Good evening, everyone. If you would open your Bibles with me to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. And as you're turning, let me give you the greetings from our brethren in Danville. They all sent their greetings and love to you. My prayer is that tonight we have a good service here as we had there last night. My prayer is the Lord will bless us in that way. I thought it was a special night.

John chapter 1, we'll read the first 13 verses. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came into his own, and his own received him not, but as many as received him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Thank God for his word. All right, Sean. If you would turn to song number two. your hymnal, and we'll sing Love Divine.

Number two. Love, love divine, all love excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling all thy faithful mercies crown Jesus thou art all compassion pure unbounded love thou art visit us with Thy salvation enter every trembling heart. Breathe, O breathe, Thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast. Let us all in Thee inherit Let us find that second rest Take away our bent to sinning Alpha and Omega be End of faith as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty. Come almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive. Suddenly return and never, nevermore thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, serve Thee as Thy hosts above. Pray and praise with without ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love. Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be. Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee. Change from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place. Till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Okay, next if you would, turn to song number 269. We'll sing Under His Wings.

Under his wings I am safely abiding. Though the night deepens and tempests are wild, still I can trust him. I know he will keep me. He has redeemed me and I am his child. Under his wings, under his wings, who from his love can sever? Under his wings, my soul shall abide, Safely abide forever. Under his wings, what a refuge in sorrow. How the heart yearningly turns to his rest. Often when earth has no balm for my healing, There I find comfort, and there I am blessed. Under his wings, under his wings, who from his love can sever. Under his wings my soul shall abide, safely abide forever. Under his wings, what a precious enjoyment. There will I hide till life's trials are o'er. Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me. Resting in Jesus, I'm safe evermore. Under his wings, under his wings, who from his love can sever? Under his wings, my soul shall abide, safely abide,

Let's open our Bibles now, if you would, to Exodus chapter 30. Exodus chapter 30. We'll begin our reading in verse 17. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal. And thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water that they dine on, or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire under the Lord, so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not. And it should be a statute forever to them, even to him and his seed throughout their generations.

We'll end our reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we are so thankful That you have, by your mercy and grace, enabled us to meet here tonight to worship you, to sing your praises, to come before you in prayer, to offer our praise and our thanksgiving. And Father, to hear the gospel of your dear son preached. And Father, I beg of you that you would not leave us alone tonight, that you not leave us to our own Wisdom our own devices in our own ways but the father you send your spirit upon us and Enable us to truly from the heart worship You enable us to lift up and extol the name of Christ our Savior And father give us a heart to believing Don't let us father how we beg of you that you'd not let us just go through the motions of religion But Father, that you give us a heart of worship, that you give us a heart to believe in and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, that our hearts would burn within us as one more time we hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ preached.

Father, I pray that in this hour you would be with me in a special, special way. Father, don't let your people just hear the words of a man. But Father, speak to my heart and open my mouth that I might in clear and simple terms preach Christ and him crucified in all of his sufficiency, in all of his glory, that he is all we need. And Father, be with your people that you would give us a hearing ear and a believing heart that we would be thrilled at the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and who he is. and the amazing salvation that he has accomplished for his people.

Father, we're so thankful. And we thank you for the blessings of this life. Father, how richly you've blessed us. We thank you, knowing that everything we have has come from your hand and by your grace, not because we've earned any of it. It's all because of your goodness. And Father, we thank you. And Father, we thank you for the country in which we live Father, pray that you would, in a mighty way, preserve it and protect it, that your people would always enjoy the freedom that we have to be able to meet together and worship in peace without fear of reprisal. And Father, for those that you brought into the valley of trouble and trial, we pray for them. We're thankful to know these things have not come as an accident or on a whim, but they're according to your eternal will and purpose, and they're for our good, for our learning.

