Preacher’s Point: The meaning of a word

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Words have meaning. If we are often saying the wrong word, it is hard for people to understand us.

Years ago a friend once told me, “We need to have you and Julie over for dinner after church some day.” I misunderstood what she said; I thought she said, “Sunday” instead of “some day.” When the church service ended the following Sunday, Julie, myself, and the four kids all showed up on my friend’s doorstep expecting an afternoon of fellowship and food. Once the awkward moments passed, we all had a good laugh, and thirty years later we still joke about how some day will be Sunday.

As I said, that was a simple misunderstanding between friends that gave us all a good laugh, and my family a free meal. However, there are times when words could have eternal ramifications. To illustrate this, this week we will look at words that apply to the blood of Christ.

While at the last supper, Jesus said that His blood would be “shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

Often we hear someone say their cancer is in “remission.” Upon examination, there are no signs of active cancer at the time. When it comes to the spiritual realm, the blood of Christ is the treatment for the cancer of sin. When God the Father examines someone who has been treated with the blood of His Son; He sees no sign of sin. Not because we are perfect, but because the blood of Christ puts our sin into remission.

Moving on to another word, Acts 20:28 tells us we are “purchased with his own blood.”

Recently I went to the bank with a bag full of change, about $50 worth. The teller poured the money into a machine that sorted and counted the coins. When she finished, she came back to me gave me the amount and two Canadian coins. She said the device does not take foreign currency. I told her I would like to add the coins to my deposit. She explained that the bank did not accept any foreign currency. I asked if I could exchange them for American money. The answer was, “No.”

My banking experience is a good picture of a spiritual truth. God only excepts one type of currency, and it is the blood of His Son. People attempt to pay for their sins with foreign change, but God will not take it. The foreign currency brought to God’s salvation store is so varied I could not list them all – baptism, donating money to the church, having the good outweigh the bad in our lives, not committing heinous sins like murder or rape – the list may be endless.

Without the blood of Christ, you do not belong to God. If you have not been bought with the acceptable currency, no transaction will be made, ownership never transferred, and God does not have ownership.

There are more words used to describe the blood of Christ, but space prohibits me from illustrating them all, but in addition to remission and purchased, here are the rest: “Justified by his blood” (Romans 5:9); “How much more shall the blood of Christ … purge your conscience” (Hebrews 9:14); “ye were not redeemed with corruptible things … however, with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19); “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7); “washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Revelation 1:5).

Seven words, (remission, purchased, justified, purge, redeemed, cleanseth, and washed) all with different meanings, but when used collectively in conjunction with the blood of Jesus Christ, it becomes apparent the only way to remove the sin that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) is not with our religious rituals, or our good works, or our lack of evil works, or with anything else, but only with the blood of God’s Son.

Obviously, there is no store out there where we can walk up, pull a vial of Jesus’ blood from our pocket and purchase salvation, so how is this done? How does the blood bring the remission, the cleansing, the justification, and so on?

God tells us it is “through faith in his blood” that brings justification, and remission of sins (Romans 3:24-25).

Think of it this way, if God were to ask, “Why should I let you into heaven?” Whatever you answer is what you are trusting in to save you. Your baptism? Good works? That you are no worse than anyone else? None of those currencies will be accepted.

Do you have faith in His blood to save you? If you do, you have the currency God is willing to take.

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By Timothy Johnson

Preacher’s Point

Preacher Johnson is pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County Indiana. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.preacherjohnson.com. E-book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TUJTV2A If you email, inform me where you have seen Preacher’s Point. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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