I have five points in the message
today, and they are as follows. Point number one, I will deal
with man's condition or God's testimony concerning the guilt
and condition of man. My second point, I will deal
with God's testimony concerning man's goodness, man's righteousness,
My third point will be God's testimony concerning himself. What does God have to say about
himself? Let God speak for himself. And
then the fourth point that I will deal with is God's testimony
concerning his grace, his grace. What does God say about his grace? What kind of grace is it? And
then the fifth point that I wish to deal with is, what does God
say about the blood? The Bible has a lot to say about
the blood. Now, what does God say about
the blood? I want you to turn to Jeremiah
17, verse 9. Jeremiah 17, 9. Now, if you listen
to the message I think before you leave here, if not in your
heart, at least in your head, you'll know God's way of salvation. In Jeremiah 17, verse 9, the
Scripture says, The heart is deceitful above all things. The heart is deceitful above
all things. We do not know ourselves. Some of the things that I'm going
to say about natural man in the message this morning, some of
the things that I'm going to say are going to be objectionable.
Some of you are not going to like them. Some of you are going
to put a question mark on them. But let me precede these remarks
by pointing out that we really don't know ourselves. The heart
is deceitful. It's deceitful above everything,
and it's desperately wicked, and God asks this question, who
can know it? Do you know your heart? We have
a little saying, well, if I know my heart, well, that's one thing
you don't know. That's one thing you don't know.
You think you do, but you don't. But God does. God knows us. God
knows you and God knows me. He knows what we were meant to
be. He knows what we were before the fall. He knows what we are
now. God knows us. And I'm sure of
this, God's too true to say anything untrue about you and me. God's
not going to lie. Scripture says God can't lie.
And God's too holy and too loving and too merciful to say anything
needlessly severe. Now, we might be a little severe
with one another, needlessly, but God's not going to be needlessly
severe. He's going to be righteously
severe. And then God's too righteous
to misrepresent us. He's not going to misrepresent
you and me. He has no reason to. He's going
to tell the truth about us. So the first point in this message
is this. God's testimony concerning man. What does God say about men?
Well, he says three things. First of all, God says that man
is a sinner. Man is a sinner. God said in
Genesis 6, 5 that he saw the wickedness, the wickedness. God saw the wickedness of men. He saw that it was great. The
wickedness of men was great in the earth, and every imagination
of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. Man's wickedness was great, and
every imagination Man is not a sinner occasionally, he's a
sinner always. That's what God is saying. Every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Job said this, what is man that
he should be clean? He that's born of a woman, that
he should be righteous. God puts no trust in his The
heavens are not clean in God's sight. How much more abominable
is man who drinketh iniquity like the water. Turn to Romans
chapter 1. Man is not a sinner occasionally. He's always a sinner. And man
does not become a sinner when he sins. He sins because he's
a sinner. Man was born a sinner. God tells
us in His Word that we were conceived in iniquity, that we were shapen
in iniquity, that we were brought forth from the womb in iniquity,
that we go astray as soon as we're born speaking lies. Romans
1 verse 29 says that man is filled with all unrighteousness fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate,
deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God. despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affections, implacable, unforgiving,
unmerciful. That's man, turn to Romans 3. And God says in verse 10, as
it is written, and none righteous, no, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They're together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Man's not a sinner in part. Well,
there's something bad about us. We agree with that. But that's
not what God says. God says man is not a sinner
in part. He's holy and completely and
totally wicked. God says, in the flesh dwelleth
no good thing, that in the flesh no man can please God. And it's
not some people that are sinners. I know there are a lot of wicked
sinners in this world. No, it says all have sinned and
come short of God's glory. Man does not bring forth sin. He carries it about with him.
He has a body of sin. The Scripture calls it a body
of death. Turn to Isaiah 64. Listen to
this. In the 64th chapter of Isaiah,
verse 6, this is one of the most descriptive passages in the Bible
in regard to man's iniquity. In Isaiah 64, 6, we are all as
an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses,
our goodness, they are filthy rags. And we all do fade as the
leaf. Our iniquities, like the wind,
have taken us away. Here's what we're saying, and
here's what God is saying. This is God's testimony concerning
man's guilt, that man is not a sinner occasionally. He's always
a sinner. Man does not become a sinner.
He is born a sinner. He is a part of a rebellious,
wicked race. Man is not a sinner in part.