Father, I pray that you would give your people a fulfillment of your promise that you'll never leave us nor forsake us, and that your grace is always sufficient. Father, be with us in a special way. Comfort our hearts with your presence until you see fit to deliver. And Father, all these things we ask, and we give thanks in that name which is above every name, the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now I've titled the message tonight, The Double Cure in the Courtyard. Now you might remember that after last week's message ended, we were inside. the wall of the tabernacle. We looked at what this white righteousness of Christ meant from the outside of the wall. He said, we can't come in. We're not righteous. We don't have what God requires. But once we come through the gate and we come inside, now the wall's, the message is telling us we're righteous. We're white as snow, completely surrounded by it, so that when God sees us, all he sees is Christ and his righteousness the beauty of His holiness.

And the courtyard, the two pieces of furniture that are in the courtyard, tell us how that happens. How is it that God makes His people righteous in Christ? And we'll review a little bit. The first piece of furniture, as soon as you come through the gate, the first piece of furniture that you run into is the brazen altar where the sacrifice is made. And this altar, remember, preached a whole message on it some time ago, is a picture of Christ our altar. Christ is the priest that offers a sacrifice. He's the altar on which the sacrifice is offered, and he's the sacrifice offered on the altar. This is all Christ.

And this altar was made out of the incorruptible wood. It's covered with brass. And this was a, all around this altar was a bloody, messy place. constant sacrifices for sin being offered. All around the altar, sacrifices for sin were being killed. Their blood was being shed. Their bodies were put on there and burnt to ash. This was just a constant roaring fire inside this brass. It's a picture of God's justice, the fire of God's justice against our sin, and it was not a pretty place. And I'll tell you why it wasn't a pretty place, because God's justice against sin is not a pretty sight. It is the fury of God being poured out against sin that is against him.

And the placement of the altar, it's the first thing you see when you come through the gate, tells us no sinner can approach God without a blood sacrifice. Scripture is full of the importance of the blood. It's the blood, the blood, it's blood that maketh atonement for the soul. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission. We have redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins by the riches of his grace. But it's through the blood, it's through the blood, it's the blood, it's the blood, it's the blood. This altar is a constant reminder there must be blood. to put away sin.

But what the people would see over the course of years is animal blood is not going to get the job done. Animal blood is just a picture of the blood of Christ that will put away the sin of his people. The writer of the Hebrews said, it's not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. They were just pictures of Christ who is to come. All the altar, all the sacrifices they kept offering day after day after day, week after week after week, month after month, year after year, kept telling the people, sin's not yet been put away. But there's a sacrifice coming that will. That's what this altar tells us. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming, and he's gonna offer a bloody sacrifice. A bloody sacrifice that will pay for the sin of his people. and he's going to suffer everything that the sin of his people deserves.

And this brass is a picture of the strength of Christ. The sacrifice that Christ offered is the only sacrifice that ever consumed the fire. Every other sacrifice, the fire consumed the sacrifice. But when Christ offered himself as a sacrifice to the Father for the sin of his people, the sacrifice consumed the fire. He stood up to the fire of God's wrath as it burned and burned and burned on you. And if that fire finally went out and then Christ gave up the ghost, it didn't kill him. He had to give up the ghost. And you know why the fire of God's wrath went out? Because sin was gone. The price was paid by the blood of Christ.

And if you look back a page at Exodus 29 verse 42, I'll show you how important this altar is and how important that the blood is that's offered upon this altar. Exodus 29 verse 42. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak there unto thee. God said, I'll speak to you. I'll meet with you only where there's a blood sacrifice. And that's the picture of Christ who's coming. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only place a holy God can meet with sinners like you and me. He meets with us in peace. He communes with us. He tells us about his gospel. He reveals his son to us, but he'll only do it in the place where there's been a blood sacrifice offered that puts away our sins. to make us accepted in God's sight.

Now, it's the blood. It's the blood, it's the blood, it's the blood. The problem with almost all man-made religion is it's bloodless. It's bloodless. There's no blood.

