Unstained from the World The Battle for Purity

Well, brethren, if you have your Bibles, please open them to James 1. One more message, I believe. Before I went to Manchester, we dealt with the first part of James 1.27. And I would like us to take up the last part of that verse. James 1.27 Religion that is pure, catharos, and undefiled.

It's the word amiantos. Before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained, aspelos, from the world. And I just bring out those Greek words, but those are the three words that I want us to train in on.

Pure, undefiled, unstained. Now it's true that pure and undefiled modifies also visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, but we already dealt with that. What I'm wanting us to focus on is that aspect of pure and undefiled religion before God, and to keep oneself unstained or unspotted from the world.

Father, I pray that You'll be a help to us now. In Christ's name I ask, Amen. I just want to do a bit of a theology of purity.

Because that's what we're dealing with. Keeping oneself unstained. I recognize pure and undefiled is at the beginning.

Pure and undefiled religion. And it's got these two aspects. You visit the orphan and the widow in their affliction, and keeping oneself unstained from the world.

It's the unstained aspect. Let's just think. Visiting the widow and the orphan, that doesn't really in and of itself have this purity aspect to it.

It is pure and undefiled because that's how God defines it for us. But the purity aspect doesn't immediately jump out like it does in the unstained from the world. Unstained.

There's a purity aspect. So what's purity? What are we talking about there? We say pure is gold. I'm trying to think what kind of colloquial expressions you get.

Pure is what? Pure is gold. I thought, not that I have any gold. Well, I have this.

I don't think that's very pure. Pure is the driven snow. We get snow once in a while.

But the idea of like a virgin on her wedding day in a white dress. White. You know what? Daniel is looking to our day at people just like us.

And here's what he says. You're going to get three terms here just like James gives us three terms. Pure, undefiled, unstained.

Listen to Daniel. He sees us Christians. He says this in Daniel 12.10, "'Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined.'" What I'm doing by going here is I'm collecting synonyms.

Purify. Undefiled. Unstained.

Here you have white. You have refined. What's refined? What do you do when you refine something? We refine gold or silver.

What do you do? You get the impurities out. Slag. You basically heat it up until it becomes melted.

And then impurities have a tendency to rise and they float on the surface and they can be skimmed off. And so if you refine it and you refine it and you refine it and you refine it, what you're doing is you're creating a purity. Now think about it.

When you have pure gold, what do you have? What's absent? Basically, anything that's not gold. Right? Here's the thing. Now lay this down.

It's like Ryan gave us Stewart's thing. 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3. Just get this. Purity equals singularity.

That's important. When we say undefiled from the world, we're talking purity here. There is a singularity.

Now, singularity in what? You can probably start to imagine. Undefiled from the world. You get unspotted from the world.

Your mind can grasp these things. Water's pure if it's singularly water. Add dirt, it's not pure.

It's contaminated. Here's the thing. You take a woman, pure.

A virgin. She gets married. We count her pure, even when she loses her virginity to her husband, as long as she is singularly devoted to that man.

See, this is the idea of purity. There is an aspect of singleness in it. Singularity.

Now listen to this, because I'm going to introduce another word here, and it ought to make sense to you. We use this word, but do you recognize what it really has to do with? What the meaning is behind it? The Bauder-Denger-Arden-Gingrich lexicon defines purity this way, being clean or free of adulterating matter. Did you catch that? Adulterating.

If something isn't pure, if a woman isn't pure, she's an adulteress. She's not singular in her affections. Or, the Thayer Greek lexicon, free from anything that soils, adulterates, or corrupts.

Okay, you're in James. Turn to chapter 4. Because this isn't the only place in this letter where James is going to speak to us about the world and about the impurities associated with it. Notice James 4.4. So here's the thing.

When James says, how does he start it? What's the first three words? You adulterous people. Now, is he saying about these people that he's writing to that they're not being faithful to their spouse? Is that the issue? That is not the issue. You see what he's saying? Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Now, here's the thing.

James 1.27 says, unstained from the world. You think maybe friendship with the world and being stained by the world are the same thing? I think there's a good chance that's reality. And so, what happens when you get spotted by the world? It's adultery.

