Slaying the Sacrifice

Slaying the Sacrifice

(No. 1772)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 23, 1884,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD." Leviticus 1:5.

You remember that last Lord's Day we spoke of two things vitally
essential to a true sacrifice and the first upon which we then enlarged
was the laying on of the hands of the offerer upon the victim, by which
he accepted it as his sacrifice, and made a typical transfer of his sin
from himself to the victim. [ "Putting the Hand Upon the Head of the
Sacrifice," No. 1771. And Sermon #1780, "The Sprinkling of the Blood of
the Sacrifice" continues the series.] Now, the second essential thing,
of which we are to speak this morning, is this–that the victim, thus
bearing the guilt of the offerer, must be killed–its blood must be
shed before the Lord. Nothing short of its death by violence would
render it an atonement for the offerer–"he shall kill the bullock."

You will find this order continually repeated whenever a sacrifice is
spoken of. As I said on the last occasion, I feel great satisfaction,
in this time of my weakness, in being permitted to speak to you about
essential things. It was always a stigma upon the character of Caligula
that he gathered his warriors, fitted out his ships and, when the
people of Rome looked for some great addition to the empire by the vast
naval expedition, he simply anchored his vessels near the beach and
bade his legions advance upon the shore and gather shells and
pebbles–and carry them home as trophies of their undisputed conquest.
He trifled where he should have struggled. He spent time and labor upon
matters of no importance and neglected the weighty business of his
kingdom.

We shall not do so today–we have nothing to do with shells and stones!
We have to do with matters worth more than gold or pearls–things
essential to eternal life and vital to the salvation of the souls of
men! Neither have I, this morning, a controversial topic upon which to
debate before you. However important controversy may sometimes be, we
are glad to be away from its strife and to consider a doctrine around
which true Believers gather in hearty unity–a doctrine which must be
taken for granted in the Christian Church! A doctrine which lies at the
very root of the Truth of God and in the very heart of true religion!

Without controversy, great is this mystery of godliness, that Christ,
manifest in the flesh, must die for sin, or otherwise sin cannot be put
away. You remember what the Greek said when he heard an old philosopher
with hoary head and gray beard disputing upon how to live. "Goodness!"
he said, "if at his age he is disputing upon that subject, when will he
be able to practice his conclusions should he arrive at one?" Truly, I
may say to you to whom I have so long ministered– if we are forever to
be learning and never coming to a knowledge of the Truth of God, what
will become of us? If we are to have nothing but questionable matters
laid before us, when shall the time come for the actual possession and
enjoyment of the blessings of the Gospel?

At this hour my theme is such that I speak to you without diffidence or
hesitation. In this case, "we believe and are sure." Concerning our
Lord Jesus Christ, the great Sacrifice for sin, it was essential that
He should die, for only through the blood which He shed on Calvary for
human guilt can there be preached among men the remission of sins–

"What can wash away my stain? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can
make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! This is all my
hope and peace– Nothing but the blood of Jesus! This is all my
righteousness–

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!" May the Holy Spirit lay home the blood
of Atonement to our consciences at this time to the glory of God and
our own peace!

I. Concerning the killing and slaying of the offering, our first point
is that it was ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. The pouring out of the blood of
the victim was of the very essence of the type. The death of Christ by
blood-shedding was absolutely necessary to make Him an acceptable
Sacrifice for sin. "It behooved Christ to suffer." He could only enter
into the Presence of God with His own blood. He could not be the grain
of wheat which brings forth much fruit unless He should die. Remember
that although there were important matters about the victim, yet
nothing would have mattered if it had not been slain.

The Israelite brought an unblemished bullock, but the fact of its being
unblemished did not make it an atonement for sin. No doubt many
faultless bullocks and lambs still fed in the plains of Sharon. If the
most perfect animal had gone away from the altar, alive, it would have
effected nothing whatever by way of atonement. It must be unblemished
in order to be an offering at all, but still, its perfections did not
make it a sacrifice until it was killed. No matter what could be said
of that bullock–it may have been the most laborious animal throughout
all Israel; it may have dragged the plow to and fro, or even drawn the
wagon loaded with the harvest–but that was nothing to make it a
sacrifice for sin. It must die and its blood must be sprinkled upon the
altar, or else the offerer has brought no acceptable oblation. All its
life and its labor would not satisfy.

