An Emphasis on Blood Atonement

I want you to turn with me here tonight to Leviticus chapter 17, and then we're going to turn to 1 John and chapter 1. And this is the second in a series that we have begun. And believe me, I'm still only going to begin to literally stand at the door, the threshold of this precious book of Leviticus. We're not going to get very far at all here tonight, and yet I'll go to the very heart of the book, the very substance of the book, the very marrow of the book.

And I believe I'll lay before you one of the most vital of things that you can find within it. We started on this series in Leviticus of blood atonement in Leviticus. And in part one, we already dealt with three words.

I simply took three words from the book and laid out to show you the heart, the substance, the themes that flow there. We mentioned about the word holiness is mentioned 94 times in the book of Leviticus. That is absolutely vital.

You can't even understand this book without understanding holiness, the character of God's holiness, that he tells us to be holy and that he actually reveals himself as holy. But second of all, atonement, the precious word atonement is mentioned 16 times in the book of Leviticus. And then third of all we dealt with in part one was that there's a word that outstrips them by far being used 313 times in the book of Leviticus.

And that's the word Lord or Jehovah or Yahweh, which is vital concerning the character of God. And so we see in Leviticus, these three themes are fundamental, flowing together and giving you balance like in a boat that keeps itself balanced. You know, if you're ever going on certain boats and you'll get the captain or the staff and they'll actually balance you, they'll balance the weights or they'll balance whatever they have on that boat.

Because if you don't balance that boat right, you could have all the same material on there. But if it's imbalanced, if it leans too far in one direction, you are going to have a disaster. All the same material, but how it's balanced, how it is laid out in order to make that vessel to flow aright and to sail aright.

And I actually believe certain Christians have made shipwrecks and certain professors of religion have made disaster. It's not that they haven't known the truth or had the truth, but it's been imbalanced. They either go too far towards holiness and neglect the blood or you could go too far towards the blood and neglect holiness.

It's all truth. Do you know what error and heresy is and deception is? Truth out of context. That's all it is.

It's not the absence of truth. But when you don't hold truth in balance, but here tonight, my message, an emphasis on blood atonement, reading from Leviticus 17, verse 11, or you could call this an emphasis on the blood in Leviticus, an emphasis on blood atonement. And here tonight, if it's one thing I'm going to do, I'm going to show you the emphasis of the blood in Leviticus, as well as the entire Bible, as well as the New Testament and then the Christian life.

If you're wise, you will have a very definite emphasis on the blood. And can I tell you if this pulpit doesn't have that, we're heading for trouble. And if our worship and our songs and our praise don't have that, we're heading for trouble.

And if our prayers aren't based on that, we're heading for trouble. And so I want to preach to you an emphasis on the blood because Leviticus actually emphasizes throughout the entire book, blood atonement, not atonement without blood, not a relationship without blood, but the blood is absolutely essential. Let's read together Leviticus chapter 17 and verse 11.

And it says there, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for your soul.

Then let me read just one other scripture to back that up from Leviticus. It's in Leviticus 8 verse 15. And it says, and Moses took the blood and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger and purified the altar and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar and sanctified it to make reconciliation upon it.

And then one last verse in 1 John chapter 1 in verse 7. And we'll come back to that before the end of the message to 1 John chapter 1. Keep your fingers in these places, but we will come back there. But it says in 1 John chapter 1 verse 7, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. Can we pray together? Father, I thank you tonight as we gather together, as we worship you.

Lord God, as we gather around the word of God, as we listen to the word of God, as I preach, Lord God, I don't come here to preach apart from the blood. My only plea, oh God, my only claim is the blood of the lamb. Lord God, the only reason I dare stand here is because of the blood of Jesus Christ.

And my God as a church, I pray that you pour out your spirit, that you'd revive us, oh God. Lord God, that you'd make us a church that emphasizes the blood of the lamb. Lord God, that we'd understand blood atonement, that we'd understand the theme of scripture.

Lord God, it's centrally being the sacrificial blood of the lamb of God. Father, we thank you for justification tonight. Lord God, we thank you for the righteousness of God that came to us as a free gift.

We thank you that Christ is our propitiation, that he's our advocate with you, that he's our intercessor, that he's our great high priest. Lord God, that he's before your altar even at night. He's the one that sprinkles the blood of the everlasting covenant.

Lord God, he's the one that makes a way for us right into your presence. Lord God, he's the one that calms our conscience. Lord God, eases our hearts, oh God.

And Father, I pray tonight for the power of your blood to be applied by the Holy Spirit. You said there's three on earth that bear witness, the blood and the spirit and the water of the word. And Father, I pray that these three bear witness, Lord God, mightily right now.

Lord God, that the word of God that we're expounding and preaching, Lord God, that it will bear witness. It will say yea and amen to the blood. Lord God, that the real Holy Spirit that indwells us, that led us to salvation, that brought us to the paschal lamb, Jesus Christ.

I pray, oh God, that he, Lord God, would bear witness to the word of God. And Lord God, remedy, Lord God, even ease us, oh God, and minister to us tonight for your sake and for your glory and your honor. In Jesus' mighty name.

An emphasis on blood atonement or an emphasis on the blood. Since you can't get away from the blood in the Old Testament or the New Testament, this isn't just a New Testament doctrine, the blood. It's an Old Testament doctrine.

No, it goes further than that. It is an everlasting doctrine that comes out of the heart of God. This came out of eternity, not out of time.

This wasn't merely a response to the sin of man and to create a remedy. This actually came out of eternity. The Bible itself says that the blood of the lamb was shed, not spilt.

It was shed. Spilt's an accident. Shedding is a deliberate act.

And I want to tell you the blood of Jesus was shed deliberately by an act of God. It was in the plan of God. It wasn't God's plan B. It was God's plan A from the very beginning.

And before God even created things and began in creation, the Bible is very clear that the blood of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God didn't even begin creation. He didn't even create man in perfection or innocency without the blood.

It was in the light of the lamb, in the light of the blood that God even created man. He wouldn't have even started. He wouldn't have withheld his hand when man sinned if it wasn't for the blood.

And so tonight I give you an emphasis, a biblical emphasis on the blood. And it's going to shock you how this saturates the book of Leviticus. As we said, Leviticus is one of the least read books in all of the Old Testament.

