Let's open our Bibles again to
John chapter 19. The title of the message this morning
is The Double Cure. Now, true salvation of a soul
of a sinner requires the double cure because sinners have a double
problem. We've got the problem of the
guilt of our sin. And our second problem is the
nature of sin. And both of those problems, the
guilt of sin and the nature of sin, must be taken care of before
a sinner can be truly saved. And this is a good example, I've
heard this example before, of a prisoner on death row who's
got terminal cancer. That prisoner's gonna die. Now,
it wouldn't be good news to come to that prisoner and tell him,
the governor has pardoned you. Cancer's still gonna kill him.
And it wouldn't be good news to come to that sinner and tell
him we found a cure for cancer, because he's still going to die
by lethal injection. He's got a double problem. And
that's the double problem a sinner has. We've got the problem of
the guilt of sin, and we've got a problem with our nature of
sin. I am guilty before God. My sin has made me guilty before
him, and God must kill me because I'm guilty of sin. And I also
have a sinful nature that's going to keep on sinning. They can't
do anything but sin. That's all it was able to do.
So even if somehow all my past guilt could be wiped out, I still
got the problem of my sin nature. I'm still going to be damned
because this sin nature is just going to keep on sinning and
it will condemn me to hell. A sinner must have a double cure
to truly be saved from sin. Sin must be forgiven. and I must
be given a new holy nature that won't ever sin. Salvation requires
both for something to be done for us and something to be done
in us. That's the double cure. That's
the salvation that we find in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this
is why John points this out in verse 34. But one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood
and water. Out of the side of the Savior
came blood, blood to justify, blood to pay for the guilt of
sin, but also there came out water, water to cleanse the nature
of sin, water to give a new nature and the new birth. Now I want
you to notice this. John didn't write this, so you
and I would be able to read it years later and have all of our
ducks in a row and be able to sit around and argue with people
about justification and John wrote this for one purpose, that
we might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. See what he says
in verse 35? And he that saw it bare record,
and his record's true, and he knoweth that he sayeth true,
that you might believe. This scripture this morning is
written for this express purpose. And I try to preach every message
with this express purpose, but this God says is written for
this purpose, that you might believe. Whenever I preach Christ,
I expect you to believe. Eric, why wouldn't you? I expect
you to believe. This is written that we might
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's look at these verses
and see Yet the Spirit can't teach us something here that
we would leave here believing on Christ. Verse 31. The Jews therefore, because it
was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day, for the Sabbath day was a high day,
sought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they
might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break
the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified
with him. Here's a good example. of the sin nature that's got
to be taken care of before we can be saved. This sin nature
is religious. It's cloaked in man's religion.
The Jews are religious. Oh, they're so concerned about
these dead bodies being on the cross, hanging on the cross during
their high Holy Sabbath day, the Passover. That would defile
the proceedings here. You know, we can't have that.
See the problem with the nature, the sin nature. They're a whole
lot more concerned about the ceremonies than they are putting
an innocent man to such a horrible, awful death. Nobody can enter
heaven with that nature. That's obvious to us, isn't it?
And here was what their problem with, you know, was we got to
get these bodies down because they're going to be there a while, normally
speaking. Normally it took days for a person
to die from crucifixion. You can't have that going on
during the Passover. This is too much of a high holy
day for us, you know. We gotta get Jesus out of sight
as quickly as possible. And isn't that still the issue
with false religion? We gotta get this matter of Jesus
out of sight as quickly as possible. And this was also their problem.
They got to get rid of this quickly, because normally the Romans,
once a person is crucified, they leave that carcass rotten away
on that cross for a long time till the thing is almost completely
rotted away. And they do that as one final
punishment for this criminal. I mean, somebody's really got
to do something to deserve to be crucified. So this was one
final punishment for a criminal. We're going to crucify you, you're
going to die, and we're going to leave your carcass rotten
on that cross for quite some time. And also they do that as
a threat to anybody else. Well, I don't want to do it.
He did. Whatever it is he did, I don't want to do that because I don't
want that to happen to me. Well, you can't have those rotting
corpses hanging on the cross during the Passover. You know,
this is a high holy day. So they want a pilot to go break
the legs of those victims so that they die faster. They could
get them buried, get them out of sight. And they had to do
this frequently for the person to die. Normally, it takes days
and days for a person to die from crucifixion. It's a horrible,
cruel death. And it took so long because when
you crucify somebody, all their vital organs are unaffected.