Nor would it be enough to bring the bullock there and dedicate it to
God. Some animals which had been dedicated to the Divine service were
used in the drawing of the wagons which carried the sacred furniture
through the wilderness, but they were not sacrifices, for all that,
neither did they avail for the bearing away of sin. It was
indispensably necessary that the bullock should be without blemish–it
was necessary that it should be voluntarily dedicated to God–but if it
had not been killed, there would have been no presentation of an
offering according to the Divine Law, nor any easing of the conscience
of the Israelite.

And even so, Jesus must die–His perfect Nature, His arduous labor, His
blameless life, His perfect consecration could avail us nothing without
the shedding of His blood for many, for the remission of sin. So far
from His death being a mere adjunct and conclusion of His life, it is
the most important matter connected with Him! It stands in the
foreground. It is the head and front of His redeeming work! We justly
value Him for His example and for His living intercession–but in the
business of Atonement, it is beyond all things necessary that we view
Him as the Lamb slain!

Now notice that this was expressly declared by God in the Jewish Law
book in express words. Kindly turn in this Book of Leviticus to the
17th chapter, and there read in the 11th verse, "For the life of the
flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to
make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes an
atonement for the soul." It is not the burning of the victim, it is not
the flaying of it, nor the washing of it–it is the shedding of its
blood–that is to say, the taking of its life, which makes it an
atonement for sin. I need not quote another Old Testament text, because
this is so completely to the point and so fully covers the whole of the
ground. The atonement is not the animal itself, but the blood of the
animal, which blood represents its life.

As to the entire Scriptures, they teem with statements of this Truth. I
will only call to your recollection a few prominent passages, to
collect them all would be impossible. When a child gathers flowers in
the spring meadows when they are all golden with the kingcups, he fills
his hands once, but he is almost persuaded to throw away what he has
gathered that he may pluck yet more from the inexhaustible store around
him! So do I feel that what I now bring before you might fitly be
exchanged for another selection, yes, for many such, if time did not
fail us. In the Old Testament, one of the most instructive types of
redemption ever given is that of the Passover lamb. When God was about
to smite Egypt He promised to spare His people–and in order to their
safety He bade each family take a lamb, kill it and sprinkle the blood
upon the lintel and the two side posts of their door.

Then they were to stay within the house till morning and the destroying
angel would not touch so much as one of them. What is expressly said by
God Himself about this passing-over? Hear the words and wonderingly
drink in their teaching! "And when I see the blood, I will pass over
you." There was never a fuller type of the redemption of Christ, I
hardly think one so full, as that of the passing-over of Israel through
the blood of the paschal lamb! But the essence of that passing-over is
displayed to us in this sentence–"When I see the blood, I will pass
over you." God's eyes resting

upon the evidence of a life having been taken instead of the sinner's
life, is the reason why He passes over the sinner so that he does not
die!

When Isaiah, the great evangelical Prophet, spoke concerning Him upon
whom the Lord laid our iniquity, he mentions His death as the main
cause of His glorious reward! The last verse of the 53rd chapter of
Isaiah is the culminating point of the whole, and it runs
thus–"Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He
shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His
soul unto death." It is a wonderful expression–it shows that Christ
must die, or else He could not achieve the victory for us, nor share
the spoil. He must pour out His Soul. He must relinquish life, must
pour it out lavishly, as though He possessed much of it! He must make
it flow like water gushing in a river from the smitten rock. This He
must do voluntarily and without stint–"pouring out His soul unto
death"–till none remained and the bottom of the vessel was reached in
death.

It is clear that if He had not done this, He had done nothing, for the
victory comes to Him because of this–not because He kept His Soul free
from spot, not because He preached righteousness in the great
congregation! Not because of anything else which Jesus did was He
rewarded–the victorious deed was that, "He poured out His soul unto
death." This is the verdict, not only of the Holy Spirit in the
Inspired Prophecy, but also of all that dwell with God above, for they
sing with sweet accord before the Throne of God–"A new song, saying,
You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for You
were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."

