Instruments of Worship
The Instruments of Worship Podcast, hosted by Casey Rinkenberger, is dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to lift high the name of Jesus with their instruments and their lives. Tune in every Monday for a new episode!
Instruments of Worship
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus | Ep. 14
Happy Holy Week! Today, we are going to take a look at the ever popular hymn, “Nothing But The Blood of Jesus,” as we remember the person and the event that changed the world. Whether you’ve known Jesus almost your whole life or you don’t know Him at all, I hope you listen to this podcast, because there is good news for you today!
Check out this short devotional by John Piper if you desire more clarity on this topic!
Discussion Questions -- Try reflecting on your own or with a group:)
- Have you Admitted, Believed, and Confessed? If yes, what was that like for you? If no, what is standing in your way?
- What is the Lord revealing to you as we have just entered Holy Week and celebrate Good Friday and Easter this week?
- How might you use this special week to reach out to those around you who are not already saved and invite them to hear about Jesus?
- How will you worship this week in light of Jesus’s powerful blood?
- What line from this hymn sticks out to you most and why?
- Have you been tempted to work your way to salvation?
- Have you looked to other things besides Jesus’ blood to make you whole? Explain.
- Are there times you repent but don’t move forward in Jesus’ blood? That you stay in guilt as you think you should? What does this imply that you believe about the blood?
- Are you tired of feeling unworthy, hopeless, or not good enough? Based on today’s podcast, where should you turn?
To engage our hearts in greater worship to Him, check out these songs that relate to this episode!
Nothing But The Blood of Jesus
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Hi friends, my name is Casey Rinkenberger and I am so excited to welcome you to the Instruments of Worship podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to let tie the name of Jesus with their instruments, but also their lives. As I was thinking about what I should do for the podcast today, I thought that I would be remiss if I did not take this week to just specifically worship the Lord for his awesome plan of salvation, his blood that covers my sins. This is something that we worship him for all the time, but why Why this week? Because this is the time of the year that we remember this specifically. Whether you call it Lent or Holy Week or Easter, whenever that kind of time rolls around in the spring. So we are going to take a look at the ever popular hymn, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus, written by Robert Lowry. As we remember the person and the event that absolutely changed the world. Whether you've known Jesus your whole life or you don't know him at all. keep listening because this is good news for you today. So many classical musicians constantly live questioning if they're good enough, if they're worthy, if their playing is liked, if they've done enough to earn people's affirmation or praise or even just success. And if that's you, I don't want you to continue on in the slavery of questioning of your worth all the time, your abilities or your success or your fame. There is hope that will literally change your life through the and work of Jesus. And we're going to talk about that today through this amazing hymn. So welcome to episode 14 of the Instruments of Worship podcast. So before we get ahead of ourselves too much today, I wanted to take us back to explain the way things used to be before Jesus if you don't already know. So the Bible is split up into two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. And you might be wondering, Well, why is that? And this is because Jesus coming to earth made that much of a difference in how we as humans relate to God. Very similarly, Jesus' coming made that much of an impact that we even changed the way we keep time. You probably know that we refer to before Christ's coming as BC, before Christ, and the years after Christ's coming as AD. Now AD is the abbreviation for Anno Domini, which means in the year of our Lord. So clearly something changed. Essentially, the one true God, Yahweh, created all things. He created the heavens, he created the earth, and everything in them. The world was perfect, and he desired to share this world with humans. So he created man and woman in his image. Because God is perfection incarnate, he is absolutely perfect in just who he is through and through. He is perfect. holiness incarnate light incarnate righteousness goodness truth purity so much more just in the essence of who they are it's because of him they come from him and so he can absolutely not stand to be in the presence of sin he cannot tolerate sin so when adam and eve in the garden they rebelled they disobeyed against god and that brought sin into god's perfect world and thus broke the perfect communion God had with man. But God loved his creation and thus revealed a plan to save it. He would one day be sending a savior, a messiah, a king who would save his people from their sins. In Genesis 3 verse 15, God tells the deceptive serpent, who is Satan, that he might bruise the savior on the heel, but the messiah would bruise Satan on his head, aka completely destroy him. But until that day when the Messiah would come, God required his people to atone for their sins. Atone meaning make right, to make amends for their own sins. And they did this through making sacrifices to the Lord. So killing animals so that their blood could cover their sins. Leviticus 17, 11 