In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the true and faithful word of God. He highlights the grief and suffering that Jesus endured for the sins of humanity, with even his friends abandoning him. The sermon emphasizes the price of sin and the sacrifice appointed by God, Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God. The preacher also emphasizes the importance of recognizing the true nature and guilt of sin, and the need for salvation through Christ. The sermon concludes with a reminder that salvation is complete and finished through the precious blood of Jesus, and encourages listeners to examine their lives and ensure they are bearing the fruits of righteousness.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Good morning, everyone. That's been a blessing to be here already this morning. We've already drank deep from that well of salvation. I thank your brother for that message, looking at that balance and looking at how we can swing that pendulum from one way to the other. And boy, did I relate to that. And I just pray I can get my eyes fixed on Jesus this morning. Amen. And that children's message, being able to touch into some serious issues, heaven or hell. You know, is that something we can talk and tell our children about? I appreciate that. So, amen. In Genesis chapter 22, Abraham was instructed to go to Moriah to offer a burnt offering to the Lord. And when he was there, you know the story, he took Isaac off and he gave him the sticks he put on him. He gave him also a torch, it looks like, somehow. And this is what he said, And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, this is Isaac, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? This is a sermon today about blood atonement. Although it's a teaching sermon that I'm going to bring to you, I hope and I pray that today it will not be some sort of academic exercise. It has come from a long-standing burden that I have about the importance of this doctrine. It is my firm conviction that this doctrine, while indeed it has to do with a matter of teaching and a matter of looking at God, it affects every way and every part of our life. So if we could, we could pray. Dear Heavenly Father, O God, it's a vast subject we look at this morning, O God, and I'm trembling. God, I pray somehow, Lord, You will preach this sermon today, dear God. I pray that somehow, dear God, You will come and visit with us. Come here, Lord, we pray, by Your Holy Spirit. And show us Thy love. Show us Thy blood. Show us what You have done upon that cross. What that means. What You have done, Lord. O God, speak to us this morning, I pray, in Jesus' name, Amen. Lately, we've been addressing as a church different slides and we see that we're leaky vessels. And that we need to every now and then take that and look at the road map. Hallelujah. We can take that and look at the road map and say, okay, this is where we are and that's where we've been. And that's good for us to do. I like the way D.L. Moody put the idea of calling us leaky vessels. He said, the only way to keep a broken vessel full is to keep it continually under the tap. And this is the tap. Amen? We come to the Lord. We come to God. And we say, show us Your way. And I so much appreciated that message this morning. Touched right on that. But you know, there's also some particular ways to think about God. Ways to think about His salvation. Some of these things can tend to be leaky in ourselves as well. And so, this is one of those things that I would like to look at. Blood atonement. Blood atonement. It can leak out what was done there. What it means to us. And like I said, I don't want this to be some sort of theosophical, esoteric, high and mighty doctrine about some lofty thing. This is extremely important, what I talked to you about this morning. In this understanding of the doctrine of blood atonement, of the teaching of what God did, we find our hope of salvation. We find the power in sanctification, walking a holy life. We find in the blood the power over Satan and his demons. And it unifies and it builds a church. It also, blood atonement, it destroys compromise. It exposes hypocrisy. It absolutely demolishes modern ecumenism. That is this idea of the modern church. Let's bring all the churches together and all the religions together and we'll just all claim one God and we'll all stand for things like peace and happiness and all these things. The blood destroys ecumenism. It can't. It can't stand that there is one way and that way is through the blood of Jesus Christ. So, if God will permit, I would like to teach this doctrine of blood atonement in three main sections here. The first, I feel a necessity to look at the nature of God. Who is God? The second, I would like to look at that sacrifice of the blood. And then finally, what the Gospel is. I believe that most of the problem in modern Christendom surrounding this topic deal to a large degree of an improper understanding of who God is. It's extremely important that we know who God is. It's not just some dream or some imagined... And if we get all together and all that says, oh, we're going to think He's this way and think He's that way, let's go to the road map. Let's go to the road map this morning and see who God is. He has revealed it to us. He has given us everything that we can understand about that. And if we get off and we invent another God, the Scriptures say to us, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? This is the salvation that He's given to us. The way we think about God affects how we behave. It affects how we worship. It affects how we pray. There's an old ancient saying from the Latin if you don't mind me giving this to you this morning. It's just sort of a neat saying. It's been going around for thousands of years, so I thought I'd write it up here. Lex Orandi... I don't write on a chalkboard very good. Lex Credendi. What this translates means to the way our prayer is affected by what we believe. In other words, the way we worship is the way we believe. If we believe that God is some sort of overpowering, non-forgiving, unmerciful God, then that's going to affect the way we pray. It's going to affect the way we worship. It's going to affect the way we are. And the same way, if we believe He's apathetic, He doesn't care, there's nothing really matters, He has no ways about Him, then it's going to affect the way we believe. It's going to affect the way we pray. How one prays is how one believes. A.W. Tozer put it this way, as humans, we try to be like our God. If He is convinced to be stern and exacting and harsh, so will we be. And likewise, if we believe that He is careless and apathetic, so will our worship in life be. The question is does it matter? Think about it this morning. Does it matter really all that much who you think God is? There's an interesting part in Scripture there in John chapter 4 when Jesus comes up to the Samaritan woman there at the well. A lot of times we use this. It's a famous passage, those who worship God shall worship in spirit and truth. He has a very important rebuke to that woman that we don't want to miss this morning. He says to her, after she says, do you worship here in the mountains, which was the Samaritan way, or do you worship here in the Jews? He said to her woman, this is John 4.22, Ye worship ye know not what. Ye worship ye know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. He was very clear. You're over there doing this worship. You don't even know what you're worshiping. I ask you, what was the sin of Samaritanism? Do you remember it? The Samaritanism heresy, the rebuke, how it got Jesus' rebuke here came originally from Jeroboam. Jeroboam took and rebelled with the northern tribes, and he created everything like it was back in Judah because he was jealous that people were going to Judah to worship. So, he got his own priesthood. He got his own altar. He got two of them actually in two different places. He got feast days and holy days and all these things, and they had all this worship and all