PURITY (2)
Notes
Transcript
PURITY
PURITY
As I've been studying and preparing to speak about purity this morning I notice two main themes throughout my studies that God has shown me. So they're going to be the two major points that I want to dive deep into today. Number one is spirit enabled purity and the second point that we'll look at today is intentional purity. So pretty much like everything else in our life as Christians surrender is key. Surrender is the key to every aspect of the Christian walk. When we live in continuous surrender to God what we're doing is saying OK Holy Spirit believe me God me shape me mold me and in the leading and the guiding and the shaping and the molding what we're saying is enable me Holy Spirit enable me to live the way that you call me and create me to live. So the spirit enables us and then as we continue to walk closer to the Lord there's something that the Lord has shown me and that is intentionality. We have to be intentional about our Christianity we have to be intentional about living for Jesus and when you combine the enabling of the Holy Spirit with the intentionality of a spirit that is willing to seek and want and surrender you get a well-rounded life of Christ. So let's dive into the first one the Holy Spirit enabling.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5.8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the pure in heart: In the ancient Greek, the phrase pure of heart has the idea of straightness, honesty, and clarity. There can be two ideas connected to this. One is of inner moral purity as opposed to the image of purity or ceremonial purity. The other idea is of a single, undivided heart – those who are utterly sincere and not divided in their devotion and commitment to God. You could kind of connect what Jesus is saying here about having a single undivided heart to what he says later in
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
the light of the body is the eye if therefore the eye is single the whole body will be single. The phrase if the eye is single means focused giving direction and allowing us to see what is most important. It means our actions are purposeful and directed with no distractions detours or deviations. It means that God almighty is number one in our life.
“Christ was dealing with men’s spirits, with their inner and spiritual nature. He did this more or less in all the Beatitudes, and this one strikes the very center of the target as he says, not ‘Blessed are the pure in language, or the pure in action,’ much less ‘Blessed are the pure in ceremonies, or in clothing, or in food;’ but ‘Blessed are the pure in heart.’” (Spurgeon)
For they shall see God: In this, the pure of heart receive the most wonderful reward. They shall enjoy greater intimacy with God than they could have imagined. The polluting sins of covetousness, oppression, lust, and chosen deception have a definite blinding effect upon a person; and the one pure of heart is freer from these pollutions. I believe when Jesus says for they shall see God what he's saying is that God is pure God is holy God is righteous and when you have a single minded search and love of God and God is on the throne of your life then you will see God not only in your own life but you will see God in others lives as a result of him working through your life. Because see it's never our righteousness that we walk in it's God's righteousness so it's never our purity it's God's purity.
Purity is not a point it's a pursuit.
Purity is not a point it's a pursuit.
Purity is a path not a point. Purity is not something you get by chasing purity ,purity is something you get by chasing God.
Purity is something you get as a result of chasing God. It's a path you are called to walk we don't just reach purity. You are continually being purified.
In order to walk in the purity God calls us to walk in we have to understand our identity in Christ. In the Old Testament the lambs paid for the sins so the lambs were paying for the purity of the people. Now our identity is in Christ because Christ paid for the purity and the freedom that we have as coheirs with Christ. So the blood of Jesus Christ literally paid for mine and your purity and it's so important that we get this because when we walk in the understanding of who we are in Christ it takes our Christian walk to a whole new level. Christ paid for our Sins which means he paid for us to have the opportunity to walk free from the bondage of sin to have it completely taken out of our hearts which we call purity or sanctification or Christ likeness but listen when we get to heaven everybody will be pure so there won't be a need for us to understand how powerful our identity in Christ and our purity is once we're in heaven because everybody will have it and it will have been understood. So what that means is that Christ paid the debt for our sin enabling us to walk free from sin and have the Holy Spirit as the temple of God enabling us to walk out a freedom that no one else on this earth can have unless they surrender fully to God so that means that the freedom is for us on this side of heaven so that we can have Christ working through us at all times and when we're walking in the freedom we were meant to walk in when we're walking in the freedom that Christ bought and paid for it draws people to it because its not the norm meaning that people who don't possess this freedom this purity will recognize it and want it and that's why it's so important for us to walk in it because when people see it they'll be drawn to that freedom, so they're not drawn to Jonathan they're drawn to the spirit of God that is free Jonathan and purified Jonathan and now is there a drawn to the freedom I have I will recognize that because my eye is single and my mind is always on giving Jesus to everyone I encounter. People were always drawn to Christ the Holy Spirit of God living inside of us enabling us to walk out the life Christ intended for us to walk out is the biggest witness that we have at our disposal. That's why the devil is OK with us saying a prayer to get to heaven but he will fight us tooth and nail when our eye becomes single when we begin to really hunger and thirst for righteousness because he knows the promise better than we know it that when we hunger and thirst for righteousness we are going to be filled being filled produces a transformation the transformation is the purifying work of God in US and that is something that others see in us as Christians and the devil begins to tremble when we begin to understand our identity and when we begin to walk in our sanctified set apart purified white hot on fire spirit led spirit filled spirit enabled boldness and when we begin to talk with our sanctified set apart purified white hot on fire spirit lead spirit filled spirit enabled authority that only Christ can give were now getting to understand our identity. It's so important to understand that as we're living in surrender to Jesus He's transforming us and it's in the transformation that He's actually purifying us. We don't go to the store to buy purification we continually surrender to God and through our surrender we become purified
