Jesus blood cleanses
I really don’t like cleaning. I’m not a messy person per se, but I can find a really good excuse not to go out and clean my garage. And yes, I will re-wear the same jeans a couple times before washing them and I hang my towel to dry and use it several times before throwing it in the laundry.
Now admittedly, I don’t do much laundry at the house, but I really don’t like doing it and I’m pretty sure Nicky doesn’t either, so I do what I can to limit the amount of laundry that hits the basket. And sometimes that means hiding it from Nicky so she doesn’t find out!
But even as much as I like to recycle before washing, sometimes the towel and jeans need to be cleansed from all the junk they’ve picked up along the journey of life. And so they find their way into the washer.
One of the answers the nurse gave Madylynn about her blood was that it cleanses her from different things in her body. Our blood has the magnificent ability to carry off waste products (carbon dioxide, urea, lactic acids) to other parts of the body that eventually process and dispose of the waste. But those parts that filter and dispose cannot perform their function if the blood didn’t carry the waste away.
Christ’s blood cleanses us from our sins.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But Christ’s blood doesn’t stop there. It cleanses, but just like our own blood, it carries those sins away and continually works in our lives so that we can be dead to sin and alive for what is right! His shed blood and because He lives, (resurrection) we are healed by His wounds and can live for what is right!
1 Peter 2:24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
This doesn’t mean once we are cleansed and our sins have been carried away that we can go and live like we want. Jesus said to the adulterous woman…
John 8:10-11 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
Once our sins are cleansed and carried away, we are to also “go and sin no more.”
Does that mean we will live perfect lives? How many of us can say once we were accepted by Christ and our sins were cleansed and carried away have lived a perfect life since then – Anyone?
We all at some point have made a bad decision and faced conviction and guilt from the Holy Spirit. It could have been a short temper flare up, or a prideful heart. Whatever the case, we came face to face with the Holy Spirit’s conviction. Our job, then, is to properly respond to the conviction and seek forgiveness and again, apply His living blood to our lives.
Do you see why it is so critical that He not only died for us, but was raised from the dead for us as well? Do you see why we sing “Because He Lives!”or “The Blood Never Loses its Power”?
Christ’s blood cleanses us and carries our sin away, and not just some of it. Nothing is left behind. He cleanses and carries it all away!
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies (or cleanses) us from **all** sin.
Closing
There was more to the lesson, but I’d like to close this series of posts off with this. We’ve looked at what the blood of Christ does for us. And I think that’s a magnificent reminder that encourages us. But I want to close with this question.
What can we do for the blood of Christ?
We have the opportunity to live a cleansed, covered, strengthened, healed, and protected life – all provided by one sacrifice – God’s only Son. But I do believe we owe it to God to make sure other’s have that same opportunity!
We owe it to God to live up to the what He’s done for us! It was His Son’s blood that pardoned us, that bought us from being slaves to sin to being slaves to Christ. So…I close with this; if there’s something you ought to be doing for Christ but haven’t yet, make this the week you get started! If you’re not sure about what to do, seek God in those quiet times and ask Him to reveal to you areas where you can serve Him and do something for Christ!
Just make sure that if it involves drawing blood using needles in hospitals, keep me far far away!!!
