In this sermon, Roy Hessian discusses the significance of the blood in the story of the Exodus. He mentions that during the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was seen talking with Moses and Elijah, and they were discussing Jesus' upcoming death in Jerusalem. Hessian then tells a story about a father and son sacrificing a lamb to escape the judgment that was coming upon Egypt. He emphasizes that the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the door was a token of judgment already having taken place, and the destroying angel passed over those houses. Hessian concludes by stating that admitting one's failures and coming to Jesus is the way to victory.

This is Tapes to Live By, tape number 113, two messages by Roy Hessian. These messages are parts three and four in Roy Hessian's four-part series of messages On the Blood. This is side one of the tape and it features the third message in the series entitled When I See the Blood. This is part of the story of the exodus, that great exodus which God accomplished on behalf of his people when they were in Egypt. And did you know that on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Lord Jesus was seen talking with Moses and Elijah, and do you know what the subject was of their conversation we're told? He spake of his decease, it says, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But in the margin of your King James Version, or if not there, certainly in your Revised Version, you have the more literal Greek word. They spake of his exodus which he should accomplish in Jerusalem. Not an exodus merely for him, but it was an exodus that he accomplished for us. Jesus has accomplished a wonderful exodus from sin and nature's night for the sons of Adam, and he accomplished it at Jerusalem. And so many features of the exodus here in the second book of Moses are to be taken as types and foreshadowing of this glorious exodus which Jesus has accomplished for the sons of Adam. Isn't that interesting? They spake together concerning the exodus which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Well here is a very important part of that exodus. Chapter 12, And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. They were to begin their calendars all over again, and the year was always to begin commemorating their exodus. Speaking unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. And if the household be too little for the lamb. It does not say the lamb would be too little for the household, but it does suggest that the household would be too little for the lamb sometimes. The lamb is never too little for the household of faith. But this household of faith is far too little for the lamb, isn't it? And if that be the case, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it, according to the number of souls. Every man, according to his eating, shall make your count for the lamb, the lamb they were going to feast upon that night. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Isn't it interesting? It doesn't say they shall kill them, all these many lambs. They shall kill it. In God's mind there was only one lamb, and that was Jesus. And you were seeing that great event with the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel should kill it, should kill him in the evening. And they shall take of the blood. And they shall take of the blood. Have you got that? And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleaven bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and the pertinence thereof. All of it is beautifully typical of Christ. His head and his legs. Not only those truths about him that relate to your head, and inform your mind, but that which relate to your walk. His head and his legs, and with the pertinence thereof, the inwards thereof, says the Revised. I have a lovely version here, I have a two version Bible. King James and the Revised Version, what you would call I think the American Standard Version. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning. I wonder how much of Christ I shall have left untasted in the morning. I'm afraid all too much. But God would have us let nothing of him remain until the morning. And that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, ye shall eat it in haste, it is the Lord's Passover. This world is not my home. I'm ready to go to glory. My roots are not down here. Ye shall eat it in haste, it is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment, I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you, for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. In particular that sentence in verse 13, and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That word, I will pass over you, is a much fuller word apparently in the Hebrew than the English translation might suggest. The word Passover suggests I will omit you. But the word really means I will stand over you. I will, I believe the word is, hover over you, pass over you, hover over you, put my wing over you, and not suffer the destroying angel to come unto you in that night when I'm smiting the firstborn of the land of Egypt. And God said he would do all that for his people, on that dread night, on one condition, when I see the blood. And I believe the one thing that God wants to see in our hearts is the blood of the Lord Jesus newly and freshly sprinkled there by our repentance and faith. And when he sees the blood, he hovers over us, he spreads his wing over us, he takes up our cause and makes it his, he