i. 16. _Wash you, make you clean._
This is one of a very numerous class of passages which summon sinners
to the duty of moral purification, of thorough and complete
reformation of character (Jer. iv. 14; James iv. 8; Jer. xviii. 11;
Ezek. xviii. 30-32, &c.) These passages are very clear and emphatic,
but they seem to be in opposition to others which assert man's
natural inability to do anything that is good (Matt vii. 18; Rom.
vii. 18-23; John xv. 5), with others which teach that repentance is a
Divine gift (Acts v. 31; 2 Tim. ii. 25), and with those which teach
that sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. vi. 11,
&c.) The opposition is only apparent.[1] Every Divine command really
involves a promise of the grace necessary for its accomplishment, and
God is ever ready to work with and in us "to will and to do of His
good pleasure."[2] Fallen as we are, we yet retain the power of
responding to or of rejecting His admonitions; if we respond to them,
there instantly begins to flow into our souls that which will enable
us to accomplish everything that God has required (Phil. iv. 13).
Three great questions--+I. Why must we cleanse ourselves from evil?+
1. _Because sin renders us offensive to God._ It is in itself
repulsive to Him, just as immodesty in all its forms and in every
degree is repulsive to a virtuous woman (Hab. i. 13; Prov.
xxxi. 10-31). 2. _Because it is destructive to ourselves._ In
physical matters dirt and disease are inseparable, and so they are in
spiritual. Moral pollution leads to moral decay. Sin is a leprosy
that eats away all the finer faculties of the soul. 3. _Because it
renders us dangerous to our fellow-men._ In the measure that we are
corrupt, we shall corrupt others. There is a terrible contagiousness
in iniquity (Prov. xxii. 24, 25; Rev. xviii. 4). A sinner is a
walking pestilence. And 4. The special lesson of our text in its
connection--_Because otherwise access to the throne of grace will be
closed against us._ If it be not so with us now, yet there will come
a season when it will be supremely important to us that God should
hear our prayers (a time of great trouble, or the hour of death), and
how awful will be our condition if God should then turn a deaf ear to
us! But this is the doom of obdurate sinners (ver. 15; Jer. xi. 14,
&c.) +II. How may we cleanse ourselves from evil?+ 1. _By resolutely
putting off our old evil habits._ This is what Isaiah exhorted the
Jews to do (vers. 16, 17). Similar exhortations occur in the New
Testament (Eph. iv. 25-29; Heb. xii. 1). Begin with the faults of
which you are most conscious.[3] Begin and continue the great task of
moral reformation in humble dependence upon God. 2. _By prayer._ In
earnest communion with God our views of duty and purity receive a
marvellous elevation, and we catch the inspiration of the Divine
character, so that iniquity, instead of being attractive, becomes
hateful to us also.[4] 3. _By humble but resolute endeavours to copy
the example of our Lord Jesus Christ._ 4. _By intercourse with the
people of God._[5] 5. _By making the Word of God the only and
absolute rule of our life_ (Ps. cxix. 1). These are the means by
which we may attain to moral purity in the future. Cleansing from the
guilt of sin in the past is bestowed freely on all who believe in
Jesus (1 John i. 7-9). Yea, the guilt of a man whose hands are
literally "full of blood" may thus be washed away; _e.g.,_ Saul, the
persecutor and murderer of the saints (Acts. xxii. 4, 16; 1 Tim.
i. 16). +III. When may we cleanse ourselves from evil? NOW!+ this
very hour the task ought to be begun. 1. Difficult as the task is,
delay will only increase its difficulty.[6] 2. Now, because God's
commands brook no delay. (Ps. xcv. 7, 8). 3. Now! because now though
God may be willing to-day to grant you "repentance unto life," by
your delay you may so provoke Him to anger that _to-morrow_
repentance may be denied you.