And Lord, as we now come to your word, we thank you for your word. And we remember that your word is perfect, that your word is sufficient, that your word is inspired, inerrant, that it is unassailable, and that it always accomplishes the work that you intend. It never returns void to you. And so we ask, Lord, that you would use your word today to work in us. that You would use Your Word to transform our minds by the power of Your Spirit meeting the preached Word. We pray that this time would glorify Christ and that this time would strengthen and encourage and edify Your people for the glory of Christ. In His name we pray. Amen. Well, if you have your Bibles with you, please turn to John chapter 19. We're going to be looking at verses 31 to 37 today as we continue our study in the Gospel of John. What a blessing it's been to spend over four years going through this incredible book. I don't know about you, but these last four years have been a time of considerable growth for me. I hope it has been for you as well. But we have now reached kind of what is the pinnacle of the book. The point that we celebrate on Easter, the thing that Jesus came to accomplish, and that is of course the crucifixion, where Christ made atonement for sins. What a blessing to to be studying that portion of the text in this season. Somebody asked me if we were going to wait until Easter to get to the resurrection. No, I'm not going to try to stretch it out that far. I don't think I can do it. Not that I... I probably could, but I'd have to force it, and I don't want to do that. But today we'll be looking at John chapter 19 verses 31 to 37. Christina and I watch a number of true crime and criminal justice shows and stuff on YouTube and documentaries and things like that. And one thing that's really kind of struck us lately as we've watched all these shows is how many cameras there are out there. If you were to do a search on YouTube for doorbell videos, you know, weird people coming up to people's doors and, you know, the footage that they catch from that, there are thousands and thousands of these videos out there. And it seems to us that in a time like ours, when cameras are, absolutely everywhere. I mean, they're absolutely everywhere. The crime would be decreasing. That's what you would think would happen, that the crime would be decreasing as cameras increase, because now it's so much easier to get caught. But if you go up to, you know, somebody's front door, before you've even rung the doorbell, you may have triggered already their ring doorbell that records your face and your movements and everything. It is truly incredible that anybody in our day and age gets away with anything, as many cameras as there are out there. But even more incredible is that crime has actually increased as the number of cameras have increased. But prior to the invention of the camera, any legitimate criminal justice system had to depend on forensics. Things like collecting hair, or finding blood splatter, or finding fingerprints, you know, things like that. Forensic evidence, circumstantial evidence, statistical evidence, things like that. But the most important element of any criminal justice system, historically speaking, has always been eyewitness testimony. eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness testimony has always been considered to be an absolutely central vital aspect of any trustworthy criminal justice system. Now this has been scrutinized with good reason in recent years as studies have shown that eyewitness testimony relies on memory and even our memories can be tampered with or altered That much is undeniably true, which is why law enforcement tries to get statements from eyewitnesses as quickly as they possibly can after a crime. And perhaps that's why the biblical requirement for charges to be brought or accepted against someone required that there be a minimum of two or three eyewitnesses. Now you might be able to distort one person's memories in a certain direction, but it's far more difficult to distort the memories of two people or three people in the exact same way. Now this is an important thing to know when we're talking about or defending the historical veracity of the resurrection of Christ, of both the death and resurrection of Christ. Some people have tried to argue that the resurrection of Christ was an instance of all of his followers just hallucinating, just imagining so hard that he actually did rise again from the dead, that they convinced themselves that he did, and they convinced themselves so thoroughly that they actually thought they had memories of him resurrecting. Well, you might be able to do that with one person. You might even be able to do that with two people, but how about with ten? And I don't think so. If that's impossible, if doing that with 10 people is impossible, how much more impossible is it that you could do that with over 500 people that have the same experience of having the exact same hallucination? It just couldn't happen. It's impossible. After all, Paul does say that Jesus appeared to over 500 people when he wrote to the church in Corinth, that's in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that Jesus appeared to over 500 people. So you can alter one person's memories in a certain direction, but you certainly won't