Well, I want to come back with
you this week, as I said two weeks ago, last time we met,
to Ephesians chapter five and verses 25 to 27. Let's just read
those verses now. Ephesians five and 25 to 27. We read, instructions to husbands,
but of course, in verse 32, Paul says, I speak concerning Christ
and the church. So he says, 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. So last time
we looked at verse 25, which was Christ's love for his church. Christ loved his church. And
we saw that that love was a particular love. In other words, the church
is a particular people. that God in Christ loved before
the foundation of the world. He put these people in sovereign
grace into Christ, in union with him before the beginning of time.
That's where he chose his people, particularly specifically the
church didn't become his church when they decided to follow jesus
no they became his church jesus said didn't he is that controversial
jesus said you have not chosen me i have chosen you In eternity,
God chose his people, and he loved his church with a particular
love. Why? I don't know. What's the
question? The true believer will ask again
and again, why me? Do I see that I am any better?
I am any more lovely in the sight of God? No, not a bit. Why me? That's the question. Why me?
I don't know. Because God loved his people
with a particular love. He loved his people when? When
did it start? Everlastingly. There was never
a time, there was never a time, because he loved them in eternity.
There was never a time when God didn't love his people. He loved
them everlastingly, and he loved them freely. He loved them requiring
nothing in return, other than belief. But that isn't really
a work at all, that's his work, to give you the faith to believe. But the satisfaction of the law
of God requires nothing in return from the object of that love,
for he does it all. And because he loved his church
and was determined to be united to that church in heaven, in
eternity, forever, he gave himself. He loved his church so much that
he gave himself for it. He gave himself. You see, his
sinful church, because his people are born the seed of Adam as
everybody else, children of wrath even as others. And if his sinful
church is to be redeemed, brought back, ransomed, rescued from
the law's curse, and thus be fitted for heaven, why must they
be? Because we read in Revelation,
nothing that defiles shall enter in. Oh well I've only got a little
sin, nothing that defiles, nothing, absolutely nothing. We must be
fitted for heaven by being made as holy as God requires. If we're
to be redeemed from the law's curse and be fitted for heaven,
He, our God in Christ, must come in the same flesh, I'm not going
to repeat all the references, you saw them all last time, how
as the children have partaken of flesh and blood so he partook
of flesh and blood he must come in the same flesh as a real man
to stand as the surety of the covenant as the substitute for
his people a real man in his birth you know the angel came
and said to Mary that holy thing which is to be born of you will
not have a human father he will be called the son of God the
son of God so he's sinless Because he doesn't have the sinful nature
of Adam. He's sinless and therefore he's
not mortal. Because in the day that you eat
of it you shall surely die. But he didn't, he was sinless.
So he's not mortal. But he is human. And as human
he's capable of dying. He has a body which can die like
anybody else's. He's not fallen because he's
sinless. But he is made of a fallen woman. Mary wasn't perfect. Mary
was a sinner, just like everybody else. She rejoiced in God's salvation. She needed God's salvation. Not
fallen, though made of a fallen woman. He wasn't able to sin. The Lord Jesus Christ never,
ever, ever, ever committed one sin. He wasn't capable, because
he was the infinite Son of God. But as a man, He was able at
the cross to be made the sin of his people and being made
that sin to bear its guilt and its responsibility and bear its
curse and bear its punishment and pay its ransom. He was a
real man. He was a real man. Our God became
a real man with feelings and emotions and the limitations
of a human body. He was only in one place at one
time. He was limited by that. He came down from that glory
of heaven, which we cannot understand, and he limited himself. And so
he's a high priest, as Hebrews tells us, who is touched. Listen
to this. Listen. You know, whatever trials
and feelings and problems you're going through, we have a high
priest in our Lord Jesus Christ, the man, who is touched. with
the feeling of our infirmities. He suffered in our place. He
paid the law's penalty for his church's sin, so that his church
will stand in judgment without sin. And as I finished last time,
Jeremiah 50 verse 20, and whenever you read verses like this, the
word Israel and Judah and Jacob, it always refers to the church,
the blood-bought people of God. The iniquity of Israel That's
you and me if we believe in Christ and we're in him. The iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for in the day of judgment. And there
shall be none. And the sins of Judah. And they
shall not be found. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve. How does he pardon? Does he just
say, oh it doesn't matter for you, it's alright, don't worry
about it. No. He's paid for it. He's paid for it. The books are
balanced. The accounts are settled. And
so he says in that judgment, when he sees there is no sin,
come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. So this outworking
of divine love for his people, his church, the people of his
sovereign choice, it outworked in this way, he gave himself