He's totally, completely, wholly a sinner. It's not some men are
sinners. God had said that both Jew and
Greek, they're all under sin. Man does not bring forth sin.
He carries it about. His is a body of sin. His is
a body of death. Man is a sinner. The second thing
God says about man in his testimony concerning man is this. Man does
not know God. Now, every man thinks he knows
God. Turn to John 8, verse 19. John 8, verse 19. Man does not
know God. There are people sitting right
here in this congregation who do not know God, and they do
not love God. Idle worshipers love their gods. And you may be here this morning
and you say, Well, I do love my God. You do love your God,
but not the God of the Bible. Is it different? Every man thinks
that he knows God and likes to believe that he loves God, but
to know God is to love God, and to love God is to have eternal
life. Christ said, this is eternal
life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and to know
God is to have eternal life. This is more of the deceitfulness
of the heart. The Scripture says in John 2
that many believed on him, but he didn't reveal himself to them
because he knew what was in their hearts. He did not need that
any man should reveal to him what was in the heart of man.
Look at John 8, 19. And Christ said this to the most
religious people of his day, Orthodox, fundamental people.
He said in verse 19 of John 8, Then said they unto him, Where
is your father? Jesus said, You neither know
me nor my father. You neither know me nor my father. Turn back to John chapter 5.
Listen to this. Here's a severe charge brought
by the master. upon natural men. He says in
John 5, verse 37, listen, "...the Father himself which hath sent
me hath borne witness of me, but ye have neither heard his
voice, nor seen his shape." God has spoken, but you've been deaf
to his words. God hath revealed himself, but
you've been blind to his revelation. You've never heard his voice
and you've never seen his revelations. And verse 38, he says, And you
don't have His word abiding in you. And verse 40, he says this,
And you will not come to me, that you might have life. And
in verse 42, he says, I know you, you have not the love of
God in you. Verse 43, I come in my Father's
name, and you won't receive me. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive. You don't know God. You don't
love God. And verse 44, he said, you seek
not the honor that comes from God. These are severe charges,
but they're the charges of Christ. These are not human accusations. These are Christ accusations. Man by nature is unclean, wicked,
and a sinner. And man by nature does not know
God and does not love God. In fact, Romans chapter 8, verse
7, says this. Romans 8, 7. The natural mind,
that's the mind of the natural man, is enmity, is enmity against
God. He doesn't say it's at enmity,
he says it is enmity. The natural mind, the carnal
mind, is enmity, hatred against God. The natural mind is not
subject to the law of God, and by nature it can't be. That's
what God says. These are severe charges, but
they're God's charges. Man is a sinner. He's wholly
and completely a sinner. He is a sinner who hates God. He does not know God, and he
does not love God. And here is man's sin of sins. Here's the third charge that
God brings against him, and that is that he does not believe on
the name of the Son of God. And that is the sin of sins.
Listen to the word, John 3, 18. He that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. He has not believed on Christ,
and that's the condemnation, that light is coming to this
world, and men love darkness. And who is light? Christ is light,
and they hate light. 1 John 5, verse 10 says, "...he
that believeth not hath made God a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his Son." John 16, verse 8
says, "...when the Holy Spirit is come, he will reprove the
world of sin, because they believe not on me." Mark 16, verse 16
says, "...he that believeth not shall be damned." Now there are three charges against
man made by God. That's God's testimony concerning
natural people. They're sinners. Sinners. Holy, totally, completely sinners. They're sinners who do not know
God. They can play church and they
can play religion and they can fashion themselves gods. according
to their own desires, but they do not know nor love the God
of the Bible, and they have rejected and refused to believe on his
Son." And this is the divine testimony. It is not a human
testimony. It is God, not man, who condemns
man. It is God, not man, and God cannot
lie. Let's look at the second thing
now. That's God's testimony concerning man. Now let's look at God's
testimony concerning man's goodness. When a man becomes aware of sin,
when he becomes aware of sin about him, first of all, then
he becomes aware of sin in him. And when he considers death,
and he considers judgment, and he considers eternity, and he
considers heaven and hell, and he starts thinking about those
things, what's the first thing he tries to do? He begins to
try to find a way to approach God. He begins to find a way
or try to find a way whereby before God he can be justified. And being proud and religious
by nature, he tries to establish a relationship with God based
on his goodness and his works and his refraining from sin and
his doing things religiously. That's what Paul said about the
people in Romans 10. Listen to it. Romans 10, he says,
they have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
They're ignorant of God's righteousness, and they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. They're aware of sin. They're
aware of God's hatred of sin. They don't want to fall under
God's judgment and God's wrath. They don't want to go to hell.
