Blood Test

Blood Test

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

By Pastor Jim May

Yesterday I went in to the doctor’s office for a blood test. I wanted to know that I still had some, and that what I had was in good shape. The usual cholesterol, sugar levels, etc. are being checked. It was all in an effort to try to maintain a healthy body for as long as I can. I’m sure that all of you have had blood tests from time to time. Blood tests for the sake of a healthy body are a necessity.

But there is a far more important blood test that we need to submit ourselves to. We can get that test anytime we need it, and we surely get it every time we come to church.

Blood is mentioned over 300 times in the Bible and is essential to the doctrine of Jesus’ blood as an atonement for our sin. The shed blood of the Son of God is the heart of the Gospel, for it is through "that blood that we have hope today. If we quit preaching the blood; if we fail to talk about the blood; or if we take the blood of Jesus for granted then we have lost the true purpose of the church and we have become nothing more than sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.

Some years ago a terrible railroad accident occurred, killing a lot of people. A commuter train had stalled on the tracks just a few minutes before a fast freight train was due to arrive. The conductor was quickly sent to flag down the approaching train.

Those on board the commuter train weren’t concerned. After all, the railroad workers had everything under control. They just sat quietly, some even took a nap, while others sipped coffee and read the newspapers.

Then the unthinkable happened. The fast freight was seen just yards away and still traveling fast. It smashed into the rear of the commuter train, sending wreckage in ever direction and screams from dying passengers. Train cars were stacked and thrown around like toys, but under them and around them were dismembered bodies and corpses everywhere.

The engineer on the freight train had survived by jumping out of the cab of the locomotive just moments before the impact. He was brought to court in the investigation of the accident to explain why he had not stopped when he saw the conductor flagging him down.

Listen to his answer, “I saw the man waving a flag, but it wasn’t red, it was yellow and yellow flags mean slow down, not stop. I slowed down, but continued forward until I saw the back of the commuter train, but it was too late to stop before we could reach the train in front of us. I could do nothing at all, so I jumped.”

The warning flag was then introduced as evidence and it truly was no longer bright red. It had been red at one time, but because of long exposure to the sun and weather it had become a dirty yellow. Neglect and abuse had turned a powerful warning into a deadly mistake.

My friends we need to have a blood test every time we come to church to make sure that we aren’t preaching a “false gospel” where the power of the blood of Jesus has faded away. A “yellow, weak, faded gospel, void of the red blood of Jesus Christ, cannot save a lost soul. If we don’t preach the truth, that only through the blood of Jesus can men be saved, then we are doing nothing more than waving a yellow flag and sending souls to their eternal doom.

Only Jesus and His blood, sacrificed on the cross can redeem a soul from hell. Don’t let yourself be deceived by an anemic "yellow gospel" of works that is powerless to save you from everlasting destruction. That’s the kind of gospel that most churches preach in our times.

It’s like the old song says, “There is a fountain filled with blood; Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood; Lose all their guilty stains.

When we come to church, or get alone with God, we need to do a check up from the neck up sometimes, and make sure that the arteries of blessing that come only through the blood of Jesus are open wide and not blocking the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The precious blood of Christ is a wonderful thing. It does so much for our lives that we can’t even begin to fathom all that His blood does in us and for us.

His blood allows us to enter into the very presence of God just as the High Priest was able to enter the Holy of Holies only by the blood of the sacrificial lamb. It consecrates us, cleanses us and makes us worthy to stand before God.