Cleaning the Inside

Introduction:

Have you ever seen a metal cooking pot that looked clean on the outside but when you lifted the lid you were disgusted at how dirty it was on the inside?  The food had been left for so long that it was caked on.  Jesus warned that if we don’t continually clean the inside [our soul], it can become caked on with sin!  Read Luke 11:37-41. “And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him.  So He went in and sat down to eat.  When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.  Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.  Foolish ones!  Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?  But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.”  NKJV  Matthew’s account reads like this.  (Matthew 23:25-28)  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”  NKJV

Body:

I.  Cleaning the Inside Rids One of Hypocrisy

·  Many of the Pharisees were very careful about cleaning and purifying the outside.  They employed elaborate rituals to insure outward cleanliness.  One source described the Pharisees as possessing special stone containers of water because ordinary water might be unclean.  The person would take enough water to fill 1½ eggshells.  They would pour water first from fingers down to wrists and then from wrists down to fingers.  They were very meticulous.  These washings were not authorized by God as an act of worship.  Jesus is condemning them for allowing their religious traditions to get in the way of obeying God.  (Mark 7:1-23)

·  Jesus is saying that outward observances are useless without inner moral purity.  The Pharisees and religious leaders outwardly appeared holy but inwardly were filthy and corrupt.  They were trying to mask their inner wickedness with outward rituals.  Jesus declared these outward religious acts do not cover sin.  Wearing a public mask of piety does not cleanse anyone of sin.  We need to ask ourselves if we are as concerned with holiness on Monday as we are on Sunday!

 

II.  Cleansing the Inside Begins with Conversion

·  The prophet Isaiah described the need for cleansing the inside.  (Isaiah 1:5-6) (Isaiah 1:16-17) “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.  Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.”  NKJV

·  King David offered a prayer to Jehovah where he pleaded for a clean heart.  (Psalm 51:1-3, 7, 10) 

·  During the Christian age, one initially cleanses the inside when he is converted to Christ.  This happens when one is born again – experiences the new birth.  (John 3:3-5)  The new birth involves both the Spirit and water.  (Titus 3:5) “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”  NKJV

·  This cleansing or purification is in response to the truth of God’s Word.  (I Peter 1:22-23)

·  The moment when this cleansing occurs is the moment when the penitent believer is immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins.  (Acts 22:16) “And now why are you waiting?  Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”  NKJV

·  Then one is transferred from the Kingdom of Christ [light].  (Acts 26:18) “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”  NKJV

 

III.  Cleansing the Inside Must Continue

·  The writer James exhorts that one must continue to cleanse your hands and purify your hearts.  It’s an ongoing process.  (James 4:7-8) “Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  NKJV

·  One’s goal is to possess a pure heart.  (I Timothy 1:5) “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,”  NKJV

·  We must continue to deny ungodliness and live righteously.  (Titus 2:11-14)

·  This also means continually producing the fruit of the Spirit.  (Galatians 5:22-23)

Conclusion:

As Christians, we must be careful to match our inward spirit with our outward walk.  Hypocrisy turns away unbelievers and harms new believers.  As the psalmist David wrote in Psalm 24:3-4a, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?  Or who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart,”  NKJV

 

Bobby Stafford 

May 10, 2015