Now the Bible tells us of Jesus - I'll just give you the Verse then we'll finish with this. Here it is, in Mark 14:65, they put a hood over His head, and they just began to beat Him. The thing about it is, when you put a hood over someone's head, you can't see where the blow's coming from. They just kept raining blows on Him, and He couldn't see who it is - so tell Him who it is, tell us who was that? They mocked Him and jeered Him and they rained blows on Him, and His body and face became bruised. The Bible says He's bruised for our inequity. A bruise is something you don't see on the outside because it's underneath. Inequity is a twist in our life towards sin. Often it comes from our background, our families, it's in our family line, it's in the DNA of our line, and it's a horrible thing because you can't see it, but you find it's affecting your life. You find the thing you hated in your family background is manifesting in your life. It's like a hidden, invisible thing, and so Jesus shed His blood inside, bruised, to break the power - everything! Whatever you've come from, whatever was in your family line, whatever's in your DNA, blood was shed that you could be free!
But you need to take the inequity to the cross - Lord - and it could be a whole range of things; pride, fear, anger, lust, bitterness. Those are the common ones - I bring my pride to the cross! My father walked in pride. I am walking in pride. It's an inequity in our family Lord, and I bring it to the cross because the blood of Jesus was shed - He was bruised for my inequity, so I decree the blood of Jesus Christ breaks that inequity right now! I'm forgiven. I'm cleansed. It has no more power. I hold the cross of Christ between me and my family line and decree the blood has broken that power!
You've got to be quite assertive on this stuff. You notice none of this is timid stuff. It was a huge act of aggression and violence of Jesus to die in such a way and shed His blood so horribly. It's so horrible that you know when that movie came out of Jesus, that latest one and Mel Gibson's one? It shocked everyone. What shocked everyone? Who did it shock? It shocked the Christians, the lovely sweet Christians who got a little picture of Jesus on a cross, and didn't stop to think that the cross is the most wicked and evil and painful way ever devised to kill a human being, to prolong their suffering, deliberately strip the body of all of it's blood, so in the end they die from shock and loss of blood - and all the time there's pain that can't be relieved.
We look at the movie and we're so shocked by it, our sensibility's shocked, and it's true because no one wants to be exposed to violence. But listen, this is the reality of what Jesus took on, so you and I could be free. We honour Him when we believe and apply it to our life, and live in the freedom. We honour Him and we honour what He's done when we believe what the blood has done, apply it to our lives and take hold of the freedom He called us to walk in.
I don't care what the issue is. The blood of Jesus has the answer for it. It's a matter of whether you will believe or not. Will you believe? Will you believe that Jesus shed His blood for you to be free?
By the blood of Jesus Christ I am redeemed! The full price paid, I have to pay no more price! I just need to believe and confess. If you'll believe in your heart and confess these things with your mouth the power of God will be released to make them effective in your life. I encourage you to apply it.
Let's just close our eyes right now, perhaps there's someone here today, and you've never even made the first step to get near to God, which is to receive Jesus Christ. Oh, friend today I can't put in words how much God loves you and all of those failures, the things you're ashamed of, things you did with your hands, things that you did with your feet, the choices you've made, the things you've done - the way you've thought, the way you've governed your life, the bad choices you've made, the traumas you've been through. Oh, the things that have been in your heart that you never said anything, but you knew they were there, the crookedness, the following in old bad ways, whatever has happened the blood of Jesus has made a way for you.