How Clean is Our Spiritual Temple?

It's interesting when you look through the Bible, there are a couple of examples where Christ cleaned house. You're familiar with an example of where Christ cleaned house?

Okay, not his own house, per se, where he is living, but God's house. Matthew 21, verse 12, is an example of that. If you turn there with me, Matthew 12, 21, we're right during the time of the crucifixion. Christ is about to be crucified. It's during that time just before the crucifixion. Christ comes into Jerusalem and he enters the temple. Familiar story, but let's notice the details about this event. Matthew 21, 12. It says Christ entered the temple, and what did he do? Matthew 21, 12. He drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. What were they doing? Why were they doing that to begin with? Verse 13 then goes on and says, He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves. The blind and the lame then came into the temple and he cured them. So he cleaned things up. Now, this certainly angered the money changers. The merchants were not happy with what he was doing. I mean, he kicks them out. He drove them right out. And he tells them they were changing the house of God into this den of thieves. And then once cleaned up, in a sense, he could do his duty. He could heal the lame, heal the blind. And in fact, it's interesting that here we are at the end of the ministry of Christ. His earthly ministry was just about over. The crucifixion was just ahead.

But do you know that this wasn't the only time that he did this? He had also done this about two years before.

We can read about that over in the book of John. Turn over to John chapter 2, verse 13.

Many times people confuse these two events and they think it's the same event. But in actuality, it's two different events, but very similar things that took place. Christ had cleansed the temple before this time. Two years before. But notice the details about this event. John chapter 2, verse 13 gives us the details. It's the same time of the year. Same time of the year, this cleansing was going to take place. When was it? John 2, 13. The Passover of the Jews was near. So, John sets the timing of this event to Passover. Christ goes to Jerusalem, verse 14. In the temple, he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves. Well, we didn't know cattle and sheep were being sold as well, so that wasn't mentioned in the other Gospels. And it says, their money changers were seated at their tables. What did he do? Verse 15. He made a whip of cords, and he drove all of them out of the temple. Both the cattle and the sheep. He poured out the coins of the money changers, overturned their tables. He told those who were selling doves, take these things out of here. Stop making my father's house a marketplace.

Then, verse 17, his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. We had a prophecy about Christ. His passion would overtake him. His passion for God's way. The Jews then said in verse 18, what sign can you show us for doing this? And then he says, destroy this temple in three days. I will raise it up. Christ had the authority to drive out these sheep and cattle and the doves and the money changers, because they had made it into a merchandising business. Now, how did that come about? Why were there sheep and doves and cattle in the temple? In fact, it's interesting. It's not in the temple proper.

It's actually in the court of the Gentiles, in that first part of the temple grounds. This would have been the only part that the Gentiles could have access to worship. So it wasn't in the holy place. It wasn't in the holy of holies that he's talking about. He drove them out of the court of the Gentiles. And what was happening there is that people would come because they weren't farmers. They weren't into the agricultural side of things. And so in order to sacrifice, what did you need?

Well, you'd need a dove, or you'd need a little lamb, or you might need that oxen in order to make a sacrifice. Well, if you weren't a farmer, how would you get one of those things?

Well, you'd have to buy it. You'd have to go and buy that sacrifice. But you couldn't just take your Roman currency and walk in and buy something. You had to convert that Roman currency into temple currency. Now, do you think there was a fee that they charged in order to convert your currency? Absolutely. No doubt about that. If you've ever changed currency, do they do that for free?

