Blood On Our Hands

We're in Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, chapter 27. We're in the second to last chapter now.!

Lord, we ask that you do that this evening.

Help us incline our ears and to open our hearts to your word, to the word of the gospel. Of the cross of Christ, of the blood that Jesus shed, that sinners like us might be cleansed.

Restore to us, refresh the wonder, the joy, and the worship before you as we ponder these weighty truths this evening.

Guide us now. Speak to us in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please, if you are able, stand with me to honor God as we read from his word.

Matthew, chapter 27, verses 1 to 26. When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I've sinned by betraying innocent blood.

They said, what is that to us? See to it yourself. And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.

But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, it is not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is blood money. So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.

Therefore, that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, and they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel.

And they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me. Now Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him, are you the king of the Jews?

Jesus said, you have said so. But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you?

But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted.

And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ?

For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I've suffered much because of him today in a dream.

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, which of the two do you want me to release for you?

And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all said, let him be crucified. And he said, why?

What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified. So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd saying, I am innocent of this man's blood.

Seat to it yourselves. And all the people answered, his blood be on us and on our children. Then he released for them Barabbas and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

This is God's holy and authoritative word. Please be seated. You may have read in the news this past week about Jason Arday, the former Cambridge University professor who was found dead in his home this past week.

After numerous media outlets reported of inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the biographical and academic affiliation claims as well as multiple excerpts taken from other research papers without proper attribution, he resigned from his post at Cambridge and then was found dead a few days later.

And most people suspect that he killed himself because of the circumstances. We won't know for sure until the coroner's report comes out. And whether it was a series of sloppy mistakes or blatant fabrication and plagiarism, he seems to have deemed that his reputation is irreparable, that his life is irredeemable.

Many in the past have come to the same conclusion about their lives. John McAfee, I don't know if you guys remember him, of the namesake McAfee antivirus software, which was the first of its kind.

He also hanged himself while embroiled in a wrongful death lawsuit and imprisoned for tax evasion and fraud. And then you, I'm sure you've all heard of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier, who hanged himself while imprisoned for sex trafficking charges.

Much like Judas Iscariot, who hangs himself after betraying Jesus because he's overwhelmed and stricken by the guilt. Most of us haven't been in this kind of extreme situation, but we can all, in our own way, relate to how they felt.

Even with smaller offenses, we can have a tendency to catastrophize, to give in to despair, to say, my life is over. I can't possibly recover from what happened.

My offense is too great. I've fallen too far. No one will forgive me. My offense will never be forgotten. Like stubborn blood stains that refuse to come off our soiled clothes, the stain of some sins feel to us like permanent marks on our souls.

And for the most part, that is true. Sin is a stubborn stain. And there is only one way to get it out.

And that's my main point this morning. The blood of Christ alone can wash us of our blood guilt. I'm going to talk about our blood guilt. And in a second, we'll talk about the blood atonement of Jesus.

We see in this passage three wrong ways to deal with guilt. That we have, that we feel. First is the denial of the chief priests and the elders.

The second is the deflection of Pilate. And the third is the despair of Jesus. And let's take a look at these three reactions in turn. First, the denial of the chief priests and the elders.

In chapter 26 already, that Steve and Ed preached on this past couple weeks, Caiaphas, the high priest, and the elders have already put Jesus on their own trial under Jewish law.

And in this rigged kangaroo court, they have already come to the conclusion that they had predetermined that Jesus is someone who deserves to be killed. That he's a blasphemer deserving of death.

And in chapter 37, verse 1, however, tells us that when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

Having spent all night trying Jesus, having already come to the conclusion that he is a blasphemer that must be put to death, why do they need to, in the morning, take counsel yet again to figure out how they can put him to death?

Because as Jews under Roman jurisdiction, they did not have the authority to execute capital punishment. They did not have the authority to put Jesus to death.

And because of that, they needed to figure out a way to bring these charges against Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate, in a way that can convince him that Jesus deserves to be put to death.