be able to alter the memories of up to 10 people the same direction. You definitely won't have luck with 500 people. Just forget about it. It's not going to happen. Now as we continue in our study of John's Gospel today, we're given the perspective of one eyewitness to the death of Christ. Now before you say, now wait a minute, you just told me that one person's memory can be altered and that the biblical requirement is two or three. We'll get there, trust me. The one person's testimony wasn't contested by any other eyewitnesses, first of all. there were scores of people that were present on that day, and if the eyewitness testimony that we find in our text today were wrong, if it were mistaken in even the slightest degree, there was plenty of time, plenty of opportunity for somebody to step forward and say, wait a minute, that's not what happened, I was there, I saw such and such. Instead what we see is that his testimony is uncontested and is in fact corroborated by the testimony of other eyewitnesses that we see in the other Gospels. The Apostle John saw some unusual things take place on Calvary. And they clearly made a deep impression on him as he reflected on the significance and the importance of these things, their spiritual significance. We've seen that Jesus has triumphantly declared, it is finished. as his final words before giving up his spirit. And we've seen that Jesus didn't say this until, as we read in verse 28, that Jesus knew that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the scripture. What's amazing, what is absolutely astounding, is that prophecies of Jesus actually continued to be fulfilled even after Jesus died. So we'll see a couple examples of that today as we now begin to study the aftermath of Christ's substitutionary atoning death. So the point of the passage that we come to today is that Jesus' substitutionary death not only atones for our sin, but it also cleanses us of all of sin's defilements and corruptions as well. And there is no other death in all of human history of which this can be said. There is no other death in all of human history that has satisfied God's wrath against sin. And this is only one of many reasons that we can know without a doubt that salvation is only found in Christ's substitutionary atonement. Life is only found in His death. So we will start with verses 31 to 33. We read this, it says, Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with him. But coming to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Now we've already seen throughout our study of the trial of Jesus and everything that happened starting from the day before with the Jews. We've seen the ugliness of the utter hypocrisy from the beginning of this trial even until the end and even until now. The Jewish leaders have once again shown themselves more than willing to be blatantly in violation of the law of Moses, at least parts of it, while being sure to uphold other parts of it. For example, they held Jesus' trial at night, which was strictly forbidden, very illegal, a blatant violation of Jewish law. They convicted Jesus of blasphemy by using false witnesses. whose testimonies even contradicted each other. They didn't line up with the facts. The Jews refused to defile themselves, though, by stepping foot into Pilate's praetorium. But they weren't bothered by the fact that they'd just broken all these laws that led them up to this point, and they weren't feeling like they had the blood of this man on their hands. So they were defiled because of what they had done, and yet they're trying to maintain appearances. So they are trying to look like they're upholding the law, while they are blatantly in violation of it. As soon as Jesus died, we see their hypocrisy on display once again. See, the standard practice for Romans was to leave those crucified dead bodies up on the crosses for several days if not weeks. Animals would come and devour the remains. Bodies would rot. and stink under the heat of the sun. The crucified remains were actually used by the Roman Empire as kind of a way of warning people, hey, this is what happens when you break the law a few too many times. So bystanders, the idea was they would be reminded that there are consequences for disobeying the law. But in the region that surrounded Jerusalem, things were a little bit different. The Romans actually accommodated the Jews by doing many things in accordance, not with the law of Caesar, but in accordance with the law of Moses. And it's for this reason that it was common practice for the Jews to bury a body on the same day that the person was crucified, instead of leaving it to rot and decompose and feed animals publicly. But the law of Moses was very clear on this issue. In Deuteronomy chapter 21 verses 22 and 23, the Jews are instructed, If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day. For he who is hanged is accursed of God. That's pretty clear. You can't just leave it up there. You have to bury that body. Further, there were to be no executions on the day of one of the religious feasts, such as the Passover feast, which was the following day. The following day was also a Sabbath. So the tragic irony is that these Jewish leaders who go to Pilate with this request, they loved their Jewish laws, but they hated their lawgiver. Let's be clear, that's