It is neglected, misunderstood, misinterpreted, misapplied, miscomprehended. And so people jump over it, speed read it or utterly ignore it. They say, I don't understand it.

Therefore, they set it aside. Oh, what a mistake you're making. This book is actually dynamic.

It's powerful. Guess who wrote this book? The Holy Spirit. It was the spirit of God inspired it.

God breathed. In other words, He breathed out every sentence, every word. He breathed out its theme, its structure, its message.

And I want to tell you tonight, its message is an emphasis on blood atonement. This first verse that we read, Leviticus 17 and 11, there's a reason why I choose this verse as we're just beginning this series. And when we're dealing with the whole book of Leviticus, I would dip right into the center and choose it.

Here's my reason. It is the linchpin of the entire book of Leviticus. It's a linchpin.

If you know what a linchpin is, it holds two things together. It's a small thing. It's a tiny thing.

A linchpin pins or holds two things together. What does this one verse or the one chapter of Leviticus 17 hold together? The first 16 chapters, chapter 1 to 16, we're going to see in the weeks ahead, they run with the theme of the preciousness of the blood. They are saturated and dominated by sacrifice, by offerings, by bloodshedding.

It is horrible. It is the altar of God that stands at the very center of these 16 chapters. That's how Leviticus opens.

But then jump to chapter 18 through to 26. The primary theme, though not the only theme, the primary theme is the holiness of God. Instructions on how to order yourself, obey God, walk in the light of scripture.

And so you have these two. It's not a perfect way to describe it, but you've got two halves of Leviticus, one on the blood and one on holiness. And the linchpin is in chapter 17, an entire chapter on this of personal redemption.

The first 16 chapters are mainly for the priests, how they minister to the people. But when you get to chapter 17, it's very personal. It is for you.

It is about you. It's concerning you. It's instructions to the individual, not just to the priests on how they're to teach the people.

But chapter 17 has everything to do with your salvation and your redemption and your forgiveness and your walk with God and your ministry in the house of God and saints of God. It is this one verse, chapter 17, 11, that holds the message of the blood and of holiness together. It is central.

It is key. And believe me, you've got no walk of holiness and you will not walk in holiness without the blood. You wouldn't even lift your head.

You wouldn't begin. You wouldn't even arise before above the first failure if it wasn't for the blood of the lamb. Notice in chapter 17, verse 11, what it says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood.

Notice that life, man's life, naturally, humanly speaking, is in the blood. God has created it that way. That wasn't man.

God created this. This is a God created thing from the beginning. When he created Adam, he created him with blood flowing in his physical body.

So even on that first day, from the beginning, the creation of man, God created it that man cannot exist without blood. He cannot live. He cannot function.

He cannot see or hear or do. He utterly relies on blood in his body. That body cannot function without blood flowing in it and it coursing through his body.

Every limb, every member, every joint, every organism, life goes out. When the blood goes out, the life goes out. And believe me, you don't have anything to man without life.

But the life of man depends on the blood. If that's true physically, naturally, it's true spiritually. God has written this into the fabric of man that you can't get away from this.

We rely hour by hour, moment by moment on the blood. Your breath that you breathe, the oxygen depends on the blood. Every part of you depends on the blood.

Your brain would very quickly die. Let blood get cut off from your brain. You're going to be brain dead very shortly.

The brain is a marvelous organism, but it cannot function. The mouth is a beautiful creation. The hand of man, the eye of man, the foot of man, all of this is a beautiful creation, but it depends on blood flowing in that body.

When the blood stops flowing, the life stops functioning. It comes to a tragic crisis, utter collapse immediately. And so he goes on in this verse and he says, I have given it to you.

Notice who's given us the blood. It is God. And in this specific verse, it's talking about blood sacrifice, sin sacrifices, or how to have a relationship with God.

In other words, God has given us the blood of animals or the blood of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. God has given it to us. Notice how personal this is.

It's not just for God. It is for us. God actually in Leviticus 17 said to the people, the life is in the blood.

That's where all the life is. That's where the reality is. That's where the power is.

That's where function is. You want to make this church alive? Go back to the blood again. Mere preaching against sin will never do that.

But if you ever go back to the blood, I assure you the life of God comes back. You could deal with sin, tell people where they're wrong, call to repentance. It won't heal, but the blood actually brings life.

It's got life giving flow. When the blood begins to flow, life begins to flow. It is automatic.

We must deal with sin. We must deal with repentance. We must point out what is wrong.

We must deal with error and false teaching. But believe me, preaching the blood is the secret of it. Show me a church that's alive in God and they know the cross.

They know the atonement. They know the blood. They know they're justified.

They know they're redeemed. They know they're right with God. They are walking in the present reality of forgiveness.

Saints, do you want to revive your life? Do you want to revive your spiritual walk with God? Do you want to stay on the cutting edge of this? It's all in the blood. The life is in the blood. But notice God has given it to you upon the altar.

In Leviticus 17, the altar was the center of worship. All sacrifice was made on the altar. Blood flowed on the altar.

It is a picture, a type. It has the message of the cross. The altar in the Old Testament here in Leviticus 17 is the cross in the New Testament.

It is the place where the lamb died, the place where Jesus Christ died, where Christ died as the lamb of God. So in the Old Testament, that's where the blood sacrifices are. And notice what God says here.

I have given it to you upon the altar. I have given you the blood. Not only is the life in the blood, but I have given you the blood.

Saints, do you realize God has given you the blood? It's not just a general thing in the church. It's not merely a doctrine. It's not something that's there.

It's very personal. And if you walk through ignorant of this, not taught in it, and that's why we have an entire book, Leviticus. It's the theology of the blood.

It has a message of emphasizing the blood. You know why? This is the secret of your walk with God. God says, I have given it to you upon the altar.

I've given you the blood on the cross of Jesus. I've given it for you, for your spiritual life, for your good, for your blessing, for your family after you, for the good of your walk. You will walk with me all the days of your life if you keep your eyes on the blood of Jesus Christ.

And so he says he gives the blood on the altar. He gives it to you on the altar. He gives the blood.

He doesn't say, I give you the altar. The altar is there to perform a task. It is a place of death.

It is a place of bloodshed. But he doesn't say, I give you the altar. He says, I give you the blood on the altar.

In the New Testament, we read about the blood of the cross. A wooden cross never healed anyone. Wearing a cross around the neck, a crucifix with Jesus on it is blasphemy.

