Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 851
Delivered on Lord’s-day Morning, JANUARY 17, 1869, by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ.”- Ephesians 2:13.
THE text is a gate of pearl leading up to the excellent Glory. Happy are the men to whom it is given to enter thereby. It turns upon hinges of diamond. Those two phrases, “in Christ Jesus,” “by the blood of Christ”—these are the two pivots of the precious doctrine of the text. “Made near,” this is our delightful privilege, but, “in Christ Jesus,” is one source of the blessing, “and by the blood of Christ” is the other. Before our rejoicing eyes rolls a sea of love, an ocean of boundless peace and bliss comparable to the sea of glass before the sapphire throne! In order to reach this great Pacific, you must sail through yon narrow strait which flows between the two headlands of union to Christ and cleansing by the atoning blood.
I. We commence, therefore, this morning, by endeavoring to EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF THE TWO KEY WORDS—“In Christ Jesus,” and “by the blood of Christ.” “We who once were far off are made near.” First, because we are in Christ Jesus. All the elect of God are in Christ Jesus by a federal union. He is their Head ordained of old to be so from before the foundation of the world. As Adam was the federal head of the race and as in him we fell, so Christ, the second Adam, stands as the Head of the chosen people and in Him they rise again and live.
This federal union leads in due time, by the Grace of God, to a manifest and vital union—a union of life and for life—even unto eternal life, of which the visible bond is faith. The soul comes to Jesus and lays hold on Him by an act of faith because Jesus has already laid hold upon that soul by the power of His Spirit, claiming it to be His heritage, seeing He has bought it with His blood and His Father has given it to Him as the reward of the travail of His soul. All who are in Christ Jesus in the eternal Covenant of Grace, shall, in due time, be in Him by the living union of which we now speak—mystical and mysterious—but still most real, most true and most efficient.
Now, Beloved, when a soul becomes really in Christ, as the branch is in the vine, and draws its nourishment from the stem, as the limb is in the body and derives all its vitality from the central heart—when a man thus becomes one with Christ, it is clear to the most common observer that he must be near to God—for Christ is ever near to God and those one with Him must be near, also. Jesus is Himself God—here is nearness outdone! As Man He is without spot or blemish and near to God in Character. As having finished the work which was given Him to do, He is near to God in acceptance. As having gone up to Heaven to take the promised crown, He is near to God in Person. And since we are one with Him, we must be from that very fact near to God, yes, as near to God as Christ Himself is!
Understand that if anything is one with a man, actually one with that man, it stands in the same place as that man does. So if we are one with Christ by a real and actual union—where Christ is, we are! Christ’s standing is our standing! And as Christ is near unto God, even so He has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places. We are—
“So near, so very near to God, We cannot nearer be, For in the Person of His Son,
We are as near as He.”
The other key word of the text is, “by the blood of Christ.” If it is asked what power lies in the blood to bring near, it must be answered, first, that the blood is the symbol of the Covenant. Ever in Scripture when covenants are made, victims are offered and the victim becomes the place and ground of approach between the two covenanting parties. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is expressly called, “the blood of the Everlasting Covenant,” for God comes in Covenant near to us by the blood of His only-begotten Son. Every man whose faith rests upon the blood of Jesus slain from before the
foundations of the world is in Covenant with God and that Covenant becomes to him most sure and certain because it has been ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore can never be changed or disannulled.
The blood brings us near in another sense because it is the taking away of the sin which separated us. When we read the word, “blood,” as in the text, it means mortal suffering—we are made near by the griefs and agonies of the Redeemer. The shedding of blood indicates pain, loss of energy, health, comfort, happiness. But it goes further still—the term, “blood,” signifies death. It is the death of Jesus in which we trust. We glory in His life. We triumph in His Resurrection. But the ground of our nearness to God lies in His death.
The term, “blood,” moreover, signifies not a mere expiring, but a painful and ignominious and penal death. A death not brought about by the decay of nature, or the arrows of disease, but caused by the sharp sword of Divine vengeance. The word, in fact, refers directly to the Crucifixion of our Lord. We are brought near to God especially and particularly by a crucified Savior pouring out His life’s blood for us! Beloved, it is well to note this well-known doctrine, because there are some teachers—and I doubt not very excellent men, too—who seem not to be of Paul’s mind when he said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and who resolved to know nothing among men save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.