Why the Blood Saves

By Dr. Jack Hyles

A preacher made some careless statements about the blood of Jesus. I'm not going to make any attack on him, but I want you to know what the blood of Jesus is all about. Tonight I'm going to teach you why the blood saves.

Hebrews 9:1-10 talks about the tabernacle in the wilderness on earth. Now it goes onto say in verses 11-14, "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifleth 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 con-science from dead works to serve the living God?"

I want to show you in the Bible why it is necessary for the blood of Jesus to be shed and why without that blood you couldn't be saved. You will learn why that blood has saving efficacy. I want you to follow me very carefully as we study together on the subject of the importance of the blood of Christ, and the fact that it does save.

I'm doing something else tonight that I don't do often. I have a hard time preaching a sermon or teaching a Bible lesson that doesn't have a practical application. I sometimes do, but not often. Tonight I'm teaching just for teaching's sake. I have no practical application at all. I don't scuffle over trivials. I try, as best I can, to get along with preacher brethren. I try to make peace instead of war. I try to preach what I believe, but I do not bring personality into it. However, there comes a time when the difference is not trivial.

For example, I have with me tonight a copy of a page of Bob Jones University's Faith for the Family. It is quoting a well-known pastor. Thank God, he is not a Baptist, but he is a well-known pastor on the West Coast. He says, "It was not Jesus' bleeding, but His dying. It was His death, not His blood. The shedding of blood has nothing to do...." This same preacher was written and asked to give his side of it. In other words, Bob Jones University put his name here, and so he was written and asked to give his side. I have a letter here with his signature on it. This is actually a letter from him, and I'm reading what he wrote. "It was not the blood of Jesus that saves." He says, "Yes, the blood of Christ is precious, but as precious as it is, it could not save." He makes other statements like that.

What he says is that it is the death of Jesus that saves and not the blood of Jesus that saves. Now, on the surface that may seem to be straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, but you won't think that when I get through tonight teaching you what the Bible says about the importance of the blood of Christ. By the way, this same preacher said, "It was His death for sin that saves, not His blood. Because of some traditional hymns there is an emotional attachment to the blood, but it doesn't save."

Well, we sing:

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel's veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, (Jesus' blood)

Lose all their guilty stains:

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day;

And there may I, though vile as he,

Wash all my sins away:

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

He says in his letter here, "Mine is the historic Bible-believing position." No! Historic Christianity has always believed that" blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." (I John 1:7b) A lot of you folks know the blood saves, but why? Somebody asks, "The blood of Jesus that squirted out of His body - what does that have to do with salvation?" You know it has something to with it, but you don't know what it is; you will know very soon exactly what it is.

To lay the foundation, I've got to go to I Corinthians 15.1w you to follow me very carefully. By the way, I have no axes to grind I'm just going to teach you the Bible tonight. I'm not going to to hurt anybody. I Corinthians 15:1, "Moreove,; brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand." This is the Gospel that Paul preached. Now let's see what that Gospel is. "By which also ye saved...." I want you to notice that, "By which also ye are saved. Whatever this Gospel is, it's the Gospel that saves. All right, look at verse 3 and we find what it is, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures "-but that isn't all of it. That isn't all the Gospel. If you simply teach that Jesus died in your place, you haven't preached all of the Gospel. Verse 4 says, 'And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."

Now what is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? The Gospel by which you are saved - it says right here that the Gospel is the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not just the death of Christ, but the burial of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. Now we are going to go into that over and over again.Let's go to the Bible and find what it says about the blood of Christ. I Corinthians 5:7, "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened For even Chnst our passover is sacrificed for us." Now, look at me. Christ our what? Passover. All right, so Christ is our passover. In order to find out what the passover is we've got to go back to Exodus 12. So, go back to Exodus 12. Use your Bibles all the way through tonight, and let me have your attention. Have your Bible open and read with me.

In I Corinthians 5:7, Christ is our what? Passover. He is sacrificed for us. He is our passover. Now if He is our passover, then we've got to find out what the passover is because Christ is our passover. Look at Exodus 12:1, "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." (This corresponds with our month of April, by the way.) Verse 3, "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying, In the tenth day of this month (That's about our April 10) they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house." Look down to verse 5, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening."

Now look at me for a minute. They shall kill it, but how are they going to kill it? They could club it to death. They could smother it. They could burn it. You see, killing it is not the answer by itself. It is supposed to die, but suppose they smothered the lamb; suppose they choked the lamb; suppose that they burned the lamb; suppose they beat the lamb until it died; all of those methods would have killed the lamb. However, that's not enough. The killing of the lamb is not enough. That's the passover lamb.

What is Christ? Christ is our what? Passover. All right, is killing Christ enough? No, it took more than that. If Christ dying for us is enough, then He could have been choked to death. He could have been smothered. No, it had to be more than that.

Let's see what else happened. Look at verse 7, 'And they take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts andon the upper doorpost of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." Look at vers e 12. We're skipping some because of time. "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt execute judgment: l am the LORD. And the blood shall be tc for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood I will pass over you...." It didn't say, "When I see a dead lamb will pass over you." It says, "when I see the blood, I will pass you.

Now, Christ is our what? Passover. All right, so He's got to be a what? A lamb. He's got to be a male lamb. He's got to male lamb without blemish. He must be examined. For four days they examined him to prove he was without blemish. For 33 years they examined our Saviour, and His enemies said, "I find nofault in Him." The man who wanted to find fault more than any else said, "I find no fault in Him." That's why Isaiah said, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb...." (Isaiah 53:7b) You see? 'A lamb to the slaughter... as sheep before her shearers is dumb." What was He? He was a lamb. He was a male lamb. He was what else? He was wilthout blemish. What else? He died, but that isn't all.

To be the passover lamb, His blood must be applied. Lets suppose that here's a Jewish family, and let's suppose that Jewish family had taken their lamb-by the way, a male lamb,a lamb without blemish, they had observed that lamb for four days and found him to be a lamb without blemish - and took a blanket of some kind of skin, grabbed the lamb, and put the cover over its mouth, and the lamb suffocated to death. Now, when the angel passed over, would that have been all that was neces No, that lamb's blood had to be applied! It had to be applied on the doorposts and lentil of the house.

Somebody says, "Brother Hyles, that was simply so that the angel of the lord came by, God could see that the lamb had been killed." That's silly. You could have taken some blood from the lamb next door. No, God could see the lamb. If the blood was only to show that the lamb had been slain, the same God Who could pass by the front door of a house could pass by the back alley too. No, the truth is, Christ is our passover.

Let's suppose this. Let's suppose there is a family that doesn't smother their lamb, they don't club their lamb to death, they don't choke the lamb, they kill him and they shed his blood, but let's suppose they don't put the blood on the doorposts. Now, they obeyed God. God said, "Choose a Lamb." They did. God said, "Choose a lamb without blemish." It was without blemish. God said, "Choose a male." It was a male. "Keep him up and prove that he is without blemish." They kept him up and proved that he was without blemish. Then they killed him and left his blood there where they killed him. Now, when the death angel passed over, would he have taken the firstborn of the household? Yes or no? If the death is all that's necessary, then if the lamb was killed, and if the blood spilled, was that all that was necessary? No, the blood had to be applied on the doorposts of the house. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." Not, "When I see the carcass, I will pass over you." "When I see the blood, I will pass over you.

You say, "Why do you make such an issue out of this?" Because if you're not washed in the blood, you're not going to go to Heaven when you die. You see? I mean, the blood saves! I'll show you some Scriptures after a while. The blood saves! The blood of that lamb, as I will show you after a while, is just as much a part of the salvation of the soul as the death of that lamb is.

First we found that Christ is our what? Our passover. Now to be our passover, he had to be a what? Lamb. What sex? Male. Without what? Blemish. He had to be what? Kept and then killed. Then his blood had to be what? Applied on the doorposts. Now, if He is our passover, all of that has to be done.

I want you to turn to Romans 5:11, 'And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." So Christ not only is the passover, but He is the what? The atonement. He is the what? Atonement. Say it again. The what? Atonement. Now, we are going to go learn about the day of atonement. So far we've learned that Christ is our what? Passover. To be the passover lamb, the lamb had to die and have his blood applied. Is that right? All right, but He is more than that. He is also our atonement.

Let's go to the day of atonement in the Old Testament. Turn to the book of Leviticus. We haven't got time to read about all of these rituals, but I want to pick out some key places. Under the heading, "CHAPTER 16," in your Scofield Bible, it says the day of what? Atonement. It happened once a year. Look at it now. Leviticus 16:3, "Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering." Now, look down to verse 6 and we'll see what he did with that bullock. 'AndAaron shall offer his bullock ofthe sin-offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house." Look at verse 14, 'And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle ofthe blood with his finger seven times."

