00A.11 CHAPTER VIII.—Christ’s Blood: How It Saves Us

CHAPTER VIII CHRIST’S BLOOD AND HOW IT SAVES US The sermon tonight is to deal with the question oi vicarious atonement. Of course you understand that vicarious means one suffering for another—the innocent for the guilty. This doctrine has been scoffed at by unbelievers and it is today rejected by some religious teachers—the modernists for example.

They reject the idea for two reasons. First, they have such a high estimate of themselves and they glory so much in man’s worth and powers and achievements, that they will not admit that man was in such a sinful and lost condition as to require this supreme sacrifice. Second, and this idea is based on the first, they do not see why an infinite God could not have redeemed men in some other way—some way that was less expensive and less horrible They say it is unjust for an innocent man to suffer for the guilty. Like the Jews of old, Christ is a stumbling block to them for the reason they do not want to admit their need of divine grace. They want to establish their own righteousness and will not submit to the righteousness of God. And then again they are like the ancient Greeks in that Christ to them is foolishness. They seek after wisdom. They want to attribute all man’s success and moral achievements to his own sapience and sagacity. They want man to work out his own salvation independent of God. The)’ think that man’s philosophy, scientific researches and mechanical inventions will finally rid the earth of sin and suffering and death. Hence they even now deny the existence of sin, and they try to ignore and laugh at old age; they are constantly experimenting with monkey glands in an effort to turn old men into young—and they have assumed to rob death of its terrors, they treat it as a trifle and it is decidedly bad taste to weep or mourn for the death of a loved one in this age.

Nevertheless the earth is still freighted with suffering and sorrow; crime having advanced a pace under this philosophy, is holding high carnival in the land and death continues to billow the earth with the graves of our fellow beings. But these fanatical pseudo-philosophers, these psycho- science-inongers refuse to face the facts, and if a man— a boy, the product of their teaching— commits a crime so atrocious that it outrages the earth they will rush across the country in great numbers to testify—’give expert testimony—to the idea that he is insane and not responsible. There is no sin—no one is responsible, in their theory. But all of us who are yet rational enough to reason, know that sin, suffering and death are here, and that all of man’s science and philosophy have not removed these things from the earth. If we admit this, surely we are ready to seek a remedy—to welcome a. relief. This relief and this remedy can come only through divine grace—through the Gospel of Christ. The Bible abundantly teaches that man is lost and that the Son of God came to seek and to save; that the blood was shed for our remission and that the cross is the emblem of our salvation. That we “must needs go home by the way of the cross.” That the blood-sprinkled way is the only way. You will now please permit me to quote a few passages from God’s holy word to illustrate this thought. Most of you are familiar with these texts, but they are the words of life and you like for them to be sung over and over again to you. In the midst of the religious and intellectual confusion and false philosophy of our day this blessed Bible doctrine comes like a gentle shower upon the parched earth. But hear the Scriptures. The prophet Zechariah foresaw man’s redemption through the “fountain filled” with blood and sung of it in these words: In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. (Zechariah 13:1-9)

Isaiah also caught the vision of one coming up with “dyed garments from Bozrah” and sang of the mighty to save Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength?

I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winevat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me. (Isaiah 63:1-3.) And of course we all remember what he says in the fifty-third chapter:

  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone tn his own way; and Jehovah laid upon him the iniquity of us all. The wicked Caiaphas unwittingly prophecied that Christ would die for others: But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor do ye take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. Now this he said not of himself: tout toeing high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus shiuld die for the nation; and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad. (John 11:49-52.) Our Lord himself not only taught that his blood was shed for human redemption, but he also erected a monument to perpetuate that doctrine: he instituted a memorial feast. How can modernists celebrate the Lord’s supper? Whether they call it “eucharist,” sacrament” or something else, it has one meaning. Hear this:

"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood and the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28.) The following passages from Paul will leave no doubt as to what he taught. We give them one after the other without comment. Notice the emphasis upon the blood and the cross.

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit ath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28.) But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justified of him that hath faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26.) To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:6-7.)

Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:11-13.)

"For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell" and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, ot things in the heavens. And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him. (Colossians 1:19-22.)

John tells us that the blood not only cleanses sinners when they obey the gospel, but he shows us also that it constantly, continuously, keeps Christians—those who walk in the light—free from sin. Constantly cleanses them. Hear John: And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:5-9.)

