Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I want to speak to you this morning
from John chapter 19. I've entitled this message, Water
and Blood. Beginning in verse 31 of John
chapter 19, and if you could get your Bibles and follow along
with me, it would be helpful. John chapter 19, verse 31. The
Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation
that their bodies should not remain upon the cross on the
Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high day. Besought
Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be
taken away." Now, I think there's a lot of irony in that verse. This is right after the Lord
died. The next day was to be the Sabbath
day. And a high Sabbath day it was,
the Passover. And they did not want these bodies,
these murders that had taken place, the murder of the Lord
Jesus Christ, they didn't want him hanging on the cross on this
high and holy day. So they asked the soldiers to
break the legs of the men who were hanging on the cross so
they would die more quickly and they could get their bodies off
the cross so they could observe their holy day. There's an irony
in that. As I understand it, the cross
being crucified was a long, slow and painful death. No vital organs
were injured. You were nailed to a cross and
people would die after two or three days by suffocation. The
way they would hang, they would try to raise themselves up. And
it would be so painful because their feet were nailed to a cross,
but they would try to raise themselves up and get a breath and go back
down. And when the legs were broken, you could no longer raise
yourself up to get a breath and you would die of suffocation.
The soldiers, we read in verse 32, then came the soldiers and
break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified
with him. They took an iron bar and shattered their legs so they
couldn't raise up and they would die. But when they came to Jesus
and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. You see, he had already died. He said, it is finished. He bowed
his head and he gave up the ghost. He gave death permission to come
and take him. He was already dead. Remember, the bones of the Paschal
Lamb were not to be broken. The soldiers intended to break
his leg, but they couldn't. An unseen hand controlled their
every move. Now, verse 34, "...but one of
the soldiers with a spear pierced his side." Now, this soldier
did this out of an act of malice. He saw the Lord was already dead,
and I guess he wanted to get in one final blow, so he took
a spear and pierced it through his side. What a wicked thing
to do. Yet, he was only doing what the
Scripture said would be done. Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10
prophesied that he would be pierced. And this man, while he did what
he wanted to do out of an act of malice, and he would be held
responsible for what he did, it was wicked. He did what he
wanted to do, yet he only did what God's determined counsel
determined before for him to do. The Lord's in control of
all things. And when He did this, when He
pierced the dead body of the Lord, the Scripture says in verse
34, forthwith came there out blood and water. Now, our Lord had already died,
and out of His side came blood and water. Now, I've heard different
explanations for this. Some people say that means that
when The spear pierced his side. It hit the sack around the hearth.
It had water in it. A pink substance came out, blood
and water. And that indeed may have took
place. But I think something supernatural took place. I think
there was a flow of blood and a flow of water. Now, let's go on reading. Blood
and water. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood
and water. Verse 35, And he that saw it,
John the writer, bare record, and his record is true, and he
knoweth that he saith it is true, that you might believe. Oh, I'm praying that God will
take this passage of Scripture and cause you to believe. John says he's saying these things
and bearing record of blood and water coming out of the side
of the Lord Jesus Christ that you might believe. Now, this
blood and water that comes out of his side gives an explanation
to what he was doing on the cross. If I can understand this blood
and water coming out of his side, my dear friends, I've understood
the gospel. Oh, wouldn't that be a blessing to understand the
gospel? So ask the Lord to give you hearing
ears and a receptive heart as we consider this blood and water
coming from the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, John goes
on to say in verse 36, For these things were done that the Scripture
should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. Those soldiers couldn't shatter
the Lord's legs because it was said, the Paschal Lamb, a bone
will not be broken. And verse 37, again another Scripture,
"...they shall look upon him whom they have pierced." Blood and water. You and I have a very serious
problem, and that problem is called sin. Sin. Sin makes me guilty before
God, subject to the judgment of God, subject to the wrath
of God. Sin, that means guilt, but it
