Look Upon Him Whom You Pierced — Santosh Poonen

If I could keep those words up there, at least here, for that last song we sang, I wonder if people who meet us in life, if somebody was to ask, hey, what is, you know, Santosh, what is this? What is the theme of his life?

We sang, redeeming love has been my theme. And I often, when I sing the song, I say, Lord, is that true? Do I, is that really the theme of my life in a way that people who know me can say, man, that's the one thing he's living for?

Redeeming Love as the Theme of Life

It doesn't mean we can't talk about other things or have interest in other things. We live in a world that God has said he's given us freely all things to enjoy. It must be true that that's our theme.

At the end of the day, if you want to really get me excited, it ought to be talk about redeeming love. Everything else, I can have a passing interest in it. And even, you know, we can do ziplines and volleyball and spikeball and try to win, nothing wrong with all of that, but there's a theme underlying all of that.

The Blood of Christ Cleanses Every Sinner

And have you pictured a, you know, sometimes you go to the hospital, you see them drawing blood, but almost all of our children have had blood drawn at some point, most of them. And it's always a painful thing when I see them, my little son or little daughter, I don't think any of my sons have ever had it.

So I've met my daughters, but you see the nurse putting a needle in there and cringing. They're trying to find a vein. And they're poking and sometimes they don't get it right, so they got to close that up and find another one.

And I cringe. They finally find one, you see the blood spurred out into that little vial they have. I almost, I always think of that when I sing this song. There's a fountain filled with blood. It wasn't just a vial.

It's hard enough and I think, is that, are they going to be okay with that little bit of blood gone from them? And you know, he's saying about a fountain that's filled with blood, that's drawn from Jesus' veins.

And so, there's enough blood to cleanse all sin, enough blood to cleanse all sin. There's no sinner that's sinned so greatly that there wasn't enough blood for that, not a single one. Even the dying thief, we sang about him, who it says he rejoiced to see that somebody who had never done a single right thing in his life could walk hand in hand into heaven with a man who only did everything right in his life.

This is redeeming love. There was one, two men walked hand in hand. Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. I'll hold your hand, we'll walk in there together. One who never did a wrong thing and one who only did right.

And so, ever since, by faith, I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply. You can't see it with eyes. None of us was there on Calvary, at Calvary, to see what they did to Jesus, but you don't need to see it.

That's the thing. When you see it by faith, then you see that the flowing wounds of Jesus have supplied a forgiveness for me that's complete, that's thorough. It's perfect. I don't have to do anything to try to earn it.

I don't have to add to it in any way. My feeling sorry for what I did is not adding in any way to my forgiveness. Jesus' forgiveness is perfect and complete. It's good to be sorry. It's good to repent.

It's important. Without repentance, you cannot really have faith. We preach that. We know that to be true from the Bible. True faith is marked by an attitude of repentance. But my repentance doesn't earn me salvation sometimes.

My feeling sorry for myself, it's a perfect salvation. And if you've really seen it, I hope if you haven't before, maybe you'll ask the Lord today to show it to you a little bit more. Ever since, by faith, I saw the stream.

Ever since, by faith, I saw the Father cringing as they put Jesus on the cross and stuck that spear into Him. And the blood flowed out of Him. And I saw that that stream was for me. It wasn't just a little bit of blood in a vial.

It was a stream of blood for me. I tell you, if you see that, if we see that, that's the only thing that'll be our theme. I say, you want me to talk about something? I want to talk about what Jesus did for me, what He's done for me, what He did for me on Calvary.

And I don't have to have done great, big, sinful things in the world to realize I'm a great sinner. I'd like to turn to John 19. It's where you read about how they pierced Jesus. John 19, you know, one of the amazing things about Jesus' life, you read over and over in the Gospels that it was written so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.

Fulfilling Scripture in the Believer’s Life

So much of Jesus' life was already prophesied in the Old Testament. And you know what's true about us as well? That in a sense, it ought to be said, this was written so that the Scripture might be fulfilled in Santosh's life, in your life.

It's written in the book of Hebrews that Jesus said, Lo, I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I'm here to do your will. And as you know, Hebrews is a book that shows Jesus as our forerunner, which means now I can say, here I am, Lord.

