In this sermon, the preacher discusses the worth of gaining the world at the expense of one's soul and relationship with God. He emphasizes that making such a bargain is a mistake and asks the audience what they can give in exchange for their soul. The preacher then focuses on the power of the blood of Jesus and the immense blessings that come from it. He mentions forgiveness and cleansing through the blood of Christ, using the example of David's repentance in Psalm 51.

Now, we are continuing with our studies on this all-important theme, the power of the blood of Jesus. Not only the blood of Jesus as an article of our faith, but the power and efficaciousness of that blood on your behalf and working in your life. We shall need understanding given from heaven, as we always do. And we are trusting the Lord will take away from my mind anything that might be unhelpful and confusing, and only fasten that which is simple and plain to be understood. The first study, we went to the story of the Passover, and the blood sprinkled on the doorposts of the houses wherein they were. And the great word, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And we tarried on that phrase, and the blood shall be for you for a token upon the houses where ye are. It wasn't that there was any magic in the literal blood. The thing that mattered was that of which that blood was a token. And of what was it a token? It was a token of judgment met. Judgment already fallen and over and exhausted as far as that house was concerned. The judgment fell with regard to that house when they slew the Lamb. And when they sprinkled His blood, they sprinkled the token, that judgment had already been to that house, and therefore that boy sheltered there was spared. When I see the blood, and see that of which it is a token, I will pass over you. And with regard to the blood of Jesus, it's not the mere blood of Jesus that is efficacious, it is that of which it is a token. And what is the blood of Jesus a token of? It's a token of the finished work of Jesus, of a victory won, of a judgment exhausted, of a fire that's burnt itself out. And the blood is a token of that fact. That's why there's power in that blood. And that's why it's always associated with sin. Don't talk about putting a meeting under the blood. I don't know what you mean, and I don't think you know what you mean, unless you mean there's an awful lot of sin here. Oh, this feet is full of sin, Lord, may thy blood cover it. That's all right, but the idea of a magic sort of protection. Make it simple, keep it simple. The blood is always for sin. And that's the basic thing. That's my basic need. My basic need is that of a sinner, and my heart can be sprinkled with that blood. And oft, as it is sprinkled on our guilty hearts, Satan, in confusion, terror struck, departs. We overcome that accuser of the brethren by the blood of the everlasting covenant. How well our hymn writers knew this. I only wish we could preach, I only wish I could preach as well as the hymn writers. Be thou my shield and hiding place that sheltered in thy side I may my fierce accuser face and tell him thou'st died. Oh, what a blessed provision this is. The blood shall be to you for a token. Oh, how precious that is. You know, there's nothing so inexorable as conscience. Nothing seems to satisfy it. But even the most sensitive conscience in the world must rest satisfied with the awesome sin-bearing of the Son of God and the blood-shedding. That surely is enough. It's enough for God. He showed it in that he raised our Lord Jesus from the dead. And if the blood of Jesus is sufficient for God, it surely is sufficient for you. Then why go on taking a stick to yourself? And many of us reproach ourselves and give ourselves a bad touch. When God says, I'm satisfied, if you aren't, why can't you be satisfied? By that which satisfies me, the blood shall be to you for a token. And then yesterday we went back to that famous story of Cain and Abel. Cain's sacrifice, to which God did not have respect, and Abel's, to which he did have respect. And we saw that Cain is a picture of the man who comes or tries to by the way of works. Tried to make up for what is lacking by new attempts to be nice, where before he'd been nasty. And God is just not impressed with our attempts to be nice. He doesn't say, when I see you being nice and sweet, I'll pass over you, but when I see the blood. But Cain, and we too know that to bring him by the way of the blood means I've got to come repenting. And you and I are Cains so often. We have stiff necks. We don't want to admit we're wrong. And like Cain, we find ourselves hating other people. You could be a Cain. On the other hand, there's a dear Abel. He came by God's appointed way, bringing a blood sacrifice, a lamb, some sacrificial victim, shedding his blood upon the stones of his altar, and seeing that offering accepted by God. And he let the implications of having to bring a blood sacrifice work itself out. He became a penitent man. And Abels today are those that know how to repent, because they know the blood is theirs, it's anticipated. They know they can afford to be in the wrong. It isn't you ought to admit you're wrong, but you can afford to, because you immediately come onto new ground with God, much better than the ground of your innocence, the ground of the blood. And