There's really not a tremendous amount of blood loss from being
crucified. So it'd take days to die. What
would happen to the body is that they just keep stretching out,
stretching out their joints when the bones would come out of joint
and they'd just stretch out so that there wasn't room for their
lungs to breathe. What the victim would do, those
nails driven through their feet, they'd push up on those nails
so they'd get a breath and they'd slump back down. Well, when they
come to break their legs, they're finally, you know, okay, we're
tired of this. We're going to come break your legs. They break their
legs so the person couldn't push back up, and what would happen
is they suffocate to death. I mean, brother, that's cruel.
I mean, how cruel is it to break somebody's legs so they slowly
suffocate to death after they spent all that time hanging there
suffering on a cross? Just how cruel this is. You're
not going to put them out of their misery quickly. So Pilate
consented. He sent the soldiers to break
the legs and get the victims dead so they could bury them,
you know. But when the soldiers got there, normally you go in
order. At least that's the way I would
do it. I don't do things, you know, let's go in order. First,
second, third. Left to right, you know. That's
not what they did. Went to the first cross. Broke
that thief's legs. They skipped that man on the
middle cross. Went and broke the legs of the other thief.
You know why they did that? Even then, they wanted our Lord
to suffer longer. It still wasn't enough how they
wanted him to suffer. But the Savior died already.
He died much earlier than anybody else who's crucified because
the life didn't have to be sucked and forced out of his body. He
gave up the ghost. You know why he gave up the ghost?
The work of redemption is finished. It is finished. There's no more
reason for him to be there. The work of redemption's done.
Now all this was done, the Jews wanted their legs broken and
then the soldiers come and they didn't break the legs of the
Lord, that the scripture might be fulfilled. All this is happening
that the scripture might be fulfilled. All throughout scripture, God
told us how he is going to save sinners. He gave it to us in
picture throughout all the Old Testament scriptures. And this
was done that the Scriptures be fulfilled. Look back at John
chapter 2. Our Lord told us that he had to die and be buried
and rise again three days later. Well, they did this so he'd die
and be buried and so he'd rise three days later. He didn't just
leave his body hanging on the cross and he'd be resurrected.
He's gonna be buried to fulfill the Scripture. John 2 verse 18. Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, What signs showest thou unto us, seeing that thou
doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple
in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake
of the temple of his body. When, therefore, he was risen
from the dead, his disciples remembered that he'd said this
unto them. Well, they remember a lot of scripture after the
Lord rose, after he's crucified and he rose. Then they remembered
he said this unto them, and they believed the scripture, and they
believed the word which Jesus said unto them. That's why this
was done, that the scriptures be fulfilled that we believe. That's why we have this record
given to us. Now, verse 33, back in our text,
John 19. But when they came to Jesus and
saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. Well,
now why do you reckon they did that? Well, he was just out of
the kindness of his heart. He didn't break the legs of the
Lord because he saw he was already dead. No, we'll see that certainly
is true here in just a second. He didn't break the Lord's legs.
He didn't know it, but he didn't break the Lord's leg to fulfill
the scripture. The scripture said, not a bone
of the Savior's to be broken. That was given to us in the picture
of the Passover lamb. The Passover lamb, you slit its
throat. You get its blood. You put the
blood on the doorpost. You roast that body with fire. And you go in and eat it. And
you don't break a bone of it. Christ, no bone of his could
be broken. Because Christ our Passover has
just been slain for us. A bone of his cannot be broken
to fulfill the scripture. And none of the body of Christ
Not any of it, not one member of the body of Christ is broken.
His whole, his body is whole and complete because the work
of redemption is finished. Now verse 34, this is why I tell
you, the soldier did not break the legs of the Lord out of the
kindness of his heart. But one of the soldiers with a spear
pierced his side and forthwith came throughout blood and water.
Now you can see the just utter meanness of this soldier. This
soldier, more than likely, was an executioner. But if he's a
Roman soldier, he'd been in battle, he knows death when he sees it.
