The Atoning Blood of Christ

John Kershaw (1792-1870)

Another spiritual blessing which is treasured up in Christ is His atoning blood. Oh, what a blessed remedy this is for the worst of all maladies, the worst of all diseases. No disease ever did or can exist equal to the malady of sin, and for that very reason it is called a plague. There are many disorders which come upon the body, but they fall short of a plague. A plague is the worst kind of disease that can break out among mortals. When a plague bursts out in a populous district, it has been known to make awful work. We have heard, and some of us have read of the plague that once broke out in this great metropolis and how it swept away thousands upon thousands.

At the dedication of the temple, when Solomon who was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ stood praying for the Lord’s blessing to rest on His church and people, among other things in his petition he particularly makes use of this plea before the Lord—that He would hear and regard from heaven every man that should know “the plague of his own heart”—the torment of his carnal heart, the refractory, rebellious, fretful heart, where swarms of evil thoughts and vain imaginations abound, which often makes the child of God so sick and weary of himself that he knows not what to do.

Poor soul, dost thou want thy conscience to be cleansed, thy heart to be purified, and thy sin and guilt to be washed away? Where canst thou look for these things but to a precious Christ? The blessing is in Christ, my friends, and nowhere else.

I knew a simple man in the country who was so plagued with the workings of his evil heart that to get a little ease from his torments, he thought he would try to walk it away. He set off walking and walking, and then he took to running as fast as he could till he was out of breath, but there it was in his heart, working, fretting, and foaming. He could not get rid of it, nor run away from it; he felt the plague of his heart and could only cry, “O wretched man that I am!” After a time, however, the Lord applied His precious, atoning blood to his conscience, and that gave him ease. Nothing but the blood of the Lamb can take away the smart or stop the plague of sin in the heart.

Blessed be God, in our text we have a great Deliverer set forth, and that Deliverer is a precious Christ. He is the great High Priest over the house of God, and the remedy is His atoning blood, the balm of Gilead. Poor soul, dost thou want thy conscience to be cleansed, thy heart to be purified, and thy sin and guilt to be washed away? Where canst thou look for these things but to a precious Christ? The blessing is in Christ, my friends, and nowhere else. My soul lives upon the truths I preach, and God forbid that I should speak anything to you but what I have experienced the blessedness of in my own soul.

Now the Lord says by the prophet, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” This is the precious blood of Jesus, Immanuel, the incarnate God, and for what is this fountain opened? “For sin and for uncleanness.” If you have no knowledge of sin and uncleanness, the fountain is not opened for you; it is opened for the guilty, the vile, and the filthy in their feelings. Come then, poor black and leprous sinners, to the fountain.

I love the song:

Black, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

Come to the fountain; it is opened for those who feel the plague of their heart, who are burdened with sin and uncleanness, and whose cry is with the leper of old, “Unclean, unclean.” The fountain is opened to cleanse thee from sin and to purify thee from uncleanness. “Ah,” says the poor child of God, “I want to get at it, and cannot.” You may want to get at it by your own wisdom and strength, but, blessed be the Lord, it is not left to thy getting. If thou couldst get it when thou wouldst, then thou couldst do the work of the Holy Ghost.

God has determined that thou shalt not do His work; hence, the dear Redeemer tells His disciples that “when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” The blessed Spirit takes the atoning blood of the Lamb and applies it to the conscience of the poor sinner; He removes the burden of sin and softens the heart. The dear child of God feels the blessedness of that text, which I cannot speak without feeling its blessed and solemn import, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

This is its blessed effect, and the redeemed soul for a while sings in this vale of tears the same song as the glorified spirits above: “Unto Him that hath loved us, and washed from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” It is in Christ, my friends. The Holy Ghost takes the atoning blood of the Lamb, applies it afresh to the conscience with power, and bears witness to the spirit of the living family that they are the redeemed of the Lord. May we glory only in a precious Christ! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”

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