Let us commence our service this
evening by singing together hymn number 125. The tune is Franconia
31. Not all the blood of beasts on
Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or
wash away the stain. Hymn 125 tune Franconia 31. We shall test him, to give a
guilty conscience, But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,
Takes all us into the Lamb, And certainly by His own everlasting
Name, A creature of that day. My Peter, they have had A bandit head of mine. I cleft
with it in time, and then from it I slid. My soul looks back to see the
gardens how it's meandered, weathered from the present day, and hopes
that across them. May we, may we rejoice, to see
the gas-ray moon. May the sun Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in the epistle to the Hebrews in chapter 9. the ninth chapter of Paul's epistle
to the Hebrews. Then verily the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread,
which is called the sanctuary. And after the second vow, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the
golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about
with gold. Wherein was the golden pot that
had manna and Aaron's rod that budded and the tables of the
covenant. and over it the cherubims of
glory, shadowing the mercy seat, of which we cannot now speak
particularly. Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God, but into the second when the high priest
alone, once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself
and for the heirs of the people. The Holy Ghost this signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing which was a
figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience. which stood only
in meats and drinks and divers' washings, and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of the Reformation. But Christ,
the incoming high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he ended in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the Living God. And for this cause he is the
mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a
testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of
no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither
the first testament was dedicated without blood. for when Moses
had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law
he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet
wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all the people
saying this is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined
unto you moreover he sprinkled blood both the tabernacle and
all the vessels of the ministry and almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is
no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place he'd made with hands, which are the figures
of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world, as he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. May the Lord bless the reading
of his precious word and help us now in prayer. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
which is an art, an art to come, we desire to bow before thy sovereign
majesty. Thou art holy and we are unholy,
Thou art righteous and we are unrighteous. O most gracious
Lord, we pray for grace to approach unto thy great majesty in the
precious name of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of sinners.
We pray, most gracious Lord, that thou wouldst look upon the
face of thine anointed, even our Lord Jesus Christ. For, Lord,
we have no hope in ourselves. We have no confidence in the
flesh. We have proved, O Lord, that
the flesh is unclean and unrighteous altogether. And so often, Lord,
we have to confess with the dear apostle, O wretched man, that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death. O, do
grant this evening hour that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God our Father, and the sacred fellowship of the
Holy Spirit may rest and abide upon us. Lord Jesus, Son of God,
most high, we read of thee in thy word, for through him we
have access by one spirit unto the Father. Grant us that free
access tonight. Grant us that spirit of love
and union and communion in the gospel tonight, as we gather
round thy word, that thou wouldst move with thy spirit one and
another, so that the truth may enter their hearts in its power,
in its heavenly unction. Holy Ghost, we look to thee.
Raise the dead, the captive free. From the mighty take the prey.
Teach the weak to watch and pray. Let us see thy work, thy power,
thy glory, as thou usest to be in the sanctuary. Let us see
an ingathering, let us see a building of the wall. Arise, arise, O
God of grace, into thy rest descend thou and the ark of thy strength.
