Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 the Bible reads blessed are the pure in hearts for
they shall see God the title for the sermon is pure in hearts okay I want to
talk a little bit about purity okay God calls us to be people that are pure in
hearts and if we're pure in heart the Bible tells us that we shall see God
okay what an amazing truth that we can see God as long as we remain pure in
hearts okay so just three things first of all why should we be pure you know
why should we be people that are pure well first of all being pure is a
requirement for salvation okay being pure is a requirement for salvation and
I'm going to read to you from Hebrews 10 22 it says let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promise you say
in order for you to be saved in order for you to have that professional faith
you must be pure and how are we made pure we're made pure by the pure water
we're made pure by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ okay that's first and
foremost in order for us to even have the ability to see God you know in our
resurrected bodies we must first be pure in our heart you know and a reality is
the more you remain pure the more you'll know God you know the more you keep
yourself clean from sin and the corruption of this world the more you're
going to understand God the more you're going to be able to see God in faith so
obviously I don't want to talk about salvation our position before the Lord
is pure okay when he looks at our position just like brother Callum
mentioned right he sees the goodness in us he sees the righteousness in us okay
but we're not always pure in our walk you know in our in our daily walk with
the Lord in our daily fellowship in our daily living we're not always pure so
that's what I want to focus on today if you guys can I'll get you guys to turn
to let's have a look Ecclesiastes chapter 11 Ecclesiastes chapter 11
please Ecclesiastes chapter 11 and while you're turning I'm going to read to you
from Proverbs chapter 20 verse 9 the question is who can say I have made my
heart clean I am pure from my sin can anyone say that can any of you say that
I've made my heart clean okay that I am pure from my sin now there are those
out there all right that will say yeah I've never sinned I'm sinless you know
since I got saved I'll say I've never committed sin right and they look at
their sinless perfection so-called as their evidence for salvation which is
just another valued workspace gospel you know I'm keeping the commandments I'm
doing well but the Bible's quite clear rhetorical question there in the book of
Proverbs who can make the heart clean you know who can say that they are pure
from their sin and so you know I often talk about this you know in order for us
to to you know move forward in our faith in order for us to do great works
of God the first thing we need to realize is we can never you know in our
daily walk in our daily walk of the Lord we can never make ourselves completely
pure completely sinless okay you're going to struggle with the flesh you're
going to struggle with that sinful nature till the day you die okay and in
order for you to progress in your walk of the Lord in order for you to be a
faithful person you must just recognize that fact okay otherwise when you fail
you're gonna beat yourself up every time you know just continue beating yourself
up being continually down and always just man why can't I progress from this
sinful state look just you got to understand that's just gonna be part of
your life but the danger of saying that's just something you've got to
accept the danger is well I guess if I just have to accept that then I just
have to well I'm not gonna try to live righteously and I'm just gonna well I'm
gonna sin so I just might as well give in to my sins well that's that's a wrong
view also okay because we are called to walk in pureness we are called to have
that pure heart in our daily walk okay now you guys are in Ecclesiastes chapter
11 verse 9 Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 9 because one thought that comes in our
minds and you know this is where the the non-believing world when they look at
Christians they think man that religions full of Commandments full of
restrictions you know it's prison why would we want to you know be Christians
you know we can't live our lives freely we can't enjoy life because all the
commandments and the restrictions that are in the Word of God but look at
Ecclesiastes chapter 11 verse 9 the Bible says rejoice so 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 so here we have this
statement here hey you know when you're you're in your youth and you know you
know in your life you know enjoy your life you know rejoice in your life
rejoice in the life that you have you know make the most of what you have
right you know living a Christian life isn't about just being this you know
recluse secluded person that's stuck in your house you never want to step foot
out of the house just in case there's some unclean thing to see and you become
you know withdrawn from everything you know you become depressed that's not the
call for the Christian life the Christian life is that we will rejoice
in the Liberty and the freedom that we have in the Lord I mean we're the only
you know believers are the only people that can truly live a life of joy you
know of true joy knowing that our sins have been paid for but we need to be
