to Hebrews 8:12. When the writer of Hebrews was explaining about the new covenant, quoting from Jeremiah 31, it says:
For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
and their sins will I remember no more.
Now, if your version does not put it that strong, get a new version. “I will never remember anymore.” Is that not precious?
God always forgives and completely forgets. Now, you know where I am headed here: we seldom forgive and never forget.
Now, if you do not think that is true, you do not know human nature. You sort of hold in this little secret place this little grudge, and you wait. Then, when you have the perfect opportunity, magically, you remember it.
And you remind people of what they have done. Oh, we can even justify it. We go through great lengths to justify it. I have heard people say to me, “You do not know, brother, what they have done to me. If you knew what they did to me, you would know I could not forgive.”
Oh my, those are strong words. God always forgives and completely forgets.
I imagine if you went back to the Lord and said, “Lord, do You remember that sin I committed twenty years ago?” The blessed power of the precious blood—I believe it with all of my heart—that a holy God would say, “No. What is that? What sin?”
We are always remembering our sins. Better than that, we are always remembering everybody else’s sins. And we feel obligated to remind people of their sin.
Just trust me: all of you married folks know what I mean by that. This is not directed, you understand. I have to live with the one I am with. But once in a while, we remember, and you say, “See, you never did do that.”
You people who are thinking of marriage, remember that. Seldom forgive, never forget. How different we are than a holy God. May the Lord help us to see His precious blood.
Psalm 103:11-12 says:
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is His lovingkindness toward them that fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.
Well, I love the way the Holy Spirit puts this phrase. We could say, if we might be writing the book, “He has removed our sins far from us.” How far? How far?
Do you know there is no greater distance than as far as the east is from the west? You cannot measure that distance. The east does not go just to Virginia Beach and stop. The east goes on and on.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your sins from you. Oh, is that not good news? How different He is than we are.
There is a verse in Colossians 3:13 that I think ought to speak to all of us. This is a great problem in the body of Christ, by the way: people not forgiving.
Forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye.
Listen to the emphasis that the Holy Spirit puts in there: if any. Now, who is excluded? If any have a complaint against any.
It takes me back to that brother or sister who said to me, “You do not understand.” Oh, I admit, I am pretty dense when it comes to certain things, but I do not understand that principle. You mean there is a sin that has been perpetrated on you that you cannot forgive? Is that what you are telling me?
If any has a complaint against any.
Wesley was with General Oglethorpe. That name may mean nothing to you. Has anybody actually heard the name General Oglethorpe? You did? Congratulations.
I saw a kid one time, and he had “Oglethorpe College” on his shirt. I said, “Oglethorpe! General Oglethorpe!” I proceeded to tell this kid all about this story, and he looked at me like I was a lunatic.
But Wesley was with Oglethorpe in Georgia, and Oglethorpe was angry at his servant. He would not forgive his servant. He was determined on revenge against this servant.
And Wesley looked at him and said, “Well then, sir, you better never sin.”
That is the one condition. If you are perfect, if you never sin, you do not need to forgive. But the One who was like that forgave you. Do you see the difference? To me, it is remarkable.
“Oh, you do not understand, brother.” Those words ring in my ears. I think this is such a problem in the body of Christ: how we hold on to things, how many divisions, how many separations, how many hardships, because we could not forgive one another.
You remember the Lord’s Prayer. Turn to Matthew 6. This was frightening to me the first time I read it.
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
That is a strong word. Do you think He really meant it? Maybe He did not mean it. Maybe it was just sort of hyperbole. Maybe He did not really mean what He said.
If you do not forgive men their offenses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you yours.
Brothers and sisters, those words should hang in our throat. Every one of you.
Now, I know this is partly—I can say—I know I have offended people. Now, you probably maybe do not think you have offended anybody, but I love that verse in James 3 that says we all often offend.
You know, “I am so sweet. It does not apply to me.” We all often offend.
The one place where that word is used in the Bible is, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.” It talks about bitterness. It talks about those who refuse to forgive. That is the issue.
You want to grieve the Holy Spirit? Do not forgive.
He always forgives, and He always makes the precious blood available. In 1 John 1:7, it says:
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Now think of that verse. Think of the magnitude of that verse. It does not say He cleanses us from some sin. It does not say He cleanses us from most sin. It says the blood of Jesus, this precious blood, cleanses us from all sin.
How powerful that is. What a difference that means.
