Tag Archives: the blood of Jesus

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Every Day

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You have come…to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:22, 24

Reader, have you come to “the sprinkled blood”? The question is not whether you have come to a knowledge of doctrine or an observance of ceremonies or to a certain form of experience, but have you come to the blood of Jesus?

The blood of Jesus is the life of all vital godliness. If you have truly come to Jesus, we know how you came–the Holy Spirit kindly brought you there. You came to the sprinkled blood with no merits of your own. Guilty, lost, and helpless, you came to take that blood, and that blood alone, as your everlasting hope. You came to the cross of Christ with a trembling and an aching heart; and what a precious sound it was to you to hear the voice of the blood of Jesus!

The dropping of His blood is as the music of heaven to the penitents of earth. We are full of sin, but the Savior bids us lift our eyes to Him; and as we gaze upon His streaming wounds, each drop of blood, as it falls, cries, “It is finished; I have made an end of sin; I have brought in everlasting righteousness.”

Sweet language of the precious blood of Jesus! If you have come to that blood once, you will come to it constantly. Your life will be “looking to Jesus.” Your whole conduct will be epitomized in this–“to whom coming.” Not to whom I have come, but to whom I am always coming. If you have ever come to the sprinkled blood, you will feel your need of coming to it every day. He who does not desire to wash in it every day has never washed in it at all.

Believers constantly feel it to be their joy and privilege that there is still a fountain opened. Past experiences are doubtful food for Christians; a present coming to Christ alone can give us joy and comfort. This morning let us sprinkle our doorpost fresh with blood, and then feast upon the Lamb, assured that the destroying angel must pass us by.

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Saved to Serve

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Some people feel so saved they never serve.  Some serve at the hope of being saved. Does one of these sentences describe you? Do you feel so saved that you never serve? So content in what God has done that you do nothing? The fact is, we’re here to glorify God in our service.

Or is your tendency the opposite? Perhaps you always serve for fear of not being saved. You’re worried there is a secret card that exists with your score written on it; and your score is not enough. Is that you? If so, know this: The blood of Jesus is enough to save you.  John 1:29 announces that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

The blood of Christ doesn’t cover your sins, conceal your sins, postpone or diminish your sins.  It takes away your sins, once and for all! So…since you are saved, you can serve!

From He Chose the Nails

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Power of Blood

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Alistair Begg

This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.    Hebrews 9:20

There is a strange power in the very name of blood, and the sight of it is always moving. A kind heart cannot bear to see a sparrow bleed and, unless familiarized by use, turns away with horror at the slaughter of a beast. As to the blood of men, it is a consecrated thing: It is murder to shed it in anger; it is a dreadful crime to squander it in war. Is this solemnity occasioned by the fact that the blood is the life, and the shedding of it the token of death? We think so. When we rise to contemplate the blood of the Son of God, our awe is greater yet, and we shudder as we think of the guilt of sin and the terrible penalty that the Sin-bearer endured. Blood, always precious, is priceless when it streams from Immanuel’s side.

The blood of Jesus seals the covenant of grace and makes it certain forever. Covenants of old were made by sacrifice, and the everlasting covenant was ratified in the same manner. What comfort that our salvation rests upon the sure foundation of divine commitments that cannot be dishonored! Salvation by the works of the law is a frail and broken vessel whose shipwreck is sure; but the covenant vessel fears no storms, for the blood ensures the whole. The blood of Jesus made His covenant valid. Wills are of no power unless the testators die.

In this light the soldier’s spear is a blessed aid to faith, since it proved our Lord to be really dead. There can be no doubt about that matter, and we may boldly appropriate the legacies that He has left for His people. Happy are they who see their title to heavenly blessings assured to them by a dying Savior. But does this blood not speak to us? Does it not bid us sanctify ourselves unto Him by whom we have been redeemed? Does it not call us to newness of life and incite us to entire consecration to the Lord? O that the power of the blood might be known and felt in us tonight!

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The family reading plan for November 6, 2014 * Hosea 12 * Psalm 135, 136

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Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – Red Hot Prayers

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“Cold prayers court refusal…Heat your prayers red-hot…Plead the blood of Jesus! Plead like one who means to prevail – and then you shall prevail!” This quote by famous British preacher C. H. Spurgeon makes a point: prayers must be fervent to avail.

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:3

In today’s scripture, Daniel is fervently praying to the Lord. While reading the book of the prophet Jeremiah, Daniel discovers the 70 years of captivity should be coming to a close. He also realizes certain prophecies are conditional, meaning God’s people must do their part by humbling themselves and repenting (Leviticus 26). Knowing this, Daniel earnestly focuses all his attention on the Lord, fasting and wearing sackcloth and ashes. First, he praises God and reminds Him of His covenant. Then he repents, accepting responsibility for the sins of the Jewish people. Last, he begs for forgiveness and mercy. God responded by sending the angel Gabriel to help Daniel understand Israel’s future.

Are you concerned about the country’s destiny? Are you fervently praying? Know God will answer. Pray today for the nation and its leaders to be humble, repent and seek Him wholeheartedly.

