“I thought these stains would come right out,” I said to myself, as I rubbed the wet cotton ball vigorously over the stained shirt I was trying to clean. But nothing happened.
“Now what should I do? I just have to get these stains out of this new white shirt,” I said, still talking to myself. Then I looked at the bottle beside me. It was labeled, “White Vinegar.” I had forgotten that I had transferred the vinegar into a bottle the same size and shape as my bleach bottle, and I had placed it on the shelf right beside the bleach. I had been using vinegar instead of bleach to try to remove the stains.
I took the bleach bottle down, and in less than a minute those bad stains were gone. I was very happy!
But let me tell you about my stains of sin being removed in less time than that! Some years ago I knelt beside my bed one night and confessed to God that I was stained with sins and accepted His offer of cleansing by the blood of His Son, Jesus. And immediately all my stains of sin were gone! How could such a wonderful cleansing happen in such a short time? It was because the work needed for my cleansing and yours was done long ago on Calvary’s cross when the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for sin. All I needed to do was to come to Him for His cleansing power, because “the blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But 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)).
Vinegar is no substitute for bleach to remove stains out of clothing, and there is no substitute for the precious blood of Jesus to remove your sins. “Unto Him [Jesus] that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:55And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (Revelation 1:5)).
Have YOU been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are YOU washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are YOU fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are YOU washed in the blood of the Lamb?
ML-04/09/2000