At first, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had stumbled across a listing on a well-known internet auction site for a “Wash Away Your Sins” Handy Conversion Kit. The kit contained 1) three antibacterial towelettes that supposedly “kill sin on contact”, 2) one “Wash Away Your Sins” Cleansing Bar that supposedly “reduces guilt by 98% or more”, and 3) one “Wash Away Your Sins Handbook” with “step by step strategies and confessional log”.
Promoted as “A Sinner’s Necessity”, the “Easy to Use” kit, with its tempting “Do It Again Scent”, claimed to be “Tested and Approved” for “All 7 Deadly Sins”.
Intrigued, I read further. The wrapper for the “Wash Away Your Sins Cleansing Bar” contained inside further asserted that it was particularly effective on “vulgarities”. The instructions said “Insert in mouth, scrub, spit out, flush with water.
The next line was telling: “May be harmful if swallowed.” I’ll just say “Amen” to that! Personally, I found the whole thing a bit hard to swallow!
The advertised ingredients prove why: “An exotic blend of Somalian Frankincense, Indonesian Nutmeg & Ginger in 100% vegetable soap base.” The operative word here is “vegetable”! Allow me to explain.
Promoted as “A Sinner’s Necessity”, the “Easy to Use” kit, with its tempting “Do It Again Scent”, claimed to be “Tested and Approved” for “All 7 Deadly Sins”.
Intrigued, I read further. The wrapper for the “Wash Away Your Sins Cleansing Bar” contained inside further asserted that it was particularly effective on “vulgarities”. The instructions said “Insert in mouth, scrub, spit out, flush with water.
The next line was telling: “May be harmful if swallowed.” I’ll just say “Amen” to that! Personally, I found the whole thing a bit hard to swallow!
The advertised ingredients prove why: “An exotic blend of Somalian Frankincense, Indonesian Nutmeg & Ginger in 100% vegetable soap base.” The operative word here is “vegetable”! Allow me to explain.
In Genesis chapter 3, the Bible tells us that sin entered the world though the disobedience of Adam and Eve. That sinful nature was then passed on to their sons, Cain and Abel. When Cain and Abel came to worship God in Genesis chapter 4, Cain brought a plant offering, while Abel brought an animal offering. The result was that God had respect for Abel’s offering, but not for Cain’s. The question is why?
And the answer is because they were repeating the mistake made by Adam and Eve earlier in Genesis 3, when they had attempted to cover their own sin with fig leaves. God, however, covered them with animal skins. The implication is clear here. Because God had told Adam and Eve that the penalty for their sin would be death, and because He cannot lie, He had then allowed a vicarious, or substitutionary, death to take place on their behalf, in order that they might live while His word was honored.
This is why, in the 22nd verse of the 9th chapter of the New Testament book of Hebrews, we read that, since everything is “cleansed with blood”, therefore, “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” for sins.
Of course, the problem with the system of animal sacrifice in the Old Testament is that it was temporary at best. A weekly sacrifice offered for sins previously committed did nothing for sins yet to come. For this reason, once and for all, in the fullness of time, God allowed His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to come into this world and give His life as a permanent atonement for the sins of men and women in all times, places, and circumstances.
And that includes you and me. This is why the Apostle John tells us (in chapter 1, verse 7) of his First New Testament Letter that, alone, “the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin”.
Now, I’m sure the makers of “Wash Away Your Sins” do not really believe that any mere man-made concoction can actually do away with the sinfulness of mankind. At least I hope they don’t! For in truth, only one thing can accomplish this - the blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world for the remission of others’ sins!
Whether it’s a concoction of bloodless plants lain at an altar by a clueless Cain, or a bar of vegetable soap creatively marketed by profit-driven people, the result is the same. Employ either approach all you want; but once you have, your sins are sure to still be with you. What can truly wash away your sins? Mark it down. Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What about you today? Have you been to Jesus for His cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed? In the blood? In the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb? Are you garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? If not, then allow me to leave you with the words of hymn-writer Lewis E. Jones:
Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Would you o'er evil the victory win?
There's wonderful power in the blood!
Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Sin stains are lost in its life-giving flow
There's wonderful power in the blood!
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/hebrews/9-22.htm; and
https://www.biblehub.com/1_john/1-7.htm.
HYMN SOURCES:
https://hymnary.org/text/would_you_be_free_from_the_burden_jones;
https://hymnary.org/text/have_you_been_to_jesus_for_the_cleansing; and
https://hymnary.org/text/what_can_wash_away_my_sin.
And the answer is because they were repeating the mistake made by Adam and Eve earlier in Genesis 3, when they had attempted to cover their own sin with fig leaves. God, however, covered them with animal skins. The implication is clear here. Because God had told Adam and Eve that the penalty for their sin would be death, and because He cannot lie, He had then allowed a vicarious, or substitutionary, death to take place on their behalf, in order that they might live while His word was honored.
This is why, in the 22nd verse of the 9th chapter of the New Testament book of Hebrews, we read that, since everything is “cleansed with blood”, therefore, “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness” for sins.
Of course, the problem with the system of animal sacrifice in the Old Testament is that it was temporary at best. A weekly sacrifice offered for sins previously committed did nothing for sins yet to come. For this reason, once and for all, in the fullness of time, God allowed His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to come into this world and give His life as a permanent atonement for the sins of men and women in all times, places, and circumstances.
And that includes you and me. This is why the Apostle John tells us (in chapter 1, verse 7) of his First New Testament Letter that, alone, “the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin”.
Now, I’m sure the makers of “Wash Away Your Sins” do not really believe that any mere man-made concoction can actually do away with the sinfulness of mankind. At least I hope they don’t! For in truth, only one thing can accomplish this - the blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world for the remission of others’ sins!
Whether it’s a concoction of bloodless plants lain at an altar by a clueless Cain, or a bar of vegetable soap creatively marketed by profit-driven people, the result is the same. Employ either approach all you want; but once you have, your sins are sure to still be with you. What can truly wash away your sins? Mark it down. Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
What about you today? Have you been to Jesus for His cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed? In the blood? In the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb? Are you garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? If not, then allow me to leave you with the words of hymn-writer Lewis E. Jones:
Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Would you o'er evil the victory win?
There's wonderful power in the blood!
Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Sin stains are lost in its life-giving flow
There's wonderful power in the blood!
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/hebrews/9-22.htm; and
https://www.biblehub.com/1_john/1-7.htm.
HYMN SOURCES:
https://hymnary.org/text/would_you_be_free_from_the_burden_jones;
https://hymnary.org/text/have_you_been_to_jesus_for_the_cleansing; and
https://hymnary.org/text/what_can_wash_away_my_sin.