Many years ago, I was at a big national conference, a business thing that we went to and my boss and the owner of our company were pretty religious and they wanted to go to this prayer breakfast, or the chairman's prayer breakfast, they called it. And I got roped into going. The chairman's, this sounds pretty important, doesn't it? The chairman's prayer breakfast. And there was a man there that spoke and so forth. He spoke about Jesus and he spoke about, you know, these things that people talk about. And as we were leaving, there was a woman beside me who was so upset because she's Jewish. And she said, Jesus is not the Messiah. She was so upset. And I asked her this question. If Jesus, I mean, I was, I was so young. Do this to somebody, but I did. If Jesus is not the Messiah, where's the blood? How come you're still not offering lambs and bullocks? Where's the blood? Oh, we don't do that, you know, to be a Jew is just how you're born and to go through these ceremonies.

It's the blood. There is no coming to God apart from the blood of Christ. It's the blood, it's the blood. I wish we could drive this home to my generation. You cannot have a bloodless religion and be accepted with God. It's the blood. It's just almost impossible. to make too much of the blood of Christ. It's just nearly impossible. I've heard people give it a good try, but it's just nearly impossible.

The blood of Christ shows his power, the power of his purity, the power of his sinlessness to put away the sin of his people. Christ shedding his blood. I mean, he didn't just prick his finger or cut an artery and let blood drain out. I mean, in agony, his body was ripped apart and his blood was shed. And he did that because he loves his people. And that's the only way that their sin could be put away. The blood of Christ tells us something about how amazing God's mercy and grace is to his people and his son, that his son would suffer and shed his blood in such a horrible, painful, humiliating way. to save the likes of you and me. I mean, I love thinking about the blood. I mean, you're just under the blood of Jesus, saved while the ages roll. I just, oh, what a precious thing.

Now, that being said, I want to say this very, very carefully. Salvation is more than the work of the Father in election. Now, it requires the work of the Father in election, but it's more. His election is unto salvation. Salvation is more than election. Salvation is even more than the sacrifice of Christ. If you and I would be saved, we've got to be washed. We've got to be born again. We've got to be washed in the water of the word. There's got to be a cleansing in the new birth. There's got to be a new nature born that God will accept that's holy and righteous. Salvation requires all three. The Father must elect us unto salvation. If he doesn't choose us first, we'll never choose him. Christ must come and he must be obedient to the law to give us a perfect righteousness and he must suffer and die. He must endure everything that he endured in all the events leading up to the cross and on the cross until he gave up the ghost and died in order to put our sin away.

But thirdly, the Holy Spirit must come. and apply that blood to our hearts and wash us and make us clean and white in the new birth.

When that Roman soldier came to kill those three men who were hanging on the cross because they didn't want them hanging there and messing up their high holy day, you know, and he came to the two on the outside and he broke their legs so that they'd die faster. But Christ on that middle cross, he was already dead. And they were surprised that he was already dead, so he didn't have to break his legs. And if he didn't break his legs to fulfill the scripture, not a bone of him would be broken.

But instead, you know what he did. He took his spear and pierced it through the side of Christ our Savior. And John said when he did that, out flowed blood and water. Not just blood, blood and water. Blood to justify. water to cleanse and to sanctify. And that's what's pictured in this courtyard. Because after you pass the bloody altar for the sacrifice of sin, the next thing you came to was the praise of labor. A labor where there's water. Water for the priest to wash in.

And we read about it earlier. Let's look at it again, Exodus 30, verse 17. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash with all. And thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. When they go out into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not. Or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord, so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not. And it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

Now this laver is a picture of the cleansing work of God the Holy Spirit in the new birth. The work of the Holy Spirit is just as vital to the salvation of our souls as the shedding of the blood of Christ. Twice here, the Lord says, you make sure Aaron and his sons, before they come into the tabernacle, before they go out of the tabernacle to the altar, they better wash that they die not. That's how important this is, the washing, that you die not. And if you look over at John chapter three, in our Lord's conversation, With Nicodemus, he tells us what this washing is. It's the new birth. John 3, verse 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, barely, barely I say unto thee, except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't see it, he can't understand it, he can't enter it unless he's born again by the work of God the Holy Spirit.