careful with that freedom we've got to be careful with that Liberty because
look at the rest of it says but know thou that for all things God will bring
thee into judgment okay so why be pure because when we're not walking rightly
when we're sinning when they're committing sins the Bible says that
we're going to be brought into judgment the Lord's gonna judge us for the sins
that we commit okay hey so that judgments been paid for by Christ yes it
has been in that positional sense but you know if you commit sin today as a
child of God the Lord will judge you the Lord will bring chastisement upon your
life you know and sometimes when I sin I'm like Lord just please be merciful
with your chastisement you know I'm not asking the Lord to not chastise me
because you know listen parents if you don't chastise your kids they'll never
learn okay so we want to learn we want to grow we want to mature but just like
my kids sometimes tell me just a little smack dab just a little one there you
know sometimes you know that's what I'm saying to the Lord just a little one
Lord you know let me learn the lesson but you know hopefully it's not too
severe so look we want to avoid that kind of judgment we don't want to
destroy our lives in sin but at the same time the Lord does want us to rejoice in
the life that we have he wants us to enjoy life and that's what a lot of
Christians you know get things wrong I mean obviously Catholics are not
Christians but you see these people these nuns and these you know priests or
whatever where they beat themselves they lock themselves in cutting what I call
them these none things they just what is it but they you know they destroy
themselves they they just you know bury themselves because they don't want to
sin you know they just want to be keep themselves for God hey but they're not
enjoying the life they're not getting they're not enjoying the lime in there
not even say to begin with but you know that would be the wrong way to live a
life where you're just too afraid to do anything no enjoy your life but just be
mindful about you know not breaking the laws of God and avoiding the judgment
for God and the other important thing about keeping pure it's not just you
know a sin that damages yourself but you need to also keep yourself pure so I'm
talking to the young people here to the children you want to keep your your body
pure you want to keep yourself pure so you can make the most of your marriage
okay you don't want to be a fornicator you know you don't want to be someone
that defiles your eyes that defiles your mind that defiles your body because you
want to keep yourself pure for that husband or that wife that God has
prepared for you now I'm gonna read to you from Hebrews 13 you guys go to 1st
Corinthians 6 I'm gonna read to you from Hebrews chapter 13 you guys go to 1st
Corinthians 6 so Hebrews 13 verse 4 says marriage is honorable in all and the bed
undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge okay
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge now why would God judge that
because the you know marriage is very sacred it's very holy institution that
God has you know given to us for the enjoyment you know between you know
different sexes but also the you know of having children of having a family to
raise that godly seed God wants us to keep that bed that marriage bed
undefiled and you know children I really encourage it because you live in a world
that's just wanting you to defile your body wanting you to defile the flesh
wanting you to go into fornication I mean you just turn on the music of this
world and it's about fornication it's about going from you know girlfriend to
girlfriend or boyfriend to boyfriend and even the songs today is about sodomy
okay and you know I mean just the musicians these are just pushing
homosexuality just pushing any kind of defilement and you go well you know I
haven't defiled my body but if you listen to those words it's defiling your
mind you know you the Lord calls you to keep yourself pure you guys are in 1st
Corinthians chapter 6 verse 18 the Bible says flee fornication and children let
me say to you young people flee fornication please you know if you have
attempted to fornicate you know don't be someone that says well I'm strong enough
here you know I'm mature enough to to you know to put up with this you know
put up with this temptation no the Bible says flee get out of there keep
yourself pure you know it doesn't matter if you embarrass yourself to physically
get at that situation you know even Joseph had to flee part of his wife you
know to keep himself pure when it comes to fornication you know that is a
temptation that is strong to man and and the answer to that guys is just to get
yourself physically out of that situation if you ever find yourself
tempted to fornicate the Bible says flee fornication every sin that a man doeth
is without the body but he that commit a fornication sinneth against his own
body 19 verse 19 what no you're not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you which you have of God and ye are not your own hey your
body is not your own body okay it's the temple of the Holy Ghost if you're
saying the Lord God you know resides in you his spirit is there in you verse
number 20 for ye are bought with a price what was that price how did God
purchase your body by the price of Christ right Christ suffering I mean
keep that in your mind when you're tempted to fornicate hey that my body is
not mine it belongs to the Lord and it's been purchased by his sacrifice that's