what the issue was. When they were obeying things, they were not doing so because they loved God. What made the faith of the Pharisees so disgusting is that it was hypocritical. They would use God's law hypocritically. Not only they used His laws to prop themselves up, But they hated the lawgiver. They were rebels against God. They used God's laws to maintain a facade. To paint themselves as these people who were very righteous and very godly, very upright. But all it did was prop up their prideful hearts. Outwardly, it looked like they were obedient. Outwardly, it looked like they loved God. It may have even sounded like they loved God when they spoke, or when they taught, or when they sang, for example. But the scriptures were clear, their hearts were far away from God, which is what makes this so despicable, so revolting. Their ministry was for their glory rather than for the glory of God. See, people love to accuse Christians, especially Christians who put an emphasis on obedience. They love to refer to us as Pharisees. That drives me absolutely crazy because it demonstrates such incredible, incredible ignorance. See, it's not pharisaical to obey God's law. It's not pharisaical to strive or to desire to obey God's law, or to even encourage others to obey God's law. It's pharisaical to love laws because of the way they make you look if you practice them outwardly. It's pharisaical to love them because of the way people will treat you if you uphold this certain facade, when the truth is that the person who does that only loves themselves, wants to bring glory to themselves, and they hate God. And so for the sake of maintaining appearances, for the sake of holding the facade in place, for the sake of looking like they are faithfully obeying the law of Moses. The Jewish leaders have to be sure that they don't defile themselves by breaking these rules, even though they were already defiled by having the blood of the only innocent man in history to be put to death on their hands. Hypocrites! They're just hypocrites. That's what hypocrisy is. And so they go to Pilate, and they request that the legs of the men who had been crucified that day be broken. Why? As a means of expediting their deaths. See, when a man was crucified, he would still be able to push up with his feet, with his legs, to alleviate the pressure, the strain that was on his diaphragm, in order that he could take a breath. But when the legs of a man who was being crucified, when his legs were broken, he would no longer be able to push up and alleviate or relieve that pressure in his diaphragm and thus his ability to breathe would be hindered and his death would be hastened. He would suffocate before too long. Some were even said to have died as a result of the shock that their bodies would experience when their shin bones were smashed. Now Pilate, what does he care? He doesn't care one way or the other. He's just trying to keep order. So he knows that he's got to accommodate the religious laws of the Jews to keep them from rising up against him or bringing some charge against him before Caesar. And so he approves the request without delay. The soldiers, the Roman guards, went to one of the two thieves and they smashed his shin bones, likely with a heavy iron sledgehammer or a heavy iron mallet. Then they go to the second thief and they do the same thing. This guarantees for us, by the way, that the thief who repented and to whom Christ promised, truly I say to you today you shall be with me in paradise. This guarantees for us that that's how he died. He suffocated as a result of his shins being smashed to pieces. what suffering he must have endured even after savingly believing on Christ. So maybe the next time somebody tries to tell you, oh, if you believe in Jesus, all your problems will go away and life will be easy, maybe you should bring up the repentant thief. Really, did his life get easier after he believed in Christ? That's a good question. No, his death reminds us that even converting and even legitimately repenting of sin doesn't nullify the temporal consequences of sin. At least not necessarily. In J.C. Royle's words, quote, the grace of God and the pardon of sin did not deliver him from the agony of having his legs broken. End quote. What I think we can be sure about, what I think we can be completely confident of in this moment, is that God's grace, as his shins were broken, God's grace was sufficient for him. Perhaps God even extended special grace toward this man, our brother, to assuage his pain and his suffering. If nothing else though, this brother, this man, knew that on the other side of this incredible torment that he was undergoing, paradise awaited him. Now you can trust the repentant thief. with the unrepentant thief, who persisted in stubborn unbelief until his last breath, which came, we can be sure, a couple minutes after his shins were broken. Not too long after his legs were broken. His conscience had surely, like everybody else, his conscience had once upon a time warned him that he would have to stand before God in judgment and condemnation. But he had silenced his conscience. He had probably seared his conscience long, long ago. He had to have known that, unlike the repentant thief, he had nothing to look forward to with joyful anticipation. All that awaited