Blood of Christ

First Corinthians, Chapter 2, verse 1 to 5. The word of God says: "... So, brothers, when I came to you to announce the testimony of God, I did not go with excellence of words or wisdom, because I determined not to know anything from you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was among you with weakness and much fear and trembling and neither my word nor my preaching was with persuasive words of human wisdom but with demonstration of the spirit and power so that your faith is not founded on the wisdom of men but on the power of God…"

Father, in the name of Jesus we want to be such a church, Lord, when we preach and share the word we also do it as a prayer before you, saying, Lord, do this among us. Father, we want to be a church not filled with wisdom or human strength, we want the true, Lord, a demonstration of divine power among us. May it be genuine, Lord, not only your move among us but the faith of each one that rests on you and not on man. So speak to us today, I ask that your power be perfected in the weakness of this vessel, I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.

You know I felt the Lord speak today about the blood of Christ. As the word says here, because I determined not to know anything about you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Did you know? In the time of the Apostle Paul, people did not want to hear about this. There were Jewish people who wanted to know about miracles, they wanted a savior like one of the prophets who raised the dead, who did wonders. They wanted something spectacular to see. The Greeks wanted eloquence and wisdom like the philosophers, they wanted well-crafted and well-perfected sermons and speeches.

The Apostle Paul said, you know what? If you want that, go to the theater to see it, because I'm going to give you what you want but what you need. It is the story of a savior, a God who became a man and who allowed himself to be crucified. And this is a little dirty, brothers, it is our temptation sometimes to clean the Gospel, all sanitize things.

But the truth is that the center of our faith is based on blood, on blood. The blood of Jesus is the key, the basis of the power that we live as Christians. And many times we don't want to think about it, we don't understand it. But Paul said, I don't want to know anything but Jesus Christ and him crucified.

You know that I remember, we invited some brothers, they were here this summer doing ministry with the children in the parks and we were in a park with a lot of liberal people from the City of Boston, non-Christians watching, and there were all the children sitting there. And the brothers took out their posters, a banner and the first thing they had said, that without bloodshed there is no forgiveness of sins, there is no remission of sins. And I could see all these people, very sophisticated, very liberal looking like, hmmm, blood… remission of sins. Will that group be a sect, will it be a terrorist group that is talking about violence? And I started to think, you know what? Although one might want to start with something more fun, something softer, I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of all.

You know what? If we try to clean up the Gospel too much we take away its power. If we try to explain it too much and modernize it too much, it loses the power it has. The blood of Jesus to heal us, to set us free, to remove our shame before God. Thanks to him.

I want us to think a little about the blood of Jesus. I had an experience how I spoke in the morning, I was reading a children's Bible, with my son Noah who is now 3 years old, and we were reading the Bible and there was a drawing of Jesus walking towards the cross. And there was behind him a soldier who had a sword or something. And he said, a spear, and he said, Daddy, what is this? What's that? And I told him, "It's a spear", "It's a spear". And I don't like to talk about weapons with him, I don't want him to learn those things. And I said, it's a spear, and he asks me, "Is it sharp?" and he says, "What are you doing with this spear?" “Do they poke people?” and I said, "We're not supposed to poke people, but, yes he pokes people with that." And he after a long pause asked me, “Is he going to poke Jesus with that?” "He goes to Jesus with this?" And I said yes, and then another pause. "Is it going to hurt?" I said, "yes, it's going to hurt"

you know what? I didn't mean to, oh, but I'm already scaring him. You know I don't want to have to, I want everything to be happy, but you know what? Our Gospel, that blood that Jesus shed is the basis of our hope in life, it is the power of every day. I can't get this out of the Gospel, for anyone, not even a child. And so for us it is time to remember again the power of the blood of Jesus. And if you dare, I want us to reflect on 4 scenes from the Bible that teach us the power of blood.

