“But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” (1Peter 1:19 KJV)
The Blood of Jesus, the Christ, the Lamb of God is Precious. He was the sacrifice without blemish and without spot. To understand how powerful the blood is, we have to go to Egypt and the Israelite slaves there. When Pharoah wouldn’t let God’s people leave after many plagues, God had one more plague. The Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a lamb and eat it all. If it was too much for one family, they were to gather together. They were to place the blood of the lamb on the door sill. And when the angel of death came to Egypt, it killed every first born where there was no blood. The angel of death did not stop where the blood was. It passed over and is celebrated as the Passover. Death was stopped by the blood.
Today, death continues to be stopped by the blood, the Blood of the Lamb. That Precious Blood of Jesus stops death. The Father sees the Blood of Jesus on us and the wrath of death for sin is stopped. That Precious Blood has washed and cleansed us from all sin. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;” (Ephesians 1:7) The Blood of the Lamb is powerful enough. It stops death. It stops sin.
In the Old Testament, animals were sacrificed for sin. It was done yearly because it wasn’t sufficient to cleanse forever. It was offered by a priest, a man who had sin. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. And if he had sinned or entered any way not instructed by God, he would die. It could never cleanse eternally. “When Christ went through the tent and entered once and for all into the Most Holy Place, He did not take the blood of goats and bulls to offer as a sacrifice; rather, He took His own blood and obtained eternal salvation for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a burnt calf are sprinkled on the people who are ritually unclean, and this purifies them by taking away their ritual impurity. Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:12-14 GNB)
What that means is that we no longer have to work at pleasing God. It’s the Blood of Jesus that cleanses us. God sees the Blood and accepts us because we are in Jesus. All our trying to please God is not enough, but the Precious Blood of Jesus is enough. All our trying to be good is filthiness in the eyes of God, because it’s tainted with sin. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) Only the pure and holy Blood of the Lamb is sufficient for all, past, present and future.
Our righteousness, like Isaiah wrote, are as filthy rags. The word there “filthy rags” means menstrual rags. That’s what all our striving and trying to be good looks in the eyes of God because of our sin. Paul wrote in Philippians his desire: “And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Philippians 3:9) Through faith in Jesus, His righteousness is placed on us. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 5:21)
Undeserved. Yet He took our sin and death and gave us life. He shed His Precious Blood for our forgiveness. Then gives us His righteousness. That means that His holiness and right standing before God is ours. Understanding this is humbling.
Don’t dwell on your sin. It’s forgiven and forgotten. “"This is the covenant that I will make with them in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts and write them on their minds." And then He says, "I will not remember their sins and evil deeds any longer." So, when these have been forgiven, an offering to take away sins is no longer needed.” (Hebrews 10:16-18) Dwell on the beauty and powerful Truth of forgiveness, cleansing and righteousness before God, the Almighty. But you say, you have sinned. The Precious Blood is sufficient for past, present and future sin. Meditate on the Passion of Christ. And think. That is what I deserve. But God in His Mercy and Grace sent Jesus to take it for me. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9)
We may stumble and fall into sin. That is forgiven. But to make a mockery of the Passion of Christ, by deliberate sin, cannot. “For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God's light; they tasted heaven's gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit; they knew from experience that God's word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age. And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing Him to public shame.” (Hebrews 6:4-6 GNB) In other words, this person has abandoned their faith in order to sin. But thanks be to God Who forgives us of all sin except to renounce the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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