Evening, July 23
Go To Morning Reading
“The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7
“Cleanseth,” says the text—not “ shall cleanse.” There are multitudes who think that as a dying hope they may look
forward to pardon. Oh! how infinitely better to have cleansing now
than to depend on the bare possibility of forgiveness when I come
to die. Some imagine that a sense of pardon is an attainment only
obtainable after many years of Christian experience. But forgiveness
of sin is a present thing—a privilege for this day, a joy for this very hour. The moment a sinner
trusts Jesus he is fully forgiven. The text, being written in the
present tense, also indicates continuance ; it was “cleanseth” yesterday, it is “cleanseth” today, it will be “cleanseth” tomorrow: it will be always so with you, Christian, until you cross
the river; every hour you may come to this fountain, for it cleanseth
still. Notice, likewise, the completeness of the cleansing, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”—not only from sin, but “from all sin.” Reader, I cannot tell you the exceeding sweetness of this word, but
I pray God the Holy Ghost to give you a taste of it. Manifold are
our sins against God. Whether the bill be little or great, the same
receipt can discharge one as the other. The blood of Jesus Christ
is as blessed and divine a payment for the transgressions of blaspheming
Peter as for the shortcomings of loving John; our iniquity is gone,
all gone at once, and all gone forever. Blessed completeness! What
a sweet theme to dwell upon as one gives himself to sleep.
“Sins against a holy God;
Sins against his righteous laws;
Sins against his love, his blood;
Sins against his name and cause;
Sins immense as is the sea-
From them all he cleanseth me.”