Please now turn in your Bibles to John chapter 19. John 19. These are beautiful words as we once again come to the foot of the cross and witness the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus. I'm looking forward to this morning from John 19, beginning with verse 31. Let's stand together and hear the word from John 19, 31. Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, For that Sabbath was a high day. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen it has testified. And his testimony is true. And he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the scriptures should be fulfilled, not one of his bones shall be broken. And again, another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. And everybody said, amen. Please be seated. Well, brothers and sisters, as we read this text, you get a sense for the gruesomeness of what is going on with this Roman crucifixion. Crucifixion was common in 33 A.D. It was first invented by the Persians. It would have been during the Persian Empire, which lasted roughly from 500 A.D. to 330 B.C. And so the Romans picked it up from the Persians. So crucifixions go all the way back into the three four hundreds BC and Now the Romans have it when Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates. He was about 20 years of age Kidnapped by pirates on his way to a school or college somewhere in Turkey He managed to pull together a ransom for himself and after his men had paid the ransom for him he came back and true to his promise he crucified all of the pirates and The Romans were mean. The Romans were cruel. As cruel as the empires have ever been. The Romans were known for their severity. So this is not unusual. What we see in the crucifixion of Jesus at the time is not an unusual sight. This kind of thing was happening all throughout the Roman Empire. It was a very, very cruel death. Well, what the men would do on the cross is they would use their legs to push themselves up so they could breathe. And to break their legs would mean that they could not push themselves up anymore by their legs and cause them to asphyxiate. A secular source I read said the crucifixion would typically last for 24 hours unless they broke the victim's legs. I read from the source, once the legs gave out, the weight would be transferred to the arms, gradually dragging the shoulders from their sockets. The elbows and wrists would follow a few minutes later. By now, the arms would be six or seven inches longer. The victim would have no choice but to bear his weight on his chest. he would immediately have trouble breathing as the weight caused the ribcage to lift up and force him into an almost perpetual state of inhalation. Suffocation would usually follow. So that's why they broke the legs. They wanted an immediate death or a death that would follow within minutes. So the Jews Encouraged pilots to break the legs of those men on the cross because they didn't want the dead bodies to hang there on Saturday because remember that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, so this is Friday and Jesus was crucified at 9 a.m. On Friday, and this would have been about 3 p.m. On Friday afternoon that this happened where the soldiers broke the legs of the men that were hanging on the cross there next to Jesus and So now that's all background and I want to answer the question why the crucifixion? Why the crucifixion? Why did the Romans default to this form of execution a hundred years before this event? And you know that God knew what was going to happen. God had predestined everything that was going to happen, including the death of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ. And here's the reason for this, is that everything that is happening here is exactly as God has determined it to happen, according to every word that was prophesied concerning the event. And that's the point that John is making here in his gospel. The reason for the crucifixion is Deuteronomy 21, 22, written some 1400 years before this happens. So if you go all the way back to Deuteronomy 21, 22, what do you read? Here it is, 14 years before the crucifixion of Jesus, this is what was written. with the full knowledge and the full preordination of God Himself that this crucifixion would happen some 1400 years later. Listen to Deuteronomy 21, 22. If a man has committed a crime, punishable by death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. So that's the truth that God laid down in His Word. This is the everlasting and eternal truth that the all-sovereign, all-knowing God, who is the very source of all truth, laid down for us in Deuteronomy 21. And this happened 1400 years before the crucifixion of Jesus. This was established by God. This truth was laid down by God 1400 years before the crucifixion of our Lord. And that's because, you see, Jesus had to die on a tree. Jesus had to be hanged on a tree. Why? Because He was to be a curse for us. He was cursed by God. That's what it says here. Deuteronomy 21, 23. A hanged man is cursed By God. So we begin here. Christ is on the cross because He is to be a curse for us. He is to be the replacement for us. Receiving the weight of that curse upon His own shoulders for us. You see, brothers and sisters, by nature we are a cursed lot. We have been cursed by death. We are facing eternal death. We have all of the curses of the world that we experience around us with all the disease and the death and the sinful results of our sin that accommodate human life all around us. We know we're a cursed lot. Anybody who says, oh, we're