Cleansing begins from within.
Jesus spoke harsh words to the religious leaders of his day:
”You cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but inside they are full of extortion and wickedness. You blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. On the outside they appear beautiful, but on the inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. In the same way, on the outside you appear righteous to men, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matt. 23:25-28.
Jesus teaches with this the comprehensive renewal of a person. It is not enough to just wash the outer shell, and with beautiful clothes, etc. the outer shine covers the inner impurities. A person is not pure if the inner being is full of dirty thoughts, a readiness for evil and intrigue. The inner mind and attitudes must be renewed. But in the teaching of the Bible it does not mean merely a change, but the whole person becoming new, or being born again from the Holy Spirit. Then the stream of the water of life from heaven begins to flow from the innermost being. John 4:14 and 7:37. Of this joy the Bible says: ”The joy of the Lord is your strength!” Neh. 8:10. This person cannot achieve anything on his own. ”By grace you have been saved…” Eph. 2:8. And everyone can receive grace: ”As fellow workers with God, we urge you to accept the grace of God, so that you do not come short of it” 2 Cor. 6:1.
The source of grace is also the source of joy.
The secret sins of a corrupt mind must be revealed. Then we realize that it is not possible to cleanse all those compartments at all. They must be recreated. And the new inner chambers must be filled with the blessing that comes from the sources of God, the Holy Spirit, and the power of the world to come. The new Spirit brings a new mind. We begin to love Bible teaching, prayer, fellowship, Holy Spirit-born literature, music, praise, etc. “All my springs are in you.” Psalm 87:8. Hallelujah! This is holy righteousness from heaven. The world under the power of sin no longer gives us anything that interests us.
This cleansing of the areas of the mind does not need the help of psychology. Some have fallen into this practice. They try to fish out various things from the depths of our minds and memories. The Bible teaches otherwise: “…forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead.” Philippians 3:13. “For I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12. Through faith, all our sins are cast into the sea of grace forever. Micah 7:18,19.
When we accepted the risen Jesus as our Savior, the all-encompassing merit of His saving work became available to us. What He is and what He has done for us is now available to us. Jesus, through His suffering, substitutionary sacrifice, blood, and death, earned for us freedom from our sinful state AND our sinful deeds. He bore our sins in His body on the cross. In this way, He earned for us a new mind and eternal life. 1 Cor. 2:16. Every blow and scourge that befell Jesus broke the bonds of our sinful mind. Therefore, everyone can receive this grace, because “the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him…” Isa. 53:5. Thank you Jesus!
When we came to faith, we became God’s new creation. Eph. 2:10.
But what about the old… What happened to the man who lived in sin? It was buried in baptism into Jesus’ name: “Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. If we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Rom. 3:4–6. “Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, your fruit leads to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 6:22,23.
The “mind of the flesh,” which is enmity against God, no longer rules. Rom. 8:6–9. We have been given the gift of the “mind of the Spirit,” which is life and peace. Gal. 5:22–24.
“For we too were once foolish and disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done in righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:3-5.
Jesus made us new people, children of God. And NOTE! Only those born of God are children of God. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; the new has come!” 2 Cor. 5:17. Eph. 2:10. “Therefore, put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Put off the old self with its practices, and put on the new self.” Col. 3:8-10. In the new birth, God’s Holy Spirit came to dwell in our hearts. Now “we HAVE the mind of Christ.” 1 Cor. 2:16. This is what we want to cherish and strengthen by remaining His disciples according to the teachings of the Bible.
A PERMANENTLY NEW MIND
As believers, we must maintain our position as God’s servants so that we can help others on the path of life: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Rom. 12:2. Eph. 4:17-24. “Then those who gladly received Peter’s word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:41,42.
By doing this, our inner man is strengthened day by day. 2 Cor. 4:16-18.
We need the renewing of our minds again and again, even after we have come to faith, so that the filth of the sinful world does not obscure our heavenly vision, which we received in the new birth, in which the whole man is made new. Our eyes were opened. Acts 26:17,18. This is also the meaning of the Bible word repentance, conversion and repentance, which in the original text is Acts. 2:38. Repent (metanoia) or change your mind, be sanctified completely. This means separation from sin and a great cleansing of life, in which all areas of our lives are cleansed and healed ”through faith in the blood of Jesus”. Rom. 3:23-25. Our inner and outer man are corrected. Our mind, thoughts, words, actions and behavior have become clean. In this way Jesus sanctifies us, so that God’s love and goodness towards our neighbors begins to be seen and heard in our lives. Cursing and evil speech, etc. are no longer appropriate. Psalm 1.
”He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.” 1 Peter 3:10.
A healthy life of faith does not include cursing and other evil words. We do not take the devil’s name on our lips. Psalm 16:4. We pray like David: ”Lord, set a guard over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3.
”Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, that it may be gracious to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed until the day of redemption.” Eph. 4:29,30.
”Be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Phil. 1:27. ”…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45.
”Be thou an example to the believers, in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity… Pay close attention to thyself and to thy teaching; be steadfast in it. For by doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” 1 Tim. 4:12,16.
Weijo Lindroos