He's very familiar with death. He knew the Lord was dead. Just
a meanness, one last jab, and he jams that spear into our Lord's
side. That's what was in his mind and
his heart. But I'll tell you why he did this. The Lord ordained
that he did this so there's no doubt in anybody's mind The Lord
Jesus really died. I mean, well, he wasn't just
hanging there in a coma. He was dead. And the proof of it is
that spear pierced his heart and he was, he dead. There's
no, no surviving that. And everybody has to understand
this. If you're going to believe Christ, you're going to believe
this. He died for you. He wasn't just in a coma for
three days and then kind of, you know, revived out of a coma. No, he died. He died for your
sins, for you who believe. He died for your sins. The law
demands the Savior died because God made him guilty of the sin
of his people. And God's justice demands that he die. That shows
you how real the transfer of sin to Christ really was. He
had to die. And he did die as a substitute
for his people. But this was done. Look over
in Zechariah chapter 12. This was done that the scripture
be fulfilled. God had always said, this is
what's going to happen. And when that soldier pierced
the Savior's side, he gave us a picture of complete salvation
in Christ. When he pierced our Savior's
side, out flowed the double cure. Out flowed blood for the guilt
of our sin. And out flowed water for the
nature of our sin. In Zechariah chapter 12, verse
10, this is what God says is gonna happen in the Old Testament,
verse 10. I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and of supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn." And that day when
God pours out upon his people the spirit of grace and supplications,
they're going to mourn. Now look in chapter 13, verse
1. And in that day, in that day when God pours out the spirit
of grace and supplications, in that day when they look upon
Christ who's been pierced for their sin, there shall be a fountain
open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for what? For sin and for uncleanness. For sin and uncleanness. Out's
gonna flow the double cure, blood for sin and water for uncleanness. Now you can read a lot about
this soldier piercing our Lord's side. And they say, this is real
medical, they say that that spear pierced the Lord's pericardium.
How's that for a word? The pericardium is the sac that
surrounds the heart and it's full of water. And that's where
they say the water came from when they pierced his side. And
I reckon that probably so. But I'm not looking for a scientific
explanation or a medical explanation for what happened here. The way
John writes this, does it sound to you like John's saying when
that soldier pierced our Lord's side, something extraordinary
happened. A lot more blood and water came
out than John expected. He made a point of saying blood
and water came out. Well, there is a fountain. When
our Savior's side was pierced, a fountain was opened. A fountain
for sin and for uncleanness. A fountain that's going to cleanse
Multitude of sinners it wasn't just a little bit of blood a
little bit of water. It's a fountain of blood fountain
of water and There is a lot of cleansing power in that fountain
There's enough cleansing power in that fountain of blood and
water to completely cleanse any sinner who comes to be washed
Now it's important for us. I want us to understand. What
is it that came out of the side of our Savior? We have to understand
that So we understand complete salvation, the double cure in
Christ. First there came out blood, blood
to justify from sin. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. Now to be justified, to be justified
is not just as if I'd never sinned. I know that's a common way we
kind of try to make people understand what justification is. Justification
is not just as if I'd never sinned. Justification, to be justified,
is to be made without sin, without any sin at all. If I'm justified
in Christ, I don't have any sin, none. That's how completely the
blood of Christ cleanses from sin. In Him, I have no sin. He took my sin and His body on
the tree and put it away. I'm justified, don't have any
sin. In Jude, verse 24, Jude says this, Now unto Him that's
able to keep you from falling and to present you like you're
faultless. Not what it says, is it? Now unto Him who's able
to keep you from falling and to present you faultless, perfect,
without sin before His presence, the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy. To be justified is to be without
sin. Secondly, to be justified is
to have peace with God. Romans 5 verse 1, therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And thirdly, to be justified
is to be free from any charge. If you're justified, there's
no charge that can be brought against you. Romans 8, 33, who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's leg? It's God that justifies. If God's justified you, no charge
can be brought against you. Now imagine that. Having no fear
of any charge ever being brought against you because you haven't
done anything wrong. If you have no sin, you fear
no charges. You never fear being brought
before the bar of God's justice if you don't have any sin. That's
what it is to be justified in the blood of Christ. No charge
can ever be brought against you. Alright, I understand what justification
is. That's to be justified. But here's
the age-old question. Job asked this question. How
shall a man be just with God? I understand what justification
is, but how can a sinner be justified? How can a man who drinks iniquity-like
water be clean and righteous? Only in Christ. can only be had in Christ. Look
at Romans chapter 3. To be made without sin. It's
not something we can do for ourselves. It has to be done by Christ.