And you know, God uses the same kind of terminology in the Old Testament. I've been reading Jeremiah. When the words adultery, adulterous, or even whore and whoredom are used in the prophets, oftentimes, folks, it's not because they were unfaithful to their spouses.

They were unfaithful to their God. They were not singularly devoted to Him. Brethren, this spiritual adultery, it's called adultery.

Why? Because it's like giving to the world the sort of thing that a man detests that his wife should give to somebody else. That's the idea here. Now, check this out.

Go to James 4.8. Because James isn't done talking about purity here in this context. And he's going to bring out two purity realities here in verse 4.8. And you see them. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

And here we get our purity terms. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Now, here's the thing. The first thing I want to draw out of this is it's a heart matter. In other words, you've got to look deep within for the purity on the level that God desires.

And you remember how it was. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, and Jesus called them hypocrites, for they cleansed... What did they cleanse? The outside of the cup. And they neglected, they avoided the inside.

That's the issue. Jesus said it in the Beatitudes, blessed are the pure in heart. Now, it talks about cleansing hands, but you've got to believe that that cleansing of the hands has to do with the cleansing of the actions.

And of course, everything in the actions and everything from the tongue, it all flows from the overflow of the heart. We recognize that at the deepest level. So there's the first truth from verse 8 that I want to draw out.

But there's another one here. Do you see the word double-minded? And that's closely... Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Remember, I said to you purity has to do with singularity.

You know what this literally says? You double-headed. When you're double-headed, you need to purify. There's no purity in the double-headedness.

And He's talking to religious folks here. He's not talking to the worldly guy out there. He's very specifically writing to His brethren.

And the thing is, He's not talking to the guy out there in the world that is absolutely committed to the world. Singularly devoted to the world. He's talking about people, like right in here in this context.

We've got some double-headed people. You know what double-headed is? It's like a Siamese twin. Remember there was a classic Guinness Book of World Records picture of these Siamese twins.

You know the one that's black and white and he's got these two guys and they're kind of joined like right here. And so you've got heads going both ways. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine if you're joined with somebody else? What's the problem? What if one head wants to go that way? There's only one set of legs.

One head wants to go that way. One head wants to go that way. You see, that's a kind of double-headed.

When you're double-headed, you're not pure. And that's the kind of thing that we have here. This double-headed religious people torn between two opinions.

Can you think of somewhere in Scripture where religious people are torn between two opinions? Seems like we might have heard it referenced sometime today. Anybody think of it? Who is limping or halting between two opinions? Anybody know? Hey, if God is the Lord, if the Lord is God, if Baal is God, it's like stop limping, stop halting between two opinions. That's being double-headed.

And you know what? If the world is worth going after, go after it with your whole soul. Stop being lukewarm. Stop being half-way, half-committed, half-in, half-out, stuck between two opinions.

See, that's impurity. This is the kind of thing the world affects us. It's like the other woman.

The world limping, limping. How long do you halt? How long do you limp between two opinions? You see, the thing is, people that are stuck between two opinions end up doing nothing well. They don't follow the world well.

They don't fit in exactly. And they don't do well among God's people. They don't do well in the church.

These people that are trying to go both ways here, they're faltering and stumbling. Listen, the fight, get this, the fight to stay unstained from the world is mainly a matter of not being double-headed. That is the kind of thing.

It's singular. It is a singularity that we're fighting for. Now listen, remember, Paul comes along and he looks at the Corinthians and he says this.

He said, this battle that we fight, we don't use weapons of the flesh. Our weapons are not carnal. The weapons of our warfare.

They're spiritual. And they have divine power. And you know how he says it, to pull down strongholds, to destroy.

What are these strongholds? They are arguments. They are opinions. You know what they are? They're mindsets.

So you have this double-headed thing. And what is the contamination? It's being spotted by the world. On the one hand, what do we have? On the one hand, we've got Scripture.

On the one hand, we've got what Christ desires. We've got the will of God. On the other hand, we've got what the world is trying to sell us a bill of goods on.

That's where the spottedness comes from. It's double-headed. It's double-thinking.