just doing great. Do not go softly through that dark night. Fight, fight against the dying of the light. He's an idiot. No, no, no, no, we don't embrace death. We don't run into death and hold death tightly and say, oh, it's such a blessing to die. No, death is a curse. Death is a horrible curse, the curse of God. And for those who go to hell, they receive that curse upon themselves into eternity. But Christ received all of those curses upon himself. He received that pulling away from the fellowship, the communion of God on the cross, caused him to cry out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This man was cursed by God. That's what it says here in Deuteronomy 21, 23. He was cursed, cursed for us, cursed for us. Christ was cursed on our behalf on the cross. Let's pray. Jesus, we bless your name. We thank you, Jesus. You are the lamb of God that received the curse upon himself. We leaned upon you. We leaned upon that lamb. We leaned upon that scapegoat. And then you received all the curses of the law upon yourself. And you know what it is to be damned. You experienced what we will never experience, Jesus. And we praise you. We thank you. We're so relieved because we have been graced by you. Amen. Why crucifixions? because Jesus was to be a curse for us, but also, why not stoning? Why didn't they stone him? Well, there's another reason for that. Stoning might have produced a broken bone. And that could not be, but why? Well, that's brought out in this passage as well, isn't it? Not one of his bones shall be broken. Quoting from the Psalms, but also from Numbers 9 and verse 11. This was the institution of the Passover. In the second month on the 14th day at twilight, they shall keep the Passover. You remember the Passover, that's where the lamb was killed. and the blood was placed on the lintel and the doorposts, and then the avenging angel that came through to bring that death to those households would pass over those houses that had the blood of the lamb over their dwellings. So in the second month on the 14th day of the twilight, they shall keep the Passover, they shall eat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and they shall leave none of it until the morning. And here it is, nor break any of its bones, speaking of the lamb. Not to break any of its bones. And that according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep. So Christ was our Passover lamb. And it was ordained by God, again, 1400 years earlier, that the lamb would be a lamb without blemish. The lamb would not have any obvious problems to it such that it would be something of a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God that is Jesus, the Passover Lamb that would come later. And Jesus was that perfect sacrifice. He was not to have a blemish on him. He was not to have a broken bone. And the idea of the broken bone is the idea of a permanent scar or some permanent defect. Why the lex talionis is for the case in which there's some permanent defect. It's not an occasional bruise or even a wounding. So it wasn't as if the lamb had to escape all wounding. The lamb just had to not have a permanent scar on it, nor have any of its bones broken, and that was fulfilled with Jesus's sacrifice on the cross as well. Well, John is stopping the narrative here, and that's what's important for our study this morning. John slams his whole narrative to a halt, and he preaches at us just for a moment. And I want to bring it out this morning. I want you to understand what John is trying to pound home to us. He's got three points that John is making here in his gospel as he preaches to us here at the foot of the cross. It's as if he's witnessing this and then he turns around and he says, I need to talk to you about this. So he adds commentary, he preaches to us here, and John provides us three points. And here they are. Number one, the first point that John is making is what we've already said, that is scripture absolutely must be fulfilled. We see that here in verse 36. These things were done that the Scriptures should be fulfilled. So it was essential that the Scriptures be fulfilled and John was a witness to this. You see, Scripture presents to us the ultimate truth. The ultimate truth about what we are to believe and also the ultimate truth about what has happened. That is, how do we know what has happened or what will happen, but God's Word tells us? Now I can tell you in the ultimate sense, I really do not know what happened yesterday. And that's not just because I am having a problem with dementia. Early Alzheimer's is kicking in for me. But I will tell you that I cannot tell you in an absolute sense, that yesterday we had salmon for dinner. Now, I think we probably had salmon for dinner last night. I have two witnesses at the table that could stand up and witness to that event. But you could come back and say, yeah, but all three of you might have been sharing the same dream. Well, it's possible. That's really possible. So friends, how do we know what happens? How do we know anything for sure? Well, the Scripture must say it. The ultimate truth we know is in the Scripture. How do we know that Christ died? Now, I understand that the modern empiricists want to trot out their witnesses and say, yes, I can prove that Christ died on the cross because of all of this witness, and I have evidence that demands a verdict, and I have a legal background, and I believe that with 99.7% certainty that it may have happened. Friends, not nearly enough for us. Some people call themselves empiricists, which means