[0:00] Now shall we read a few more verses in the New Testament in the first epistle general of Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1 and we'll read at verse 13.
[0:15] Therefore, guide up the loins of your mind. Be sober and hope to the end. For the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[0:30] As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation.
[0:46] Because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. And if you call on the Father who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.
[1:01] For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with such corruptible things as silver and gold from the vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
[1:15] But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, that was manifest in these last times for you.
[1:35] Who by him do you believe in God that raised him from the dead and give him glory, that your faith and that your hope might be in God?
[1:51] Now may God bless to us that reading from his own word. I want this morning, at the very outset, to share with you a secret.
[2:12] It's a secret that you find in the pages of scripture. A secret that every true child of God knows.
[2:28] And a secret that God would want you all to know. A number of months ago, or perhaps a bit longer than that, I was one evening wondering on what to preach to a certain congregation.
[2:57] And as I was sitting thinking and probing and perhaps struggling, it was as if I heard an inner voice or a thought in my own head.
[3:13] I was sitting with this text. And this is the way that it came to me. It was as if I was being pressed to do this.
[3:29] And it suggested to me that go, you had said, and go to the people and shout this text.
[3:44] Now you might say, God doesn't tell people to go and shout until you turn to the prophecy of Isaiah and you find that he did it to the prophet Isaiah. Shout, he says.
[3:56] Cry aloud unto my people. Show them their transgressions and tell them about their sins. But this text that I'm going to share with you this morning is not one like that.
[4:12] And it was as if the Lord said, go and shout this text. Compel the people to hear this text. There's nothing more important in the whole world for them to know than this text.
[4:32] Compel them to hear it. Go further in that. Beg the people to grasp this text.
[4:44] Shout to them this text. Compel them to hear it. Beg them to grasp it. And plead with the people to rest on it.
[5:00] Plead with them. And as I was thinking, it was as if a conversation was taking place between the Lord and myself.
[5:13] And I sometimes wonder how very few these are even in prayer. But as if the thought came, tell them about this text.
[5:29] Tell them that it will take the vilest, farthest gone sinner in the congregation to heaven. Just like that. Tell them that.
[5:40] Tell them it will bring peace to the most fearful heart in the congregation. to the person that's been wanting for years to feel the peace of God.
[5:52] Wanting for years to know what it is to be safe for eternity. You just go and tell them that this text will bring peace to the most fearful heart.
[6:05] And tell them something else. Tell them that this text has the stamp of heaven upon it. Say it to them during the sermon again and again and again.
[6:22] Now here's the text. I want you to listen to it. The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleansed from all sin.
[6:42] Go and tell them that. Shout them this text. Compel them to hear it. Beg them to grasp it.
[6:56] plead with them to rest upon it. Tell them that it will take them the vilest sinner in the congregation to heaven. It will bring peace to the most fearful heart.
[7:10] And it's got the stamp of heaven on it. Say it again and again and again the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanser from all sin.
[7:27] From all sin. And you know I'm sorely tempted to get everyone in the congregation young and old just to repeat that word of God after me this morning.
[7:42] the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son glory to God it cleanses from all sin.
[7:59] And if you take that text just look at it you'll find just as you look at it to begin with five things jumping out of it.
[8:10] the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son the blood of Christ is a great remedy it's a great remedy because it's the only remedy you'll see that in a minute it's the only remedy whoever you are whatever you've done whatever you've been whatever you regret whatever causes you pain in the labyrinth of your memory there's only one remedy not tears not even repentance but the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son can you see it?