going to help you overcome temptation therefore glorify God in your body and
in your spirit which are God's you see if you keep your body pure you are
glorifying them even though this flesh is fallen even those flesh is weak but
if you keep this body pure from fornication the Bible says that you
glorify God in your body what an amazing thing you keep yourself pure for you for
the marriage bed the Bible says you're glorifying God you're keeping yourself
pure and it brings God all the glory all right so we see the necessity why be
pure why be pure because it's the calling of God in our lives okay and it
will keep you from being judged to keep you from being chastised by the Lord
and of course like I said the first point was salvation is being made pure
in that positional sense okay now how to be pure let's get to some practical
points here I'll get you guys to go to Psalm 101 please Psalm 101 and how to be
pure I'm going to read to you from Matthew 5 8 which is what I started with
just as a reminder the Bible said blessed are the pure in heart for they
shall see God see God how do we see things with our eyes the first thing I
want you to think about to keep pure are your eyes okay now Psalm 101 verse 3
says I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the work of them that
turn aside it shall not cleave to me and the Bible tells us here that we are to
not set wicked things before our eyes and we've been looking at the book of
Genesis we've been looking at lots haven't we and how when he when he found
those well water planes he set his tent you know to he set his tent to towards
Sodom okay every time he woke up his eyes were set on Sodom he would see
Sodom then we see in the next chapter there he is living in Sodom you know
getting involved in a war that was not his business okay and him being taken
into captivity that's what sins going to do for you if you just start setting
your eyes on something you know it's going to lead you down a bad path you
know pornography you know you put pornography before your eyes before you
know what you're going to be committed acts you're going to be committed
fornication you're going to be committed adultery in your heart when you set
those things before your eyes okay and it's it's a tough one because we walk
with our eyes open you know I mean you spend most of your life with your eyes
open and it can affect your thought life you know again you know I've mentioned
this so many times but that's why I don't go to the beaches where there's all
these all the nudity I don't go there okay now I love my wife okay my eyes are
for my wife and yes I'm strong spiritually you know that there's a
lesser temptation to me to look on another woman then then my wife
nevertheless you know the Bible tells me here if I set that wicked before my
wicked thing before my eyes it will have an effect on me I'm still made of flesh
I'm still made of the same fallen nature and if I set things before my
eyes it's definitely going to affect my life there now you know I mean you can
you can apply this to many things a lot of people apply this verse to television
you know and I don't think a screen or television you know of itself is a
sinful thing you know it's just a tool that you can be you can be used for good
you can use for be used for evil most often it's used for evil all right but
be careful of what you watch be careful of what programs you put on I mean even
even I YouTube these days you know even though my subscriptions are all kind of
righteous godly things right it still brings up the random recommendation at
the end of you know like why is it showing me that why does that come up
you know I'm not talking about the cartoons that the kids sometimes watch
but just evil things just just women you know dressing modestly just you know
nudity things like that it's like why is that coming up as my recommendation
they're on YouTube so be careful of what you watch be careful because you
know the ad even though you're watching something you know that's righteous you
know the advertising the things that are there that that these other these
platforms use may tempt you to to think of other things things that are sinful
things that are wicked go to Matthew chapter 6 please Matthew chapter 6 verse
22 Matthew chapter 6 verse 22 Jesus says these words and let's take this to heart
because you may not realize just how you know we think of seeing about the
things that we do we think of sins about the things that we think but it all
starts with what we look at okay and Matthew chapter 6 verse 22 Jesus says
the lights of the body is the eye okay now what that's just that's a science
right so lights the way the light light enters your body is through the eye okay
the reason you can see is because light hits the back of your retina or whatever
it is and and you can see okay the light of the body is the eye if therefore
thine eye be single now what's single something that single is one what he's
saying is it's something that's whole okay something if your eye is whole or
healthy in that sense okay thy whole body shall be full of light you see what
you look at affects your whole body okay if you set godly things before your eyes
you know if you go out there and knock the doors you know you you preach the
gospel you do godly things you look at you focus on things that are God it'll
affect your whole body okay your whole body will be full of light okay and of