seeing is believing. What you see is what's true and real. Have you ever seen a magician do his work? Has anybody seen a magic trick? Seeing is believing. You believe that? You believe that? Magicians can mess with your sight and your mind. You see, there's always a modicum of doubt when it comes to what really happens. Empiricism cannot possibly give us any certainty at all. It can give us probability. I was an engineer, and I could tell you that we tested certain kinds of plastics and their pressures and temperatures, and we could establish with 97% probability that this would probably happen if pressures were here or temperatures were there. Yes, scientists can do it with a certain alpha risk and beta risk, and they can give you a probability and all the rest. But they cannot establish any truth, certainly, nothing, nothing, So how do we know that Christ died on the cross? Well, let's look at 1 Corinthians 15. One more time, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 3. Listen to this. This is Paul. He's saying, okay, this is the gospel, and I love this passage because it brings it down to the nub of it. What is the gospel? If you ever wonder about that, go back to 1 Corinthians 15. There it is. I deliver it to you as of first importance. what I also received. Now, anytime you read the apostle saying, this is of first importance, what do you think you should do? First importance. There we go. It's what you do. And you do that in your mind. Underscore it in your mind, right? This is of first importance. If God is saying that, by the Apostle Paul who's inspired by the Spirit of God. It's for us to receive that and to pay attention. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. That's it. You say, no, no, Christ died for our sins in reality. Well, that's true. That is true. But more fundamentally, I'm going down to a more fundamental level, as Paul does here. He doesn't say Christ died for our sins. In reality, he says Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And was buried, was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scripture, second time. How do we know Christ was raised from the dead in accordance with the Scriptures? Oh one more thing that he appeared to Cephas then to the twelve then he appeared to more than five hundred Now that's confirming, but that's not establishing You got it What establishes the points is it happened according to the scriptures and then it's confirmed by five hundred? Okay, that's the first point John makes in his short sermon. By the way, his sermons are shorter than mine. Okay, number two, second point. John writes all of this. He says, I'm writing all of this, and I'm witnessing all of this and writing down these events in order that you may believe. So this is the second point. John says, I want you to believe, and I'm writing this, that you may believe. So there's a response that's required of us. You can't just sit there, brothers and sisters, and read this scripture. You either believe it or you don't believe it. You're either gonna say amen or you're gonna say whatever. But the command is, you know, believe this. I'm writing this that you will believe this. We have this duty to believe. The gospel of John is as certain as the book of Psalms. And this is the point, is now John is not just any old eyewitness in the sense that this is considered the scriptures. The apostles considered each other writing scriptures. Peter referred to Paul as writing the other scriptures. So they referred to Old Testament prophets as the scriptures, and then they'd refer to each other as the scriptures. You see, so when we read the Gospel of John, we need to agree that this is as inspired as the Book of Psalms. This is as inspired as the Book of Zechariah. The apostles speak with the same authority as the apostles did in the Old Testament. Now, I want to talk about the problem of doubt. We live in a zeitgeist of doubt. And I hear this. I hear it in people's voices. I see it in people's eyes. In this congregation, sometimes I hear doubts, and I think we need to address doubt, the problem of doubt. I don't know if I've ever done this before, but I need to speak to those of you who have doubts. I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hands, but I know probably most of you have had doubts at some time or other. So I need to speak to doubt. And here's another reason why I want to speak to doubt, because this is the zeitgeist. You know, it is cool today to not have convictions or to not speak with convictions. This is one reason why we need to respond quite opposite to the way that the world presents itself. We shouldn't converse with each other in the zeitgeist of doubt. I don't like doubting language very much. Sometimes I slur into the doubting language, the linguistics of the day that's just filled with relativism and doubt. That's what we're soaked in all around us. People are just, they lack conviction and they don't want anybody to express themselves in conviction. And it's just cool to be doubting all the time. Now there's a very public article, a very public published interview that came out of Sojourner Magazine in July of this year. It was Joshua Harris being interviewed by Sojourner Magazine a couple of months ago. Very public. And the Joshua Harris testimony has been very public. And so I think the church needs to preach exactly to the words of Joshua Harris and point out the severe heresy of this man's thinking. Now, what you have to do, it's very difficult to know what he's saying because this is the zeitgeist