Christian Reality: We are all unclean! - Psalm 26:6

Text:  “I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass Thine altar, O Lord.”
Psalm 26:6.

          “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth (understands and continues to understand), there in none that seeketh (seeks and continues to seek) after God.  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth (does and continues to do) good, no, not one.”
Romans 3:10-12.

Good morning, daily sanctified Christian! The Lord God has given you and I true faith to believe in His Word, as contained in the King James Version of our written Bibles.  Faith is His gift to us, that we might believe in our sinfulness; that we might believe in Christ’s total and perfect righteousness; that we might believe that there will most definitely be a great Judgement Day, when the souls of all men/women shall be weighed in the balance in order to see if we measure up to the perfect righteous standard for going to Heaven  Christ’s perfect Holiness.  (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Such belief requires a God-given faith.  If the Lord God in His Sovereignty does not see fit to grant the individual such a means to believe - faith - then that soul will not be saved, but Eternally lost.  This is merely a written FACT of true Bible-belief.

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”  (Revelation 21:15)

The Lord Jesus teaches us: “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.  My sheep hear (hear with the ear and believe in the heart) My voice (His Word), and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them Eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.  My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.  I and My Father are ONE.”  (John 10:26-30)

The Psalmist in verse six of Psalm 26 says he will ‘…wash his hands in innocency…’, and as a consequence of doing so shall be allowed of the Lord to ‘…compass Thine altar, O Lord.’; or gather around God’s altar to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

In order to come to this position of desiring to ‘…wash his hands in innocency…’; the Psalmist, as we all must equally, recognises his guilt and sin!  Otherwise he would have no need to ‘…wash his hands in innocency…’!  The Spirit of God’s first ministry to the soul of sinners is to ‘…reprove the world of sin (our sin), and of righteousness (Christ’s perfect righteousness), and of judgement (the Day of Judgement that will surely come).’  (John 16:8)

Therefore, for you and I to become deeply aware of our sin (falling short of Christ’s perfect righteousness), the Holy Spirit must do his work of ‘quickening’ in our unregenerate (dead) spirit; and lead us to sincerely desire to ‘…wash our hands in innocency…’ through the sinless and precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversations (entire lifestyle) receive by tradition from you fathers (man-made religion?); but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.”  (1 Peter 1:18-19)

We will never seek God’s forgiveness until God enlightens us that we have sinned!  True repentance is also a gift from the Lord God. 

Verse 6.  “I will wash my hands in innocency; so will I compass Thine altar, O Lord.  Whatever Rome’s physiologists pretend for the power of nature and of free will, we wretched sinners are taught to conceive more truly of our own infirmity.  Christ’s own apostle, stout Thomas, failed in the faith of His (Christ’s) resurrection; Peter (whose chair is now the pretended seat of infallibility) denied his Master; David, ‘a man after God’s own heart,’ hath need of washing; and who can say, ‘I am pure in the sight of the Lord’?  Certainly, O Lord, no flesh is righteous in Thy sight.”  (Isaac Bargrave 1623)

With this Scripture-knowledge in mind, therefore, what should we do if we are not certain that we in fact HAVE true Salvation in Christ and His Atonement Sacrifice?

We must seek faith in God’s Word (Romans 10:17); cry out to the Lord with that faith for His gift of true repentance; and openly acknowledge the truth of Christ and His Eternal Salvation to others - that they too might be reproved of sin and seek faith to believe and be Eternally saved. 

“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; IF God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”     (2 Timothy 2:25)

As regenerate Christians, we too must seek fresh repentance from our daily sins, that we might ‘walk in the light’ with our lovely Lord Jesus.  Keep short accounts of sin!

Thought:  To walk close to God - keep short accounts of personal sin, confess it to Him in sincere and faithful prayer.  (1 John 1:6-10)

       Roof-top Salvation? -        Psalm 26:7

Text:  “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.  The Lord hath taken away thy judgements, He hath cast out thine enemy; the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.”

 -  -      Zephaniah 3:14-15.