also means uncleanness. You see, we have a twofold problem,
the guilt of sin and also the nature of sin, the defilement
of sin that makes us what we are. Somebody says, God loves
the sinner, but he hates his sin. Now, wait a minute. Wait
a minute. Does God punish sin, or does
He punish sinners? He punishes the one who commits
the sin because of the evil nature. Now, understand this. With regard
to sin, my problem is guilt, and my problem is a sinful nature. Now, both of these problems must
be taken care of or we cannot be saved. If my gift was forgiven,
if God forgave my sin so as I did not have to be punished for it,
but my nature would remain the same, that would be very much
like pardoning a hardened criminal and then letting him back out
on the streets as a menace to society. sin or his crime was
forgiven and pardoned, yet he was never reformed. You put him
back out on the streets, and what's going to happen? He's
going to be a menace to society. It's not enough for his sin to
be pardoned. He has to be reformed. He has
to be given a new nature. Now, if I was given a new nature
that was no longer sinful and evil, that still wouldn't take
away from my guilt. the crimes that I've already
committed, my sin must be punished. You see, I need something done
about my guilt, but I also have to have something done about
my evil nature. Because if my guilt was pardoned
and I'm still just as evil, it's not really going to do me any
good. Now, let me give you an illustration that gives us some idea of what
it means to be a sinner and what our need is. Let's take a man
that's on death row. And he has 24 hours to live,
and he's going to be executed. He's guilty. But not only will
he be executed in 24 hours, he has a heart disease, and he needs
a heart transplant. And if he doesn't have that heart
transplant, he will die in 24 hours. Now, this is a two-fold
problem, isn't it? Now, if I come up to this man,
And I say, you've been pardoned. The President has pardoned you
from your crime. You get to go free. What good
would it do that man, because he's still going to die within
24 hours because of his heart disease, if he's not given a
new heart, if he's not given a heart transplant. Let's say
the man is sitting there in his cell, And I say to him, good
news, you're getting a heart transplant. You're going to have
a heart transplant within 23 hours. You're going to be a new
man. Well, OK, let's say he gets that heart transplant. What good
does it do him? Because he's still going to be
executed in 24 hours. What that man needs is pardon
and a new heart. He needs both of these things. And that is what the blood and
the water refer to. Blood has to do with my guilt,
washing away my guilt. Water has to do with washing
my filthiness and giving me a new nature, a holy nature, a regenerated
nature. I need both. I think of that
song, I don't know if you've ever really paid much attention
to it, the hymn that is sung, Rock of Ages. Let me give you
the words and think about this. Augustus' top lady said, Rock
of Ages, cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let
the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed be
of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure."
Blood and water. Now, let's go back into the Old
Testament. If you've read the Old Testament,
you've read about the tabernacle. Now, that tabernacle in the Wilders,
it had the Shekinah glory of God within, the mercy seat. It was covered by badger skins
so that you couldn't see the glory. When the Amorites and
the Hippites looked at it, they couldn't see anything in it.
It was covered with badger skin. They thought, what do they see
in that? But they didn't know that the very Shekinah glory
of God was on the inside. The tabernacle represented the
presence of God. It's where God dwelled, the Holy
of Holies. Now, for the high priest to come
into that tabernacle, Two things had to be done before he could
get into the tabernacle. First, blood had to be shed,
and then he had to wash himself in pure water before he could
go into the presence of God in the tabernacle. Blood had to
be shed. Something had to be done about
the guilt of his sin, because he couldn't come into God's presence
guilty. Something has to be done about the guilt of his sin. That
blood that shed typified the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The blood of the animal didn't do anything. It's what it typified,
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But not only did blood have to
be shed, he would have to wash his hands in water before he
could go in. Sanctification. Regeneration. A new nature. Now, both of these
things were necessary. Now, what would have happened
to that priest? If he would have said, you know, my heart's right.
I don't need to go through these religious ceremonies. I'll just
forego the blood and water and go right into God's presence.
What would happen? God would have killed him just
like that. That's what would happen. What
if he would have said, well, blood's important, but water's
not quite as important. It's a secondary importance.