Follow me very carefully. We're going to let this platform represent the tabernacle. Now there are only two places I want you to notice tonight: One is out here in the court of the tabernacle; that's the place where the lamb was slain; that's the brazen altar. Now, on the day of atonement a bullock was slain on the brazen altar. There is a curtain that leads into a good-sized room, 15' x 30', and there are three pieces of furniture in that room. Then you go on to the second curtain called the "inner veil." Inside that is a second room, 15' x 15'. Inside that second room is what was called the "mercy seat," which was the top of the ark of the covenant. Nobody could go inside that room but one man, and that was the high priest, and he could go only one day a year. That is the day we are talking about - the day of atonement.

Who is our atonement? Jesus. Jesus is our what? Atonement. He is also our what? Passover. All right, on the day of atonement the high priest would take the blood of the bullock that was killed and place the blood of that bullock in a basin. That blood was taken by the high priest into the first room and then on into the second room where God's very presence dwelt above that mercy seat. Seven times he would sprinkie blood on that mercy seat. That blood on that mercy seat was there in the presence of God's Shekinah glory - the presence of God Himself.

Listen to me, folks. If that blood had just been left at the altar,not a single Jew would have had one sin forgiven. It's not the blood at the foot of the altar; it's the blood on the mercy seat. So, it isn't just the fact that the bullock died. If the bullock had died and shed his blood, that would not have forgiven one sin, but that blood had to be taken by the high priest inside the holy of holies and sprinkled seven times on the mercy seat. The same blood that was shed out there on the altar is now sprinkled here on this seat. When God saw it, God said, "Sin is atoned for!" and the day of atonement was over.

Now follow me carefully. The Bible says Jesus was our Passover. What else was he? Atonement. When John the Baptist pointed to Jesus, he said, "Behold the lamb of God." So what was he? He was our sacrifice on this altar out here. This is a picture of Calvary. However, ladies and gentlemen, the blood on this altar out here will not get us to Heaven. The blood has got to get the heavenly mercy seat. The Bible says that the earthly tabernacle was a type of the heavenly tabernacle. Just as the blood of that lamb had to get in there on the holy of holies mercy seat, even so the real blood of the real Lamb must get to the real mercy seat in the real presence of God. Brother, if the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, is not sprinkled on the mercy seat in the glory world you and I are of all men most miserable. That's the only hope we've got.

Follow me carefully. Jesus was our lamb. Now let's go

I Corinthians 15:1-4. What's the Gospel? Death, burial and resurrection of Christ. That's the Gospel - death, burial and resurrection - so we have to have all three in our passover and all three in our atonement. If Christ is our atonement, He ha~s to die. Jesus was two things for us: He was our sacrifice Who shed His blood, and He was our High Priest Who took His blood into the presence of God Himself.

I'm going to be the high priest-not Jesus now-I'm going be the Old Testament high priest. I haven't' got time to go into how he changed his garments, etc. I haven't got time for that. All I want to talk about tonight is the blood. The high priest took that blood in the basin once a year on the day of atonement and walked inside and sprinkled that blood seven times on the mercy seat. Jesus was the Lamb Who died, but He also was the High Priest. This is why Jesus must have been raised from the dead. See? As our sacrifice He died, but good night, there's our High Priest on the altar.He's dead! Well, how can we get the blood into the holy of holies? Only the high priest can go inside the holy of holies. We've got to get Him up. So after three days and three nights, He arose from the dead! He - Who was our Lamb, Who died on cross - rose! Why? Because He had to be our High Priest too.

Now, you listen to me. Jesus as the sacrifice is not the total Saviour. Unless Jesus is at the right hand of the Father pleading our case tonight as our high priest, we're still not saved. There are three parts to the Gospel. First is the what? Death. Then the...? Burial. Why was the resurrection necessary? Because the high priest, Jesus, had to be raised from the dead so He could become our high priest and take the blood into the holy of holies.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, He saw Mary Magdalene. She said, "Rabboni," which means, "Master." He said, "Don't touch me. Touch me not!" Why? Because nobody could touch the high priest from the time he took that blood from the altar and walked to that mercy seat. If anybody did touch him, the sacrifice was invalid.

Jesus died on the cross as our Lamb. That's all that preacher in his letter says is necessary, but he's full of prunes! I mean, if he's right, then the lamb on the altar is all that is necessary, blessed be God, we've got to get that blood on the mercy seat! To get that blood on the mercy seat, we've got to have a resurrected Saviour because He is our High Priest!

Why couldn't Mary Magdalene touch Jesus? Because He was on His way with the blood to Heaven to sprinkle His blood on the heavenly mercy seat in the presence of Jehovah God Himself in the heavenly tabernacle not made with hands. Mary could not touch Him.

Wait a minute. He came back a little while later when the disciples were in the upper room. Thomas came in and said "I won't believe it until I see the nail prints." Jesus said, "Reach

hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side." Why did He tell Thomas to touch Him? Because since He said to Mary Magdalene, "Don't touch Me," He had been to Heaven, sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat and had come back; now He could be touched. So He was our atonement.

Are you following me? Let's suppose all we have is that lamb on the altar. Were the people's sins atoned for? Yes or no? No! God's presence was not out there in the courtyard. God's presence was inside the holy of holies. The blood must be applied!

That's why when Christmas Evans died, young preachers gathered around him and said, "Give us young preachers a word of advice before you die." The old preacher lifted himself up on his deathbed and said, "Young men, preach the blood in the basin!" What was he saying? The blood at the cross is not enough. Listen. The very blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross is on the heavenly mercy seat tonight in the presence of God. Jesus is sitting on the right hand of the Father, and every time you and I sin, Jesus says, "Father, there's My blood. It keeps on cleansing them from all sin.

I'm not trying to be picky. I'm simply saying, if you don't get that blood to the mercy seat, you won't go to Heaven. The Gospel is the death, burial and the resurrection! If all Jesus did was die for us, there is no need for the resurrection.

Turn to Romans 5:9. Here it is in black and white. "Much more then, being now justified by his blood...." Look at me a minute. "Justified by his blood." The Bible says that the resurrected Christ justified us. What does it mean? It means that His blood was applied only after He was raised from the dead and became our high priest. "Justified by his blood"- there it is! Say all you want to say that we're not saved by the blood, but it says right there that we're justified by His blood. You say, "That's not what it means." Well, that's what it says. Romans 5:9, 10, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if; when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Look at me. Somebody says, "There it is. It says, 'by his life,'

So if you live like Jesus, you get saved." That's not what it is saying It's saying we were sinners. Where do you come as a sinner? You come to Calvary. What happened? By His death we were reconciled. "Reconciled" means "getting back together." It does not mean staying back together. The death of Christ got us back together, but to keep us back together we are kept saved by His life. What life? His life at the right hand of the Father.

What, in the name of common sense, can Jesus do at the right hand of the Father if He doesn't have the blood to show He died for us? We were sinners away from God. We came to Calvary "At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light," and trusted Christ and got reconciled by His death. I got reconciled to Christ 48 years ago by His death, but for 48 years I've been kept saved by His life, which means He rose from the dead, took His blood to the heavenly mercy seat and sprinkled it there; and Jesus Christ, sitting on the right hand of the Father, keeps on cleansing me from all sin by His blood on the mercy seat! That's why blood saves. That's why, justifiably so, you sing:

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

what can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

There are two things Jesus is. We found in I Corinthians. He is our what? Our passover. For passover they had to have what? A lamb. What sex? Male. Without what? Blemish. He had to be kept up and examined. Then he had to be what? Killed. Then his blood had to be applied to the doorposts. If there is no blood on the doorposts, you could kill a thousand lambs, but your firstborn is going to be killed! Do you know what that doctrine is that we're saved by His death only? It is nothing but Roman Catholic doctrine. It is crucifix stuff. Yeah, let's get a crucifix and rub it. No, sir! If I ever wear anything around my neck, it will not be a crucifix; it will be an empty tomb! What the crucifix represents only reconciled me to God, but the empty tomb keeps me with God. I'm kept saved by His life. I'm reconciled by His death and kept saved by His life.

Hebrews 7:25b, "...seeing he ever liveth to make intercession them." That's the life it's talking about in Romans 5:10. There are two things He had to be: the lamb and the high priest. Jesus is our what? Passover. The lamb had to be killed and the blood put on the what? Doorposts. No doorpost blood, no salvation. Jesus is not only our passover, but our what? Atonement. The lamb killed on the altar is not all of it. That's necessary, but not all of it. The blood had to be taken inside the holy of holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat by the high priest-Jesus is our Lamb, and Jesus is our resurrected High Priest!

