You know what it's like to be
so dirty that you feel unfit to be in the presence of anyone.
The first time Shelby and I met Joe and Cynthia Blakely, they
had been listening to messages for some time down in Charlotte.
And Joe and Cynthia were up here on vacation looking up the graves
of some of his ancestors, if I remember correctly. They decided
to come by here. And Shelby and I had been working
outside all day in the garden, then in the yard. And we were
muddy and dirty from head to toe and sweaty and ragged and
a little embarrassed because we were unfit to be around anyone
who was so dirty. Do you know what it's like to
be dirty before God? filthy, unclean in your conscience. Hiding from God because of your
filth. My subject tonight is cleansing
blood. Our text will be 1 John 1 and
verse 7, the latter part. 1 John 1, 7. You can turn there,
but before I get to my text, I want to talk to you for a few
minutes about the blood, the precious blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. This book, this book right here,
God's Holy Word, this book, is a book about blood. If you want
to understand this book, read it as having a scarlet thread
running through its pages and running through every line. The
book is about blood, the blood of a sacrifice, a sacrifice God
requires, a sacrifice God provides, a sacrifice God gives, a sacrifice
God accepts. Blood, the precious blood of
Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, the
theme of the book is the blood of Christ. The importance of
the blood is found in God's own testimony. He said back in the
book of Leviticus, for the life of the flesh is in the blood.
I've given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your
souls. Atonement means to be at one
with a reconciliation. It is a covering. It is a reconciliation. It is a purging of sin to make
atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that maketh
an atonement for the soul. It is the blood. Without the
shedding of blood is no remission. It is the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. He says again in Leviticus, it
is the life of all flesh. The blood of it is for the life
thereof. Therefore, I said unto the children
of Israel, ye shall eat of the He shall eat of the blood of
no manner of flesh, for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof. This book is about blood, blood
redemption, redemption from sin and the curse of the law by blood,
the ransom of our souls at the price of Christ shed blood. Redemption, not by the blood
of animals, but by the blood of Christ. For as much as you
know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. God tells us in his word that
the forgiveness of sin is by the blood. In Christ, we had
the forgiveness of sin. Paul says, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. So that the shedding of blood
always accomplishes the forgiveness of sins. Those for whom blood
was shed have their sins forgiven. There's no possibility that any
for whom Christ shed his blood shall have any sin charged to
them. The Word of God declares that justification is through
the blood. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. The Book
of God tells us that we're sanctified, made holy, made completely clean
by the blood of Jesus Christ. Wherefore, Jesus also that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without
the camp. His one sacrifice, our Lord Jesus
has sanctified forever them that are his. We are made perfect
forever through the shedding of his blood. God promises peace
to sinners by the blood. Listen to this. You can read
it later in Colossians one, having made peace through the blood
of his Christ by him, by Christ to reconcile all things unto
himself. By him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. We have peace with God
by the blood of his cross. The love of God is revealed,
made manifest to us, and taught to us by the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no knowledge of the
love of God apart from the blood atonement of Christ Jesus the
Lord. Men and women everywhere Talk
about the love of God and all kinds of fanciful, emotional,
silly terms. The love of God cannot be known
apart from the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God
is revealed in the sacrifice of his son. He is Jesus Christ,
the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead and the
prince of the kings of the earth who loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood. We have access to God. We come
to God. Freely have access to God by
the blood of his dear son, so that having therefore brethren
boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood, we come
to him. We have victory triumph over
all our foes through his blood. They overcame him. That is the
church of God. overcame Satan the dragon of
hell through the blood the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony and The Word of God declares to us that everlasting
glory is to be given us through the blood of the Lamb listen
to this revelation 7 I said unto him Who are these he said sir
thou knowest These are they which came out of great tribulation
and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. He that
sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. Oh, precious is the
flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And then we read here in first
John 1 7. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son. Cleanseth us from all sin. That's my subject. Cleansing
blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanseth us from all sin. Did you hear that? The blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Remember, the
life is the blood. So that the totality of all that
Jesus Christ, His Son is, sacrificed at one time for us. All that
He is, in all the dignity of His Godhead, In all the perfection
of his humanity, in all his righteousness and obedience to God as our substitute,
sacrificed at one time when he said it is finished, the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. There's something
glaringly painful here. Sin. Our sin. Your sin, my sin. Sin must be cleansed or there's
no acceptance with God. Sin must be purged. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. Purged. I don't know of a better illustration.
