Here are some implication / application notes to round out Sunday’s message:
Implications of Cleanliness Laws (APPLICATION POINTS)
For man to be right with God, he must be cleansed within and without (Christ does this in making us new thru the Cross)
The whole person must be cleansed, therefore the whole person must be sanctified
- 1 Peter 1:14-15, “14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
- Heb.10:14, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
- 2 Peter 1:9, “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”
This turns the most subdued believer into a cheerleader for Jesus!
- Not merely because of how stringent and embrassing these laws seem
- Because it reveals just how impossible it is to be cleansed apart from Jesus — then He cleanses us through and through!
- We are redeemed wholly so that we may worship wholly…this would make us Holy!
- Mark 12:30, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
We must consider the Community!
- Sin has its consequences, and they are always more extensive than we think
- While foods are now clean, we are charged to think first of the body of Christ (Romans 14)
- Grace does not exalt personal rights over joy in the community
- 1 Cor.10:23-33, “23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.”
Redemptive message to the World!
- You can be clean!!!
- Whatever sin and its effects you can be cleansed!
- Have a disease because of sinful choices? You can be clean!
- Rejected because your an orphan in Russia born with AIDS? You can be clean – not necessarily healed, but God will receive you because your affliction represents your sin nature. You need forgiveness, not because of the AIDS but because your a sinner.
- Jude 22-23, “22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” (Hate sin and its corrupting effects)
- Hebrews 10:19-22, “19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Grounded 
My favorite sequence on cleansing is in the Gospel of John:
Joh 13:8 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.”
Joh 13:9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
Joh 13:10 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.”
I only hope that I can have Peter’s passion for cleanliness. He was a man who always strove to be as close to Jesus as he could be – even if it meant jumping out of a boat.
Thanks for the great encouragements from Scripture.
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