says, For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar. It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. Similarly, Hebrews 9.22 says, In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. So because of their sin, they were considered guilty, considered unclean. But by sacrificing animals, their blood could temporarily cover their sins, but nothing was permanent. The book of Leviticus describes all these different rituals, these sacrificial rituals, things that the Lord required so that the sin of his people could be atoned for. And if you want to look more into it, if you're curious, you could go read the book of Leviticus. But this was the old way. This is the way that it had And can you imagine how laborious this would become? It would be so discouraging, constantly having to clean yourself up and make right all your mistakes, much less just slaughter animals and the high priest would have to. There were so many different things, so many different nuances to this whole old way, this old covenant, this old system. But all along the way, God kept promising and describing the Messiah. So his people, they just continued to wait on him. Isaiah 53, which would have been hundreds of years before Jesus came, described what Jesus would come to do. Verses six to seven says, all of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers. So he did not open his mouth. So this, these verses describe the new way that was going to come. It gave God's people something to look forward to. The new way is based on the fact that Jesus is the spotless lamb who saves us once and for all, and that he will do away with the old system of having to sacrifice through the slaughter of animals. So after years and years and years of waiting, finally, this long awaited Messiah comes and his name is Jesus. He's fully God and he's fully man. And he came humbly. He came to a poor couple with lots of condemnation to their name. If you know the story of Mary and Joseph, he slowly grew up like all of us. And he started a pretty private ministry. He wasn't very outgoing with his ministry at first, wasn't publicly proclaiming he was the Messiah until later, but he was healing people, forgiving them of their sins. And his ministry grew and grew and grew so that that by Passover week, when all the Druves traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate how God had saved them through the blood of lambs. All those years ago in Egypt, so, so many people knew by this time that he is surely the Messiah. Matthew 21, 4-9 says, This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to daughter Zion, See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of a donkey. the disciples went and did as jesus had instructed them they brought the donkey and the colt and placed their coats on them for jesus to sit on a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road the crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted hosanna to the son of david blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord hosanna in the highest so imagine this scene jesus riding in on a donkey usually a king would parade into the city on a magnificent horse followed by a strong army strong capable army but jesus comes rides in on this donkey which actually fulfills this prophecy from long ago he's followed by a ragtag group of 12 guys that he is called by name and yet people recognize that he is the king that he is the messiah so see their worship imagine them see I think it's a beautiful scene. It's just a beautiful picture of worship. And if you don't know, Hosanna means worship. I beg you to save or please deliver us. So clearly they knew he was the Messiah and they were worshiping him, but asking them to save them. They've waited so long for this. So this scene is what we call Palm Sunday, which is the first day of Holy Week. Holy Week is a term that is used to refer to the week where everything changed. This week, which occurred over 2000 years ago, is literally the climax of history. Jesus knew how this week would end. We're going to talk about that next, but he willingly rode into Jerusalem. He willingly walked into these situations for you and for me. So a lot happened throughout the week, but I'm just going to skip ahead to Good Friday as we know it. This is described in many of the gospels, but I'm going to be reading the one from Luke, which is Luke 23, 32 through 41, and then also verse 46. So two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And people stood watching. And the rulers even sneered at him. They said, he saved others, let him save himself, for he is God's Messiah, the chosen one. The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine and vinegar and said, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. There was a written notice above him which read, this is the king of the Jews. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insult at him. Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us. But the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God, he said, since you are under the same sentence. We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. When he had said this, he breathed his last. And then verse 46 says, He was nailed to the cross. His blood shed like the blood of a sacrificial lamb. Was Jesus capable of saving himself just like the criminals or the other people were shouting at him? Absolutely. He was God, but he couldn't do that because he came to this earth with a purpose. He had to shed his blood to save sinners like you and me. And we're going to talk more about that when we talk about the hymn, Nothing But the Blood. But first, I want to introduce you to its composer, who is Robert Lowry. He wrote both the melody and the words. But to give you a little backstory on him, he was born in 1826 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He ended up being a a gifted hymn writer and preacher. Although he was more passionate about preaching, he is mostly remembered for his hymn writing. His musical background is that he was surrounded by music growing up. People say that especially his father was passionate about instilling a love for music in his son. And he just kind of had a knack with music and melodies. He was probably one of those people that could pick up an instrument and it probably came pretty naturally to him. He didn't have to struggle through some of the learning curves that maybe some do. People typically enjoy the hymns that he wrote because they have simple melodies and simple chord structures, but they have very deep theological music. meaning, which makes sense because in 1854, he was ordained as a Baptist preacher. So he had a lot of knowledge about the Bible. He was a preacher. He was passionate about the word of God. And yet he had this knack with music. And it's really cool to see how the Lord used both of those things. And he wasn't necessarily one or the other. He could do both, which I think is really cool. Many said that he was a great speaker and that he had this just innate ability to paint pictures with his words, which again would aid him as a preacher, but also as a hymn writer. A notable time in his life was that when he was 35, the Civil War actually broke out in America. So that was in 1861. Robert actually served as a chaplain for the Union Army during that time. So he likely would have been gone a lot and witnessing just a ton of severe physical, but also emotional and spiritual hardship and pain for those soldiers. And so his job as a chaplain would be to support and comfort these men and preach them truth. The one thing they needed, even when they might have been tempted to think they just need to go home they just need this war to stop they just need to be healed whatever it is robert knew that they needed truth and that was his job when the war ended in 1865 as we know it was a time of just reconciliation and the nation had to come together but it was sure a time of political and just societal unrest so again what a time to be a pastor oh my goodness people needed truth and and Robert Lowery gave it to them. He knew that the one thing that could save them, the one thing they needed was the blood of Jesus for their salvation. It wouldn't come through the nation coming together or through finding answers to all their questions about the nation moving forward. Salvation comes through Jesus alone. And that is the one thing that they needed, even in the midst of all the unrest going on. Lowry also wrote hymns like, Shall we gather at the river? Christ arose. How can I keep from singing? But I would say that I know his Nothing But the Blood of Jesus most. And maybe you do too. I don't know. Maybe you know some of those other ones though. So Nothing But the Blood of Jesus, this hymn. Lowry wrote it in 1876 at a spiritual retreat center in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. And one of his fellow friends and composers, her name was Ira Sankey. She said, this very simple hymn was first introduced at a camp meeting in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, where it immediately took possession of the people. So it had immediate impact. And I just have to wonder, maybe it's because so many people were looking to other things to save them, but they had this realization through the hymn of only the blood of Jesus, nothing but the blood can save them. This hymn has a type of call and response to it. So an online organization called She Reads Truth says the odd lines being like line one, three, five, and so on, ask essential questions about what reconciles us to God. While the even lines respond with the same refrain, which we all know as nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's that constant answer. And then after each stanza, there's a refrain which keeps coming back, which is also kind of like the response to each one of those verses so lowry died in 1899 but only after a full life of just worshiping and sharing the good news about jesus so let's take a look at the lyrics of this beautiful hymn and see what truths they teach us about how we can be reconciled to god so verse one it starts with what can wash away my sin nothing but the blood of jesus So as we said earlier, Hebrews 9.22 says, So although we are tempted to think otherwise, sin is our greatest problem. Not sin. An audition that we might have coming up or a broken relationship or finances or your travel schedule, whatever it might be. It is sin that is innate with us. And why is it such a big deal? Because it makes me an enemy of God. It separates me from God because God cannot be in the presence of sin. and it's not just sins that we do plural but it is just the sin that is innately in us not just the bad things that we think say or do but our sin nature it separates me from god and i deserve death for it romans six twenty three says for the wages of sin is death God could have left us there, but he didn't. He sent Jesus. Ephesians 1, 7 says, In him, who is Jesus, we have redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Jesus died on the cross like we just read about, and through that he bore the punishment that my sins deserve so that I didn't have to, that now there is no condemnation for me because I am in Christ, as Romans 8, 1 says. The next part says, what can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. So on a theological note, sin separates me from God, and it only leads to death, sadness, and pain. But Ephesians 2.13 says, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So