for that church. The son of man, said Jesus in
Matthew 20, 28, the son of man, that's how he referred to himself,
on earth, the son of man, came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister, now listen, and to give his life. a ransom for
many. He gave himself for the church. So what is the result? What is
the effect of Christ giving himself for his church? And the answer,
we have it in the next two verses, 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 In
a word, salvation. Salvation from the consequences
of sin. Because the consequences of sin
is eternal condemnation, eternal punishment. But what does he
do? He gives himself that his church might be saved from that. Rescued from it. Kept away from
it. Avoiding it. By sanctification
and cleansing. By being made holy. How is this church to be made
holy? You know, you might have an idea of what holiness is,
and I might have a different idea, but this is holy from God's
perspective. And that's the only perspective
that really matters. It's God who is the judge. Learn
that, learn that. Absolutely. People say, well,
I don't know why God sees things this way. It doesn't matter whether
you know why or whether you understand why or whether you agree why.
The fact is God is God. And God has set things the way
he has. From God's perspective, his people must be as holy as
he requires. And this washing and this sanctification,
this sanctification is making holy. making different, making
clean, making separate, washing away the stain and defilement
of sin. Oh what a blessed thing it is
to know that you're a sinner. Do you know that you're a sinner?
Anyone listening to this, do you know that you're a sinner?
If you do, I'll tell you why you know. It's because God has
revealed it to you. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. Because only a sinner understands
his need for salvation. Only a sinner will come to Christ. Read Pilgrim's Progress. Lovely
story, we know it, but read it, read what it means. Pilgrim,
there he is, Christian, he's burdened with sin in the city
of destruction, in vanity fair, and he cannot get it off his
back until he comes to the cross. And he sees the burden fall away
because there he sees the one who has taken away that sin.
Washing away that stain and defilement of sin. Because God says this,
Isaiah 1 verse 18. Let us reason together. You know,
we sometimes say, let's have a discussion about this, let's
sit down and talk about this. That's what God says to us. He
says to his people, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Imagine a wedding
where the bride is there in her beautiful sparkling white dress
and they say, oh right, let the feast begin. What sort of wine
would you like? She said, oh, I'd love some red
wine. And whoops, spilled right down the front of the white dress.
Now then, does anything stand out more glaringly than a glass
of red wine poured down a beautiful white wedding dress? You see,
this is the picture here. Your sins are like scarlet, bright
red, when it should be white. And he says, God says, though
your sins are as red as that stain in his judgment, they shall
be white as snow, like wool. How is it, how is it, how is
that which by nature and practice is only sinful, his church, by
nature and practice the people who are his church were only
sinful, how is it that as we're measured by the law and justice
of God, How is it that we're made to be thoroughly clean?
How is it that we're made so that when the iniquity of Israel
is looked for, he can't find it? There is none there. It shall
not be found. I'll tell you how. The scripture
tells us how. This is the purpose of this book.
Let me remind you again, I say it every few weeks, the purpose
of this book is not to tell mankind how to live, though it does that.
Its primary purpose is to tell the people of God's choice how
he has saved them from their sins, how he has justified them,
how he has sanctified them, how he has redeemed them from the
curse of the law, how he has cleansed them from their sin,
that they might be counted holy, and be fitted to be the bride
of His Son in eternity. Revelation 1 verse 5, speaking
of Christ, Him that loved us, and what did He do? And washed
us from our sins in His own blood. Contradiction, isn't it? Blood
doesn't wash white, does it? Ah, this blood does. This blood
washes away the crimson stain of sin and washes white as snow. Revelation 7.14, who are these,
says John, looking in his vision. These are they, says the elder
who's within, these are they which came out of great tribulation
on the earth and have washed their robes and made them white. What have they used? What soap
powder did they use? In the blood of the lamb. They've
washed them white in the blood of the lamb. Let me ask you,
is this, that was Revelation, is this some novel idea invented
by the Apostle John when he wrote Revelation? Not at all. It's
the message of the whole Bible, from front to back. Let me read
you a verse from near the end of the Old Testament, Zechariah
13 and verse 1. There shall be a fountain opened
to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. What's that fountain for? For
sin and for uncleanness. It doesn't say there, but what
is the fountain of? It's the fountain of the blood
of Christ. There shall be a fountain opened. Go right back to the
beginning. Go right back to Genesis, chapter
3, and the end of it. And you see what God did there
for Adam and Eve who had just fallen in sin, who had disobeyed,
who had brought in the curse and God had condemned them and
yet God immediately struck back at Satan by redeeming Adam and
Eve. And there he killed an animal.
