The Blood is Enough (Easter Sunday)

Pastor Matt's Resurrection Sunday message - The Blood is Enough

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Thank you, Lord, for your blood poured out on the cross. How can we not respond? How can we not pour our hearts out to you, Lord? We give you glory. We give you honor. And we worship you, Jesus. You are the King. You reign victorious. You reign, Lord. Thank you, God, for what you're doing. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well. He is risen. Come on. I um I often hey grabby seats. I often um you know at Christmas time we say Merry Christmas, don't we? One of the things I love to do sometimes is just say merry other things. I say Merry Birthday. It gets a laugh sometimes. Um never said Merry Easter. But he is risen. Amen. Amen. So exciting to be in church on Resurrection Sunday. Where's my notes gone? There we go. Wow. So um you might take a look at me this morning and think, Mau, Matt, Matt, you look a bit you look a bit tired. Couple of bags under your eyes this morning, Matt. Are you okay? Well, yeah, didn't sleep in my own bed last night. Thankfully, um I I also didn't um sleep in a tent, which was the original plan. Um every Easter, um, some wonderful precious friends of ours host an Easter camp out. Um I'm praying that they'll move it to Good Friday. Um, but basically, um every every Saturday just before Resurrection Sunday, we have a little camp out. But we decided, I think quite wisely, to maybe um to sleep not outside, to sleep inside. But I I didn't get a great sleep. You might think to yourself, oh Judith, Judith doesn't look tired, she looks alright. She always does. Judith, Judith somehow manages to sleep in a rum bed every single year. Um so I don't know what's going on there, but um we love we love doing our little camping tradition. I don't know what your tradition is at Easter, but that's part of who we are. Um, like Judith said, my name's Matt. Um I'm a pastor here along with Judith at the Gate Church. We uh we've not been around that long doing this, so you know, it's so exciting. This is like our first resurrection Sunday in our new roles, and that's exciting. But um, it's a wonderful time of the year, isn't it? And it's not just because of eggs and chocolate. All right. I can hear some rappers. I'm thinking, who's got their Easter eggs on the goal? I mean, what's going on? But um I really felt uh prompted by the Holy Spirit enough uh this morning to just talk on this theme that the blood is enough. The blood is enough. Let that just sit for a moment. The blood is enough. The blood is enough. See, we were we were bought with his blood in Acts 20. By the way, I've got loads of scriptures here. I hope you're I hope you're ready. Um Acts 20. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, be shepherds of the good church which God has bought with his blood. He has bought us with his blood. See, salvation, our salvation, it comes with a free price tag to us. Hallelujah. But it didn't cost nothing, but you were bought with the precious blood of Jesus. Romans 9 says, Since we have been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? That means we've been declared not guilty. Not guilty. We are more than that, we are in right standing with God, his judgment passes us by. I I don't know about you, but that's exciting. That is good news, isn't it? Ephesians 1 verse 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace. See, our ownership is transferred back to God. Imagine a slave of which someone pays a ransom to the owner in order to set that slave free. Well, that's you this morning. We've been brought near by his blood. Ephesians 2, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Colossians 1, through him to reconcile himself to all things, whether on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross, he opens his arms to us. Amen. We have a cleansed conscience. How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, that we may serve the living God. We can enter his presence confidently. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Christ. And on Friday, we discussed the curtain torn in two from the top, which opens God's presence up to those who believe. He purifies us through his blood. But if we walk in the light as he is in light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. It frees us from bondage. Revelation chapter 1. And from Christ Jesus, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood. On the cross, his blood was shed for all of humanity. How amazing. How amazing. The blood of Christ is a gift given to those who believe in the death, the resurrection, and the lordship of Jesus Christ. Because he died. Because he died, you don't have to. He took your place. Because he rose again, he's defeated death. He is victorious. And we get to live in the freedom that he gives. Because he died and rose again. See, his blood is enough. It covers it all. It pays the price, reconciles us, redeems us. His blood paid the price. And it is enough for you, for your family, for your friends, for this town, for this valley, for the northeast of England. It's enough. And if his blood is enough. You'll never be enough on your own. His blood is enough. But you'll never be enough on your own. See? You can't save yourself. Your beautiful, kind, loving, gracious character. Who you are. Because you're all so wonderful. I know most of you. It's not enough. It can't save you. Being a good person isn't enough. Your kindness. You give all your money to the poor. It's not enough. It can't save you. Doing good, charity work, volunteering time, it's not enough. His blood is enough. You know, like coming to church. I love coming to church. But if you just come to church, it's not enough. Even singing the songs. Having a favorite worship song. It's not enough. Serving on team. And we love you to serve on team at church. Like it's awesome, but it's not what will save you. It's it's not enough. The Bible says that without the blood, you are spiritually dead, deserving wrath. Ephesians 2, 1 to 3, 2. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world, and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. For us all, sorry, all of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. On our own, we're dead. There's no freedom naturally, it doesn't naturally occur. See, God is perfect. His very nature, who he is, cannot tolerate our sin. Without the blood at work, unfortunately, we deserve wrath. We deserve death. We can't outdo our own sin on our own. We can't, it's it's we're not enough. Our clever thoughts and plans, and we can't outrun it. We can't outdo it. It says in Romans 20, um, it says in Romans, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It also says that the wages of sin is death. It's our sin that condemns us to death. See, our sin is that stuff that we've all done that doesn't bring glory to God. It's it's our shame, it's our envy, it's our bad thoughts, it's our selfish ambition, it's we're all guilty of it. John three, seventeen to eighteen says, For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but who does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. See, God is so just, perfect, that our sin, the bad stuff, cannot go unpunished. It's a bit of a bleak picture, isn't it? Sorry, I just felt like you were all feeling really heavy. But God is just, it's a reality, but he's also love. Amen. He's also love, he's good. We read it a second ago. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, but the good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. How good is that? See, he won't leave the guilty unpunished, but he's rich in mercy, full of grace, full of love. Ephesians 2, 4 to 6, but because of his great love, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace that you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Because of God's great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. Even when we were dead in transgressions, it's by grace that you've been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. That excites me. That excites me. Does it excite you this morning? Come on. The bad news is that without accepting Christ, what he has done for us on the cross, we're dead, separated from God, slaves to our sin, spiritually blind, lost, without hope. Maybe you feel dead this morning. Maybe you feel separate from God. It's easy to come to church, isn't it? And look around, and the worship team are always so perfect, apart from the guy stood over here, and and everyone's just in love with God, and maybe you have a disconnect from God. Maybe that you look around and think, oh, I don't get it. Maybe you feel separate from God, maybe you feel lost, maybe you don't know why you're here, maybe you don't know what the plan is. Maybe maybe you just think that where you're at right now, there is no hope. I don't know. His blood is enough. Amen. His blood is enough. His blood justifies, it redeems, it reconciles, it cleanses. There's no more guilt or shame or fear. There's no more death. Amen. Come on, he gives hope, he gives freedom, he gives life, he gives love to those who call on his name. You can have that freedom. It's a gift. You can have that freedom, that love, that hope. And every single week, and we will today, we'll give you the opportunity to step into that, to make a decision, to follow Jesus. But I guess if the bad news is that without the blood there's death. The question is, what are we gonna do with the blood? What are we gonna do with the good news? What are you gonna do with it, church? We've got to walk in the freedom. We've got to step into the promise. See, we're born into by the blood of Christ, we're born into a new way of living, that freedom, that hope, that love, and that life. We've got to walk in it. We've got to walk in it confidently. I get it, it's not always easy to change, is it? It's not always easy to change. I get that. Galatians 5, 1 to 3 says, it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. We read that bit, don't we, when we get excited? It's for freedom that Christ has set us free. But it goes on, it says, stand firm. Stand firm. Do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. It's up to you whether you walk in the freedom. Do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of freedom. Now, what I'm not saying is that it's that easy. Okay? I get it. See, we become a slave to sin. It becomes ingrained. Our ways of living, that thing that you've struggled with for decades to shake off that addiction, that thing you do. Oh, it's just me. You can accept Jesus believe in him, that he's Lord. We sang it earlier, didn't we? But it's possible to still walk under that burden of shame and sin, to let ourselves be burdened by the guilt and the shame of the things that we've done. See, I'm a teacher, right? I'm not just a pastor. I it's holidays, man. I'm so excited. Um but like I'm a teacher, and if I was to quit teaching, which I will one day, it's gonna be great, right? Um, but like I'm gonna keep looking and sounding and speaking and walking like a teacher for a while, I think. There's things I say, Judith will be like, You sounded like a teacher