Monday, February 23, 2009

Constant Cleansing

1 John 1:7

When we come out of the darkness of sin and walk in the glorious light of Jesus’ truth, we not only fellowship with other believers, but we have a constant flow of the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all of our sin. His blood is a permanent fixture in the life of the redeemed, ever flowing to cover all of our failures and sins. This flow turns the scarlet sins, “white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

Jesus stood on the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles and cried out for all to hear, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37, 38). He timed this announcement to coincide with the High Priest pouring the water from the pool of Siloam over the altar in the temple. Every Jew that was gathered that day would not have missed the point of Christ, “I am the High Priest. Follow me and you will never need another”.

This is the same theme that Jesus delivered to the woman at the well in the Samaritan village of Sychar. She came to the well at the hottest part of the day, while all other women came at sunrise. She obviously had grown weary of hearing the whispers about her 5 previous husbands and her live-in lover, so she came to the well to draw water, alone. Jesus met here there, being led of the Spirit for this one woman, and told her that she would thirst again if she relied only on physical water, but if she turned to Him, He would give her, “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

Jesus ever lives to make intercession for the believer (Hebrews 7:25), so His work, though finished at the cross, is ever ongoing in application. When we accept Christ as the payment for our sins, we receive the Holy Spirit as the evidence or “down-payment” of our inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22). The Comforter then goes to work in the believer, constantly reminding them of their place in Christ, with the blood of Jesus always washing over them to keep them pure.

Without the constant cleansing of the Spirit, you and I would be guilty nearly every moment of the day. This guilt would not be from breaking the 10 Commandments or some other moral law of God, but from the dietary and sanitary laws of God. Everything from sexual emissions to a woman’s time of the month would make Israelites unclean. These were things that they could do nothing about, but that did not lessen their guilt. They were always washing and re-washing in an attempt to stay clean.

Christ pours His blood over us every moment of every day so that we always remain non-offensive to God. Though we fail, the ever present blood of Jesus makes us appear in God’s eyes just as Jesus appears.

Some find fault with these statements, saying that Jesus can’t possibly cleanse us from future sins, because we have not confessed them yet. Confession is for the unbeliever, and Paul never tells the believer to confess in order to receive forgiveness. We do confess so that our loving Father can embrace us, but not so that we can receive of His goodness. If Jesus cannot forgive future sins, then none of your sins are gone, for He died 2,000 years before you committed them!

Rejoice in the knowledge that the blood of Jesus Christ is constantly cleansing you and you are as clean as Jesus in the eyes of the Father.

(For more information on this topic, contact the ministry and ask for Pastor Paul’s sermon titled, “Constant Cleansing”. We will send to you as our gift. Thank you.)

No comments: