The doctrine of Christ crucified is always in my mind.
As the Roman soldier in Pompeii stood faithfully at his post, not running away
as the volcanic lava of Mount Vesuvius came burning its way through the city,
destroying all in its path, said great Spurgeon, “so do I stand true to the
truth of the atonement,
even if the church [es are] being buried beneath the boiling mud showers of
modern heresy. Everything else can wait, but this one truth [Christ
crucified] must be proclaimed with a voice of thunder.
Others can preach [whatever they wish], but as for this pulpit, it shall always
resound with the [bloody sacrifice for our sins by Jesus Christ]” (C. H.
Spurgeon, “The Blood Shed for Many,”
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,
Pilgrim Publications, 1974 reprint,
volume XXXIII, p. 374).
“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).
Some may preach on a “purpose driven life.” Others may
perpetually preach on “possibility thinking.” Yet others may speak often on
popular psychological themes, or on Bible prophecy. But I must not follow them
in this, for I have been called by God to speak on one great theme:
“Christ died for our sins” (I Corinthians 15:3).
Abraham was called to a duty much like mine. He was told
to take a bloody sacrifice and offer it unto the Lord. This sacrifice was a
type and symbol of our Saviour, who was to come.
That man Abraham obeyed the command of God, laying the
pieces of the slaughtered animal sacrifice in proper order, and then waiting for
God to reveal Himself. But Abraham’s solitary vigil was disturbed by foul
birds. When the sacrificial cow was slain and ready for God, vultures, that had
not been seen before, suddenly appeared, as if by magic. They flew toward the
sacrifice from every part of the sky, and circled over the dead bodies. These
and other flesh eating birds are the scavengers of warm countries, and do not
let any dead flesh remain uneaten long.
These filthy flesh eating birds came down in fluttering
droves to eat up the sacrifice, and suck up the blood, that had been prepared
for God alone. Abraham stayed, however, to defend the sacrifice when these
ravenous birds came down to eat it.
“And when the fowls came down upon the carcases,
[Abraham] drove them away”
(Genesis 15:11).
We may learn a great deal from Abraham’s action that will
help us in this day of apostasy and unbelief, “when the churches are being
buried beneath the boiling mud showers of modern heresy.” For the bloody
carcase is a type of Christ, and Abraham is a picture of the man of God, whose
goal is to protect the sacrifice of Jesus from Satanic forces. Let us be as
zealous as Abraham in protecting the sacrifice!
“And when the fowls came down upon the carcases,
[Abraham] drove them away”
(Genesis 15:11).
The point of the sacrifice under attack today is the
Saviour’s precious Blood. Back in 1938, that well known liberal scalawag, Harry
Emerson Fosdick said,
The blood of Christ [was] carried over from primitive
concepts…and even yet semimagical ideas concerning the potency of the blood are
woven into some Christian hymns, sermons, prayers (Harry Emerson Fosdick, D.D.,
A Guide to Understanding the Bible,
Harper, 1938, page 230).
In that day, the liberal Nels Ferre said, “The blood of
Jesus has no more power to cleanse from sin than the blood of a chicken.”
Our forefathers fought against those false teachings. In
the 1920’s and 1930’s, they drove away those vultures from the bloody
sacrifice. But the ravenous birds have come back again in our time. Today they
pluck away at the Blood of the sacrifice by saying things like this:
“Blood is used as a substitute for death” (John
MacArthur, D.D.,
The MacArthur Study Bible,
Word, 1997, note on Hebrews 9:14).
“It was not Jesus’ physical blood that saves us” (John
MacArthur, D.D.,
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Hebrews,
Moody, 1983, p. 237).
“We need to keep in mind that the blood was a
symbol…Christ’s own physical blood, in itself, does not cleanse from sin”
(ibid.).
My friend, we are not cleansed by a “symbol.” We are
cleansed by the real, physical Blood of Jesus! The Bible makes that very
plain.
“The
blood
of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth
us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
“Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in
his own blood” (Revelation 1:5).
Like the patriarch Abraham, we must drive the vultures
away from the bloody sacrifice of our Lord!
“And when the fowls came down upon the carcases,
[Abraham] drove them away”
(Genesis 15:11).
Don’t let them come down to devour the
Body
of Christ, sacrificed by God to
atone
for our sins! Don’t let them come down to suck up the
Blood
of Christ, for “The blood of Jesus Christ…cleanseth
us from all sin” (I John 1:7). We need to have our sins
atoned for
by His death. But we also need our sins
cleansed
by His Blood! These are two distinct things and they must both be
true if we are to be faithful to Christ’s gospel.
“This is my body, which is broken for you” (I
Corinthians 11:24).
“This cup is the new testament in my blood” (I
Corinthians 11:25).
