Simply Beautiful
Join me, Amy Keck, each week as I weave the simple wisdom of Scripture with the beauty of poetry. May each reflection be a gentle reminder that faith blooms through time spent in God's word.
Simply Beautiful
Cleansed from Sin
Sin eats away at who we are like leprosy, leaving spiritual wounds we can't heal ourselves. In this episode, Amy Keck explores how Christ's blood becomes the healing balm for our afflicted souls. What wounds are you carrying that need divine cleansing?
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Welcome to Simply Beautiful Podcast. This is Amy Keck. Thank you for joining me today. The topic today is Cleansed from Sin. 1 Thessalonians 5.16-18 says he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Speaker 1:Chuck Swindoll told of a time when he came face to face with leprosy. He says during my hitch in the Marines back in 1958, I was stationed on Okinawa where there was a leprosarium. At the time I was playing in the third division band in the Marine Corps and we were to do a performance on the north part of the island of Okinawa, a performance on the north part of the island of Okinawa. I had read about leprosy but I had never seen a leper and I wasn't really prepared for what I saw. We went over a bridge or two and got into the interior of this compound. I saw stumps instead of hands. I saw clumps instead of fingers. I saw half faces. I saw one ear instead of two. I saw the dredges of humanity unable even to applaud our performance. We could play music for them, but we could not cleanse them of their disease. Only Jesus' blood has the power to cleanse us of our condition of sinful corruption. The blood of Christ provides direct access to God On the cross. At the moment when Jesus released his spirit, the curtain in the sanctuary of the tabernacle was torn in two from top to bottom.
Speaker 1:The first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship in a physical place of worship here on earth. The place of worship was called the tabernacle. There were two rooms in that tabernacle. The first room was called the holy place and behind a curtain was a second room called the Most Holy Place. The curtain that divided these two rooms was huge. It was said to be 60 feet high, 30 feet wide and 30 feet long and four inches thick. It was so heavy that it took hundreds of priests to handle it. Hebrews 9, 6-15 tells us that the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties, but only the high priest ever entered the most holy place, and only once a year. By these regulations, the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the most holy place it was not freely open as long as the tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
Speaker 1:This is an illustration. It's an illustration pointing to the present time For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the conscious of the people who bring them. For that old system dealt with ceremonial cleansing. For that old system dealt with ceremonial cleansing. These were physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established. So Christ the high priest was the better system.
Speaker 1:Christ the high priest has entered the greater, more perfect tabernacle, which is heaven, with his own blood, not the blood of goats or calves. He entered the most holy place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. The blood of Christ secures our redemption, but it also offers believers Jesus's righteousness. You see, under the old system, you see, under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people's bodies for ceremonial purposes. Yet think how much more the blood of Christ purifies our minds from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.
Speaker 1:According to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood, for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9.22. That is why the tabernacle and everything in it had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things, the things in heaven, had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals, for Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands. Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands. He entered into heaven, heaven itself, to appear before God on our behalf. He did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again and again, like the high priest here on earth who entered the most holy place year after year. If that had been necessary, christ would have had to die again and again. No, christ was offered once for all time. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting His return. You know, sin is like leprosy it eats away at who we are.
Speaker 1:I often find Romans 7.15 to be true in my own life, find Romans 7 15 to be true in my own life. It says I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I am commanded to be holy, to be set apart, yet on my own I do not have the capability to do this. I might, in my own strength, try to stop performing an action I know is sinful. I might set up systems to keep me accountable, I might even radically adjust my life to live differently, and all of these things are good steps towards living a holy life, but these things are not enough. Trust me, the moment you find yourself hurt, exhausted, angry, resentful or tense is when you do the very thing you do not want to be doing.
Speaker 1:The blood of Christ is like a salve, a salve that is applied over the stumps, the clumps and the half faces that sin has eaten away. The blood of Christ, when applied to the wounded areas of our lives, offer relief. It abolishes infection and it provides healing to the wounds that our sin has caused. It is a work of Christ. It is a healing balm to the afflicted. It doesn't change the effects of sin, but it does bring healing, wholeness and restoration to what sin has tried to destroy, to what sin has tried to destroy. Jesus' blood has the power to cleanse us of our condition of sinful corruption.
Speaker 1:If you find you have never been cleansed from sin, I'd like to encourage you. I would like to encourage you to believe on the Lord, jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Ask God to cleanse you of your sin. Ask Him to apply His blood to the wounds that your sin has caused. Ask Him to help you think of sins that hurt him and possibly others. You might even have some things come to your mind where you need to offer an apology to someone that you have hurt or sinned against, or you might seek reconciliation with someone that has hurt you, and you know, do it If things come to your mind, if a situation comes to your mind, a person comes to your mind, apologize, confess. You know, james 5.16 says confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. I'd like to leave you with one of my poems, entitled it Is Finished. I hope it encourages you today. Finished. I hope it encourages you today.
Speaker 1:His flesh was torn, hanging piece by piece, his body pierced, falling, rolling, dripping down his brow, tears, sweat and blood. Sweat and blood. Fixed are his eyes on my very being, piercing my soul. Broken and convicted, I fall down, face down in dirt. I taste the filth impedes my speech, silence. I am liable. A thunderous voice breaks the darkness. It is finished. The veil is torn from top to bottom. His presence, mine, his worthiness pulls me from the dirt. His righteousness is mine, forever marked by devastating stripes. His healing is mine.