of doubt. This is the basic issue. The basic issue is not what he's saying, but how he's saying it. Because it's just filled with doubt. It's soaking in doubt about everything. You've got to weed through, I think I counted 30 sort of, sort of like this, sort of like that. I sort of feel like this. I sort of feel like that. It was every sentence practically. She has no idea what he believes. except that that is his professed belief that he doesn't believe in anything certainly. It was horrifying to read the interview, just horrifying. Because it's just postmodern, confused relativism that just oozes out of these interviews, these articles. It's just horrendous. It's such a false religion. The communication itself, like this, sort of like this, sort of feels like this. That's the modern age and it's heretical. It's an evil, wicked worldview that won't acknowledge there to be truth. And here's a prime example of this doubting language. Listen to this. For me, it's like at what point? If there's any point at which you believe there's a God who has any sort of, you know, guidance or instruction on anything. It's overwhelming. And here's why it's overwhelming. Because I hear this language all over the place. This is the language of the apostate millennial generation. That's how they talk. And it's bad to the very core of it. It's dry rot all the way through the foundation. It's all about doubts. It's all about doubting. Everything. Everything. It's this idea that doubt is cool. Non-commitment is cool. And so the cool language is the non-committal language. God forbid that that apostasy doesn't visit anybody here in this congregation. Not one person. So there are two comments I have about the doubting spirit of the age. Here they are, two comments. Number one, here it is. People will act noncommittal and doubting, but it's just a ruse. They're lying to themselves and they're lying to everybody else. It's a lie. It's just a big fat lie. This idea they're not committing to anything, they're still very opinionated. They get upset when somebody steals their iPhone. They do, as if that's wrong, to steal my iPhone. Come on, they're just lying. It's just one more lie. And they're outrageously inconsistent with themselves as well. They get upset when somebody shames them on Twitter. Why? Why? Why are you so upset? They all do. Everybody gets upset when somebody shames them. They know there's truth. They know there's right and wrong. So that's the first comment. The second is this. Again, those of you who attempted to doubt, and that's probably all of us, so listen carefully right now. I brought this message directly for us, directly for the young people and those who have confessed doubt to the elders in this congregation. This message is for you. Listen, the question to you doubters is this. Who are you going to doubt? And who are you going to believe? The Scriptures or you? Doesn't it come down to that? I think it comes down to that. Why would you doubt God, but you don't doubt yourself in your own thinking? How can you be so sure of yourself? Now, here's one more thing. How can you believe anything is true? How can we know that anything is true? One word. God. That's it. You believe God where there is no meaning, no purpose, nothing for you in life. Nothing. Either you have God or you have nothing but doubt. It's God or suicide. Now, I know there are people saying, anything but God, I'll commit suicide. And people do that. But friends, I'm bringing it down to the choice and the postmodern relativistic millennial and all the rest of us need to understand the choice before us. It's God or bust. It's God or nothing. It's you trust God or you commit suicide. That's it. Either God reveals or we are continually and always in uncertainty. Believe God or all is uncertain and you will live in a constant uncertainty, instability, unrest, deception and doubt. I'm pressing every young person here this morning to this question. Who are you going to believe? So you're all about doubt. I just doubt this, I doubt that. I doubt God, I doubt God's truth. Be honest for just a moment. What, you're going to trust yourself and not God? If God would not reveal something to us, then we have nothing. We have no light. We have no truth. We have nothing. Moreover, what an insult to God to doubt Him. What utter foolishness to doubt God, but not to doubt yourself. Doubting God is a sin. It's just wrong. Doubting God is pride, rebellion, wicked treachery, and demonic. Friends, this is what I do when I have a doubt. You see, that's treachery. That's insanity. That's wickedness. That's rebellion. That's cosmic rebellion against God. Don't you dare go there, Swanson. I go after myself. If there's any little bit of doubt that creeps in, no! We have every reason in the world to doubt ourselves, to doubt the demon world, to doubt the world around us, to doubt the stray thoughts that come into our minds when we're not thinking God's Word. We have every reason in the world to doubt everything else but not God. God says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. What do you say, I doubt that? You say, I doubt that. Blasphemy. Radical, wicked rebellion against the words of God. Whether it's the comforts or the warnings. Exhort one another daily. So long as it's called today, lest any be hardened with the deceitfulness of sin. That's a warning. And people tip into apostasy and all these warnings come in Hebrews. You're going to take the warning? You're going to get serious with God this morning? You take those warnings? What about the comforts? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Do you believe that? Do you doubt that? Again, pressing on you this morning. You're going to doubt God. You're going to say, I challenge that. I know you're trying to comfort me, but it's not going to comfort me this morning. That's not going to comfort me because I doubt you, God. Is that the way you respond to His words? See, again, you can receive God, God's Word. Believe God's Word. Purge all doubts from your mind. He said nothing will separate me from the love of Christ. And I believe it. To not believe it will be treachery to God and the utmost foolishness for me. Let God be true and every man a liar. Boy, that needs to be what we say. to ourselves all the time. Let God be true and every man a liar. Because every man is a liar at some point. We lie. We all do. We have deception in ourselves all the time. Alright, here's the last and final point of John's message. Verses 34-35. And John is shaken by what he sees. And what he does is he witnesses a core reality here. And a central truth of the faith. Listen to 34 and 35. One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. And immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen it has testified. And his testimony is true. And he knows that he's telling the truth so that you may believe. Do you feel this with him? It's intense. This man has seen the most intense core reality that has shaken himself to the very core of his being there at the crucifixion of Jesus. He sees it and he's shaken by it. He's, I saw it. I wrote it down and you better believe it. You better believe it. That's what it says here. See that's what John is saying in 34, 35. Now I want to talk about core truth for a moment. We have this kind of fun debate that's going on in the church and with various churches and leaders about how long Israelites were sojourning in the wilderness, whether it was 430 years or 215 years. And so, roughly 90% of theologians believe it was only 200 years. And roughly 98% of people, average ordinary people that read their Bibles think it's 430 years. So it's one of those interesting debates that goes on. But that's not core. That's not core. You see how there's some core matters and there are some that are not core matters. This is core. And that's what John is saying here. This is core. What is it? That blood and water came out of the veins and the arteries of Christ. That's it, that's core. Why is this core? Why does John say this? I think if you look at the parallel passage in 1 John 4 and 5, you're gonna understand it. So it's a bit of a mystery to understand this. I think 1 John 4, his first epistle, really opens this up for us. So I would encourage you to go there. Because I think this is where we're gonna end up. 1 John 4, verse 2. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and now is already in the world. This stark contrast between those who are pro-Christ and those who are Antichrist. This is where he's taking that sword and he's bringing it down real hard and saying this is the core of the core of the core. You're on Christ's team, you're a Christian, you're going to believe this. You're not on Christ's team, you're an anti-Christ, you're going to believe this. And what is it? What is it? What's the issue? What's the thing that matters? What's the core truth? Jesus Christ has come into flesh. He says, I saw it. He came in the flesh. By the way, that's 1 John 1 as well. Our hands touched him, we saw him. But here he says, I saw it. I saw it. I tell you, men and women, brothers and sisters, I was there and I saw it. What did you see, John? What did John see? The blood in the water, I saw it. It is essential that we believe that the Son of God came in the flesh. But John also witnessed the sacrifice in the flesh. Skip down to 1 John 5, 6. This will help us well to understand. This is parallel for John. Remember, John has this experience and then he talks more about it in 1 John 5, verse 6. This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not only by water, but by water and blood. and it is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is truth. You see, there's an eternal and absolute principle that was established by God in the scriptures of the Old Testament. You'll find it in several places, but Hebrews 9.22 refers to it. According to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Without the shedding of blood, no remission. That is the eternal and absolute principle. 1 John 1, 7 as well, John says, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. But here your question is, well why? Why must blood be shed? Why was this so important? Why did John go, there it is! The blood is shed. He sees it. He says, there it is, blood and water. Write that down. Inscripturate it. Why? I have to tell you, I don't know. God said it had to happen. What else can I say? Blood must be shed. A knife or a sword must plunge into the veins in the arteries and then seep out onto the ground. It must happen. Real blood. Not some kind of spiritual being that couldn't shed real blood. But real blood. Plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. All four. You know, those are the four things that make up blood. Plasma, platelets, red blood cells, white blood cells, together, had to be shed. The plasma, the red blood cells, the white blood cells, the platelets, which transports oxygen, nutrients to lungs and tissues, which carries cells and antibodies that fight infection, takes waste products out of the body into the liver and forms blood