Let us now turn to the last book of the New Testament, the Book of
the Revelation. What does this prophet on the Isle of Patmos see and
hear, as he looks out into future ages and coming worlds? The book
begins with a doxology: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from
our sins in his own blood, to him be glory and dominion forever and
ever." John looks, and beholds a great company of the redeemed. He
asks who these are, and the reply comes back, "These are they who have
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." He
listens, and the song that goes up from the throats of the redeemed
is, "Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof;
for thou wast slain and didst purchase us for God with thy blood."
At the center of the great vision which bursts upon the soul of the
exiled apostle, there is a Lamb that was slain. Whatever we may think
of Jesus of Nazareth, there is no question concerning what the men who
wrote the New Testament thought. To the men who wrote the book, Jesus
was not a Socrates or a Seneca, a Martin Luther or an Abraham Lincoln.
His life was not an incident in the process of evolution, His death
was not an episode in the dark and dreadful tragedy of human history.
His life is God's. greatest gift to men, His death is the climax and
the crowning revelation of the heart of the eternal. You can not open
the New Testament anywhere without the idea flying into your face,
"Christ died for our sins."

How different all this is from the atmosphere of the modern Church.
When you go into the average church to-day, what great idea meets you?
Do you find yourselves face to face with the fact that Christ died
for our sins? I do not think you will often hear that great truth
preached. In all probability you will hear a sermon dealing with the
domestic graces, or with business obligations, or with political
duties and complications. You may hear a sermon on city missions, or