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THE BLOOD COVENANT SERIES
THE POWER OF THE BLOOD
A covenant is one of the most important acts that God makes with His people. We
need to understand why God should make a covenant with His people. It all began
when Adam and Eve fell into sin. See God has a certain pattern by which He works.
Even though God loves us, even though God has feelings for us, even though God
wants to bless us more than we want to receive His blessings, do you realize that
God can’t do something because He needs the Blood? We take it for granted that
many times that just because God loves us He will do things for us. But God is not
like man. God has certain set laws that He must abide by. In this life sometimes
between brothers and sisters and because of flesh and blood ties help is given,
whether illegally or legally. But with God He always have to work through the law.
No matter how much He wants to help us, how much He desires to help us He
can’t unless there is some sort of legality to the transaction.
Lets look at Gen. 3. We see the fall of man and God has pronounced the various
judgments. Lets look at verse 22 “Behold, the man has become like one of us; and now,
lest he knowing good and evil, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”
therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from
which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He placed
the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of
life.
In other words man has knowledge of evil. Before man fell he only has knowledge
of good. God has knowledge of good and evil and He remains good. Man before
the fall only has knowledge of good. Now man had knowledge of good and evil
and man is evil. Have you noticed among the many reasons why God has to send
man out of the garden is the fact that God said in his evil condition, in his fallen
state, if he partake of the tree of life he is doomed forever. He will destroy himself
permanently. He has already destroyed himself but there is still a possibility of
redemption in Christ.
Was God against man taking of the tree of life? He was not. If Adam had partaken
of the tree of life before he fell it would have been all right. The only tree that God
did not permit them to eat was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Notice that
He never said that he couldn't eat of the tree of life before he fell. He was permitted
to. He was allowed to take of the tree of life. We know that life is light in John
chapter one. And life is wisdom and knowledge. What we want to make clear this
morning is that God was not against man partaking of the tree of life. The tree of
life was among the many blessings that God has for Adam and Eve.
But the moment Adam and Eve fell into sin and their nature was changed they
became evil. God stopped them from receiving some of those blessings. Why did
God stop them? Because God knew that those blessings once upon a time would
have brought blessings but now can become a curse to them. If they had taken of
the tree of life after they fell they would be cursed like the devil permanently and
never more be saved. So the blessings had become a potential curse to them. And
God prevented them from being further cursed.
How can a blessing become a curse? Let me give an example. If a person is by
nature evil and is covetous and immoral, what would happen if you give that
person more money? That person would destroy himself more. Money by itself is
not wrong. It is the love of money that is wrong. Lets see something that is neutral.
Prosperity is a blessing from God that can become evil depending on the recipient.
It is the recipient that causes whether good really ends up good. We know that
many inventions that due to the creativity of man’s mind have been used for evil.
Those things could be used for God, the printing press, photography, internet; these
are all neutral in themselves. They could be blessings of communications. But evil
man uses them for pornography. The television is a wonderful tool but evil man
uses it as a mean to propagate and control people’s mind and influence them to
greater sin and evil.
We see a truth here that what we receive depends very much on the condition of
our being. For our own good God prevents us from having some blessing that
might eventually destroy us. So here was a condition. Many times we only see the
negative aspect, saying, “O man has sinned therefore he cannot taste the things of
God.” We only see the negative aspect but we don’t see the fact that God was
actually protecting us.
It's just like a book I read in The Spiritual World written by Sadhu Sundar Singh.
Sadhu Sundar Singh was seeing this open vision of the spiritual world and he saw
good spirits and redeemed saints being brought to heaven. Then there was a man
who didn’t know Jesus and he died and he was evil by nature. He began to
complain to the angels asking how come the others can go to heaven and why
couldn’t he go to heaven. He kept complaining that God was not fair. Finally when
he complained long enough there was a voice that boomed from heaven saying,
“Let him come in.” The angel turned to that man who was in his evil state and said,
“God gives you permission to enter heaven.” The man who was unredeemed drew
very casually to the gates of heaven and saw the glory there. And fear came on his
life and he saw the great light that came from the throne of God. The angel very
gently said, "Go nearer." When he took one glimpse of the glory of God, that light
revealed such evil in his life that he felt uncomfortable.
It is just like some of us who are uncomfortable with dirty things. Do you realize
that evil is uncomfortable in the presence of holiness? The opposite is true. He was
so uncomfortable that he screamed and jumped right down into the lower part of
darkness even lower than where he was supposed to be. Then the angel declared,
"See how God is just. He permits all to come to Him but not all are able to stand in
His presence.”
