John 19 is our text this morning, and I'm taking the title for
the message from verse 34. It's a easy, simple title, Blood
and Water. water blood and water one of
the soldiers with the spear pierced his side thrust his side and
there came out of his body out of his chest from his heart blood
and water blood and and water." Both blood and water are necessary
for our salvation. Blood, the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ to purchase and to justify in the water here,
typical of our cleansing, our sanctification. Both blood and
water come from the crucified Christ. from his side. Hence we learn again the blessed
truth of salvation. That all of salvation comes from
him, both blood and water. Blood to justify, water to sanctify
us. We sang a moment ago, did you
notice in Augustus Toplady's hymn, Rock of Ages? Let the water
and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the
double cure, save from wrath, that is, save from guilt, and
make me, what's the next word? Pure. Here we see in the Lord
Jesus Christ crucified a work of grace done for us and in regeneration
and in salvation we see the work of grace done within us. Both are necessary for the saving
of a sinner. Our blessed Lord having accomplished
all of salvation as it says in verse 30 He said, it is completed. It is done. It is over. Salvation. for God's elect, the
mission of mercy of which He came to accomplish. He came to
seek and to save the lost. He said, it's done. Another songwriter
said, it is done, the great transaction is done. I am my Lord's and He
is mine. The Lord plainly declares that
salvation is not started, it's done, it's finished. I finished
the work. a redemption that the Father
gave me to do. And when he had done so, he bowed
his head, dismissed his soul and spirit from his body, and
said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, The Lord,
dying, when He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the right
hand of the throne of the majesty on high. And the Lord Jesus Christ,
when He went to glory, took that dying thief with Him. For He said, Today, this day,
you will be with Me in paradise. Our forerunner, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as our Great High Priest, enters into glory for us. He dies for us. He comes for
us. He dies for us. He is risen for
us. He ascended for us. He is seated
for us. And we're in Him. Aren't you
glad you have this one to represent you before God and you in Him? Remember from our study in Hebrews
6, which hope we have as an anchor of a soul that is sure and steadfast,
which entereth into that within the veil where the forerunner
for us is entered, The forerunner for us has entered. Even Jesus
made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Remember
from last week, I read from Ephesians chapter 2 where it said when
He ascended up on high that we ascended in Him. When He sat
down, we sat down in Him. You see the Lord Jesus Christ
dies the appointed death at the appointed time. for the appointed
people to accomplish God's appointed purpose, His glory, to obtain
eternal redemption for us with His own blood, not with the blood
of bulls and goats. Animal blood cannot make atonement
for the sin of men. The Lord Jesus Christ, our great
High Priest, obtained eternal redemption for us with His own
blood. Remember in John 10, He said,
no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. So he declares it is finished.
Now, let's see what happens after the Lord has accomplished our
salvation. Let's take a look at these following
verses. Verse 31 down to verse 37. 31 through 37 and see What happens after the Lord Jesus
Christ dies for our sin according to the Scripture? The Jews, therefore,
verse 31, John 19, because it was the preparation, that is,
they were preparing for the Sabbath day worship, they were preparing
to observe the Passover feast, that the body should not remain
upon the cross. He's talking about the two thieves
and the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not want the Sabbath
day defiled with these mangled bodies hanging on a tree, for
the Sabbath day was a special day. The Sabbath day was a high
day, it says. So they came to Pilate, and they
asked Pilate to hasten the death of these three victims, the two
thieves and the blessed Lord. And they asked Pilate that their
legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. Just take the bodies away so
we won't see this site no more. Now, the Jews made this special
request that the bodies be taken away that is the bodies of the
two thieves and the Lord they had no problem in condemning
the Lord to death you remember they said give us Barabbas and
Pilate said what you want me to do with this one named Jesus
you remember what they said away with him crucify him we have
no king but Caesar they had no problem crying out for the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they had a big problem. They
didn't want his death to violate their holy day. What hypocrisy. What hypocrisy. And you know
what? You know they did, and what they
desired, they did so in the name of religion? Because listen to
what it says in Deuteronomy 21, verse 23, and they may have made
this argument to Pilate, but listen to what it says in Deuteronomy
21, 23. If a man have committed a sin
worthy of death, he shall be put to death, and thou hang him
on a tree. You ever wonder why the Lord
Jesus Christ would hang upon a tree? Okay, why wouldn't he
just put to death some other way? Had to be this way, because
listen, when someone has sinned a sin worthy of death, he shall
be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, and his body shall
not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt anyways
bury him that day for He that is hanged on a tree is accursed
of God. Now, you remember what we read
in Galatians chapter 3 many times? The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
us from the curse of law, being made a curse for us, for cursing
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. We see what happened upon the
cross. The Lord Jesus Christ being made
sin for us, carrying our guilt, became the guilty victim that
was accursed before God. being made sin for us. So they had, and they could have
used this religious argument if they wanted to, but they were
more interested in taking care of business about violating their
holy day. Now verse 32, so the request
being granted, the soldiers were sent out and they break the legs. Now what they used, a big mallet
or a piece of iron, a rod of some kind, they break the legs
of the first, that is the thief, and then they bypass the Lord
Jesus Christ, because remember one was crucified on the right
hand and the other on the left, and the man who had the rod,
he bypasses the Lord Jesus Christ after breaking the legs of the
first, and they come to the other and break his legs, but they
did not touch the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why did they break
the legs of a victim when they were crucified? Well, here's
the reason they did that. The legs were broken to hasten
death that it might take place quickly. Because when a victim
was crucified, he would push himself up with his legs to relieve
the pressure from his chest so he could breathe. But when they broke the legs,
the victim would collapse and hang from his hands and he would
quickly suffocate. So to hasten their death, they
would crush their legs. Crucifixion oftentimes took two
or three days for the victim to die. It was a brutal thing. And these Jews, being religious
as they were, did not want these victims hanging there on the
Sabbath day, crying out. So break their legs, let them
die. But it says in verse 33, when
they came to the Lord Jesus Christ and saw that he was dead. Now
get a hold of this. Here's the testimony of the Roman
soldier. He, the Roman soldier, who was
a professional executor. He was one who took great pride
in carrying out his business of death, administering death. He said, by his testimony, he
said that this man dead already. I'm not going to break his legs.
No point breaking his legs. Why waste your energy? When they
came upon the Lord to break his legs, he was already gone. They could not break his legs
because of the decree of God Almighty. For it says down here
in verse 36, These things were done, John 19.36, these things
were done that the Scriptures should be fulfilled, a bone of
him shall not be broken. They couldn't break his little
finger. Not a bone of the victim could
be broken. Now, if you go back and look
at the reference there on that verse, verse 36, you see the
reference to Exodus 12 verse 40 and Numbers 9 verse 12. Now if you want to follow with
me, turn to Numbers 9, Numbers 9, 12. Numbers 9, 12. Some of you have
those iPad devices, and you can get there quicker than I can. We went to Lexington and then
on to Louisville last week, and my son gave me an iPad. And I said, what am I gonna do
with this iPad? He said, Dad, you can use it
for all kind of things. Okay, so I know what you're going
through, because I went to the App Store and downloaded a Bible
app, so I know how to, I know what you're doing there. You're
already there before I'm there. Numbers 9 Numbers 9 verse 12
so you Scroll down to verse 12 where it says in verse 11 to
14th day the second month that even They shall keep it and eat
it with unleavened bread and bitter herb now. This is talking
about the Passover and and the Passover victim, they shall leave
none of it unto morning, nor break any bone of it, according
to all the ordinance of the Passover, they shall keep it." No bone
of that Passover lamb could be broken. They were to eat the
flesh, roast the flesh, but not break one bone. It says that
again in Exodus 12, 46. The Lord Jesus Christ is a fulfillment
of that Passover Lamb. Not a bone of Him could be broken
because He is that Passover Lamb. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away our sin. And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
that Christ, our Passover, is sacrifice for us. You see the
beauty of Scripture. All things written of the Lord
Jesus Christ must be fulfilled. Now here we see three crosses.
Three crosses, three men. Two thieves and the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now consider this for a minute.