The charge that they put on him is blasphemy. And that's a religious charge that will hold no water under Roman court. It would be much like when Paul was accused by the Jews before Galio, the Roman consul, in Acts chapter 18.

He dismissed the Jews summarily, saying, This is a matter of your own Jewish law and your own people. Go deal with it yourselves. It is of no concern to me. That's exactly what the chief priests and elders don't want to happen when they bring their case about Jesus.

So they strategize. They plot. They counsel together. And we see what they came up with in verse 11. When Pilate asks Jesus, Are you the king of the Jews?

The chief priests and the elders have decided to frame Jesus as a political threat to Rome. Luke 23 records in greater detail what the chief priests said.

We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.

That man claims to be a king. The king of the Jews. But there's only one king, Caesar. That man is creating civil unrest.

He is popular. People are flocking to him. Aren't you, Roman governor, in charge of upholding Roman rule? You can't leave him alone. But look at verses 20 to 24.

Who is undermining Roman rule? Who is riling up the crowds? Who is creating civil unrest? It's not Jesus.

Jesus is silent as the Jewish leaders clamor and bring these charges against him. Twice it says in verse 12 and verse 14 that Jesus gave no answer.

He is silent. Which greatly amazes Pilate. And Pilate concludes that Jesus has done nothing wrong and tries to let him go. But the crowds will not be pacified. In fact, they get quite violent.

Twice they insist, let him be crucified. And why are they so insistent on this capital punishment? Because it says in verse 20, the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

It's the chief priests and the elders who are riling up the crowd and creating civil unrest and trying to force Pilate's hand to kill Jesus. So it says in verse 24, Pilate senses that a riot was beginning.

And he decides to turn a blind eye and to condone this unlawful lynching. So the chief priests are the ones that are shouting.

They're the ones that are threatening a riot. And yet they are in complete denial of their own wrongdoing. And what they're doing to Jesus is no mistake.

It's no accidental manslaughter. They took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. It's deliberate, thought through, premeditated murder. And yet these murderers refuse to put Judas' 30 pieces of silver into the temple treasury because they say it's not lawful since it is blood money.

You catch the irony of that? It's like imagine someone, a hit-and-run driver, just ran somebody over, killed somebody, and then he just keeps driving.

And then later that same day, he parks his car, and the meter on his car expired, and he acts like he's having a crisis of conscience. Oh, no, that's not lawful.

I must put money in the meter. You just killed a man. You ran over somebody. And that's what you're concerned about.

It shows the rampant hypocrisy of these Jewish leaders. They're in denial. They shed innocent blood, and yet what they're concerned about is putting blood money into the treasury.

They're grave, guilty sinners, but their self-righteousness and pride lead them to denial, blindness to their own sins.

If you're here this morning or this evening, sorry, I'm so used to saying morning when I preach, and you don't think of yourself as a sinner, if your default mode of thinking is, well, I'm a pretty good person, certainly as good as any of the normal people around me, certainly better than that lot of people over there, then you might fit into this category.

This old way of thinking can still affect Christians to varying degrees, and a telltale sign of this delusion is the quickness with which we notice and point fingers at others' sins and perceived sins, and the slowness with which we notice and confess our own sins.

The chief priests and the elders took counsel to get rid of Jesus, whom they falsely accused of blasphemy, and yet they were blind to their own envious, hypocritical, and murderous hearts.

With the blood money, the chief priests and the elders buy the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. In Acts 1.18, Luke records that it's Judas Iscariot himself who buys this field, and that discrepancy is probably due to the fact that, well, even though the chief priests and the elders buy the field, they're using Judas' money, and so they function, serve as his executor, using his money.

The potter's field refers to the meeting place, the valley where the Kidron Valley and the Hinnom Valley meet, and it's called the potter's field because potters, actual potters, tossed their ruined and broken potsherds there.

