Completely Clean (John 13:1-11 Jeff Kliewer)

I want to say good morning. It's a beautiful day out, isn't it? God gave us a great one today. Book of Proverbs, you can spend time in it reading through it and as you go through the 31 chapters there are so many incredible nuggets on wisdom and spending time reading that book will have blessings.

Spending time reading that book in prayer and asking the Holy Spirit to show you what God is teaching you, that's going to be real blessings. I encourage you when you're seeking for wisdom and stuff like that, go to the right source.

It says in Proverbs 2, verse 6, for the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding, Proverbs 2, verse 6. You know that there is really only one source of truth and that's God. He's the only source of truth and I firmly believe that His word, it's everything about His word, living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and I never will minimize that, but add on to that prayer and seeking God's will and His Holy Spirit's power and you have life-changingness.

God is also desiring, did you know this? It says the Lord gives wisdom. The Lord desires for each one of us to receive His wisdom. He's not wanting us just to go through life without His wisdom. Clearly the world's got all of its messages, but God desires for you to know truth.

He desires for you to get that wisdom. Our job is to surrender. If you surrender to God's truth, if you surrender to His sovereignty, when we listen to Him with that mindset, it will bear the fruit of wisdom and understanding and knowledge.

I pray that for each and every one of us. Some quick announcements. We have a baptism coming up in about four weeks. It will be right outside there. We are in the middle of baptism classes. They are not meeting today on Mother's Day, but the second class will be next week and if you are desiring baptism and haven't had a chance to participate, please let us know and we will work with you.

It's our desire to honor your desire to be obedient in baptism. This coming Saturday, we're going to have a cleanup day, sprucing up the building and the grounds at nine o 'clock, so we encourage you to come out and join with us in that.

Last weekend was amazing. Our 24-hour prayer and fast, which started Sunday evening at an incredible worship time, ended up breaking our fast with some great food. It was amazing, but that doesn't mean that our time for prayer for what's going to happen with our facility is over.

Continue in prayer. Continue to seek the Lord's will. But then we had the evangelism class and what an incredible teaching. Phil, thank you. That was awesome. We're going to be continuing the evangelism class this week and there'll be a total of four weeks of the evangelism class.

I think we're skipping Memorial Day. All right. But other than that, we'll be having four classes. Join with us on that. Because last week was a special worship time, we didn't have our normal prayer time, we're returning to that tonight.

Join with us at six o 'clock in the room back there for our prayer time, please. And now I want to take a special moment to acknowledge a gift that God has given to every single one of us. And I want to say for God, as we surrender to God, thank you to every single one of the mothers.

That we know and are here. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning.

We pray this morning for our mothers and for all mothers. It was in your sovereign will that you established the fact that women would be the mothers. That they would nourish and that they would have a special motherly love that would care for the family.

You empower them, you strengthen them. Children are a blessing and mothers are the ones that provide a special bond within a family that flourishes and that can honor God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for our mothers, for all mothers, we pray.

Lord, we also thank you for the blessings of wisdom and knowledge and understanding that come from your truth that are taught to us through your Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, that we might surrender to your sovereign will and it might be filled with your wisdom, your knowledge, your understanding.

Lord, we continue to pray for those in our midst in need. For those who have lost a mother or those who are struggling, we pray, Lord, be with each one of them. And with Pastor Jeff, as he opens the word to us, prepare our hearts.

Give him your very words. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Will you stand with me? Every day, as the Psalm 34 says, let us bless the Lord. Our voices rise worthy of our praise. A lot of our songs talk about mercy.

Sometimes we can overlook the importance of mercy because it just tags onto grace. But specifically, God doesn't owe us anything. By definition, mercy is that God's extending his kindness to those who don't deserve it.

In Hebrews 4 .16, it says, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of trouble. Let's continue on singing about his grace and his mercy and focus on what we did never deserve.

Because of your mercy did not deserve. But praise to you, O Lord, that your mercy is stronger. Stronger than the darkness. Stronger than our sin. That your mercy is more. We lift our voices to you only because you are worthy and you deserve.