And let thy priests be clothed with salvation, And thy saints
shall shout aloud for joy. O abundantly bless the provision
of thy house, And satisfy her poor with bread, O Lord, we do
beseech thee. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants, And thy glory unto their children. I have said in
thy word, Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, Whom thou
mayest make princes in all the earth. Thou hast said, O Lord,
I will bring thy sons from far, and thy daughters from the ends
of the earth. They shall come from the north and from the south,
and from the east and from the west. O Lord, do hear us. We humbly beseech thee, and have
mercy upon us, and draw us down unto thyself. None come, except
the Father draw, O to none. Those sweet drawings of a heavenly
Father, as we gather together around thy word, that thou wouldst
graciously shine into our hearts, into our souls, and seal thy
truth into our hearts, into our souls. And Lord, send out the
glory, light, and power of the gospel into this village, and
the surrounding villages and hamlets, and bring our sons from
far, and our daughters from the ends of the earth, O Lord of
hosts, O God of Israel, O Thou that dwellest between the cherubim,
shine forth. Let Thy hand be upon the man
of Thy right hand, the Son of Man, whom Thou madest strong
for Thyself. O Lord, do hear us, we pray Thee,
and have mercy upon us, we beseech Thee, for Thy great name's sake,
for without Thee we can do nothing. Without thy heavenly power, O
Lord, no sweets the gospel can afford, no drops of heavenly
dew will fall. Oh, that there may be the dew
of heaven upon our branch, that there may be an ingathering of
precious souls, that we may behold and see the sovereign work of
thy Spirit in the hearts of poor sinners. Cause the prodigals
to return, and thy mighty grace to be seen in this. O Lord of
hosts, my King and my God. And O Lord, we do pray that Thou
wouldst bless our brethren, the deacons, and give grace, wisdom,
and help in all their responsibilities. O Lord, we pray them, both here
and elsewhere, gird them with all sufficient grace, give wisdom
and guidance where it is so needed. O Lord, we do pray that the that
wind of the Spirit may blow, and that precious souls may be
gathered in, and that we may see an abundant harvest in due
season. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him. Lord, let us see thy work and
thy power and thy glory as thou usest to be. in the sanctuary. And O Lord, we do pray, remember
each one of our brethren and sisters in church fellowship.
Bless and undertake for each one. We do humbly beseech thee. And O gracious God, we do pray
that thou in thy great mercy would hear prayer for our little
group of churches. minished and brought low, the
boar out of the wood doth waste her. Few come to Zion's solemn
feasts. O Lord of hosts, O God of Israel,
O Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. We
do humbly beseech Thee. Lord, we pray that we may be
favoured to see the prodigals coming, humbled under Thy mighty
hand, hungry and thirsty, their souls fainted in them. O gracious
God, we do pray that it may be our blessed portion to see returning
prodigals. We do pray that it may be our
precious portion to see souls gathered in from this village
and the surrounding villages and hamlets. Lord, we long to
see such a day. Lord, make bare thine holy arm
in the gospel, make known thy truth and thy grace, and bless
the ministry of the word, and grant it may be with us as it
was with Paul and Thessalonica. Our gospel came unto you, not
in word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and with much
assurance. We thank thee, Lord, for thy
gospel, for thy grace, for the glory of thy name, for the fullness
of thy mercy, We thank thee that power belongeth unto God and
that thou art able to do abundantly more than we can even ask or
think. Hear us, O Lord, we humbly beseech thee and send prosperity. Remember the little ones and
the children and bless them indeed. Remember the young friends in
all their concerns and bless them with that rich grace that
is in Christ Jesus. Bless them with light and understanding
in thy word. And bless them, Lord, with that
grace to follow thee and to serve thee in their day and in their
generation. And the Lord, the sweet psalmist
of Israel, did he not pray, gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most
mighty, and ride prosperously because of truth and meekness
and righteousness Let thine arrows be sharp in the heart of the
king's enemies, that the people may fall under thee. O Lord,
do hear us, we pray thee, and have mercy upon us for thy great
name's sake. Lord, remember what we do pray
thee, all in the midst of the journey of life, and be gracious
unto them, and bless them. and grant that we may bring forth
fruit, that it may be down to the honour, glory and praise
of thy great and holy name. We mourn, O Lord, because we
feel so barren, but O Lord, we do pray that we may bring forth
fruit. We do pray for grace to walk
as we ought to walk and to speak as we ought to speak. Keep us
from the temptations of Satan. Keep us from the power and dominion
of sin. And Lord, whether Satan comes
as an angel of light to deceive or a roaring lion to devour,
we pray to be delivered from his power and from his influence,
we do humbly beseech thee. And O Lord, we do pray that they
will remember that those in the evening time, there are those
of us that are past the allotted time of man upon the earth, and
we're in the evening time of life's journey, we pray to be
guided safely unto thy heavenly kingdom, and we pray for an abundant
entrance into that kingdom in thy appointed time. Lord, we
pray for dear Ina, that thou hast been with her at home in
her old age and its increasing infirmities, we lovingly commend
her to thee. And, O Lord God, we do pray that
thou, in thy precious mercy, wouldst hear prayer for thy servants
as they labour in word and doctrine upon the walls of Zion. Set them
free, set them at liberty. Fill, O fill them with thy spirit
and with that love that casts out fear. Grant mighty signs
and wonders to follow the preaching of the Word. Grant that gracious
determination to know nothing among men, save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Grant that we may see thy goings
in the sanctuary. Grant the settlement of pastors,
and where they are settled, O Lord, build them up, strengthen them
and help them. that there may be a reviving,
a renewing, a replenishing, that instead of closing chapels, we
may build them. Instead of declining congregations,
we may see congregations that are being built up and renewed
and revived. Lord, do hear us, we pray thee.