Then came a revelation in my life I heard the Holy Spirit said, “Do you know the
demons are uncomfortable with the goodness that is in your life?” We always think
about us reacting to evil things. But do you realize that the opposite is true that they
react to the loveliness in your life, and in your harmony and your peace in your life.
As you step into any place the demons are reacting to us.
Here we settle the fact that the law works both ways. Good cannot stand evil and
evil cannot stand good. They are both equal reactions. The next time you are
thinking good things remember how repulsive it is to the devil. In other words you
are very frightening to the devil when you are good. Do you know that you frighten
the demons by holiness and by purity? Don’t always think about the reverse about
the devil frightening you. Think about how you frighten the devil. You frighten the
devil not only just by taking authority. Of course that really tortures him. But you
have already frightened him by being pure.
Lets get back to Gen. 3:22 Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and
evil; now lest he put his hand and take and eat the tree of life and live forever. Therefore
He says let us drive him out. The good has become dangerous to man. The
blessings have become a potential force to destroy him further if he takes of this
blessing. We come to this conclusion. The reason why God can’t give us something
and bless us with things in our lives is not because He is unwilling. It is not because
He doesn’t want us to have it. It’s because of our condition. The condition of our
being prevents us from receiving what He wants for us. The tree of life belongs to
us. But man was incapable of receiving it due to his condition.
In the book of Exodus for nearly 400 years the Israelites were suffering under the
hands of the Egyptians. In Exodus 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God
remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God is a covenant
keeping God. And the covenant is not just an option. It is the only way by which
God will deal with your life. It doesn’t matter whether you are Moses or an
ordinary Israelite. If you don’t have the covenant no matter how gifted you are or
how talented you are it is not going to work for you.
I want to show forth this morning that the only reason why God works in our lives
is because of the Blood covenant. It is not just an added blessing. It is the only way
by which we can receive from Him. And the Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of that
covenant that we have. With or without the Lord’s Supper all that we are partaking
is based on the teaching behind the Lord’s Supper, behind the new covenant He has
made with us. Even if you are called to be an apostle, pastor, evangelist, prophet or
teacher or any office, or if you have great gifts from God like Bezalel or Oholiab
God will only work with you only based on the covenant. God has dropped good
gifts all over the world on uncovenanted people and covenanted people alike. But
the reason for His intimate working in your life is His covenant.
After He spoke to Moses in Exodus chapter 3:6 “I am the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid
to look at God. Why should He call upon the name of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?
Because He is answering and coming to manifestation based on the covenant.
In chapter 4:18 Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him “Let me go
back, I pray to my kinsmen, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses,
“Go in peace.” And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt; for all the men
who were seeking your life are dead,” So Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on
an ass, and went back to the land of Egypt and in his hand Moses took the rod of God. In
verse 24 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to kill him.
Why should God permit Moses to die when He had just anointed him? Because
Moses remembered everything except the covenant. Even though you get up in the
morning and you get out of your house without taking the Lord’s Supper I want
you to know that your entire life is based on the Blood covenant. You either have to
physically act it out or spiritually thank God for that. Without that Blood covenant
we have nothing and we are nothing. Sometimes we ask how can this anointed
person die so early in his ministry? Because they remembered the call, they
remembered the mission but they forgot the covenant. Remember all that we
received is based on the Blood.
Moses realized that it has to do with the covenant that he forgot. And part of the
Old Testament’s way of showing obedience to that covenant is by circumcision. It's
not the way we show it in the New Testament. But there are ways to show it in the
New Testament like water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, like a prayer of
thanksgiving.
In verse 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’
feet with it, and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me” So he let him alone.
What is the “he” there? Is it capitalized? Who is the “he”? It's God. Let me explain,
if you are outside the Blood covenant God is like your enemy. He is not but He
cannot protect you. And whatever He does seems like He is an enemy. It’s the
Blood covenant that makes God your friend.
Look at Genesis 17:14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his
foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” That is why God
permitted Moses to die. If Moses did not circumcise his son that day he would have
to die. And God would have to raise up another man. Don’t take a prophetic word
that comes into your life that exempts you from being in covenant with God.
The other thing about this covenant is that that the covenant establishes God’s
Word. When 2 people agree to certain things, what do they do today in our society?
