THE  CLEANSING POWER OF THE BLOOD 

I JOHN 1:3-10 

            Today I want to focus on verse 7 and talk about the blood of Jesus, the power of the Blood.  Though the blood has power in many areas, I want to focus on the cleansing power of the blood.  Verse 7 says the blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin.  Note that the verse did not say it cleaned (as if it did all the cleaning on the cross) nor did it say it will clean (as if we must wait until some future time).  But it says it cleanseth as in continues to cleanse us from all sin.  So I want to talk about this blood of Jesus and why it is so important.  But to understand the power and need for the blood of Jesus, we must also understand the nature of sin.  So along the way we must talk about sin and how it relates to the blood. 

Blood, is the fluid substance that circulates in the arteries and veins of the body. Blood is bright red or scarlet when it has been oxygenated in the lungs and passes into the arteries; it becomes bluish red when it has given up its oxygen to nourish the tissues of the body and is returning to the lungs through the veins and the tiny vessels called capillaries. In the lungs, the blood gives up the carbon dioxide wastes it has taken from the tissues, receives a new supply of oxygen, and begins a new cycle. This movement of blood is brought about by the coordinate activity of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels.  The blood also carries many salts and organic substances in solution.  Disorders of the blood arise from abnormal changes in its composition. An abnormal reduction in the hemoglobin content or in the number of red blood cells is known as anemia, which is regarded as a symptom rather than a disease and has a number of causes. Probably the most common cause is blood loss or hemorrhage.  Anemia also results from decreased production of red cells, attributable to a loss of iron, to a deficiency of vitamin B12, or to a failure in the function of bone marrow. Finally, one group of anemia's is caused by inherited defects in the production of red cells or hemoglobin. These anemia include a number of hereditary disorders in which the red cells lack any one of several enzymes needed if the cell is to properly utilize glucose.

Lev. 17:11  

            The life of all flesh is in the blood.  We just saw that the blood does two things.  It supplies oxygen, salts and mineral to our cell tissues thus giving them the nutrients needed to sustain life.  The blood also carries away dead cells and waste so that they will not form poisons in the body.  If the blood were to stop performing these two functions the body dies.  The life of all flesh is in the blood. 

            But we also saw that the blood can be diseased.  It can lack the proper composition. It can have too much of something or not enough of something  and thus cause a physical malfunction in the body and even death.  Since the life of all flesh is in the blood, it is quite reasonable to associate a problem in human blood with death.  In other words if it was initially designed that my human blood would sustain my life, then something must of happen in my blood to allow death to occur. Now we know that death entered the world because of sin.  (Genesis 2:16-17)

            We know that sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and Adam at the prompting of Eve, disobeyed God.  At this point sin enters the world.  But what does that mean in terms of man.  Well God told Adam, that he would die in the day that he ate from the tree.  It is obvious that physical death is not what God was speaking of since Adam lived and had children after that.  However, Adam died spiritually that day.  His spirit which had up to that point had fellowship with God became lifeless and fellowship was broken.  Adam and Eve who were spiritually alive were now spiritually dead.  Also though physical death did not manifest itself at that point it was soon to come.  You see something also happened in Adam’s physical body that introduced physical death to man. 

            The life of the physical body is in man’s blood.  If therefore death was introduced to the body one can say that the blood of man must have been affected in some way as to strip it of or in some way reduce its life giving powers.  You see we tend to think of sin only by it’s manifestations but sin is much more than the actions we see.  It is like a virus.  With a virus the germ is in the blood.   But except for the manifestations of a runny nose, nausea and diarrhea, you might never know of its presence.  Now you can treat the symptoms but the virus is still there and must run it’s course.  You can remove the actions from a man, but sin will still remain.  It is possible that man’s blood was contaminated with some infectious, contagious germ that is so minute that scientists have not even discovered it yet.  What we call sin today, is simply the manifestation of the germ that affected Adam and thus all mankind. 

            When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered the world, its full force was not seen on that day.  By the time of Noah man had become so wicked that it broke God's heart to even look at mankind. He was sorry that He had even made us (Genesis 6:5-6). I’m sure that we would all probably agree, that Adam and Eve could not possibly have manifested the wickedness that we see today.  In fact, the manifestation of sin that was seen in the lives of our grandparents  is in no way the same level as that which we see happening now.  The old folks say, that each generation grows wiser and more wicked.  But Adam was just as much a sinner in need of a savior as the most wicked person now living on this earth.  It does not matter at what rate sin is manifested in one’s life.  All that is important is that sin is there; Adam’s blood was contaminated with sin and that contaminated blood was passed on to all man kind. 

