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©FOUNDATION
A MAGAZINE OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALISM
Dennis W. Costella, Editor; Karel Beyer, Production Manager; Matt
Costella,
Copy Editor
M.H. Reynolds, Jr. (1919-1997), Founding Editor
The Blood of Jesus
by The Rev. William Reid, M.A.
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus," Hebrews 10:19
[This is a reprint of a book
published by James Nisbet & Co., London, England, in 1866. Liberty Bell
Press no longer prints this book and has granted permission to the FEA for
reprinting. This resource is available in a booklet from the FEA. Click
here to order].
©FOUNDATION Magazine, July-August 1998
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: Forgiveness Of Sins Through The Blood Of Jesus
Chapter 2: How Our Sins Are Taken Away By The Blood Of Jesus
Chapter 3: The Blood Of Jesus, Not Conviction Of Sin, The Foundation
Of Our Peace And Joy
Chapter 4: A Letter About The Love Of Jesus
Chapter 5: Salvation Through The Blood Of Jesus, The Gift Of God
Chapter 6: The Blood Of Jesus Our Only Ground Of Peace With God
Chapter 7: Regeneration Through The Blood Of Jesus
Chapter 8: Faith In The Blood Of Jesus Essential To Salvation
Chapter 9: The Blood Of Jesus The Believer’s Life And Peace
Chapter 10: Faith In The Blood Of Jesus The Spring Of Holiness
Chapter 11: The Blood Of Jesus The Essence Of
The Gospel <= you are here
Chapter 12: The Holy Spirit’s Testimony To The Blood Of
Jesus
Chapter 11
The Blood Of Jesus The Essence Of The Gospel
Topics In This Chapter:
- The Most Effective Revival Preaching
- The Substratum Of Christianity
- The Spirit’s Order Of Truth To Be Observed
- Christ And The Grand Theme Of Our Preaching
OUR MATURED CONVICTION IS that the great thing needed at present is not so much revival
sermons, or revival prayer-meetings, as REVIVAL TRUTH; and as the very essence of that
truth is " the gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord," (Rom.1:1,2)
or, in other words, the testimony of the Holy Ghost (externally in the preaching of
the Word, and internally in its spiritual application) to the all-sufficiency and
infallible efficacy of "THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST," (1 Pet. 1:19), that which
is pre-eminently required in order to the general revival of religion is a full, clear,
intelligent, and earnest utterance of the grand leading doctrines of " the gospel
of the grace of God," (Acts 20:24). True revival is not obtainable by merely
preaching about revival, but by the constant proclamation of that all-important
truth which is employed by the Holy Ghost to produce it,-that "Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to
God," (1 Pet. 3:18). He will prove the most effective preacher in bringing
about a holy, deep, spiritual revival, who gives the greatest prominence to these three
great facts :-" That CHRIST DIED for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that
HE WAS BURIED; and that He ROSE AGAIN the third day according to the Scriptures," (I
Cor. 15:3, 4). And I am convinced that the reason why so many ministers exhaust nearly all
their converting power (I mean instrumentally) during the first few years of their
ministry, while some continue to possess it, and finish their course with joy, is greatly
owing to the former leaving the simplicity that is in Christ and betaking themselves to sermon-writing
about secondary matters, while the latter make CHRIST CRUCIFIED their "Alpha and
Omega." Oh that all the ministers of Jesus Christ would return, for a few months at
least every year, to all the common texts from which they preached discourses which seemed
to be so much blessed to awaken and save souls in the early days of their ministry! Were
they to take a series of such texts as Matt. 11:28; John 3:16; Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 2:2; 1
Tim. 1:12-17; 1 John 1:7; and, after restudying them, and bringing all the light of their
reading, spiritual insight, and experience to bear upon the exposition and enforcement of
them, to preach from them with the Holy Ghost, and with a lively faith, that, by the grace
of the Holy Spirit accompanying their preaching, the unconverted among their people would
be immediately converted, there might be a great and general awakening, and tens of
thousands might be added to the Lord.
It is also of vast importance to present "the
truth of the gospel" as the Holy Ghost himself has presented it to us in "the
word of Christ," (Col. 3:16). It has been well said that "the derangement of
God's order of truth is quite as dangerous and far more subtle than the denial of
the truth itself. In fact, to reverse the order is to deny the truth. We are
not merely to maintain both Christ's work and the Spirit's work in their individual
integrity, but in their exact scriptural order." We believe that the
refreshing truth, that "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us
from all sin," (1 John 1:7), is the great central sun which sheds a flood of
light on the whole system of divine revelation. Atonement by the blood-shedding of Christ
is the substratum of Christianity; for the sole ground of a sinner's peace with God is
" THE BLOOD OF JESUS." We who were at one time "far off are made
nigh by the blood of Christ ; for he is our peace," (Eph. 2:13, 14),
" in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins," (Eph.