him was dread and at some level he, like everyone else who denies Christ, he knew that. But when the guards came to Jesus, They did not break his legs. Why not? The text tells us because he was dead and they knew that he was already dead. Now keep in mind that we are talking about Roman guards here. We're talking about men who did this for a living. We're talking about sadistic men, trained professional killers. They knew when someone was or wasn't dead. And if they failed to execute a criminal, it would have cost them their own lives. Now, one of the things that we should see here is that they're not breaking the legs of Jesus, actually ensured that the scriptures were fulfilled. Psalm 34 20 said, he keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. John had that verse in mind here. When you look down at verse 36 that's what he quotes. Maybe he also had in mind the instruction from Exodus chapter 12 verse 46 which pertained to the way that the Passover lamb was to be treated. It instructed that Quote, it is to be eaten in a single house. You are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. So we see that there is very important theological significance to the fact that Jesus' legs were not broken. Not only did it fulfill Scripture, but it also allows us to say that Jesus is the perfect Passover lamb. Of course, the blood of the Passover lamb in Exodus was what told the angel of death to pass by a residence, and any residence that didn't have the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts experienced God's judgment. So the fulfillment of the Passover lambs took place once and for all when Jesus's blood was shed for the remission of sins on Calvary. The fact that these Roman soldiers, these trained professional killers, didn't feel the need to break Jesus' legs is airtight testimony. It proves that Jesus really did die. Nobody would know that he was dead better than these guys, these trained executioners, these sadistic killers would have. And it's important that we make note of details like this, because it's important that Jesus really did die. It would absolutely be a death blow to the whole Christian faith if Jesus only almost died. Which is exactly why, throughout the ages, people have tried to put that forth as the idea of what really happened, that no, he didn't really die. Because if Jesus only almost died, Christianity's done for. If Jesus only almost died, he didn't make atonement for sin. The wage of sin is not that something almost die. The wage of sin is death. But just as importantly, if Jesus only almost died, then he wasn't raised from the dead. And if Jesus was not raised from the dead, what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15? He says, your faith is in vain. It's for nothing, if he didn't really raise from the dead. Now by the end of the first century, there were already Gnostics who were denying that Jesus was truly human and thus brought into question whether Jesus as a human really suffered and died. But in modern times, we've also seen attempts by groups like what's called the Jesus Seminar. If you ever watch the History Channel, they kind of have, they leave their mark on there. They have what's called Swoon Theory. Swoon Theory. The idea is that Jesus didn't die on the cross but that he almost died and when they put him in the tomb the air in there was so cold that it revived him and he came back to full consciousness. Wow! Complete denial. Why would they call themselves the Jesus Seminar when they're trying to deny the most important thing that Jesus did. So to refute these blasphemous ideas, we need to only observe the actions of the experts. Those experts being the Roman executioners who put people to death for a living and whose lives depended on them doing the job that was assigned to them. Their passing by the man whose body hung on the center cross testifies to the fact that he was absolutely, unequivocally, truly, medically dead. Now who knows why a soldier would do this, maybe to ensure that Jesus really was dead, maybe just out of pure disrespect for the body of Jesus. But one of the Roman guards, before he completely walks away from Jesus, took it upon himself to take a spear and to pierce Jesus's side with it. That's what John records for us in these verses that follow. Let's look at verses 34 to 37. John continues writing, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. And immediately, blood and water came out. And he who has seen this has testified, and his testimony is true. And he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture. Not a bone of him shall be broken. And again, another Scripture says, They shall look on him whom they pierced. If there was any doubt, any doubt that Jesus was dead before. And there wasn't, there wasn't. But if there was any doubt that Jesus was dead before, we can be doubly sure when we read of this spear piercing his side. But what I want you to see is that this detail isn't included simply to underscore the fact that Jesus did in fact die It does, in fact, add to the certainty of that claim, of course, but John had a deeper understanding of its theological significance. In fact, if we consider what he said in his first epistle, we see that he thought that this blood and water flowing from Jesus' side was actually very