Demo 1 - 100 ml and 1 drop 

            Adam was pure, clean, and holy.  But then sin enters and Adam is contaminated.  Now the full manifestation is not seen at once.  But if allow to sit unbothered the process will continue and full manifestation will occur.  But it is not just that sin is here residing in us.  We also have an enemy and he helps that sinful nature in us to be manifested and he will not stop until he has brought about a full manifestation of death, both spiritual and physical.  The enemy of God introduced man to this deadly infectious germ called sin and he continues to do all that he can to deceive man into keeping the virus.  How does he do that?  He urges man to keep the disease by causing man to focus on the manifestations and the temporary pleasures gained from them.  He has some so deceived and hooked on the manifestations, that they have not even considered the disease.  (eyesight)  Then for those of us who have turned to Christ we confuse the issue even more by continuing to focus on the manifestations and not the disease.  We tell people that they are going to hell because they do this or that.  But the truth is they are hell bound because they have done nothing about the disease that has contaminated them. 

Well what can be done? 

            One way of curing contaminated blood is by providing an antidote. 

I Peter 1:18-20 

            The blood of Jesus is our antidote.  The doctors could not provide an antidote because they have no clue what is missing from our blood or what foreign substance was added when sin entered.  But God through Jesus came and spilled His own blood, spotless and without blemish as an antidote for man’s sinful blood.

Rom. 6:12-18

            The person who has Accepted Jesus as savior the Bible said is freed from sin.  Sin no longer has dominion over him.  Does this mean that the germ or contaminate in the blood is completed gone.  No but an antidote has been applied that neutralizes the virus.  Does that mean that all of the manifestations of sin will immediately go away.  No but as long as I continue to come to God, my doctor, that he might continue to give me doses of the antidote, not only will the virus be neutralized , the flow of contaminated blood to my limbs stops and healthy blood is being fed to my flesh, and with each day the manifestations of sin grow fewer and fewer. 

Demo 2 - add 1 drop

            Those who do not know Jesus as savior often get confused because they continue to focus on actions.  Sometimes they look at Christians and they can not see a lot of difference between them and us.  They are looking at what we do, as a judge of our spiritual state, and they are rating themselves based on what they see in us.  To them they sometimes look just like us.  But though these two chemicals may look the same, they are not the same.  Chemists have a piece of  analytical equipment, I believe it is called an infrared spectrometer that allows them to analyze chemicals and tell you what they are.  The IR uses a light source.  Light of different spectrums causes different chemical groups to vibrate at different frequencies.  These vibrations show up as peaks on a graph which can be used to identify the chemical group.  Our initial text I John 1:5 said that God is light.  He is our light source.  And no matter how similar the born again believer and the unbeliever may look, God sees the difference.  You see the unbeliever’s blood is still contaminated, but the believer has received the antidote.  The manifestation that the antidote is there may not be seen right away, but God Himself is an infrared spectrometer.  He knows the difference.  (II Cor. 5:21 - says God made Jesus to be sin for me so that I could be made righteous.)  In our eyes a struggling Christian might look just like a sinner.  But in God’s eyes the struggling Christian is still righteous.  (Now Christian don’t miss use the mercy of God, by thinking that I just given you a license to sin.  God still expects us to live righteously).

            Further more I may look like you today, but as I grow closer to God, continuing to go to his altar that He may apply the blood of Jesus to my life, as I submit and yield to His word and His will, suffering through the aggravations of this life, the manifestation of the cleansing will come forth and the Bible says that one day I will be like Him. 

 Why is the blood of Jesus Necessary?

            Because it is the only pure source by which the blood of man can be purged and thus there is no other name by which man can be saved.

Heb. 9:22, 11-15

            The sin of Adam brought the curse of death and the curse had to be satisfied in order for sin to be remitted.  Before Jesus came God set up a system of sacrificing animals.  The priest went into the temple and poured the blood of the sacrificed animal on the altar.  But the animals blood was not pure either for it too was under the curse.

            But Jesus, our high priest, not with blood from tainted goats and bull, entered not the temple on earth, but entered the Holy of Holies in the temple of the living God, and poured his spotless blood on the altar.

Heb 4:14-16

            Jesus the great high priest has shed his blood to purchase redemption for us.  I can now come to the throne and altar of God and have the blood of Jesus applied to by life, the blood that cleanseth us from all sin; that removes the power of sin over my life.  So that when God shines the light of his countenance on me he will see that the antidote for sin is present.  He will see the blood of Jesus, cause the eternal death angel to pass by me, and God will receive me as his own. 

I JOHN 5:10-12