Today’s
scripture:
- “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” (John 3:36 NIV)
- “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8 NKJV)
- “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.” (Psalm 119:9 ESV)
Today we are looking into the fifth topic on the Sermon on the Mount
that Jesus is teaching, which is “Inward
Purity”. Please read Matthew
5:27-30… Jesus is saying His standards of living according to His will is so
high, He considers sexual lust to be adultery! But this really isn’t just about
sexual lust. It’s about having a pure, undefiled heart before God. He also says
if you are entering into any area of your life that is impure, you need to go
to extremes to get rid of that which causes you to sin. If you struggle with
pornography, you may need to get rid of your smartphone and computer. If you
struggle with drugs, you may need to move to a different area where it would be
harder to get drugs. And the list can go on with any issue. The point is, you
have to get very serious about it because it should concern you not just of your
health and well-being but your eternal soul!
All
three of the verses above are so significant I just couldn’t leave them out of
today’s scripture reading. I’ll explain why in a minute, but first, what really
is “Purity”? Purity is to be free of ANY defilement of the mind, body, and
soul. To be pure means to be absolutely flawless, 100% without sin,
completely perfect! How can that even be possible, you might be
saying…Right?
Well,
first you have to understand that you cannot be pure in God’s eyes with out
being born again. Refer back to the first of today’s scripture…“but whoever rejects the Son will not SEE life…” Now, look at the
second one which is in the beatitudes of what this series is all about…“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall SEE God.”
Sadly,
there are many people in the Church that say they are born again, but we know
that can’t be all true if we look at the passage in Matthew 7:13-23 …v.13,14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, and there are MANY who go in by it. Because
narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are FEW
who find it.” Notice
the word “many” and “few”. God’s Word says that there will be few that will
find Life. God says He is the Way the Truth and the Life. And sadly, there will
be few who will see Him. It also says there will be many who will go to
destruction which is hell! MANY WILL GO TO HELL!!! That means a whole lot more
people will go to hell than the ones who will enter heaven. Oddly enough, most
of America believes themselves to be christains!
Jesus goes on to say that you will
know people who are true christains by their fruit. If they are truly belonging
to the Kingdom, you will see a change in their life. A sorrow when they sin, a
concern about holiness, and a reverence for the Lord Jesus will be the good
fruit that they will show.
Many people grow up in the church and
say they believe in God. The last part of the passage in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus
is saying that not everyone will go to heaven. They will even preform many
miracles like casting out demons and prophecy in His name but they never knew
Him. Even Satan believes in God. In fact, he has even seen God more
majestically than we will ever see while here on Earth because before he fell
he LIVED in heaven WITH God! And yet he rebelled. He wanted to live his own
way. Sadly, that is the attitude of MANY so called christains in the Church
today. They believe in God but they really don’t want to give Him every area of
their life.
So,
how are we expected to live a life that is absolutely flawless, 100% without
sin, completely perfect? Remember, if you are truly a born again christain, you
are pure because you have a perfect person (Jesus) living in you. If you do
have Jesus living in you then you will WANT to live a pure life. Now, look at
the third verse of today’s scripture. King David gives the answer in Psalm 119.
He firsts asks how can we keep our way pure, then he gives this answer… “By living according to your word.” Simple, right? Of course
it is simple but it is also hard. But as long as we live with that desire,
Jesus will keep us!
Reflection:
To
live a pure life is difficult just like it says in Matthew 7:14, but we really
don’t have to be perfect, we just need Jesus who is perfect in our life and us
willing to accept whatever He wants for us. If we do have Him living our life
for us, we will have a desire to be holy. We will be concerned with how we live
and that it would be pleasing to the Lord. But if we do slip off the path of
purity, the Father comes for us and corrects us just like any loving father or shepherd
would do.
Challenge:
Dear
beloved, I say all this because I truly am concerned for the Church at large.
There are so many people saying that they believe in Jesus but yet they live
like the rest of the world. Please check to see every area of your life is a
pure way. Would it be pleasing to the Lord? Pray and ask God in every area and
have Him “clean house”. Pray the Psalm 51 to the Lord, which is a psalm of
repentance.
-Doug McGowan
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