Now tonight shall we return to our first letter of John. First John, Chapter One. I intimated this morning that we would consider tonight the two cleansing in the first chapter. Perhaps early in chapter two, the propitiatory work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And perhaps in another chapter, it's time for me, something about this sin in the Christian's life. First John chapter one, verse seven. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. Verse nine. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Chapter two. My little children, these things right I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only. but also for the sins of the whole world. I think it's one of the cardinal principles of studying the New Testament in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ that when you have an application or a benefit of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ implied, there is a very direct reference to an Old Testament title. You and I in this age, being in the church, and learning the truths relating to the church in the epistles of Paul, very often reads Scripture in the light of later truths, forgetting that when it was written, it was based upon what the people knew of the Old Testament. These to whom these New Testament books were written were largely Jews. They were men who were well grounded in the truth of Scripture, and that's the Old Testament in their days. But you and I have neglected that study of the Old Testament, to such your point that when there is distinct and definite reference to a type, we either don't know what the type is or we misunderstand its application. So in the seventh verse of our first chapter, there's a definite cleansing by blood. One would not want to make an individual an offender for a word, but there is no such thing as a fountain filled with blood by which an individual may be cleansed from his sin. The fountain that's open for Israel in the coming day for sin in the book of Zechariah is not a fountain of blood, but a fountain of water. It refers not to the seventh verse of our first chapter, but to the ninth verse. And if it sounds terribly confusing just now, just wait a while, it would be worse before we're through. I do hope that we'll be able to get that far tonight and make clear what I have in mind. But when the apostle says, we are cleansed our sins from all of them, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ he has in mind very definitely an occasion in the Old Testament of which sins were cleansed by blood. But as far as the individuals being washed in the blood, no such thing is found in the Word of God. What the song is in Revelation chapter one is unto him that loves us and loosed us from our sins in his own blood. You and I are not in that sense of the word, washed in the blood. We are washed in water. And that's something different. But our sins are cleansed, purged, put away. We are cleansed by virtue of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're going back tonight, Lord willing, as time permits, into some of the types in the Old Testament that, to which John refers in this first chapter, beyond the doubt. But there are four main types in the Old Testament that refer to the person and work of Christ. And it's essential that we understand these four to understand what is based on them or what refers to them in the New Testament. The first is the Passover. The second is the ordinance of the covenant in Exodus twenty-four. The third is the day of atonement in Leviticus sixteen. And the fourth is the ordinance of the Red Heifer, so little mentioned and so much misunderstood in Numbers chapter nineteen. And those four form the basis of the economy of the whole nation of Israel in its relationship to God. And these are referred to constantly in the New Testament over and over again by the writers of the Epistles of the New Testament. Hebrews is four. And if you don't understand the Passover, The covenant, the day of atonement, and the red heifer, much of Hebrews must be a clouded book to the individual who reads it. By the way, let me say this. This other suggestion out to you when you read and study the epistles of the Hebrews, the Passover does not come in. Where the apostle begins in the epistles of the Hebrews is with the ordinance of the covenant of Exodus chapter twenty-four. But briefly, let me run through this. In Exodus chapter twelve, when you have the Passover, it speaks of redemption. Peter very definitely refers to what we were redeemed with the precious blood of a land as without sponsor, without blessing. Redemption was for anybody and for everybody. It was the application of blood, and any who would could come within the house that was covered with that blood and must be sheltered from the destroying angel that night. The only instruction was that that land was to be slain, the blood was to be caught, and applied on the outside of the post of the door. And all within that house, regardless of who they might be, regardless of their mortal condition, anyone who accepted the invitation of God and came within the safety of a blood-covered house, that individual went free. from the penalty of death that was in the land of Egypt that night. And all the gospel of the New Testament to the unsaved is couched in the language of the Passover. The gospel the apostle tells the Corinthians that he preached is that Christ died for our sins. And there's no emphasis upon that word for in the gospel. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. What was proclaimed as you read through the book of Acts was simply this, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come. He was crucified upon the cross. His blood was shed. He was raised bodily the third day from the dead. And now God has made this thing Jesus, Lord, and Christ. to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. The message went out to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. That's all. The message was proclaimed that on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God was willing to forgive the sin of any who would come to him. I want to repeat, there was no emphasis upon that book of Revelation four. When Christ died four-hour sins, there was no emphasis upon that four. It's simply the declaration that on behalf of sin, Christ died. And because of the death of Christ, because of his shed blood, God has offered amnesty and pardon, and the forgiveness of sins to any who will come within the shelter of that precious blood. And that's the ordinance of the Passover in the land of Egypt. If an Egyptian wished to have part in the Passover that night, he was perfectly free to do so. If he wanted to obey himself or the protection of the shed blood of the land of the neighbors out, he was perfectly free to do so. There were no restrictions and no limits to those who could be sheltered by the blood of the land in the Passover on that night in Egypt. And so it is with the gospel that we proclaim tonight. The shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ offers pardon and protection for any who will come within the pale of its protection. Any who are willing to come to the Lord Jesus Christ in sinful faith may find the protection of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That offer goes out to whosoever without distinction. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That blood is sufficient to include any within the scope of his benefit. any who will come. And the gospel is always couched in the language of the Passover. But now the impetus you leave, Exodus twelve, you've got to redeem people. They were redeemed by the blood of the Passover that night in the land of Egypt. They went through the Red Sea, their separation from the land of Egypt, and they come out on the other side of the Red Sea, a redeemed nation. Now I'm not talking about their individual salvation before God. It's as a nation they were redeemed that night in Egypt, but many of them doubtfully so in their lost eternity today. It had nothing to do with their individual salvation before God, but these are physical pictures of spiritual reality. And Israel was a redeemed nation. Everything that happened to them ever after that was to a redeemed people. And it's essential we keep that in mind. The covenant was for a redeemed people. The Day of Atonement was for a redeemed people. The ordinance of the Red Heifer was for a redeemed people. Now when you come to the Day of Atonement in Leviticus chapter sixteen, one of the acts of that Day of Atonement was that the high priest confessed upon the head of a scapegoat the sins, plural, of the nation of Israel, and that scapegoat carried them off into a wilderness. and you do not come to the definite imputation of sins to a substitute until you have a redeemed people you have the same truth in first peter chapter one we were redeemed with the precious blood of christ all right when you leave chapter one you've got to redeem people what do you come to chapter two who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree. In chapter one, you have the Passover in chapters two, the day of atonement. But the day of atonement was for a people who had come within the scope of the benefits of the Passover. In plain language, what I'm driving at is that I have no right to tell an unsaved man, Jesus Christ bore every one of your sins that you have ever committed or ever will commit when he died on the cross. I have no right to tell him that. The only thing I have a right to tell him is that on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God is willing to forgive your sins. If he accepts it, then I can tell him, Jesus Christ, for your sins on the cross. Every last one of them has been born by the Lord Jesus. And if you trace the language of Scripture, it always hues to that line. Always. I don't want to go into the argument of that tonight or the difficulties you may get into or should get into if you reverse it. But all the difficulty about a limited atonement, about Arminianism and Calvinism stems from this very thing. The failure to see the distinction between the Passover and the Day of Atonement. Those who hold a limited atonement preach the Day of Atonement for the world. It was never given to the world. It was given to a redeemed people. And those who believe you can lose your salvation once you are saved have never realized that the Day of Atonement was for a