[8:56] See from his head his hands his feet sorrow and blood flow mingled down did I such love such sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown a great remedy it's the only one the blood of Christ a divine remedy the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son a divine remedy remedy oh this remedy was not manufactured in the minds of men it was not the height of religious knowledge that men grasped it was God's remedy and it was presented to the world in the person of his Son on a tree it's a divine remedy a great remedy and as you look at it you'll find it's a certain remedy it cleanses it gets rid of it as if they'd never been it's wonderful to get rid of your sins you and
[10:15] I regret many of them don't we there are sins in the in the rooms of our mind we shut the door of them we pray that nobody will ever open that door we wouldn't like our husbands to see them our wives or our children or our friends we shut the door but they're still there they've not been cleansed maybe for some oh but this is a certain remedy it cleanses I say it's a glorious remedy why it cleanses from all sin all sin everyone I will remember your sins and your iniquities no more says God when when you've come to the blood of Christ let me put it like this and maybe more literal than you thought some of you this morning you got up out of bed and you were sleepy and you were weary maybe and you felt a little bit maybe even dirty and you went under the shower and the shower came over you and it cleaned the body
[11:41] I want you to think of the blood that came from Jesus just like that and as you by faith go to him God cleanses you with his blood yes it's a glorious remedy it's the only remedy now then before we go on embed that text in your mind you'll find that text the key to eternal life can we say it again together the blood of Jesus Christ God Son cleanses from all sin praise be to God there's a remedy and it's a remedy that makes us fit for heaven itself and when the myriads of years have passed and time is no more and we walk through the city of God we'll be saying it and to him who loved us and washed us what in his blood away with the theologians who destroyed for the church the doctrine of the blood yes it's a great remedy now if you look at the new testament and the old you'll find that in the old there is the shadow it's a very clear shadow actually that we read and then the fulfillment and the development is in the new testament now normally
[13:24] I would go to the old testament first and work through to the new but not this morning because my text is the blood of Jesus Christ and that's particularly in the new testament and I want to look at certain things very simply about the blood of Christ before we go back maybe just for a moment to the old remember when we come to the communion table the words that the minister always uses is this is my blood shed for you now listen to the first thing about the blood of the Lord Jesus we are not redeemed says Peter with such corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ we are not redeemed and that word redeemed tells us that the blood of
[14:25] Christ is the ransom the cost of the salvation of God's people the cost the price that the law of God the holy law of God demanded and the price that the holy character of God accepted hallelujah it was the price that the law of God demanded the innocent blood in atoning agony for the guilty who deserved it the law of God demanded the shedding of blood and the law of God demands yet the punishment of our sin whether in our own body in hell or in his body on the cross and what the holy God law of God demanded the holy character of God accepted we're told in the old testament there was life in the blood and it was the shedding of the life the pure innocent life of the son of
[15:46] God that was the ransom for our sin as one wrote many years ago the quote that I remember that I think it was Mr. Macdonald and Greyfriars had made up into a tract and it went like this upon a life I did not live upon a death I did not die I stake my whole eternity on the blood of Jesus Christ a sinless life a sinless blood and the life is in the blood and so it's the blood of Jesus that he shed that we are redeemed by listen to the next thing the new testament says about the blood having made peace by the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself you see man was at war with God with the creator
[17:03] Christ made peace peace man is empty and fearful Christ gives peace and when Christ gave himself for his church war terminated for the church of God he made peace with God by the blood of his cross peace nothing else can do it we dare think that we can do it our best efforts oh don't be silly we've got to look at the blood of Jesus Christ God son and again the apostle says you who were afar off were made nigh by the blood of Christ the blood of Christ brings us into a new fellowship with God when we trust him and his blood we are brought at that moment into a new fellowship with God until that moment the bible says we are aliens we have not got the passport to take us to heaven we are strangers we're not among the people of
[18:26] God we're hopeless we're living in a fool's paradise we have no hope and we're without God we're creatures without a creator but when we come by faith to trust in the blood of Jesus Christ God son we who are afar off are brought near we're brought into a new fellowship we're brought into a new family and we're brought into a new future are you saved my friend by the blood of the lamb this morning are you trusting remember when we were young I forget how it went we used to say somewhere anyway there is power power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb you see the blood brings man into a new fellowship with God that's the secret and then we read again the blood of Jesus
