Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Now today
I want to talk to you about this subject, The Blood of Sprinkling. That's the title of the message. The Blood of Sprinkling. And
I'm going to begin this lesson back in the Old Testament in
the book of Ezekiel chapter 36. And I'll begin around verse 21
of Ezekiel 36. Now, if you know anything about
the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel was a prophet who prophesied
to Jewish refugees who had been deported from Israel, or Judah
rather, the southern kingdom, Jerusalem, to Babylon under the
Babylonian captivity. And Ezekiel preached the word
of God to the people and he talked about the destruction of Jerusalem,
which was pending, the people in captivity, the people of Israel,
they set their hopes on going back to Jerusalem and returning
to the temple worship, the Temple of Solomon, but Ezekiel continually
told them that Jerusalem and the Temple were all going to
be totally destroyed because of the sin of the people, the
idolatry of the people. And so the people just didn't
want to accept that. But Ezekiel's prophecy came true. God brought judgment on the people
of Judah, Jerusalem, and destroyed the city and destroyed the temple. And he used a heathen, idolatrous
nation, empire, the Babylonian empire, as an instrument of his
judgment against his own people. And so when word came to the
people through a messenger that Jerusalem was destroyed and the
temple was destroyed, the people lost all hope. But then Ezekiel
began to talk about a bright future, a hope for the future. And that hope for the future
was wrapped up totally God fulfilling a promise that he made years
before in Abraham and that's the promise of the coming of
the Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ and the conversion of all his
people not only among the Jews but among the Gentiles also and
And that's what Ezekiel 36 is about. And listen to what he
says in verse 21. Here the people are in captivity.
But God says in verse 21, He says, But I had pity for mine
holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the
heathen, whither they went. The people were never generally
in obedience to God. They were always rebellious.
And God had pity not for them, not because of anything that
was in them or done by them, but for His name's sake. Now
what that means is for His glory, God's name is His reputation. You see, what God promised to
accomplish through the nation Israel on this earth during that
1500 period of time of the Old Covenant, God fulfills His promise. God is faithful. God is powerful
enough to fulfill His promise, and He's true enough to do so,
and His reputation is on the line here. So he says, I had
pity for my namesake, and he says in verse 22, therefore say
unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not
this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy
namesake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whether you
went. And here's what he says in verse 23, I will sanctify
my great name. God is going to distinguish himself
He's going to set Himself apart. He says, "...that name which
was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the
midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord,
saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their
eyes." Now, God is going to now, through the prophet Ezekiel,
show them specifically how He's going to accomplish this. Again
the fulfillment of this prophecy now the people that were deported
from Jerusalem from from Judah to Babylon they stayed in captivity
for about 70 years and Then God delivered them and brought brought
many of them not all of them, but many of them back into Jerusalem
where they they were commanded to rebuild the city the walls
and rebuild the temple and And so God did not totally abandon
them. But that return was not the fulfillment
of this prophecy here. There are many who think that
the fulfillment of this prophecy is going to be at some future
time in the millennium, but that's not so. The fulfillment of this
prophecy is our day, the New Testament day that arrived with
the coming of Christ the Messiah and the finishing of His great
work on the cross to redeem His people from their sins. And so
what He's going to describe here is the salvation of God's elect
Both Jew and Gentile here. And here's what he says in verse
24. Now this is where I'm coming to the blood of Sprinkly. He
says, for I will take you from among the heathen. God's gonna
bring them out. Gather you out of all countries
and will bring you into your own land. Now there was an earthly
land and God brought them back, but that's not the fulfillment
of this. The land that he's talking about here is symbolic. And I
know people say, well you don't believe in a literal interpretation
of the Bible. I believe that this is something
literally symbolic. The land that God's people are
looking for is not a land here on earth. It's not a Jerusalem
here, it's a heavenly Jerusalem. We'll read some of that in Hebrews
chapter 12. But he says in verse 25, then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness
and from all your idols will I cleanse you. I'm going to sprinkle
clean water upon you. Now my friend, listen to me.
The Bible is full of symbolism. We talk about the types in the
pictures that are in the Old Testament especially. And we
know that's so. For example, Christ is called
the Lamb of God. All the lambs that were slain
on Jewish altars were types, figures. The book of Hebrews
calls them shadows of what we call the anti-type. Not anti,
again, it's been anti, meaning the fulfillment. Christ is the
fulfillment of that title. They symbolized Him. The blood
of the Lamb. It was a symbol of Christ's blood. The blood that He shed on Calvary
unto death. And so we sing, what can wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
The blood of Jewish lambs on Jewish altars could never take
away sins. That blood of an animal did not
atone for sin or reconcile sinners to God, but that blood of the
Lamb was a picture, a symbol, a type of the Lamb that was slain. Revelation 5. John the Baptist
said, behold the Lamb of God which bears away the sins of
the world. And God has a people all over this world out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. The Passover Lamb. Christ is
our Passover. And we could go on and on talking
about types and symbols. Here we read about the sprinkling
of clean water. Now, what is the sprinkling of
clean water? Well, a few weeks back, I preached
in Romans chapter six, where Paul used the term of being baptized
into Christ. And I was making the point that
that's not talking about the Christian ordinance of water
baptism. It's not in Romans 6. What it's
talking about in Romans 6, being baptized into Christ, is talking
about the believer's union with Christ, as Christ is the believer's
representative, Christ is the believer's substitute. You see,
I can say as a believer, he died for me. He was buried for me. He arose the third day for me.