It is very interesting. In the book of Revelation over and over again He is called the Lamb. "I saw the lamb" is stated often in Revelation, but it is very interesting that in the epistles not much is said about Him as a lamb. Paul speaks about Him in most of Hebrews as High Priest. When you were unsaved, you needed a lamb. As soon as you got that lamb, you needed that blood sprinkled on the mercy seat - the resurrected Christ.

Let's go to something else. Last Sunday morning we took the Lord's Supper. What did we take first? The bread. Why? That represents what of Christ? The body. His body was what? Broken. He died. So the first thing we remembered last Sunday morning was the death of Christ. That's necessary. Then, after we got through with that, we drank the juice. That represents the what? The blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is the resurrected Lord. He took His blood as the high priest to the mercy seat. So last Sunday morning in the bread we celebrated His death, and in the juice we celebrated His resurrection.

Let's go a step further. Turn to Leviticus 14. 1 want you to notice the cleansing of the leper. Leprosy, of course, is a symbol of sin. The outstanding type of sin in all the Bible is leprosy. Look at Leviticus 14:1-5, 'And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest: And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. What does that represent? Jesus, our sacrifice, killed in a what? Earthen vessel. He was clothed upon with flesh. Verse 6, 'As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field."

Here are two birds. All right, one bird is going to be what? He is going to be killed. I just killed that bird. Did I smother him? No. I shed his blood. Now then, we take the second bird, the living bird, and take the blood of the first bird that is dead, and we dip that second bird down into the blood of the first bird and let him go into an open field. What does that picture? The first bird pictures the death of Christ, but that isn't enough. You've got to have the resurrection of Christ. That bird wasn't let go in the open field until he had the blood with him. So the first bird pictures the Lamb The second bird pictures the High Priest taking off to Heaven with the blood!

Every time a leper was cleansed, the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ were both pictured. The great purpose of the resurrection of Christ was because we needed more than a lamb to save us; we needed a high priest to save us. The high priest needed to take the blood to the presence of God. That's why you have that picture.

Consider what they did at the consecration of the priest. When they consecrated the priest, they took the blood of a sacrifice. The first thing they did was touch the lobe of his right ear with that blood. Then they touched the thumb of his right hand with that blood. Then they touched the big toe of his right foot with that blood. Why? Because the blood was necessary for the priest to be anointed and consecrated. Why the lobe of the right ear? Because the Gospel of Christ is first heard! It's not seen in a play; it's not seen in a movie; it's heard. Second, the thumb of the right hand - it's taken. Third, the big toe of the right foot - it's carried to other people. What I'm saying is that a priest couldn't even be consecrated without the blood.

If the death was all it was, Christ is not our passover because the blood was not applied. If the death of Jesus was all it took to save us, He's not our atonement because the blood is not at the mercy seat in Heaven. If the death was all it took to save us, we didn't need to drink the juice last Sunday morning; we could have taken just the bread. However, it takes more than the bread; it takes the juice because it takes more than the broken body. It takes the shed blood, but not only the shed blood, but the applied blood of Christ. By the way, when I win a soul to Christ, I always mention the resurrection. I always do. I always tell the person, "Jesus Christ paid your penalty for sin, and after 72 hours, He rose again for your justification." Why did He rise? He rose because He bad to take His blood to the presence of our God. He as our High Priest is constantly reminding God the Father.

Look at Hebrews 9 again, please. We are back where we started. I'm not teaching you any new thing tonight. I'm teaching you what all fundamentalists believe. (When a fellow makes fun of personal soul winning, he will make fun of the Gospel sooner or later!) Hebrews 9:11, "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more peifect tabernacle." All right so in Heaven there is a greater tabernacle, and Hebrews tells us that the one in Heaven is a pattern of the one on earth. Let's continue - "not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, (such as were offered in the tabernacle) but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Now follow me carefully. He redeemed us to Himself by His death, but how did He give us eternal redemption? By being the High Priest. As the Lamb, He paid the penalty to get us back to God. As the High Priest, He gave us eternal redemption. What is that? That is Jesus simply saying to God the Father, "Look at this blood on the mercy seat, dear Father, and be reminded, I took care of paying it." The penalty He paid was once for all, all that was necessary to satisfy the justice of God, but the blood had to be applied in the presence of God so Jesus as the High Priest could sit on the right hand of God constantly reminding Him.

That's what it means in I John 1:7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." The word "cleanseth" is in the durative or linear tense which means "keeps on cleansing us from all sin."

We sing, "At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light." We could also sing, "At the mercy seat, at the mercy seat, where I walk in the light, where I stay in the light." We sing, "On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross," and that's right, but up in the Gloryland there stands a mercy seat, and the blood of that cross has been taken by the High Priest to that mercy seat!

Every time the justice of God looks down and sees me sin, and every time God lifts his sickle of judgment, Jesus says, "Put it down, Father." "Why?" "Look there." Do you know what Jesus does? Jesus takes your sin and slides it underneath the blood. The Father says, "Where did that sin go? I can't even see it."

See, you had better be thankful Jesus is the High Priest. You need the Saviour. You need the Lamb. Oh, yes, you do, but you also need the High Priest! Romans3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his btood"-that's it! "...faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past." Why? They are under the blood-"...through the forbearance of God."

Leviticus 17..IJ, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood." That's why that Jesus' blood was shed - every drop of it was shed, not spilt! It wasn't an "Uh, oh!" It was on purpose! It wasn't spilt; it was poured! Why? Because every drop of life went forth from Him. You recall, when the Bible speaks about His blood, it says, "...and forthwith came there out blood and water." (John 19:34) Why? When a person dies because the heart is ruptured, I mean, when the muscle called the heart is ruptured, it causes the blood that is drained from his body to have both blood and water in it. Jesus died, literally, because His heart was broken. In so doing, He shed His blood, and in shedding his blood, He became the Lamb; that's the death. However, the Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection so the blood shed is part of the Gospel, but not all of it. The resurrection is the last part of the Gospel. Our High Priest ever liveth to make intercession for us because He entered into the tabernacle-the one not made with hands in the heavens-with His own precious blood.

Paul said in Hebrews 10:29, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" It is a dangerous thing to count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. It didn't say, "to count it a wicked thing." It's not talking about wicked; it's talking about "unholy," counting it good, but unholy; nice but not holy. It says, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who...counted the blood of the covenanL..an unholy thing...?" It's not that they made fun of the blood. It's not, "I don't believe in that old gory stuff." I'm not talking about that. These folks say, "It's nice, but it's not necessary." Oh, yes, it is! Oh yes, it is!

Jesus is our passover, and in order for Him to be our passover, the blood must be applied! He's our atonement, and in order for Him to be our atonement, the blood must be applied by the High Priest on the mercy seat. He is our Lord's Supper, not only His death in the broken body, but His resurrection in the blood. He is the One Who cleanses our sins as a leper is cleansed, and even in the cleansing of the leper, there are two birds, not one. One bird won't do. One bird must die, and another bird must take the blood into the sky, representing Jesus going to the presence of the Father and sprinkling His blood on the heavenly mercy seat.

You say, "Why do you make such a big issue out of this? Because it is a big thing! It's the Gospel! If Jesus only died for our sins, then Paul in I Corinthians 15 gave us too much Gospel! Folks, Buddha died! Confucius died! Popes die! Only Jesus was raised! Theologically, doctrinally, the reason He was raised - the great reason He was raised - is for our justification so God could declare us righteous and holy as He sees not our sins, but the blood of Jesus Christ! The blood of God's Son keeps on cleansing us from all sin!

The Jews in the Bible days went down to the river to bathe at the pool of Siloam and places like that. The Jew goes down to the river to bathe. He takes a bath. Then he has to walk home. Nothing of his person touches the earth on the way home but his feet. His feet come in contact with the earth, so after he bathes in the pool of Siloam, he takes a bucket or a bottle and takes that very water of the pool of Siloam that he just bathed in and takes it back to his house with him. Why? His feet come in contact with the world, so he takes that same water from the pool of Siloam and cleanses his feet because of their contact with the world.

You and I came to Calvary. God saved us. We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son and the shedding of His blood, but that same precious blood that saved us once and for all-that same precious blood from that fountain-keeps on saving us because we come in contact with the world. We sin, but that blood keeps on cleansing us from all sin. So we who were reconciled to God by His death shall be saved by His life, a life that caused Him to become the Lamb and then to rise (after three days and three nights) as the High Priest and take the blood to the mercy seat and become our passover, our atonement so that He could fulfill the righteous and holy demands of ajust God! That's why we sing-

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel's veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains:

Lose all their guilty stains;

Lose all their guilty stains;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains.