then, right? It's because it's ingrained on who I am, right? But if I if I step out of that, it doesn't just happen immediately. I've got to continually make that decision to walk in my new identity as not a teacher. Oh, I really want to not be a teacher now, but it's so easy. Let's read that again. It says, stand firm. Do not allow yourselves to be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. We've got to shake off some old habits, some old ways of thinking. Some of us are living in a yoke of slavery from a past life, but it was for freedom that you were set free. Imagine buying someone a gift. You ever done that? Bought someone a gift and it cost you like a fortune. And then they just leave it in the box unopened. If we're not walking in the freedom, if we're not confident in the freedom, if we can't stand tall, maybe we're not receiving the gift fully. Come on, there's freedom. There is life. If that's you this morning, if you're not living in the fullness of the freedom, come on, hold your hands out. Say, close our eyes, church. Come on, let's hold our hands out and say, Lord, we receive the gift. God, we want to be free. We don't want to just live under a burden of sin and shame. We don't want to be full of guilt. Lord, will you help us, Lord, to walk in the freedom, to walk in the confidence? We want to be free because it's for because Christ died for us for freedom. We've been set free, Lord. Help us. Help us. And just receive the gift. Receive the gift. Holy Spirit, help us. Receive the gift this morning. Amen. Church, look at me. We want to do the journey with you on that. It's not always just. Okay, I'm free. Like we get that, yeah. We want to walk the journey with you. Talk to us. Talk to your group host. Talk to your best pal. Let's get around each other and help us do that. Hey, I'm going off here. I'm off on a bit of a tangent there. I'm sorry. Hey, you know, if the blood is enough, sometimes we just gotta relax, haven't we? Just relax and know that the blood is enough. Shall we just chill out a bit and just let God? Yeah? I don't know. You know, the blood's enough for your marriage, for your kids. Lord help us. For your finances, for your business, for your health, for your pain, for your depression, for your mental health needs, for his church. His blood is enough. One of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 46. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted among the earth. How many of us are guilty of stressing, of worrying? And again, it's not necessarily that easy, is it? But his blood is enough. Let me say again, for whatever you are facing this morning, this week, whatever you're walking into on Tuesday morning at work, his blood is enough. Let's live in that. Amen. Very quickly. If his blood is enough, we've got to share it. We've got to share it. James, when we were praying earlier, says, how can we not praise you, God? How can we not? And it's the same, isn't it? We've got a mandate, a biblical mandate. There's no shying away from it. We've received his love. We understand the power of his blood. We've got to share it with the world. You've got to share it with your family. You've got to share it with your friends. This freedom that you are now walking in, it's our responsibility to share it with the world. One price paid for all humanity. And he asks us to share it with our pals. I wonder if you're sharing your testimony of your freedom. If you are sharing with the people you bump into in the shop or at that family gathering, or with your neighbor? I wonder if it's at the forefront of your mind to share the good news. Do the people in the world know that you follow Christ? Sorry if this is heavy, but how can we sit on a gift that was given to us for free? When we know the cost and we just watch the world around us walking in that death, walking towards that wrath. Come on, we can't, church. We can't. We've got this beautiful gift, right? Some of you have experienced it quite recently, and that's amazing. Why would we not share it? I empower you to go and do it. Come on, let's do this together. It's such an amazing freedom and such an amazing gift. Let's share it, let's pray for it, let's believe it. Amen. Come on, let's do this together. His blood is enough. Maybe you just need to say that into the situation. Maybe you need to say that into your own heart. Tell yourself, speak it. Come on, there's freedom. His blood is enough. Because you were bought. You were bought with the blood of Jesus. You were redeemed by the blood of Jesus. You were set free. So let's walk in it. Let's share it with the world. Amen. And lastly, what what do we do? What do we do with the blood? We thank him for it. And I always say this: if you've ever known me lead communion, I'm like, E Lord, thank you. But thank you isn't enough, is it? But thank you, but thank you isn't enough. But thank you. He requires our hearts, he requires our day-to-day. That's how we thank him. Like we can say thank you. But actually, our submission, our lives poured out for him in response to the blood poured out for us. Come on, let's just stand to our feet. Let's not take the freedom for granted. Let's thank him. Let's lift our voices. Just say thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. We thank you for the blood. The blood that is enough. The blood that has set us free. The blood that has reconciled us, washed us clean, cleansed us, purified us, freed us from bondage. Lord, we say thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the blood. And we say and we lift our voices. Thank you, Lord. Thank you.