Please turn with me in the Word of God to the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews and to the ninth chapter which we have just read. And I read verse 11 and 12 again. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 11. But Christ, being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And the title of my sermon, if I was to give it one, would be Eternal Redemption. The Apostle Paul, writing to these Hebrew Christians, Hebrew Christians that had suffered greatly for their faith. You'll read in chapter 10 that they had suffered the loss of all things. They had been driven out of their home in Judea, and here they are living, these Hebrew Christians. Jews who had been converted to Christ, living as refugees in Asia Minor, southern Turkey as we now know it. And Paul in chapter 10 reminds them, but called to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions. They had known persecution, they had known oppression. partly whilst you were made a gazing-stock, both my reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst you became companions of them that were so useful. Ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing yourselves ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. They have lost everything, friends, family, homes, jobs, driven out of due dear, And here they are living as refugees. And some of them have grown somewhat discouraged. And some of them were tempted to go back, not just to Judea, but to Judaism itself. And so the apostle holds before them many things. He shows them Christ is greater than the angels, Christ is greater than Moses. Christ is greater than Joshua in the opening chapters of this epistle. And then from chapter 4 and verse 14, he deals for the next six chapters with the high priests and with these sacrifices to show them that Christ is a better sacrifice. Christ is a greater high priest than Aaron. And he begins in chapter four dealing with the priesthood of Christ. And it's a theme that he carries on right almost to the end of chapter 10. So in chapter nine, he's setting before us the ministry of our great high priest, our priest, not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek, the priest, the high priest of the New Testament. And he deals with this. And in this chapter, he exalts and he magnifies the excellency of Christ's high priestly ministry. He sets before us the value of his substitutionary sacrifice, the efficacy of his precious blood, and the eternal redemption that he has purchased through the shedding of that blood. Indeed, every verse in this chapter should thrill our souls and fill us with joy unspeakable and full of glory. To know that we have a high priest this morning hour, not in the Vatican, set at the right hand of the Majesty on high, our great high priest. We have been reminded in the early verses of this chapter of the tabernacle, of that thick tapestry veil which separated the people from the glorious presence of Jehovah within the holy place. And then within the inner sanctum, between the outstretched wings of those golden cherubim, that's where the Shekinah glory of God was manifested. None, of course, were allowed to enter the Holy of Holies apart from their appointed high priest. Aaron, Eleazar, and Eleazar's successors. Ah, but even they could not enter. Every day of the year, there was one day in particular that was reserved for them to go. And they dare not enter that holy of holies. Not even Aaron dare enter the holy of holies without blood. He must take blood. So there was a curtain. that separated the people from the Shekinah glory of God. But it was only a curtain. Thank God it was only a curtain. It was not a wall of cedar wood overlaid with gold in that wilderness tabernacle. And then in the temple in Jerusalem when it was built, it was not a wall hewn of marble. It was only a curtain. Tapestry curtain, yes, but a curtain that could be lifted once a year so that the high priest could enter within the inner sanctum into the presence of Jehovah. It was only temporary. Signifying the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. Think of the vast number of sacrifices that were offered On one day, the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem by Solomon, a total of 140,000 innocent animals were slain, their blood was shed. 140,000 in total. 120,000 bullocks, 20,000 sheep, slain in one day. but for all those animal sacrifices, for all that river of blood that was shed, not just at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, but in the wilderness. For almost 2,000 years, the blood of innocent victims had been constantly shed, but they could never take away sin. In the next chapter, chapter 10, verse 4, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. They were but a figure for the time then present, Paul tells in verse 9, which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as containing to the conscience. They could not take away sin. They could not deal with the depravity of the human heart. They were powerless to do so. Waiting until the time of reformation, we read in verse 10, which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. They were but figures, but shadows preparing them for the time of reformation, preparing for the time when Christ would come. But then, look at verse 11, but