Three men died that day. One thief dies in his sin, doesn't
he? He rails upon the Lord and said,
if you be the Christ, save us and yourself. One thief died
in his sin. Our Lord said in John 8, if you
believe not that I am, you will die in your sin. And one thief
here did die in his sin. One thief, the other thief, was
granted repentance. He cried out for mercy, Lord,
remember me when you enter into your kingdom. And the Lord said,
this day you'll be with me in glory. One thief was granted
repentance, was redeemed by the blood of Christ. So one thief
died in his sin, one thief died to sin, for sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you are no longer under the law but under
grace. And the third man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, died for sins. You see, one died in his sin,
one died to his sin, and one died for the sin of God's people. The Lord Jesus Christ dies as
a sinner's substitute. God made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. One of the preachers that was
visiting here on Thursday night said we ought to quote this verse
of Scripture, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, every time we preach. And
I said, well, I try to do that. because it's the heart of the
gospel, substitution, satisfaction, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ died one
death for sin. He died once for sin, the just
for the unjust, that He might bring us, bring us unto God,
and we can't come any other way. Now we see these things plainly
declared from the cross, at the cross, don't we? But let me see
if we can glean another lesson here from what is said here in
these verses about these two thieves dying and the Lord Jesus
Christ dying. One thief was saved by the grace
of God, justified in the Lord Jesus Christ, but he was never
baptized, right? I mean, he died upon the tree. He was never baptized. He was never publicly baptized
with water baptism, which is a confession of a believer, confessing
Christ, His death, burial, resurrection is all our hope. Was he saved? The Lord said he was. That's
enough for me. This day, the Lord said, you'll
be with me in paradise. So we can learn that baptism,
talking about water baptism, is not essential to salvation. It is essential to obedience.
If that thief would have been delivered from that death, no
doubt in time he would have confessed to the Lord Jesus Christ in Believer's
Baptism. So we can learn here that water
baptism is not essential to salvation while it is essential to obedience. What is essential to salvation
is Christ. He's the Savior. He's the one
that saves. Now stay with me here. I want
you to try to help us here. There are some in this community
who believe that water baptism actually saves. They actually
believe, and I've had this discussion with them on more than one occasion,
they believe that baptism, water baptism, actually puts away sin,
washes away sin. They actually believe that water
baptism puts them in Christ. They even go so far as to believe
that water baptism is a means of regeneration and putting them
in the covenant of grace, okay? Now, my argument always back
to them, and the argument that is to be made to those that insist
upon water baptism is salvation. What about the dying thief? What
about the... the Lord said he was saved. Well,
their argument is this. Now stay with me. Their argument
back to me is this. Well, they say, the new covenant
was not in effect yet. The Lord had not died yet. Okay
now, stay with me. When they came to the Lord Jesus
Christ, he was already dead. The thieves were still living.
The Lord Jesus Christ was already dead. So by their argument, yes,
the New Covenant, the blood of the New Covenant was in force. But my friend, the blood of the
New Covenant is an everlasting covenant. From everlasting to
everlasting. It's always in effect. It's always in force. But you
see their argument? I can blow it out of the water.
If they go that route. You see, it doesn't hold water,
does it? It doesn't. Salvation is always by the grace
of God. The grace of God. Now, look at
verse 34 and verse 37 in our text. But one of the soldiers,
now why did he do this? The soldier with the rod and
the hammer, he came there breaking legs and then they just walked
right by the Lord. But one soldier with the spear,
he took that spear and out of malice and out of hatred, this
is just another Jew, let's just mutilate the body a little bit
more. I mean, they've already mutilated him. It says in Isaiah
52 that his visage was so marred, his facial features were so marred,
more than any man, he didn't even look like a man. But this
one Roman soldier, out of malice and hatred for God, said, okay,
let's just mutilate that body a little bit more. He took a
spear and jammed it in his chest. I believe he pierced his heart.