1:7 ); and so, " being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood," (Rom. 3:24, 25), " we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God," (Rom. 5: 1, 2).
In the Westminster Assembly's "Shorter
Catechism," which is considered by all orthodox people to be an excellent summary of
Christian doctrine, you will find the very same truth stated which we have advanced and
confirmed by the above quotations, and which we have been writing for publication almost
daily for the last ten years.
The answer to the question in that Catechism, "What
doth God require of us that we may escape His wrath and curse due to us for sin?"
commences with, "God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto
life," &c. Now, this shews that the framers of that symbol of sound doctrine were
accurate in their conceptions, and precise in their statement of the order and position
of this great scriptural truth. They suppose an anxious inquirer desirous of knowing how
he is to escape the wrath and curse of God due to him for sin; and do they say that the
first thing he is to do is to pray for the Holy Spirit, and get his mind changed, and his
unholy heart sanctified, previously to his believing in Jesus? No. The very first thing
they teach the awakened sinner to do is, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be
saved. Now this is all the more remarkable, considering that, when laying down the
system of divine truth theologically, they had placed effectual calling by
the Divine Spirit before justification by faith. There they speak to the intellect
of the converted man and instructed Christian; but here the matter is reversed when
an anxious sinner is to be guided as to what he is to do to be saved, and we have faith
in Jesus Christ placed before repentance unto life; shewing us that they held, that
while we must ever acknowledge the necessity of the Holy Spirit's work in order to the
creation and exercise of saving faith, we should never direct an anxious sinner to look to
the Spirit as his Saviour, but to Christ alone; never direct an inquirer to seek
first an inward change, but an outward one - a justified state in order to enjoying a
sanctified heart - the former being the necessary precursor of the latter.
Repentance is, properly speaking, a change of mind,
or a new mind about God; regeneration is a change of heart, or a new heart towards
God; conversion is a change of life, or a new life for God; adoption is
a change of family, or a new relationship to God; sanctification is a change of employment,
or a consecration of all to God; glorification is a change of place, or a
new condition with God; but justification, which is a change of state, or a
new standing before God, must be presented to the anxious inquirer as going before
all, for being "accepted in the Beloved" is the foundation and cause of
all, or, more properly speaking, the "precious seed" from which all the rest
spring, blossom, and bear fruit: and, consequently, the first and great duty of those who
have to deal with awakened souls is to make this very clear, and to keep them incessantly
in contact with the blessed evangelical truth, "That a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ," (Gal 2:16).
From all this you will observe, dear reader, that I am not
settling the position which a doctrine in theology ought to hold, but simply dealing with
the practical necessities of an anxious inquirer. Were I called upon to
state my views theoretically, I would say, they are described by what another has termed Jehovahism,
"for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to
whom be glory for ever," (Rom. 11:36); but I am not contemplating the sinner as
standing before the throne of glory, but before the throne of grace; and I am not
endeavouring to settle a subtle question in theology, but to give the practical
solution of an urgent question of salvation. I am not attempting to lay down a
system of divinity, but to discover the kind and order of truth divinely appointed and
fitted to bring immediate peace to awakened and inquiring souls. And hoping to accomplish
this most important end, I present "JESUS ONLY," "for He is our
peace," who "having made peace through the blood of His
cross," (Col. 1:20), has come "and preached peace," (Eph. 2:17),
by His "everlasting gospel," to them "who were afar off, and to them that
were nigh."
The first practical step towards realising and
acknowledging the sovereignty of God, is to "let the peace of God rule in your
hearts," (Col. 3:15). You may hold a sound creed with a proud, unbroken heart,
and be more deeply damned on that very account. But if you wish to know God in all the
glory of His being and attributes, you must grasp the manifestation of that glory as it is
embodied and manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. You can know the glory of
God as a sovereign only by realising His grace as a Saviour. For "God was
manifest in the flesh," (1 Tim. 3:16). "The Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the
Father), full of grace and truth," (John 1:14). " Neither knoweth any man
the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him," (Matt.
11:27).
A MIND AT ‘PERFECT PEACE’ WITH
GOD;
Oh, what a word is this!
A SINNER RECONCILED THROUGH BLOOD;
THIS, THIS, INDEED,IS PEACE!
"By nature and by practice far-
How very far!-from God;
Yet now by grace brought nigh to Him
THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS’ BLOOD.
"So nigh, so very nigh to God,
I cannot nearer be;
For in the Person of His Son,
I am as near as He.
"So dear, so very dear to God,
More dear I cannot be;
The love wherewith He loves the Son,
Such is His love to me.
"Why should I ever careful be,
Since such a God is mine?
He watches o'er me night and day,
And tells me, ‘MINE IS THINE.’
Continue With: Chapter 12: The Holy Spirit’s Testimony To
The Blood Of Jesus
Back to: Chapter 10: Faith In The Blood Of Jesus The Spring Of
Holiness
Return to: Table of Contents
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