The Cleansing of Our Sins

John 13:7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this”

When we first get saved, we don’t always know what is happening to us.  Sometimes, we don’t even know what we are doing when we give our life to Jesus.  When we give our lives to God, we are saying that we are tired of the state that we are in.  Many people may search their whole life trying to find out what life is about, but they will never find it until they give their life to Christ.  You can search and search, but there is only one thing that is the answer.  You may ask me, “How do you know this Jesus is the right answer?”  You may say that I’m wrong.  That’s fine.  But if you are right and I’m wrong, then why is it that I’m so happy and if your life is not given to Christ, then you’re not happy.  Why am I happy?  I found the truth.  I found the purpose of life.   You may think that this isn’t for you, or you are not good enough.  Jesus is for everyone.  You may think that you have sin that can’t be forgiven, but even Paul was saved, in Acts 26:1-18 Paul is talking about how he came to Christ.  He used to persecute the Christians and God called him to follow him.  Romans 3:23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Romans 10:13 says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.  

We Must be Saved

John 13:8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.  Jesus answered him.  If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

This is what Jesus says to us, if I don’t wash your feet, or sins; I have no part with you.  When Jesus says he wants to wash our feet, He’s saying I want to wash away all the dirt from your life.  During the times of Jesus, the people wore sandals and walked in the desert.  Their feet were constantly with dirt.  Jesus is saying I will continue to wash your feet clean as long as you come to me, when you realize you have sinned.  There are times when we go back to the desert and become dirty again, all we have to do is to come to Jesus.  If we have no part with Jesus, then we have no part with God, if we have no part with God, then we will never be part of heaven.  We have to get to Jesus to get to God.   

Every Part Must be given to God

John 13:9 says, Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

When we ask Jesus to come in our heart, we are not to say clean my dirty parts that are obvious, but clean every part of my body, both inside and out.  Peter is saying clean the top, the bottom, and everything in between; do not leave any part of me that is dirty.  In order for God to clean everything in us, we must continue to have a relationship with Him.  This is not a one-time deal that we are agreeing to this is a lifestyle.  In order to be completely clean we must give everything completely to God.  In order to do this, we must go to the word of God for answers, pray to God, and live our life as Jesus did.  

Not All of Us is Clean

John 13:10 Jesus saith to him, ”He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”

If we have already been washed by Christ, or saved, then there are only certain parts of us that must be cleansed.  In order to find them, we must seek Gods face.  We must continue to press forward, not only in our prayers, but our Christian walk as well.  This means we must continue to strive for perfection.  Hebrews 6:1 says, therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.  This is saying once we start to learn the ways of God, we must continue to live them and to learn more.  If we fail to have a relationship with God, then we will go back to the way that we were.  If this happens, then we will have to repent to go back to Him.  If we have to keep on repenting then God will not be able to use us.  We must continue to grow and be used by God. 

 You Must be Serious

John 13:11 says, For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”

In order to really be forgiven, we must really mean it.  God knows who is serious and who isn’t.  If you ask God to forgive you and you do not mean it in your heart, then your lying to God.  The word repent means to think differently, or compunction.  Compunction is a strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt or a sting of conscience or a pang of doubt aroused by wrongdoing or the prospect of wrongdoing.  When you repent, if there is no guilt or if your not regretting what you have done, then there is no reason to repent, because in most cases that person isn’t serious.