Let us turn to God's Word in
the chapter that we read, the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter
9, and for a text directing you this morning to words that we
find at verse 22. Hebrews 9.22, And almost all
things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding
of blood is no remission, and almost all things are by the
law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission."
I want then to seek to say something with regards to this blood of
the remission of sins. to remit the same idea really
as pardon and forgiveness. It is the only way whereby the
sinner can find the forgiveness, the pardon of his many offenses
against the Holy God. And It is, of course, the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself that is being spoken of in this
chapter. He said before us is that one
who is, indeed, the mediator of the new covenant. And we're reminded, really, of
the uniqueness of his appearance at the end of time. Here, in the middle of verse
26, it says, Now once in the end of the world as he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The uniqueness of
that appearance then is so much emphasized. There were certainly
occasions in the Old Testament where there were appearances
of the Lord Jesus, an anticipation of his coming in the fullness
of the time. We have those Theophanies, times
when he appeared, for example, to Abraham. In Genesis 18, we read of those
three men who arrive at Abram's tent. Remember, we're told how
some entertained angels unawares. They were three men, that's how
they're described, and two of them go on to Sodom and Gomorrah. They have a great work to accomplish,
a work of judgment. God's going to visit Brimstone
fire and death upon those wicked cities, but there were three
and one of those remains behind with Abraham. And that third
one is none other than the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. You can read of those things,
of course, there in that great 18th chapter of Genesis. And then subsequently, in chapter
22, we see the Lord Jesus Christ again, where God is testing the
faith of his servant Abraham. He is commanded to sacrifice
His son, his only son, Isaac. But though willing to do what
God commands, he doesn't have to do such a thing at all. There
is a provision of a ram. that he is offered in the place
of Isaac and Abraham receives Isaac again as he were from the
dead. It's wonderful typology of the
Lord Jesus Christ who is the true seed of Abraham. But there in that 22nd chapter
it is the angel of the Lord again who speaks to Abram. And so when we come to the Gospel,
when we come to the actual coming of the Lord Jesus, doesn't it
remind the Jews there in the 8th chapter of John's Gospel,
your father Abram rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and
was glad. Oh, Abram saw the day of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He saw those theophanies, those
blessed appearances that God in His great goodness granted
to His servant, the great Jehovah, the I Am that I Am. Oh, he says there at the end
of that 8th chapter of John before Abram was I Am. or you shall
perish in your sins except you believe that I am, says the Lord
Jesus. There were then those occasions,
we've spoken of Abraham, there were others also who were favoured,
all those who were saved in the Old Testament were saved by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, but now Now, at the end of
time, the Lord Jesus Christ has actually appeared in the flesh. And remember what the Apostle
says later here at the end of the 11th chapter, having spoken
of those worthiest, those faithful ones of the Old Testament. These
all, he says, having obtained a good report through faith,
receive not the promise God having provided some better thing for
us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Or that
better thing, the Lord Jesus Christ has now appeared in the
flesh. And this is what Paul is so emphasizing
in this epistle at the beginning in chapter 2. He tells us, For
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he hath likewise taken part of the same flesh and blood. He
has taken upon Him not the nature of the angels made a little lower
than the angels He has taken upon Him the seed of Abraham
and we are reminded of that here in this ninth chapter in verse
11 Christ being come and 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.
He's been speaking previously of that first covenant, the covenant
that was given by Moses, the tabernacle, where Moses received
so much instruction concerning all the furnishings and the ordering
of the services. He's mentioned some detail, but
he says he cannot now speak particularly. But then he goes on to make this
statement in verse 11 concerning a greater and more perfect tabernacle. What is that? Well, it's a reference
to the human nature of the Lord Jesus, of which the tabernacle
was but a type. His body is spoken of as a tabernacle,
just as ours is. remember the language again of
the Apostle writing there in 2nd Corinthians 5 he speaks of
the earthly house of this tabernacle in which we're groaning and so
it's a figure that is used in the scriptures and here in verse
11 the perfect tabernacle is to be understood in terms of
that human nature, that perfect human nature of the Lord Jesus
Christ, or how now He has come and He has appeared in the flesh,
without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness,
says Paul. God was manifest in the flesh,
that nature that was conceived by the Holy Ghost in Mary the
Virgin's womb. that human body, that human soul,
in the great mystery of the Incarnation, joined to the person of the Eternal
Son of God. All Christ has now appeared.