And what did the animal being killed say? It said it needs
a blood sacrifice to cleanse sin. And that looked forward
to Christ who would come in time the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world in all eternity must come in time come forward
to Exodus to the Passover when Israel is coming out of Egypt
and Exodus 12 verse 13 and they had to kill a lamb symbolically
a spotless lamb and they had to get its blood and the Israelites
had to paint the blood above the doorposts and on the lintels
on the doorposts and on the lintels the angel of death from God was
coming through the land that night to kill the firstborn of
every family and of every animal and throughout the whole land
that was going to happen and God said to the children of Israel
this blood that you've painted on your doorpost that blood shall
be a token upon the houses where you are and when I see the blood
I will pass over you, I will pass by. I will not come in there
with the angel of death to kill your firstborn. And the plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of
Egypt. That's what the blood does. The
blood washes away the sin for which the law requires vengeance.
The hymn says, the old hymn, what can wash away my sin? Answer,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. That's it. What can wash away?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Without the shedding of blood,
says Hebrews 9.22, without the shedding of blood there is no
remission of sin. Would you be in heaven for eternity
and accepted by God you must have your sins taken away. There
must be remission of your sin. Well how's that to be? It must
be by the shedding of blood. For without the shedding of blood
there is no remission. In eternity Christ the Lamb,
slain from the foundation of the world, and therefore always
slain, in time he has to come. at a specific time. When the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem those who were under
the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. In time
there was a specific hour. Zechariah 3 verse 9, I will remove
the iniquity of that land in one day, says God. And it was
that day when Christ died on Calvary. that the land of his
people of his people Zion of his church the iniquity was removed
in one day just as the prophet Daniel had said it would be.
John 12 27 when Christ came in time again and again throughout
his ministry they said do this and he said my hour is not yet
come and he escaped from them and he went into Galilee and
without sounding irreverent, dodged around, dodged the Pharisees,
dodged the authorities who were trying to kill him. He said,
my hour is not yet come, but there came a day when he said
in John 12, 27, now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
because his hour had come. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. I can't be saved from this hour. I cannot escape this hour. The
time has come for eternal justice to be satisfied for the people
of your choice. He came to this hour. What's
the effect of Christ coming and shedding his blood? Turn with
me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
10. This is the effect of Christ
coming and shedding his blood. Remember, Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it. Because as it is, it's defiled
and filthy and cannot stand in his presence, in his holy presence.
So he came to cleanse it and sanctify it. How is the effect
of Christ coming and shedding his blood seen, well look in
the scripture, Hebrews 10 and verse 10, by the, he's talking
about coming in the volume of the book, to do your will. What's
the will of God? By the which will, verse 10,
by God's will, we are sanctified, that's made clean, purified through
the offering, what is it that sanctifies? Is it your works
of holiness to the laws, the believers' rule of life? Absolute
nonsense, you can't find that anywhere in the scriptures. You
cannot. There are various confessions
that men bow down to and revere more highly than the scriptures,
and they make that claim, and it's not true. The Bible does
not teach that. What is it that sanctifies the
people of God? It's the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. That's what does it. That day
on Calvary, that's what does it, that sanctifies it. We break
the bread when we have communion, the broken body, this is what
it's about, sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices. They were
just pictures, they can never take away sins. But this man,
Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, once
for all sat down on, why did he sit down? It's symbolical,
the work's done. When he cried, it is finished,
it is done. From henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool for by one offering he has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Do you know you need to be perfect
before the throne of God, before the bar of the justice of God?
