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The Sprinkling, the Blood, and the Trinity by Andrew Murray

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

Peter. . . to. . . the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. 1 Peter 1:1-2

The Tri-unity of the Godhead is often considered as merely a matter of doctrine, and having no close relationship to the Christian life. This is not the view of the New Testament, when it describes the work of redemption, or the idea of the life of God. In the Epistles, the three Persons are constantly named together, so that in each activity of grace all three together have a share in it. God is triune; but in everything that He does, and at all times, the Three are One. This is in entire agreement with what we see in nature. A trinity is found in everything. There is the hidden, inner nature; the outward form; and the effect. It is not otherwise in the Godhead. The Father is the eternal being–I AM–the hidden foundation of all things, and fountain of all life. The Son is the outward form, the express image, the revelation of God. The Spirit is the executive power of the Godhead. The nature of the hidden unity is revealed and made known in the Son, and that is imparted to us and is experienced by us through the agency of the Spirit. In all Their activities the Three are inseparably One.

Everything is of the Father, everything is in the Son, everything is through the Spirit.

In the words of our text, which Peter writes to believers to whom also he sends his greetings, we find the relationship in which each redeemed one stands to the three persons of the Godhead is clearly set forth.

1. They are elect “according to the foreknowledge of God.” The source of our redemption is in the counsel of God.

2. They are chosen “in sanctification of the Spirit”: the entire carrying out of the counsel of God is through the Holy Spirit, and the sanctification and the impartation of divine holiness which He works.

3. They are elect “to obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”: the final purpose of God is the restoration of man to a state where the will of God will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven, and where everything will redound to the glory of the free grace which has been revealed so gloriously in the death and blood of the Son of God. The place which “the sprinkling of blood” takes is most remarkable. It is mentioned last, as the great final end, in which according to the foreknowledge of the Father, the sanctification of the Spirit, and submission to the obedience of Christ, it finds completion.

In order that we may understand its place and worth in redemption, let us consider it in the light of:

1. The Glorious Purpose of the Tri-une God.

2. The Mighty Power by which that Purpose was Attained.

3. The Counsel in which Everything Originated.

1. The Purpose of the Triune God.

Christians are described as “elect unto. . . obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” In the Holy Trinity the place occupied by the Lord Jesus is characterized by the name which He bore as “the only-begotten Son of God.” He is literally and really the only One with whom God the Father can or will have anything to do. As the Son, He is the mediator through whom God wrought in creation, and by whom the creature can draw near to God. God dwells in the hidden and unapproachable light of a consuming fire: Christ is the Light of Lights, the light in which we can view and enjoy the Deity. And the eternal election of God can have no higher purpose than to give us a share in Christ, and through Him, approach to the Father Himself.

Because of sin there was no possibility for man again to be brought near to God, save through reconciliation, by means of the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Scripture speaks of Him as the “Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.” It is stated that we are elect. . . to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, which means that God ever and always saw that the only way by which salvation could be made possible for us, the only needful thing by which the door of Heaven could be opened for us, and the right and fitness procured for us to obtain a share in all the blessings of His love, was by the sprinkling of the blood. And it tells us further that when the blood occupies the place in our eyes and hearts that it occupies in the eye and heart of God, we shall then certainly enter into the full enjoyment of what He has acquired for us by it.

What these blessings are is clearly revealed to us in the Word of God. “You who were afar off have been brought nigh through the blood.” “We have liberty to enter into the most holy place through the blood.” “He has cleansed us from our sins by His blood.” “How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience to serve the Living God.” “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.” Many such statements show us that the cleansing and fitness to draw near to God, that the true and living entrance into fellowship with him is the blessed effect of “the sprinkling of the blood” on our heart and conscience. In the depths of eternity, that blood of sprinkling was the object of the unspeakable good pleasure of he Father, as the means of the redemption of his elect. Is it not obvious that when the blood becomes the good pleasure and joy of a sinner, and he seeks life and salvation in the blood, then the heart of God and the heart of the sinner meet one another, and an inner agreement and fellowship, which nothing can break, is found in the blood? The Father has elected us to the sprinkling of the blood, that we may heartily accept it, and find our entire salvation in it.

There is still another word to consider: elect to obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Here the two sides of the life of grace are placed together for us in a most striking way. In “the sprinkling of blood” we learn what Christ has done for; and to us; in “obedience” we have what is expected from us. The creature can have no other blessedness than that found in the will of God, and in the doing of it as it is done in heaven. The Fall was simply the turning away of man from God’s will, to do his own will. Jesus came to alter this, and to bring us again into obedience; and God lets us know that He, in His eternal choice, had these two things in view: “obedience” and “the sprinkling of the blood.” The placing together of these two words teaches us the very important lesson that obedience and the sprinkling of blood are inseparably united. It was so with the Lord Jesus. Apart from His obedience, the shedding of His blood would have been of no value. The blood is the life; life consists of disposition and will. The power of Jesus’ blood lies wholly in this, that He offered Himself without spot to God, to do His will, subjecting His own will utterly to the will of God. “He became obedient unto death, therefore God hath highly exalted Him.” He who receives the blood of Jesus receives with it, as his life, His disposition of utter obedience to God. “Obedience and the sprinkling of the blood’ are inseparably bound together. The disposition manifested by Christ, in the shedding of His blood, must become the disposition of those on whom it has been sprinkled.

