Author : Steve Cawthon
via Preceptor, November 1987
I never thought I would see the day that I would pay $1.25 for a quart of water (Brother Cawthon wrote this in 1987. – KS). I used to get a whole case of Dr. Pepper for that! (He grew up in Tennessee. – KS) But it was a scorching day in Egypt. My fellow tourists and I had .been warned, Don’t drink the water here.” (I had not realized the effects of the first of the ten plagues were still being felt.) But there in the little oasis cafe were the bottles of imported water. I decided to spring for one. Purity was worth the price.
Each year our country spends millions and millions of dollars on pollution control. We realize the value of pure water, pure air, pure food. But too often in our quest for purity, we neglect to heed that biblical injunction, “Keep thyself pure” (1 Timothy 5:22). Our moral and spiritual impurities are as nauseating to God as are poisoned and polluted waters to us.
If the Jew learned anything from his “schoolmaster,” the Old Testament (Galatians 3:24), it was that God required purification for sins. The first high priest and his sons took the sacrificial animal, killed it, then Moses took the blood “and put it on the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and sanctified it to make atonement for it” (Leviticus 8:15). Moses and Aaron were instructed by the Lord to take a
red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke… slay her… burn the heifer… gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity; it is a sin offering (Numbers 19:1-10).
The significance of the various purification ordinances of the first covenant is explained in Hebrews 9:
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? (13,14)
The blood of Jesus has provided for the purification of sinners.
But that atoning blood must be accepted by the sinner before he can be pure. While our cleansing is a free gift, any gift can be either accepted or rejected. Thus the gospel specifies the means of receiving the purification provided by Christ. Peter explained that the hearts of both Jews and Gentiles are purified “by faith” (Acts 15:9). That same apostle wrote,
…ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ…who was manifested at the end of the times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, that raised him from the dead and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing he have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth… (1 Peter 1:18-22).
While purification is provided by Christ’s blood, it is accepted by our faith and obedience. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).
But the command, “Keep thyself pure,” suggests the necessity of maintenance of that which has been provided and accepted. Jesus does not purify sinners so they can continue to live in sin. John said:
And everyone that hath this hope set on him purifieth himself even as he is pure. Everyone that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. And ye know that he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin (1 John 3:3-5).
Similarly, Paul argued that purification is not a license to sin.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-4).
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof; neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:12-13).
The task of keeping ourselves pure and free from sin must begin with the knowledge of what is clean and what is unclean. The doctrine of Christ is the basis of a pure life. A true disciple is a full-time student of the Lord’s teaching. The word of God is the spring from which the pure waters of Christian living come. “The words of Jehovah are pure words” (Psalm 12:6). “The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:8). “Thy word is very pure” (Psalm 119:140). This is why the word of God produces a pure life. “Thy word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11]. The wise man taught, “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield unto them that take refuge in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6). Those who dare add to God’s word are polluting its purity. They are dumping poisonous sewage into the pure water supply.
Our Lord taught that purity of life begins in the heart. While the Pharisees were polluting God’s word with their own traditions and worrying about defiling their bodies with impure food, Jesus said:
Perceive ye not that whatsoever goeth into the mouth passeth into the belly and is cast out into the draught? But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings; these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands defileth not the man (Matthew 15:17-20).
In order to keep yourself pure, you must keep your thoughts pure. Murder is preceded by anger and hatred, adultery by lust (Matthew 5). If you allow your mind to be filled with filthy thoughts, memories, and fantasies, they will erupt into your words and actions. You cannot keep yourself pure without keeping your mind pure, for your mind is the very essence of your self. “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, 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 (Philippians 4:8).
Maintaining purity necessitates avoidance of unnecessary pollution. After you wash your car, you are careful to stay away from muddy or dusty roads if possible. Likewise, a Christian pursuing the pure life will not intentionally place himself in situations that are apt to lead to sin. Paul told Timothy, “But flee youthful lusts, and follow after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22). Rather than flirting with temptation. the Christian needs to avoid it.
Purity of life not only demands abstaining from sin but being actively engaged in righteous works. While we flee youthful lusts, we follow after righteousness. “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). The man practicing pure religion before God is “not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer that worketh” (James 1:25). As you strive to live a pure life, beware of the filthy germ called pride. You cannot keep yourself pure by denying your sins.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9).