Romans 3 verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. Now let's get that clear once
and for all. We can't justify ourselves. By the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. Justification,
not something we earn. Justification is a free gift
of God's grace. Look at verse 24. Being justified
freely. by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. See, the justification is in
Christ. And if we are made without sin,
how'd that happen? We're made without sin because
Christ was made sin for us. Christ, our substitute, was made
guilty of the sin of His people so that He could make His people
not guilty. A believer doesn't have any sin. Now if you believe
Christ, you have no sin because your sin was put on your substitute
and your substitute put it away under the blood of his sacrifice.
That's what it is to be justified and that's how a sinner is justified.
So first came out blood to cleanse from the guilt of sin. Second,
water came out of our Savior's side. We finally see when that
soldier pierced our Lord's side, John saw blood and water come
out. He finally understood what was going on with his forefathers
in the wilderness when Moses struck the rock and water came
out. I can just see what, I mean,
it may not have been right at that moment, but maybe later
that day, I mean, John just thought, oh my, I see it. Out of his smitten side came
water, water to cleanse from the nature of sin. by giving
the new birth. Now justification is being made
not guilty, all your sin taken away. Sanctification is being
made holy, given a holy nature that will never sin again. Just
like that prisoner I told you about on death row. It doesn't
do me any good if all my sins are just forgiven. Without a
new nature, all I'm gonna do is sin and my new sins will damn
me. Something's gotta be done with
my nature. We have to be made what we're not in order to be
saved from sin. That's what Christ has done for
his people. I go back to our brother, Job. How can that happen?
How can a sinner who drinks iniquity like water ever be made holy? In Christ. We're made holy by
Christ being made what he was not. So we could be made what
we're not. Hebrews chapter 10. You know, so many people in false
religion tell you, Christ justifies you and saves you and now from
here on out, you know, it's up to you to keep yourself holy.
No. Justification, we've seen it,
that's in Christ. Everybody got that? Sanctification's
in Christ just as much. Look at verse 10. Hebrews 10. By the witch will, we're sanctified. Through doing better and keeping
the law and not doing it again? No. through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all. Verse 14, For by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now look
over in Ephesians chapter 5. We're sanctified. A believer
is sanctified by the water and the Word of God. Hebrews 5 verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish." Now, what's he talking about
there? Is he talking about the flesh straightening up and you don't
sin it? In the new birth, the flesh has not changed. You just
give up doing anything with your flesh. You can't do anything
but sin. It can't be improved. And when
God saves you, this comes as a shock to people. You're just
as sinful as ever. Actually, when you're born again,
you see yourself as more sinful than ever, because now you got
a new man sees sin, understands what sin is. When the Lord saves
you, Now the battle of sin begins. Before God saves you, before
you're born again, your sin nature's got nobody to fight with. When
you're born again, there's a new man born. Now that sin nature's
got somebody to fight with. And those two natures are gonna
fight with each other till you put that flesh in the ground.
I know who's gonna win the battle. The new man's gonna win the battle,
but they're gonna fuss and they're gonna fight and it's gonna be
a fierce, hot battle until you put that flesh in the ground.
In the new birth, the flesh is unchanged. Sanctification is
the birth of a new man, a new holy man who cannot sin. So salvation
is always by blood and water. Salvation is being justified
and being sanctified. In justification, we're given
the righteousness of Christ. His righteousness becomes our
righteousness. In sanctification, we're given
the nature of Christ. This is how we're made partakers
of the divine nature by being born, born again with the spirit,
a nature that's His nature. In justification, the justice
of God is satisfied because Christ died for our sin. He died to
pay for our sin. In sanctification, the holy nature
of God is satisfied. when we're given a nature just
like His nature, a holy nature. The holy nature of God can never
be satisfied with this fleshly nature, only with the new nature
that He gives. In justification, righteousness
is legally imputed to our account. Now, brothers and sisters, listen
to me. Listen well. Salvation is a whole
lot more than a legal matter, a whole lot more. Salvation does
include this legal transaction, righteousness legally imputed
to our account. But if the blood's never applied
to my heart, I'm not saved. If the blood's never applied
to my heart, I don't have eternal life. Justification is righteousness
being legally imputed to our account. And sanctification is
righteousness being imparted to us. Now in that righteousness,
the righteous nature is imparted to us. I can't stress this enough,
the flesh doesn't change, the flesh cannot change, but there
is a new holy nature in us. Now it's not of us, it's not
something we created, it's not something we did, but it sure
is in us, isn't it? Not of us, but in us. And really
and truly, when you look in scripture, you'll never find righteousness
being separated into a legal transaction, in a personal transaction. You never find it separated between
imparted and imputed righteousness. Never. It's always the same because
they're one in the same. That's salvation. Does that make
sense? It's always the same thing. Scripture,
you know, you and I want to parse out all this thing and divide
it out like what do you do in English? Do sentence diagrams,
is that what you call it? Salvation is not a sentence diagram.