He who desires to have the benefit of the blood must first submit himself to an obedience of faith, which must characterize his whole life. He must understand that “the blood” is constantly crying: “God’s will must be done, even to death.” He who truly experiences the power of the blood of Jesus will manifest it by a life of obedience. In the heart of God, in the life and death of Christ, in the heart and life of the true Christian, these two things will always go together.

If any Christian asks why it is that he enjoys so little of the peace and cleansing of the blood, he may be almost certain that the reason is that he has not fully surrendered himself to be obedient. If anyone asks how he may obtain the full enjoyment of the power of the blood–the reply may be–“Set yourself resolutely to obey God. Let your motto be: “My will in nothing–God’s will in everything;” that is what the blood of your Redeemer teaches you.” Do not separate what God from the beginning has joined together–obedience and the sprinkling of the blood–and you will thus be led into the fullness of blessing. From eternity God has elected you to both obedience and the sprinkling of the blood.

It may be that you shrink from this demand. Such obedience seems to you to be out of your reach, and as you hear about the power and blessedness obtainable by the sprinkling of the blood, even that seems to you to be out of reach. Do not be discouraged, but attend to what has yet to be said.

2. The Mighty Power by which that Purpose was Attained.

The Holy Spirit is the great power of God. In the Holy Trinity He proceeds from the Father and the Son. He, by His omnipotent but hidden activity, executes the divine purpose; He reveals and makes known the Father and the Son. In the New Testament the word “Holy” is applied to Him more often than to the Father or the Son, and He is almost always called “the Holy Spirit” because it is He who from the inward being of God transfers holiness to the Redeemed. The life of God is where His holiness dwells. where the Holy Spirit imparts the Life of God, there He imparts and maintains the holiness of God, and thus is called the Spirit of sanctification. So the text says that we are “elect to obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ by the sanctification of the Spirit.” It is committed to the Holy Spirit by His holy power to watch over us, and to fulfill God’s purpose in us. Elect in sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience.

The Spirit of sanctification and obedience: these two go together in the purpose of God. Here we have also a solution to the difficulty already mentioned, that it is not possible for us to render the obedience that God demands. Because God knew this much better than we do, He has made provision for it. He bestows upon us the Spirit of sanctification, who so renews our heart and inward nature, and fills us with His holy and heavenly power that it becomes really possible for us to be obedient. The one needful thing is that we should recognize and trust in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and follow His leading.

His inward activity is so gentle and hidden; He unites Himself so entirely with us and our endeavors, that we still imagine that it is our own thinking or willing, where He has already been the hidden Worker. Through this disregard of Him we cannot believe that when we have a conviction of sin, or a willingness to obey (both the result of His inward activity), that He has also power to perfect that work in us. Let him therefore, who really desires to be obedient, be careful persistently and quietly to maintain this attitude of trustful confidence: “The Spirit of God is in me”; and let him bow reverently before God with the prayer that He would “strengthen him with His Spirit, by power, in the inner man.”

In sanctification of the Spirit: this supplies the power which enables us to be obedient, and through which also we experience what the sprinkling of the blood means and imparts.

This is the reason why so many of God’s people have to complain that after all they have learned, and heard, and thought, and believed about the blood, they experience so little of its power. This is not to be wondered at, for that learning, and hearing, and thinking, and believing, is in a great part only a work of the understanding. And even when prayer is made for the Holy Spirit, it is all in expectation that He will give us clearer ideas of the truth. No–this is not the way. The Spirit dwells in the heart: it is there He desires to do His first and greatest work. The heart must first be made right, and then the understanding will lay hold of the truth, not merely as a mental idea, but will preserve it within his Christian life. We are chosen in sanctification of the Spirit–not in the activities of the understanding–to the sprinkling of the blood.

