“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. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (Psalms 24:3-5)
Which of us can say, “I have a pure heart”? We love God and want His will for our lives. We even strive to do everything we can according to God’s ways and for God’s kingdom. But today let’s take a hard look at what exactly is a “pure heart.” Let’s decide whether we really have one. Then let’s see how we can really obtain one.
How often do sinful ideas come to your mind? While driving do you get angry at others? How often do you argue, even at work? When you see an attractive person are your thoughts completely pure? Do you ever feel pride, greed or jealousy?
You might say, “no one is perfect.” You might say, “no one lives like that.” But while it might be true that few people live without such feelings and desires, we all should. I believe God calls us to have pure hearts, and God makes this possible with some awesome help.
Let’s discuss again what is the “heart.” I know we have equated the heart with the spirit in earlier posts, and that’s still true. But today let’s change our definition a bit and regard our heart as our core. You are a spirit, soul and body tri-part being. But at the intersection of your parts, at your core, how are you? The real you, the one you consult with, the one you hear, what is that person like?
Now I know we all have conflicts between our spirits and souls. Our spirits want us to do righteousness, but our minds sometimes encourage sin. For that reason we must renew our minds to God’s Word so that we can have unity within ourselves. But what we ultimately want to create is the “perfect man.”
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).” “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).” Look at the standard God calls us to. We are to be perfect people, as our Father is perfect, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Those are some goals. But God wouldn’t give you a goal or an order without providing the means for you to accomplish it. Remember that He which started a good work in you will complete it, and God works within us both to will and to do what He wants.
What if you never got sinfully angry? What if you only felt loving and compassionate emotions for others? What if you never looked at the wrong sex without brotherly love and Christian concern for their salvation? What if you never felt greed or lust or pride or hate or any other sinful feeling? You see, I’m not talking about removing sin from our actions; I’m talking about removing sin from our very consciousness. Let’s look at all God does to help.
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)
“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:13-14)?”
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)”
I know we don’t usually give so many quotes here, but these verses are so powerful we need to study them carefully. God does amazing things to help us become pure, holy beings. God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. God gives us His Spirit. The blood of Jesus purges our conscience from dead works. If we confess our sins God forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Jesus even continually washes us with God’s Word. Praise the Lord. All three Parts of The Trinity, (God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit) are all working together to help us eradicate sin from our lives. They are fundamentally changing us and cleansing us. And I wish I could tell you that they do all the work, but we still have a part to play.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1).” “If a man therefore purge himself from these [strife and iniquity], he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work (2 Tim 2:21).”
We must do our portion. Despite all God does for us we still must work to cleanse ourselves and purge ourselves from all filthiness and sins. We live in a world that will continually bombard our perfect spirits with sinful ideas and opinions. We must keep a constant guard to prevent them from entering us and taking hold. We must receive all God’s Word says He has done to help us be perfect and holy before Him. We must receive this and walk in it.
Finally let me show you two mighty weapons we have to do our part, to cleanse and purge ourselves. “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart (Proverbs 3:3).” “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil (Proverbs 16:6).”
Mercy and Truth. We have the ability to engrave things into our heart, into our very core. If we engrave Mercy and Truth into our hearts then our hearts will be purged of iniquity. In every aspect of life God has His part and we have our part. Without both parts then the good work won’t be accomplished. I believe this is our part to becoming a perfect, pure human - spirit, soul and body. What is mercy but the love and compassion of God, which the Holy Spirit has already shed abroad into our hearts? What is Truth but God’s Word, which Jesus expressly told us is Truth.
We are given both God’s Love and God’s Word. The Bible says that we are to put on love, “which is the bond of perfectness.” Jesus, to help sanctify and cleanse us, also washes us with the Word. So we see that God’s Love and God’s Word are key. The Holy Spirit puts one into you, but the other you must put into you.
When you spend time with God’s Word you spend time with God. As you engrave God’s Word on your heart you begin activating all the Truth contained therein. That new spirit God gave you grows stronger. The love poured in by the Holy Spirit starts boiling and overflowing. God’s Own Spirit grows louder and more influential in you. You begin to fear the Lord, you depart from evil, and iniquity is purged.
God wants us to be a complete person, holy and pure and without blemish. That’s a long way from where God finds us, but God does everything He can to help. All three Parts of The Trinity do their work, and we must do ours. Set your goal as perfection and maturity on the level with Jesus Christ and God. Work to truly be pure in your heart, in the core of your being. Sin won’t be a temptation, good works won’t be a struggle, and you will produce the abundant fruit God planned for your life.