[19:34] Christ cleanses from all sin past sins all our accumulated guilt the present sin that's harassing us just now with its guilt feelings and all the sins that the people of God may do in the future accumulated guilt present guilt future guilt they are all reckoned with by the blood of the cross so we can have freedom from fear freedom from guilt freedom from a tormenting conscience we can take our fears and our guilt and our consciences to the cross of Calvary and lay them under the blood and when I see the blood I will pass over you when we want to pray to God how do we approach him the Bible says this the blood of Jesus gives believers access into the presence of
[20:40] God directly it goes like this having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus we can go to God time and again and say we're sorry when we go on the ground of the blood let me finish now rather than going on with this in heaven the blood of Christ is the theme of the church for eternity they sang a new song it's written thou art worthy to take the book and to open it for thou wast slain and hast redeemed as to God by thy blood John looked through the window into the future to when the great books were opened no one was worthy to open the books and one said but the lamb is worthy and he opened the books and then we read they sang a new song thou art worthy to take the book and to open it why because you were slain and you redeemed us to God by your blood but you know the beautiful thing about that is that the lamb is alive time is no more and the one who shed his blood is in heaven and it may be said as it was said to the prophet what are these wounds in your hands and those with which
[22:22] I was wounded in the house of my friends when I was shedding my blood to ensure that they got to heaven can we say it again then the blood of Jesus Christ God Son cleanses us from all sin now let's be personal we're back to the beginning now to where we have the first reference in an enlarged way to the blood Israel was in captivity under the heel of Egypt they were slaves the door of both seemed to be totally shut and yet Israel's God through
[23:23] Moses came to the nation and said tomorrow I'm going to lead you out of slavery I'm going to lead you into the promised land I'm going to lead you to that which I've prepared for you it seemed impossible God said through Moses I'm going to bring the final plague on Pharaoh I'm going to smite in judgment his firstborn but I want the children of Israel to know that it's me myself that's going to do it they have no part in it and so I want the children of Israel every home who will listen to my word and who will obey me to take a lamb without blemish that's a lamb that had no faults in it to slay the lamb and then when the blood is drained into a basin to eat the lamb as their sustenance for the journey there's a sense we don't go into this morning where
[24:40] Christ is our sustenance for the journey but the lamb's blood the innocent blood was to be collected in a basin and with a branch of hyssop it was to be sprinkled over the door and God says I'm going to send my angel through this night and every door that has not got the blood upon it the first born will die and that was the first teaching of the blood the innocent blood that directs our attention to the blood of Jesus Christ in its fulfillment now then that evening everyone in Israel were given the same opportunity as I'm giving to you this morning God said put all your confidence on the blood death will not touch you if the blood is on your door and God said to you this morning death and hell and judgment in their full intensity will never be yours if you're trusting in the blood of my own dear precious son and so as the
[26:03] Israelites killed the lamb put the blood on the door they went into their houses for that one night they weren't allowed out in the streets to wait and God uses these words and I want you to remember them because this is what God is saying to you and me he's saying when I see the blood I will pass over imagine you're an Israelite God's saying when I see the blood you see how the blood was put on the door well God is asking you this morning to do the same thing in faith in faith he's asking you to look at the cross and the blood that Jesus shed when he gave his life he's asking you to look at that blood and to take shelter under it for all your sin trust him to cleanse you with it protect you through it put your faith in the blood of God's son as the Israelites put their faith in the blood of the lamb and if you do that
[27:26] I want to tell you something some of you feel that if you're ever going to be converted you're going to have a mystical feeling it's going to be like a light shining you don't know what it is but when it will come you'll know it you've thought that someday you'll wake up and you'll be totally different I'm saying to you this morning no no I'm saying to you that as guilty sinful people all of us that we have to do what the children of Israel did that night trust in the blood and I say to you when you do that you'll be saved and you'll be saved this morning as you do that look at the picture so that you understand it from God look at what it doesn't say what does it say when I see the blood I'll pass over you now what doesn't it say it's important to know what it doesn't say it doesn't say when I see your repentance
[28:32] I will pass by your repentance is a good thing an unnecessary thing you've got to say you're sorry to God but it's not when he sees your repentance that he passes by it's when he sees you putting faith in the blood of his own blessed son not in your repentance and I'll tell you another thing it doesn't say it doesn't say when I see your prayers I'll pass you by not even that you can pray to God and some of you have prayed many times oh God that you will save me and make me a Christian and you're saying to yourself I don't know whether he's answered that prayer or not I'll tell you when you'll answer your prayer immediately you put your faith in the blood of his son when I see the blood I'll pass by and to you and me when I see you putting the blood of