Nothing less.

Into a sea without bottom or shore. Isn't it great to sing.

Rich theology like that? Praise God. Let's pray. Father, purge us with hyssop and we shall be clean. Wash us and we will be whiter than snow. Cleanse your church by the washing of water with the word.

That we might be presented in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. That we might be holy and without blemish. In Jesus name, amen. The National World War II Museum published an amazing true story on their website.

It's the story of class of third class Elgin Staples of Akron, Ohio. The year was 1942. On August 8th and August 9th, he was on board the U .S. Astoria in the Pacific. World War II. The Japanese spotted the ship and began to shine lights on it from afar and closed in an open fire and Staff Sergeant Elgin Staples was thrown overboard.

He was hit with a little bit of shrapnel but mostly he was just dazed and confused and landed in the water unaware of what hit him. Well, he would have died there, surely, except that he was wearing a life vest around his waist.

A flotation device that would save his life and it kept him afloat for four hours. As he bobbed in the water, the Astoria had gone on. Another U .S. ship called the USS Bagley arrived and plucked him out of the water and they went to help the Astoria and he transferred ship back to his original boat, the Astoria.

But as luck would have it, once the Bagley moved on, the Astoria actually had been taking on water and sunk. So poor Elgin Bagley here, he was, I'm sorry, Elgin Staples, he went down with the ship but the flotation device that he had been wearing saved his life again.

He was rescued a second time by this inflatable rubber life belt. Well, he was picked up by the USS President Jackson and when he got on board, he was just trying to catch his breath when he looked at this thing and he noticed that it was stamped, made by the Firestone Tire Company in Akron, Ohio.

Well, he was from Akron so he took note of that and he kept it as a memento for it having saved his life. He got home and in Akron began to tell the story in his living room. His mom was all ears and she related what she had been doing.

Finally, after he tells the story, after a quietly emotional welcome, I sat with my mother in our kitchen, telling her about my recent ordeal and hearing what had happened at home since I had gone away.

My mother informed me that to do her part, she had gotten a wartime job at the Firestone plant. Surprised, I jumped up and I grabbed my life belt from the duffel bag and I put it on the table in front of her.

Take a look at that mom, I said. It was made right here in Akron, Ohio at your plant. She leaned forward, taking the rubber belt in her hands, she read the label. She had just heard the story and knew that in the darkness of that terrible night, it was this piece of rubber that saved my life, he says.

When she looked up at me, her mouth and her eyes were open wide with surprise. Son, I'm an inspector at Firestone. This is my inspector number on the belt. She said it, her voice hardly above a whisper.

It was her work at the Firestone company that saved her own son's life. She didn't know it at the time. This is a true story of salvation of a lesser kind. God used her work and surely her prayers to save her own child.

And if that's the case, how much more will the heavenly father save his own? You know, the thing about this story that I love is that in the moment when Staples was in the water flailing about and this raft was saving his life, he had no clue how the story would come together.

And when that mom was working at the Firestone plant, praying for her son, doing what she could, she had no clue that it was one of those very flotation devices that she stamped that would save her own son's life.

But looking back in the rear view mirror, it all became clear. That's how it is with God's providence. Very often, as we live in the moment, we don't know what God is doing. We're looking at this world through a dark glass, but one day we will see face to face.

And we are going to be surprised by how everything comes together. Alistair Begg put it this way, you have to learn to read your Bible backwards. That sounds a little backwards, right? What does he mean by that?

Well, he means that revelation is progressive. As God gave the Old Testament, and then the Gospels, and then the Epistles, and finally Revelation, there's a progressive revelation such that later light casts light on what was said before, and it all makes sense as you look at it in the rear view mirror.

As you're following along, you don't see the whole picture, but when you get to the end of the story, you understand the significance of some things that went before. Turn with me to the book of John, chapter 13.

What happens in this story cannot be fully understood at the time it took place. It's only when we look at it in the rear view mirror that we fully understand the significance of what was happening to Peter when he had his feet washed.