Salvation is one whole. It's Christ. It's a double cure
in him. Now back in our text, John chapter
19, verse 36, all this was done. The Jews wanting the bodies taken
down so they could be buried. The soldiers not breaking the
legs of the Lord, but the Lord then piercing the side of our
Lord with his spear. All that was done that the scripture
might be fulfilled. Verse 36, and these things were
done that the scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall
not be broken. And again, another scripture
sayeth, they shall look on him whom they've pierced. Now this
was done at the scripture be fulfilled. John mentions two
of them, but all throughout scripture, salvation through the double
cure, through blood and water is pictured all throughout scripture.
In the courtyard of the tabernacle. Remember we had that study, the
courtyard, we had that model of the tabernacle down here.
You remember in the courtyard of the tabernacle, what was there?
Two pieces of furniture. There's the brazen altar and
the brazen laver. That was the only things that
were in the courtyard of the tabernacle. What did that picture? The double
cure. Before that high priest could
go into the tabernacle, you know what he had to do? He had to
go through the blood offering at the brazen altar. And he had
to go through the clean water at the brazen laver. Blood and
water. Blood for the guilt of sin, water
to cleanse from the nature of sin, give a new man be born in
the water of regeneration. Look in Leviticus chapter 14.
Here's another illustration of salvation that was given to us
in the law that showed us the double cure in blood and water. Now we're going to read here
is the law of the leper. How can a leper be cleansed under
the law? How can he truly be cleansed?
And we ought to be interested in this, because leprosy is a
picture of sin. Leprosy is just not a disease
of the skin. Leprosy is a disease of the blood. It's from within.
Well, how can that leper be cleansed through and through? Not just
the skin, not just outwardly, but also in. He's got to be cleansed
both, inwardly and outwardly. Now, however this leper is cleansed,
in picture, that's how sinners cleanse from sin. So Leviticus
14, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his
cleansing. He shall be brought unto the priest, and the priest
shall go forth out of the camp. And the priest shall look, and
behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper, then
shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed
two birds alive and clean, and cedarwood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest shall command
that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running
water. As for the living bird, he shall
take it, and the cedarwood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop,
and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird
that was killed over the running water. And he shall sprinkle
upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times,
and shall pronounce him clean. And he shall let the living bird
loose into the open field. And he that is to be cleansed
shall wash his clothes." He's going to wash in water. Shave
off all of his hair, wash himself in water that he may be clean. After that, he shall come into
the camp and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days."
Now, this is the law of the leper. Here's how a leper's cleansed.
A priest comes to him with two birds. One of those birds is
killed over running water, blood and water. And the priest takes
that blood and that water and that living bird, and he sprinkles
it. He applies that blood and that
water to the leper. Blood's been applied. The water's
been applied, and that water is regeneration. The picture
of that's the second bird. He sets it free in the open field.
Bird, go where you will. Do what you want. You're free.
You've got life. That's regeneration. Blood and
water. That's how a sinner is completely
saved in the double cure. The blood of Christ shed to pay
for the guilt of our sin. Remove the guilt of our sin.
and the blood in the water being applied to our heart in regeneration.
One more scripture, 1 John 5. John in his gospel wrote about
that blood in the water. Here in his epistle, 1 John 5,
he writes about the blood in the water again. 1 John 5, verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ,
not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit
that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there
are three that bear record in heaven. Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost. These three are one. And there
are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, the water,
and the blood. And these three agree in one.