clots to prevent excess blood loss. The life-giving substance of the blood in the body had to be shed in order for our sins to be remitted, taken away, cleansed, forgiven, and done away with forever. It was water and blood. Water because Jesus is the water of life. Water had to come out of his body. Blood had to come out of his body. It had to be the physical blood and the physical water of Jesus if he's gonna be the water of life and if the life is in the blood. So this is the thing to believe. This is the thing to believe. This is the truth, this is the reality of what happened. Let's look at Zechariah 12, verse 10, one more time. John actually quotes from Zechariah 12, verse 10. And this is the scripture, this is the explanation. Remember, we don't just look at the reality of what's going on in the cross. We interpret a reality by the scriptures. If the scriptures don't interpret our reality, we don't have the truth of the reality itself. So the reality is given to us in Zechariah 12, in verse 10, I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication that they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn." But what will this accomplish? He was pierced. We mourned as for a firstborn. But what does this accomplish? Chapter 13, verse one, in that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. You've got to put 12, 10 together with 13, one to get the picture. And I don't think there's any other scripture that puts it together like this. Without Zechariah 10 or Zechariah 12 and 13, we don't know. But he had to be pierced, why? In order that a fountain open up, there had to be a splurting out of the blood and water of Jesus from His side. If there was no splurting out of blood and water from His side, no cleansing, no purification, that event absolutely had to happen. He was pierced to produce the fountain for Jerusalem, for us, for sin and for uncleanness. So, brothers and sisters, may this truth sink into your soul. This is the reality of what happened. This is what God declared. I hope this truth will blow you away today. And there is so much sin to wash away in this congregation. The elders are aware of it. We're aware of our own sins. We're aware of our conflicts. I'm aware of my inability to love. I was so unkind last week. I'm shocked at myself. And my heart is just so heavy for this congregation. Just so much sin in the congregation. So much sin. So much bondage still to pornography. Guy's going at it three weeks ago, two months ago, four months ago, six months ago. Sin here, in this room? Horrible, wretched, wicked, destructive sin that will destroy future relationships if Jesus won't wash it away. Friends, it's time for somebody to say, we need this blood of Jesus. I need this blood of Jesus. In faith, looking to Jesus because of our selfishness, our unforgiveness, our anger, our drunkenness in this congregation. Drunkenness in this congregation. Worldliness in this congregation. Complaining and discontentment in this congregation. Thinking poorly of others. Gossiping and slander in this congregation. Dishonored appearance in this building. Confessed this week. We don't have to point at anybody. All of this. And it's hurting our families. It's hurting this body. We need the blood of Jesus to wash away our sins here. in this building. So let me ask you, can this fountain cleanse you? See, this is a matter of faith. I'm still convinced the reason why we're not seeing victory is a lack of faith, doubting Jesus, doubting His sacrifice, doubting the power of His blood and water. I believe there's still doubt in these people, in us, here in this congregation. There's too much doubt. There's still, I'm just not sure I believe you, God. I know you sent your son. I've heard about it. I know he went all the way to the cross. I know he was just dilly-dallying there up at the cross, getting the sword in the side, but it's just not gonna do much good. faithlessness. Brothers and sisters, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess your sins to Him. Embrace the promise. He will forgive you. He will cleanse you from all iniquity. It's for us to believe this more. It's for some of you to believe it for the first time. But believe it. I'm pleading with you. Believe it. Believe it. is the sanctifying power of this blood as effective today as it was for the Fijians who've been burning their widows and eating their children, cannibalizing their own children for 500 years. And this blood washed them clean. Now let me ask you this, can this blood wash you clean? the Corinthian church, the Thessalonica church. You read about Thessalonica, you read about the homosexuality and just the sickening prostitution. There are thousands, there are tens of thousands of prostitutes in Corinth. It was nothing but fornication. The Roman Empire, the Roman society, the Persian society, it was mandated that the women commit fornication, every one of them. Mandated by law. Yet this blood cleansed them. If it can cleanse them 2,000 years ago, can it cleanse you today? Can it cleanse you today? Well, this is the greatest truth in the world. May God help you, may the Spirit of God enter into you and give you this conviction that this blood is for me. Jesus can cleanse me of my problem with this sin today. I know that this blood can cleanse me from all sin. Will there be people rising up and saying, my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth and followed Thee, I am cleansed, I am clean. I am clean from this lust issue and this pride issue and this unforgiveness and the burden of my