Purity is more than sexual purity. It is made up of morality and righteousness. But how do disciples apply that to life? This devotion looks at how we are to have clean hands and a pure heart.
Nuggets
- Outward purity is seen as morality; inward purity is seen as righteousness.
- We have to be submissive to God’s Will because we have faith and trust in Him.
- We become pure when God forgives us of our sins.
This year, we are looking at self-discipline. We are using Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness sermon to look at the need to grow in our relationship with God. We morphed learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples.
Vincent talked about the value of purity. He wrote, “It is one thing to assent to the truth that ” the things which are not seen are eternal”; it is another thing to apprehend that truth, and to take it into life as a working principle; to realise that the things on which heaven stamps a value — love and faith and purity and truth and good conscience — are the paramount things, and to make everything give way to these.”
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Purity is important to disciples. Let’s start digging in.
Devotions in the What Is Purity? series
Let's Put It into Context
I did this last time, too. I went to purity in the Holman Bible Dictionary, and it sent me to clean. Clean in the Scriptures refers to disciples being holy and pure. Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and pure.
Glossary
I know. Circular definitions.
Pure means without blemish. For disciples, we would define purity as without the stain of sin.
What Is Meant by Clean Hands and a Pure Heart?
“Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God their Savior (Ps. 24: 3-5 NIV).
The Psalmist equated the life of a disciple to climbing a mountain. Think about all the training we would need to do if we were going to climb Mount Everest.
- Be prepared physically, emotionally, and psychologically
- Experienced with climbs at high elevation
- Posses the needed equipment
- Dealing with the environment
- Possess mountain climbing skills
- Possess strength and endurance
Of course, there are going to be those that try to climb the mountain the wrong way. They want the easy path up the mountain. They think the ascent will be based on their skills and efforts.
There will be those who find excuses for not climbing the mountain. They fear they will not succeed for a variety of reasons.
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The disciples who will ascend the mountain will be those who possess an outward and inward purity. Outward purity is seen as morality. Inward purity is seen as righteousness.
Maclaren contended that the mountain-climbing disciples would be those with a strong relationship with God. He wrote that “… for life and blessedness, men must get somehow to the side of God, and be quiet there, as children in their father’s house.”
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Don’t you love that? Get there and be quiet. I think that is talking about calming ourselves in His presence so we can hear His still, small voice.
Lord, I Have Shut the Door
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Keyboard: Chris Vieth
Maclaren felt, while we are sitting in the quiet, we should be evaluating our lives. There should be three things that we contemplate.
1. Our need of God
2. God’s purity
3. Our own sin
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Luckily, David gave us the answer to the question. There is only one requirement for mountain-climbing disciples to meet: purity. That means a moral cleanness with these characteristics:
- Clean hands — Youard noted that our hands represented the purity of our actions.
- A pure heart — Youard wrote, “The character of a man’s heart determines, above all things, his standing in the sight of God, his fitness to see God.
- Does not trust idols.
- Does not swear by a false god — virtue of truthfulness
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Worldview people think that the outward morality alone will turn us into mountain-climbing disciples. Maclaren warned not so. He wrote, “But the outward will only be right if the inward disposition is pure, and that inward purity will only be realised (sic) when desires are carefully curbed and directed. As is the desire, so is the man.” That is the only way we will be admitted into His presence.
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Logan brought up a good point. In determining the qualifications of mountain climbers, David did not list any kind of ceremonial law or festivals. It isn’t what we do.
The qualifications deal with our hearts, minds, and souls. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deut. 6: 5 ESV).
If our heart isn’t in it, we aren’t participating in religious activities. If our heart is only focused on this world, it isn’t religious. How can we expect the reward of Heaven if we aren’t completing religious activities?
Instead, it is all about God. It is about what He did for us.
Salvation is about ABCDing. Salvation is deliverance from evil and the consequences of sins to replace them with eternal life and good. We need to admit our sins, believe Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
The D part is where we shore up our relationship with God. It is where He reveals Himself to us so we can grow in grace and knowledge (II Pet. 3: 18).
We have to talk about the flip side. God can’t stand impurity. Motet wrote, “Impurity is the sin God hates most.”