Now if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is
greater. For this is the witness of God, which hath testified
of his Son. And all this was written that you believe. He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath the Son hath this
double cure, has life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life." I want you to see how everything that's
necessary for salvation, everything, where did it come from? It came
from inside our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing necessary for salvation
comes from the center. It all comes from Christ. Just
like Eve. Where did Eve come from? She
came from Adam. She came from Adam's side. The
Lord opened up a wound in Adam's side, took out a rib, and out
of that he made Eve. Eve came from the side of Adam.
The bride of Christ came from the side of the second Adam.
from the wound that was open in his side, the blood and the
water that came from him. That's where salvation comes
from. It's in Christ. Now we read earlier, Zechariah
12 verse 10, God said the people are going to look on him and
they mourn and pierce or whom they pierce to mourn. When are
they going to mourn? Why will they mourn and repent?
Because God pours out upon them his spirit of grace and supplications. is by grace. I'll tell you when
we'll repent. We repent because God, in His
grace, enables us to see Christ crucified, dying for my sin,
as a substitute for my sin. Some of these men and women at
the foot of the cross, one day they repented. One day they believed. You know when that was? When
God graciously poured out His Spirit of grace and supplication
upon them through the preaching of the gospel. At Pentecost,
when Peter finished preaching about this man who's crucified,
3,000 souls were saved. Some of the very ones that were
there at the foot of the cross. How are you and I going to repent
and mourn and look to Christ the exact same way those 3,000
souls did? Through the preaching of the
gospel, when God pours out his spirit of grace upon us. Now
this morning, Christ crucified has been preached to you. Christ
pierced has been preached to you. This was written, this was
preached that you believe. Do you believe? Do you believe
Christ? Is Christ enough to save your
soul from both your problems? The guilt of sin and natures,
is it? Is Christ enough? God said he's gonna open up a
fountain for sin and for uncleanness. You come wash in that fountain.
Come right now where you sit and wash in this fountain. There's
a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's vein, and
sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.
Come wash. Come wash in the fountain of
the blood of Christ for the guilt of your sins. Come wash in the
fountain of water that flowed from our Savior's side to wash
away the filth of sin, to find a new nature and a new birth.
And I promise you this. I promise you this. If you come,
you'll be cleansed. I guarantee it. If you come,
you'll be cleansed. This is such good news. You can't
be too dirty to come to this fountain and be cleansed. You
can't be. I don't care how sinful you've
been. I don't care what you've done, what you haven't done,
what you've thought. I don't care. No matter how guilty and
vile and wretched you are, if you come to this fountain, you'll
be cleansed. You can't be too dirty, too defiled with sin to
come to Christ. But I give you a warning. You
can be too clean. You can be too clean to come
to Christ. Who needs a bath? Dirty people. Who needs to be
bathed in this fountain of blood and water? Sinners. Dirty people. The only thing that will keep
you from the righteousness of Christ is if you think your own
self-righteousness is good enough. The only thing that'll keep you
from the nature of Christ is if you think your own nature's
good enough. Christ died for sinners. Christ died for dirty,
filthy sinners. He died that those dirty, filthy
sinners be cleansed. And only dirty, filthy, guilty
sinners can come wash in this fountain. But every dirty, filthy,
guilty sinner who comes will be cleansed, washed, white as
snow, come to Christ. Now you come to Him. In Christ
there's complete salvation. to cleanse the guilt of your
sin. And there's water to give you regeneration, eternal life
in him. Let's bow in prayer. Our father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you that in such clear terms you
told us this was written that we might believe. Father, I pray
you bless your word. I pray that you'd honor your
word. and that you'd cause us to leave here this morning believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no reason for a sinner
not to believe in him, to trust and rest completely in Christ,
the double cure, to remove the guilt of our sin. How guilty
we are. Oh, how guilty. Every breath
we take, every thought we think, every step we take, every motion
of our hand is sin. How guilty we are. How thankful
we are for the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin,
from the guilt of all of our sin. And how we thank you for
the water that cleanses us from what we are by nature. We freely
confess all we are is sin. Our nature is nothing but sin.
There's nothing you can do with this flesh. We long for the day
we put it in the ground. How thankful we are for the water
that flowed from the side of our Lord Jesus Christ that gives
us new birth. that gives us life in him. Father, we're thankful. How we
thank you and how we pray for faith to believe the things we've
heard. It's in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ and for the glory of his matchless name, we pray
and give thanks.