You know, if you've been traveling and you have to trade your American dollars for Canadian dollars or your American dollars for euros. Yeah, they don't do that for free. And so they were making money off of this. Now, they use the excuse that, well, you have to come into the temple and pay the temple tax. So there was a half-sheckle temple tax that had to be paid. So that came out of it as well. So it became a money-making business for the merchandisers as well as the temple itself. So what should have been God's house of prayer and worship? Gentiles didn't even have access then because it was overrun with animals. Christ comes in, drives them out, at least on two occasions, and points out the very fact this is the end of business as usual. That's not going to be happening anymore because Christ was upset with how they misused the temple. They used it and abused it. And when we recognized what was happening here, this wasn't just so that the temple at that time could be cleansed and the Gentiles could have a place to worship. We could recognize this is also a metaphor that we can understand has spiritual implications for us as well. Christ went in and cleansed the temple, but what about our temple? What about us? Are we even aware that we have a temple? And are we aware of the fact God's telling us it's time to clean house? It's time to clean house. I think we recognize the fact that God says our body is a temple where God is supposed to reside. If we've been baptized and received the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit dwells within us and within the church. In fact, if you take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16, it makes this very point that the body is the temple. It's the temple where God's Spirit dwells. And of course, in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16, it makes the point it's not just talking about me personally, but what is Paul getting at as he speaks to those in Corinth? Let's see what he has to say here. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16. He says, Don't you know that you are God's temple? Now, of course, this you that he's talking about is not me personally. This is the royal you saying, all of us collectively together as the church of God are the temple of God. God's Spirit dwells within the church. That's what he's saying here. When you tear down the Greek a little bit, you'll recognize this is a plural word. So he's saying, all of us collectively as the church are the temple of God. God's Spirit dwells in his church. It's interesting then he goes on. If anyone defiles or literally destroys God's temple, I mean that destroying can be misusing, wasting it, ruining it, or even corrupting it. Does that sound vaguely familiar? Did they corrupt the temple of God in Jesus' time? Yeah, no doubt they did. Well, here Paul makes this connection. Anyone corrupts the church of God, what does it say the results are? God's going to drive you out. He says God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy. You are that temple. And so the church as a whole is the temple of God.

Now, as we consider that, we don't want to relegate it only to the church being the temple. Because while that is very true, and through many of Paul's writings, he draws to that conclusion that the church collectively as a whole is the temple of God. But it's not limited to just that.

Because we know specifically as individuals our bodies are the temple of God. We have Jesus Christ living in us. We have the Spirit of God. Our body as individuals are also the temple of God. Notice over in chapter 6, 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, it draws this point here where it gets more specific as an individual. As an individual. And Paul recognizes a similar thing can happen. The church of God as a whole can become corrupt. And it has to be cleaned up. As individuals, that metaphor also fits. That as an individual, me, I can become corrupt. Verse 19 of 1 Corinthians 6, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you? That's me personally. That's an individual. It says you've got this Holy Spirit from God. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Not with the price that the merchandisers were selling their sheep and their doves and their cattle. You were bought with a price by the sacrifice of Christ. And in your spirit which are God's, it says glorify God. Glorify God in your body. So our body is to be that temple as individuals. And then collectively we're to be holy. And by the power of God's Spirit, it's possible. It's possible. With God's Spirit, we can have a right relationship with God. With God's Spirit, we can be brought into a right relationship. We can be justified. We can be forgiven. And we can be declared righteous. Because through the power of God's Spirit, we can deal with sin and the power that it sometimes holds over us. Because we've got a greater power. We have the power of God within us.

And so no doubt, our body is a temple. And the church is the temple of God. And so to get back to the premise, then, how clean is the temple? How clean is our personal temple of God? In fact, what kind of temple are we supposed to be? What kind of temple are we? We saw in Jesus' time, they had corrupted the temple and it became a den of thieves. It's interesting the way that Christ used that word. I mean, we know, as God's people, I should be devoted to God. As God's representative, his house, me, personally, I should be living in the presence of God. If I'm the temple of God, that means God's presence by his Spirit is in me. Well, how often is that reflected in what I say, what I do, what I think? Christ specifically said the temple should be a house of prayer.

