IMPURITY AND SANCTIFICATION

IMPURITY AND SANCTIFICATION

What is impurity? The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "Contamination or pollution, lack of consistency or homogeneity; adulteration. A state of immorality; sin." Shall we explore the ways a person can be spiritually impure?

1. In The Mind. - Did you note how the dictionary said, "A state of immorality"? That's not just with the body, that's also in the mind! See what Jesus said about a dirty mind, and this can apply to a woman's mind, but here Jesus was talking of a man's mind; "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery': But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matt. 5:27 - 28).

2. In The Heart. - The godly men and women are those who obey the command to love God with all their hearts; but the unglodly person rebels against God with all their heart, and that heart is full of impurities! "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." (Gen. 6:5) "And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in His heart, 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.'" (Gen. 8:21)

3. In The Flesh. - Paul wrote of the problem he had between his flesh and his mind. He found that he wanted to obey God in the spirit, but the flesh was weak! He wrote how he wanted to be obedient in all thigs to God, yet his body was causing him to do and say and think things that lent to impurity, while really he wanted to obey God. He found this to be a wretched state! "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." (Rom. 7:23)

The Battle Between Impurity And Sanctity - Many Christians know that when we accepted Christ as our Savior, we got involved in a war, a war between good and evil. A war between being impure and sanctified. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Gal. 5:17 - 18)

So what must we do to win his battle between impurity and sanctity? There are things we can do to help us, and living by the Spirit, God is willing to help us! First, let's look at what sanctify means.

What is the meaning of sanctify? The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "To reserve for sacred use; consecrate. To make holy; purify." So how can we sactify ourselves, and even keep ourselves sanctified to the Lord? The bible, of course, has answers!

1. By Separating Ourselves From Defiling Things. - In the Old Testament, Moses was told by the Lord to be sanctified in this manner according to Num. 5:1 - 31. In this day and age, it would apply to a sort of spiritual housecleaning. We do not live communally as the Israelites did then, but we can sanctify our house. Focus on the concept of "If Jesus came into my house to visit, what would I be embarrassed/ashamed for Him to find?" Going room by room, you may find yourself in a house clearing mode for who knows how long! What a good way to get rid of unneeded things though, yes?

2. By Separating Ourselves From Bad Company. - Ever hear of "Tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who YOU are."? The same applies to the godly and ungodly. If you have ungodly friends, you will tend to slip and do/say/think ungodly things. Consider this out of the book of Proverbs: "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:" (Prov. 1:10 - 15)

3. By Separating Ourselves From Evil Locations. - When we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we realize we cannot go to certain places when we enjoyed our worldly ways, either. No more bars, wild party places, brothels, casinos; those kind of places. Proverbs has a sample of what I mean. "For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:" (Prov. 5:3 - 8) Here is good advice to stay away from the house of an adulterous woman!

THE SANCTIFICATION PROCESS

Now let us remember that we will still sin. We will still have the sin nature contaminate us with a sin of some sort, some of us still daily, but there is a resolution for that, one that sanctifies us. We have faith that if we confess our sins to God, He faithfully forgives us of them, each and every one, and thus we are sanctified by our confession and His forgiveness! "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." (1 Thess. 5:23 - 24) "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) This is a joint work, you may notice, for us to sanctify ourselves. First we have to confess to God that we see what we have done as sin the same as He does. We have to agree that what God says in the bible is sin is sin indeed, and that we have committed an error. Then, as the loving Father He is, He forgives us our sins, and by faith we are sanctified by His forgiveness! "For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him." (Psa. 103:11 - 13)