Christ, what a contrast, but Christ, being coming high priest, of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. For long centuries, the Jewish religion dealt with the externals, with the outward. Meats, drinks, divers washings, carnal ordinances, dealt with the externals, never touched the heart. But Christ, the Anointed One, Christ the Messiah, has come. The time of reformation has now come, says Paul. but Christ being come and high priest of good things to come. What are those good things? Righteousness has been established. Thou has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might made the righteousness of God in him. Peace between God and man has been established. through the sacrifice and the bloodshedding of Jesus Christ who has propitiated our sin and a new and living way has been opened unto us. So that you and I this morning are, can do that which the high priest alone could only do once a year. We can enter into the presence of God. We have access to the throne of grace. As we read in chapter 10, we can come in full assurance of faith into the presence of God. Peace with God, justification, pardon, forgiveness of sins, what a blessing, good things to come. By a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say not of this building. Christ is that perfect tabernacle. You remember in the gospel according to John, in the chapter one, speaking of the logos, the word, the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. Tabernacle, literally the word dwelt comes from the word tabernacle. The word was made flesh and tabernacled amongst us. The human body of Christ, that prepared body, a body has now prepared me that The body of Christ is the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man, not made with hands. When he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. You remember Paul writes to the Colossians, For it pleased the Father that in him, in Christ, should all the fullness dwell. Again in Colossians 2 for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily Christ is that perfect tabernacle So the theme before us is eternal redemption. I I have two main points From this verse 12 first of all the blood of Christ And secondly eternal redemption Neither by the blood of goats and calves But by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place. Here, the apostle Paul contrasts the blood of bulls and of goats with the blood of Christ. The blood of bulls and of goats had to be continually offered. There were the daily blood sacrifices performed by the priests in the outer court. And then once a year, there was that blood of atonement. Close on 2,000 years, blood had been shed. Oceans of blood had been shed from the animals. But they could not atone. They could not redeem. They could not purge the conscience from sin. How does Mr. Watts, the hymn writer, put it? Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away its sin, but Christ, the heavenly lamb, takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they, but Christ. Rivers of blood had flowed. Beast after beast had been slain. Forty years the desert sands of their wilderness meanderings were bedewed with blood. And at the tabernacle there were bowls of blood at the foot of the altar. teaching that sinful man could not approach a thrice holy God without the shedding of the blood of an innocent victim. Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, not all things. Metal objects, gold, silver, tin, brass were purged with fire. Cooking utensils were purged with water. But without the shedding of blood, there could be no remission of sins. The shedding of blood of a spotless animal was the accepted right of approach unto God. And the sprinkling of that blood upon the curtains and upon the vestments of the priests was a constant memorial without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And so Paul says, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God. Think of Abraham and Isaac, Mount Moriah, Abraham about to slay his son at the command of God, Knife in hand, Isaac laid upon the altar, bound to that altar. Abraham, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon the lad. And Abraham looked and saw a ram caught in a thicket by his horns, and he took the ram and loosed Isaac from the altar, put the ram in the place of Isaac, and the ram was slain in place of Isaac. Isaac was spared. Ah, but at Calvary, There could be no sparing. God spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Had the father spared his son, then you and I would never have known any mercy. Know these verses in Hebrews are bloodstained verses, and they bring us right to the very heart of the gospel. Before us this morning is the very center and circumference of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the blood of Christ. 1971, I was a young man then. Methodist preacher. Not ordained in Methodism, but I'd become a Methodist local preacher and My name was put forward to train for the Methodist ministry. And he came to the wise and good of Methodism, hundreds of them present. They came to the firm conclusion, unanimous conclusion, that I was not fit for the Methodist ministry, thankfully. And they gave two grounds. One of the ministers said, well, every time I've heard that man preach, he's always preaching about the cross. We need to get away from that. Preach the love of God. Another minister, yes, and I've never heard him preach a sermon without mentioning the blood and we need to get away from the slaughterhouse gospel. So I was rejected 1971, thankfully, providentially from the Methodist ministry. I asked if I could respond. They gave me leave to respond. I said, it seems to me that you all need to get to the cross and get under the blood. It might disappoint them to know that I'm still preaching the blood because that's the very heart of the gospel of the Lord. Indeed, there is no gospel without the blood of Christ. No gospel whatsoever. Let us follow the Lord Jesus Christ on the eve of his crucifixion. Joseph Hart, the hymn writer, has a tremendous hymn, 24 verses of it. Let me just quote one verse. He says, Come all ye chosen saints of God that long to feel the cleansing blood, impensive pleasure, join with me to sing a sad Gethsemane. It's hymn entitled Gethsemane. Come with me to Gethsemane this morning. Let us follow Peter, James and John as they follow the Lord into the dark recesses of that olive grove of Gethsemane to Moonlit Garden. There you see the Saviour groaning and agonising in prayer. And as Peter, James, and John peer through the foliage of the garden in that moonlit night, they see from the brow of the head, indeed from every pore of his body, blood. Great gouts of blood are dropping to the earth and staining Gethsemane. Blood. Follow that man further. He's been taken by wicked hands and dragged with sacrilegious hands from the place of his agonizing prayer, and they take him to the judgment hall of that most corrupt procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. And they seat him upon a chair, and they mock him. One of the soldiers goes to the praetorian wardrobe and gets some cast-off Roman garment, placed it upon the shoulders of Christ. Then they pay mock homage to him. Hail, King of the Jews. A crown of thorns is then woven, placed upon his head, and with a reed it's hammered into his skull. More blood. Then his scourge. You know what that involves? You recall the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 10, speaks of the perils he had endured, the afflictions he had endured. Five times I received of the Jews forty strokes, save one. Scourging involved thirty-nine strokes of a nine-thonged whip. Those leather thongs were impregnated with pieces of metal and stone. Not just one stroke, 39 strokes. He was scourged. His back was torn to ribbons. Through the scourging, more blood was shed. Then they nailed his hands and his feet to the transverse wood. They then lift that cross into the hole, dug in the ground for it, and there He hangs, nailed through hands and feet. Blood from His hands, blood from His feet, blood from His head, blood from His back. How much more shall the blood of Christ? In all untold agony, He bleeds away that holy life, In terrible throes of anguish, he cries in exhaustion of soul, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Blood from his head, blood from his back, blood from his hands, blood from his feet. Then the soldier, when he bows his head and yields up the ghost with a sharp Roman spear, thrusts it into his heart and forthwith there runneth out blood and water. Every last drop of that precious blood was shed. Not one drop of blood remained in his body. This is the shedding of blood without which there is no remission of sin. Without the shedding of that precious blood, there can be no redemption, there can be no remission, there can be no forgiveness. There is nothing but a fearful looking forward to judgment, Mr. Methodist preachers. Blood. Have you ever smelt blood? My father was a butcher. And on our street where we lived, there were three butcher shops. And three butchers had a slaughterhouse, which we shared. Every Monday, the shops were closed. They were closed on Sunday, thankfully, as well. But Monday they were closed. Why? That was slaughtering day. The farmers would bring their beasts and their sheep and their lambs and their pigs to our slaughterhouse. And in the morning they would be slaughtered. I remember it as a young boy during school holidays, seeing the animals slaughtered, seeing the blood flow. I would collect some of the blood for my allotment. But the blood would flow down into the street and the stench of blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Having made peace through the blood of his cross, writes Paul. It is royal blood. It's the blood of Christ. It's the blood of the Anointed One, it's the blood of the Messiah. It's the blood of our King Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Royal blood. Ah, but it's also pure blood. Innocent blood. For He is Christ, who is without spot, without blemish. Royal blood, pure blood, but it's sacrificial blood. Now once, in verse 26 we read, now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. It is sacrificial blood. Peter tells us it is precious blood. He are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from the fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last days for us. Royal blood, pure blood, sacrificial blood, precious blood, ah, but more, it's atoning blood. It is the blood which maketh an atonement for the soul, we read in Leviticus 17. Atoning blood, precious blood, Sacrificial