And we're going to start right at the beginning, Genesis, Chapter 3. The story of Adam and Eve, what happened? After they screw up, we know what happened, right? they were naked from the creation but later they realized that they were naked. What a shame! And what did they do to cover their shame? They made clothes with figs, fig leaves, they made clothes with leaves, but what a ridiculous thing, right? but they did that to… we have to do something. And then when God comes in the whirlwind of his majesty's wind, they get scared and what did Adam and Eve do? They hid in the trees.

But what a pathetic scene. Those two poorly dressed people, hidden in trees, trembling, ashamed. But you know what would have been sadder? If God hadn't looked for them, if God had left them there hiding. But he said, "Adam where are you?" They are the saddest and most beautiful words in the Bible. He says that the friendship between man and God has already broken, but thank God that it was not going to stay that way. There is a God who seeks us.

What do we do when we sin? You know how it is? There are certain friends that you don't want to look them in the eye. Some stop congregating, although the church is a place of healing, one can arrive as it is. But our tendency is to hide and God looks for us there.

Then they go out and then the whole thing, you know what? I told another story this morning and I can't resist, another Noah story. I looked for him at school this week one day and coming out of school he heard a boy saying, “am am am am” and he asks me, “Daddy, what does am mean” and I said, “well, that's what What do you say when you don't know what to say? And then the teacher tells me, “oh, Mr. Bishop, you know your son had a little problem…” and I like, ah, okay. So later in the car I was driving there, after a quiet time, I asked him "Noah, the teacher tells me there was a little problem, what are you telling me, what happened?" And I hear there in the back seat "am, am, am, am" Noah, I want to know what happened? "Um, um, um, um." What malice, three years, the natural sin that comes out.

We are like that, right? when we are ashamed and Adam and Eve with their ridiculous clothes and their hiding. But God doesn't leave them like that. You know that God says, I know you're ashamed of what you've done, but I want you to know that you don't have to live in shame. I can cover your shame for real. This clothing you made is useless. Let me make you another outfit.

Verse 21 says "... The Lord Jehovah God made tunics of skins for the man and his wife and clothed them..."

How cute no? God says, you know what? I think you did not know that I am a good seamstress and I can make you a better dress than this, and I will cover your shame for you.

But how did he do it, how did he get these skins? Did you go to the store? He entered Google to ask for one what do I know? As far as I know, a skin comes from an animal that was using it, right? who wears his skin To get his skin he doesn't give it to you. There had to be there in the garden of Eden very early on, an animal sacrifice, blood spilled to cover the shame of man and woman. You know what? The blood of Jesus can cover your shame.

We try so many things, we cover ourselves with masks and things and we try to hide it and God says, I have the cure that you need, the blood, the blood of the lamb.

Genesis 15, another scene, another power of the blood. Abraham, a man who loved God, that God had made great promises to him, and one day he took Abraham out at night. How many have seen the stars these days? What a beautiful sky in the fall. The moon so strong and Jupiter right there, how beautiful. All shining.

He takes Abraham out to see the stars and he says "this will be your offspring", although you are an old man and your wife is old, and even when they were young they could not have, now she is going to have your baby and that is how your offspring will be. And I am also going to give you the promised land to live there with all the multitude of your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And Abraham believed God, he had faith and it was counted to him as justice, but he had a little doubt and he said, "But God, how can I be sure that you are going to give me the land?" and God says, "I am going to teach you how you can be sure of the promises that I make to you." He said "You have to take some animals and take those animals and you have to kill them." And all this very dirty. You have to kill them, you have to cut them into two pieces, several. And then I want you to place the pieces like a runway, a little path, and I'm going to show you something there. And what happened, there is blood, there are things... and then something wonderful happened.

Because you know what? At that time they made pacts in this way. Nowadays, it is signed, at that time they killed animals between two kings and they put the pieces and then the smaller, less powerful king, walked in the ceremony inside the pieces of animals. And get to the other side, he says, "so I will be like one of them if I do not fulfill my part of this pact." So after that what are you going to do? Fulfill your side of the pact, right?