Thou hast said, open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. Come
and fill this house of prayer with hungry, longing souls pressing
into the kingdom of heaven. O Lord, do hear us, we humbly
pray thee. We present not our supplications
unto thee for our righteousnesses, for all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. But we present our supplications
unto thee in the name of Jesus, that wonderful name, full of
grace and truth. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead body, We thank Thee for the glories of Christ.
We thank Thee for the incarnation of the Son of God. We thank Thee
that He was made of a woman made under the law that He might redeem
them that are under the law. We thank Thee that He died for
our sins and rose again for our justification. We thank Thee
for a wonderful an almighty saviour, a saviour that is able to save
to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth. He has the power of an endless life. And thou hast said,
O Lord, upon this rock I build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. O Lord, do hear us, we pray thee. Turn us again, O God of hosts,
and cause thy face to shine And we pray Thee, the great Lord
of the harvest, to send true labourers into the harvest. Hear
us, Lord. We humbly beseech Thee for Thy
great namesake. We thank Thee for every mercy
of Thy kind providence and for all Thy goodness that has passed
before us in the way. And we ask all with the forgiveness
of all our sins, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 150. The tune is Norton, 810. The sweet Lamb of God comes forth
to be slain, and offers His blood to purge off our stain. With
bitterest anguish and groans on the tree, the Saviour did
languish for sinners like me. Hymn 150, Tune Norton, 810. ? To see the world go by ? ? Comes
a long journey still ahead ? ? That no man did fall to the earth
as he did ? ? In heaven's golden chambers adorned with roses ?
? The Savior in languish ? ? Hosanna
in excelsis Deo ? ? The Lord in my soul ? ? And praise of
His power ? ? Which Christ made known to all ? ? The Master,
my God ? ? Which God hath sent over ? ? The cross from heaven
above ? ? With the deep and sober ? ? Of
trial and strife ? ? Night and evening ? ? Lifting up my head
? and teach men only to trust in
his name. Love me, all ye nations, ? Those shall hear of me ? ? That
are on their faces ? ? The worship of the Lord ? ? When we reach
their knees ? ? Of day and year ? ? For glory
was theirs ? ? Day was he and hers ? ? And now the day of the year
? ? Is set forth ? ? And we'll be reminded ? ? He's
really my King ? ? When the Lord becomes a King ? ? Watch him
in the garden ? ? And you shall be blessed ? ? Sleep now, my
child, sleep now ? I love thee, I love thee, I love
thee, I love thee, I love thee, ? And I'm born again, Lord ? ?
