Redemption and Blood

Whilst researching Sundays sermon on Redemption I read many very interesting things. One of which I would like to share with you on this new blog, A quote from the great church father ANSELM - The debt was so great, that while man alone owed it, only God could pay it. CJ Maheney in The Cross Centred Life reports this story:

She was what psychologists call a "cutter" - and a friend of mine (who's a pastor) wrote me a letter in which he described an unforgettable counseling session with this troubled young woman.

It was her mother who had asked for the meeting, as my firend explained to me: 2she related how he oldest daughter had been in the emergency room four times so far that year. Three times she had cut herself so deeply that stitches were required. Another time she had taken a bottle of pills, survived, and was detained in a psychiatric ward for teenagers. Now back at home, her daughter had cut herself again." The pastor agreed to meet with the daughter.

The next day, the woman's daughter walked into my office. My friend's letter explains how the session developed:

She wore an oversized turtleneck with sleeves that went down almost completely over her hands. After a time of gentle questions and listening, the conversation turned to "cutting." She said that when she was upset with herself, or upset over the offences of other people, she cut herself. It seemed to relieve tension. Cleaning up from the bloody wounds distracted her from other problems.

She pulled up her sleeve and showed me her arm, and I don't think I will ever forget the sight. That image stayed in my mind for days and was painful every time I recalled it.

What could I do? All I really knew about biblical counselling was to pray for people and to tell the about the gospel. Very small errors in a person's understanding of the gospel seemed to result in very big problems in that person's life.

The pastor pulled out a pad of paper and drew out for the young woman a diagram of the gospel. He agreed with her that blood can indeed "solve problem" - but pointed out that the blood "did not have to be here own, and that the cutting had already been done on her behalf. The Spirit brought illumination, and she prayed to accept the gospel."

At the time the pastor wrote tome, six months had passed since that meeting, and the young woman had gone the entireduration without cutting herself again.

Yes it requires blood to solve our very worst possible problem. For God, who in righteous wisdom determined that sin's just penalty is death, also determined that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

That is really all simply to say that redemption was accomplished and it cost nothing less than the unimaginably valuable blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to solve the problem that sits at the very basal level of all humanity our slavery to sin.