IV. The fourth remark I have to make is this. The blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse away all your sins.
Reader, I enter on this part of my tract with a thankful heart. I bless God that after setting before you the awful nature of your spiritual disease, I am able to set before you an almighty remedy. But I feel it needful to dwell upon this remedy for a few minutes. A thing of such wondrous efficacy as this blood ought to be clearly understood: there should be no vagueness or mystery in your ideas about it. When you hear of the “blood of Christ” you ought thoroughly to comprehend what the expression means
The blood of Christ is that life-blood which Jesus shed when He died for sinners upon the cross. It is the blood which flowed so freely from His head pierced with thorns, and His hands and feet pierced with nails, and His side pierced with a spear, in the day when He was crucified and slain. The quantity of that blood may very likely have been small; the appearance of that blood was doubtless like that of our own: but never since the day when Adam was first formed out of the dust of the ground, has any blood been shed of such deep importance to the whole family of mankind.
It was blood that had been long covenanted and promised. In the day when sin came into the world, God mercifully engaged that “the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head.” One born of woman should appear one day, and deliver the children of Adam from Satan’s power. That Seed of the woman was our Lord Jesus Christ. In the day that He suffered on the cross, He triumphed over Satan and accomplished redemption for mankind. When Jesus shed His life-blood on the cross, the head of the serpent was bruised, and the ancient promise was fulfilled.
It was blood that had been long typified and prefigured. Every sacrifice that was offered up by patriarchs, was a testimony of their faith in a greater sacrifice yet to come; every shedding of the blood of lambs and goats under the Mosaic law was meant to foreshadow the dying of the true Lamb of God for the sin of the world. When Christ was crucified, these sacrifices and types received their full accomplishment. The true sacrifice for sin was at length offered; the real atoning blood was at length shed. From that day the offerings of the Mosaic law were no longer needed. Their work was done. They might be laid aside.
It was blood which was of infinite merit and value in the sight of God. It was not the blood of one who was nothing more than a singularly holy man, but of one who was God’s own fellow, very God of very God. It was not the blood of one who died involuntarily, as a martyr to truth, but of one who voluntarily undertook to be the Substitute and Proxy for mankind, to bear their sins and carry their iniquities. It made atonement for man’s transgressions; it paid man’s enormous debt to God; it provided a way of righteous reconciliation between sinful man and his holy Maker; it made a road from heaven to earth, by which God could come down to man, and show mercy; it made a road from earth to heaven, by which man could draw near to God, and yet not feel afraid. Without it there could have been no remission of sin. Through it God can be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly. From it a fountain has been formed, wherein sinners can wash and be clean to all eternity.
Reader, this wondrous blood of Christ, applied to your conscience, can cleanse you from all sin. It matters nothing what your sins may have been, “Though they be as scarlet they may be made like snow. Though they be red like crimson they can be made like wool.” (Isaiah i. 18.) From sins of youth and sins of age,—from sins of ignorance and sins of knowledge,—from sins of open profligacy and sins of secret vice,—from sins against law and sins against Gospel,—from sins of head, and heart, and tongue, and thought, and imagination,—from sins against each and all of the ten commandments,—from all these the blood of Christ can set us free. To this end was it appointed; for this cause was it shed; for this purpose it is still a fountain open to all mankind. That thing which you cannot do for yourself can be done in a moment by this precious fountain. YOU CAN HAVE ALL YOUR SINS CLEANSED AWAY.
In this blood all the dead saints have been cleansed hitherto, who are now waiting the resurrection of the just. From Abel, the first of whom we read, down to the last who has fallen asleep to-day, they have all “washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. vii. 14.) Not one has entered into rest by his own works and deservings; not one has made himself clean before God by his own goodness and his own strength. They have all “overcome by the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. xii. 11.) And their testimony in Paradise is clear and distinct: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” (Rev. v. 9)
By this blood all the living saints of God have peace and hope now; by it they have boldness to enter into the holiest; by it they are justified and made nigh to God; by it their consciences are daily purged and filled with holy confidence. About it all believers are agreed, however much they may differ on other matters. Episcopalians and Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists,—all are agreed that the blood of Christ is that only thing that can cleanse the soul.—All are agreed that in ourselves we are “wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” But all are agreed that in the blood of Christ the chief of sinners can be made clean.
Reader, would you like to know what we ministers of the Gospel are ordained to do? We are not set apart for no other end than to read services, and administer sacraments, and marry people, and bury the dead. We are not meant to do nothing more than show you the church, or ourselves, or our party. We are set for the work of showing men the blood of Christ; and except we are continually showing it, we are no true ministers of the Gospel.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
