In this sermon, the preacher discusses the five great cardinalities of the Gospel: the book, the birth, the blight, the blood, and the basis. The book refers to the Bible, which is seen as the anchor of the soul and the source of comfort and protection. The birth represents being born into God's family and becoming a member of the family of God. The blight refers to personal sins and the darkness they bring, while the blood symbolizes the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. The basis for his namesake emphasizes the importance of the Gospel in bringing hope and light to a dark and sinful world.

We're turning in our Bibles and you'll find an authorized version of the Holy Scriptures in the English tongue before you. Lift it up and turn with me to the New Testament and to the books at the end of the New Testament, the Epistles of John. And we're going to read from the first Epistle of John, chapter 2, verses 12 to 21. It's the second chapter of the Epistle of 1 John and verse 12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but it is of the world. And the world passes away. And the lust of all, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists. For by we know it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have, no doubt, have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, but they were not all of us. But ye have a notion from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have written unto you, because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it. Because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, that no lie is of the truth. And God will bless his inspired word to our hearts in Jesus' name. 1 John 2, verse 12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 1 John 2, verse 12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I call this text, the text of the five great cardinalities of the gospel. We live in a chilling world. Well, may we shiver as we look out over the world tonight. The horrors of this age of sin, and the ever increasing and darkening clouds of man's sinful wickednesses. It is alas, only too true tonight that darkness covers the earth, and cross darkness the people. However, in the gloom there is a shining of a light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a blessing which that light of hope gives in this dark and stormy deep of the world's savagery. Thank God the light of the glorious gospel can never be extinguished. Look at this simple text. Receive tonight of its warmth, its joy, its light, and its peace. It is a door of hope in an age of great hopelessness. It is a rising sun in the greatest darkness of night. It is a message of comfort in the valley of the greatest sorrow. It is a lifeline of salvation in the sea of the greatest destruction. It is a way of escape from the terrors of the greatest judgment. Where the gospel is, there is everlasting life. This text struck home to my soul a week ago on Monday night. I was prompted to see immediately that it presented five great cardinalities of the gospel. Look at it. It starts with the words, I wrote unto you. There you have the book. It goes on, little children. There you have the birth. It goes on to your sins. There we have the blight. It goes on to sins forgiven. There you have the blood. And it goes on for his name's sake. There you have the basis of it all. Tonight I want to discuss with you these five great cardinalities. The book, the birth, the blight, the blood, and the basis. What light is here? What joy is here? What peace is here? What love is here? What miracles are here? What heaven is here? What bliss is here? Let us take the last of these great cardinalities. The basis for his name's sake. What's in a name the world says? Well, everything good, hallelujah, is in the name of our Lord Jesus. What about the history of that name? A virgin maiden of Jewry. In the six months I read in this book, God's highest heaven saw an angel leave the shadow of God's everlasting throne. And he flew from the ivory palace of the third heaven where God has his court of power. And he came to the city of Galilee. To a virgin as spouse to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Heal thou art highly fevered. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying. And cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary. Thou hast found fever with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in my womb, and bear a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great. He shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. Shortly after we read again. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this wise. When it is mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph. Before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband being a just man. And not willing to make her a public example. Was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought of these things. Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream. Saying, Joseph, thou son of David. Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son. And thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. Now all is done that it might be fulfilled. Which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets. Behold, a virgin shall be with child. And shall bring forth a son. And they shall call his name Emmanuel. Which being interpreted is God with. O the wonderful. O the adorable. O the loving. O the bountiful name of Jesus. I cannot tell how he whom angels worship. Should set his love upon the sons of men. Or why a shepherd he should seek the wanderers. To bring them back. They know not how or when. But this I know that he was born of Mary. When Bethlehem's manger was his only home. And that he lived at Nazareth and laboured. And so the Saviour of the world is come. I cannot tell how all the land shall worship. When at his bidding every storm is stilled. Or who can say how great the jubilation. When all the hearts of men with love are filled. But this I know. The skies will thrill with rapture. And myriad, myriad human voices sing. And earth to heaven and heaven to earth shall answer. At last the Saviour, Saviour of the world is King. Christ did everything to save us. Why? Because we were good? Because we were likeable? Because we were loving? No. But for his names. The basis for this gospel is he himself. He is the rock foundation of the gospel. But we learn not only the history of his name. But we learn the meaning of his name. What is the meaning? He shall save his people from their sins. Jesus means Saviour. He is the Saviour. And when we call him Saviour, then we call him by his name. He also learned the power of his name. His name is powerful over all the hordes of hell. Satan, the god of this world, trembles at his name. Christ's name is the passport of all prayer. It is the inspiration of all songs. It is the holy fear of the people of God. This name destroys the devil's words. Beats back the powers of hell. And Satan trembles at the name of him in whom we dwell. Jesus Christ. Jesus King. Jesus the Mediator. Jesus the King of Kings. Jesus the Lord of Lords. I would say, O sweet Jesus, come and fire our hearts with undying love for Thee and for Thy cause. We love Thee because Thou hast first loved us. O for grace to love Thee, Lord Jesus, more and more and more. They wrote this name above them that all might see the reason we forevermore. O Jesus, by that matchless name, the grace shall fill us never. Today as yesterday the same. The Lord the same. Let me look at this verse again. The book. These things are written. The written book. Thank God it is on the record. Everything in the earthly heaven and the earthly world will pass away, but God's book will never pass away. It stands, O wonderful, wonderful word of the Lord. The hope of our friends in the past. Its truth, where so firmly they anchored their trust, through ages eternal shall last. O wonderful, wonderful word of the Lord. Unchanging, abiding and sure. For we know that when time and the world pass away, God's word shall forever endure. It is the book of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in every chapter of this book. He is in every verse of this book. He is in every line of this book. O open your mind and learn of Him where? In the book. Open and enlarge your hearts and receive Him in all His fullness. Where? In the book. Thank God it is written down in the book that this book can never, ever pass away. It is the book. No man can rule it out. No instrument of hell can erase it. No power of evil can blot it out. No strength in heaven, earth or hell can destroy it. It is the infallible, everlasting, eternal book. It is indestructible. It is eternal. It is not man's word. It is God's word. What is written in this book is the dictation of God Himself. Men didn't write this book of their own. They were told what to write. It is the imperishable word of a God who cannot lie. It is the imperishable seed of a God which will make it bear forever, everlasting fruit. Its planting can never decay. Its growing can never die. It is the book of life, the book of eternal life. It cannot perish because God's own breath throbs. There was a great Scottish preacher called Guthrie of the Victoria era, and he said this book is the armory of heavenly weapons. This book is the laboratory of infallible medicines. This book is a mine of inexhaustible wealth. It is a guide book for every road. It is a chart for every sea. It is medicine for every malady. It is a balm for every wound. Robbers of our Bible and in the best of other books, we have nothing but the glimmer of a star. It is the wealth of the poor. It is the blessing and contentment of all who seek its comfort. It is the shield of wealth protecting the few that are rich against the many that are poor. It may be compared to the skies which hold at once the most blessed and the most baneful elements, soft dews to be of the opening rose and bolts that ram the mighty oaks asunder. It is not a book of God's making. It is the book of God's giving. It is the anchor of the soul, unshakeable and unbreakable. So much for the book. But tell me what about the plight? Christ came to this world to remove the plight of your sins. Here are the darkness. The other four facts of this text are the sun at its zenith. This one is darkness at its deepest. Your sin. Your sin. Your personal sin. Your individual sin. Your hateful sin. Your vile sin. Your damnable and damning sin. Your destructive and destroying sin. Your God-hating, your Christ-mocking, your Holy Ghost-blaspheming sin. Your Christ-tripping sin. Your Christ-slaughtering sin. Your Christ-mocking sin. Your Christ-shaming sin. Your Christ-tormenting sin. Your Christ-crucifying