Evening, July 23

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

  1 John 1:7

   "Cleanseth," says the text--not "shall cleanse." There are multitudes
   who think that as a dying hope they may look forward to pardon. Oh! how
   infinitely better to have cleansing now than to depend on the bare
   possibility of forgiveness when I come to die. Some imagine that a
   sense of pardon is an attainment only obtainable after many years of
   Christian experience. But forgiveness of sin is a present thing--a
   privilege for this day, a joy for this very hour. The moment a sinner
   trusts Jesus he is fully forgiven. The text, being written in the
   present tense, also indicates continuance; it was "cleanseth"
   yesterday, it is "cleanseth" today, it will be "cleanseth" tomorrow: it
   will be always so with you, Christian, until you cross the river; every
   hour you may come to this fountain, for it cleanseth still. Notice,
   likewise, the completeness of the cleansing, "The blood of Jesus Christ
   his Son cleanseth us from all sin"--not only from sin, but "from all
   sin." Reader, I cannot tell you the exceeding sweetness of this word,
   but I pray God the Holy Ghost to give you a taste of it. Manifold are
   our sins against God. Whether the bill be little or great, the same
   receipt can discharge one as the other. The blood of Jesus Christ is as
   blessed and divine a payment for the transgressions of blaspheming
   Peter as for the shortcomings of loving John; our iniquity is gone, all
   gone at once, and all gone forever. Blessed completeness! What a sweet
   theme to dwell upon as one gives himself to sleep.


   "Sins against a holy God;

   Sins against his righteous laws;

   Sins against his love, his blood;

   Sins against his name and cause;

   Sins immense as is the sea-

   From them all he cleanseth me."