The Cleansing Blood

This sermon was preached on August 8, 2021 for a worship service in which the sacrament of communion was shared at the close of the service. The sermon uses a number of Scriptures to emphasize the cleansing from sin that is provided through the blood of Jesus Christ. The message speaks about the corruption of sin, the cleansing of the blood, and the ways in which the sacrament of communion is a reminder of this biblical fact. 

Written Excerpts:

Introduction:

One of the speakers that Kris and I heard last fall in KY was Daryl McCarthy. He spoke to us on the topic of Critical Race Theory. Daryl and his wife, Teri, are both professors/lecturers who have extensive experience teaching in other countries around the world. 

Teri writes a blog online in which she recounts some of her experiences in these teaching assignments, even before she and Daryl were married. One such story is about God leading her to teach in Moscow in 1991, prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union. The events leading up to her going to Moscow are nothing short of miraculous, which she has described in other articles. When she arrived for her initial interview with the university officials, she was housed in a small apartment that was deplorably filthy.

Here is the description in her own words: The bathroom was filthy. The walls were stained with human waste and the water ran rusty from the faucet. Tiles had fallen into the bathtub covered in dirt and rusty stains. … The sheets were clean, but everything else was filthy. The floor was dirty. The chair was dirty. The curtains were dirty. I was afraid to touch anything. How was I going to survive four days in this place?

Even before giving this brief description of the apartment, Teri had related how she was awakened on her very first morning there: Cockroaches crawling on me woke me up. I felt little tickles on my arms and face. I shot out of bed slapping myself all over. I started gasping. I hate cockroaches. I HATE THEM! I turned on the light and there were dozens of them scampering out of sight.

She describes how this horrible place made her immediately resolve to just get through the interviews and get back on the plane and never return. In order to sooth her conscience (she had believed God called and led her to go to Moscow), she decided to make unrealistic demands so they would turn her down and she could claim that it was their fault she didn’t return, rather than feel guilty for personally deciding not to return. Well, the end result was that they accepted every demand, and she had no option but to return a couple of months later to do the teaching she has always claimed God called her to do.

Before returning to Moscow, along with assistance from her sister and brother-in-law, she prepared all types of cleaning and sanitizing products to take with her so she could transform that little apartment into a place suitable for her to live.

As I was thinking about the message for today, I remembered these descriptions Teri McCarthy had included in her most recent blog. We might have been mentally repulsed by imagining the filth she described, just as she had been literally repulsed by experiencing it. A normal response to such filth, we would say, is to immediately find a way to cleanse it away and make it sanitary, clean, and wholesome.

The Bible describes another kind of filth that is in desperate need of cleansing. With the help of God’s Spirit, I want to speak to you today about the dirt and filth of sin from which God has provided adequate cleansing.

I.          Humans are corrupted with sin.

I think most of us have repeatedly heard the truth that we are all sinners in need of God’s salvation and redemption. There are a number of Scripture texts which we’ve heard over and over that emphasize this truth. For example:

Romans 3:10-11 (NKJV) As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.

Romans 3:23 (NKJV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

However, today I want to share some passages in which God describes the human condition in terms of corruption, defilement, and filth. These are terms that emphasize the pollution of our hearts before we come to Christ and the need to be cleansed.

Genesis 6:12 (NKJV) So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

This seems to portray the idea that the sinfulness of all humanity was viewed by God as moral dirt, filth, and corruption.

Psalm 53:3 (NKJV) Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

Mark 7:20 (NKJV) And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.

Mark 7:23 (NKJV) All these evil things come from within and defile a man."

Galatians 5:19 (NKJV) Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,

Ephesians 4:22 (NKJV) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

1 Thessalonians 4:7 (NKJV) For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.

Probably the classic passage in the OT regarding the filthiness and corruption of sin can be found in Isaiah.

Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV) But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

Here the prophet emphasizes the “uncleanness” of the people to the point that even the righteous deeds they might do are like filthy rags.

We’ve mentioned a great many passages that all describe our spiritual condition before coming to Christ in terms like filth, corruption, defilement, etc. The whole point is that we cannot clean ourselves up. We can’t remove our own filthiness. In fact, as Isaiah proclaimed, even the good things – the righteous acts – that we might try to do still looks like soiled rags in the sight of a holy God.

II.        There is only one option for cleansing.

There are dozens of passages in the Bible that speak of God’s promises to cleanse His people from their sinful filth and defilement. Listen to these examples in both the OT & NT.

Ezekiel 36:25 (NKJV) Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

Ezekiel 37:23 (NKJV) They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel is writing during the captivity. The people of Judah and Israel had been defeated and taken away as slaves because of their sin, corruption, and defilement. But now God is promising to solve their problem of filthiness by cleansing them.

Zechariah 13:1 (NKJV) “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

Hebrews 9:14 (NKJV)  how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Hebrews 10:19-22 (NKJV) Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰  by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹  and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²²  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

The language the author uses here clearly draws a parallel between physical cleansing/washing and the spiritual washing through the blood of Jesus.

Hebrews 13:12 (NKJV) Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

The author of Hebrews is making a comparison between the sacrifice of animals in OT laws and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The comparison is not exact, but it was meant to demonstrate that the shedding of Christ's blood replaced the need for animal sacrifices, and therefore, the Jewish believers needed to “go outside the camp” (v.13) of Judaism and wholeheartedly trust Christ. (Tyndale NT Comm.)

1 John 1:7 (NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

The corruption was extensive and deep. The filthiness and uncleanness were repulsive. But God wasn’t caught off guard, nor baffled about what needed to be done for an adequate remedy. The blood of His own Son was shed for every sinner! The blood of Jesus Christ is the only option for cleaning us up from our moral and spiritual defilement.

III.       The sacrament of communion reminds us we are clean.

When Jesus instituted the practice of sharing the “Lord’s Supper” He instructed His disciples to keep on sharing it with one another as a reminder of what He had done for them. When we participate in the sacrament of communion we not only continue to follow and obey the command of the Lord, but we are reminded of what it means for us as well.

Paul stressed in 1 Corinthians 10 that the emblems we eat and drink enable us to “commune” with the body and blood or our Lord. We have talked about this word commune in the past, but it essentially means that we join in or participate in the accomplishment of His sacrifice. The purpose for which He sacrificed Himself is the effect that we receive.

So all of these verses we read minutes ago about being cleansed by the blood of Jesus applies to us. When we join together and share communion it is a testimony of cleansing from sin and spiritual defilement through the blood of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!

When Teri McCarthy returned to Moscow that following fall term to teach, I’m confident that her little apartment looked and smelled a lot better shortly after her arrival, as she made good use of all the cleansing supplies she took in her luggage. But I'm confident the intense cleaning that apartment received is nothing in comparison to the cleansing our hearts and lives receive after we’ve been to the cross!

Closing Song: It Cleanseth Me