Think about that in terms of who we are. I mean, he said instead of being that, what had happened to the temple in his time? Well, he says it became a den of thieves in Matthew 21, a den of thieves. It's interesting if you look up that word for den in the original Greek, it's literally talking about the place where robbers go. Anybody ever watch a Western?

Where do the robbers go after they hijack the train and they steal the loot?

Do they go into town? Hang out? No, not usually. Where do they go?

They go hide out. They go to the hideout. They go to the lair. That's what they do. They've got their special hideout because they don't want to get caught. Now, think about that for a minute.

Christ says instead of a house of prayer, you're hiding out. You're hiding out like a robber hides out. You see, in Christ's time, the temple was to be a witness. It was to be a witness to the world. Israel was to be a witness to the world. The temple was to be a witness to the nations that God's way really does work. But see, they had become so corrupt. It wasn't obvious. Spiritual neglect. In fact, the political motivations, wrong priorities, money and merchandising, it became about gain. It became about materialism. Sound familiar? What about us? What about us today? You see, we can't be hiding out and allowing those things within us to hide. That should be cleansed. You see, we have to be devoted and dedicated and committed to serve God. We're to be consecrated like the temple and dedicated to God's service. We're to be set apart. And so spiritually speaking, well, how much are we crowded out by the sheep and the cattle and the doves? I mean, the New Testament doesn't put it that way. It gets more specific. Colossians 3, verse 5, talks about some of the sheep and the cattle that may be crowding out our spiritual life. Look at the way that Paul puts it to the Colossians. This is one of those... sometimes they call this a sin list. You'll find these throughout the New Testament. There are a number of sin lists that Paul gets going and specifically lists things that have a tendency to crowd out our spiritual maturity, our growth, you know, our Christian character that we're supposed to be growing in. Look at the way he puts it here in Colossians chapter 3, verse 5. He says, drive out. Okay, maybe he doesn't put it that way. Get your own cord that can be used as a whip. In fact, he even puts it more seriously. Not just that you push these things out. He says, put to death. Put to death whatever in you is earthly. I mean, it's the Spirit of God being crowded out so that we're not a house of prayer. We're not a house of worship, but we've allowed the cattle and the sheep of this world to overtake us. And he lists some of those things. Fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. Wow, that sounds like what Christ was talking about in a spiritual sense. Verse 7, he says, these are the ways you also once followed when you were living that life, when you were of that perspective. But he says, get rid of these things. Put off these things. Anger, wrath, malice, slander. Now we're getting more specific.

How do these apply to me? Okay, maybe I don't have an issue with that one. I feel pretty good about myself. But some of these are pretty generic things. Anger, the way we speak, the way we talk, the way we think. What is it that needs to be driven out in our life? I mean, he even says, verse 9, don't lie to one another. Don't lie to yourself, seeing you've stripped off the old self. You've gotten rid of, you put to death the old man. You see, that's the ultimate goal, that we're to clean house. You see, and Paul's drawing the point. Thinking back to what Christ did, I mean, no doubt the religious leadership of the day abused the temple.

Paul's making the point, so do we. So do we. That temple was abused. It was designed to be a representative of God's way to the world. But it was a place that needed to be cleansed, and Christ had to do it more than once. And so we fall into that same trap when we begin serving ourselves, when we're not living by God's standards. And some of these things are so obviously sinful. Sometimes we get taken in by that thinking, well, I keep the commandments of God. I haven't murdered anyone lately. I haven't cheated on my mate, so I must be righteous.

But there's other sinless that talk about things like the cares of this life that infiltrate our thinking and distract us. It detracts us from what our true goal really is, and it hinders us from our ability to serve God in our minds and with our bodies.

And so we can't help but ask ourselves, what's the condition of my temple? Am I in need of a major overhaul? I mean, think of it this way. Think if Christ came into our temple, what would He want to drive out? What does He expect us to drive out? You know, as we think about being restored and rededicated, there are things we definitely need to clean up.

Now, one of the interesting things is that when you look through the Bible, there were specific principles that God gave for cleaning the temple.

