“I Will Wash You – Wash Yourselves”

Ezekiel 36

33 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.

Isaiah 1

16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

Isaiah 1

10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Yet, many other texts make it clear that only God can cleanse. Jesus’ Blood alone can wash.

There is no contradiction in God’s thinking. He alone can cleanse yet we are told “wash yourselves”.

Illustration: A pious hypocrite in a church who loved to pray long public prayers, each of which he closed with, “And, Lord, take the cobwebs out of my life!” One of the godly elders of the church became tired of hearing this empty ritual week after week. One evening, after the man had concluded his long routine prayer and had mentioned the cobwebs, the elder stood up and prayed, “And, Lord, while You’re at it, kill the spider!”

If you go duck hunting then aim at the duck, not the sky. If you fish go to where the fish are likely to be. (saw a child fishing in small pool of water where it was obvious there were no fish. I felt sorry for the child. But, grown men do it too!) Call sin by it’s name! It was the spider Paul had in mind when he wrote II Corinthians 7:1. This means, kill the spider. The verse starts with “Therefore…” because it is part of what preceeded: the promise of salvation and love – “I will be to you a Father…”. It is because of His grace that we are told “wash yourselves”.

We are to be washed of filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

Filthiness of the flesh: Gal 5: 19 – 21: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these (in case you think yours isn’t on the list).

But what is “filthiness of the spirit”? Filthiness of the flesh (such as harlots and tax collectors) found it easy to come to Jesus. But those stained by the filthiness . . . of the spirit (such as the scribes and Pharisees) found it very hard to come to Jesus.

Pollution of spirit may be a piece of gossip that you’ve heard. You didn’t spread it but it has defiled you.

Is 1:19 What do you really want? “If you are willing and obedient” vs 18: washed whiter than snow, as wool. His cleansing results in not only the removal of the evil but

Then we will be with those who sing: “Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” (Rev. 1:5.)

Stay clean

Neglect causes filth.