Well listen to that verse. By his one offering, he has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And in chapter 13 and verse 12
of the same epistle, wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify
the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. He
did it to sanctify the people with his blood. It was that blood
that did it. But how is it apprehended? How
is this blessing of being sanctified and cleansed, how is it apprehended? It says, with the washing of
water by the word. In that verse 26 of Ephesians
5, the washing of water by the word. It's a cleansing of the
heart and of the conscience by the Holy Spirit applying the
atoning blood of Christ inwardly. You see the gift of faith that
is the gift of God, faith not of yourselves, saved by grace
through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. That gift of faith senses the effect of salvation, senses
the effect of it. The word speaks objective truth. This word, this book, to the
law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, there is no light, there is no truth in them. This
is the object, it's remarkable that God has committed his saving
word to paper. It's in writing. You know, there's
all sorts of forms of information preservation. But paper has lasted
far longer than anything else. You see, all the electronic stuff
is the product of the last 50 or so years, isn't it? At the
most, really. Maybe some could argue a couple of years before
that, but that's about it. But writing, go to the British
Museum, you'll see writing that's three or four thousand years
old. Writing, you know? He committed it to writing. It's
objective. So what's the hymn that we sing?
We're not singing it this morning. How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
What more can he say than to you he has said? You charismatics
who are constantly seeking this prophecy and that prophecy and
that speaking in tongue. What more can he say than to
you he has said? He's put a guard at the end of
his word. Don't add a thing to it and don't take a thing away
from it. This is objective truth concerning justice satisfied. What is the objective truth of
justice satisfied? We call it the gospel. And the
washing of water, that's the word, the washing of water is
the Holy Spirit applying the truth feelingly to the conscience. You know, feelingly. Do you know
what I mean by feeling something? Now let me give you an example.
the the the hardest and and uh... most unmoved of you generally
the the male of the species you know we we go i remember years
ago i thought i'll tell you the story but i remember i don't
think we like west end musicals but and i go along with them
because some people like to go to them and i we went to see
Les Miserables we took my mom and dad to see Les Miserables
and uh... we got really good seats in the
theater and i'm like oh it's just one of those shows as long
as it pleases them that would be fine And within about 15 minutes
the tears were rolling down my cheeks. Because the objective
thing I was looking at produced such strong emotion with all
the music that I couldn't stop it. The tears were rolling down
my cheeks. As was everybody else in the place. You watch certain
films. You know them. If you're watching
a film with other people you're going, Is this bothering anybody
else? Because me, I'm really feeling
it and the tears are rolling. How can I stop this from happening?
That's what I mean by feeling. Now, I can tell you objectively
the truth in a doctrinal manner of salvation, but do you feel
it in your heart? Do you feel it in your inner
being? We say feelings don't matter. Oh yes they do. It does
matter that you feel it in your heart. The Holy Spirit, by the
washing of water of the Word, He applies the Word and you feel
it. This is how a believer feels
the forgiveness of sin. Do you feel the forgiveness of
sin? The objective truth of offended justice satisfied by the blood
of Christ is subjectively applied. Objective truth subjectively
applied by the Holy Spirit to the conscience. So Jesus says,
you shall know the truth and you'll have a head full of knowledge.
No, he says you shall know the truth and the truth shall make
you free. You will feel free. Even John
Bunyan locked up in bed for jail writing his Pilgrim's Progress.