You should never, ever have a cross around your neck with a person on it. That is idolatry. That is making images.

And my Christ is not on a cross tonight. I want to tell you, I don't worship the cross. I don't bow before the cross.

I don't adore the cross. But I want to tell you, I make much of the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross for me, since it was for me. I don't know about you, but it was for me.

The blood of Jesus was given on the cross for me very, very personally. And it's a remarkable thing here that we read concerning this. It's for the purpose of atonement.

God gave the blood on the altar for atonement, to make an atonement for the soul. What is your soul? It's who you are. It's who you are eternally.

It's an eternal creation. It is the very essence of who you are. It's not your body.

It's your soul, your personality, your mind, your eternal being. And he says, I've given the blood on the altar to make an atonement. In other words, atonement, to be brought into oneness with me.

I have given the blood for that purpose, so that you'll be brought into relationship with me, into a right relationship with me, into unity with me. How does God come and walk with us in a beautiful relationship? By the blood. He has given the blood, only the blood, so that we can have a right relationship with God.

Without the blood, you have no relationship. Your good works mean nothing. Your righteousness means nothing.

All of your efforts means nothing. All of your soul winning means nothing. All of your singing means nothing.

Your righteousness is like filthy rags. Your morality amounts to nothing, since it's the blood that puts you in a right relationship with God. And so here tonight, I want you to hear that in this book of Leviticus, it is saturated with blood.

It is dominated by the theme of the blood, and it's got a reason. It's got a message for you and I. Leviticus, the least book read of our Old Testament, and yet it has the very substance and doctrine of the blood. Do you realize there's no book in the entire Bible that has met, that has as much direct written language from God himself than the book of Leviticus? No other book.

In other words, it's almost verbatim, God speaking directly to you. So the emphasis is his. The doctrine is his.

God wanted so clear that he says, I want you to quote me on this. I have given the blood. I am emphasizing the blood.

I am making it central on the altar. When you get to the heart of Christianity, you find the blood of Jesus Christ. And so this verse, Leviticus 17, 11, it's the linchpin between all the blood sacrifices and holiness.

The message of holiness is a dangerous message. You will mishandle it. You will misunderstand it.

It could wreck you. It could destroy you. If you're not grounded in the blood of the lamb, if you don't approach listening, preaching on holiness, all you'll hear is law.

All you'll hear is do's and don'ts. You'll hear religion. You'll misunderstand it, or you'll either try to step out in morality trying to be good, or else you'll reject and say, oh no, I'm not under law.

I'm under grace. You will make shipwreck. But saints, I'm telling you how to walk with God.

And so we come here tonight. I want to emphasize to you the blood. Beginning in Genesis, we have the blood all through Exodus, all through Leviticus, all through the books of the Bible, all the way down to Revelation.

But very quickly a doctrine came in, a belief, a teaching that rejected the blood. Not everyone who claims to follow the God of the Bible follows the blood, not at all. See, when you go to the book of Genesis, you read about the fall of man, the disaster of man, the tragedy of man.

We read about man's fall in the garden, being cast out of the garden of Eden because of his sin. We read about the tower of Babel and how man tried to reach heaven, and God came down with his wrath. We read about Sodom and Gomorrah.

So the book of Genesis shows the great fall of man, the great depravity of man, and God's wrath against sin. But very quickly, God comes in with a message of the blood. Adam and Eve had no sooner sinned against him and tried to cover their own bodies with fig leaves than you get the Lord stepping in, slaying an animal and covering their body.

Do you know their son is called Cain, Cain and Abel, two twins, two sons. One followed the way of the blood, but Cain rejected the blood. Listen to me carefully before I go into my three points here tonight.

Cain, instead of offering a blood sacrifice, he brought the works of his hands, the fruit of his hands. He worked hard. He grew them.

He plowed the ground. He pulled up all of the thorns and everything else. He worked over.

He wrestled with it. It was by the sweat of his brow. And he brought all of this offering to God.

He brought sacrifices to God. He brought hard work to God. You know, you and I can get worn out because we go, I served you well.

I tried hard. I done my best. I gave my best.

God isn't looking for that. He's looking for the blood. That's what he's actually looking for.

Since that's what keeps you right. Not all your efforts, not all your ministry, not all of your service. It is the blood that keeps you right.

And so Cain rejected the blood. He rejected it. See, if you neglect it, you're rejecting it.

Can I challenge you tonight? Is the blood an emphasis in your prayer, in your worship, in your ministry, in your calling, in your Christian life? Do you go to read the Bible without the blood? Do you listen sermons without the blood? Do you pray without the blood? Do you worship God without the blood? Then you're on dangerous ground because the only safe place is to have an emphasis, a dominant biblical emphasis on the blood. Listen to what the Bible says about this man Cain, because not only was he an individual in Genesis, a man who grew up in a family who emphasized the blood, they'd sinned against God, they rebelled against God, but they repented and got right with God through the shedding of blood. Since that's how you get back.

Imagine being in this church and you don't walk in this, you don't live in it, you don't rejoice in it, you don't enjoy it. That's what Cain done. He heard it from a child.

He grew up with it. He understood it with the ears. He was taught it and his brother Abel practiced it.

His brother Abel raised sheep, slew the lambs and offered them as a sacrifice to God. Who taught him that? Who taught him about the blood? It was his parents. But you had Cain who went the way of good works.

Over in the New Testament in around the year AD 70, we read about a movement that came into the early church. It was called the Cain movement. In Jude verse 11 it says, Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain.

It speaks about an entire movement starting to come into the church that was moving away from the blood. Can you believe that? By AD 70 there were those that were coming into the church and Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, has to begin preaching and says, Beware of them. Woe unto them.

They are in serious trouble. For there's those in the church, they have gone in the way of Cain. He says just before this, for there are certain men who crept in unawares.

They sneaked in sideways, very carefully, very subtly. They come into the church. You didn't notice them.

And they suddenly start arising. They don't emphasize the blood. They don't preach about the blood.

They don't talk about the blood. The blood isn't their Christian life. And yet they're in the church, and they're in the pulpits, and they're in ministry, and they get in worship, and they get in youth ministry.

But they don't know about the blood. They don't believe in the power of the blood. They don't sing about it.