Not only does He forgive, not only does He forget, but He makes provision through the precious blood that whenever we sin—in the likely occurrence, let me put it that way, in the likely occurrence you do sin—for all of us who are not perfect, there is the precious blood to cleanse us from all sin.
May the Lord just help us.
Now let us move to point two. The precious blood not only is for God, but it is for Satan. Now, you may have a little trouble with that until I explain it.
The precious blood of Jesus prevents the accusation of Satan from taking hold in us.
Now, in case you do not know it, we have an adversary. I think every Christian should know that, but sometimes we act like we do not know that.
I remember—I believe I was fortunate to be saved in the early seventies, in the Jesus movement. We used to give out those little Chick tracts. I am dating myself. Some of you may know them. People are shaking their heads. Never seen Chick tracts?
These tracts were graphic. One thing they embedded in my young redeemed memory was how evil the enemy was. Whoever these artists were, they had the most graphic, horrendous illustrations of Satan and how he hated the believers. That left an indelible impression.
Brothers and sisters, what we need to see is that we have an enemy seeking to do us harm. He is after us. He wants to destroy us.
1 Peter 5:8 says the enemy, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour. It does not say seeking whom he may party with. You understand?
We have an enemy. He is against us. He wants to see you done in. This is why we need the precious blood.
There is only one weapon against the accusations of the enemy, and that is the precious blood.
When you turn to Revelation 12, you begin to see how the enemy is called the accuser of the brethren, who accuses them before God day and night. I love the fact that the Holy Spirit has those phrases: day and night before God.
He never stops accusing us. He never gives up. He accuses us continuously.
Now, the problem is, some of those accusations are true. As a matter of fact, many of those accusations are true.
I will let you in on a little secret: the enemy has never accused me of being an axe murderer. Not one single time. “You axe murderer, you!” I would say, “Do what? What do you mean?”
But often he has come and said, “You are unfaithful to God. You are unforgiving. You are unrepentant.” Oh, how often he comes, day and night, accusing. Never stops. It is his one weapon of choice.
We read later in Revelation 12 the secret of those believers who overcame the enemy. It says, first of all, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. That is our secret weapon.
I know you have heard this story before of Martin Luther. You may not have heard the whole story.
When Martin Luther was on a sickbed—have you ever found out the enemy loves to come in time of weakness? Have you ever found that out? It seems he knows the times of weakness. He is the most intelligent, it says, of all the created beings.
He comes to us in a time of weakness. So he came to Martin Luther. He came into Luther’s room as Luther was upon the bed. The legend goes, he had a great scroll that he walked in with, this fiendish, evil thing, and he rolled out the scroll. The scroll went all the way to the wall.
And Luther—I do not know, I wonder if half the time Luther just did not look down—the story goes that Luther read every one of his sins. They were all listed. He said, “They are all true. It is true.”
But he said, “One thing you have forgotten: the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”
That is our weapon. Do we know the precious blood? Does the enemy accuse you? Then this is our weapon of choice.
You remember David, when he went to Goliath in the Old Testament. You remember David had a weapon of choice. It did not seem like much. It did not seem to be this great armor, this powerful sword. It was just a little stone in a sling.
With that little stone in the sling, he could whip it away, and he threw it into that giant’s forehead. That giant fell dead, never to trouble him again.
That is what the precious blood does. When the enemy comes to us—and he will come to you—when he comes to you to assault you, and it will happen, the only weapon you have is the precious blood of Jesus. Do we use it?
I hope you do not mind. I remember years ago, our brother could not come to the meetings without being attacked. He would have such an exposure, he would throw up on the side of the road. He was under such attack.
I remember how he shared with me: all he did was take the blood of Jesus, and he went on. The Lord quickened him.
Do you know the blood of Jesus? Is it precious to you? It can stop the accusation of the enemy. May the Lord Jesus help us.
I remember the first time I flew. I was actually twenty years old. I was afraid of flying. I want you to know that. I understand some of you are afraid of flying, so maybe you will understand.
I remember white-knuckled—my goodness—permanent imprints on the armrest, shaking, glad nobody talked to me because they would have seen that I was so nervous.
The first time, I was twenty years old, and the stewardesses came out and did this speech about crashing. I thought, “Mercy. Why could they not talk about glowing things and nice things?”
“In the unlikely event that the cabin loses pressure, this mask will fall. Put it over your face or nose and breathe normally.” I thought, “This is not a good thing to be telling me now.”
“In the unlikely event we crash into the sea, your seat cushion is a life preserver.” I thought, “Do I need this information? If we crash, what difference does it make?”
