Weekly Dose Of Lloyd-Jones (The Blood Of Christ)

People hate what they call this ‘theology of blood’, but there is no theology worthy of the name apart from the shed blood of Christ. 

Our gospel is a gospel of blood; blood is the foundation; without it there is nothing.

Spurgeon used to say, and I am increasingly convinced of the rightness of his dictum, that the ultimate way to test whether a man is truly preaching the gospel or not, is to notice the emphasis which he places upon ‘the blood’. It is not enough to talk about the cross and the death; the test is ‘the blood’

You cannot get away from this blood in the New Testament. It is central; without it there is no salvation. The law of God demands sin’s punishment, and the punishment is death; so our Lord came face-to-face with that demand likewise. Before He could be ‘the Saviour of the world,’ He had to satisfy the demands that the law makes upon guilty sinners in the sight of God. The message is that He went to the Cross; He set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem; He would not be delivered. He told His servants in effect, ‘I could command twelve legions of angels; but if I did how could I fulfil all righteousness? I must meet the demands of the law.’ He gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice; He died passively there upon the cross, and God poured upon Him His wrath against the sin of man. He is our Saviour by His atoning death as well as by His perfect, blameless, spotless life of obedience.*

*Sargent, T. (2007). Gems from Martyn Lloyd-Jones: An Anthology of Quotations from 'the Doctor' (165). Milton Keynes, England; Colorado Springs, CO; Hyderabad, AP: Paternoster.