IN Isaiah 1 The Lord convicts Judah and Jerusalem of their manifold sins, abiding, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes.” And, dear reader, have not these words a voice to all who are in their sins, and therefore, if still unsaved, a voice to you?
God is infinitely holy, and the sinner must be washed to be fit for His glorious presence. Unwashed sinners can never dwell there.
But how are you to wash and be clean? Let His own Word reply. First of all, note two scriptures, which tell us plainly what will not wash us in His sight.
And Job 9:3030If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; (Job 9:30) says, “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.”
The stains of sin are far too deep for either nitre, much soap, or snow water to remove. Men devise many means to wash themselves, but all in vain. There is only one thing that can wash a sinner clean in the sight of God, and that is
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST.
Such is the wondrous efficacy of Jesus’ blood, that God Himself, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and in whose sight the very heavens are not clean, sees neither spot nor stain upon any sinner that believeth. The psalmist said, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalms 51:77Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7).) Think of that. Whiter than the whitest object your eyes ever saw. This is the only way that a sinner can wash and be clean, through faith in Jesus’ precious blood.
A dying youth, who had but a few hours believed in Jesus, in reply to the remark from a visitor, “S —, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin, so that not a spot nor stain remains,” triumphantly answered, “Not a speck.”
Yes, dear reader, not a speck.
“Clean every whit! Thou saidst it, Lord:
Shall one suspicion lurk?
Thine surely is a faithful word,
And Thine a finished work.”
Oh! can you lift up your voice, and join from the heart in the beauteous strain of the prophet John, “Unto Him that loved (loves) us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion Forever and ever. Amen.”
“I’m going to heaven,” said a dying woman, who had led a very ungodly life, to a Christian who was speaking with her.
“You going to heaven,” replied he; “such a sinner as you!”
“Ah! I know I am a great sinner; but, oh, it’s the blood, it’s the blood, it’s the blood!”
“There is a stream of precious blood
That flowed from Jesus’ veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.”
Would you be found in glory, round the throne of God, amid the throng of the redeemed, and as they gaze upon the Lamb, sing the new song, “Thou art worthy, for Thou hast redeemed to God by thy blood,” &c.? Then you must be washed from your sins in His own blood now. This is an absolute necessity.
Before you can put away the evil of your doings by the washing of water of God’s word, you must first be made whiter than snow before Him through the blood of Jesus.
“Oh, the blood of Jesus,
The precious blood of Jesus!
Oh, the blood of Jesus,
It cleanses from all sin!
Sinner, will you trust the blood now?
E. H. C.