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Spiritual
Vision Through Personal Purity
Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God
—Matthew 5:8
Purity is not innocence—it is much more than that. Purity
is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have
to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner
purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become
spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from
this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity
of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity.
If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired
to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until
we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our
character—it is "the pure in heart" who
"see God."
God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we
still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through
our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other
points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must
our "inner sanctuary" be kept right with God, but also
the "outer courts" must be brought into perfect harmony
with the purity God gives us through His grace. Our spiritual
vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our "outer
court" is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy
with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even
think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for
others will become unacceptable for us.
A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished
in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as
God does. Say to yourself, "That man or that woman is perfect
in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect
in Christ Jesus!" |
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Reconciling
Yourself to the Fact of Sin
This
is your hour, and the power of darkness
—Luke 22:53
Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing
it and refusing to deal with it—produces all the disasters
in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature,
but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh
in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree
with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something
downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks
your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise
with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have
you taken this "hour, and the power of darkness" into
account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no
recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and
friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin?
If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped
and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself
to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and
say, "Yes, I see what this sin would mean." The recognition
of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship—it simply
establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful
life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which
does not recognize the fact that there is sin.
Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never
cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what
He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one
who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called
innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business
trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous.
Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving
of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact
of sin. |
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Do
It Now!
Agree
with your adversary quickly . . .
—Matthew 5:25
In this verse, Jesus Christ laid down a very important principle
by saying, "Do what you know you must do—now.
Do it quickly. If you don’t, an inevitable process will
begin to work ’till you have paid the last penny’ (
Matthew 5:26 ) in pain, agony, and distress." God’s
laws are unchangeable and there is no escape from them. The teachings
of Jesus always penetrate right to the heart of our being.
Wanting to make sure that my adversary gives me all my rights
is a natural thing. But Jesus says that it is a matter of inescapable
and eternal importance to me that I pay my adversary what I owe
him. From our Lord’s standpoint it doesn’t matter whether
I am cheated or not, but what does matter is that I don’t
cheat someone else. Am I insisting on having my own rights, or
am I paying what I owe from Jesus Christ’s standpoint?
Do it quickly—bring yourself to judgment now. In moral
and spiritual matters, you must act immediately. If you don’t,
the inevitable, relentless process will begin to work. God is
determined to have His child as pure, clean, and white as driven
snow, and as long as there is disobedience in any point of His
teaching, He will allow His Spirit to use whatever process it
may take to bring us to obedience. The fact that we insist on
proving that we are right is almost always a clear indication
that we have some point of disobedience. No wonder the Spirit
of God so strongly urges us to stay steadfastly in the light!
(see John
3:19-21 ).
"Agree with your adversary quickly . . . ." Have
you suddenly reached a certain place in your relationship with
someone, only to find that you have anger in your heart? Confess
it quickly—make it right before God. Be reconciled to that
person—do it now! |
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The
Inevitable Penalty
You
will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last
penny
—Matthew 5:26
There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it.
God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will
not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit
for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately
when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable
process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you
have been "thrown into prison, [and] . . . you will by no
means get out of there till you have paid the last penny"
(
Matthew 5:25-26 ). Yet you ask, "Is this a God of mercy
and love?" When seen from God’s perspective, it is
a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure,
spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature
you were exhibiting—the nature of demanding your right to
yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature,
His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you
realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right
relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach
to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right
road. Decide to do it right now, saying, "Yes, Lord, I will
write that letter," or, "I will be reconciled
to that person now."
These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and
your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses
from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the
appeal to your heart.
If you find yourself asking, "I wonder why I’m not
growing spiritually with God?"—then ask yourself if
you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now
what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call
comes with an "ought" behind it—the knowledge
of knowing what we ought to do. |
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Sanctification
But
of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us . . . sanctification
. . .
—1 Corinthians 1:30
The Life Side. The mystery of sanctification is that
the perfect qualities of Jesus Christ are imparted as a gift
to me, not gradually, but instantly once I enter by faith into
the realization that He "became for [me] . . . sanctification
. . . ." Sanctification means nothing less than the holiness
of Jesus becoming mine and being exhibited in my life.
The most wonderful secret of living a holy life does not lie
in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfect qualities of Jesus
exhibit themselves in my human flesh. Sanctification is "Christ
in you . . ." (
Colossians 1:27 ). It is His wonderful life that is
imparted to me in sanctification— imparted by faith as a
sovereign gift of God’s grace. Am I willing for God to make
sanctification as real in me as it is in His Word?
Sanctification means the impartation of the holy qualities
of Jesus Christ to me. It is the gift of His patience, love,
holiness, faith, purity, and godliness that is exhibited in and
through every sanctified soul. Sanctification is not drawing
from Jesus the power to be holy—it is drawing from Jesus
the very holiness that was exhibited in Him, and that He now
exhibits in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation.