That's why this, the laver is made of solid brass. This is not Christ the God-man, the two materials, the incorruptible wood covered by brass. This is solid brass, a picture of God, the Holy Spirit. And God, the Holy Spirit, is God, is God. I hear people talk about the Father and the Son like they're God and somehow the Spirit's less. No, sir, no. All three are God, they're equally God. He has the eternality of God. He has the purpose of God and the sovereignty of God. Look down if you're still in John three verse seven. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearst the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. The wind, blows where it will. It just blows wherever God sends it. You can't tell where it's coming from and where it's gone. All you can tell, especially at this time of the year, is the winds come through because leaves are blown down on the ground or they're blown around up in the air or something. Our Lord says, so is the Holy Spirit. We can't tell when he's coming and where he's going. He's God. He does what he will, when he will. But we know he's come. When he comes to us in power, we know he's come because now there's life where there was none before. Now there's a new, holy, righteous nature that was not there before, birthed by God the Holy Spirit. He did it by the will of God and the purpose and power of God.

Now this labor, I mean, we had to make something. The book we got this from had a pattern for this labor. This is what it looks like. But truth be told, we don't have any idea what the labor looked like. None whatsoever. There's lots of speculation that it had spouts and had all this stuff, or it looked like a big bathtub. Nobody knows. Nobody knows. There's no dimensions to it. Nobody knows. And I believe I know why. At least part of the reason why. Because the Holy Spirit is not physical. He's spirit. He's spirit. And cleansing in the Holy Spirit is infinite. The Holy Spirit has the power to cleanse as many as the father gave the son to redeem. And as many as the son died for and shed his blood for, the Holy Spirit has the infinite power to make every last one of them perfectly clean. Perfectly clean.

I like how the labor is described. There's no dimensions. We don't know that the volume of water would hold because really and truly the Holy Spirit is not a pool of water. He's not a finite pool of water that you can measure how many gallons are in that thing. It's a fountain, a fountain that is ever springing with life giving water.

Friends, let's never, ever, ever give up and quit praying for our lost loved ones and the people in our community that don't know Christ, that don't have any use for them. Let's never quit. The blood is always sufficient to redeem them. The Holy Spirit is always sufficient to wash them white as snow. It's a fountain springing with life-giving water.

And this laver was made for the priests to wash in. Only the priests came and washed in this. And you know how when they washed in it, they weren't cleansing themselves from any sin. They were ceremonially clean. Ceremonially. Just like the pictures of Christ throughout the scripture, this is a picture of God the Holy Spirit. The real thing is always so much better than the picture. The Holy Spirit is not just for the Levites. It's not just for pastors and elders and people that think they're so important because they preach. It's for every believer. Every believer. You come wash. You come be washed. And when the Holy Spirit washes you, you're not ceremonially clean like Aaron was. You're holy, spotless. Unblameable, unreprovable in the sight of God who sees everything. That's the power of the washing of the Holy Spirit.

And this washing in this water that it's talking about is the washing of regeneration. I'll show you that in Titus chapter three. Titus chapter three. Titus 3, verse 3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, were hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to his mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Now this shows us something that's such a vital, vital, vital need. We must be born again. It's because of the filth of our nature. It's not just the filth of our flesh. We need a whole lot more than to wash our skin. It's the filth of sin. It's the filth of our nature. It's the filth of what I am. Our Lord told Nicodemus, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that's all it will ever be. Dead, sinful, stinking, rotten flesh. I don't need my flesh to be renovated. Janet likes to watch these shows, you know, where they renovate an old house, you know. This old house don't need to be renovated. This old house cannot be given light to see Christ or to believe Christ. This old house, this flesh cannot, has a heart that cannot believe Christ, that cannot love him. I need to be born again. I need to be made what I'm not. I need to be washed. And this is not just a ceremonial washing. It's the washing of regeneration. The washing of regeneration where I'm born again from brand new seed. It would not do me any good to be born again from the seed of Frank Tate Senior. I'd be born just like I am now. dead and sin, dead and trespasses and sin. I didn't need to be born from new seed, from a new father, from the word of God.

And that new nature that the Holy Spirit causes to be born in us, he plants the seed of his word in our hearts and causes us to be born again. And that new nature that he causes to be born in us is just like the seed that begat us. This is, says it right on the front, the Holy Bible. This book is holy. If you're born again from the seed of the word of God, you're gonna have a nature that's just like the seed, it's holy. It's righteous, it's a nature that believes God, that loves God, that cannot sin, that cannot make yourselves unrighteous again, can never be defiled again, because that would require another sacrifice, wouldn't it? And there'd be no need for that. Because when we're born again, we're born again with a nature that cannot sin.

