I PLEAD THE BLOOD

Isaiah 53:4-11  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
 

The BLOOD is the embodiment of all the experience of Jesus’ death on the cross as us.
• Notice that I said, AS US, and not just FOR US.
• FOR US in the Bible actually means AS US.
• 2 Cor 5:14 says that IF CHRIST DIED FOR US, THEN WERE ALL DEAD.
• If Christ died for Mike Blume, then Mike Blume is dead.

I wish to speak about the SMITING OF THE ROCK again this morning, and how it deals with the feeling of UNWORTHINESS that many believers get.

Exodus 17:1-6   And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Numbers 20:1  Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

He was smitten.

Isaiah 53:4-5  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

So we can look at the rock smitten only once, and not to be smitten again, as Christ’s death on the cross for our transgressions.
• He had no transgressions to die for, so He was wounded for OUR transgressions.
• Now, if He was wounded for OUR transgressions, then OUR trsnagressions were adequately dealt with through the Cross.

We must understand that.

Notice these words.

Isaiah 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. {death: Heb. deaths}  – PLURAL DEATHS Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put [him] to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

When we are saved, through the finished work of the cross, God is satisfied that our sins were dealt with.
• But we might not be satisfied.
• He is satisfied because He knows what He did better than any of us could know.
• And the reason we may not be satisfied is because we don’t fully know what He did.
• If we knew fully what He did, then we would be satisfied also.

So God gives us HIS WORD, what HE KNOWS about the cross, so that we will understand and thereby become satisfied that the work is indeed finished.

How is it that many of us are not satisfied?
• We feel UNWORTHY.
• We feel that somehow our pasts still weigh upon us.
• We feel that if people don’t like us because of our pasts, then why shouldn’t we feel unworthy and lowly?

Who cares what people think, anyway?
• I don’t care if people are not satisfied with the work of the cross on our lives, God is satisfied.
• Stop trying to please people.
• Its when you are not satisfied with yourself, and that you think the other people are right when they look down upon you, that you try to improve yourself.
• And you have not the slightest clue about what God did for you on the cross.
• You need to get so educated about the cross that when people tell you to your face that you are no good, then you can say, “I plead the blood!  I stand on the truth of Christ that I am MADE WORTHY by Jesus Christ in the eyes of God! I know what Jesus did for me.”

We spoke about YOUR PAST PASSED AWAY
Then...  - SCARLET GUILT AND CRIMSON CONDEMNATION

And now we are speaking about God is satisfied.  Are you?

If you are not satisfied with yourself, you will try to make yourself satisfying.

But if I can really show you that the WORD says that you are satisfying to God, then you will be satisfied about yourself.
• Our behaviour needs to be worked upon after we get saved, but we, ourselves, as people, are satisfying to God.
• In Fact, our behaviour will become more and more satisfying also, that is – holy – the more we understand God’s satisfaction with ourselves.
• Because, if you think lowly of yourself, you DO NOT EXPECT MUCH OF YOURSELF.
• You will even expect to SIN, and when you expect to sin you will usually find a way to sin.

Smiting the rock twice kept Moses out of the promised land.
• Our Promised Land is the FULNESS OF CHRIST.
• Not Heaven.
• Giants and well-walled cities do not exist in heaven.

Christ is the Rock.
• He only had to be smitten ONCE for our transgressions.

Romans 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Hebrews 9:27-28  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

And ONE judgment had to be made.
• After a judgment is fulfilled, after having been decided upon in court and meted out in time following the judging, the convict was convicted and SERVED THE TIME or whatever judgment dealt with the crime.
• YOU DO NOT JUDGE A MATTER FURTHER once judgment is passed and carried out.

Jesus took our judgment.

John 12:31-33  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.

You could say that we took our punishment THROUGH CHRIST’S DEATH.

But when we think we still owe, then we feel unworthy.
• Our judgment already occurred, but yet we still feel unworthy.
UNWORTHY OF THE BLESSINGS.
UNWORTHY OF THE INVOLVEMENT IN PRAISING GOD.
UNWORTHY OF BEING USED BY GOD.
UNWORTHY OF INVOLVEMENT IN A CHURCH BODY AND WORKING A MINISTRY.

We connect ourselves to our pasts and feel that our pasts still have a hold on us.

We do not appreciate the FACT that the cross finished what had to be done with our pasts.
• FINISHED what had to be done about preparing us for God’s blessings.
• FINISHED what had to be done about any connections our pasts might have upon us.
• FINISHED WORK!
WE ARE ONE WITH JESUS, since we were baptized INTO HIS DEATH.

If we are ONE with Him, whether we understand that or not, and we feel we must continue to suffer some more due to our pasts, or to DO SOMETHING to satisfy ourselves that our PASTS are no longer a part of us, or TO MAKE OURSELV ES WORTHY TO GOD ... then we are saying that,

(1) God did not finish the work.
(2) And CHRIST MUST SUFFER SOME MORE....
• The rock must be smitten again!.. because we are NOW ONE WITH THE ROCK.