It is written of me in this book that the Scriptures might be fulfilled in my life. And if you really have a passionate desire that it can be said about you as well, this happened in Santosh's life so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.

Think about it. Oh, what a difference it will make in our lives. I'm trying to think about that now when I face difficulties, when I face a trial of some sort. Say, Lord, you wrote every day of my life in your book.

You said that in Psalm 139. And if this is happening right now, someday you're going to say, world, listen, that thing that happened in his life or in his family or workplace or something else, it was written so the Scriptures might be fulfilled.

That brings comfort to my heart. My life is here only to fulfill the Scriptures in my own life in some way or the other. And here you see something in John 19, verse 37. It says, you know, they were kind of getting tired of waiting for these people to die.

So they went and broke the legs. You know, see, it says in verse 31. The Jews, it was their preparation, and they didn't want to leave the bodies on the cross for Sabbath. So they were like, yeah, we've got to go home for dinner, Sabbath.

So let's just kill these people quickly. We can't leave them overnight. So they asked Pilate, verse 31, that their legs might be broken and that they may take the bodies away. So the soldiers came, broke the legs of the first one, first thief.

And the second one also, verse 32. But they came to Jesus, and they saw he was already dead. Somehow the two thieves were still alive, but Jesus was already dead. So that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

You read in verse 36, not a bone of his will be broken. It's amazing that even on the cross, something beyond Jesus' ability. Why did Jesus have to die first and the thieves later on? So that not a bone of his will would be broken.

It's amazing that such detail the father had planned for his son Jesus. That he's planned for your life as well. Nothing can happen in your life without God allowing it. Even something like dying before somebody else has happened to Jesus.

It's recorded. It's there. Trust him. And you'll see how he'll make it beautiful in his own time. And then he goes on to say that they came to Jesus, verse 33. They saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs.

But one of the soldiers... Now what's the point of that? He's already dead. Peter's deciding again. What did they gain by doing that? Saying that to you or treating you that way? I wonder what was the soldier thinking?

That here's Jesus already dead. Let me just poke him again. So that the scripture might be fulfilled. So one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out. And it had to be recorded.

John was watching this. And even in those times when you think, what was the point of that? What did that accomplish? What was that extra poke for? It wasn't just a poke. It was a spear into his side.

It says... John says in verse 35, I was watching all of this. He who has seen has testified and his testimony is true. He's talking about himself. He knows that he's telling the truth so that you also may believe.

For these things came to pass to fulfill the scriptures. Not a bone of him shall be broken. And again, another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. They hadn't pierced him yet, but it had been recorded in the scripture.

And Jesus had to allow... God the Father had to allow this cruel soldier pierce Jesus' side unnecessarily. He was already dead. So that blood and water would flow out. You might get a picture perhaps.

I think perhaps the songwriter read that verse in John 19 and said, I gotta write a hymn about this. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. The quotation is from Zechariah chapter 12.

Beholding the Pierced Christ by Faith

Do you see that with me please? Zechariah chapter 12. One of the great dangers when you come to communion or even sing songs like the songs we sang today is that we can be stirred emotionally for a while and then go back and live the same defeated, lustful, angry, irritable, gloomy Christian life.

I hope the time will come and one day we'll just say, Lord, it can't be like this anymore. You must cause me to see with such faith. Not just sing a song, shed some tears, and be moved emotionally. I want faith, Lord.

Faith can only come from hearing Christ's voice. Will you come this evening and say, Lord, I want faith from you to see the stream that your flowing wounds have supplied for me. And it will change the theme of my life forever.

If you find that today, if you were to be honest with yourself, that the theme of your life is something else, come to God today and say, Lord, I want faith that you will change the theme of my life. I think of it like this.

Theme is like a background. They have a theme like the open LP slideshow you saw has a theme. I think it's called Blue Verse or something like that. So the background is blue. Everything that's written that you see is on the canvas of that theme.

All the words. There was a theme in that software that is the standard for that. Think about your life being like that. Oh, is it time to go on the zip line? Sure. But it's written on the canvas of this theme.

I'm a redeemed person who's been loved so much by my Father. Redeeming love is my theme. Is it time to go to work? Okay. Redeeming love is my theme today. Lord, write today on the canvas of this theme I'm a redeemed, loved child of God.

