Explore the depth of salvation and righteousness in this engaging study session. From dissecting denominational doctrines to understanding the importance of baptism, Jeff Archie guides you through pivotal scriptural points to ensure you are walking in the light and maintaining a close relationship with Christ. Find out why contacting the blood of Jesus is central not only to salvation but to living a life of faithful obedience.
When we see the Savior’s way, we see the blood of His cross. That is our study today from the International Gospel Hour. Please stay with us.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hi, this is Jay Webb for International Gospel Hour. We’re so glad you’ve decided to listen to our program today. In a world of challenges, we need God’s Word to help us face those challenges. Thank you for joining us in this period of Bible study with our speaker, Jeff Archie of International Gospel Hour, a broadcast of the Churches of Christ. So let’s listen today. Here’s Jeff.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, greetings, everyone. Thank you for being with us today, and thank you to our J-Web for his kind words, and you’ll hear from Jay throughout our broadcast, as always. We love to share with you a number of tools that will help you in your study. And we’re grateful to have you with us each and every time here on International Gospel Hour Radio. Now friends, as we begin, we do have a book giveaway. That’s right. Everything we offer from International Gospel Hour is free. We are delighted to share this material with our listeners. And today we have a very special book from our friends at Apologetics Press titled, Reasons to Believe. It’s written by Eric Lyons and Kyle Butt of ApologeticsPress.org. Please be sure to check out their website. If you would love to receive the book, Reasons to Believe, here’s all you do. Call us toll free at 855-444-6988. Leave us your name, address, and just say, Reasons to Believe. That’s all. Or just simply say, Reasons. That’s all we need. You can also go to our website at internationalgospelhour.com. Click on the contact tab and leave us the same information. Name, address, and just type reasons. And we’ll send that to you right away. Now, one more time, to receive the free book, courtesy of our friends at apologeticspress.org, that is the book, Reasons to Believe, call us toll free at 855-444-6988. Leave us your name, address, and just say, reasons. That’s all. You can do the same at our website, internationalgospelhour.com. Click on the contact tab and leave us that same information. Again, name, address, and just type in the message box, reasons. That’s all you’ve got to do. We’ll send it to you right away. Before we begin our lesson concerning the blood of His cross, let’s pause for our Jay Webb. Very quickly, he has a few words about our work on social media.
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SPEAKER 02 :
We have the truth, friends, the Word of God. So let us use it as Christians. Let us not be afraid to unsheathe the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Let us make sure that we do not have a generation to arise that will not contend for the faith. And when correctly used, the truth will overthrow all of the doctrines and commandments of men. I want to speak to you today concerning the blood of Christ. And I want to discuss the subject from the standpoint of number one, where we cannot contact the blood. Number two, where we do contact the blood. Number three, some of the theories of men concerning the blood. And number four, what the blood will not do. And finally, number five, what the blood will do. Number one, friends, the blood of Christ is not contacted in disobedience, for that is rebellion. There are multiplied thousands of people who really believe they have contacted the blood, but they are as rebellious as was Cain or King Saul of the Old Testament. I recall that Jude said in Jude 11, These examples from the Old Testament were given to show us what disobedience and to where it will lead. What it is and where it will lead. For Paul said in Romans 15 verse 4, For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope. We learn from the New Testament that the blood is not contacted in disobedience. Several passages will be given later that show this point to be true. Next, the blood is not contacted in denominationalism. Denominationalism is division. James 3, beginning with verse 14, states, But if you have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom is not a wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion in every vile deed. Could we hope to contact the blood in confusion and where every vile deed is? Could we hope to contact the blood in denominationalism, division, strife, and all that attend it? Denominationalism is built upon division from the very foundation to the superstructure. Therefore, the blood is not contacted in denominationalism. Next, the blood is not contacted in faith only. Faith only is a perversion of the truth. There are not many things, if any at all, that cannot be perverted in Others may pervert us, and religiously speaking, we can become self-perverted, 2 Thessalonians 2, 10-12. But hear this from James 2, 24. You see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. Next, we do not contact the blood in repentance only. Repentance alone is insufficient. Thousands