I'm born again, Lord ? ? I'm born again, Lord ? ? I'm born
again, Lord ? Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to the ninth chapter
of the Hebrews, and reading from our text, verse 14. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. How much more shall the blood
of Christ. In the beginning of this chapter,
in fact the first 10 verses of this chapter, the apostle he
discourses on the tabernacle worship and of the sacrifices that were
offered and he speaks of the holy place in the third verse
and after the second vow the tabernacle which is called the
holiest of all which had the golden censer in the ark of the
covenant overlaid round about with gold. Wherein was the golden
pot that had manna in the ends, rod that budded and the tables
of the covenant. Now what it says concerning this
Levitical worship and these Levitical sacrifices, it says in verse
8, the Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing. But when the true tabernacle
comes, and this is what he is leading these Hebrew believers
to, verse 11, but Christ being come an high priest of good things
to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
In the first chapter of John's Gospel, there's a scripture there
which I often quote, and the Word, that is the Eternal Word,
the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. That's what that refers
to, the name of the Word. It's the glorious, divine person
of Jesus, the Son of God. He's almighty. He's eternal.
He's Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. He's Jehovah
Jesus. He says to John, I am he which
is and which was and which is to come, the almighty. But Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle. What is he referring to? Christ
himself said, destroy this temple and in three days I will build
again. The Jews, they said it was blasphemy
and this temple took 20, 30 years to build. and they'll rebuild
it in three days. But of course, what he was referring
to, this is the Son of God, was his human nature. He dwelt among us. Almost every
other place where that word dwelt is in Holy Scripture, it
is translated as tabernacle. To tabernacle somewhere is to
dwell there. It may only be for a night, but
you tabernacle there, you dwell there. So did the Son of God. He tabernacled here upon earth,
in human nature. And that temple was destroyed,
and in three days he rose again. And this is what he refers to,
you see. his own sacred, holy human nature
that the Son of God took in the womb of the Virgin, but Christ
being come in high priest. Now, the wonderful truth is, we read
in the third chapter of John's Gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God manifest in the flesh, his holy human nature
was anointed by the Holy Ghost without measure. a gracious outpouring
and effusion of the Spirit was on his holy human nature. And
he says in one place, and I, if I cast out devils, how did he do it? By the Holy
Ghost. He wrought miracles by the Holy
Ghost. He preached wonderful sermons
by the Holy Ghost. And in the Levitical dispensation,
the prophet, the priest and the king all required anointing. And that anointing typifies and
represents the divine anointing of the Holy Ghost. Under the
Levitical law it was typical. But in the New Testament there's
a divine reality in it, that anointing of the Spirit. And
Jesus, the Son of God, was anointed with the Spirit without measure.
He said, if I, by the finger of God, cast out devils. When
he says the finger of God, what does he mean? The Holy Ghost.
If I, by the finger of God, cast out devils. You see, he was anointed the
prophet. Those Levitical types, the prophet,
the priest, and the king, The person who took up those sacred
offices of the prophet, the priest, and the king was the Son of God
manifest in the flesh. He became our prophet, our priest,
and our king. But Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle far greater and far more perfect than the original
tabernacle that was in Israel that set up under Moses under
the direction of the Lord and in that tabernacle was the golden mercy seat and in that tabernacle was the
two tablets of the holy law of God complete. Because it typified Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. And that tabernacle being typical
of Christ, the law was in it. You remember when Moses received
the law and he came down the Lord He said to him, you must
go down quickly, the people have turned after idols. Moses went
down, he'd been 40 days and 40 nights with nothing to eat or
drink in the Mount of the Lord. And when he came down into the
camp and the people were dancing naked, and he cast down those
two tablets of stone and they break, they break. What a picture that is. the broken
law that man has broken. They made a golden calf in that
holy law it says I shall have no other gods before me. And they bowed down and worshipped
that golden calf. But then the wonderful thing
is this, is the Lord invited Moses again up into Mount Sinai. And again, he wrote out on tablets
of stone with his own finger, the holy engraved, the holy law
of God upon those two tablets of stone. And when Moses came
down, the Lord said, put it into the ark, into the golden mercy
seat. Why? Because it represents Christ.
