The Blood Still Washes

The Blood of Jesus is God’s solution to Man’s Sin problem. And just as it was prophesied in the Old, the New Testament is replete with references that emphasizes this important aspect of our salvation.

The Blood cleanses, qualifies, and sanctifies. Jesus didn’t shed His blood on the Cross for Himself; as a Believer the Blood is there for you. Take advantage of it today.

Tit 2:14 (GW) He gave himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good things.

Heb 1:3 (NLTse) When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honour at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

Heb 9:14 (CEV) But Christ was sinless, and he offered himself as an eternal and spiritual sacrifice to God. That's why his blood is much more powerful and makes our consciences clear. Now we can serve the living God and no longer do things that lead to death.

Tit 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

1Cor 6:11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Eph 5:26 So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

John 15:3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

1 John 1:7 (AMP) … and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

What’s Your Plea?

In law, a “plea” is the defendant’s answer to a charge in a court of law, especially one stating that he or she is guilty or not guilty. Defence attorneys typically instruct their clients to say, “not guilty” irrespective of their guilt.

Saying “Not guilty” in law isn’t the same thing as “I’m innocent”; it’s just the accused way of telling the prosecution to prove his/her guilt without the accused's help!

Such a declaration would be untenable, however, in the court of Heaven considering that the accused is aware the Judge (God) is omniscient and would have no difficulty proving their guilt.

Job 9:2-3 says “how can a mortal be declared righteous to God? If he wished to debate with God, he wouldn’t be able to answer one question in a thousand.” (GW).

This is a fact that many, including believers, fail to understand. When they sin, they resort to all sorts of solutions.

Some claim comparisons, insisting that at least they’re not as bad as others.

Some defiantly resist the notion of accountability to an arbitrary Creator somewhere, and act as if their denial automatically absolves their guilt.

Still others, especially god-fearing ones, impose on themselves some sort of punishment for their sins. They try to do some sort of penance. They punish themselves, or expect/accept punishment for their wrongdoing.

Robert Lowry’s hymn, however, clearly spells out the scriptural response to the Believer’s guilt:

For my cleansing this my plea

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

1Jn 2:1,2 calls Jesus our “Advocate”; and in the court of Heaven, your advocate has only one advice for you: “PLEA THE BLOOD”.

“for without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.” (Heb 9:22 AMP).

           

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

"Nothing But"

How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation; – Heb 2:3

According to Dr. C.M. Hawn, professor of church music at Perkins School of Theology, the hymn Nothing but the Blood, is particularly responsible for the wholesale rejection of all “Blood hymns” by many today.

Such hymns are considered crude, gory and offensive to the sensibilities of twenty-first-century singers.

Nevertheless, the lyrics of these hymns, when honestly considered in their context says nothing of gore or horridness. Several national anthems, including those of the United States and France, mention blood; yet no one’s raised a complaint on them.

Perhaps, just perhaps, it’s not “the Blood” that’s the problem, but the “nothing but” that comes before it.

Robert Lowry’s hymn doesn’t just say that the Blood cleanses, it says only the Blood cleanses. This type of exclusivity is clearly anathema in this age of plurality and open thinking. Videos that stipulate that Christianity is the only way are being censored on YouTube and preachers who plainly aver that all religions apart from Christ are wrong are labelled as bigoted, colonialist, even racist.

But Truth by its nature is exclusive. There’s only one Queen of England. To say anyone who avers such is insular borders on insanity and senselessness.

The Blood of Jesus is the only thing that cleanses from sin. It is God’s solution to Man’s problem. To insist there has to be other solutions is nothing but naivety and sinful pride.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Every Man’s Question

...and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. – 1 John 1:7

Sin is humankind’s primary problem. Not ignorance, not failed systems or warped cultures. Not even the Devil. It’s sin. More than mere wrongdoing, sin is a nature; a heinous virus ensconced and hardwired into our DNA. Getting people to understand this vital fact is the evangelist’s core work.

And knowing that we have a sin problem will lead to a most natural question:

”What then can wash away my sins?”

In 1876, Robert Lowry, an American professor, minister and composer, asked and answered this question in the classic hymn “Nothing but the Blood”.

The hymn begins with a question: “What can wash away my sin?” and in the succeeding lines he answers the question – consistently and repeatedly, over a dozen times – it’s “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

The Scriptures is the only religious volume that guarantees total and absolute cleansing from sin; and that comes through the Blood of Christ, shed on the Cross at Calvary for us. Right from the Old Testament, the inspired writers prophesied of a time of cleansing and absolute guiltlessness for God’s people:

Eze 36:25;29 “I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols…I will save you from all your uncleanness;”

Jer 33:8 “I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities.”

Zec 13:1 “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.”

Eze 37:23 I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.”

Those days the prophets spoke about, is Today. Run to the Cross now, and be cleansed and made whole.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Remember the Blood?

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. – Col 1:14

It’s becoming old-fashioned, it seems, in this modern age of ‘progressive’ philosophy and ‘enlightened’ thinking, to talk about things like substitution, atonement or the Blood!

We just don’t do that anymore.

Heaven forbid that in our Sunday sermon we inadvertently offend or seem to alienate a ‘seeker’ or visitor in the audience with such macabre references and lose them eternally because of our tactlessness, right?

Sermons are now more about introspections, “self-discovery”, “empowerment” and all other forms of psychobabble. It’s becoming politically incorrect to refer to “sins” now. Instead we talk about “dysfunctions”, “inner wounds”, “weaknesses”, etc.

Is it any wonder, then, why the Blood is no longer a relevant topic? But Jesus didn’t come to heal our “wounds”, He came to die for our sins! When John the Baptist saw Him, he introduced Him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

When we shield our so-called ‘seekers’ from the Blood, we’re shielding them from the only thing that can save them. Because the problem of man goes beyond the head (ignorance), or the heart (emotional dysfunction); the problem of man is SIN. And, as Heb 9:22 points out, “without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.” (AMP).

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN