We Need to Be Regularly Washed and Cleansed by the Word of God

• Now we’ll go on to another aspect of God’s word which is cleansing or washing or sanctifying. Various words can be used. You know the word sanctify means to make holy. So, God’s word washes you, cleanses you, sanctifies you. Not outwardly but inwardly. You know how terrible it is to be really dirty, hot and sticky and have no way to wash.
• There you are, you’ve just got to endure it. As a soldier in the army in wartime we were often in that condition. But think how much worse it is to be dirty inside and have no way to wash. What a priceless privilege it is to know how we can cleanse ourselves. Think of the billions of people on earth today who don’t know how to be cleansed.
• What a privilege we have. Let’s read Ephesians 5:25-27. Paul is comparing the relationship between a husband and wife to that between Christ and His church, which is called the bride of Christ. And so, this is what he says: Husbands, love your wives. Let me pause there and say to you, husbands: That’s not a recommendation, it’s a command.
• There’s a book, I don’t know whether you’ve come across. It’s got a long title: Do Yourself a Favor, Love Your Wife. And really, it’s silly not to love your wife, I’ll tell you that. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, the Word of God.
• And that’s the spoken word, rhema, not logos. That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish. That’s the church that Jesus intends to take as His bride. But in order for the church to become like that it has to be cleansed and sanctified with the washing of water by the taught and preached and read word of God.
• I have preached in so many congregations all around the earth really and I discover that today Charismatics and Pentecostals all have some idea of praise and worship. We’ve got wonderful choruses that have come to us that we can sing, we can clap our hands, shout, get excited. That’s good but I have discovered that there’s a difference in a congregation that is regularly taught the word of God.
• There’s a purity and a holiness in their worship which you don’t find in a congregation that just comes and expresses its feelings but hasn’t had the cleansing of the word of God. The only way to have true pure worship is for people to be regularly washed and sanctified by the word of God. And that is really the responsibility of the ministry in the church is to see that God’s people are regularly cleansed with the word of God.