LET us have a little talk today, children, about washing. Can you name some things that sometimes need washing? Some of you say “Yes, my hands and face”. Others, “My clothes.” Still others may mention windows, dishes, lamp-globes, floors, porch, walks and so on. You all agree that these different things need to be washed. Can you tell why? Most of you will say, without a moment’s hesitation, “Because they get dirty”. You are right. Dust and dirt of all kinds will get on things and soil them. In our picture the woman is carrying home her basket of clothes that she has been washing down at the stream. After while she will have to take them to the stream and wash them again, for they do not stay clean very long.
Now, can you tell what is needed to wash off this dirt? Again your reply comes promptly, “Water and soap.” Yes, water and soap will clean all these things you have named.
Is there something else that water and soap will not clean? David, the Psalmist, said, “Create in me a clean heart, O God”. Psalm 51:1010Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10). Each one of us has a wicked, unclean heart. Will water and soap clean the heart? What makes it unclean? Dust from the road, or coal dust? No. Well then, what is it? How about the unkind and selfish words and actions that we all know so much about? It is these that defile us in God’s sight. In a word, it is sin that makes our poor hearts so black. Will soap and water wash away these stains of sin? Not at all. They are so bad that nothing we can use will wash them away. But there is One who can do it for us, though it was at a terrible cost that this became possible. Jesus, God’s only begotten and well-beloved Son, died on the cross and shed His precious blood and it is that blood alone that can wash away sin.
If you make marks on your slate with a slate pencil and then wipe them over with a damp cloth where are the marks? “Gone”, you say. Can you see them or find them again? No. It is the same with your sins. If you are washed in the blood of Christ your sins are blotted out and gone forever.
ML 02/04/1912