The Blood of Jesus (3 of 4)

Mike Connell

So He's in shock because of the spikes on His hands, and in shock because of the spikes through His feet, and the blood spurted out all over His feet. He shed His blood a second time, this time for your ways, the way you walk, the decisions you make, choices you make. We make decisions every day. How many have made some bad decisions? How many did it, and you didn't really realise it was bad? You kind of thought it was okay? Yeah - but it was still a bad choice. You have a bad consequence you notice, even if you didn't - but I didn't mean it. It doesn't make any difference. You still get the results. Have you noticed that too? But I didn't mean - I meant well! No, but you actually made a very bad choice, so your bad choices have consequences and remember sins - or sins of ignorance - are still a sin. They still have a consequence. You can't go through life with God saying well, I didn't know, it's not fair.

It doesn't work that way. He just laid the principle out, we either walk in His principles or against them. When you violate them, there's always a consequence. Oh, but I didn't really know. No, no, your conscience, in your heart you knew it was wrong. If you'd stopped to listen to your heart, you would have known that wasn't the right thing to do, but you still did it anyway.

Well here's the good news. The good news is the blood of Jesus was shed for every wrong decision you made. The blood of Jesus can be applied to every wrong decision. It can be applied to the choices you've made in the past.

Sometimes we say I wish I hadn't made that decision, I wish I hadn't done that. I can think of some right now. I wish I hadn't done that. To this day, the consequences are there. Well God will give you grace for the consequences, provided you bring the wrong decision to the cross. So for all the wrong decisions that I've made, I need to come - Lord, that decision was a wrong decision. Lord, I acted contrary to you. I went against your way. I just followed by old crooked ways. It's sin and it has a consequence, but Lord today I bring my choice to the cross. I bring it to the blood and I thank you, I agree with you. It is sin worthy of punishment, but I also agree that your blood has paid the price of that wrong choice, so today in Jesus' name it no longer stands, and I commit my life today to make good choices. I thank you today you will lead me in every decision I make - so you can bring your wrong decisions to the cross. You never need to be condemned or guilty any more for any wrong choice you make.

The blood is there to cover, and to address, the whole thing of your wrong decisions. I wonder how many of you today as you pray, and you get up and you begin to pray, commit your hands to the Lord, the works of your hands, all you put your hand to today and declare His blessing over it, or commit your walk today and choose to walk - today I'll walk in dependence on you. Today I'll walk in love, today I'll walk in faith, today I choose to walk in humility. Today Lord I thank you, your blood cleanses my will and every part of me, cleanses my feet. Today I will walk in right paths because you're leading me.

See, this is powerful faith praying to establish your life before you go out in the day. You could do that couldn't you? Many people don't think to do that, and then they wonder why they seem to have a lot of problems. You can establish your life very easily.

Here's another one - His back. The back is the strongest part of your body, and the Bible tells us that that's where the strength is of course, that's where all the muscles and so on are. In Isaiah 53, Verse 6, it says we've all turned, every one to his own way to do their own thing. By His stripes we are healed. Now think about that. What they did was they stretched Him up against a post and then they had this whip, had all these chords and little bones and pieces of metal in it, and then they would systematically go right down the back, right down the body on one side, right down the body on the other side, and it wouldn't just cause Him to be red. It would actually start to tear open the whole of the flesh, and the particular reason the Romans did this was to bring the body into shock, and to maximise the suffering of the person. So they would be torn open, literally the body would be dripping with blood, and then what they'd do then is of course the person would - ultimately they'd be dragged in the ground, there'd be dirt in it. When they're on the cross the constant moving up and down on the cross to try and breathe, the wounds are kept open and they continue to bleed, so the blood's continually washing down, coming down the back, constant pain, constant distress.