I'll just go with the blood and bleed off the water. What would happen? God would
have killed him. What if it was said, I'll wash
my hands, but I'm not going to shed blood. I mean, that's not
necessary. I'm going to go into God's presence. What would happen?
God would have killed him. The only way you can come into
God's presence is through the blood and the water. The blood represents being justified,
being justified by His blood. The blood of Jesus Christ makes
God's people without guilt. That's what justification is.
Not guilty. Sanctification represents the
new nature. Regeneration. That's what the
water tells us of. The washing of water by the Word.
Regeneration. A new and a holy nature. You
see, it's not enough for me to be justified. I also have to
have a nature that's holy. Now, the blood and the water,
justification and sanctification, come from the Lord Jesus Christ,
from His death. Now, most folks will say, well,
I believe I'm justified by the blood, but I'm sanctified by
my works. No, no, you're sanctified by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every aspect of salvation comes from the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of Christ. It all comes from Him. Out of
His side flow blood and water. Now, this is a prophecy from
the book of Zechariah. I want to read it in Zechariah,
chapter 12, where this prophecy regarding the piercing of the
Lord was first made. In Zechariah, chapter 12, verse
10, God says, And 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 who is in bitterness for his
firstborn. They'll look upon thee whom they
have pierced." God said this would take place, and this look
would cause them to mourn. Now, he says in chapter 13, verse
1, in that day, that day when he's pierced and when he dies,
there shall be a fountain open. to the house of David and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."
And did you catch that? He said this fountain would be
open for two things, for sin and for uncleanness. Now, when was this fountain opened?
When he died. And this fountain was open for
two things, for sin and for uncleanness. Not sin only, but sin and uncleanness. Not uncleanness only, but sin
and uncleanness. The guilt and the defilement
of sin. And notice this fountain is opened. It's not closed. It's open for
the very chief of sinners. And what are the requirements
to bathe in this fountain? Sin and uncleanness. What if
somebody says, I'm too filthy and too sinful to bathe? No,
you're the one that needs to bathe. It's for sin and for uncleanness,
and it's a fountain open, not closed, but opened for the very
chief of sinners, accessible for the very chief of sinners.
The songwriter put it this way, there is a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge 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." Remember, that fountain was open
for sin and for uncleanness, and out of the pierced side of
the Lord flowed blood and water, blood for sin. It washes away
all sin. Water for uncleanness, the filth
and defilement of sin. It all comes from the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know everything is in
the cross of Christ? And there's nothing anywhere
else. That's why Paul said, I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Now I want to read a passage of Scripture from 1 John chapter
5 to just zero in on this. Beginning in verse 5. John says,
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. Here John refers to this again
in this epistle. This is he who came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it's the Spirit that bears
witness because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
And these three are one, talking about the Trinity. And there
are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water,
and the blood. And these three are one. Now, this is what God the Holy
Spirit bears witness to. the water and the blood. Now,
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ makes some very lofty
claims. It claims to be the only true
religion, and all other religions are false. It claims to be divine. It claims to be infallible. It commands men to believe her. Oh, what a high and lofty thing
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is. Now, how can it make
claims like that? I mean, I need some evidence.
What is going to make me believe, for instance, that the Bible
really is the Word of God, and that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God, and that His righteousness is the only righteousness, and
that His precious blood actually puts away the sin of everybody
He died for, that this is the only way to the Father? What
is going to make me believe that? What's going to make you believe
that? Now, this is interesting. I can't make you believe anything.
I can't make myself believe anything. But if God testifies to you,
you'll believe. If God testifies to you. Now,
if you don't believe, it's because God has never testified to you,
because if you believe, God has testified to you. Did you notice
how He said, this is the record? This is He that came by water
and blood, not by water only, but water and blood, and it's
the Spirit that beareth witness. Because the Spirit is truth.