so greatly does God value that blood. There's no end to what he will do for that man, an Abel. Happy, happy the man, who in one degree or another is an Abel. And he doesn't hate his brother. He's quick to be reconciled to his brother and love his brother. And I said yesterday that every one of us is either a Cain or an Abel. But what I failed to say, and I must say it because it's absolutely crucial, the way to become an Abel is to confess you're a Cain. It's as simple as that. And if there's a confession that God's waiting to hear from you and from me, he says, Oh God, I'm a Cain. I've got a stiff neck. If I try to get right with you, it's by my own works. And I'm all the time sidestepping the place of repentance. And I find it does nothing to remove the resentments and the criticisms in my heart. Now when you confess you're a Cain, what do you do? You're an Abel. What can a Cain who confesses himself again to do? But take a blood sacrifice. Appropriate that once for all sacrifice of Jesus and his blood on your behalf. And immediately you're at peace with God. You're reconciled to God. You're on the ground when God can bless you. And so I say again, the way to become an Abel is to confess you're a Cain. Not a very nice person, Cain. Oh, let us take time out. Say, Oh God, I'm a Cain. And when a Cain finds that there's nothing can wash away his sin but the blood of Jesus, then he's an Abel. And of course this is the way under grace everything is. The way to become a Christian, initially, is to confess you're not a Christian. And when I paraphrased it, frankly, I'm not a Christian. A woman in our flat said, You know, I'm a Catholic. I find my religion so hard. I try so hard. But in spite of that fact, I haven't got the joy that you've got. I said, My dear sister, you're trying too hard. And she became an Abel. It's been in front of our eyes. Revealed from heaven. And the way to be filled with the Spirit. Is to confess you're not filled with the Spirit. If you say, I want to tell you frankly, I'm not filled with the Spirit. My dear man, I'm so glad to hear you say so. You're nearly home and dry. For confessed emptiness is always the qualification for fullness. At times, just before getting up to preach, I have to say, Lord, I want to tell you something. I've got to preach in a minute or two. I want to tell you, I'm not filled with the Spirit. All right, says the Lord. Anything else you've got to say? Oh, yes, I haven't got any peace. I'm struggling and striving. I'm an astute. Just fine. Let it all go. Because this confess makes you a candidate. And qualifies you to that marvellous grace that flows from the cross. And so it is, the way to become an Abel. Is to confess deeply. You're a cave. Now, our theme is the power of the blood of Jesus. All that stems from that blood and its efficaciousness. It's absolutely adequate to do and more than do that for which it is given. And I want to show you, if I may, the various immense blessings that come to you by the blood of Jesus. And into which you may enter because of its power. The power. I want to try, I don't know how time will allow, to speak of five immense blessings that come to you by the blood of Jesus. Some people don't like too much to talk about the blood. Someone told me, they heard a comment after I'd been preaching somewhere. He said, we had an awful lot of blood tonight, didn't we? I'm so glad they did. For without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sin. And if it sounds horrid and a little bit gruesome, the thing it's dealing with is horrid and gruesome. But oh, those who see its sweet power on behalf of the weakest and the most failing, it is all their hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. All right, turn for the first basic thing which we've already referred to once. 1 Peter, chapter 2. The first epistle of Peter, chapter 2. We're not having a reading in the ordinary sense, we're going to look at scriptures as we go along. For as much as ye know, 1 Peter 2, verse... Where are we? Chapter 1, verse 18, sorry. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, you are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed by no other way. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Now, when you use that word redeemed, you imply that something has been sold. Perhaps inadvertently sold. Perhaps sold at an altogether too cheap a price. And now you're faced with the problem of getting it back. And you find you haven't enough to get it back. You need, you have to have yourself or some experience brought back for you. That is being redeemed. In Matthew, chapter 16, verse 26, there's a tremendously powerful verse. I don't think I've ever succeeded in preaching on it adequately. One day perhaps I feel, well, I really think God's helped me on that. But you preachers, have a go at this one. Matthew 16, 26. Here the Lord asks us two questions. What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? That's the first question. In order to get the favours of the world and the friendship of the world, he's had to part with what the Lord calls his own soul. That is his relationship with God. The attitude of the world is such they're just not going to have you as one of them unless you're prepared to part with being a Christian, unless you're willing to prepare to part with your relationship