It is said of Julian the Apostate in Rome, that when he was trying to stamp out Christianity he was pierced in the side by an arrow. He pulled the arrow out, and taking a handful of blood as it flowed from the wound, threw it into the air, shouting, “THOU GALILÆAN, THOU HAST CONQUERED!” Yes, this Galilæan is going to conquer. May God help us to give no uncertain sound on this doctrine.
I would rather give up my life than give up this doctrine. Take that away, and what is my hope in heaven? Am I to depend upon my works? Away with them when it comes to the question of salvation. I must get salvation distinct and separate from works, for it is “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Christ.” None will walk the celestial pavement of heaven but those washed in the blood. The first man that went up from this earth was probably Abel. You can see Abel putting his little lamb upon the altar, thus placing blood between him and his sin. Abel sang a song the angels could not join in. There must have been one solo song of redemption in heaven, because Abel had no one to join him. But there is a great chorus now, for the redeemed have been going up for six thousand years, and they sing of Him who is worthy to receive honour because He died to save us from condemnation.
ROBES MADE WHITE THROUGH THE BLOOD.
In Revelation vii. 14, we read: “And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Sinner, how are you going to get your robes clean if you don’t get them washed in the blood of the Lamb? How are you going to wash them? Can you by yourself make them clean? Oh, may we all reach that paradise above! There they are singing the sweet song of redemption, and may it be the happy lot of each of us to join them. It may be only a short time, at the longest, before we shall be there, and shout the song of redemption, and sing the sweet song of Moses and the Lamb. There “they hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of water: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” At that day sceptics and scoffers will pray for the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and cover them from the wrath of God. If you die without Christ, without hope, and without God, where will you be? Sinner, be wise! don’t make light of the blood!
THE DYING SAINT.
An aged minister of the gospel, when dying, said, “Bring me the Bible.” Putting his finger upon the verse, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,” he said, “I die in the hope of this verse.” It wasn’t his fifty years’ preaching, nor his long life in the Lord’s service, but the blood of Christ, upon which he relied. When we stand before God’s tribunal we shall be pure, even as He is pure, if we are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD.
During the American war a doctor heard a man saying, “Blood, blood, blood!” The doctor thought this was because he had seen so much blood shed upon battlefields, and endeavoured to soothe his mind. The man smiled, and said, “I wasn’t thinking of the blood upon the battlefield, but I was thinking how precious the blood of Christ is to me as I am dying.” As he died his lips quivered, “Blood, blood, blood!” and he was gone. Oh, it will indeed be precious when we come to our dying bed! it will then be worth more to us than all the world! One sin is enough to exclude us from heaven, but one drop of Christ’s blood is sufficient to cover all our sins.
Beware how you treat the gospel message of redemption through the blood.