redeemed people. And I'm not by any means saying when you come to the day of atonement that you reach the limited atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ, not at all. I'm simply stating that is never given to the world always or redeemed people. And not until an outsider had been circumcised and come within the scope of the nation of Israel, could he benefit from the day of atonement. Anybody circumcised or uncircumcised could have had the benefit of the Passover on the night of in the land of Eden. But only the nation of Israel realized the benefits of the Day of Atonement. Now what the apostle has referenced to in I John I believe is the Day of Atonement. Go back to the book of Exodus, or the book of Leviticus, please, chapter sixteen. You'll find very similar language to what we read in the seventh verse of the first chapter of first John. Leviticus chapter sixteen. Now listen, folks, I hope what I've just said hasn't upset you, and I hope it hasn't confused you, but I believe it's essential for an understanding of the doctrines of the gospel. Could I recommend for you, for you who, as for Robert Anderson's The Gospel in its ministry, which for the good of God's people has been reprinted. You can get it at a very inexpensive rate. If you want to study the doctrines of the gospel, that would be an excellent book for you to purchase. Now, Leviticus chapter sixteen, just for the sake of time, the thirtieth verse. The day will come from. That day shall the priest make an atonement for you to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. And it was the application of blood on the day of atonement to cleanse them from all their sins. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleansed us from every sin. To cleanse you, God said through Moses, who are redeemed people? Redeemed people. And those of us who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, find his blessed truth that we've been cleansed by his precious blood. Now, the blood on the day of atonement never touched the people of Israel. It did on the ordinance of the covenant, but it never did on the day of atonement. That blood was sprinkled on him before the mercy seat as the witness to God of the sacrifice that had been offered for the sins of Israel. And God sees the value of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of what He sees in the blood of Christ, He cleanses me from all my sins. It's not that that blood touches me in that sense of the word that I am washed in the blood, not at all. That blood stands before God as the witness of the value of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of that blood, God cleanses me. And in that sense, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from every sin. So here on the day of atonement, the blood of that animal never touched the people of Israel. It was there as a witness before God on them before the mercy seat. And by virtue of that blood, they were cleansed. from all their sins and that's what John is talking about the first John one seven it's our position I say again not our condition if we walk in the light where we are by virtue of that blood the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleansed us from all sins let me repeat again for those of you who may not have been here the other night if it were our condition our state, how I lived before God, then the wording ought to be in first John one, seven, if we walked according to the light. But if I walked according to the light, I wouldn't need the blood to cleanse me because I wouldn't have any sin. No, it's that I've been brought into the light by virtue of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. How did the high priest stand in the presence of God once on the day of atonement, actually twice, once for himself and his own family, and once for the people of Israel? How did he get in there? He had two things. He had blood in a basin, and he had incense. Incense, all the person of Christ, blood, the work of Christ, and that's how he stood in the light before God. God was there, and that priest went into the holiest in the very presence of God who is light once a year. was that which spoke of the person and work of Christ. Now, that was temporary, but you and I have the same privilege today. Indeed, we're brought into the holiest of all. And how can I stand in the light the same way that I preached stood there for a moment by the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ? It did not depend upon the moral fitness of the high priest. It depended solely on what he brought into the sanctuary. May Gavin Abihu entered to their tomb. Because they had no rights there, and they were not bringing in what God demands. And any man, no matter how moral or replying, who seeks the presence of God apart from the blood of Christ, will come into the presence of God only to his own good. But we are in the light. We, John says, the children of God are in the light because of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Very often you hear a man's prayer or an individual's prayer. We have it so often sometimes in our individual or our private prayer meetings of the men together. And I never say anything about it. The