They don't pray about it. They don't emphasize it, since they may academically adhere to it. But it is not a vital part of their body.

Jude actually warns about these men. They crept in unawares, ungodly men. Notice they're ungodly.

You will be ungodly if you are Cain. If you're part of the Cain movement, you will walk in ungodliness. There's no cure.

Good deeds, morality, right knowledge, effort, and energy will never replace the blood. Only the blood can make you holy. That was the great mistake of Cain.

He thought he was holy, and godly, and good, and pursuing after God. And he deserved the righteousness of God. But it says, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the Lord God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who bought them.

Imagine denying Jesus in the end. And so it talks about those of the way of Cain. The word way there, it means a well-trodden pathway over the ages.

Not walked by one man, or two, or five. From the days of Cain, the beginning of creation, men have walked this path saying, I know God. I can serve God.

I can walk with God. I can minister for God. And yet they walk in the way of Cain.

They're offering their own abilities, their own power, their own good deeds, their own merits, their own righteousness. God won't have any of it. That is in Genesis, where we see this emphasis begin.

When you come over into Exodus, you see redemption by the blood. You know what's at the center of Exodus? Is the Passover. How Israel as an entire nation gets redeemed by the blood of one lamb.

One lamb. And then we move into Leviticus. Here's my three points tonight.

Number one, the Passover comes before the teaching of Leviticus. The Passover comes before the teaching of Leviticus. Leviticus was given to a people after deliverance from Egypt.

They were delivered in Exodus. They have the Passover in Exodus. They're delivered from Pharaoh and his army in Exodus.

But when you get to Leviticus, this is an entire manual, an entire teaching, an entire theology for a people, an entire people who have been delivered out of Egypt. This was God's will for those in relationship with himself. It's an entire teaching.

It's an entire book of teaching for those who've experienced the lamb, who've experienced the power of God, who actually know what it is to be delivered from Egypt, to be saved, to come out of sin, to come through the Red Sea. You know what the Red Sea represents? Our baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it represents.

Saints of God, if you realize that in Exodus, the Passover is the predominant emphasis, you're going to begin to understand very, very powerful things. In Exodus, a lamb was chosen at Passover. A lamb was chosen.

In Exodus chapter 12, we read all about the Passover. Saints, you need to experience the Passover lamb before Leviticus means anything to you. Leviticus is an entire lifestyle and theology of the blood of the lamb.

But if you haven't been to Passover, Leviticus is not for you. It means nothing to you. In Exodus chapter 12, every household was told to choose a lamb.

The lamb was chosen so that they could inspect it for a period of four days. Every man was to take a lamb. It's very personal.

Have you taken the lamb? Have you experienced the lamb? Do you know the power of the Passover lamb? Not making a decision, not raising your hand, not having some illumination. Do you know the blood of the lamb? Have you experienced the forgiveness, the cleanse, and the deliverance? Saints, where is deliverance from the devil? Where's the deliverance from the world, from the power of sin, from your old nature? It's in the blood of the lamb. And so in Exodus 12, they choose a lamb.

Every man for his house, there had to be a lamb. In Exodus 12, the lamb is mentioned six times. In verse 3, it talks about a lamb.

Verse 4, the lamb. Verse 5, your lamb. Getting very personal, isn't it? Do you know in that entire chapter, it only mentions one lamb? Only one lamb.

All through the chapter, it's an entire nation. Every house, every home, every family. All of them have to choose a lamb.

All of them have to inspect the lamb. The lamb has to be chosen. But you know what? It's your personal lamb.

Now, I've worked this out. If 10 people crammed in a house per family, and there's about 2 million people in the entire nation that were gonna come out, this means 200,000 lambs. But it only speaks about one lamb in that entire Passover.

One lamb. It's your lamb. It's a personal lamb.

It's God's lamb given to you. And yet, there could be 200,000 that are gonna die that night. It's a chosen lamb to be kept in the house for 4 days.

And then, that innocent lamb, it's to be found without fault. No broken bones. No blemish.

Nothing wrong with it. It's gotta be the right age, the right specification. It's gotta be clean.

No, it's gotta be more than that. It's gotta be perfect. Nothing missing.

Don't offer a lamb that's gotta miss an ear. Don't do that. It's gotta be whole.

It's gotta be entire. It's gotta be complete. And in Exodus 12, we're told they took that innocent lamb, that perfect lamb, that chosen lamb, that personal lamb.

Is he personal to you? I mean, it's Jesus who died on the cross. Is he your personal lamb? Has this radically affected your home, your own lifestyle? Have you seen his perfection, his holiness? See, until you see his holiness, you'll never know the power of the blood. You treat God like he's light on sin.

He's not. He's a perfect, sinless, spotless lamb. And he had to die because of your sin.

Your sin put the lamb on the cross. It was your sin that would kill this lamb in Exodus 12. In Exodus 12, the night before the exodus from Egypt, this was gonna be repeated for all time but there was a first time that lamb was slain.

Guess what? It become the bleeding lamb. It become the bleeding lamb. And then that night, it was to be an eaten lamb.

It had to be a complete lamb. You've gotta eat all of the lamb. That night under the blood covering, you by faith had to go and sprinkle the blood on your door, on the lintels of your door.

This is very personal. This is an act of your faith. Saints, I'm talking about real salvation, the real born again experience.

Without blood, you've got no forgiveness, no hope, no future, no change life, no deliverance, no change. Saints, it's the blood of the lamb. And so in Exodus, what is the central theme of Exodus? It is the bleeding lamb.

When you go over to the New Testament, I'm getting a Leviticus, don't worry. I told you I'm standing at the threshold. I've just opened the door.

I'm taking you in. But if you don't understand the Passover lamb, I wanna emphasize tonight an emphasis on blood atonement. See, I don't just believe in an emphasis on the blood for salvation.

If you just have the blood for your salvation, I believe you're making a very serious major mistake. And I believe the church does this. Oh, the blood was for our salvation.

Hold on, Leviticus that has an entire theology on the blood. Guess what? It was only for those that had come through Exodus 12 by the blood of the lamb. Leviticus isn't for you unless you have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

Over in the New Testament, when John the Baptist came preaching, listen to what he said as one statement, behold, the lamb of God, which take us away the sin of the world. One statement, one sentence, it wasn't much there. Oh, there was one statement and he shook his world for God.