Christ has fulfilled the law. Christ has honoured the law,
Christ has magnified the law. When he was here, the apostle
puts it so beautifully in Galatians chapter 4, and he says there
in verse 4, made of a woman. When the Son of God became a
man, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem
them. He says himself, didn't he, I
come not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. And that's
what Christ has done. That's what the Apostle means
when he says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
I come not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. But Christ, being come an high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, that's his holy human nature, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and of calves, but by his own blood. He ended in once. And you know, friends, this one
sacrifice, this one life, it's all that was necessary.
Everything that the believer needs is in Christ. The law honoured
and magnified and fulfilled is in Christ. You'll never do it
yourself. Christ has done it. Neither by the blood of goats
and of cows but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place having obtained eternal redemption his own blood. That sacred offering. In Leviticus we read the blood
is the life thereof. The blood is the life thereof.
Now he poured out his soul unto death. He offered a sacred holy
sacrifice. He shed his precious blood. You
know the blood of Christ It's holy blood. He did no sin. It's pure blood. It's the blood of the Son of
God. And it's pure and it's holy.
And it's in that precious shed blood of Jesus Christ, that pure
and holy sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, it's there that we
are redeemed. It's there that we are delivered
from the sentence of the law. It's there that sin was put away. Sin is any transgression of the
law of God. In Christ, sin is put away. The
sin of the believer is put away. The sin of the church is put
away. As far as the East is from the
West, so far have I removed thy sins from thee, O Israel. having obtained eternal redemption
for us. It's eternal redemption. It's
the eternal son of the eternal father that offered this holy
sacrifice on Calvary. And the worth of this holy sacrifice
is infinite. We cannot really begin to express
or explain the fullness of that sacrifice. And this holy sacrifice
of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary has satisfied all
the demands of divine justice that was against the church.
Hence the apostle says there is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Are you in Christ Jesus? Am I
in Christ Jesus? Do we know Him? Have we had union
and communion in Him? It's a vital questions that we're
asking here. He says here in the 13th verse,
for if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkling the unclean sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh.
that there was a certain amount of outward purification under
the Levitical dispensation. I say outward, of the flesh.
He says he is sanctified to the purifying of the flesh. But then he goes on to the blood
of Christ. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. When he's speaking of dead works
what was it he's speaking of the Levitical dispensation and
all the things that they had to do under that Levitical dispensation
but he says they were dead works but it's in Christ he says we
are urged from dead works to serve the
living God. It is put in another way by the
Apostle Paul, isn't it? Not by works of righteousness
that I have done, but according to his abundant mercy, that mercy
that flows through the sacrifice of Calvary, through the blood
of Christ. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, or the wonderful power, the efficacy
of the blood of Christ? You may say, what do you mean
by the word efficacy? Well, if the doctor prescribes
you medicine, and that medicine either cures
or does good to the disease that you have. It means it's efficacious. It's done what the doctor intended
it to do, so therefore that medicine was efficacious. Now, so when
we speak of the efficacy of the blood of Christ, it does what
it says. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us, from all sin, and thereby it becomes efficacious. It does what it says. It washes
and purges away all sin. And that is what stands between
us and God, our sin. How much more shall the blood
of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God. This Eternal Spirit here, I believe,
refers to the divine nature of the Son of God. Jesus the Son
of God. And it refers to that divine
nature of Jesus the Son of God. You see, here in the Hebrews
and elsewhere, it speaks of offering himself. We don't want to separate the
divine and human here, but we do need to make a distinction.