In the New Testament the passages abound which set forth the doctrine
upon which we are now speaking. Look at that passage in Hebrews 9:12.
There we are told expressly, "Without shedding of blood there is no
remission." There is no remission by the life of Christ, no remission
by the teaching of Christ, no remission by our repentance, no remission
by our faith–apart from the shedding of the blood of Christ, by whom,
alone, sin is put away! This is negative; but in this case the negative
is as strong as the most positive statement could be, for if without
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, then we see how
all-important that blood-shedding becomes! If you desire a positive
statement, a sentence rises to our lips at once–"The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Observe, not the life, not the Incarnation, not the Resurrection, not
the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus, but His blood, His death, the
giving up of His life is that which cleanses us from all sin! This is
that purging with hyssop of which David speaks when he laments his sin
and yet looks to be made whiter than snow by the free pardon of his
God. This Truth is the subject of all true Gospel preaching! Do you not
know how Paul puts it–"The preaching of the Cross is to them that
perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of
God." "For," he says, "the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek
after wisdom: but we preach Christ Crucified." It is not Christ in any
other position, but Christ as Crucified! Christ as made a curse for us
upon the tree–that is the first and most prominent fact that we are
called to preach among the sons of men! "In whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of
His Grace."

Take away this substitutionary death of our Lord and you have taken all
away! Without the death of Jesus there remains nothing for us but
death! Forget the Crucified One and you have forgotten the only name by
which we can be saved! Oh, that all of you would trust in Him. "Whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God." My Brothers and Sisters, this is the
cause of the saints being in Heaven! In the first chapter of the Book
of the Revelation, verse 5, we have the doxology, which begins, "Unto
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Thus
say all the glorified! Further on we are told concerning the saints,
"They have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day
and night in His temple: and He that sits on the throne shall dwell
among them."

This is the true reading of the 14th verse of the last chapter of the
Book of Revelation–"Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they
may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates
into the city." Thus the passport to Glory is the precious blood of
Jesus! Access to God, either on earth or in Heaven, is only by the
blood of the Son of God! Now and then we meet with some squeamish
person who says, "I cannot bear the mention of the word, blood." Such
individuals will be horrified this morning–and it is intended that
they should be! Sin is such a horrible thing that God has appointed
blood to wash it away, that the very horror which the thought of it
causes may give you some notion of the

terrible nature of sin as God judges it! It is not without a dreadful
blood-shedding that your dreadful guilt could by any possibility be
cleansed!

Sin-bearing and suffering for sin can never be pleasant things–neither
should the type which sets it forth be pleasing to the observer. On
great days of sacrifice, the courts of the tabernacle must have seemed
like a shambles, and fitly so, that all might be struck with the deadly
nature of sin. If it is so, that the blood of Jesus is mentioned in the
songs of Heaven, let it not be forgotten in the hymns of earth–

"To Him that loved the souls of men,

And washed us in His blood,

To royal honors raised our head,

And made us priests to God.

To Him let every tongue be praise,

And every heart be love!

All grateful honors paid on earth,

And nobler songs above!"

The Church militant is called upon continually to commemorate the
blood-shedding. So often as we gather to the Communion Table we may ask
the question, "The cup of blessing which we bless–is it not the
communion of the blood of

Christ?"

At the sacred table we show the death of our Lord until He comes. He
says to us in express words, "This is My blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins." He bids you remember
the blood as you drink of the fruit of the vine, saying, "This cup is
the new testament in My blood." Take the blood away and the communion
of the Lord's Supper has gone–there remains nothing but the Popish
"mass" which is so blasphemously called an unbloody sacrifice for the
quick and the dead! Forget not that every person gathering to that
table of communion is, if he is what he professes to be, a consecrated
man and how comes he to be so but for this reason–"You are not your
own, for you are bought with a price"?

We are redeemed unto God by the blood of Jesus. "You were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." It is
the blood that makes you what you are–and the blood that permits you
to enjoy what God has prepared for you–so that in every way you see
the absolute essentiality of the death of the great Sacrifice. Here let
us further consider that death is the result and penalty of sin–"The
soul that sins, it shall die." "Sin, when it is finished, brings forth
death." "The wages of sin is death." It was right that the Substitute
should bear a similar chastisement to that which would have fallen upon
the sinner. Our Savior did not endure annihilation, for that is not the
meaning of death–neither the first nor the second death should be so
explained.

Jesus was not annihilated, but He bore the pain, the loss, the ruin,
the separation, the overwhelming which is intended by death. He was
even forsaken of God, so that He cried out, "My God, My God, why have
You forsaken Me?" The penalty was death and, therefore, Jesus was
exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. He laid down His life for us and
became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross. The Law of God
demanded death and death has fallen upon our great Covenant Head. "In
due time Christ died for the ungodly." There is great comfort to my
soul in this, for if the Lord Jesus has paid the capital sentence,
nothing remains unpaid! "He that is dead is freed from sin." That is to
say, if the law has killed the man, it can ask no more of him–he must
be free from further charge of guilt.

When the criminal has died, he has suffered the last sentence of the
law, and is now beyond its jurisdiction. Our Lord Jesus has died–the
Just for the unjust, and as that which He has borne is nothing less
than death, it must cover all that is due to sin–

"He bore on the Tree the sentence for me, And now both the Surety and
sinner are free." Since Jesus has died unto sin once, He dies no more.
Death has no more dominion over Him. He has borne the last and most
far-reaching penalty of the Law of God and there can be nothing left
upon the score. His Atonement was a complete redemption. If you were in
debt and were bound to pay so much every month, you would be very
grateful to a friend who should step in and pay several installments
for you. But if one of more liberal spirit discharged the whole amount,
your gratitude would be deep and overflowing!

Let us rejoice that the Lord Jesus Christ has evidently, by His
substitutionary Sacrifice, put away not a part and a portion of our
sin, but the whole of it! By bearing death, itself, He has removed all
our legal obligations and has placed us beyond the reach of further
demands. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made
a curse for us." Now we may sing to Him who has removed our
transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west.

This death of Christ was also absolutely necessary for the clearing of
the troubled conscience. An awakened conscience will never be quieted
with anything less than the blood of the Lamb–it rests at the sight of
the great Sacrifice, but nowhere else. A conscience smarting under a
sense of sin is an unequalled fountain of misery. Let Conscience once
begin to scourge the sinner and he will find it to be the most terribly
tormentor out of Hell! I do not know whether the Prophet Isaiah was
really sawn asunder by Manasseh, but we know that some of the saints
suffered that torture. Yet, surely, a saw that should gradually cut a
man in half from head to foot is a faint picture of what your
conscience can do when it begins to operate upon the mind with all its
cutting force!

What a Divine Atonement that must be which calms the storms of an
accusing conscience and gives the soul a lasting peace! Some may trifle
with their consciences, but where God is at work, men dare not attempt
it. The most important thing in the world to a sensible man is the
condition of his conscience–if that is restless, he is in an evil
case. Thomas Fuller, in his quaint way, tells us that he, one day,
asked a neighboring minister to preach for him, when he called upon a
short visit. "No," said the other, "I cannot, for I am not prepared."
"But," said Fuller, "though you are unprepared, I am sure you will
preach well enough to satisfy my people." His friend answered, "That
may be true, but I could not preach well enough to satisfy my own
conscience."

There's the rub with a true man. We cannot live well enough to satisfy
our conscience and we cannot pray well enough to satisfy our
conscience! A really tender conscience is as greedy as the horseleech
which cries, "Give! Give!"– it asks for perfection and, as we cannot
render it by reason of sin–Conscience will never cease its outcries
till it is quieted with the precious blood of Jesus Christ! Once let us
see Jesus offered up upon the Cross for sin and our heart feels that it
is enough! When God is well pleased, we may well be satisfied and get
on our way enjoying peace with God from that time and forever. Thus
much, then, upon our first point–for many reasons it was absolutely
essential that our great Sacrifice should die.

II. Secondly, we will, with great delight, meditate upon the fact that
the death of Christ is EFFECTUALLY PREVALENT. Other offerings, though
duly slain, did nothing thoroughly, did nothing lastingly, did nothing
really, by way of expiation, for the Scripture says, "It is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."
The true purification is only found in the death of the Son of God!
When our Lord was fastened to the Cross and cried, "It is finished,"
and gave up the ghost, He had finished transgression, made an end of
sin and brought in everlasting righteousness. By offering one Sacrifice
for sins, forever, the work was done, the accusing record was
altogether blotted out!