They sign a contract before a lawyer. That contract that they sealed becomes
binding, so that if either one breaks it they are liable to loose what they have in
their life.
God promises many things. God says He will do many things. How does God let us
know that He is serious about it? God gave His promise and God said, “I will seal
this promise with a covenant. So that if ever you doubt that I will fulfill my Word
look at the Blood.” When God gives His word He keeps His word but the sign that
He will fulfill His word is in that covenant.
The first factor we see is how important that covenant is with God. And all that we
received is based on that covenant.
The second factor we see is not only is the covenant exalting the power of the Blood
it is exalting the power of His Word. His word is so strong that He seals it with
Blood. In Gen. 15 Abraham asked God a question. Gen. 15:8 Lord God, how am I to
know that I shall possess it?” What was he in doubt about? He was in doubt about
how God will fulfill His promise. And God said, “I want you to take a heifer cut it
and I will make a covenant with you sealed by blood to show you that I will never
fail that promise.”
Gen. 15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. What was the basis of
that covenant? Remember Abraham asked a question, “How will I know that you
will fulfill your promise?” The Lord’s answer is the blood covenant. So if you have
confidence in His Word you should have confidence in His Blood. If you lack
confidence in His Word, have confidence in His Blood. He means it when He says
my Blood is my seal.
Why is it that people fail to receive healing and prosperity when they are suffering
from their sicknesses, want and need? They remembered all the promises but they
are assailed by doubts. And only the Blood covenant can get rid of all those doubts.
If you understand the power of the Blood covenant you will reach a stage and this
is the power of the Blood covenant.
There are 5 different aspects to the Blood covenant that we will link up to the
offering. If you allow the Blood covenant to fill your life, you will walk without any
more doubt. Having a doubt-filled life is normal to a nominal Christian but is
actually abnormal to God. You never ever doubt God anymore; you will never ever
doubt His spoken Word any more. We all want to reach that stage.
That is why in Exodus God was not pleased with Moses. He remembered all the
promises but he forgot that the covenant is not an option. The covenant is the way,
the only method by which God deals with our lives. Even though we are in the
New Testament we are not exempted from the blood covenant. The only difference
is that we have a greater covenant sealed with the blood of a human being, the Son
of God, Son of Man who shed His Blood. God in shedding the Blood said, “I will
fulfill every word that I have said.” We are still living in the Blood covenant. The
difference is a greater Blood covenant.
See He already made a covenant with Abraham in Gen. 15. Now in chapter 17 the
purpose for His appearing is the covenant again. Do you know all the appearances
of God and every thing that God has on our life is based on the covenant? Gen.
17:1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to
him, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant
between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
God showed up to keep His word. By that time Abraham had forgotten. But God
never forget. Verses 3-9 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “Behold, my
covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall
your name be Abram but your name shall be Abraham for I have made you the father of a
multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you,
and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between Me and you and
your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be
God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your
descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an
everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” And God said to Abraham, “As for you,
you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their
generations.”
If God already made a covenant with Abraham in Gen. 15 which the bible records,
my question to you is why then is He making quote unquote making another
covenant with Abraham in Gen. 17? He is not making another covenant. He is
strengthening the covenant. Why strengthen the covenant? And here is the point
that we want to bring across. The impact and extent by which the covenant has
upon your life is progressive. I thought that I made a covenant and that’s it. Do you
notice that in chapter 17 every thing that is required came from Abraham’s side? He
had to change his name. He had to circumcise himself at 99 years old. In chapter 17
whose blood was shed? In chapter 15 it was the heifer’s blood that was shed and
Abraham didn’t have to shed any blood. And the heifer of course points to Jesus the
Blood of the Lamb. But now when Abraham is circumcised he shed blood. God now
require blood from Abraham. God has come to keep His promise. God will never
fail.
The first blood that Jesus shed was when He was circumcised in fulfillment in
coming under the law. Jesus came under the law to redeem us from the curse of the
law. So what actually took place? Abraham shed blood; Abraham changed his name
and all his first-born shed blood. Here is the truth that we want to show forth that a
covenant can be progressive. How deeply it affects our lives. The covenant God
made with Abraham in chapter 15 is the same covenant because it has to do with
the same content. The content is about his descendants and about his seeds. But
now in chapter 17 the covenant becomes more personal. Change your name and he
has to go for circumcision too. That same covenant now affects Abraham. At which
point did it affect Abraham? At the point when God was about to bring that
promise. The following year he was going to have a physical child.