This is not only the story of service. Some people have preached this passage as a moral example, and truly there is a moral example, we'll get to that next week, of how we should try to serve one another.

And the way Christ served the church, we should serve others, but there's something spiritual happening here. There's a symbolic significance to the washing of the disciples' feet. It points to the washing of regeneration, renewal by the Holy Spirit.

It points to salvation. It's deeper than having feet washed. It's really about being washed in the blood. It's about salvation. It's pointing as a symbol to that. Let's read it, John 13, 1 to 11. Now, before the feast of Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

He laid aside his outer garments, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, what I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet.

Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, not all of you are clean. Now, in the moment in which this happened to Simon Peter, we can sympathize with his confusion, can't we?

It is the creator of the universe now bending low to wash the feet of mere creatures. It's the master washing the feet of servants, the teacher washing the feet of disciples, and Peter objects to this because he recognizes that he should be serving the Lord.

You can't blame him for having an objection. I think there's something good in that. He desires, like John the Baptist saying, Lord, shouldn't you be baptizing me and not me baptizing you? It seems so upside down to Peter.

And then furthermore, when Jesus tells him what's happening there, he says he's completely clean, and so Peter would rightly think, well, there's no need to be washed, and yet he does need to have his feet washed.

So is he clean or is he not clean? It's very difficult to follow at this point, and that is why in verse 7, Jesus tells him, you don't understand now, but you will. So let's gain that understanding as we go verse by verse through the passage.

The first thing we need to understand in verses one to three is that Jesus always knew why he came and who belonged to him. The key in this passage, the first three verses, is that he knows his own. Look at verse one.

He's not learning that his hour had come. He's not just perceiving that based on the the movement of things and how things seem to be progressing. He knew that his hour has come because he had known it from before the foundation of the world.

Just like Nathanael sitting under the fig tree, Jesus saw him from a distance, so he knew this moment and he knew his own. Nathanael was astonished by this. How did you know me, Lord? Jesus saw him while he was seated under the fig tree in the same way.

He knows all of his own. It says, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. This is the story of the love of God for his own, for his sheep. He knows their names and he calls them by name and leads them out.

And he loves them so much so that he's willing to die for them, to lay down his life for the sheep. He knows his own. He also knows the heart of Judas Iscariot. Look at verse two. We get a glimpse now into the thoughts of Judas.

He's there with the others but his heart is not with them. For the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

Notice in verse three that Jesus knows that the father had given all things. And what was to happen? He is in control of this moment. He has knowledge of Judas and what Judas is about to do. And he knows those who genuinely belong to him.

He knows his sheep. It says he loved them to the end. Look at verse one. That is a beautiful picture of how completely Jesus will care for his sheep. The word end there is telos. He loved them to the end, to the telos, to the uttermost.

He will see it through completely. His love will not stop but see it through to completion. He loves his own. Whenever God makes a promise, that promise is yes and amen. He will be faithful even when people are faithless.

He cannot deny himself. He is faithful to his word. In Genesis chapter 17 verse 7, he said to Abraham regarding his offspring that they would always belong to him. He made an everlasting covenant. Genesis 17 7 said, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

God knows his own and he made a promise to Abraham that from Abraham a nation would arise and God would have an everlasting covenant with that nation. That particular ethnic people that descended from Abraham.

I was watching Fox News yesterday and just observing what's going on in the world which is never an encouraging endeavor but I noticed a reporter whose name is Trey Yinkst. You ever seen this guy before?

They send him into the most harrowing circumstances. In the beginning of the the Russian Ukrainian war, they had him right on the front lines and there's crashes and there's fires in in every direction and there he is with his microphone reporting on what's happening.

If there's a hurricane, they have him right there where the water's rising and the wind is blowing and you begin to fear for his safety. There's like a an RV blowing past him or the wind is like 120 miles an hour and he's hanging on to some flagpole as his feet are dangling in the wind and he's reporting.