declares us his own, he vindicates us before every charge that earth or heaven could bring against us, he fights our battles, he becomes our peace, and all that on one condition, when I see the blood. Now so often when God looks into our hearts, what he sees there, being the realist he is, is sin, freshly, newly committed, either in thought, or in reaction, or word, or deed, or attitude. And I know that time and time again, that when God looks into my heart, that's what he sees. Irritation, today, impatience, or it may be not things newly, freshly committed, he may see things that have been there for a long time. I think it's Finney who says that God regards us as persisting in a sin, if only by our unwillingness to depend on it. So if, for instance, there was a case of we stole something years ago, and we've never repented of it, then God regards us as persisting in stealing to this day. And when he looks into that heart, that's what he sees. And it may go quite a way. If a person has committed impurity of one thought and another, and not truly repented of it, though it's never been repeated, he regards that person as persisting in fornication or adultery to this day. He's a persistent fornicator, or adulterer, if only by his unwillingness to repent of it. He's persisting, God regards. This is Finney's thought, and I think it's true to the word of God. And when he looks into our hearts, he may see something way back. Or it may be these day-to-day things that come between us and God, or that come between us and other people. And when he sees sin in our hearts, he's unable to do what he otherwise would want to. He's unable to spread his wing over us. He's unable to take up our case and syndicate us as his own, and declare us justified. He's unable to fight our battles, and become our peace, and take hold of all our affairs as he otherwise would. And we are left to struggle on, trying to be successful Christians on our own resources. But when he sees the blood of Jesus covering those sins, or to use a more New Testament phrase, sprinkle of our sins, the blood of sprinkling it is called. For that blood was sprinkled on the doorpost, and on the lintel of the door. And when he sees that taking place in our hearts, be those sins what they may. Be we never so culpable. He passes over us, stands over us, puts his wing over us, takes up our affairs, and declares us his, and defends us against all covers. Sin, Satan, hell, man. That man who's there at his feet is a penitent. He sees the blood, and the blood of Jesus is of such value that it matters not what he may be, this is all his hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Isn't that good? If God before us, who shall be against us? When is he for us? When he sees the blood. But nothing else that draws him to our side, but that. My dear friends, I believe this is far truer than I realize it to be. That's what he wants to see on the doorpost of my heart. Now it's at this point that we make a mistake. It isn't difficult to understand that when he sees sin in our hearts, he cannot bless us, he cannot return to us, and fill us as he otherwise would. It doesn't need a lot of spiritual illumination to list the things that prevent revival. The real thing is what brings revival. It doesn't need us to be very mature to be able to list the things that hinder the Christians, and drive the Spirit's presence and fullness from our hearts. But can you tell me what brings his fullness to your heart? And I tell you, that needs revelation. Because even if we might know the answer mentally, to apply it in living faith, needs the Spirit's fresh and current revelation. The mistake we seem to make, and I make it myself, although I know the thing in my mind, but when it comes to it I often make this mistake in my thinking, and it's this, that we feel that the alternative to God seeing sin in our hearts, is for God to see no sin. That the alternative for God seeing an irritated and impatient Spirit in our hearts, is for him to see a calm, unruffled disposition. And when he sees victory like that, then of course we can expect to bless. We think that the alternative to him seeing defeat in our lives, is for him to see victory. That the alternative to him seeing resentment in our hearts, is for him to see love in our hearts. And we could probably list all the things that the saints ought to be. And the inference is that if they're that, then we can expect blessings, God to come. But the trouble is they don't succeed in being that. At least this saint does. But we think that's the way. That's what he wants to see, on the doorpost of my heart. And so I'm rather inclined to hide the truth about myself, and not admit it to myself, and just try to be more victorious. Oh, I'll avail myself of the means of grace in order to be more victorious, but that's my effort. So that God will see victory in my life. He'll see love in my life, humility in my life, and then I can expect to be blessed. That is what Paul calls going about to establish our own righteousness, and it's a natural thing for all of us to do. But it doesn't work. It means that I'm trying to make up for my, by my effort, for a peace that has been forfeited by my sin. And I want to say that Christian service is no answer to Christian sin. Christian struggle does nothing to remove the Christian sin. And then another thing is this, that this man I'm trying to be, this better person, just isn't the true man. By dint of the great effort, I do manage