“Nothing But the Blood”

Scripture: Psalm 51:1-7, 1 John 1:5-10, Romans 3:21-26

For our Lenten evening services, the pastors have decided to use hymns of Easter as our theme each week. Each of us have selected a favorite hymn, and will preaching on the concepts that our selection upholds. And our worship committee liked that idea so much, that they suggested that our Sunday morning message follow those same themes each week.

Last Sunday evening, Pastor Alan Bill preached on the hymn “Nothing but the Blood”, discussing the importance and significance of Christ’s blood in Christian theology. He talked about atonement, our being restored to God’s goodness, as being based in the Blood of Calvary, that without faith in the divine Blood of sacrifice, we have no hope for eternity.

Today, we consider some other aspects of Christ’s sacrifice, and of the blood that he shed on our behalf.

Read Psalm 51:1-7

This Psalm is attributed to David upon being challenged by the prophet Nathan, that his taking of Bathsheba, and his subsequent ordering the death of her husband Uriah, was a great sin on his part. He had sinned in exercising his power over the faithful, but helpless woman. He had sinned in ordering her husband home to cover up the fact that she was pregnant by her king. He had sinned in arranging for Uriah’s being posted to the front of the army, and then ordering that the army should pull back, leaving the man to die at the hands of an enemy. (2 Samuel 11:1-26)

The Lord sends Nathan to the king to lead him to the realization of just what he has done against his own people, and he understands, and he confesses, and he repents, and he is forgiven. But the Lord proclaims that his descendants will suffer, and the son who would be born of the rape would die, but that David would not. It appears that sin will always hold consequences, forgiven or not – it’s just that if confession and repentance are offered in the name of God, the effects will not impact eternal life. (2 Samuel 11:27-12:25)

In his Psalm of repentance, David asks for mercy, and in seeking God’s cleansing for his sin, he asks that the Lord “wash” him clean. He proclaims the fact that he has violated God’s way and the call that has been placed on his life, and he freely says that the Lord’s way is the only true and holy and right way.

David, who has been described as a man after God’s own heart, has failed Jehovah God once again, and yet, by seeking the Lord’s cleansing, and by confessing his own failure to be faithful, the sinner, regardless of the magnitude of his sin, can have a second chance to know the Lord’s grace and mercy.

And so can we – if we confess our sin, if we admit our understanding of our sin, if we repent, if we are determined to shut that sin completely out of our life – it is then that all of the Lord’s goodness can be ours again. That is God’s greatest desire for each and every one of us.

Read 1 John 1:5-10

There was no way for David to be washed clean, except by a blood sacrifice from creation, and by obedience to the Law of Moses. But as we all know, neither is sufficient without God being involved! But John’s epistle gives us insight into the Lord’s truth, and how God has turned the entire process of forgiveness on its ear. We read that God is Light, and that every other way is darkness; light is holiness, while darkness is sinfulness; light is goodness, while darkness is evil; light is of God, while darkness is founded in Satan. In light, we can see and understand, but in darkness, we are blind to the reality of God’s word.

The Light of God brings us fellowship with each other, and into relationship with Jesus, and without it, hatred and conflict and secular thought will always prevail. And then we get to the main point – that it is the Blood of Jesus, and nothing else, that purifies us from our sin. We sin against God, and only God can cleanse us from it.

Many people are put off by the very thought that it’s the Blood of Christ that which washes us clean! But we have to remember that this Blood represents Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary, and that it is by faith in his sacrifice that we can be made right with God again. To be “washed in the Blood of Jesus” is a spiritual cleansing, and it means that we are made spiritually whole in Christ. It isn’t about taking a physical bath in physical blood – that would never make us clean! It’s about trusting in Jesus and all that he taught, and in all that he did, and in all that he gave, so that we might be saved from our sin.

But the writer doesn’t stop there – we are told that all are sinful, that no one is clean without Jesus. And if we claim that we are already without sin, and have no need of God’s gift of salvation, we are nothing short of being liars. And if we claim that we are not sinning in the things we do, we are denying the truth that is inherent in all that Jesus taught, and we are, in essence, claiming that Jesus is also a liar, and that his word is not true, and that he isn’t worthy of our faith! And denying God and his word is never a good idea!

Read Romans 3:21-26

Righteousness, our path to living in the presence of Almighty God for all time, can only come by faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. So what do we have to do to ensure our salvation? The truth? Nothing! The Lord God has done it all. It is no longer about who we are, no longer about who our ancestors were, it is no longer about what we or anyone else does or even can do, it’s not about how much good we do. It’s only about what God has done through our Emmanuel, our God in the flesh. And if we can’t believe in that, we live in darkness.

And Paul writes that Christ’s justification, his validation, his cleansing, his righteous salvation, will cost us nothing! Such a gift is infinitely valuable to us, and yet, we only have to believe that it is true, and that it comes to us by faith and allegiance in Christ!

It’s all about the Blood that was sacrificed for us at Calvary – it’s about our being released from the responsibility of paying the penalty for our own sin; it’s about God taking our sin into his sinless life, and dying to destroy it – it’s about the love of God conquering our sin, the Light of Christ overcoming the darkness that we have immersed ourselves in – it’s about the Lord setting aside our inadequate efforts to become perfect, and replacing our failure with his perfect victory!

We have been reunited with the God of the Universe, through the atoning blood, the cleansing blood, the loving blood of Jesus Christ, the One who came to be our Lord and our Savior. And by simply believing in Jesus and the redeeming power of his blood, that is how we show our love to him in return.

And it is truly as uncomplicated and as straightforward as that.