The Blood of Christ

As we prepare our hearts before God in thanksgiving and worship for the gift of his dear son in preparation for Easter Sunday, let us reflect on both the gospel is and what Christ has done for us through the shedding of his blood on the cross. The title of my message today, friends, is the blood of Christ and my text can be found in Luke's gospel in chapter 22. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends.

We will be in verses 14 through 20. And let me read us this tender passage of scripture at this time. Uh, here now is the word of God and made the spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of this holy word.

And they went and found as he had said unto them and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was calm, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him and he said unto them, uh, with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Let me pause here.

Friends here before us is the great scene of the last supper. Uh, some scholars believe that this large upper room belonged to John Mark. Uh, notice the emphasis upon the words with desire.

I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Uh, Jesus knew that he was soon to leave his disciples to go and suffer. And he wanted his last meal to be with them.

Uh, before he was crucified, he desired to spend a special time with them because he loved them, uh, with desire. I have desired. He loved them, uh, despite all their faults.

He loved them. Do you know what friends, despite all my faults, he loves me. And listen, friend, despite all your faults, he loves you.

Uh, Galatians 2, 20 declares his love. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, uh, yet not I, uh, but Christ live within me and the life which I now live in the flesh.

I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Uh, let us now continue with our passage. Uh, for us say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divided among yourselves. First say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. Let me pause here, friends.

Our master's heart is heavy and burdened as he sits down and takes his place at the long table prepared with the cup of wine and the bread. Jesus knows what is set before him. He had come down from heaven specifically for what was set before him, a cup he must drink on our behalf.

I'll never forget a story I heard Leonard Ravenhill relate. Though at the time he was the pastor of a church in England, he would walk to church and in doing so pass by an old broken down house that belonged to an elderly lady who occasionally visited his church. And one day she was out front and invited him in for tea.

As he went in, he noticed the house was crowded with stacks of old papers and lumber stacked high with boxes. And as he made his way through this rubbish to her tiny kitchen, he was told to sit down at her table by the sink. And in the sink were stacks of unwashed dirty dishes and cups from which she grabbed a stained cup.

The old lady asked if he wanted milk with his tea and he said yes. And she said, well, I don't have any. And she began to pour into that dirty cup a dark, thick, cold liquid, which was stale tea.

Then she handed him that cup, Ravenhill related. As this old woman handed me that filthy saucer full of that horrible tea, her eyes were upon me to see what I would do. Would I shrink back from its noxious contents or drink it? As I took the cup from her and stared into it, my thoughts ran back 2,000 years to another man who was handed a cup he had to drink.

The cup which Christ drank for me was folded the brim of my filthy, rotten sins, and he drank that cup for me. Well, friends, now that we've reflected on what Christ has done for us, let us reflect on what the gospel is. Let us continue with our text.

And he took bread and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given to you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise, also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. I will stop there.

Listen to me, brother pastor. If you neglect to preach a bloody gospel about a bloody cross and a blood-stained savior who died as a substitute for sin, you preach another gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ has a cross in the center of it, because a man sins, and it's covered in his blood.

Every mother's son is born under a curse, with a poison in his blood. And unless you exercise repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ, you will die in your sins and enter a Christless eternity. You must get unto the blood.

Brother pastor, if you fail to warn men of their duty, of the gospel's clear commands to repent, you preach another gospel and damn the souls of men. Jesus declared, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And that goes for every preacher and every seminary professor who does not believe repentance is necessary for salvation.

Jesus said, My blood, which is shed for you. And listen, friends, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And without repentance, there is no pardon for sin.

I know I am a sinner, and I need a sin substitute in the person of Jesus Christ. And so do you, friend, even if you are the chairman of the deacons. I believe one of the greatest crimes of the modern church today is in their preaching of bloodless gospel.

We preachers have done all we can to make the gospel more presentable to sinful man. And we've gotten out our mop buckets and cleaned up all the blood and gore from Calvary. Why, we've made it so pristine that you can sit there and eat your lunch without a guilty conscience.

God is a God who must punish sin. And all you have to do is look at God's only begotten Son hanging on the bloody cross to see the justice of God in dealing with sin. And if you don't believe God is a God who must punish sin, then I have no message for you.

I'll never forget the story that the greatly used evangelist Rolf Barnard related. He said that after preaching in a country church one Sunday, he was invited by the pastor to go and have lunch at a deacon's home on a farm. Barnard said when he got there he couldn't believe his eyes.

The big table was spread like a feast with four kinds of meat, all the trimmings and baskets of freshly baked bread. And as Rolf Barnard dug into his meal, he felt the eyes of the former deacon upon him who sat at the head of this big table. The deacon said, Preacher, I don't believe what you preach today is so.

When you said that God must punish sin, Rolf Barnard never looked up from his plate but kept on eating as much as he could. He didn't want to be rude to his host, and he knew the meal would be cut short if he did. Barnard said the former deacon was a big man with a red face and an Adam's apple that looked like a turkey's gobbler.

And every time this man spoke, his gobbler went up and down. Finally, the deacon put down his fork and stood and pounded his big fist on the table and yelled out, Preacher, are you listening? My God is not a God who would punish sin. Rolf Barnard stopped eating and put his knife and fork down and looked the man in the eye and said, Yes, sir, I believe you're right.

Your God wouldn't punish sin, but the God of the Bible will. Listen, friends. Jesus said, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

The old hymn declares, What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And in 2 Peter 3 9 we read, Not willing that any should perish, but that all men should come to repentance. Listen, friend.

Repentance is necessary to salvation because an offended God who must punish sin. Right now, Jesus sits on a throne at the right hand of the Father, and he earned that right by way of a bloody cross, my blood, which is shed for you. Now that we've pondered what Christ has done for us and what the gospel is, let me close with the following statement.

What distinguishes Christianity from other world religions? Listen, friends. Buddha lived, died, and was buried. Confucius lived, died, and was buried.

Muhammad lived, died, and was buried. Christ lived, died, and was buried. But he rose again.

Christianity was never built on a coffin lid, for we serve a resurrected Christ. Let us pray.