The precious blood of Christ is presented as the sole means by which a sinner can be clothed, accepted, and sheltered by God. The sermon begins by illustrating humanity's fallen state through Adam and Eve's sin, which rendered them naked and ashamed, unable to cover themselves with their own efforts or good deeds. This is further exemplified by Joshua the high priest, who was initially clothed in filthy garments, symbolizing sin, but was cleansed and clothed by God after blood was shed. The message emphasizes that all human righteousness is insufficient and that only the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ provides the 'wedding garment' necessary for acceptance into God's presence, urging listeners to trust in His blood for salvation.
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Genesis chapter three and verse twenty one. Unto Adam also and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothe them. Now there's a passage over in Zechariah the second last book of the Old Testament that I would like to read. Zechariah second last book in the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter three. Verse one. And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuked me, O Satan. Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this, referring to Joshua the high priest, is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel, but he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. Not to him, he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head.
So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments, and the angel of the Lord stood by. The last three Sunday mornings we've been speaking on the precious blood of Christ. This is the fourth in the series. of the precious blood. What that blood can do, how efficacious it is, how powerful, how penetrating, how all-sufficient, to save the sinner and land them in glory. Lord willing, we'll continue next Sunday, but this morning I want to speak upon the precious blood, and it has to do with the sinner being clothed, accepted, and sheltered.
First of all, the sinner being clothed. Now we were reading over in Genesis one concerning Adam and how God had to take animals and slay them and clothe Adam and Eve with coats of skin. The story of Adam is a very interesting one, yet very tragic. Little did Adam and Eve know the far-reaching effects of that one act of disobedience. Sometimes we read about Mephibishah who was lame on both his feet because his nurse let him fall when he was a little babe.
A nurse Mephibishah was lame the rest of his life. Mother Eve held the whole human race in her arms in the Garden of Eden. She fell herself and the human race fell with her. And the human race has been lame, ever since, unable to walk straight and upright before God, in a defiled state. And so Adam and Eve sinned with a far-reaching one, very destructive to the human race, dishonoring to God. But thank God he has provided a way of return.
First of all, think of Adam's sinless condition. God created Adam in his own image, in his own likeness. And here is Adam pressed from the hand of God, a beautiful creature. Adam was perfect in every respect, perfect physically, morally, and mentally. He was an administrator, invested with unusual intelligence, giving names to all the birds that flew before him as God created them, giving names to all the animals as they passed in front of him, naming the fishes of the sea, the insects, the creeping things, Adam named them all.
And so here is Adam, a wonderful creature, a sinless creature, a happy creature. But then you have also Adam's sublime surroundings. God gave him a wonderful estate to live in, a wonderful garden. There are a lot of gardens in the world. We have some here in America. Tourists are urged to go to these beautiful gardens. I have seen some of them. Also in England, I saw the royal gardens, and they're beautiful. And you go to Ireland, you see some marvelous gardens in those parks.
Some as you look at them, you gasp because of their beauty. They're a wonderful arrangement of the flowers. You wonder at man's ability. You just wonder where does man get these ideas? And he produces these beautiful, well-arranged, fragrant gardens like Jasper National Park out in Vancouver for another. But no garden was so beautifully arranged No garden was so pretty, no garden was so fragrant as Eden's garden. The garden that God planted eastward in Eden.
And into that beautiful garden, into that lovely estate, Adam was placed along with Eve, his wife. There wasn't a brown spot or a blight on any leaf. No flower ceased to bloom. There was nothing there in the way of dying plants. Ah, no, it was a beautiful garden. Everything fresh and fragrant of spring, that was the garden, the home of Adam and Eve. And so you have them in these sublime surroundings. A sinless creature in sublime surroundings.
Then think of his supreme joy. Every evening God came down to have a little walk and a little talk with Adam and Eve. The Bible said that. How Adam and Eve would wait at the gate of the garden for the appearance and presence of their Creator. How God welcomed this little time of fellowship. God had invisible creatures, the angels, the vast hosts of angels. But here is something new and fresh in God's vast realm, a man and a woman, in a beautiful garden.
And God anticipated that evening talk and walk with Adam and Eve, for he came in the cool of the day as they walked the pathways of that beautiful garden together. What sublime surroundings, what supreme joy was here. no fear in his heart as he walked with the eternal God. What counsel God must have given him. What encouragement. But then you have something that marred all this, Adam's sinful deed. Here is this sinless creature in these sublime surroundings, carrying this supreme joy of walking and talking with God, but sin entered through ease listening to Satan.