We want to show forth the fact that a covenant has different extent into our lives. A
covenant with God begins to take more and more of our life, and until the point
when the fulfillment of the covenant is finished you will find that the covenant has
eaten up all of your being.
So what does the covenant do to us? How does it affect us? We will show forth
from the book of Leviticus. There are 5 basic offerings that the Israelites were asked
to offer to God. And all these are shadows of the covenant. The first type of offering
is called the burnt offering. The second type of offering is called the meal offering.
The third offering is called the peace offering in chapter 3. The fourth offering is
called the sin offering in chapter 4. The fifth offering is called the trespass offering.
Lets look at the sin offering and the trespass offering. The trespass offering has to
do with sins, wrong actions, and transgression of the law. Now all these 5 are linked
to the Blood covenant. The other offering called the sin offering has to do with sin.
It has to do with the inward nature. It has to do with what the bible calls iniquity. It
doesn’t have to do with actions alone. It has to do with intentions. Lev. 4:2 If any one
sins unwittingly in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and
does any one of them. In other words if a person unintentionally sins due to
something deep within him that is not perceived or pre-meditated, I call such an
action as based on sin nature or imperfection. Everybody makes dumb mistakes.
We don’t realize it is dumb until we saw the results. Then you need the sin offering.
In verse 13 If the whole congregation of Israel commits a sin unwittingly and the thing is
hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things which the Lord has
commanded not to be done and are guilty. See a sin is a sin whether you know it or not.
The law of gravity works whether you like it or not. And here God is saying the sin
offering has to do with the sin nature. Everybody makes mistakes without knowing
that it’s a mistake and they know it only after it is done. That has to with sin
nature. The bible says that when they realized it is wrong, they are to do something
about it. Come to God and repent. God is also merciful. At the point of doing it we
do not know it but the moment we are made aware, there’s where we need to bend
our knees to God.
Notice how different it is in trespass offering in chapter 5:1 If any one sins in that he
hears a public adjuration to testify and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come
to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity. And all kind of various
sins, sin with lips knowingly, sin with an action etc. In other word there is
knowledge of it. Then after it there is regret and repentance. You need a trespass
offering. That is an offering for a sin of commission. There are many people who
offered offerings in the bible from the time of Cain and Abel right down to the time
of David and Samuel.
Do you notice that all the different types of offerings can be classified? Some types
of offering like David where he has trespassed. He has intentionally made a mistake
and he gives a trespass offering. Like Noah when he came out of the ark and he
gives a burnt offering and it was a sweet aroma to God. Only the burnt offering,
peace offering and meal offering smell nice. The others are for sin and they don’t
smell nice at all. They are just to redeem and atone.
Now these 2 areas speak about what the Blood covenant does in our life. In the
natural you examine blood and what blood can do. We realize that No. 1 blood is a
cleansing agent in our body. It removes all the impurities. No. 2 blood is the
supplier of life. No. 3 within blood there are white blood cells and red blood cells.
No. 3 is the most powerful. Blood removes and kills sicknesses and diseases. The
reason why people fall into sicknesses and diseases in the natural is because their
white blood cells cannot fight against all the diseases. And the only reason why we
are healthy is not because germs and viruses do not invade you. They are always
there in the air all the time. It is because your blood manages to fight them. What
keeps you healthy? The blood.
The 3rd point about the blood that we need to realize is the blood in the natural,
cleanses, it supplies life and kill sicknesses and diseases. Lets look at the spiritual
application in the Blood covenant. No. 1 it removes sins. No. 2 it supplies the life of
Jesus into you. No. 3 it cancels out every negative law and force that works in your
life. You could be free from forces that works in nature if you tap on this Blood
covenant. See there is a progression in the Blood covenant working in our life. The
closer it works in your life the more it demands of you.
Many people only know the Blood covenant cleansing their sins. They don’t realize
that the Blood covenant can affect something on their being called the desire, the
intention where the things you desire you don’t desire any more. What happen
when you don’t desire sin any more? You become sinless. God wants us to be holy.
What is holiness, sinlessness? God wants us to be free from sin of commission, free
from sin in our heart. And I want to present to you that that is the kind of
Christianity that Jesus meant us to have.
Throughout church history there are a few people who have taught in this area.