Imitation is something altogether different. The perfection of
everything is in Jesus Christ, and the mystery of sanctification
is that all the perfect qualities of Jesus are at my disposal.
Consequently, I slowly but surely begin to live a life of inexpressible
order, soundness, and holiness—". . . kept by the power
of God . . ." (
1 Peter 1:5 ). |
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His
Nature and Our Motives
.
. . unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom
of heaven
—Matthew 5:20
The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good
things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made
good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds
right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to
place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would
have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus is saying, "If you are My disciple, you must be right
not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations,
and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind."
Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing
to rebuke. Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have
nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ
claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone
His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as
a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can
be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken
to do through His redemption.
No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ
does not give us rules and regulations—He gives us His teachings
which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which
He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s
salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change
human nature—He changes its source, and thereby its motives
as well. |
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The
Way to Purity
Those
things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart . .
. . For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the
things which defile a man . . .
—Matthew 15:18-20
Initially we trust in our ignorance, calling it innocence,
and next we trust our innocence, calling it purity. Then when
we hear these strong statements from our Lord, we shrink back,
saying, "But I never felt any of those awful things in my
heart." We resent what He reveals. Either Jesus Christ is
the supreme authority on the human heart, or He is not worth
paying any attention to. Am I prepared to trust the penetration
of His Word into my heart, or would I prefer to trust my own
"innocent ignorance"? If I will take an honest
look at myself, becoming fully aware of my so-called innocence
and putting it to the test, I am very likely to have a rude awakening
that what Jesus Christ said is true, and I will be appalled at
the possibilities of the evil and the wrong within me. But as
long as I remain under the false security of my own "innocence,"
I am living in a fool’s paradise. If I have never been an
openly rude and abusive person, the only reason is my own cowardice
coupled with the sense of protection I receive from living a
civilized life. But when I am open and completely exposed before
God, I find that Jesus Christ is right in His diagnosis of me.
The only thing that truly provides protection is the redemption
of Jesus Christ. If I will simply hand myself over to Him, I
will never have to experience the terrible possibilities that
lie within my heart. Purity is something far too deep for me
to arrive at naturally. But when the Holy Spirit comes into me,
He brings into the center of my personal life the very Spirit
that was exhibited in the life of Jesus Christ, namely, the Holy
Spirit, which is absolute unblemished purity. |
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Sacrifice
and Friendship
I
have called you friends . . .
—John 15:15
We will never know the joy of self-sacrifice until we surrender
in every detail of our lives. Yet self-surrender is the most
difficult thing for us to do. We make it conditional by saying,
"I’ll surrender if . . . !" Or we approach it
by saying, "I suppose I have to devote my life to God."
We will never find the joy of self-sacrifice in either of these
ways.
But as soon as we do totally surrender, abandoning ourselves
to Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives us a taste of His joy. The ultimate
goal of self-sacrifice is to lay down our lives for our Friend
(see John
15:13-14 ). When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, our
greatest desire is to lay down our lives for Jesus. Yet the thought
of self-sacrifice never even crosses our minds, because sacrifice
is the Holy Spirit’s ultimate expression of love.
Our Lord is our example of a life of self-sacrifice, and He
perfectly exemplified Psalm 40:8, "I delight to do Your
will, O my God . . . ." He endured tremendous personal sacrifice,
yet with overflowing joy. Have I ever yielded myself in absolute
submission to Jesus Christ? If He is not the One to whom I am
looking for direction and guidance, then there is no benefit
in my sacrifice. But when my sacrifice is made with my eyes focused
on Him, slowly but surely His molding influence becomes evident
in my life (see Hebrews
12:1-2 ).
Beware of letting your natural desires hinder your walk in
love before God. One of the cruelest ways to kill natural love
is through the rejection that results from having built the love
on natural desires. But the one true desire of a saint is the
Lord Jesus. Love for God is not something sentimental or emotional—for
a saint to love as God loves is the most practical thing imaginable.
"I have called you friends. . . ." Our friendship
with Jesus is based on the new life He created in us, which has
no resemblance or attraction to our old life but only to the
life of God. It is a life that is completely humble, pure, and
devoted to God. |
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Faith
or Experience?
.
. . the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me
—Galatians 2:20
We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions
into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of
our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to
Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then
think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we
exhibit by saying, "I haven’t had this experience or
that experience"! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims
and provides—He can present us faultless before the throne
of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly
justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith "in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption . . ." (
1 Corinthians 1:30 ). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice
for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction,
and then we talk about making sacrifices!
We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus
Christ— not a "prayer meeting" Jesus Christ, or
a "book" Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus
Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead
at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation
springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion
to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly
bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be
built on strong determined confidence in Him.
It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the
steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All
of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing
to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified
with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should
be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible,
triumphant belief. |
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