W
alk into almost any grocery store and most likely you will see hundreds of different types of soap: Soaps that come in tall bottles and short bottles, colorful soaps and colorless soaps, granules, liquids, gels, flakes, bar soaps, soaps that wash hands, hair, bodies, dishes, floors, tires, tiles, cars, windows and just about anything else under the sun.
We can wash a lot of things clean with soap, but one stain that cannot be scrubbed clean with them is the stain of sin on us and in us. “Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord God” (Jeremiah 2:2222For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. (Jeremiah 2:22)). Every member of the human race needs a deep cleaning, because they have been deeply stained with sin. “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:66But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)).
We are far too precious to go on living “marked with iniquity” and as “filthy rags.” If we owned a piece of clothing that we really liked and it was fouled with ugly stains of dirt, grease or grime, we wouldn’t rest easy until it was cleaned. How much more should we never rest easy until we have the stain of sin washed away?
Our Greatest Need
The greatest need of any of us is to be cleansed from the stain of sin. This is because, if the stain is not removed, it will bring us into eternal ruin. Those who die with the stain of sin on them will be banished out of God’s presence forever and sent away to the darkness of hell.
God loves us way too much to let this terrible evil happen and not do something about it. The Lord Jesus came into this world and shed His precious blood on Calvary’s cross. Because He is the Son of God, His blood has the power to wash away the sins of all those who place their faith in Him. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (John 1:7)). Even if your sins were ten thousand times greater than they actually are, His blood could still wash your soul clean the instant you believe.
When a person believes in Christ, His precious blood washes them whiter than snow and makes them fit for heaven. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)).
This is the most magnificent cleansing power in the universe! Nothing compares with it. It takes the most horrible stain — sin — and washes it away so that not one spot remains. It makes us ready to enter into God’s presence.
At some future moment, everyone that has been washed in the blood of Christ will be welcomed into heaven where he or she will see the Lord Jesus, and the sight will fill each with so much overflowing joy that words are powerless to describe it.
The soaps you may buy at a store are good for many purposes, but they are powerless to cleanse anyone from the stain of sin. To get rid of that stain, you need to humble yourself and come believing to the Lord Jesus Christ.
A songwriter wrote:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners washed in that blessed.flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
Won’t you come to the Lord Jesus so that He may wash away all your guilty stains?