Purity

Mark Dunagan
11/29/09 - Sunday Morning

God Often Calls Us To Purity

• “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
• “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” 2 Timothy 2:22
• “And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” 1 John 3:3
• “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe” 1 Timothy 4:12
• “Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust” Romans 13:13-14

He Calls Us To This Purity So That We May Flee From The Wrath To Come:

• “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:3-6)

The NIV renders the beginning of the above quotation, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity…”. Thus God has a zero tolerance for moral squalor. Some who may even call themselves Christians may say otherwise, but God is clear, a morality impure life will exclude one from heaven, “And to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful” (Revelation 21:27).

Is Purity Even Possible?

Without any doubt, purity is possible for all, for God both commands purity, and He has the same expectation for all men and women (Acts 10:34). God never has issued a command that is impossible to fulfill. Neither has God ever issued a command that only a select few could ever realistically obey. Actually, the question about purity, “how to” or feasibility is actually addressed in Scripture:

“How Can A Young Man Keep His Way Pure?” (Psalm 119:9)

Before we hear the answer, I think it is worthwhile to consider responses that are not given to this question:

• First of all, purity is not viewed as something easy or simple – that just happens without any effort on our part. We do have a vital role to play in our own purity and keeping ourselves pure will involve great effort (1 Timothy 5:16-5:2). 
• Secondly, neither is purity viewed as something completely impossible for a young man or young woman. There actually is an answer.
• Third, purity is never a matter of luck, fate, genetics or just good fortune.

“By Living According To Your Word” (Psalm 119:9)

With the Scriptures as both our guide and book of incentives and motivation, we, both the young and the old, men and women, can remain pure.

Mental Preparation

There are a number of passages that indicate that the battle against sin and for purity must involve a change of thinking on our part.

• “Blessed are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8)
• “Your word have I treasured in my heart that I may not sin against Thee” (Psalm 119:11)
• “That you be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23)
• “Consider the members of your body as dead to immorality…” (Colossians 3:5)
• “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2)
• “Whatever is true… think about such things” (Philippians 4:8)

Powerful Thoughts

• Purity Equals Freedom: John 8:32-34; 2 Peter 2:18-19

Purity creates…

Freedom
Freedom to pursue my dreams
To grow
To find out who I am
To pick up and go
To find out what I want out of life
To meet new people
To live without strife
To go out with my friends
To see what life’s about
To discover what’s out there
To have a clear conscience
To figure things out
To date
To decide
To choose to be free –
author unknown

• Purity Is Strength/Impurity Is Weakness

“Many men like to flatter themselves, thinking that the ease with which they might be seduced is somehow a masculine trait. In reality it is quite the reverse. At the heart of masculinity is the possession of authority taking of initiative; by creation design a man is intended by God to be a head, a head willing to sacrifice himself. But part of our word seduction comes from the Latin word duco, which means ‘I lead’. This original meaning carries over in our use of the wordseduction. When a man is seduced he is being led, and when a woman seduces she is leading. So when a man is seduced he is relinquishing and abdicating his assigned role. The Bible uses strong phrases to illustrate the point. The mother of King Lemuel warns him bluntly about it. She says, ‘Give not thy strength unto women’ (Proverbs 31:3). A king might think himself quite a man because he has physical access to so many women. In reality, far from exhibiting the strength of a king, he is wasting away that strength. Within marriage, biblical sexual behavior strengthens a man in his masculinity. Promiscuity… drains it away” (Fidelity, What it Means To Be a One-Woman Man, Douglas Wilson, pp. 22-23).

• Purity Is Honorable

“That each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who know not God” (1 Thessalonians 4:4). God is not against passion, what God is against is the selfish and weak use of passion where you do not reserve it for just one person. When love and honor do not control one’s passion, but instead, circumstances and mere “availability”. Purity is honorable because it can wait, impurity is desperate.

• Purity Brings Self-Respect/Inner Happiness

“To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted” (Titus 1:15). The idea is that purity creates an individual who can be trusted, and trusted with all people at all times. If I opt for impurity, then I am choosing to make myself into a person who cannot be trusted with anyone or anything. Notice the wide sweeping statement, “all things” and “nothing is pure”. This is not an over-exaggeration. For example, a liar will lie about the biggest things and the smallest of things. A greedy person will cheat you on big ticket items and on amounts that are miniscule. Once I open up my life to sin, nothing in my life is safe – my marriage is no longer safe, nor my relationships to my parents, the way I treat my children, handle my money, perform work on the job, obligations to the government, and so on. Sin will affect every area of a person’s life, from priorities, to affections, to trust and reliability, honesty, motives – everything.

• Purity Will Set You Apart From The Rest

“Even a child is known by his actions, but whether his conduct is pure and right” (Proverbs 20:11). In a society which seems to dismiss actions as inconsequential this proverb is quite a rebuke. What a child does, reveals his or her character. Doing always takes precedence over feeling or saying. If you really want to be unique, and stand out from the crowd, then opt for purity. Be rare.