Everyone who desires to know the power of the blood of Jesus must remember that the Spirit and the Blood bear witness together. It was by the shedding of the blood, and by the sprinkling of that blood before God in heaven, that the Spirit was free to come and dwell among us, and in us. It was to assure the hearts of the disciples concerning the glorious and powerful effect of the blood in heaven, in opening a free and bold entrance to God; and to make them partakers of the blessedness and power of the heavenly life that was now their portion, that the Holy Spirit was sent into their hearts. The first Pentecost, in all its power and blessing, is our portion also; our inheritance. Would that we might cease to seek in our own strength salvation and blessings purchased for us by the blood. If only we began to live as those who have been led in sanctification of the Spirit to the full experience of what the blood can do, we should have, as never before, a real entrance into an eternal abiding-place near God, and fellowship with Him. We should know what it is to have a conscience cleansed by the blood, “to have no more conscience of sin,” to have the heart entirely cleansed from an evil conscience and so have liberty for an abiding intercourse with God. The Holy Spirit, as we commit ourselves to His leading, is able, in a moment, to bring us into that relationship to Him, in which we shall expect everything from Him.

We have seen what is the work of the Son, and of the Spirit; let us now ascend to see the place which the Father occupies.

3. The Counsel in which Everything Originated.

Peter writes to “the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” The counsel of the Father is the origin of everything: and that in the Godhead as well as in the work of redemption. In the Godhead, the Son proceeds from the Father, and the Spirit from the Father and the Son. The whole counsel of redemption is also solely “according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11).

From the greatest-the ordering of the work of the Son and of the Holy Spirit–to the least–the conclusion of each dispensation in the history of His kingdom, with all occurrences in it, and the choice of those who will obtain a share in it–all this is the work of the Father. Sanctification of the Spirit, obedience, and the sprinkling of the blood, is the portion of the elect, according to the foreknowledge of the Father.

Scripture, without contradiction, teaches an eternal election. That this teaching should be strongly opposed, is because it is a divine mystery beyond human comprehension. That it has an appearance of unrighteousness, can be admitted. That it leads to conclusions which seem strange and terrible to our understanding, we do not deny. To comprehend it, man would need the omniscience and the wisdom of Him who sits upon the throne. And to take up our place on the throne, and give our judgment upon the eternal portion of mankind–may we be preserved from that! Our place is at the footstool of the throne, in deepest reverence; believing what God says, and adoring Him whose doings surpass all our thoughts.

Our text calls us not to reason about these hidden mysteries, but to rejoice, if we are believers, in what is revealed to us in it, and to make a practical use of it. And then this truth calls us to take special notice of the sure ground in which our expectation of salvation is rooted. The sprinkling of the blood, with the obedience which accompanies it, and the sanctification of the Spirit by which both of these reach their full authority over us-all these things are from God.

You may, with the most entire confidence, reckon that He who has thought out this wonderful counsel so far and gloriously carried it out in the sprinkling of the blood in heaven, and the sending of the Spirit from heaven, will just as surely and gloriously carry it out in your soul. This is the right use of the doctrine of predestination–leading you to cast yourself down before God, and to acknowledge that from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things; and to expect everything from Him alone. Take your place before God, my fellow-believer, in deep reverence and complete dependence. Do not imagine that now God has revealed Himself in Christ and by the Spirit, that you, by making use of what you have learned from this revelation, can work out your own salvation. Let it not be thought of! God must work in you to will and to do, before you can work it out. God must work in you by the Holy Spirit, and by Him reveal Christ in you. Give God the glory, and let the fullest dependence on Him be the key-note of your life of faith. If God does not do everything in you, all is in vain. If you expect anything of yourself, you will receive nothing; if you expect all from God, God will do everything in you. Let your expectation be from God alone.

Apply this to all upon which we have been meditating concerning obedience. “Elect unto obedience;” how certain then it is that obedience is indispensable. The Son was obedient unto death. But this was because He had said: “The Son can do nothing of Himself.” He submitted himself to the Father that He might do everything in Him. Let every desire to do the will of God, every fear of your own weakness, drive you to Him who has elected you to obedience. Predestined to obedience: that gives assurance that you can be obedient. God Himself will accomplish His purpose in you. Become nothing before Him; He will become all.

Apply it especially to the blessed “sprinkling of the blood” of Jesus Christ. It was this that led us to the choice of this text. Your heart is longing with great desire–is it not?–to live every day under the clear consciousness: “I have been sprinkled with the eternal, precious, divine blood of the Lamb.” Your heart longs after all the blessed effects of that blood, redemption, pardon, peace, cleansing, sanctification, drawing near to God, joy, victory–all of which come through the blood. Your heart longs to experience constantly these blessings in full measure. Cast fear aside–you have been elected by God to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ Jesus; you must steadfastly rely on the fact that God, as God, will bestow it upon you. Wait continually upon Him in patience of soul, and confidently expect it. He “works all things according to the counsel of His own will”; He Himself will surely work it out in you.