Multitudes, thousands came out to the Jordan River to hear him. Do you know what he was doing? He was condensing down 4,000 years of Old Testament history in one statement from the blood that was shed to clothe Adam and Eve to the blood of the that Abel shed all the way through until the coming of Jesus. You know what John was saying? Behold, the lamb of God, he is the lamb.

He actually took all the sacrifices, all the lambs, all the death, all the shedding of blood on the Old Testament. And he summarized it in one sentence concerning one man, his father, Zacharias, had been a priest in the temple in Jerusalem, where animals were slayed. John was born with priestly blood flowing in his veins.

He could have served in the temple at the altar, just like his father before him. He was a true Levite, a Levite and Leviticus was for him. He was raised around Leviticus, but listen, in his mother's womb, he was called to be a prophet and then gifted as a prophet.

Then the word of the Lord came to him as a prophet. And at 38 years of age, he stepped out and began to preach, behold, the lamb. You know what he was saying? The sacrificial lamb, the Paschal lamb, the Passover lamb.

You know who Jesus is? Every single Passover lamb that's ever died. This is him. This is the one right now.

You need to see that the entire theology of the Old Testament was summarized. I want you to see that in the New Testament, Jesus is the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb is a picture of Jesus Christ and it's affirmed all through the New Testament.

The evangelist Philip on the roads to Africa stopped with Ethiopian eunuch. Remember, he was reading Isaiah 53 about the lamb that was slain. And as he read, the Holy Spirit says to Philip, go and join yourself to him.

Speak to him. He says, do you know what you're reading? No. How can I, unless a man preached to me, tell me.

And he begins Acts 8, 5. Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. Isaiah 53, the lamb, the Paschal lamb, do you know who it is? Jesus Christ. He is the Passover.

In the Old Testament, these types, these shadows, all this ritual, all this temple worship, all the death on the altar, do you know who it is? Guess who it is? It is Jesus. Do you realize in the Old Testament, by faith, they saw the Lamb of God. They had a real experience of it.

Also, Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 5 and 7, it says, for even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us. Paul preached that Jesus is the sacrifice. Passover is finished.

We don't keep Passover in this church. We don't celebrate it. Even for a teacher means we preach about it.

Christ was the Paschal Lamb. He's the fulfillment. All of that was a shadow for some 1,500 years.

But now it's Jesus Christ. Or what about Peter? In 1 Peter chapter 1 and 18, Peter says there, says we are redeemed. We're purchased.

We've been bought with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, they all said Christ is the Passover Lamb. I'm not reading into this.

When we go to Leviticus and I begin to show you Christ is all through Leviticus, I'm not reading into this. The Passover Lamb of Leviticus, I'm not assuming this is Jesus. The Bible teaches it's Jesus.

30 times in the New Testament, Jesus is called the Lamb of God. 28 of those times, He is called the Lamb of God in the book of Revelation. You want to know what the book of Revelation's about? It's about the Lamb of God, the bleeding Lamb, the sacrificed Lamb.

When we get to Leviticus 23, we have teaching on Passover, the Feast of Passover. In fact, it begins to teach on seven feasts, three of the main ones, Passover, Pentecost, and then Tabernacles. Guess where it begins? It begins with Passover, but not until Leviticus 23.

Why is it someone who experienced Passover in Exodus 12? Before coming out of Egypt, they experienced the Lamb. Now they get a book called Leviticus and it begins to teach them about the Passover Feast. Seven feasts are given to Israel and for our learning.

Do you know all of those seven feasts are prophecies concerning one person, the Lord Jesus Christ, but it begins where? At Passover. You can't understand Pentecost. You definitely can't understand Tabernacles unless you see Christ.

Christ is the key to it. It is a prophecy. It is predictive.

So, Leviticus goes into future prophecy, but everything is about Jesus Christ. It's all about him. And so, in Exodus 12, we have the origins of Passover, but in Leviticus 23, we have the regulation.

We have the ritual. We have the dates. We have the command to keep this as a perpetual annual feast for the entire people of God.

You know God's people, they're meant to keep Passover. They're meant to understand Passover. There's got to be an emphasis that you have been brought out by the blood of the Lamb.

Saints never forget Calvary. You know Christians who say, I've moved on from that. I got saved by the blood.

I was forgiven, made righteous, justified, but I've moved on from that. You're on serious, erroneous, dangerous ground. You know, in this message, what I'm telling you, you've only begun when you're at Passover.

You've only begun. Have you experienced the power of the blood? Did you get forgiven? Did you see that Jesus died on the cross for you, that his blood was shed? If you think that was only for salvation, you're greatly mistaken. Guess what? The emphasis on the blood in Leviticus is for your entire future walk with Jesus Christ.

Let me take you to point two, the great emphasis upon the blood in Leviticus. Do you realize all through Leviticus, and we're going to embark on this next week, you're going to begin to see in the first seven chapters, there are five different sacrifices. Until this point, Leviticus, there's only been one lamb, only been one sacrifice from the garden of Eden, from the days of Abel, all through Noah, Abraham, Moses, all the way through right until now, the Passover lamb out of Egypt.

There's only been one sacrifice. You get to Leviticus, suddenly you have an entire teaching about sacrifice, about blood shedding. Now you've got five sacrifices in seven chapters, and he begins to teach.

You know what? This is now doctrine about the death of Jesus. This is a prophecy. I'll challenge you that you don't understand the cross.

You know very little about the cross. Your theology of the blood and the sacrifice of the cross is paper thin if you haven't studied Leviticus. If you don't study the cross in the light of it, if you don't allow Leviticus to be the commentary, to expound on it, to explain it, to prophesy into it, to begin to illuminate it, it is a light shining on the cross.

And that's why I want to take you into Leviticus, because you're going to understand the power of the blood of Jesus. Without Leviticus, you're going to have a very small view of the blood, a very narrow view. When Leviticus begins, until this point, man has been on the earth 2,500 years.

There have been blood sacrifices, but this focus has always been one sacrifice, never explained, just given, emphasized over and over. Do you know why we needed that? We needed to learn the theology of the blood. We're very slow to learn.

In order to have Christ die on the cross, it took thousands of years, thousands of lambs being sacrificed for you to understand that Jesus came to die for your sins. But here in Leviticus, you've got an emphasis on the blood. The word blood is used 88 times in Leviticus.

