After God calls us, there is repentance and belief. Once we believe, God sprinkles us with the blood shed on the cross by His Son. Without the sprinkling of the blood, God has no way to do the subsequent steps of the work of salvation in us. This is because we were filthy and sinful.
First Peter 1:2 refers to the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” The sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus upon us is its application. We were evil, filthy, and full of transgressions, God’s condemnation was upon us, and there was no way for the record of our sins to be annulled. But when the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus was sprinkled upon us, it solved all these problems. The blood not only covered our sins; it also purged them away. The sprinkling of the blood upon us enables God to continue with many works of grace within us.
As soon as the blood is sprinkled upon us, we are redeemed. The blood is for redemption.
Ephesians 1:7 says, “In whom we have redemption through His blood.” The emphasis in redemption is on being redeemed, not on being saved. Although there is the connotation of being saved, being saved does not come first; redemption does. After we sinned, we came under the condemnation of God’s righteous law. We needed to pay the price of the righteous requirement of God’s law in order to be freed from the law. We were bound by the law and were under the condemnation of the righteous requirement of the law. However, the Lord Jesus shed His blood on the cross, satisfying the righteous requirement of the law and paying that price for us. Hence, as soon as the blood was sprinkled upon us, we were delivered from the law and freed from the condemnation of the law. This is redemption from the law through the blood of the Lord Jesus.
The price of redemption is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. First Peter 1:19 says that we were redeemed “with precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ.” To be redeemed is to be bought. We were redeemed by the Lord’s precious blood as the ransom. This is our being purchased by God. Therefore, Acts 20:28 says that God obtained the believers through His own blood. Because the blood had been sprinkled upon us, we were redeemed and freed from the law unto God.
Surely, a redeemed person’s sins have been forgiven. Acts 10:43, 1 John 2:12, and Colossians 2:13 show that as soon as we believe in the Lord and are redeemed, God forgives us of all our sins, and the record of our sins is completely settled before God. All the sins that we committed before God are forgiven and dealt with once and for all, and we are no longer condemned. Since we have been sprinkled by the blood and have thus been redeemed, our sins, regardless of how great, how numerous, how deep, and how serious, are forgiven by God.
We are not only forgiven; we are also washed. Being forgiven means that the liability for sins is gone. Being washed means that the record of sins is gone. For example, any debt I owe is recorded in an account book. If you relieve me of my debt, I will no longer be responsible to repay it. However, my account book will still have a record of the debt I owed you. If we could use a chemical solution to completely remove this record from the account book, there would no longer be any trace of the record. God not only forgives us, but He also washes us, washing away the traces of our sins. This is clearly shown in Revelation 1:5 and 1 Corinthians 6:11. He used His blood to wash away our sins. God has washed us in Christ because we believed in the Lord.
The emphasis of being sanctified is not on becoming holy and pure. The word sanctified in the original text, whether in the Old or New Testament, means being separated. To be sanctified is to be separated. A person who has been called by God, sprinkled with the blood, redeemed, forgiven, and washed has spontaneously been separated unto God. Previously, he was among the worldly people, but now he has been separated unto God. Formerly, he was with sinners and in a crowd of sinners. Now he has been separated unto God. This separation unto God is to be sanctified.
First Corinthians 6:11, 1:2, and Romans 1:7 show that once a person is saved, God separates him unto Himself; he belongs to God and is thereby sanctified.
When we eat, the food on the table is sanctified through our prayer (1 Tim. 4:5). Formerly, the food was common and was intended for worldly people, but our prayer separates the food unto God for His use, thereby making it holy. This is what sanctification means. Likewise, we were once the descendants of Adam, the people of the world; we were in a crowd of sinners and were for the world and sin. One day, however, God called us, sprinkled us with His blood, and separated us unto the name of the Lord. Once separated in this way, we became sanctified.
Some people think that a person is first justified and then sanctified. According to experience, we need to be justified before we can have a sanctified living. Thus, it can be said that sanctification follows justification. However, as a matter of fact and position, we are sanctified and then justified. When 1 Corinthians 6:11 speaks of being sanctified and justified, the sequence is that we are washed, sanctified, and justified.
Unless a person is sprinkled with the blood, redeemed, forgiven, washed, and sanctified by God, God has no way to justify him. In order to be justified by God, a person must be sprinkled with the blood of the Son of God, redeemed by God, forgiven by God, washed by God, and sanctified by God unto God. Such a person is no longer condemned by God or by God’s law. Hence, God can justify him. This is not by a person’s works but by Christ and His redemption. This is presented in 1 Corinthians 6:11 and Romans 5:1.