That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. Ephesians 5:26
The lady who was selling the water filters turned on the tap and filled a glass with the water. Then she turned on the tap and ran some more water into her little filter machine. When the water had run through the filter, she poured that water into a second glass. Then, she took a special electronic measuring device and placed it into the second glass. The digital readout on its screen said 0.00. Then she placed the device into the first glass, with the water directly from the tap. The digital readout on its screen said 273.7. Obviously, there was something in the tap water that was not in the filtered water. The lady told us that the impurities in that tap water were not only going onto our bodies each time we washed or bathed, but were also going into our bodies each time we drank that water. She assured us that drinking the filtered water would help keep us clean on the outside and on the inside. That is also what the washing of water by the Word does for our souls.
But, you might ask, were we not washed by the blood of the Lamb when we were saved? Oh yes, that is gloriously true! Praise God, that precious blood has forever cleansed us from our sins and has made us fit to enter God’s sinless Heaven. But remember how the Lord Jesus, as He prepared to wash His disciples’ feet, told them that they had been washed, but still needed to have their feet washed (John 13:10). His message was that even though our sins have been washed away forever, we still become defiled by our contact with this sinful world and need daily cleansing. Also, despite our sinless status before God, we still dwell in sinful bodies and we sin every day (at least I do). So we need to have that defilement tended to. And it is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit uses to give us the daily cleansing that our souls need.
Just as the filtered water would keep us clean on both the outside and inside, so too will the Word of God cleanse us outwardly and inwardly. Outwardly, it will clean up our testimony so that our talk is not the gutter language of the world, so that our dealings with people are always with honesty and kindness, and so that we do nothing to bring reproach on our Lord. Inwardly, it will purify our thoughts and our intentions, it will give us a desire to know and to follow the will of God, it will give us a zeal in the Gospel and a love for lost souls, and it will give us a heart to do good to the Lord’s people.
Even the purest of water will do little good unless applied. Let us study and obey the Word of God, that it might sanctify and cleanse us today. -Jim MacIntosh