Last time we briefly touched on the subject of purity and I wanted to follow up with a closer look at how it is involved in our leading an obedient lifestyle; one that is pleasing to God and draws us ever closer to Him.

Purity comes from the Greek word hagneia and means “cleanness.” Ungers Bible Dictionary refers to it as “the temper directly opposite to criminal sensualities; the ascendancy of irregular passions.” In the Old Testament the word for pure is tahowr, which also carries the meaning of clean (barar), purged, clear or polished. In the later case the intent is that it is a “chosen” state; we choose to be clean (pure). God sees us as already being pure through the blood of Jesus (as white as snow; Isa 12:18) but for us it’s a daily choice to walk minute-by-minute in purity of both mind and body. And in the process — unfortunately — we tend to look on the outside to determine (judge) purity; standards that aren’t the same as God’s.

Prov 16:2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.

It has taken me a long time to understand that purity really does start on the inside. I have spent years trying to change things in my life to become more pure in God’s eyes. But like everything else in life, when you are in your own authority you are only backed by your own weakness. But thankfully the Lord has finally succeeded in teaching me that purity is developed through submission and obedience, which can only be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse 2 above really hits to the heart of the matter; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. Notice that the “s” in spirits is small and that means our own spirit. Take a case-in-point from Jesus:

Mt 5:27-28 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 

One of the lessons to learn here is that the unfaithfulness spoken of in these verses directly relates to one’s position as the bride of Christ. He will not share his bride (the pure church) with anyone. Yet a large part of the bride continues to commit spiritual adultery with the world every day. The bride is the one He is coming for and she “will” be pure and holy, without spot or wrinkle. Adultery will not be found in her as she will not be living in sin with the world. The true bride will place nothing above the bridegroom. This is first and foremost a “heart” issue and not a body issue even though the heart directly affects the body. We need to be ever mindful of all three parts of our existence — body, soul and spirit — for when we do there are great promises ahead for each of us.

2 Cor 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 

To understand these promises we need to go to back to 2 Cor 6. Reviewing the entire chapter in detail is for another time, but I would like to look at one promise in particular in keeping with this thought:

2 Cor 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

Jesus promises to receive us if we come away from the world and be separate. Yes, that refers to salvation but there is more. He wants us to keep separate once we get there. Look back at 2Cor 7:1. Since we have that promise we need to perfect holiness in our lives and live in cleanliness being both pure and separate. How important is this to Paul? Look at the last four words of verse 7; they mean more than we think.

Often we think of the “fear of the lord” as reverence but there is an added meaning. The word used is phobos and it is translated as being exceedingly afraid, in terror or fright; sound familiar? We get our word phobia from it. God feels so strongly about purity and its importance for us that He expresses it in the word “perfecting;” it is in the future tense and means an ongoing action. The church just can’t play at holiness and purity. It is far too serious to the Father. So serious in fact that we shouldn’t forget that Paul is writing to the church at Corinth; believers. Let’s take this a little deeper and look at a couple more examples of standards for Purity from Paul and Peter; first from Paul:

1 Thes 4:2-8 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus 3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: 6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. 

This is a continuation of Paul’s urging the church to clean up its act. He tells us that we need to know how to possess our vessel (body) in sanctification (purity) and honor (dignity). After telling us what we should do he contrasts that with what we shouldn’t do; not in the lust of concupiscence (passion for something hidden). We are not to submit to lustful desires like the world, which results in sin against our brothers and sisters. We are to possess ourselves in holiness, which will express itself in love (agape). This was certainly among the commandments that Paul referred to in verse 2. We must walk in love because it is the foundational commandment that Jesus gave us. His blood washed our vessel clean and our walk in love and purity by the Holy Spirit will keep it that way. Peter also addressed this subject and he clearly contrasted the physical and the spiritual.

1 Pet 3:3-4 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 

Purity is NOT going to be evidenced by what we do TO the outside, but will be seen as a radiation of what we HAVE on the inside. One of the greatest signs of purity is a peaceful countenance on one’s face, and I think that is what Peter meant when he said an ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. This is a powerful witness and will pave more roads to testimony than all the tracts in the world put together. The Spirit courts, the Spirit convicts and, if we let Him, He will testify with our purity.

The Principles Of Purity

2 Tim 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Paul sets before us here in his letter to young Timothy four strong principles of purity;  righteousness, faith, charity and peace. Let’s take these one at a time and see what we can learn.

1)      Righteousness (dikaisoune) refers to our character and reflects the justification we have received from God by the blood of Jesus. Paul tells Timothy that he is to pursue all that is good and virtuous and be just and equitable in all his dealings with others.

2)      Faith (pistis) is the very conviction we have in the truthfulness of God’s Word and our belief in Him. Timothy, like us, is charged with being faithful in all that he does and in all his relationships.

3)      Charity (agape) as we know from before is the kind of love that God has for us, which He puts within us in the form of His Holy Spirit. It is our responsibility to let that love flow out from us in all that we do.

4)      Peace (eirene) is the quietness of our spirit that comes with our faith in the Prince of Peace. If we are to walk in purity then certainly a peaceful relationship with others is important. There is nothing more disruptive to the Gospel than when we walk out of harmony with God and with our brothers and sisters.

Note that we are to “follow” these principles and we are to do it with those members of the body of Christ that call on the Lord “out of a pure heart.” He wants us running with the right bunch because we will edify or build one another up in our Holy Faith Jude 20). The wrong bunch will bring down and seed strife and discontent and Paul tells us to leave them behind. Listen to Matthew Henry on this subject:

The exciting of our graces will be the extinguishing of our corruptions; the more we follow that which is good the faster and the further we shall flee from that which is evil. Righteousness, and faith, and love, will be excellent antidotes against youthful lusts. Holy love will cure impure lust. Follow peace with those that call on the Lord. The keeping up of the communion of saints will take us off from all fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness.