For three that bear record in heaven, the 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,
these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. And this is the witness of God
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not
God hath made him alive, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. Now I want to read a passage
of Scripture from Colossians chapter 1 concerning the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beginning in verse 20 of Colossians
chapter 1, it says, Having made peace through the blood of his
cross, by him to reconcile all things into himself, by him,
I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven,
and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight." Now, did you hear what that said? Did you hear
what that said? Listen to me, my friend. If Jesus
Christ died for you, he made your peace with God. Somebody
says, have you made your peace with God? No, Christ made my
peace with God. And notice what it says, "...for
all for whom he died, by his death he made them holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in the very sight of God." Right now, you're
looking at somebody who, when God looks at me, He says, He's
holy. He's unblameable. He's unreprovable
in my sight. That's what the blood of Christ
actually accomplished right now. I'm holy. There's nothing to
blame me for. There's nothing to bawl me out
about. I'm unreprovable in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's without
my works. That's without anything that
I've done. He accomplished that for me when He said it is finished. God said He's holy. He's unblameable,
and He's unreprovable in my sight. Now, do you believe that the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ actually does that. Somebody
says, I can't go that far. Well, God's never testified to
you then. Because if God testifies to you, you'll believe that there
is a complete salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, you'll
believe the blood makes you not guilty. The reason you're given
a new nature is because He died for you, the water. That's regeneration,
that's sanctification. It doesn't come to you because
you ask for it. It doesn't come to you because
of an act of your free will. It comes to you because Christ
died for you. Every aspect of salvation comes
from the side of the Lord Jesus Christ, from His death, water
and blood. Now, I'd like to read one other
scripture from Revelation chapter 22. This is so big in the scriptures. Revelation chapter 22, verse
11. John says, if it's unjust, let him be unjust still. And
he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is
righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let
him be holy still. Now, did you notice that? Two
things, once again, are spoken of. That one who is unjust or
unrighteous, if you die that way, you'll spend eternity that
way. He that's unjust. who has the
guilt of sin upon him, it's going to stay there forever. And he
that's filthy, that's talking about the defilement of sin.
If you die filthy, you'll spend eternity that way, suffering
the wrath of God in hell. Hell is real. My dear friend,
don't think it's not. Everybody who doesn't believe,
they're going to remain unrighteous and filthy in eternity, suffering
the judgment of God against sin. But notice what he said next.
He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. You see, if Jesus Christ died
for you, your sin was washed away. You have no guilt. You are righteous, and if you
die righteous, you will spend eternity righteous. He that's righteous, let him
be righteous still. And he that is holy, that has
to do with the water. The blood makes me righteous,
the water makes me holy. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. You'll spend eternity like that. Now, back to our original text
in John chapter 19, verse 35. John says, And he that saw it,
speaking of seeing the blood and the water come out of the
sight of the Lord Jesus Christ, a complete salvation, and he
that saw it bear record, and his record is true, And he knoweth
that he saith through that you might believe. Now, I'm not asking
you to believe that Jesus Christ died for you. I'm not asking
you to believe that. I'm asking you to believe that
He is who He says He is, the Son of God. And I'm asking you
to believe That what He did is everything in salvation. That
if He did die for you, the water and the blood is the double cure
for sin. You're righteous and you're holy. And if you look to Him like that,
that's believing. It's not so much believing you're
saved, but believing He's the Savior. And when you believe
He's the Savior and salvation that's in Him, you'll find assurance
of your salvation. If you're looking for assurance,
you're always going to doubt. But if you look to Him, you'll
have assurance. These things were written that
you might believe. And I believe that out of His
sight flowed complete justification. and complete sanctification,
and all the elect were saved by what He did. And I am relying
on Him. Now, we have this message on
cassette tape, DVD, or CD. You call the church, email, or
write. We'll send you a copy. This is Todd Kniper, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. God bless. Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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consultation. I'm not going to quit when I
get 70, or 80, or 90, or 100, or 110, or 120. If I'm still
here, I'm going to still be believing God. But he was just an old boy, and
he was a challenge. And of course we prayed, and
we believed God. And you know, he turned out to
be the finest man. He's a wonderful father. Ken
called him today. It's his birthday. And Ken said,
what are you doing? He said, well, I'm out with John
John. We're playing golf. That's his little five or six
year old boy. And he had him out playing golf. He's a great father. And he's
a fine man. We took it. We took it. You can take your children. You
can take your children. You keep the power of the devil
broken over that child, if they're out in the world doing things,
you keep the power of the devil broken over them, and you believe
God for their salvation and deliverance, and you believe God they'll live
long enough for them to get turned around? I mean, John, that was
a situation with John. He had wrecks. He turned things
over. He drove fast. We were down at the convention
center when he was just a kid, and Ken and I were already at
the hotel. We were I was staying downtown
for the meeting. He called one morning. I think
it was a Sunday morning. Mama? Yeah? How you doing, John? He said, somebody bit my ear
off. He said, I was in a fight last
night, and somebody bit my ear off. Oh gosh, I had a picture
of a hole in his head, you know. What used to be in ears, now
a hole. And he didn't explain himself.