All through, the theme is blood. Blood has to be shed for your sin, for your relationship. But guess who the message is for? This is people who have already experienced Passover, already been delivered, already are the people of God, are already operating in the house of God.

It's the Levites ministering in God's house. You need to know about the blood. If ever you need to know about the blood, it's right now, not for your salvation.

I actually believe we as the people of God, we're faulty in our worship, in our ministry, in our prayers, in our preaching, in our evangelism, because we have forgotten that the blood is to be emphasized in every single area of our life. Let me break this down. In the days of Leviticus, they've just had the temple or the tabernacle, sorry, built and raised up the house of God.

They are now moving into minister within it. And the center of it is the altar. Let me tell you how many blood sacrifices were made.

1,273 mandatory, in other words, you didn't have choice. Mandatory public sacrifices were offered each year by the priests, every single year. I haven't started.

1,273 mandatory basic. Let me give you an example. Two lambs died each day, one in the morning, one in the evening.

That's 730 a year, and I'm only beginning. This is very, very basic. Now from the beginning of Leviticus to Jesus' time on the cross is a period of 1,500 years.

That means slightly over 2 million blood sacrifices were made in that period of time. Blood flowed in the tabernacle as well as the temple. All through those 1,500 years, every year, a minimum of 1,273 sacrifices had to be made.

Minimum, absolutely bare minimum. Guess what I haven't told you? That's only what the priests did as a compulsory sacrifice, generally. That isn't the personal sacrifices that people brought.

Every single day, people, every single day, every single week, every single month, every single year, people from Israel are bringing blood to the altar to have the priests sacrifice it or they sacrificed it. In other words, every year, millions of animals are dying in the house of God, literally in the house of God. It was a place where blood flowed.

Every individual knew they couldn't stay in the house of God, operate in the house of God. They couldn't worship. They couldn't walk with God.

They couldn't be in right fellowship without a constant flowing of blood. Their faith was in the blood. Their confidence was in their blood.

Their constant resource was to the blood. They looked to the blood. They understood the blood.

There's no relationship with God. And you know what? You'll never understand the holiness of God without seeing this emphasis on the blood. The entire book of Leviticus is flowing with blood.

The cross is at the center of Leviticus. And that was the Bible of the early church. They preached from Leviticus.

That was their Bible. You, by the blood, understand the character of God. How do you know He's holy? How do you know He's holy? Do you realize when you understand His holiness, you run to the blood? And when you know the power of the blood, you go, why did such a God demand such blood sacrifice? Why is it every day I can't even walk with God, talk with God, ask of God, give to God, serve God? Why is it my service? Why is it none of my prayers are acceptable apart from the blood? Have you ever stopped to think that not one of the songs you sing, not one of the sermons I offer, nothing I do in this church is acceptable or accepted by God unless it's by the blood? You can't live one entire Christian life apart from the blood.

Saints, I'm giving you the emphasis of the Bible, not my emphasis. And when a Christian diminishes the blood, it's a once for all experience. Oh, I've been to Passover.

That's in my old life. That's how I got saved. You do not understand Leviticus.

Do you understand the importance of this book? This book has been given because it's dominated by blood everywhere. The high priest needs the blood. The priesthood needs the blood.

You can't offer anything. You can't have access to God. We have the five offerings.

We also have the seven feast days of celebrating, worshiping unto God. Nothing functions in the house of God without this. There are great days of revival in the Old Testament, but they're always days of the blood.

Let me explain. In 1 Kings chapter 8, King Solomon is dedicating the temple in Jerusalem. It is a great day of revival where the glory of God comes down in the house.

But listen, there were 22,000 oxen that died that day and 120,000 sheep were offered, totaling 142 animals that were shed just in offering the temple, the house of God. The house of God isn't even right without the blood being shed. Since this church in Limerick, LCC, it can only exist by the blood.

It only has life by the blood. It only has a place in God's plan because of the blood. Every single day, there's got to be an emphasis on the blood.

That's where the life comes from. Also, when King Hezekiah cleansed the temple, there were 2,000 bulls and 17,000 sheep that were killed. Then King Josiah, he also had a high day of revival when 30,000 lambs and kids died along with 3,000 bullocks for one Passover.

In the New Testament in the first century, Josephus, the Jewish historian working for the Roman Empire, he actually said that he counted 256,500 lambs that were sacrificed for the Passover in one afternoon. Quarter of a million lambs died in one afternoon. Saints, I want you to hear, I want you to understand that the Bible, Leviticus is saying there is an emphasis by the Spirit of God and the Word of God on the bleeding lamb, not just on getting out of Egypt, not in just being forgiven, not in just starting your journey.

This is actually given to you, the blood is given to you on the altar, the knowledge of the blood, the awareness of the blood, the entire teaching of the cross, the entire teaching of sacrifice is given to you so you can walk with God. And can I challenge you, how are you going to have a life of ministry unto God? How are you going to serve Him? How are you going to find God's will for your life? How are you going to operate in the will of God? How are you going to function in the church as a member in this body without an emphasis on the blood of Jesus Christ? Everything we have as Christians is because of the blood. In the New Testament, the blood is mentioned three times more than the cross, and the cross is important.

The message of the cross, what happened at the cross, the power of the cross. But never you forget, the blood is mentioned far more than the cross. Don't tell me the cross is the same as the blood.

It's not. Also, the blood is mentioned five times more than the death of Jesus. So what this tells me in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is saying, more than the cross, more than the work of the cross, more than the mere death of Jesus.

If Jesus had died without shedding His blood, no one would be forgiven. Without the shedding of blood, no forgiveness, no remission, no release, no hope, no future. Since the blood is so, so vital, that is where the power is for your life.

And we need to emphasize the blood, not just the cross, not just His death. It was His blood that was shed. There's power in the blood, wonder, work and blood.

Someone once said, an old preacher, he said, if you were to cut the Bible, any page, in any book, anywhere, it would bleed. Blood would come out of the Bible, because that is its message. That is the heart of God.

That is the very essence of salvation. That should be at the heart of our preaching and teaching. Saints, when we go to prayer on Friday nights in this place, it ought to be that we walk in here through the blood of the Lamb.

Lord, forgive me, cleanse me, wash me, let me have access before you. We have boldness through the blood of the Lamb. Our worship unto God ought to be a sweet fragrance because of the blood, because of Christ.