to God. And there are many people who have done that. And in many degrees there are other issues to get which you have to part with at least part of your inheritance, at least part of your relationship with God. And having done so, the Lord asks this question, what profit have you got out of it? Is it worth it? And God sees to it you have experiences of life that prove to you you've made a bad bargain. When to gain the world you've parted with your soul, parted with your relationship with God, or at least parted with some measure of your inheritance to gain what the world had to give you. You've made a bad bargain. Then the Lord asks a second question. And having done that he says, what now are you going to give in exchange for your soul? How can you undo it? And he's implying you can't. You have nothing to pay. Nothing that is adequate. You all know that if you buy a new car and a cheque is given, and you drive it round the block and you don't find it's not what you liked, you can't exchange it back again, except at a very big loss. Once round the block and it's a second-hand car. And what now are you going to give to reverse it? And so it is with us. All of us, in one degree or another, when we fail and get away from God, forfeit some precious part of our inheritance. In the case of the lost, they forfeit their initial salvation because they won't receive what Jesus has bought for them. And having made that bargain, what can they do to undo it? What can they give in exchange to get it back? And again and again, that is the place, even of the saint, in varying degrees. I want to tell you, as we sang this morning, there is a redeemer. You've got yourself into the pawn shop. What can you now give to get yourself out? You've got yourself into that situation by your folly. What can you do to get yourself out? Don't worry. There is a redeemer. And this word redeemer is a very important one. It's rooted right in the laws of Moses. It was stated that if a man sold his family lands, it was not completely final ever. There was always in every such deed a clause which said, but if there was a next of kin, who later wanted to restore to that family their lands which they sold, that next of kin, he was called a goel, and it's translated a redeemer, a kinsman redeeming, he had the right to buy it back. Others couldn't, but the next of kin could. And that was always understood. And the story is amplified and made the substance of that great book of Ruth. And I've got a redeemer. I've got one who's a specialist, a specialist in redeeming what I lose, and it costs him precious blood. Sin gets us into the pawn shop, but the blood of Jesus gets us out. Oh, he's an expert in redeeming. He redeems not only persons from the situations they get themselves into, but from those very situations, he can redeem a whole situation, all the consequences. He's the redeemer of lost causes. Oh, let some people say, I'm in a lost cause, amen, brother. Don't withdraw that confession, because by confessing that, you become a candidate for this kinsman redeemer. He took part of flesh and blood in order to qualify for the Old Testament type. Had he not become flesh and blood and borne our sins, he would have had no right to redeem us from the follies that we've committed. And so we are redeemed, brought back out of the devil's pawn shop. Amen, we've been redeemed. How? By precious blood. First, the kinsman redeemer had to be kinsman. Second, he had to be wealthy. Boaz was wealthy. And thirdly, he had to be willing. And in the case of Boaz, that was a foregone conclusion, for he'd fallen in love with that Gentile Ruth, and it was his highest joy to become her redeemer. And he brought back for her all her lost lands. But according to the law of Moses, the one who did so had to take on his brother's widow as his. There was one who was a closer kinsman than Boaz, but he wasn't willing. He wasn't sure he wanted to have another woman in the house. Certainly not Ruth, but Boaz. You know, Boaz was a bachelor. He'd had problems in getting married, and do you know his mother was Rahab the harlot? Did you know that? Rahab the harlot is in the family tree of Jesus Christ. Sinners amongst his antecedents, and multitudes of sinners amongst those who have descended from him. Anyway, there it is. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it as a hymn. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. I was once in Charlotte Street Baptist Church, and they were singing one of Faber's hymns, and it had the phrase, thinking about all the things that were created, which all drew on the love of their Creator. And amongst the things that were created it said, things kept faithful or redeemed. And I said to myself, in which category do I fall? And I knew I fell, not amongst the kept faithful. I couldn't claim to that, but I did know I was amongst those who were redeemed. And then the great verse on the highway of holiness, Isaiah 35, And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. Well, who in the world does? For we've all been unclean. It goes on to say, And the redeemed of the Lord shall walk over it. The unclean don't, but there's another class of people who have been unclean, but they've been redeemed from their uncleanness, and that many times by precious blood. And so this is this great glorious initial blessing