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Apr 11, 2023 18:30pm

Let God Cleanse and Restore You

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Around here, Sundays mean church, a quick trip to KFC, lunch and a nap before heading back to church. We pulled up to the drive-thru and the voice came over the speaker.

“Welcome to KFC, my name is Cindy, how can I help you?”

“Cindy, we’d like the family meal deal please.”

“I’m sorry, we’re out of chicken.”

…

Wait, what?

I’m at KFC and you’re out of chicken? How does this happen? It’s what KFC is. I mean, it literally is Kentucky Fried Chicken. It’s in the name. Your sole purpose is to provide chicken. It’s like pulling up to a hospital and they say, I’m sorry, we aren’t treating patients here today. Or going to hobby lobby and their lobby is empty of things for your hobby. It makes no sense.

“And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (Mark 11:12-17)

These two incidents are actually connected. In the first portion of scripture, we see Jesus feeling hungry. He looks for something to fill Him. He goes to a fig tree. It’s full of leaves. It has the appearance of being able to produce fruit, yet it is fruitless. Its sole purpose is to provide figs, and there are none. Jesus says to the tree, no man will ever eat fruit from you again.

This is just a prelude to the main event. Jesus enters Jerusalem and He and His disciples go to the temple. Now, let’s stop for a second. What is the temple for? It is a place of worship to the one true God. It is a place of sacrifice and holiness.

But as Jesus enters, He sees the court of Gentiles, which is the place for their worship of God, has been turned into a market for merchants and money changers. The only money accepted at the temple was temple currency. “Don’t have any of that? Oh, no worries, we’ve got you covered. We will convert that for you. There’s a little charge to do the conversion, but no worries you’ll be all set for worship.”

Money lined their pockets as they scammed people who were coming to worship. They had made a mockery of the temple and God. The temple is for one thing, it has one sole purpose and that’s to worship the Lord, and they were failing.

Does that make you angry? It does me. I’m mad just thinking about how these people were taken advantage of, they were kept from doing the one thing they had come to do, and were being cheated by the very ones who said they represented God.

Jesus was angry too and He took action. He threw out those that were doing wrong. Just like the fig tree that was fruitless and cursed, so were these men. They were supposed to be feeding the children of Israel. They were supposed to be worshipping God. They were supposed to be fruitful, but they were barren. They had no good fruit in them.

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

If the temple was made for one thing, to glorify God in worship, what does that say about us according to this scripture?

Our body is the temple of God. And we were made to use it for one thing. To worship God. Our lips may sing praise to the Lord, but our minds are filled with evil thoughts; our hearts strive and lust after things of this world; our hands and feet strive to take what is not ours and go places where the Holy Spirit is grieved. Our mouths may say one thing, but the evidence or lack thereof tells the whole story… we are fruitless.

How can that change?

First, we must stop and examine ourselves to see if we truly are a believer in Jesus Christ.

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Do we love the things God loves and hate the things God hates? Do we have a desire for His word and thirst for its truth? Do we have a diminishing appetite for the things of this world? Are we ashamed of our sin?

Second, we must confess that before God. Proverbs 28:13 says “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

We must allow God to take control of our lives and cleanse us from the inside out. Just as Jesus cleared the temple, He needs to do the same thing with us. Psalm 51:1-4 says “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.”

And finally, we commit to following Him daily.

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)

“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” (1 John 2: 3-6)

Let God cleanse you and restore you to your created purpose! Be fruitful and worship the Lord your God!