Resting beneath the cool and quiet shade of the trees in one of those pleasant gardens, near to the fountains where they had been attending to their ablutions, we found a company of heaven-bound mariners happily discoursing on the great truths of God, so precious to them all, when Captain Love-truth observed, “Some voyagers whom I met a while ago desired me to explain to them how it was that believers, having been so perfectly cleansed from all sin at the Cross by the precious blood of the Redeemer, and thus forever made as ‘white as snow,’ should still need the further and continuous cleansing by the washing of water: which was a subject that presented some difficulty to their minds. Especially as others said it was the blood alone, and not the water, that could cleanse from sin; and therefore whenever any saint transgressed, he should seek the application of the blood again and again, for his cleansing, as at the first, for every such newly committed transgression. Can any here who are deeply taught in these divine mysteries, throw light on this matter?”
Then Captain Discernment, who was a veteran in the service of the King and well versed in the deep things of God, replied: “Many saints have indeed misunderstood this important subject and have sadly perplexed their fellow voyagers with reference thereto. Yet the Lord our Prince, on that most memorable last night, showed the matter plainly to Peter and the other disciples, when he poured water in a basin and washed their feet. For He said unto them, ‘He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean.’
“Thus it appears they were ‘clean every whit,’ not a spot or stain remained upon them, because they had believed on the Lord Jesus; and they would ever be considered as spotless in the sight of God from the moment they believed on Him. They only needed the feet washing, which the Lord applied in order to show them by a practical figure that they would need continually that washing of the feet in a moral sense, as long as they remained down here; and that He, as their intercessor, when He ascended into heaven, would ever enable them to do. At the same time, he most impressively taught them the heavenly lesson of brotherly love, saying unto them, ‘If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.’ Chiefly, of course in a moral way, by the application of the Word.”
Love-truth. “Well, but if they were ‘clean every whit,’ what need of this further washing?”
Discernment. “Because they, in common with all believers, having been already perfectly purged in their consciences from all sin, by the blood of the Redeemer (which alone could wash away sin from the soul) it necessarily became them, on that very account, to cleanse their walk or daily lives—represented by the washing of the feet—from every defilement of sin which might cling to them by the way, like the mire gathered by the feet of the traveler on his journey.
“As all the sins of our whole lives have been laid on the blessed Saviour, who made full atonement for them all, so that our righteous and yet gracious Father could say, ‘Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more,’ how very needful, therefore, and most becoming in us it must be to mark our holy detestation of that which crucified the Lord of life and glory, by cleansing away the first touch of the accursed thing from our daily walk and conversation, as we are enabled to do by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the intercession of our High Priest above.”
Love-truth. “True, and indeed most necessary that we should thus cleanse our way; and by these words, touching the sins of our whole lives being laid on the Saviour, I am also reminded of another difficulty experienced by some much troubled and untaught believers, who have remarked to me, ‘We found salvation at the Cross, and rejoiced greatly then in the forgiveness of our sins through the cleansing efficacy of the blood of the Redeemer, but after that, as we sailed on our way, we alas! under the force of temptation, committed many other transgressions. Now how can we obtain cleansing and forgiveness for these fresh sins? Are we to go back to the Cross and the blood, as we did at the first, for the cleansing of every new transgression, or is there no hope of further cleansing for us?’”
Discernment. “A common case, doubtless; for many such unhappy believers may be met with, who, through defective teaching and a sad misunderstanding of the perfect work of redemption wrought by our beloved Prince, have been thus made very miserable, and much hindered in their important voyage over this ocean.
“Now a moment’s reflection will show us how far such believers are from rightly understanding the way of salvation, as revealed in the Scriptures. For, in the first place, it should ever be remembered that in our Lord’s perfect work, full atonement was made for all the sins of our whole lives, past present, and future; indeed, when that complete atonement was made, all our sins were future, He having died for us hundreds of years before we were born. Yea, more, the divine purpose thus to save us from all our sins existed in the mind of God ‘before the foundation of the world,’ and when, too, in His infinite foreknowledge, all the sins of our whole lives were before Him.
“As it is therefore evident that all sin—(that is, sin as a whole as to its nature), which has been, or may be, committed from the creation even to the end of the world, has been already atoned for—and the penalty due to it fully met—we have full and complete salvation from all our sins who have once trusted in “the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.”
“If sin had not been so met, the washing of water—that is, the application of the Word—could never wash away a single sin; for it ever remains true that ‘The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.’
“Then as to the other point, of going back to the blood for the cleansing of every newly committed transgression. As at the first, we find that it was just what the Israelites, in olden time under the ordinances of the law, had to do whenever they transgressed; for it was so ordained that for every defilement of sin they should resort to the blood of bulls and of goats for their cleansing; and that repeatedly, as often as they sinned; according to the Word which saith, ‘As almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission.’
“And in the Scriptures we are told very distinctly the reason why it was necessary they should look to and apply the blood of sprinkling again and again in their numerous sacrifices and offerings, which had to be continually offered: ‘For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged, should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.’ But now, in this new dispensation, all this is changed, because the one great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Himself has fulfilled all the types and shadows of the law, and has fully satisfied all the righteous claims of Divine justice; as it said, ‘By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’ And again, ‘But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.’ Then as a blessed result of this glorious plan of redemption we read, ‘How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?’
