A young woman wandered into a church service one day, heard the message of God’s love for her in Christ, and was led by the Spirit of God to put her trust in Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and even prostitution. But all that changed once she met Jesus. In fact, the change was obvious in her life. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children.

It was not very long before this faithful young woman caught the eye and heart of a young man in the congregation. In fact, it was the pastor’s son. The relationship grew and they started to make wedding plans. This is when the problems began. You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor’s son. The members of the church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting.

This was one of those knock-down-drag-out church meetings where the way people talked and acted didn’t make them look like the followers of Jesus they were supposed to be. It got pretty ugly. As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past. As she began to cry the pastor’s son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be. So this is what he said:

“My fiancée’s past is not what is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?”

When the people assembled heard that question, it hit them right between the eyes. They all began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did the death of Jesus bring forgiveness or not? Was His sacrifice enough to cover all sins? Either Jesus paid for all sins or He didn’t pay for any of them – which is true?

Too often, Christians we bring up the past and use it as a weapon against our brothers and sisters. I’ve heard it described this way: “All too often the Church shoots its wounded!” That is the exact opposite of how we should treat each other. Forgiveness is at the core of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely then it cannot cleanse us completely. If that is the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble.

But that is not the case. The message of God in His Word is clear.

1 John 1:7-9 … the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

We rejoice in the knowledge that no matter what our sins have been, we have forgiveness for Jesus’ sake. Let’s remember that our brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what their sins have been, enjoy that same forgiveness.