During our time together this afternoon I would like to focus on three wonderful truths of the Christian faith:
First, the Blood — the precious blood of Christ
Second, the Book — the Bible, the Word of God
Third, the Blessed Hope — of the believer, which is the soon return of the Lord Jesus to gather all believers to be with Him forever in Heaven.
First, the Blood
The 18th Century English poet William Cowper penned these words to the hymn, "There is a Fountain":
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
The Lord Jesus, who was with God the Father in the beginning before the creation of this world, came to this earth.
He was Immanuel, God with us.
And the Lord Jesus came to redeem fallen mankind by paying the penalty for our sin.
And this He did by dying upon the Cross of Calvary and shedding His precious blood.
The Apostle Peter in his first Epistle, reminds believers in the Lord Jesus:
Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Pet. 1.18
You see, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.
Therefore it was necessary for the Lord Jesus to come and die upon the Cross and shed His blood.
It was on the cross at Calvary, that He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities and with His stripes we are healed.
It was there upon the Cross that the LORD laid on Christ Jesus the iniquity of us all.
He died in our place, as our substitute,
as the Scripture tells us—
He bare our sins in His own body on the tree.
Oh, the love of God—
God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Rom. 5.8
Oh, the love of the Lord Jesus:
Who loved us, and gave Himself for us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Rev. 1.5
Oh the love that drew salvation's plan!
O the grace that bro't it down to man!
O the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!
The precious blood of Christ!
The Blood justifies believers in the Lord Jesus:
Being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Rom. 5.9
The Blood provides eternal redemption and forgiveness for the Christian:
In whom we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of His grace. Eph. 1.7
By His own Blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb. 9.12
The Blood brings the believer in Christ near to God:
Now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood
of Christ. Eph. 2.13
The Blood of Christ grants the believer access into God's presence:
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood
of Jesus … let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
Heb. 10.19
And the Blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin:
If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all
sin. I John 1.7
The precious Blood of Christ.
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow.
The Apostle John exclaims in the Revelation:
Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Rev. 1.5,6
Elisha Hoffman, the hymn writer asks these important questions:
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
As the Israelites of old on that Passover night needed to take the blood of the sacrificed lamb and apply it to the two side posts and on the upper door post of the their homes in order to be spared,
So today, each individual needs to personally receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ in order to have the Blood of the Lamb of God applied to his or her life.
The sacrifice was made, but each one of us needs to apply the blood to benefit from all that the precious blood of Christ provides. And we do that by receiving the Lord Jesus by faith as our Saviour.
There is the truth of the Blood,
And second, there is the truth of the Book — the Word
of God, the Bible.
Holy Bible, Book divine
Precious treasure, thou art mine.
I hold in my hand the Book of books, not the word of men, but the very Word of God!
God inspired and God preserved!
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness! 2 Tim. 3.16
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but God's Word shall not pass away. Mark 13.31
It is Forever settled in Heaven. Ps. 119.89
Forever kept and preserved.
The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Heb. 4.12
It is the Word of life. Phil. 2.16
Holy Bible, Book Divine!
The Holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise unto salvation we are told in 1 Tim. 3.15
And we are born again and become a child of God, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 1 Pet. 1.23
By the Words of the Lord, the servant is warned;
and in keeping of them there is great reward.
The believer is sanctified through God's Word, which is truth. Jn. 17.17
Believers in the Lord Jesus are exhorted to—
let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Col. 3.16
to be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1.22
to study the word of God to shew yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. 2 Tim. 2.15
And to rejoice in the great and precious promises found in His Word.
Holy Bible, Book divine,
Precious treasure, thou art mine.
The Blood, the Book, and the Blessed Hope
What is the Blessed Hope? I am referring to what Bible believers call the Rapture, when the Lord Jesus comes in the air to gather believers to be with Him forever (both the dead in Christ and those who are alive).
Let's look at the Scripture verses that tell us of this Blessed Hope of the believer in the Lord Jesus.
In John 14.2-3, we read—
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
In this passage the Lord Jesus tells us that He will come again, that He will receive us and that we will then be with Him for ever.
I Thess. 4.13-18, we read—
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [who have died in Christ], that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.
This is the blessed Hope—
Jesus is coming again, to receive us unto Himself, that where He is, there we may be also. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
And because of this blessed Hope, the coming of the Lord Jesus for His own, believers are exhorted:
—to be waiting for God's Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. I Thess. 1.10
—to be watching
Let us not sleep, as do others: but let us watch and be sober. I Thess. 5.6
—to be looking
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God
and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Titus 2.13
And we are to be exhorting one another as the day of Christ's return approaches.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Heb. 10.25
Lift up your heads, pilgrims a weary!
See days approach now crimson the sky;
Night shadows flee, and your Beloved,
Awaited with longing, at last draweth nigh.
He is coming again, He is coming again,
The very same Jesus, rejected of men.He is coming again, He is coming again,
With power and great glory, He is coming again!
In conclusion, the Apostle Peter writes:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 1 Pet. 1.3-9
The Blood,
the Book,
and the Blessed Hope!
To God be the glory, great things He hath done!
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved!
Notes from a message by Stephen Ross for a monthly, Sunday afternoon service at The Pillars (a retirement home in Shelburne, Vermont) which the Ross Family (including my Dad and Mom) provided during the years 1983-2002.