Thank God today that He was my Lamb; but thank God that death could not keep Him, the grave could not hold Him, sin could not conquer Him, but He rose as my High Priest!

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Pray for me as I am considering a trip over to Texas during the summer months.  Need to check up on our missionaries to Texas----the Richmonds. 

Just remember that I am here for you day or night.  I have had people need me in the wee hours of the morning and I have been there for them and Lord willing be there for you.  Just give me a call (912)690-1066.

Pastor John Whitaker

Does the Word support it? Isaiah 55:11
Can the Spirit anoint it? Leviticus 8:10-12
Should the Son endorse it? John 16:24
Will the Father enforce it? Mark 16:20

Hope this will help you with your ministering.

Pastor John Whitaker

"And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the
waters of Marah for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was
called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall
we drink? And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree,
which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made
sweet."—Exodus 15:23-25.

What a sudden change from the sound of the timbrel to the voice of
murmuring! You saw the maidens dancing three days ago, and you little
dreamed that they would make part of yonder clamorous throng who
surround the servant of God, and cry, "What shall we drink?" Such are
the changes of our outward conditions and of our inward feelings, so
fickle and so mutable is man. What is there that can be rested upon in
this mortal life? We say to-day, "My mountain standeth firm, I shall
never be moved;" to-morrow, terra firma there is none, and we are
tossed upon a stormy sea. Our life is like an April day, the sunshine
alternates with the shower; or like each day of all the year, the
morning and the evening are needful to complete it. Quick on the heels
of light treads the darkness, followed with equal haste by light again.
The sun's rule, at this golden hour, is but temporary; he must abdicate
in favor of the usurping stars, but they, in their turn, must give way
before his lordly presence yet again. This world, which is our inn, owns
to the sign of the "chequers"—the blacks and whites are everywhere. We
can be sure of nothing between here and heaven of the things which are
seen; but of this we may be certain, that underneath all the outward
change there is the immutable love of God towards his people, and that,
after all, the change lies only in the seeming things, not in the things
which truly are; for the things which are not seen are eternal and
changes come not there; it is but in the things which are seen that the
change occurs. Let us set the less store by earth, because its fashion
abides not. Let us prize heaven more, because it cannot fade.



I. The text directs your attention, first of all, to THE EVILS OF
THE WILDERNESS. We need not spend much time in thinking of these evils,
because they throw themselves in our way often enough; and the tendency
of our mind is unduly to exaggerate them. Notice that the perils and
trials of the wilderness occur very early in the pilgrim life. It
is a notion, I have no doubt, of very young Christians who still have
the shell upon their heads and are scarce hatched, that their trials are
over now that they have become winged with faith; they had far better
have reckoned that their trials have begun with tenfold force, now that
they are numbered with the servants of the Most High. Whatever else
comes not to thee, O servant of God, this will surely be fulfilled, "In
the world ye shall have tribulation." "What son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not?" Some privileges are not common to ail the adopted, but
the privilege of chastisement is universal to all true sons. It is the
token of bastardy if the rod be escaped, but scourging, is the sure
pledge of paternal love. I say, however, that these trials come very
soon. Israel was no sooner across the Red Sea than they went three days
into the wilderness of Shur, but found no water; and on the third day,
when they did arrive at a fountain, they found worse than no water, for
it was so brackish, so altogether unfit for drinking, that though they
thought they would have drunk anything, they could not possibly drink
this. What, in three days, must they that sang unto the Lord because he
triumphed gloriously, nauseate the water for which their thirst makes
them pant? In three days shall they be reduced to such straits that they
must drink or die, and yet feel that they should die if they were to
drink of such nauseous streams? Ah yes, with some of us our delight at
conversion was very great, our exhilaration at finding the Savior was
something never to be forgotten, and yet only a day or so after we were
stumbled with great temptation, amazed at the discovery of the evil of
our hearts, or tried by the coldness of our fellow Christians, or the
cruelty of the outside world, so that we found we had come to Marah. And
this was all the severer trial, because some of us had found a degree
of pleasure in the ways of sin, and now it stumbled us to find sorrow in
the ways of God. When Israel was in Egypt, they drank of the river
Nile. No ordinary water that. To this day the dwellers on the banks of
the Nile assert that the water has a peculiar taste not to be discovered
in any other stream, and they prefer the waters of the Nile to all the
waters in the world besides. What a change from the sweetness of the
Nile to the bitterness of Marah! Did not the suggestion rise in their
hearts, "It was better with us in the bondage of Egypt, with water in
abundance, than it is now in the liberty of the wilderness with the
bitterness of Marah?" The devil tempted some of us at the very first by
saying: "See what you have got by being a Christian. While you were as
others are, your mind had mirth; now you have come out and followed the
Crucified, you have lost the liveliness of your spirits, the brightness
of your wit—that which made life worth having is taken away from you."
Young Christian, is that your case to-day? Be not stumbled, neither
believe the enemy. Man, it were better to die at Marah free, than live a
slave by the sweet Nile. Even men that know not the Spirit of God have
felt it were better to die free than live slaves, and truly to be a
slave to Satan is so degrading a thing, that if this mouth were for ever
filled with Marah's bitterness, yet were it better to be so than to be
enchanted with the pleasures of sin. Yet these early trials are very
severe, and need much grace lest they cause us great mischief.



Secondly, these evils assume varied shapes. You noticed that
for the first three days in the wilderness they found no wafer; that is
one trial. But the next day, or at the end of the third day, they found
water. Now they thought their trial was over: alas! it had only changed
its shape. They found water, but it was too bitter to drink. Do not be
in a hurry to change your trials, dear friends. We have heard of some
who have repined that they had no children, and, like Rachel, their cry
was, "Give me children, or else I die." Ere long they have had children
who proved to be far worse than none. Better no son than an Absalom. We
have known those who were in good health, but discontented because they
had no wealth; they have gained wealth at last, but with an injured
constitution, they have had no power to enjoy it. If we could choose our
trials, we might well remember the wisdom of the old philosopher, who
told the people oppressed by a tyrant to be content with his tyranny,
"for," said he, "it is with oppressors as with mosquitoes, let those
suck which are now upon you, for if you drive those off, the fresh ones
which will succeed them will be hungrier than those that are there now:
better be content with the tyranny you have, than seek a new one." It is
much the same with the trials we now feel you will get used to them by
degrees: they will spend their force. Desire for a change of trials may
only be a wish for a worse affliction, for whether was the worse, to
have no water, or to have the water and to find it to bitter that you
could not drink it?



Yet when God changes the trial be well satisfied that it should be
changed. You may anticipate, Christian, that you will have your trial
changed: indeed, you must reckon that it is so. I mean, that if today it
is smooth sailing with you, though yesterday waves rolled mountains
high, it is only a change of trial you are now tried by prosperity,
which may prove to be a more severe test for you than adversity. Is the
wind balmy, blows it from the south? Is it but another trial for thee,
be sure of that, for they who have withstood the northern blast and
grown the ruddier and stronger for its influence, have often grown faint
and weary under softer airs. Watch thou in all things, thy trials are
with thee constantly; the crucible is changed, the fire still burns.



Note again, that as the trials of the wilderness came soon, and assumed various shapes, so often do the trials of the Christ touch very vital matters.
They found no water, or finding it, it was bitter. It is not said they
found no wine—a small trial indeed; it is not said they found no milk,
yet might the infant children have been sorely troubled by such a want;
but they found no drinkable water. Here was a denial of an essential of
life. They must have water, it was no luxury, it was a necessity; with
the hot, burning sand beneath them reflecting the fierce heat of a cruel
sun, not to have water in the wilderness is to feel an urgent necessity
producing a terrible pain. God may touch us, and probably has done so
or will, in points most vital. To be tried in the loss of some of your
superfluities, my brethren, is but little; but to lose even the little
that you had to live upon, to be brought to straitness of bread, this is
real tribulation. To have the hand put forth to touch your bone and
your flesh, this is affliction. Believe me, our virtues and graces look
very fine, and we think much of them until they undergo that ordeal, but
that test often takes from them their gloss and beauty; we find how
great our weakness is when the very marrow of our bones seems to be a
den in which pains, like robbers, hide themselves. God may touch you in
the most beloved object of your heart. It is not one child that is taken
out of many, but the only one; it is not a friend, or distant relative,
but the partner of your bosom is laid low. Do not wonder if the trial
affects you greatly, and comes home to your soul and heart. It is one of
God's determinations that trials shall not be mock trials with his
servants, and the grace given shall not be imaginary, but true. God
never plays at chastening his children. No trial for the present seemeth
to be joyous, but grievous. By the blueness of the wound the heart is
made better; if it do not bruise, it doth not benefit. Very much in
proportion to the bitterness felt will be the benefit that will come of
it. They found no water. O my God, to what straits dost thou reduce
thine own people; thine own people who carry with them the title-deeds
of a land that flows with milk and honey! Jordan and Kishon are theirs,
and yet they find only Marah to drink while they are here; thine own
people for whom thou hast appointed that they shall dwell in a land of
brooks and rivers of water, where they shall sit every man under his
vine and fig-tree; these, thy darlings, whom thou hast brought out with a
high hand and an outstretched arm, are brought to the extreme of
poverty, and the little that they have has often a bitter taste infused
into it.