They'd like to share in heaven's beauties and heaven's riches
and heaven's blessings. And so they go about to lay some
sort of foundation, establish some sort of relationship with
God. And they base that relationship
on what they're doing. And here are five things that
man will do. First of all, he'll compare himself to other men.
Like the Pharisee of old, he'll go in the temple and he'll say,
well, God, I'm not like other men. I'm certainly, I'm certainly
not like other men. There are plenty of people down
there in the church that are worse than I am. I'm not like
other men. Secondly, he'll be baptized and
join the church, like Simon Magus, whose covetous heart revealed
his wickedness And Simon Peter said to him, your heart's not
right with God, that's your problem. And then he'll contribute his
money as Ananias and Sapphira did. Sometimes they sell their
houses and contribute great sums of money as Ananias and Sapphira
did, but who were carried out under the judgment of God. He'll
even have some good words to say for the poor. As Judas, when
that woman poured the rich ointment on the feet of Christ, and Judas
spoke up and said, why, that's waste. We could have taken that
precious ointment and sold it for so much gold and given it
to the poor. He'll even attempt to pray. He'll
seek repentance as Esau. He'll do all these things, but
here's what he's doing. He's laying a foundation of personal
righteousness to present to God in exchange for God's favor. And I'm afraid that every one
of us have a whole lot of that in us. But the important thing, now
listen to this carefully, this is one of the high points of
this message, listen. The important thing that a sinner
does not see when he's thinking about giving and praying and
faithfulness and compassion toward others and personal righteousness
and good deeds and religious acts and all of these things.
The important thing that the sinner does not see is that all
of these things are approaches to God. They are approaches to
God. And God has declared that man
is unfit to approach Him. The person of the worshipper
must be accepted before his services can be accepted. Before I can
come to God in prayer, I've got to be accepted, and God says
I'm unacceptable by nature. Here's a man who doesn't know
Christ. He's unsaved, unbeliever. He
does not rejoice in the Christ of God, the salvation of sinners
through Christ. He makes a large contribution
to a church. Isn't that a good deed? No, sir. Won't God have regard to it?
No, sir. God cannot accept the service
because the person who offered the service is unacceptable.
You see what I'm saying? Well, suppose an old sinner out
here, he finds himself in trouble and he drops down on his knees
and says, Lord, help me, help me. Will God hear him? No, sir.
But you say, that's a good prayer, that's an earnest prayer, that's
a humble prayer, that's a sincere prayer. God cannot accept the
service until he accepts the person. And the person is what's
unacceptable. You see what I'm saying? Before our services can be acceptable
to God, before our works can be works of faith and labors
of love, We have got to be acceptable ourselves. And how are we acceptable
to God? In the Beloved, in Christ, and
only in Christ. It's not only, my brethren, what
we have done that has alienated us from God, it's what we are. What we are. By the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified. In the flesh no man can please
God. God can accept nothing but perfection,
and we are not perfection. We're anything but perfection.
This is so important right here. What is God's testimony concerning
our goodness? You know what he says about it?
He said, all our righteousnesses are what? Filthy rags. Turn with me to the book of Isaiah
chapter 1. Isaiah, the first chapter. Look
with me at verse 13. You know, there are some people
who think that, well, anything religious is good. Anything religious
is acceptable. If a man just puts a real religious
look on his face and holds his hands in a prayer, they show
these pictures of praying hands all the time. That's supposed
to be real religious, you know. That's real religious. Or it's
an open Bible with a pair of spectacles laying on it and a
rose or a lily laying across it. Isn't that religious? That ought to really turn God
on, you know. We've opened the Bible and laid
a rose across it and put grandma spectacles on it, and that's
supposed to be real religious. Listen to this, Isaiah 113, Don't
you bring any more vain oblations. Your incense is an abomination
to me. Your new moons and Sabbaths,
the calling of your assemblies, I cannot away with it. It is iniquity. Even your solemn
meetings, your new moons, and your appointed feasts, my soul
hates, God says. They're trouble to me. I'm weary
of them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I'll hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many
prayers, I won't hear you. Your hands are full of blood.