course that's that's taken that that that you know the the the scientific
understanding of the eye and applying that to righteousness in our lives but
look at verse 23 but if thine eye be evil again that's not saying your eyes
wicked evil means harm something that's harmful so if your eyes not healthy if
your eye you know if you have cataracts in your eyes maybe you're going blind
you can't see that well okay if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full
of darkness okay it's kind of taking the idea of someone that's blind if you're
blind you can't see where you're going right and then it says here if therefore
the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness and so we
take the spiritual teaching there okay so if you can't see you you're blind
it's your whole body's dark you can't see anything you can't see where you're
going the spiritual lesson is there if you set your eyes on wicked things the
things of this world the things that are corrupted the things that are sinful
your whole body will be in darkness okay just like the blind person can't see
can't see where they're walking they're tripping over themselves they're hurting
themselves you're going to damage your life you're not going to be pure in your
heart if you set the wrong things before your eyes so pay attention guys please
don't underestimate your eyes your physical eyes what you look at has an
effect on your whole body okay and our ears you guys go to Matthew chapter 7
please Matthew chapter 7 and I'll read a few other passages to you our ears we
need to keep our ears pure the things that we listen to Luke 11 28 but he said
yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it blessed are
they that hear the word of God and can we need to be people that hear the word
of God that's why coming to church is so important there's many reasons why
coming to church is important but you come to church and you have the
opportunity to hear the word of God and you keep it that's how we're blessed by
God we see that in the importance there I'm going to read to you from Romans 10
17 many of you guys know it so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by
the word of God if you want to be someone of faith yes salvation but also
if you want to be someone that walks in faith that grows in faith that has a
greater trust in the Lord you need to hear the word of God now look at Matthew
7 24 therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine says Jesus and doeth
them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock now
all these reference talk about doing the words that we hear okay but in order for
us to do them we need to have first have heard of them have heard of them so
making sure that our ears are listening are attuned to the things of God is
going to also drive you to be able to do the things of God right to set your
house as a wise man upon the rock stability in life okay but if you're
hearing the the you know the the consultation of the world if you're
hearing what you know what our public school system teaches our children if
that's what's flooding your ears then you're not going to be pure in your body
you're not going to be pure in your mind because you're not going to know the
ways of God you're not going to be able to walk after the ways of God again this
is the problem with lots not only did it look upon Sodom then he lived amongst
Sodom and he was hearing the sodomites talk okay and the guy just ruins his
life the third thing we have the eyes we have the ears the third thing is our
thoughts our thoughts have to be pure our thoughts have to be pure all right
God before he destroyed the earth with a flood in Genesis 6 5 said 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 okay I mean our thought life
is dangerous okay this is why I don't like to be idle I don't like to be not
be doing things because when you're not doing things you start to drift and
start imagining things that thinking about things and man I'm telling you
that mind is can be evil that mind can be wicked and when God saw you know the
state of the earth he just saw man everybody here is just constantly
thinking evil things constantly thinking wicked things and it angered the Lord so
much that he destroys the earth okay and you know I mean obviously there
would have been things playing out physically but the Lord sees the
thoughts of man there all right and that that's what causes him to destroy the
earth can you guys go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 2nd Corinthians chapter 10
2nd Corinthians chapter 10 brethren what are the things that you think about you
know what are the things that you think about when you when you really when
you're idle because usually when you're working you haven't got time to think
about anything besides the work that you're doing right but you guys are
going to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 I'm going to read to you to from job 31
verse 1 job says this he says I made a covenant that's an agreement okay a
promise or an agreement I made a covenant with mine eyes why then should
I think upon a maid why then should I think upon a maid job had a wife okay
job had a wife and he said you know what eyes I'm making an agreement he talks
with his eyes his eyes listen to me we're making a promise we're making an
agreement okay that we're not going to look on any other woman besides my own
wife okay and he likens there again he with his eyes why then should I think