But they give their little speech: “In the unlikely event.” Let me apply that: in the likely event Satan accuses you, what do you do?
Do you take the precious blood of Jesus? This will occur. Do you know the precious blood of Jesus? This will happen. If you do, you will overcome by the blood of the Lamb.
Last point: the precious blood of Jesus is not only for God, it is not only for Satan, but it is for man.
The precious blood of Jesus appeases our conscience. Now, brothers and sisters, if you have never known that, we can be our own worst enemy.
It says in the book of Hebrews, in chapters 9 and 10, that we need the sprinkling of the blood of Christ from a wicked conscience. You may think that is talking about unbelievers before they are saved.
No, brothers and sisters, it is talking about believers after they are saved, coming with a full heart of assurance into the presence of a holy God, having our hearts sprinkled from a wicked conscience.
Do you know your conscience can be a problem? Your conscience can be a wicked conscience.
There is no greater asset to the believer than the conscience. A conscience under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and under the government of the Holy Spirit, used by God, can bring us into a real walk with the Savior.
But there is another possibility. A wicked conscience for the believer can bring them into all kinds of turmoil. Having our hearts sprinkled from a wicked conscience.
Hebrews 9:13-14—you can look at the reference later. Hebrews 10:22:
Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
and having our body washed with pure water.
We can trouble ourselves sometimes more than the believer can do in a lifetime. I do not know if you have ever experienced that. But particularly for those of us who tend to be more introspective, we can trouble ourselves to no end.
We can all be so wrapped up in ourselves. We can say, “I am not any good. You do not know me. You do not know my problems. If you only knew. I cannot go to worship the living God—not today.”
Our conscience—it may not be the enemy’s accusations; it may be a wicked conscience. What you need for your conscience, so you can come into the presence of God, into the very holiest of all, is the sprinkling of the precious blood. That will make a difference.
Now, my time is up. I do not know how to explain that deeper, but I have seen people who have been deeply troubled by their conscience. They cannot get free. They are always bound up. They cannot worship the Lord. They cannot serve the Lord. All they do is see themselves.
That is a good indicator. If all you do is see yourself and you do not see the blood of Jesus, there is a good chance your conscience is overworking you and taking you out.
I remember, to the great dismay of some holy sisters when they found out, long ago, that I was a boxing fan. They were appalled. I will give you that. See, there are some old brothers in here who are boxing fans.
The Lord has actually—I am not as much a boxing fan as I used to be; that is my defense—but I used to love boxing. Oh, I used to love it.
I remember in the seventies, with a little radio, getting round-by-round reports of Ali-Frazier. My father was sound asleep; he worked shift work. Muhammad Ali was knocked down in the fifteenth round by Joe Frazier, and I burst into Dad’s room. I said, “Dad, you will not believe it. Joe Frazier knocked Muhammad Ali down.”
He looked at me like I was nuts.
This is where our conscience works. In fights, if you get caught in the corner—you know what the corner is? No, I have to explain. All the sisters are going, “Oh, he is not ever finished.”
You get caught in the corner, and you can get worked over. Any of you who aspire to be a boxer, do not get caught in the corner. That is what they first tell you: corner your opponent; do not ever get caught in the corner.
Because if you get caught in the corner, the punches will come from every direction. There will be a left, there will be a right, and just when you think you are okay, there will be an uppercut. Before long, you will be taken out. You will be worked over, and you will be taken out, and it will be over.
That is the way our conscience works us over. It catches us in the corner.
Well, have you been caught in the corner? The secret is to see the precious blood of Jesus.
Only then can we enter with a full assurance of faith into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus and worship the living God.
I have a feeling—I will not be too strong about this—I have a feeling some of you were being worked over this morning. I have a feeling some of you in worship might have been in the corner.
Oh, would we take the precious sprinkling of the blood and then be free?
It is for God. It is for Satan. It is for man. May God open our eyes to see the precious blood of Jesus.
Lord, we do have to come to You and pray that somehow Your Holy Spirit would take the things that are of the Lord and open our eyes to really see—to really see—how precious Your blood is.
Lord, show us the holiness of God. Show us our need for the blood of Jesus.
Lord, teach us, when we are under the assault of the enemy, to do nothing but stand and take the blood of Jesus.
Lord, do not let us be our own worst enemy. Oh God, open our eyes to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, that we can approach You not condemned, not with a conscience of condemnation, but knowing the precious blood of Jesus.
We ask this in Your precious name. Amen.