A FRIEND of mine had been preaching, and, at the close of the meeting, was wishing good-bye to some of his audience. Among others, he shook hands with a young woman, just as she was going out of the door. She was one, who had attended the meetings pretty regularly, but did not appear to have received blessing. Four words were all the evangelist uttered, as, taking her hand, he looked her full in the face. “You need the blood.” The girl was half inclined to be offended, yet, as she wended her homeward way, over and over again the words rang in her ear, “You need the blood.” “Well,” thought she, “many are worse than me, but that does not mend matters, and I am afraid to die. Did not the preacher say, ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’? I am sure I have sinned thousands of times, so that I really do need the blood.” Then, quick as lightning, flashed into her mind the words she had lately heard, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin,” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7),) and again, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36).) There and then that young woman was led by the Spirit of God to apply to the blood for cleansing and for peace. She believed herself lost, and received Christ as her Saviour, and thus received the knowledge of redemption through His blood, and the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, and went on her way rejoicing.
The father of this girl was ill, and had kept his bed for some time. Upon her return she went straight to his bed-side, and exclaimed, “Father, you need the blood.” Much surprised at such a salutation, he requested an explanation, and she, with lips made eloquent by the Spirit of God, told how Christ had saved her soul; how that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16),) how that “He hath made Him to be sin for us, He who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21).) She told her father that “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12).) The poor, weary man believed the glad tidings, and, realizing the truth of the Saviour’s words, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37),) proved that “at even time it shall be light.”
The following day the son paid a visit to his sick father, who, seizing hold of the young man’s hand, exclaimed, in a broken voice, “Charlie, my lad, you need the blood!” Through God’s great mercy, these words led Charlie also to see his lost condition, and to flee for refuge to the only Saviour. Thus, within a very short space of time, sister, brother, and father were all rejoicing in word of God is quick and powerful, and Christ Jesus! How true it is that the that the blood of Christ is still efficacious to atone for the sins of both young and old! We can find pardon and acceptance with God, the very moment we receive His salvation, as a free and utterly undeserved gift.
O! you, whose eyes are just now upon this paper, you need the blood, for you are a sinner, “and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Although man, in his arrogance and blindness, may dispute this fact, it is a fact still. If you have never yet proved “that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth from all sin,” prove it now, for “you need the blood,” and only as justified by His blood can you be saved from wrath.
ML 01/13/1918