He's not a man of many words. And so, of course, we prayed
for him. We believed God for him. Well, when I saw him, somebody
had bit a piece of his ear off, but not his whole ear. But we had to believe God for
that boy. And your boy, I mean, you know, God knows how to handle
boys. Ken's mother believed for him.
And look how fine he turned out, glory to God. So whatever it
is, faith will do it. If we believe we receive it and
we, which is to take it, and then we say it, and we take it,
and we say it, and we say it by taking it, and we take it
by saying it, and we don't say anything else. And if you say
something else, you repent over it. So receive. To receive it
is to take it. I remember Brother Hagin's message
on confession brings possession. When we began to hear Brother
Hagin, we found out about our words. And so we began to change
what we say. And that scripture, confession,
or that tape in those days, confession brings possession. Say it. Say it. Say it. Don't say anything
different. Have you a scripture you stand
on, read that scripture, and take it, say it, take it, take
it, take it with your words, and don't say anything different.
If you do say something different, you repent, you get right back
up on the Word of God. So the kingdom is preached, faith
comes, and the forceful take it by force. Let's look at, let's
see where that scripture is. I think I have the wrong scripture
reference down here. But at any rate, it says the
forceful take it by force. You're not going to be a wimp
and get faith results. You're going to have to be strong
in your words, in your mind, in your thoughts, in your heart. First of all, get strong in your
heart by the Word of God. Believe you receive when you
pray. Don't let the devil take it from
you. He'll try to take it from you.
So let him take it. No, you keep hold of it. He'll
say, well, you're not going to get that car. It's been a year
now, and you don't have a car. Gloria Copeland's crazy. I didn't
say this. Jesus said this, and we know
he's not crazy. And I'm here to testify that
it works. Don't let the devil take it from you. I want you
to get on this tape now. You take it. You keep it. You
say it. You believe it. You stand on
it. And you don't let him take it away from you with unbelief
or fear or doubt or people. Somebody comes and tells you,
you know, you're not going to get it. You're a loser. You're a failure. You're this.
You're that. Don't take what they say. Take
what God's Word says. It says, greater is he that is
in you than he that is in the world. You're not a loser. You're
born of God. You are a son or a daughter of
the Most High God. Hallelujah. How do you get to
where you understand who you are? By time and the Word of
God. Glory to God. So whatever it
is we need, we take it. Faith, says, I take it, I have
it. Brother Hagin said, confession
brings possession. You just keep saying it. I just
said that about a house for a number of years, a number of years. But I had, we've been in that
house probably 10 years now. Was it worth it? Absolutely,
it was worth it. It was worth it. That's where
we're going to stay the rest of our lives. We're happy there.
It's great. It's wonderful. It's awesome.
Just what we want. Was it worth it? It was worth
it. It was worth it. What if I hadn't been saying
anything? What if I hadn't been saying, well, I'm never going
to get a house? What if I hadn't been saying it's impossible to
pay cash for a house? Or it's impossible to pay cash
for that house? Oh, no. I didn't say that. I
said I have it. I believed I received it. And
I got it. And I live in it. And I've been
in it 10 years probably, or maybe more now.