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Point blank. God hates sin.
How Does Love Come from a Pure Heart?
“The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (I Tim. 1: 5 NIV).
Paul told Timothy that, in order to love, three conditions need to be met: a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith.
Hmmm. Is this a chicken and egg type of thing? I think a lot of times we think love is the foundation of our faith. We think we have a pure heart because we love.
Rowland explained what love meant here. He wrote, “By love is meant the right relation of the whole nature both to God and to man; for love to man is in the highest sense a consequent of love to God.” Only when we have the right relationship with God can we then reflect that love to others.
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I can see where the love comes from a pure heart instead of the other way around. Oh, yes. We can love things we aren’t supposed to.
But if we are going to get a true picture of God, we can’t be loving evil. Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
We have to be submissive to God’s Will because we have faith and trust in Him. Love is based on His character.
God created every man, woman, and child with a conscience. I like Rowland’s definition of what that is. He wrote, “Conscience is the activity of consciousness towards the ethical aspect of things.” This is actions we make because we possess a good moral sense.
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Rowland argued that a good conscience can only be a healed conscience. Healing only comes through accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
The Homilist had a really good sermon on dead consciences and live consciences. Check it out if you are interested.
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We let our conscience guide us at times. Katterns warned us that may not be a good idea. He wrote, “Its province is not to teach men truth, not to correct erroneous principles, but simply to show a man when his conduct is, or is not, at variance with his knowledge and convictions of what is right.”
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What I read this to be saying is our conscience compares our actions to what we know to be right. It doesn’t teach us right from wrong.
Faith is the belief that the doctrines stated in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them.
Okay. Let me process a minute. Faith is a gift from God. We have to have faith in order to be healed, giving us a good conscience. When we have a good conscience, that produces a pure heart. The pure heart produces love.
Bottom line is that faith all the way to love comes from God.
We have to remember why Paul is writing to Timothy. “As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith” (I Tim. 1: 3-4 CSB).
The Ephesians were trying to understand the gospel from the foundation of worldview philosophy. The problem with that is the philosophy was a heathen philosophy.
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The problem as I see it is that, in learning, we evaluate the new information based on what we already know. We don’t — can’t — know all the ins and outs of things because God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isa. 55: 8-9).
If we think we have to understand it all, we are going to be sorely disappointed. Faith has the element of giving up total understanding and relying on God anyway.
I know. It is easy to get caught up in materialism or another worldview priority. We can talk things to death trying to get our viewpoint accepted.
Instead, we need to rely on God.
How Do We Become and Remain Pure?
“They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience (I Tim. 3: 9 NIV)
We become pure when God forgives us of our sins. Baxter wrote, “Faith in Christ removes the condemnation.” The reason we are condemned is removed so we are no longer in the state of condemnation. We are no longer judged.
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Let’s do some substituting. We were judged and found guilty because we were sinful. When we ABCD and are forgiven, our sins have been removed, so we no longer are sinners. Therefore, we no longer are judged.
When sin is removed, we become pure.
I know. Good luck with that.
Since we still live in this sinful world, it is very challenging to remain pure. There is no way we can while we are in these bodies.
But we are called to obey God. That directive starts at conversion, not when we get to Heaven.
We become pure as we navigate the Sanctification Road and become more like God. We become holy and righteous — and pure.
Making the Connections
Maclaren contended that the one requirement for mountain-climbing disciples was purity. He also believed that was impossible for disciples to achieve.
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Ooo, baby. That is a kicker. We have to be pure, but we can’t be pure. So, what is a disciple to do?
In a separate sermon, Maclaren reminded us that we cannot make ourselves righteous. That is a gift from God.
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It starts and ends with God — and keeps focused on Him all the way in between.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
I feel like I am a long way from pure. I have to work on that by seeking God.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
How Do We Apply This?
- Work on conquering evil thoughts and imaginations.
- Be careful of the company we keep.
- Watch the books we read, movies we watch, and music we listen to.
- Strengthen our relationship with God by seeking Him.
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Father God. We are so unworthy of You. You are pure and holy, and we are sinful and flawed. The only way we are worthy of You is when we ask Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer. Help us to become pure like You. Amen.
What do you think?
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