Wash Cycle
Rinse and Repeat.
This may be controversial to some. But we need to confront a reality as believers and somehow address it.
We are sinners. Not just past ones…present and future ones.
Whether you get baptized and born again, you will continue to sin.
This is reality. The Bible says:
“Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.” Ecclesiastes 7:20 NLT
“as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;” Romans 3:10 ESV
In John 8:7 NIV, Jesus was asked about stoning a woman who was caught in infidelity. His answer was:
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
So clearly the scripture indicates human nature is sinful and our sin is habitual as such.
Perfection in this body is impossible.
But you might say…but Jesus also told the woman “go and sin no more.”
And in another instance he told a man he healed:
'See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.' John 5:14 NIV
So what was Jesus saying? He was saying…that he didn’t want them to return to that particular lifestyle of sin. He wasn’t expecting them to never sin again.
Now I am sure legalizing this, one might say… he said “sin no more” that’s pretty clear. But remember, context is key, and we have to look at the totality of scripture, an example being the two scriptures I listed at the beginning which state otherwise.
Understand Jesus did not die for your past sins but present and future ones as well.
The enemy creates guilt about our sinful actions…but God gives conviction.
When I think about when I fail, God gave me this analogy:
Everyone washes their clothes in a washing machine…but this isn’t a one and done thing. Your clothes will soon become dirty and need to be washed again and they won’t load themselves in the machine.
We must be continually cleansed by walking in Christ.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 ESV
“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,” Isaiah 1:6 ESV
“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” Psalm 51:2 ESV
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 ESV
The good news is once loaded in the machine, most of the cleaning work is done. In same way, Jesus is doing the cleaning, but we must pick up the dirty clothes and put them in.
Like all things with God, he operates outside of time in the past, present and future.
He has both washed and will wash you from sin. Here are the conditions though.
1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins…” he will cleanse us.
So recognition and acknowledgment of your sins past and present before God is important.
You have to believe in the power of his blood and His act of sacrifice (death) for your sins.
The scripture says:
…To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” Revelation 1:5b ESV
“…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Hebrews 10:22b ESV
So by his act on the cross, you are covered. You must believe, strive for Holiness, the fruits of the spirit, repent, and remain in Christ.
You have to apply the laundry detergent…which is the blood of Jesus and be washed clean.
This world will soil you, there is dirt everywhere…and you must wash continuously through a regenerative process.
“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” Titus 1:5 ESV(emphasis added)
Regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit within. Kind of like adding fabric softener and color enhancer to bring back your spiritual vibrance.
Please understand, I fully believe Jesus’s actions on the cross in fact were a one and done. He doesn’t need to die continually for our sins. No, He only needed to die once for everyone and all sin.
But you as a believer cannot let this action be in vain. You have to take fully advantage of the blood Jesus applied for you.
By living and walking under the coverage of the blood. Like an insurance policy, the coverage is already there, even before you need to file a claim. Except this policy has already been payed for.
My friends, don’t let anyone on a pulpit tell you they are free of sin. They are preaching an unbiblical legalistic message.
No mortal can sustain a sin free life. If that were the case, then there wouldn’t be a need for Jesus in our past, present, and future.
Again…as I’ve said before in other writings. The Apostles Paul says tells us this is no excuse to willfully sin or continue to walk in a sinful lifestyle. You cannot live a double life. In 1 John 3, it says you cannot make a “practice” of sinning and know Jesus at the same time.
Hebrews 10:26 ESV says:
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
Again we are talking about lifestyle. One must turn from old ways.
I always think of the Italian Mafia movies where they’re knocking off people in one scene and in a church confessional in another. It doesn’t work that way.
We continuously wash our clothes…because they get stained and dirty. This will be necessary even in your spiritual life until you go home to the Lord and it’s no longer needed.
And if you don’t wash your clothes continuously then eventually they will begin to stink. And sin stinks, when you don’t wash it away often.
Stay on-top of your dirty laundry.