This is so unique a thing. Now, once, in the end of the
world, hath He appeared, says Paul. to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And as his appearance is unique,
well, there will be another time when he returns in power and
great glory. There is to be that second advent,
that second coming of the Lord Jesus at the end of time. But we're thinking particularly
of that first coming and what was accomplished by it. And so
we see here also how there is a uniqueness in the work that
Christ did whilst here upon the earth. And what was that work?
It was obedience. It was obedience to all the will
of God, it was obedience unto death, even the death of the
cross. And the uniqueness of that atoning
sacrifice is so much emphasized. You go and look at the language
there, at the end of that 26th verse,
He has put away sin, it says, by the sacrifice of Himself. And then again, verse 28, Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. Oh, there is that that is unique. It's a once-for-all offering
that He makes. And again, if we go over into
the next chapter, there at verse 10 in chapter 10, we read of
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Again, at verse 12, this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. And it's that sacrifice, and
it's the shedding of that precious blood that leads to the remission
of sin that I want us to think about for a while this morning. These words in this 22nd verse,
almost all things, are by the law purged with blood,
and without shedding of blood is no remission." The blood of
remission, the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the words that we have as a text this morning really allude to
what we have back in the Old Testament in the book of Leviticus. Those words in Leviticus 17.11,
the life of the flesh, it says, is in the blood, and I have given
it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your sins. For
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. And again, verse 14 there, For
it is the life of all flesh, the blood of it is for the life
thereof. That bloody sacrifice then indicates
to us the pouring out of the soul of a man in sacrifice. And
that's what the Lord Jesus Christ did. The end of his sufferings,
what does he do? He commends his spirit, his soul
into the hands of God. Well, as we come to consider
the words that I've read for a text, two things I want to
dwell on this morning. First of all, to say something
with the exactness of the Word of God, that is, the Word of
God as we have it in Scripture. And then secondly, to say something
with regard to the exactness of the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ as it is being spoken of. Firstly, the exactness, the
exactness of God's Word in Holy Scripture. The wise man tells
us, Proverbs 30 and verse 5, every word of God is pure. Every
word. Every single word of God is pure,
exact. And we believe that. We believe
that this book was given by divine inspiration. It's inspired inherently
in all its parts, from Genesis right through to Revelation.
It's inspired verbally in that the very words that we have in
the Old Testament, the Hebrew of the Old Testament, And the
words that we have in the Greek of the New Testament, every word
in the original autographs is the inspired word of God. And we have it in a translation.
We're not saying that the translation is inspired like the original
autographs were inspired, but we thank God. We believe that
He has granted to us and preserved for us a very accurate translation. of the Scriptures of truth. And
here we see how exact God's Word is. What does it say in the text?
It says, not all things are by the law purged with blood.
It's not just a general statement, it says almost, almost all things
That means there were some exceptions. Now there were many ceremonial
cleansings. And we're reminded of that, verse
18, whereupon either 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. The purging blood is applied
then to all of these things. But not all cleansings and purgings
in the Old Testament were by blood. Now, true here, In verse
13 we have mention of the ashes of an heifer, if the blood of
bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifying to the purifying of the flesh. Now, the ashes
of an heifer refers to the red heifer that we have mentioned
in Numbers chapter 19. and that the ashes of the heifer
are used to make the waters of separation. You can read those
verses at the commencement of that 19th chapter, verses 1 through
10. But then, look at what it says
in particular at verse 9. A man that is clean shall gather
up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp
in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation
of the children of Israel for a water of separation. It is
a purification for sin. And surely it can be said, well,
that's not blood, that's water mixed with the ashes of the heifer. However, we have to remember
the heifer was slain, and the flesh, and the blood, as we see
there at verse 5, all was burnt and reduced to ashes. So, there's
a sense in which the blood is in the ashes. So we could say that, you know,
really that suggests that that is a purging by blood in the
form of the ashes. But there are other things that
we read of. In Numbers 31, we read of the spoil that the children
of Israel were able to take from the Midianites, and that was
to be purged. All the All the spoil that they
gathered when they were victorious over those Midianites, they were
to keep it, but it must be purged, and it was purged by fire and
by water. Again, there in that book of
Numbers, it's in chapter 31, Numbers chapter 31 and verses
21 through to 23, that Eliezer, the priest, says
to the men who were in the battle, this is the ordinance of the
law, which the Lord commanded Moses, only the gold and the
silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything
that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire,
and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall be purified
with water of separation. chapter 19, the water of separation. And all that abide doth not the
fire ye shall make go through the water. So, there there's
cleansing and purging of spoil taken from the Gentiles, taken
from the Midianites that is to be purged only by the use
of fire and of water. And, you see, the Roman Catholic
Church takes such passages of that and applies it to what they
understand by cleansing. They have sacerdotal water, the
sacerdotal water of baptism. They say that takes away original
