In this time of pandemic and acute awareness of sickness, we are confronted with the need for cleansing. God’s Law made provision for various kinds of cleansing. God provided cleansing from sickness and disease. He made provision for cleansing a house or property. God even provided cleansing for the mind, spirit and soul.
Each of us are in a war against the unclean. You can trust God’s cleansing. God has provided a perfect solution for our need for cleansing. Cleansing has many connotations. It relates to defilement from sickness, pollution, and unhealthy situations. Cleansing refers to a spiritual condition that impacts the spirit, mind and soul. You can trust God’s cleansing.
1 John 1:5 NKJV This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
Darkness has connotations of evil, sin, and impurity. Evil men practice evil in the darkness. Men love darkness rather than light for their deeds are evil. The Lord our God is holy, righteous and pure.
God is light. There is no darkness in Him at all. Not only do we need to be separated from the darkness we need to be connected with God and the light.
1 John 1:6 NKJV If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
It is imperative that we hear this word. Holy men of old wrote these words as they were moved upon by the Holy Spirit. God wants to draw us into fellowship with Himself.
According to this verse, we cannot walk in darkness and have fellowship with God. Walking in the light is walking with God and walking with other believers. The ways of darkness bring separation, death, and destruction. The solution for our spiritual condition is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:7 NKJV But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
What does it mean to “walk in the light?”
- Walking in the light is living according to God’s word and will.
- Walking with other believers is easier than walking with the world and unbelievers.
It is hard to walk with unbelievers. As the day of the Lord approaches we should maintain fellowship with one another more often.
- Walking in the light is walking by the Spirit and not by the flesh.
- Walking in the light is living in fellowship with God and with fellow believers.
It is sweet for brothers to dwell together in unity.
“Walking” indicates a specific manner or characteristic of living. People who “walk in the light” have fellowship with God and with one another. When believers are in perfect harmony with God we are in fellowship with one another.
We are able to walk in the light and in this fellowship “the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
We rely upon Jesus’ cleansing blood. His blood cleanses us from all sin. The bondage and chains of defilement and death are broken through the blood of Jesus Christ. This is why we constantly keep coming back to the blood of Jesus for covering and help. There is still power in the blood of Jesus.
1 John 1:8-9 NKJV If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The key to living clean is found in these verses. When the Apostle Paul was considering walking clean and without sin, he said, “I know that nothing good dwells in me,” (Romans 7:18). He was faced with his own personal weaknesses and deficit. John said, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.”
How can we be made clean?
“God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He does this through the powerful cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ.
You can trust God’s cleansing.
To be clean we must constantly stay near the Lord, full of His Word and Spirit.
John 13 gives us the story of Jesus’ last supper with His disciples. Jesus arose from supper, took a towel, and poured water into a basin to wash the disciples’ feet. Simon Peter began to protest Jesus’ actions. I remember when I was a child and would come in for dinner. Mom would tell me to go and wash my hands. I thought I was clean. After washing, many times she would say go wash again. Sometimes we are not as clean as I thought we were.
Peter was saying, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus said, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Jesus was definitely doing more than what they were able to understand. He was not just performing a ceremonial cleansing or honor washing of a guest’s feet.
Jesus was demonstrating that He could make them clean. Jesus referred to cleansing by a specific work of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin. This cleansing has an eternal impact on believers.
In Revelation 7:14, those around the throne are arrayed in white robes and that are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Job asked a question for which we need to find an answer.
Job 14:4 NKJV Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!
It is humanly impossible to make what is unclean clean. This is why we must throw ourselves over onto God’s mercy and grace. We need help that only God can give.
When David came to realize that he had sinned and was unclean, he turned to God in prayer.
David prayed in Psalm 51:7-8 NLT Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.
Psalm 51:9-11 NLT Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
David knew he needed to be changed and cleansed. His sin overwhelmed him. He felt that he was about to be cast away from God’s presence. His sin made him feel totally unclean. He cried out to God in his distress, “Cleanse me O God.” “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
We find ourselves in the same situation. We cannot do this by ourselves. We depend on the Lord to make us clean.
1 John 1:7 NKJV The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.
There is power in the blood of Jesus to cleanse. If you want to be free from the burden of sin, Jesus will make you clean. Nothing but the blood of Jesus can cleanse and take away our sins. There is power in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb. When we know that we have been made clean from our sins and that we have been forgiven, we can live without condemnation.
Romans 8:1 NKJV There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
When David turned to God he was made clean.
You can trust God’s cleansing.
God can help. He can make the vilest sinner clean. He can remove the things that defile and corrupt. We do not have to live in condemnation. The blood and sacrifice of Jesus is the solution for our situation and sins.
We are going to share communion today.
I want to remind you that Jesus Christ your Redeemer has paid the full debt for your sins. He has taken stripes on His body so you may be healed. He can cleanse your body from sickness and disease. He was wounded for your transgressions. He was bruised for your iniquities. He can cleanse you from all your sins. He has purchased your peace.
When you put your faith and trust in Him, He will cleanse you from your sins.
The Bible tells us, “If confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) As you prepare to receive communion, come to the Lord and He will make you clean.
1 Corinthians 11:23 NKJV For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
The bread represents the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:24 NKJV and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1 Corinthians 11:25 NKJV In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
