Wash!

In 1818, Ignaz Phillip Semmelweis was born into a world of dying women. The 
finest hospitals lost one out of six young mothers to the scourge of "childbed fever." 
A doctor’s daily routine began in the dissecting room where he performed autopsies. From there he made his way to the hospital to examine expectant mothers without ever pausing to wash his hands. Dr. Semmelweis was the first man in history to associate such examinations with the resultant infection and death. His own practice was to wash with a chlorine solution, and after eleven years and the delivery of 8,537 babies, he lost only 184 mothers—about one in fifty.

He spent the vigor of his life lecturing and debating with his colleagues. Once he argued, "Puerperal fever is caused by decomposed material, conveyed to a wound … 
I have shown how it can be prevented. I have proved all that I have said. But while we talk, talk, talk, gentlemen, women are dying. I am not asking anything world-shaking. 
I am asking you only to wash … For God’s sake, wash your hands!"

But virtually no one believed him...  Doctors and midwives had been delivering babies for thousands of years without washing, and no outspoken Hungarian was going to change them now! Semmelweis died insane at the age of 47, his wash basins discarded, his colleagues laughing in his face, and the death rattle of a thousand women ringing in his ears.

"Wash me!" was the anguished prayer of King David (Psalm 51:2).  "Unless I wash you, you have NO part with me," said the towel-draped Jesus to Peter (John 13:8)*

Without our being washed clean, we ALL die from the contamination of SIN.

The ONLY thing powerful enough to wash away our sins is the blood of Jesus Christ, for He died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins (Matthew 26:28).  He has promised to wash way our sins when we believe in Him (Acts 16:31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) in His name (Acts 2:38; 22:16).  He will CONTINUE to cleanse us from our sins as we CONTINUE to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

'And now why are YOU waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.' (Acts 22:16 NKJV) 

Our SIN condition is 100% fatal.   For your OWN sake, wash!

God bless you,

David A. Sargent / Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

* Boyce Mouton

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