People like John Wesley who believes you could live a sanctified life. People like
Charles G. Finney who believes that you could live a sinless life. And wherever the
principle of the sanctified life is taught it has changed the face of Christianity and
brought revivals. These 2 great men of God were the main leaders of the First Great
Awakening and the Second Great Awakening.
Heb. 10:19-22 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the
blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which He opened for us through the curtain, that
is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
What is an evil conscience? I have heard about a hardened conscience. A hardened
conscience is where you don’t know right from wrong. You are so insensitive to
what is right and wrong. That is a hardened conscience.
An evil conscience is where you call right wrong and wrong right. And you even
feel right about doing wrong. It’s a conscience that operates in reverse gear. It's just
like driving your car backwards. Each of us has a different background. We have
different exposure to different amount of sin. There may be some things in our life
that we feel right about that wrong. And some things that we feel wrong about that
are right. We need the Blood to change that. Then there are certain things where our
conscience is hardened too we don’t feel guilt about it. It’s the Blood that works in
those areas. There is such a thing as an internal condition that repels sin. It has to
do with the inner working of the sin nature in our life that removes sin. Its called
the Blood covenant.
So our question this morning is how far has the Blood covenant affected your life?
We know that its available for you whenever you fall, you fail or make mistakes.
You can ask the Blood to cleanse you. But do you know that the Blood is there to
prevent you from sinning? In modern society we heard about 2 fields of medicines.
One is curative medicine, or medicine that tries to cure you. But the more powerful
medicine usually has to do more with dietary laws and nutrition. This is what we
call preventative medicine. Which is better - to prevent ourselves from being sick or
to be sick and get cured later? Of course it is better to prevent ourselves from being
sick. Do you know that we have to walk on certain laws in order to prevent
ourselves from becoming sick? We have to have the proper vitamins and nutrition
in order that we do not become sick. The body has enough ability to fight if you
give it enough nourishment to fight. Even a weak and starved lion will lose to a
little poodle in a fight. There are 2 fields of medicines, preventative and curative. To
prevent is better.
And some times in the body of Christ we are just like people who have not received
enough knowledge and training or education and awareness. And all we know is
preventive medicine. When you sin the Blood is there. We don’t realize that the
Blood is there to prevent you from sinning. It removes your “want to sin” nature. It
removes your desire to sin. It removes your inclination to sin. Now it takes time for
that to work in our lives. But as we yield to the Blood its powerful.
About a few weeks ago I was given a book by the Maharishi. Maharishi is some one
who Sadhu Sundar Singh met in the mountains in the Himalayans. He was a holy
Christian hermit. He is about 318 years old and is still alive and going strong. Then
he talks about the spiritual world. The thing that impresses me quite a lot is the fact
that in the spirit world they can sense your inclination to sin or not. In this world
we only know it when some one sins. But in the spirit world they know it before
you sin. It's in the bible. Gen. 6: 6 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in
the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Then in Deut. 31:16 Behold, you are about to sleep with your fathers; then this people will
rise and play the harlot. You will also find it in the book of Chronicles when he speaks
of it in David’s time about the intent of the people’s heart.
The Blood covenant is a preventative measure against falling into sin. It is
something that we have got to do daily. Daily we have got to apply the Blood to
our heart, our mind and our soul so that the pollution of this world won’t affect us.
You don’t just receive blood in your tissue. It must be a constant supply. So before
you sin you take the Blood covenant. You draw upon the Blood covenant to come
upon your heart, your intentions and your thought-life. You don’t feel the
magnetism of sin like you normally would because the Blood cancels that
magnetism. The Blood generates its own electrical field force.
We will close with Rom. 8:1-3 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law
of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do;
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the
flesh. Now that has to do with sin nature. Notice the struggle in chapter 7 in Paul’s
life was with sin nature. Rom.8: 4 in order that the just requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. The Blood
has the power of canceling the forces of sin nature still at large. As long as you are
in this physical mortal body you need the Blood covenant to come on your life
every day so that the drawing of sin will not be there. It just disappears from your
life. When the Blood covenant comes into your life you cannot be drawn into sin.
Satan will throw arrows at you but you will never fall because it is repugnant to
you. It is just you have no more feeling for sin.
We have managed to touch on two areas of the Blood covenant in what it does and
how deep it enters our lives. It has both the power of cleansing and the power of
canceling all those forces working on our inside. The Blood covenant has both
curative and preventative measures. The Blood covenant fulfills both the trespass
offering and the sin offering.
