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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 <= you are here
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
Chapter 12: The Holy Spirit’s Testimony To The Blood Of Jesus
Chapter 5
Salvation Through The Blood Of Jesus, The Gift Of God
Topics In This Chapter:
- Saved Only by the Love and Mercy of God
- Invited to Lay Hold of a Proffered Boon
- An Absolute Offer of Jesus Necessary to Faith
- A Christ Offered for Everything
DEAR READER: - AS I AM ANXIOUS that the one
grand theme-salvation through the blood-shedding of Jesus alone-should be set
before you in a variety of aspects, that, if you miss it in one, you may realise it
in another, I would now present it as a gift of grace. " "For by grace are ye
saved," (Eph. 2:8). "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord," (Rom. 6:23). "For God so loved the world that He gave
His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life," (John 3:16).
As one English reformer, Thomas Becon, said:
Here God, who is infinite and unspeakable, gives after such a
manner as passeth all things. For that which He gives He gives not as the wages of desert,
but of mere love.This sort of giving, which has its spring in love, makes this gift
more excellent and precious. And the words of Christ are plain that God loveth us. And as
God, the Giver, is exceedingly great, so is the gift that He giveth, which is His
only Son. Let us understand that God is not said to be angry with the world, but to love
it in that He gave His Son for it. God is merciful to us and loveth us, and of very love
gave His Son unto us, that we should not perish, but have everlasting life. And as
God giveth by love and mercy, so do we take and receive by faith and not otherwise. Faith
only - that is, trust in the mercy and grace of God - is the very hand by which we take
this gift. This gift is given to make us safe from death and sin. And it is bestowed upon
the world, and the world signifies all mankind. Why shouldest thou not suffer thyself to
be of this name, seeing that Christ with plain words saith, that God gave not His Son only
for Mary, Peter, and Paul, but for the world, that all should receive Him that are the
sons of men? Then if thou or I should receive Him as if He did not appertain to us, truly
it would consequently follow that
Christ's words are not true, wherein He saith He was given
and delivered for the world. Wherefore hereof appears that the contrary thereto is most
assuredly true, that this gift belongs as well unto thee as to Peter and Paul, for as much
as thou also art a man as they were, and a portion of the world. . . . Whatsoever I am,
God is not to be taken as unfaithful to His promise. I am a portion of the world,
wherefore if I take not this gift as mine, I make God untrue. But thou wilt say, 'Why does
He not shew this to me alone? Then I would believe and think surely that it appertained to
me.' But it is for a great consideration that God speaks here so generally; to the intent,
verily, that no, man should think that he is excluded from this promise and gift. He that
excludes himself must give an account why he does so. ‘I will not judge them,' saith
He, ‘but they shall be judged of their own mouth.' . . . We are saved, then, only
by the mercy of God; and we obtain this grace only by faith, without virtue, without
merits, and without works. For the whole matter, that is necessary to the getting of
everlasting life and remission of sins, is altogether and fully comprehended in the love
and mercy of God through Christ."
Blessed be God our God!
Who gave for us His well-beloved Son,
His gift of gifts, all other gifts in one.
Blessed be God our God!
He spared not His Son!
‘Tis this that silences each rising fear,
‘Tis this that bids the hard thought disappear;
He spared not His Son!
Dr. Chalmers wrote the following words in a letter to a friend:
I must say that I never had so close and satisfactory a view
of the gospel salvation as when I have been led to contemplate it in the light of a simple
offer on the one side, and a simple acceptance on the other. It is just saying
to one and all of us, ‘There is forgiveness through the blood of my Son: take
it’ and whoever believes the reality of the offer takes it.
It is not in any shape the reward of our own services; . . .
it is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not given because you are
worthy to receive it, but because it is a gift worthy of our kind and reconciled Father
to bestow.
We are apt to stagger at the greatness of the
unmerited offer, and cannot attach faith to it till we have made up some title of our own.
This leads to two mischievous consequences. It keeps alive the presumption of one class of
Christians, who will still be thinking that it is something in themselves and of
themselves which confers upon them a right to salvation; and it confirms the melancholy of
another class, who look into their own hearts and their own lives, and find that they
cannot make out a shadow of a title to the divine favour. The error of both lies in their
looking to themselves when they should be looking to the Saviour. ‘Look unto me,
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,' (Isa. 45:22).
The Son of man was so lifted up that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, (John 3:14,15). It is your part simply
to lay hold of the proffered boon. You are invited to do so; you are entreated to do so;
nay, what is more, you are commanded to do so. It is true you are unworthy, and without
holiness no man can see God; but be not afraid, only believe! You cannot get holiness of
yourself, but Christ has undertaken to provide it for you. It is one of those spiritual
blessings of which He has the dispensation, and which He has promised to all who believe
in Him.
God has promised that with His Son He will freely give you
all things, (Rom. 8:32), -that He will walk in you, and dwell in you, (2 Cor.