Peter many times emphasized this doctrine and chimed in with the whole chorus of inspired men on the sublime theme of Christ Crucified. Let us hear Peter: And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood o: Christ: who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake. (1 Peter 1:17-20.) The seven thunders of the apocalypse also added testi mony to this doctrine in many places. When John saw the redeemed host in white garments he reports this conversation concerning them: And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, These that are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and whence came they? And I say unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they that come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:13-15.) But the teaching of Paul in Hebrews (Hebrews 9:1-28 and Hebrews 10:1-39, which passages were cited last night when we studied the priesthood), is as clear and strong as language, logic and analogy can make it. He says that Christ offered himself for our sins, purchased eternal redemption with his blood and then with the merit of that shed blood went into the Holy of Holies to appear before the face of God for us. That the Israelites were cleansed from ceremonial defilement by the blood of calves and goats, but that our consciences—our souls— are cleansed from actual sin by the blood of Christ: That the old covenant, the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry were sanctified by blood and that likewise the new covenant and all that appertains to the service of God under it are blood-purchased and blood-sanctified. And he concludes by saying, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).

This, of course, settles the question with all who accept the Bible as a standard. That book being true, you can not be saved without the blood. And yet we find many men who claim to believe the Bible and who will agree with us theoretically that nothing can take away our sins but the blood of Jesus and who will turn right around and contend for a principle or an idea that is inimical to the doctrine of the blood atonement. And not only that, but they live in harmony with that false idea. They claim to believe in the efficacy of Christ’s atonement—of his blood—and yet by their conduct they count it an unholy thing. They neglect and refuse to have it applied to their souls and trust something else for salvation. Men, how in the light of all those plain, pointed, unmistakable statements of God’s word which you have heard tonight, and many others like them, can you trust anything to save you but the blood of Jesus? How.can you afford to remain out from under the blood? To remain out of the covenant, out of the blood-bought church? Many of you are doing it. For example, you speak to a man about obeying the gospel—about becoming a Christian—and he will begin to make one excuse or another, and in the final analysis all the excuses amount to the same thing, which is: “I don’t think it is necessary for me to obey the gospel—I think I’ll be saved anyway.” And that is tantamount to saying:

“So far as I am concerned there was no need for Jesus to die. I can be saved without him. I don’t need his blood to cleanse me. So far as my salvation is concerned, his blood is a useless thing.” That is just what you say, men, every time you try to offer any reason for not surrendering Jp Christ and allowing him to take away your sins. Sometimes a man will say, “O, I’m just as good as many church members. There are so many hypocrites in the church. I will just risk .my chance out of the fold—out of Christ.”

Yes, there are hypocrites in the church. We can not deny that charge, however embarrassing it may be. But that will not give you any advanage. That will not be any plea for your redemption. If every professed Christian on earth tonight were a hypocrite—which is not true, of course—that would not save you. You can not be saved on other men’s demerits. To plead the hypocrisy of church members is to sentence Christ to a useless death because his friends have betrayed him. Even the Pharisees were too logical, if not too fair, to send Christ to the cross because of the treachery and hypocrisy of Judas Iscariot. And even if you are as good as the best church member you can not be saved out of Christ. Church members will not be saved on their own goodness. They do not expect that, or they would not be in Christ. They expect to be found in him not having a righteousness of their own, even that which is by the law, that is, a righteousness attained by complying with legal requirements or by measuring up to a perfect standard, “but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness which is from God through faith” (Php 3:9).

Sometimes we find men who are depending on their own morality—their own worth and merit for salvation. O, what a delusion ! There were good men in that sense, my friends, before Jesus came to the earth to die for us. They had good laws, too; a high moral code. A law that was given by Jehovah and was ordained to life— intended to give life. (Romans 7:10.) This law was holy, and the commandment holy and righteous and good, but men were carnal, sold under sin, and this law proved to be to death because it exacted more of men than they could do. And by the works of the law no flesh is justified. Then by what sort of law or system of laws are you going to be saved, today?

Men sometimes depend on :heir fraternal orders or benevolent societies—their lodges—to save them. They say, ‘If I live up to the demands of my lodge, I’ll be saved. Our requirements are high. They will surely make a good man out of any one.”

Well, now let us grant that all you say for your lodge is true. Let us grant that it has good laws and that it will make men good, honest, true and charitable. But do you not see that after all, that is only another way of saying that you are good enough to be saved without* the blood and righteousness of Christ? That you are going to be saved through a man-made system? Through a legal process of a cultural program? Do you think your lodge has better laws—a higher moral code than that even by God on the two tables of stone? Is it not a fact that all that is good in any lodge is based on these principles or precepts found in the Book of God? Yet men could not be saved by those laws. They tried it for about two thousand years and then Christ had to leave heaven and come to this earth and die on the cross to redeem a ruined and recreant race.