And you know the results. How she loaned her ear to the devil. And he whispered in her ear, Ye have God said, planning a doubt, implying that God was withholding something from them. It truly had given them a beautiful garden. But then God had more, and he was withholding it from them. After all, God couldn't trust them, implying that much. And so Eve listened, and she listened long enough that it sank in, and she disobeyed God and sin entered.
What happened? An awful darkness descended upon the hearts of Adam and Eve. No longer could they be said and called sinless. No. No longer did they enjoy those sublime surroundings. For when sin entered, those beautiful gardens were affected. Like a withering wind, the flowers began to fade and die. The animals became ferocious and popped and devoured one another, and the same were the birds of the air. Sin entered and marred that marvelous sea.
What a sinful deed. Disobeying God and believing the devil, and an awful sense of death, and distance came into Adam and Eve's heart. Now the time comes when God would enter the garden, but Adam and Eve had gone and hidden behind the trees of the garden. They no longer welcomed his visit. Fear gripped them, and they hid behind the trees of the garden. They did more than that. They made figly aprons to clothe themselves.
they were conscious that they were naked. They were ashamed prior to this. There was no shame. A beautiful cloud of innocency covered them. But the moment sin entered, their thoughts were distorting it. Fear seized them. Shame possessed them. And they covered their nakedness, for this was the first time they discovered they were naked. They made fig leaf aprons to cover themselves. Here is their shameful condition, naked and their shallow covering fig leaves.
God says, Adam, where are thou? And Adam had hidden behind the trees of the garden. God knew where he was. No need peeping out, Adam. God knows where you are. No need trying to take cover behind those aprons you've made with the works of your own hands. I know your sin. You're still naked, as far as I am concerned. Naked. Of course, then the conversation took place. Who told thee thou was naked?
Then, of course, the story came out. And Adam says, The woman, Thou gavest me. She partook of the fruit, and I did eat. And the woman says, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. A failure to face up to the facts, as we mentioned two weeks ago. Why didn't Adam bow his head and say, I've sinned, O God, I've sinned? Why did he come out and say, I've sinned, I've sinned, instead of trying to blame someone else? What did God do? God killed animals, and he clothed them with coats of skin.
God said, Your sin must be punished. Death is the punishment and penalty to your sin. The day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. the soul that sin of it shall die. And Adam and Eve, if you're to continue living, and if I am to have fellowship with you and you with me, your sin has got to be punished. Your fig leaf aprons will not suffice. Blood's got to be shed. That's the penalty of your sin. And God was the one who slew the animals. God was the one who shed blood. And with the skins of those animals, he gave Adam and Eve a covering.
Clothed in with a coat of skin after blood had been shed. Clothed by God himself. And friend, let me say this morning, that's the only covering you or I can have acceptable to God. We had sinned against God, and oh, how people today are busy making fig leaf aprons, that shallow attire, thinking that will stand between them and God. They know they sin, they know they're naked, but they think this will do.
This will veil my nakedness. This will cover my sin. One might go into some of those take me of aprons if he want to take the time. Some people say, well, if I just do the best I can, God will be satisfied. No, he won't. Friend, you can do your utmost. You can do your level best. You may have a strong will and able to say no to temptation. You may be possessed with a will that enables you not to succumb to what other people stoop to. You can lift your head in dignity and say, I never swear.
I never gambled. I never cheated anyone. I lived an honest, respectable life. Though you can cover yourself with a wonderful, wonderful garment of fig leaves, the works of your own hands, the friend they'll wither in the presence of an all-seeing gulf. Some take cover. or shelter in the church, thinking being a member of some church, that will cover up their sin. That will see them through. That will satisfy God. So they hide behind the skirts of the church.
There's not a church on earth can cover your sin. There's not a church on earth that can give you a coveting in the presence of God. Not one, or all of them put together. No, friend, you stand naked, exposed before a holy God this morning, the works of your own hands, your good life, your good deeds, or any church you may refer to will not suffice, fig leaf, apes. God says they will not do. Blood has got to be shed if your sin is to be put away.
You'll notice the case here of Zachariah that I referred to. He's attired in filthy garments. Isn't that something? Attired in filthy garments. And did you notice something in verse one? Satan's standing at his right hand through the system. And that's the way man is born into this world, a sinner. Then he reaches the age of accountability or responsibility, and he begins to become conscious of something lacking in his life between he and God. And he begins right away to invent some idea or to adopt some religion.
