Guard Your Heart

Purity is so much more than the physical purity that we all think about!!

 Matthew 5:8 says “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Purity, according to Miriam Webster Dictionary, means “lack of dirty or harmful substances” and “lack of guilt or evil thoughts”. That sums it up so well for us!

The Bible tells that unclean, evil, impure things are sin. Sin causes our uncleanness. So to get to a place where we can have a pure heart, we must begin with salvation. After the fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, we are naturally sinful people(we are born with sin).

Romans 3:23 “all have sinned”

Romans 3:10 “ there is none righteous, no not one”

The punishment for this sin in our hearts is death(Romans 6:23).

Jeremiah 4:14 “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?”

Jesus Christ was sent here to be a sacrifice for our sins..to pay our debt so that we may spend eternity in heaven and not receive the punishment that we truly deserve...HELL.

BUT, there is good news!! 

Romans 10:9 “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”

God accepts all who come to Him for salvation. If you have never given your life to Christ, I pray that you don't leave here today without doing so and talking to one of us if you have questions. God wants for us to choose him...He will not force us to love Him. We have to do that on our own...so don't hold back...don't ignore the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention and nudge you in the right direction.

If you have made that decision in your life, there are things that God expects and commands us to do.  

Ephesians 5:1-2  “Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.”

Our hearts are to be pure, the opposite of mixture, pollution, defilement.

The heart must be kept pure from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murder, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” Matthew 15:18-19

The heart must be purified by faith.

James 4:8 says “Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.”

So, purity is much, MUCH more than just a physical purity. We are called to have a pure heart and mind. We are to be ever watchful of what we open our minds to or fill our hearts with.

? How many of you have heard a “dirty joke”?

? How about seen a movie with a love scene that went further than you should be watching?

? What about listened to music that spoke of ungodly things?

? Or watched a show that had language that you know you shouldn't say?

? Or heard someone blaspheme your God and you brushed it off as nothing?

All these things are popular in our culture today! Our culture leads us to believe that these things are “normal”. And when we allow ourselves to be exposed to these things and tell ourselves its “normal”, we are slowly desensitizing ourselves to things that our God considers sinful and wicked.

Matthew 23:26 “Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.”

~How can we cleanse the inside of our cups when the things we are filling them up with are filthy and dishonoring to our God?

When I started back in church, I wanted to get all of my life right with God. I started asking myself that if God is with me always, would He be pleased with the things I do, things I watch/listen to, the things I say/think? Picture Jesus sitting next to you while you watch your favorite show or movie...would He be pleased?

Ephesians 5:3-12 “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret”

That is a LONG list of things that are sin against God! These things that we put in our minds are not all sexual acts, but that is a big part of purity as Christians as well. Our society has encouraged young adults not to abstain from sexual acts, but to be careful(by using protection). They have encouraged us to follow our hearts; to do what feels right. These are not acceptable in the eyes of God. His Word is very clear.

~Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruits of his doings.”

~You cannot rely on your heart to make decisions that are godly.

Now this is not to say that all emotions that you feel are going to be sinful. God gives us a passion for certain things that He is trying to lead us to do for Him.

-That being said, to find out if its God leading us, we must be close enough in our walk with God that we know that its his leading.

• This means Bible reading and meditation
• prayer(more than just at meals or a to do list for God)
• A trust in God that He will fulfill all your needs and not lead you astray
• finding good Christian counsel in godly friends and church family that He has placed in your life.

Now for the part of purity that sometimes makes us uncomfortable or embarrassed.

You are a gift, a treasure, that God has made specifically to be the helpmeet of another.

~Gen. 2:18 “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an helpmeet for him.”

This does not make you an object, trophy, or some other negative spin that our culture adds to this truth. It is a beautifully, God-designed relationship between a man and a woman. God designed you for one person.

-Think about how you would feel if someone gave you a gift...but only after several others tried it out first.

- I always told myself and those around me that I was going to be a virgin when I got married but once the “right” person came along I caved. I was told all the things that I wanted to hear about how beautiful and special I was to him. I was told we would be together forever. We were talking about marriage so, why wait? I gave in to temptation...but my impurity started long before we had sex.

-I had given him too much of myself in many ways long before marriage. He was my everything...I put him before almost everything in my life...including church and God.

-Our hearts need to be devoted to the Lord, and He will lead us to the one He has for us. He has it all planned out anyway...just let Him lead you there!

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”

Think about it this way, "If you are living in a building owned by someone else, you try not to violate the building's rules. Because your body belongs to God, you must not violate His standards for living.”(Life Application Bible)

Ephesians 4:17-19 “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”

We, as Christians, should separate ourselves from worldly things. Once saved, we should not pursue the things of this world as we once did.

2 Timothy 2:21-22 “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the lord out of a pure heart.”

In Song of Solomon 4:12 “A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed”

~This is referring to your virginity. Solomon is praising her for her virginity!

~Virginity has always been God's plan for marriage.

~Sex without marriage cannot be compared with joy of giving yourself completely to the one who is totally committed to you in marriage, the one that God has paired you with for life!

v.15 says “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. “

~Solomon's bride was refreshing to him as a fountain or a stream. Will your spouse be able to say that about you?

I think it will do us good to define virginity:  

the state of being pure, unsullied, or untouched; the state of having no carnal knowledge of a man, the unmarried life.

~NO carnal knowledge of a man...that includes ANY sexual activity, not just intercourse.

~Our society and your generation has been known to say that as long as it wasn't actually sex, that it doesn't count...that you are a “technical virgin”

-Let me tell you, if this is how you think of yourself, you are NOT a virgin in God's eyes, according to His word.

Song of Solomon 2:7 “I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please”

~This is patiently waiting for feelings of love and commitment to develop together(not pushing yourself on another)

-It will be hard for you to stand up to temptation if you constantly place yourself in a situation that will tempt you to do things that are ungodly.

• Stop hanging out with the people who cause you to stumble
• Don't watch those shows that say things that will desensitize you to the things of this world.
• Don't listen to music that will lead you to think that ungodliness is acceptable.
• Don't be alone with a boy...there is just simply too much temptation
  -I tell you this from experience of how I got off track in my life at your age.
  I thought that kissing was OK, because it wasn't sex. But one thing will ALWAYS eventually lead to another.
• Don't allow yourself to look too long at those shirtless men at the pool or on the magazines or in movies.(David's sin with Bathsheba started when he chose to NOT look away on the rooftop.)
• Don't watch these movies that glorify an open dating relationship that would shame your Father.

I encourage you all to be in prayer now, if you aren't already, for the man that God will send your way. Pray for God to reveal him to you in His time, and to help you be patient while waiting and discerning to know that it is from God and not our own fleshly lusts.

-Whatever we fill ourselves with, will start to be what we pour out to those around us. Think about the light that God has called us to be.

Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the world, A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”

Go out today and shine to all you come in contact with. Let them know by your actions, words, and character, who you serve. Don't let your actions and choices give the people around you a false picture of who God is and what He stands for.

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”

 I don't know about you ladies, but I yearn to see God.

Cheryl