God says you're wicked. And do you think your little
religious services are going to change that wickedness? You
think your little approaches to God, these outward services
and deeds, are going to make this filthy heart and guilty
soul and corrupted mind and evil nature and Adamic sin acceptable
to God? No, sir. And until you personally
have been accepted of God, you can't do one religious thing
that's acceptable to God. You've got to be personally accepted. Anything that we do by way of
approaching God, the Heavenly Father, the eternal Lord of glory,
apart from Christ, is an abomination to God. Now, that's so. All right, that's two things.
God's testimony concerning man. He's a guilty creature. He's
a guilty creature. He's a sinful creature. God's
testimony concerning our righteousnesses, their filthy rags, our goodness,
they're unacceptable. Unacceptable. There's no way
that by the deeds of the law, by the works of the flesh, by
the ordinances of religion, by any of these dedications and
consecrations and meditations that we can make these filthy,
evil souls acceptable to God. All right, let's see what God
says about himself now. God's testimony concerning himself.
Well, he told us we're sinners. We're without help, without hope,
without Christ, without God. Peace and salvation can't come
from man. No way. It's got to come from
God. We know that this end is bankrupt. We know that this side of the
coin is completely bankrupt, that nothing can come from us.
We're without hope, without help. If there's any peace and salvation,
mercy, it's got to come from Him. From Him, right? It's got to come from Him. Jonah said, Salvation's of the
Lord. Jonah got down there in the belly of that fish, and the
weeds closed about his head, and darkness, and the bars shut
him in forever. And he lifted his eyes and said,
Salvation's of the Lord. Well, God's written a volume
for the purpose of making Himself known. And God has sent His Son
to make Himself known. First of all, God has declared
Himself to be gracious to the ungodly. Listen to these scriptures. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. God is plenteous in mercy. God
delights to show mercy. I will be gracious, God said,
to whom I will be gracious. I will be merciful on whom I
will have mercy. God declares himself to be a
merciful and gracious God. If we didn't have these words,
we'd be like the devils who believe and tremble. If we didn't have
these words, we'd be like fallen angels who are reserved for judgment. God has declared himself to be
gracious Secondly, God has declared himself to be love, and God doesn't
love those who love him. He loves those who do not love
him. God's love does not wait on our
love. He loves us first. Scripture
says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son. The scripture says, but God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
trespasses and sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. God
is holy, but God is love. God is sovereign, but God is
gracious. God draws the unwilling. God
makes willing the rebel. God has mercy and grace for the
guilty. God pardons iniquity. God delights
to show mercy. God has declared himself to us
in the person of his Son. The Scripture says, Though man
hath seen the Father, the only begotten hath declared him. Our Lord said to Philip, He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father. In the manger at Bethlehem he
showed us the Father. full of compassion and mercy
and love for sinners. In the synagogue at Nazareth
he showed us the Father, showing mercy to whom he will. At the
well, lifting the fallen woman, he showed us the Father. At the
tomb of Lazarus, speaking life to the dead, he showed us the
Father. Stooping to lift the woman found
in adultery, he showed us the Father. Calming the Making the
sea be still, He showed us the Father. Healing the sick, He
showed us the Father. Weeping over Jerusalem, He showed
us the Father. On the cross, praying, Father,
forgive them, He showed us the Father. In His glorious resurrection,
He showed us the Father. He that hath seen Me hath seen
the Father." Somebody said, God is holy and strict. Jesus is love. Now, you're wrong. Jesus is God. And he that hath
seen me, Christ said, hath seen the Father. There are two things
that constitute unbelief. Unbelief is based on two things.
Everybody here today drowning in the sea of unbelief is guilty
of two things. Number one, you've got a wrong
opinion of yourself. Number two, you've got a wrong
opinion of God. You carry that awful load of
guilt because you've got a wrong opinion of yourself and a wrong
opinion of God. The work of the Holy Spirit is
to show us ourself. The work of the Lord Jesus is
to show us God. And if you'll turn your eye to
Calvary's cross, you'll see two things. What do you see? Go to the cross of Calvary right
now. What do you see? There at Calvary's
cross, I see two things. I see, number one, the crucifiers,
and I see, number two, the crucified. Do you? There are two pictures at Calvary. I see the crucifiers who are
crying, let's seek God ahead of you now. You say you're the
Son of God, let's seek God ahead of you. He saved others, he can't
save himself. Come down from the cross and
we'll believe you. They walk around his cross shooting
out their lips and spitting out their venom of blasphemy. I see
the crucifiers. You see them? What else do you
see? I see the crucified. I see that
one on the tree who spreads forth his arms and lets them drive
nails in his hands and put a crown of thorn on his head and nails
in his feet He prays for those crucifiers who walk about that
tree in their scorn and anger and hatred. He prays for them.
The crucifiers are you and me. That's who the crucifiers are,
haters of God. And the crucified is God himself. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself. And this thing of faith and belief
will never be settled in your heart until you come to see yourself
as the crucifier of Christ, and until you come to see God in
his incarnate love, in his infinite mercy, in his gracious love,
hanging on that cross for sinners. And I can't make you see it.
Only God's Holy Spirit can give you an understanding of your
sins. Even at your best, you're unfit for God's presence. Even
at your best, you're a candidate for God's wrath. Even at your
best, you have no fellowship with God Almighty. It must be through the crucified.
Now, the fourth thing, quickly. God's testimony concerning man. Man's a sinner. unclean, unworthy. God's testimony concerning man's
righteousness, filthy rag, unacceptable. We've got to have our persons
to be accepted. God's testimony concerning himself,
he's willing to forgive. He's willing to forgive. God's
plenteous in mercy. God delights to show mercy. All
right, number four, God's testimony concerning His righteous grace. Now listen to this. This is so
important. The man and woman in this congregation
who has found out something about the sinfulness of sin, the sinfulness
of sin, you've seen yourself as the crucifier of Christ. These
hands are red with the blood of the Son of God. Our race nailed
him to that cross we hated and despised and we said we won't
have this man reign over us. We're rebels in our hearts and
our minds and our souls and our wills and our imaginations, everything
about us from the sole of our feet to the top of our heads
is unclean. We're rebels and God can no more
pardon us than the governor of the state can righteously and
justly pardon a murdering, kidnapping rapist, God can no more pardon
you and me than that governor can justly and righteously reach
in prison and take out public enemy number one and pardon him
and set him free. The man who knows something of
the sinfulness of sin and the righteousness of God wants to
answer this question. He wants to preach it. I hear
these preachers And it doesn't surprise me that the people of
this world say, for if he doesn't know what he's talking about,
that silly thing standing up there saying, come on, believe
on Jesus. He's just crying his eyes out
because you won't believe on him. He wants to take you to
heaven. He just wants to save you so bad. Won't you let Jesus
save you? That man who knows what he is
by nature, and that man who knows what God is by nature, holy and
righteous. He wants to know how God can
be holy and righteous and forgive his sins. That's what he wants
to know. He wants to know. He wants some
preacher with a little bit of sense who's not interested in
how many people walk the aisle and how many he baptizes and
how many members in his church and how many come to Sunday school
and how much salary he makes and how many friends he's got.
He's interested in somebody with a little sense who's interested
in the glory of God and a sinner's own good to stand and tell him
how How a holy God, how a righteous God, how a God who sits on a
pure and infinitely holy throne can do business with him and
take him in. Won't you let Jesus be your personal
Savior? That sounds sillier to me every
day I hear it. That old leper comes to Christ
and he says, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean, if you
will. If God will, He can save whom
He will. But He's got to have a basis
for doing it, a righteous basis. Now listen to me. How can God
pardon my sin and punish my sin? That's what a thinking man wants
to know. How can God be merciful to me and at the same time deal
with me in justice? And God's got to be just. The right kind of pardon is what
I'm interested in. I'm not interested in religion.
I'm interested in the right kind of pardon. That pardon that comes
not just from love, but from law. That pardon that comes not
just from kindness, but righteousness. That pardon which comes not from
an indifference to sin. God's not indifferent to sin.
God's holy. God's holy. God can't erase sin. sin must be paid for. And here you have it. Turn to
Isaiah 45. Now look at this. Isaiah 45,
verse 21. If you've never seen this verse
before, I want you to look at it. Isaiah 45, 22. You've seen that one, but what
about 21? Listen to verse 21, Isaiah 45. Tell me, and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
who hath declared this from ancient times, who hath told about it
from that time? Have not I the Lord?" Isaiah
45, 21, look at it. There's no God else beside me. I'm a just God and a Savior. Underscore that right there.