It's I'm thinking, I'm trying to think biblically, but I'm also thinking that the way that the world thinks. And the great battle, folks, is that there are these strongholds. There are these embattlements.

It's like these great fortresses, stone edifices. And what are they? They're mindsets. They're worldviews.

They're ways of thinking. They're psychologies. They're ideologies that this world has.

And they come at us. And it's hitting us. Brethren, this hits us.

Through all the media out there. Through all the mindsets. Through the people you come across.

The devil is the head of this whole thing. The devil is guiding this. But brethren, listen, you can't use human weapons here.

Unspotted by the world is mainly a mind thing. Listen to what Paul says. Do not be conformed to this world.

Okay? I mean, that's the issue. Don't be spotted by it. Don't be conformed to it.

But what? What's the issue? But be transformed by the renewal of your mind. You see where the battle is? Brethren, to be unspotted from the world, this is largely for us to be unspotted by the ways that this world thinks. It's theories.

It's belief systems. We're talking strongholds of thought. And brethren, you know what? You got a world out there.

And it's like they have this fortification around their head, around their thoughts, around how they think. And they live in it. And they're trapped in these things.

And our responsibility is to seek to come and dash these things. John MacArthur says, I've heard him say that these things become their tombs. They die in there.

Oh, they appear. So lofty, scientific, intelligent, intellectual. It all seems good.

And you know what Paul said? Listen, you know what he said. Every lofty opinion. We destroy arguments.

Every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. It's all against the knowledge of God. You see what people are fortifying themselves with? Systems that are anti-God, anti-Christ.

And listen, to the degree you imbibe this, the way the world thinks, you're stained by it. You're adulterated by it. Folks, we've got to get the world's ideologies out of our mind and stop being double-headed.

Stop being adulterated in the mind. You know what we're striving after? The virginity of the mind. I came across this.

I came across it in the past, but just came across it again recently. That 0.0% of young people in Iceland, 25 years or younger, believe that God created the world. 0.0% according to New Paul.

First 12 chapters of Genesis. Not just all Icelanders apparently, but many here. Many Americans.

The idea that the first 12 chapters of Genesis are myth and superstition, not to be taken seriously. Brethren, the thing is, you look around. What drives people? What are the viewpoints out there? I mean, come on, you've got guys here going to the college campuses.

Get out there. You've got people going out on the streets on Friday night. You get out there, you get among people, you start having conversations with people, just at work, the places you go.

Get among people. Find out what they're saying, what they're believing. I mean, they have viewpoints.

They have viewpoints about evolution. They have viewpoints about how it all started. They have viewpoints about gender, about sex.

They have viewpoints about marriage, about what's important in life, about what you ought to be striving after, living for, what the meaning of life is. I mean, the world out there, they've got all sorts of ideas about politics and about what sin is or sin isn't, or who God is, or about abortion. Brethren, it's all hostile to God and Christ and to the Gospel and to the truth and to whatever is good.

And you know what? John comes along and he says this. He says, "...Whatsoever is of the world, all that is in the world, the desires or the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, pride of life, is not from the Father, but from the world." You see, it's all dominated by lust. These mindsets that the world has, these great embattlements, these castles, these strongholds of thought, they're driven by men's lust.

That's what Scripture says. By carnal ambition and by greed and by self-pleasure. And the whole thing's just in rebellion against God.

And the thing is, it's this, it's operated and energized by the devil himself. Because you know how it says there in Ephesians 2, if you're following the course of this world, how does it go? Following the prince of the power of the air. Don't think you can go get stained by the world and the devil's not involved.

Or he doesn't have his fingers in this thing. He's got his fingers right in there. And remember, it's how we think.

It's how we think. And so, Paul then comes out in the same second Corinthian letter where he talks about what the nature of our battle is. You know what he says in chapter 4? He says that the devil, the god of this world, he blinds the minds of unbelievers.

What does he keep them from seeing? Do you remember what it said? Oh, glory. Somebody said glory. Keep them from seeing glory, from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ.

You just imagine. It's like the devil. You imagine him out there and he's pulling along this cartload of all these ideologies of the world.

