CONTINUALLY CLEANSED

"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." (1 John 1:7)

One of the precious promises for those who come to Jesus is the  promise of cleansing from sin. In Shakespeare's great drama MacBeth, Lady MacBeth, suffering with guilt over her role in a  terrible crime, imagined red, bloody spots on her hands that made  her unclean. "Out, out, damned spot!" she cried, longing to be cleansed.

Here in 1 John 1:7, we read the simple statement: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." John says that as we walk in the light, we will also enjoy the continual cleansing of Jesus. We need a continual cleansing, because the Bible says we continually sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

John 13:10 paints this picture well. Jesus, in washing the feet of the disciples, came to Peter. Hoping to show how spiritual he was, Peter refused this humble act of service from Jesus. Jesus told Peter that if he refused to let Him wash his feet, Peter had no part n Jesus. Then Peter (always given to extremes), told Jesus to wash his whole body! Jesus' reply was profound: "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you." (John 13:10) The continual cleansing mentioned in 1 John 1:7 is the washing of dusty feet that have come in contact with a dirty world.

This continual cleansing is ours by the blood of Jesus. Not His literal blood, but His literal death in our place, and the literal wrath of the Father Jesus endured on our behalf. That death of Jesus – His blood – paid for all our sins: past, present, and future. The work of Jesus on the cross doesn't only deal with the guilt of sin that might send us to hell; it also deals with the stain of sin that would hinder our continual relationship with God. We need to come to
God often with the simple plea, "cleanse me with the blood of Jesus." Not because we haven't been cleansed before, but because we need to be continually cleansed to enjoy continual relationship

Notice the emphasis: "From all sin." We can be cleansed, by the blood of Jesus, from all sin. The sin we inherited from Adam; the sin we committed as children; the sins of our growing up. The sins against our father; the sins against our mother; the sins against our brother and sister. The sins against our husband or wife; the sins against our children. The sins against our employers or our employees, the sins against our friends and our enemies. Sins like
lying, stealing, cheating, adultery, swearing, drugs, booze, promiscuity, murder. The blood of Jesus can cleanse me from sins that haunt me every day, and from sins I didn't even know I did. All sin can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus!

Finally, notice: the blood of Jesus "cleanses us from all sin." The word "cleanses" is in the present tense, not the future tense. We do not have to hope we will one day be cleansed. Because of what Jesus did on the cross for me, I can be cleansed today!

Do you feel guilty or disqualified before God today? Accept the work of Jesus on the cross as full cleansing for your sins. He promised that though your sins were red as scarlet, He would make you white as snow.

By David Guzik