Your behavior

mirrors your

heart.

Matthew 15:10-20

“Our behavior mirrors our heart.”

That principle runs throughout Scripture.

“As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7).

Matt 23:25-28.

Cleansing our hearts should be a priority.

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may

stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a

pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor

sworn deceitfully” (Ps 24:3-4).

“Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Ps51:10).

“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God” (Matt

5:8).

How can you purify your

heart? Let’s look at the example of Saul.

Saul was guilty of many of the sins Jesus mentioned.

“Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,

fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”

Saul: “Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of

the Lord, went to the high priest” (Acts 9:1).

“I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man”

(1 Tim 1:13).

How did Saul purify his soul?

One: You recognize your sins.

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Saul had no idea that he was sinning until Jesus spoke with him.

Scripture gives us some very specific lists of sins. 1 Cor 6:9-10.

Gal 5:19-21.

Rev 21:8.

Go through those lists and think long and hard about your life.

Two: You make cleansing your life a priority.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt

6:33).

Saul made cleansing his life a priority. “He was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank” (Acts

9:9).

In Acts, you find that people obeyed the Lord immediately. Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:36-38).

“Immediately [the Philippian jailer] and all his family were baptized”

(Acts 16:33).

Three: You bear fruit worthy of repentance.

Saul certainly brought forth fruit with his repentance. “Immediately [Saul] preached the Christ in the synagogues, that

He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20).

The rest of his life was dedicated to preaching Jesus Christ and

Him crucified.

You find the same thing with other folks in Acts. “[The Philippian jailer] took [Paul and Silas] the same hour of the

night and washed their stripes” (Acts 16:33).

After Sceva’s seven sons tried to cast out a demon: Acts 19:17-20.

God ultimately cleanses us.

“Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Ps 51:7).

“You have purified your souls in obeying the truth” (1 Pet

1:22).

“If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have

fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ

His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7).

Do you need to be

cleansed of sin?

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