significant, that it had a lot of theological significance. He writes in 1 John 5, verse 6 of Jesus, this is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood." So he thought this was really, really, really significant. So what is the significance of the blood and the water pouring forth from Christ's side? Well let me start with what it doesn't signify, or what it doesn't symbolize. It's not a picture of Jesus giving birth to the church. It's not symbolic of the sacraments, communion and baptism. Saint Augustine wrote, quote, our sacraments have flowed out from Christ's side, end quote. Now we should understand that Augustine lived in a time when many were inclined to It was very popular to allegorize just way, way, way too much when the text didn't warrant allegorization. So it's not that we oppose the idea of allegory necessarily. What we oppose is the allegorization of a text when it's not warranted. We reject the idea that a text can be spiritualized or allegorized without an objective reason to do so within the text, pointing everybody who reads it to the exact same conclusion. Richard Phillips, he addresses the allegorization of the blood and water in his commentary. He writes this, he says quote, It is very doubtful that John intended any such sacramental understanding of the blood and water of Jesus' wound, especially since there is no record in Scripture of the Lord's Supper and Baptism being referred to by these labels." It's also not just a medical phenomenon that happens at death. That's what some people have dismissed it as is, oh, you know, this is just something that is common when people die. If you were to pierce their side, this is what you'd get. There was a book written back in the 19th century titled, A Treatise on the Physical Cause of the Death of Christ. And in this book, the author argued that this mixture of blood and water coming out can happen as a result of great mental agony, of basically having a broken heart. The problem is that Jesus didn't die with a broken heart. Jesus died in joyful victory, according to Scripture. And further, the only cause of the death of Christ was that Jesus, when everything had been fulfilled, willingly gave up his spirit. So this approach tends to remove all the supernatural elements and say, you know, this is physically why Jesus died. Physically, the only reason Jesus died is because he willed it to be so. So what do the water and the blood represent? What do they signify? Why are they important? I'd say that they're important for at least three reasons. This may not be comprehensive, but these are the best three reasons that I can come to. The first reason, the first significance of them is it can legitimately serve as further evidence that Jesus was indeed dead and that he couldn't have even been slightly, just slightly alive when his body was taken down from the cross. By God's providence, it really does testify to the veracity of Christ's death, and it renders any argument that Jesus didn't completely die on the cross, it renders those arguments not only false, but just downright absurd. They're ridiculous. They're ludicrous. No, Jesus was not revived by the cold air in the tomb. That's not how it works. That would be a miracle too. He really did die. and he really was resurrected, which should scare anyone who argues for swoon theory to death, if they're actually interested in the truth. This shoots down not only the swoon theory, but it shoots down the heretical teachings of the Gnostics who denied that Jesus was a real man who had a real human nature and a real body. No, he was true man and true God. He had a very real body, just as real as yours and mine. And He really offered it as atonement for the sins of all who believe on Him. One of the earliest church creeds reflects this. One of the earliest church creeds is found in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4. It says this, Paul writes, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. That's a very early, first century creed. probably from somewhere between around 40 AD. 1 Corinthians was probably the first New Testament book written, or one of the first New Testament books written. So the fact that that creed is in there and reflects the fact that Jesus died is significant. The Apostles' Creed also includes it. The Apostles' Creed says of Jesus, He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. Further, the veracity, the truthfulness of Jesus actually dying, not almost dying, but really dying, is so important that all the major Protestant confessions also included it. Our confession, the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, states in chapter 8, paragraph 4, that Jesus, quote, underwent the punishment due to us, which we should have borne and suffered, being made sin and a curse for us, enduring most grievous sorrows in his soul and most painful sufferings in his body, was crucified and died and remained in the state of the dead, yet saw no corruption. On the third day he rose from the dead." End quote. See, if Christ only almost died, then He also only almost died for our sins. When that creed in 1 Corinthians 15 says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, you can't insert an almost in there. If you insert an almost in there, it blows the whole Christian faith away. It blows