Notice once again, there is a reason why the earthly mercies which supply our necessities must be more or less bitter.
When Israel received water out of the rock it was not bitter, but this
water came out of the sand. To this day in the desert water is found in
different places, but where it oozes up from a sandy bed it is almost
without exception so brackish and bitter, by reason of the sand, that it
is not fit for human drinking; and even the camels, unless they are
sore pressed, turn away from it with great aversion. The sand has
tainted it, the flavour of earth has got into the blessing. So it is
with most of our blessings; by reason of our sin and infirmity too much
of the flavour of earth enters into the gift of heaven. Our common
mercies, when we receive them direct from heaven as God gives them, are
mercies indeed—cool, flowing streams that gush from the rock of his
favor; but we are so apt to trace them to the creature, so ready to look
upon them as derived from earth instead of coming from heaven; and just
in that proportion may we expect to find bitterness in them. What can
you hope for in a wilderness, but productions congruous to it? Canaan!
who looks for bitterness there? Is it not the land that flows with milk
and honey? Sweet land, when shall we reach thee? Thy sweetness is but
congruous to thyself: But here, in this wilderness, where we have no
continuing city, who looks for the streams of Lebanon? who hopes to find
Canaan's fruits in the wilderness of Sin? As well seek to gather from
the briny sea the sweet fruits of the palm or the luscious clusters of
the vine, as hope to find, amidst these changing scenes, comforts that
shall be all comfortable and joys that shall be all joyous. No, they
will be comforts, but they will be often embittered; they will be joyous
somewhat, but the earthy flavour in them will make us remember that
this is not our rest.



I know not that I ought to detain you longer with these evils of the
wilderness. I do not feel it is wrong to speak of them, for we do not
mention them with any view of discouraging those who have set out on
pilgrimage; we are not like those who hold up their hands and say, "The
lions, the giants, the dragons; young pilgrim, you will never reach the
land of promise;" but yet we would imitate the Savior, who said to the
follower who thought he could follow him whithersoever he might go, "Sit
down, and count the cost." There are trials for you, ye followers of
Christ, if there are none for others—peculiar trials for you, peculiar
joys ten thousand times outweighing them, but yet peculiar griefs, new
griefs of a new life of which it will be a blessed thing to have been a
participant; but there they are, and we will not deceive you. For you
there will be Marahs that others may not know, and for you there will be
long thirsts where others drink to the full; nevertheless, we will take
Christ and his reproach, Christ and his Marah, rather than the world
with its sweetness, for with every drawback that is supposable to Christ
Jesus, he is better than the world with all the additions that can be
invented by the sons of mirth.



II. Thus much on the first point, the evils of the wilderness. Now,
secondly, THE TENDENCY OF HUMAN NATURE. The people murmured against
Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" Do not say "human nature," says
one; say, "the tendency of Jewish nature." Ah, but if anything, I would
prefer the people in the wilderness to any other: rest assured that they
were no worse than we are. They are an example to us of what our heart
is; and whatever we see in them we have but to watch a little, and we
shall see it all in ourselves. It was not Jewish nature that God proved
in the wilderness so much as human nature at its very best estate.
Assuredly, the tendency of human nature is to murmur. They murmured,
complained, found fault. A very easy thing, for the very word "murmur,"
how simple it is, made up of two infantile sounds—mur mur. No sense in it, no wit in it, no thought in it: it is the cry rather of a brute than of a man—murmur—just
a double groan. Easy is it for us to kick against the dispensations of
God, to give utterance to our griefs, and what is worse, to the
inference we drew from them that God has forgotten to be gracious. To
murmur is our tendency; but, my dear brethren and sisters in Christ, do
we mean to let the tendencies of the old nature rule us? Will we murmur?
O that we might have grace rather to say with Job, "Though he slay me,
yet will I trust in him!" Shall a living man complain? Have we not
received so much good from the hands of the Lord that we may well
receive evil without rebellion? Will we not disappoint Satan, and
overrule the tendency of the flesh, by saying in the might of God's
Spirit, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the
name of the Lord." I know we are apt to say, "Well, that is human
nature," and when we have said it is human nature, we suppose we have
given a very excellent excuse for doing it. But is human nature to rule
the divine nature? You, believer, profess to be a partaker of the divine
nature. Let the superior force govern, let that which cometh from above
be uppermost, and put the lower nature down; let us eschew murmurings
and complainings, and magnify and adore the God who lays our comforts
low.



Observe—and this is worthy of note—that the murmuring was not
ostensibly against God. They murmured against Moses. And have you ever
noticed how the most of us, when we are in a murmuring vein, are not
honest enough to murmur distinctly against God. No: the child is dead,
and we form a conjecture that there was some wrong treatment on the part
of nurse, or surgeon, or ourselves; we lay our hold on that for which
there may not be a shadow of proof, and the murmuring is upon that
point. Or we have lost money, and have been brought down from opulence
to almost poverty; then some one person was dishonest, a certain party
betrayed us in a transaction by failing to fulfill his part; all the
murmuring is heaped on that person. We deny, perhaps indignantly, that
we murmur against God; and to prove it we double the zeal with which we
murmur against Moses. To complain of the second cause is about as
sensible as the conduct of the dog, which bites the stick with which it
is beaten. It owes no anger to the stick, but to the person who uses it.
Is there evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? Whoever is the
instrument, the Lord overrules. In our heart of hearts our rebellion is
against the Lord himself. We have not quite honesty enough to rail
against God openly and avowedly, and so we hypocritically cover up our
repining against him by murmuring against some person, occasion, or
event. "If I had not happened to go out on such an occasion I might not
have had that cold and been laid aside." Thus we blame an accidental
circumstance, as if it were not part of the divine arrangement. Is this
complaining of the second cause better than railing against God? I trow
not, for, in very deed, it is railing against God, and it is, in
addition, an injustice to the second cause, so made a butt of. When
Pharaoh bade the Israelites make bricks, and gave them no straw, there
was injustice; but when the Israelites gathered around Moses and
virtually told him that he ought to supply them with water, it was much
the same thing. Whence should this man have water to give them to drink?
How could he sweeten Marah? They knew right well that it was not
possible for him to open a well for them in the wilderness; they
complained, I say, in their hearts, really against God, but they added
to this the hypocrisy and the injustice of veiling their murmuring
against the Most High by an unjust and clamourous complaint against his
servant Moses. Stop thy tongue, my brother; cease thy cavilling against
this and that, against him or her; for be sure that thou art doing
injustice to thy fellowman as well as a wrong to thy God.



Once more, while we speak of this tendency in human nature, I want
you to observe how they betrayed an utter unbelief of God. They said
unto Moses, "What shall we drink?" They meant by it, "By what means can
God supply our want of water?" What a question! They were at the Red
Sea, and God cleft the intervening gulf in twain, through the depths
thereof they marched dryshod; there is Marah's water—shall it be more
difflcult for God to purify than to divide? To sweeten a fountain—is
that more difficult than to cleanse a sea? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? A great miracle had been wrought; had they but considered it, and
exercised even the lowest degree of faith, they must have seen that he
who could work such a miracle as they had seen could work yet another;
and they might joyously have stood at Marah's brink, and have sung, "He
who cast Pharaoh and his chosen captains into the Red Sea, and delivered
his people, can give his chosen drink, therefore sing we, Spring up, O
well, and let thy waters be sweet and clean." O that they had faith in
God but as a grain of mustard seed, and they would have seen great
things, and glorified his name. Do you blame them? Do so; blame them
much, but include yourselves in the censure. How often has it been so
with us? We have said, "I will never distrust my God after this
memorable deliverance, this singular display of his power has slain my
unbelief;" yet a new trial has occurred, and our faith, where was it?
Had the Son of Man himself been on the earth with those quick eyes to
discern the faith which he himself creates, could he find faith in us in
the hour of tribulation? Be humbled as ye see yourselves in this
mirror. Behold your instability, which is as water. How like to reeds
shaken with the wind are we; or like to meteors, which flash across the
brow of night, to leave the darkness denser than before. How soon is the
glory of our confidence spent, and the excellence of our faith
withered. Hold thou our feet in life, great God, or we shall soon be
silent in darkness.



