Purity

Purity

1 Timothy 5:22

God says we are to keep ourselves pure. To be pure means to be unmixed with any other matter, to be free anything that would taint. God expects us to be holy – separated from anything that would defile us. We are to be like Him. We are to have pure minds, pure hands, and pure hearts.

The problem is that we live in a time in which Christians as the Bride of Christ have allowed their wedding garments to become soiled and allowed themselves to be defiled. Our three great enemies – the world, the flesh, and the devil have amassed their attacks seeking to defile us and make us dirty. Dirty is that which is not clean or pure; contaminated with impurities; that which is inappropriate.

I. Purity of Mind - We are to have a Clean Thought-life

A. Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he...”

B. If I were to ask you, “Do you have a dirty mind?” how would you answer? Before you consider what your answer would be remember the definition of dirty. Dirty is that which is not pure.

C. Genesis 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

D. A dirty mind is a mind that has been tainted by and entertains thoughts that are inappropriate in any way for a Christian.

E. Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”

F. Psalm 10:3 “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”

G. Watch what you fill your mind with. Watch what you watch. Watch what you listen to. Watch what you expose yourself to.

H. It’s amazing how much people love dirt; that’s why so much of the news is about dirt. You hear it, you see it, take it into your mind, you picture it, you imagine it... Now your own mind has become dirty as well. And from a dirty mind spring dirty acts. Imagine your mind as a washtub. If you fill it with dirt the water will be dirty. If you fill it only with that which is pure the water will be clean. - adapted

I. Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

J. Watch you thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. [Frank Outlaw]

K. Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind. – source unknown

II. Purity of Action – We are to have clean hands

A. Psalm 24:3-4 “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”

B. John Gill points out that the hands are instruments of action. The actions can be holy actions or unholy actions. Clean Hands or Dirty Hands. To have clean hands is to be morally, ethically, spiritually upright. To do right. To do no wrong. It is not being perfect but striving always to do that which is right.

C. 1 Timothy 5:22 “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.”

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

E. How many of you have washed your hands at least once this morning? Everyone. Of course you have. It’s a matter of hygiene, isn’t it? Getting rid of germs, microbes so that we don’t catch or spread diseases. - copied

F. How many spiritual infections do we spread by having unclean hands? How many blessings are we holding back because we have dirty hands?

G. Psalm 18:21-26 “For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful ; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright ; With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure ; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself forward.”