Even some of the heathen nations had moral requirements as stringent and as salutary as any lodge or society of men has ever had. But these did not avail. If they did, then why did Christ have to die?

Paul says, ‘“For if there had been a law given which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the law” (Galatians 3:21). But was such a law ever given? No, indeed. Hear him again “For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nought” (Galatians 2:21).

There you are, my friends. Righteousness is not by the law—is not by any law of works, either human or divine—and no law can make alive, or save. Our righteousness—that is, the righteousness that commends us to God, that saves—is from Christ. The song of every real Christian—every one who knows the Bible—is:

  My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the Solid Rock, I stand, All other ground is sinking sand.

Nothing in the Bible is more clearly stated than this, beloved. Hear these passages: But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets: even the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus unto all them that believe. (Romans 3:21-22.) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:30-31.)

Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we /night become the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21.)

Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things and do count them but refuse, that I ma- gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that whici is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. (Php 3:8-9.)

Only through the righteousness of our Reedemer shall we see the face of God. You can not possibly be saved on your own efforts without the healing balm of the cross, You can not be saved by a legal system You can not reach heaven by your own moral achievements. You are leaning on a broken reed, my friends. You are building on the moving sands of a treacherous and unsafe foundation. You would just as well to try to climb a moonbeam to heaven as to try to pass through those gates of pearl on your own good works. There is nothing that can save you but the blood of Jesus.

Yet men of today are depending on everyth’ng except the blood. Statesmen are depending on moral legislation to save the people. Educators are depending on education and scientists are depending on scientific researches and discoveries. Philosophers are depending upon the potency of their philosophical speculations. All these things may be good in their own places; they may bring benefits into our earth life, but they only embellish and build up the outer man and leave the heart untouched and unsaved.

Wisdom could not save Solomon from idolatry and polygamy. Philosophy could not save Bacon from bribery. Poetry could not save Byron from immorality. Education could not save Leopold and Loeb from crimes of the most shocking, brutal and atrocious nature.

Ah, yes, they had education, art, philosophy and science before Jesus came to save a ruined world. The philosophy of Socrates, Seneca, Pythagoras, Plato, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius has never been excelled except by the principles of the gospel. Yet the conditions of society at the time these men lived have been depicted in as dark colors by Seneca and other non-Christian writers as it is by Paul. Licentiousness and cruelty ruled the age and ruined their nations.

Art attained such a height in Athens that it is said the birds of the heavens pecked at the grapes which Appelles painted on the canvas. But art and philosophy could not save Athens from eternal ruin. In our own times, my friends, we have witnessed the utter failure of education, science and philosophy as a means of saving the world from war, butchery and brutality. No nation known to history has ever attained the height in science and education that Germany had reached prior to the most senseless and worst war that ever disgraced the history of man. But German “Kultur" could not take the brute out of the war lord’s heart; and the spirit of terrorism and might-makes-right plunged an unsuspecting world into the vortex of a German made hell.

O, how we should all labor and pray to bring the nations under the blood-stained banner of the Prince of Peace and induce them to crown him Lord of lords and Ruler of the kings of earth. And then we would have peace on earth and good will among men. The principles of his religion will transform the lives of men and fill their hearts with forbearance, forgiveness, altruism and the peaceable fruits of righteousness. They will make all men brothers and fill the earth with love, peace and joy. But nothing else will do this. “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” But we have already seen that according to the Sc. ip- tures there is no salvation without the blood. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” No soul can be saved except through the merit of Calvary’s Cross. No soul that lived before Christ and no soul that lives after Christ has ever been saved or can ever be saved except by the blood of the crucified One. As the beams of the cross pointed in opposite directions, so did the significance of the atonement extend in both directions—both backward and forward. The blood rolled back to the crumbling walls of Eden ruined, and rolled down the future to the walls of eternity and embraced in its crimson tide all the suffering souls of sinful men. For “Christ did by the grace of God taste of death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9).

But, you ask, how were the people who lived before Christ came saved by his blood.

They were saved by his blood in exactly the same way that we are saved by it now. That is, the principle is the same.