And as I've often explained to you, under the Levitical dispensation,
you have an altar and you have a sacrifice on the altar. They
are very distinct one from another. Now that typifies, the altar
typifies the divine nature of the Son of God. And the sacrifice
on the altar typifies the human nature of the Son of God. He offered his own sacred, holy
human nature on the altar of his divinity. What a wonderful,
precious, simple truth that is. So we look at the type and we
see there in the altar the Son of God and we see there on the
altar the divine, the human nature, the pure and holy human nature
of the Son of God. Now this was a sacrifice of a
sweet-smelling savour unto It's in this wonderful sacrifice
that sin has been put away. It's in this wonderful sacrifice
that God and sinners are reconciled at the cross of Christ where
sin was put away. In Bunyan's Pilgrim we read when
he came to the foot of the cross that is the burden The burden
of his sin, his iniquity, it rolled off his back. It rolled off his back. So, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, Christ did. And it says in the last verse
of this chapter, doesn't it, so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. That sin that was laid upon him
in Gethsemane and that sin that he suffered and bled and died
under the weight of it or as Isaiah puts it he poured
out his soul unto death But that wasn't the only pouring out,
was it? He poured out his precious blood. He shed his precious blood. And that precious blood cleanses
from all sin. I think it, one of the hymn writers
says, doesn't he? The blood of Christ, a precious
blood, cleanses from all sin. Doubt it not, it cleanses from
all sin. Oh, my beloved friends, there
is power in the blood of Christ. Here in the Hebrews, in the 13th
chapter, the apostle, he says in verse 20, now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant or
testament as that means the blood of the everlasting covenant and
that shows us the eternal worth of the blood of Christ it does
it cleanses from all sin it delivers from all sin And it is put in various ways. In the Passover, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. In the prophet Micah, I have
cast thy sins into the depths of the sea. Their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more. Why? Because Christ suffered
and bled and died for the sins of his people. He offered himself
without spot to God. your conscience from dead works
to serve the Living God. The Apostle speaks of serving
in newness of life, a newness of life. That's how the believer
serves the Lord Christ, in newness of life, that life-giving power. The distinction we make between
law and grace, the law I think it's probably William Gadsby,
it gives me neither feet nor hands. What does he mean? It doesn't give you the ability
to fulfill its holy commands. And you can't do it. You can't do it. You never will
be able to do it. It gives me neither feet nor
hands. It doesn't give you any ability. That is what the Apostle
means when in the Romans chapter 8 he says, for what the law could
not do, what could the law not do? It cannot justify a poor
sinner. No. It cannot take away your sins. But Christ has done that. Christ has done that. And in the gospel there is power.
that is imparted to the believer to follow Christ. Through the
power of his blood and his righteousness, through faith in him, in his
glorious person, power, grace, and love, mercy and peace are
given. And the ability to follow him
and to serve him, this is divinely given. when the Holy Spirit is
poured into the soul and we are made willing in the day of His
power, the power of His grace and of His love and of His mercy.
It makes us willing to follow Him, to serve Him, to do that
which is right in His sight. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. Doesn't the apostle take up this
very point in Romans chapter 12? I beseech you therefore brethren
by the mercies of God. And what mercy is he speaking
of? This wonderful mercy that we're speaking of here. This
mercy that flows from Calvary. from the lamb once slain, the
lamb that was slain from before the foundation of the world.
Peter, he says in his epistle, doesn't he, for as much as we
are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
That's all we receive from our fathers, my beloved friends. we receive a sinful nature. Just
the same as our mother and our father. We are born in their
likeness. Hence, we are born in sin. We
are shapen in iniquity. But when these poor sinners are
born again, when the Holy Ghost enters their heart, then they follow the Lamb. They follow Jesus. Let all fruitless
searches go, which perplex and teases, but desiring not to know,
but a bleeding Jesus. This precious blood, you know,
this precious blood, it's the atonement for sin. It's Christ's atonement for sin. when he poured out his precious
blood. It's a blood that not only has
satisfied the demands of divine justice, it's a blood that sanctifies
the poor sinner when he's brought to God. Separate, that word sanctified
means to separate. He separates us from the world.