And the interesting part is those same principles, spiritually speaking, apply to us today.

Guess what's step number one? If we're going to clean the temple, where do you start?

Well, where did they start when the temple needed to be cleaned up?

Well, they had to get rid of the junk. That had to be the first thing. The first thing is you got to get rid of the junk. In fact, there's an interesting example back in 2 Chronicles 29. Let's look at this connection between what did they do in order to cleanse the temple so that God could inhabit it? And how does that impact us? What do we have to do? Well, they had to get rid of the junk, and so do we. 2 Chronicles 29, here's a wonderful example that is just so practical. Look at this. Get rid of the junk. 2 Chronicles 29, verse 5.

Here we have instructions to the priesthood, to the Levites. Verse 5, it says, Hear me, Levites, sanctify yourselves. Sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers. That means to set it apart. It had become a mess. So what were they to do first? 1 Corinthians 1, verse 6. 1 Carry out the rubbish from the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. They forsaken him. 2 They forsaken him, it says, and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and turned their backs on him. That's pretty amazing. This wasn't the court of the Gentiles this time. Now we're actually in the holy place. That first part of the temple where the priests would go continually to do their service. You know, the table of showbread was there, the candlesticks were there. There was priestly service that they had to continually do. Now it wasn't the holy of holies where the Ark of the Covenant was, but the priests had to go in there all the time. What was there? Junk. Garbage. Rubbish was in the holy place.

And so here God's giving them instructions.

I guess in a sense to call 1-800-GOT-JUNK.

I hear the ads for that. You got junk? Call them. He said, you got to get out the junk. Get out the rubbish. I mean, how did it get there to begin with? You got to think that doesn't make sense.

But yet there it is. What happened? Verse 11. Skip down to verse 11.

My sons do not be negligent now.

Well, it seems the junk collected because of negligence.

Just kind of happened over time. It says the Lord has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that you should minister to him and burn incense.

So I suppose the pieces and the parts and the garbage just collected over time. They weren't doing their job. It was a matter of distraction, a matter of detracted from completing the work, and they were negligent.

And so what did they do? Verse 15.

They gathered the brethren, they sanctified themselves, and went according to the commandment of the king at the words of the Lord. So God, working through the king, commanded them, cleansed the house of the Lord. How did they start? Step one, verse 16. The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it. Now it wasn't Day of Atonement. This wasn't sprinkling blood and doing all those types. No, it wasn't that. They literally had to just get out the rubbish. So verse 16 says, they brought out all the debris they found in the temple of the Lord to the court of the house of the Lord. So they brought it out of the temple proper, out into the courtyard. And then it says the Levites took it out and carried it to the brook Kidron. So they carried it down to the water. And it took a while to do this. It wasn't just a one-time thing. It took some days. Verse 17, the 16th day of the first month they finished, they went to the king Hezekiah and said, we've cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offerings with all its articles, the table of the showbread with all its articles. So in order to even start purifying the temple, they had to get out of all the trash and the junk and the rubbish to begin with. They had to get rid of those things, which sounds like, well, Christ driving out the cattle and the sheep. If you're going to worship God correctly, first you've got to get out the contaminants. You get out of the things that are desecrating the temple, the things that are tarnishing the temple. Whatever it was that was defiling it, the rubbish and the trash and the garbage, you got to get rid of that.

Now, I think sometimes we think of these big things of trash. You know how it is after a week? I mean, isn't it amazing how much trash we collect even in our homes after just a week? You got to remember to put out the... if I forget to put the garbage out one week? Oh, great. Now I've really got a pile. It doesn't even fit in the bin anymore. Just after two weeks, it just collects. It's amazing. And we think of these big giant things we have to get rid of. But I'm not sure that's necessarily the way we need to think of it, because sometimes we overlook the little things. The little things. And sometimes those little things, when we begin to overlook them, they can start to pile up as well. So when you think about, well, what needs to be cleaned up in our lives? You know, one of the things that's in the news right now is sickness. Sickness is in the news. It's everywhere right now. This coronavirus seems to be... well, for a while there, they thought... I read a thing at the beginning of the week. It's all under control. And then the next thing you hear, well, we didn't really count very well, and it's actually a lot worse than we thought. And now there's a death that's not in China from the coronavirus that's occurred. And so everybody's wondering what's going to happen.