of preachers today will be telling their audiences on radio, television, and in the pulpit that they contact the blood of Christ at the point of repentance. There are others who teach that the blood is contacted even before the act of repentance. But in both cases, this is not true. The Bible teaches that there is something else to do. Repentance is not into Christ, but it is unto salvation. For in Acts 11 and verse 18, And when they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life. Next, we do not contact the blood of Christ at a mourner’s bench. No person ever has nor ever shall contact the blood at the mourner’s bench. Paul was a very penitent man. He prayed, was without sight three days, and neither ate nor drank. But Paul did not contact the blood before baptism because his sins, three days later, were still not forgiven. And he was told in Acts 22, 16, And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name. Next, the blood is not contacted by baptism only. Baptism is scriptural only when it has been preceded by faith, Hebrews 11.6, repentance, Acts 11.18, Acts 17.30, and confession, Matthew 10.32, Acts 8.37, along with Romans 10.10. Many times I have heard people say, the people in the church of Christ believe that water is the only thing necessary for salvation. Friends, we do not believe that. There are other conditions in the plan of salvation besides baptism. I have known of boys at the old swimming hole down on the farm where one would say to the other, I am going to baptize you, then by force he would push another boy under the water. Of course, that was not baptism, for it did not have the scriptural design and was not preceded by faith, repentance, and confession from the heart. It would be hypocrisy to ignore all of these other conditions and contend only for baptism. And we do not do that. In fact, the New Testament teaches, and therefore we believe it, that faith, repentance, confession, and baptism are equally important. So, friends, we do not contact the blood in disobedience, denominationalism, faith only, repentance only, baptism only, or at the mourner’s bench or altar, as it is sometimes called. But where is the blood contacted? The blood is contacted in obedience. Romans 6, verses 17 and 18 says, But thanks be to God that whereas you were servants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto you were delivered, and being made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Also in Romans 6, verses 1 through 4, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! We who die to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Or are you ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him through baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. It is in obedience that we contact the blood.” It is in the body, the church, that we contact the blood. We are reconciled to God at peace again with God through Christ our Lord when we obey the gospel and are added to the church. For in Ephesians 2.16, “…and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” Sometimes people say, why don’t you preach Christ and leave the church out of it? Well, the answer is simply that you cannot preach Christ correctly and leave the church out of it. Paul says that we are baptized into Christ. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, he put on Christ, Galatians 3.27. And in 1 Corinthians 12.13, Paul also states, For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. What is then that one body into which we are all baptized? Paul answers this question in Ephesians 1, 22 and 23 by saying, And he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all. Friends, we are baptized into Christ. We also enter the body, the church, by baptism. It is one and the same process. We therefore contact the blood only in the church. Read your New Testament and you will of necessity come to that conclusion. We contact the blood in our obedience to the truth. Christ said in John 8, 32, And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. He said to his Father, as recorded in John 17, 17, Sanctify them in the truth, thy word is truth. Peter states in 1 Peter 1 verse 22, Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth and unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently. Peter also tells us that it is necessary to be baptized for the remission of sins. Acts 2.38 We contact the blood of Christ in faith and works the only time The expression faith only occurs in the New Testament is in James 2.24 which says, You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Many people do not realize that a man is not justified by faith only, but James knew that people could understand that fact if they so desired. Yet denominational preachers all over this land say that one is justified by faith only. But note, It takes both faith and works to save. We are justified by faith when it works. James 2.22 You see that faith wrought with his works, that is Abraham, and by works was faith made perfect. One of the best commentaries on the degree of faith that saves is in Galatians 5.6 where Paul says… For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love. Faith avails when it is obedient, when it works. It is at that point we contact the blood. We contact the blood in baptism, but baptism must be preceded by faith, repentance, and confession. Baptism is the turning point for the