He pulls it along, making everybody think it's so great and it's so smart and intellectual and scholarly and it's really living the way the world thinks. And he's got one primary mindset, and I'll tell you what it is. It is to keep people thinking that the gospel of the glory of Christ is empty, it's ugly, it's devoid, it's nothing, it's undesirable.

That's what he's seeking to do. You know what? You know what the world's telling you all the time? You've got to have looks. You've got to be athletic.

You've got to be rich. You've got to wear the right clothes. You've got to drive the right car.

You've got to be involved in sports and all the right hobbies and all the stuff. And you've got to have that. You've got to have that.

Because that stuff is glorious. That stuff is great. That stuff is beautiful.

Jesus? What's that? And you know what? Paul says in that same 2 Corinthians letter, I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts... See, it's a thought thing. It's a thought thing. Your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure... This is how the ESV reads.

A sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Purity. Purity.

When it's all for Christ. All, all. There's a reason why I wanted to sing that.

Because that's where the purity is. That's where it's found. And you know what? The devil doesn't want us to see the end of this.

Recently, I came across a little snapshot of a video and I was looking at it. It was the words of all these atheists. Famous atheists on their deathbed.

The kind of stuff the devil, the God of this world, who wants to shield you from seeing the glory of young people. Listen to this. Some of the champions of this world's ideas.

First one. I don't know the guy, but Caesar Borgia. He's an atheist.

Anybody know that name? Yeah. He's an atheist. And listen, these are his last words.

While I lived, I provided for everything but death. Now I must die and I'm unprepared to die. Sir Thomas Scott, some of you have heard that undoubtedly.

Taken suddenly ill, he cried out, until this moment I thought there's neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and feel there are both and I'm doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty. Voltaire, anybody recognize that name? On his deathbed, I've swallowed nothing but smoke.

I've intoxicated myself with the incense that turned my head. I'm abandoned by God and man. To his physician, he said, I'll give you half of what I'm worth if you'll give me six months of life.

The doctor told him it was impossible. He responded with, then I'll die and go to hell. Last words.

Very last, I don't know, but he said that on his deathbed. David Hume, you may know that name. On his deathbed, I'm in flames, period.

Sir Francis Newport, head of English Atheist Club. You need not tell me that there's no God, for I know there's one and that I'm in his presence. You need not tell me there's no hell.

I feel myself already slipping. Wretches, cease your idle talk about there being hope for me. I know I'm lost forever.

Oh, that fire. Oh, the insufferable pangs of hell. Oh, that I could live for a thousand years upon the fire that's never quenched to purchase the favor of God.

He's wishing it could be purgatory, where he actually could pay for his sins and be united to God again. But it's fruitless wish. Millions and millions of years will bring me no nearer the end of my torments than for one poor hour.

Oh, eternity, eternity. Forever, forever. Oh, the insufferable pangs of hell.

The French king, Charles IX, massacred the Huguenots. He said, asleep or awake, I see the mangled forms of the Huguenots passing before me. How will all this end? What shall I do? I'm lost forever.

Anton LaVey, he's the Satan worshiper. On his deathbed, oh my, oh my, what have I done? There's something very wrong. There's something very wrong.

Young people, where's your mind? You see, the world and the devil, the God of this world, He wants your mind. He wants you to think that that religion of your parents is awful. It's boring.

Oh, Christianity. You know what? The truth is, there is a glory that'll blow your socks off, honestly. There is a beauty.

There is a ravishing of the soul. If you heard what I read that Mack Tomlinson has been experiencing in the middle of the night, brother, this is just a foretaste of heaven. What are you after, young people? Popularity? Is that what it is? Escaping that stale religion? Is that what it's all about? Money? Sports? Is that it? Science? Oh, safety.

Have we fallen into that as Christians? Give us safety, Lord. Give us retirement. Help us to store up and build up and be safe and secure and we gotta have all the right insurance in place so we're safe.

Our house is safe and our car is safe and our health is safe. Safety, is that it? Is that what Jesus said? Is that being fully devoted to Him? Is that the way He said to go? Brethren, we can become so much a part of this middle class Americanity that we hardly even recognize how much of it is just the world. It invites us.