And out of his heart came blood and water. Look down at verse
37. And again, another scripture
saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced. Now this Roman
soldier had no idea what the scripture had said. He had no
idea that he was fulfilling the will of God, did he? But he did
what God determined before to be done. Here's another infallible
proof that the Lord Jesus Christ had really died. He died. for our sin according to scripture
the Lord just didn't go into a coma and they put him in the
grave and then they you know they they just gave him a little
bit of resuscitation and he no if if he didn't die for our sin
we will sin has to be punished the Lord Jesus Christ died a
real death he died a real death that's what sin demands is death
the guilty must die One of these soldiers, out of malice and spite,
took this spear and thrust it in the heart of the Lord. And
the soldier had no idea he was fulfilling what God decreed from
all eternity and what the record of Scripture has said. It's on
the inside page of your bulletin from Zechariah 12.10, "...they
shall look on him whom they pierced." And over in Revelation 1 verse
7, it says in Revelation 1 verse 7, "...when the Lord comes back
again, behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see
him, and they also which pierced him." and all the kingdoms of
the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, even so, come,
come, Lord Jesus Christ. Out of the Lord's side there
flowed blood and water, out of His heart. We read in 1 John
5, this is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ,
not by water only, but by water and blood. By His blood, which
flowed from His side, we are justified. Justified. Turn to Romans chapter 3. Romans
chapter 3. We are justified by the blood
atonement of Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 3. Verse 23, Romans
3, 23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
being justified freely by His grace through, don't ever forget
this part, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He is
redeeming blood, whom God set forth to be the propitiation
through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness, for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just, and the justifier of them which believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ." Now look across the page at Romans
5, Verse 8, but God commended His love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, much more than being
now justified by His blood, we shall be saved, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. We are justified by His blood. It says in Ephesians chapter
1, if you want to turn there, if not, just listen, and I'll
see if I can find it for us. Ephesians chapter 1, Verse 7,
it says, "...in whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. We
are justified by the blood that flowed from His side." God bought
the church with His own bloody death. By the water that flows from
His side, we are sanctified. That is, we are cleansed. I know
the Scripture said the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from
all our sin. But look at this Scripture here.
Find II Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. Now stay with me. Stay with me
here. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. Blood and water. Blood to
justify, water to sanctify. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. And what this sanctifying work
here is, is the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit making
us new creatures in Christ. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has,
from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. Sanctification of that Spirit.
That water is an emblem, spiritual emblem, and typical of that sanctifying
work of God the Holy Spirit, which causes us to believe the
truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you go back and
look in the Levitical law, we meet continually with the water
and the blood. By water all filth was washed
away. Those priests who came to minister
in the tabernacle, they took water and cleansed themselves.
And the blood expiation was made for the guilt of sin. When men
come before God, they might be reconciled and justified. The
whole perfection of sanctification and justification is fulfilled
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That scripture we quote
all the time. Lionel quotes it every time,
I think almost when you pray. And there's nothing wrong with
that, because it's a good verse. But of him are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and he's our redemption. You see, we're sanctified in
Christ. He is our sanctification. That water came from His side. That blood came from His side. He's our sanctification. He's
our justification. You see where I'm going? Christ
is all and in all. The whole perfection of sanctification
and justification is fulfilled in Christ. Christ's side became
the fountain of water and blood in order that believers may know
that the cleansing of which the ancient baptisms were types is
found only in Christ our atonement, Christ our sin offering. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. He is our
justification and He is our sanctification. It all comes from Him. Hebrews 10. Look at verse 10,
Hebrews 10, 10. By the witch will we are sanctified,
we are sanctified. The same way we're justified
in Christ. Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest standeth daily,
ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifice of which can
never sanctify, which can never justify. But this man, after
he offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the
right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified in Christ." So, He is my justification. He is the justifier. He is my
sanctification. He's the one who sanctifies. The work of justification is
the work that the Lord Jesus Christ did for us upon the cross. wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity. The work of sanctification is
the work the Lord Jesus Christ does within us in regenerating
grace. Here we see the effect of justification
in our heart is regeneration. God who has begun a good work
in you. You see, I must have a work done
for me And I must have a work done in me. And that's what sanctification's
about. Now, remember this. In sanctification,
the flesh is never sanctified. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. That's all it ever will be. And
one day we'll pack this flesh out somewhere in the graveyard
and bury it and put it away, back to the dust. The flesh is
not sanctified. It's the Spirit. It's the new
man, the new nature that's sanctified in regeneration. The work of
sanctification is the work that He does in us, raising us from
the dead, giving us life, making us new creatures in Christ. You
hath He quickened who were dead, giving us a new, holy nature,
a sanctified, sinless nature. We are partakers of a divine
nature. Both are necessary in our experience
of salvation. A work done for us, and aren't
you glad he doesn't leave it there that he does a work in
our heart He changes our mind, our will, our affection. He gets
inside of us. He gives us a new holy nature.