Apply this also to the sanctification of the Spirit. He is the link that binds together the middle and the end; His is the power that brings together the eternal purpose of God, and a life of obedience and the sprinkling of the blood. Do you feel that this is the one thing that you desire and for which you must wait, that you may inherit the full blessing? Understand that it is God Himself who bestows the Spirit; who works through the Spirit; who will fill you by the Spirit. How can God who elected you “in sanctification of the Spirit” allow you to lack that without which His purpose cannot be carried out? Be confident about this; ask and expect it with utter boldness. It is possible to live in the sanctification of the Spirit, because it has been designed for you from eternity.

The sprinkling of the blood is the light or revelation of the Trinity–how wonderful and glorious it is! The Father designed the sprinkling of the blood and elected us to it; the Son shed His blood and bestows it on the obedient from heaven; the Spirit of Sanctification makes it our own, with abiding power, and imparts to us all the blessings which He has obtained for us. Blessed sprinkling of the blood! Revelation of the triune God! May this be our joy and our life each day.

Taken from The Blood of the Cross

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Andrew Murray |

The Precious Blood of Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

Blood has from the beginning been regarded by God as a most precious thing. He has hedged about this fountain of vitality with the most solemn sanctions. The Lord thus commanded Noah and his descendants, “Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” Man had every moving thing that liveth given him for meat, but they were by no means to eat the blood with the flesh. . . . As for the blood of man, you remember how God’s threatenings ran, “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man. . . . Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man”. . . . Even in cases where life was taken in chance-medley or misadventure, the matter was not overlooked. . . .

[The shedding of blood was taken very seriously under the Old covenant]. The general law in all cases was, “So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land.” Strange is it that that very thing which defileth, should turn out to be that which alone can cleanse. . . . Further permit me to observe that the seal of sanctity of blood is usually set upon the conscience even of the most depraved of men. . . , for you will notice that men, bad as they are, shrink from the disgrace of taking blood-money. . . . It is clear then that blood is precious in God’s sight, and he would have it so in ours.

Now if in ordinary cases the shedding of life be thus precious, can you guess how fully God utters his heart’s meaning when he says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints?” If the death of a rebel be precious be precious, what must be the death of a child? . . . I have taken you up, you see, from the beast to man, from man to God’s chosen men.

I have another step to indicate to you: it is a far longer one–it is to the blood of JESUS CHRIST. Here, the powers of speech would fail to convey to you an idea of the precariousness! Behold here, a person innocent, who without taint within, or flaw without; a person meritorious, who magnified the law and made it honorable–a person who served both God and man even unto death. Nay, here you have a divine person–so divine, that in the Acts of the Apostles Paul calls his blood the “blood of God.” Place innocence, and merit, and dignity, and position, and Godhead itself in the scale, and then conceive what inestimable value of the blood which Jesus Christ poured forth. Angels must have seen that matchless blood-shedding with wonder and amazement.

Let us come nearer to the text and try to show forth the precariousness of the blood of Christ. . . . The precious blood of Christ is useful to God’s people in a thousand ways; we intend to speak of twelve of them. [We will examine only a four of CHS’s twelve–editor].

1. The precious blood of Christ has a REDEEMING POWER.

It redeem us from the law. We were all under the law which says, “Do this and live”. . . . My brethren, the life of a Jew, happy as it was compared with that of a heathen, was a perfect drudgery compared to yours and mine. He was hedged in with a thousand commands and prohibitions. . . . He was always in danger of making himself unclean.

A thousand sins of ignorance were like so many hidden pits in his

way. . . . When he had done his best any one day, he knew he had not finished; no Jew could ever talk of a finished work. The bullock was offered, but he must bring another; a lamb was offered this morning, but another must be offered this evening, another to-morrow, and another the next day. . . . The high priest has gone into the veil once, but he must go there again; the thing is never finished, it is always beginning. He never comes any nearer to the end.

But see our position: we are redeemed from this. Our law is fulfilled, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness; our Passover is slain, for Jesus died; our righteousness is finished, for we are complete in him; our victim is slain, our priest has gone within the veil, the blood is sprinkled; we are clean, and clean beyond any fear of defilement, “For he hath perfected for ever those that were set apart.” Value this precious blood, my beloved, because it has redeemed you from the thraldom and bondage which the law imposed upon its votaries.

2. The value of the blood lies much in its ATONING EFFICACY.

We are told in Leviticus, that “it is the blood which maketh an atonement for the soul.” God never forgave sin apart from blood under the law. . . . I may make sacrifices; I may mortify my body; I may be baptized; I may receive sacraments; I may pray until my knees grow hard with kneeling; I may read devout words until I know them by heart; I may celebrate masses; I may worship in one language or in fifty languages; but I can never be at one with God, except by blood; and that blood, “the precious blood of Christ.”

3. The precious blood of Jesus Christ has a CLEANSING POWER.

John tells us in his first Epistle, first chapter, seventh verse, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Sin has a directly defiling effect upon the sinner, hence the need of cleansing. Suppose that God the Holy One were perfectly willing to be at one with an unholy sinner, which is supposing a case that cannot be, yet even should the pure eyes of the Most Holy wink at sin, still as long as we are unclean, we can never feel in our own hearts, anything like joy, and rest, and peace. Sin is a plague to the man who has it, as well as a hateful thing to the God who abhors it. I must be made clean, I must have mine iniquities washed away, or I can never be happy. . . . Whatever the sin may be, there is power in the veins of Christ to take away at once and for ever. No matter how deeply seated our offenses may be, the blood cries, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

4. A fourth property of the blood of Christ is its PRESERVING POWER.

You will rightly comprehend this when you remember the dreadful night of Egypt when the destroying angel was abroad to slay God’s

enemies. . . . The angel sped with noiseless wing through every street of Egypt’s many cities; but there were some houses which he could not enter. What was it that preserved the houses? The inhabitants were not better than others, their inhabitants were not more elegantly built, there was nothing except the bloodstain on the lintel and on the two side posts, and it was written, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

And today, if my eye of faith be dim, and I can scarce see the precious blood, so as to rejoice that I am washed in it, yet God can see the blood, and as long as the undimmed eye of Jehovah looks upon the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, he cannot smite one soul that is covered with its scarlet mantle. . . . It preserving power of that blood should make us feel how precious it is. . . . When heaven is on a blaze, when earth begins to shake, when the mountains rock, when God divides the righteous from the wicked, happy will they be who can find shelter beneath the blood.

Excerpted and edited from “The Precious Blood of Christ,” a sermon preached by CHS on March 20, 1865.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in C. H. Spurgeon |

The Cleansing Virtue of Christ’s Blood by Stephen Charnock

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

The blood of Jesus Christ. By this is meant that the last act in the tragedy of his life, his blood being the ransom of our souls, the price of our redemption, and the expiation of our sin. The shedding of his blood was the highest and most excellent part of obedience, Phil. 2:8. His whole life was a continual suffering, but his death was the top and complement of his obedience, for in that he manifested the greatest love to God and the highest charity to man. The expiatory sacrifices under the law were always bloody, death was to be endured for sin, and blood is the life of the creature; the blood or death of Christ is the cause of our justification.

His Son. His sonship makes his blood valuable. It is blood, and so agreeable to the law in the penalty; it is the blood of the Son of God, and therefore always acceptable to the lawgiver in its value. Though it was the blood of humanity, yet the merit of it was derived from the divinity. It is not his blood as he was the son of the virgin, but his blood as he was the Son of God, which had its sovereign virtue. It is no wonder, therefore, that it should have the mighty efficacy to cleanse the believers in it, in all ages of the world, from such vast heaps if guilt, since it is the blood of Christ, who was God; and valuable, not so much for the greatness of the punishment whereby it was shed, as the dignity of the person from whom it flowed. One Son of God weighs more than millions of worlds of angels.

Cleanseth. Cleansing and purging are terms used in Scripture for justifying as well as sanctifying. The apostle interprets washing of both those acts: 1 Cor. 6:1, “But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

The blood of Christ cleanseth:

1. It hath a virtue to cleanse. It does not cleanse all, but only those who believe. . . . There is a sufficiency in it to cleanse all, and there is an efficacy in it to cleanse those that have recourse to it. As when we say a medicine purgeth such a humour, we understand it of virtue and quality of the medicine, not that it purgeth unless it be taken in, or otherwise applied to the distempered person.

2. The blood of Christ cleanseth, not hath cleansed or shall cleanse. This notes a continued act. There is a perpetual pleading of it for us, a continual flowing of it to us.

3. The blood of Christ cleanseth. The apostle joins nothing with this blood. It hath the sole and sovereign virtue. There is no need of tainted merits, unbloody sacrifices, and terrifying purgatories. The whole of cleansing is ascribed to this blood, not anything to our righteousness or works.

4. The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. It is an universal remedy. . . . It absolves from the guilt of sin, and shelters from the wrath of God. The distinctions of venial and mortal sins hath no footing here; no sin but is mortal without it, no sin so venial but needs it. This blood purgeth not some sort of sins, and leaves the rest to be expiated by a purgatory fire. This expression of the apostle, of all sin, is water enough to quench all the flames of purgatory that Rome hath kindled.

When the apostle, Heb. 10:14, tells, “That by one offering he has for ever perfected them that are sanctified,” he placeth this perfection in the remission of sin (vv. 17-18). He did in offering himself so transact our affairs, and settle our concerns with God, that there was no need of any other offerings to eke it out or to patch it up. As the blood of the typical sacrifices purified from ceremonial, so the blood of the anti-typical offering purifies from moral uncleanness. The Scripture places remission wholly in this blood of the Redeemer.

Excerpted and edited from “A Discourse of the Cleansing Virtue of Christ’s Blood.”