In order to walk in the purity God calls us to walk in we have to understand our identity in Christ. Your relationship with Jesus is where your identity begins and and everything else is a manifestation of that relationship and identity. And all the sudden you're not trying to be pure. You just are pure because Christ is pure and your relationship with Christ is your identity and so you're not trying to be pure. You just are a pure because Christ is pure.
Christ didn't come just to give us everlasting life. He came to give us new life. There's a difference. Everlasting life is I give myself to the Lord so I can go to heaven and live everlasting and yes, that is an aspect of it. But new life is what Christ came to bring us. He came to give us a new heart, a new mind, a new motive, a new perspective, and all these things that I've just listed happen as a result of Christ transforming us and the transformation is the purifying work of the spirit of God. I say this a lot but we have taken the wrong mindset with our Christian walk in the aspect of we as pastors even sell Christianity as accept Jesus as your lord and savior So you can go to heaven when really it's accept Jesus as your Lord and savior so you can get heaven into you so that you can live with this new life so that you can walk out the freedom that God calls us to walk in. And that freedom is so so important. Or you can say it as our purity, which in my opinion, is freedom also is so important to walk out in this life because it's specifically for this side of heaven. When we get to heaven, we will have a glorified body and will be as pure as pure can be. We will be purer than anything you've ever seen on this earth, but the whole point of the christian life is to get Christ into us to have it on earth as it is in heaven as much as it can be because the holy spirit is that down payment of our inheritance in heaven. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory. EPH. 1.14
The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
So that's literally a piece of heaven inside of us. The more we surrender the more our eye becomes single it's continually purifying us and the purification helps us walk out the life and the power and the victory that Jesus literally intended for us to walk out. And I say it's important because when we're walking in the freedom that christ meant for us to walk in, people see that, people recognize that freedom because it's not a freedom that they have and I won’t even say it’s just unbelievers that don’t have this freedom because truth be told most Christians don’t walk in this freedom and I say that with a burden because I’m a pastor and I want to see the church as a whole understand who they are in Christ.
Purity is not a point it's a path
Purity is not a point it's a path
. We don't become pure by chasing purity, we become pure by chasing God! A pure life is one in which sin no longer determines the choices one makes. Purity is a by product of our pursuit after Jesus
Sexual purity
Sexual purity
When we hear purity as Christians we automatically think of sexual purity. I'm gonna touch just briefly on this because as I've studied this I've seen that purity is something that we have to live out in every aspect of our life and sexuality is just one aspect of the overall life. So when I was a teenager you always heard remain abstinent stay a virgin till you're married and you'll be pure or that remaining abstinent made you pure and that's simply not true. Virginity is not purity. You can be a virgin and still be on pure. Now if you're seeking God and you're walking purity as a path and you're chasing God a fruit of the purity will be sexual abstinence or sex only between a man and his wife. So I want to reiterate the virginity is not purity virginity is a fruit of the purity received by up-to-date relationship with Jesus and it is a fruit that is enabled by the Holy Spirit. I'm a pastor I'm single and I've just had to hand that part of my life over to God. Also there's an alarming number or statistic of ministers addicted to porn and as we've already heard this is a byproduct of not being surrendered daily and purified and enabled by God. If you're married and you're not having sex outside of marriage that doesn't make you pure. So there's a lot of thought or I've heard the people think purity has everything to do with marriage and not having sex before marriage and all of those things and that's just one aspect of it that's why I'm not going real deep into it because we have to understand and surrender in every part of our life not just the sexual purity and if we can't understand how God enables us to be pure on a very basic level of identity and the things that we've talked about then we're not gonna be able to really even tackle the sexual purity. So as you know I'm not married but in my studies for this conference I've seen and listen to sermons on sexual purity and one of the main threads that was talked about amongst married people is that if there is one of the two who are struggling with sexual purity then there has to be open dialogue between the man and the woman. There's a saying in the recovery world that you're only as sick as your secrets and as long as you aren't able to talk to each other about pornography problem or really any problem for that matter it's going to hinder the spirit also.
Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body
The reason we think of sexual purity as the category of purity is because sexual immorality is a sin within our own body thus bringing the impurity into the temple of God.
For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4 that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God. 6 This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. 7 For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. 8 Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. [1]
For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality,
that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God.
This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you.
For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness.
Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Paul here anticipates an emphasis which he develops more fully in chapter 5 (vv. 23–24), namely, that the entire personality of the believer must experience the sanctifying power of God A separated and holy life is God’s norm for all believers, whether they live in the first century or in the twentieth. As we shall see shortly, Paul in
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.
says the entire man—body, mind, and spirit—is to be “sanctified wholly lets look at this as a whole
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will do it[2]
So to quickly go through these verses it's God's will for us to be sanctified and I believe that sanctified is also purified there might be some differences between the two but the wholeness of both words are together in purification. Paul said this is God's will for you to be sanctified and he mentioned sexual immorality because the thessalonians as a whole society struggled with sexual immorality and impurity and so he emphasizes that but he goes on to say be sanctified completely and may your whole spirit your whole soul and your whole body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and So what that's telling me is that it's God's will and it's God's Holy Spirit that enables us to be sanctified and cleansed and purified and if we're to be found sanctified completely or through and through at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ than what that tells me is that it is for this out of heaven if when he comes back he finds me sanctified through and through then it's something meant for today and then look at that last verse ,verse 24 tells us he who calls you is faithful he will do it he calls us into being purified and then he enables us to be purified.
INTENTIONAL PURITY
INTENTIONAL PURITY
So when I say intentional purity what I mean is we get to a point where were so surrendered to God and of course enabled by the spirit that we begin to intentionally do things to help our purity. Intentionality, we surrender to God, but we have to be intentional about our purity. Yes we are empowered by the spirit but we have to do our part and look away.
- Story about Brandon and I looking at floor and laughing about not looking at girl.
Our actions are usually thought out and calculated but our reaction is the true heart and relationship with Jesus on display. When we react who we are and what's truly on the inside is coming out so if we see a beautiful woman walking down the road your reaction is going to be one or two things, your either going to stop and stare and have enpure thoughts that will continually come to mind or you'll see her and tell yourself to look down or up because you don't want to look at this young lady who doesn't really know her identity and value in Christ.
I'm big on the intentionality part of purity yes but of our Christian life as a whole. I wake up in the morning and 9 out of 10 days the first thing I do is pray, my first thought is about God but the ending renovation 10th day I'll wake up and I think about something else my first thought is not to pray is not to go to God and so I have a theory that on that 10th day is when my intentionality is so important I have a sign when I rise up out of bed that says pray now like I said 9 out of 10 days I wake up and I pray and I don't need the sign but on the 10th day when I don't wake up and naturally go to start praying when I rise up out of bed I've intentionally put a sign to say hey if you haven't thought about God this morning if you haven't started praying this morning you better get your mind right and now that you know this is your one day where it's not just coming to you naturally you've got to be more intentional about it because the devil only needs that little crack and so we have to be intentional about looking away when a girl comes walking down the street and she's beautiful because the first look a lot of times we can't help but the second look is the one that's gonna get you it's the one that's gonna have you thinking dirty thoughts someone that's gonna have you compromising your sanctification your purification all those things.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.
"How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word".
We must live according to God's Word in order to walk out purity.
6 The words of the Lordare pure words,
like silver refined in an earthen furnace,
purified seven times
The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times.
The number seven in this verse represents perfection, completeness, and fullness.
So psalm 119 tells us that in order to be pure and live pure we must keep our ways as the Word pf God teaches and Psalm 12 tells us that we know the Word is true and pure because it's been tested and tried and the results declare it is truth.