Worship call 0692 Purity before the Lord
Notes
Transcript
Worship call 0692
Wednesday July 20, 2022
Purity before the Lord
Matthew 5:8 (NASB95) — 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
53.29 καθαρόςb, ά, όν: pertaining to being ritually clean or pure—‘clean, pure.’ πλὴν τὰ ἐνόντα δότε ἐλεημοσύνην, καὶ ἰδοὺ πάντα καθαρὰ ὑμῖν ἐστιν ‘but give what is (in your cups and plates) to the poor (literally ‘as charity’) and everything will be clean for you’ Lk 11:41. In Lk 11:41 καθαρός may be rendered in some languages as ‘pure in the eyes of God’ or even ‘right in the eyes of God.’
In a number of languages there is simply no relationship between physical cleanness and ritual acceptability or purity. Accordingly, it may be necessary to render καθαρός in Lk 11:41 and similar contexts as ‘acceptable to God’ or ‘good in God’s eyes’ or ‘good as God thinks.’[1]
Purity before God. Ritually cleansed. Acceptable for worship. Is the meaning behind καθαρός
We find the verb form in 1 John 1:9
1 John 1:9 (NASB95) — 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse καθαρίζω us from all unrighteousness.
The mindset is that we are all sinners before God. all coming short of the Glory of God. Sin is that which defiles a person violating the relationship with God.
The principle is that to approach God we must approach God on His terms and not on our own.
When Jacob returned to the Land and had come to Bethel to build and alter, he had the people go through a ritual cleansing.
Genesis 35:2–3 (NASB95) — 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; 3 and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
The Israelites would come to the mountain of God to see God. they themselves had to go through a spiritual cleansing.
Exodus 19:14 (NASB95) — 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments.
The Garment that covers the Christian is the royal robe of God’s righteousness. It is a spiritual garment and one that can get soiled.
Revelation 3:4 (NASB95) — 4 ‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
Another example of Cleansing is within the tabernacle.
The Tabernacle the mobile worship center that followed the Israelites through the wilderness was attached with a strict protocol that had to be followed.
On the east side of the tabernacle was the gate that brought one into the courtyard. The first thing that one encounter coming into the courtyard was the bronze alter where the burnt offerings were given.
And one passed the alter and advanced forward they would come to a tent. Outside the tent was a basin. This was where the priest would wash their hands and their feet prior to entering into the Holy place.
Inside the tent in the first room there would a lamp, an alter of incense and the table of showbread. There between the holy place and the Holy of Holies was a curtain the separated the two rooms. It was beyond that curtain where there was the presence of the Shekinah Glory.
Each step from the entrance into the courtyard to entering that most sacred place once a year as the high priest would enter into the tent the priest would have to ritually cleaned and purified.
There was Isaiah who was cognitive of standing in the throne room of God.
Isaiah 6:1–5 (NASB95) — 1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Isaiah notes the uncleanliness of his language what proceeds out of his mouth reflects an unclean heart.
Matthew 15:18–20 (NASB95) — 18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 “These are the things which defile the man;
The Lord knows our hearts as every heart lays naked before God. when someone says that God knows His or her heart in the way that they are innocent the fact is we are not innocent before God. and to even approach God our evil hearts need to be covered or atoned for.
Romans 3:23 (NASB95) — 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This is continual action and the falling short means that we must continually be seeking to be purified from our sins.
1 John 1:5–10 (NASB95) — 5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
When was the last time you sought purification by going to the Lord in prayer, confessing your sins?
“Oh, But I haven’t sinned.”
My Neighbor on the other hand, Oh he is a wretched fella, he is! but me? Oh, I’m a great husband a good father, I go to church, I’m a good man.”
Do you know that even what you think is a sin?
Ever get angry at another person? Jesus says you have already committed murder,
Ever look another other than your spouse in lust? You have already committed adultery.
Mental attitude sins are the things that go on in your mind by way of hatred, Jealousy, arrogance, bitterness.
Hebrews 12:15 (NASB95) — 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
My neighbor sinned Sunday for cutting his grass. Not from the act of cutting his grass but because he thought it was a sin to do so and did it anyway.
How bout lying judging maligning gossiping?
We walk through the world each day and you mean to tell me that you are able to keep yourself pure as the wind driven snow?
Isaiah 64:6 (NASB95) — 6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Those who think that they and God are as peas and carrots are probably as far from God as one could possibly be. And in their own self deception and self-justification that are moving away from God and not toward.
Much like the Pharisee who stood near the publican in the temple in Luke 18
The closer we move to God, the more we recognize our own uncleanliness next to the holiness of God. and as we are to draw near to God, we must be checking constantly our situational awareness to ensure that we are cleansed in right relationship that is spiritually cleaned.
And if we are not keeping our sins in check if we are not confessing our sins, then we are not drawing near to God which is in the light, but we are progressing further into the darkness of carnality. The further we sink into sin and catering to the flesh the more obscure God is until we lose sight of God all together.
But the one whose heart is pure, will see and walk with God.
Happy is such a one.
[1]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 535). United Bible Societies.