And Jews, of course, didn't want to be buried in a garbage heap, and so the potter's field became the place to dispose of unwanted bodies, the burial place for people who didn't have means to find another place to be buried.

During a major feast like the Passover, there will be tens of thousands of pilgrims in Jerusalem, and sometimes during the long feast, some people will die.

There will be accidents, some people pass away, and they would have no family around, no relatives around that can bury them, and so they decided to use the blood money to buy the potter's field so that they can dispose of those bodies.

Even with the price they paid for Jesus' life, Jesus provides a resting place for strangers and aliens. And all of this, even the purchase of the field, happens in accordance with the Scriptures.

Matthew's quotation in verses 9 to 10, he quotes, he mentions Jeremiah, but it's actually a splicing together of two different prophecies. First is Zechariah 11, 12 to 13, which spoke of a messianic shepherd who would be betrayed by his own people and sold for 30 pieces of silver.

And then in Jeremiah 19, the prophet acts out a prophetic parable, Jeremiah. Standing at the Hinnom Valley, at the very field of blood that these sheep priests later purchase, he denounces the people's sins.

And one of the sins that he specifically points out is that they shed innocent blood, exactly like this situation here with Jesus. And having pointed out their sins, prophet Jeremiah shatters an earthen pottery vessel and then says that God will shatter you for your sins because of your unrepentance and your idolatry and your sins, in particular the sin of shedding innocent blood.

By selling Jesus the Messiah, the shepherd king, for 30 pieces of silver and then for shedding his innocent blood, the Jewish nation, Israel at the time, God's own people, will be shattered.

Their temple will be destroyed. Their capital, Jerusalem, will be sacked. And this will happen within the few decades of Jesus' death. To avoid God's righteous judgment, sinners must come out of denial.

They must acknowledge their sins, repent, turn from their sins, and trust in Jesus as their shepherd king. If we can describe the chief priest's response as denial, and then we can characterize then Pilate's response to his blood guilt as deflection.

Pilate, the Roman governor, can see through the flimsy pretense of the chief priests and the elders. He knew, it says in verse 18, that it was out of envy that they had delivered Jesus up.

They're not seeking righteousness or justice. They're merely trying to stamp out a rival so they could shore up their own position and power. Not only that, it says in verse 19, that while Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I've suffered much because of him today in a dream.

God has sent to Pilate's wife a prophetic dream to reveal to her that Jesus is indeed a righteous man and that her husband should have nothing to do with his innocent blood.

So by his own political judgment and by the prophetic insight of his wife, Pilate knows that Jesus does not deserve this punishment.

Knowing this, Pilate brings out Barabbas on the one hand and Jesus on the other as candidates for the customary governor's pardon or amnesty, which they apparently practiced during Passover.

One person, the Jews can ask for one person, a prisoner under Roman custody, to be released, to be pardoned.

But the crowd has already been prejudiced against Jesus by the chief priests and to ask for Barabbas. Prior to this point, if you remember, as we've gone through the Gospel of Mark, the crowds have been very favorable toward Jesus.

They have acclaimed Jesus. They have followed him and they have witnessed his debates with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and how he's won those debates.

They've acclaimed him. And yet, because the chief priests and the elders have been busy at work persuading them, now they are out to destroy Jesus.

Now that their highest Jewish authorities have denounced Jesus and have officially condemned Jesus, now they think of him as a dangerous, heretic, blasphemer, and carried along by the fever of this frenzy crowd that people demand violently, let him be crucified.

Let him be crucified. And once again, Pilate tries to restrain them. What evil has he done? Why? In verse 23. But even though he knows Jesus is innocent, he's a shrewd politician.

He doesn't want a riot to begin. So in verse 24, he took water and washed his hand before the cross saying, I'm innocent of this man's blood. See to it yourselves. This is a cop-out, of course.

It's an evasive maneuver, a deflection. He's deflecting his responsibility and shifting blame to others. Pilate, you are the Roman governor.