that comes to us by the blood of the Lord Jesus. And then the next thing is forgiveness by the blood. Turn, if you will, to Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 7. The same verse, word for word, is in Colossians, Colossians 1.14. But Ephesians 1.7 will do, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Forgiveness by the blood of the Lamb. We must understand perhaps more clearly what sin really is, to understand what forgiveness of it really is. Sin is a personal wrong done against God, because of which he has suffered grievous loss, which in turn means that he's got a claim for reparations on the sinner. And the sinner, however, has nothing to pay. And that's why in the parables sin is spoken of as a debt. A debt, and we have nothing to pay. We have no means by which to make reparations against us. But when we are prepared to confess, not only that we're sinners, but more importantly, we have nothing to pay. Pathetic position. For a family to be in debt and have no means by which to pay their debt. And there was a debtor's prison in those days, and much else for debtors. But when, in the parables, the person concerned confessed that there was that place, he was always moved with compassion and forgave them that sin. But do you not see, if that man is going to gain that king, whoever it is to whom the debt is owing, who has a claim of reparations, if he's going to forgive, he's got to forgo his claim for reparations. Forgiveness and forgoing are always linked. I mean, forgiving the sinner. God has to forgo his claim for reparations, for the damage he's been made to suffer. And the loss. And he's got to be willing to suffer the loss himself. If you forgive a man a hundred pounds debt, you're going to be a hundred pounds worse off. When God forgives sinners, he forgoes his claim, he suffers the loss himself, and in order that he might actually suffer the loss and be seen to suffer it, he sent his son. He paid a debt he did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to take away my sin, but now I sing a grand new song, redeeming grace how sweet the sound. Christ Jesus paid the debt I did not owe, and you are forgiven by precious blood. It costs God so much. He had to be willing to suffer the loss himself. He had to be willing to be treated as you have treated him in order to forgive you for it, and that he might actually suffer that loss. In his son, he's hanging on that old rugged cross, and blood divine is flowing down. And so it is, you and I can be debt-free. He's forgone his claims against me. He's suffered the loss himself, and I'm set free. Oh, it must be a wonderful day for a family who've been long in debt, when they somehow get the news it's all cleared up. Debt-free. And you and I, as those who've been forgiven, are debt-free. And then not only do we have forgiveness by his blood, but cleansing by his blood. Will you turn to 1 John 1, 7? I know you hardly need to look at it, you know it so well. 1 John 1, 7. If we walk in the light, as he's in the light, saying yes to whatever the light may reveal, agreeing with God, we have fellowship one with another. Yes, honest sinners, strangely, can have fellowship with one another if they're honest, each about his sin. But more importantly, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Now there's a difference between forgiveness and cleansing. Forgiveness is something objective. In the books of God, the old account is settled, long ago, hallelujah. But cleansing is something subjective, something that happens on the inside. What part of me is cleansed? And Hebrews 9 tells us what part is cleansed. It's the conscience. And nothing but precious blood is enough to cleanse that most inexorable faculty, the conscience. Hebrews 9. If the blood of bulls and goats, verse 13, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to see of the living God? What gets cleansed? The conscience. Now let's get that clear. Cleansing always has to do with conscience. And what a terrible thing it is to have a conscience that isn't cleansed. You try and work for the law, you try and teach that Sunday school class, you do your little bit, and even as you do it, a little demon from hell sits on your shoulder and says, hypocrite, hypocrite, hypocrite. Do you get on all right? Please turn the cassette over now. Do not fast-wind it in either direction. And you long to quit that responsibility. Oh, but praise the Lord, that needn't last for any longer than it takes for the blood of Christ to cleanse your conscience from dead works, all those things you ought to have done and never did. And so we have that. The objective, forgiveness by the blood. Subjective, cleansing. I suppose it is possible to know forgiveness without knowing cleansing. To be quite sure you're forgiven yet be feeling, what a dog I am. To have so many recriminations, vain regrets. And your conscience isn't really at ease, but you can have the latter as well as the former. The blood of Christ cleanses the conscience from dead works. And perhaps the most marvellous illustration of this is in Psalm 51. David's great psalm, in which he repents so deeply of his sin and gives his testimony. He got the choir leader to sing it in the temple one Sabbath day. And this was his prayer in Psalm 51, verse 7. I'm reading from the authorised, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. This