[29:32] Jesus as the foundation of your hope when you trust in that blood I'll pass by not when I see your prayers not when I see your regrets many of us regret what we've been and what we've done and it's good to regret but God doesn't say when I see your regrets I will pass by it's when I see the blood he doesn't say when I see your tears I'll pass you by oh you say I'm so hard I wish I could cry I can't be any good because I'm not crying oh my friends to be sorry and to cry is a good thing but God does not save you because you're sorry and because you cry you can be as hard as the rocks in a moment and all of a sudden the spirit of God will show you that the only hope you've got is the blood and you'll say God wash me in the blood I'm trusting in the blood and then you're forgiven it's not when
[30:35] I see your tears it's not when I see your efforts to change yourselves and make yourselves better coming to church it's not even when I see your faith it's not when I see your attendance at the prayer meeting it's not when I see your attendance at the prayer meeting but when I see the blood you know see things and you're almost finished you see when I see the blood it tells us something the blood is something that got nothing to do with you oh I'm thankful for that my friends if ever I was thankful for anything in my life it's thankful I've got nothing to do with my own salvation nothing to do with it it's the blood and so it's something you've got nothing to do with it's something you've got no part in it's something
[31:38] God himself has provided not the amount of your strong faith or even the lack of it but the blood the blood of the cross you go down to Egypt that night you know there's many different types of people no doubt down there in Egypt we'll close with this we'll go to one or two houses and we'll finish the instructions have been given by God the blood of the lamb has been put on the door the warning has been given by God if you've not got the blood on the door I will destroy and the promise has been given by God when I see the blood I'll pass over now there are many different types of people and types of faith for instance you will go to Israel that night you would get many different reactions in the houses I'm sure let's go into the house first of all maybe of we'll call him
[32:40] Jacob the tailor how do you feel Jacob we might say how are you feeling tonight oh it's a fearful night tonight are you nervous yes how do you feel oh I feel very unworthy you feel very unworthy yes what is your hope what's your hope tonight oh I'm just trusting in the blood in the door but but Jacob you've been a worshipper of God all your life we respect you in the synagogue you never miss going to church oh yes it is that's very true I've been a worshipper but God says to me you'll only be saved Jacob of the blood in the door when I see the blood and you know it is although I feel unworthy and I know that I am unworthy and I know that I've tried to walk with God all my life it matters nothing as far as my salvation is concerned
[33:51] I'm trusting tonight in the blood and have not God promised have he not promised when I see the blood I'll pass over you that's my hope have you got that hope and that's Jacob and Taylor perhaps we would go into the house of Benjamin the toolmaker the man of business business man in the community and how are you feeling tonight Benjamin we might say to him you're a man of business and yet you take a place in the house of God they respect you yes he says perhaps I've been taken up too much with business perhaps it's it's had a bigger hold in my life than I thought perhaps the material things of life have kept me from the true walk with God as I should have walked it and you know many a man of business might feel that that night because if judgment comes to
[35:03] Jesus to Benjamin himself all his materialism is not going to be of any value what about you Benjamin how are you feeling have you any fear tonight yes it is I've been too much in the world I've had too little time for God and his word and prayer I'm very much afraid tonight you can feel the sense of God in Egypt have you yes but have you any hope Benjamin yes can Jehovah break his word can Jehovah break his word have you not said when I see the blood I will pass over you and I'll go before my mind or all those regrets of the days that I didn't serve him fully where business came in and it strangles so much of the things of
[36:09] God in me oh tonight I'm stripped of everything but I'm going to have the blood on the door and have not Jehovah said when I see the blood I will pass over well Benjamin learn the lesson for the future future oh what did he say well the first man says I'm unworthy but I'm trusting in the blood what does Benjamin say I'm fearful but I'm trusting in the blood you go down the road to Levi the priest or the school teacher they were both the same in those days and we said to this old priest Levi Levi how confident are you surely Levi you're a teacher you teach in the school you teach the young people you're one of the head men in the synagogue all your work has been specially geared to
[37:10] God how are you feeling tonight yes that's true my work has been for God but all my work will not avail anything tonight all that I've done all that I've been all that I've sought to do it will avail nothing tonight it's the blood or destruction how do you feel Levi oh I feel helpless but untrusting and so there you find three different men one of them feels unworthy but he's trusting the other feels terrible fearful but he's trusting and the other feels helpless but he's trusting and then if you would go along the road you might go into the house of Asaph the poet and the singer what about you Asaph we might say to him how are you feeling tonight oh he might say to you he's a different kettle of fish is Asaph thank God for the