You're the one that's seated on the judgment seat. You're the one that has the authority to mete out capital punishment. And ancient historians Josephus and Philo note that on other occasions that's recorded in history, Pilate didn't have much concern about offending Jewish sensibilities and causing riots.

This whole Jewish affair, however, was not significant enough for that kind of risk. According to Pilate, his flawed judgment. So he gets out of the way and literally washes his hands before the crowd as a symbolic gesture claiming that I'm innocent of this matter.

I have nothing to do with this. But in shedding the innocent blood of Jesus, Pilate is certainly not innocent. Can water wash away blood guilt?

What are some ways that you try to deflect away your guilt? Maybe you engage in some kind of blame shifting, as Pilate does here. I wouldn't be such an angry and furious person if my husband weren't so infuriating.

I wouldn't have to engage in this dishonest business practice if it weren't for my unethical boss. I wouldn't be so selfish and stingy if people didn't take advantage of me all the time.

I wouldn't be so lustful if these women dressed more modestly. Maybe they are infuriating, unethical, demanding, and immodest, and they need to address those things, but for you.

Nonetheless, these are merely the context of your sin. They're not the causes of your sin. The cause of sin, the root of sin, is always the sinful desires of your own heart.

As Jesus made that abundantly clear in Matthew 15, 19, for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

It doesn't come from other people. Pilate's compromised integrity, his fear of man, his self-serving cowardice all flow out of his own sinful heart, and no amount of water can wash away that blood guilt.

What are the ineffectual waters that you turn to in vain attempts to wash away your guilt? Maybe you do some yoga and exercise and then try to forget about it.

Think positive thoughts. Maybe you think doing some good deeds can wash away your guilt. You donate money to charity or give money even to church. You think that your positive actions can balance out past mistakes and create good energy for the future.

Maybe you turn to idols, to false religions. Every other religion besides Christianity will tell you that you can perform good deeds and somehow offset or outweigh your evil deeds.

But that's a false promise. It's like water that can never wash away the blood stain. Your guilt remains. Deflection does not work. Both denial and deflection are wrong ways to try to deal with guilt.

And the third wrong way we see here is despair. When we see in Judas' response, he says in verses 3-4 that Judas saw what was happening.

He saw that the Jewish council had condemned Jesus of blasphemy and that they had delivered him to Pilate and that they're going for the jugular. They're going for the kill. They're not going to settle for any less punishment.

At this point, he says that Judas, seeing that, changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and the elders saying, I've sinned by betraying innocent blood.

But the chief priest and the elders respond callously, what is that to us? See to it yourself. Judas is so stricken by guilt and overwhelmed in his conscience that there's nothing he can do to reverse the wrong he has done.

He simply throws down the piece of silver in the temple and then he goes away and then hangs himself. Luke records in Acts 1.18 that he died by falling headlong, that he fell headlong and then he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out and some people note the discrepancy in the description.

It appears that Judas first hanged himself but eventually the branch or whatever he hanged himself on broke from the weight of his body and then his decomposing body fell and he broke and his bowels gushed out.

It's a gruesome death. And it fulfills Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 26.24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him but woe to that man, Judas, by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Are you familiar with this foreboding and overwhelming sense of despair that Judas surely experienced?

My life is over. I've gone too far. No one will forgive me. But this raises an important question. It says that Judas changed his mind about what he had done with Jesus.

Isn't that what repentance is? Interestingly, even though the basic meaning of repentance is a change of one's mind, the Greek word that's used for Judas' change of mind here is not the same word that's translated as repentance in the rest of the New Testament.

It's not the same word that Jesus used earlier in Matthew 4.17 when he preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And this is intentional. 2 Corinthians 7.10-11 distinguishes between godly grief and worldly grief.

Godly grief produces change. It produces a repentance, a turning of the reorientation that leads to salvation without regret. Repentance entails a turning from sin and turning toward God from idols to serve the living God.

