WesleyGospel Ministries

God is angry with the wicked every day.
–Psalm 7:11 (KJV)–

⁶ Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ⁸ “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” ⁹ So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. ¹⁰ He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”¹¹ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. ¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” –Numbers 20:6-12 (NIV)

He bids him speak to the rock, which would do as it was bidden, to shame the people who had been so often spoken to, and would not hear nor obey. Their hearts were harder than this rock, not so tender, not so yielding, not so obedient. He promises that the rock should give forth water (Numbers 20:8), and it did so (Numbers 20:11): the water came out abundantly…Moses and Aaron acted improperly in the management of this matter, so much so that God in displeasure told them immediately that they should not have the honour of bringing Israel into Canaan, Numbers 20:10-12…They said and did all in heat and passion; this is the account given of the sin (Psalms 106:33): They provoked his spirit, so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips. It was in his passion that he called them rebels. It is true they were so; God had called them so; and Moses afterwards, in the way of a just reproof (Deuteronomy 9:24), calls them so without offence; but now it came from a provoked spirit, and was spoken unadvisedly: IT WAS TOO MUCH LIKE RACA, and THOU FOOL. His smiting the rock twice (it should seem, not waiting at all for the eruption of the water upon the first stroke) shows that he was in a heat. The same thing said and done with meekness may be justifiable which when said and done in anger may be highly culpable; see James 1:20…That the best of men have their failings, even in those graces that they are most eminent for. The man Moses was very meek, and yet here he sinned in passion; wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. That God judges not as man judges concerning sins; we might think that there was not much amiss in what Moses said and did, yet God saw cause to animadvert severely upon it. He knows the frame of men’s spirits, what temper they are of, and what temper they are in upon particular occasions, and from what thoughts and intents words and actions do proceed; and we are sure that therefore his judgment is according to truth, when it agrees not with ours. –MATTHEW HENRY

—

What was the offence for which Moses was excluded from the promised land? It appears to have consisted in some or all of the following particulars:

1. God had commanded him (Numbers 20:8) to take the rod in his hand, and go and SPEAK TO THE ROCK, and itshould give forth water. It seems Moses did not think speaking would be sufficient, therefore he smote the rock without any command so to do.

2. He did this twice, which certainly in this case indicated a great perturbation of spirit, and want of attention to the presence of God.

3. He permitted his spirit to be carried away by a sense of the people’s disobedience, and thus, being provoked, he was led to speak unadvisedly with his lips: Hear now, ye REBELS, Numbers 20:10.

4. He did not acknowledge GOD in the miracle which was about to be wrought, but took the honour to himself and Aaron: “Must WE fetch you water out of this rock?”

Thus it plainly appears that they did not properly believe in God, and did not honour him in the sight of the people; for in their presence they seem to express a doubt whether the thing could be possibly done. As Aaron appears to have been consenting in the above particulars, therefore he is also excluded from the promised land. –ADAM CLARKE

—

I believe the Bible allows for prophets, preachers, and evangelists to express righteous indignation in sermons, but only in a punctuated short little outburst, and only in such a way that communicates urgent warning and grief over sin, expressing God’s anger and grief over the sin of the people of God. Jeremiah was full of the fury of the Lord (6:11), Jesus was so grieved at the Pharisees that he gave them all an angry look right before he healed a person (Mark 3:5), and Paul rebuked Elymas with an angry outburst after being filled with the Holy Spirit and just before prophesying him into blindness (Acts 13:8-11). There’s also occasions of Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul saying what some people might consider to be pretty mean and hurtful things. But they are rebukes! Words of correction! Words of repentance! And they come from godly hearts filled with grief, holy anger, urgency, and warning:

CRY ALOUD, SPARE NOT, LIFT UP THY VOICE LIKE A TRUMPET, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their SINS! –Isaiah 58:1 (KJV)

O GENERATION OF VIPERS, who hath WARNED YOU to FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME!? –Matthew 3:7 (KJV)

WOE UNTO YOU, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES!   –Matthew 23:13 (KJV)