Why was there such cleansing power in the Redeemer's blood? I answer,
for several reasons. First, because of the glory of His Person. Just
think who He was! He was none other than the, "Light of light, very God
of very God." He counted it not robbery to be equal with God, yet He
took upon Himself our nature, and was born of a virgin. His holy Soul
dwelt in a perfectly pure Body and to this, the Godhead was united.
"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Now, for
this glorious, this sinless, this Divine Person, to die, is an amazing
thing! For the Lord of angels, Creator of all things, sustaining all
things by the power of His Word–for Him, I say, to bow His head to
death as a vindication of the Law. is an inconceivably majestic
recompense to the honor of eternal justice!

Never could justice be more gloriously exalted in the presence of
intelligent beings than by the Lord of All submitting Himself to its
requirements! There must be an infinite merit about His death–a merit
unutterable, immeasurable! I think if there had been a million worlds
to redeem, their redemption could not have needed more than this
"sacrifice of Himself." If the whole universe, teeming with worlds as
many as the sands on the seashore, had required to be ransomed, that
one giving up of the ghost would have sufficed as a full price for them
all! However gross the insults which sin may have rendered to the Law
of God, they must be all forgotten since Jesus magnified the Law so
abundantly and made it so honorable by His death. I believe in the
special design of our Lord's atoning death, but I will yield to no one
in my belief in the absolutely infinite value of the offering which our
Lord Jesus has presented! The glory of His Person renders the idea of
limitation an insult.

Next, consider the perfection of our Lord's Character. In Him was no
sin, nor tendency to sin. He was "holy, harmless, undefiled and
separate from sinners." In His Character we see every virtue at its
best! He is incomparable. If He, therefore, died, "the Just for the
unjust," what must be the merit of such a death? His righteousness has
such sweetness in it that all the ill-savor of our transgression is put
away–it is no wonder that by the obedience of such an One as this
Second Adam many are made righteous! Think next, dear Friends, of the
nature of the death of Christ and you will be helped to see how
effectual it must be. It was not a death by disease, or old age–but a
death of violence, well symbolized by the killing of the victim at the
altar. He did not die in His bed, sleeping Himself out of the world–He
was taken by wicked hands, scourged, spit upon and then fastened up to
die a felon's death! His was a cruel doom! Human malice could scarcely
have invented any method of execution more sure to create pain and
anguish than death by hanging on a tree, fastened by nails driven
through hands and feet!

In addition to His physical pain, our Lord was sorely vexed in spirit.
His soul-sufferings were the soul of His sufferings–"He was
exceedingly sorrowful even unto death." Heaven refused its smile. His
mind was left in darkness. To be frowned upon of God was a part of the
punishment of our sin and Jesus Christ was not spared that direst and
bitterest woe. God, Himself, turned away His face from Him and left Him
in the dark! He died a dishonorable death, yes, a cursed death–"As it
is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." Now, for the Son
of God to die, and die in such a manner, was a marvel! Never martyr
died crying that he was forsaken of his God! That desertion was the
lowest depth of the Savior's grief. And since He died thus, I can well
understand that He has, thereby, made an ample Atonement for the sins
of all who believe in Him. Oh, great Atonement of my blessed Lord, my
sins are swallowed up in You! Looking to the Cross and to the pierced
heart of Jesus, my Lord, I am assured that if I am washed in His blood
I shall be whiter than snow!

And then think of the spirit in which our Lord and Savior bore all
this. Martyrs who have died for the faith have only paid the debt of
Nature a little before its time, for they would have died, sooner or
later. But our Lord needed not to have died at all! He said of His
life, "No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself." The
pouring out of His soul unto death was not in the power of man until
the Lord was pleased to yield Himself a Sacrifice. "He gave Himself for
me." He laid down His life for His sheep. Out of love to God and man He
willingly drank of the appointed cup–the only compulsion which He knew
was His own desire to bless His chosen. "For the joy that was set
before Him, He endured the Cross, despising the shame." Oh, it was
splendidly lived, that life of our Lord! The Spirit which guided it,
lights it up with an unrivalled brightness! Oh, it was splendidly died,
that death of our Lord, for He went up to the Cross with such willing
submission that it became His Throne!

The crown of thorns was such a diadem as emperor never wore! It was
made of the ended sorrows of His people– sorrows ended by their
encircling His own majestic head! On the Cross He routed His enemies
and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it! In the act
of death He nailed the handwriting of ordinances that were against us
to His Cross and so destroyed the condemning power of the Law of God. O
glorious Christ, there must be infinite merit in such a death as Yours,
endured in such a style! And then I bid you to remember, once more, the
Covenant Character which Christ sustained, for when He was crucified,
we thus judge that One died for all, and in Him all died. He was not
slain as a private individual, but He was put to death as a
Representative Man.