the blood of Jesus brings me near to God. It bridges that gap that sin had created, lets me have relationship, close relationship with God even. On a practical note, on wholeness in the blood of Jesus, though, I would also say that in Christ, believing in his blood, you can experience wholeness that you can't apart from him. You exchange your guilt and shame of past experiences for forgiveness, peace and reconciliation with God. Romans 5, 1 says, therefore, since you have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You exchange fear and dread, anxiety and grief that we're may rule over you at times for steadfast joy hope and freedom so for all these reasons and more that is why jesus's blood is called precious the refrain says oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow no other fount i know nothing but the blood of jesus So it might seem like a paradox to say that red blood is a cleaning agent. Usually we think of it as a stain actually, and in creating stains, but actually sin is our stain. Isaiah 1.18 says,"'Though your sins are like scarlet,"'they shall be as white as snow."'Though they are red as crimson,"'they shall be like wool.'" Jesus makes us clean through his blood because he covered us in his righteousness. Isaiah 61 10 says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exalt in my God for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. There is not one part of you if you believe on Jesus's blood for your salvation that is not covering you. There's not any part of that that you need to make up by good works. You are completely covered. You're like You have these new garments, new clothes that you get to wear. Even a multitude in heaven described in Revelation 7, 14 says that they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So I just envision wearing these white robes, you're completely covered in the cleansing that Jesus' blood provides. There's not one inch of you that you need to make up and try to clean yourself to be have that reconciliation to God. You are completely covered in the blood if you believe in Jesus for this. So our stain is not blood. Our stain is our sin and the blood of Jesus completely cleanses that and we are made right with God. Verse two expounds on it a little bit. It says,"'For my pardon, this I see,"'nothing but the blood of Jesus."'For my cleansing, this is my plea,"'nothing but the blood of Jesus.'" So my sentence was guilty because of my sin. And because of that, my punishment was to be death. And there's no cleaning agent in the world that could stop it. You can't use a tide stick to pretend like I wasn't guilty. Jesus, though, bore my sins and bore my punishment. And through the blood of Jesus, I'm completely pardoned. And my slate is made clean forever. I heard this on a podcast and I thought it was a good analogy. If you think of a phone book, I know they're kind of antiquated by now, but if you think of an old phone book with all those names of people and businesses and organizations and all their numbers and all the things you just flip and you see all these words and letters together. And you could almost think of that as just a record of all your sin, all the things that you've thought and done and all the ways that you've fallen short of God's holy, perfect standard. But through the blood of Jesus, it is like you are now flipping through that book and it is just erased none of it is there anymore it is completely gone through the blood of Jesus your slate is now clean which proves the point there is nothing that you can do to make it that way it is only by the blood of Jesus this next verse expounds on that, that no good work will save you. It says, nothing can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus, not of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Ephesians 2, 8 through 9 says, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. So your works have nothing to do with your cleanliness. It is now based solely on the blood of Jesus, whether you are clothed in his righteousness or you are not, whether you believe in him and you are robed in forgiveness and Jesus's righteousness or you don't believe and you are still guilty, you are still stained by your sin, you are still not pardoned. Nothing can for sin atone, only the blood of Jesus and no good that you do can. Even Charles Spurgeon talks about how even the good that we do is still so flawed and so sinful that even the good that we do is still dirty rags compared to Jesus. So on your best days or on your worst days, as a believer, as a Christian who stands on the blood of Jesus, God still loves you the same because his love is based on the blood, not on how good or how poorly you are doing. So that means practically, if there's a day that I'm kind of disappointed with myself, I don't have to wallow in guilt, sadness or shame as a consequence or like as a way of showing God like I know I really messed up. I am really not doing too high here. Absolutely not. It is so easy to do unconsciously. But by doing this, you might be implying that the blood of Christ really isn't that strong, that you still need to add to it to really get you all the way to atone for your sins. By no means. If you are convicted of sin, if you repent, You turn from your sin. You ask for forgiveness. You will be forgiven. And you can move forward now. You don't have to stay in the guilt and shame that come from all those things. Just a quick example of this. If you know the stories of Peter and Judas, how they both screwed up. Peter denied Jesus three times. Judas betrayed Jesus. And they both knew it. They felt so convicted of it. They felt terrible. But one repented. Peter repented and was able to move forward and have a great ministry, blessed by God. Judas could not get over the shame that he felt. He didn't really depend on the grace of Jesus to say, yes, I believe that I am forgiven. He wallowed in his shame to the point of death, which is so sad because grace would have been offered to him. if he would accept it. Same thing similarly with Saul and David. They both messed up, but Saul, it led him to just crumble. But David, he was able to move forward in forgiveness and God's forgiveness. So that's just a freedom that as somebody who's a Christian who believes in the blood of Jesus for their salvation, that we can move forward in thankfulness and confidence because my salvation, God's love for me, all those things, they're not based on the good that I do or the wrong that I do. It is solely based on the blood of Jesus. And now in this new way, you could always go to him on your best days or your worst days and every type of day or moment in between on that spectrum. You don't need to clean yourselves up. You don't need to atone for yourself like they used to before. We can go to him because we're already fundamentally just positionally clean before God because of the blood of Jesus. So verse four describes the hope and peace that it gives. It says, this is all my hope and peace, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Because of the blood of Jesus, we can have so much hope and peace. Like I could know that I am in right relationship with God, that I'm his daughter, that I am forgiven, that my debt has been erased and that won't be held over me any longer it is gone it is forgotten that my sins have been atoned for, that my name is written in the Lamb's book of life, that my future is secure, that I'll get to spend an eternity with my savior in heaven forever at the end of all things. So God has a good plan for me and I don't have to fake hope and peace and put a smile on my face anymore because I can know these things for certain. And for you as a classical musician, If you are not experiencing true hope and peace, if you feel like you're faking it for people day by day, I would encourage you that real hope and peace is offered to you, but through Jesus. So look to him, turn to him. The last part today just says, this is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. John Piper in a devotional says, we need righteousness to be acceptable to God, but we don't have it. What we have is sin. So God has what we need and we don't deserve, which is righteousness. And we have what God hates and rejects, which is sin. So what is God's answer to this situation? His answer is Jesus Christ, whose flesh bore the condemnation. Whose sins were being condemned? Ours. And this is called the great exchange. So my sin on him. So just some last thoughts. The serpent, Satan, may have bruised Jesus' ankle the night of Good Friday. For he suffered many things and he died upon that cross. But three days later, Jesus rose from the grave back to life, forever defeating sin and death, crushing Satan on the head. And this is my Savior. He saved me from my sins. And I just want to ask you today, is he your Savior? If you'd like him to be, it's not about cleaning yourself up or doing something to appease God. If you'd like to be washed in his blood, forgiven of all your sins, all you have to do is receive this free gift of salvation by admitting, believing and confessing. My church says it's as easy as ABC. So in your heart, you have to admit that you are a sinner in need of a savior. Believe in your heart that Jesus lived a perfect life, died the death that you deserve to atone for your sins, rose to life again on the third day and that nothing but the blood of Jesus And number three, confess him as Lord of your life. Let him have absolute authority over your life. It's no longer you in charge. It's him in charge and you submitting to that. So no matter what your situation is, I would just encourage you to celebrate these truths along with a church body this week. So seek out a Good Friday service or an Easter service, even if you don't have a church home. Maybe this is a time where you can start getting involved. If you're planning already on attending both of those, then I would just encourage you to seek out other people, reach out to people who may need someone to invite them to feel comfortable for them to go, or reach out to people who may not even know think to go to a Good Friday service or Easter service. and pray for them. Pray that God would show you who to ask and pray that their hearts would be soft to receive the gospel this week as we remember just all that Jesus has done for us. So I just want to remind you for all of us, it's good. We've maybe had years and years of years of celebrating Easter, but it doesn't make it any less special every year. So don't miss the opportunity to specifically worship Jesus for his sacrificial work on the cross and all that he endured for your sake and for mine this week. All of those of He is worthy of our worship and we are covered in his powerful blood and that is definitely a reason to praise and adore him this week. So I just want to thank you so much for spending part of your Monday with me today. Make sure to check out the description for more worship songs that I hope will encourage your heart in worship and give you greater insight into some of the things that we talked about today. Also in the description, look for discussion questions that you can reflect on by yourself or with a group. If you think you might know someone who's interested in this podcast or would be encouraged by it, please send it to them and make sure to download, follow, and subscribe wherever you are listening. I'll see you next Monday and I hope you Have a great Holy Week.