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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 |

From Our Hearts by Jim & Debbie Ehrhard

January 2, 2010 by ADMIN

Romans the eighth chapter is one of the “crown jewels” for believers to gaze upon in the Word of God. It has been said that the Book of Romans is the “Alps” of the books of the Bible and that the eighth chapter of Romans is like the Matterhorn. Dwight L. Moody once said: “I would rather live in the center of Romans 8 than in the center of the Garden of Eden.” He explained that, even in the Garden, Satan was able to lead Adam and Eve into temptation, but the believer who lives in Romans 8, Moody reasoned, was protected from Satan’s deceptions. While such may be an overstatement, the believer who comes to rest in God’s sovereign control over all things (which is the message of Romans 8) is greatly strengthened against all kinds of difficulties.

If Romans 8 is a “crown jewel” for believers, then Romans 8:28 must be one of the more precious jewels. A. W. Tozer noted that Romans was like a beautiful ring on a woman’s finger, Romans 8 was like unto the jewel set in that ring, and Romans 8:28 was like the sparkle of that great jewel. Analogies aside, Romans 8 is a power chapter that speaks of God’s continuing work, protection, and plan for all believers.

With these thoughts in mind, the focus of this issue is that great chapter. In Romans 8, we find teaching on sanctification (8:1-17), suffering (8:17-25), the role of the Spirit in prayer (8:26-27), and God’s providence and constant love for His children (8:28-39). But most of Romans 8 provides comfort to believers no matter what they are facing in this world. Paul begins with the reminder that, for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. He concludes the chapter with a great encouragement: that nothing shall ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Throughout the chapter, great comfort is provided for those who are the children of God.

Because this chapter is so rich in truth and comfort for struggling believers, all of the articles in this issue are related to some aspect of Romans 8. Certainly we could have included many other excellent articles as this great chapter has been preached often by men of old to the edification of the saints. We hope that each one will serve to help you to better “comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height” (Ephesians 3:18) of the love of God which is found in Christ Jesus alone.

By His Grace,

Jim & Debbie Ehrhard

Posted in Uncategorized |

The Believer’s Challenge by C. H. Spurgeon

January 2, 2010 by ADMIN

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Romans 8:34

The protest of an innocent man against the charge of an accuser may well be strong and vehement. But here we have a more uncommon and sublimer theme. It is the challenge of a justified sinner protesting with holy and inspired fervor that his character is clear and his conscience clean, even in the sight of heaven. Yet it is not the natural innocence of his heart, but the perfect mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which gives him this amazing confidence. . . .

We have before us in the text the four marvelous pillars upon which the Christian rests his hope. Any one of them were all-sufficient. . . . But why is this [four all sufficient pillars]?” Why needeth the Christian to have such firm, such massive foundations? For this simple reason: he is himself so doubtful, so ready to distrust, so difficult to be persuaded of his own security. Therefore hath God, as it were, enlarged his arguments. . . .

I. The first reason why the Christian can never be condemned is because CHRIST HAS DIED.

In the death of Christ there was a full penalty paid to divine justice for all the sins which the believer can possibly commit. We teach that the whole shower of divine wrath was poured upon Christ’s head, that the black cloud of vengeance emptied itself upon the cross, and that there is not left in the book of God a single sin against a believer, nor can there possibly be even a particle of punishment ever exacted at the hand of the man that believeth in Jesus, for this reason–that Jesus has been punished to the full. . . .

This shall be an all-sufficient argument to shut [the mouths of all who seek to condemn us], “Christ hath died.” Here cometh one, and he cries, “Thou hast been a blasphemer.” Yes, but Christ died a blasphemer’s death, and he died for blasphemers. “But thou hast stained thyself with lust.” Yes, but Christ died for the lascivious. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, cleanseth us from all sin; so away with that foul fiend [the one condemning us]. “But thou hast long resisted grace, and long stood out against the warnings of God.” Yes, but “Jesus died;” and say what thou wilt, O conscience, remind me of what thou wilt; lo this shall be my sure reply–“Jesus died.”

There is in the death of Christ enough and more than enough. There is not only a sea in which to drown our sins, but the very tops of the mountains of our guilt are covered. . . . There is not only enough to put our sins to death, but enough to bury them and hide them out of sight. I say it boldly and without a figure–the eternal arm of God now nerved with strength, now release from the bondage in which justice held it, is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Christ.

II. The second reason a believer hath, is — that CHRIST HAS RISEN AGAIN.

You will observe that the apostle has here prefixed the words, “yea rather!” Do you not see the force of this expression? As much as to say, it is a powerful argument for our salvation, that Christ died; but it is a still more cogent proof that every believer shall be saved, that Christ rose again from the dead. This does not often strike us. We generally receive more comfort at the cross than we do at the empty sepulcher. And yet this is just through our ignorance and through the blindness of our eyes; for verily to the enlightened believer there is more consolation in Jesus arising from the tomb, than there is in Jesus nailed to the cross. “Yea rather,” said the apostle; as if he would have it, that this is a still more powerful argument.

Now what had the resurrection of Christ from the dead to do with the justification of a believer? I take it thus: Christ by his death paid to his Father the full price of what we owed to him. God did, as it were, hold a bond against us that we could not pay. . . . Now Jesus by his death paid all the debt. . . .Still the bond was not canceled until the day when Christ arose from the dead; then did his Father, as it were, rend the bond in halves, and blot it out, so that thenceforward it ceases to have effect. It is true that death was the payment of the debt, but resurrection was the public acknowledgment that the debt was paid. “Now,” says Paul, “yea rather, he is risen from the dead.” O Christian, thou canst not be condemned, for Christ has paid the debt. Look at his gore, as it distills from his body in Gethsemane and on the accursed tree. But rather, lest there be a shadow of a doubt, that thou canst not be condemned, thy debts are canceled. Here is the full receipt: the resurrection hath rent the bond in twain.