blood, pure blood, royal blood, but there is more. It is cleansing blood. It purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. You recall in the book of the Revelation, chapter 7, these are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Their sins, though like crimson, are now as white as snow. They washed in the blood of the Lamb. Again, we read in 1 John, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sins. So this is royal blood, it is pure blood, it is sacrificial blood, it is precious blood, it is atoning blood, it is cleansing blood, but more, it's redeeming blood. in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, writes Paul in Colossians 1. And let me just make this comment that most of the modern versions, ESV, NIV, they omit reference to the blood in Colossians 1.14, simply reading, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. But there is no forgiveness of sins, and there is no redemption, apart from the blood, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Oh, but Christ, being come in a high priest, of good things to come by a greater, more perfect talent, not made with hands, that is saying not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and cows, but by his own blood. Blood flowed from the wounds of his head. It was shed for those sins of thought and of mind. Blood flowed from his hands and his feet, shed for those sins of deed and of work, shed from his heart for those sins of affection. The love of his heart could not be kept within the four chambers of his heart. It flowed forth and stayed in the dust. by his own blood. Ever since the downgrade controversy which Mr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon stood against in the late 19th century, men want a Christianity without the blood. All the major denominations, Church of England, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, name them, they all want a Christianity without blood. But there is no Christianity without the blood of Christ. It's a religion without the power of godliness if the blood is removed. Dear dying land, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Ere since my faith I saw the stream thy flowing wound supply, Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. So wrote the hymn writer, and I trust redeeming love and the precious blood of Christ will be my theme until I die. So the blood of Christ. Well, we move on to the second point, eternal redemption. But by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. Note firstly the substitutional nature of this. Two words at the end of verse 12, for us. Now I know it's in italics which means the authorized version if it puts it in italics it's because it's not there in the Greek but they put it in for amplification, but it's a phrase that you find at the end of verse 24, now to appear in the presence of God for us. So this speaks of the substitutionary nature of the blood of Jesus Christ, of the sacrifice that Christ offered. I have to say that many modern English Bibles omit those two words in many places in the New Testament. It's omitted, for example, in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 17, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Modern religion, disguised as Christianity, doesn't like the substitutionary nature. of the sacrifice of Christ. Don't like those two words, for us. But these are vital words. They recur and recur throughout the New Testament. You see, my friends, the sinless life of Christ alone could not atone. Modern Christianity teaches that Christ set us by his sinless life, an example that we are to seek to follow. But the sinless life of Christ by itself could not atone for our sin. His teaching and his godly example could not atone for our sin. He could only atone for our sin by the shedding of his precious blood. He had to die in the room, in the place, and in the stead of those sinners given to him by the Father in eternity past. He must stand in the sinner's place. As the hymn writer puts it, in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. So it's substitutionary. By his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. But not only substitutionary, it is personal. That's the nature of his sacrifice, his own blood, not the blood of bulls and of goats, his own blood, the blood of the son of God, the blood of God incarnate. You remember Paul giving his charge to the elders at Ephesus. In the Acts of the Apostles chapter 20, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. No greater price could have been paid for your eternal redemption and my eternal redemption if the whole mountain range of the Himalayas was of gold, pure gold. It could never atone for our sin. Oh, it might glisten and gleam and dazzle the eye, but at the best it's perishable dross. No greater price could have been paid for our eternal redemption, substitutionary nature, the personal nature by His own blood. Little wonder the Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, Explain what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God? And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. And what a price? The precious blood of Christ. So it's substitutionary. It is personal. His own blood. I notice the satisfaction obtained. He entered in once into the holy place. Aaron didn't enter