guilt and the corruption. I am so free. I haven't felt this free in all my life. Will there be the testimonies of those who have been set free from the sin of doubt? Doubting God in this congregation set free from the bondage of the devil. Constantly bringing them back to the position of doubt. But the blood of Christ can cleanse you from that doubt. Because it can cleanse you from all sin. My brothers and sisters, John saw it. He saw the blood and the water flow, the water to cleanse us, the blood to atone for us, to shield us from the wrath of God, and to wipe away our sin forever and ever. Don't doubt this. You can doubt the world, you can doubt everything you've ever thought before, but don't you doubt this. I'll leave you with this powerful verse from Not What My Hands Have Done. I'll leave you with this. I bless the Christ of God. I rest on love divine. And with unfaltering lip and heart, I call this Savior mine. His cross dispels each doubt. I bury in His tomb my unbelief and all my fear, each lingering shade of gloom. Buried in His tomb. and washed by His blood. Amen. And Hallelujah. Father, all we can do is stand here in amazement and gratitude for Your powerful cleansing blood that flowed from the wounded side of our Savior on the cross. Oh, that blood is efficacious. It is powerful. It is cleansing. Father, increase our faith. Give to us faith. Not to ever doubt You again. Father, ever again, on the chorus of truth, the chorus of Your revelations, this blood is sufficient as a fountain to wash Jerusalem clean. Amen and Amen. As we come to the table, I want to focus again on the blood of Christ, but this time on the power of the blood of Jesus and the efficaciousness of it. Revelation 12, this is the people of God and tribulation and persecution. How do they hang in there? How are they still there? This is it, I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to death. There it is. That's the strategy for overcoming the wicked one. The devil is powerful. There's no question about it. He's got an oppressive force on us. And yet, in this life, in the greatest enemies that we take on in the Christian life, it is the power of the blood of Jesus that enables us to overcome. So I want you to value the blood of Christ. I want you to see the efficacy, efficiency, or children, the usefulness of the blood of Jesus. The blood of Christ is useful to us. It doesn't just sit there. It does something, including encouraging us and strengthening us, enabling us in our spiritual warfare. There is power in the blood, truly. By faith, then, let us take the bread and the cup and say to ourselves, His blood is for me and it is powerful in my life. Say this in confession. As you take the cup, this blood has gained me the victory. This blood justifies me. Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. This blood has redeemed me and set me free from the bondage of the law and sin. This blood has healed me by His stripes. This blood gives me life. As Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. I'm encouraging you in faith to take the blood of Jesus and say, this blood is for me. This blood cleanses me, redeems me, heals me, gives me this life. This blood has brought me near to the covenants of the promise. Ephesians 2, 12 and 13. This blood has atoned for my very life. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar. It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. This blood has got me the forgiveness of sins. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. This blood has shielded me from the wrath of God. It has bridged the cosmic enmity between God and me. His blood is the propitiation for our sins. And this blood has redeemed us to be kings and priests. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood and made us kings and priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And this blood has freed us from shame and we can draw near with boldness to the holiest of holies, the very throne room of the God of grace. Let us draw near. with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Now in all of that, I hope you have seen that the blood of Christ is of great value. Much greater than gold or silver, it is the precious blood of Christ and it does all of this for us. It does this for me. So say to yourself, this blood is for me. This blood cleanses me. This blood is powerful in my life. This blood overcomes the enemy in my life. It is the blood of Jesus, and I receive the blood of Jesus today as I receive this cup. Testify to this. Receive the blood of Christ in faith. Believing the blood of Jesus is all of this for you. That's what we can do at this table. That's what we're going to do. Receiving it in faith. Amen. Father in heaven, we glory in the blood of Jesus. We glory in His sacrifice, Lord. We glory in the powerful efficacy of His blood to redeem us, to forgive us, to cleanse us, to enable us to come to You in faith, nothing doubting. not in shame, but in boldness, entering into the holiest of all, because the holy blood of Jesus was shed for me. Spirit of God, I pray for an outpouring on your people now to receive the blood of Christ As we take the cup symbolically, administer the blood of Christ to them spiritually, and we pray, O Father, that all of us would receive Jesus, His body, and His blood in faith, and say, His blood Really does Cleanse me from all sin John saw it John said it John wrote it It's in your word, and it will cleanse me from all sin Father may we all believe this now at this table and never doubt you in Jesus name amen