He raises that spiritual nature that was dead. He raises it up
and gives us life. Christ in you is a hope of glory. That's what regeneration is all
about. A fountain being opened in the
house of David for sin and uncleanness. We say a moment ago there is
a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's vein and
sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Now, that leaves us to look at
one verse that we skipped over. In John 19, I skipped over verse
35. You see verse 35? And he that
saw it bare record. His record is true as the apostle
of God. John, being the writer here,
never mentions his name. that disciple that leaned on
his breast, the Lord Jesus Christ, that disciple whom he loved. It says in John 19, 26, when
Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by
whom he loved. John doesn't mention himself. When Matthew writes the gospel
that bears his name, you'll never find Matthew there referring
to himself. He writes it in such a way as
to put Matthew out of the picture, and John does the same here,
but it says, he that saw it, I mean John standing there seeing
the blood and water that came from the Savior's heart, out
of his heart was born the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
John said his record is true. It's true, I saw it, I saw that
it's true. In verse 35, and he knoweth that
he saith truth that you. John's writing this that you,
you, you, you might believe the record of God. Now turn one page,
look at John 20. Verse 31, John 20, 31. Many other
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which
are not written in the book, but these are written, these
are written, you see that verse 31, John 20? These are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing, you might have life through his name. These
are written that you might believe." You see, we make much of the
Word of God. John saw these things, recorded
these things for us by Holy Spirit inspiration that we might believe
the Gospel. You remember we read over here
a moment ago, "...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. Here's the record right here.
Don't go anywhere else. Right here is the only source
of information, the only right source of information. And this
is a record that God has given to us, eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. He that hath the Son has everything. He that hath the Son hath life,
salvation, forgiveness. Pardon he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. You remember over here in John
3 35 and John 3 35 and 36 where it says The Father loveth the Son, and
giveth all things into His hand. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God. The wrath of God abides
on Him. Now, turn to John 17, 17. John
17, 17. You can remember this verse. 17, 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Sanctify them through the truth.
Thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. You see, true
faith is born of truth, right? True faith is born of truth,
not lies. God does not use the lies of
men to teach the truth. That's not even logical. To use lies to teach the truth? No, you preach the truth to teach
the truth, to believe the truth. God does not use a lies men tell,
that false preachers tell. God loves everybody. That's a
lie. God doesn't use that. Christ died for everybody. That's
a lie. God doesn't use that. God's trying to save everybody.
That's a lie. God uses truth. Christ died for
His people. God's love is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God doesn't try to do anything.
He saves His people by His power, by His grace. We learn the truth
by hearing the truth. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the truth.
Again we see the importance of believing the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ that sets us free. Now turn to John 8, 32. John
8, 32. Remember our Lord said this about
the Word of Truth. John 8, 32. He said, if you continue in my
word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the
truth, and the truth will set you free. Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. The truth about God, holy, sovereign,
and eternal. The truth about the Lord Jesus
Christ, His person, who He is, His work, what He did. He actually
appeared once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. And the truth about salvation.
The truth about salvation. Salvation's all by His grace,
and His grace alone. By grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Salvation is all of the Lord. Grace in the beginning, grace,
He's the Alpha and the Omega of salvation. All election is
by God's grace. All glorification is by God's
grace. That which begins in grace will
end in glory. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our work, but according to
His own purpose and grace. Purpose and grace, they go together. Purpose and grace go together,
which is given us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
before there was a sinner, there was a savior. Before Adam fell,
the Lord Jesus Christ stood in that everlasting and eternal
covenant of grace. This is the truth, that he knoweth
that he saith true, that you might believe, not the lies of
men, but the truth. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Faith. is the gift of God.