WE ARE ONE WITH CHRIST.
• We were smitten THROUGH HIM.
• THROUGH HIS EXPERIENCE.
• So if we think we need smiting some more, then we are declaring that CHRIST NEEDS SMITING SOME MORE.
• It is smiting the rock a second time.

You might say that Christ needs no smiting again.
• Did He ever needs smiting, though?
• No.
• Why was He smitten?
• For our transgressions.
• And God did a finished work Christ was smitten for US.

When God told Moses to SMITE ONCE, and simply SPEAK THE WORD from then on, He was saying that ONE SMITING IS ENOUGH.
• ONE JUDGMENT DID IT.
• It solved it all.

Troubles might come our way after the SMITING, the cross, ....
• We may sin.
• But WE ARE STILL NEW CREATURES THROUGH THE ONE CROSS.
• And we simply need the WORD to help us now.
• Not another smiting.
• No more dealing with our past lives through ANY EFFORT WHATSOEVER.
• JUST HEAR TEACHING ABOUT THE CROSS.

People might say they know all about the cross.
• WRONG.
• The reason I know that people need more WORD about the cross is because I hear people saying they are no good and unworthy.
• I even hear testimonies saying I AM SO UNWORTHY.
• WRONG.
• The cross made you worthy!

Ephesians 1:5-6  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Don’t do anything to get over your past lives except BELIEVE WHAT THE WORD SAYS for a change.
• HEAR THE WORD.
• HEAR TEACHING of what the cross did as far as the present and our past is concerned.
• TOTALLY UNRELATED.
• It will correct your mind about your supposed connection to that past.
• You need to be convinced that it is no longer a part of you.
• SO YOU NEED THE WORD.

You’ll feel like getting smitten again until you GET THIS.

You may not think Christ needs to be smitten again.
• You just feel you must DO SOMETHING to disconnect your past’s problems from you.
• But since you’re one with Him now, saying you STILL NEED JUDGMENT is saying HE NEEDS TO BE SMITTEN AGAIN.

You will not enter the promised land.
• You will not inherit the blessings.
• You will think you’re not worthy of them all.
• “God must smite me so one day I will be worthy of his name.”
• NO.
• THE BLOOD MADE US WORTHY.
• HIS DEATH.
• THE SINGLE SMITING totally cut you away from YOUR ENTIRE LIFE THAT FAR.

If we feel we need smiting, then we did not have the slightest idea what happened the first time the rock was smitten!

WE DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT JESUS CUT OFF OUR OLD LIVES.

We still do not see our unions to Christ.
• We say we are nothing because we have no ideas that we were made one WITH THE MOST HOLY LORD JESUS.
• THAT MAKES US SOMETHING!

UGLY DUCKLING COMPLEX.
• Duckling looked at how ugly it was compared to others.
• Hated itself.
• But when it MATURED and grew into an adult.... it became a beautiful swan.
• It always was a swan.
• But its immaturity
 
IMMATURITY IS LACK OF UNDERSTANDING.
• We’re no good.
• No, where uneducated.
• Mature with understanding.

You will not enter the FULNESS if you feel you still need smiting, because you won’t feel WORTHY of the promised land blessings.

EXODUS 17 shows that only ELDERS went with Moses to smite the rock the first time.

Exodus 17:5  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Song of Solomon 2:14-15  O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines [have] tender grapes.

Psychologists smite the rock again and again, when Christians take advice from them and try to DO SOMETHING to cut themselves off from their pasts.
• They tell you to face your fears from your past.
• NO.
• ITS BURIED IN THE GROUND IN HIS TOMB.
• LEAVE IT BURIED.

Some preachers smite the rock again and again.

When people sin after they are saved, preachers smite them again and again.
• NO.
• WORD.
• Give the word, the second time and the third, Moses.
• DO NOT SMITE THE ROCK AGAIN!
• Just teach them.

If you feel no-good, then you will think,
• “I might as well sin.”
• “How much worse can I get anyhow, since I am already no good.”

But we are worthy of God now.
• Rebuke Satan, lift your hands up to God for help, and BELIEVE Romans 6:14.

Romans 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Romans 6:13  Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.

Romans 6:9-10  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Romans 6:11-13  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Present yourselves as people who have no cause to die again.
— People who are worthy.
— People who have no more need of judgment!

Present yourselves as PEOPLE WHO KNOW THAT WHEN GOD DESTROYED THEIR OLD LIVES, IT COMPLETELY DEALT WITH THE PROBLEM.
• FINISHED THE WORK.
• IT SATISFIED GOD.

If you sin, stop thinking ugly-duckling-complex thinking.