It sucks us in. Brethren, I'll tell you this. The thing is, the world opinions, they're fantasy.

They say Genesis is fantasy. It's what they believe. It's aims.

What are the aims of this world? They're selfish. It's pleasures. You think about it.

They're sinful. It's influences. They adulterate us.

It's politics. Brethren, that's all a false hope. Trump is not your hope.

He never will be. It's advertising. Think about the advertising of this world.

It's just empty. It's applause. Oh, it'll applaud you for a moment.

And then you're done. It's like the world chews us up and spits you out. Young ladies, you might be pretty right now, but the world spits you out.

You've got to get old. The devil blinds the eyes from seeing what? From seeing this glory of Christ. Now listen, when we talk unspotted from the world, we're talking mindsets.

We're not talking about initiating a list of rules. Listen to what Scripture says. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Okay, you want to be stained by the world? Just live your life where it's just a set of rules and regulations.

To live by a set of rules and regulations is to be worldly. That's how the world thinks about religion, is a set of rules. You don't go down that path.

Basically, you've got to look at what's in here. Not the rules. Not what's mechanical.

Not what I do. It's got to do with what I love. What do I think about? What do I live for on the inside? What have I seen? What have I experienced? I mean, look, the truth is, we know the list of rules as to what's proper when we walk into this place on Sunday.

We all got that figured out. That's not the issue. When we're talking mindsets here, we're talking about what's essential at the deepest level.

Brethren, I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from pure devotion to Christ. Now, here's something worth considering. Listen to this.

James 1.27, where we started, notice the emphasis. Keep oneself unstained from the world. Oneself.

Did you catch that? Keep oneself. You know what they call that? You know what that word is in the English? It is a pronoun. It is what is called a reflexive pronoun.

You know what that means? You do it to yourself. Listen to this. James 4.8, purify your hearts, you double-minded.

If you're double-headed, who's got the responsibility of purifying the heart? You do. I'm supposed to do certain things to myself so that I'm not double, but singular. That's the idea.

Listen to this. Remember I read from Daniel? The ESV reads this way, many shall purify themselves. There's that reflexive pronoun again.

Now, in other translations you're not going to find that unless you look at Young's literal. There's something that Young saw and the translators of the ESV and they make themselves white. Themselves.

You've got that reflexive there. Or you've got 2 Peter 3.14, be diligent. You be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish.

Or Revelation 22.14, blessed are those who wash their robes. You recognize how Scripture speaks? They wash their robes. They have a right to the tree of life.

We don't tend to talk this way, but our Bibles do. We like to think, well, Jesus washed us. Jesus cleansed us.

And when it comes to justification, that's absolutely true. But we're talking purity. We're talking a practical cleansing, a practical reality in our lives.

Listen, we don't talk this way, but we need to talk this way more. 2 Timothy 2.20, In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, catch these four words, if anyone cleanses himself, himself, there's that pronoun again.

Reflexive. That's an action you do to yourself. From what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Now look, I recognize that our Heavenly Father often has used us when we felt dirty and unclean and unusable, and we've had a bad day. God is very gracious. But there's a reality here, and you can't get away from it.

What's the reality? God's servants can remain shelved because of what? What is it? If anyone cleanses themselves, they're a vessel fit for the master's use. So what makes us unusable? Dirt. We haven't cleansed ourself.

There's impurities. Listen, what you've got to grasp is that, and we're not talking activity here. Somebody can be very active, but not being used of God.

Activity isn't the issue. A man can be very involved in the ministry, and God is not using him. What does it mean for God to use somebody? Well, God usefulness.

What's essential to that? Well, it's God coming. It's God helping. It's God empowering.

We need God empowerment to truly be used of Him. You see, the idea is He's not using us. We may be active.

We may be up there in the shelf and bouncing around this way and that, but we've got dirt and dust in our cup, and He's not going to pull us off. We can bounce around up there and do all of our little activity. Listen to this.

I want you to turn to this one, 2 Corinthians. Turn to 2 Corinthians 7. Brethren, if anyone cleanses himself. Look at this.