upon a maid okay and husbands you know we need to make sure that we only look
at our wives okay we only make sure that we only think of our wives we need to
keep our thought life pure you might be keeping your physical life pure that's a
great thing but the key thing here and we see this in job a godly man he makes
sure that his thought life is pure he's not thinking about any other woman you
know in that in that sense you know you know loving any other woman not being
emotionally attached to any other woman in his mind and he made that covenant
that promise with his eyes and let me encourage you you know husbands if
you've not done that you better do it okay you better do just like job said
build that covenant make an agreement with your eyes that you will only set
your eyes upon your wife and upon no other maid okay but you guys are in 2nd
Corinthians chapter 10 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verse 5 casting down
imaginations and every high thing that exalts of itself against the knowledge
of God listen the Antichrist the beast of Revelation exalts himself above God
you know your thought life does the same thing your thought life your brain
exalts itself you know itself against the knowledge of God all right and so
that's why we've been instructed to cast down those imaginations those stupid
thoughts the stupid thoughts that enter your mind when they do it to just say
look I'm not gonna think about that you know find some other things to think
about you know find a work to do you know you start thinking stupid things
just go find something to do with your hands or pick up the Bible and start
reading the Bible start learning the Bible start filling your farm your mind
with godly things and says and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ every thought every thought to the obedience hey every
thought that you have is that thought in obedience to Christ or is it in
disobedience to Christ man that's a hard that's hard that's a hard that's a high
level of purity right but this is what we're called to do that every thought in
our mind ought to be in obedience to the Lord and verse number six and having in
a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled and I've
already covered this how do you revenge how do you take revenge normally
normally we're not allowed to take revenge on other people but you can take
revenge on yourself okay how do you take revenge on yourself by you know take
revenge on your disobedience by being obedience when you become obedient when
your thought life becomes obedient to the Lord you're taking revenge on your
disobedience that you've done in the past okay and just lastly and this is
this is very important for the world that we live in we're so bombarded with
entertainment right it used to just be the TV or the radio now we have the
internet you know the internet was once just in our homes now we have on our
phones right and like I almost can't live with it like you must need it like
it was you know and that's a bad play I think it's a bad place to be if you're
at a point where you can't you know thank God I left my phone at home today
you know it's good right but look Philippians 4 8 Philippians I don't know
if I turn you sorry turn there if you want Philippians 4 8 Philippians 4 8
finally brethren whatsoever things are true okay these are the things that we
need to be thinking about these are the things we need to spend time on okay
about that horror movie oh man that that that blockbuster movie is coming out you
know hey that that that famous you know musician that famous artist is coming
out you know I want to go and see look funny 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 he says man what do you what are you thinking of what what do you think
about what do you feel your mind with in your life we're meant to fill our mind
with things that are good and honest and true and virtuous okay and pure things
that are lovely God wants us to think about good things and you know I
mentioned it when I preached this up before I mentioned that you know there's
a online you can find the truth movement and I believe that a lot of there's a
lot of conspiracies in this world there's a lot of dark forces in this
world that's driving the narrative of this world and I recognize that the
devil is behind all that and pulling the strings okay and I think you know that's
something that's true you know the Bible tells us that the kings of the earth are
conspiring against the Lord I mean that's that shouldn't that shouldn't
surprise us as Bible even Christians okay so while that's true and while I'm
aware of those things I strongly recommend you don't go deep and dark
into those paths okay because those things aren't pure those things aren't
lovely you know and it's just going to bring you down it's going to make you
just you know a depressing person because these are depressing things okay
the Lord just says look we know we know the kings of the earth are working
against the Lord we know they're being pulled by the by the puppet master Satan
we know that the depths of the heart of man are exceedingly wicked we see some
examples of this in the Bible but we don't need to fill our minds and hours
and hours of going down those rabbit holes and finding out these things we
don't need to we really know okay just pray about those things leave it in
God's hands and please put your thoughts your mind in the things that are lovely
things that are honest things that are true the things of God and the last