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Stephen Charnock |

The Blood of Sprinkling by Horatius Bonar

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

But an inquirer asks, What is the special meaning of the blood, of which we read so much? How does it speak of peace? How does it “purge the conscience from dead works” (Heb. 9:14)? What can blood have to do with the peace, the grace, and the righteousness of which we have been speaking?

God has given the reason for the stress which He lays upon the blood; and, in understanding this, we get to the very bottom of the grounds of a sinner’s peace.

The sacrifices of old, from the days of Abel onwards, furnish us with the key to the meaning of the blood, and explain the necessity for its being “shed for the remission of sins.” “Not without blood” (Heb. 9:7) was the great truth taught by God from the beginning; the inscription which may be said to have been written on the gates of tabernacle and temple. For more than two thousand years, during the ages of the patriarchs, there was but one great sacrifice: the burnt-offering. This, under the Mosaic service, was split into parts: the peace-offering, trespass-offering and sin-offering. In all of these, however, the essence of the original burnt-offering was preserved–by the blood and the fire which were common to them all. The blood, as the emblem of substitution, and the fire, as the symbol of God’s wrath upon the substitute, were seen in all the parts of Israel’s service; but especially in the daily burnt-offering–the morning and evening lamb–which was the true continuation and representative of the old patriarchal burnt-offering. It was to this that John referred when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Israel’s daily lamb was the kernel and core of all the Old Testament sacrifices, and it was its blood that carried the worshippers back to the primitive sacrifices, and forward to the blood of sprinkling that was to speak better things than that of Abel (Heb. 12:24).

In all these sacrifices, the shedding of the blood was the affliction of death. The “blood was the life” (Lev. 17:11, 14; Deut. 12:23); and the pouring out of the blood was “the pouring out of the soul” (Isa. 53:12). This blood-shedding or life-taking was the payment of the penalty for sin; for it was threatened from the beginning: “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17); and it is written, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezk. 18:4); and again, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

But the blood-shedding of Israel’s sacrifices could not take sin away. It showed the way in which this was to be done, but it was in fact more a “remembrance of sins” (Heb. 10:11). It said life must be given for life, before sin can be pardoned; but then the continual repetition of the sacrifices showed that there was needed “richer blood” than the temple altar was ever sprinkled with and a more precious life than man could ever give.

The great blood-shedding has been accomplished; the better life has been presented, and the one death of the Son of God has done what all the deaths of old could never do. His one life was enough; His one dying paid the penalty. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28). “In that he died, he died unto sin once” (Rom. 6:10). He “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Heb. 10:12).

The sprinkling of the blood (Exodus 24:8) was the making use of the death by putting it upon certain persons or things, so that these persons or things were counted as dead, and therefore, to have paid the law’s penalty. So long as they had not paid that penalty, they were counted as unclean and unfit for God to look upon; but as soon as they paid it, they were counted clean and fit for the service of God.

Usually when we read of cleansing, we think merely of our common process if removing dirt by water and soap. But this is not the figure meant in the application of the sacrifice. The blood cleanses by making us partakeres of the death of the Substitute. For what is it that makes us filthy before God? It is our guilt, our breach of the law, and our being under sentence of death in consequence of our disobedience. We have not only done what God dislikes, but what His righteous law declares worthy of death. It is this sentence of death that separates us so completely from God making it wrong for Him to bless us, and perilous for us to go to Him.

When thus covered all over with that guilt whose penalty is death, the blood is brought in by the great High Priest. That blood represents death; it is God’s expression for death. It is then sprinkled on us, and thus death, which is the law’s penalty, passes on us. We die. We undergo the sentence, and thus the guilt passes away. We are cleansed! The sin which was like scarlet becomes as snow, and that which was like crimson becomes as wool. It is thus that we make use of the blood of Christ in believing, for faith is just the sinner employing the blood. Believing what God has testified concerning this blood, we become one with Jesus in His death; and thus we are counted in law, and treated by God, as men who have paid the whole penalty, and so been “washed from their sins in his blood.”

Such are the glad tidings of life, through Him who died. They are tidings which tell us, not what we are to do, in order to be saved, but what He has done. This only can lay to rest the sinner’s fears, can “purge his conscience,” can make him feel as a thoroughly pardoned man. The right knowledge of God’s meaning in this sprinkling of the blood is the only effective way of removing the anxieties of the troubled soul, and introducing it into perfect peace.

The gospel is not the mere revelation of the heart of God in Christ Jesus. In it the righteousness of God is specially manifested and it is this revelation of the righteousness that makes it so truly “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom 1:16). The blood-shedding is God’s declaration of the righteousness of the love which He is pouring down upon the sons of men; it is the reconciliation of law and love; the condemnation of the sin and the acquittal of the sinner. As “without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22); so the gospel announces that the blood has been shed by which remission flows to us; and now we know that “the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The conscience is satisfied. It feels that God’s grace is righteous grace, that His love is holy love. There it rests.

