Clean it OUT!!

I did my spring cleaning during the winter this year, not sure why just decided to clean in December.  And I went from cabinet to cabinet, drawer to drawer, closet to closet (except I didn’t touch my kids rooms which gets kind of scary now that I am thinking about it) I was cleaning the closet (now we have only been in our house for about two years) so I am thinking not much could go wrong.

And I get into our bags and wrapping paper, and a mouse had decided to do the same thing.  Torn up paper, mouse droppings, and I just start cleaning, and not just cleaning, I got it all out. 

Why?

Cause I didn’t even want a piece of it to be evident in our house.  I wanted a clean closet.

And I notice this same pattern in the Old Testament if you have been reading with us.

God says the same. 

As Joshua takes over lands and kingdoms the constant reminder that God gives to his people is “don’t let one thing remain.”  Not one thing. 

Like in Joshua 23:7 “Make sure you do not associate with the other peoples….”

Why? 

The same reason that I didn’t want a piece of my closet problems to remain,

Because it will affect all the rest.

All of it

So lets read a similar story, but in the New Testament.

Acts 19:11-20

¹¹ And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all^[d] of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 

And we could just sit here and preach all of this, so incredible. 

And the end leads to the lifting up of the name of Jesus.

But the story is not over.

Not even close.

¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers  (notice this they were believers in Jesus)

came, confessing and divulging their practices. (repentance, already save but repenting)

As pastor Ted talked last week repentance is so necessary for salvation, but also every day in the believers life.  Even Jesus when he teaches the disciples how to pray says this

Matthew 6:12-13  “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

The value of those materials was calculated at more than someone might make if they worked for one hundred sixty-five years.

Now this is hard to believe, not in the fact that they gave up their magical arts, but that they burned them instead of sold them. (because that is some money my friend, it was worth a lot of money.  A lot.  Like one hundred sixty-five years’ worth of work worth.  That’s incredible.

It’s the mindset of the believers at that time.  Those that gave their life to Christ.

It’s what the Jews didn’t have in the Old Testament, the believers of Christ made it right.

I’m not going to sell it, because it’s evil and it has no place in my life.

And not only that, it has no place in your life either!!! 

So much so that I am willing to burn it all!!

And that is where we have to be.  Willing to burn it all out.

So then the question becomes, what needs to come out?

That is obvious when you are cleaning out a rat-infested closet,

It most likely is obvious when you are a practicing witch and magical arts, Jesus gets lifted high, you give your life to Jesus, the books of magic have to go,

But what is it in our lives that needs to be cleaned out? 

Think of the next part of the Lord’s prayer…

Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptations but deliver us from evil.

A daily reminder to repent, but also a daily reminder to not be led into temptation…

And so we must remove the temptations…

When I am fully dieting I remove the temptation, there can be no ice cream in my house.

None.  Why?  Because that is temptation to me so I get it out. I can’t be around it

It makes sense to remove the temptation.

And the same is true spiritually, remove the temptation, get it all OUT!!

Jesus says in Matthew 5:29-30

²⁹ If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Clean Out What You See

This is 2022, Did Jesus understand what kind of world we would be living in, did he know how accessible technology would be to us and that in swipe of a finger we can be anywhere, with anyone doing anything.

But if you are serious about Jesus being glorified in your life,

If you are serious about your walk with Christ so that your children and other will see…

You will clean out the porn that you have been watching because it doesn’t belong in a believer’s life.  It will destroy you.  It will destroy your marriage or future marriage, and it needs to be cleaned out.  We have covenant eyes installed on our phones it takes screen shots, it lets me know what sites are being visited, as a watch, because it nots like a witchcraft book that burns an sometimes it will come back in.  We are getting rid of the temptation. 

And ladies you might be looking at your man or your teenagers like yeah… I told you.

But seriously media Facebook, TicTok, The Gram, Meta, is like porn to our souls because we are constantly comparing ourselves, our relationships, our families, to everyone else.

And it’s a cancer.

And shows that show to much…or they are Ungodly, atheistic, lead to another way…Clean it…

Clean Out What You Hear

Of course, we can look to our music, get rid of what doesn’t honor God. 

I already told you last week of my friend who sat at the top of the Prospect Bridge throwing away all of his death metal music, because it has no place in the life of the believer. None.

And if we don’t get rid of it, it can take us back down.

Or what about the conversations we listen to on our Job, at school, within our families.

They will destroy us, our witness, and our walk with Christ.

I couldn’t even go into the teachers’ lounge when I taught at HJH because not one conversation honored God, and if I would have stayed in it, I would have become it.

Or the gossip we participate in….ouch. 

Clean Out What You Take In (Touch)

And don’t go to the place where they take it in or touch it!!

This reminds me of the old children’s song, but we need to sing it to ourselves.

O be careful little eyes what you see, O be careful little eyes what you see.  For the Father up above is looking down in love so be careful little eyes what you see.  Be careful little ears what you hear, Be careful little tongue what you say, Be careful little hands what you do, Be careful little feet where you go, be careful little mind what you think….

And clean it all out And today we are asking that you would do just that,

More importantly God is asking you to do the same.

Did you notice the last verse of the scripture that we read

²⁰ So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Because they cleaned everything out.

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.  –Brennan Manning

But on the flip side of that it what the world found so unbelievable in the book of acts that not only did they acknowledge Jesus with their lips they honored Him with their lifestyle!!