Lesson 13: Washing at the Cross Sets Captives Free
Question 1
Hello again, friend, so glad to be studying with you today!
Wash me, Savior!
In this lesson, we will learn more about the necessity of Washing at the cross as well as how to do it. The old hymn, Rock of Ages, says it well:
“Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die.”
The Effects of Impurity
In Leviticus 15, God set forth the horrible condition of being impure. The first half of the chapter deals with men’s impurity (uncleanness) and the second half with women’s:
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean. Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness.
Leviticus 15:1-3 (NIV)
The next section in Leviticus 15 shows how literally everything the unclean person touched would be unclean: anything slept on, sat upon (verse 4), touched (verses 11 and 12), and even anyone who touched the unclean person would become unclean (verse 7). Impurity spreads and contaminates everything and everyone around us.
It is important to understand the ramifications of our involvement in impurity were widespread. Involvement with impurity contaminated our jobs, our health, our relationships, our everything. If married, our spouse was affected, whether we knew it or not. We might have thought we hid our sin well, but it is impossible to do. Everything and everyone we interacted with was in some way affected by our involvement in pornography, self-gratification or sexual impurity.
In my case, my years of bondage to impurity made me into an angry, shallow, irritable, and depressed person. I was immature, defensive, accusatory, and demeaning to others. My wife and children were not only affected by my sinful actions, but they also adopted my sinful heart attitudes. Our home was not marked by love but rather by fear, anger, and discontent. Back then, I didn’t know that by involving myself with sexual sin, I had opened the door to the evil one and that when he comes in, he ransacks everything.
I have met many husbands who couldn’t understand their wife’s coldness or lack of respect towards them, and wives who couldn’t understand their husband’s anger or lack of attentiveness to them. And yet, they would be involved with sexual impurity which was defiling and destroying their relationship.
Later in this course, one of the battle strategies will center on how to begin repairing and restoring gospel love into our relationships. Once we begin Walking by the Spirit and experiencing freedom in Christ, God’s love begins to spread all through our hearts and spills over to everyone around us.
Question 1. What were some of the widespread effects of your own involvement with impurity?
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