THOU CHILD OF THE DEVIL, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to PERVERT THE RIGHT WAYS OF THE LORD!? –Acts 13:10 (KJV)

Such outbursts could only come from the hearts of men that loved God with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength; and who also loved their neighbors as themselves, and were not so hard-hearted as to just let them pass through life and go to Hell unwarned. Apathy and unbelief does not warn. Love, concern, and faith does. But sadness and weeping, it seems, is more near to the heart of God than his wrath, although both of them are attributes of God’s Spirit. What theologian would make the case that Hell was only created from the attribute of God’s sadness rather than mainly of his wrath? No Bible believing theologian would defend such a view. But it seems that the complication Moses experienced in Numbers 20:10-11 was that while he was sold out in his fear and love for the Lord; he was also constantly provoked by people who did not fear, nor believe, nor love God. And so, while Moses probably had many times like Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul, where he issued a loud rebuke with holy anger that came from the heart of God–this time it was different. And it seems that the difference was one of PURE HATE! Moses HATED these people; and he expressed his hate, as he operated in the gift of prophecy and miracles at the same time. God was about to do a miracle of providence and mercy and love; and Moses spoiled the event as he expressed his PURE HATRED for all of them, as he worked the miracle. He said: “’Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff” (Num. 20:10-11). That’s where Moses messed up. He lost his composure and self-control, so much so, that he didn’t just REBUKE and WARN them as Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul did. Moses went further than rebuking and warning. Moses expressed hatred towards them–and while he was working a miracle of God’s provision–he said, “You rebels!” and then struck the rock twice like a baseball bat in a fit of anger. This shows us that he HATED these people, was FED UP with them, and COULDN’T STAND THEM ANYMORE!! –J.B.

—

WesleyGospel, “Crying Aloud With Godly Sorrow and Angry Rebukes In Holiness Sermons.”

Benjamin Wadsworth, Fervent Zeal Against Flagrant Wickedness (1718).

Dr. John R. Rice, Why Preach Against Sin? (Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1946, 1985).

Leonard Ravenhill, Revival Praying, ch. 14: “Be Ye Angry.”

—. “Be Ye Angry And Sin Not” (Last Days Ministries, 1985).

John Downame, A Treatise of Anger (1609).

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
–Malachi 3:10 (NIV)–

Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.
–1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 (NKJV)–

And furthermore
You’re not listening to me, you don’t hear a word say
You don’t understand the message I bring
You don’t know the truth (Matt. 13:14-15)
Here’s an idea I’ll just throw it at you
Let’s say the sweetest man in all existence
Was brutalized so you could be with Him
Marred more than any man
Humiliated in public (Isaiah 53:3-12, John 19:17-37)
You’d think that’s enough but is it, but is it?

Let’s pretend all you
Had to do was ask Him in (Romans 10:9)
How much easier could that possibly be? (Mark 10:15)
You wouldn’t have to sacrifice your pet rhinoceros
Every time you sinned
Every time you sinned (Hebrews 9:12, 24-26)

I could tell you if a man were to do that for me
I’d have to lay in His arms to get closer to see
The one who is, one who was
And that is to be (Revelation 1:8)
But I’m too lazy to get on my knees

Bring me closer Jesus (James 4:8)
Never let me go (John 17:24)
Mark your name on me (Hebrews 8:10)
So I will always know that I feel
I feel you here (1 John 4:15)

Anyway what was I talking about
I can not leave and I can’t figure out
My soul is bloody my tears are gain (Philippians 1:21)
I need your fire send down the rain (Luke 3:16)
Pour the blood of Jesus over me (Hebrews 9:13-14)
I need you Jesus