“Then it follows as a consequence that this one sacrifice being a perfect offering for all sin, the believer needs to come but once to the blood for the cleansing of his soul; for when he truly accepts and trusts in that sacrifice, he is at once perfectly freed forever from the guilt, the condemnation and consequences of his sins; as it is written, ‘For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,’ or set apart by believing.
“To go back to the Cross and the blood of that one perfect sacrifice for every newly committed offense (by which it has already been cleansed from the conscience) would be to cast a doubt upon its efficacy, and place us, as it were, in the sadly dishonoring position of saying, in effect, that the blood of Christ could only cleanse us from some of our sins—such as we committed before conversion—and not from all, as the Word plainly says it does; and therefore not much more efficacious than the blood of bulls and of goats, which could never permanently take away sins, and had on that account to be repeated continually.
“Besides, for a true believer, who by faith in Christ has been perfectly cleansed from all his sins at the Cross, to go back and appeal to the blood (though of course it is the foundation of all cleansing and forgiveness, because it alone gives efficacy to the washing by water), as he did at his conversion, for every newly committed offense, would be, seemingly, to make it necessary for Christ to come down and offer himself as a sacrifice again and again for every such transgression; which of course is as impossible as it is obviously unnecessary: and as it is written, ‘Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once, in the end of the world, hath He appeared to put away sin, by the sacrifice of Himself.’
“It is the one perfect offering, once offered, and once applied to the believer’s conscience, that makes him perfect forever.
“Any thought of repetition here is a dishonor to the Lord and questions the efficacy of His most perfect and complete work.
“But the ‘washing of water by the word,’ or the putting away of our pollutions (the conscience being already fully cleansed by the blood) has necessarily to be repeated as often as they occur in our daily walk.
“Then see, moreover, how explicit the Word of God is with regard to the blessed results of this one perfect sacrifice, which judicially removes every stain of sin from the conscience and gives complete deliverance from all its consequences, and that forever; so that, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus:’ and, ‘Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.’
“Wonderful thought, ‘No condemnation,’ and no sin ever imputed by God to the believer.”
Here the Captain of the Humble Confidence (which had been formerly the Never-sure) feelingly remarked, “How happy we should have been to have learned these most precious and comforting lessons, as soon as we started on our new career, which we now see so beautifully and clearly set forth in the Word. How much fear, uncertainty and misery, bordering on despair, that characterized our wretched movements for many a weary day, they would have delivered us from. Oh, what quietness and assurance they would have imparted to us!”
Discernment. “Now as to the ‘washing of water by the word,’ I would further remark that water here stands as a figure for the Word of God, which the believer is to use by applying its principles, precepts, and admonitions to his conduct or daily life, so as to cleanse himself from every moral impurity, and that continually as he proceeds on his way.
“This is the believer’s side of the work, that which he has to do (not of course to secure salvation, but because he has it already: ‘Clean every whit’): the first is the Divine side, the cleansing of the soul by blood once and forever: for it is God alone who can cleanse the soul, the heart and the conscience; but the second is our part, as we may (with Divine assistance, which is always given when asked) cleanse our ways by the application of the Word: and this, be it ever remembered, solely on the ground and by virtue of the first cleansing by the blood of the Redeemer; which is the foundation of everything—of life, peace, holy living, and heavenly glory.
“Then how reasonable, how truly becoming, and how suitable our answer to what our heavenly Father has so marvelously accomplished for us, that we should ever strive to clear our ways from every stain of sin, (so hateful in the sight of our holy God); while not forgetting what it cost our Lord and Prince to ransom us from all these pollutions.
“This washing of water is spoken of in type as the ‘Water of Separation,’ and is put in connection with the ‘Ashes’ of the burnt offering, thus signifying that in view of the completed sacrifice of Christ (the burnt ashes), we are directed to separate ourselves from all evil.
“The blood of Christ purges our souls within, and we are consequently to purify ourselves outwardly (as to our motives and actions) by the water of separation. Hence the many admonitions we have in the Word to that effect. The first is the Divine work once done forever, because perfectly done; the second, the human work, to be repeated as often as the offense is committed.
“Furthermore, see what a wonderfully gracious provision is made to meet the case of any saint who might unfortunately fall into sin: ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,’ and, ‘If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.’ Yes, not only merciful, but faithful and just to forgive, in view of the claims of the one perfect offering and full atonement made for sin by our blessed Lord. Confession here being a necessary part of the washing of water by the Word: that we who through transgression have lost communion with our Lord might be restored to the light of his countenance and ‘have part with Him,’ again, in holy fellowship and companionship.”
Love-truth. “How sublime and unspeakably grand are these wonderful facts, and how immeasurably above every conception of man.
“But now favor us with yet one more word, as to the way in which we are to wash the feet of our brethren, in a moral sense, as you have said.”
Discernment. “When a brother offends or commits sin—as alas! he may do through the power of temptation and the wiles of the devil—then his Christian brother should, by applying the admonitions of the Word to his brother’s wrong conduct, in a kind and affectionate manner, lead him in the presence of God to see his fault, to repent of his sin, and put away or separate himself from the evil and return to the paths of rectitude. He would be thus morally washing his brother’s feet; which, in all faithfulness, we are all commanded to do. The Apostle Paul performed this washing of the brethren’s feet when he applied the truth of God’s Word to Peter and other brethren.”