III. The next clause of the sentence reads thus: “WHO IS EVEN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD.”

Now I must call your attention to this clause, remarking that in other passages of God’s Word, Christ is said to have sat down forever at the right hand of God. . . . This seems to me to be one material argument for the salvation of the believer–Christ also sits in heaven. Now, he never would sit if the work were not fully done. Jesus when he was on earth, had a baptism to be baptized with, and how was he straitened until it was accomplished! He had not time so much as to eat bread, full often, so eager was he to accomplish all his work. And I do not imagine that he would be sitting down in heaven in the posture of ease, unless he had accomplished all–unless “It is finished!” were to be understood in the broadest and most unlimited sense.

Turning, however, more strictly to the words of the text, “Who is even at the right hand of God”–what meaneth this? It means. . . that Christ is now in the honorable position of an accepted one. The right hand of God is the place of majesty, and the place of favor, too. Now, Christ is the people’s representative. When he died for them, they had rest; when he rose for them, they had liberty; when he was received into his Father’s favor, yet again, and sat down at his own right hand, then had they favor, and honor, and dignity. . . . all the church is now raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The raising and the elevation of Christ to that throne of dignity and favor, is the elevation, the acceptance, the enshrinement, the glorifying of all his people, for he is there common head, and stands as their representative, and therefore, the acceptance of our souls. Who is he that condemneth, then? Condemn a man at the right hand of God? Absurd! Impossible! Yet there a I in Christ. Condemn a man who sits next to his Father, the King of kings? Yet there is the church, and how can she in the slightest degree incur condemnation, when she is already at the right hand of the Father with her covenant head.

And let me further remark, that the right hand is the place of power. Christ at the right hand of God signifies that all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. Now, who condemns the people that have such a head as this? O my soul! What can destroy thee if omnipotence is thy helper? If the Almighty covers thee, what sword can smite thee? If the wings of the eternal are thy shelter, what plague can attack thee? Rest thou secure. If Jesus is thine all-prevailing king, and hath trodden thine enemies beneath his feet, if sin, death, and hell, are now only parts of his empire, for he is Lord of all, and if thou art represented in him, and he is thy guarantee, thy sworn surety, it cannot be by any possibility that thou canst be condemned. While we have an Almighty Savior, the redeemed must be saved; until omnipotence can fail, and the Almighty can be overcome, every blood-bought redeemed child of God is safe and secure for ever.

IV. And now I come to the fourth; and this also hath an encomium passed upon it–“WHO ALSO MAKETH INTERCESSION FOR US.”

Our apostle, in the epistle to the Hebrews, puts a very strong encomium upon this sentence. . . . “He is able also to save them unto the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” This was pictured by the high priest of old. . . [who] first took the blood. . . . He did not bring the mercy-seat outside the veil, to carry the mercy-seat to the blood. No, the blood must be taken to the mercy-seat. God will not stoop when he is just; it must be brought to him. So the high priest takes off his royal robes, and puts on the garments of the minor priest, and goes within the veil, and sprinkles the blood upon the mercy-seat. Even so did our Lord Jesus Christ. He took the payment and bore it to God–took his wounds, his rent body, his flowing blood, up to his Father’s very eyes and there he spread his wounded hands and pleaded for his people. Now here is proof that the Christian cannot be condemned, because the blood is on the mercy-seat. It is not poured out on the ground; it is on the mercy-seat, it is on the throne; it speaks in the very ears of God, and it must of surety prevail.

But, perhaps, the sweetest proof that the Christian cannot be condemn-ed, is derived from the intercession of Christ, if we view it thus. . . . When Christ pleads, he does not plead with one who is stronger than him or inimical to him, but to his own Father.

What would you give, some of you, if you could have such a hope as this? Here are four pillars. O unhappy souls, that cannot call these your own! The mass of men are in uncertainty; they do not know what will become of them at last. They are discontented enough with life and yet they are afraid to die. God is angry with them, and they know it. Death is terrible to them; the tomb affrights them, and they can scarcely understand the possibility of having any confidence this side of the grave.

Ah, my hearers, what would you give if you could obtain this confidence? And yet it is within the grasp of every truly penitent sinner. If you are now led to repent of sin; if you will now cast yourself on the blood and righteousness of Christ, your eternal salvation shall be as sure as your present existence. He cannot perish who relies on Christ, and he who hath faith in Jesus may see the heavens pass away, but not God’s Word. He may see the earth burned, but into the fire of hell, he can never go. He is safe, and he must be saved, though all things pass away.

None hath a right to condemn, for he is the sole judge of right and wrong. And if he hath died, shall he put us to death; and if he hath risen for us, shall he thrust us downwards to the pit; and if he hath reigned for us and hath been accepted for us, shall he cast us away; and if he hath pleaded for us, shall he curse us at last? No! Come life, come death, my soul can rest on this. He died for me. I cannot be punished for my sin. He rose again, I must rise, and though I die, yet shall I live again. He sits at the right hand of God, and so must I. I must be crowned and reign with him forever. He intercedes, and he must be heard. He beckons me, and I must be brought at length to see his face, and to be with him where he is.

Edited and excerpted from a sermon preached on June 5, 1859 .

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