to produce something that looks a bit better, but it isn't the true me. Jesus said what the true me was, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, jealousies, factions, and a whole list of other things. That's a natural thing for me. This that we try to produce isn't natural at all. It's something false. It isn't true. And God says I desire truth in the inward path. And therefore these efforts of ours just don't impress, and yet we all do it. Who doesn't? I know I do. And I just need him to show me this again and again. And then of course the trouble is I never really succeed in hanging those things, at least not adequately, on the doorpost of my heart. Who does? And if I'm at all sincere and earnest, then I find myself in despair. In fact, all I seem to get from my efforts is more sense of condemnation. Because the new standards which I espouse, I fall down on. And now I've got something more to be accused of by Satan than I had before I tried. And though it seems so natural to feel that this is the only alternative to sin and failure, the attempt to produce it invariably ends, if we're earnest at all, in despair. And never brings the heart into peace or into assurance. But what God says here is not when I see your victory, not when I see your sweetness, not when I see your prayer, but when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you. The blood of Jesus is the perfect answer. And it is of such value that be the sinner what he may, be we Christians what we may, when he sees the blood, he puts his wing over you. He owns you as his child. He declares you right with himself, and challenges all colors on our behalf, when he sees the blood. Now we often hear hymns about the blood of Jesus. And those that don't know the gospel often pick on those hymns to mock at the gospel. And we often like to mock at the hymn about being washed in the blood of the Lamb. And of course the whole terminology must sound completely ludicrous to the person who hasn't been taught in the ways of God. And it also means that we Christians become a little apologetic. And in subsequent revisions of hymn books, there's always a tendency to drop out the hymns about the blood of Jesus. And we think we can use another terminology and drop this out. And we've got the same, nonetheless we haven't. This is the theme of the whole book. Almost all things, says Paul in Hebrews, by the law are purged but with blood. And without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Right from Abel's sacrifice at the dawn of history, right on to the book of Revelation, there's this red call of redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ. I think it was Barnhouse, Dr. Barnhouse who said, you can cut the Bible where you like and it bleeds. But it isn't only because it's in the Bible. I only can tell you that this is where I found my peace. And I know if some of our brothers from East Africa were to share what is the secret of that precious moving of Revival there and which has blessed so many other parts of the world, I believe the heart of it all would be seen to be the message of the blood of Jesus. Glory be to Jesus, who in bitter pain, poured for me his lifeblood from his sacred vein. Grace and life eternal, in that blood I find. Blessed be his compassion, infinitely kind, Abel's blood for vengeance, pleaded to the skies, but the blood of Jesus, for our pardon cries, oft as it is sprinkled on our guilty hearts. Satan in confusion, Terence Glass departs. And I beg you, disabuse yourself of any prejudice or recoiling of spirit from this word. Yes, there is a reproach, it is a stumbling block, but God has seen there always will be a stumbling block. It seems to me those that can be put off, will be put off. But Jesus says, blessed are those that nothing puts off. And there's some folks like that, nothing ever seems to put them off. If a preacher is a bit too long or waves his arms or a bit too loud, some people are put off. It's extraordinary if the truth is this, the truth. But there are some people, nothing in the world ever puts them off, and they find Jesus every time. You need to be one of those. And after all, that which we stumble over is only that which our pride doesn't like. And that's why Jesus is always somewhere along the line a stumbling block, to bring into our heart, out of our hearts, the innate pride that we must have it this way, a way that doesn't offend us, a way that doesn't challenge human dignity, a way that doesn't humble man. And it is certainly the case with this heart of the gospel, there is indeed an offense. Well now this then is the answer. And this is the way of peace, and the living. You see, I grant you, there's been that which is ugly, aggressive, about some people talking about the blood of Jesus. I've known those who said, you know, our minister doesn't preach the blood. I say, our minister preaches the blood. My dear friend, it isn't preaching the blood that matters. It's applying it. You needn't worry too much about preaching, or you won't be able to stop yourself giving your testimony. It's applying the blood. And you know, I can sometimes preach the blood in such a hard, aggressive, mechanical way, just an item of evangelical dogma. My, I need the blood to be applied to that very, very thing. And it's a very different thing, applying the blood. Now what I'm really coming to is this. Can we help one another to understand what is meant by the blood of Jesus? What it is the saints have seen in that