Romans 3:25 it says that God has sent Jesus to be the mercy seat, so by His blood and faith in it, we would be free of sin. Revelations 5, oh God, you have redeemed us out of every nation - so it's not a white man's religion. [Laughter] It's a Jewish religion, and it's God's idea - blood, Jesus' blood, no other remedy. So what about the other faiths? Well I'm sorry, they don't go anywhere, because the one thing they can't bring you, is to the Father. Why can't they bring you to the Father? Because they can't deal with sin. There's only one remedy for sin; it's the blood of Jesus Christ, and we must not only know what it does, but also how to apply it to our life.
I'll finish with this last verse then, and just flow into it. Colossians says this - it says the most amazing thing, Chapter 2, Verses 14-15. It says Jesus at His death, when He shed His blood, took away the list of every sin recorded in our past, present and future against us. How did He do it? His blood! His blood - because He provided the remedy. The blood cancelled all the sin, and so He was able to take away the list. And then the Bible says, He disarmed devils. Now I don't know whether you've thought about that.
What does it take to disarm a devil, to take away the power they have to afflict your life? The blood. You've got to deal with sin. The only weapons they have, are the ones we give them by sinning. We've got to remove it by bringing our sin into the light, and to the cross, and to the blood, and He triumphed over them! They never figured when they killed Him what He was up to - devil wasn't that smart - says if they figured what He was up to, they'd have never crucified Him.
God hid the plan of the cross totally, and after Jesus had died and given up His life, then the devil's realised - oh no! We've actually brought ourselves down. Think about that. We inspired these men to whip Him and torture Him, and put Him on a cross and put Him to death. Instead we found ourselves co-operating with God's plan, and now the very thing we initiated to do, has now become the very thing that's caused our defeat. Isn't this a stunning wisdom of God!
Christ has made for us redemption, and so now you are redeemed from every curse, poverty, sickness, failure, loneliness, emptiness, meaningless life - redeemed! Someone paid the price. A redeemer paid the price so that I could walk in blessing, favour and have the Holy Ghost in my life. Galatians 3:13 and 14; oh my, what a great thing God has done for us. How we need to be grateful. How you need to really constantly see, constantly see, any sin, however little, has an effect - call it the Butterfly Effect. One little thing, and it magnifies and goes everywhere, affects all kinds of stuff - but get on top it it quick. Don't call it by some other name. Don't say it didn't matter. Get a sharp, sensitive conscience with the Holy Ghost. Say Holy Ghost, I know that was wrong! I didn't say the truth. I did this - was wrong. That was the wrong - that was a bad - I bring it to the cross, and I declare I am guilty! But Jesus has redeemed me! [Yeah! Amen.] His blood has broken the power of the sin, so I can just step back boldly into the presence of God again, like it had never happened! That's what justified means, just like it never happened, and I can come back, walk in His presence, enjoy Him again.
What an amazing thing is the blood of Jesus! Oh my.
I'm going to share with you a bit more about what He's done through His blood so you understand it. I want to share how to apply it, because there's things - if you don't apply this truth to your life, you'll always walk condemned. You'll never walk free, and you'll think you're just doing your best - and you probably are, but you're just missing what could be better, God's way.
Father, we thank you. I just say thank you. My redeemer lives. I got so touched I wept this morning as I felt the fresh reality of the need for a redeemer. Jesus, my redeemer lives! He paid the price and I'll honour Him by believing, dealing with sin and holding on to His promise.