Washing Sins (Part 2)
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Washing Sins (Part 2)----------------------------- Date: 3/15/2000
Keywords:
"kingdom of God" "righteousness"
"unrighteousness" "washed"
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Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11*
9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate [male prostitutes], nor homosexuals,
10. nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were
sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit
of our God.
Question
Are you living with unwashed sins?
Practical help
We continue today thinking about washing. Verse 11 tells us that
Christians have been (past tense) washed. We are different now because of this washing
that has already occurred. What does Paul mean? To answer this, let's look at Paul's
personal testimony about his own conversion. He recounts it in Acts 22. Remember that
before Paul was converted, his name was Saul and he was arresting Christians to throw them
in jail, in order to destroy the New Faith that was threatening Judaism. On his way to
Damascus, he was struck blind by a great light and Jesus spoke to him. Let's pick up the
story, as Paul speaks in verse 11.
11. "But since I could not see because of the brightness of
that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.
12. "And a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the
standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
13. came to me, and standing near said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive
your sight!' And at that very time I looked up at him.
14. "And he said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to
know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear an utterance from His mouth.
15. 'For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have
seen and heard.
16. 'And now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away
your sins, calling on His name.'
Paul's sins were washed away. Does this mean he doesn't recall them?
Of course not, because he is able to recount them in this story and elsewhere. It does
mean they no longer contaminate him and they no longer identify him. He became a new
creature. The same goes for you. No matter what your past, if you have accepted Jesus as
your Savior, your sins have been washed away.
But what if you sinned after you accepted Jesus as your Savior?
Look at 1John 1:9.
9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God makes the rules and you do not. Your guilt and shame over your
sins are to move you toward your loving Savior. By faith (not feelings or intellect) you
are to accept His forgiveness and walk forward cleansed and grateful into a new day.
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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright
The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by
permission."