Do any of yous give a perfect sacrifice? The entire book of Leviticus, and we're going to look at it, is filled with sacrifice, not just blood sacrifice, various offerings of drink offerings and food offerings and different sacrifices. But let me ask you, what's the greatest thing you could give to God? What's the greatest sacrifice? What are you going to lay on the altar? What are you going to give to Him? It means nothing without the blood, absolutely nothing. Let me tell you, the sacrifice of your life, offering up your life, your body, your future, your plans, means nothing unless it's the blood.

Some of yous hold on to your life. God wants it. He's redeemed you.

We're going to get into this next week. Saints, I'm going to give you these five sacrifices, and you're going to be shocked the theology of the cross here. At a later stage, we're going to take five Sundays and preach through these individually, because they're so important.

But I want to begin to make you understand that there's an emphasis on the blood, third and finally as we close, continual cleansing in the blood. Go with me to 1 John chapter 1, where I started, because this is very important as we close here. It is absolutely vital.

Look what it says in verse 7, where we read, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin. See, there's a teaching in the church that says, we've been forgiven. I've known Pentecostal pastors in America and in Ireland teach this.

So, I don't need to repent. God's forgiven me. I've been washed in the blood.

I don't need to keep pleading the blood. Don't need to keep going to the blood. Don't need to talk about the blood all the time.

I'm forgiven. You must have a problem if you keep talking about the blood. Quite the reverse.

I want to tell you, this is a New Testament experience, not one-off at salvation. You know, the book of Leviticus gives you a theology doctrine teaching on the blood, chapter after chapter after chapter. You know why? You need to walk with God.

And some of you are not walking with God as you ought to, and aren't walking in victory, and aren't having the liberty. You know why? Because your eyes aren't on the blood. It's your self-effort.

It's your own failures, your inability. It's what you have done. You look at your own heart and go, where is the desire? I tell you, you better get your eyes off that quickly, and get it on the blood of the Lamb.

Because the greatest sacrifice, or the littlest, is not acceptable without the blood. But when you come to the New Testament, it's not only for salvation. It's not only for forgiveness or justification.

Here in verse 7, and this is the Lord speaking through John the Apostle, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Notice He's talking to Christians. It's Christians, believers.

This isn't sinners getting saved. There's no sinners getting saved here in chapter 1. In chapter 1, what you have is the people of God who are already walking in the light. They're walking in the light of God's Word.

They are saved. They're Christians. They're born again.

They're obeying God. They believe the Word of God. They believe the truth of God.

But look at them. It says, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. So here's people who know God.

They're walking in the light. They're not walking in darkness. They're walking in the light, and they're being cleansed.

Is it possible to be walking in the light tonight, here, now, that you are walking in the light, but you need cleanse with the blood? Absolutely. This isn't talking to people walking in darkness, disobedience, or rebellion. They're not being cleansed.

Those who set themselves against the Word of God, disobey it, don't believe it, reject it, ignore it, sidestep it. You're not being cleansed in the blood. This is actually for those walking in the light of God's Word, and yet a real Christian has an issue with sin.

They need sin dealt with. Let me ask you, how much pride has been dealt with you? You could say, oh, I've repented with pride. I used to have a problem with pride, but not now.

I'm free. Okay, let the light of God's holiness come to you. Do you realize why in Leviticus, we're going to go into teaching on holiness, a deep walk with God, moving as the people of God in holiness.

Our God is a holy God. Do you think you're going to have that revelation and not fall on your face? You need the blood, because I tell you, the closer you get to God, and the deeper you go, things are going to be revealed in your heart. He'll put his finger.

He says, okay, get rid of that. You get born again. You're saved.

You walk with God a year. You go, praise God. He forgave me.

Oh, you're going to need the blood very soon, because you know what? He's going to deal with issues, or something's going to happen, or something's going to happen along this journey. You are going to need the blood of Jesus Christ. And so here, it says the blood of Jesus cleanses.

The word cleanseth means to clean, to purify. Not past. Listen, not future.

Cleanseth is present tense. Those walking in the light of God, who want to walk in fellowship with each other. Do you honestly think you're going to walk with me and not need the blood of Jesus? Do you not think I'm going to hurt you at some point, or you're going to hurt me at some point? Thank God it doesn't rely on me to keep relationships intact.

Don't you think I've hurt Anna in a year and a half? I have hurt her. I wish I hadn't. I didn't want to hurt her, but I've hurt her.

You know what? My morality, my good commitments, my nice personality, that won't keep this intact. I need the blood of Jesus. You know what the secret of our marriage is? The blood of Jesus Christ.

It isn't her smile. It isn't her joy. Oh, she will hurt me.

She has hurt me. Saints of God, we are there, and you are going to have a crisis of conflict. You'll never make your marriage work without morality, without good intentions, without making strong promises, without the blood.

You know why the blood allows you to forgive? The blood allows you to show grace and mercy and kindness, because you know what you remember? Where would I be without the blood? Without the blood, what about members of the body? She hurt me. They offended me. They said this about me.

God help you. You'd be in hell here tonight if it wasn't for the blood. Can you imagine the wrath of God tonight in this room, all of your sins, all the things you've done since being a Christian, what you've thought about another Christian, what you've said about another Christian? It's only God's mercy hasn't consumed you already, only the mercy of God.

Here we have in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 7, and it's speaking about the blood cleansing on a constant basis. It was only shed once. The blood of Jesus was shed once, 2,000 years ago, on the altar, at the cross.

We don't have an altar in this church, by the way. Catholics have an altar. You know why? Do you know why in a Catholic church they have an altar at the front? They call it a table, an altar, because every mass they re-sacrifice Jesus again.

They're making perpetual sacrifices. When they offer up the mass, they're offering up a blood sacrifice. They're offering an atonement for sin.

I don't do that, saints of God. It was once for all, Jesus' blood was shed, never to be repeated. The blood was shed once, but listen to me, it's applied frequently.

Oh, I go to the blood once a week when we gather around the Lord's table. Thank God we're a church where we remember Christ's death once a week. I go there once a week.

Some of yous are so holy, you go, I don't need to ask forgiveness. I'm okay. I'm fine.

You need the blood daily. You need an emphasis on the blood. Saints, you desperately need to go to the Lord tomorrow morning.

