“but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

but with the precious blood of Christ

Note the word “precious.” This word fits the idea of ransom because ransom prices are high. There was a great personal cost to the Lord Jesus. He could have stayed in heaven. If so, we would have remained in the slave market forever and spent eternity without Christ. That did not happen. Jesus did die for us. He paid that awful price.

Sacrificial death for sin is ridiculed today. To the Christian, there is nothing more valuable, dear, or precious. The word “precious” indicates value. We value His shed blood because it cost Him a great price. “Value” carries the idea of costliness. The value of the shed blood of Christ is priceless.

Shed blood was a costly act. It cost the humiliation of Christ in becoming a man; it cost the death of His humanity. As in no other Scripture, God reveals the price of redemption. The Old Testament lamb prepared the way. The sacrificial lamb made it a necessity that blood be shed and that the lamb is without spot.

You may say, “Could not God have saved us some other way? Isn’t there some other price that could have paid for our sin?” No! The nature of God demands that He is consistent with Himself.

If God is absolute, then He is absolutely holy. Anyone in His presence must be absolutely holy. For someone to go into God’s presence (go to heaven), he or she must be as holy as God is. But you say, “I can’t be that righteous!” That is true (Romans 3:10,23). In yourself, you cannot. In fact, you already have a positive demerit; you were born a sinner (Psalm 51:5). Because we were born sinners, then we were destined to become sinners in act. Sin is part of our nature. Therefore, there is no way for humans to save themselves. Salvation must come by another.

The only way for us to be as righteous as God is righteous (Romans 3:24-26) is through someone who never sinned Himself. Jesus was never a slave to sin. He did not receive Adam’s sinful nature because He was virgin-born. He was not a sinner by nature nor by act. He was the only truly free man. “The wages of sin is death.”

This is a principle God set up in Genesis three. Jesus never sinned, so He did not have to die. He chose to die. As the only free man, He bought us out of the slave market of sin with the purchasing power of His blood. Jesus paid for our sins with his blood.

PRINCIPLE:

Jesus obtained our salvation at great personal cost.

APPLICATION:

The cost of our redemption is high – the shed blood of Christ. The commodity of the salvation of the soul is so high that neither money nor religion nor tradition could purchase it. How can Christians squander their life, which cost the death of our Lord Jesus?

By his death on the cross, Jesus opened the door of the slave market of sin. We will stay in the slave market if we do not open the door.

How can you walk through the door? By faith, accept the work Christ did for you on the cross. Just walk through the door, believing Christ opened it for you. Jesus paid for every sin you have ever personally committed or ever will commit.

This is why we gather around the Lord’s supper. We remember the Lord’s death; we remember the purpose of His death – He died for our personal sins upon the cross. God instituted a system for nailing in our minds the preciousness of the sacrifice of Christ’s death for our sins. He made possible the escape from judgment to come. This is the unmistakable sound of the gospel.

Do you cherish the death of Christ for your sins? What value is His death to you?