The Blood of Jesus

[Minister William T Hannaford]

The 28th verse of this 26th Chapter of Matthew will suffice for the subject: ""For this is my BLOOD of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.""

The subject under consideration is one that is timely and important inasmuch as it deals with the only thing that can cleanse, redeem, and save----that is the BLOOD of Jesus.

You hear people speak about the cross. The cross holds a fascination for many people, but there is nothing of a meritorious nature about the wooden cross upon which Jesus died, with this exception, it held the Son of God. Therefore it is not the cross that is so important, but the BLOOD that was shed upon the cross. That is the thing that is important; that is the thing we should learn more about----the blood of Jesus.

People in this modern age, the age of so-called enlightenment, have gotten way ahead of the Lord. The Bible has become to many an outmoded, outdated, book of Psalms. Then people hear something about the blood of Jesus, and they are quick to retaliate with, ""That''s a butcher-shop gospel."" Call it what you will, term it a ""butcher-shop gospel"" if you please, but if there is one thing the Bible teaches, it is that ""without the shedding of BLOOD there is no REMISSION of sin"" (Heb. 9:22).

Attack the blood of Jesus all you please, denounce it, deny it; yet it still stands as the only thing that remits sin.

Fifty years ago professing Christians were quite different than they are today. Fifty years ago if a man preached a sermon without exalting the blood of Jesus, without mentioning the blood of Christ in the message, people said he wasn''t preaching. But today it is revised; it has changed altogether. Today if a man preaches on the blood of Jesus, he is preaching that which is offensive. The Apostle Paul wanted the offense of the cross to continue and every Bible-loving, Christ-honoring member of the Lord''s church and every God-called preacher of the Gospel ought to be willing for the offense of the cross to continue. Certainly one way to offend, is to preach on the blood of Jesus----the ""butcher-shop gospel.""

A man stood in a leading university, less than five years ago, and spoke to six hundred ministers, or supposed-to-be ministers, and said, ""Boys, when you go out to preach, one thing I don''t want you to mention is the blood of Jesus. There is no meritorious power in the blood of Christ, no more than in a hog''s blood, and when you get up and talk about it you are only preaching a ""butcher-shop gospel.""

He was heralded as one of the greatest religious men of this age. They held him in the highest esteem. They said, ""He is an eloquent speaker, a wonderful Christian gentleman.""

He was a rank infidel, that''s what he was. It''s a sin to call anything by the wrong name. Why beat the Devil around the stump, so to speak; why not come right out and call him what he is, what anyone is who denies the blood of Christ?