Scott: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme. I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Steve. How are you today?

Steve: For the first time in almost two and a half weeks, I'm feeling almost normal. Thank you. How are you?

Scott: I'm good. Normal is a nice thing when it's been less than normal. Steve: First of all let me put this thought out there. It would be fun if anybody that's listening to these podcasts would like to join us. We normally meet at nine o'clock on Tuesday mornings. If you would ever care to join us, I know it could be a little intimidating, but we will be as kind and as gentle as possible and you could ask questions.

Scott has to do all the responding for, I come with all my information prepared, and then he has to wing it on his own, and ask some good questions, and get some good responses, and he's really good at it. If anybody want to join us, just email us, reach out. That would be lovely.

This morning, I'm going to talk about a topic that has many facets. I'm going to call this series “The Diamonds” because there's so much scripture that brings to bear on these topics. As you know, I read through studies of scriptures twice a day. Over a course of several weeks, I read 21 of these, what I call, spiritual sacrifices, these assemblages of scripture that help me and guide me in my prayer times, in my studies, and in my asking God to move in the world. As I do it, I keep noticing more aspects of what we would call a topical study.

In my experience in the church, if I was to go up in front of a Sunday school class, let's say, or a Bible study with a whiteboard, and ask for responses when I say a phrase such as, "Name of Jesus.” I would probably hear “Savior” or “Lord.” People might begin to percolate a little bit. "Oh, he's the door. He's the way. He's the truth. He's the life. He's the word made flesh. He's the living word. He's the bread of life."

It would be fascinating to have a whiteboard here with a whole bunch of students and just say, "When I say the blood of Jesus, what comes to your mind?" Then we would begin to spirit-storm together. We would search our minds, and our hearts, and the scriptures.

We would end up with this beautiful diamond. It's not just one face. It is multiple faces. It's multifaceted. Psalm 119:160 says, "The sum of your word is truth." The sum, like adding all up. When you put the whole Bible together, that's when you find truth. It's the whole package.

Matthew 4: 4 and Deuteronomy 8:3, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father." If anybody's listening and wants to participate, it would be lovely to have you. Now let's pray. Father, thank you for your word that is living and active. Thank you that it's profitable and inspired. Thank you that it's a source of not only truth, but life and faith.

I pray that as we contemplate this topic today, that your spirit will guide us, that you'll write these words on our heart, that you'll expand our hearts and our spirits to encompass these truths that are revealed so clearly in scripture. In Jesus' name, amen. Scott: Amen.

Steve: The topic is the blood of Jesus. When I mention the blood of Jesus, many would talk about forgiveness, cleansing. That is absolutely correct, but there is a lot more to the blood of Jesus.

I have five pages of scriptures. I'm not making this up. I have gleaned them. I've gone through them, and I've tried to find the ones that I thought were the most appropriate, but there are five pages just on this topic.

Probably the first one is -- and this is chronological -- but it's important because it's when Adam and Eve have two children. These two children have a fight, and Cain slays Abel. God talks to him in Genesis 4:10. "Jehovah said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.'"

The blood speaks.

This might not be in your parameters, but just accept it. Just soak it in because this is the Bible. If we didn't have that verse, we wouldn't understand Hebrews 12:24, which says, "Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."

We're starting with one to stretch us right from the start, and the blood speaks. The blood cries out. Isn't that interesting?

The blood also saves us from death. Passover.

Here are three passages from Exodus 12. "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the 14th day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

"Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it."

They're going to kill their lambs, they're going to sprinkle it on the two doorposts, the lentils, and they're going to eat it.

Exodus 12:13. "The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I

strike the land of Egypt." This is when we get the word pass over. God will pass over us.

We will not die because He will see the blood which has been sprinkled and placed on the doorpost and the lintel. A little bit later in that chapter, Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, "Go pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families and slaughter the Passover animal. Drain the blood into a basin, then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood.

"Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the door frames of your houses, and no one may go out through the door until morning, for Jehovah will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, Jehovah will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down."

This is a beautiful picture. Once again, this lays the foundation for 1 Corinthians 5:7-8. "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast."

Even when we had young children, and were reading through the Bible together, when they were young we did not read the whole book of Leviticus. We read it later when they were older. Leviticus has so much about the blood, and I think this verse might be the most important.

Leviticus 17:11, "The life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making atonement for your souls. It is the blood given in exchange for a life that makes purification possible." If you don't read all of Leviticus, at least read the 17th chapter. All right, Scott. What do you think so far? Scott: There are many verses about blood. If you do a search of blood, I just did a quick one, and it came up with 300 in the Old Testament. That one that you just read about the life being in the blood, there's so much to unpack just within that. The life is in the blood.

Then when you go through the Passover and then to the communion and all that, there's so much there. I'm not sure what to comment on it. I don't know where you're going with this. I'm just like, "OK."

Steve: That's a good start.

Scott: There you go.

Steve: Had you ever noticed before that the blood speaks?

Scott: Actually, that one verse about the blood crying out, I read a book once that was titled that, "The Blood Cries Out." It was about martyrs throughout history. That resonates with me a lot, but yes.

Steve: Not only the martyrs, but I think of these poor precious babies that are being murdered. What a cacophony of noise must reach heaven every day from our culture? It's painful.

You mentioned communion. Remember, what I'm about to read is going to cause some consternation. It caused consternation when it was written and first delivered, I should put it that way.

When Jesus spoke to His disciples and he said these verses, disciples, the broad term, all those that were following him, and they said, "This is too much. This is hard sayings," and many of them quit following him because of this. Buckle your seat belts. I'm just simply going to read it.

Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in Him.

"As the living father sent Me, and I live because of the father, so whoever feeds on Me, he also will live because of Me." This is John 6:53-57. It was a troublesome thing then, and it's one that we have to receive by faith now.

When we take communion, there's a lot more that goes on there than we surmise. Matthew 26, "Drink from it all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins."

This is the first time we've mentioned this aspect. Not only is this true food, it's true forgiveness. The forgiveness of sins is because of the blood. 1 Corinthians10, Paul teaches about communion. The word communion is from the Greek word koinonia, which can mean communion. It can also mean participation.

This verse, "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation, a koinonia, a communion in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" Once again, I do not understand the mystery of communion, but I believe what it says. This is His body. This is His blood.

As we do it, we find true life. We find true drink, true food, and we have a participation, a communion, a koinonia in the blood and body of Christ. You can't talk about this subject without reading Isaiah 53. I have just chosen two verses, but the whole chapter of Isaiah 53, the suffering servant may be summarized, He died so we can live.

Isaiah 53:4, "Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds, we are healed."

I connected that with John 19:34 when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead. They did not break His legs. “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately, blood and water came out.”

There is the suffering servant. He bled and died so we could live. He was pierced because we had sinned. Someone had to die. He died in our place. The blood of Jesus makes us close or near to God.

Isaiah 59:2, "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear." Ephesians 2:1, "Now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

Colossians 1:18 and 20 amplifies this thought. "God, in all His fullness, was pleased to live in Christ, and through Him, God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on Earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross." He made peace. He removed the separation. He restored us to proper fellowship and communion with God.

Not only that, but it's the blood that enables us to enter into the holiest of holy places, where the high priest could go in once a year. Hebrews 10:19-22. "We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain that is through His flesh.” "Since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." We can only enter into the holy places. We can only get close to God. We can only be restored to God because of the blood of Jesus.

"Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins." Hebrews 9:22. Then at the very end of this passage, the 26th verse, "As it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." If the blood is not shed, there's no forgiveness. If he had not sacrificed Himself, there would still be sin, but He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Here's a gem from Isaiah 1:18-19. "'Come, let us reason together,' says Jehovah. 'Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.'"

1 John 1:7 builds on that. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, cleanses us from all sin." Skipping to the 9th verse. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Though our sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

The first passage of scripture I ever memorized was 1 John 1:9. It was good counsel, and good advice. I've come back to it so many times. "The blood of Jesus, His son, cleanses us from all sin. As we confess, He forgives and cleanses us." This is really important because when I think about Revelation, I think some of it has transpired, but a lot of it is still in the future. The blood is not just a once-for-all act. It is, and it isn't. It's more than that.

Revelation 7: 14, "They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb." These were people that came out of the great tribulation, which I think we're starting to maybe get a taste of, but nothing like what scripture lays out. These people came out of that tribulation with white robes in the blood of the Lamb. The blood was still operational, still up to date, still working. Hebrews 9:14. "How much more will the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal spirit, offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

What do you think, Scott? I got more. I've still got two more pages. Scott: I had a nice moment recently, honestly, because it snowed here, and everything was covered. That verse just came to mind. I allowed it to wash over me for a moment and thought about all this. Everything was white.

Just to imagine it all as blood, as red as blood everywhere, and Jesus just like that. Washed it all clean. It was such a powerful image to me. I'd never thought about it. You hear the phrase of it's white as snow, and it's, "Oh, yeah. Got it. Snow." When you actually see everything blanketed in snow, it's like, He really did do something amazing.

Steve: Amen.

Scott: It's way more than that. It's a nice little illustration, at least. Steve: May all of us walk outside and see application of scripture. That's awesome. Do you know any songs about the blood?

Scott: “Nothing but the Blood."

Steve: What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Sometimes I think about all the hymns that I have been singing over and over and over, and then phrases from those hymns will just come popping up when I least expect it sometimes, but it's awesome because we will be washed. "Jesus Paid It All." "There's Power in the Blood." Would you be free from your burden of sin, and [sings] there's power in the blood, power in the blood. Lots of hymns about the blood.

Scott: When you read the Old Testament, there's so much. When you're going through Leviticus and you're tempted to just scan over it and not even pay attention, there's so many verses about what the priest has to do with the blood.

It all can seem really kind of, I don't know, morbid in a sense until you realize the New Testament, and you see what it means and how powerful and horrible our sin is that there had to be this sacrifice. You start looking this up, you won't stop. Steve: Did you learn anything new? You know a lot.

Scott: It's reminding me of stuff I've read. I'll think about it some more. We'll see. Steve: Let's pray. Father, thank you for...This is a topic to you. This was your son. This was your son's blood that was spilled for us. We thank you for your great heart that allowed your son to hang on a cross and bleed and be pierced because of our sins.

Your love for us was so great, you wanted to restore us to communion and fellowship. You want to give us new life that had to happen on the other side of death. We can't live until someone dies. Thank you for dying for us, Jesus. Thank you for spilling your blood for us. Thank you that your blood is still efficacious and powerful to this day. I pray for anybody that's listening that doesn't feel completely cleansed. I pray that you'll open their eyes to the power of the blood. Open our hearts to receive the truth that we are truly white. Our sins which were scarlet are now white. You have not only made us white, you've not only cleansed us, you have cleansed us from all unrighteousness. That's exactly what the scripture says. Let our spirits connect with your spirit and your word today. Transform us as we believe this truth in Jesus' name. Amen.

Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the show, email Steve at sbdemme@Gmail.com. If you have a question for me, you can reach me at scott@unsocializedmedia.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.