these things just like they had back in Judah. But was God there? At the very heart of that altar, at the very place where all those ceremonies and rituals and all those things, at the very heart was a golden calf. That's what Jeroboam and the people of the Samaritans, they worshipped. And Jesus rebuked him. You don't even know what you're worshipping. You don't know who God is. It's a serious rebuke for us today. I ask you, I beg you this morning not to dismiss this message again, I'm going to ask, as an academic exercise. The truths are life changing. Some of the words we're going to talk about, some big words, they're Bible words, propitiation, expiation, some of those things. It's important words that God has revealed to us in His Bible to see what God has done for us. Listen to the way that Peter puts us the importance of understanding the knowledge of God. In 2 Peter 1.3, Peter says, according as His divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He's given us everything you need for your life and a life of holy godliness, but listen how, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, verse 4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these, by what? By those promises, we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So the idea there is the understanding that you see the importance that Peter, repeating what Jesus said, of emphasizing and knowing you've got to know who God is. And so some of the verses I'm going to be bringing up today are sort of hard. They're sort of like this children's message today. We talk about some things that maybe we don't feel comfortable talking about in church all that time. But we have to know who God is and what exactly was that Jesus did for us. You know, the world cries, God is everywhere. He's everywhere. I can do what I want to do. I can say what I want to say. I can go where I want to go. And there's God with me. In a sense, that's true. In His omnipresence, He can be reached anywhere. In His judgments, we can go anywhere and He's going to be able to see us. But His very presence, where His eyes are turned to and the way we can lay our head upon Him, the Bible says that God is only in two places. And I want to make this real clear right off the front. God only lives in two places according to the Scriptures. And let me read that to you. Isaiah 57-15 For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. When the Bible talks about someone having God is, it's part of His very nature. God does not have to try to be holy. Nothing compels Him to be holy. He is holy. I dwell, this is the Lord speaking, I dwell in the high and holy place. That's where God lives. High and holy. With Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. To relieve the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. To revive the spirit of the humble. Those are the two places. God is high and holy. But He also will dwell with those with a humble heart. The world frequently says, I've heard this said a lot at work and it grieves me. I sure am glad God has a sense of humor. You know, and usually following that some sort of blasphemy. Some sort of a thing that, excusing a sin, excusing a way of life. God said, for My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. Isaiah 55a So I think the first way, the first step in understanding the atonement this morning, understanding what Jesus did this morning is to understand who God is. So let's look into that. In the Bible, God is revealed, like I just said a minute ago, often by many characteristics. When I just said God is holy, when He said, whose name is holy, again, He is holy. We can speak as a man, although even this is, to say He has a constraint, we can't say God can't help but be holy. But even to say He can't, it misses it. It's in our human understanding. You see Paul sometimes saying, I speak as a man, or I speak as a fool, to sometimes try to explain these sort of understandings of God. But He is holy. When we say God is love, it's not a mere sentimentality. It's something that's part of His very nature, the part of who God is. He is love. That is who He is. Well, probably one of the most impressive revelations of the Father has come to us a time when at the very beginning, when Moses sought Him, or near the beginning, when Moses sought Him and begged Him, show me Your glory. Show me who You are. And continue to seek God. And after God wrote the commandments the second time, there's this beautiful passage in Scripture, and I want everyone to turn to that. And if you don't mark in your Bible, I want you to start this morning. Because you've got to know who God is. Exodus 34, verse 7. You've got to know who God is. And here God is explained. We get to see God by what's about to be explained to us in several characteristics of who God is. Remember, He doesn't have to be constrained to be these ways. He doesn't have to try to be these different ways. It is who He is. It is who He is. There, okay, in verse 4, this is Exodus 34, verse 4. And at first there, He's making the two tablets of stone like unto the first. And Moses rode up early in the morning and went up to the Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded Him and took in His hand the two tablets of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with Him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. This is an important verse to mark in your Bible. It's one of those big times in the Bible. This is it. He proclaimed the name of the Lord. And here it is. And the Lord passed by before Him and proclaimed the Lord. The Lord God. Ready? Merciful and gracious. Long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Hallelujah! Those are parts of His very nature. Keep going. Verse 7, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin. Stop there. Do you see how beautiful that is? It is who God is. It is His very nature. That merciful side, that love, that desire to forgive thousands is part of who He is. But I want you to keep reading. And it will by no means clear the guilty. And it by no means will clear the guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children and to the third and to the fourth generations. And will by no means clear the guilty. What is this meaning? The same God who said He's merciful for thousands and ten thousands and showing that He also shows that another part of His nature is that not only is He unchangeably, immutably merciful, He is also completely and unchangeably and immutably just. His justice is part of who God is. He is completely merciful. But He is completely just. So what does this mean? Does it mean that built into the part of God... Listen to this. This is incredibly important to you. Built into the part of God is His law. Is His ways. Is His standard. Is His judgment. Is His punishment. It's built into who God is. By saying that He is just and that's part of His nature, He's saying He's not going to just forget about sin. That if something happens, or sin occurs, it's not in His nature to be able to just let this thing go. Interestingly enough, I'll just throw this out, in both the Hebrew and the Greek, the word for justice and righteousness are the same word. The word for justice and righteousness are the same word. What he's pointing out is that being just means he can't just forget a crime. Again, I'm using the word can't. Notice, he does not forget a crime. He does not just let the thing unpunished. Sometimes we feel that when we look at sin in a way that we're robbing from a rich man. We're robbing from a rich man. We go and we go steal bread from a rich man. You broke into my house and you came and you took a loaf of bread and I caught you right before you walked out. I looked at you. Oh, you're stealing bread for a crime. Here, take the bread. Have some more. It's okay. Go. I forgive you. Go. See, the way I forgive is different. I forgive because of what Jesus did for me. But God is just. He's just. And so these things that are broken, these laws that come against God in His justice will not just clear the guilty. So