Holy Cleansing

Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.


Pure water.


We cannot enter into the kingdom of God if we are impure. We must be cleansed. Baptism- being immersed in water from head to toe, totally submerged we are completely covered in water. Baptism signifies the washing away of our old lives, the lives we lived before we came to know Jesus. Baptism signifies that we want our old lives to die so that we can rise anew into a life with Christ as our Savior. Repenting of our unsaved life, repenting of the sins that have covered us we are seeking to be cleansed when we are baptized. Baptism is an outward, public symbol of our desire to be God's. Except we are born of the water… except we are baptized… we cannot enter into the kingdom of God.


The realization of our filthy state, the realization of our need for cleansing is a must. You cannot enter the kingdom of God filthy it's not possible. You cannot enter the kingdom of God unclean. The kingdom of God is pure and holy and all that is clean and anything unclean is immediately rejected. Is it any wonder we have to symbolically show our willingness to be cleansed?


John the Baptist went about baptizing many - baptizing the one who was pure and in need of NO cleansing. Jesus was our example in all things and Jesus was immersed in water- symbolizing cleansing, symbolizing becoming pure. He allowed this act which began His ministry so that we would realize its importance.


Priests were to be clean. Purification acts of cleansing were necessary. These acts didn't clean the heart but they symbolically represented the NEED to be clean. We need to be born of the water, we need to be clean, we need to recognize our NEED to be clean, and in recognizing the need to be clean we must understand that we are dirty.


Baptism alone isn't enough, the symbolic cleansing isn't enough, we must be born of the Spirit as well.


Only the Holy Spirit can truly cleanse the spirit within us. We could wash our outwards selves until our flesh is raw. We could bathe endlessly. We could submit to a purification of the likes contaminated scientists undergo, or wash our entire bodies as a performing surgeon washes his hands and arms, we could go to any lengths to clean our bodies of every contaminant but we cannot cleanse our spirit. You could even clean the inside of your body with fasts and such, but you cannot TOUCH your spirit to clean it. Only the Holy Spirit can cleanse the spirit. We can symbolically show our willingness to be clean for our Savior, which reveals our willingness to have the Holy Spirit cleanse our spirit self. Being born of the Spirit is as necessary as being born of the water to enter the kingdom of God.


Purity is heavenly- pure water.


Rev 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.


Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.


The water of life the purest water. We will partake of this purest of waters one day when we inherit the kingdom of God.


Pure. Clean. Cleansed. Spotless. WE are made pure by our Savior. We are washed clean in His blood.


Is it any wonder we are to partake of the SYMBOLIC act of eating and drinking of Christ's body and blood? Christ is pure, Christ is the only one who could cleanse us by HIS sacrifice. As baptism is symbolic of cleansing our bodies, our eternal cleansing is symbolically shown through the bread and wine taken into our bodies. The Holy Spirit with both cleansing acts is the power of God acting within us, transforming us in ways we could NEVER clean ourselves, never. We cannot save ourselves but submit to being saved by our LORD, choose to be saved by our LORD.


Born of the water, born of the Spirit only then do we have hope of entering the kingdom of God.


All glory, all praise, all honor to our King and Savior!


Amen.