III. Now, thirdly—and may divine help, the help of the Holy Ghost be
given me—I will speak upon THE REMEDY OF GRACE. I have shown you the
evils of the wilderness and the tendency of nature: it is delightful to
behold the remedy of grace. First, if thou wouldst have Marah's
bitterness healed, take the case in prayer to God. God begins by
making us begin. The people complained to Moses; Moses took the
complaint to his Master. In all trials, the surest way to a remedy is
prayer. In heavenly pharmacy, prayer is a catholicon; it healeth
all things. Prayer, which overcomes heaven, will certainly never be
overmatched on earth. Neither men nor devils can stand against prayer:
it smites them hip and thigh like another Samson. The bow of prayer
returns not empty; it is swifter than an eagle, it is stronger than a
lion. Take thy case to God, O heir of trouble; unroll Rabshakeh's letter
before the Host High, and the Lord will silence his revilings. Half the
work is done when it is brought before God in supplication.



Note, next, that as soon as we have a prayer God has a remedy.
The remedy is near at hand; but we do not perceive it till it is shown
us. "The Lord showed him a tree." The tree had been growing for years on
purpose to be used. God has a remedy for all our troubles before they
happen to us. A delightful employment it is to notice how God forestalls
himself; how long before we reach the encampment, if there be the
bitter well, there is also the healing tree. All is ready between here
and heaven. He that has gone to prepare a place for us by his presence,
has prepared the way to that place for us by his providence. But,
brethren, though for every trouble in this mortal life there is a
remedy, you and I do not always discern it. "The Lord showed him a
tree." I am persuaded that for every lock in Doubting Castle there is a
key, but the promises are often in great confusion to our minds, so that
we are perplexed. If a blacksmith should bring you his great bundle of
picklocks, you would have to turn them over, and over, and over; and try
half of them, perhaps two-thirds, before you would find the right one;
ay, and perhaps the right one would be left to the last. It is always a
blessing to remember that for every affliction there is a promise in the
word of God; a promise which meets the case, and was made on purpose
for it. But you may not be always able to find it—no, you may go
fumbling over the Scriptures long before you get the true word; but when
the Lord shows it to you, when it comes with power to the soul, when
the heart can grasp it, and cry, "Ay, that is the word, my Master;
indeed and of a truth that is the precious truth which can sweeten my
sad discomforts," oh, what a bliss it is! All glory be unto the Holy
Ghost, who to this day is ever ready to show unto his praying servants
the sweetening tree when they come to the bitter streams.



Now that remedy for the healing of Marah's water was a very strange one.
Why should a tree sweeten the waters? I do not suppose there was any
natural efficacy in the tree, although that would not be altogether
impossible, since there are trees, so travelers tell us, which have been
used in the sweetening of waters. There is in South Africa a certain
river, which water cannot be drunk until branches of a certain tree are
placed in it, and then the bitterness which is in the stream is
deposited at the bottom, and the water becomes drinkable. The thing is
not unnatural nor altogether necessarily supernatural, though I think in
this case it was supernatural, for there are no trees found now in the
wilderness of Shur that would have the effect of sweetening brackish
waters. This was no doubt a miraculous incident, and it was also meant
to teach us something. The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil was eaten by our first parents and embittered all; there is a tree
of life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations. Blessed
is he that eats of this tree of life; it shall take away from him the
bitterness which the first forbidden fruit brought into the world. A
tree is a living thing: may we not learn that there are living
principles in true religion which will sweeten our adversities? Mere
doctrines may not, but living principles will; these cast into our
troubles will assuage our grief.



Best of all, may not this tree cut down be an emblem of the Savior? A
glorious tree indeed was he, with spreading branches, and top reaching
to heaven—but he must suffer the axe for our sakes; and now, to-day,
contemplating his atoning sacrifice, and by faith resting in him, the
troubles of life and the troubles of death are sweetened by his dear
cross, which, though it be a bitter tree in itself, is the antidote for
all the bitterness that comes upon us here and hereafter.



That remedy was most effective. When they cut down the tree,
and put it into the water, it turned the water sweet—they could drink of
it; and let me assure you, that in the case of our trouble, the cross
is a most effective sweetener. Shall I put the tree into the water for a
minute, and then ask you to drink Have you been suffering pain, or any
other form of tribulation? I will lay the cross asoak in it for a
minute, and your first reflection will be—"In all this that I am called
to suffer there is not even a single particle of punishment for my sin;
God has punished Christ, consequently he cannot punish me: to punish two
for one offense would be unjust, therefore there is nothing penal in
all that I am suffering." I do not know of any reflection more consoling
than this, that my sorrow is not laid on me by a judge, nor inflicted
on me as the result of divine anger. There is not a drop of wrath in a
riverful of a believer's grief. Does not that take the bitterness out of
affliction and make it sweet? And then the reflection goes further.
Since Christ has died for me, I am God's dear child; and now if I
suffer, all my suffering comes from my Father's hand—nay, more, from my
Father's heart. He loves me, and therefore makes me suffer; not because
he does not love, but because he does love does he thus afflict me. In
every stripe I see another token of paternal love. This it is to sweeten
Marah's waters indeed.



Then will come the next reflection—that a Father's love is joined
with infinite wisdom, and that, therefore, every ingredient in the
bitter cup is measured out drop by drop, and grain by grain, and there
is not one pang too many ever suffered by an heir of heaven. The cross
is not only weighed to the pound but to the ounce ay, to the lowest
conceivable grain. You shall not have one half a drop of grief more than
is absolutely needful for your good and God's glory. And does not this
also sweeten the cross, that it is laid on us by infinite wisdom, and by
a Father's hand?



Ravishing, indeed, is the reflection in the midst of all our grief
and suffering, that Jesus Christ suffers with us. In all thine
affliction, O member of the body, the Head is still a sharer. Deep are
the sympathies of the Redeemer, acute, certain, quick, infallible; he
never forgets his saints.



All the while the Lord lays his chastening hand upon his servants
they may be cheered by this reflection, that in this he is making them
conformable unto Christ. What should they know of Gethsemane if they had
no sweat of pain? What should they know of the passion if they never
had to cry, "I thirst," or "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
They were poor scholars in the school of Christ's sufferings if they
endured no sufferings themselves; and it is a blessed thing, a sweet
thing to drink of his cup, and to be baptised with his baptism.



Moreover, when the child of God is in his right state, it is always
enough for him that his condition is the result of his Father's will. Is
it God's will? Is it Christ's will? Then it is my will. How could I
dare to wish anything to be otherwise than divine love appoints?



I do not know but what it will become sometimes to the Christ a
subject of joy that Marah is bitter. For suppose Marah had been sweet,
then, Moses had not prayed to God, and then the tree had not been cut
down, and they had never known the power of God to sweeten bitter
waters. It must be an awful thing to live an unafflicted life on earth.
You say it must be a very delightful thing. I have no doubt it may be
from some aspects; but a person who has had no sickness, how can he have
a sympathetic heart? What service can he render in cheering the people
of God? If you never had any trials, I should suppose, unless something
very extraordinary happened, that you would become harsh, and untender; I
am afraid some would grow brutal, coarse, hard of heart. Who wishes,
where others have to suffer, to claim an immunity from a blessing which
brings rich consolations with it, and works eternal benefits? Beloved,
this is ever one thing that sweetens Marah that it afterwards bringeth
forth the comfortable fruits of righteousness. Our trials are not sent
to us alone and by themselves; there is a quantum suff. grace
sent with them, by which they are made available as means to sanctify
us, and make us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light.



I will not keep you much longer upon this point, but I must notice,
that while I have shown you that the remedy is very efficacious, it is
something more than efficacious: it is transcendant. The water was
bitter, but it became absolutely sweet. The same water that was bitter
became sweet, and the grace of God, by leading us into contemplations
that spring out of the cross of Christ, can make our trials themselves
to become pleasant to us. It is a triumph of grace in the heart when we
not only acquiesce in trouble, but even rejoice in it. "We glory in
tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience." It is a
grand thing when we can truly say that as to the rod of the covenant we
would not escape it if we might. It becomes in the judgment of wisdom so
good a thing to be tried, that though we would not seek it yet we
accept it with something more than readiness, and the bitter thing
becomes sweet to us.