I'm in union with Him. He represented me in His obedience
unto death. You see, Christ represented all
of God's elect. Christ substituted Himself for
all of God's elect. And then Christ is the believer's
surety. All my sins were charged to Him. My debt What is it? The wages of sin is death. Sin
is like running up a debt. And you can't pay the first penny
to get out of debt. Christ paid it all for His people. He died for His sheep. So we
who believe are one with Christ in His death. In fact, Paul mentions
that. We who are baptized were baptized
into His death. You see, that's not talking about
the Christian ordinance of water baptism. Believer's baptism.
That's talking about the believer's union with Christ. Christ is
the believer's representative, the believer's substitute, the
believer's surety. He's the believer's mediator.
There's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
He's the believer's advocate. He's our intercessor. You see,
that's union with Christ. And as I stand in Christ, I'm
justified. God will not charge me with my
sins. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? As I stand in Christ, I'm righteous. His righteousness has been imputed,
charged, accounted to me. That's my own salvation. That's
the ground of my salvation. My sins were charged to Him.
His righteousness charged to me. Well, I made the statement
in that message about believers, baptism, the ordinance. Now,
when it comes to the ordinance of baptism, Christ said, go ye
into all the world, preach the gospel, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Water baptism
is the believer's confession before the world of that union
with Christ. And I mention this, that water
baptism is by immersion. The word baptized literally means
placed into or immersed. You see that? When a person stands
before a crowd and gets sprinkled, or they sprinkle babies, that
is not the ordinance of water baptism. And I made this statement,
the Bible says nothing about sprinkling in believers' baptism. I didn't say the Bible says nothing
about sprinkling, because right here in Ezekiel 36, 25, it says,
then will I sprinkle clean water upon you. Now, Ezekiel's not
talking about believers' baptism there, the ordinance. And whenever
the Bible speaks of baptism, the ordinance, water baptism,
it's believer's baptism by immersion where we, in that act, we identify
with Christ in His death, His burial, His resurrection. Sprinkling
babies and sprinkling adults with water is a concoction of
men. I know that's offensive to a lot of people, but I'm sorry.
It's just the truth, and I'm here to preach the truth. But
there is a sprinkling. And what is that sprinkling?
Well, go back to Ezekiel 36, 25. Then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you and you shall be clean. Now, we've got to ask
ourselves this question to understand this. What is it, according to
the Bible, in a multitude of other verses, that cleanses a
sinner from sin? What is the answer to that? The
blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Now let me read
you several scriptures about that from the New Testament.
Here's the book of Hebrews chapter 9. In verse 13 it says, For if
the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean, sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without spot to God, purge or cleanse your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God." Now, the
blood of bulls and goats, the ashes of an heifer, that refers
to the Old Covenant sacrifices. And that blood, the blood of
bulls and goats, the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean,
set the nation Israel apart, but only in a fleshly, temporal,
physical, ceremonial way, not in an eternal way, not in a spiritual
way. But the blood of Jesus Christ,
it accomplishes true cleansing. and it's sprinkled on the conscience.
Now I'm gonna talk about that in a minute. There's a sprinkling
of the blood on the conscience. That's not talking about water
baptism. That's not even talking about
the application of the blood in water baptism. That's talking
about, first of all, the ground of salvation. That's what Ezekiel's
saying. Sprinkle you with clean water. What is that clean water?
That's a symbol for the blood of Jesus Christ, which washes
away my sins. Now, I mentioned this at the
first of the program. We sing the hymn, and do you sing it?
See, if you think that sprinkling of the water of baptism cleanses
you, then stop singing this hymn, what can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. That one line says, one stanza
of that says, this is all my hope and peace, nothing but the
blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. But it's the blood of Christ.
Well, let me show you another passage. In Hebrews chapter 11
and verse 24, it's talking about Moses, Moses himself. It says,
By faith Moses, when he had come to years, when he got older,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. And look, he says, by faith he
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured
as seeing him who is invisible. He saw the true and living God.