blood, and have sung about all down the centuries? Well I think that this particular passage is wonderful to help. It says here, and the blood shall be to you, verse 13, for a token upon the houses where ye are. The blood that day was a token of something. And the important thing was that of which it was a token. It wasn't any physical blood that was important. It was that of which that blood was a token. Now what was it a token of? It was a token surely of judgment met. God had said, I'm going to smite the firstborn in the land of Egypt. Egypt is going to be judged. But the blood sprinkled on some door was a token that as far as that house was concerned, judgment had already come, and therefore the destroying angel couldn't enter. You say, how did judgment come to those houses? I'll tell you. As the sun was setting, father and son went outside, and the boy laid out a sweet little lamb. It had been kept in the house for some days to test its flawlessness, and maybe in those days it had become the pet of the house. And the father said, son get the knife and kill it. Daddy said, I can't. Son he said, either that lamb dies, or you die. Judgment is coming on Egypt tonight, and you have the privilege of seeing that judgment being anticipated and coming on the land instead of you. And so at once the boy consented at last to plunge the black knife into that sweet creature. And that hour, judgment came. But it fell upon the lamb, and the blood of that lamb sprinkled on the door was a token of that fact. And when the destroying angel passed through the land, there was a mark that witnessed judgment had already been at work there, had already finished its work. And he passed by. In any case Jehovah was standing on guard over that house. The blood shall be to you for a token. That's it. It isn't merely the physical blood of Jesus Christ, that's the heart of the message of redemption. That blood is a token of something. What of? Of judgment. Did you know that Calvary was the world's judgment? Did you know that was where sin was exposed and judged? Did you know that Jesus has made an effigy of our sins, and the judgment due to them fell on him and was exhausted by him? I remember reading once in daily life, do you know that little book of daily scriptures? It's been such a blessing to countless Christians all over the world. And a just selected text for each morning and each evening, linked by a common text at the top. And the juxtaposition of those texts is really, sometimes truly inspired of God. And one day there I read the text. Who shall, who knoweth the power of thine anger? From Psalm 90 I think it is. Who knoweth the power of the anger of God against sin? The next text, and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lama, Lama, Sabaxani, Eloi, Eli, Lama, Sabaxani, which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I didn't need any explanation. I saw the cross. Only one knew the power of the anger of God against our sin. But he not only knew it, he exhausted it. And it's finished. And I remind you, his side was pierced and the blood flowed after he had said it's finished. Not before. It's the totem of the fact that judgment has been met. Our impurities, or is it our jealousy, or our proud reaction, that blaming spirit that spoils the home, are being too strong with the other one. And for all those many things, the judgment that they truly deserve, and they do, has been already met by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the blood is a token of that fact. That's it. The blood of Jesus is virtually saying again and again what Jesus said on the cross. It's enough to bring the vilest offender, the most hopeless cripple, into perfect relationship with God. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. My goodness, my promise to improve, adds nothing to the power of that blood. This blood is for the failure as a failure. For the feeble man as a feeble man. For the man who's got an unpleasant disposition as that sort of man, on one condition, he admits that fact. And doesn't hide it. And he comes to Jesus. Oh my dear friends, this is the way of victory. I remember at our summer conference one year, having a very difficult day. It was a Saturday, and Saturday is the day when the whole crowd, or the great majority of them, leave in the morning, and a new crowd come in the afternoon. And the whole place has got to be put to rights before the coming of the new party. And it's a big day for us on the staff. And I remember rushing here and rushing there, doing this job, doing the other. And all through the day I was having horrid reactions. I was impatient, I was in tense, I shouldn't have been, I know, but I was. I found myself being critical of this member of staff, found myself critical of this guest who was asking for this, and didn't know how busy we were. This person who was a bit demanding when we had so much on. And really and truly, I found these things coming from all directions. But as I ran through the day, as these things came, I said, yes Lord, it's sin. Yes Lord, it's sin. Yes Lord, I had no time to pray, I had no time to get on my knees, but I had time to agree with God all the way through. I had the reactions, but every time, yes Lord, it's sin. Yes Lord, it's sin. Yes Lord, it's sin. And then the end of the day came. I had hoped that some of the team would be, who would have been there in good time, and that one of the brothers would have some simple little message as an introductory message