thing guys the last thing that I have as to what how what we need to keep pure is
our tongue so you don't need to turn that I'll just read these passages to
you and I might get you guys to go to go to Hebrews 13 for me Hebrews 13 so we'll
get to that later on but the tongue so the Bible tells us in Psalm 34 verse 13
keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile what else do we need
to keep pure not only our eyes not only our ears not only our thought but our
tongue the things that we say the things that come out of our mouth we need to
keep it from evil okay keep it from harm in other people you know our tongues are
able to destroy people okay or we can use our tongues to edify people I mean
which of those two things you want to do with your mouth okay especially amongst
the brethren you know do you want to destroy your brothers in the Lord if you
want to lift them up we were called to lift them up right we need to keep our
lips from lips from speaking guile the fact that God even tells us this this is
what you have to do tells me that our natural inclination is to gossip our
natural inclination is to speak evil of other people okay
Colossians 4 6 says let your speech be all way with grace seasoned with salt
that you may know how you ought to answer every man all right let your
speech be all way okay all way with grace seasoned with salt of course
purifies so is a purifying agent so also heals wounds okay again your mouth
is able to cause wounds or your mouth is able to heal wounds okay make sure that
your speech is seasoned with grace make sure that the things that you speak are
pure and lift up your brothers and sisters in the Lord all right now final
thing that I wanted to cover here we talked about why be pure how to be pure
and now the benefits of being pure the benefits of purity all right now just
for the for the ladies for the for the wives I'm going to read to you from
Proverbs 31 verse 10 again a very familiar passage about the virtuous
woman but I want to see it it says who can find a virtuous woman for her prices
above rubies the heart of her husband off safely trust in her so that he shall
have no need of spoil okay so one what the first reason the first benefit of
being pure is that you're trustworthy and valuable in the eyes of others so
others can look at you say well that's a trustworthy person you know that person
now we're talking about a woman here a wife but you know we can apply this this
principle to all of us you know that if we keep ourselves virtuous we keep
ourselves pure we are valuable we are valuable in the eyes of others okay
you're not just this dirty dog you're not justice aren't you know
untrustworthy person in other words keeping pure will make sure you keep a
good reputation a strong reputation especially if you want to get into
ministry one day full-time ministry you know pastors are called to be blameless
okay pastors are called to a high standard you know to have a good report
with them that are without you know those that are outside of the church
environment to have that good clean pure report a good reputation it's important
you maintain that life especially I mean for all of us we should do that but
especially if you want to get into the ministry now I've got you guys to turn
to where did I get to turn to sorry Hebrews 13 let's go to Hebrews 13 verse
18 Hebrews 13 verse 18 the second benefit of being pure and let's read it
first Bible says pray for us so this is I believe Paul okay and Timothy this is
pray for us so as the leaders of the church for we trust we have a good
conscience in all things willing to live honestly the Bible speaks highly about a
good conscience a pure conscience a clear conscience before the Lord one of
the other the second benefit of being pure is that you're going to be able to
keep a clean or a clear conscience okay I say why is that okay honestly to me a
clean conscience is priceless priceless I mean would I take all the wealth of
the world or would I take a clean conscience I take a clean conscience
every day every day of the week you know any time I can make that decision I
will take the clean the clique conscience now I'm thankful that you
know I mean obviously I'm a sinner obviously you know that's that that
goes without saying but I'm thankful that you know most of my life I have
been able to keep largely a clear conscience before the Lord a clean
conscience okay and when I do something that's wrong or sinful and I know I
shouldn't have done that boy that's a burden on my heart you know that's a
burden on my soul and of course we should commit those things and confess
those sins to the Lord but it's always hard when you've done those things
always hard to forgive yourself after the fact you know and you know sometimes
when you make the wrong decisions it can have real lasting impacts especially on
other people and that's why you know having a clear conscience having a clean
conscience before the Lord is so valuable to me because it actually gives
you great joy it gives you great peace it takes away the burden because you
know you're just walking in accordance to the ways of the Lord you know you're
loving your brethren as you would love yourself to be loved you know you're
trying to seek the ways of the Lord even though you're not perfect and let me
tell you boy I mean just having that clear conscience knowing that you know
you're not out there you know you're not creating unnecessary enemies you're not