The hurricane is getting intense. Well yesterday I was watching and this reporter was standing on the border between Israel and Palestine and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, they were shooting rockets into Israel and there was this reporter saying and here's Israel's iron dome and right behind him it launches a rocket into the air intercepting the jihadi rocket blowing it up and the shrapnels falling all around him and I'm thinking find shelter.

You're too close to the battle in this case. Point being, God has always been faithful to protect the nation of Israel. As you sit here this morning celebrating Mother's Day, rightly so, we also celebrate the 75th anniversary of Israel returning to the land.

May 14th, 1948, Israel was brought back into their promised land and a constitution was signed to establish them once again as a nation. Nationally, God is not done with his ethnic people. Now, does that mean that everyone who is an Israelite by descent is truly a child of God?

Not at all. In our passage today, verse two, you have Judas Iscariot who is a descendant of Abraham and yet his true father is the devil. Jesus said in John chapter 8, of the Pharisees who claimed their religious pedigree by descent from Abraham, thinking themselves to be children of God, he said that they were children of the devil.

So they had the right descent but they were not genuinely children of God. So what we have here is that God is keeping faith with his promise in Genesis 17, 7 for the nation of Israel. But not every individual Israelite is an Israelite indeed.

Those who believe in Christ, who are genuinely saved, are the children of God. It's been 75 years since Israel returned to the nation. But consider how astonishing it is that they exist at all. How many times have kings and kingdoms sought to destroy the Jewish people?

They were driven out by the Romans from Jerusalem in 70 AD and dispersed to the ends of the earth. And that really should have been the end of the story. About 300 years ago, the king of France, Louis XIV, asked the great Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal, what evidence do you have that there is a God?

And Pascal, who was a great Christian philosopher, said to the king, the Jews, your majesty, the Jews. He pointed out that the mere existence of this people, after all of the persecution and so much time, them not having a homeland is evidence that God has been protecting them.

Mark Twain, shortly after this, in 1899, wrote in Harper's Magazine about the Jewish people. He said this, the Egyptian, Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream stuff and passed away.

The Greek and Roman followed, made a vast noise and they are gone. Other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time. But it burned out and they sit in twilight now or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was.

All things are mortal but the Jew. All other forces pass but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? Now, Mark Twain, when he wrote those words in 1899, hadn't seen in the rear view mirror what we have to see today.

And that was the Jewish people going back into the promised land. But still back then, he noticed something is different about these people. And he said, what is it? He was an agnostic, a skeptic, and so he didn't know the answer to his question.

But we who have the word of God know this, the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of God lasts forever. God made covenant promises that are everlasting according to Genesis 17 7 with the offspring of Abraham, with the ethnic people, the nation of Israel.

And he has been true to those promises, bringing them back now into the promised land in the end times as we approach the fulfillment of the book of Revelation, which is many things yet future to us. One day we'll see those again in the rear view mirror that God is still working with his people.

In John 13 1 to 3, all of these whose feet will be washed are Jewish. But unlike Judas, it is only those who have faith who are true children of God, the individuals, including John and Peter. If God has been faithful to his promise to a nation to keep them, how much more will he be faithful to his children?

His own. The ones in view here are those that he has elected, has known from before the foundation of the world. He loves them and he will love them safely to the end. Verses 4 to 7, we see the beautiful picture.

He rises from supper, lays aside his outer garments, taking a towel around his waist. He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel. What a beautiful picture of service.

Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. At this moment, though, I want you to notice verses 4 to 7 are to show us that Peter does not yet understand what's happening.

He's not connecting to God. He's not connecting the dots. It says, Lord, do you wash my feet? And Jesus answers in verse 7, what I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.

So much of the Christian life is living where God has placed us and being able to see in the rearview mirror. We are situated after the cross and we have the full meaning of the passage that we're reading today.

We cannot understand it unless we're willing to look in the rearview mirror and see how everything came together at the cross on which Jesus died. The blood of Jesus washing us of our sin. You ever read through the Bible in a year?

Many of you are nodding your head yes, and many of you feel that little pain of conscience saying, yes, I've tried to do that, but I got stuck in the book of Leviticus. And that's where I stopped. No judgment zone here like Planet Fitness.