There will come between him and God and cover his sins. And the devils are his right hand encouraging that procedure. You're all right. What have you got to worry about? Your life's as good as your neighbor? Your church is as good as any other church? After all, you don't do anything that other people don't do? Your fig leaf aprons are all right. Far as I can see, you have nothing to be afraid of or complain about. The devil stands at the right hand of the sinner, trying to bolster him up and encourage him. Do the best he can and continue as he is.
Never mind this preaching of the old-fashioned gospel and the necessity of the blood of Christ to cleanse and clothe. The devil stands at the right hand of every sinner, trying to prevent him from coming to Christ. Friendly, let me tell you this morning, if you have desires of becoming a Christian, if you want to have your sins put away, There's one standing at your right hand to prevent such an experience. The devil doesn't want to see anyone come to Christ. And if you want to see and know the power of the devil, you try and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.
The end of the meeting, try and leave your seat and come up and publicly confess Christ and see if someone's not holding you back. See, if someone hasn't got a hold of your arm, saying, Don't you, O the power of Satan. If you want the demonstration of the power of the devil, you see it in gospel meetings. When God's Holy Spirit strives with a man and a woman, and they're convinced through the Bible there's something wrong, they're not right with God, they need to be born again. They wonder sometimes, why do they leave? How can they get up and go out when faced with facts, which are facts indeed?
The reason they go out is because of the power of the devil, how he succeeds in getting men and women to leave when they know they ought to stay and get this matter settled. He tries to clutter up their minds. Right now some of you wise will be thinking about what's at home on the stove and what kind of a dinner you're going to have. He's trying to inject all kinds of things into your mind right now to keep you from concentrating, to keep you from thinking about these things, thinking up to them and doing something about them. The power of the devil. Satan stood at his right hand to resist.
But thank God he didn't succeed in this case. for what happened. He had his filthy garments taken from him. God says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Isn't that something? All our righteousnesses. He doesn't say all our evil deeds are filthy rags or fig leaf aprons. He says all our righteousnesses, the very best we can do. The very best you can do is not enough. God demands absolute protection. And the very best you can do comes short, for the Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Well, you say if the best I can do comes short, if the best any man can do is not enough, what are we to do? Isn't man hopeless under such a situation? Exactly. That's what God wants to get across to you. You're hopeless. You cannot meet God's requirements or His demands. You're absolutely hopeless. As far as covering your sins, putting them away, satisfying God, saving your soul is concerned, you're absolutely hopeless. Absolutely. That's where God wants to bring it. For the Bible tells us we're without Christ, without hope in the world.
Now God can do something. It's only when a person comes to the point of hopelessness where he's willing to turn to another. All the time he thinks he can do it himself, he'll try. The man who's drowning, but because of the pride of his heart having been a great swimmer, he has to admit he's giving up, he's getting weak, he's sinking. He'll try his best. He'll struggle to the last minute to save himself. Until finally his hands go up, he's through. then the lifesaver can dive in and rescue. God will not save you, friend, until you come to the end of your rope. The end of the rope says, Lord, I'm a sinner.
I'm lost. I'm helpless. I'm hopeless. All right, says God, now I can do something. Now you'll turn to me. Now I can save you if you'll trust my son. And so we find this man And as iniquity is taken away, his sin is perched. He's cleansed, first of all. Then he's clothed. And then he's crowned. Did you notice that in verse five? The fair might. Is that a wonderful procedure? Cleanse first. Blood has to be shed. Clown second. And crown third.
The crowning speaks. of royalty and of rain. The first thing God wants to do with you is to cleanse you. Cleanse you from all your sin, every stain. Thank God the precious blood of Christ is powerful enough to penetrate to the sin at the bottom of the list. I care not how deep your sin is, how desperate your condition, How dark your outlook, how dreadful your state, the precious blood of Christ can reach to the very bottom of that awful cauldron of sin and put everyone away.
How penetrating is the blood of Christ. How far reaching. It can reach out and apprehend your first and also lay hold of your last. It can blanket your whole life and put every sin away. How wonderful is the precious blood of Christ that He can put away all your sin. Cleanse, cleanse, then clothe. For instance, think of the prodigal. When the prodigal came home, what was the first thing the Father told the servants to do? Bring forth the best robe and put it on.
