Two kinds of cleansing: which should come first?

What are the two kinds of cleansing?

In this article, we are going to discover the two kinds of cleansing that take place in a man’s life. It is worthy of note to know that the first takes place in the sinner’s life before he or she becomes a saint while the second happens to the saint.

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” – Psalm 119:9
When you take heed to the word of God, it means you allow the word to guide you and your actions so as not to do or go contrary to what it commands and when the word of God guides you it keeps or
restrain you from evil. So how shall a young man cleanse his way? the Psalmist asked. Remember the Bible talks of the natural man which cannot please God, even when he try he still cannot please God because it is not about the trying but it’s about the nature – the nature of sin in man. Some people read the Bible and pick out a verse like the one stated above and try to live it out without knowing what must led to the fulfilment of what they’ve picked out and that is why I want to talk of the two kinds of cleansing.

Cleansing by the Blood of Jesus

For a young man or for any man at all to cleanse his ways, the number one cleansing must happen first in his / her life which is Cleansing by the Blood.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” – 1 John 1:7

This cleansing changes one from the natural man which cannot please God to the spiritual man. This happen when a man realizes himself as a sinner and surrender his life to God by accepting the sacrifice that was made for him on the cross at Calvary, repent from sin and receive Jesus into his life. After man sinned and fell, man died immediately just as God has said but man didn’t or may not have understood that fact that he died instantly. What do I mean? After man sinned by disobeying God in the garden of Eden, man fell from the Spiritual man to the Natural man – man died spiritually. So to be restored back to that spiritual state one must first receive Jesus into his or her life for cleansing by his Blood, when this has taken place then the second cleansing which the Psalmist talked about in the verse above will now be activated to take place

Cleansing by the Word

Without the first cleansing, the second cannot happen because the word of God is Spirit not letters and only the spiritual man can receive the continual cleansing of the word and that by taking heed to it.

“It is the spirit that quikeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” – John 6:63

“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” – 2 Corinthians 3:6

The word of God cleanses the heart of the believer who looks into it for guide, direction, etc. the word of God is like water that purifies because when we read it, we are guided. God speaks and we listen, he warns and we take heed, He exposes and we are delivered from our own ways and from the wiles of the Wicked (devil) – So taking heed to the word of God as the psalmist say is what cleanses us and that will be when one has been cleansed already by the Blood of Jesus