everything that Jesus came to accomplish away. If Jesus almost died, then he also almost died for sins, which means that we would still be dead in them. Yes, the piercing of Jesus' side and the blood and the water which flowed from his wound only add to the already insurmountable evidence that Jesus did truly die, rendering any arguments that he didn't truly die ridiculous, just absurd. So that's the first reason. Secondly, the significance of the blood and water, the reason the blood and water are significant is that the scriptures are filled with illustrations of both blood and water being used for the remission of sins, used as cleansing agents. Let's start with water. Let's just start with John's Gospel. Throughout John's gospel, there has been this very, very subtle theme of water as a source of life and cleansing. Look between the lines. It's there. Squeeze the text. Ring it out. See how much water you get throughout John's gospel. You find so much. Starting in chapter 2, when we saw Jesus perform his first miracle at the wedding in Cana. What was that miracle? Turning water into wine. He filled the water basins with water and turned that water into wine. The point being, the illustration being, He's showing them that He was the joy of the wedding feast. And that is Psalm 104.15 says, wine makes a man's heart glad. Jesus brings gladness to the hearts of all who believe on Him. In chapter 4, Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman in the heat of the day at A well. And he asks her for a drink. She scoffs at the idea that a Jew would ask a Samaritan for water. And he says to her in verse 10, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. He goes on to say, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, he says, of the water in the well. But whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. So Jesus was teaching her and he was teaching us by extension that he alone is the source of spiritual life for all who believe on him. Chapter five, Jesus encounters a crippled man who's laying beside a pool of what? Water. But that man couldn't get himself into the water. He couldn't get himself into the pool of water that would have supposedly healed him, but Jesus healed the man, showing not only the inability that the man had to help himself, but that he is alone the truly healing water from heaven. Chapter 7, the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus famously declares in verses 37 and 38, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. Now John explains in verse 39 that that was actually referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit, which would come after Jesus' death, after His ascension on Pentecost. But again, Jesus and water. Chapter 9, Jesus encounters a blind man who remains nameless, and he instructs the blind man to go to the pool of Siloam to cleanse the mud that Jesus put on his eyes with his own spit in it, and his sight was completely restored to him. Again, there's that theme of water in there. Chapter 13, Jesus washes his disciples' feet with what? Water. Water is such a huge theme, and it's like if you weren't paying attention, you would have missed how prevalent this theme of water is everywhere in John's Gospel. Throughout the Old Testament, it was also a symbol of cleansing. All the rites and purifications that involved washing in water for cleansing. The water that flowed from Christ's side reminds us of His cleansing, restoring power. And what about the blood? What's that symbolic of? The blood of every animal offering had the same symbolism. It was a reminder that the wage of sin is death. Blood was offered to make atonement for sin throughout the Old Testament. So that's the second reason. The third reason that the water and the blood are significant John includes this detail about the blood and water because it marks the fulfillment of Scripture. And John is explicit about this in verse 37, isn't it? We've already seen one prophecy that speaks of Jesus' bones not being broken. That's a negative prophecy. This will not happen. But positively, in other words, this will happen. Positively, the Scripture spoke of the Messiah being pierced. That comes from Zechariah 12, verse 10, which says, "...they will look on Me whom they have pierced." Only God, only God who is sovereign over all things, who orders all things according to His purposes, could ensure that within just a few quick seconds here, two vital prophecies related to the body of Christ would be fulfilled like this, that his bones would not be broken and yet that he would be pierced. On the rejection of his own ministry, Zechariah's ministry by the Jews, he foresaw the greater rejection that the Messiah would experience. And so he prophesied not only of Jesus' death, but he foretold that the preaching of the cross would bring God's people to saving faith and true repentance. The entire verse, Zechariah 12.10 says, I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication so that they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping of a firstborn. Now if you were to just stop there you're left without hope. It just ends in sorrow and that's all you've got is this sorrow that he was pierced in my place. But five verses later, Zechariah writes in chapter 13 verse 1, he says, in