There were only two words in the headline in USA Today, but most of us understand the urgency of those two words: "Blood needed!" They were talking about an alarming shortage of blood available in blood banks due to a severe winter, a holiday season, and a bad flu season. One spokesman for the Association of Blood Banks said, "If you've had a bad car accident or a couple of gunshot wounds, you're in a world of trouble." I guess so. There is no fact more basic to human life - without the blood you need, you die.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Blood, No Life."

We understand the need for blood physically. But if God didn't explain it to us, we'd never understand our need for blood to live spiritually and to live eternally after we die. Our word for today from the Word of God tells us about it and it's a good thing. It's in Hebrews 9:22. It says, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." That's pretty straight up isn't it?

The reason forgiveness is so critical is because that's the only way to have the sins of your life removed from God's book. There's no chance of heaven for you or me if we try to go there with our sin, and there's no way to get rid of our sin without God's forgiveness. And here God tells us there's no way to get that forgiveness without blood - blood that is shed for the death penalty that sin carries.

For God's ancient people, the Jews, that meant a system of regular animal sacrifices where the shedding of a substitute's blood - the blood of that animal - could provide a way to be forgiven. But it was only temporary and it was very incomplete because, as God says later in Hebrews, "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). But then God sent to earth the only One who was perfect enough to be the substitute for all of us, shedding His blood for us. "We have been made holy" the Bible says. That means acceptable to God, "through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all" (Hebrews 10:10).

Now, there are some people who don't like all this talk about blood. But this isn't about gore. It's about love. We just don't understand the seriousness of our condition with God. We're lifelong rebels against His rule over us. We're under an eternal death penalty that can only be paid by someone dying! If you want to see the horror of all of our lies and our selfishness and our lust and our pride and our sexual sins and all the hurting we've done, just walk up to the Cross of Jesus and look at the mangled form of the Son of God. Listen as He cries out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" That's what our sin looks like. That's what it took to pay for my sin. It took the blood of the Son of God.

If you're depending on anything else, no matter how spiritual or how religious to get you to God, you're not going to make it. God provided this way for you to be forgiven, for you to live forever. The question is, have you ever been to Jesus' cross in your heart and put all your trust in the One who died there in your place? There's no reason you have to pay for your sin. Not when Jesus, in His love, already paid it for you as your substitute. The Bible says, "He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world"... and yours.

Have you ever put your total trust in Jesus to be your Savior, your Rescuer, your Forgiver? If not, why not begin your relationship with Him today? Just say, "Jesus, I've been running my own life. I resign. Today, I'm abandoning all trust in everything else and putting all my trust in You.

I'd love to help you make that commitment to Christ and understand it better. That's why our website's there. Please check it out today. It's ANewStory.com.

For you to have a relationship with your creator, for you to ever go to heaven, there's blood needed - the blood of Jesus Christ covering the sin of your life. Without the blood, we die. But life is within your reach right now, right where you are. Jesus is there.