My, that's lovely. what was the prodigal attired in? It's a wonder the father didn't smell him about twenty feet away and say, son, don't come any further. You've been among the hogs, for the Bible says that. He was with the pigs. Fame would eat of the husk of the swine did eat. It's questionable whether the poor lad had had a bat for weeks, according to the story. On those rags that clung, to his emaciated form. For he was starved, he was hungry, he was forlorn, he was forsaken.
And here he comes. Is that the young man, the strapping youth that left? Is that the bright young man that left here a little while ago with his pockets bulging with money, going off to have a wonderful time? That's him. He's coming back, and his craggy hair his drawn face, his stooped and stooped and stumbling form, and oh, the clothing, the rags, the tatters, the filth. But the Father welcomed him. Father ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The Father saw him, eyes of love.
The Father ran, feet of love. fell on his neck, arms of mercy, kissed them, kisses of mercy, and said to the service, Words of mercy, bring forth the best robe, and put it on. Well, I'll assure you one thing, that before they put the best robe on, they took those others off. That boy underwent a good bath. Friend, before God will cleanse your soul, get rid of those old filthy garments of self-righteousness, those robes that you have tried to knit yourself, those robes that you have tried to weave upon the loom of your own imagination, stripped of all such.
You stand naked as sinner before a holy God, God says strip them. Strip them. Some go around with the attire of morality. Others go around with a robe of self-righteousness and human merit. God says strip them. Wash them. The only thing that can wash you and wash your sins away is the precious blood of Christ. That's all. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though it is red like cleanse and they shall be as woe.
God says cleanse them, wash them. And I'm sure that's what the prodigal experienced. In other words, he got rid of his clothes first, and then he had a good back. That is before he went into the father's house. Although the Father fell upon him as he was, that the Father loved him like the verse of that hymn, Just as I am without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me. That thou bidst me come to the old Lamb of God I come. God will receive you just as you are. Don't try and fix yourself up.
He'll do that. He'll take off the filthy garments, He'll give you a good bath. The blood of Christ will cleanse you. He says, bring forth the best robe. Put it on. Put a ring in his hand and shoes on his feet. Go and get the patted cap and kill it. Let us eat to be merry, for this my son was dead. He's alive again. Father didn't say go and get that old shabby cast off robe of mine. Don't go and get that one that's been used a number of times, but he said, look for the best one. Bring forth the best role.
I care not if it has never been used. It's brand new. It hasn't been unwrapped. Bring it. Put it on. Put it on. And the prodigal was clothed. He was stripped first. He was cleansed second. He was clothed third. That's what happened to Adam and Eve. They were naked. The animals were killed. The blood was shed. They were cleansed. And God took the skins of those animals that had been killed, and He made them a covering. They were clothed. And God wants to cloth you this morning, friend, just as this man in Zechariah III, Joshua the high priest.
And remember, he was a high priest. Yet he's attired here in filthy garments. had to be stripped. The devil stood beside him trying to prevent this glorious transition and transaction, but the devil didn't succeed. For God says, is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? What strong language? What marvelous grace. Is not this not a brand plucked out of the fire? Yes, and God can look upon every sinner saved by sovereign grace and say, Is not this a brand plucked from the burning?
Here's a soul that by right should have been in hell. He deserved it, she deserved it. They had sinned, and they couldn't save themselves, but I and sovereign grace rescued them. I redeemed them. I ruled them in divine righteousness. Is not this a brand plucked from the burning? The devil didn't like that, because he's the one to whom these words would address. Ah, yes, Satan, you stood at his right hand to resist. This glorious experience being his. But you didn't succeed, but here's a brand that I plucked from the burning.
Friend, you're looking at one this morning and you're hearing a brand that God in sovereign grace plucked from the burning at the age of nineteen when I passed from death unto life. Oh, I thank God for that. The torment and the fire mine I shall never see. Because Jesus Christ took my place at Calvary. He suffered in my stead. He absorbed the wrath of God my sins deserved. He buried his bosom when he received the stroke that just as aimed at me. This morning I'm saved.
I'm going to heaven, not because I'm one bit better than you, but because Jesus died for me. And I was just sensible enough to accept him as my Savior, trust his precious blood and pass from death unto life. And for this morning I'm a grand pluck from the burning. All glory be to him. And so you have the case of this high priest, clothed robe. You know, over in Revelation chapter three, I think it's about verse seventeen.