word purge is simply cleansed. It sounds a very big thing, a lot of scrubbing. No, that's just a place where the authorised version would have been better translated, cleanse me. But cleanse me with what? With hyssop! And what was hyssop? The other day we talked about that weed that you pulled out of the wall and made a brush of it and you dipped it in the water in which were mingled the ashes of the heifer and you sprinkled the ashes of the heifer upon the unclean. And that's what David meant. He didn't really want that ceremony performed over him. But he wanted the spiritual counterpart of it. Because the ashes of the heifer, as we saw, is a picture of the blood of Christ. It's the memorial of a fire that's gone out. He said, my sin is such it needs a cleansing which has somehow got fire in it. But a fire, oh thank God, that's gone out. Purge me, cleanse me with hyssop. With the blood, if you like. Though, historically, that blood had not been shed. And then he goes on to amplify it. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. I remember the day when, in an American church, one morning in an informal meeting, this broke upon us. And we were singing, Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole. And the chorus says, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. And we sang, and I said, sing it again. Usually in America, they always reduce the number of hymns. They never have more than four verses to any of their hymns. We have five or six in our books. Same hymn, but only four or five. And then it's absolutely mandatory, almost, that the song leader says, leave out the third verse and sing the fourth. They're always in a hurry. And asked to be asked to sing a whole hymn again. Well, we did. And I said, sing it again. And it dawned on me, and I think everybody, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. It's David's words. Whiter than snow. There's nothing whiter than snow. Snow is the whitest thing there is. The best washing machine in the world never gets a thing as white as snow, let alone whiter than snow. There's nothing whiter than snow than the heart and conscience that's being washed in the blood of Jesus. And if I were having a little sort of fellowship do, I'd like to get bits of paper handed round and say, write down what you conceive it to mean to be made whiter than snow. It's stupendous. Where in the world David got such a conception, I don't know. He must have had a tremendous faith in the grace of God. You wash me. You do the job, and I shall be whiter than snow. He'd been darker than night. No self-recrimination. No vain regrets. No, would that I hadn't. No, when shall I become a better person. You cannot be more right with God, more white in His presence, more at rest in your conscience than what the blood of Jesus makes you when you call sin, sin. Oh, it's always that proviso. Call it sin, dear man, and you're in a better position than when you prove that you were right after all. You know, understanding the power of the blood of Jesus gives you a new willingness to go into the witness box against yourself. Most people go in on their own behalf, but happy the saint who knows there's power in the blood and it isn't a toil to him to admit the worst. It's easier, in a sense, when you see the blood, to be wrong than to be right. It's a hard job we have to argue we're right, but oh, happy the man who accepts the criticisms. Though I didn't intend it, if they got that impression, I'll accept it. And you immediately come into this place where the blood of Christ makes you whiter than snow. I don't know, is that good news to you? That's what the power of the blood does. Maybe you've heard the lovely story of George Berber. I heard him tell it in France. It was translated into English. And he told how when he was a young man, just beginning literature distribution and doing so on the streets of Los Angeles, he found himself in a very sleazy district. And there he saw a theatre and it was advertised a strip-tease show was in progress. He said, I've never seen a strip-tease show. And the next moment he went in and paid his money and sat down. He was occupied, as he thought, again at least, in giving away gospel tracts. And here he was, looking at this unclean strip-tease show. And the Holy Spirit spoke to him. He convicted him. He couldn't stand it a moment longer. He fled from the place. And he longed to get clean. He longed to be restored to God. And there he saw a telephone kiosk. And he went to that telephone kiosk and he got hold of that telephone. And he uttered his prayer of confession into that telephone instrument. Got it all out. I don't know what number he dialed, but he got through. He got through to the throne of grace, sprinkled there with precious blood, his powerful blood did once atone. And now it pleads before the throne. And he put it down. Maybe he hardly realized it. He was washed and made whiter than snow. And thirty minutes later he led another man to Jesus on the sidewalk of those streets of Los Angeles. Oh, the power. Oh, the power, the efficacy of the blood of Jesus that can not only forgive a man, but begin immediately to use him again. Made whiter than snow. I wonder if you've got a hangover of guilt still. I would beg you, be encouraged to put your faith in Jesus and his