[38:16] Asaph of his well how are you feeling Asaph oh he says I feel supremely confident you do yes he said after it's all over he said tomorrow I'll compose a psalm and I'll have it sung in Israel of how the Lord delivered his people through the blood different kettle of fish I'll compose a psalm has not our great Jehovah spoken has not our great Jehovah ever failed us yet the lamb brother is already slaying and it's on the door he says I'm rejoicing with supreme confidence and I can say I know him whom I have delayed you see he was different but he was trusting on the blood are you trusting in the blood of Jesus you could go down the road to Caleb the winemaker what of you Caleb
[39:19] I know Caleb's in every every good free church what do you what do you feel oh says Caleb I suspect my repentance it's poor you do yes and I suspect that my faith is very poor yes and I suspect my love is very poor for the Lord yes but Caleb were you not that rebel of old when one time in your life you had no time for God at all yes did you not forget God for years of your life you told us and then you found him yes did you not listen to the truth for years and harden yourself yes yes yes but then one day came and I believed in Jehovah and how are you feeling tonight with your repentance so poor and your faith so poor and your love so poor oh yes it is but strangely strangely strangely in my heart he says I'm trusting in the blood
[40:21] I'm trusting two doors along is Marta the widow how do you feel Marta oh my faith is tempted since I lost my husband I've had trials that you would never know existed I feel my life has been inconsistent I feel that I've lost so many battles with my selfishness I've said why God did you do this to me why did you let me be in this condition why was I not like other people to enjoy my husband and my friends and yet I've turned to live the way of truth through it but I've put my hope in the blood I'm one that hopes against hope and there's one more at least maybe two there's
[41:24] David the money lender down the road the materialist what about you David oh this religious rubbish he says this religious rubbish you don't look at things as they are he says look at that he says there's a hundred thousand soldiers guarding us there's a king who hates us on the throne we've been despised and made to build bricks even without straw god is it's all superstitious it's all superstition how can we get out of the chains of Egypt there's no god at all and I don't care if there is one I'm going to do as I please look at the poverty in Israel look at the suffering I will not put the blood on my door and you're here like that you will not put the blood on your door like
[42:31] David the money lender and then I hope you're not like this last one Isaac the self righteous man what about you Isaac how are you feeling tonight you know the judgment of God is coming tonight how are you feeling and he puts his hands like this and he says oh you know oh you know I'm not strong enough to put the blood on the door not strong enough I'm too much of a sinner to put the blood on the door oh I'm not worthy to put the blood on the door I'll just sit in and I'll die and he died without putting the blood on the door and that night the angel of God came through the city he came to the house of the first man to the house of
[43:36] Asaph the poet and I'm sure when he passed Asaph's house it would be even Asaph might even be having a wee look through the window to see him passing so that he would put another verse into a psalm of praise to his God he was totally confident yes he came even to the house of Caleb the winemaker who suspected everything religious he had but he was still putting his trust in the blood he passed the door of Martyr the widow and then he came to the last two to David the money lender and David was in his room and the door opened and the angel of judgment came in and inflicted death and then he came to
[44:40] Isaac the self righteous and for all his humility he was a stubborn old sinner he refused to put the blood of God in his door he refused the way of mercy and now I come to the three north and I say to you the blood of Jesus Christ God Son will cleanse you from all your sins and I ask you this morning to put your trust in the blood and you'll go to heaven and remember it's the blood of God Son trust him this morning as your saviour young or old it doesn't matter all that's going to take you to heaven is the blood of the cross not your amount of faith in it be it small or great not your amount of joy through it not your amount of peace it's the blood and if you've seen it this morning thank
[45:40] God for the blood that is shed on the cross is that your hope may it be so shall we pray oh God we thank thee that the blood has been shed we thank thee that the blood has been offered made available we thank thee that the blood is efficacious and we ask you now oh God in this moment of quiet prayer that those who have listened and perhaps seen for the first time that they do nothing to save themselves but thank Jesus for shedding his blood and trusting in him that they may do so now in a prayer of their own to their God help them now to pray oh
[46:45] God and thank thee for shedding blood to thank Jesus for dying to pour out his blood to clean them and from this morning forward may such have only hope in the blood of Jesus God sang may such make their commitment now we pray and when I see the blood I will pass over you at the moment of death and at the great day of judgment we thank thee O God help us to value the blood and in valuing the blood value him who shed it may we follow him as a disciple from this day onwards knowing that he will see us through for Jesus sake amen