In English it is said, the idea of to cut a deal, or to cut a covenant. Have you ever heard of that? They cut a deal. That is like breaking a pact, this is used in English, in Spanish I think not. but it comes out of it. The idea of a covenant that is based on blood. And it is always the smallest king that walks among the animal pieces. Look what happens in the night with Abraham after he puts, puts all the pieces together. It says that in verse 17. At night a terrible darkness fell on Abraham, it was an almost supernatural scene, a heavy atmosphere. And in verse 17 he says:

“… And it happened that when the sun had set and it was already dark, a smoking furnace was seen and a flaming torch passed through the divided animals. And on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying to your descendants I will give this land, and then he makes his promise..."

So what's up? Abraham sees an oven with smoke there and also a torch with fire moving between the pieces. Now can you think of another time in the Bible later on, when God is going to reveal Himself with a cloud and also fire? When the people of Israel leave Egypt, God will be before them with a supernatural cloud and divine fire, the shekida glory of Jehovah. And now God is giving Abraham a little taste of his glory and he appears to Abraham, but one question, if he is the smallest king that has to walk between the pieces, in this story who is the one that goes through the pieces? It's not Abraham, it's God. He walks by as if to say, if I don't keep my word with you, that's how I'll die. And you know what? He did die on the cross, fulfilling it not because of his unfaithfulness, but because of man's unfaithfulness. He made a pact with Abraham and says, you can trust me because I have said my word and I will underline it with blood.

Brothers, I don't know what promises God has made to you, but we can trust them. God does not change his mind, he does not get up one day in a bad mood and decides not to love us anymore, he has sworn to fulfill his good promise with us and he has signed it in blood and the blood of Jesus does not change and gives us confidence.

Do you know that in the time of approaching death, what will happen to all of us? Is there going to come a time when I think about what am I counting for my spiritual destiny with God when I have to be before him? I want to trust in a pact made in blood, I want to trust in the blood of God that removes my shame. And knowing that I can rest because that is not something light or fleeting, my God is serious with me.

Later, already talking about so many ugly things, but they are ugly and beautiful things at the same time. Genesis 22, God gives the promised son to Abraham, his name is Isaac, a son of promise and God says, you have to take this son and sacrifice him to me. We know the story. Abraham takes him up the mountain and is about to sacrifice his son when God says, “Abraham, Abraham, verse 11, Abraham and Abraham, and he answered, “Here I am,” and said, “Lay not your hand on the Boy, don't do anything to him because I already know that you fear God because you did not deny me your only son. Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in that place instead of his son.

Abraham was about to offer his son as a sacrifice and thank God he didn't have to, but blood was shed on this day, from an animal that was a surrogate for Isaac's son. And God is saying something, he is saying, what Abraham did not have to do I will do for you, I am going to give a substitute to die in your place, who is going to take all the punishment for you. He is guilty, we are all under sentence of death but there is another, there is a substitute who is willing to go to this place of punishment for us.

What Abraham only had to be willing to do, God accomplished when he offered up his Son, Jesus. We know the expression Jehovah shiré. It comes from here. The Lord will provide a substitute for me.

The next time you feel, I can't anymore, Jehovah shiré. When you get closer to death or are you thinking about the guilt that we all have as human beings, Jehovah shiré, a substitute for me.

You know that sometimes we talk a lot about grace and we must do it, because the church is a hospital for the healing of our spiritual wounds and God is merciful and patient, thank God. But we must always remember the cost of sin is not cheap. God cannot forgive just because he wants to, he forgives because as a good judge he made it possible for the requirements of the law to be met.

There was sin there must be death. Where there is sin there must be blood. And he supplied the substitute for us. Thank God. The blood of the lamb. We know that there is much more that we can talk about, Easter, right? they are there in Egypt as slaves and God says, you know you are in slavery but I am going to free you from your slavery. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt and we know that today we may not be slaves in nature, but we are slaves to sin.

How many come to the house of God with ties, with so many problems that one feels that one is not free because the…. something pulls you Sin has overwhelmed you. There are situations in which many people feel trapped as if they were imprisoned. Thank God there's blood for that. Because in this Passover story, what did the Israelites do? They took a lamb, killed the lamb, took the blood and put it on the lintels of the house and the posts and when the angel of death passed by to kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt, he saw the blood and passed this house without making damage. And it still is.