2 Corinthians 7 says, "...Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse..." Everybody see the pronoun again? That reflexive pronoun? "...Let us cleanse ourselves." From what? "...Every defilement of body and spirit inside and outside, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God." Ladies and gentlemen, you never want to read a verse like that that starts the way it does without backtracking. Since we have these promises? What promises? Because obviously what Paul is saying is there's a motive here. There's a motive for you to want to cleanse yourself.

What is it? Okay, let's backtrack. Go to 2 Corinthians 6.16. Here's the promises. "...We're the temple of the living God." I heard my daughter praying this morning, a living hope.

We have a living God. Folks, Christianity is a living thing because our God who inhabits this true Christianity, He's a living God. There it is.

He's living. But notice this. We're the temple.

He lives. Our God indwells this temple. As God said, I will make My dwelling among them.

Mine. There's a possessiveness here. My dwelling among them and walk among them.

I will be their God. They shall be, again, possessive. My people.

They will be My dwelling. They will be My people. Notice this.

Verse 17, Therefore go out from their midst. Whose? Be separate from them. Whose? Well, it's the idea of that which is unclean.

Touch no unclean thing. Now notice this. Then I will welcome you.

Listen, what you've got to see from this is that our relationship with God is based on your purity, not just your forgiveness. Let that sink in. There are Christians that run around like, well, I'm justified by faith and so everything is good.

Listen, there is a truth being set forth right here. Look, certainly impure sinners. God justifies the ungodly.

You can come with all your dirt and all your filth and all your sin and you can come to Christ to be saved, trusting Him. Certainly impure sinners can come to God through Christ and they find that they're going to be justified immediately. But listen to what Paul is saying here.

Then I will welcome you. Then? When? Then, keep reading verse 18. I will be a father to you.

You will be sons and daughters to me. My dwelling, my people, sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves.

You see, the promises are made to the clean. God dwells among us. He walks among us.

He's walking. He's moving. He's acting.

It's personal to God. My dwelling, my people, sons and daughters to me. This is a personal God.

But what you want to watch are those words, and I will welcome you. Brethren, because of that promise, cleanse yourself from every defilement. Do you recognize what this is saying? This is a promise that is conditional.

This is, we have a welcoming God. Brethren, have you ever been there? You wake up at 3 a.m. and suddenly God is there. He's on your mind.

You wake up and that welcoming God says, Welcome. You go to prayer and there's a sense that He's there. There's a welcoming God.

You open your Bible and He's there. They're welcoming. You come into a place like this.

Oh brethren, the fact that our singing, the singing has produced some transformation over the years and people. You come in here. You come into the midst.

We have a welcoming God. Some of you, because of the dirt, because of the filth. I know we come back, we break that bread.

We're wanting to remember something. We want our faith to come back to something. But brethren, it's because of these promises right here that He says, Therefore, you should cleanse yourself from every one of these defilements.

Brethren, this is how Scripture speaks. Promises. It's all conditional.

Or, if there's ever a verse that connects my purity with a welcoming God, it's certainly this. Blessed are the pure in heart. For what? Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Clean hands and a pure heart.

That's what, oh Lord, show me Your glory. I mean, brethren, seeing the glory of God, isn't that the biggest? That's the most momentous? That's the most monumental? That's the most tremendous thing? Isn't that the biggest thing of all? We want to see God. We want God to welcome us.

We want to see His face. That's the whole object of Christianity. And who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Brethren, it's those that have a pure heart.

The living God is the greatest imaginable reality of all. Brethren, man little realizes what he lost there in the garden. And God is not saying that my welcoming is just based on you being justified by faith.

Nor is He saying your usefulness is based just on that. You can't escape this. You just can't escape this, folks.

Listen to this. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

Purify your hearts, you double-minded. You see that drawing near? What a motivation to purify oneself. You want another motive? Listen to this one.

Many of you know this. This is 1 John 3, 2. Beloved, we're God's children now. Don't you like that? We're God's children now.

What we will be has not yet appeared. Somebody comes telling you that they know what it's going to be like and they got all this picture and they create this. They don't know what they're talking about because we don't know yet.