The Importance Of Purity

Purity affects the whole body but most importantly it affects the spirit. We have become the Temple of the Holy Spirit and yet we so often casually and carelessly move through our daily lives that it’s a wonder He stays in it. This passage continues along the same path we have been traveling. How we relate to and respond to the world has a profound effect on our spirit because the old nature (lusts of the flesh) is a constant threat to the new man on the inside (regenerated spirit).

1 Cor 6:13-20 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. 14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. 15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What?  Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.  

Paul uses an interesting example to open this section; Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. In other words, food is for the body and body is for food; they are necessary for each other. It’s like referring to the animal appetite. But it follows that in the end God will destroy both so it is what affects the spirit that counts. He tells us that while we have been given a body with an appetite for food God did not give us an appetite for uncleanness. He has given us an appetite for Jesus and when we lustfully substitute for that by making our bodies subject to an intimate relationship other than that we will suffer. To sin in this arena is to dishonor our spiritual relationship with Jesus. But we can take heart; thank God for the Holy Spirit.

Every moment of every day the Holy Spirit is speaking to our spirit with “mid-course corrections.” But if we are so busily involved in the noise of our daily lives that we can’t hear Him we’ll likely end up on the rocks. Let me give you another example. If you are off your course just one degree the error it isn’t very much the first mile or even the first 10 miles. But after you have gone just 60 miles you could have missed your target by one mile. The danger is that if we continue in sin without immediate correction (repentance) we won’t know where that error will lead. But we can rest assured it will get larger and larger as we continue uncorrected. And it follows that when we do finally repent we are going to have to pay the price for that lost ground.

God restores us immediately but sometimes we really have a mess to clean up before we once again begin to move forward. I think we’ve all been to that rodeo before so let’s turn down the volume on the world and turn up the volume of the Spirit. We can learn to hear His voice in the midst of many others. I do it all the time when flying. There are many conversations going on over the radio and I just tune them out, but when my number is called it is just like somebody tapped me on the shoulder. The same way I learned to do that I am learning to do it with the Spirit … practice, practice, practice.

Now, before we move on to the promises of purity let’s take one last look at what we need to stay away from in our quest of purity:

1 John 2:15-16 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. 16 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.  

When all is said and done, in light of the world and its system, it’s pretty clear that purity is a critical ingredient in living an obedient lifestyle.

The Promises Of Purity

Here we have a promise from the Old Covenant and one from the New Covenant that we looked at last time. 

Ps 24:3-5 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?  4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  

Mt 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 

The meaning in both instances is the same; it hasn’t changed across the centuries. Who will see God? The ones who are pure in heart. It all boils down to an issue of moral requirements set down by God and lived out in our character.

What a promise; with a clean heart we are going to stand in God’s Holy Place. I can’t even comprehend that. In 24:3 the reference is to who will serve or minister in the Holy Temple. The answer is the one who: 1) has clean hands (a clean conscience), 2) a pure heart (not just an external appearance), 3) hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity (devoted to the world and set his mind on false things) or 4) nor sworn deceitfully (sincere and loves the truth. These are the ones who will have His blessing (favor/friendship) and righteousness (divine approval). So that was for the Israel but what about us? Well I don’t think we could hear it from a better source than Jesus Himself in His sermon on the mount. If we have a pure heart then we are blessed and will see God not only in heaven but “here and now,” in His Word and His Spirit.

The same purity is called for here that was required in Ps 24:4. Matthew contrasts the pure heart with the heart of the Pharisees, which was full of corruption. They believed if they were clean on the outside they would see God. Jesus set the record straight in this statement that it is the inside or the spirit rather than the outside that counts. Now to fully grasp the importance of this we need to understand the Hebrew.

To the Jew to “see” something was to possess it. Take a look at what Jesus said in John 3:3: … Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. When we see it we have it, or put another way; when we have a pure heart (salvation) we shall then see God. Now one last word picture. In Israel those who were able to stand in the King’s presence were his favorites, his friends. So Jesus’ promise is that we will be His favorites; His Friends. That alone is all the reason we need to desire and cling to a pure life. But some will try and stand in His presence with only excuses for a heart that isn’t pure.

Invalid Excuses For Not Being Pure

Here are some common excuses we hear but let’s see what God has to say about them:

Everybody Does It

Pro 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. 

I Know What’s Right For Me

Ecc 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes:  but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 

I’m Not Hurting Anyone

Lev 5:17 And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. 

Nobody Will Find Out

Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight:  but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.  

Just This One Time

Gal 6:7-8 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the   Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 

I Didn’t Do It I Just Thought It

Mt 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 

So then, if these excuses are all invalid just how do we live in purity as part of our obedient lifestyle? The answers are all right there in the Word of God.

Eph 4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.  

Ps 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  

Pro 4:14-15 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.  15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.  

Pro 4:20-27 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. 23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. 24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. 25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.  

Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.  

1 Pet 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

The consistent thread through each of these passages is that we must lean on the Spirit.  Without Him it will be a hopeless chase down the yellow brick road. Our own strength and understanding will utterly fail us in becoming what God has created us to be. But the end result — purity — is so good we can’t afford not to pay the price.

And in reality is it too heavy a price to pay in light of the one Jesus paid for us? Purity isn’t a commandment to be followed; it’s a blessing to be embraced.