For us to have high expectations and set right value upon the blood of
Christ when we take the communion on the Lord's table, today I shall show you seven strong prophetic virtues in it. 
BUT THE COMMUNION OF THE LORD's TABLE, THE FOLLOWING 7 PROPHETIC VIRTUES ARE REALIZED.

BUT THE COMMUNION OF THE LORD's TABLE, THE FOLLOWING 7 PROPHETIC VIRTUES ARE REALIZED.
1. Christ's blood restores our nearness to God. `You that were
sometime alienated, and enemies, yet now hath He reconciled through
death," Colossians 1:21. Christ's blood is the blood of atonement. Nay, it
is not only a sacrifice but a propitiation, 1 John 2:2, which denotes a
bringing us into favor with God. It is one thing for a traitor to be pardoned,
and another thing to be brought into favor. Sin rent us off from God; Christ's
blood cements us to God. If we had had as much grace as the angels, it could
not have wrought our reconciliation. If we had offered up millions of
holocausts and sacrifices, if we had wept rivers of tears, this could never
have appeased an angry Deity. Only Christ's blood ingratiates us into God's
favor and makes Him look upon us with a smiling aspect. When Christ died, the
veil of the temple was rent. This was not without a mystery, to show that
through Christ's blood the veil of our sins is rent which interposed between
God and us.
2. Christ's blood removes deadliness of any kind and gives utmost vitality.
"Whoso drinketh My blood, hath eternal life," John 6:54. It both begets life and prevents death. "The life of a thing is in the blood," Leviticus 17:11. Sure enough, the life of our soul is in the blood of Christ. When we contract deadness of heart, and are like wine that has lost the spirits, Christ's blood has an elevating power; it puts vivacity into us, making us quick and lively in our motion. "They shall mount up with wings as eagles," Isaiah 40:31.
"Whoso drinketh My blood, hath eternal life," John 6:54. It both begets life and prevents death. "The life of a thing is in the blood," Leviticus 17:11. Sure enough, the life of our soul is in the blood of Christ. When we contract deadness of heart, and are like wine that has lost the spirits, Christ's blood has an elevating power; it puts vivacity into us, making us quick and lively in our motion. "They shall mount up with wings as eagles," Isaiah 40:31.
3. Christ's blood changes negative history. "How
much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience!" Hebrews 9:14.
As the merit of Christ's blood pacifies God, so the virtue of it purifies us.
It is the King of heaven's bath. It is a laver to wash in. It washes a crimson
sinner milk white. "The blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all our
sin," I John 1:7. The Word of God is a looking glass to show us our spots,
and the blood of Christ is a fountain to wash them away, Zechariah 13:1.
But this blood will not wash if it is mingled with
anything. If we go to mingle anything with Christ's blood, either the merits of
saints or the prayers of angels, it will not wash. Let Christ's blood be pure
and unmixed, and there is no spot but it will wash away. It purged out Noah's
drunkenness and Lot's incest. Indeed, there is one spot so black that Christ's
blood does not wash away, and that is the sin against the Holy Ghost. Not but
that there is virtue enough in Christ's blood to wash it away, but he who has
sinned that sin will not be washed. He condemns Christ's blood and tramples it
under foot, Hebrews 10:29.
4. Christ's blood is a softens stony hearts. There is
nothing so hard but may be softened by this blood. It will soften a stone.
Water will soften the earth, but it will not soften a stone; but Christ's blood
mollifies a stone. It softens a heart of stone. It turns a flint into a spring.
The heart, which before was like a piece hewn out of a rock, being steeped in
Christ's blood, becomes soft and the waters of repentance flow from it. How was
the jailer's heart dissolved and made tender when the blood of sprinkling was
upon it! "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Acts 16:30. His heart
was now like melting wax. God might set what seal and impression He would upon
it.
5. Christ's blood quenches the inflammations of sinful lusts and passion.
First, it cools the heart of sin. The heart naturally is full of distempered heat. It must be hot, being set on fire of hell. It burns in lust and passion. Christ's blood allays this heart and quenches the inflammation of sin. Second, it cools the heat of conscience. It times of desertion, conscience burns with the heat of God's displeasure. Now, Christ's blood, being sprinkled upon the conscience, cools and pacifies it. And, in this sense, Christ is compared to a river of water, Isaiah 32:2. When the heart burns and is in agony, Christ's blood is like water to the fire. It has a cooling, refreshing virtue in it.
First, it cools the heart of sin. The heart naturally is full of distempered heat. It must be hot, being set on fire of hell. It burns in lust and passion. Christ's blood allays this heart and quenches the inflammation of sin. Second, it cools the heat of conscience. It times of desertion, conscience burns with the heat of God's displeasure. Now, Christ's blood, being sprinkled upon the conscience, cools and pacifies it. And, in this sense, Christ is compared to a river of water, Isaiah 32:2. When the heart burns and is in agony, Christ's blood is like water to the fire. It has a cooling, refreshing virtue in it.
6. Christ's blood cures the heart of terrifying fears.
It is good against fainting fits. Christ's blood is better than wine. Though wine cheers the heart of a man who is well, yet it will not cheer his heart when he has a fit of the stone or when the pangs of death are upon him. But Christ's blood will cheer the heart at such a time. It is best in affliction. It cures the trembling of the heart.
It is good against fainting fits. Christ's blood is better than wine. Though wine cheers the heart of a man who is well, yet it will not cheer his heart when he has a fit of the stone or when the pangs of death are upon him. But Christ's blood will cheer the heart at such a time. It is best in affliction. It cures the trembling of the heart.
A conscience sprinkled with Christ's blood can,
like the nightingale, sing with a thorn at its breast. The blood of Christ can
make a prison become a palace. It turned the martyr's flames into beds of
roses. Christ's blood gives comfort at the hour of death. As a holy man once
said on his deathbed when they brought him a cordial, "No cordial like the
blood of Christ!"
7. Christ's blood procures the spirit of boldness.
Israel passed through the Red Sea to Canaan. So, through the red sea of Christ's blood, we enter into the heavenly Canaan. "Having boldness therefore to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," Hebrews 10:19. Our sins shut heaven; Christ's blood is the key which opens the gate of paradise for us. Hence it is that Theodoret calls the cross the tree of salvation because that blood which trickled down the cross distills salvation. Well, then, may we prize the blood of Christ and, with Paul, determine to know nothing but Christ crucified, 1 Corinthians 2:2. King's crowns are only crosses, but the cross of Christ is the only crown.
Israel passed through the Red Sea to Canaan. So, through the red sea of Christ's blood, we enter into the heavenly Canaan. "Having boldness therefore to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," Hebrews 10:19. Our sins shut heaven; Christ's blood is the key which opens the gate of paradise for us. Hence it is that Theodoret calls the cross the tree of salvation because that blood which trickled down the cross distills salvation. Well, then, may we prize the blood of Christ and, with Paul, determine to know nothing but Christ crucified, 1 Corinthians 2:2. King's crowns are only crosses, but the cross of Christ is the only crown.
Oh, with what reverence and devotion should we
address ourselves to these holy mysteries! The saints are called "prepared
vessels," Romans 9:23. If ever these vessels should be prepared, it is
when they are to hold the precious body and blood of Christ. The sinner who is
damned is first prepared. Men do not go to hell without some kind of
preparation. "Vessels fitted for destruction," Romans 9:22. If those
vessels are prepared which are filled with wrath, much more are those to be prepared
who are to receive Christ in the Sacrament. Let us dress ourselves by a
Scripture glass before we come to the Lord's Table and, with the Lamb's wife,
make ourselves ready.
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