creating unnecessary conflicts you know it gives you this great joy to be able
to walk you know in purity and you know I'm not saying that to lift myself up
or anything like that it's just you know I had good parents you know they had a
strict upbringing with me so I didn't really mess up my life you know in any
major way and I'm thankful that I can have that clear conscience because I see
how believers that don't have that clear conscience really struggling life you
know they're really downcast really depressed because it's hard for them to
forgive themselves even though they are called to figure themselves and move on
okay but it just makes life a lot easier okay so that that is a benefit of purity
and lastly it will make you wiser it'll make you wiser if you keep yourself
pure because already so if you if you're pure then you you will see God okay you
will know God in a richer sense you will know him more so you know in a more
fuller sense than other people that are not pure and I'll just I read to you if
you guys can go to 2nd Peter please you guys go to 2nd Peter chapter 1 and I'm
gonna read to you from James chapter 3 verse 17 James chapter 3 verse 17 the
Bible says this just pay attention to these first words but the wisdom that is
from above the wisdom of God the wisdom of heaven okay the wisdom that is from
above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be entreated full of
mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy you see
being pure will allow you to receive the wisdom in a greater sense from that
which is above because the wisdom is pure though the wisdom that God wants to
give you will bring you peace and bring gentleness all these kinds of things you
know it'll make you wiser because you have the wisdom of God when you keep
yourself pure okay you'll have a greater knowledge of God you'll have a greater
understanding of the Word of God when you open up and search the scriptures
all right so the benefits of purity just a reminder you're gonna be more
trustworthy valuable in the eyes of others you're gonna have a good
reputation a good clean conscience which is amazing let me tell you man if you
can work toward having a clean conscience you're gonna love life a lot
more and it'll make give you the ability to become wiser to understand the wisdom
that comes from God which is pure all right now just in conclusion second
Peter chapter 1 verse 3 the conclusion here's the thing guys it's really it's
really up to you okay if you want to live in purity or not it comes down to
your decision you know what the Lord expects from you you know what the Lord
wants from you but again we have the Liberty we have the Liberty do we work
in purity or do we not okay second Peter chapter 1 verse 3 see God doesn't leave
you alone to work this out okay he wants to partner up with you and help you live
a clean pure life it says here according as his divine power have given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge
of him and have called us to glory and virtue see the Lord has called you to
glory and virtue God has called you to a life of godliness like here okay and of
course that would be purity all right and how has he done that he's given you
at the beginning there he says he's given you his divine power God's not
only are you saved from your sins but God's given you the power through him to
live a godly pure life okay he doesn't leave makes your own notes for that
yourself no he gives you the power to do it and if you're not living a life of
purity if you're not having victory over sins you know if you're still in the
same place you're not tapping into the power of God okay verse number four
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by
these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust okay now of course positionally we
have escaped the corruptness of this world okay but we're not there yet we're
still living this life we're still here with the sinful nature we still have
this flesh that lusts after sin that lust after all those things okay I don't
believe you say to me you know what I don't you know I don't lust over things
I don't you know I have no desire to be sinful you're a liar okay because you've
got the flesh the flesh lusts after these things but God has given us the
power to overcome those lusts okay and it's by by walking with him it's by
holding on to those precious promises that God has given us partakers of the
divine nature hey what's the divine godly you know he's given us a nature
that's like his that's that new man talk about it right being born again of the
spirit we have that nature of God in us we just need to make sure we tap into
that we walk in his past you know we try to fix our lives up we fight those sins
we fight the temptations we ask the Lord God to help us to empower us to do
these things Brevin let me just finish by saying you know we need to seek a
life of purity please don't get comfortable where you are don't be like
you know well you know I was more wicked I'm better now this is best I can do no
that's not good enough keep working toward that divine nature okay keep
walking in the Spirit of God keep seeking purity keep overcoming the sins
in your life and make sure you ask the Lord to empower you give you the
ability to do it you're not going to be able to do it alone you're not gonna be
able to do it in your flesh okay it has to come from the power of God of that
divine nature all right let's pray