You shall know the truth and your body's locked up in a jail
but you will be the freest man on earth. The truth shall make
you free. John 13 10. He that is washed
needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit,
and ye are clean, ye are clean. He's saying to them, you are
clean. That was when he was washing the disciples' feet. And yes,
we need a daily washing from the defilement of this world
in the flesh. But in Christ we know, I bathed
every inch of me from head to foot. When judgment comes, I
know that I am clean. I shall stand in that day. when
it's appointed to man to die once and then the judgment I
shall stand bold shall I stand in that great day and who ought
to my charge shall lay words of the hymn John 15 3 now you
are clean. How are you clean? This is Jesus's
words. Now you are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you his word applied by the Spirit
sanctified by the Holy Spirit makes us clean Paul writing to
the Corinthians talks about all sorts of fleshly defilement and
sin and he says to them in 1 Corinthians 6 11 and such were some of you
such were some of you but you are washed But you are sanctified,
but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of God. We could turn, but we won't for
the sake of time, to Ezekiel 36 and verses 25 to 27. Don't you turn to it. I'll just
very, very quickly go there now. Verses 25 to 27, where God In
the Old Testament, by this prophet says, 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. A new heart also
will I give you. New heart! New heart! Not new
head, new heart! And a new spirit will I put within
you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you
shall keep my judgments. That's the washing of the water
and the word. Note the order. Love in eternity, number one. Secondly, the gift of God himself
in the person of Christ in time. He came in time, the fullness
of time. Thirdly, he shed his blood and
that cleansed his people from their sins in the eyes and the
standing of the law of God, cleansing accomplished by the blood. And
fourthly, sanctifying of the church by the Holy Spirit, making
it holy, applying it. Someone said, and it's a good
saying, there is no salvation past, present, or future, other
than that which flows through the precious blood of the Lamb,
and is made experimentally known to the soul by the power of the
Holy Spirit. I've told you before I love the
poetry of John Betjeman. You see his statue at St Pancras
Station in London, because he did a lot of work to save that
station from demolition, and what a beautiful piece of architecture
it is. But you know, in his poems, he
loved the hymns of the Church of England, but I remember hearing
him say he really didn't like the ones that talked about blood.
Oh, I don't like the blood, I'm telling you. There is no salvation,
past, present, or future, other than that which flows through
the precious blood of the Lamb. So all of that is here and now,
but what about the future consequence? Verse 27, that he might present
it to himself. A glorious church. We're not
glorious now, are we? In the flesh, in this world,
as we see. But he might present it to himself in the future,
a glorious church, not having spot, oh there's plenty of spots
now, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be
holy and without blemish. Here and now, We continue in
this fallen flesh experiencing the effects of sin in everything
we do, in all of our relationships, all defiled by sin. But soon,
all of that will be taken away. Every defilement, every spot,
every wrinkle, every blemish will be taken away. Read Revelation
19. I'll turn to it. You don't need
to. Revelation 19 and verse 6. And I heard, as it were, you
see he's already seen much people in heaven in verse one, and he
says, I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering,
saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let
us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousnesses, it actually says, of the saints.
Not the works that they do, for all our righteousnesses in the
flesh are as filthy rags in his sight, but this is that which
is imputed by the finished work of Christ. The bride has made
herself ready, she's clothed, she's ready, there's no wrinkle,
no spot, no blemish. There's a day coming when the
church of Christ's eternally loved blood-bought, justified,
sanctified people will be eternally united with Him in the bliss
of sinless eternity and intimate unending communion. That's the
marriage supper of the Lamb. It's not a one-off, it goes,
it's eternal. It's that state of eternity outside
of time which you nor I can understand. We can't because we're so time-bound.
So let's apply it. Let's apply it as the year turns.
We're starting on a new year, the first day of a new year.
And people make resolutions. They view the new year, they
view the year that's gone, despite saying the same thing 366 days
ago, because last year was a leap year. Everything seems so good,
and now, oh, 2016, oh, look at all the celebrities that have
died this year, oh, what a rotten year it's been, oh, this has
gone wrong and that's gone wrong, and oh, the different terrorism
attacks, oh, what a lousy year, but the New Year's all ahead
of us, a blank sheet of paper. There's nothing but good. Let's
hope it's a good one, they sing, let's hope it's a good one, unlike
the one that's just gone, and we sing that every single year.
But you know, your blessing your happiness, your prosperity does
not depend upon the material things that come your way. This
is what Jesus said, Luke 12, 15. A man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. If we would
learn that as children of God, oh what a transforming effect
it would have upon us. in terms of our walk of faith
in this life. A man's life does not consist
in the abundance of the things which he possesses. Rather, this
is life eternal, John 17 3, this is life eternal, that they might
know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent, to rest in the blessings of salvation accomplished and
heaven assured. That's the blessing. That's the
thing. Whether it's 31st of December
becoming 1st of January or whether it's the 31st of January becoming
the 1st of February, does it really matter to rest in the
blessings of salvation accomplished and heaven assured every day? That's a good hope. That's a
good hope. Is that your hope at the turn
of this year? We're looking forward to eternal
communion with our God. But now, while we wait for eternal
communion with our God, we hold this communion of bread and of
wine in remembrance of him. How long? Until he come.