alien sinner. One does not turn to the Lord at the point of faith only, for we read in Acts 11.21, And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord. The turning act follows faith, and repentance is not the turning point for the alien sinner. In Acts 3, verse 19, we read, Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. So there is a turning act following repentance. What is that turning act? For the alien sinner, the turning act which follows repentance is given by Peter in Acts chapters 2 and 3. Peter said unto them in Acts 2.38, Repent ye and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And again from Ephesians, or rather, I’m sorry, Acts 3.19, Repent ye therefore and turn. In Acts 2.38 he says, Repent ye and be baptized. Therefore the final turning act for the alien sinner is his obedience to Christ in baptism. Faith is unto salvation. Romans 10.10 says, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Repentance is unto salvation. Acts 11.18, And when they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life. Confession is also unto salvation. Romans 10.10, latter part, And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. But notice, friends, baptism is into salvation. Romans 6.3, Or are you ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Galatians 3.27, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. Remember that faith, repentance, and confession are unto Christ, but baptism is into Christ. It is at the point of baptism that the alien sinner contacts the blood. Now, I would like to emphasize, if one has submitted to sprinkling or pouring as substitutes for baptism, he has not been scripturally baptized, for baptism is a burial. Romans 6 and verse 4 and Colossians 2 and verse 12. Remember that the newness of life comes after baptism, thus showing that baptism is necessary in order to be saved. Having made contact with Christ’s blood in baptism, we must continue to walk in the light to have access to the blood as a child of God. For we read in 1 John 1 verse 7, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins. Now let’s observe the word cleanseth. We can see that it is a continuing process. But do you know what it is dependent upon? It’s dependent upon our continuing to walk in the light. I often use this illustration. Sometimes when I leave home for a gospel meeting, it may be raining quite hard. And I’ll use a little switch to turn on the windshield wipers. As long as that little mechanism continues to function, the wipers will keep most of the moisture off the windshield. But if something happens to it, if the mechanism becomes defective, the wipers will cease to operate and the water will accumulate. I have had that experience. Now, here is the application. After we have become children of God, we are not to live a life of sin. We are to continue to walk in the light. However, we will commit some momentary acts of sin unintentionally. But as long as we are faithful, the blood will continue to cleanse us. Our Lord said in Revelation 2.10, Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. If our Lord had told us to be perfect unto death, none of us could hope to qualify. But we can be faithful. There are many couples in this audience that are listening to me on this broadcast that have been faithful to each other. But is there a couple that can say we have been absolutely perfect in all of our relationships to each other? We’ve never made a mistake. I heard of one fellow who claimed that he had never made a mistake, but while coming downstairs one morning he missed a step and came down rather rapidly, surprising everyone in the house. When he finally landed with a thud, the lady of the house ran to him and said, Oh, are you hurt? He jumped up, brushed himself a little, and said, No, madam, I always come down that way. He then went to the table, but was still a little shaky from the fall. He reached for the sugar and got the salt by mistake. When he did so, the lady of the house said, Oh, sir, you made a mistake and put salt in your coffee instead of sugar. He replied, I always put salt in my coffee. After the meal, the salt, having made him a little sick, he walked out onto the porch and fell off into the yard. The lady ran to help him, but he said, I always leave the porch in that fashion. Well, friends, some may say that they never make mistakes, but we all make mistakes. However, the important thing, Christ’s blood cleanses only as we walk in the light. When those windshield wipers cease to operate, the water accumulates. There may be those of you listening who have perhaps allowed sins to pile up mountain high. You are children of God, but you are unfaithful. Now, if you were to die tonight, you know your destiny. Now these are serious matters, friends. It is not a light thing to disregard Christ’s blood. Do you not know that? Hebrews 10, verses 28-31 says, A man that had set at naught Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment, thank you, shall he be judged worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God? and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know him that said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Friends, if I were not living as a faithful child of God, it would be difficult for me to live with myself. Now, to those of you listening who are not faithful, well, friends, I hope you will become so miserable