I feel
I feel you here
–Disciple, “Furthermore”–

—

Without shedding of blood there is no remission.
—Hebrews 9:22—

Everywhere under the old figurative dispensation, blood was sure to greet your eyes. It was the one most prominent thing under the Jewish economy, scarcely a ceremony was observed without it. You could not enter into any part of the tabernacle, but you saw traces of the blood-sprinkling. Sometimes there were bowls of blood cast at the foot of the altar. The place looked so like a shambles, that to visit it must have been far from attractive to the natural taste, and to delight in it, a man had need of a spiritual understanding and a lively faith. The slaughter of animals was the manner of worship; the effusion of blood was the appointed rite, and the diffusion of that blood on the floor, on the curtains, and on the vestments of the priests, was the constant memorial. When Paul says that almost all things were, under the law, purged with blood, he alludes to a few things that were exempted. Thus you will find in several passages the people were exhorted to wash their clothes, and certain persons who had been unclean from physical causes were bidden to wash their clothes with water. Garments worn by men were usually cleansed with water. After the defeat of the Midianites, of which you read in the book of Numbers, the spoil, which had been polluted, had to be purified before it was claimed by the victorious Israelites. According to the ordinance of the law, which the Lord commanded Moses, some of the goods, such as raiment and articles made of skins or goat’s hair, were purified with water, while other things that were of metal that could abide the fire, were purified by fire. Still, the apostle refers to a literal fact, when he says that almost all things, garments being the only exception, were purged, under the law, with blood. Then he refers to it as a general truth, under the old legal dispensation, that there was never any pardoning of sin, except by blood. In one case only was there an apparent exception, and even that goes to prove the universality of the rule, because the reason for the exception is so fully given. The trespass offering, referred to as an alternative, in Leviticus 5:11, might, in extreme cases of excessive poverty, be a bloodless offering. If a man was too poor to bring an offering from the flock, he was to bring two turtle-doves or young pigeons; but if he was too poor even for that, he might offer the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering, without oil or frankincense, and it was cast upon the fire. That is the one solitary exception through all the types. In every place, at every time, in every instance where sin had to be removed, blood must flow, life must be given. The one exception we have noticed gives emphasis to the statute that, “without shedding of blood, there is no remission.” Under the gospel there is no exception, not such an isolated one as there was under the law; no, not even for the extremely poor. Such we all are spiritually. Since we have not any of us to bring an offering, any more than an offering to bring; but we have all of us to take the offering which has already been presented, and to accept the sacrifice which Christ has, of himself, made in our stead; there is now no cause or ground for exemption to any man or woman born, nor ever shall there be, either in this world or in that which is to come,—“Without shedding of blood, there is no remission.” With great simplicity, then, as it concerns our salvation, may I ask the attention of each one here present, to this great matter which intimately concerns our everlasting interests? I gather from the text, first of all, the encouraging fact that:—

I. THERE IS SUCH A THING AS REMISSION—that is to say, the remission of sins. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Blood has been shed, and there is, therefore, hope concerning such a thing. Remission, notwithstanding the stern requirements of the law, is not to be abandoned in sheer despair. The word remission means the putting away of debts. Just as sin may be regarded as a debt incurred to God, so that debt may be blotted out, cancelled, and obliterated. The sinner, God’s debtor, may cease to be in debt by compensation, by full acquittance, and may be set free by virtue of such remission. Such a thing is possible. Glory be to God, the remission of all sin, of which it is possible to repent, is possible to be obtained. Whatever the transgression of any man may be, pardon is possible to him if repentance be possible to him. Unrepented sin is unforgivable sin. If he confess his sin and forsake it, then shall he find mercy. God hath so declared it, and he will not be unfaithful to his word. “But is there not,” saith one, “a sin which is unto death?” Yea, verily, though I know not what it is; nor do we think that any who have enquired into the subject have been able to discover what that sin is; this much seems clear, that practically the sin is unforgivable because it is never repented of. The man who commits it becomes, to all intents and purposes, dead in sin in a more deep and lasting sense even than the human race is as a whole, and he is given up case-hardened—his conscience seared, as it were, with a hot iron, and henceforth he will seek no mercy. But all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. For lust, for robbery, for adultery—yea, for murder, there is forgiveness with God, that he may be feared. He is the Lord God, merciful and gracious, passing by transgression, iniquity, and sin.