by this wonderful precious mercy in Jesus Christ. And what is
it that sanctifies the soul? The blood of Christ. The blood
of Christ, that sanctifies the soul. Separates us. Now, we started
quoting Romans 12, I beseech you therefore brethren by the
mercies of God, wonderful mercy that flows from Calvary by the
mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice a living sacrifice be not conformed
to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you might know what that good and perfect and acceptable
will of the Lord is or that the Lord would teaches His ways,
make us willing in the day of His power. And speaking of this
blood and this sacrifice, who through the Eternal Spirit
offered Himself, that's the complete person, the Son of God, the Son
of Man, that one nature, the Son of God, that took into union
with His divine nature, a human nature, And He offered that sacred,
holy, human nature on the altar of His divinity. A sweet smelling
sacrifice unto His eternal Father. Accepted. Just look at it from
the believer's point of view. Accepted in the Beloved. Complete in Him. In Him. In Christ. And he goes on here in this chapter,
he says, for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament. That by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
that is the law, they which are called might receive the promise
of eternal inheritance. Oh, My beloved friends, the Lord
Jesus in that holy sacrifice, in that precious blood, in that
sweet offering for sin, He has procured eternal inheritance. They which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. And here
in this testament in the glorious person of Jesus the Son of God.
For a testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise it is
of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither
the first testament, the law, was dedicated without blood,
And he goes here and he says, he's speaking now of the typical
sacrifices under the law. The thing is, my beloved friends,
if you look into the Leviticus, the book of Leviticus and the
rites and the sacrifices, it doesn't matter whether it was
something actually in the tabernacle, either a bowl or a spoon or whatever
it was, or the altar itself, or the person that was brought
to the altar with the sacrifice, once the blood touched them,
it was pronounced to be a holy thing. What a view that gives us of
the preciousness of the blood of Christ. Once that blood was
applied and touched, that thing became a holy thing. It was separated
and sanctified unto the Lord. Before it was unclean, but now
it's clean. What a beautiful picture of the
blood of Christ. It's the application. It's when
it touches it. When Moses had spoken every priest
up to all the people according to the law, he took the blood
of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop
and sprinkled both the book and all the people saying this is
the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover
he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels
of the ministry and almost all things are by the law purged
with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. Now as he says here in the beginning
of the 10th chapter, for the law having a shadow of good things
to come and not the very image of the things can never, with
those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make
the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sin, But in those sacrifices,
there is a remembrance gain made of sins every year, speaking
of the Day of Atonement. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, and there's a quotation
here from Psalm 40, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. That is, of course, the Son
of God. the body prepared. In burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, and
this is Christ speaking, Lo, I come. In the volume of the
book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above, when
it says sacrifice and offering and burnt offering and offering
for sin thou wouldst not, neither has pleasure therein, which are
offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first, that's
the first covenant, that he may establish the second, that's
the gospel of Jesus Christ, the New Testament, by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And every priest and in daily
ministering and offering the, oftentimes, the same sacrifice,
because they never take away sin. this man, but this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. His sweet atoning sacrifice gives
sanction to his claims. You see, my beloved friends,
he says here, at this quotation from Jeremiah verse 16 and 17.
This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, that's
after the days of the law and bringing us into the new testament
I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will
I write them and their sins and iniquities will I remember no
more. Now where remission of these
is there is no more offering for sin. How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? Oh, that we could feel the power
of the blood in our hearts day by day. The hymn writer says,
doesn't he, daily I would repent of sin, daily washing Jesus'
blood. Oh, to know that daily experience
of these things. May the Lord add his blessing
to these fury marks. Let us now sing together hymn
number 857 to the tune Melling 883. Jesus Christ, God's holy
lamb, we will lord thy lovely name. We were saved by God's
decree and our debt was paid by thee. Hymn 857 June Melling, 893. ? Shepherds watch on the river
? ? With their yoke by the river ? ? Because they've heard of
David ? Who has washed us in thy blood? Make those fiends and queens
to go May this day be loved of old, As we come in love with
old. So sweetly in Thy joyous praise
Sing, O great King, as praise Fertile land of love and hope,
deep of saintly patriot love. Righteous are thy ways, and true,
and best honours of thy dear. Praise and glory give each night. Let us praise the Divine. We've all heard how God's love's
said, We've died when souls did not pray, In this one request only, Make
us more than happy. Now, May the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each, both now
and forevermore. Amen.