Being Made Clean, Part 2 - Our Unrighteousness, Christ's Blood and Our Salvation

Part 2 of today's message continues with more thoughts on Leviticus 15:31:

“‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.’” Leviticus 15:31

We still have to deal with the unclean things of this world today, which we must set aside.  We also still have to struggle with the sin issue today, as we are all born sinners (Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-2; Psalms 51:5)   This sin will result in our spiritual death until we accept Christ's perfect (I Peter 2:22) sacrifice for them. God is still holy, and still requires righteousness.  However, we do not have to perform all the sacrifices, cleansing ceremonies, and purifying of material possessions today like the Israelites had do to in the time before Christ.  Why?  Consider the following:

First, we must accept that there are consequences for our sin.  Without cleansing, we are doomed to eternal death.

" For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

Next, we must recognize that we cannot make amends for uncleanliness or sin ourselves.  And we also know that the sacrifices and cleansing ceremonies were only a temporary relief from sin or uncleanliness.  The priests had to perform these ceremonies endlessly with the blood of lambs, goats, calves, doves, etc. on a continuous basis for all sin (spiritual uncleanliness), whether committed in ignorance or a blatant disregard.  They also had to make clean anything that had become physically unclean (food, childbirth, open sores, mold, bodily discharges).  No sacrifice could fully and completely cleanse you under the Law.

"For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh..." Romans 8:3a

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."  Hebrews 10:1-4

"Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins." Hebrews 10:11

"For it is by grace you have been saved,through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 (emphasis mine)

Finallly, we must accept Christ's sacrifice for us, a sacrifice made once and for all time.  Christ is our sin offering today.  Without him, we are still dead in our sins.  Unlike the sacrifices, He only needed to die once for all time.  Today, he is our perfect high priest, who gave himself for us.

“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Jeremiah 31:33-34

"...God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:3b-4

"Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’”

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.  And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Hebrews 10:5-10

"But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Hebrews 10:12-14

" For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit." I Peter 3:18

This Easter, remember Christ's sacrifice for us.  But do more than this.  Make it personal.  See it not only as an historical event which shaped human history, but see it as a personal live-giving experience.  See it as not just an event, but a personal life-defining moment.  See it not just as a loving God dying to save the world, but a loving God who died on the cross for you.  See it as your "born-again" experience.  One day we will stand before God in judgement.  Will you continue to try and justify yourself, fruitlessly and in vain?  Or will you accept God's sacrifice once for all time?  May God be glorified for His loving sacrifice for us.