The world is obsessed with cleanness. Everywhere you look you see people with different hand cleaners and antibacterial soaps and lotions. People want cleanness outwardly, but purity in heart? That is not the case. Everything that we see in this world is saturated with all kinds of impurity; TV, internet, books. Sin is viewed as the normal thing to do. Maintaining our purity with all that surrounds us can become a tough task. We face a daily war against the flesh.
So we need to arm ourselves for this great battle that we fight. In our text in 2 Timothy 2, we see some great keys to equip us and to encourage us.
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene . Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. 20 Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."
I would like to take note of 4 lessons we can glean from this text to help us in our battle for purity and holiness. Four things we must get right. We must have the right standard, the right motives, the right pursuits, and the right company.
Let’s look at all of these one at a time:
1. THE RIGHT STANDARD!
Sometimes we feel comfortable with a lower standard or with the standard of the world. But we need to remember that just because we are accepted in a group does not mean that we are acceptable with God. We will not be judged on the standards of the world, but by what God says.
In verse 15, we see Paul tell Timothy to “be diligent to present himself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth;” the standard that we are given by God.
He goes on further to give Timothy an example of whom not to be like. He gives the names of 2 men that were not rightly handling the standard that God gave in his word. Hymenaeus and Philetus strayed from the truth, teaching things they shouldn't have been. Their message spread like a cancer and was wrecking the faith of some of the brethren.
The standard of those such as Hymenaeus and Philetus led to more and more ungodliness. But the standard of the Lord stands firm. No matter how much the world, or even you want to lower the standard, the word of God remains the same.
We need to remember the standard that the Lord gives us in His word. Men do not set the standard. We should never allow ourselves to accept a standard lower than the one that the Lord has given and we should never find ourselves trying to justify the standards of the world.
Matthew 5: Jesus in this chapter begins many statements telling the people listening that they "have heard that it was said, reminding them of the present accepted standard, then He continues by saying "But I say to you," showing them the accepted standard of God that far surpasses the standard given by the world.
When Jesus addresses adultery He says in verse 27:
Matthew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Jesus said that the people have heard that the accepted standard was adultery, but that was not God's line. God set the standard at lust! When you lust in your heart you cross the line. The standard that the Lord gives to those listening to him here is far higher than what they had been taught in the past.
It is so easy when temptation comes to try to justify committing the sin that you are being tempted to commit. But we shouldn’t deceive ourselves into thinking that if we lower the standard to ease our conscience that God will lower the standard in which he will judge us. He calls us to be holy.
Our Lord gave His life for us so we as His people could be washed and sanctified, having no spot or wrinkle, blameless and holy in God’s sight. We cannot compromise our standard. We need to dig deep into God’s word, handling it right, so we can see what it is we must do to be pleasing to God, not so we can find a verse to justify what we want to do.
2. WE MUST ALSO HAVE THE RIGHT MOTIVATION FOR HOLINESS!
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:19, “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
The first thing we need to be reminded of to motivate us to maintain our purity is that we do not belong to ourselves, but the Lord. “The Lord knows those who are His.” We belong to God.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God , and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor 6:19-20)
If we belong to God, we must be motivated to live for God in every area of our lives, not for ourselves.
Another motivation for us is that we wear the name of the Lord as Christians! Paul says “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
2 Samuel 12. We remember the terrible sins of David that are in this chapter; adultery and murder. In verses 13-14, Nathan tells David the consequences of his sin. David's life would become difficult. This sin he committed I believe led to all of the problems that he would have throughout the rest of his life. His sin led to the death of his child, and the reason the child had to die is an important one we need to take note of: in verse 14 it says “by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.” But why? God did not cause David to commit this sin. Why was God's name going to be spoken of as evil? The reason why is David represented God to others. He was the king of the people of Israel.
We are God's representatives to the world. We share a close relationship with our God. When we sin, we are dragging the name of the Lord into that sin with us. We wear the name of our Lord. We need to realize that there are other ways of taking our Lord’s name in vain other than using it in some kind of frivolous way. We can take the Lords name in vain and dishonor it by our sinning against Him. We need to be careful because the way people will look at us as Christians more than likely will be the way that they look at Christ!
"Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
We also need to remember our mission as motivation.
