A LETTER ABOUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS

Rev. Dr. Octavius Winslow, 1808-1878

“I urge you,” wrote an eminent author(Rev. Dr. Octavius Winslow) to a dying man, “I urge you to cast yourself at once, in the simplest faith, upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. All your true preparation for death is entirely out of yourself, and in the Lord Jesus. Washed in His blood, and clothed upon with His righteousness, you may appear before God divinely, fully, freely, and for ever accepted. The salvation of the chief of sinners is all prepared, finished, and complete in Christ, (Eph. 1:6; Col. 2:10).

“Again, I repeat, your eye of faith must now be directed entirely out of and [away] from yourself to JESUS. Beware of looking for any preparation to meet death in yourself. It is all in Christ. God does not accept you on the ground of a broken heart—or a clean heart—or a praying heart—or a believing heart. He accepts you wholly and entirely on the ground of the ATONEMENT of His blessed Son. Cast yourself, in childlike faith, upon that atonement—‘Christ died for the ungodly,’ (Rom. 5:6)—and you are saved!

“Justification is [evidenced when] a poor, law-condemned, …self destroyed sinner, [wraps] himself by faith in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘which is… unto all and upon all them that believe,’ (Rom. 3:22). He, then, is justified, and is prepared to die. He only, who casts from him the garment of his own righteousness, and runs into this blessed ‘City of Refuge,’—the Lord Jesus—and hides himself there from the ‘avenger of blood,’ [can exclaim] in the language of triumphant faith, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,’ (Rom. 8:1).

“Look to Jesus, then, for a contrite heart—look to Jesus for a clean heart—look to Jesus for a believing heart—look to Jesus for a loving heart—and Jesus will give you all. One faith’s touch of Christ, and one divine touch from Christ, will save the vilest sinner. Oh, the dimmest, most distant glance of faith, turning its languid eye upon Christ, will heal and save the soul!

“God is prepared to accept you in His blessed Son, and for His sake He will cast all your sins behind His back, and take you to glory when you die. Never was Jesus known to reject a poor sinner that came to Him… with ‘nothing to pay.’ God will glorify His free grace in your salvation, and will therefore save you, just as you are, ‘without money and without price,’ (Isa. 55:1).

“I close with Paul’s reply to the anxious jailor, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,’ (Acts 16:31). No matter what you have been, or what you are, plunge into the ‘fountain opened… for sin and for uncleanness,’ (Zech. 13:1), and you shall be clean, washed ‘whiter than snow,’ (Ps. 51:7). Heed no suggestion of Satan, or of unbelief. Cast yourself at the feet of Jesus, and if you perish, perish there! [But] perish you never will, for He hath said, ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,’ (John 6:37). ‘Come unto me,’ (Matt. 11:28), is His blessed invitation; let your reply be, ‘Lord, I come! I come! I come! I entwine my feeble, trembling arms of faith around Thy cross, around Thyself, and if I die, I will die cleaving, clinging, looking unto Thee!’

“So act and believe, and you need not fear to die. Looking at the Savior in the face, you can look at death in the face, exclaiming with good old Simeon, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, …for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,’ (Luke 2:29-30). May we, through rich, free, and sovereign grace, meet in heaven, and unite together in exclaiming, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain’ for us! (Rev. 5:12).”

(Excerpt from The Blood of Jesus by William Reid. A CHAPEL LIBRARY publication.)

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