sin. when the little baby is taken
to the priest and the priest sprinkles the sacred water upon
the child, well that takes away the original sin. And of course
ultimately they say that actual sins will be purged away in purgatory. Or they speak of cleansings by
water with regards to original sin and purgings by fire when
it comes to actual sins. And all of this, of course, is
so demeaning the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and that precious
blood that Christ shed. There were various cleansing
in the Old Testament, purgings of sin that did not involve shed
blood. Let me give you one more example. In Leviticus chapter 5 we read
of the sin offering or the trespass offering, and provision of course
is made for different people, for those who had greater means,
those who had lesser means. With some of the sacrifices a
person might be permitted to bring a young pigeon instead
of a of a lamb. Well there in Leviticus 5 we
read of those who would offer what is called a meat offering,
really a meal offering, as a sacrifice for their sins, in Leviticus
5. In that fifth chapter we're reading
in particular of trespass offerings, Leviticus 5, Verse 11 it says,
If he be not able to bring two turtle doves, or two young pigeons,
then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part
of an ephor of fine flour for a sin offering. Here is an ephor
of fine flour being offered for sin. He shall put no oil upon
it, neither shall he put any frankincense on, for it is a
sin offering. Then shall he bring it to the
priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it, even
a memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar according to
the offerings made by fire unto the Lord. It is a sin offering."
And there's no blood here. It's just flour, although it's
interesting when we give some thought to the matter and meditate
in this matter because When we have flour, where do
we obtain it from? It comes from wheat, which itself
is really a living thing, but that wheat must be cut, it must
be harvested, it must be threshed, it must be winnowed, it must
be ground to become flour, then it's taken and it's baked in
order to make bread, the staff of life. And isn't all of that
significant? Doesn't all of that, in a sense,
remind us also of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ? And
that's brought out in the Gospel, as it were, in the language that
we have there at the end of Isaiah 28. Bread corn is bruised, because
he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel
of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen, This also cometh
forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel,
and excellent in working." How God is so wonderful in His counsels,
when we consider all that we have in the Old Testament of
that that is so typical of Christ. All the offerings, all the sacrifices,
even those meat offerings, or meal offerings we would call
them, they all speak to us. And they said before us, the
Lord Jesus Christ willed it, for our transgressions, bruised
for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, says the Prophet. With his stripes we are healed."
The point I make is simply this, that when we go to the Old Testament,
we see that there were certain cleansings, purgings, where there
was no bloody sacrifice. And so, Paul is very particular. And he's accurate in what he
says. Not all things, almost, he says. Almost all things are
by the law purged with blood. Then he adds, without shedding
of blood is no remission. All under the New Testament.
When we come to the New Testament, we see that there are no exceptions. there was a certain weakness
with regards to that Old Testament dispensation. And the Old Testament
dispensation is gone now. What we had there was but type,
figure, shadow. What does he say here in chapter
8? Verse 7, If that first covenant
had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for
the second, for finding fault with them, he saith, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." That
old covenant, God says there was fault with it. There were
exceptions. Again in the opening words of
chapter 10, 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 commerce
thereunto perfect. Oh, there were so many sacrifices
there under the Old Testament. Oh, they were constantly being
repeated. It's true what Moses did there
at verse 19, when the law was given, he sprinkles blood upon all the instruments. In the tabernacle
he sprinkles blood upon the people. Then there were to be all the
various sacrifices, morning sacrifices, evening sacrifices. or that we
have outlined there, prescribed in the book of Leviticus. All of these things, many sacrifices,
but all now are finished because all have had their fulfillment
in Christ's one sacrifice which is once for all. Verse 23, it was therefore necessary
that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified
with these that is the multitude of offerings that were made in
the tabernacle, but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these. And what were those better sacrifices? Well, he says that now at the
end of the world Christ has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And in the last verse of the
chapter 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. Oh, what has Christ's sacrifice
accomplished? It has accomplished the end of
all sin. with regards to those who have
an interest in that great sin offering, even as many as the
Father gave him in the eternal covenant. And observe how the truth of
the efficacy of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done is emphasized
in our text. It says, and without shedding
of blood is no remission. I said how God's Word is accurate,
God's Word is verbally inspired, and we do well then to examine
the words, we do well to look to the language and the grammar
that is being used in every passage of Holy Scripture. And here,
we have this double negative. It could have been written, with
shedding of blood is remission. With shedding of blood is remission. Just a simple statement. But
no, it's not worded in that fashion. We have the two negatives. Without
shedding of blood is no remission. And we see that this sort of
construction is something that is quite common in the way in
which Paul expresses himself. We have it previously in chapter
4 and verse 15. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Now we could
have simply said we have a high priest touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. But it's not worded like that.