individual will learn that as we confess our sins, we come and put it under the blood. Every time a Christian confesses a sin, well, that again is confusing the day of atonement. You go into the Reheaven. No, you don't bring your sins to the blood. and they're not brought you're not you don't come back to the blood when the christian confesses his sin if there must be a re-application of blood to cleanse from sin then there's only one reason for that re-application and the apostle makes it as clear as christian in the sense of eagles the only reason for a re-application of blood is because of the failure the sacrifice whose blood was shed How often did this day of atonement have to be repeated? Every year was because they couldn't find a sacrifice that would do the job forever. If I must return to the blood of Christ in that expression, then I myself am saying whether I realize it or not, that when I came the first time, the blood of Jesus Christ wasn't sufficient to do the whole job, and I've got to come back to it. No, my friend. No, no. If a sacrifice could have been found in Israel sufficient to put their sins away, the ordinance of the Day of Atonement would never have been repeated. The only reason it was repeated was because the sacrifice was not sufficient to do the job the first time. The only reason blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat more than once is because it could not avail when it was sprinkled the first time. But our Lord Jesus Christ has offered one sacrifice, shed his blood one, and I come within the good of that blood one, and once forever, because of the value of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who offered himself upon the cross for our sins. And that is never repeated. He, by that blood, obtained an eternal redemption. And He entered in one, into the Holy Spirit. One. And that's all. The high priest entered every year. The Lord Jesus entered once. The high priest entered every year because he couldn't bring a sacrifice that would keep him from entering again the next time with another one. The Lord Jesus entered once in virtue of a sacrifice that satisfies God forever. And by that, God, we have been cleansed from all our sins. And so it is our sin. We're laid upon him. You see, the language of Isaiah fifty-three is the language of the day of atonement. What did the priest do when he put his hands on the head of that scapegoat? He laid figuratively on the scapegoat the sins of the nation of Israel. And now that language is picked right out of Leviticus sixteen and transferred to the reality of Isaiah fifty-three and Jehovah has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Of us all. Who's that? Oh, we like sheep. Not all we like hogs and dogs. Oh, we like sheep. Actually, he's writing to the people of Israel who were within the good of the covenant that God has made to you. The time we're not permitted to delay on the subject. That's first John one, seven. The second is first John one, nine. If we, now we who have been cleansed from our sins in the seventh verse, what is this business? If we confess our sins, he's saved unjust to forgive us our sins. Now do you notice it changed? It cleanses from all unrighteous. In the seventh verse, you have cleansed from sin. In the ninth verse, cleansed from unrighteous. If we confess our sins. How is this business then that if the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, has cleansed me from all my sin? Why is it then the sin must be cleansed again? Oh, it's the difference between the favoritone and the ordinance of the red heifer. It's the difference between guilt and defilement. The guilt of my sin is taken care of by the day of atonement. But now here I am as a Christian and I'm defiled by that sin and my communion is robbed. I can't have communion with God when I'm in sin and defiled by it. And so that sin is, the defilement of all that is cleansed. And so John says, if we, we Christians who have sinned, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Numbers chapter nineteen, briefly please. The nineteenth chapter of Numbers. For the sake of time, read the eighteen verse. A clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched the bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave, and the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. and on the seventh day he shall purify himself and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and shall be clean as he is you know the ordinance of the red heifer do you not that animal was taken outside the camp and claimed it was burned outside the camp its ashes were gathered up after its blood had been sprinkled and they were kept in a clean place outside the camp now when an individual israelite who touched the body of a dead person or a tomb or a grave or entered into a tent where a person had died or was defiled in any of these ways. Then those ashes were taken and running water was put over them. And then that water that had touched those ashes was taken and sprinkled on the first day and the seventh day after his defilement. And that individual was clean. Now look at you. This Israelite, who was defiled, came in the good of the Passover redemption. He was in the good of