Well, is it some major thing that could put this disease to a stop? I was reading an article about it just the other day. You know what one thing that we could do that would probably prevent us from ever getting this flu, this virus? Just wash your hands. Just wash your hands. In fact, I heard another story about the flu that's been going around here. Some of us have been sick from a different kind of flu. And they say, just wash your hands! That's not a major thing, is it? It's not a major deal, but just that one little act can prevent the spread of disease in a fantastic way. Just put it to a halt. So then I had to ask myself the question, do we really wash our hands? Do we really take the time to do that? So I started looking up different studies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture did a study just this last year on hand washing. So with that in mind, what percentage of Americans do not wash their hands correctly? So either they just don't wash them, or then they just don't do it correctly. What percentage? You got a percentage in mind? 97% of us! Okay, maybe we do wash our hands, but we just don't do it. Maybe we don't do it for the proper amount of time. Maybe we don't dry our hands on a clean towel. There's a number of factors there that come into play. 97% is like, you got to be kidding me! All right, then I did a little bit more searching.

How many people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom? Okay, you want to get really grossed out? Oh no! All right, you've seen it. I've seen it. Okay, well there was a survey that they did, spying on people using the bathroom. These are public bathrooms, of course.

So what percentage of women don't wash their hands after using the public restroom?

Actually, not too bad.

7%. So not too bad, right? 7%. All right, guys, let's stand up and be men.

What percentage of men don't wash their hands after using the bathroom? 90%. No, it's not as bad as 90%. At least not according to this survey. 33%. 33%.

Okay, that's pretty disgusting, because then that, what does that say about what's on the handles and all that? Oh boy. Now, what I found interesting about this as well, they did a telephone survey and asked people about hand washing. And just asked them, do you wash your hands after using the restroom? Pretty simple question. Now, we've already heard these other studies that, okay, 97% don't do it properly. And they added up at least 40% of the people don't even bother to wash their hands. Okay, what percentage say they always wash their hands when you call them up on the phone and say, okay, we're doing a survey. Do you wash your hands after using it? What percentage do you think say, yes, of course I do? 96% of us say, yes, of course I do. I think there's a little disconnect there. The reality of what actually happens to what people say about themselves.

I mean, is there a connection there to the sins in our life? Oh, yeah, I got no problems. I got it under control, not an issue when the reality is maybe something far different. And I think that's what Christ is getting at when he drives out the money changers and gets rid of the cattle. What is it that needs to be thrown out of my life? And maybe it's as simple as the little things. I mean, we know that passage. If we're faithful and little, we'll be faithful in much. So what is it that we need to clean up and carry out the trash and the rubbish and dump it so it's in that brook of Kidron and it's going to float down to the ocean. We kind of get totally rid of that. Yeah, that's what we've got to do. We've got to get rid of the junk to start with. There's another listing of things that we've got to make sure we get rid of from the big things all the way down to the little hand washing things. Galatians chapter 5 verse 19 is one of those examples. Take a look at Galatians 5 19. When we think about it in the context of getting rid of the junk and cleaning up our hands from taking out the trash. Galatians 5 19, it puts it in the terms of the works of the flesh, which is opposed to what else is mentioned here in Galatians 5. Well, the fruit of the spirit.

But in order to have the evidence of the fruit of the spirit, you've got to first get rid of the junk. So Galatians 5 19 talks about some of this junk to get rid of. The works of the flesh are evident, adultery, fornication. I'm good so far, so I don't have to worry about washing my hands.

Hang on here. Uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery. Okay, they got that one. Uh-oh, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish. Okay, it gets pretty hand-washy there, doesn't it? Yeah, some of those things I've got to think about. Envy, murders, drunkenness, the list goes on and on. We practice those things. What does it say? Verse 21, you won't inherit the kingdom of God. Yeah, this is a serious thing. You know, has the temple of God really been dedicated to be a house of prayer? That's the question that Christ posed. So we get rid of the junk.

How do we do that? I think we've got to take it to the next level. Take it to step number two.

Step number two. What do we do?

Thinking about this the other day, it reminded me of an experience we had one beautiful early spring morning. We lived in Minnesota at the time, and our children were a lot smaller back in the day. It was a beautiful day, beautiful day, really the first day, kind of like today we get the sun out. It's beautiful, but it was finally warm. It was like 60 degrees, which for Minnesota was like heaven. It was time to get outside, first time out. As we were getting outside, we decided we're going to go for a family bike ride. Then I noticed how brown some of the grass was, so I thought I should probably turn on the sprinkler while we're gone. So I went to the side of the house. There's the sprinkler. Bring it out in the front, turn it on. That thing starts watering the grass. So it's like, all right, let's go get on our bikes. Two hours later, we come back home. I go in the house and I hear this funny noise. I walk downstairs and our basement is flooded. It never occurred to me when I turned on the water on the side of the house that the hose had been on all winter long. We didn't have one of those fancy little faucets that prevents it from freezing, so the pipe had frozen. It didn't leak as long as the faucet was off, but as soon as you turned on, all the water came through that pipe and through the crack that now is there and flooded our basement. Just like a foot and a half of water. It's like, now what am I going to do?

Called the insurance company pretty quick. First, I turned off the water. That was the first thing I did. Yeah, stop the leak. Next thing they said, you gotta call the experts.

Called the experts. They gave me a couple of ideas. I ended up calling Service Master. These guys are amazing. Just absolutely amazing. They come in, they suck out all the water, they rip up the carpeting, they put it out on the street. Within a day or two or three, they cut the sheetrock and so they got rid of everything that had been soaking wet. Things that would have taken me a year to do. I mean, they're in there doing their thing. Things I hadn't even thought about. Oh no, what about this over here and that over there? They knew what they were doing.

Within a matter of about a month and a half, they had it all back together and the carpet layers were back in, getting it all set. It was amazing because they knew what they were doing. And I think it's no less appropriate for us that we've got to go to the expert.

I mean, if we're going to get cleaned up... and it was true back in the day with the temple as well.

Look at the example in scripture of Service Master, I guess you could say.

Here we're giving all kinds of plugs for different companies today. 1-800-GOT-JUNKIN-SERVOUS-MASTER, get a plug for today. Look at the plug that the experts get back in Ezekiel 45. Ezekiel 45, we get past the Psalms and the Proverbs and Daniel. Yeah, Ezekiel 45. Verse 18 is where we can begin.

And here we recognize a connection here to the physical temple, our spiritual temple as well. Here God is speaking, it says, thus says the Lord God.

God's giving instructions. What are we going to do? It says, the first day of the month, take a young bull without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary.

So God gives instructions specifically. Verse 19, the priests shall take some of the blood of the sin offering, put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gateposts of the gate of the inner court. So here we see these animal sacrifices being used to purify that physical temple.

And those priests and the sacrifices themselves, I think they're symbolic of the expert. Those sacrifices pointed to the ultimate expert. What did they point to? Well, they pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. They were symbolic of how Jesus' sacrifice would ultimately purify his people. Not just purify a physical thing, but ultimately his people. We know how Hebrews tells us about that very thing. Hebrews chapter 10, you can just write that down.

Paul talked about the fact bulls and goats and the blood of these animals could never take away sin. But ultimately, the sacrifice of Christ could. You've got to go to the expert. We've got to go to Christ. When Christ said in the temple, no more business as usual, part of the reason for driving out the animals, driving out the cattle and the sheep, it wasn't just to clean up this area. He's also pointing out the fact sacrifices don't cut it. It's not possible for these sheep and goats and doves to take away sin. That is not possible. Christ was pointing to the real expert that he was going to be the expert. His sacrifice would be no longer business as usual with these physical sacrifices, that the great sacrifice of our Savior, it's only through him, through his blood, through his sacrifice, that is possible for us to be purified.

The only way I can be purified is to go to God, go to God in repentance, so that the sacrifice of Christ can cover my sin, can not only cover it, but just completely, totally remove it. Psalm 103 tells us it'll remove that sin as far as east from west. Talk about getting rid of the junk. If we go to the expert, then we can be cleaned up. I mean, we as the temple are representative of the Holy of Holies. God is dwelling in us, and so we need to be purified, and it's only through the blood of Jesus Christ that makes it possible. No other thing, no works make that possible. It's only through the sacrifice of Christ that I can be purified, and so I have to have faith in him as a Savior. I have to go to God in repentance and seek forgiveness, ask him to wash away our sins, and clean me up. It's the only way it's possible, because I can't do it on my own. I can't do it on my own, and so coming to that realization, it's only through repentance and forgiveness, through the blood of Jesus Christ, that even makes that possible. Remember that passage over in 1 John chapter 1 verse 9, such a great reminder of that very fact that we have to go to the spiritual expert, to Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, our Master, our High Priest, our soon-coming King. That's the only way it's possible. It's the only way we're going to clean up this flooded house that we have. 1 John 1, 9, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So we really get down to that nitty-gritty. We get down to the hand-washing things. We get down to... what is it that's hiding out? We're not to be a den of thieves, but you know, sometimes, yeah, things are hiding out in the corner of our temple. We need the expert to clean it up, so we got to go to the expert. Now, one of the other interesting things about temple cleaning... think about the ancient temple. Think about the priestly service that they went through. Was cleansing the temple just a one-time thing? Was it a one-shot deal? And once it was cleaned up, well, it's clean forever. No, that wasn't the case at all. They had to continually clean. And so I think that's a great reminder for us. The third step, after going to the expert and after getting out the junk, we have to keep cleaning. We have to keep cleaning. They had to do that very thing. It wasn't a one-time thing. In fact, the priest had the duty to do that very thing, and they were assisted by the Levites as well. There's an example of this. We go back to 1 Chronicles once again. Go back to 1 Chronicles 23, verse 28. 1 Chronicles 23, 28 gives us that picture of the continual aspects of cleaning. Because once we're forgiven, once we're cleaned up, what happens? Well, things get dirty again. Sin can begin to creep in. And physically speaking, we see that example of the priest assisted by the Levites to clean up God's house. 1 Chronicles 23, verse 28 says, their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord. Well, what about what kind of service are they talking about here? Well, it says, in the purifying of all holy things and in the work of the service of the house of God. Of course, a lot of that house and that service was connected to the sacrifices. And when you got animals, you got a mess. Anybody ever have animals before? I mean, there's enough to clean up. I've, you know, got a little puppy. Yeah, they can make a mess. My little dog can make a mess.

Right? But think about bulls and goats and calves and sheep and doves and oh, yeah, that's going to be... Yeah, purifying things. Yeah, this was something that obviously had to happen on a continual basis. Purification was necessary. And so when we recognize that, that applies to us as we think about it spiritually, we have to keep cleaning because we have to continue. It's not like, well, I repented last year, so that ought to be good enough, right? No, it's a continual kind of thing. When we recognize we fall short, we've got to go before God and we've got to continue to submit to his spirit. And that refining cleansing process has to continue to go on and on as we turn to Christ and we allow him to live in us and through us. And we're dependent on Christ.

He is our Lord and our master. He is our high priest. And through him, we have to depend on him to be cleansed. But we also have to ask the question, does Christ do it all?

I mean, we don't want to fall into this trap that Martin Luther fell into. You know, that Christ did it all. Now, I don't have to do anything. He did it for me.

Well, that's a basic misunderstanding of scripture. He does it in me and through me, no doubt. But I have a part to play. I have to let Christ work in me. I have to let God, the Father and the Spirit work through me. Otherwise, it's not going to happen if I don't choose to submit my life to God's Spirit.

If we look back for a moment to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1. Paul was very clear that God doesn't do it for us, but he will do it in us and through us. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1. It seems like a minor difference, but it's really critical when we recognize I have a part to play. I have to submit my life to God. I have to keep cleaning. I can't do it myself.

Christ has to do it in me, but I have a part to play. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 1, right at the beginning of that chapter. Paul says, having therefore these promises. Of course, think of the context of this as well. Paul's writing to Korith. Did they have a mess? Boy, were they? They were a messy church. They were a messy people, messy individuals. They didn't like each other. They didn't get along with each other. They discriminated against each other. They had big feasts, but we didn't invite them because we don't like them. They got drunk before the Passover. They were gluttony.

There are so many challenges that their house was a mess. They needed to clean it up. They needed to look to the expert, but they had a part to play as well. Paul points that out. He says, we have these promises, but then he says, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

He draws this conclusion. We've got to allow God to work in us. Who has the choice of whether or not that happens? Well, I do. I have that choice. I have that choice. I need to put off these things. I need to get rid of the junk, but I need to put on the character of Jesus Christ. Paul oftentimes uses that analogy. He talks about that specifically in Ephesians chapter 4. Here we have a summary verse of this whole concept of cleaning house.

Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22 puts it in this spiritual context. Look at what he says here in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 verse 22. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 2022, he says, you put off, you put this off, kind of like changing clothes that putting off literally means to take it off of yourself.

You take off your former conversation, your former conduct, the old man. We got to get rid of that old way of thinking, those old actions, he says, that are corrupt according to the deceitful lust, according to the way we think. He says, we got to get rid of that. And then he says, verse 23, we get rid of the junk. We go to the expert to make that happen by verse 23, being renewed in the spirit of your mind.

Being renewed in the spirit of your mind. That's going to the expert. Being renewed, repenting, changing, being forgiven, brought into a right relationship of God, being renewed in the spirit of your mind so that you put on the new man. You're cleaned up. Now do what's right. Put on the right actions by the power of God's spirit, he says, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

And so we have a change of heart, we have a change of mind, and we fill our life, our thinking, with the things that are worthy of praise and virtue. And we literally become a house of prayer, a house of prayer, because that puts us in a right relationship of God through repentance and through having that connection continually so that we're filling our life. And as it says, perfecting holiness. We can't do that without being a house of prayer, without that connection to God, without that right relationship with God.

It's not going to happen. That's when the other things are going to start filtering their way back in again. And so we have that as a calling to fill our lives with the things that are worthy of praise and virtue, that bring God glory in our life. So as we consider these passages, I think we have to recognize and maybe ask that question, okay, how's the condition of my temple? How's the condition of my house?

Is it a place that houses God the Father and Jesus Christ by the power of their spirit? Is that what's really residing there? I mean, am I really a place of prayer? Am I a house of prayer that brings glory to God? Or have I let the things that don't last, the mundane things, the everyday things, preoccupy my temple? And so that it just becomes common every day. So God, in a sense, is saying, let's get things cleaned up.

And we can look to God because He's the one that can provide the cleansing that we really need and the power that we need to get things right, to clean out the sin and then replace it and fill it with good. What's praise worthy? What's virtuous? And what is Godly?

And of course, when we do that very thing, I think we fulfill those words of Jesus Christ when He said, my house shall be called a house of prayer. So let's clean house.