Our Daily Cleansing

John Owen (1616-1683) a Puritan theologian saw the believer's need for daily cleansing. He wrote, "Go daily to Jesus for cleansing. Hence also is manifest the necessity we have of continual applications to Jesus Christ for cleansing virtue from his Spirit and the sprinkling of his blood on our consciences to purge them from dead works."

Owen recognized the need for daily cleansing from our sins as believers. Not only did he recognize the need, but more importantly, he recognized that cleansing is open daily for all believers. Our conscience witnesses to our need. The blood of Jesus avails to cleanse us from all sin.

There are no perfect Christians here below. Our temptations continue. Our battle with the flesh is reality (Galatians 5:17). The believer's sanctification is not perfect nor complete. Our growth in holiness continues, but we do sin from time to time. Free from the bondage to sin, we are not yet free from the temptation to sin.

Our Lord Jesus not only cleanses us at the point of conversion, but he graciously continues to cleanse us as we confess our sins (1 John 1:7, 9). Scripture warns us not to claim that we are sinless. If we do, then we only deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8, 10). John Owen wisely saw "the believer's need for daily cleansing." 

Your New Creation

The Word and Spirit brings forth your new creation in Christ. The word of the gospel is about the Word who became flesh, even Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). The power of the Holy Spirit, who inspired the written word of God, makes you a new creation through faith the gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16).

John MacArthur wrote "The unbelieving heart must be made alive, transformed, cleansed, and renewed (Ephesians 2:4). And it is the Holy Spirit who regenerates sinners, such that those who were formerly miserable wretches are reborn as new creations in Christ."

MacArthur further stated, "To see a spiritually dead sinner made alive in Christ Jesus by the power of the Spirit is to witness an actual miracle of God." He concluded, "The same Source of explosive power that brought the world into existence out of nothing is today at work in the hearts and lives of the redeemed."

The Spirit of God who moved in creation, has moved in your new creation. Every time a sinner is truly born again, there is new creation. If anyone is in Christ, he has become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). God's Spirit takes away a heart like stone to create a new heart within you (Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26). The agent of your new creation is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christ Revealed to All

The Holy Bible is actually 66 books and letters in the Old and New Testaments. Many would think that Revelation is one of the hardest books in the Bible to understand. Christ is the key to interpreting the Book of Revelation. It is "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1). From Genesis to Revelation, Christ is revealed to all in the Bible.

The revelation of Jesus Christ to all is in the Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit. He is the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. The prophets spoke of the One who was coming. The New Testament declared He has come. His name is JESUS, who came as the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world. 

Christ is revealed to all in the Bible through progressive revelation. God spoke in times of old by the prophets who knew in part and prophesied in part (Hebrews 1:1-2). Today, we have the full revelation of Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God incarnate. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

All Scripture points all to Christ. There are literally hundreds of types pointing toward Christ in the Old Testament. For example, the Passover Lamb in Exodus points toward Christ our Passover. "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). It's the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Filled with the Spirit

All Christians are commanded to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). Those who are filled with the Spirit yield to the love and power of God (Acts 1:8; Ephesians 3:19). How can we be filled with the Holy Spirit? The Bible gives us clear instruction about being filled with the Spirit.

On the Day of Pentecost the disciples were both baptized and filled with the Spirit (Acts 1:5; 2:4). They were baptized by the Spirit to become the body of Christ collectively. They were individually filled with the Spirit. Nowhere in Scripture are you commanded to be baptized with the Spirit. Believers are commanded to be filled, and to keep on being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

We are filled with the Holy Spirit through prayer. "And when they had prayed . . . they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4:31). The apostle Paul wrote his prayer for all believers to be filled with God's Spirit (Ephesians 3:14-21). Those who are filled with the Holy Spirit are filled with the power of God's love.

We are filled with the Holy Spirit yielding to Jesus Christ as Lord through prayer and obedience. For that reason, A.W. Tozer could say, "The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people."

Condemned or Justified

Justification is a legal term. In court, one accused of a crime is either condemned or justified. Based upon the merit of Christ, sinners are justified before God. His sinless life and substitutionary death on the cross for sinners is the basis for our justification. We are justified "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24).

We are justified by faith in Christ. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). Faith is trust and confidence, relying upon Christ alone. By faith in Christ, sinners are justified with God.

We are justified by grace alone through faith in Christ. Faith receives the grace of God in Christ. Faith is the evidence that the believer is justified before God. It is the assurance of faith. "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed" (Romans 4:16).

We are justified by faith alone in Christ unto righteousness. The only way we can become righteous before God is by faith alone. Righteousness is the gift of God to us. "But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5).

Confess Jesus Is Lord

"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). Is Jesus your Lord? If so, you believe that Jesus is risen indeed. Therefore, you confess Jesus is Lord.

Jesus risen from the dead is the singular most important doctrine in the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:17). The salvation of every believer rests upon the resurrection of Christ. It's the miracle you must believe to be saved. Confessing Jesus as Lord is the earliest confession of the Christian faith. It focuses upon the resurrection of Jesus as our confession of faith.

You are willing to confess Jesus is Lord, when the Spirit of God convinces you (John 16:7-11). The Holy Spirit illumines the mind and brings you to repentance, a change of mind, concerning the resurrection of Christ. Then and only then, you will truly confess that Jesus is Lord, because you know the truth personally. "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Believing the gospel and confessing from your heart that Jesus is Lord means you are saved. The word saved means to be delivered from the condemnation and judgment of your sins. Also, it means to be delivered from the wages of sin which is death (Romans 6:23). To be saved is to receive eternal life through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Spirit's Abiding Gifts

The Christian life is Christ in you. The Spirit of Christ, also know as the Holy Spirit indwells every believer (Romans 8:9). Upon believing the gospel of Christ, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, "having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13). The Holy Spirit is in you with the abiding gifts of faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

The Spirit of Christ abides in you with the gift of faith. It is the faith of Jesus Christ. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). The Holy Spirit abides in every Christian with the gift of faith. It is faith from Christ and faith in Christ. Faith is trust, confidence, and reliance upon Christ.

The Spirit of Christ abides in you with the gift of hope. It is your hope in Christ. The Holy Spirit brings hope in Christ. It is the hope of glory, which means the hope of the believer's glorification. Everything you are, or hope to be, is in Christ. We are "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).

The Spirit of Christ abides in you with the gift of love. It is the Father's love for us in Christ and our love for Christ. Love is a gift of the Holy Spirit and the greatest evidence of Christ in you. Without the love of Christ, there is no real and true Christian life. Christ in you is the love of the Holy Spirit in your heart (Romans 5:5).

The Trinity Revealed

The Trinity of God is revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible clearly reveals the Trinity in your eternal salvation. There is election by the Father, redemption by the Son, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. The three eternal Persons of the Holy Trinity work in perfect harmony from the beginning to the completion of your salvation.

Water baptism reveals a public testimony to the Trinity. Jesus commanded us to baptize believers in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for your eternal salvation. The triune God saves you to the praise of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

God the Father chose to save us by grace through His Son Jesus. God the Son came to reveal the fullness of God's grace (John 1:14). That grace for sinners was fully revealed at the cross of Jesus. His substitutionary death guarantees your eternal salvation, for you and all who believe the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4). His glorious resurrection is every believer's justification.

God the Holy Spirit is revealed as the Spirit of grace, applying eternal salvation to your heart. The Holy Spirit seals every believer as the guarantee of your eternal salvation, complete unto glorification in the day Christ returns (Ephesians 1:13-14).