2 Chronicles 29:3
He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
Hezekiah inherited a mess. The country was in disarray. The temple was more of a junk storage unit than a temple. The people were living a life of sin. Hezekiah knew that his task was great, but he also knew that his future and the future of his country depended on him cleaning up the mess that sin had wrought in his nation.
Just like Hezekiah, many people find their lives in disarray because of sin. Sin always messes up a good life and causes heartache, sorrow, and regret. However, no life is so filthy that God cannot restore it if that person is willing to come back to Him. The steps that Hezekiah took to clean up Judah are the same steps that you must take if you will clean your life from sin. Let me share these seven steps with you.
First, you must choose to do right. Verse 2 says, And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD. Nobody can make you do right; you must choose to do right. Doing right is a choice just like doing wrong is a choice. You will only start cleaning your life from sin once you make the decision that you are going to clean up your life and get rid of those things that sin has wrought in your life.
Second, you must open the house of the doors of the LORD in your life by being faithful to church. Nobody has ever gotten right with God by being hit-and-miss in their church attendance. If you truly want to get right with God, start attending EVERY church service. Faithfulness to church is a must to keeping a clean life from sin.
Third, you must separate from that which pulled you away from God. Verse 5 says, sanctify now yourselves. To sanctify something is to set it apart. You cannot continue to run with sin and expect to clean your life from sin. You must separate from all people and activities that do sin.
Fourth, you must carry away the filthy sins in your life. Verse 5 continues to say, carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. You cannot continue in sin and clean your life from sin. Many find themselves continually saying they will clean up their lives only to run back to the same filth that caused their life to be soiled by sin. My friend, you must get rid of ALL sin by throwing away anything in your life that leads you to sin.
Fifth, you must realize you are to be holy to God. Verse 5 says that the filth was taken from the holy place. You will never clean your life from sin if you don't acknowledge that your life is to be holy for God to use. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and once you realize the purpose for being holy is when you will see sin’s filth. Sin will never seem filthy to you until you fully realize that your life is to be holy for God’s use.
Sixth, you must restore your walk with God. Verse 11 says, the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him. A daily walk with God in the Scriptures and prayer does wonders to cleaning your life from sin. Nobody has successfully cleaned their life from sin without walking with God in the Scriptures and prayer.
Seventh, you must get back to serving God. Verse 11 continues by saying, serve him. When you get rid of sin, you must replace where sin was with serving God. Serving God is the key to cleaning your life from sin and to keeping it from sin.
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