No true saint desires to be a "den of thieves"! May Christ come to us, purify us, and give us the Divine peace that flows like a river. God has better things for us than we see today.

The voice of Christ (the "trumpet," to speak figuratively) called Lazarus from the grave (John 11:43). Then there was the problem of the graveclothes.

What are the graveclothes? What is there about the forgiven, water-and-Spirit-baptized, born-again believer that has not as yet been completely reconciled to God through Christ?

There are three areas of our personality that have not as yet been wholly reconciled to God: (1) the love of the world; (2) the sins of our flesh; and (3) our self-will. Is this true in your life?

Christ commands us to turn away from our trust in the world economic system, our attraction toward the things of the world, and to give to God in Heaven our trust and love. The disciple of Jesus must forsake his attachment to the world, take up his cross, and follow the Lord.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (I John 2:15,16)

We know that we love the world when we sit by the hour and watch the television.

Christ deals with the sins of our flesh through the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. As we walk in the Spirit, the Lord shows us our sins one at a time. We confess our sins and by the power of the Spirit we put them to death.

We do not struggle endlessly against our sins. We kill them by confession, vigorous repentance, the cleansing of the blood, and then determined resistance. The Word, the blood of the Lamb, and the Spirit of God are sufficient to enable us to overcome every sin.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ, who walk not in the appetites of the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [put to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)

We are reconciled to God in the area of our love for the world and also our love for the sins of the flesh.

The third unreconciled area of our personality is our self-will, our self-love, our self-centeredness. It may be true that our self-will is more of an enemy of Christ than are the demon-prompted lusts that drive us and keep us in the chains of spiritual darkness.

Our self-will (the Leviathan that lurks in the caverns of our soul) finally is conquered by a lifetime of cross-carrying obedience to Christ. We must present our body a living sacrifice, a whole burnt-offering to God. We must take up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus.

To be continued.