Is Your House Clean? Matthew 23:25-28
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
What does your house look like?
Some people have small houses others have large ones and some are in between. Is your house clean and tidy, painted real nice on the outside? You might have a nice manicured lawn, all the hedges trimmed, nice plants all around, flowers blooming every where. Does that describe your house? What about the inside? How does it look? Would you be proud or ashamed to have some come in? What if Jesus dropped by for a visit? Would you let Him or tell Him to wait for you to tidy up a bit?
I am sure if you drive around the country side or on the city streets you see a lot of different houses. There are those with nice lawns, flower gardens, the outside painted and trimmed. When you ride by these houses you see how great they look on the outside….but can you tell about the inside? You can’t unless you go inside.
We will see this morning that this is the same way with our hearts. Christians have a way of shinning up the outside and neglect the inside…oh we can look like Christians but then when God looks at the inside He sees all the filth, nasty, dirty, disgusting mess we want no one to see.
In Matthew 23:25-28, Jesus is speaking to the Scribes and Pharisees and He is speaking to you and I…so turn in your Bibles to Matthew 23:25-28 and see what He has to say.
The Pharisees were men of the law, they new the Torah or Old Testament well; they were teachers of the law. But Jesus saw them differently; He saw on the inside, He saw the filth. He saw who they really were.
Jesus sees us on the inside, who we really are…we look one way on the outside but then we speak and the truth is revealed. For it says in Matthew 15:18, “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.”
So how clean is your house? How clean is your heart?
Ephesians 3:17-18 says, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,”
Jesus is looking for a place to dwell and He will not stay in a place that is not clean.
Is your heart clean, all of it, every room? If not then Christ will not dwell there
This morning if you have anything on your heart, anything that needs to be cleansed, then come to Jesus and ask Him like David did in Psalm 51: 2 and 10
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Ask the Lord to come in, clean your heart and dwell there!