That's okay. We all struggle. The book of Leviticus mentions clean and unclean a hundred times. And reading through it as you go, not understanding the fullness of the story, not having the rearview mirror, you might get lost if you just start there.

Which is why Alistair Begg says you should read your Bible backwards. Understand the New Testament, then you'll have that light to see the the less illumined parts of the Old Testament. Why does Leviticus talk about cleanness and uncleanness so much?

Well, there are many things that made a person unclean. Leviticus 12, it's childbirth. Leviticus 13, it's infectious diseases like leprosy. Leviticus 15 is unusual bodily discharges. Later in Leviticus 15, it's bodily discharges related to reproduction.

Later in Numbers 19, it's touching a corpse or going into a tent where somebody has died. It could be the handling of water that was used in the killing of a red heifer. Very obscure things here. I can understand if you lose track.

It could be coming into contact with anybody else who is unclean. So you're reading through these things and it's a bit hard to follow. Questions should come into your mind. Well, if so many things make you unclean, how do you get clean?

The law had provisions for that. Numbers 19 had very elaborate washing ceremonies where you'd go and wash in a certain way in order to be made clean in the sight of God. But generally what's happening here is that to be clean is to be fit for worship.

An unclean vessel cannot be used in the temple. A lamb with blemishes cannot be used as a sacrifice. A pig is an unclean sacrificial animal and should not be eaten. All of these laws relating relating to the clean and the unclean demonstrate what is or is not fit for worship.

And so as we sit here today trying to understand and see that in the rearview mirror, what does that mean for us? Listen, nobody sitting here today is clean of their own righteousness. We together are unclean.

Proverbs 20 verse 9 would say, who can say I have made my heart pure? I am clean from my sin. That's Proverbs 20 verse 9. There's no one who's clean except one. Isaiah 64 6 says, we have all become like one who is unclean.

Leviticus is trying to help us understand that you're a sinner. You're not clean. You're not fit for worship. But Isaiah 64 6 takes it a step farther. All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

You picture the woman with a flow, an issue of blood. And cleanliness is not an obscure Old Testament book in her case. Cleanliness has come to dominate her life. And for years and decades she is outcast from the land of Israel, from the people of Israel.

Separated to and quarantined off from them. She is unclean. And she cannot have contact with other people lest they become unclean on her account. This is a picture of our uncleanness. That even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags in the sight of God.

What does Leviticus mean for us? It reveals that we have gone astray. And we have become defiled in the sight of God. And there's nothing we can do to clean ourselves. There's no wash basin that could take the sin away.

Even our righteous deeds are like filthy garments in the sight of God. Enter a holy and pure Messiah. He's never defiled himself with women. He's never had a lustful thought. He's never been enraged and had anger overtaken and murdered in his heart.

He's never stolen or lied or broken any of God's commandment. He is clean. And he sees a leper cast out from the community. Unclean, cries the leper. And this holy one, this pure one, approaches the leper, the unclean.

And all the people are gasping because this is the teacher. The rabbi is approaching a leper. And when he gets to him, he does the unthinkable. He touches the leper. And he's not defiled. Instead, the holiness and the purity of the one whose God himself heals the leper.

And then he's traveling about and the woman who is unclean with the flow of blood sees this holy one and knows that she must get to him. But she's ashamed. And sneaking in from behind, all she can bring herself to do is reach out and touch the hem of his robe.

And the moment her hand touches his robe, his holiness, his purity overwhelms her and heals her. He's making her clean. The only one who could do this, this church is a picture of the gospel. Do you see now in the rear view mirror how it all comes together?

Our impurity is great. But his purity is greater still. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that there is one who is pure. And it is his purity touching us, making us clean, that can make us right in the sight of God.

There's no other way. All else, all other supposed methods of getting right with God does nothing to wash sin away. It can't take the guilt away. Only Jesus, by the washing of his blood shed on the cross, can make a sinner clean.