We put the blood on the lintel of our life and when the punishment of sin comes we are refugees there and thank God we don't have to be afraid. And the Israelites ran out of Egypt, they passed, they reached the sea, they were trapped, Pharaoh comes changing his mind, looking for him, God divides the waters, separates the waters, they pass through the middle and they are free and he knows that this is what happens with the blood of Christ for us.

You know for me the greatest joy, I think, that I have in the ministry is to see people delivered before my eyes. It is to see people who arrive at the church, who do not see the exit, you know? They come with problems that are so strong and burdens that they feel, I don't know how I'm going to get out of it? I've had that problem for so many years, I'm so tied up in it, that I don't see freedom, but hey, I'm going to give Jesus the chance of my life. And they look to Jesus and they begin to take this blood and put it on their life and accept Christ, and during the prayer they come up front and pray here and cry and let the people pray for you. They go to take classes and learn the word and over time this burden begins to be lifted little by little.

And almost as if you could see the change, you see a shadow lift from the person and a new light begin to shine. And then I really like when I see them dancing here, dancing in the presence of God, although it doesn't always have to be that way, but there is a sense that God has set me free, free, free, Christ. It is the blood of Jesus that sets us free, it is the sacrifice that he made when he came to be baptized, John said, “behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world”.

Here is the lamb, it is his blood that will heal you. It is his blood that will take away your shame, it is his blood that will also make you sure of his promise and make you feel that there is already liberation in life. It is the blood of Jesus.

You know that sometimes we pray saying, Lord, I ask for the blood on this person. I ask for blood on my life. And sometimes we say it like, I don't know, almost communicating that this is not good, because we don't believe in formula words that work just because they are words. But you know what? The idea of asking for the blood of Jesus is a very good thing. It is a very good thing, because we are all in court before a divine judge, and we all fall short before this judge.

As we speak in discipleship, if you think you're good, well, we're going to start reading your thoughts and see how the movie comes out. pg 13, pg 14, sin. It's not just killing people, it's thoughts that we have recorded words that God has said. We all fall short.

And before this judge, there is a prosecutor, an excellent prosecutor in what he does, who knows how to make his argument against us. You know that the word for prosecutor in Greek is diabolos. And it's not that every lawyer is a devil, right? There are good prosecutors who, one or the other... but that... Satan is an accuser and he has a case, he has a case. Satan's lies are won because there is so much truth that he uses against us. And him accusing, saying, this guy doesn't deserve your love, God, he's a sinner. He has sinned, he must still be hiding in the trees. What will our argument be? Oh, no, no, but you don't understand, it's that no, it's that I also did good things too. No, no, God, but it wasn't that bad because I was right. He had it coming. That person was bad and deserved it. What do I know the arguments we use?

But those arguments are useless. But there is an argument that works. In court, before God and also the devil himself. We say, yes, I know that I have sinned, and I know that the penalty for sin is death, I know that there must be blood, but thank God there is someone who has paid for me, there is blood, there is blood. I ask for the blood of Christ. It's like in court, you offer a plea, right? You offer a plea, you can plead insanity. You can plead I don't know what, self defense, you can ask for something on a certain basis. We as Christians can ask for the blood of Christ as a basis to cover ourselves legally and the spiritual environment functional with law. The enemy, God himself, conforms to his law. For this reason he sent his Son and died to hit, to pay the consequences of the law.

And we can also say, I am justified before the law of God. Not because of what I did, but someone else did it for me. That thief on the cross who looks at Jesus and he says, look, he hasn't done anything wrong, we're here because we're looking for him. And then he looks at Jesus and says, remember me when you come to your kingdom. Knowing that he can forgive me, I can't do anything to earn my salvation, but he is paying the blood that I owe. Thank God, the blood of the lamb.