It's a change in belief that changes, that leads to a change in behavior. For the sake of simplicity, we might say that Judas regretted his betrayal but he did not repent of it.

Regret is sorry for the consequences of one's wrongdoing. Repentance is sorry for the wrongdoing itself. Regret is sorry for getting caught in the act.

Repentance is sorry for the act itself. Judas sees the situation spiraling out of control after his betrayal. He knows that his life will never quite be the same again, that he will never overcome his guilt.

He feels sorry for the consequences. Regret merely dreads the punishment. Repentance dreads the sin. Regret is self-focused, focused on one's own pain or guilt.

Repentance is other-focused. focused on the pain that one has caused first and foremost to God and to others affected by your sin. You can see the self-focus in Judas' response.

Judas goes back to the chief priests so that he can return the money and dust off his hands and then be off. He never goes back to Jesus whom he sinned against. He never goes back to Jesus to confess his sins.

Regret is without faith. Repentance is always accompanied by faith. Regret comes to the edge of a cliff and sees nothing but the great chasm of despair that you cannot cross and then fall right into it.

But repentance on the precipice of that great chasm sees by faith that Jesus Christ provides the bridge by which we can cross that chasm between us and God.

are you familiar with the depths of despair? Have you come to the end of yourself? Do you feel that your life is over?

Do you feel that forgiveness a fresh start is out of reach? There is another path than taking your own life which is a self-serving act of defiance against God who gave you your life.

This haunting scene this passage is full of blood. The word is repeated five times word blood in this passage alone innocent blood blood money field of blood it speaks of the guilt that stains guilt that cannot be washed away.

The chief priests and the elders try to deny it and that doesn't work. Pilate tries to deflect it and it doesn't work and Judas falls into despair and of course that doesn't work either and we are all guilty of that same charge.

Look at how the crowd accepts responsibility and culpability for Jesus' death in verse 25. He says that all the people answered his blood be on us and on our children.

Matthew doesn't accept anyone from this. All the people it's not just a few rowdy ruffians but all the people as Acts 2 36 says all the house of Israel crucified Jesus the whole Jewish nation is culpable and not only the Jews either Acts 2 23 says that Jesus was crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men meaning Gentiles who are not under the Jewish law Jews and Gentiles are guilty all are implicated we are implicated even now here in the 21st century why?

Because Isaiah 53 5 tells us that Jesus 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 the wrath and the punishment that we deserve were unleashed on him and that means if it weren't for us Jesus would not have been crucified the pardon that Barabbas receives and the condemnation that Jesus receives is a picture of how Jesus serves as a substitute of sinners on the cross Barabbas was a notorious prisoner in Mark 15 7 notes that he had committed murder in the insurrection the name Barabbas means son of a father and Jesus of course is a son of God the father certain ancient Greek manuscripts of Matthew 27 17 actually adds that

Barabbas name was also Jesus which intensifies the contrast the name Jesus means God saves and Pilate asks the crowd whom do you want me to release to you Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ Christ it's an amazing picture of substitutionary atonement man by his rebellion and sin inserted himself in the place of God he tried to be God but God in his grace and mercy inserts himself where only sinful man deserve to be Jesus took on human flesh upon himself and then he died on the cross and he was raised from the dead so that he can pay for our sins and redeem us for God this is how God saves and this is why Jesus so deliberately and resolutely goes toward the cross look at verses 11 to 14 with me

Jesus is being interrogated by Pilate and the chief priests and elders are hurling all kinds of accusations and insults at Jesus but it says Jesus gave no answer not even to a single charge Jesus why don't you say something defend yourself you're innocent you're blameless say something can cannot the one who shut down the Pharisees and describes the lawyers the Sadducees in debate over and over again can he not do it with the chief priests and the elders of course he can of course the word incarnate can shut up the haughty mouths of men and leave them to be silent in dust and ashes of course he can of course the blameless lamb of God can establish his own innocence and expose!