When you wake up, Lord, I'm coming to your precious blood. There's got to be an emphasis. Notice this in verse 7, the blood cleanses us, you and I, Christians, real believers, really saved.

They really are walking in the light. Can you walk in the light and yet have sin there? Yes. A real Christian can be walking in the light and they've sinned.

Their sin doesn't mean they're not walking in the light. Wrestling with some issue in their heart doesn't mean they're not walking in the light. How do I know you're not walking in the light? You close your ears to the light.

That's how I know. You reject the light. You don't come to the light.

Show me someone walking in the light. They actually come to the light. They respond to the light of God's word.

They listen to the word of God. They're open to hear. They're being corrected.

They're being challenged. They're being rebuked. They're being edified.

They're being taught. And so what is walking in darkness? It says here in verse 6, you do not the truth. Let's test just for a second before we close.

Are you walking in the light? It's walking in the truth. You do not the truth. Then you're walking in darkness.

Verse 8, the truth is not in us. Truth not in us. You're walking in darkness.

You're not in the truth. Verse 10, his word is not in us. So notice what it is to walk in the light or walk in darkness.

You do not the truth. The truth is not in us. His word is not in us.

But saints of God, when you walk in the light, guess what? The word of God's convicting you. It's challenging you. It's probing you about relationships, thoughts, attitudes of the heart, words of the mouth, actions, practices, things you're neglecting, things you're doing you ought not to do, things you're not doing that you know you ought to do.

What are you going to do? Try harder? Try better? How are you going to be holy? How are you going to go on to perfection? How are you going to be a people that God can come down and literally walk in the midst of us? I'll tell you how the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. If you say that you have no sin, then there's no light in you. That's what the Bible tells us.

This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. We're coming to the holiness of God. Leviticus emphasizes the holiness of God.

He is light. He is brilliant light, perfect light. Do you know what Leviticus will do? It'll expose your motives.

Remember like we said in part one, the love. Love your neighbor. I love them.

There's no vengeance in your heart. Remember Leviticus taught that, not Matthew, not Luke. It was Leviticus.

I'll tell you how to love your neighbor. That's the second command. Remember, you don't keep these two commandments.

You're not keeping any commandments. Love God and love your neighbor. Loving that neighbor, no vengeance.

You need the blood. You really need the blood of Jesus to cleanse you. That is love.

To actually walk in the light as he is in the light. If we say that we have fellowship with him, with God, and walk in darkness, we lie and we do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other.

Saints of God, I can have fellowship with you how? By the blood of the Lamb. I can be forgiven the night. Saints, if you've wronged someone, go to them and say, I am so sorry.

Forgive me and get it under the blood. Don't let anything hang over you. Phone someone, go to someone.

Stay right with your spouses, your husband, your wife, your children, someone else in the body of Christ. Be quick to go to them. You know why? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses.

It washes. It keeps purifying. It keeps us right before God.

Saints, I want a church that's walking in the light of God. And when we come to Leviticus, we're seeing an emphasis. Remember, Passover is an exodus.

These are Passover Christians. These are those that have come out of Egypt, come out of the world, come through the Red Sea. They have experienced Passover, but now they have the doctrine, the entire teaching of Leviticus.

I want holiness, but it's by the blood. It's by the power of the blood that I'm going to walk in holiness with God. And saints, as we walk in holiness and in the atoning blood of the Lamb, we come to know the Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel, the redemptive names of Jesus Christ on the cross, that when he died on the cross, he said, my character, I love you.

I'm a holy God. I'm a jealous God. I'm a healer.

I'm a savior. I'm a deliverer. I'm a provider.

Saints, you get all of this at Calvary, but I want us to embark beginning next week. I want us to begin stepping into the teaching of Leviticus and we're going to go through the first seven chapters and we're going to look at the cross. Hear me as I close.

You will never fully understand the cross without the first seven chapters of Leviticus. You won't comprehend it because it gives you light. It begins to bring understanding.

It brings revelation. And I promise you, we need to pray. We need to pray for next week.

We need to search our hearts. Read over those chapters. Even if you don't understand it, that's fine.

That's fine. Just listen to it in the car. Read it in the mornings.

You go, I haven't got a foggy what it's talking about. That's fine. Come in here.

Just read through it. Prepare yourselves and say, Lord, will you begin to open up a revelation of the cross, of your provisions, of all that you've done? You know why? For this one reason. As a Christian, I want to walk in the light.

I want to walk in holiness. I want to be a Christian, not merely that's forgiven and in the door. That's a terrible thing.

Saved us by fire. Like Lot, the nephew of Abraham, saved us by fire. Just got there by the skin of his teeth.

God done everything, Christ done everything, but you hadn't done everything. And we're going to look at some of these things. Let's pray together.

Father, we love you. We praise you. Lord God, I do ask of you for your grace and your love and your wisdom and the teaching of your Holy Spirit that you would lead us into Leviticus.

Father, I pray here tonight, will you emphasize this message of the blood? Lord God, not just for our forgiveness, not just for beginning our journey, not just to get into Christ, but oh God, an emphasis daily on the blood of the lamb. Father, I pray that you'll show us, Lord God, that we've been living at a very low level of the blood of the lamb. Father, that this is an entire revelation, that there's a secret on how we go forward to walk in holiness and purity.

Lord God, how we have a deep abide and relationship with you. Lord God, I do pray that you begin to prepare our hearts, make us ready for a revelation of the cross. Lord God, the like of which we have never had before in our entire Christian walk, that we have begun to look back and say it was merely Passover begun.

Lord God, I ask of you that you come and teach us, oh God, that you show us, oh God, how to have a victorious Christian life. Lord God, not just forgiven at Calvary, but oh God, going forth into a dynamic walk of learning how by the blood of the lamb to minister within the veil. And Father, we pray, Lord God, for everyone in here, have a deal in with our hearts, wash us, cleanse us, purify us.

Lord God, stir our faith tonight. Lord God, to believe your word that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin continually, constantly. If we walk in the light, if we stay in the light, if we abide in the light, if we let it rebuke us and challenge us and convict us and search us, this blood will keep washing us.

If we let the word of God do its work and holiness do its work, Lord God, then your blood will be ever there with power, with effectual fervent power. Lord God, to wash us, to make us clean and pure and holy before you, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.