The unfortunate thing for the believer, if I can use that word, is now there's a new man who's gotta live in the body with this old man. And they're gonna make each other miserable. They're gonna make each other miserable until this flesh finally dies. And the new man is gonna go directly into the presence of Christ without any probationary period, without any, whatever it is, purgatory, whatever it is the Catholic calls it. There's no need for that because that new man has no sin. He's holy and he's righteous and he's not acceptable, accepted in the presence of God. So if I can tell you one more time, Come to Christ. He's everything you need. Come to Christ.

I don't want to get ahead of myself. I'm working on a message for Sunday. But let me give you a little hint of the theme of it. Christ is all that matters. Christ is all that matters. I'll probably say this again Sunday, but I'm going to say it again now. They're going to come a day, you and me are going to be laying on our deathbed. And I ask you, in that day, in those hours, I just, I've sat at, I don't know how many deathbeds I've sat by. I sat by one recently. A dear woman whose time on this earth was measured in hours and they were few. Now, what matters? All that matters is that I know Christ, that I believe Him. That's all that matters.

Now, if that's all that matters in just a few days, that's where you and I are going to be laying. If that's all that's going to matter in just a few days, shouldn't it be all that matters now? Come to Christ. Cling to Him. Cleave to Him. Be like the Apostle Paul. Say, I know Him, but I want to know Him better. Seek Him. Come to Christ. He's all you need.

Just the courtyard of the tabernacle tells us that. He's the double cure. We sing that song, Rock of Ages. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure, save from wrath, and make me pure. When I was a little boy, I had no idea what that was just words meant, but now I do. He means this, that the blood and the water that came out of the side of Christ our Savior when that soldier pierced at his side, out came the double cure. Out came blood. to atone for sin. Out came blood to justify. That's what the brazen altar says. And salvation also requires a clean, holy nature to be born in us, cleansed from all sin. That's what the labor represents.

And I'll show you what this double cure means. You know, there are people, I know them, you do too, who say, well, a person can be saved, but then because for whatever reason, you know, they're backslidden, they fall into sin, or they finally sin too much to offend our sensibilities, you know, and now they've lost their salvation. Well, that's a single cure, isn't it? Christ saved me from the guilt of my sin, but he couldn't keep me clean. He couldn't make me holy. And that will never happen to anybody if Christ saved them, because his salvation is the double cure. There's blood, to cleanse from the guilt of sin, blood to put our sin away, and water to cleanse from the filth of our sin.

One writer said that Eve was taken from Adam's side while he was asleep, and God's church was taken from the side of Christ when his side was pierced and out flowed blood and water, blood to pay for all my sin and water to keep me holy, to keep me pure. And that's what's pictured in the courtyard. This what pictured in the courtyard is the work that's done for God's elect. That's a sacrifice of Christ. A work done for God's elect to put their sin away. Then a work done in God's elect. The new birth, a cleansing, a complete salvation from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And this really struck me as I was studying this this week. You and I are completely passive in this whole transaction. The father chose us. We didn't do one thing to deserve it. We didn't choose him first. He chose us simply because he would. Christ came and died for us and put our sin away before we ever knew anything about it. And here we are dead in our sin and the spirit comes. He blows where he wills and suddenly he comes and we have life. We're completely passive. Salvation is a work that God does for us and in us.

And I really want to stress this point. This laver is a picture of the Holy Spirit applying the work of Christ to the hearts of his people. Now, I have studied the tabernacle and preached through it several times, and I never, ever, ever thought of this till this week. Where'd the water come from that they put in this laver to wash in? Where'd it come from? There's no source of water around where they're at. It's water from the smitten rock. They took that water and put it in this laver to wash in. Isn't that thrilling? God gave us even that picture, Christ smitten, and out from his side flowed blood and water, and the spirit is the one that applies it to us.

