Contacting the Blood of Jesus

We talked last time about Why Jesus came to earth. We noted that the purpose was for Jesus to save us from our sins (the name itself “Jesus” means “savior” or “to save” and Jesus Himself said that he came to “seek and to save that which was lost” in Luke 19:10). In order for Jesus to save us from our sins, He had to take upon Himself the punishment for our sins. We read 1 Peter 2, where we saw that Jesus, even though he had no sin, He bore our sins on his own body.

Today, we are going to talk about how this salvation actually take place. What do I need to do, if anything, to be saved? And how and when do I contact the blood of Jesus, so that I can be saved through His blood?

God in His wisdom designed a plan of salvation for man, which is clearly shown for us in the Bible. It’s given in such a way that we know how to get from point 1 to point 2. By way of illustration, if one drives from B.C. to Quebec, through what provinces would they go? B.C, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and then Quebec.  If I was starting out in Vancouver, you would first tell me to go through B.C.  If I was already in Saskatoon you would tell me to continue east through Saskatchewan, you wouldn’t need to mention B.C. and Alberta since I was already past that point.

Let’s keep that in mind, because when people in the Bible asked the question: What must I do to be saved, depending where they were in their journey toward God, they were given different answers, but they all point in the same direction, toward salvation.

In terms of specific steps, when people talk about salvation, sometimes they tend to lean on two extremes: Saved by faith alone or saved by works alone.

The Bible is clear that none of these approaches are accurate: Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Q: What are works mentioned here?

Q: Why can’t we be saved of works?

James 2:18-24: 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Q: What are works mentioned here?

Q: How are we justified by works?

Q: What did Abraham do?

Now, before we go into specifics, let’s remember that “faith” is also a “work.” In John 6, Jesus clearly teaches that. John 6:26-29: 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

So, when we talk about works, these are works that God expects from us to do. In the same way that God expected Abraham to do the work, God expects us to do the work.

Q: What can we say about Abraham if he had not “worked?”

Q: Would he still be saved?

So, specifics:

1) Hear

2) Believe/Call on Him

3) Repent

4) Confess

5) Baptism

6) Live obediently

1.         Hear

Romans 10:14: How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

and

Romans 10:17: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Hearing the word of God and not the teachings of men or teaching of gods that are not so, but false.

2.        Believe

Hebrews 11:6: But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Q: What happens if you don’t believe in something?

3.        Repent

Acts 2:36-38: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Q: What does it mean to repent? How does one do that?

The word “repent” means “renewing of your mind and life,” meaning you don’t do the things you used to. You have turned away from them and aim to do those no more.

4.        Confess

Romans 10: 9-10: that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Q: What does it mean to confess?

Q: Why does it need to be done with the mouth?

Q: What happens if any of these steps doesn’t take place?

5.        Be baptized

Acts 2:36-38: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Q: Why didn’t Peter tell the people here to “hear” or “believe” or “confess”?

What two things did Peter tell them to do? At this point the two things they still needed to do were to repent and to be baptized.

What two promises or results would there be? Forgiveness and to receive the Holy Spirit.

What is baptism? Baptism is full immersion in Jesus’ name.  It is in water.  The word was also used in recipes in Jesus’ day.  The recipes said to ‘baptize’ cucumbers in hot water and vinegar to make pickles.  (Verses to look at that show Jesus Himself and Ethiopian Eunuch both went in and out of water to be baptized.  Matthew 3:13-17 (up out of the water vs 16) and Acts 8:36-39 (went down into the water and they came up out of the water vs 38-39)

How is it connected to forgiveness? Baptism is required for forgiveness. We will study this next. 

Jesus Himself taught in Mark 16:16: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Q: What are the two things for someone to be saved?

People misunderstand this, although it is quite simple. Jesus is saying that to be saved you need to do two things. To be condemned, you need to only do one thing.

All ten examples of conversions in Acts mention baptism. Some mention believing or repenting—because people were in different stages in their journey to Christ—but they all mention baptism, because that was the destination, where people where heading.

Baptism gives us the answer to the question that is the title of our lesson.

Romans 6:3-7: Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Q: How do we understand these verses?

Q: How and when did these Christians die to sin? They died to sin in and at the point of their baptism.

Q: How did they get into Jesus?  Specifically, what part of Jesus’ life where they baptized into? They got into Christ by being baptized into Him, baptized into His death because that is where His blood was shed.  When someone dies, you bury them, so when they died to sin they were buried/immersed with Christ.

Q: What else happened in their baptism?  They are raised to a new life, a forgiven life, just like Christ raised to a new glory.

Ephesians 1:7-8: In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

Galatians 3:26-27

Acts 22:16

1 Peter 3:18-22

You are not being saved by your work.  Baptism is not a work that you do to earn salvation.  To be baptized is a necessary act of obedience that you submit to.  You allow it to be done to you.  Your role is a passive one. Remember Colossians 2:14 it is a work of God that is done to you.

John 3:1-7

What is the condition that Jesus says we must do if we want to see the kingdom of God? We must be born again.  He also calls this being born or ‘water and the spirit’.  Baptism in Jesus’ name is in water and is for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the Holy Spirit.  Baptism is a new birth into a new spiritual life.  Romans 6 and also see 2 Corinthians 5:17 which also says when we enter into Christ we become a ‘new creation’ in Christ.

Q: At what point are your sins forgiven/taken away by the payment of Jesus’ blood? In baptism when we are buried with Christ, into His death, and contact His blood and are forgiven.  This decision is for each person to make, whenever they are ready.

Q: Which of these have you done?

Q: Do you have forgiveness of your sins?

Q: What do you still need to do? Are you ready to make these other steps to gain salvation from God?

*Emphasize with your student that they must balance the urgency of making their decision with carefully considering the consequences this decision will have on their life.  It is urgent because A) we don’t know when our life will end. B) We don’t know when Jesus will return. C) The sooner a person makes the decision, the more of their life there will be to serve and please God.

Our next study - Jesus said to ‘count the costs’ because you are accepting Him both as Saviour and as Lord of your life. Jesus doesn’t want you to start to follow Him and then fall away from Him in the future because you weren’t ready to live as one of His disciples.  The next study will look at counting the costs and the benefits of becoming a disciple.

Today we looked at the different steps required for salvation mentioned in the Bible.  We saw baptism is part of the plan of salvation, that it is not a work on our behalf but the work of God done to us who through faith believe and obey.  Baptism is the point when a believer gets “in” Christ and becomes a child of God and receives forgiveness of sins.  It is when we receive the forgiveness of sins by being in contact the blood of Jesus.  It is a decision for each person to make.