And this forgiveness which is possible is, according to the Scriptures, complete; that is to say, when God forgives a man his sin, he does it outright. He blots out the debt without any back reckoning. He does not put away a part of the man’s sin, and have him accountable for the rest; but in the moment in which a sin is forgiven, his iniquity is as though it had never been committed; he is received in the Father’s house and embraced with the Father’s love as if he had never erred; he is made to stand before God as accepted, and in the same condition as though he had never transgressed. Blessed be God, believer, there is no sin in God’s Book against thee. If thou hast believed, thou art forgiven— forgiven not partially, but altogether. The handwriting that was against thee is blotted out, nailed to the cross of Christ, and can never be pleaded against thee any more for ever. The pardon is complete.

Moreover, this is a present pardon. It is an imagination of some (very derogatory to the gospel) that you cannot get pardon till you come to die, and, perhaps, then in some mysterious way, in the last few minutes, you may be absolved; but we preach to you, in the name of Jesus, immediate and present pardon for all transgressions—a pardon given in an instant—the moment that a sinner believes in Jesus; not as though a disease were healed gradually and required months and long years of progress. True, the corruption of our nature is such a disease, and the sin that dwelleth in us must be daily and hourly mortified; but as for the guilt of our transgressions before God, and the debt incurred to his justice, the remission thereof is not a thing of progress and degree. The pardon of a sinner is granted at once; it will be given to any of you tonight who accept it—yea, and given you in such a way that you shall never lose it. Once forgiven, you shall be forgiven for ever, and none of the consequences of sin shall be visited upon you. You shall be absolved unreservedly and eternally, so that when the heavens are on a blaze, and the great white throne is set up, and the last great assize is held, you may stand boldly before the judgment-seat and fear no accusation, for the forgiveness which God himself vouchsafes he will never revoke.

I will add to this one other remark. The man who gets this pardon may know he has it. Did he merely hope he had it, that hope might often struggle with fear. Did he merely trust he had it, many a qualm might startle him; but to know that he has it is a sure ground of peace to the heart. Glory be to God, the privileges of the covenant of grace are not only matters of hope and surmise, but they are matters of faith, conviction, and assurance. Count it not presumption for a man to believe God’s Word. God’s own Word it is that says, “Whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ is not condemned.” If I believe in Jesus Christ, then I am not condemned. What right have I to think I am? If God says I am not, it would be presumption on my part to think I am condemned. It cannot be presumption to take God’s Word just as he gives it to me. “Oh!” saith one, “how happy should I be if this might be my case.” Thou hast well spoken, for blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord doth not impute iniquity. “But,” saith another, “I should hardly think such a great thing could be possible to such an one as I am.” Thou reasonest after the manner of the sons of men. Know then that as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are God’s ways above your ways, and his thoughts above your thoughts. It is yours to err; it is God’s to forgive. You err like a man, but God does not pardon like a man; he pardons like a God, so that we burst forth with wonder, and sing, “Who is a God like unto thee, that passeth by transgression, iniquity, and sin?” When you make anything, it is some little work suitable to your abilities, but our God made the heavens. When you forgive, it is some forgiveness suitable to your nature and circumstances; but when he forgives, he displays the riches of his grace on a grander scale than your finite mind can comprehend. Ten thousand sins of blackest dye, sins of a hellish hue he doth in a moment put away, for he delighteth in mercy; and judgment is his strange work. “As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but had rather that he turn unto me and live.” This is a joyful note with which my text furnishes me. There is no remission, except with blood; but there is remission, for the blood has been shed.

Coming more closely to the text, we have now to insist on its great lesson, that:—

