I invite you to turn in the scriptures now to 1 John 1. Just over a week ago I was sitting in the home of our brother Tom's over in England. We had gone there to preach for the Sovereign Grace Advent testimony on the Friday night. And that evening when we come home, morning and evening, by Spurgeon is always read in their home. And this verse of scripture was the text that Spurgeon took. And I know as I listen to the verse being read and also the exposition being read from the hand of Spurgeon so long ago, my heart was blessed and touched. That night I went to bed and I prepared a message on this verse of Scripture, and I trust that it will be a blessing as we think of the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. 1 John chapter 1, just verse 5 through to verse 10. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and I declare unto you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But 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. If we say that we have no sin, We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. It is the words of verse 7 and particularly the last part of the verse that I want to draw your attention to tonight, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Come with me. Visit Calvary, where our Redeemer died. His blood fills the fountain, tis full, tis deep, tis wide. Almost two thousand years ago, a fountain was opened for sin and for uncleanness. Yonder on the brow of Mount Calvary, on that middle tree, the blessed Son of God was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Thereupon that cross Jesus Christ was crucified for our sin. He bore the eternal wrath of God. All the anger, all the fury of a holy God that was justly demanded because of sin fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Substitute. From His ribbon side there flowed a fountain of crimson, precious, incorruptible blood poured forth for the remission of sin. Without the shedding of blood, the Bible tells us, there is no remission. There is a crimson scarlet thread that runs from cover to cover in the book of Holy Scripture, from the blood of the animal that was slain for a covering for Adam and Eve, right through to the blood of the faithful and the true judge. of whom we read about in Revelation 19, the one who was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, whose name is called the Word of God, we have divine emphasis placed upon the importance and the value of Jesus' blood. Without that blood there's no remission, there's no redemption, there is no reconciliation. Without that blood, there's no peace with God. There's no pardon for our sin. Oh my friend, without the blood of Jesus, there's no heaven. We cannot get to heaven without the blood. It is the blood that makes us atonement for the soul. It is the blood that has purchased the church. It is the blood that bestows cleansing and forgiveness. There is no other way of justification. We are justified solely through the blood of Christ. May you come to see the value and the virtue and the victory of the blood of Jesus May it ever be in our preaching, may it ever be in our praising, may it ever be in our praying. Our text proclaims wonderful and miraculous truths about the cleansing blood of Christ. John the Beloved, writing this epistle so many years ago, by divine inspiration to the people of God, he declares in verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Here, indeed, is the remedy for sin, the only remedy. We have sinned against the Holy God, every last one of us. There is not a man or woman here, but you have sinned. There is not a person in the whole world from the beginning of time to the end of time, but before God. My friends, they are sinners. We read in verse 8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. We went on to read in verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him that is God a liar and his word is not in us. We are sinners before God and sin has soiled us. Sin has separated us from God. And sin has sentenced us to a lost eternity. Sin will bring a man down to the sides of the eternal pit forevermore, unless that sin is removed and forgiven. And only the blood of Jesus can do that. Only His blood can take away the deep-dyed sins of a man's life. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And how do I make that mine? How do I, use the word, appropriate that to myself? Well, just glance there at verse 9 and passing. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us for our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We can appropriate that to our hearts and lives through confession. We confess our sin to God. And He's the faithful one and the just one who will forgive us for all our sin. I want us to think about the cleansing of the blood of Jesus tonight. And there's three very simple truths that I want to leave with you. As you look at this verse of Scripture, there is certain cleansing. It's absolutely certain. And then, of course, there is continual cleansing. And then, certainly, we will come to see that there is complete cleansing. But first of all, there is certain cleansing. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. This is the promise of God. There is no question about this cleansing. It is sure. God has declared it in His Word, and God will stand over His promise. It is built upon the unerring, infallible, unchangeable Word of the living God. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Let this truth grip your heart. Let it sink into your soul. God is not a man, the Bible tells us, that he should lie. He is not like the fallible sons of men who break their promises and fail to keep their word. The best of men can fail, but God never fails. The sincerest of men make promises, and at times, for whatever reason, they fall short of keeping those promises. But God never fails in the promises that He has given. The holiest of men with honorable and good intentions may give their word to you and declare their promises. But many things can prevent the fulfillment of what they declare. But God always keeps his word. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. God keeps his word. He fulfills his obligations. He will honor every promise of this book. The cleansing of 1 John 1 and verse 7 is as certain as any other pledge. that we have in the Bible. You can depend upon the promises of God. You can stake your whole eternity upon the guarantees that God has given. The powerful, precious, pure blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. We sang the hymn earlier, Will you be free from your burden of sin? There is power in the blood. And that power of the blood of Christ has not diminished one iota from the day in which it was shed there upon Calvary's cross, it is still as powerful and as potent and as precious as ever it was. There is sin in your life and in mine that needs to be put away. You see, my friends, without God we are abiding under the judgment and the wrath of a thrice holy God. We are condemned already. That's how the Bible puts it. We are already under the sentence of death. We are lost and without hope. We are going out into the eternal darkness of a doomed eternity to that place so graphically described by Jesus as the place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched, but the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Will you not lay hold upon this truth by faith? Will you not appropriate it to your own heart and life? Will you not trust in the redeeming work of the Saviour and know your sin is forgiven? You need to take a step of faith. You need to get on to the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other hope for the sinner. There is no other remedy for sin. There is no other security for eternity. There is no other deliverance from hell. There is no other access to heaven. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. There are many things that you and I are not certain about in this life. We are not certain about tomorrow, are we? That's why the scripture says, Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. We don't know what tomorrow has in store. We're not certain about the state of our financial affairs in this present economic climate. Things can change overnight, and they have for many people. We are not even certain about the condition of our health and strength. We are not certain about the security of our employment, or the comforts of our homes, or the happiness of our family and our friendships. But you can be absolutely certain about sins forgiven. You can be certain about the cleansing of the blood of Christ. You can be certain about peace and pardon with God, a right standing with Him who is the judge of all the earth. You can be certain about your eternal home in heaven. Come to the fountain that is filled with blood. Wash and be made clean. Know your sins forgiven. Start for heaven this very night. There is cleansing and healing for all who will wash in this life-giving flood. It is certain cleansing. But I want you to notice that it is continual cleansing. Did you notice the word that is used? Cleanseth. That's the present continual tense. Cleansing today, cleansing tomorrow, cleansing for every day of life's journey. When a man comes to Jesus Christ for cleansing and he's converted and he starts the Christian life, becomes a child of God, he still needs daily cleansing from his sin. We're not perfect. And nor will we be perfect until that great day when we reach heaven and we pass beyond the veil and we are at home in heaven. There is no sin there. There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defile it. Not one sin will cross the threshold of that city so fair. Men stand before that majestic throne of God, pure and spotless. having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And the Lord makes all things new and perfect for those who enter there. But while we are here on earth, we have many temptations. We fear the Lord every day. Yes, we ought to be striving for holiness and perfection. That's the will of God. The Bible tells us it's the will of God, even our sanctification, our holy living. And that's the standard that by grace we ought to be aiming towards, to be like Christ, to be conformed to His image, He who is perfectly holy. The child of God is to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. But we're not sinless until that great day. You see, there is justifying grace. And there is sanctifying grace. Justifying grace is what happens in conversion when you're put into Christ. And in an act of God, you are declared to be righteous in God's sight. You are justified freely in His sight. But then there is sanctifying grace, and that is the grace that we need every day to live a holy life, to deal with our sin, to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. I must come daily to the fountain of precious blood for cleansing and know the victory of Calvary every day. The most holy saints were imperfect, faltering human beings. Abraham, if we can call him the faithfulest man, he was a man of faith. He had doubts. There were times that he misunderstood the will of God, did not grasp the will of God. He failed in his faith. Moses was the meekest man of all the earth, and yet that quality that he had was tarnished because You remember Moses lost his temper, the meekest man. He wasn't perfect. David, the holiest man, man that was after God's own heart, he committed some of the most unholy sins. Solomon, the wisest man, became a fool. Peter, the bravest man, he ran away. Whenever he said he would stand for Christ, he would fight for Christ. His heart was filled with courage then, but he ran away and he forsook the Lord. And even Paul had to say, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. You and I that are saved by grace, fighting the good fight of faith, pressing toward the mark, Wrestling with many an enemy in our Christian lives are not without sin. Remember what we read there in verse 8. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. John was writing to Christians. Verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. God has given us a daily remedy. He has provided mercy and forgiveness for us every day. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth, keeps on cleansing, day by day, you and I, from all sin. Now we choose not to sin. We strive in the grace of God to live lives that are God-glorifying and to produce fruit that is holy and Christ-honoring. We seek to let our lights shine before men brightly, but we're not exempt from sin. How often we feel, how often we come short of the glory of God and we say things and we do things and we think things that we ought not to as God's people. But hallelujah for the blood that keeps on cleansing. Dear Christian, have you failed the Lord? Have you wandered from the path? Have you left your first love? God will give you the victory that you need every day. The power of the blood of Jesus will cleanse you from your sin and enable you to live a victorious Christian life. Yes, it is continual cleansing. It cleanseth. But then thirdly, it is complete cleansing. All sin. Oh, the word is every sin. And you ought to note that word. It's important. We have little sins that need cleansing. You know those little insignificant sins. We hardly even know that we are committing them every day as God's people. We are imperfect in all that we do. At best, the Bible tells us that we are unprofitable servants, the holiest and the purest of men. They need the cleansing of the blood. They need to plead the blood upon their lives. And the Lord might wash us from those little sins, those besetting sins. But what about the great sins? Maybe in this meeting tonight you're not a Christian. You don't know the Lord. You've never been to Jesus for the cleansing power. You've never been washed in the blood of the Lamb. You've never come to that fountain the first time that your sins might be pardoned and forgiven. And maybe tonight you're afraid that God cannot forgive some great sin, some dark, hideous sin of your past. And your mind is tormented with former years. When you live for the devil, you have committed sins that very few people know anything about. Maybe tonight you've committed sins and you're the only one that knows about those sins. And those sins haunt you. Or maybe you committed those sins with some individual or with a few people, and they're the only people on earth that knows about your sin. Well, God knows all about your sin. And you're thinking to yourself, well, can God forgive me for these sins? My friend, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. There's not a sin, but you can bring it to the blood for cleansing. Is there a woman of Samaria here? Thank God for the history of the Bible and for the examples of the scripture give to us concerning those who were cleansed from their sin. Is there a woman of Samaria here? Your life is like hers, a life that has been lived in immorality, in sin. You're wondering tonight, can God pardon me? Can he cleanse me? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. That's the truth of the gospel. Is there a Saul of Tarsus here tonight? You know, his hands were dripping with blood, dripping with the blood of the martyr Stephen. Saul, as he was then, had the desire to arrest Christians, put them into prison, and like Stephen, put them to death. That was his intention. But one day, Jesus met him and confronted him and saved his soul. The blood of Jesus Christ, that blood that Paul went on to write about so often in his letters, that blood cleansed all of Tarsus from every sin. Thank God for the power of the blood. The thief on the cross was saved. The covenant is the case, found salvation. The demoniac who cut himself, the man who was out of his mind completely, he was transformed. By the power of Christ, the demon-possessed Mary Magdalene found grace in the sight of God. The religious Pharisee Nicodemus was saved. And God can do the same for you tonight. What is your sin? What is your weakness? What is it that you're afraid of tonight? What is it that you're wondering in your heart? Can God really save me? Can He really deal with that particular sin in my life? The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If you get nothing more from this meeting tonight, take that verse home with you in your heart. At the expense of forgetting everything else that I've said tonight, I have sought to be faithful to the Word and to preach this text and expound it to you. But if you forget what the preacher has said, take the Word of God home in your heart. Make this verse a memory verse. Let it live in your soul. And I tell you, my friend, it will do you good. If you're not saved, it will tell you the way of salvation. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. You need to get to the blood. You need to get to the fountain. You need to plunge beneath that crimson tide that your sins might be washed away, that your sins might be pardoned and forgiven. And, dear believer, tonight, maybe you're not getting the victory that you ought to get. You're not living a holy life that you ought to live. There's power in the blood of Jesus, and that blood can give you the victory. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Is there one in this meeting and you need to come to the fountain of precious blood? You need to wash and be made clean. Come tonight. Don't delay it. Come right away. Jesus Christ can save you now, right now in this meeting. As we come just in a moment to bow our heads in prayer, I want you to know Jesus Christ can cleanse away your sin. And how does that happen? Remember the words of verse 9? If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us for all our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You need to confess your sin. Not to me. Not to any other man. but to God. And if you confess your sin to God, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, will cleanse you from all sin.