And the beauty of the authorized version, you see, is brought
out in the exactness of the way in which what Paul writes is
translated. We have two negatives there.
Chapter 4 and verse 15. We have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was tempted
in all points like as we are yet without sin. What is he saying?
He is simply saying this high priest certainly was tempted. He emphasizes that truth. He
emphasizes the experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, the reality.
of all that he endured, of the assaults of Satan, the temptations.
It wasn't just at the beginning of his public ministry when he's
led of the Spirit and tempted in the wilderness for 40 days.
Or the devil only leaves him for a little season. He says
to his own disciples at the end, you know, they which have continued
with me in my temptations. Or we have not an High Priest
which cannot be touched. He most certainly is touched.
with a feeling of all our infirmities though no sin was in him how
real is that human nature he's a real man and he feels for his
fellow man he feels for you, he feels for me he's touched
he's such a sympathetic high priest and again here there is
that emphasis in the way in which Paul is speaking under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. Without shedding of blood is
no remission. It emphasizes the truth that
only by the shedding of blood is the remission of sins. And
who is the one who has made that great sin-atoning sacrifice?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So freely and so willingly So
readily, so voluntarily, did the Lord Jesus Christ come to
make that great sacrifice. As we have it at the end of the
26th verse, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He
sacrificed Himself. He is the sacrifice, we know
that. He's the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world,
but more than that, He is the High Priest. who is offering
himself, making the sacrifice. Isn't that the great truth that
we have in Holy Scripture? Therefore doth my Father love
me, it says, because I lay down my life that I might take it
again. No man taketh it from me. I have
power, I have authority to lay it down, I have power to take
it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. I know, I know the theologians
when they speak of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ they speak
in terms of his life, his active obedience in every part of his life he
never sins, he comes to do the will of him who has sent him,
he comes made under the law And he comes to obey the Lord, to
honor the Lord, to magnify the Lord. And the theologians speak
of that obedience of the life that he lived. And that life,
of course, that righteous life is the life that is reckoned
to the account of the sinner. That's the doctrine of justification. He is the Lord our righteousness.
And that was the righteousness, the only righteousness that Paul
desired. to be found in him not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law but that which
is through the faith of Christ. He says the righteousness which
is of God by faith. All thank God for the active
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then to make the distinction
you see the theologians they go on and they say well he was
obedient unto death and they speak of the obedience of his
dying and they call that his passive obedience. I understand
why they do that, it makes a good distinction, but he is not passive
in dying, is he? He is not passive in dying. No
man takes his life from him, no man can take that life. That
human nature, that holy thing, that was conceived by the Holy
Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, that was an immortal life. there was no seed of death in
it he would have lived forever but
he makes a voluntary sacrifice he offers up himself and why? for the remission of sins without
shedding of blood all the life is in the blood and how does
he die? he dies a bloody death Oh, he
dies a bloody death, a lacerated back, a crown of thorns pressed
around his temples, bathed in blood. And then his hands, his
nails, his feet pierced with the nails, the spear thrust into
his side, and there comes forth blood and water. He's bleeding,
and he's bleeding to death. He's pouring out his soul as
the great sin atoning sacrifice, all for the remission of sins. Now, what are the significance
of these words? We said how important the words
are. Without shedding of blood there is no remission. Well,
the margin says no pardon, no forgiveness. But remission really
has the idea of something that is released. Something that is
dismissed. And that's what happens you see.