the wickedness of these hypocrites so Jesus say something why are you silent because it says in Isaiah 53 7 he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before it shears is silent so he opened not his mouth Jesus does not open his mouth because he knows he knows he is a lamb led to the slaughter Jesus has accepted his destiny at the garden of Gethsemane Jesus already did all the talking he needed to do at the garden of Gethsemane he did all the talking with the only person who has the authority and the power to alter his fate his own father there's no more talking Pilate can do there's nothing the chief priest and the elders can do Jesus is submitted to and surrendered to the sovereign will of his father because he knows he is the lamb of

God who takes away the sin of the world and so he endures silently what insult to injury that Jesus whom we saw in chapter 25 is the Lord who will sit in judgment over all of humanity the living and the dead that he now stands trial while Pilate sits on a judgment seat what insult to injury that Jesus compared to whom all the treasures of the world can be counted as rubbish is priced like chattel at 30 pieces of silver but Jesus endures all these indignities he suffers and dies so that he might ransom us for himself not with perishable things such as silver and gold but with his own precious blood like that of a lamb without blemish or spot because he knows that only his blood can wash us of our blood guilt I've shared this story with some of you before four years ago in the book

The Insanity of God author Nick Ripken recounts his travels to various parts of the world where Christians are persecuted for their faith he interviews them and one chapter he entitles the toughest man I ever met this man was in such an intensely persecuted part of the world that he agreed to meet Ripken under strict conditions in a secure non-public setting where he would not even be able to see his face and or attempt to learn his name and he would remain in the corner in the shadows and talk to him the whole time during the interview he told Ripken of his testimony of how prior to coming to know Christ he was a zealous Muslim and he made it a sport to hunt down infidels Muslims who apostatize and he would most of the time he would kill them and he used to keep count of how many infidels he killed and he stopped counting he stopped tracking after a hundred and often he would slit their throat and let the blood wash and drip over his hands as an offering to

Allah after some time however he began to have a recurring dream a disturbing dream over and over again of spots of blood on his hands and over time that dream the blood spots grew larger and larger until eventually the blood was running down and dripping off his arms and the man knew that the blood on his hands were the blood of the people that he had killed the recurring dream was bothersome enough but then he started to see blood on his hands and arms while he was awake and then he really began to suspect that he was going insane but then no matter how hard he tried to scrub it off he would use pumice this volcanic rock that's rough on the surface that can be used as an abrasive to scrub things he would scrub himself and get layers of skin off and the blood will still be there he would keep having these dreams but eventually the dreams changed and there was an additional!

scene at the end where a man in white clothing appeared who had a scarred head he also had scarred hands a scarred side and scarred feet and the scarred man said to him I am Jesus the Messiah and I can get the blood off if you will just find me and believe in me so the man began searching it took him over a year to find a copy of a Bible and then it took him even longer to finally understand what is said occasionally he would run into people who explain pieces and answer some of his questions and finally he came to faith in Jesus Christ and the man said that when he gave his life over to Jesus in his own words I got the blood off Jesus took that blood onto himself his nightmare stopped immediately and he became the infidel himself that he used to make a sport of killing by putting his faith in

Jesus and becoming a bold witness for him have you put your faith in this blood this blood that alone can wash away your sins let me conclude with this classic hymn which said would you be free would you be free from the burden of sin there's power in the blood there's power in the blood would you over evil a victory win there's wonderful power in the blood let's pray father thank you for making a way for the cleansing of our guilt of all our stains thank you that Jesus blood is more powerful than any of our sins the sins that we dare not name sins from long ago that we that no one knows about sins that we haven't confessed there's nothing hidden from you and there's nothing that the blood of sins cannot wash the blood of your son

Jesus Christ can wash away Lord we praise you for that we thank you for that help us to live in light of that every single day help us to put our trust in Jesus alone in Jesus name we pray amen