that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and impurity. Because of the flowing of this fountain of water and blood, Zechariah 13 verse 9 says, they will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, they are my people, and they will say, the Lord is my God. Now here's something that we should be sure that we see. It's not only John who's giving us eyewitness testimony here. It's not only the eyewitness testimony from the other Gospels. No, the Scriptures, the prophets from the Old Testament, they testify to what was going to happen as well. So together the blood and the water point us to the necessity of repenting of sin and finding cleansing for our guilt and atonement for our sins by believing on Christ. By looking on Him who was pierced in our place. Whom we pierced. And repenting of what we did. And finding life in Him. Today, whenever the gospel is preached and believed, that fountain that Zechariah spoke of in chapter 13, verse 1, flows anew and it cleanses every sinner who mourns as they look on Him who was pierced, whom they pierced, and calls on Him in saving faith. Those who stubbornly resist, those who persist in refusing to come to the Christ whom they pierced with mourning and faith, will have no excuse for their unbelief on the day when they stand before the Lord. And the day will come when they look on Him whom they have pierced, whether they like it or not, and their knee will bow and their tongue will confess that He is Lord. And instead of finding cleansing as a result of their mourning, instead they'll be filled with an eternal mourning over their own foolish unbelief. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, writes John in Revelation 1-7. And every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. They'll mourn over Him because they have hated the day of His coming. They've dreaded this day so much that they will be begging the mountains to fall on them rather than facing Jesus in judgment. Conversely, by God's grace, His people who have mourned over what Jesus did to accomplish their redemption will, on the other hand, rejoice at His coming. For salvation is found in Christ. By his death he has cleansed us of sin and of all of sin's vile corruptions. Jesus' substitutionary death not only atones for our sin, thereby justifying us, declaring us innocent of sin, But it cleanses us of all of sin's defilements and corruptions as well, thereby ensuring our sanctification as well. There is, again, there is no other death in history of which this can be said. There is no other death that has ever satisfied God's wrath against sin. Even the blood of bulls and goats could not atone for sin. All it could do was point us to two things. Number one, the wage of sin is death. And number two, blood sacrifice is going to have to be necessary for your redemption and forgiveness. And that's what Christ offers. It all pointed to Him. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. We sing that hymn here from time to time. But friends, my concern is not that you sing well those lyrics or that you even memorize those lyrics. My concern is that those lyrics actually summarize your own experience, your personal experience of receiving the healing, of receiving the cleansing that is found in the substitutionary atoning death of Christ. Have you been cleansed of the guilt that you carry as a result of sin? Have you been cleansed of your shame? Do you see and believe that Jesus is the one and only true Son of God who laid down His life and who tasted death so that you don't have to?" That's the point that John is trying to bring us to. What does he say in verse 35? So that you may also believe. That's why he's telling us these things. Do you? That's the question. Do you believe? John wants your answer to be yes. I want your answer to be yes. He's trying to bring us all to the point where we look upon Him who was pierced, whom we pierced, and in His death we receive everlasting life. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You again for Your Word. Thank You for the historical reliability of Your Word, the fact that we can trust Your Word. We know that it comes from You. Your Word attests to the fact that all Scripture is breathed out by Your Spirit, and that it's profitable for teaching, reproof, training in righteousness, correction, training in righteousness. And so we thank you, Lord, that we can believe what your word says. We thank you for the additional evidence that leads us to conclude, to the undeniable conclusion that Jesus really did die. We recognize the importance of his death. We recognize the significance of his death. We recognize that it was the means that you had ordained for the remission of our sins. even of sinners like us who pierced Him. We thank You for Your grace that flows from Calvary. Thank You for the remission of sins. Thank You for washing us clean. Thank You for making the atoning sacrifice that was required for our forgiveness. We thank You that You provide what You require. And so we pray, Lord, that we would live our lives with a confidence in these truths, and that knowing that Jesus really did die, and that He really did rise again, would change everything for us. Teach us to order our lives, to live our lives in light of these truths, that Christ would be glorified in us. In His name we pray. Amen.