II. THOUGH THERE BE PARDON OF SIN, IT IS NEVER WITHOUT BLOOD.

That is a sweeping sentence, for there are some in this world that are trusting for the pardon of sin to their repentance. It, beyond question, is your duty to repent of your sin. If you have disobeyed God, you should be sorry for it. To cease from sin is but the duty of the creature, else sin is not the violation of God’s holy law. But be it known unto you, that all the repentance in the world cannot blot out the smallest sin. If you had only one sinful thought cross your mind, and you should grieve over that all the days of your life, yet the stain of that sin could not be removed even by the anguish it cost you. Where repentance is the work of the Spirit of God, it is a very precious gift, and is a sign of grace; but there is no atoning power in repentance. In a sea full of penitential tears, there is not the power or the virtue to wash out one spot of this hideous uncleanness. Without the blood-shedding, there is no remission. But others suppose that, at any rate, active reformation growing out of repentance may achieve the task. What if drunkenness be given up, and temperance become the rule? What if licentiousness be abandoned, and chastity adorn the character? What if dishonest dealing be relinquished, and integrity be scrupulously maintained in every action? I say, ’tis well; I would to God such reformations took place everywhere—yet for all that, debts already incurred are not paid by our not getting into debt further, and past delinquencies are not condoned by future good behaviour. So sin is not remitted by reformation. Though you should suddenly become immaculate as angels (not that such a thing is possible to you, for the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots), your reformations could make no atonement to God for the sins that are past in the days that you have transgressed against him. “What then,” saith the man, “shall I do?” There are those who think that now their prayers and their humblings of soul may, perhaps, effect something for them. Your prayers, if they be sincere, I would not stay; rather do I hope they may be such prayers as betoken spiritual life. But oh! dear hearer, there is no efficacy in prayer to blot out sin. I will put it strongly. All the prayers of all the saints on earth, and, if the saints in heaven could all join, all their prayers could not blot out through their own natural efficacy the sin of a single evil word. No, there is no deterrent power in prayer. God has never set it to be a cleanser. It has its uses, and its valuable uses. It is one of the privileges of the man who prays, that he prays acceptably, but prayer itself can never blot out the sin without the blood. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission,” pray as you may.

There are persons who have thought that self-denial and mortifications of an extraordinary kind might rid them of their guilt. We do not often come across such people in our circle, yet there be those who, in order to purge themselves of sin, flagellate their bodies, observe protracted fasts, wear sackcloth and hair shirts next to their skin, and even some have gone so far as to imagine that to refrain from ablutions, and to allow their body to be filthy, was the readiest mode of purifying their soul. A strange infatuation certainly! Yet today, in Hindostan, you shall find the fakir passing his body through marvellous sufferings and distortions, in the hope of getting rid of sin. To what purpose is it all? Methinks I hear the Lord say, “What is this to me that thou didst bow thy head like a bulrush, and wrapt thyself in sackcloth, and eat ashes with thy bread, and mingle wormwood with thy drink? Thou hast broken my law; these things cannot repair it; thou hast done injury to my honour by thy sin; but where is the righteousness that reflects honour upon my name?” The old cry in the olden days was, “Wherewithal shall we come before God?” and they said, “Shall we give our firstborn for our transgression, the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul?” Alas! it was all in vain. Here stands the sentence. Here for ever must it stand, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” It is the life God demands as the penalty due for sin, and nothing but the life indicated in the blood-shedding will ever satisfy him.

Observe, again, how this sweeping text puts away all confidence in ceremony, even the ceremonies of God’s own ordinance. There are some who suppose that sin can be washed away in baptism. Ah! futile fancy! The expression where it is once used in Scripture implies nothing of the kind—it has no such meaning as some attach to it, for that very apostle, of whom it was said, gloried that he had not baptized many persons lest they should suppose there was some efficacy in his administration of the rite. Baptism is an admirable ordinance, in which the believer holds fellowship with Christ in his death. It is a symbol; it is nothing more. Tens of thousands and millions have been baptized and have died in their sins. Or what profit is there in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, as Antichrist puts it? Do any say it is “an unbloody sacrifice,” yet at the same time offer it for a propitiation for sin—we fling this text in their faces, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Do they reply that the blood is there in the body of Christ? We answer that even were it so, that would not meet the case, for it is without the shedding of blood—without the blood-shedding; the blood as distinct from the flesh; without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.