They were saved through faith in his blood. From the time that Abel offered his excellent sacrifice by faith, in the early dawn of time, when the mists of the morning of creation still hung across the horizon, down to the hour when Jesus poured out his blood on Calvary’s hill—every lamb that died on the altars of earth was a picture of the Lamb of God that was to die to take our sins away. Peter says Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. How ? In the purpose of God and in type when Abel’s lamb was slain. That is why God required an animal sacrifice—a dying lamb. Abel offered his sacrifice by faith, and faith cometh by hearing the word of God. Therefore God had commanded this kind of offering. Otherwise it could not have been by faith. His faith was in God and whether he understood the typical feature of his sacrifice or not, God did, and it was a part of a far-reaching, eternal plan.

Paul declares that those sacrifices under the law were shadows of good things to come. (Hebrews 10:1-4.) And then he tells us that the body which cast this shadow is Christ. (Colossians 2:16.) Therefore those Israelites who offered those lambs in accord with God’s instructions did so by faith and received the blessing and at the same time they pictured the death of Christ in their dying lambs. But what blessing did they receive from these offerings? Paul declares that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, but that their sins were remembered again every year. Ah, that is it, they were remembered again at the end of the year, but they were not remembered for a year. Their day of atonement came annually. Upon that day their sins fell upon them again, but the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies that day and offered blood for them and they were put forward for a year. This they did year by year continually until death claimed them. Then the next generation went on with the same services and ceremonies. But those who died in faith, hence in obedience to God, had their sins moved forward, but not forgiven. Then Christ came and took them all away, blotted them out forever for those who had died in faith.

Let me illustrate this. Suppose I wanted to borrow some money. I go to the bank and borrow a thousand dollars on my note, unsecured and no interest paid in advance. (Now, no banker would do business this way, but God did.) The note falls due in one year and I can not pay it; can not even pay the interest. The banker lets me add the interest and renew the note. At the expiration of another year I again add the accrued interest and renew the note. At the end of another year I repeat the process, and so on year after year until the interest has grown to a greater amount than the principal. Then at last I die. The note was not due at my death, but it soon matured and I left nothing to even apply on that debt. Now, who will pay that debt? Who will take up that note? Why, you say, that banker ought to pay it. He owes it to his stockholders. He is responsible for that money. Exactly so, my friends.

Now, that is what God did for the people who lived before Christ died. He passed over their sins year by year on the condition that they offer the sacrifices he commanded. Then when they died God assumed the responsibility and set forth Christ to be a propitiation— that means satisfaction-:-for the sins that he had in his forbearance passed over aforetime. That is exactly what Paul says in Romans 3:23-25, which has already been quoted in full once in this sermon. But if you will now read it again you will see that thought clearly presented. In Hebrews 9:15 the same thought is expressed “And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” That is the way those people who lived before Christ were saved. They were saved by the blood of Christ. Through faith in the blood. They manifested that faith by doing exactly what God commanded them to do. And in that obedience there was the picture, the type of Christ dying for the sins of the world. But now, suppose some ancient Israelite had grown wise and philosopical above what was written and had said: “I am not going to offer any lamb. I don’t want that High Priest to take any blood into that tent for me.

I believe in God. I am going to trust God for my salvation. My faith in God is just so strong that I am going to rely upon him to save me apart from any ordinance, or ceremony or external obedience. I have faith—I have faith in God. That sacrifice can’t save anybody and to offer it would be to trust in the blood of a sheep. It would be sheep salvation. Excuse me.”

Now, I ask you, beloved, which man has faith in God, the one who takes him at his word, accepts his provisions, and obeys his commands, or the one, who rejects his arrangements, refuses to hear his word and rebels at his command? Which do you say?

Ah, sure, you will answer the one who humbly submits and obeys his commands. But was there any cleansing efficacy in the blood of those lambs? None whatever. It was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Those sacrifices made nothing perfect.

Then why were they offered? Because God commanded them—they were pictures of his plan. They symbolized Christ. Through them the obedient Israelite reached the blood of Christ. To put it tersely, God commanded, their faith acted, and the blood saved. Now, upon this side of the cross we are also saved through faith in his blood. They looked forward to the cross for salvation. We look backward to the cross. How do we reach the blood? By faith. What sort of faith? The faith that takes God at his word, obeys his commands and trusts his promises.

Again God has commanded, our faith acts, and the blood saves. But what commands does our faith obey before we reach the blood?

