Jesus Cleanses the Hearts of His People

Strive for… the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.Hebrews 12:14The Bible speaks about both forgiveness and cleansing. We need to be forgiven so that we can be at peace with God. We need to be cleansed so that we can live in the presence of God. Forgiveness belongs to the realm of justification: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Cleansing belongs to the realm of sanctification: without holiness “no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Forgiveness is about restoring your relationship with God. Cleansing is about restoring your life before God. These are the two great promises of the gospel. We hear a lot about forgiveness but not so much about cleansing, so this is important for us today. A while back, the marketers of a certain shampoo coined a new word: “degunkify.” The back of the bottle explained what this means: “Lose the leftover gunk and ick of gels and sprays.” When you get up in the morning, your shampoo may degunkify your hair, but what will degunkify your heart? We’re going to discover three ways from the Scriptures that we can find cleansing for our hearts.In what areas are you feeling the need to “degunkify” your heart? What is keeping you from fully enjoying God’s presence?