And here I must pass on to make a distinction that will go deeper still. Jesus Christ himself cannot save us, apart from his blood. It is a supposition which only folly has ever made, but we must refute even the hypothesis of folly, when it affirms that the example of Christ can put away human sin, that the holy life of Jesus Christ has put the race on such a good footing with God that now he can forgive its faults and its transgression. Not so; not the holiness of Jesus, not the life of Jesus, not the death of Jesus, but the blood of Jesus only; for “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

And I have met with some who think so much of the second coming of Christ, that they seem to have fixed their entire faith upon Christ in his glory. I believe this to be the fault of Irvingism—that, too much it holds before the sinner’s eye Christ on the throne, whereas, though Christ on the throne is ever the loved and adorable, yet we must see Christ upon the cross, or we never can be saved. Thy faith must not be placed merely in Christ glorified, but in Christ crucified. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness.” I remember one person who was united with this church (the dear sister may be present now), that had been for some years a professor, and had never enjoyed peace with God, nor produced any of the fruits of the Spirit. She said, “I have been in a church where I was taught to rest upon Christ glorified, and I did so fix my confidence, such as it was, upon him, that I neither had a sense of sin, nor a sense of pardon, from Christ crucified! I did not know, and until I had seen him as shedding his blood and making a propitiation, I never entered into rest.” Yes, we will say it again, for the text is vitally important: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission,” not even with Christ himself. It is the sacrifice that he has offered for us, that is the means of putting away our sin—this, and nothing else. Let us pass on a little further with the same truth:—

III. THIS REMISSION OF SIN IS TO BE FOUND AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS.

There is remission to be had through Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed. The hymn we sang at the commencement of the service gave you the marrow of the doctrine. We owe to God a debt of punishment for sin. Was that debt due or not? If the law was right, the penalty ought to be exacted. If the penalty was too severe, and the law inaccurate, then God made a mistake. But it is blasphemy to suppose that. The law, then, being a righteous law, and the penalty just, shall God do an unjust thing? It will be an unjust thing for him not to carry out the penalty. Would you have him to be unjust? He had declared that the soul that sinned should die; would you have God to be a liar? Shall he eat his words to save his creatures? “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” The law’s sentence must be carried out. It was inevitable that if God maintained the prerogative of his holiness, he must punish the sins that men have committed. How, then, should he save us? Behold the plan! His dear Son, the Lord of glory, takes upon himself human nature, comes into the place of as many as the Father gave him, stands in their standing, and when the sentence of justice has been proclaimed, and the sword of vengeance has leaped out of its scabbard, behold the glorious Substitute bares his arm, and he says, “Strike, O sword, but strike me, and let my people go.” Into the very soul of Jesus the sword of the law pierced, and his blood was shed, the blood, not of one who was man only, but of One who, by his being an eternal Spirit was able to offer up himself without spot unto God, in a way which gave infinite efficacy to his sufferings. He, through the eternal Spirit, we are told, offered himself without spot to God. Being in his own nature infinitely beyond the nature of man, comprehending all the natures of man, as it were, within himself, by reason of the majesty of his person, he was able to offer an atonement to God of infinite, boundless, inconceivable sufficiency.