Here's the church of Laodicea. What does he say? The Lord is speaking. Thou sayest, thou art rich, and increase with goods, and hast need of nothing. You are self-satisfied. You are so self-sufficient, sophisticated. Thou art rich, and increase with goods. You have need of nothing. Now listen. But knowest not that thou art wretched, thou art poor, Thou art blind, thou art naked, poor, deceived church. Thou art rich and increased with goods, and you have need of nothing.
And you are so ignorant that you don't know your true condition. For says the Lord Jesus, knowest thou not that thou art wretched. Thou art poor, thou art miserable, thou art blind, thou art naked. Quite a shock to that church. And it's quite a shock to the individual to know that all his good upbringing, all his good attempts to live a Christian life, all his endeavors to be a good citizen, all these things will not save him. Only God can save him.
And that through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is shed on account. Over in Matthew twenty-two, you have the wedding of the King's Son, referring to that glorious day. And we read that when the King came in to see the guests, he saw a man which had not on a wedding garment. For in those days in the East, when they had a feast of this kind and character, a royal festival, the king provided the garment, the attire, for everyone who attended. You couldn't go in a garment of your own choosing or selection. You had an invitation, and as you arrived at the place of the feast, you received a garment known as the wedding garment, and the king provided everyone who was invited with a wedding garment.
But here's a man, he arrives, and he thinks, well, I think my clothes are just as good as those provided by the king. And so he lifts his nose when he comes to the place where he's to receive his attire. He passes on in, and he begins to compare his robe, his clothing, with those sitting around them. Everyone's alike. They all have the garment provided by the king. Well, I'm kind of proud of mine. I made it myself. And it was very comfortable until a hush fell over the audience, and the king's approaching. The Bible says, read it for yourself when you go home.
It's in Matthew twenty-two. When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding gown. And so you accepted my invitation, but you didn't accept my provisions. Take him, bind him hand and foot, and cast him into utter darkness. There shall be weeping and waning and gnashing of teeth. The king saw him. What an awful inspection. He was speechless. What an awful silence.
Cast him into utter darkness. What a terrible sentence. A man who tried to get in without God's provided garment, and friend, the garment God provides for you in need, to get to heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ in his death upon Calvary is the only provision for the sinner to enter the presence of God. I trust you realize that. Are you trusting the precious blood of Christ this morning? You're not, I trust you will before you leave this place.
You need to be cleansed. You need to be clothed if you ever expect to be crowned. I thought of this, I've often read this. It's a lovely thing. J. Peerbot Morgan, in the Panic of Nineteen-O-Seven, with the help of others, saved this country from bankruptcy and economic ruin. You know he's a real Christian, and he left his will, and this is his will. I commit my soul into the hands of my Savior, in full confidence that having redeemed it and washed it in His most precious blood, He will present it faultless before my Heavenly Father, and I entreat my children to maintain and defend at all hazards and at all costs the personal sacrifice, the blessed doctrine of complete atonement of sin, or a sin through the blood of Jesus Christ once offered, and through that and that alone, the last will and testament of Pervont Morgan.
And, friend, that's my testimony, too. Can you say it's yours this morning? You know, people today are restless, they're afraid. You tell, you can see that by talking with them. They're insecure. and they're searching does the church have what they are looking for not unless that church or that preacher is preaching the precious blood of Christ as the sole basis for salvation are you trusting that precious blood this morning is that your ticket to mansions in the sky Is that your passport to realms of bliss?
And you say this morning, thank God all my sins are put away, and God hath taken from his wardrobe a garment, and a tellery Jesus Christ in sorrow, pain, and death. He wove that garment. His agony, his precious blood, is in the very wharf and wound of that heavenly attire. I accept it free from the hand of Almighty God, whose requirements must be met, his desire satisfied, for no one will enter heaven without this robe. And I take Jesus Christ this morning as my Savior, knowing my own nothingness and unworthiness.
I claim him as my all-in-all. Will you do that? Will you be ruled this morning? It's provided free. Jesus paid the fare. Jesus paid it all to him, my old sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. And that's the wonderful thing. This robe of God's providing and fitness for heaven is free. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You can't pay for it. You can't work for it. You can only take it. God helped you to say, I'll take it now. Right now. God helped you to do so.
Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. We thank you for the wonderful, ample, eternal provision Though it's made for poor sinners to be saved and come to a knowledge of thyself and be ready for death and for eternity. May some trust the Savior right now. We ask this in his name and for thy glory. Amen.