When Adam and Eve broke the one command that God gave them (Gen. 2:17), and ate from that one tree, their ‘eyes were opened’ and both were overtaken with shame and fear, especially when they heard the voice of God calling for them in the garden. So they tried to hide themselves in their nakedness by sewing fig leaves together and then hid among the other trees or shrubbery. (Gen. 3:6-10).

When God asked them what they were doing, they replied, saying they were hiding because they were  afraid and naked. That’s when God inquired: “Who told you that you were naked?” (11). Clearly, it wasn’t God who told them that.

Do you think it is possible that the same ‘serpent of old, the devil...who deceives the whole world’ (Rev. 12:9)...and who presumably told Adam and Eve they were naked...could also be deceiving countless people today, telling them that they are ‘fully clothed... in God’s righteousness’ ...simply because they verbally acknowledge they ‘believe in Jesus’? Oh...the irony! You might want to take a moment with that one, because being ‘properly dressed’ is an important matter to God (Matt. 22:11-14).

And if that gives you a dreaded sense of concern, maybe even a touch of ‘fear’, that is not a bad thing; trust me. (Prov. 1:7; 9:10)

Those folks in Matt. 7:21-23 who showed up with impressive resumés filled with ‘church activity’ (1 Cor. 13:1-3) must not have been properly dressed either. I wonder who deceived them, the same serpent maybe, who deceived Eve? (Gen. 3:13; 2 Cor. 11:3-4, 14)

I’m wondering if I should write a short story, a ‘spin-off’ of that classic tale about ‘The Emperor who wore no Clothes’, but I’ll title this: “The Christians who thought they were dressed’.

Oh, an interesting side-note when it comes to being properly ‘dressed’, that you may have not ever ‘seen’ before... but when Adam and Eve saw their ‘nakedness’, they attempted by their own efforts to ‘cover themselves’. That rarely, if ever... does the job, according to God’s way of thinking. Do you recall how God chose to ‘cover them’? Take a look at Gen. 3:21, and consider what was involved with that process. They probably watched the first ‘shedding of blood’, when God took the life of an innocent animal, one that Adam had named (Gen. 2:19-20), and then skinned it in order to make tunics, or ‘coverings’ for them both. “Without the shedding of blood...” (Heb. 9:22).

If you’ve been reading here with me this past week, we’ve been looking at the story of King Josiah, who after he was enlightened to what God’s law really had to say, he ramped up his renovation efforts on the temple. It goes back to that idea of how what 'we think is clean’ and what God declares is ‘clean’ ...is usually two separate things. Josiah recognized there was a whole lot more that needed to be dealt with in that defiled temple; and 2 Kings 23 goes into vivid detail to how this temple was being ‘purified’. It would serve as a great reminder and tutorial lesson to any and all who profess to be a follower of Jesus, what God expects from us...if we are serious about ‘inheriting and entering...the kingdom of heaven.

“Not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord’...will enter...but those who do the will of God...” (Matt. 7:21)

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Cor. 7:1)

Yesterday, we closed out our lesson looking at some other passages, one that clearly stated: “Without holiness, no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14), and according to Jesus...”blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Does anyone else see a theme or pattern here?

Back in Josiah’s story, after he had ‘beheld both the goodness and the severity of the Lord’ (Rom.11:22) which came about from reading/hearing ‘the law’...his efforts in cleansing and clearing out the temple involved the removing and tearing out of all those things like ‘Asherah poles’ and items of worship for Baal, and wooden images and high places along with ‘ritual booths of perverted persons’, to name a few. You really should pour over that chapter to get an idea of how thorough he was, even ‘executing the priests of the high places’ (20).  And who are we instructed to 'put to death'? (Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:5,9)

And what do we know today, about the kind of ‘temple’ that God’s Holy Spirit dwells in? (Acts 17:22-24)

By chance, do you have 1 Cor. 3:16-17 marked in your Bible? You should, given that it states: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”

Care to guess what kind of things ‘defile’ God’s temple today? Jesus gives us a hint in Mark 7:21-23. Paul, moved upon by the Holy Spirit, expands that list, in Gal. 5:19-21, making the case that those who continue to practice these ‘evident deeds of the sinful flesh...will NOT...inherit the kingdom of heaven’. In fact, he mentions many of these same ‘deeds’ in Romans 1:29 – 2:3, with the assumption that we already know that those who practice such things are ‘deserving of death’. Go read that and Rom. 8:13 for yourself if you doubt me.

And what is God’s wrath being unleashed upon these days, as revealed by scripture in Rom. 1:18? Do you think God might be pretty serious about all this and is trying to awaken a ‘sleeping church’ to the urgency of the hour? (Matt. 25:1-13)

Friends...how many of you have truly put your ‘hope in Jesus’? IF so...then what does John write that you ought be doing? -   “Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3)

Yes...I do indeed sense a definite ‘theme’ here that we might all want to sit up and make note of if we really believe what this Bible has to say.