the day of atonement. But he had been defiled. And unless he was cleansed, he was not permitted into the benefits of being a member of the nation of Israel. He could not come to the sanctuary with his offering. He could not participate in the festival days of that nation because of his defilement. He was cut off from all these things is the language of this chapter. You and I who are saved are eternally so before God because of the value of the work of the Lord Jesus. And we're redeemed. Our sins have been laid upon the Lord Jesus. Let me say, I don't practice what I preach. I'm sorry. It's always that way. The idol's old got a clay sheet. It's awfully hard sometimes. You know, you're so used to mixing up Scripture that you just go ahead and mix it up anyhow when you're preaching the gospel. And I do it. I may do it Sunday night. I hope not, but I may do it. And you're just going to have to overlook my human frails. So don't look along. But you and I have been redeemed. Our sins by virtue of what applies to the day of atonement have been laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. But now I as a Christian commit sin. That does not change the value of the day of atonement. That does not change the value of the Passover. But it does very much affect my enjoyment of the benefits of those things. Think you I can now come into the presence of God and sing a song of praise and worship? Not at all. Not at all. Do you think I can bend the knee and intercede for the unsaved? Not on your life. Do you think I can pick up the word of God and have the spirit of God feed me on the things of Christ? Not on your life. What's the matter? I'm unclean. I'm unclean. And what's the only thing that will remove that unclean from his passion? And then he cleanses us. And so here in Numbers chapter nineteen, the individual who goes through the ordinance of the red heifer has been cleansed, once more, cleansed from his defilement that he contracted by coming in touch with dead. Now I don't want to dwell tonight on how we come in contact with these things that are mentioned in Numbers nineteen. I want to get the essential spot of this ordinance. Now that water gained its value from having come in contact with the ashes of the red heifer. And the ninth verse of first John gains its value from the seventh verse. It's because his blood has been shed that he can now cleanse us from sin when we confess. And that water was applied to the individual. So the spirit of God symbolized in that loving water. Now take the word of God. And he lays it home to my heart. And I realize what I've been doing is still. The only thing I can do is get into the presence of God and confess that thing that I've cleansed from the defilement of it. Now there's one more point in this ordinance of the red heifer here in Numbers chapter nineteen. And that's that interesting expression at the close of the nineteenth verse. He shall wash it, but bathe himself in water. and shall be clean of even. Now I'm taking completely the other side of the picture from what we've been looking at in the morning. That is the complete and free grace of God, apart from law. Now we're coming to the responsibility of the child of God. He shall bathe himself. Now what is the symbolism of this bathe is? Or you'll find a verse, and I want you to turn to it, in the first chapter of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter one. And the sixteenth verse, for God is appealing to these people who have turned their backs on him and gone to sin. Isaiah one sixteen. Wash you. Make you clean. Now that's exactly what the individual did after he'd been sprinkled with the water of the red heifer. wash you, make you clean. How? Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil. And that's the individual bathing himself at evil before he could come back into the tent. Not a dear Christian. There's no use in my getting on my knees and telling God that I am confessing my sins. unless there is in my heart that desire to turn away from the thing that is defiling me. I haven't confessed the thing at all. I may have said words with my lips, but it hasn't been confession. Along with the sprinkling of the water of that red heifer, there had to be the individual bathing himself. And here's the meaning of it. Turn from that iniquity. And I repeat, I haven't confessed that sin unless there is a desire down here to get rid of it and to turn from it and not to be guilty of it again. That doesn't necessarily prevent my falling into it again. But unless there has been the desire to get rid of that thing and to be free from it, I say there hasn't been the confession of the thing open and honest in the presence of God. And only if we confess our sins are we going to have them clean. Now you have this same thing of this water of the red heifer in the epistle of the Hebrews. I'm back to this book again. We can't stay out of it this week. Hebrews chapter nine, verse thirteen, a verse with which your doubt was very familiar. Hebrews nine thirteen. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, now let's stop right there. The only thing that ordinance of the Old Testament could do was sanctify the flesh. And what I mean by that is this. Here is an Israelite who has come into the value of the redemptive sacrifice of the Passover. He's participated in the benefits of the day of atonement. He's within the scope of the covenant of Exodus twenty four and now he gets defiled outwardly. We'll say a loved one dies in the tent. And he puts his hand up on that body, of course, in order to bury it. And by touching that dead person, he himself has been defiled. Now that man could be completely restored to all the benefits of the nation of Israel by going through the ordinances of the red heifer. But his heart may be as estranged from God as any Gentile. Those ordinances could not touch the heart of man. They sanctified to the purifying of the flesh and of the flesh only. It set them apart as a nation physically, but it had nothing to do with their hearts, not a beast. And there may have been men and women who were redeemed by the Passover, who were as strangers to God as the Egyptians around them who perished. Because it's dependent upon their heart's faith in what God has said. And there may be those who stood on the day of atonement and earth, their sins confessed over the head of the scapegoat, and their hearts were estranged from God. It meant nothing to them, but they came within the good of it nevertheless, physically unseeking. And here may have been an Israelite who had been defiled by touching the dead. He goes through the ordinance of the red heifer and be restored to the privileges of the nation of Israel. And all the time his heart be estranged from God. Now look here, I'm facing a vital reality. Here I come as an individual now, not in connection with the nation of Israel. I have not to do with outward ordinances that touch my flesh. I have to do with the living God. And I have got my guilty conscience because of my sin before God. You can put all the ashes and water of any red heifer you want to on my flesh and that has never touched my heart and conscience. I want something that's going to reach my conscience and give it peace. The ashes of a red hat were sprinkled only to the sanctifying, the pure buying of the flesh. Now go on with me. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without thought of God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Ah, now I come to reality, thank God. Because of the value of the blood of Jesus Christ, I find on the authority of God's own word that my sins are gone and my conscience has rest. But your conscience will have rest only, only, only if you believe what God has done. The most pitiful case I have ever met when I was born today at this present time, Elden Chandler, And you can ask him, Mr. Thomas, what are you trusting to get you to heaven? Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus. No, nothing. But that man is in abject misery night and day. He can't get peace. He can't do anything. He's afraid, not faithful, Paul. And that conscience of his is at him night and day. Oh, Mr. Anderson, he says, you don't know what a terrible sinner I've been since I professed salvation as a youngster way back yonder in Virginia fifty years ago. I made a profession, but oh, what a life I've led since then. I said, Mr. Collins, I'm not interested in what profession you made fifty years ago. Tell me, what are you trusting tonight for your salvation? Oh, nothing but the blood of Jesus. And he comes to me with this. He said, I'm like that leper that came to the Lord Jesus. I know the Lord can forgive me. I know his blood can put away my sin. But I'm like that leper. Lord, if thou wilt, thou couldst make me clean. I said, Mr. Thomas, what did the Lord say to the leper? I will be thou clean. Oh, yes, but you don't know me. You can't get anywhere with me. And why doesn't his conscience have rest? Because he cannot accept the testimony of the Word of God that the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to put his sins away. That's why he can't have rest. No, my friend, that conscience of yours and mine can be purged and have rest because of the value of Jesus Christ's precious blood and the testimony of that blood that I find in the Word of God. Notice the same thing in the tenth chapter. Verse nineteen, we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. How is this? Well, verse twenty-two, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. That's it. The sprinkling of the organs of the red heifer only touched the flesh. But our hearts have been sprinkled from an evil conscience. And what? Ah, now we come to the very practical style that our bodies wash with pure water, the water of purification. My right into the presence of God is the blood of Jesus Christ, but I can only go there in enjoyment as I have left those sins, I confess. Our body's wash is pure wash. And again, he's going back to the ordinance of the Red Heaven. Oh, this thing has its ramifications all through Scripture. I'm very glad when the Lord Jesus Christ said to Nicodemus, except the land be born of water and the Spirit, he was referring right back to the ordinance of the Red Hatter, because in Ezekiel chapter thirty-six and thirty-seven, the only way Israel is going to get into the kingdom in a coming day is for God to sprinkle clean water on. And what do you think