That is why the word of God says in Revelation, 12:11 says:_

“…And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and despised their lives to the point of death…”

Thank God. He knows that it is impossible for a human being to be in the presence of God alone. He knows that the presence of God is not something light, something soft, the presence of God is really something super dangerous. The holiness of Jehovah is something majestic, something like nuclear power, which has tremendous power but also danger if someone is there in a way that is not appropriate. In the temple, the presence of God was there in the presence of a cloud shining with light and fire. Do you know what the temple was? You could see the glory of God in the tabernacle coming out of the tent. It was something visible. And once there were some sons of the priest who wanted to enter the temple there with a new fire, which they invented, thinking that God would like that, that I do not make sacrifices as he says, I am going to invent a new sacrifice so that no the Lord is bored. And these two young men come in and the fire of God consumed them because the power of God, the presence of God is dangerous.

If you are going to enter a nuclear power plant, what are you going to do first? You are going to… I hope you read the manual on how to do it, what not to do, because that power, look brother, no matter how well-intentioned you are, if you go in there like crazy, things don't go well. And it is so with the presence of God.

There was an ark with the law of God, the tables of the law that Moses had in that ark, and the glory of God before the ark, and angels like statues of great angels looking at this ark, this piece of furniture, and thank God there was a lid on this ark which was called the mercy seat. You can say that with me, the mercy seat, everyone says better than me.

And what the priest did, once a year he took the blood of an animal and put it on this lid so that God looking with his glory at the law of the commandments, knowing that the human being had violated each commandment, he looked not only the law, but the blood that covered the law.

Brothers, in the law we are only wrong, but when God looks at you, even though we are wrong, he looks at us with the blood of Jesus covering us, he looks at his son, he looks at us with eyes of love, because his blood has cleansed us.

I tried to explain this to my son and it didn't go very well. But it is like this. They were able to overcome, defeated through the blood of the lamb. Brethren, we want to be a truly winning church, a church that continues to prosper. This is not done with us being super men and super women, this is done with broken and humble people who know in the center of our being that we do not deserve anything, but that there is blood for us. There is one who died for us.

Going back to the text in First Corinthians, Chapter 2, it says that I purposed not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ this crucified, and I was among you with weakness and much fear and trembling, neither my word nor my preaching were persuasive words, but with demonstration of the spirit and power so that your faith is not founded on the wisdom of men but on the power of God.

Brothers, it is not only believing in the blood, believing in the cross, it is also living the cross. At this time there were certain super Apostles, impressive men who came to the places where Paul had been and they came and preached and how they stole a lot of money from people, and they began to speak ill of Paul, right? They started talking about some trash about Paul. They began to say, that Pablo, how can they respect Pablo? He suffers so much, he suffers persecution, he has problems sometimes, he has to make shops to earn his salary, I have even heard that he has a thorn in his flesh. How can he be an Apostle? The Apostle Paul says, you know what? Maybe they are super Apostles, but I have a super God. And I don't feel obligated to impress anyone but to live the cross so that there is genuine power flowing through my life.

And the Apostle Paul says, besides, do you want to know human weakness? I tell you about human weakness, I am going to tell you about many problems that I have. In the books of First and Second Corinthians, he talks about his struggles, his persecutions, his sufferings and he does not say that it was all easy, that when they persecuted me I was calm and I did not feel any anguish. He says, look, I had a lot of pressure and fear of death, and I felt the death sentence, but God let me suffer these things so that I would learn to trust not in man, but in God who raises the dead. And I know that if I am going to move in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I have to learn to live the cross of Jesus Christ, I have to let take up my cross every day, embrace suffering for the Gospel, recognize my weaknesses and say when I am weak, then I am strong, because there is a powerful God who rests on me. I have this treasure not in fine dishes but in earthenware vessels.

Something so common, something so everyday, a clay glass. He says, you know what? If you want someone spectacular, go to the theater or I don't know what. You are going to have a normal type here with you, a clay glass, but the treasure that we carry inside, this is not something normal, it is something extraordinary and it is something that shines, it is something precious and it will be more obvious what beautiful and precious of the glory that I carry inside because I also carry in my body the death of Christ. And it is obvious that it cannot be Paul, it has to be God. Thank God.