Let me say, and have done with this part of the subject, that the
remedy which is suggested to us by a spiritualizing of text, is
efficacious for all trials, and will be found especially so for the
bitter waters of death at the last. With all that can be said about
death it is not a pleasant subject for contemplation, and needs to be
viewed in connection with covenant consolations. Certain brethren buoy
themselves up with the hope of escaping death by the second Advent. I am
not certain that they are wiser than David who did not hope to omit the
valley of the shadow of death, but trusted that he should fear no evil
therein, because the rod and staff would be his stay. The death of
Christ robs death of its terrors. The prospect of the resurrection and
the certainty of immortality make us say, "Surely the bitterness of
death is past!"



Be it remembered, that if the cross avails to sweeten all the
bitterness of our mortal life, and even the last bitterness of death, it
is assuredly available this morning to sweeten the bitterness of our
present sorrow. Did you drink the quassia-cup this morning before you
came here? Do you feel desponding at this moment, my brother, my sister?
Go to your Savior at once, view him suffering on your behalf, behold
the completion of your reconciliation to God, mark the security of your
soul through the finished work of your glorious Surety, take down your
harps from the willows, put away your ashes, ask the Lord to anoint you
with the oil of joy instead of mourning, and even at the waters of Marah
lift up your song again, and let the timbrel still be heard. "Sing unto
the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: Marah's bitterness hath he
turned to sweetness, he hath cut down the mighty tree which he gave for
us, and which yielded itself to the axe for us, and into the bitter
stream the tree is cast, and now henceforth, O Marah, thou art sweet
indeed." Did you come here this morning as Naomi when she returned to
her city and said, "Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty
hath dealt very bitterly with me." Ah, when she dandled on her knee and
held in her fond bosom the child of Ruth and Boaz, the joy of her old
age, she was glad to think the neighbors had not changed her name, and
she was willing enough to be called Naomi still. Call not yourself
Marah, but remember the new name which the Lord hath named upon you. The
bitter pool itself call it not Marah; be not so ready to affix names of
sad memorials, your griefs are apt enough to gall your memory; do not
aid them to sting you. Call the well by another name; forget Marah, and
remember Jehovah Rophi, the Lord that healeth both thee and the waters.
Record the mercy rather than the sorrow, and give thanks unto the Most
High.



Now, in closing, somebody will say, "This is a very curious
missionary sermon." Yes, but you see I did not appoint the missionary
sermon for to-day: my brethren did that, and certainly I did not arrange
my own sickness, so as to make it fall on this day. How can I dance to
the sound of the timbrel when I am feeble and sad? If I had the choosing
of my own state of health and mind, I would have the choosing of my own
texts, and make them always suitable to the occasions as they arise;
but I am obliged to preach what I can preach, and as I know pretty well
the flavor of Marah, and a little about the sweetness which the healing
tree can give it, I can only tell you what I know by experience.



But it is a good missionary sermon for all that. Let us show you how. Here is A SUGGESTION OF COMPASSION.



Brethren, all the world over, the heathen have trials, bitternesses,
woes. I said that Christ have peculiar woes, but the dark places of the
earth have direr sorrows. Some nations are devastated with war; others
are tormented with diabolical customs and rites: their actions even
towards themselves through their superstition are brutal. I may well
liken the world that lieth in darkness to a thirsty caravan gathered
around Marah's well where the water is too bitter to drink. Oh, the
woes, the woes of mankind! High are the Andes, lofty the Himalayas, but
the woes of the sons of Adam are higher, huger still. The Ganges and the
Indus, and other mighty streams, pour their floods into the ocean; but
what mighty deep could contain the torrents of human grief? A very
deluge is the sorrow as well as the sin of man. And, my brethren, the
heathen know nothing of the healing tree, the tree cut down of old,
which still hath power to sweeten mortal misery. You know it, you have
your trials, and you surmount them by the appeals you make to your Lord,
and by the power of his consolations; but alas! these sons of darkness
have your griefs, and more, but they have not your Comforter. For them
the deluge, but not the ark; for them the tempest, but not the refuge.
And you are so sure that you have that which would cheer them: no doubt
passes across your mind as to the gospel. These are wavering times in
which some professors, and even some teachers, almost believe, that the
gospel is but one theory of many, and will have to stand its test, and,
in all probability, will fail as many human systems of thought have
done. You think not so; you believe that God's gospel is a verity, a
revelation of Jehovah Heaven and earth may pass away, but not his word,
his Christ, his decree, his covenant. You know that you have a tree that
can heal the bitter fountains. No doubt comes across your mind as to
that: what then? By common humanity, much more by the tender movements
of the grace of God upon your souls, I conjure you present this remedy
to those who need it, and who need it so much. Will anything suffice as a
substitute for it? Is there anywhere on earth another healing tree
beside that which fell beneath the axe at Calvary? Are there other
leaves for the healing of the nations? On the seven-hilled city of Rome,
grows there a tree that can heal man's diseases? No; it is a deadly
upas. Cut it down, and burn the very roots thereof. Amongst the fancies
of idolatry are there any inventions of man that can cool his fevered
brow and sooth his griefs? Does Mohammedanism offer hopes for eternity
that can light up the grave to an awakened sinner? Are there thoughts of
bliss in idolatry calculated to cheer the sepulcher? All religions
answer, "Comforts are not in us." It is only at the cross, it is only by
Jesus crucified that the world can be healed. Hitherto little has been
accomplished compared with our desires; and in contrast to our
ambitions, next to nothing; but faith, darting beyond the things that
are seen, flying into the presence-chamber of God, can behold him
writing with the eternal pen, "All flesh shall see the salvation of
God;" and she is sure that the tree will sweeten the waters yet. Come,
brethren, let your faith prove itself by your works. Help to-day—to-day,
by your gifts; help to-morrow—to-morrow, by your prayers. Help, some of
you, by consecrating yourselves to mission labor. There is a prayer I
mean to continue to offer until it is answered, that God would pour out
on this church a missionary spirit. I want to see our young men devoting
themselves to the work, some that will not be afraid to venture and
preach Jesus Christ in the regions beyond. I have not much faith in
missionary societies; it gets less, I must protest, each year; yet we
must never put aside one instrumentality until we have a better ready.
If the Lord would send the living fire through the churches of England,
if he would send from on high a divine impulse, we should see starting
up here and there men who would say: "Here are we: send us." The Spirit
of God will say, "Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work," and when
this is done I look to see far happier days.



We have sweetened the waters a little; no more the suttee burns; the
African is free; the slave-ship crosses no more the deep. In some
regions exterminating wars have ceased; the white dove of peace flies
where the raven of war was seen. Glory be to God. A few leaves cast into
the waters have done this. Let us bear a whole Christ and a whole
gospel amongst the nations, and lay the tree in this Marah, until at
last the whole world shall drink of the sweet waters of divine love, and
God shall be all in all. God bless you, beloved, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
 

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new (Revelation 21:5).

The newness which Jesus brings is bright, clear, heavenly, enduring.
We are at this moment specially ready for a new year. We are glad to
escape from what has been to many a twelve months of great trial. We
hope that this newborn year will not be worse than its predecessor, and
we pray that it may be a great deal better. At any rate, it is new, and
we are encouraged to couple with it the idea of happiness, as we say one
to another, ‘I wish you a happy New Year.’

This is the first day of a new year, and therefore a solemnly joyous
day. Though there is no real difference between it and any other day,
yet in our mind and thought it is one of the milestones set up on the
highway of our life. If Jesus has not made us new already, let the new
year cause us to think about the great and needful change of conversion;
and if our Lord has begun to make us new, and we have somewhat entered
into the new world wherein dwelleth righteousness, let us be persuaded
by the season to press forward into the centre of his new creation, that
we may feel to the full all the power of his grace.

I am going to talk tonight for a little upon the great transformation
spoken of in the text.

The great transformation

This renewing work has been in our Lord's hands from of old. We were
under the old covenant, and our first father and federal head, Adam, had
broken that covenant, and we were ruined by his fatal breach. The
substance of the old covenant was: ‘If thou wilt keep my command thou
shalt live, and thy posterity shall live; but if thou shalt eat of the
tree which I have forbidden thee, dying, thou shalt die, and all thy
posterity in thee.’ This is where we were found, broken in pieces,
sore wounded, and even slain by the tremendous fall which destroyed both
our Paradise and ourselves. We died in Adam as to spiritual life, and
our death revealed itself in an inward tendency to evil which reigned in
our members. We were like Ezekiel's deserted infant unswaddled and
unwashed, left in our pollution to die; but the Son of God passed by and
saw us in the greatness of our ruin. In his wondrous love our Lord Jesus
put us under a new covenant, a covenant of which he became the second
Adam, a covenant which ran on this wise: ‘If thou shalt render perfect
obedience and vindicate my justice, then those who are in thee shall not
perish, but they shall live because thou livest.’ Now, our Lord Jesus,
our Surety and Covenant Head, has fulfilled his portion of the covenant
engagement, and the compact stands as a bond of pure promise without
condition or risk. Those who are participants in that covenant cannot
invalidate it, for it never did depend upon them, but only upon him who
was and is their federal head and representative before God. Of Jesus
the demand was made and he met it. By him man's side of the covenant was
undertaken and fulfilled, and now no condition remains; it is solely
made up of promises which are unconditional and sure to all the seed.
To-day believers are not under the covenant of ‘If thou doest this
thou shalt live’, but under that new covenant which says, ‘Their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.’ It is not now ‘Do
and live’, but ‘Live and do’.