What our Lord suffered none of us can tell. I am sure of this: I would not disparage or under-estimate his physical sufferings—the tortures he endured in his body—but I am equally sure that we can none of us exaggerate or over-value the sufferings of such a soul as his; they are beyond all conception. So pure and so perfect, so exquisitely sensitive, and so immaculately holy was he, that to be numbered with transgressors, to be smitten by his Father, to die (shall I say it?) the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers, was the very essence of bitterness, the consummation of anguish. “Yet it pleased the Father to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.” His sorrows in themselves were what the Greek liturgy well calls them, “unknown sufferings, great griefs.” Hence, too, their efficacy is boundless, without limit. Now, therefore, God is able to forgive sin. He has punished the sin on Christ; it becomes justice, as well as mercy, that God should blot out those debts which have been paid. It were unjust—I speak with reverence, but yet with holy boldness—it were unjust on the part of the infinite Majesty, to lay to my charge a single sin which was laid to the charge of my Substitute. If my Surety took my sin, he released me, and I am clear. Who shall resuscitate judgment against me when I have been condemned in the person of my Saviour? Who shall commit me to the flames of Gehenna, when Christ, my Substitute, has suffered the tantamount of hell for me? Who shall lay anything to my charge when Christ has had all my crimes laid to his charge, answered for them, expiated them, and received the token of quittance from them, in that he was raised from the dead that he might openly vindicate that justification in which by grace I am called and privileged to share? This is all very simple, it lies in a nutshell, but do we all receive it—have we all accepted it? Oh! my dear hearers, the text is full of warning to some of you. You may have an amiable disposition, an excellent character, a serious turn of mind, but you scruple at accepting Christ; you stumble at this stumbling-stone; you split on this rock. How can I meet your hapless case? I shall not reason with you. I forbear to enter into any argument. I ask you one question. Do you believe this Bible to be inspired of God? Look, then, at that passage, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” What say you? Is it not plain, absolute, conclusive? Allow me to draw the inference. If you have not an interest in the blood-shedding, which I have briefly endeavoured to describe, is there any remission for you? Can there be? Your own sins are on your head now. Of your hand shall they be demanded at the coming of the great Judge. You may labour, you may toil, you may be sincere in your convictions, and quiet in your conscience, or you may be tossed about with your scruples; but as the Lord liveth, there is no pardon for you, except through this shedding of blood. Do you reject it? On your own head will lie the peril! God has spoken. It cannot be said that your ruin is designed by him when your own remedy is revealed by him.

He bids you take the way which he appoints, and if you reject it, you must die. Your death is suicide, be it deliberate, accidental, or through error of judgment. Your blood be on your own head. You are warned.

On the other hand, what a far-reaching consolation the text gives us! “Without shedding of blood there is no remission,” but where there is the blood-shedding, there is remission. If thou hast come to Christ, thou art saved. If thou canst say from thy very heart:—

My faith doth lay her hand
On that dear head of thine,
While like a penitent I stand,
And here confess my sin.

Then, your sin is gone. Where is that young man? where is that young woman? where are those anxious hearts that have been saying, “We would be pardoned now”? Oh! look, look, look, look to the crucified Saviour, and you are pardoned. Ye may go your way, inasmuch as you have accepted God’s atonement. Daughter, be of good cheer, thy sins, which are many, are forgiven thee. Son, rejoice, for thy transgressions are blotted out.

My last word shall be this. You that are teachers of others and trying to do good, cleave fast to this doctrine. Let this be the front, the centre, the pith, and the marrow of all you have to testify. I often preach it, but there is never a Sabbath in which I go to my bed with such inward content as when I have preached the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. Then I feel, “If sinners are lost, I have none of their blood upon me.” This is the soul-saving doctrine; grip it, and you shall have laid hold of eternal life; reject it, and you reject it to your confusion. Oh! keep to this. Martin Luther used to say that every sermon ought to have the doctrine of justification by faith in it. True; but let it have the doctrine of atonement in it. He says he could not get the doctrine of justification by faith in to the Wurtembergers’ heads, and he felt half inclined to take the book into the pulpit and fling it at their heads, in order to get it in. I am afraid he would not have succeeded if he had. But oh! how would I try to hammer again, and again, and again upon this one nail, “The blood is the life thereof.” “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

Christ giving up his life in pouring out his blood—it is this that gives pardon and peace to every one of you, if you will but look to him— pardon now, complete pardon; pardon for ever. Look away from all other confidences, and rely upon the sufferings and the death of the Incarnate God, who has gone into the heavens, and who lives today to plead before his Father’s throne, the merit of the blood which, on Calvary, he poured forth for sinners. As I shall meet you all in that great day, when the crucified One shall come as the King and Lord of all, which day is hastening on apace, as I shall meet you then, I pray you bear me witness that I have striven to tell you in all simplicity what is the way of salvation; and if you reject it, do me this favour, to say that at least I have proffered to you in Jehovah’s name this, his gospel, and have earnestly urged you to accept it, that you may be saved. But the rather I would God that I might meet you there, all covered in the one atonement, clothed in the one righteousness, and accepted in the one Saviour, and then together will we sing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood to receive honour, and power, and dominion for ever and ever.” Amen.