for the week's ministry. But they were late coming. They just about stumbled in, they had hardly got their breath, and the meeting was soon to come. And there was none of them that was ready to take hold of some sort of a message. And quite obviously, I would have to fill the gap. You know, had I not known the power of the blood of Jesus, had the blood not had power, I would have been in bad shape. But what happened was this, that as I said, yes Lord, it's sin. Yes Lord, it's sin. A perfect cleansing for that sin came. So that at the end of the day, instead of being spiritually wounded and black and blue, I have to tell you, as I got to Jesus, my heart was all fresh, washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus, white as a snow. And I just got to enter the Bible, and in two moments he told me what to take, and what a lovely meeting, God gave. No thanks to me. Has there ever been a person with such unpleasant reactions in his heart as I had in that hectic day? But as I said, yes Lord, it's sin. The blood of Jesus was sprinkled by repentance and faith. And when he saw the blood, that's what he looked at. He didn't look at my sin. He didn't look at my reaction. He saw that which gave an infinite pleasure, of infinite value. And though I was such a failure from one point of view, it was win over me. He undertook the whole business, and that's how it goes. Isn't it? Doesn't it make life simple? That's all he wants to see my friend, and that's all he needs to see. In daily walk, it's called the blood of sprinkling, the blood for sprinkling. They used to, they had to take a weed called hyssop, pull it out of the wall, and use it as a brush. And hyssop is a picture of our faith. Thou has died for sinners, therefore Lord to me. Lord and I appropriate that blood for this, and for this, and for this, and for the other. But understand, only as we say, yes Lord it's sin. There are two sides of this penny. On the one side it's written sin, finished. On the other side it's written sin, admitted. And the two sides go together. And you won't hear Jesus saying it is finished, until you have to say it is admitted. And sometimes that's hard. Or if we're left to ourselves, we might make quite, we might be quite responsive along this line, but very often God uses somebody else to show us our thoughts. Yes it was fine for me in that day to say it's sin, yes it's sin. But I don't always find it so hard, so easy, when perhaps my wife spots something that I haven't spotted, and say, I was uneasy about that, the way you reacted. What do you mean? And oh don't we defend. The blood of Jesus does not cleanse and cover excuses. Never. Only sin confessed of sin. It doesn't cover explanations, why you reacted. It only covers sin that you admit is culpable sin. But once you've done that, He sees the blood sprinkled on your heart. You're free with God. You can walk into the holy of holies, as if a place belongs to you, which it does. It's been sanctified and made yours, by the blood of your high priest, who's gone in there for you. Yes it isn't preaching the blood, it's applying it. And not only to the upper doorpost, the lintel, but to the two side posts of the houses wherein we are. Maybe we've only been thinking of anybody about the lintel, but it was a side post too, between you and that other. Is there a relationship that needs the blood of Jesus sprinkled on it? Do you know it's no good trying to make up to that person by being very nice. It's no good for a man on his way home, to stop off at a candy store, and bring home a box of candy, hoping that that will make things right, for the little scene that took place before he left in the morning. It takes a lot of candy, to wash away sin. It doesn't do it. No no, it's not when you see the candy on the side post, when I see the blood there. And that means I've got to admit I was wrong. And you know, even the other one, husband or wife or fellow Christian, just being nicer and more sweet to them, well we're glad for you to do that, but it doesn't put things right, and nobody, and everybody knows it doesn't. But when you say brother I was wrong, then everybody sees the blood upon the side post. And others are satisfied even as God is. And so this is this simple picture that God has. And oh what wonderful light it throws on so much of other scriptures. In Peter, 2nd epistle of Peter chapter 1, it talks about the saints, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. What does that phrase mean? Unto obedience and sprinkling. I was elect and foreknown unto this end, that I might obediently sprinkle the blood of Jesus. And sometimes the Lord speaks to us about obedience. And we're not always obedient. What is the first thing about obedience? Sometimes I do hear messages about obedience, and I know it's right, and yet it doesn't seem to bless my heart, because I said well, could it be obedient? But what has helped me lately is this, that the first element in a life of obedience is that I should sprinkle the blood of Jesus on what God says I need to sprinkle it on. Coming to Jesus, being willing to be obedient and call it sin and say it's wrong, and put it right. Because it's only when I call a thing sin, is the blood sprinkled on it, and then only is it that God sees the blood. He puts his wing over me, gives me peace. I know I'm declared right with God. I know he defends me against all the comers, and he fills my heart. So there it is. When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you.