We are not what we were: we are new, and have begun a new career. We
are not what we shall be, but assuredly we are not what we used to be.
As for myself, my consciousness of being a new man in Christ Jesus is
often as sharp and crisp as my consciousness of being in existence. I
know I am not only and solely what I was by my first birth; I feel
within myself another life – a second and a higher vitality which has
often to contend with my lower self, and by that very contention makes
me conscious of its existence. This new principle is, from day to day,
gathering strength, and winning the victory. It has its hand upon the
throat of the old sinful nature, and it shall eventually trample it like
dust beneath its feet.

Heavenly joys

What a transformation grace makes in all things within our little
world! In our heart there is a new heaven and a new earth. What a change
in our joys! Ah, we blush to think what our joys used to be; but they
are heavenly now. We are equally ashamed of our hates and our
prejudices: but these have vanished once for all. Why, now we love the
very things we once despised, and our heart flies as with wings after
that which once it detested. What a different Bible we have now! Blessed
book; it is just the same, but oh, how differently do we read it.

I do not wonder if men who have tasted of the grace of God, and feel
that the Lord has done great things for them, whereof they are glad, do
feel like crying out for joy. Let us have a little indulgence tonight.
Now, you that feel that you must cry aloud for joy, join with me and cry
‘Hallelujah, Hallelujah, glory be to our Redeemer's name’. Why
should we not lift up our voices in his praise? We will. He has put a
new song into our mouths, and we must sing it. The mountains and the
hills break forth before us into singing, and we cannot be dumb. Praise
is our ever new delight; let us baptise the new year into a sea of it.
In praise we will vie with angels and archangels, for they are not so
indebted to grace as we are.

The whole creation is travailing, all time is groaning, providence is
working, grace is striving, and all for one end – the bringing forth
of the new and better age. It is coming. What a prospect does all this
open up to the believer! Our future is glorious; let not our present be
gloomy.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas.  Don't forget to pray for me.  I need the prayer and you need the practice.
Till next month,
Pastor John Whitaker

“Ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down
all their high places… But if you will not drive out the inhabitants …
those which ye let remain shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in
your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.” — Numbers 33:52, 55

  
  Possibly the five wisest words ever spoken on network TV were spoken
by Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show in the 1960's—

Barney:  "In the bud."

     To “nip it in the bud,” is an idiom that means deal with a potential problem before it gets out of control. 

  
  The best way to STOP SIN from happening is NIP IT IN THE BUD!
Everything is weakest at it’s beginning. Never permit an acorn to become
an oak tree. Remove anything that is wrong before it gains momentum. 
Subtraction is as important as addition. 

  
  Always remember: A bathroom is just as important as the kitchen!
There may be somethings in your life that need to be flushed while they
are still flushable.

July 2010

Hello to the Saints and the Aints,

Well folks, half the year has gone and now we are facing the next half.  Time moves right on along doesn't it?  June was a great month for our church.  We are thankful for the many blessings bestowed upon us.  Blessing to be able to baptize one of our young men John Walker.  Praying that the Lord will use Bro John in a mighty way.  We had a wedding at the church as Daniel Lott and Norah Curry took marital vows before God.  Our ladies did a great job of preparing and decorating for this special event.  Now we are preparing for our Black Creek Baptist Blowout July 23-25.  Evangelist Harold Leake, Pastor Karl Baker, Bro Frank Verginio and Evangelist Kevin Griffin will be preaching and special singing will surely be a blessing to you.  For more information, go to our special meetings page for start times.

This month I will post my Bible study before the pictures.  I want to share with you a couple of chapters from the book "Woman the Completer" by Dr. Jack Hyles.  Bro. Hyles was greatly used of the Lord while he was here upon the earth.  Bro Hyles pastored a church in Hammond, Indiana with a membership of over 50,000 and the many ministries from that one church would lead over 20,000 people to salvation each year.  This book deals with the biblical role of the woman and the influence that she has on her family.  Here is the first couple of chapters and Lord willing I will post the other 3 next month.

Bible Study July

Woman the Completer by Dr Jack Hyles: **this study has been moved to the Bible Studies section.  Just click on our Bible Studies tab and it will be the first link.

Enjoy some pictures taken during the month of June

Sis Ski has her two sons by the hand.                                             Congregation listening to Pastor Whitaker preach.

Sis Norah with her dad Steve.                                                            Sis Nikki and Sis Alana

Bro Todd talking about his soon deployment to Iraq.                    Bro Brian Landis shaking the pastors hand at end of service

Norah pinching her new husbands face.                                         Samantha hugging on mom.

Getting ready for mens prayer time.                                             Bro Gary heading out after church.

Getting ready to start song service.                                               Marissa, Seirra and Bro John singing.


Patrick and Mary Hammond getting ready to sing.                        Sis April giving a gift to Sis Norah for her wedding

Sis Norah's wedding shower.                                                          Seth enjoying God's light.

Teens talking and Ted is reading the bulletin before service              Sis Vicky making kissy face with Seth

Grandpa and grandson--Steve and Joey                                        Sis Kathy being 'kewl'

Daniel getting ready to walk the Aisle.                                         Daniel and Norah getting ready to "tie the knot"

Smile Daniel you just got married.                                              There you go.  Beautiful wedding ceremony.

Alana and Marissa at the piano before church starts.                John Walker getting ready to follow the Lord in Believers Baptism

Bro Wayne and his grandson Seth                                                 Praying is a part of worship

Pastor Whitaker remodeling a 13 foot Gheenoe.  Sanding away and now its a different color.  Finished picture next month.

I count it a privilege to help people with their spiritual needs.  Some people need more help than what they realise. God help us!  My goal is to get people to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and see people get saved.  Many times I have seen people think that they are saved but their life is filled with devilish things and the filth of this old world and bears no fruit(Wherefore by their
fruits ye shall know them).  I would rather speak up and tell someone they are not saved than keep my mouth shut and let them die and go to hell.  If I were to walk by a house and smelled smoke, even though I didn't see the flames, I would go to the homeowner and ask "Is your house on fire" because I smell smoke.  Safe than sorry.

Charles Spurgeon said a Christian is either a missionary or an imposter......

“If Jesus is precious to you, you will not be able to keep your good
news to yourself. You will be whispering it into your child’s ear. You
will be telling it to your husband. You will be earnestly imparting it
to your friend. Without the charms of eloquence you will be more than
eloquent: your heart will speak, and your eyes will flash as you talk
of His sweet love.

Every Christian here is either a missionary or an impostor.
Recollect that. You either try to spread abroad the kingdom of Christ,
or else you do not love Him at all. It cannot be that there is a high
appreciation of Jesus and a totally silent tongue about Him. Of course
I do not mean by that, that those who use the pen are silent: they are
not. And those who help others to use the tongue, or spread that which
others have written, are doing their part well: but that man who says,
‘I believe in Jesus,’ but does not think enough of Jesus ever to tell
another about Him, by mouth, or pen, or tract, is an impostor.

You are either doing good, or you are not good yourself. If thou
knowest Christ, thou art as one that has found honey. Thou wilt call
others to taste of it. Thou art like the lepers who found the food
which the Syrians had cast away: thou wilt go to Samaria and tell the
hungry crowd that thou hast found Jesus, and art anxious that they
should find Him too. Be wise in your generation, and speak of Him in
fitting ways and at fitting times, and so in every place proclaim the
fact that Jesus is most precious to your soul.”

People today have plenty of time for the computer especially playing games but little time for God.  What a shame.  People are dying all around us but yet we don't see the importance of trying to spend our time wisely for the Lord and witness for HIM. If you spend all your time playing games on the computer is that a true reflection of your spiritual state.  Playing games with God?  Set your affections on God and not the fantasy games of distraction.

I am here for you if you ever need to talk.  My office door is always open for you and my phone is dedicated to the Lord day or night.  912-690-1066.  I welcome email but do not always respond by email because people can "read things wrong" or they can change your response within an email and make it say something you didn't say.
Serving My Saviour,
Pastor John Whitaker