“Which is shed for many for the remission of sins”
(Matthew 26:28).
Away, you vultures! Get away from the Body! Away, you vultures! Get away from
the Blood of Jesus Christ!
“And when the fowls came down upon the carcases,
[Abraham] drove them away”
(Genesis 15:11).
I will give three ways by which we can drive those foul
birds away from the Body and Blood of our Lord. We have no time to look at all
the Bible verses referring to the Blood of Christ, but we can look at three of
them, in the Book of Revelation, which show that Jesus’ Blood is still available
to us.
I. First, the Blood of Christ was available sixty years after
the crucifixion.
Turn first to Revelation 1:4-5. Let us stand and read
these two verses aloud.
“John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be
unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and
from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who
is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of
the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood”
(Revelation 1:4-5).
You may be seated.
I know that the NASV translates this as
“released
us,” instead of “washed us.” I believe this to be an incorrect
translation. I favor the KJV. But that is not the point I want to bring out
here. Either way, whether it is “washed” or “released,” these verses show that
the Blood of Christ still exists to take away sins. Whether by washing us from
them, or by releasing us from them, the Blood is still available, and has not
perished, according to these verses. Why do I say that? Well, look back at
verse four. Who is John writing to? He is writing to “the seven churches which
are in Asia.” And he is writing in about 96 A.D. This means he wrote about
sixty years or more
after
Christ was crucified. Sixty-some years
after
the crucifixion John tells the people in these seven churches that the
Blood of Christ has taken away their sins! Very few, only a mere handful, of
the people in those seven churches were believers when Christ was crucified.
Most of them had not even been born! And yet the Apostle says,
“Unto him that loved
us,
and washed
us
from our sins in his own blood” (Revelation 1:5).
Nearly all of these people were cleansed from their sins
by Christ’s Blood long after it was shed on the Cross! This shows us that
Christ’s Blood was still available and still effective to cleanse from sin long
after our Lord was crucified.
Let those who think that Christ’s Blood “ran into the dirt and perished” take
note of this! The Blood of Jesus was still available more than sixty years
after the crucifixion!
“And when the fowls came down upon the carcases,
[Abraham] drove them away”
(Genesis 15:11).
Drive the vultures away with Revelation 1:4-5! The Blood
of Christ was available sixty-some years after the crucifixion – and it is still
available to cleanse your sin today!
II. Second, the Blood of Christ will be available
in the future Tribulation.
Please turn to Revelation 7:13-14. Let us stand and read
these two verses aloud.
“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What
are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 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” (Revelation 7:13-14).
You may be seated.
I am an unashamed pretribulationist, but even a preterist,
who puts these things back in the first century, must admit that these verses do
not give reference to the very time of crucifixion. Even a preterist must say
that these verses refer to a time
after
the crucifixion – showing that the Blood of Christ was still available
after
our Lord was slain. But we have no time, nor any inclination, to deal
with preterism here. We hold these verses as a description of the Great
Tribulation – in the future. Even then, in that future time, those who trust in
Christ will be cleansed by the ever-available, ever incorruptible Blood of
Christ!
“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and
have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”
(Revelation 7:14).
The Blood of Jesus will still be there to cleanse them in
the Tribulation – in the future! It is ever-living, incorruptible Blood!
“And when the fowls came down upon the carcases,
[Abraham] drove them away”
(Genesis 15:11).
Drive the vultures away with Revelation 7:14! The Blood
of Jesus Christ will still wash sins away in the future! And it is available
now as well, to cleanse your sin today!
III. Third, the Blood of Christ will be available
at the Second Coming of our Lord.
Please turn to Revelation 19:11-13. Let us stand and
read these three verses aloud.
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and
he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many
crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And
he
was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word
of God” (Revelation 19:11-13).
You may be seated.
Some say that the Blood on Christ’s garments is from the
Battle of Armageddon,
but this is not possible.
That battle will not begin until verse 15. No,
Christ bursts out of Heaven with clothing “dipped in blood” at the moment of His
Second Coming! Where did this Blood come from that stains Christ’s clothing in
Heaven,
before
He comes again?
Dr. MacArthur says that His garments have “been stained
with the blood of his enemies” (The
MacArthur Study Bible, note on Revelation 19:13).
But that is not possible!
The blood of Christ’s enemies could not have been
in Heaven when His vesture was “dipped in blood.” He will burst from Heaven
with bloody garments – but the blood cannot be from His enemies. Concerning
Heaven, we read, “There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth”
(Revelation 21:27). There will be no “enemy” blood there in Heaven to stain His
clothing before the Second Coming! No, the only Blood that His clothing could
have been “dipped” in was His
own Blood! There was no “enemy” blood there to do the job.
Dr. MacArthur says that somehow the blood of Christ’s
enemies got into Heaven to stain His garments! That cannot be! Nothing that
“defileth” can enter Heaven! (Revelation 21:27). No, we cannot agree with
MacArthur. We stand with great Spurgeon who said,
Looking at him still, John saw one thing more, namely,
his vesture. He says that his [garment] was dipped in blood. Oh, but this is
the grandest thought about our Master…That he is ever a red man wearing his
bloody garment…As the blood is the life, so is his blood life to us – the life
of the gospel, the life of our hopes: and…Whenever he goes out to conquer it is
with…this vesture dipped in blood. Oh, preach him, ye servants, preach him in
his blood-red vesture.
Ye
shall never see souls saved if ye portray him in any other kind of coat
(C. H. Spurgeon, “The Rider on the White Horse,”
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,
Pilgrim Publications, 1972 reprint,
volume XXV, pp. 21-22).
Behold, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world,” descends from Heaven with a garment “dipped” in
His own blood! (John 1:29; Revelation 19:13). If there were no other verse
in all the Bible to show that Jesus’ Blood exists, even now in Heaven,
Revelation 19:13 would be more than enough! His garment is “dipped” in His own
Blood in Heaven before the Second Coming!
Oh Christ, with Thy Bloody garment, Thou art our only
hope and our only salvation! Let us come with our sins, and be made “white in
the blood of the lamb” (Revelation 7:14).
“And when the fowls came down upon the carcases,
[Abraham] drove them away”
(Genesis 15:11).
Drive the vultures away with Revelation 19:13! The Blood
of Jesus Christ is even now in Heaven. His vesture will be dipped in it there.
And His Blood is there to cleanse every sinner even now.
We drive away the vultures from the bloody sacrifice with
Revelation 1:5, with Revelation 7:14, and especially with Revelation 19:13. Why
do we so vehemently attack those foul birds with the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God? I know not why others may do so, but I do it because my
very life
depends on the crucified Body and precious Blood of Jesus. When a
man’s life is at stake, he will fight like one who is drowning to save it. I
know that I will drown in the fiery wrath of God without the Blood of Christ. I
know that I will drown in the Lake of Fire prepared for the Devil and his angels
without that Blood to wash away my sins. I know I will never get to Heaven
without it. I will never again see my precious Mother there without that saving
fluid, given to “sprinkle many nations” (Isaiah 52:15). I know that I will
never walk on Heaven’s golden streets unless my sins are washed away in Jesus’
cleansing, holy Blood.
Therefore I will fight like Abraham to keep the unclean
birds from devouring that Blood, as well as that Body! When Satan comes to make
me doubt its effectiveness, and pluck the hope it gives me from my heart, I will
fling in his infernal face those powerful swords of Scripture from the Book of
Revelation. When I am confronted with the “boiling mud showers of modern
heresy,” as Spurgeon called them, I will not hear, nor will I yield. I will
cling to the ever-living Blood of Christ which is my only hope for salvation, my
only hope for peace with God!
And when I stand in this pulpit and look at the faces of
those who are lost – the many faces of young people brought from pagan homes to
our church each Sunday – I will fight to give them the same hope that I cling to
– the Holy, ever-living Blood of the Son of God. The Satanic demon-vultures
will come to whisper in their ears, “There is no blood! It ran into the earth
and perished.” The messengers of Satan will give them books and tape recordings
that attack the Blood. You precious young people must be protected from the
“boiling mud showers of modern heresy” or you will never find peace with God
through Jesus’ Blood. My heart cries out, “Up, Hymers, contend for the Blood
with Father Abraham.” For without Christ’s Blood there is no salvation for any
child or lonely youth who has come here this morning seeking Jesus. For the
sake of these lost young people in our midst, I must fall upon those scavenger
birds with all the ferocious holy zeal of Father Abraham!
Hear me now and I am finished. The vultures may say,
“There
was a fountain filled with blood.”
Do
not believe them! “There
is a fountain filled with Blood!” Proclaim it loud and clear throughout
the streets of this dark and dying city. Sing it with me now, as we close this
service. Let us stand and sing it from memory.
There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains,
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.
(“There Is a Fountain” by William Cowper, 1731-1800).
Come to Christ. Believe on Him now. Be washed clean
from every sin by His sanctifying Blood. Throw yourself at the feet of Jesus,
and He will wash away all stains from sin in His most Holy and most precious
Blood. May God grant that you will come to Him for cleansing – and the sooner
the better! Amen.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE MATERIAL ON DR. MACARTHUR AND THE BLOOD
(END OF SERMON)
You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet
at
www.rlhymersjr.com. Click on “Sermon
Manuscripts.”
Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan:
I Corinthians 11:23-26.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid
Griffith: “There Is a Fountain” (by William Cowper, 1731-1800)