²⁴ Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; ²⁶ That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. ²⁹ For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: ³⁰ For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. ³¹ For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. ³² This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. –Ephesians 5:24-33 (KJV)

Don’t want to hear it anymore
Same old stuff I’ve heard before
What’s the point in serving God
I’m so glad you asked

If your mother had cancer
Or someone raped your sister
Or you die in disaster
Tell me who do you turn to now

Could you help yourself
Could you save yourself
Who do you turn to now

Jesus, God break us, God change us
For we are a people of hardened hearts
And unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5; Hebrews 3:13)

Don’t want to be scared to believe
Fire of hell I’ll never see
It’s all just a fairy tale
Well I hope you’re right and I’m wrong

Separated forever from the hand of a savior
There’s no one to help you there
Tell me who do you turn to now (Revelation 20:10,15)
–Disciple, “Hardened”–

³¹ And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: ³² And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. ³³ They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into THE PIT, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. ³⁴ And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. ³⁵ And there came out A FIRE FROM THE LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.   –Numbers 16:31-35 (KJV) – This might be the reference Jesus had in mind about Hell being mentioned in the writings of Moses in Luke 16:31

—

Dr. John R. Rice, Hell: What the Bible Says About It (Sword of the Lord Pubs, 1945).

I tell you the truth
No one can enter the kingdom
Unless he is born again
Unless he is born again (John 3:3)
How can this be (John 3:4)

People give life to their
Children but only God’s
Spirit can make you
Into a child of God (John 3:6)
Don’t be surprised (John 3:7)

Take me underneath the water
Take me on under there (Matthew 3:15, John 3:5)
Take me underneath the water
Take me on under there
Take me underneath the water

No one has gone up
Except the Son of Man
Who came down from the heavens
Who came down from heaven (John 3:13)
Only believe (John 3:15-16)

Just as the snake was lifted up
People who looked were healed
Jesus the Son was lifted up
So we all could be healed (John 3:14)
Don’t be surprised

Take me underneath the water
Take me on under there
Take me underneath the water
Take me on under there
Take me underneath the water
I will die to me by being baptized (Matthew 20:22)
All things new old things gone
I have realized (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Let’s get wet take me under that water

God loved the world so much
That He gave His only Son
So that all the ones He made
Could believe and be saved (John 3:16)

Take me underneath the water
Take me on under there
Take me underneath the water
Take me on under there
Take me underneath the water
I will die to me by being baptized (Matthew 20:22)
All things new old things gone
I have realized (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Let’s get wet take me under that water
–Disciple, “Underneath”–

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I’ll Be Honest, “List of Solid Biblical Churches.”

BBC, “Vatican: Pope Did Not Say There Is No Hell.” “The image of fire and brimstone, and all of that, that’s never been part of Catholic teaching.” (00:40). How mistaken he is! Blind guide leading the blind! In The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment, Harry Buis clearly demonstrated that Catholic teaching certainly maintained literal fire, brimstone, and eternal punishment from the time of the church fathers until the Reformation. Mel Gibson is RIGHT to say that modern Catholics, have completely backslidden from the fundamental truths of the faith, and have embraced modernism instead. Saint Ignatius spoke of unquenchable fire, the Shepherd of Hermas said the unrepentant will burn in it, St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, St. Cyprian, and St. Athanasius all said the same thing. Gnostic heretics like Origen and Clement of Alexandria denied it metaphorically, and that is to be expected, but they were never canonized as authorities on Catholic teaching: and Ambrose unfortunately fell under their influence. Saint Augustine gave a clear layout of Hell as a literal, eternal, conscious punishment in the City of God book 21–and his arguments probably influenced Luther, Calvin, and the Reformers more than anyone from the age of pre-Reformation Catholic teaching. Thomas Aquinas also taught about Hell as a place of literal fire and eternal conscious punishment. Although not part of the official canon of the Church, Dante’s Inferno was definitely a Roman Catholic poem, and depicted a literal burning Hell within the heart of the earth.