it is the light with no light about clean water being sprinkled on? Why, the ordinance of the Red Hatter? Immediately Nicodemus should have picked that up. And you have that in Ezekiel thirty-six. God was going to sprinkle clean water. I mean cleanse them from all their iniquities. The ordinance of the Red Hat. And that's a picture of what you and I had the reality in First John one, nine. And the whole thing is based. The whole thing is based in First John chapter two. Let's go there now. I think we'll get to this. First John two. Now, he's writing that we might not sin. We've seen that division of the epistle. But now, suppose we do sin. I know I shouldn't sin. And there shouldn't be any excuse for it. Let me say this. There is absolutely no excuse for sin in the life of a child of God. Now, you understand me. I'm not teaching that you and I can't don't sin. I'm not teaching the sinless perfection of sin. But there is no excuse for sin. The whole fault lies in us. There's no fault with the provision that God has made. The fault lies in us. Now, he said, I'm writing this in the might not sin. But if any man's sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sin. Now, the propitiation, that's the day of the moment. This is a propitiatory sacrifice. In Romans chapter three you have the mercy seat, given again in Hebrews chapter eight. The very same word, mercy seat, mercy seat, mercy seat. And you know the language of the mercy seat. Need I go over it tonight? But now notice the language here. He is the propitiation for our sins. We always say in the scripture he made propitiation, but the scripture says he is the propitiation. What do you mean by that? Oh, when he offered his sacrifice upon the cross, look where he is he? At the right hand of God. And he is a mercy thief. And there before God is the eternal witness of what he did on the cross. And right tonight, he's a propitiation for our sins. How can God forgive my sins and cleanse me from that unrighteousness when I go to him in confession? Because right beside him is the one who is the eternal witness of the value of his own work on the cross. He is the propitiation. And if any man sin, we... Oh, not if any man sin, he has an advocate. No, we have an advocate all the time. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. The relationship is unchanged. He was Christ the righteous. Now, an advocate is a defense lawyer. I've never been in court as a defendant. I don't know anything about it. And I may be all along with what I'm about to say, but I understand that if you've got a defense lawyer, what he wants is the whole story, so that he can pick out any extenuating circumstances and win your story around to give it the best light to present it in the court. In other words, he wants to present your case to the best of his ability so that you can go free. Now, the Lord Jesus is our defense law. But no, he can't do that. Because you and I just ain't got a case. There is no reason for our sinning. And if the Lord Jesus Christ were to plead my case, he wouldn't have any case to plead. But he doesn't plead my case. He pleads his own. And that's a perfect case. He's got an airtight defense. He's got a perfect case for me. He pleads his own. Jesus Christ the what? The right. The right. He is the one interceding for me. No matter how often Satan may hurl his accusations against me before the Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ pleads only his own precious blood. He pleads his own death. And on that basis, and on that basis alone, I'm claimed. But now we come to this subject of demon of Christian life, all that. I don't know whether we better touch this now. Well, just take chapter three, verse six, and with this we'll close. Whosoever abides in him, sin is not. That simple is it. Whosoever abides in him. Ah, why do we get into all these little tellings? Why is it that I've got to come in the language of the ninth verse of that first chapter and confess the theme? Because I haven't been abiding in Christ. Why is it that Satan gets an advantage of me? Why is it that I'm tripped up by the lust of the flesh? Why is it that the world gets any hold of me in my heart? I haven't been abiding in Christ. And that's the whole deal about it. I know in my own experience, I've proved that this will begin any morning that I don't begin with the Lord in his word and in his presence. I'm bound to fall and fail. I have absolutely ensured my own defeat. And it has never yet failed in my own history. It's that constant abiding in Christ. I don't care what you call it. Practice the presence of God or whatever you want. You may think that that's something for a bunch of mystics. No, it's not. It's exceedingly practical. Abiding in Christ. If it were mystic, then I would have got all of it with me. Abiding in Christ, the consciousness of His presence in everything I do. Oh, dear Christians, this is it. If we abide in Christ. Now, if you're here tonight, if I'm here, and God knows my heart, If you're here as a child of God tonight and you don't have that fellowship with him, then there's only one thing to do and let's confess that sin to God, to our Father, and then beginning right there. Abiding him. Can we pray?