Brothers, God is calling us more every day to be people who believe in the cross and who live the cross, who know that when I have a problem it is another door through which the power of God can be manifested in my life, where there is death. there can be a resurrection, where there are struggles and problems and the ugly of life, there the beauty of God will shine, because where there is death, there is new life, if we believe in him. Amen. Amen.

The Apostle Paul goes so far as to speak of his thorn in the flesh. He says that he was taken up to the heavens and he saw revelations from the heavens. I believe that God does, mind you, I believe that even now some of you have had experiences where the veil has been lifted and you have seen the glory of God in a tangible way. There is one or the other. The Apostle Paul had experiences like this. He saw the heavens, he saw such wonderful things that God told him, you are not allowed to talk about it, nor can you talk about it, that is only for you.

And God knew that if a man has these experiences he can easily become proud and feel that God reveals himself to me, and feel proud. And God says, to keep you humble I'm going to give you a gift, I think he says, a messenger from Satan to slap you around. What a beautiful gift!

And Pablo says, thank you very much, Lord, but if I can take it back to the store, maybe we'll find another one. And the Apostle Paul is honest, he says, Lord, please, this sting and we don't know what it is. Please take it off me. And he prayed once. And you think it's enough, pray once? And God says no. but how many times did he pray? 3 times.

You can think of another person in the Bible who prayed 3 times to take away a pain that awaited him. That 3 times he came before God bleeding, sweating blood, the fat drop, praying with anguish saying, Father, if it is possible for this cup to pass from me. Jesus in the Garden of Eden, never sinned, never sinned but in his humanity he fought with his call to reach the cross, and said to the Father, if it is possible for this cup to pass from me, but that it is not my will but yours .

There are some battles, brothers, that we have to lose, we have to let God conquer us so that we can be conquerors. In the end, Jesus accepted the cross and knows there before Pilate and the cross and the suffering, calm because he had already fought with God and it is like that with the Apostle Paul. 3 times, Lord, take away my sting. What does God say? Enough my grace. Lord, take away my sting. Enough my grace. Lord, take away my sting. And then the third time, I imagine he said it with God, my grace is enough for you, ok, I get the picture. For your power to perfect my weaknesses.

The Apostle says, no, I am the great thing, I am the super Apostle. No, he says, therefore, I will gladly glorify myself rather in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ rests upon me, therefore, for the love of Christ I rejoice in weaknesses in insults, in needs, in persecutions, in anguish. Because when I'm weak then I'm strong.

Thank God. Brothers, what is your area, what is your sting? Know that God means, my power is perfected in your weakness. If you let me, I will show you my power there, in you, and through you, and the others will see it because they will see that it cannot be you, but rather the power of God in you through this fight.

Thank God. We have a powerful God. Christ did not remain on the cross, he did not remain in the grave, after 3 days he rose from the dead and does not die anymore and the power of the resurrection is available to us also who live the cross every day.

We must embrace it, brothers, we must ask for blood and embrace the cross in our lives. So, I invite you to pray with me. Let's stand up and let's pray. We are going to come before a powerful and merciful God. First of all, Lord, I would like to thank you for the blood. Lord, I don't know how you did it, although your word does not say that it is for joy in front of you, it is out of love for your Father, for us. You went to the cross for us. Thank you, Lord, thank you, for your blood. Don't let us forget to thank you for your blood.

Help us to ask for the blood on us when there is spiritual warfare, when there are struggles, when there are problems, when we have sinned, or when we have won a fight. To ask for blood to cover us, that your blood cover me, that your blood cover the Lion of Judah, that your blood cover Pastor Mirando and his entire family. May your blood cover this city, this country. May your blood cover us, we ask for blood, may you not see our sins but the perfect sacrifice of your Son Jesus.

And brothers, I cannot let this moment pass without giving it a chance. If there is someone who wants to raise their hand right now and accept Christ as their Lord and savior, now is a good time to do it. God bless you brother. If there are others who want to accept Christ, raise your hand saying not to man, but to God.