Jesus Love S Bloody Sacrifice for Sin — E.A. Johnston

God's Love and the Gift of His Son

In the Gospel of John we find the words of Jesus concerning himself. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Perish means to perish in the devil's hell, outside the saving blood of Jesus. But whosoever, and that means you, friend, should believe in him, will have everlasting life. But God is a just God who must punish sin, who will by no means clear the guilty.

God's Mercy and the Gospel's Invitation

But God in his great mercy provided a remedy for sin in the person of his Son, Jesus. But you must feel your need of him, friend. You see, friends, the Gospel is for the weary, the hungry, and the thirsty.

Are you hungry for God? Are you sick and tired of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Hopefully, before the sermon ends, you will be thirsty for Jesus. The title of my message tonight, friends, is Jesus Loves Bloody Sacrifice for Sin. Do you know there was blood all over that cross? Colossians 1 .20 says so, and heaven made peace through the blood of the cross.

But why, there was a bloodshed, and because of love, he loved me and gave himself for me. But why should he love me so? In this message, we will see the heart of God in the Gospel. In the first message of the cross, which is God must punish sin.

In the second message of the cross is God's provision for sin. We're going to take a look at Jesus, the Son of God, through three aspects this evening, friends. We're going to see Jesus, a bloody sacrifice for sin.

We're going to see Jesus, a man of sorrows. And we're going to see Jesus, a faithful friend. But it's important that first I share a little story with you. It's a shocking story, but a true one, as related to me by a missionary who said, You could stand on a cliff in Mexico and gaze down at a certain village of Mexican workers.

The Wooden Jesus and False Gods

These people work down in the riverbed in their corn patch, and there they grow their corn. And when the corn is ready to harvest, they shuck it, and after it dries out, they'll take it and grind it into cornmeal and make tortillas.

And then take these tortillas down to the open market, and there they'll sell the tortillas for a few pesos and put them away. They'll come back out to their house, and there they will live off of lizards while they'll go out among the rocks and catch these huge, long lizards, and they'll eat those lizards and save that money for a special day.

A special day, when they will start a pilgrimage up to a certain mountain, and up on top of that mountain is a wooden statue of Jesus Christ. The terrain to that statue is so bad that some of the people will have to crawl on their hands and knees for over a mile, and by the time they get to that statue, they are bleeding all over.

Standing beside the statue is a priest, and that priest is saying, Now, you love God, give to Him, because you show your love to God by giving. And those people will reach into their little bags and purses and pull those pesos out, stained in their own blood, and drop that money in a slit in the top of the head of Jesus.

Then the priest will pray a prayer, and when he is finished, the priest will yell, You have not given enough. Look, Jesus is sad. He is crying. And all the time, there will be another priest hidden in that hollow statue, and with a little hand pump, he will pump water to where it comes out of human-made tear ducts, and that statue is crying.

And there, those people will give all they have, crawl back down that mountain, and go back to eating lizards, growing their corn, to make more tortillas, to get more pesos, to go and give to a wooden Jesus that they serve.

Well, some of you in the audience feels pity for them. You may look down on what you'd consider to be just a bunch of ignorant farm workers, but some of you here are no better than them. You're no better than those decent, deceived Mexican workers, because the God you serve may not be made of wood, but he's made up of your own imagination.

You've been serving a God you were comfortable with, and you got out your pocket knife and have carved out a God for yourself who won't get in the way of your daily living. He'll let you sleep at night, but he's just as dead and hollow as that wooden Jesus up on that mountain.

And if you don't set fire to him and burn that wooden Jesus up, and then, listen to me, listen to me, then you choose to stay in the dark spiritually. And listen to me, sir, you're nothing but a fool, a fool, I tell you.

The Undiluted Gospel and Jesus as Sin's Remedy

You're going to hear about a real Jesus tonight. I'm going to give you an opportunity to hear all about him. And he's one who's not tolerant towards sin. He's got rights and claims on every follower of his.

I'm going to give you the undiluted gospel like you get the oil straight from the can. I'm going to give you the gospel tonight, friends, of Jesus, the son of God. And he was a bloody sacrifice for sin.

The apostle John knew Jesus personally, and he wrote unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Jesus is the only remedy for sin of whom God says, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin.

And listen to me, friend, as our sin substitute, Jesus was bloody, a bloody sacrifice for sin. Why? Because God is a just God who must punish sin. Listen to Matthew's gospel. Let me tell you about it.

Christ's Bloody Sacrifice on the Cross

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand.

And they bowed the knee before him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit upon him. And they took the reed and smote him on the head. And after that, they had mocked him. They took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him.

Listen, friends, as those cruel Roman soldiers fastened the Son of God to that cross, every stroke of the hammer was an explanation point, crying out, God must punish sin. God must punish sin. God must punish sin.

