Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
When my daughter Faith was very young, I would occasionally come into the house and see her standing in a 4 gallon bucket of warm soapy water. She would slowly walk in place and wash out a few items of clothing for herself and the rest of the family. Some of the kids’ clothes would be very dirty from playing outside, and we would have to change the water a few times. Sometimes, the clothes required even more attention, and you would need to do some scrubbing by hand. On occasion, you would find a stain that was very stubborn to remove, and was embedded deeply in the fabric.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Like a piece of clothing, each of our hearts are stained with sin which is embedded in the very fabric of our being. But the Heavenly Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to remove these stains from our souls. Through Him we can be washed from our sins, and purged from our iniquities.
Psalms 51 ² Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
First of all, many people feel that they have never sinned before. They might feel that they are a decent person, and do a lot of things to help others in their own community. But the facts are that no one is faultless in the eyes of God. In the secret and hidden places of somebody’s heart, everyone has sinned at one time or the other, and nobody is exempt from that fact.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23
Romans 3. ⁹ What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; ¹⁰ As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: ¹¹ There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. ¹² They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. ¹³ Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: ¹⁴ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: ¹⁵ Their feet are swift to shed blood: ¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways: ¹⁷ And the way of peace have they not known: ¹⁸ There is no fear of God before their eyes.
In order to obtain eternal life we are required to go on unto perfection and repent of sins. Heaven is a perfect place, and anybody who names the name of Christ must depart from sinful activities and wholeheartedly submit to the teachings of God’s only Begotten Son. When we first become a Christian, we are water baptized by submersion into His name, and at that moment, God washes all of our past sins away. This is so that we can become perfect through obedience to the teachings of our faith. Any attempt to obtain Paradise apart from the grace that is found in Christ Jesus will fail. This is because one is trying to obtain it by their own works, rather than getting forgiven in Christ, and transforming into a Saint of God.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8
At one time during his life, the Apostle Paul was a complete unbeliever, and was persecuting Christians. But when he finally believed the truth in Christ, his life went through a radical change. He washed his past sins away through Holy Baptism, and became a brand new creature in Christ.
“And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Acts 22:16
1 Timothy 1 ¹² And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; ¹³ Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴ And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Paul had been raised in Judaism, but he knew that the Old testament law was written so that all the world would become guilty before God. Nobody kept it perfectly, and no flesh can be justified by it in the sight of God.
Romans 3 ¹⁹ Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Many religions in the world today are attempting to get to heaven, but without faith in Jesus, they have no forgiveness with God.
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” John 8:24
Once we step through the waters of baptism, we are to become transformed by submitting ourselves to the will of God.
1 Peter 4 ¹ Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; ² That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
We can be cleansed through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7
We can be purified of our sins in the name of Christ Jesus.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11
We can be washed from our sins, through the mercy of Christ Jesus.
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalms 51:7
To obtain forgiveness with God requires repentance towards both Him, and others in the church that you have wronged. Some sinful stains are difficult to remove, because it requires humility, a quality that many people lack in their lives. It will require a contrite and penitent heart as you own up to your own faults and shortcomings. Only then can we be cleansed from our iniquities, and washed from our sins, just like all of those dirty clothes inside of…..
….. Faith’s bucket
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 