I've given it to you many times. I wear these white shirts all
the time. And Shelby scrubs them. I've seen her scrub them till
her hands were literally bleeding. Just scrub them because some
stain I foolishly got into. She scrubs them and scrubs them
and puts whatever that stuff is you let it put on those things
and get them clean. And look at yonder. Just as white
as they can be. How come? Because the filth has
been purged. Completely expunged. Gone. That's what the blood of
Christ has done. That's what the blood of Christ
continually does. It cleanseth us from all sin. Sin is filth upon my soul. Sin is the pollution of my heart. Sin is the corruption within
me. Sin is what I am. In every aspect of my character
by nature, in every aspect of my being, sin is what I am. It must be cleansed. There's
a tendency today to forget the wretchedness, the horrid wretchedness
of sin. We are dulled in our spiritual
senses, so much so that we cease to see sin for being what the
scripture says it is. Exceeding sinful. Exceeding sinful. Nothing funny about it. Nothing
laughable about it. Nothing about it to joke, make
fun of. God wants to call sin by the
worst of all words. He could have called it vile
or wretched or corrupt are many other things, but he chooses
to call it sin. Sin. Literally sin is heinous beyond
imagination. Sin. When we begin to see how
utterly ruinous and horrid sin is, at the same time beholding
something of the holy, pure, wondrous, white character of
God Almighty, we begin to wonder, is it possible for a sinner like
me, one who is seeing, to ever come to God with ease of conscience and find
acceptance with Him? so that God Almighty in all his
pure holiness, in all his strict justice, in all his perfect righteousness
can wrap his arms around me as the father did the prodigal and
kiss me and calls me to know that he delights to have me. Is that possible? Is it possible?
It is only when we see these two things, our utter pollution
and God's utter absolute holiness, that the gospel begins to make
sense. Indeed, unless we see these things,
we'll have very low notions of our Lord Jesus, of his saving
work, of his life, of his blood and of his sacrifice. The more
clearly we see our sin and the cleansing from all sin by the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's son. The more our lives will
be filled with holy gospel wonder before our God. Oh, God, make
me to know my sin and make me to know my cleansing by the precious
blood of your dear son, that I may ever be filled with wonder
as I bow before you through sin. Man has lost the image of God,
lost the presence of God, lost fellowship and communion with
God, lost all acceptance with God. Sin brought upon us God's
wrath and God's disfavor and God's displeasure. Sin gave us
the curse of God's holy law and justice. God's justice and God's
law is incensed against sin and cries out against us because
of sin. Heaven's gates are shut and sealed
against every sinner. Hell yearns for every sinner
dead in trespasses and in sins because sin must be cleansed.
So listen again to John's sweet, sweet, indescribably sweet words,
the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. This is mercy. This is wondrous
power to cleanse the entire defilement of our sin from us. Our pollution,
vile, horrid, wretched as it is, our sin, filthy as it is,
hear me now, is no match for His blood. Our sin is no match for His blood. Our sin cannot withstand and
cannot overpower and cannot nullify His blood. Our sin is no match
for His blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Through the blood of Christ,
every sinner who trusts Him has been made clean and pronounced
clean, and is continually, as we trust Him, made clean and
pronounced clean by God. We know for certain, based on
God's Word, that we have truly and really been cleansed from
all sin by His blood. Now, this is not something to
be felt Before it's believed, it's something to be believed
before it's felt. We receive sight by faith, not
the other way around. Since Christ was manifested to
take away our sins, we know that in him is no sin. And since he
took our sins away in him, God sees no sin in us. We no longer have sin. Because
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. But brother Don, you just got
through talking about how much sin we are, how bad we are with
sin, how corrupt we are. Yes, but in him is no sin. In him is no sin. In you, Larry Brown, nothing
else. That's all the sin. Well, not
really, because Christ is in you. And in him is no sin. Have you got that? In Him is
no sin. Our sin can't be in two places
at one time. When Christ was made sin for
us and bear our sin in His body on the tree, God removed all
sin from us and gave us perfect righteousness in His Son. The
Lord Jesus Christ has put away our sins. Therefore, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. God Almighty
imputed our sins to his son when he made him sin. And having once
charged him with sin, he cannot charge me with that sin for which
Christ suffered and died unless God vacates his throne and destroys
his own justice. Justice won't allow it. Justice
will not permit God in heaven His own just character, his own
law will not permit God in heaven to charge me with sin if he charged
my sin on his son. All right, I want to answer two
questions. First is whose blood are we talking about? That's
the first thing to be answered. And second, what do we have by
the blood? Whose blood are we talking about?
We're talking about the blood of Jesus Christ his son. The blood of Jesus thou shalt
call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. The blood of Jesus Jehovah our
savior Jehovah Jesus he who is God come in our flesh our great
Joshua Jehovah who saves Jehovah who redeems Jehovah who delivers
Call his name Jesus for he came here to save his people They
were already his people as we saw this morning when he came
by divine election by the gift of God in covenant grace They
were already his people. He came to save his people from
their sins by the sacrifice of himself It's the blood of Jesus
the Savior Who is the Christ the Christ? throughout the Old
Testament scriptures From the time that God made promise to
Eve in Genesis 315 that her seed would crush the serpent's head
until the close of Malachi's prophecy, the prophets and the
law spoke of one who was coming, God's Messiah, the Christ, the
anointed. and declared that He, the Christ,
the Messiah, would, by the sacrifice of Himself, bring in everlasting
righteousness, make an end of sin, fulfill all the law, fulfill
all the prophets, fulfill every word written by Him. And he that
believeth that Jesus, that man born at Bethlehem 2,000 years
ago, is the Christ, he that believeth that he actually did everything
the prophet said he would do, fulfilled everything the prophet
said he would fulfill, that man born of God. He's born of God. This blood then is the blood
of Jesus, the Christ, His Son. incarnate. God in human flesh. Turn to Colossians chapter one.
Colossians chapter one. We're talking about the blood
of him who is God in our nature. The Apostle Paul tells us that
it is the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. God has blood and poured out
his blood for us. Yes, sir. In the person of his
son, God and man joined in one person. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. God gave his life for us. God gave his life for us. We're talking about the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son. One of the most wonderful, glorious
descriptions of our Lord Jesus and his great preeminence is
found here in Colossians chapter 1. As the apostle begins this
sentence in verse 14 and goes through verse 20, he begins with
blood and ends with blood as if to tell us that Christ's preeminence,
Christ's glory is all wrapped up in his blood and the shedding
of his blood. But let's back up to verse 9.
