Cleaning from the inside out......

     King Hezekiah was chomping at the bit just waiting on his day to become King Of Judah. When the day finally arrived he made no apologizes for the changes he was to bring to Judah. Hezekiah's father, Ahaz, had made a mockery of the Temple and the God of Judah. Hezekiah was going to change this. In 2 Chronicles chapter 29, you can read of the story of the cleansing of the temple to restore the worship of the one true God, the God of Israel and Judah.
     The part in the story that I want to draw attention to today is how they went about cleansing the temple. If you and I were cleaning a room or the garage, we would start at the door and work our way across the floor. This was not the way they cleaned the temple. They went into the inner most part of the temple and worked their way out. The cleansing took place from the inside out.
     This is a beautiful picture of how Christ cleanses us. He cleans us from the inside out. Our outside appearance doesn't change nor do even some of our bad habits. It is a work in progress. I am sure on the first few days of cleansing the temple, noone standing on the outside could even tell the difference they had made, but on the inside an incredible work was taking place. The Levites who were cleaning the temple did make it out to the porch of the temple and there was a definite noticeable change.
     As Christ works on us and in us, the change begins to work its way to the outside but the temple structure is still the same. My outside appearance doesn't change though sometimes we would like a new makeover. We are who God created us. Our body, His temple, may even bare some wounds and scars from sin, but the inside is what is gloriously saved and changed. However, the change is noticeable and obvious to all around us.
     I want to share a video for you today of Brian Welch, former guitarist for the hard rocking band Korn. As you will notice, the outside hasn't changed, but listen to his story and you will learn very quickly God made a change on the inside.

I am John Sowders and I am Second...!!