@Ritajanice
At the time of our salvation, we accepted the blood, and its efficacy brought us the forgiveness of sins. Yet His blood did not change our heart. We may have been dishonest before we were saved.
However, we can still lie after we are saved.
We may have been covetous before we were saved, and we can still be somewhat covetous after we are saved. We may have been unrighteous before we were saved, and we can still be unrighteous after we are saved. We may have been unclean before we were saved, and we can still be unclean after we are saved. We may have been unforgiving before we were saved, and we can still be very mean after we are saved.
At the time we were saved, we might have thought that being a Christian was a smooth-sailing journey. Yet we discovered that things were contrary to our anticipations.
We discovered that a continuous succession of sinful acts continued to be found in us even though we had been washed of our past sins by the precious blood of the Lord. Hence, the Lord's blood not only must wash away the sins that we have committed, but He must come up with a way to deal with the sin-factory that manufactures these sins.
If the factory is not dealt with, the removal of only the sin-products would be like putting the cart before the horse. Soon products will roll out of the factory again. In order to deal with the products thoroughly, the factory itself must be destroyed. Sins have been dealt with already, but the person who produces the sins may still be there. Therefore, there is still the need to deal with the person.
There was a believer in Chuenchow who experienced much victory and peace during the first two or three weeks after his salvation. But after a few weeks, he began to lose his temper just as he once did. He was bothered very much. When I spoke to him, I illustrated his condition in the following way. Once I met a young child who asked me to wash his clay doll. I told him that a clay doll could not be washed. However, he insisted that I do it for him. Eventually, I had to give in. The more I washed the doll, the dirtier it became. Eventually, all the hair of the doll came off, and the child cried bitterly at the sight. I said, "I told you so. A clay doll cannot be washed. Do not cry anymore. I will buy you a new doll." We are like the clay doll; if we try to wash our sins in an outward way, the more we wash, the dirtier we will become. We must deal with the problem from within. Only then can we settle the problem of sin once and for all.
God's twofold salvation — the blood and the cross
Man is filled with sin inwardly and outwardly. Whatever man does is sin, and whatever man has not done is also sin. Man is truly corrupted from within. We are like a heavy debtor who owes a great deal of money. We have no means to pay our debts, yet the Lord paid all of our debts. Thank the Lord that He has paid all of our debts. This is a tremendous relief to us. However, we are the kind of person who makes a thousand dollars, but spends twelve thousand. Our Lord has paid our debts, but we continue to borrow. We are habitual borrowers, and we live by borrowing. Our sins are forgiven, but we continue to sin. We, our person, are sinners, and we are constituted with sin. Hence, there is a need to not only deal with our acts of sins, but the person who sins as well. Sins are dealt with by the blood of Christ, whereas the person is dealt with by the cross of Christ.
The blood washes us of our sins and removes our outward acts of sins. Without the blood, man cannot be redeemed by God. But there is also the cross that puts to death the old man and annuls man's inward nature of sin. The Bible never says that the blood can wash away the "I," the self, the old man, the ego, or the flesh. The clay doll can never be washed clean. The biblical way to deal with the sinner is to "remove him." This is the work of the cross. The cross takes away the old man and crucifies it (Rom. 6:6).
There is no place in the Bible that indicates the blood washes away our self, our old man, our lusts, or our flesh. A friend wrote a hymn that said, "The blood washes clean all lusts and evils." This is wrong. Lust can only be crucified by the cross (Gal 5:24), because lust is not an outward act; it is related to our inward nature. We must be careful to differentiate between the function of the blood and the function of the cross.
The biblical teaching concerning the blood
In the Old Testament
Let us now spend some time to study the Bible and see what it says about the blood. Leviticus 17:11 says, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make propitiation for your souls; for it is the blood which, by the life, makes propitiation." The Old Testament mentions the blood over three hundred times, but Leviticus 17:11 is the only place where the function of the blood is explained. This is the only place in the Old Testament that tells us that the blood is for propitiation.
In the four Gospels
We also need to see what the four Gospels say about the blood. There are not many instances in the four Gospels where the blood is mentioned. In Matthew 26:28, the Lord spoke to the disciples before His betrayal, saying, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." This shows us the function of the blood. The blood is for the forgiveness of sins. On the night before the Lord's death, He explained the function of the blood, which is for the forgiveness of sins. Contrary to the assertion of the modernists, who say that the blood was merely an indication of sacrifice, the blood of Christ was shed for man's redemption.
The apostle Paul
Let us consider the apostle's concept of the blood. In Romans 3:25 the apostle Paul said, "Whom God set forth as a propitiation place through faith in His blood, for the demonstrating of His righteousness, in that in His forbearance God passed over the sins that had previously occurred." The word "propitiation" is the same as the word denoting mercy seat in Greek; it is the flat covering on top of the ark. It is also called the throne of grace. Within the ark was the law, which condemned man and judged his sins. But the covering, that is, the throne of grace, was on top of the ark. This means that all sins are under the throne of grace, and God does not see them anymore. Paul told us that this propitiation cover is just the Lord Jesus, and that it is enacted by God through the blood of Jesus.
A Seventh-day Adventist believer once hung the Ten Commandments on the wall, with the fourth commandment cut out as a reminder that breaking the Sabbath is breaking the fourth commandment. Actually even when a person keeps the Sabbath, he sins against all ten commandments as soon as he breaks any of the other commandments.
Thank God that the Lord Jesus has become our propitiation cover. He is sitting on top of the law. The law cannot condemn us any longer. The only way we can be condemned by the law is if we put aside the Lord Jesus (Rom. 8:33-34).
Ephesians 1:7, 2:13, and Hebrews 9:12-14 and 22 say that Christ shed His blood to redeem us from sin. The blood is for the washing away of sins; it is not to wash our hearts. Man's heart is too evil, and the blood cannot wash it. Man's heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9) and all wicked things proceed from within the heart (Mark 7:23). The blood does not change a wicked heart into a good heart; the blood only washes away our sins and cleanses us of them. There is no verse in the Bible that tells us that the Lord's blood washes our heart. Some may say that in the Chinese Union Version Hebrews 10:22 says that the blood washes our heart. But actually this verse only says that the blood cleanses our conscience. Our conscience is related to sin. When a man sins, his conscience is no longer at peace. Once a man sins, he dares not come to God. There is a barrier between him and God. He dares not face God and is afraid to see Him. But the blood of Jesus has been shed. God cannot be unrighteous; He has to wash away our sins. We have incurred a debt of sin, and the blood has paid our debt for us. The Lord Jesus has shed His blood for us, and God has to acknowledge this. Since Christ has borne our sins for us, God can no longer claim any payment from us. A debt can only claim payment once; it cannot claim payment twice. Once we have such a faith, our conscience will be at peace.
Some have asked if a person is saved through God's righteousness or through His grace. We are saved through His righteousness. From the time the Son of God was born to the time He was crucified, we see grace. But from the time He was lifted up on the cross, we see God's righteousness. Because the Lord has died, God has to forgive us. It was perfectly all right for God not to send His Son to die for us; this would merely have meant that God was not being gracious to us. But now that He has sent His Son to die for us, He has to forgive us because He cannot be unrighteous. Being unrighteous means to sin, and God cannot sin; therefore, He cannot be unrighteous. Since the Lord Jesus has shed His blood, God has to forgive all who believe in Him.
The apostle Peter
In 1 Peter 1:18-19, the apostle Peter said, "Knowing that it was not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, that you were redeemed from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ." The Bible never says that sin is dealt with by the cross. The cross only deals with the old man. The Bible tells us that sin is dealt with by the precious blood of Christ.
W. Nee