Paul has heard from Epaphras, the pastor of the church at Colossae,
about their faith and their faithfulness and their commitment to Christ
and his gospel. And Paul says, for this cause,
also since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you
and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That you might know what God's
purpose is. That you might have great wisdom and understanding
knowing God's purpose, that God's will is the salvation of his
people. God's will is the salvation of
his people. Have you got that? God's will
is the salvation of his people and everything he does, he does
to that end. Oh, what wisdom and spiritual understanding to
know that, to walk in that light. All right, verse 10, that you
might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. being fruitful
in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Oh. Walk worthy of the Lord. Walk
worthy, that is, to walk as one who truly is God's, to walk in
this world as one who believes God, live what you profess, live
what you say you believe, being fruitful in every good work,
increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthened with all might,
according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering
and joyfulness. And all of this is connected
with this wisdom and spiritual understanding, knowing his will. Verse 12, giving thanks unto
the Father, which hath made us meet. The word is worthy or fit,
made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. Not is making us meet. Not shall make us meet. Bill
Raleigh, if you believe on the Son of God, God the Holy Spirit
here says you are right now worthy of heaven's glory. Worthy of heaven's glory. How can that be? Through the
blood of Christ. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son. Now watch this, verse 14, in
whom we have redemption through his blood. And here it is again,
even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him. The Lord has made
all things for himself, and he is before all things. And by
him, all things consist. He is the preexistent eternal
God, and he's the one that holds everything together. And he is
the head of the body, the church. Who is the beginning the firstborn
from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence
God the triune Jehovah Father Son and Holy Spirit has determined
that the incarnate God may in our mediator Jesus Christ God's
darling son have all preeminence in all things we know Verse 19
for it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell
And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him
to reconcile all things to himself By him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven God the father that is
the triune Jehovah notice those words the father are in italics
the triune Jehovah is pleased that in him all fullness should
dwell and he is made preeminent, exalted, given dominion over
all things because of the blood of his cross by which we had
the forgiveness of sin. Sin and death are always linked
together. The effect of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. When Adam sinned in the garden,
he died and we died in him because we sinned in him. Sin drove Adam
out of the garden. Sin drove Cain out of the presence
of the Lord. The wages of sin is death. You who have not been reconciled
to God by the blood of his son are dead, spiritually dead in
trespasses and in sins. It's my prayer. Oh, it is my
prayer that God will this very day. Give you life sprinkle your
consciences from all guilt and sin by the blood of Christ giving
you faith in his dear son All that the God man our Savior the
Lord Jesus Christ was When he walked on this earth in all his
holy humanity in all his divine dignity glory and honor was sacrificed
upon the cursed tree for us the life is in the blood and what
a life that was. Jesus Christ comes into this
world, God in the flesh, always doing his father's will. Even
when he broke his mother's womb coming into the world, he said,
Lo, I come to do thy will. Oh, my God. All his life long,
he, the God man, walked on this earth in perfect righteousness.
and all that he is, all the preciousness and immeasurable worth and dignity
of the life of God is represented in the blood of Christ. The pouring
out of that blood on the cross was the pouring out of his soul
with all its infinite wealth and purity, love and power, with
all its infinite merit, worth and efficacy. Hear this. gave Himself for us. He, the Son of God, gave Himself,
the totality of His being, when He laid down His life upon the
cursed tree for us. All of that I have said easily,
but who can grasp it? The triune God can understand
and fully appreciate the value of the eternal blood of Christ,
God's dear son, shed for our sins at Calvary. Who will dare say the price was
not enough? who would dare so blaspheme God
as to suggest that God yet demands more, who would dare suggest
that the price given, His blood Himself, the very life of God
laid down for us somehow is a failure. Is the blood of Christ effectual
blood? Indeed it is. People often talk
about for whom did Christ die. I can settle the issue who died. That's the question. If somebody perishes for whom
Christ died, then Christ is not God. If his blood fails to achieve
all that for which his blood was shed, then Christ is not
God. And you're yet in your sins.
And this book is a farce and you have no hope and nobody else
does. Oh, but he who died is God. He who died is God in the flesh
and the life of God given for sin is thorough and effectual
and infinite and efficacious, putting away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Well, what has been accomplished
for us by the blood? Give you five things. One, propitiation. Look in 1 John 2, verse 2. My little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he
is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world. Now, reading that text of scripture,
you must understand the word world in one of two ways. Either
it means that every sinner in the whole world has the blood
of Christ as a justice-satisfying, perpetuatory sacrifice which
God has accepted for them, and they all shall be saved, which
is certainly not the truth. Judas was in hell when Christ
died. The sons of Korah were in hell when Christ died. Balaam
was in hell when Christ died. But what's this talking about
there in the whole world? Alan is talking about God's elect
wherever they're found throughout the world. He's the propitiation
for our sins. He is the justice satisfying
atonement for our sins. This word propitiation is elsewhere
translated mercy seat. Mercy seat. When God first began
to reveal himself to Adam after the fall. He sacrificed a life
and made for Adam and Eve coats of skins from the same slain
victims and thus picturing the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed
blood, a life by which our sins are covered and justice is satisfied
and an angry God is propitiated. Now, nothing will provide you
with a covering long enough and broad enough to wrap yourself
in, except the blood of Jesus Christ, which is the propitiation
for our sins, the mercy seat. In the Old Testament, they had
an ark in the Holy of Holies, just about the size of this table
right here. And inside that ark was Aaron's
rod that had manna. life from death. Inside that
ark was the golden pot that I'm sorry, the golden pot that had
manna, the bread of life and Aaron's rod that budded life
from the dead. And inside that ark were the
broken tables of God's law by which condemnation and death
are pronounced upon us. But over top of the ark was a
golden lid called the mercy seat. the propitiation. God said when
he made that mercy seat, I will meet you on the mercy seat between
the cherubs. I'll meet you there where the
cherubim are looking constantly on the mercy seat. And in that
mercy seat, on that mercy seat, once a year, the high priest
would go in with blood, the blood of the appointed sacrifice, the
Passover lamb, once a year, and he would Put blood on the mercy
seat. Blood to cover God's broken law. Blood by which God declared we
shall have life from death. Blood by which God promised us
bread forever. Mercy seat, blood atonement,
propitiation. which God almighty with the sweet
incense with which it was offered. Smelled it and smiled blood to please God. Blood to satisfy justice. But all that was just ceremonial.
All that was just a picture. None of it really accomplished
anything. It pointed to Him who is the propitiation for our sins
in whom by a sweet-smelling savor we are accepted to God in the
blood of His dear Son. Number two, the blood of Christ
results in redemption. The purchase of our souls. Turn
to 1 Peter 1. I referred to this a few minutes
ago. 1 Peter 1. The blood of Christ was not only
a covering for sin, not only an atonement, not only a justice
satisfying propitiation, but a ransom price paid for the sinner. This is how Peter expresses it.
1 Peter 1.18. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from
your vein, your empty, meaningless, worthless manner of life, your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you.
Our great God and savior, the apostle tells us in Titus chapter
2, gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity. The church of Christ, he purchased
with his own blood. Our Lord Jesus redeemed us. Now, sin is spoken of in scripture
as a debt. By all means, it is a debt. But it is much, much more than
a debt. Sin is a crime, a crime that
must be punished, a debt that must be paid. And the Lord Jesus
Christ redeemed us from our sins by fully satisfying the justice
of God when he took to himself the sword of justice and shoved
it in his own holy soul until the sword of justice was swallowed
up in him. And now He redeemed us. Bought us out from under the
curse of God's holy law, being made a curse for us. Redeemed
us. To redeem means to buy back. or to buy out of. And the Lord
Jesus purchased us out from under the curse of God's holy law and
then at the time of love appointed by God from eternity sends his
spirit and on the merit on the basis of the blood shed for our
ransom comes and delivers us from the kingdom of darkness
and translates us into the kingdom of his dear son. Turn back to
Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 I want you to see
again how the scripture speaks of this redemption Verse 3. I know you can quote it, but
I want you to read it Ephesians 1 3 Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ According as he hath
chosen us in him Before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will To the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved How
on this earth are you going to be made holy and without blame
before God? How on this earth shall God's
end in predestination be accomplished in whom we have redemption, deliverance
by blood, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of his grace. That's the third thing we have
as a result of the blood. The blood of Christ has not only
made a covering for sin, as the mercy seat covered the broken
tables of the law, is not only a price sufficient and effectual
to ransom the sinner, but it also is the forgiveness of sin. In him, through the shedding
of his blood, we have the forgiveness of sins. He was manifested to
take away our sins, approved for the purpose of taking away
sin. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And on
the cursed tree, he suffered all the hell of God's wrath,
being made a curse for us. And now, by his blood, we have
the forgiveness of sins. God has forgiven our sins. He describes it this way. I am
he that blotteth out thy transgressions, who will not remember thy sins. I've cast your sins behind my
back into the depths of the sea of infinite forgiveness. God's grace and mercy comes to
us in free, full forgiveness of sins according to the fullness
and efficacy of Christ's sacrifice and his blood. Not according
to our merit, but according to his merit. Not according to our
worth, but according to his worth. And then fourth, look at Hebrews
chapter 10. By the blood, we have access
to God. Now, where the remission of these
is, there is no more sacrifice, no more offering for sin. Look
at verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That word
boldness means freedom. freedom. Some of you are trying to hide
from God. I know that. I know that you try to hide under efforts of good works, reading
your Bible, coming to church. You try to hide from God so that
you don't have to deal with yourself. You don't have to deal with him.