God had entered into Covenant with Christ and He was the Surety of that
Covenant, therefore His blood is called "the blood of the Everlasting
Covenant." Remember the expression of the Apostle where he speaks of
"the blood of the Covenant with which we are sanctified"? Neither the
First nor the Second Covenant were dedicated without blood–but the New
Covenant was established by no blood of beasts, but by the blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep! When He offered
Himself, He was accepted in that Character and capacity in which God
had regarded Him from before the foundations of the world, so that what
He did, He did as the Covenant-Head of His people. It was meet that He
should die for us, seeing He had assumed the position of the Second
Adam, being constituted our federal Head and Representative. The
chastisement of our peace was upon Him because He condescended to be
one flesh with us–and with His stripes we are healed because there is
a Covenant union between us.

Thus much upon the effectual prevalence of that great Sacrifice–a
theme so vast that one might enlarge upon it throughout all time!

III. Beloved Friends, it seems to me that no one will now forbid my
saying, thirdly, that the fact of the necessity for the death of the
Lord Jesus is INTENSELY INSTRUCTIVE. Listen while I repeat the lessons
very briefly–you can enlarge upon them when you go from here to
meditate in solitude.

Must the victims die? Must Jesus bleed? Then let us see what is claimed
by our righteous God. He claims our life–He claimed of the offering
its blood, which is the life thereof– He justly requires of each of us
our whole life. We must not dream of satisfying God with formal
prayers, or occasional alms-deeds, or outward ceremonies, or a
half-hearted reverence. He must have our heart, soul, mind and
strength–all that makes our true self–the very life of our being.
Dead works are worthless before the living God. He claims our life and
He will have it one way or another–either by its being perfectly spent
in His service, or else by its being smitten down in death as the
righteous punishment of rebellion! Nor is the demand unjust. Did He not
make us and does He not preserve us? Should He not receive homage from
the creatures of His hands?

Next, must the sacrifice die? Then see the evil of sin. It is not such
a trifle as certain men imagine. It is a deadly evil, a killing poison.
God, Himself, in human form, took human guilt upon Himself–the sin was
none of His–it was only imputed to Him, but when He was made sin for
us and bore our iniquities, there was no help for it, He must die! Even
He must die! It was not possible that the cup should pass from Him. A
voice was heard from the Throne of God–"Awake, O Sword, against My
Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, says the Lord of
Hosts: smite the Shepherd!" So unflinching is Divine Justice that it
will not, cannot spare sin, let it be where it may! No, not even when
that guilt is not the Person's own, but is only taken up by Him as a
Substitute. Sin, wherever it is, must be smitten with the sword of
death–this is a Law of God fixed and unalterable. Who, then, will take
pleasure in transgression? Will not every man who loves his own life
awaken himself to fight against iniquity? Sinner, shake off your sin,
as Paul shook off the viper into the fire! Do not dally with it. Pray
God that you may have done with it. It is a horrible and a grievous
thing and God says to you "Oh, do not this abominable thing which I
hate." God help you to flee from all iniquity.

Next, learn the love of God. Behold how He loved you and me! He must
punish sin, but He must save us–and so He gives His Son to die in our
place. I shall not go too far if I say that in giving His Son, the Lord
God gave Himself, for Jesus is One with the Father. We cannot divide
the Substance though we distinguish the Persons–thus God, Himself,
made Atonement for sin committed against Himself! The Church is "the
flock of God which He has purchased with His own blood." Wonder of
wonders! Truly love is strong as death as we see it in the heart of
God! "Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet perhaps for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commends His love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." This is a
heaped-up marvel! Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed
upon us!

Next, learn how Christ has made an end of sin. Sin is laid on Him and
He dies–then sin is dead and buried! If it is sought for, it cannot be
found. Speak offinality–this is the truest and surest finality that
ever was, or ever shall be! "If a man dies shall he live again?" Not as
before. If Christ died, what is there after death? Nothing but the
Judgment and lo, He comes to that judgment–"Being raised from the dead
He dies no more, death has no more dominion over Him." This is our joy
because neither sin nor death can have dominion over us for whom Christ
died, and who died in Him! Christ has made an end of sin. His one
offering has perfected, forever, the set-apart ones. These are but a
few of the great lessons which we may learn from the necessity that the
Sacrifice should be slain. I pray you learn them well. May they be
engraved on your hearts by the Holy Spirit!

IV. And so I shall close by saying that this blessed subject is not
only full of instruction, but it is ENERGETICALLY INSPIRING. First,
this inspires us with the spirit of consecration. When I think that I
could not be saved except by the death of Jesus, then I feel that I am
not my own, but bought with a price. I remember reading of Charles
Simeon, the famous evangelical clergyman of Cambridge, that he was, one
day, thrown from his horse and was fearful that he had sustained
serious injury. When he had recovered from the force of the fall, he
stretched out his right arm, felt it, and finding that there was not a
bone broken, he consecrated that arm, anew, to the living God who had
so graciously preserved it.

Then he examined his left arm and found it all right–and so held that
up and dedicated it anew unto Divine service. He did the same with his
head, his legs and his whole body. As I was thinking over this subject,
I felt as if I must go over my body, soul and spirit, and dedicate all
to that dear Savior by whose blood I am altogether redeemed from death
and Hell. "Bless the Lord, O my Soul: and all that is within me, bless
His holy name!" As I am not cast away from God. As I

am not destroyed. As I am not in torment, not in Hell–I dedicate to
God my blood-bought spirit, soul and body from this day forth to be the
Lord's as long as I live! Brothers and Sisters, do you not feel the
same? I pray God the Holy Spirit to make you do so in a very practical
manner. This doctrine of the death of Christ ought to inspire you till
you sing–

"Jesus, spotless Lamb of God,

You have bought me with Your blood.

I would value nothing beside Jesus–

Jesus crucified!

I am Yours and Yours alone.

This I gladly, fully own.

And, in all my works and ways,

Only now would seek Your praise." Next, this Truth of God should create
in us a longing after the greatest holiness, for we should say, "Did
sin kill my Savior? Then I will kill sin! Could I not be saved from sin
except by His precious blood? Then, O sin, I will be revenged upon you!
I will drive you out by the help of God's Spirit! I will not endure
you, nor harbor you. I will make no provision for the flesh. As sin was
the death of Christ for me, so Christ shall be the death of sin in me."
Does not this inspire you with great love for the Lord Jesus? Can you
look at His dear wounds and not be wounded with love for Him? Are not
His wounds as mouths which plead with you to yield Him all your hearts?
Can you gaze upon His face, wet with bloody sweat, and then go away and
be ensnared with the world's painted beauties? Heard you ever of a
ruler dressed in such robes of love as those which Jesus wore? Did ever
Love use such sacred means to win the beloved heart as Christ has done?
What can any one of us do but answer Him thus–

"Here, Lord, I give myself away

'Tis all that I can do"?

Do you not think that this solemn Truth of God should inspire us with
great zeal for the salvation of others? As Christ laid down His life
for us, should we not lay ourselves out for perishing souls and, if
necessary, lay down our lives for the Brethren? Should we not practice
self-denial in our labors to bring men to Jesus? Should we not joyfully
toil and cheerfully bear reproach, if by any means we may save some? I
think if this subject should go home to our hearts, it would be
beneficial to us in a thousand ways and make us better soldiers of the
Cross, closer followers of the Lamb. I pray that God the Holy Spirit
may place it in the center of our souls and keep it there! It will
bring with it peace and rest. Why should we be troubled, since Jesus
died? It will fill our mouths with praises!

Hallelujah to the Lamb that was slain, who has redeemed us by His
blood! It will draw us into closer communion with Him. If He loved us
and died for us, we must live with Him, and in Him, and to Him. Surely
it will also make us long to behold Him! Oh, for the vision of the
Crucified! When shall we see the face that was so marred for us? When
shall we behold the hands and feet which still bear the nail marks? And
when shall we look into the wounded side bejeweled with the spear
wound? Oh, when shall we be done with all our sins and griefs, forever
to behold Him shine and see Him still before us? Oh, when shall we be–

"Far from a world of grief and sin, With God eternally shut in"?

Till then our hope, our solace, our glory, our victory are all found in
the blood of the Lamb, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen!