Clean from the Inside Out (2)

Intro

There’s a brand of soap called Zest that was first introduce in 1955 but really gained in popularity in the 80’s and 90’s under an advertising slogan/jingle that said, “You’re not fully clean unless you’re Zest-fully clean!”

That jingle still pops into my mind from time-to-time. And there argument was that their product would get you cleaner than any other soap on the market. This was because they claimed to have a formula that prevented the sticky residue that other soaps would leave behind even after rinsing. This way, you could use their soap and go about your day certain that you weren’t just clean, but you were Zest-fully clean.

Cleanliness was a major issue in Jesus’ day as well.

It was important for a person to know that they were clean before they could participate in meals, enter the Temple, celebrate the feasts, etc.

In our beatitude this week, Jesus addresses this idea of purity by introducing a paradigm shift.

In Matthew 5:9, Jesus connects purity and cleanliness not to the external elements of law and ceremony, but to our internal standing before the Father.

Matthew 15:10–20 ESV

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

The heart of the problem is a heart problem, and no amount of external cleansing, purifying, obeying, or conforming will deal with this problem. Only Jesus can make us pure in heart, only JESUS can fix the heart of the problem by fixing our heart-problem.

Body

OT Purity Laws:

Numbers 5:2–3 (ESV) — 2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. 3 You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”

Numbers 19:12–13 (ESV) — 12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

Leviticus 5:1–6 (ESV) — 1 “If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity; 2 or if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean wild animal or a carcass of unclean livestock or a carcass of unclean swarming things, and it is hidden from him and he has become unclean, and he realizes his guilt; 3 or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and realizes his guilt; 4 or if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; 5 when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, 6 he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.

Every time I read through the OT Law I am even more thankful for Christ.

Jesus was addressing a Jewish audience who would have been steeped in the law, immersed in the world of the clean and unclean. THIS WAS JESUS’ WORLD!

Matthew 8:2 (ESV) — 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

Matthew 15:11 (ESV) — 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Mark 7:5 (ESV) — 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

Matthew 15:20 (ESV) — 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Matthew 23:25 (ESV) — 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

The law was everything to this audience. To become defiled was to suffer an interruption of one’s fellowship with God. Now Jesus was taking it further by saying that we must be pure in heart if we ever hope to be with God! This is something the law cannot do (Romans 8:3). This is something we need Jesus to do for us!

Praise God You Are Clean in Christ

So many times in this series we’ve talked about the impossibilities of these standards apart from Christ. This is perhaps chief among them all. This is you before the Father with nothing else, laid bare, exposed, in all of your guilt before His holy gaze. (Exodus 19:12-14)

Again, the Pharisees were the experts in purity, experts in righteousness, experts in obeying the law, and even they couldn’t rely on their works to make them clean.

Matthew 23:25–28 (ESV) — 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

This first point is all about the gospel. We are only clean as we are clean in Christ.

You’re not fully clean unless you’re Zest-fully clean!

Jesus is saying, “You’re not clean at all unless you’re clean internally!” If you’re not clean in Christ, you’re not clean at all.

Hebrews 10:22 (ESV) — 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 9:14 (ESV) — 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Titus 2:13–14 (ESV) — 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

No matter the life we feel we have lived, no matter how good, godly, we may think we have been, we won’t stand clean before God without Christ.

1 John 1:9 (ESV) — 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Men, make sure you are clean in Christ. Make sure you aren’t trusting in morality or religion or being better than most. Make sure you are trusting entirely in the only One who can deal with the heart of the problem by addressing your heart-problem.

Matthew 5:8 ESV

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

This is one of the hardest things to preach and be clear at the same time, avoiding the pitfalls that can accompany a message like this.

The ditches

If someone were to ask you, “Who is responsible for my holiness before God, me or God?”, what would you say?

YES

John 17:17 (ESV) — 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV) — 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:21 (ESV) — 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

1 Peter 1:15 (ESV) — 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

James 4:8 (ESV) — 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The dangers of a message on internal purity is the thought that “as long as the inside is clean it doesn’t matter what the outside looks like.” But hopefully the verses above help protect us from these thoughts.

Apart from Christ, we can work on the outside, but there’s nothing we can do about the inside. The good news is: Jesus doesn’t clean the inside without also going to work on the outside.

Put Your Hope in Christ for Total Transformation

You are what you eat. Your diet has an impact on your “outside”, but it also has a major impact on your “inside”.

In John 3:3 Jesus introduces the idea of regeneration; that is, unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. To be born again is to be completely made new, completely transformed.

In Romans 6:6 Paul says that our old self was crucified with Christ in order that our body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul declares that if we are in Christ we are a new creation; the old having passed away and the new having come.

A genuine encounter with the saving work of Jesus will not only cleanse the inside of the cup, but it will transform the outside as well.

Application:

Accountability software

Accountability partner

Books on sanctification

Your hope for transformation, your hope for sanctification can’t be in those things. It must be in Christ.

Jesus can change your desires

Jesus can change your behavior

Jesus can change your patterns

Through relationship with him, through an increased love of him, through believing that He is better and through a desire to please Him more than yourself.

Matthew 5:8 ESV

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

This isn’t an overly complicated final point. It’s pretty simple and foundational

for they shall see God.

Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV) — 13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

Revelation 21 records the future that awaits us in Christ, the future that is ours because He has made us pure in heart.

Revelation 21:8 (ESV) — 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Revelation 21:27 (ESV) — 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Why? Because it is the dwelling place of God, and God will not, indeed cannot dwell with anything that is not clean.

Give Thanks that Jesus’ Death Has Opened the Way to Fellowship with God

Yes, eternally, but also in the here and now.

You’ve been adopted (Romans 8:15)

You have access to the throne in prayer (Hebrews 4:16)

You have been reconciled 2 Corinthians 5

None of these things are possible without the heart of the problem, our heart-problem, being addressed, without our being cleansed by JESUS.

But ultimately our thanksgiving is anchored to the eternal future we have with God in Christ Jesus.

1 John 3:2–3 (ESV) — 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Conclusion

Zest might look at Old Spice and at least admit that they are a soap that does part of the job. Your Old Spice body wash or Irish Spring bar soap might remove some dirt, but Zest would say you’re not fully clean unless you’re Zest-fully clean.

That was a win from the Zest marketing department because here we are 30 years later, and at least for me, I can still sing that tune in my mind. But that line doesn’t work for Christianity. It’s not that we can’t be fully clean without Jesus but that we can’t be clean at all.

If we hope to see God one day we need Jesus to cleanse us from our sins today. We need a deep cleaning that can only be accomplished through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. That means faith and repentance. That means regeneration. That means total transformation. That begins with Jesus.