You hide from him because you know you're not fit for it. You know you're not fit for it.
Whenever you think about God, you cringe. When you think about
judgment, you get tense. When you think about death, you're
fearful because your conscience is unclean before God and you
have no freedom of access to God. But we who believe by the
blood of Christ have boldness to enter into the holiest of
all. and come to God, boldness. The word Rex is freedom, freedom. So that we lift our hearts to
God and cry, my father, my father, have freedom by a new and living
way, which you have consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say his flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart In full
assurance of faith. In full assurance of faith. Oh,
you can't do that. You can't have that. You can't
if you trust the blood. You can't if you got no other
hope. You can't if the only thing you bring to God is the blood.
The life, his son. Bring him Jesus Christ. Come
to him in Christ. Come to him, believe in Christ.
And you have full assurance of acceptance. Now, if you try to
add, I've lived a good life. I trust the Lord. If you try
to, I trust the Lord. I've been the best mama I could.
I trust the Lord. I've been a good daddy and a
good husband. I trust the Lord. I've been faithful in all my
affairs. You've got no freedom and you know it and you know
it had no assurance, no peace. Oh, but if you come to God and bring him what he provided
and he requires And he accepts perfect freedom, perfect freedom. You've got a debt. A debt has
been hanging over your head. A debt you've not been able to
pay. And your creditor is somebody,
you know, personally, and you try to dodge it when you see
it. Hide from them. If you hear the phone ring, you
look, see who's calling. I believe I'll let that one go.
You don't need contact with them. And then you have the money in
hand and you can go pay the creditor and you walk right into his office
and lay it down with confidence, knowing that your creditor must
and gladly will accept the payment for the debt. And there's no
reason to question it. Will you hear me? God in his
holiness, in his justice, in his truth, must and will accept
the payment for your crime and your debt. The blood of his dear
son. Bring it to him. And God smiles. Bring it to him. And God smiles. Here's one other thing we have
as a result of the blood. Look at our text. The blood of
Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. So perfect is the wondrous work
of grace on our behalf that the very defilement caused by sin
is forgiven, purged away, forgotten, never to be remembered against
us. The blood of Christ keeps continually
purging away everything that would mar our fellowship with
God, our fitness for his approval, and that which makes us his delight.
Oh, how I love these words. The blood of Jesus Christ, his
son, cleanseth us from all sin. Give me a minute more, will you?
All sin. Will he forgive all sin? Will
he cleanse all sin? Every sin we've committed, do
we not sin with every breath we draw? Is not every lustful
desire sin? Every proud thought, every wicked
imagination, every unkind suspicion, every unbelief, every working
of the depraved heart of man, all is sin. We committed sin
when we were born. The wicked go astray as soon
as they are born speaking lies. As soon as we could stammer out
words, we stammered out lies. As soon as we could consciously
act in our depravity as small children, we walked in sin. And all the days of our youth
and all the days of our adulthood continually growing in sin and
in rebellion. Will he forgive sins of thought?
of look, sins of action, sins of omission and commission, sins
of infancy, sins of childhood, sins of youth, sins of old age.
Will He forgive all my lust, all the filthy workings of my
flesh, all my vile affections, all my stupid pride, all my vain
hypocrisy? all my covetousness, envy, hatred
and malice, all the abounding iniquity, all the exceeding sin, that I, the blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Amen.