sin. I picked up a book the other day. I read these words which I had never read before. And I have studied Bunyan's works for years. Bunyan wrote, Sin is the living worm, the lasting fire. Hell soon would lose its heat, could sin expire. Better sinless in hell than to be where heaven is and to be found a sinner there. One sinless with infernals might do well, but sin would make of heaven a very hell. Look to thyself then. Keep it out of the door, lest it get in and never leave thee more. Fools make a mock of sin. They will not believe, but sin carries a dagger in its sleeve. How can it be, say they, that such a thing so full of sweetness e'er should wear a sting? They know not that it is the very spell of sin to make themselves laugh themselves into hell. Look to thyself. Deal with sin no more, lest he that saves against thee shuts his door. But thank God there are those here who can say, My sins have been forgiven for Jesus' sake. And thank God I am one of them. Jesus truly, really, marvelously, miraculously saves men from their pure sins, and they each deserve eternal death. But Jesus died for you. Do you have the joy, the wonderful joy, the matchless joy, of having every sin past, present, and future forgiven, and your name written in heaven? Blessed is the man to whom the Lord impureth not his sin. There is no guy. But there's something here. There's a blood here. Your sins are forgiven. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness, no remission. But thank God there is a blood shedding. In the house of David there is opened a fountain for sin and for all uncleanness. There is not an uncleanness, but can it be cleansed by the precious blood of the Lamb of God? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. We are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish. When the sins of all the believers were laid on Christ, what did He do? He made full satisfaction unto His Father. And divine justice was satisfied when He gave us life's blood for you and me. This brings me great comfort. If Christ our surety has paid the last farthing to the great creditor God the Father for all our deaths, then God the Father cannot call us to answer for our debts again, for they are washed away to be remembered no more for time and eternity by the God of heaven. Our surety, the Lord Jesus Christ has done something for us. What has He done? He has completely and totally, totally, legally justified us from all our sins. We are justified by His blood. God demanded that the debt should be paid. God put our surety into prison, brought out our surety under arrest, and put Him to the cross, to the suffering, to the drinking of our hell and death and agony. But He did it all. And when He cried, it is finished, the Father said, I have accepted the payment and all your people shall go free and they'll all become sons of God and joint heirs with yourself. Christ rose from the dead. I've all been dealt with. A final word, little children. There you have the birth, the necessity of being born again. Only little children are addressed, those born from above by the Spirit of God, by the removal of the penalty of sin, by the removal of death that you deserved, a death that could never die. By the miracle of regeneration, you have been born again. You have had a new birth. And within your soul throbs a life that's hid with Christ in God. That night you were saved. God implanted within you His own life, the life of God, eternal in its omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. Christ said, He that is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again. Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom. The new birth is essential to the new life. The new commencement is essential to the new completion. The new state is essential to the new standing. This is God's way. And it's the only way for a wonderful birth, for a wonderful life, His life everlasting. Born of an incorruptible seed by the Word of God which lives and abideth forever. This is the very life of God in the human soul. This makes me, once an offspring of the devil, now I'm the offspring of God. I have a new relationship. God is my Father. Christ is my elder brother, the Holy Spirit. Without this miracle in your soul, you're hell bound. This is God's way, not man's way. It is as eternal as the God who breathes it for the sovereign. How much do you know of these five great cardinalities? Oh, I trust you'll get hold of the book tonight. I trust you'll be instructed by the Holy Ghost. I trust tonight that you'll see you can be born into God's family and become a member of the family of God forever. I trust you'll learn that that sin that would damn you can be cleansed by the blood of Christ. And that by a strike you can be healed. And I trust that before you leave this meeting house tonight, you'll know without a shadow of a doubt that your name is penned in heaven. Pray that great prayer to your sinner friend this night. Pray it from the depths of your soul. Then, oh my Lord, prepare my soul for that great day. Wash me in the precious blood and take my sins away. May it be so, for Jesus' sake. Let us bow our heads. Lord, bless thy word. Seal it to the hearts and the hearts of all that have heard it. And, oh God, my men and women, boys and girls, come to Christ and trust Him for all eternity. And the people of God said, Amen.