It is not by incarnation, but by blood-shedding that we are saved. The Christ of God is no mere expounder of wisdom, no mere deliverer or gracious benefactor; and they who think that they have told the whole gospel, when they have spoken of Jesus revealing the love of God, greatly err.

If Christ is not the Substitute, He is nothing to the sinner. If He did not die as the Sin-bearer, He has died in vain. Let us not be deceived on this point, nor misled by those who, when they announce Christ as the Deliverer, think they have preached the gospel. If I throw a rope to a drowning man, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more than that? If I cast myself into the sea, and risk myself to save another, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more? Did He but risk His life? The very essence of Christ’s deliverance is the substitution of Himself for us, His life for ours. He did not come to risk His life; He came to die! He did not redeem us by a little loss, a little sacrifice, a little labor, a little suffering: “He redeemed us to God by his blood;” “the precious blood of Christ” (1 Pet 1:19). He gave all He had, even His life, for us. This is the kind of deliverance that awakens the happy song, “To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev 1:5;5:9).

The tendency of the world’s religion just now is to reject the blood, and to glory in a gospel which needs no sacrifice, no “Lamb slain.” Thus, they go the way of Cain, who refused the blood, and came to God without it. He would not own himself a sinner, condemned to die, and needing the death of another to save him. This was man’s open rejection of God’s way of life. Foremost in this rejection we see the first murderer; and he who would not defile his altar with the blood of a lamb pollutes the earth with his brother’s blood.

The heathen altars have been red with blood; and to this day they are the same. But these worshippers do not know what they mean in bringing that blood. It is associated only with vengeance in their minds; and they shed it to appease the vengeance of their gods. But this is no recognition either of the love or the righteousness of God. “Fury is not in him;” whereas their altars speak only of fury. The blood which they bring is a denial both of righteousness and grace.

But look at Israel’s altars. There is blood; and they who bring it know the God to whom they come. They bring it in acknowledgment of their own guilt, but also of His pardoning love. They say, “I deserve death; but let this death stand for mine; and let the love which otherwise could not reach me, by reason of guilt, now pour itself out on me.”

Beware of Cain’s error on the one hand, in coming to God without blood; and beware of the heathen error on the other, in mistaking the meaning of the blood. Understand God’s mind and meaning in “the precious blood” of His Son. Believe His testimony concerning it; so shall your conscience be pacified, and your soul find rest.

It is into Christ’s death that we are baptized (Rom 6:3), and hence the cross, which was the instrument of that death, is that in which we glory. The cross is to us the payment of the sinner’s penalty, the extinction of the debt, and the tearing up of the hand-writing which was against us. And as the cross is the payment, so the resurrection is God’s receipt in full, for the whole sum, signed with His own hand. Our faith is not the completion of the payment, but the simple recognition on our part of the payment made by the Son of God. By this recognition we become so one with Him who died and rose, that we are thereafter reckoned to be the parties who have paid the penalty, and treated as if it were we ourselves who had died. Thus are we “justified from sin,” and then made partakers of the righteousness of Him, who was not only delivered for our offenses, but who was raised again for our justification.

From God’s Way of Peace.

The current formatting and editing is copyrighted by Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Horatius Bonar |

The Power of the Blood by Jim Ehrhard

January 7, 2010 by ADMIN

“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus?” Years ago, songs about the blood of Jesus, its power, its efficacy, were sung with much conviction. Today, the blood of Jesus is rarely sung about. Many today are repulsed by such songs and would prefer to keep the focus on the love of God rather than speak about the blood required by a just and angry God.

But the blood of Jesus as a sufficient sacrifice for sin cannot be ignored in the gospel message. Indeed, it is the gospel message. “What can wash away my sin?” the song inquires. “Nothing but the blood of Jesus,” the Scripture responds. Notice that I said, the Scripture responds. Everything in the Scripture points to the importance of the blood sacrifice. The writer of Hebrews (9:22) reminds us that, apart from the shedding of blood, “there is no remission of sin.” In Galatians 2:21, Paul reminds us that if one could be made righteous by keeping the law, then Christ died needlessly. Revelation 7 speaks of believers having been “washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.” The shedding of blood as payment for sin is a crucial doctrine that begins in the Old Testament in Genesis and culminates on the cross with the death of Jesus. Everything in the New Testament points back to that death as the reason that man has forgiveness. That’s why Peter speaks of the “precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19).”

Why is something so repulsive as the blood of an innocent man so precious? In Hebrews 9, the writer of Hebrews gives us at least three reasons why this precious blood is so essential for our salvation. Let’s examine them each briefly.