2 Timothy 2:20-21 “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”
Our goal is to be useful to the Lord in serving Him. If we preach to others that the Lord calls them to be Holy and we ourselves do not live holy lives, how useful will we be? We cannot be useful if we compromise our purity. At the beginning of 2 Timothy 2, Paul gave Timothy an illustration of a soldier in active service. He says that one who is an active soldier should not entangle himself in the things of the world so that he may please the One who enlisted him. As soldiers of Christ, how can we be useful in service to our Commander if our lives are not focused on service in the kingdom, but pursuing ourselves and our own desires? We all need to set examples of what it means to be workers in the kingdom. Just thinking of how we need to be conforming ourselves to the image of Christ should give us motivation to be pure and holy. His life was focused on His mission, and ours needs to be also!
3. THE RIGHT PURSUITS?
Are They Holy??
2 Timothy 2:22 “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace…”
We must flee temptation. We need to flee just as Joseph fled from Potipher's wife in Genesis 39. She grabbed a hold of him to get him to compromise his purity, and he fled from her. He ran right out of his garment that she grabbed a hold of! We must flee evil and pursue God. Jesus says that we must make radical changes in our lives to prevent ourselves from sinning:
Matthew 5:29-30 (NKJV) “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
We need to take drastic measures to maintain our purity. The Lord encouraged radical, decisive action: cutting off a hand or a foot or plucking out an eye in order to avoid abandoning Him. He was not speaking literally--but He was forcefully declaring that we should sacrifice anything that is tempting us to sin. Instead of doing this; instead of fleeing sin and making radical changes in our lives for God, we try to get as close to sin as we possibly can.
Why is it that we ask the question, “how far can I go before I am sinning against God?” This question is the wrong question we should be asking if we are using God’s word as our standard. We should instead be asking, “what do I need to do to get as close to God as I can?”
One example: People normally ask when it comes to drinking alcohol, “how much can I drink before I am sinning against God?” This my friends is the wrong question to ask. Based on how Jesus deals with the false standards of His day, we need to approach issues like drinking alcohol the same. God calls us to sobriety (1 Peter 5:8). He wants us to be fully in control of our minds and actions. Every thought we think and every word we say must be brought into subjection to Christ. This is hard enough to do sober, let alone when you are drinking. (This is just one example). Why is it that we do not ask, “How sober and in control of my actions do I have to be to be pleasing to God” and then aim for that goal? We need to be focusing on how close we can get to God, not how close we can get to sin.
Romans 13:13-14 …and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
We need to feed the spirit not the flesh. I can speak from my own experiences, that the times when it is the easiest to fight temptation is when I am busy serving the Lord, studying His word, and spending time in prayer. We need to fill our minds with things that will strengthen us to fight the battle, not with things that will make it easier to compromise our purity.
4. THE RIGHT COMPANY
Paul says we “With those who call on the Lord with a pure heart”
We are not in the battle alone. I believe that we just don’t realize how important it is to spend time with our brethren, not only here, but when we are not here, going to one another’s home to encourage one another, study with one another, pray with one another.
Also I can’t begin to explain how important and helpful it is to have accountability. We need to be willing to humble ourselves sometimes and ask for help when we are struggling with sin, which I can speak from experience- IS NOT THE EASIEST THING TO DO! It can be humiliating sometimes going to a brother in Christ and telling him that I have sinned. But even though it can be hard to do, it is so helpful. It can be helpful knowing that someone else knows what you are struggling with, that they are praying for you, and that they are going to be there for you to help you defeat what it is you are struggling with.
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. 10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.” (Eccl 4:9-10)
Woe to the one who falls when there is no one to lift him up.
There are brethren here that care about you and want to see you make it to heaven to be with the Lord! If there is any way that we can help you, I think I can speak for everyone here in saying, don’t be ashamed or afraid to ask for help.
CONCLUSION
In closing, I ask you a question: “How are you doing in your battle against sin?” Do you have the right standard, the right motives, the right pursuits, and the right company? We must be working on these things if we are going to win our daily battles against temptation and sin.
But there is no hope for you to win any battles if you do not have the Lord on your side. If you have not obeyed the gospel yet by repenting of your sins and by being baptized into Christ, what are you waiting for? Why are you running away from the Lord’s will for you? Repent, flee from what is holding you back, and run to God for His mercy and grace.