what does that mean practical? Let me break this down. And I do believe, listen to me soberly here this morning, I do believe this is one of the biggest traps that Satan has. And here it is. In your past, you have committed sin. In your past, you have gone away from God. In your past, you have rebelled, but for some reason, later in your life, you've come to your senses. You got married. You wanted to join the church. You just got older. Are you just plain mature? So, you start living a good life. You start just saying, okay, I'm going to start, you know, I like the people I'm with. I like godly people. I don't want my children to end up on drugs or something, so I'm going to just start living a good life and being a good man. And there's those sins that happened long ago. There they are. But I'm just, I'm a good man now. I'm in the church now. I believe all the things about, you know, all that He's done. And there's those sins. You see, what this is telling us this morning is that those sins are still there. They didn't just wash away. They didn't just go. But as a matter of fact, it's showing that they're following us. And they're following. And actually, it says in a Scripture I'm about to show you that they're collecting. That they're building up weight like water that's pushing on a levee. That's pushing that. And it's weighing up. It's treasuring up, as the Bible says, the weight of that sin. And then we go about our life and think that okay, then we build this more holy and we become hypocrites and we put on all these things and those sins are still there. Sometimes people say, Dean, why do you make such a big deal about this born-again business? Why do you make such a big deal? I mean, can't people just start being okay? Let's reform their lives and be godly. No. These sins are there and they must be paid for. They must be. No more than a murderer. I've seen it just the other day at work. I saw that some murderer killed some African-American person 60 years ago or something. And then just now, they caught him because of some DNA test. They brought him in, tried him and threw him in jail until he was like 70 or 80 years old because of a crime he committed when he was a very young man. Those sins are there and they are resting on you and they are waiting on you and they are building up in you until the day of wrath and judgment from God. That's the Bible. That's what the Word of God says. Romans 2.5 gives us these sobering words of this building up. Romans 2.5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasureth up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Here it is. The judgment seat of God who will render to every man according to his deeds. The Bible warns us over and over again there will be a day of reckoning. There will be a day of judgment. And we just heard there that those sins that you think you just walked away from, that are just sitting there, are going to follow you. They are going to hunt you. They are going to walk with you all the way until the day of wrath. Treasuring up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath. You know, it is awful for us to contemplate the severity and the judgments of God. It's an awful thing. It's not really all that common in the church today. Maybe it's sort of uncomfortable to talk about some of these things. Listen to how Paul said it though. Again, warning of the judgment day. Listen to this. 2 Corinthians 5, verses 10 and 11. 2 Corinthians 5, 10 and 11. He's warning. He said, don't you see? Listen! Listen! For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Now listen to how he then preaches. Listen to how the apostles preach. Verse 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. This is something God has put into His Word for us to understand that the wrath of God, which is not a very popular subject today, rests upon the sinner. And it's sitting there. And Paul is saying here, because of the terror of the Lord, I want to persuade men. It has to be clearly understood that the judgment day is a terrible day. A terrible day to those who do not have what we're going to get into here, the sacrifice of Christ. When we begin to understand the justice of God, when we begin to understand the more, I should say, that we understand God's perfect holiness, His infinite holiness, it begins just a little bit more to understand about His punishment. I shake at the punishment. We should tremble at these punishments. If you show up to judgment day, listen to me. If you show up to judgment day and you have been found guilty, you will go to hell, as brother Paul showed us this morning, and there will be no mercy. No mercy. Once that judgment has been passed, it is an eternal judgment. Justice demands that once convicted, no mercy will be offered. This is a horrible thing to imagine. It seems impractical. It seems so far away from our senses. Listen to what Jesus said. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in the light, and what ye hear in the ear, ye preach upon the housetops, and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Fear Him. Fear Him who is able to kill both body and soul in hell. He warns us. Jesus warned us. John the Baptist warned us when he talked about the baptism of fire that's to come in Matthew 3 verse 12. He said, "...whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and gather His wheat into the garner, but He will burn up the shaft with unquenchable fire." Unquenchable fire. That means a fire that will never be extinguished. The sin against an absolute pure God returns to us an eternal consequence. This unquenchable fire Jesus talks more about in Mark chapter 9 verse 43 where He's talking about, "...if your hand offend thee." He says here, better than that, "...then go into fire that never shall be quenched." Verse 44, "...where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." He talks about the foot offending thee and He says, "...better to do that than to be cast into hell and to the fire that never shall be quenched." It is a horrible and dreadful as it may sound, once that judgment is passed, that will go on into eternity. It will not be quenched. It will never be quenched. As a matter of fact, when that judgment is made, you know how all in our life now we talk about how God forms us. He's creating us into good works. We talk about the potter and He makes that potter and He makes that vessel fill to do things that He wants us to be done. He has a purpose. After the judgment, you will become, if you are not born again, an object and a vessel of His wrath as it said there earlier. Listen to another very sobering one in Romans 9, verse 21. "...Hath not the potter power over the clay?" This is Romans 9, verse 21. "...Of the same lump to make one vessel into honor and another into dishonor. What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endureth with much longsuffering..." He's waited. He's tried. He's listened. He's compelled you. He's had longsuffering with you, but now you continue to the end. "...But now endure with much longsuffering the vessel of wrath fitted to destruction and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercies..." He had a four prepared unto glory. "...In an age of toleration and gray lines, we judge that perhaps just a little punishment will be enough." Okay, you know, He had a few days in hell. I think that's enough. Maybe a thousand years. Maybe 10,000 years. Isn't that enough? Some benighted souls have dreamed up a thing called purgatory which has the idea that you burn your way through a few hundred years and then you finally can work your way up to heaven. This is a dreadful lie of the devil to give us a sloppiness to understand that God, that sloppiness, and that theology and understanding does not understand the wrath and the ways of God. It says in the Bible that once that judgment, there will be no mercy. There will be no mercy. Speaking of this, in Ezekiel 8, verse 18, he says this, speaking of the judgment on Judah, he says, "...therefore will I also deal in fury. Mine eyes shall not spare, neither will I have pity. And though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them." Do you see that? That's not a popular view of God today. We want to know who we worship, what we worship, and what Jesus has done. And that's the reason I brought these Scriptures up to you this morning. But you say, you know, Brother Dean, I go to church. You're talking to a bunch of people who go to church. You know, Isaiah 33 answers a little bit of that. Isaiah 33, verse 13-24 says this, "...Hear ye that are far off what I have done." Again, this is the judgment day. He wants the glory. He wants everyone to see. "...Every knee shall bow and give Him glory." He says this, "...Hear ye that are far off what I have done, and ye that are near, acknowledge My might. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burdens? Ask yourself this morning. Who among us today will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us? He surprised the hypocrites. Who among us this morning shall dwell with the devouring fire? How horrible it is if we knew one setting here, if we knew for a fact that so-and-so, he will be there with this unquenchable fire. He will be there, and though he begs for mercy, it will be too late. There's nothing that he can do. I'll tell you this, sinner today, if you're listening to me and you're saying, I've got a plan. Every single soul in hell this morning had a plan that they would outwit God. Mind that. Every person on earth has some plan of salvation. Either they have brought God down to the point that they don't really believe it's important to obey any kind of God, or they have somehow outwitted their parents by some rebellion, or they have maybe sped and talked the policeman out of a ticket, and somehow are bringing that insanity to the thought that on judgment day, you will somehow be smarter than all those who go to hell. Paul showed us today that the way to destruction is wide, and you know that. You heard that, but you think in your mind, but towards the end, I'm going to get this figured out. Towards the end, I'm going to work this out. I'm going to deal with these things. Every soul in hell has thought that same thing. If you were to go and ask them, and ask this person burning in hell, did you think you would be here? They'd say no. No, I didn't think I'd be here. What if someone here today... How serious would we be? So what do you do? What do you do? What can we do if He doesn't just clear the guilty? What do we do? All that, I'm afraid, was introduction. Until we understand God, who He is, what He is, what His judgments are, and what judgment day is about, this whole thing of salvation and atonement becomes some silly little thing that means nothing to us. We need an atonement. We need a propitiation. We need an expiation. Alright, I'm going to write a big word, but it's a Bible word, so here we go. One of the most important words in your Bible. Propitiation. In the Greek, it's hilosmos. It's 24-34. And you're strong, so you always want to write that down. Propitiation. That's an important word. Propitiation. Expiation. To be paid. To be satisfied. What do we do with this judgment hanging over us? In Romans 5, v. 8-9, the Gospel is explained to us. This is Romans 5, v. 8-9. But God commanded His love towards us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5. I'd like to hear those pages. That's good. I'll wait. V. 9 now. Much more than being now justified by His blood. Okay, the justified is a legal term. It means here the guilt. It's there. You're a sinner. This is the weight that's on you. All that we talked about. Wrath. It's on there. But now being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we are reconciled to God to the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ for whom we have received the atonement. The atonement. Hebrews 2 says this. Hebrews 2.17 I'll just read the verse. Wherefore, in all things, it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. What is this propitiation? What is this atonement? What does this mean? I'm not going to get into a large detail. We can't this morning. As it says in Hebrews, time would not let us go into everything that happens there. But in Leviticus 16, actually all of Leviticus, what God has shown is that He's allowed some way for this sin to be covered. In the Old Testament covenant, covered. The Old Testament word atonement actually doesn't completely fit the New Testament sentence. The word literally means covered. Even when Aaron came into the Holy of Holies, to go in there, he first took a censer and filled that thing with smoke so that when he came into the Holy of Holies, it was there and he was completely covered with smoke. This word atonement over and over, how do we come before God? How do we be a holy people? How do we come before Him? And He gave us the atonement. So all of the books of Leviticus show us ways that here's a sin. What do you do? And over and over you can read right through it. There's many different things it goes through there. Lots of feast days and lots of things that talk about it. Some of the cheap ones that strike us today, there's the talk about the day of atonement. The great day when we look at that thing and say, okay, let's have a day where he goes into that Holy of Holies. And there's many things that Aaron would go through to purify himself, killing a bull and sprinkling blood on the altar and then to sacrifice for the people. But one thing he did there, when you took the animal and you came up to the priest, let me ask you this question. You're a sinner. And you want to come before God. You took your sacrifice and you brought it to the priest and he took it there. What was the priest supposed to examine? I mean, what object? You're the sinner. And you bring, let's say, that goat. Here's my sacrifice. What did the priest examine? The sacrifice. The sacrifice had to be perfect. The sacrifice had to be pure. They say with the sacrifice of the red heifer that those guys would, in the mission it said they would go through and look and see if one hair was black instead of red. They wanted a red heifer. That had to be perfect. And so they took that sacrifice and they examined it. And then it says that he would put his hands on that animal and that those sins would be imputed upon the animal. The sins of the person, watch this, is then put on the animal and that animal in two different ways is then let go as a scapegoat, one analogy, and then also a sacrifice and that blood is sprinkled upon that altar. Just one verse I'll read you. Leviticus 16, verse 21, speaking there of the Day of Atonement when they did let go a scapegoat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat and then shall send them away to the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. That whole process there in Leviticus is giving us the idea. I know you know the Day of Atonement, Passover, these things, so I'm going to try to just jump over that and look at how Christ satisfied those things. But do you understand there that because of that, God made it part of His way that when these sins were covered in this way, He was able to have a clear heaven. They were able to be able to come to God. Aaron himself did not drop dead when he was in the Holy of Holies. This temporarily satisfied God's requirement. But it prefigured, all of it prefigured Christ. Now, let's turn to Isaiah 53, which is of course one of our chief passages of this whole doctrine. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 is some of the biggest gold you have in your life. Do you realize in the Jewish tradition they go through and they mumble through the whole law every year, the entire Torah. They're just mumbling through and they'll get through the whole thing. They then pick through several of the prophets and several things. They go to Isaiah 52 and they pick it back up in Isaiah 54. They do not read Isaiah 53. A couple of years ago, we went to this thing in Texas. We flew home and they had a Dead Sea Scroll exhibit. They said that it was Tanya and I's anniversary, so we went to this Dead Sea Scroll, just the two of us. I think we paid like, I don't know, $12 or $15 to get into this thing. And we went in there and all they had was this little piece of beef jerky it looked like. It looked exactly like beef jerky that was part of this Dead Sea Scroll. We waited in this huge line to see it and there it was. I said, okay, well... But they showed a picture that you realize in Israel today, they have this special museum that of all the things that they found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, do you know what the one book they got complete? Isaiah. And it's there. They showed a picture of it. Of course, they didn't have it here. And it spread out. And all in Israel can see that the one book that was preserved of that Old Testament was the book of Isaiah. So there Isaiah 53 stands as a perpetual testimony to those people of the Messiah. That He is the One. This sacrifice. And now that the temple is gone, how do you have atonement without that blood? And then reading Isaiah 53. Let's look at that. If you haven't marked your Bible on Isaiah 53, start this morning. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Let's skip a little here for time. Verse 3, He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Now follow me here. I want to tell you something right now before we go. It is unfortunate that in our tradition, I mean, people from our general background here and persuasion, that blood atonement is something that often is neglected. Somehow. And I'll tell you why. Because it goes back to the whole doctrine of salvation. Where the blood is being diminished and not looked at for our salvation, ecumenism can run wild. What really stops us from joining in with everybody if it's just a matter of living a good life? God will live that good life through us. But we cannot lose this doctrine. Listen to these words of Isaiah 53. Verse 4, Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. Did you catch that? 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. Verse 6, All we like sheep have gone astray. Paul picked that up in Romans, didn't he? We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. All that I was talking about, that wrath, that judgment, the indignation of God, he says here, the sin of us all was poured on Him. He doesn't just forgive us like robbing from a rich man. He says, I'll forgive you. It's part of my compassion. But here we're about to read is how He does that. And the iniquity, the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before His shears, as dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare His generation? I hope it's us. For He was cut off out of the land of the living, for, this is why, for the transgressions of My people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich man and His death because He has done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Now listen to this. The expiation, propitiation. Here it is. A definition to this word. Verse 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul and by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. All that prefiguring atonement of covering came to the very point where Jesus was on the cross, stretched forth His hands, and cried, It is finished. No longer is it just mere atonement, just covering. It is paid for. The wrath, the judgment, all that building up can be paid for this morning through this. But He doesn't just let it go. This is the cost of sin. This is it. There's a hymn that I came across definitely different than modern, contemporary Christian music. Thomas Kelly, born 1769, wrote this about this Isaiah 53. Listen to these words. Stricken, smitten, and afflicted is the name of the hymn. Stricken, smitten, and afflicted. See Him dying on the tree. Tis the Christ by man rejected. Yes, my soul. Tis He. Tis He. Tis the long-expected prophet. David's Son, yet David's Lord. Proof I see sufficient of it. Tis the true and faithful Word. Listen to this verse. Tell me ye who hear Him groaning, was there ever grief like His? Friends, through fear His cause disowning, the apostles left Him, foes insulting His distress. Listen to this part though. Many hands were raised to wound Him. None were interposed to save. But the deepest stroke that pierced Him was the stroke that justice gave. That's the price of sin. That that sin that He bore, those sins, that wrath, that judgment upon Himself here. That's the price of sin. Next verse. Ye who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, here may view its nature rightly. Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed. See who bears the awful load. Tis the Word, the Lord's anointed Son of Man and Son of God. Here we have a firm foundation. Here the refuge of the lost. Christ the rock of our salvation. His the name of which we boast. Lamb of God for sinners wounded. Sacrificed to cancel guilt. None shall ever be confounded. Who on Him their hope have built. Ye who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose its evil great, here may view its nature rightly. This is the atonement. This is salvation. This is the Gospel. When Paul said, I wish nothing but to preach Christ and Him crucified. This has to permeate every bit of our life. It is this that we're clear in heaven. It is this that we can come to God boldly. It is by this that we can claim God and His promises. It is by this and this alone that will take away from that weight of that judgment. Colossians 1.20. Put it this way. Colossians 1.20 And having made peace through the blood of His cross. You see, there was enmity there. It speaks of there. We can't come to God. Can you not come to God this morning because you're not clear? Because those sins that have been treasuring up within you, those sins that are following you to the judgment day, those vessels of wrath that are storing up, caused not to have peace with God. Colossians 1.20 gives us, the Gospel says, and having made peace through the blood of His cross. By Him to reconcile all things unto Himself by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. By the blood of His cross. Real quick, turn your Bibles over to Hebrews. I'm going to try not to go too long on this. I asked this lady who was working at work and she was a Greek lady and she was trying to teach you. She would give me these little icons and stuff. I found it an open door to try to preach the Gospel to her. She was teaching me little Greek words. Victor, you'd be proud of me. I'd come up with a few of that and say to her and that kind of thing. I came to her one day and I found this word in her Greek New Testament. I said, what does gilasmos mean? And she said, ah... And she didn't have a quick interpretation for it. She said, well... And then it had to do... It's the mercy seat. The same word from this. You know, in that Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, at the very seat, at the very top was what was called the mercy seat. And in this is the word... I don't know how to say it, the whole word with mercy seat, but in this is that idea of the propitiation. That that blood is sprinkled upon that mercy seat. And from that spot, when that happens and that blood is sprinkled, then because of that atonement, then they were able to have peace with God. But Hebrews 9 shows us how this whole thing is fulfilled. I'm not even going to get into Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 is blood atonement for sanctification. We're not going to go there. But you should go ahead and read on that. Romans 9 is the blood atonement for justification. It says here in chapter 9, verse 1, look at this a little bit. look at this a little bit. Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made, the first, when there was a candlestick and a table and a showbread. And he goes through all this and he says, and after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all, which is in other words translated the holy of holies, behind that veil. And he talks about what's in there, the manna and Aaron's rod and all that sits in there. And he talks about in verse 5, he says, and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle accomplishing the service of God like we spoke of about Aaron. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. The Holy Ghost thus signifying, that was done. It was a reality. It was a dispensation they had. But now, the Holy Ghost thus signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while at the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time present and which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make Him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Again, it was a covering. You see, it covered them so that they would not be struck dead by God or be able to have peace with God. They had a ceremonial purification, but it could not completely cleanse because the sin was never completely paid for. Verse 10, which stood only for meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ became a high priest of good things to come by a better and more perfect tabernacle. Not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. And neither by the blood of goats and cows, but by His own blood, mark that, by His own blood He entered into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. That's blood atonement. You see, by what God did, what Christ did, by coming into the holy of holies in heaven, the real one, and offering Himself both the priest, He being the priest, and sacrificing Himself, it goes on to say, He purified for us salvation. That is where salvation is. Don't get it in some sort of ambiguous, strange pattern of religion or custom. This is our salvation. For if the blood, verse 13, of bulls and of goats and of the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them clean sanctified through the purifying of the flesh, here it is, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? It goes down in verse 18, Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats and water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and the people. And it gives us this in verse 20. It's interesting, verse 20. That's not recorded in the Old Testament. What did that priest say in the Holy of Holies? They give us some things, but don't you wish you could have been, you know, they say, a fly on the wall. The Holy of Holies and the priest is there and there He is. What did He say? Well, it says here, saying, this is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. I just found it interesting there. You know when Jesus, before He was suffered, and He offered up in the upper room there for the communion that they were having, do you remember what He said? He said, this is the bread of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. So that very thing that the Holy of Holies, the priest said before there when He was sprinkling that blood, this is the blood of the New Covenant for the remission of sins. Jesus offered that to Him and He says, this is the blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. I think that's a precious gold nugget there. Moreover, verse 21, He sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and the vessels of the ministry, and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. Go down to verse 26. For then, talking about that we don't have to continue to do this, the sacrifice was once done, for then must we often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sins by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, He brings this up again. The wrath of God. There will be a judgment. We can't just go on. So He brings the context again. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so, verse 28, Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. God is just. He has a judgment. He has His requirements. And He has His Messiah that paid for those things. And you know what? Jesus is coming back it says here the second time. And that second time to those who look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He is that Passover. When Jesus applied that, this is the blood of the covenant. The New Testament. The word Testament is actually better than covenant. The word there spoken, the word Testament, and it talks about there that before you have one, you have to have the death. In other words, if you were going to a will, to hear a will from somebody, that will would require that that person be dead. It goes on here to explain. It's a Testament. Testament is a good word for covenant. It's a better word. It gives us the idea of it reaching upon the death of Christ had to be. And in His promises, His gifts, and His treasures that He has for us are the will, so to speak, that we read of the gifts that we get from Him. He is our Passover. Just a few closing thoughts here now. 1 Corinthians 5. He is that Passover. Josephus gives us an interesting analogy of the day of Passover. He says there in his histories, Josephus, that as many people would come unto Jerusalem, that there were so many people that it was literally hundreds of thousands of lambs that each of the head of the households would be bringing in to these priests on the day of Passover. He explains that there was the altar of the Passover had like a channel in it. So there was so much sacrifice that the blood would just flow that they would catch it with these silver basins to be fulfilling what they were told to do here as far as the Passover. 1 Corinthians 5.7 brings to heart what exactly happened there again in that blood atonement and that Passover. 1 Corinthians 5.7 says, Purge out therefore the old leaven. Speaking of that feast there, that ye may be the new lumped as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrifice for us. Again, this analogy of our salvation being through the sacrifice of Christ. So what do we do with this? The Gospel. Ask yourself this morning, how is it that you came to the Lord? How is it you look to the Lord now? What gives you a clear heaven? What is it? Hebrews 10 goes on to tell us there, by sprinkling the blood, because of that sprinkling, we are to sprinkle on our evil consciences, that to wash that away, our guilty fears as we sing, and to serve God with a come boldly into that throne of grace. But as you think about your life, you know, in my life, as a testimony, legalism sometimes has a lot of different ways to look at it. You can either be a legalist by just following a bunch of empty rules and regulations of one day, you know, you show up to church and you're putting on a bunch of different clothes and all that. That's one way of legalism. I came from another way of legalism. I think from the most legalistic way to salvation that there has ever been invented. And that is this. You come down. You pray a prayer. You lift up your hand maybe. And you're eternally saved. What legalism. We are saved by grace through faith in this precious blood of Jesus. It is this that we run and lay hold of. It is this that is the anchor within the veil. But the idea that we just outwardly do something, whether that's say an empty prayer, that means nothing. Now, don't get me wrong. A true prayer is a beautiful thing. A true prayer is a beautiful thing. I've often said, you know, if you look at a clock that's broken, you know that a clock that is broken is absolutely, perfectly the most right clock on earth twice a day. Perfectly right. It's stopped. Dead stopped, but it's right twice a day. Well, the same way, if we're coming to God and we're coming to Him and begging God to save us and to die for us and to take His cross, then amen. That's a beautiful thing, but don't stop there. Don't be a dead clock. Keep running to God and keep walking in that same way and walking in that faith. In closing, when we're in heaven, hallelujah, by the blood of Jesus, we're going to see these things. You're going to see this judgment. You're going to be there. The Scripture says that you will judge the nations. Do you realize that? You will judge the angels. So all this that goes on, this judgment day, all this that happens, you're going to be taking part of that. And we're going to be up in heaven. And heaven gives us some beautiful pictures that I just want to close with. Revelation 5, verse 4. It's a famous passage. This is when they were saying who was worthy? Who was worthy to open that seal? John says, Revelation 5, verse 4, and I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book. Neither to look thereon. Verse 5, chapter 5, And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not. Behold, the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. We get to see this. Are you ready? And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. That slain lamb, slain before the foundation of the world is where we run to and grab ahold of this salvation. It's there. It's that which makes us worthy. It's that which we talk about in Romans where it talks about the faith and that we have to come to the point where we realize that you're not going to be able to just reform your life. You're not going to just be able to keep going and keep trying. That those sins are going to follow you. But worthy is that lamb. Worthy. You know that one of our favorite passages, and I love it too, Revelation 12, when the Antichrist comes and he's coming upon the earth and there will be so much confusion. You see the confusion they have in New Orleans, just a little bit of disaster. In the end times, in the last days, Revelation 12 says this, verse 11, and these are the saints that are there, and they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives until the death. It is by that, that testimony of the blood of Jesus and what He has done for you that we'll be able to go against and it will give you the power over Satan. And it's true in your life today when temptations are rising or something is coming against you, it is by this blood that we have that clear heaven. What Satan wants you to do is to come under condemnation, feel that, well, I tried to do this and I tried to do that and now I can't, so I'm just going to go and forget it, and finally to lose your salvation. And then that's where we get the rebuke from Hebrews. How shall you escape if you neglect so great a salvation? This is the means of your salvation. This is the means. This blood, this propitiation, that word also literally means, I didn't cover this, a substitute to take your place. Justice has to be taken. The propitiation, that substitute, that sacrificial substitute took my place. Revelation 13 towards the end, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him whose name are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Just a few other verses here, and then we're going to close. 1 Peter 1.17 Here's a question Peter asked. Peter was clear on blood atonement. 1 Peter 1.17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. This is where it lies. If we have a wrong understanding of God, if we have a wrong understanding of His judgment, if we have a wrong understanding of wrath, and we just think He doesn't really care or it doesn't really matter, that verse is going to seem a little bit out of place to you. Is it not? But Peter made it clear. And if you call on the Father, remember, who without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversations received by traditions from your father, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, that's your salvation. 1 John 4.10 gives an interesting thing. I just can't help but write this down because it's so beautiful. 1 John 4.10, here in His love, this is the definition of love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is love. Love in its most perfect definition is propitiation. It's the sacrifice of Christ. So, Isaac asked that question years and years ago before the time of Christ. Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb? Behold your consecration. Behold your fire, your testimony, your sparks, if you would. Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb? How did John the Baptist answer that? He was looking up. He saw Jesus. And he said, behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him that takes away the sins of the world. That's what we have. That is what we lay hold on. So, where I would like to leave it this morning, again, I said this came from a great burden. It is my concern that if this is not understood in our hearts, your salvation will be very muddy. If you do not begin clearly, we tend to live our life muddy. And if we live our life muddy, then we try to walk in sanctification and walking in God. How do I ever get back to that clear point if there never was a clear point? Ask yourself today something very clearly. Are those sins treasuring up? Are they just following you into the day of wrath? If they are, today you have a way. Today, mercy's door is wide open to you. They're free to you. You can take it. You can take it. Someday that day will be shut and I read to you what the wrath of God will mean to you. You'll hear those Scriptures again. So, let's today look upon the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world and come to Him with all of our heart. Where are you at this morning, sinner friend? You know, the Bible is clear that the Word of God is not... I mean, the Word came not in... How should I say that? The Gospel came not in word only, but in power. And is your life portraying the power of Jesus Christ? Is there victory over sin? You know, Dean mentioned about going through just a short sinner's prayer to maybe you profess Jesus and raise your hand in some meeting. But is there power and victory over sin? That is where the fruit of the life is. That is where Jesus gives us His divine nature at new birth. And if there is not power and victory over sin, perhaps there is something wrong yet in the heart and you may not have been genuinely born again. Search your heart this morning. I don't want to put anyone under condemnation, but just look at the fruit of your life. Is it showing forth Christ? Is it showing forth the fruits of righteousness? Dean mentioned, he said in closing, he shared the words of John the Baptist, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And this morning, you know, in Romans 10 it says, the Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart. That is the Word of faith which we preach. And Dean shared the Gospel this morning. He shared the doctrine of salvation very clearly. Very clearly how we are all sold under sin. How we've all been proved guilty. And also showed us the answer for the forgiveness, for the taking away of our sins. Like John the Baptist said when he beheld Christ. So this morning, let me just read a few Scriptures here yet. In Romans 10, but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down from above. He was speaking perhaps to some Jews among the Romans here and just telling them, don't doubt. Faith doesn't doubt the work of Christ. Faith doesn't doubt that the Messiah has come and has descended from heaven. Neither does it doubt in verse 7, or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ from the dead. Neither does faith doubt that Jesus is risen from the dead and is our living Savior and is able to save your soul today if you put your faith in Jesus and in the perpetuation that He gave in His atonement for your sins there on the cross of Calvary. And the word is nigh thee, look at verse 8, but what sayeth the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thine heart? I like that. The word is so near us. The word of faith that you've heard this morning is so near us. It says here in verse 8 that the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thine heart. It's as near as your mouth and your heart. That is the word of faith which was preached this morning. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. There it is. Believing in the heart. That's where faith is applied to. In this verse, that's where faith is applied to the heart. It's believing, and then it's also confession with the mouth that the Lord Jesus has risen from the dead. And in verse 10, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. Are you willing to confess Jesus Christ this morning? Openly confess Him as your Lord and Savior unashamedly? Willing to pay the price and the cost to follow Jesus? Remember the Scripture in one of the Gospels. Whosoever wants to take up his cross and follow Me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus. Then in verse 12, For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So sinner friend, this morning, maybe you're here and maybe you're not saved. Maybe you know this morning. According to this message, I am not saved. I don't have the fruits of righteousness. I don't have the power and the victory over sin. Search your heart this morning. The Gospel is not in word only, but in power. Is there anyone that wants to share a testimony this morning with the message? There's one hand there. I want to express my appreciation for the first part of the message especially, that the truth of the Gospel is rooted in the nature and character of God. And it helps us to see the holiness of God. And when we see the holiness of God, we know how to respond about sin. There's no way for us to see sin rightly unless we see the holiness of God. And I think the brother, he spent a lot of time on that, but that was very important. And then, once we see the holiness of God, we see the tremendous lostness of our own situation. Romans 1 says, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And the next verse, it says, Herein, in this Gospel message, is the righteousness of God revealed. Only as we see the righteousness, the justice and rightness of God, can we relate to sin rightly. And we see the tremendous love of God then manifest in that because we were completely hopeless and helpless. The need to satisfy the righteousness of God takes a completely righteous sacrifice. And that is in our Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, even as a Christian, as those who have come by faith to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we see the true nature of sin. Any sin that you're willing to commit, could you commit it standing in the presence of what it costs to pay for your sin? Take it into the garden and see the Lord Jesus wrestling great drops of blood. See the rejection. See the whipping. See the thorns. See the buffeting. See the nails and all of that. The suffering. And truly understand the nature of sin. Do you want to continue? Do you want to see sin rightly by the cost, by the payment that was made for sin? And I bless God for the message. This morning's message was a message of truth. If you respond to a message like this, you are responding to the truth. You are not responding to emotion. Yes, there is much deep emotion in this message. But it's the truth. And it's the thing that will change the heart and life. Praise God. Amen. Thank you, Daniel. I also consider it a real blessing to be able to sit here in this congregation this morning and just to hear this teaching of what God did for His people. You know, as we think about it, what He did for us, there was nothing lacking. It's all done. It's all finished. When Jesus died on the cross there, He said it is finished. Nothing any man can add to it. Nothing any man can take away from it. But it's done. And I'm just so blessed. You know, to be able to sit here and just to review again the doctrine of atonement, the precious blood of Jesus as it was shed for my sins and all. And that's God's part in our salvation, what we heard this morning. That's God's part in our salvation. And I think a doctrine that also is of equal importance that if we would continue, if this would be a session, the next session should be a doctrine of repentance. That we could spend an hour on the doctrine of repentance. And that's man's part in salvation. But sometimes we need to realize, I think, really, what is repentance? And the Bible tells us that godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. And I think of this doctrine of atonement and it's there. The gift is there. It's given. It's done. Nothing we can add to it. It's finished. And it's available. Yet many don't receive it. Many don't receive it because of the lack of being able to repent or the lack of desire to repent. Or then that they... I do believe that if we understand this doctrine, it will help us to repent because we know of who God is. But I believe with all my heart, it is a great blessing to me to hear this doctrine being preached. It will be equally a great blessing to me to go down the doctrine of repentance right alongside of it. God bless you. I bless God for a message like this. This has touched my heart in a really sobering way because what Jesus did for us, for me, I bless God for that because we were all sinners and God brought us out of that. And just to think... I guess what came through to me is how much Jesus loved us. How much Jesus suffered for us. And I guess in times past, I've been double-minded. I wanted what God has to offer. I wanted the good things that God has for us. But I also wanted the pleasures of the world. And God can't have that. And so I bless God that He's been taking me beyond that and simply teaching me that to love the world is enmity with Him. And if I simply grab a hold of everything that God has for me, then I will experience good. Then I will experience God. So, thank you and God bless you. This morning, the focus of the blood was focused mostly upon those who are needing to be born again. I've been blessed lately with this beautiful thing of the blood of Christ and my need as a Christian to be continually washed in that blood and how this beautiful sacrifice of this blood was shed for me, for my past, but it's also shed for me as I walk in my present and as I walk today. Though I may not understand all of the things that maybe I may be committing, but I know that I need the blood. And through the blood, having washed my life and cleansed my life, I can get on my face every morning, anytime I want, I guess, but I've been focusing it every morning as I come before God and I'm washed in the blood. I now, by faith, am as close to God as possible as a human being. And I know that seems absurd to me, and yet it really is true that as I'm washed in this glorious blood of Christ, I now am able to be as close to God as possible by faith in Him as a human being can be. And that's just been a tremendous blessing to me. I praise God this morning for the foundation that's been laid not only for us here as a church, but as Brother Dean began in his message in that of having a proper and right understanding of who God is is very, very necessary for repentance, coming to salvation. I know that if we'd ask for a raise of hands, many of us would raise our hands and say that we were not raised with a proper view of God. And as we go out reaching the lost to the mission field, to the streets of Lancaster, it's very important that we remember this principle that before we can get these people to see Christ, they need to be able to have a proper view of God because they too were brought up and raised like many of us were without that proper view of God. I guess the burden and challenge that comes to my heart this morning is that for those of you who are parents here today, in 20 years, what will the next generation view be of God? There's a great responsibility here in taking the children that are in our midst and showing them who God really is that they may find salvation and not deal with all the issues that we've needed to come through. May God bless. I'd just like to respond on Paul's testimony here, on Paul's words on repentance. You know, when we consider the price Jesus paid for our sins, you know, the great price He paid, you know, He's not just going to give His salvation to someone who's not ready to part with his sin. He paid a great price for our sins. And I appreciate those words of Brother Paul. The need of repentance, that is very clearly. But what Brother Dean showed us this morning I believe helps us in that area of repentance to see the great price that Christ paid in His redemption that He wrought for our souls.