That cross had Christ's blood all over it. So Jesus was a bloody sacrifice for sin. And we see that Jesus was also a man of sorrows. In Isaiah 53, we read, He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned to everyone to his own way.

And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Two things stand out in that last verse, friends. Number one, sin is going our way when we know it isn't God's way. And number two, Jesus on the cross at Calvary was our sin substitute.

I know I am a sinner, and I need a substitute for sin. And so do you, friend. So do you. And we read in Galatians, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.

Years ago, I was driving to work, and I saw a crowd standing out in front of some woods. And there, hanging in a tree, was the body of a young man who had committed suicide by hanging himself. It's hard to get that image out of one's mind.

And it's even harder, friends, to look at Christ nailed up on that cross, dripping with blood, without being affected by it. But Jesus is also a faithful friend. I'm a dog person. Perhaps some of you own a dog.

Jesus as the Faithful Friend

Why, a dog is one of the most faithful companions you can have. I have a little chihuahua dog who's 10 years old, and she's the happiest when she's sitting in my lap. I tell her, we're just a couple of old dogs now, but she's been my faithful friend all these years.

I have a story I want to share with you tonight, friends. Listen to it, especially you dog owners. A farmer had a dog who'd been very useful to him, but it was getting old. His master decided to get rid of him by drowning him, taking the dog with him to a large river near his farm.

He got into a boat and rowed out to the deepest part. Around the dog's neck he tied a cord attached to a heavy stone. Then he threw the dog into the water. The poor dog sank, but the cord broke and rising to the surface with a whine, he tried to get back into the boat again.

Unmoved, his master pushed him off a number of times with an oar. Finally, the farmer stood up in the boat, intending to strike the dog a blow with the oar that would send it to the bottom. He took a swing and missed.

He lost his balance and fell into the river. He could not swim and he would have drowned. But when the dog saw his master struggling in the water, it always gets me choked up when I tell it, friends. In spite of the cruel treatment he just received from him, it swam up to him, caught hold of his clothes, and brought him safe to land.

The farmer repaid his faithful friend for saving his life by caring for it the rest of its days. You may say that the farmer deserved to drown because he was so cruel and heartless to drown his faithful friend.

The Call to Look to Christ and Believe

But listen, you're more guilty than this man, friend, in your treatment of God, who in His love gave His only begotten Son to hang naked on the bloody cross for your sins. You refuse to turn loose of your sins.

You refuse to turn loose of your wooden Jesus that you control to receive the real Jesus who bled for you. Oh, look at that blessed man on the cross, friend. Look at that man on the cross. See him there with his arms outstretched, beckoning you to come to him and believe on him.

Look at that bloodstained Savior to sin. I'm pointing to Him. Look at Him. When I see Him there, I see Him suffering for me. I see Him agonizing for me. Bleeding drops of blood on the ground for me. Dying for me.

The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. He rose for me. See Him there on that bloody cross, wiggling and writhing under the terrible weight of my filthy sins. He went to that cross because He loved me.

He loved me. Love said my Savior to die in my stead. Why should He love me so? Meekly to Calvary's cross He was led. Why should He love me so? Why should He love me so? Why should He love me so? Why should my Savior to Calvary go?

Why should He love me so? Nails pierced His hands and His feet for my sin. Why should He love me so? He suffered sore my salvation to win. Why should He love me so? Why should He love me so? Why should He love me so?

Why should my Savior to Calvary go? Why should He love me so? Listen, friend. Jesus went to that cross. He loves sinners. Do business with Him, friend, while He is near. Look, while the Spirit speaks to your heart, come to Jesus, your faithful friend.

Listen. He suffered the shame and pain of that scandalous cross because He was love's bloody sacrifice for sin. Listen. Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat.

Yea, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they should be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they should be as wool.

Personal Testimony and the Appeal for Salvation

Let me tell you about Jesus, friend. I've known Him since I was just a 13-year-old boy. When I gave my heart to Him in a revival meeting, He's always been there for me through good times and bad times, through sad times and tough times.

And Jesus has been my true faithful friend. Why, He's never let me down, and He's never let me go. Jesus is the pearl of great price. He's worth selling all for so He may be gained. Come to Jesus. What are you waiting for, friend?

What are you waiting for, mister? Put your pride in your pocket and come to Jesus. Bring to Him your heartbreak. Bring to Him your tears. Bring to Him your failures. Lay it all at His nail-pierced feet.

Come to Him and believe on Him. Own Him as your Savior and Lord. Don't leave here tonight, friend, you unsaved person. Your soul will go into eternity one day and be certain your sins will find you out.

You must get them under the blood of Christ Jesus who died and suffered at Calvary, the friend of sinners. Listen, friend. I plead with you. I plead with you. Listen to this final gospel call. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.

And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.