“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” ( I Peter 1:18-19).
I once heard it said that you never hear preaching on the blood and the cross anymore. I don’t know if that is true or not, for I know I preach both of them. I know that the Jimmy Swaggert Ministries has had a resurgence and he has put quite an emphasis on the “Message of the Cross.” One of my mentors taught me that the cross deals with the flesh and the blood deals with sin. I would have to say that I agree with that. However, they both work together, for it was on the cross that Jesus shed His blood.
I am sure most of us have heard it quoted many times, “For by grace are ye saved…” This verse which is Ephesians 2:8 is often not taken in context with the rest of the Word of God. Technically we are not saved by grace. Hang on now, let me finish. Grace does not save, the blood of Christ saves. Grace is the attitude of God; God’s love toward men that wants to redeem them to Himself, though they are not worthy of that redemption. Grace is what put the plan of God into action that brought forth the death, burial and resurrection of His Son. For the scriptures say:
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).
The blood of Christ is a very powerful force. It can forgive the vilest of sins, the vilest sinner and millions upon millions of the vilest sinners. If confessed, there are no number of sins that can ever overpower the blood of Jesus. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. A million times a million sins can never neutralize even one drop of Jesus’ blood.
You can be sure that you and every born-again Christian has been reconciled to God through the blood of His Son.
“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:20).
The blood of Christ doesn’t just save us, but it also cleanses us. The blood doesn’t just cleanse us, but it keeps us clean. As long as you are abiding in the vine, you will have the protection of the blood.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
Consider the story of the first Passover. Israel was told that on the fourteenth day of the first month each household had to kill a one year old male lamb that had no blemishes. This, of course, is a type of Christ for He was a male and He indeed had no blemishes. He was the perfect Lamb of God. John the Baptist later said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). Then Israel was to take the blood from those lambs and strike it onto the door posts and the mantle of the door. Then they were to stay in their houses until morning and eat the lamb. The Lord said, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). So that night the death angel came through the camp and every house that had the blood around the door, the death angel passed by. That angel did not go walking into the houses to make sure all the children were behaving. He didn’t walk in and make sure mom and dad weren’t arguing, He didn’t check to make sure everyone was living righteous. He just passed over those houses. That is why it is called the Passover.
In the same way, the blood is your protection and security. If you want to talk about eternal security, this is it, being under the blood. If it wasn’t for the blood, every time you sin you would come out of your salvation. You would then have to renew it. You would live a life of going in and out of salvation. That would be insanity. Instead, we have the blood that keeps us in right standing with God.
Now, if any of the Israelite first born, would have decided to leave their house and go outside to observe what was going on, they would have been struck dead by the death angel. The angel’s only order was to kill the firstborn of every house in the land of Egypt unless there was blood around the door. So if the first born were to leave that place of safety, it was on them. They would have left that safe haven by their own doing. In the same way the blood works for us. If we abide in Christ, we willingly put ourselves under the protection of His blood. Even if we were to sin, His blood would keep us from being condemned. However, when the Spirit convicts us of our sin, we must repent. If we would harden ourselves against God and the conviction of the Spirit, we would eventually get to the place where we have quit abiding in Christ. Once we have done that we no longer get the protection of the blood and then there is no more redemption.
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26).
When we stay in Christ, His blood works in us as a sanctifying agent. This means that it continues to work on us throughout our whole Christian life. The blood is what makes us positionally holy, while the Holy Spirit works in us to make us progressively holy.
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate” (Hebrews 13:12).
Let me say one more thing about the blood of Christ. It is a powerful spiritual weapon against Satan. The blood gives us the ability to not just resist the devil, but to overcome him and all his evil temptations.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).
So saint of God, thank the Lord for the blood. Abide in Christ and enjoy the peace and safety the blood supplies. Sing with me: “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.”