Zechariah 12, it says in verse 10 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.

There's that quotation that John remembered. Somehow, later on or at that point maybe John had studied Zechariah 12 and then when he saw this pierced, Jesus being pierced and he knew Jesus was dead, he saw them break the bones of the other thieves he saw Jesus being pierced and he was like Oh, Zechariah 12.

Let me go back to the synagogue and ask the priest to pull up that passage again and let's go and read it. And then he recorded it in his gospel. They will look on me whom they have pierced. What was the purpose of that?

I hope this is what John thought. This is certainly what I hope you and I will think about as we come to the Lord's table. They will look on me whom they have pierced. What will be the mark that you really looked upon Jesus?

Mourning Over Sin and the Strength of the Family

You know, we have on this canvas a lot of crucifixes with Jesus on it. Is that what it means to look on him whom they have pierced? We know that that's not true. What does it mean to look on him whom you pierced?

Your sin pierced. It means Go on reading. As one mourns for an only son, they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. That day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem like the mourning of Hadadrimon in the plain of Megiddo.

The land will mourn every family by itself the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves the Shemites by itself and their wives all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves will mourn.

This is the word the Lord's been laying on my heart as I thought about communion that each of us, you know, we've spoken often that the unity in this church is based on the Holy Spirit's work in us but the strength of this church is based on how strong your family is how strong your personal walk with God is, first of all man, it starts with us as leaders of the home if you're not the spiritual leader of your home we ought to be ashamed of ourselves, say Lord, I haven't been leading my families as a spiritual leader wives, likewise, submitting to our husbands unity in our marriage, our children that our families are a testimony to God that our children know the theme of this home is redeeming love we're living for Jesus, that's it we do a lot of other things, but we're living for Jesus and the strength of those homes, like you said, it names every family and perhaps at some point this coming week you can go back and meditate on what Jesus did for you have your children meditate on that what Jesus did for us to know it very clearly it says they will weep bitterly, they will mourn for Him and I think the more we have the love of God in our hearts the more we start to mourn for Jesus.

It's not feeling sorry for Him. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. He even told the women who were weeping for Him, don't feel sorry for me. This is not a feeling sorry for Jesus but this is a mourning over what the Father had to go through to send His only Son to the cross more than I feel when they poke my little daughter's vein what the Father felt when that soldier pierced His only Son.

The blood flowed out, the water flowed out. Lord, I want to see that more clearly, I want to mourn over that. I want my children, when they come to the communion table to be reverent and say, man, this is something serious.

Reverence at the Communion Table

I can't wait to actually eat the bread in the cup not the one we do afterwards when they get to do it but to sit here and to reverentially come up and take that bread and bite into it and take that cup and drink it and feel it go down into my stomach and know that it was the body of Christ and the blood of Jesus shed for me.

I want my children to know it and ask God to show you, if you don't understand all of it and you don't know why we do the top of the bread you can ask us, we can answer it, but I hope the Holy Spirit will do something in your hearts this week.

He's called the Spirit of Grace and Supplication and I just want to briefly close with that. The Spirit of Grace, I believe that when our eyes are truly opened to see Jesus when they behold Him who has been pierced when I really behold Him whom I have pierced a spirit of grace and supplication will come over me.

And I think of two things when I think of that first, there's a spirit that says, Lord, I want your power to live like you lived to live a life that's worthy of what you had to suffer for me. You cannot do it without the grace of God.

You can't feel sorry enough, you can't feel I'll do a little bit better next time, you need the grace of God in your life and there's only one way you get God's grace. Some child tell me, God gives His grace to the humble the children of men a spirit of grace, that's what I want when I come to the table today, Lord, I behold you whom I have pierced.

Will you pour out upon me today a spirit of grace. I fall on my face and I acknowledge how humble, how broken I am how much I've let you down, how much I've dishonored your name, Lord by the way I've lived my life, in my self-centered, self-seeking way I humble myself, pour out your spirit of grace upon me and oh He will a spirit of grace, behold Jesus whom you have pierced and a spirit of supplication.