Look back at Zachariah chapter 12. I alluded to this earlier. We're not talking about a finite pool of water. This is a fountain that flows from Christ our Savior. Zachariah chapter 13, verse one. In that day, there should be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness, for the separation of uncleanness. For the uncleanness has separated us from God. There's a fountain open in Christ that the Holy Spirit applies to his people and makes them clean. So they're not separated from God anymore. Now I'll give you one more thing about this washing. You know this, look at John chapter 13. This washing, The washing of regeneration, now that's a one-time thing. You're born again, you're holy, you're righteous, you'll never be defiled again. But there's also a daily washing for the believer. And it comes from the same place that we get the washing of regeneration from.

Now, if you're in Christ, you've been washed. You do not need to be washed again. But as we're walking through this world, every believer knows this. I need the dust of this world washed off of me. John 13, verse five. After that, he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? And what Peter saying is, Lord, you're not gonna wash my feet. And Jesus answered and said unto him, what I do, thou knowest not now. but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. I mean, Lord, apparently he didn't understand what I was saying. Thou shalt never wash my feet. You're not lowering yourself to wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus saith to him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet. But he's clean every whit, and you're clean, but not all."

Now, you know what the Lord is talking about there. You've heard this preached from many times. At that time, people didn't have, you know, two baths in their house. They had to go down to a public bath house to wash. And they'd go down there, and they'd wash, and they'd be all clean. They'd get dried and everything ready to go, and they'd put their sandals on, and they'd walk back home. But by the time they got home, their feet are dusty again, because they walked from the bath house back home, so they had a basin of water there that they'd wash their feet. They washed that dust off, and now they're clean. What that pictures is the daily washing that a believer needs. And I say daily, really, it's hourly and minutely, isn't it? Because as the believer walks through this world, Now, you believe Christ. I know you do. You believe Christ. You love him. You cling to him. You wouldn't dare trust in your own righteousness or your own good. I know you. I mean, I know that. That's true of every believer. But this is also true. We're in this flesh. And if we hang out in the world too much, we're going to start thinking like them. We're going to start acting like them. I need the dust of this world washed off of me. I need to be washed and reminded. Keep looking to Christ. Keep trusting Christ. Wash me.

This washing, it doesn't just, it washes the dust off, but doesn't it feel good? Doesn't it feel good? We were recently on vacation. One of the many problems with this vacation was we almost never had hot water in our shower. We'd call and complain about it. We just never. And I told Janet, when we get home, I'm not even unloading the car. I'm going down to my shower. I'm going to stand in that hot shower until there's no more hot water. Not necessarily because I was so dirty. It just felt good. It was refreshing. Now you believe Christ and you come out here on a Wednesday night, and you gotta make an effort to be here. And you hear the gospel. Isn't it refreshing? You know what that is? It's the washing of the word. Look at Psalm 119, and I'll quit. Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse nine. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. It's by being washed in the word. With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. With my whole heart I've sought the Lord. My whole heart I'm believing. But let me not wander from you. And how will I not wander? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. by being washed in the word. It refreshes us, it cleanses us, it gives us everything that we need, the washing of the word.

And that's the message, the double cure of the courtyard. I hope that'd be a blessing to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you for such a full, free, complete salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we stand amazed at your wisdom to be able to provide a ransom, to be able to provide such a salvation that puts away the sin of your people, that gives us a nature that's holy and righteous, that you accept into your presence.

Father, how we thank you. How we thank you for your mercy and your grace. Father, it seems like As much as we've heard the gospel, as often as we've heard the gospel, it seems like there's still so much we do not know. But this we know, we don't deserve the least of your mercies. And you've been so merciful and gracious to us through the sacrifice of your son. And father, we thank you. And I pray that you'd send your spirit and take your word as it's been preached and apply it to our hearts. that we might leave here this evening rejoicing in Christ our Savior. It's in his precious name, for his sake and his glory we pray, amen.

All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your hymnals to song number 222, and stand as we sing, There is a Fountain.

222. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church of God be saved to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church of God be safe to sin no more.

E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.

When this four-lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave. Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing thy power to save.