Nothing but the Blood - 17. Blood & Finally Peace, Even Pre-Trauma

     From Nothing but the Blood Audio
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in [Jesus], and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made PEACE through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.  —Colossians 1

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have PEACE. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. —John 16

We’ve been looking at, specifically, what the blood of Jesus accomplished for us. We saw that it redeemed our treasure from the hock we’d put it into and that it provided a forgiveness for our mistakes. It justified our accounts with God as if there had never been a debt and the blood of Jesus was a sacrifice so great that it reconciled the animosity built up between God and me/you/us and, finally, the blood of Jesus made us clean.

All five of those cover the past, but what about the future? How does the blood protect against . . .

. . . a relapse?

The sixth thing that the blood of Jesus provides is PEACE. John MacArthur describes Biblical peace as not “the absence of trouble. Biblical peace is unrelated to circumstances; it is a goodness of life that is not touched by what happens on the outside.”

In fact, we are promised peace with God (Romans 5:1), peace within ourselves (Romans 15:13), peace within households (Luke 10:5) and peace with nations (John 14:27)—even peace in nature (Isaiah 11:6-9)—but those pictures of future peace ring hallow in the midst of trauma.

We’re all pre-trauma. When an ambulance rolls up on a scene, the paramedics treat the patient as he presents. They don’t say, “You know, if you’d exercised more and had a better diet, we’d have more options for treatment here.”

No, they treat the most critical need and move on down the list.

In the midst of trauma, only the grace of God provides this peace that we’re promised. But pre-trauma (John 16:33), we have an opportunity to exercise our faith so that when traumatic chaos comes, we’ll remember that God’s hand is still guiding the world (Romans 8:28). As my friend Ali says, “He’s still God.”

Consider this story that Billy Graham tells:

Martin Luther was deep in prayer when he felt the presence of the Accuser. Immediately, the Accuser began to list the failings, shortcomings and sin that Luther had committed.

In despair, Luther began to doubt his mission, ability and love for Jesus. He whispered, “Is that all?”

NO, the Accuser answered and he listed sin after sin rolling through a scroll that seemed unending. A little louder, Luther answered, “Is that all?”

NO, the Accuser continued again, really putting his back into the vitriol until, with all the strength Luther had, he asked, “Is that all?”

“Yes. That’s it,” said the Accuser. Rising to look the demon in the face, Luther answered, “And the blood of Jesus covers them all.”

This might seem barely traumatic, but consider that Luther had given all he had to Jesus. To shake his feeling of worth from the Creator is tantamount to a mother’s loss of a child or a CEO’s bankruptcy.

What happens when a single mother working two jobs gets into a car wreck? Fear, anxiety, worry. What happens when a rich man gets into the same fender bender? He gets a new car.

In the same way, I am delivered from fear, anxiety and worry by knowing:

• that God spared no love,
• He left the greatness of heaven, 
• He planned throughout time to bring me back into relationship with Him,
• at the greatest possible cost to Himself.

Knowing how much love God has for me, secured by the cross, lets me experience peace with Him now, in the midst of any wreckage or trauma of life.

That’s hard to develop in the moment, so try now. Work these verses in, practice peace and look forward to the coming of the King. Because a moment is coming when the most important thing about me/you/us will be how well we’ve known that:

1. I am a cause of destruction in my life and the world (Romans 3:23), so
2. evil, wreckage and trauma are coming my way (Romans 6:23), unless
3. I am born again into a new and peaceful self (John 3:3) but
4. that means accepting the one narrow way toward salvation (John 14:6) by
5. confession that Jesus is my Lord and belief in God’s only son (Romans 10:9-10, 11).
6. And all the while, it has been God’s greatest wish to do so (Revelation 3:20).

 Come. Eat. Drink. Rest. You’re home.

l love you.          

This is the seventeenth part in a multi-part post expanding on an exceptional talk Billy Graham gave at the University of Cambridge in 1955 with influences from Tim Keller's sermon series Christ: Our Treasury (The Book of Hebrews). To hear an overview of this material, consider listening to the original Nothing but the Blood audio, linked here (it'll stream from a mobile device), read all the posts to date by clicking #nothingbuttheblood, or hear the most recent version of the Nothing but the Blood talk by streaming it on the player, below. If you'd like to get these posts sent to you via email (and you're not already), click here to register and make sure to tell us that you're a Back Porch Friend.

The final part of this series, Part 18. Why Do I Need Blood to Cover My Sin? is available by clicking here.