It all comes together in Titus 3 .5. He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, Michael, mercy, as you sang for us today. By the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Or 1 Corinthians 6 .11, you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Hebrews 10 .22, let us draw near with the true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

Under the Old Testament Levitical system, there were provisions for the Israelite in the nation to become ceremonially clean. But it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats and the sprinkling of water to actually take away sin.

And so in the Old Covenant, we have a promise of a better covenant, the New Covenant. Ezekiel the prophet foresaw it in chapter 36 verse 25. He said, I will sprinkle clean water on you, you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

So here's Peter in the upper room, no clue what Jesus is doing, doesn't understand, and Jesus serves him by washing his feet. Do you understand what I have done? Peter does not. He's given a picture of the gospel, a picture of salvation, of what every person in this room and listening online, and all around the world, needs to see.

The only way to be made clean is to be washed by Jesus Christ. It's the only way. And so we see the conclusion of the matter in verses 8 to 11. Peter said to him, back to John 13, Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet.

Now again, we understand why he said that. He feels ashamed that the Lord, the master, would come and humble himself. He knows he should be the one serving, but never address the Lord as Lord, like as in verse 6, and turn around and tell the Lord what he shall never do.

That's just backwards. If you're going to call him Lord, ask him what to do. But Peter had that tendency, that foot-in-mouth syndrome, to say things like this, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

Again, unless you're washed in the blood of Jesus, you have no share in eternal life. But he's offering to wash feet. He's here as a servant to those who would believe. Simon Peter said to him, and I love this reaction, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

He wants to share with Jesus, and again he's confused. Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. I titled my sermon today, Completely Clean.

How is it that Peter is completely clean, and yet he needs his feet washed? Well, the analogy here is that regeneration, salvation, washes you completely clean. He takes every sin you've ever committed, and will commit this week, and in the future, and he takes that sin and throws it into the sea of forgetfulness.

He removes it from you as far as the east is from the west. He washes you and cleanses you, and you are completely clean. The doctrine behind this is called expiation. Expiation is the removal of guilt.

He takes your guilt away. Often theologians will talk about propitiation. That's God word. God has wrath against sinners, but Jesus propitiated God's wrath. He turned the wrath away, so that we are justified in God's sight.

He has no more wrath against us. Expiation is the guilt that was on us, the stain of sin, the uncleanness, based on the things that we have done. He expiates our sin. He removes our guilt and takes it off of us, leaving you completely clean.

And so why does Peter need to have his feet washed? If he's already completely clean. He already believes in Jesus. He's saved. Well, because Jesus still has Peter in the world and in the flesh. This picture is the walk of faith.

Until Jesus comes again to take us to be where he is, he's left us here in this world. And from time to time, church, you can testify that this is true. You're going to step in the mud. You're born again, you're completely clean, and yet you're walking in a fallen world.

And from time to time, you get your feet dirty. We all do. We step into sin. You react in a situation that is not led by the spirit, but it's the flesh. We all fall into sin. And to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

The sign of someone having been washed, having been washed already, is that you continue to come back to him to be cleaned when you step in the mud. Guys, when you first get saved, there's this joy of the Lord and you realize, hey, I'm not doing this and I'm not cussing and I'm not doing these other things anymore.

Therefore, I'm good. And you're walking on air. But the longer you walk with Jesus, the more astute your conscience becomes. And now you become more aware of your thoughts, and your attitudes, and your intentions, and your pride.

And though you're probably sinning less as you get closer to God in the walk of faith, you're actually confessing more. Your repentance is more frequent. That's the picture of a saved Christian, of a genuine Christian.

The person who prayed a prayer and walked an aisle, and now assumes God's got me, it's all good, and doesn't confess sin, and continues in the path of sin that he was walking prior to praying the prayer, is a false convert.

The mark of a genuine Christian is not that you will walk perfectly because we all stumble, we all fall. But when you do, you go to Jesus and you beg him to wash your feet. And he will. He's faithful and just to do it.

That is the sign of being regenerate. An analogy to help understand that you are clean comes from the book of Haggai. It's an obscure Old Testament book to some. Very interesting. Only two chapters. You should try to read it today, all right?