It's not appeared yet. But we do know this. When Christ appears, we shall be like Him.

Because we shall see Him as He is. Listen to this. Everyone who thus hopes in Him, you know what it says? Purifies himself as he is pure.

When the kingdom of heaven is consummated and it's all over and there's this new heaven and there's this new earth and we're there, Christ appears in all of His glory, what's going to happen? The Christian is going to behold that and become it. That's the promise of Scripture. And that's our hope.

And you know how John is arguing here? He's arguing from this stance, from this standpoint, that everyone who has that hope acts on that hope. That's what he says. You can't get around it.

If you have no desire for purity and you're just entertaining the ways of the world and the thoughts of the world, brethren, it's just something about where your hope is. That's what John says. My present effort at purity is consistent with my future hope.

That's how he reasons. The follower of Christ who looks forward to this is already determined to prepare for it. And brethren, our time is short.

You don't have long to prepare. We await, what? An audience with the King to stand before Him. And what is He looking for? Brethren, He wants His people to be truly saints, not just in word, to be holy people, to be pure people, to be refined people.

What an incentive. Are you living in anticipation of that? Are you preparing? Brethren, the question now is where are we at? How long have I been going? Brethren, you've got to get to the place where it's like, okay, I've got to reach in the heart. How do I get there? Brethren, we've got to talk about like Daniel sees many making themselves white.

Blessed are those who wash their robes. But remember, this is not a cleansing from guilt. That's not what this is.

This is a cleansing from the pollution of the world. What helps me to think about how do I do this? How do I reach my heart? It's a verse like this. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you.

Brethren, when you take your Bible in your hand, when you lift this up, when you go into this Word, brethren, there is nothing more purifying. This is altogether the purest material. Do you recognize not a single verse? Not a single verse in this book, not a single word in this book will taint you.

This is pure. Brethren, this is exactly what Paul was talking about when he says Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her that He might sanctify her. You see, this is a sanctifying cleansing.

This is not the cleansing of justification. This is a sanctifying cleansing. And he says the washing of water by the Word.

Not a single verse here will lead you into any kind of filthiness or contamination or impurity or adultery. Nothing of that sort. Brethren, we tend to want this easy fix.

You know, get up in the morning and give me this little devotional where there is a verse at the top. We want to move through this. How do I reach in here? Listen, I'll tell you this, the spiritually soft aren't going to do well here.

This is something that takes an effort. Remember, this is a battle for the mind. We are battling against cosmic powers, against following the course of the ruler of this world who is, brethren, this is no small thing.

And you can't do this with carnal weapons. These are great battlements that are brought down through not fleshly weapons. It's brought down through divinely empowered.

And if there's anything, it is the sword of the Spirit that God divinely charges so that there can be purity, the renewal of the mind. That's what we're after. Not conformed to this world, but there's a renewal that takes place.

The mind of Christ controls us. That's what we're after. When every thought is held captive to Christ.

Well, how does that happen? Where are Christ's thoughts? Where are Christ's ways? Where are Christ's words? They're in this book. Brethren, this is a great battle. You remember what? Behind the whole world is pride.

The pride of life. You think you kill pride in your life through seven easy steps? Brethren, it's like we want to go to the moon and we want it to be easy. It's like, brethren, there's a battle here.

There's a fight. Pride, selfishness, unbelief, lovelessness. You want an easy fix for all that? I mean, brethren, and here's the thing, you know the verse.

The verse that says that as we behold the glory of the Lord, we are transformed from one degree of glory. You know what? If you do not take the time to get into this book and meditate and chew on it to the point where you see the glory, you will not be changed. That is what Scripture tells us.

You can't get beyond that, brethren. You've got to camp here. If you don't behold the glory, then you won't become the glory.

That's what Scripture says. Beholding the glory of the Lord, you're being transformed in the same image from one degree of glory to another. This comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Brethren, you've got to soak in it. You've got to bask in it like it's liquid glory. We're washed by the water of the Word.

This isn't H2O. This is the glorious living water of a book. You imagine just glorious, glowing water that flows out of this.