6:16), - that He will purify your heart by faith, (Acts 15:9), - that He will put His law
in your heart, and write it in your mind, (Heb. 8:10).
These are the effects of your believing in Christ,
and not the services by which you become entitled to believe in Him. Make a clear outset
in the business, and understand that your first step is simply a confiding
acceptance of an offer that is 'Most free, most frank, most generous, and most
unconditional.
If I were to come as an accredited agent from the upper
sanctuary with a letter of invitation to you, with your name and address on it, you would
not doubt your warrant to accept it. Well, here is the Bible, your invitation to come to
Christ. It does not bear your name and address, but it says ‘ Whosoever’ that
takes you in; it says ‘all’ - that takes you in; it says ‘if
any’ - that takes you in. What can be surer or freer than that?"
Old Traill of London said:
"We glory in any name of reproach (as the
honourable reproach of Christ) that is cast upon us for asserting the absolute
boundless freedom of the grace of God, which excludes all merit, and everything
like it; the absoluteness of the covenant of grace, for the covenant of redemption was
plainly and strictly a conditional one, and the noblest of all conditions was in it.
The Son of God's taking on Him man’s nature, and
offering it in sacrifice, was the strict condition of all the glory and reward promised to
Christ and His seed, (Isa 53:10-11), - wherein all things are freely promised, and that
faith that is required for sealing a man’s interest in the covenant is promised in
it, and wrought by the grace of it, (Eph 2:8). That faith at first is wrought by,
and acts upon, a full and absolute offer of Christ, and of all His fulness; an
offer that hath no condition in it, but that native one to all offers, acceptance:
and in the very act of this acceptance, the acceptor doth expressly disclaim all things
in himself, but sinfulness and misery.
That faith in Jesus Christ doth justify (although, by the
way, it is to be noted that it is never written in the Word that faith justifieth
actively, but always passively, that a man is justified by faith, and that God justifieth
men by and through faith; yet admitting the phrase) only as a mere instrument, receiving
that imputed righteousness of Christ for which we are justified ; and that this faith,
in the office of justification, is neither condition, nor qualification, nor our gospel
righteousness, but in its very act a renouncing of all such pretences.
We proclaim the market of grace to be free (Isa. 55:1-3). It
is Christ's last offer - and lowest, (Rev. 22:17). If there be any price or money spoken
of, it is no price, no money. And where such are the terms and conditions, if we be
forced to call them so, we must say that they look liker a renouncing, than a boasting
of any qualifications or conditions. Surely the terms of the gospel bargain are, Gods
free giving, and our free taking and receiving.
It is quite natural for us, born as we are, under the law, and brought up under the
restraining influences of religion and civilisation, to suppose that we can be saved only
by conforming to certain rules and implementing certain conditions. It is difficult to lay
aside the performing of all duties as a means of being accepted graciously by God, and to
submit to be sought and saved simply as lost sinners, by a loving Redeemer, who delivers
us from guilt, corruption, and perdition, "without money and without price," (Isa.
55:1).
An eminent writer of last century says truly:
The gospel is much clouded by legal terms, conditions, and
qualifications. If my doctrine were, Upon condition that you did so and so-that you
believe, and repent, and mourn, and pray, and obey, and the like then you shall have the
favour of God -I dare not for my life say that is the gospel. But the gospel I desire to
preach to you is, Will you have a Christ to work faith, repentance, love, and all
good in you, and to stand between you and the sword of Divine wrath? Here there is no room
for you to object that you are not qualified, because you are such a hardened,
unhumbled,
blind and stupid wretch. For the question is not, Will you remove these evils and then
come to Christ ? but, Will you have a Christ to remove them for you?
It is because you are plagued with these diseases that I call you to come to the Physician
that He may heal them. Are you guilty? I offer Him unto you for righteousness. Are you
polluted ? I offer Him unto you for sanctification. Are you miserable and forlorn? I offer
Him as made of God unto you complete redemption. Are you hard-hearted? I offer Him in that
promise, ‘I will take away the heart of stone,' (Ezek. 36:26). Are you content that
He break your hard heart ? Come, then, and put your hard heart into His hand."
I'VE FOUND THE PEARL OF GREATEST PRICE!
My heart doth sing for joy;
And sing I must, A CHRIST I HAVE!
Oh what a Christ have I!
MY CHRIST He is the Lord of lords,
He is the King of kings;
He is the Sun of Righteousness,
With healing in His wings.
MY CHRIST He is the Tree of Life
Which in God's garden grows;
Whose fruits do feed, whose leaves do heal;
My Christ is Sharon’s Rose.
CHRIST IS MY MEAT, CHRIST IS MY DRINK,
MY MEDICINE AND MY HEALTH;
MY PEACE, MY STRENGTH, MY JOY, MY CROWN,
MY GLORY, AND MY WEALTH.
Continue With: Chapter 6: The Blood Of Jesus Our Only Ground Of
Peace With God
Back to: Chapter 4: A Letter About The Love Of Jesus
Return to: Table of Contents
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