Recommended Reading: James 5:13-18

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Cleanses

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Alistair Begg

The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  1 John 1:7

“Cleanses,” says the text—not “shall cleanse.” There are multitudes who think that as a dying hope they may look forward to pardon. Oh, how infinitely better to have cleansing now than to depend on the bare possibility of forgiveness when I come to die.

Some imagine that a sense of pardon is an attainment only obtainable after many years of Christian experience. But forgiveness of sin is a present reality—a privilege for this day, a joy for this very hour. The moment a sinner trusts Jesus he is fully forgiven. The text, being written in the present tense, also indicates continuance; it was “cleanses” yesterday, it is “cleanses” today, it will be “cleanses” tomorrow. This is the way it will always be with you, Christian, until you cross the river; every hour you may come to this fountain, for it cleanses still.

Notice, likewise, the completeness of the cleansing: “The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin”—not only from sin, but “from all sin.” Reader, I cannot convey the exceeding sweetness of this word, but I pray that God the Holy Ghost will give you a taste of it. Manifold are our sins against God. Whether the bill be little or great, the same receipt can discharge one as the other. The blood of Jesus Christ is as blessed and divine a payment for the transgressions of blaspheming Peter as for the shortcomings of loving John.

Our iniquity is gone, all gone at once, and all gone forever. Blessed completeness! What a sweet theme to dwell upon as one gives himself to sleep.

Sins against a holy God;

Sins against His righteous laws;

Sins against His love, His blood;

Sins against His name and cause;

Sins immense as is the sea-

From them all He cleanseth me.

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The family reading plan for July 23, 2014 * Jeremiah 19 * Mark 5

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Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg..

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Jesus Takes Away the Sin

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Max Lucado

Some people feel so saved they never serve.  Some serve at the hope of being saved. Does one of these sentences describe you? Do you feel so saved that you never serve? So content in what God has done that you do nothing? The fact is, we’re here to glorify God in our service.

Or is your tendency the opposite? Perhaps you always serve for fear of not being saved. You’re worried there is a secret card that exists with your score written on it; and your score is not enough. Is that you? If so, know this: The blood of Jesus is enough to save you.  John 1:29 announces that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

The blood of Christ doesn’t cover your sins, conceal your sins, postpone or diminish your sins.  It takes away your sins, once and for all! So…since you are saved, you can serve!

From He Chose the Nails

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Nothing Else but Sin

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Alistair Begg

Leviticus 13:13

Although this regulation appears to be strange, yet there was wisdom in it, for the removal of the disease proved that the character was healthy. This evening it may be well for us to discover this principle to our profit. We, too, are in a sense lepers and may read the law of the leper as applicable to ourselves. When a man sees himself to be completely lost and ruined, covered with the defilement of sin, with no part free from pollution; when he disclaims all righteousness of his own and pleads guilty before the Lord, then he is clean through the blood of Jesus and the grace of God.

Hidden, unfelt, unconfessed iniquity is the true leprosy of the soul; but when sin is seen and felt, it has received its deathblow, and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy upon the afflicted soul. Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness or more hopeful than contrition. We must confess that we are “nothing else but sin,” for no confession short of this will be the whole truth; and if the Holy Spirit is at work in us, convincing us of sin, there will be no difficulty about making such an acknowledgment–it will spring spontaneously from our lips.

This text affords great comfort to truly awakened sinners: The very circumstance that so grievously discouraged them is here turned into a sign and symptom of a hopeful state! Digging out the foundation is the first thing in building–and a thorough sense of sin is one of the earliest works of grace in the heart. Spiritual lepers, aware of their condition, should take heart from the text and come as they are to Jesus.

For let our debts be what they may, however great or small,

As soon as we have naught to pay, our Lord forgives us all.

‘Tis perfect poverty alone that sets the soul at large:

While we can call one mite our own, we have no full discharge.

The family reading plan for February 26, 2014 Job 27 | 1 Corinthians 13

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Christingle

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Our Daily Bread

1 John 1:1-7

That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. —John 1:9

In the Czech Republic and other places, the Christmas celebration includes “Christingles.” A Christingle is an orange, representing the world, with a candle placed in the top of it to symbolize Christ the light of the world. A red ribbon encircles the orange, symbolizing the blood of Jesus. Four toothpicks with dried fruits are placed through the ribbon into the sides of the orange, representing the fruits of the earth.

This simple visual aid vividly represents the purpose behind Christ’s coming—to bring light into the darkness and to redeem a broken world by shedding His blood.

In John’s account of Christ’s life, the disciple describes Jesus as the Light of the world. He wrote of Christ: “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9). Not only did Christ the Light come to penetrate our world’s darkness, but He is also “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (v.29).

Think of it! The baby of Bethlehem became the living, risen Christ who has rescued us from our sin. And so John instructs us to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). May all who have experienced His rescue find in Jesus the peace of walking in His light. —Bill Crowder

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in Thee tonight. —Brooks

The newborn Christ-child became the Light of the world and the Lamb of God.

Bible in a year: Zephaniah 1-3; Revelation 16