But brethren, it's a mind thing. Your mind has to engage the glory of this book. You're not going to do that in five minutes.

Brethren, it is not shocking that when you find people in the church that are double-headed, impure, and worldly, that they spend very little time, very little quality time in this book. That is not a surprise, folks. So, listen to this.

Remember how Peter said, if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How do you escape the defilements of the world? It's finding the knowledge of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, never, never, never, never, never underestimate what is accomplished in your life when you take this book, this Word of God in your hands and with discipline and deliberateness, you put yourself in this book on a daily basis.

Each time you dive into it, you're getting into this spiritual bathtub full of glowing waters of glory, the glory of the Lord, the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It comes out of this book. It comes into your head.

And this happens by the Spirit who is the Lord. He sees to it. God Almighty sees to it that there is a purifying benefit.

And brethren, we've experienced it. Remember, we're destroying strongholds. Now, I'm just going to end with this.

You've got to recognize that surrender... And one of the things if we're not going to be spotted by this world, here is purity. It was the words from Bob Jennings. All for Christ.

That is purity. That we not be led away from that pure devotion to Christ. All for Christ.

Brethren, Christ has said in Scripture to be the treasure that we should sell all else for. To be valued above ease, above pleasure, comfort, safety, above friends and profit, my own life. Mary, you remember, she chose the best part.

You remember what Scripture says? If therefore any of you who does not renounce all that he has, he can't be my disciple. You see, the idea of purity is singularity. When you abandon all for Christ, that is singular.

Any protected area of your life, anything unabandoned, anything unsubmitted, anything unsurrendered, you don't have singularity. You have to ask, the world cries safety. What does Jesus say? I have no place to lay my head.

They may kill you. They hated me. They're going to hate you.

Does He promise us security? Does He promise us? It's going to be comfortable? He doesn't promise us that. Retirement. The world likes to talk retirement.

You got that area of your life protected. How about your amusements? How about the ways you play? The ways you relax? Do you protect that part of your life from the Lord? All for Christ, unless you forsake all. Your money, how are you going to use that? Brethren, you see, singularity.

Singularity. Are you committed to this true biblical purity? Brethren, I want you to say this. If you are committed to this and you're not going to allow the stains in your life, you're going to go to battle against this, you're going to go to battle against the mindsets of this world, the things that they think are important, the things that they value, then say it.

All, Lord, I forsake all to follow You. Say it in your mind. I am not going to follow the world.

I'm going to fight it. I'm going to resist it where it comes at me through media, where it comes at me through the TV, through the computer, through my phone, where it comes at me through worldly people, where it comes by my neighbors, by the things I expose myself to, but the music I listen to, I am all out for Christ. I surrender.

I am submitted. That is purity. Lord, I'm following You.

Yes, for You. I give up everything. Total, pure devotion to You.

Paul feared, lest you be pulled away from that pure and sincere devotion alone to Christ. Accept my surrender to You in all things. I want to live for You, all out for You.

In that, you will find purity, folks. Give everything. You know what? Little quoted verse.

Give His alms, those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. Do you know what that means? That means within. Everything is laid on the altar.

And there's our word. Everything is clean. Everything is pure.

But you hold back. It's not pure. You adulterers and adulteresses are the ones protecting a part of your life from Him.

Impurity. Brethren, pure and undefiled religion before God the Father, this is His estimation, is this. It is that you keep yourself unstained.

From this world. You have to do it. Those reflexive pronouns mean your responsibility.

God doesn't do it for you. You do it. The person sitting next to you, your spouse doesn't do it for you, your friends don't do it for you.

You need to be determined and deliberate and intentional. And this is a battle. And we are up against these great strongholds of thought that the world and the God of this world bombard us with.

There's no easy thing. And brethren, be committed. Be determined.

Say it all to You, Lord. All to You. Nothing held back.

And live in this book. And wash in this book. Die reading this book.

Father, I pray, my desire is that Grace Community Church would be pure. Lord, help us to reach greater degrees of this glorious purity. Greater degrees of a likeness to Christ.

More and more. Help us, Lord, to advance, to be victorious. I pray in Christ's name, Amen.