How often do sinful ideas come to your mind? While driving do you get angry at others? How often do you argue, even at work? When you see an attractive person are your thoughts completely pure? Do you ever feel pride, greed or jealousy?
You might say, “no one is perfect.” You might say, “no one lives like that.” But while it might be true that few people live without such feelings and desires, we all should. I believe God calls us to have pure hearts, and God makes this possible with some awesome help.
Let’s discuss again what is the “heart.” I know we have equated the heart with the spirit in earlier posts, and that’s still true. But today let’s change our definition a bit and regard our heart as our core. You are a spirit, soul and body tri-part being. But at the intersection of your parts, at your core, how are you? The real you, the one you consult with, the one you hear, what is that person like?
Now I know we all have conflicts between our spirits and souls. Our spirits want us to do righteousness, but our minds sometimes encourage sin. For that reason we must renew our minds to God’s Word so that we can have unity within ourselves. But what we ultimately want to create is the “perfect man.”
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).” “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).” Look at the standard God calls us to. We are to be perfect people, as our Father is perfect, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Those are some goals. But God wouldn’t give you a goal or an order without providing the means for you to accomplish it. Remember that He which started a good work in you will complete it, and God works within us both to will and to do what He wants.
What if you never got sinfully angry? What if you only felt loving and compassionate emotions for others? What if you never looked at the wrong sex without brotherly love and Christian concern for their salvation? What if you never felt greed or lust or pride or hate or any other sinful feeling? You see, I’m not talking about removing sin from our actions; I’m talking about removing sin from our very consciousness. Let’s look at all God does to help.
“Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)
“For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:13-14)?”
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)”
I know we don’t usually give so many quotes here, but these verses are so powerful we need to study them carefully. God does amazing things to help us become pure, holy beings. God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. God gives us His Spirit. The blood of Jesus purges our conscience from dead works. If we confess our sins God forgives us and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Jesus even continually washes us with God’s Word. Praise the Lord. All three Parts of The Trinity, (God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit) are all working together to help us eradicate sin from our lives. They are fundamentally changing us and cleansing us. And I wish I could tell you that they do all the work, but we still have a part to play.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1).” “If a man therefore purge himself from these [strife and iniquity], he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work (2 Tim 2:21).”
We must do our portion. Despite all God does for us we still must work to cleanse ourselves and purge ourselves from all filthiness and sins. We live in a world that will continually bombard our perfect spirits with sinful ideas and opinions. We must keep a constant guard to prevent them from entering us and taking hold. We must receive all God’s Word says He has done to help us be perfect and holy before Him. We must receive this and walk in it.
Finally let me show you two mighty weapons we have to do our part, to cleanse and purge ourselves. “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart (Proverbs 3:3).” “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil (Proverbs 16:6).”
Mercy and Truth. We have the ability to engrave things into our heart, into our very core. If we engrave Mercy and Truth into our hearts then our hearts will be purged of iniquity. In every aspect of life God has His part and we have our part. Without both parts then the good work won’t be accomplished. I believe this is our part to becoming a perfect, pure human - spirit, soul and body. What is mercy but the love and compassion of God, which the Holy Spirit has already shed abroad into our hearts? What is Truth but God’s Word, which Jesus expressly told us is Truth.
We are given both God’s Love and God’s Word. The Bible says that we are to put on love, “which is the bond of perfectness.” Jesus, to help sanctify and cleanse us, also washes us with the Word. So we see that God’s Love and God’s Word are key. The Holy Spirit puts one into you, but the other you must put into you.
When you spend time with God’s Word you spend time with God. As you engrave God’s Word on your heart you begin activating all the Truth contained therein. That new spirit God gave you grows stronger. The love poured in by the Holy Spirit starts boiling and overflowing. God’s Own Spirit grows louder and more influential in you. You begin to fear the Lord, you depart from evil, and iniquity is purged.
God wants us to be a complete person, holy and pure and without blemish. That’s a long way from where God finds us, but God does everything He can to help. All three Parts of The Trinity do their work, and we must do ours. Set your goal as perfection and maturity on the level with Jesus Christ and God. Work to truly be pure in your heart, in the core of your being. Sin won’t be a temptation, good works won’t be a struggle, and you will produce the abundant fruit God planned for your life.
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