I'm a just God and a Savior. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? Huh? He says, I'm a just God,
but I'm a Savior. Somewhere mercy and righteousness
have got to meet together. Somewhere peace and truth have
got to kiss one another. You know what happened at Calvary?
Christ's obedience and death for our sins show this. It shows
that God's pardon is a work of law and a work of love, that
God's pardon is a work of grace and a work of righteousness,
that God's pardon is a work of mercy and a work of wrath. God's
love demanded the salvation of sinners, that's right. God's
justice demanded full payment for their sins. God's love, God's
love must be expressed. Love is not love if it's not
expressed. It's got to be expressed. And
God's got to send somebody. I've heard preachers say, well,
God could have sent everybody to hell, not and be God. Not
and be God. He could have justly sent everybody
to hell. But God's not of one attribute.
God is just, and God is love. God is righteous, but God is
merciful. And every attribute of God must
have expression. God's love demanded the salvation
of sinners, but God's justice says, hold it, you can't express
love at the expense of righteousness. So Jesus Christ died because
it was written, the soul that sinneth it shall die. Jesus Christ
died to make it righteous for God to forgive sinners. Jesus
Christ died that the sinner might come to God. Jesus Christ died
that God might receive the sinner. That's right. There's the sinner,
cast out, unclean, separated from God, under the charge and
condemnation of a broken law. That sinner can't come to God.
And God can't receive him, not and be just. But when Christ
died, he removed the sin. He paid the debt. He removed
the guilt. Christ died enabling the sinner
to come to God by a new and living way, through the blood. And Christ
died to enable God to receive that sinner and still be just. Now, the last thing. Here it
is. God's testimony concerning the blood. Now turn to Hebrews
9, verse 7. Hebrews 9, verse 7. First you
make salvation a commercial thing. No, I don't. You make it a legal
thing. It is legal. It is legal. Almighty God sent
his Son down here that he might be just and justify the ungodly. In Hebrews 9, verse 7, listen
to this, "...into the holy of holies, into the second, went
the high priest alone once every year." Underscore three words,
not without blood. The entire Old Testament sets
forth a clear testimony that the way into the holiest is not
without blood. The old high priest didn't dare
come to God. without blood. It is the blood
that maketh atonement for the soul. And even so, the New Testament
sets forth this declaration, Hebrews 9, verse 19. Look at
it. You and I have boldness to enter
into the presence of God by the blood of Jesus. Now, my friends, the tendency
of modern religion is to reject the blood and to glory in a religion which
needs no sacrifice. And the book of Jude calls this
the way of Cain. The way of Cain. Cain refused
the blood. Cain came to God without the
blood. Cain would not defile his altar
with the blood of a lamb. But he who would not defile his
altar with the blood of the Lamb didn't hesitate to defile the
ground with the blood of his brother. And the most vicious
religionists have been those who have rejected the blood.
They wouldn't defile their messages and their altars and their hymns
with the blood, but they would defile the ground with their
brother's blood. When the blood was sprinkled
on the people, Back in Old Testament days, when the blood was sprinkled
on the book and on the people and on the tabernacle and on
the priest, the people could come to God because they were
counted to have paid the penalty, and therefore they were dead
to the law's charge and condemnation. And even so, we have been sprinkled
with the blood of Christ. And we're dead to the law's penalty
and to the law's condemnation and to the law's charges. For
Paul declared, who is he that condemneth? Christ has died. Let me in 30 seconds sum up this
message so that you'll remember it. What does God say about man? He's an awful sinner, a helpless
sinner. What does God say about our righteousness?
He says filthy rag. He can't accept the services
until he accepts the person. And you can't be accepted in
your person. What does God say about his mercy?
He said he'll be merciful. God delights to show mercy. God
loves sinners. Now a man may turn his back on
you, but God won't. David said, when my mother and
father forsake me, God will take me up. God delights to show mercy. God delights to receive sinners.
It doesn't matter who he is. What does God say about his righteous
grace? He says, I'll be merciful, but I'm going to be righteous.
In order to be just and justify the ungodly, he sent Christ to
take our place and die in our place. What does God say about
the blood? Don't you come without it. Don't
you come without it. Now you, there's no way, there's
no way the high priest never went into the presence of God
without blood. There's going to be blood. If you reject the
blood of Christ Jesus, You have no salvation. The blood maketh
atonement for the soul. Oh, the precious blood of Christ.