1. It Alone Cleanses from a Nagging Conscience.

Does your conscience make you feel guilty? Have you done some things that even your own mind refuses to let go of? A young boy once defined conscience as “the voice in my head that makes me feel bad even when what I do feels good.” How can one get rid of such feelings? Such feelings will persist until a sufficient payment is made for the wrongs done. That’s why the blood of Jesus alone can cleanse you from a guilty conscience. That’s why Peter said that believing in Jesus “cleanses you from all the things that could not be forgiven through keeping the law.” Unless something is done that is sufficient to cover what you have done, then you will never have a clean conscience.

Such was the case with the nation of Israel. In Hebrews 10:1-3, the writer reminds them that the blood of animals never solved the problem of a guilty conscience. If it had, then the sacrifices would have stopped. But instead, the sacrifices became a painful reminder that no animal atonement was sufficient to satisfy God’s righteous demands. For that reason, the sacrifices had to continue year after year. Instead of soothing a nagging conscience, the sacrifices served as a poignant reminder of their sins. They continued to know that what they did, although it might continue to allow them to have a relationship with God, it was not sufficient to pay for sins. They needed a perfect Lamb of God who would “take away the sins of the world” and in doing so, cleanse a nagging conscience.

2. It Alone Demonstrates God’s Feeling About Sin.

In Hebrews 9:9, the writer speaks of the blood sacrifices as a “symbol.” They were designed by God to be a constant object lesson of how much God hates sin. Few things are more repulsive to man than the sight of blood being shed. While some become insensitive to the shedding of blood, this is not a normal reaction. The initial reaction of man to the shedding of blood, especially innocent blood, is very repulsive.

Some of you might recall an incident in the 1980s when an American cameraman was filmed being shot in the head by a Nicaraguan revolutionary. To see a man pleading for his life have a gun put to his head and have the trigger pulled was bad enough. To watch as his blood splattered everywhere disgusted even the more seasoned reporters of war. Nothing is more repulsive to us than the shedding of blood.

For this reason, God chose the blood sacrifice as a continual reminder to us of how serious our sin is. Nothing is more disgusting in God’s sight than our sin. While we tend to excuse our sin and make excuses and minimize its seriousness, God demonstrates to us, through the blood sacrifice that sin, every sin we commit, is repulsive in His sight and every sin requires the ultimate penalty–payment by blood alone. That’s why the Scripture says, “The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezk. 18:4), and “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). God has chosen the blood sacrifice to remind us always of how much He hates sin.

3. It Alone Bestows Eternal Blessing.

The blood of Christ is precious because it alone cleanses a nagging conscience and it alone reminds us how God feels about sin. But, more importantly, the blood of Jesus alone can bestow eternal blessing. In Hebrews 9:16-17, we are reminded that a testament only takes affect once the testator has died. In other words, a “last will and testament” has no power as long as that person remains alive. In the same way, all the blessings of a relationship to Jesus are tied to His death. In Hebrews 9:15, by means of His death, we now receive an eternal inheritance. Without the shedding of the blood of Jesus, none of this would be ours today.

Imagine yourself under a mountain of debts that you are unable to pay. Then one day a letter arrives informing you that a rich uncle has died and left you a great inheritance. Once you were poor–now you are rich! But it was his death that made you rich. Not anything you did or anything you deserved. His death made the difference. That’s why the apostle Paul says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you, through his poverty might be made rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). The death of Jesus provided an eternal inheritance for you. Not one that can waste away and used up and then the inheritor will be poor again; His blood made you the inheritor of an inheritance that will last throughout all eternity.

One last thing needs to be understood. In Hebrews 9:27-28, we read: “And as it is appointed for men to die once and after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” This Jesus who came once to shed His blood will return again, not to die again (His death was sufficient to cover all sin), but to come for those who have given their lives to Him. On the day that John D. Rockefeller died, two tramps were sitting on a New York city street corner. One tramp inquired: “Why are you crying? You weren’t related to him.” “That’s why I’m crying!” was the reply. If you are related to Jesus through His death, then you have a great inheritance. But if not, then you too have reason to cry. For it is appointed unto every man to die once, and then comes the judgment. If the blood of Jesus is not covering your sin, then you will be accountable to God for all your own sin. And the Bible reminds us that “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus shed His blood to pay for sin. Apart from the shedding of His blood, there is no remission of sin. Apart from the blood of Jesus, there is no new covenant in His blood. Apart from His blood, there is no gospel to proclaim. That’s why His blood is so precious to them who believe.

Copyright Jim Ehrhard, 1999. You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that: (1) you credit the author; (2) any modifications are clearly marked; (3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction; and (4) you do not make more than 100 copies without permission. If you would like to post this material to your web site or make any use other than as defined above, please contact Teaching Resources International

Posted in Jim Ehrhard |

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