Once a pastor concluded his message by saying, “God doesn’t just cancel debt. He pays it by His blood.” This made one of the men in the congregation very uncomfortable.

After the service, the man walked up to the pastor and asked, “Why do you have to talk about the blood of Jesus? I don’t see why anyone needs it to be saved. I was saved without it.”

The pastor thought for a minute, and then asked, “My good man, can you tell me how you have been saved?”

“Of course. I follow Christ’s example as the Bible says in 1 Peter 2:21.”

The pastor questioned further, “Have you ever sinned?”

“Well, yes — but nothing major.”

“Then sir, you don’t need an example; you need a Savior.”

The blood of Jesus is now viewed by many as a crudity which should be removed from all dialogue in the Church. Some churches have even removed references to it from their hymnals. What our politically-correct world fails to realize is the fact that Christ’s blood is the very bridge of salvation. No sinner can approach God the Father unless he comes through the blood of Jesus.

If mankind only needed a good example for salvation, then God would have provided it. Perhaps He would have sent an angel, as I proposed yesterday. Regardless, He would not have allowed the blood of His beloved Son to be spent at the cross.

However, a Savior is what mankind needed. Without the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness for sins. That is what God provided, and that is what Jesus is — not a good Example, but a Savior. Christ died and shed His blood to pay for your sins. Then He rose again from the dead, showing that His payment had been accepted by the Father. This is good news. Eternal life is yours when Christ becomes your Savior by faith. Why not put your trust in Him right now?

Click here to discover why you can consider Christ a Savior, and not just an Example.

Today Jesus Christ is being dispatched as the Figurehead of a Religion, a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more; He is salvation itself, He is the Gospel of God. — Oswald Chambers

Devotional by Pastor Jim Scudder, Jr.

My wife and daughters take the phrase “shop ‘til you drop” a little too literally at Christmastime. They’ll take the van to the nearest shopping mall and have a tailgating party with Christmas cookies and hot chocolate, just to catch the early sales. As soon as the doors open, they’ll rush in the stores like kids in a candy store, loaded with purses and pocketbooks. Usually several hours later, they will exit the mall, each carrying no less than six oversized bags full of Christmas gifts, wrapping paper, and Christmas cards.

If you think I join the ladies for their Christmas shopping spree, you’re mistaken. I stay home and try to figure out how I’m going to foot the bill. Christmas cookies, anyone?

I’m kidding about my family’s shopping tradition. But I believe the whole idea of paying debts is a great representation of sin. Every person in the world who has ever lived or will live is, by nature, a sinner and worthy of the death penalty. All have come short of the glory of God save One, and that is Jesus Christ. He never sinned, but was perfect, righteous, and holy. Jesus came to become sin for us so we could be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). We must only believe to receive this free gift.

It seems like Christmas gifts (and the shopping bills) are getting more expensive with each passing year. But do you know what’s worse than owing outstanding debt to a merchant? It’s your sin debt. Put your trust in Him Who died and rose again to pay for all your sins, and your debt will be canceled.

And when the grand twelve million jury
Of our sins, with direful fury,
Against our souls black verdicts give,
Christ pleads His death, and then we live. — Sir Walter Raleigh

Devotional by Pastor Jim Scudder, Jr.