Anybody know what supplication means? Any child know? Supplication means crying out for help supplication, crying out for help like that blind man, blind Martinius, crying out Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me, that was a supplication.

So I believe that when we come to the table when we partake of the bread of the cup we can have this spirit, we can go from this place not just about what happens here, but from this moment onwards there's a longing in our heart for a spirit of grace, a spirit of power to live a life that's worthy of Christ.

Not that we would ever be worthy of Him but He gets the most out of our life. Say Lord you love me so much, I want you to get the maximum. I don't ever want to spend one more minute for myself in thinking of myself.

You get the maximum out of me, that's what I mean by the spirit of grace. The spirit of supplication is Lord, help me I'm helpless, I cannot live for you even for one minute. Think about it, do you really believe that if Jesus asked you to live for one minute a life that's worthy of Him, you could do it?

If you think you could, then you need to have your eyes open more and more. We have to realize if I was to live in a Christ-like way for even one minute, it's not possible impossible one minute, let alone the rest of my life that ought to come bringing us a spirit of supplication.

Lord please bring your spirit. Jesus realized this when He was here on this earth. The Son cannot live even for one minute without depending on the Father, John 5, 19 think about Jesus Himself who never committed sin saying I cannot even live one minute unless I'm dependent on the Father and now He says, depend on me that way, I am the vine, you are the branches abide in me, you will bear much fruit.

Taking Communion Without Trampling on Christ’s Blood

So the spirit of grace and supplication. I want to close with one more verse, please, Hebrews chapter 10 it's a very serious verse here it's good for us to think about the cup and the bread, the purpose the reason that we do this, it's good to remember Jesus and what we did but it ought to change the way we live in some way if you will cry out in your heart, in the secret area of your own heart say Lord Jesus, let this moment that I'm about to this transaction that I'm about to do with you take the bread and the cup, let it make a difference in some way for how I'm going to live tomorrow let it make it, I'm praying that bread what we do is going to make some difference, otherwise it's pointless exercise.

We're just going to taste a little bit of juice and eat some bread. Perhaps you've done it, I've done it sometimes like that without having that burden and that zeal to say Lord, I'm going to do something very important.

It was your blood and your body that I'm about to take and benefit from. Let it change the way I'm going to live my life from now on. Hebrews 10, 29 says how much severe punishment do you think he will deserve.

He says first of all that the people who disobeyed the law and the old covenant were treated very seriously. If you committed adultery, you were stoned. Other areas, see the punishment for what God did.

We've been reading in Numbers right, about how God punished Korah, Nathan and Abiram for rebellion against God's anointing, opened up earth and they swallowed them whole, you read those stories you say well thank God that that's not the God we have to deal with today.

Yes that's true, but let's read Hebrews 10, 28 and 29 it says, if that's what they experienced when they disobeyed the law the early law, how much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the son of God.

For them they just broke the law, for us it's the son of God himself that I trample underfoot with a careless attitude towards sin. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve. Who has trampled underfoot the son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace.

There's that spirit of grace again and you've heard Zach talk about regarded as unclean, one of the, I think it's the Amplified Bible that talks about treating it lightly treating it like tap water, oh I sinned again, let me just open the faucet wash my heart again, okay tomorrow I come back, oh I had a bad mood again so let me wash my, just open the faucet.

This fountain is freely available. And the writer of Hebrews says how much more severer would be the punishment of those who treated the blood of Christ like tap water, trampled underfoot the son of God and have neglected insulted, he says, the spirit of grace.

So let's not insult the spirit of grace, let's cry out for the spirit of grace. God is not somebody to be afraid of. I know I've spoken firmly and strongly about the seriousness of what we're about to do because I'm taking it seriously, I'm sitting here and sitting there and thinking it costs Jesus his life, let's not take it lightly but let's come and rejoice because if your heart is pure if your desire is really for this moment to make a difference for the rest of your life from now on then God says I'm on your side, I will give you the spirit of grace.

I will give you the spirit of supplication and you'll know the difference, you'll see the difference in your life. And before we take part in the cup spend a few moments in reflection Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10, let a man, let a woman examine himself, don't judge somebody else maybe you know somebody else that's difficult, maybe a relative or I don't know, somebody you know, another brother or sister in the church that's struggling, examine your own heart.