Good morning, Roof-top shouting Christian!  Having more fully realised the absolute wonder of what the Living Lord Jesus has done for you, you cannot contain the knowledge of His amazing grace without shouting it from the highest roof-tops for all sinners to hear.  You do well, beloved Christian; you do very well - for there is no such thing as a ‘secret Christian’.  Please continue to shout out the fact of God’s Eternal Salvation and let your rejoicing be heard among the lost souls on the pavements below.

“How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach, except they be sent?  As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”  (Romans 10:14-15)

But WHY should the roof-top Christian’s ministry be thought so important to pursue?  Why?  Because we believe the Scriptures, and the Scriptures clearly teach us that, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”   (Romans 10:17)

“…Without faith it is impossible to please Him (the Lord God); for he/she that cometh to God must believe that He is (exists), and that He is a rewarder of them that seek Him.”  (Hebrews 11:6)

It is a most logical conclusion, therefore that, if faith be the vital requirement for Christian Salvation; and ‘…faith comes by hearing…’; then it is our bounden duty to shout out the Gospel message of Salvation in Christ alone; by God’s grace alone; through faith alone; to God’s glory alone! 

Only a ‘Spiritual miser’ would refuse to loudly proclaim the way to Eternal Freedom for mankind lost in sin’s dark swamps.  “Let The redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.”  (Psalm 107:2)

Verse 7.  “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving…”  For about fifteen years now, I have sought to choose portions/books of the Bible and try to expound them in written Bible Lessons and put them out weekly on the internet, that I might strengthen and encourage the Church of Christ Jesus, my Lord, worldwide and universal.  Then, when I complete a section of Bible Exposition, I have saved up, and gathered in, the finances to have my Bible Lessons printed in Bible-Teaching Booklets. 

I have, by God’s good grace, ’published with the voice of thanksgiving’ all that the Lord has enabled me publish; sent or taken my printed materials out to the nations - India, Burma, Africa, America, England, Scotland, Wales, and here in Northern Ireland UK, the Philippines; and in recent weeks, over into the Czech Republic.

In this manner, and by God’s Sovereign grace and provision alone, I have sought to fulfil my God-given vocation - to share Christ, and Him Crucified with all other souls that I possibly can.  The Sovereign Lord God alone imparts faith to those whom He elects to save by His Sovereign and amazing grace.  All glory to His Name. In this manner I have, in the words of some greater writer than myself, sought to fulfil the practical purpose of evangelism: ’one beggar telling other beggars where to find bread’ - the Eternal Bread of Life, Christ Jesus, and Salvation in Him alone.

“Cast thy bread (Gospel truth) upon the waters (the nations); for thou shalt find it (it will accomplish the purpose of God) after many days.”  (Ecclesiastes 11:1)

“For as the rain cometh down and the snow from Heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth (the Bible); it shall not return unto Me void (empty), but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it.”(Isaiah 55:10-11)

I dearly desire to be ‘a roof-top shouting Christian’ for Jesus - please pray for me?  Without the power of the Lord, we can do absolutely nothing. (John 15:5)

Verse 7. “…And tell of all Thy wondrous works.  God’s people should not be tongue-tied.  The wonders of Divine grace are enough to make the tongue of the dumb sing.  God’s works of love are wondrous if we consider the unworthiness of their objects, the costliness of their method, and the glory of their result.  And as men find great pleasure in discoursing upon things remarkable and astonishing, so the saints rejoice to tell of the great things which the Lord hath done for them.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 133)

So, let me humbly ask you, dear Christian - have you realised your need to be a ‘roof-top shouting Christian’?  Do you value your Salvation enough to reveal its wonder to others in vital need of Christ’s Salvation?  Or have you fallen asleep on watch, and merely become a ‘Laodicean’; ‘…neither cold nor hot…’; fit only to be, in the Lord’s Words, ‘…spued out of Christ’s mouth…’; ‘…wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.’?  (Revelation 3:13-22)

Thought:  If the Salvation we’ve got in Christ Jesus is Eternally valuable - let’s not be Spiritual misers, let us tell someone else about it right now!  Today!

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