Paul says that Christ is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey him. (Hebrews 5:9.) After he was raised from the dead and had all power in heaven and on earth he said to his apostles:

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:15-16.) Then the first time they ever preached this gospel and when men asked what to do, what were they told? Here it is:

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38.) Believe, repent and be baptized. Those are the conditions plainly stated.

But, says one, I can not be baptized for the remission of sins. That would be water salvation.

No, it is not. It is salvation through the blood and you reach that blood by faith. But you know it is not faith that rejects God’s commands. Hear Paul:

Know ye not, that so many of as as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should wall in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. (Romans 6:3-6.)

There we have a likeness of his death again. As the obedience of the Israelite pictured the death of Christ, then future, so the obedience of the man coming unto God now commemorates, symbolizes and pictures the death of Christ, now past. Yea, there is also now the picture of his burial and resurrection.

We die to sin in the likeness of his death, we are buried in baptism in the likeness of his burial and raised in the likeness of his resurrection. The complete likeness of that transaction by which alone we are saved. That is the way we reach the blood.

Thus God has made the death of his Son to stand in the center of the ages as our dying Lamb and Savior, And he so arranged his plan that all who came to him for mercy and salvation before the death of Christ did that in obedience to him which was a symbol and prophecy of that dying Savior. And now his commands on this side of the cross require those who come to him for mercy to do that which symbolizes and commemorates that dying, buried, and risen Savior. That is the center and soul of all divine service. It is that which gives point and meaning to any law, doctrine, creed or command. That has been the theme of all inspired men. It was the refrain of the prophets’ song and the high- ringing, resounding note of the angels’ chorus. It is the hope of earth and the joy of heaven.

If I could represent this idea geographically, I would erect in the center of the earth, on a mountain that would lift its head above the stars, and upon the topmost peak. I would set the rugged old cross, and on top of that cross I would set a beacon light of greater glory than the rising sun and cause it to shoot its radiant shafts to the remotest bounds of illimitable space, so that all creatures in the entire universe could see that human redemption by means of the cross is the acme of earth’s hope. My friends, this is the whole substance of the Christian religion. This was the gospel preached by the apostles. This was the doctrine that produced the martyrs and this was the hope that sustained them when they felt the flames. This was the faith of our fathers and this is the faith that will give you the victory over doubt and fear and sin and death and hell. What shall we do about it? Are we going to give it up?

O, I wish here and now, once again to confess this as my faith, to pledge my all and plight my life for this faith. Will you join me, brethren, in this pledge and express it often in that grand old hymn?

Faith of our fathers living still, In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;

O, how our hearts beat high with joy, When e’er we hear that glorious word.

Faith of our fathers, holy faith!

We will be true to thee till death.  Our fathers, chained in prisons dark, Were still in heart and conscience free;

How sweet would be their children’s fate If they, like them, could die for thee!

Faith of our fathers! we will love Both friend and foe in all our strife; And preach thee too, as love knows how, By kindly words and virtuous life.

Faith of our fathers, holy faith!

We will be true to thee till death. But before we close tonight we are going to call upon those in this audience who are not in Christ to come to him now. Have you been to Jesus for his cleansing power? Have you been taken captive by this glorious gospel and given your life to the Lord? If not, why do you delay? What do you hope for? You arc lost without Christ and if you die in your sins he has declared that where he is you can not come. Then why not be-come a Christian now?

We are not asking you to join “our church,” or to join any denomination; to subscribe to any human creed or to put yourself under the direction and control of any ecclesiastic council, conference, synod, association or any other sort of “church officials”—no, nothing of that kind. We are not here for that purpose.

We only ask you to come to Christ; to enthrone him in your heart as Lord of your life; to become a Christian by obedience to his will—as that has been dearly pointed out in this sermon. There is only one plea you need to make and that is that his blood was shed for you. Come relying upon that alone. Just as you are—waiting for nothing. Come saying:

Just as I am! without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me, And that thou bid’st me come to thee, O, Lamb of God, I come! I come!’ 

Just as I am! and waiting not To rid my soul of one dark blot; To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, O, Lamb of God, I come! I come! That is the idea, dear friends, you will never be any better than you are right now until you come to Christ, for no spot can be taken away from your soul until his blood washes you whiter than the snow. Now while we sing will you come? Bro. Rose will stand here at this aisle. Bro. Stubblefield will stand here on the left. Come and give these brethren your hand in token of the fact that you give God your heart—obey his truth and be saved. Right now, please sing. In the Cross of Christ I glory, Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time;

All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime.