Hebrews 10:19-36, Our text captures boldness through the blood. Never you get to a place where your confidence will be shifted from the blood.
Paul admonishes us to live with confidence by the blood, which is the finished work of Christ. The new and the living way is the blood of Jesus. There is no more holiest of holies, the veil has been unveiled by the blood. The body of Jesus became the veil and his body was opened up for us. We are not drawing near again as the lyrics of the song ‘Draw me nearer’; we have been drawn. If you don’t understand these things, your tenses won’t be correct as a believer. You will be speaking out of context, out of your reality. You will not be speaking in alignment with what has been done and completed.
You must consistently understand, believe, celebrate and have confidence in what God has done through Him. The Bible instructs us not to cast away our confidence in Christ and in what he did. We should as well be unwavering in faith. Don’t come to a point of learning and having knowledge that will make you shift your confidence from the blood. The best place to get to and remain forever is to put your confidence in the blood of the lamb.
Boldness by the blood; the blood here refers to what God has done in Christ through the shedding of his blood and it became a sacrifice unto us. It’s on the premise of what was accomplished that Jesus said IT IS FINISHED.
John 19:30
So on the premise of his blood and what God accomplished through Jesus’ death and sacrifice, Christ stood upon it and said it is finished.
“It is finished” means that what will take away the wrath of God, settle the punishment for sin, what is required for man to be forgiven and for man to live in liberty and freedom with God, has been carried out already. The statement “it is finished” in Greek is called “teleo” and it simply means to complete or to fulfill.
While Jesus was on the cross, the moment he said “It is finished” something took place in the temple, and men could now enter into the holiest of holies. From that day men had access. There was a way, but there is a new way now. If you don’t understand the dynamics of God and the promise of the finished work of Christ, you will not act boldly or operate with confidence. Don’t be unwavering. Hold on to what God has done in Christ, work with it, pray with it, operate by it, function by it. Even when having conversations with God, hold it. It’s the reason why God cannot deny you your desired answer.
God removed intermediaries and middlemen so we could have direct access to him. Jesus is not loved more than you. We have this confidence by the blood. New Testament believers no longer need a prophet to talk to God on their behalf by virtue of the death of Jesus.
Some people’s prayers are dependent on people. The prayer of agreement is understandable and required for the building of one’s faith, but hanging your faith on somebody else is you despising the spirit of grace and not having confidence in the finished work of God.
Jesus prayed, “Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come…”
Jesus gave corroborative evidence on this. He did teach His disciples concerning this prayer because He was yet to be crucified.
He was speaking to the disciples concerning things they had not fully comprehended. He said I am going to my Father which is your Father. What He was saying is that from that we have access through the blood which is the new and the living way.
The only way a man can see God is through Jesus. We need to understand that it is by the blood and our confidence is in His blood. This is why our revelation and prayer do not come close to the superiority of His blood. Also, our fasting cannot come close to it.
You should never come to a place where your revelation, fasting and prayer will get God’s attention. God’s attention is the blood.
Truthfully, you should appreciate the move of prayer but at the same time, you must never be caught off guard by the devil in a bid to show off. It will be an abnormality in having confidence in the armor of our prayer and not paying attention to the blood.
It should not occur that you are being given a formula before you can pray in that you are told that there must be a particular time of the day prayers are answered. This is done all in the name of mystery. Your prayer will never come close to the blood. Your holiness cannot come close to the superiority of the blood.
Peter and John met a man crippled from birth and begging for alms at the Beautiful Gate.
Acts 3:1-8
[1]Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
[2]And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
[3]Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
[4]And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
[5]And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
[6]Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
[7]And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
[8]And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Today, some people have silver and gold but no power. That is a paradox. Beautiful cathedrals are being built but people there are not experiencing the tangibility of the power of God.
Peter and John boasted of the power of God and not silver and gold. On the other hand, people in the church today boast of silver and gold, leaving out the tangibility of God’s power.
A better narrative in the aforementioned scripture is that as we want the tangibility of God’s power and experience, you should also not look down on the silver and gold. What you should be focused on is the tangibility of His power and His presence but it is the other way round to most believers today. What a departure.
There is a conventional saying, “As poor as a church rat”. Now, the rantings are not about being broke anymore but about the fact that the church has wealth.
The claim against church leaders by these people is only targeted at one percent of the whole church. Nevertheless, this accusation is being suffered by all churches. You must be guided not to say the local churches are business centers.
This is why you must never be caught saying the same thing as people of the world do concerning Jesus’ church and His men whom He has appointed leaders. It would be ignorant of you to think in that line of thought.
You must also know that there will be more local churches and that is God’s plan.
Hence, a need to teach people who are ignorant of this truth concerning His body. This will be done without the use of abusive words but will be done with love and humility toward them.
So let us live in the place of knowing and walking in the tangibility of God’s power. You would talk about how God has blessed you but not at the expense of God’s power.
Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate ensured the people around them did not lose focus on the tangibility of God’s power.
They said it is not by their power nor is it by their holiness. They told the people who marveled at such a miracle that it was by God’s power the man was healed.
Peter pointed them to Jesus. Even your holiness cannot come close to the blood. The best of your character will not come close to the power in the blood. You should capitalize more on access. Because if you have access, you automatically have assets.
The devil shifted our attention away from the real thing and gave us greed to go after assets. And we pay less emphasis to our relationship with God.
—Why do people not have confidence in the Blood?–
LACK OF UNDERSTANDING:
Some people are believers but they are ignorant of the righteousness of God/the finished work of Christ.
They are ignorant of the potency of the blood of the lamb. Like Romans 10 said they are not submitting to the righteousness of God.
You can be a believer who has a knowledge gap. For you to walk in the fullness of the finished work of Christ, you need to close up that gap and start bridging the gap. We need to grow, be mature, learn and close up this knowledge gap and appropriate everything the Father has done for us in Christ Jesus.
DOUBT:
Be consistent, focus, measure your growth, ask questions, don’t just come to church. Be intentional about your life. That’s how you can maximize everything Jesus died for. You will give an account of how you leverage redemption.
Most people are operating below their potential in Christ. So when you appear before Christ, you will give an account of how you are able to use your potential.
When you get to heaven, you are not going to give an account of the houses you built, it is what you have done with the grace that was given to you. You don’t necessarily need to be a pastor, but if what you do is not tied to the purpose of Christ, you have not lived.
If you can’t find a way to project Christ/ to make Christ visible in what you do, you have not lived. The parable of the talent was not just Jesus telling a story, he was capturing some vitals. He was not judging them based on the size of what he gave them, he was judging them based on their faithfulness in using what he gave them. Christ was teaching faithfulness. You need to appropriate all that Christ has done for you. You need to watch out for doubt. You should be mindful of not waving. There is a need to be consistent. You should look at and measure our growth.
To maximize everything Jesus died for, you should go about being deliberate about your growth and not about church activities.
You would give an account of how you used all he died for. Most of us operate below our potential in Christ. The father gave us usual insights into what eternal life was about but many will not tap into it. Whatever you do and it’s not tied to the purpose of God on earth, you have not lived. If you can’t find a way to project Christ in our day-to-day life, you have not lived. Jesus taught faithfulness with the parable of the servants who received talents.
Matthew 25:14-30
There are questions you may not give account for that another man will have to, this is because individual capacities are different.