that you cannot sleep, or until such time as you correct your sins. There may be times when it is permissible to talk in generalities, but when seeking the salvation of lost souls, we need to be specific. As an alien sinner or an erring child of God, You do not have contact with the blood of Christ. You are lost and undone, and to perdition you must go, if you were to die, unprepared. Friends, this study of the blood of Christ is truly eye-opening. I wish to pause from our study and mention, maybe it’s time for you to continue studying and seeking the things of God. Maybe to begin new. We have a new Bible study that’s available by mail from us here at International Gospel Hour titled, God and Man, How to Be Saved from Sin. Now, this study booklet addresses a number of questions about the salvation from God to man, and friends, like all of our materials, it is free. You can call us toll free at 855-444-6988. Leave your name, address, and just say, God and Man. Or go to our website at internationalgospelhour.com, click on the contact tab and leave us the same information, name, address, and just type God and man in the message box. It’s another new Bible study available, absolutely free, from International Gospel Hour. Now let’s continue our study. Let’s look briefly at some theories of men concerning the blood of Christ. A large number of religious people today argue that the blood is contacted before obedience, and that is especially true within Protestantism. But not many of them will admit that they hold to such a theory, but it is true of them nevertheless. Sometimes I will hear a member of the church remark that some false teacher is a fine, lovely fellow. Of course, it would be repulsive to a compromising member to call a false teacher what he is, a false teacher. A false teacher must have a good personality, but if he is using it to deceive people, that makes him even more dangerous. Regardless of whatever good might be said about him, if he teaches that one contacts the blood in disobedience, he is a false teacher of the worst sort. And Christ has set the example for us to follow in obedience. When Hebrews 5, 8 and 9 says, Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation. One cannot contact the blood before obedience. And I have already shown that the final act of obedience on the part of an alien sinner’s becoming a child of God is baptism. Also, there are those that argue for universal salvation by claiming that everybody has contacted the blood of Christ. Well, they are very definitely wrong, for though Christ did taste death for every man, Hebrews 2 and verse 9, yet he is the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, Hebrews 5, 9. Christ died for all, but all will not obey him. Therefore, all will not be saved. The blood of Jesus Christ will not give one a denominational name, for in Acts 4 and verse 12, and in none other name is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men whereby we must be saved, that is, in the name of Jesus Christ. And you know, in spite of this, friends, denominationalism argues there’s nothing in a name. Well, what is in the name of Christ? Salvation is in the name, and we are commanded to wear His name. How about this for a good illustration? A man decided on one occasion to test a preacher who said there was nothing in a name, so when the preacher asked for money, which he often did, this man wrote him a check for $100 and gave it to him. When the preacher arrived home, he saw the man had not signed his own name, but someone else’s. And he called him, and he said, Sir, you signed the wrong name in this check. And the other man replied, No, I did it purposely. You preach there’s nothing in a name, and if that is true, then I am glad to sign another’s name to the check and help you in the amount of a hundred dollars. Well, friends, you know that’s not going to work. There is something in a name. We must make certain the name is of Christ and of His Word. The blood of Christ will not cleanse one before faith, repentance, and confession. But when these are followed by baptism, one is saved from sins. For Jesus said in Mark 16, 16, He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that disbelieves shall be condemned. Someone says, well, we can’t understand that. But imagine in your town that a car dealer said, he that believes and is baptized will receive a new car. I guarantee you everybody would understand that. And there would be a very long line waiting to be baptized. So if we can understand it when a new car is involved, we can understand it when our souls are involved. The blood cleanses, but it does not cleanse before faith, repentance, confession, and baptism. That’s when we have a new life in Christ Jesus. And friend, we would encourage you to walk in the Savior’s way. We hope this study has been of help to you today, friends, and we hope that you will reach out for our free material that we talked about earlier on our broadcast. But for now, thank you for studying with me today on the International Gospel Hour. I’m Jeff Archie, and friends, keep listening.
SPEAKER 01 :
God be with you till we meet again. Thank you for listening today. May this study prompt your search of God’s Word for His will in your life. To assist you in your study or to listen to our other programs, please visit our website at internationalgospelhour.com. To God be the glory.