blood. Nothing pleases him more. I'm amazed when I hear some people who know the power of the blood, the way in which they pray, the boldness, the liberty. They turn everything upside down. Their very wrongs are made there to be their title, to fullness. Lord, you specialize in people like me. I'm one of them, Lord. I tell you, you cannot but win if you see there's power in the blood. He's all the time accusing you. He's all the time trying to rub the devil into you, what's wrong. Happy the man who knows how to overcome the devil. The accuser by the power of the blood. And no, he's made whiter than snow. Then, yet another wonderful blessing that comes to us through the blood of Jesus, and that is we are justified by his blood. Romans 5, verse 9. Romans 5, verse 9. We have to break into the argument. Much more then, says Paul, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Justified. It means to be declared right. Right with God. Not only forgiven, not only cleansed, but justified by his blood. And that leads me to think of the story in Luke 18 of the publican and the Pharisee, and the way in which that publican at the back of the church prayed. The fellow up front, he was full of himself and how good he was, better than other people. But the publican, that is the tax collector, and they were always men of doubtful morality, and the publican, chapter 18, verse 13, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And the Greek word, be merciful, is be propitiated to me. Not a sinner, but the sinner. Because there on the altar was the offering, being consumed by the flames, and he, so to speak, pointed to that sin offering there, and said, Oh God, be propitiated to me, a sinner. In other words, he said, Lord, I am all wrong. I know I used to blame my wife, I used to blame the kids, but I see now, it's me, Lord. I'm the fellow who's wrong. And Jesus said about that man, I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. When that man said he was wrong, God said, Good, you're right now. Did you understand what I said, Lord? I said I was all wrong. It wasn't my wife, it wasn't the kids, it's me. Yes, I heard that. But I'm telling you, now you've confessed you're wrong. I, myself, am telling you, you're right. You're as right with me as that sacrifice on the altar can make you. And that's how it is. When you say you're right, God says you're wrong. When you argue you're right, God says you're wrong. The very tone you use to argue is wrong. And the thing you're accused of is truer than you're prepared to admit. But when you say you're wrong, when you admit to what I say, when you admit the truth of any challenge that may come, God says, now you're right. I like to think he said to that publican, he said, you know, I've had to wait a long time to hear you say you're wrong. I'd wrestle with you over this matter, but hallelujah, you've let me win the victory. You've admitted you're wrong. That's brokenness. Brokenness is simply the opposite of hardness. Hardness says it's your fault. Brokenness says it's mine. And what a struggle. What a struggle Jacob put up against that angel who wrestled with him until the angel won and he admitted that he really was a cheat. His name really was Jacob. This is beautiful. You cannot be more right with God than what the blood of Jesus makes you when you're prepared to be broken. Not even the archangel Gabriel has a better righteousness than the one who says I'm wrong. Jesus and his blood is counted to you for a righteousness you don't on any other count possess. To him the work is not, but believe it on him that justifies the ungodly and confesses he's ungodly. His faith in that God of grace is counted to him for a righteousness he doesn't otherwise possess. Someone has said, the man who's thus justified by faith does not fear what people think of him. They may think he's not much of a Christian, but he's already settled that with God. I am not much of a Christian, but I've been declared right. We go through torture, as David said last night. What do they think of me as a Christian when I can talk sharply to my wife? I felt that. People could well say, that fellow wrote Cowdery Road, but he talked rather sharply to his wife. I think it's a bit of a humbug. And you know I know the way of peace. I agree with my adversary. I've not actually had that actually said, but they might have thought it. But it worries me. But my way of peace is to say, if that's what they think, they think the truth. That's what I am. But hallelujah, that's the man whom precious blood has restored to a relationship with God that's unassailable. Hallelujah. And if somebody wants to say, I wasn't very happy about that, no brother, neither was I. But God's under the blood of Jesus. And I'm justified, declared righteous. I'm not meaning to say you're in and out of justification from day to day. There's an overall justification which is yours forever. But the experience, the happiness that comes from it varies because they're things that I'm not calling sin. But when I do, I'm counted right. Just very quickly. We are made nigh by the blood of Christ. This is very important. Made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2, 13. Ephesians 2, 13. But now, talking to the far-off Gentiles, unprivileged, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who were some time afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now you and I as believers, though we may have returned to the Lord years ago, can nonetheless get away from him, sometimes very far off, sometimes very cold in spirit. And the great problem is how to get back because you haven't got to that cold place suddenly. It's been a build-up. It's over a time. And you are where you are as a result of many things that have gone wrong and not been put right. How in the world are you to get back? And it's so easy to think that if it took me a long time to get away, it's going to be a long time getting back. You see, we think if it was sin that took me away, it'll have to be good that will bring me back. And how much good? Will you be able to keep it up? And it's very doubtful whether you will. I would not encourage you to believe you'll ever succeed in getting back that way. Listen. Although it's a long way out, you get back by a quick way. A long way out, but thank God a quick way back because you get back by the way of the blood. Out by sin, yes. Back by the blood. I cannot think of anything more comforting for some of us than to understand although it's a long way out, it's a quick way back. Jesus did it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Isn't that good news? Oh, the power of the blood. I once said that in a church in the southern states and the pastor was a very lively man who, when the truth hit him really, he let out a great hallelujah. And he added something. He said, I'll tell you what I've seen today. In my judgment of others, if it is indeed a quick way back, I can be out of date. I knew what they were, what they'd done and I may still think that's where they are there. In any case, it'll be a long time before they change. But if it's a quick way back, how do I know that he's taken that way back? And he's rejoicing. So quick. And so, both for ourselves and our judgment of others, that's, remember, a quick way back because it's by the blood of Jesus. This is something of the power of the blood. You don't need to remain in that condition for any longer than it takes you to call sin, sin, no matter what the situation is. You that were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Near, so married near to God. Nearer I cannot be, for in the person of his Son I'm as near as he. The power of the blood of Jesus. And the last, and there are so many more we could mention, peace through the blood of the cross. And this is in Colossians, chapter 1, verse 20. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself, etc. Peace through the blood of his cross. Do you know Jesus on the cross of Calvary made peace for us, between us and God? But it wasn't a good Christian's peace because you might not be a good enough Christian to enjoy it. It's not the soul winner's peace, it's not the great preacher's peace. The peace that Jesus made for us there was the sinner's peace. The man who's a flop and a failure and he made peace with God through you, through his blood, as a sinner. And you've only got to take a sinner's place and you can enjoy a sinner's peace. And the sinner's righteousness before God. You haven't got to be the successful Christian because he never made the successful Christian's peace. He only made the sinner's peace. And if somewhere, somehow, I see wherein I can rightly and properly take the sinner's peace, I have solid peace with God. God looks upon thy sprinkled blood. It is my only peace through the blood. And so, dear one, if you're in a situation where there's a bit of argument and discussion whether you're right or wrong, I beg you, ask God to show you wherein you can take the sinner's place. The sinner's place is the most beautiful place. It's the place where grace is flowing. It's the place where the blood has been applied and you have peace through the blood of his cross. I don't know how we can possibly live the Christian life unless we are learning these lessons. Especially if we become sensitive and long for a closer walk with God, you'll only get it in the old-fashioned way of repentance and seeing the blood again. I trust this has been good news to you. It brings everything down to me at extreme level. And when we get into the Buddha, this amazing grace evokes love as you've never loved before. Why, that woman wept as she found Jesus. That woman of the street, she'd been forgiven and she couldn't love him enough. And she washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. And so we praise the Lord for this wonderful, precious blood. We're going to turn to that hymn we sang before and we're going to sing one verse to conclude with it. Join all the glorious names of wisdom, love and power. Where are we now? 307. That great verse, Jesus, my great high priest, offered his blood and dine. My guilty conscience seeks no sacrifice besides. All right, let's stand and sing that third verse. Jesus, my great high priest, offered his blood and dine. My guilty conscience seeks no sacrifice besides. In love, O God, in one's own alive, in love, O God. My great high priest, offered his blood and dine. My guilty conscience seeks no sacrifice besides. In love, O God, in one's own alive, in love, O God. Let us say the grace together with real meaning and real praise. The love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all now and forevermore. Amen.