The sin is gone. The sin is gone. And how is it
gone? Why it's gone as far as the East is from the West. You know the language, the blessed
language of the Psalm. It's there in the 103rd Psalm. Verse 10, He hath not dealt with
us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy
towards them that fear him. As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
The East from the West, that's infinity. East and West are not
fixed points on the compass, North and South are. If we start
a journey now and head north, eventually we'll arrive at the
North Pole and then we'll no longer be walking in a northerly
direction, we'll be walking in a southerly direction. Until
we reach the South Pole, and then we pass that and begin to
walk again in a northerly direction. But once you start walking toward
the east, you're forever walking in that direction. You just keep
going round, and round, and round, and round, and round, infinitely.
Oh, as far as the East is from the West. It's gone. It's gone. You remember that
great verse, Jeremiah 50, verse 20, In those days, in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, and
there shall be none. and the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve," says the Lord God. Why He has buried those sins
in the very depths of the sea. Oh, how the psalmist can plead
these things. How these men, these Old Testament
saints, they knew the truth that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
David says, Iniquities prevail against me. and how iniquities
prevailed against that man, what a sinner David was. Iniquities
prevailed against me, as for our transgressions, thou shalt
purge them away. Oh, the Lord, you see, has made
such a remarkable provision without shedding of blood. No remission. But there is remission. There
is the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of Christ. If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, you should stand. But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. All the great work then of the
Lord Jesus Christ So what does he say when we come to the end
of the chapter? As he disappointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of men. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Interesting the contrast that
we have here. He speaks of what's appointed
unto men, that is mankind that is all of those who are the descendants
of Adam and Eve because we all sinned, we all
fell in Adam and from our first parents we have received now
a mortal nature human nature very different to that of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He could never die. He was sinless.
It is appointed unto men once to die. But here is a contrast. Christ was once offered to bear
the sins of many. It doesn't say, again, it doesn't
say he was a the one who was offered or came
to make an offering for the sins of all, but for many, many out
of mankind. It's the exactness of the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is such an exactness in
the Word of God and there is such an exactness in the work
that Christ has accomplished. Who has he died for? For a particular
people. He has not shed his blood in
vain. He has not just made salvation
a possibility for all people. He has come to accomplish the
salvation of the people that were given to him in the covenant.
And so he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Not one of those for whom he
shed that precious blood can be condemned. Oh, there's such an exactness
in the pardon of sin. It's not only an act of the grace
of God, is it? It's also an act of the justice
of God. Payment God cannot twice demand,
first at my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine.
If Christ has paid the penalty, if Christ has remitted the sins,
how can those sins be charged on anyone, if that death was
for all mankind? It's such a contradiction. It's
such a denial, really, of the very doctrine of God. God is
a God who is gracious, merciful, loving and compassionate, but
God is also just, holy, righteous. And when we come to God, when
we come and confess our sins to God, or we look to Him in
all that He is, We say that even God's justice and God's holiness
is on our side in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we confess our sins
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. How so? Because Christ has satisfied
that justice of God. And so God is just and the justifier
of him that believeth on Jesus. But if that offering was for
all men, why all must be saved, all must go to heaven, or God himself is really denying himself in
all that he is in his holy attributes. Oh, let us never lose sight of
the exactness. We need to be so careful to be
precise when it comes to our consideration of the Word of
God. What does it say in the text?
Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without
shedding of blood is no remission of sin. There was that in the Old Testament that in a certain sense was imperfect. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
comes. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
comes. The first covenant was not without fault. If that first
covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought
for the second. For finding fault with them,
he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant. And we are those who are under
that new covenant, the covenant of the grace of God. Oh, that we might know it, that
we might know what the days in which we are living that spoken
of by the Prophet Zachariah that day, he says, in that day there
shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. That's the day in
which we're living. The blessed day of the everlasting
gospel. And ought to know something of
the application of that precious blood. What does he say, 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? Do we know it? The application
of that precious blood, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience, our bodies washed in pure water, he goes on to
say in chapter 10. Oh, there is, you see, that blessed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that has been shed for sinners.
Plunge us in that crimson fountain, thy atonement made for sins,
says God's blood. Oh, are we those who desire that
we might know that we have an interest in that blood that is
for the remission of sins. That's blood that purges the
conscience from every dead work. Oh God grant that we might know
these things, not only have an understanding and an intellectual
awareness of them, but know them in our soul's experience, feeling
our need, recognizing the guilt of our sin, the filth of our
sin, but ever pleading that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh the Lord then be pleased.
to bless this truth to us. Amen. Our final hymn this morning is
one by Joseph Ayons.