What's Behind Closed Doors? Part I
Rev. John R. Greene
I believe that we all must come to a point where we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior or reject Him, the choice being ours. At the danger of arousing hostile feelings, and because we have to choose Jesus, I believe God wants us to ask, "What's behind closed doors?"
Members of the Methodist Church in Wilsall, Montana, say they got quite a shock when they opened an old coffin found in a shed behind the church building. Inside, they found a skeleton that the county coroner determined was a realistic, wired together copy of the real thing. The skeleton, it seems, belongs to the local Odd Fellows chapter. The Odd Fellows use skeleton models in their initiation ceremonies.
There would be a lot more surprises in our churches if all the hidden skeletons of past moral failures came to light! But for those who confess and forsake their sins there is pardon, full and free. No one needs to be haunted by the memory of past sins after claiming by faith God's forgiveness through the Blood of Jesus.
"So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. Then He said to me, 'Son of man, dig into the wall'; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. And He said to me, 'Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.' So I went in and saw, and there-every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed all around on the walls. And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censor in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then He said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, 'The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.'" This passage of Scripture is found in Ezekiel 8:7-12 NKJV.
The blood of Jesus can wash away even the filthiest sins, the most disgusting deeds, the vilest actions that man can do, but only if the person acknowledges that what they do is sin, confesses that sin, asks Jesus to forgive that sin, and has a change of heart about that sin, never to do it anymore (this is called repentance)! Thomas Carlyle said, "The deadliest sin is the consciousness of no sin." Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to convict us of sin so that He may wash it away with His Blood. However, Dennis J. Dehaan said, "Admitting your sin is never a substitute for quitting your sin." Next week's article will have the conclusion. May God richly bless you!!
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