once. Aaron entered once a year. The following year he had to go again and again the year after. He entered in many times as did Eliezer and all the rest of the high priests of Israel. But Christ entered in once once and for all, not to be repeated, into the holy place. Many have been sidetracked by the words, once into the holy place. Some have concluded that Christ entered heaven at his ascension to offer his blood. But was that the case? yes he entered into heaven at his ascension as we read in Acts chapter 1 but was that to offer his blood? where did Christ go when he died? well we know his body was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea his body wrapped lovingly by Joseph and Nicodemus The body laid in the tomb for three days and three nights. Where did Christ go the moment that he died? Where did his spirit go? When did Christ enter the holy place by his own blood? Think back to Aaron, the high priest. When did Aaron enter into the holy place, the inner sanctum of the holy of holies? It was immediately after the blood of that innocent animal had been slain. The blood had been collected and then was taken into the holiest and it was sprinkled upon the mercy seat, which covered the ark and the law, so that the blood-sprinkled mercy seat covered the law of God. And Paul tells us here in this very chapter these things were a figure, a pattern, a type, a blueprint. And therefore to suggest that Christ ascended after 40 days as our great high priest to offer the blood destroys the figure, destroys the pattern, destroys the blueprint. No, Christ did not enter heaven at his ascension to offer his shed blood. When Aaron entered the Holy of Holies, atonement was not accomplished until he had sprinkled that blood upon the mercy seat, the propitiary. Did we have to wait 40 days between Christ's resurrection and his ascension before we know that the precious atoning blood had been accepted? When Aaron, the high priest, went into the holiest of all, what were the congregation doing? They were without, fearful, with bated breath, with eager anticipation, fearing that the blood offered by Aaron would not be accepted. Some Jewish groups believe that there was a rope tied to Aaron's waist so that if he died when offering the blood, they could pull him out. It's not in scripture, but that's what some Jewish rabbis have suggested. Be that as it may, the Jews outside were waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. And when they heard the bells on the hem of the high priest's garment, they knew he was going back. They knew he was coming out. They knew the sacrifice had been accepted. Likewise, for three days and three nights, the disciples and the followers of our Lord, they stood in fear, in darkness, in gloom, in doubt, in dread, fear of dejection. What did the Lord say to the dying thief? I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in paradise today. Before the sun had set in the western sky that very day, before 6 p.m. on Passover day, today, Mr. Dying Thief, thou shalt be with me in paradise. And the Apostles' Creed As a statement which I've always found difficult, he descended into hell. Now I know what the apostles meant in forming the Apostles' Creed. Christ did not descend into hell. He went into the grave, the body. But the moment our Lord bowed his head and yielded unto the ghost, that very moment the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. The very moment he had cried to Telestai, it is finished. I believe Christ passed into the holy place through the precious blood of the everlasting covenant and offered that vital life blood. Then three days later, our great high priest came forth from the presence of God. The atoning sacrifice had been accepted and the father declared him to be the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. And then, after 40 days, he ascended on high, not as the fulfillment of the Aaronic priesthood, but as the king priest after the order of Melchizedek. And he sat down, and now he is set, unmoved, unmovable, at the right hand of the majesty on high. He entered once into the holy place, And that entrance does not need to be repeated every year. It's finished. Redemption has been accomplished by his blood atoning sacrifice. His precious blood has satisfied God. That precious blood has propitiated the anger of God that we deserved. That precious blood has magnified the law of God and exalted the holiness of God so that we this morning hour can have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ and access into the holy place itself. No thick tapestry veil separates us now from the presence of a holy God, and we can come boldly to the throne of grace. Through the merits of that blood, we have redemption from the tyranny of sin. We have redemption from the guilt of our sins. We have redemption from the power of sin. We have redemption and we can overcome through the blood of the Lamb. No longer the children of wrath as others. No longer slaves of the Prince of Darkness of this world. No longer under the bondage and dominion of sin. No longer serving the devil and his minions. We have been redeemed, purchased by Christ's blood. ransomed from the shackles and clutches of Satan, our debts are all discharged. We are no longer bankrupt. Christ has obtained redemption? No. Christ has obtained eternal redemption. Three times in this wonderful chapter we come across this word eternal. Verse 12, eternal redemption. Verse 14, eternal spirit. Verse 15, eternal inheritance. The redemption which Christ has purchased through the shedding of his precious blood, my friend, it is eternal. It's as long as eternity. It will never end. Oh, there are some, of course, who teach a defective theology. They teach a man may be born again today, but somehow tomorrow may be lost. I believe such doctrine dishonors God. Christ didn't redeem today that we might be lost tomorrow. No, he has purchased eternal redemption. He who has redeemed us through the shedding of that precious blood will keep each one of the sheep and he will present each lamb faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. None shall pluck us out of his hands or out of the Father's hands. None shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look back through the centuries. to the dawn of creation. Look back to Adam. Adam's sin is hereditary, genetic. Every person born into this world is born a sinner. You parents know that all too well. You don't have to train your children to do naughty things. They do that automatically. Why? Because they come into the world with a sinful nature. You have to train them and teach them how to do that which is good. Ah, but here, Christ has obtained eternal redemption. Redemption from all the sins of the past. What a catalogue of sins. What a mountain of iniquity there is against us. Redemption from original sin that we inherited from our parents. Redemption from inherited sins. Redemption From all sin the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin, past, present, and future. There is no need to fear the past, no need to fear the present, no need to fear the future. Sins have been blotted out by the shed precious blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who entered in once through his own blood into the holy place. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is Christ that died. Eternal redemption covers all fears, all temptation, all dangers that await us. We do not know what a day will bring forth, do we? He does. Some of you may live to extreme old age, long beyond the allotted span of three score years and 10. I'm already well beyond that. We all know of godly saints who are suffering from senility and Alzheimer's, dementia. I visit saints in care homes, saints who I've known, one lady in particular, a member of my church 40-odd years ago. She no longer remembers that her husband has died. Doesn't remember who her children are. Certainly doesn't remember me. But when I read the scriptures to her, she mouths every word of the scriptures. When I sing the psalms to her, she can sing the psalms. Doesn't know who I am. Infirmity of mind, infirmity of body. The mind, the body decaying. Some people no longer in control of their own faculties. I buried a dear friend, Christian friend of mine, a few months ago now. Her husband is still alive, well into his 90s. In her last 12 months, she had to be showered and toileted by kind, caring relatives and staff in her care home. Do we fear such things? See, my friends, it matters not if you're a child of God. For Christ through that precious blood has purchased, not a temporary redemption, he has purchased eternal redemption. And that redemption is not affected by the decay of mind or body. It is utterly impossible to outlive the eternal redemption purchased by Christ's precious blood. As I draw to conclusion, look forward, my friends, to that solemn day when the seventh trumpet will sound, when the vials of God's wrath will be outpoured. In that day, we need not fear the wormwood star. Nothing to fear for the child of God. Why? Because Christ has purchased eternal redemption for us. And when shortly we stand on Jordan's banks and face our last enemy, death itself, when death raises its black vapor over our souls, what are we to do? Panic? Fear? Dread? Never. I hope I shall leap for joy, for Christ has obtained eternal redemption for me, for us. He's even now in the holiest. And in that hour when we pass from this life, we shall instantly enter into the realm of eternity, eternal redemption. As I close, think of that godly martyr, that first Christian martyr, Stephen. Think of the sermon he preached as they were about to stone him to death. Think of the end of that sermon. being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. But do we not read elsewhere, Jesus is seated and set at the right hand. Stephen saw him standing. He who shared his precious blood stood from his throne, his exalted position to welcome Stephen into heaven itself. What a savior, what a redeemer who has purchased eternal redemption. Let us thank God that Christ did not purchase a temporary flippant salvation, not a flimsy redemption. He has purchased through the shedding of his own blood, eternal redemption for his people. Amen. We close as we sing our fourth praise from Gospel Hymns, and it's the hymn number 134. How shall I my Saviour set forth? How shall I his beauties declare? O how shall I speak of his worth, or what his chief dignities are? His angels can never express, nor saints who sit nearest his throne, how rich are his treasures of grace. No, this is a mystery unknown." 134.