And verse 28, it says, through faith, Moses kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. You remember back in Egypt, where
God told Moses to tell the people to slay a lamb of the first year
without spot and without blemish. And then they would take a brush
made of hyssop Dip that brush in the blood of the lamb and
put it over the door post. And God said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. That's a type of Christ. His
blood, which washes away all sins. His blood, which satisfies
the justice of God and enables God to be just and justify, a
just God and a savior. A righteous judge as well as
a loving father. His blood that makes me righteous
before God. We have faith in His blood, Paul
said. His blood to do what? To wash
away all my sins. His blood to make me righteous
before God. And here's another passage out
of Hebrews. Hebrews 12, I mentioned this or referred to it a while
ago. And he's talking about here how believers are not under the
Old Covenant law of Sinai and the Ten Commandments. Now, that
doesn't mean we're not under obligation to God's moral precepts,
but the Old Covenant law and the Ten Commandments was a system
given to that nation for a specific time. And it's been abolished
by way of fulfillment, but listen to what he says in Hebrews 12,
18. For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched
and that burned with fire, nor into blackness, darkness, and
tempest, sound of a trumpet, the voice of words, which voice
they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken
to them anymore, for they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as the beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
Now that's the old covenant. And so terrible was the sight
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. You see, that
was nothing but legal fear. But he says in verse 22, then
this concerns believers. But you are come unto Mount Sinai,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembling
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and listen to this, and to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh
better things than Abel. You see, the blood of sprinkling
is the blood of Jesus Christ. That is the forgiveness of my
sins. Peter spoke of it, the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9 speaks of it, where
it talks about the high priest, how the high priest came into
the holiest of all with the hyssop and sprinkled the blood on the
mercy seat. The scripture speaks of it all
over the place. But back in Ezekiel 25, he says,
I will sprinkle clean water upon you. That's the blood of Christ. You shall be clean from all your
filthiness, from all your idols. You see, if the blood of Christ
is not for me, if it doesn't wash away my sins and make me
righteous, then all I can say of myself and my best efforts
is idolatry. He said, will I cleanse you? The blood of Christ is the ground
of our salvation. Now, there's also the sprinkling
of the blood upon the conscience, upon the heart. And Ezekiel talks
about that. I'll just read you a few verses.
Verse 26, he says, a new heart also will I give you. This is
the new birth. A new spirit will I put within
you. I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh, that
stubborn, rebellious heart, and I'll give you a heart of flesh,
one that's pliable, that one that submits to Christ. I'll
put my spirit within you, cause you to walk in my statutes, you
shall keep my judgments and do them, and you shall dwell in
the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my
people, and I'll be your God. You see, he's talking about the
sprinkling of the blood upon the heart. And what that refers
to is not water baptism. That refers to the Holy Spirit
applying the blood to the mind, the affections, the will, the
conscience of a believer by convicting us of sin and driving us to Christ
for all salvation. Now Hebrews chapter 10 speaks
of this. Listen to the words here. Hebrews
10 and verse 19. He says, having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We enter
the holy presence of God, not because of our good works, not
because of anything within us, but because of the blood of Jesus.
And he says, by a new living way, which he, that is Christ,
hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh, that's his death on the cross, And having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith." That true heart is an honest heart.
It's a faithful heart. It's a broken and contrite heart.
It's the new heart that Ezekiel spoke of. And he says, full of
assurance of faith. That's the assurance that I have,
not because I'm better or getting better, but because of what Christ
accomplished, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. And then it says, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Now that's
not talking about water baptism. What that's talking about, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. An evil conscience
is a guilty, condemned, legal conscience. When the Holy Spirit
drives me to Christ and brings me to faith in Christ, that legal,
condemned, self-righteous conscience now is removed and I see that
I am not condemned. I'm righteous in Christ. I have
all that God has for me by way of blessing and benefit in the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then that's the honest... I can come to God as a sinner
saved by grace and our bodies washed with pure water. That
doesn't refer to water baptism. You can fill up every baptistry
in the world and it won't be called pure water as in this
sense. The pure water is the blood of
Christ. And what he's saying is this, that when my conscience
is sprinkled by the blood of Christ, and in that heart of
faith coming to Him, I see that my whole person is washed clean
by His blood. now the bible also speaks of
the washing of the water by the word washing and that that's
a washing and that's what he's talking about in this having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience you see the sprinkling
of the blood that's the issue of salvation when we go into
when believers go into the waters of baptism to confess their union
with and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no sprinkling
there. They're immersed in water. They're
making a public confession, a public identification with Jesus Christ,
who is the Lord their righteousness, that when He died, They died
with him. When he was buried, they were
buried with him. When he arose the third day,
they arose with him. That's union with Christ. Sprinkling
of water in baptism doesn't say that, doesn't symbolize that,
but immersion does. And I'm not just here just preaching
immersion, that's biblical baptism as far as the confession goes.
But what I want you to see is this, the only thing that's going
to wash away your sins is the blood of Jesus Christ. The only
thing that's going to make you righteous before God is the blood
of Jesus Christ. The only thing that's going to
give you life, spiritual life from above, the new birth, is
the blood of Jesus Christ. You know, the Lord taught that
in John chapter 12 and John chapter 16 when he talked about in John
12, for example, he said, and I, if I be lifted up on the cross,
will draw all unto me, all his people, He died for his sheep,
his sheep will hear his voice. He cleansed them by his blood
and the Holy Spirit applies that blood to their conscience, to
their heart. When he brings them under the
preaching of the gospel and they hear the voice of the shepherd
with spiritual ears. That's what Christ meant when
he said in John chapter six and verse 37, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And he went on to say that this
is the will of him that sent me that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. I hope you'll join us next week for another message
from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 3-1-7-0-7. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you. you