Holiness, which I'm calling "purity" and which the knights of old called "nobility," encompasses every part of our being - body, soul and spirit. It includes physical chastity, moral excellence and spiritual sanctification. I like the word purity, because, as humans, it's easier for us to understand than holiness. Nobility has lost much of its meaning today. But regardless of which word you use, the idea of being free from contamination in body, mind and spirit fascinated the Medievals, and it should fascinate us today, because it is the key to living the best life possible, as opposed to just existing.

Our sin separates us from God; and yet He says, "'You shall be holy, for I am Holy.'" (I Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:45) How in the world are we, imperfect beings, going to be holy?! It's impossible. Bingo! There is a chasm between us and God (you've seen the diagrams) that only one man ever crossed - Jesus. But because He crossed it, when we believe in Him, we cross it as well. What God is saying now is, "Live like you've crossed it. Live like you are with Me on the other side." Hello? When was the last time you lived like you were a holy person? Can you imagine - a holy person in America? India, maybe - but America? Yet, that's what it means to be noble, pure, holy. And that's what it means to be a true knight.

In America, purity is the last thing we think about, unless we're buying bottled water. But in the days of the Children of Israel, God's people, it was the number one thing on their minds. Everything in their religion revolved around it: all the washings and cleansings; the foods you could and couldn't eat; the animal sacrifices designed to symbolically purify the sinner; the sprinklings of blood that were supposed to sanctify clothing and articles of worship; etc. It's amazing how holiness-conscious they were, and yet how unholy they lived!

The Pharisees were the worst, of course, thinking they could cleanse the outside of a vessel and leave the inside corrupt (Luke 11:39; cf. II Timothy 2:21). Boy, were they like us! God looks on the heart of a person, not his outward appearance (I Samuel 16:7). Christ came to cleanse the heart, and He is the only means by which it can be done. Christ is our sanctification (I Corinthians 1:30).

What's interesting is that the Hebrews would take a garment or vessel that was one day being used for some secular purpose, sprinkle it with a little blood from a goat or ram and, voila! - it was ready to be used in the Temple for worship! That is exactly what Christ does with us: He takes an unholy person that one day is living his life in the pursuit of selfishness and sin, sprinkles him with His blood and, voila! - he is now holy and ready to be used by God for His purpose.

It's not magic and I'm not being flippant. It is a mystery that is beyond comprehension. That is the power of Christ's blood, if only we would believe it! And that is the beauty of holiness, if only we would believe that!

We American are, perhaps, the least holiness-conscious people in the history of the world. But you can't say that about our ancestors. The pilgrims believed, "Cleanliness is next to godliness." They saw cleanliness as one way to bring God's holiness into the physical realm. But sexual purity is by far the greatest way, and the way in which we in the West are losing the battle big time - and tragically. By changing that one thing about ourselves, we could change our families, the Church, America and the world in revolutionary ways.

Take this to heart: God has very little use for sexually impure people. I told you this was revolutionary! I might as well have said that men from the Moon had landed and were selling green cheese on the next street corner. That would have made as much sense to you. But I'm telling you: if you're struggling in your relationship with God and don't believe He's using you in a dynamic way, check your sexual purity. There is at least a 50-75% chance that's the reason since 50% of all Christian marriages end in divorce and 75% of all Christian men struggle with pornography. I mean, I don't have to be a mind-reader or even a Christian counselor. The biggest problem with Christian men today is written in all the statistic books. We are spiritually impotent because we are sexually out-of-control. The devil has found our price, its name is Sex and we are paying for it big time.

Throughout scripture, those who stumbled sexually - which were quite a few - lost, at least for a time, their ability to be used by God. Samson is the most obvious example. It wasn't his hair that was the key to his strength, it was his purity. His hair was just the symbol for that. Once he compromised his purity, he compromised everything. But, once he got it back, God once again blessed him. The same is true of David. After Bathsheba, he lost for a time his ability to be used by God; and his entire life became a series of setbacks. But I think Solomon wins the prize. He started out so well, with a godly father, all the wisdom, the King of God's people and riches galore - but he just couldn't stop himself when it came to women. And he just couldn't say "no" to them when they suggested things he knew God had forbidden - like worshipping pagan gods!

"You shall be holy, for I am Holy."

We cannot approach God in an unholy state. In the Old Testament, people were struck dead when they tried. Only Moses was allowed on Mt. Sinai when God gave the Ten Commandments. Only the High Priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies - and that was just once a year. Dealing with God is dangerous business! For us as Christians, Christ is our holiness. He is the only reason we can come to God in prayer. When we pray, God sees Christ praying in the Garden. He doesn't see Joe Blow It or Susie Screw Up: He sees Joe Christ and Susie Christ. I'm not being disrespectful. The word Christ means "Anointed One." We have been anointed with Christ's blood. We belong to Him now. We're part of His family. What last name would you like? Smith? When you belong to someone, you take their last name. It's time we started acting like to Whom we belong - Christ.

Purity is the greatest issue in Christendom right now. Sexual sin is running rampant in our society and in the Church. Where will it end? One of two places: either God will send a warning for us to purge ourselves and the Church - and I hate to think of what form that warning might take. AIDS is bad enough, but it hasn't made much of an impression on us. It's going to take something stronger, I fear. Can you imagine something worse than AIDS? Well, imagine it. The other place this could go is that we, out of our own consciousness of God's holiness, will begin cleansing the Temple ourselves, the way Hezekiah and Nehemiah did (II Chronicles 29, Nehemiah 13). If we truly believe that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19), then we've got to take on His holiness and His purity and start living it.

Think of what would happen if every man, woman and child in America would dedicate themselves to purity - but men especially. The Church would change and society would change. There would be reformation in the Church and renaissance in society. We would think the Kingdom of Christ had descended upon us and that Heaven was just a step away - instead of the hell on earth that is the alternative, and that the kingdoms of this world seem determined to give us, and which Hollywood is so happily accommodating. I'm telling you, the choice is ours: Heaven or hell, purity or impurity, it's as simple as that.

Why is the Church so impotent? Why is America going to the dogs? One word: impurity. Too simplistic for you? Just what do you think a Holy God, a Holy Spirit and a Holy Christ, not to mention a Holy Church, are all about? Bake sales and car washes? Wake up! Christ was about healing the sick, raising the dead and bringing the lost into His Kingdom. And we are supposed to be about the same things (John 14:12). So why aren't we?

There is a reason why Sir Galahad was the only Knight of the Round Table to attain the Holy Grail. Because he was the most noble, the most chaste. What do you have to do for the rest of your life? Make money, pay taxes and die? Why not live your life in holiness, serving others and glorifying God? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, and here's the icing on the cake:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)

Don't you want to see God? Would you rather see the devil? Those really are your only two choices.

Holiness begins in the mind with wisdom, as I pointed out in my article on "Wisdom." Then it continues in the heart with purity. And it ends in action with love. Wisdom requires action to be wisdom, remember? Without it, it's just knowledge, and knowledge make arrogant (i.e., puffs up); but love - wisdom carried through - edifies (i.e., builds up). (I Corinthians 8:1) Purity is the link between those two. Without purity, the chain is broken. You have to have purity in your heart to convert wisdom into love. Your motivations have to be pure; otherwise, it's not love - I don't care how many millions you feed, clothe and shelter. Motivation (i.e., what's in the heart) means everything to God, while outward appearances mean nothing.

So, think about it. What is your motivation right now? Is it to glorify God, or to fulfill some lust in your heart? Did you know that your mind is like a living room, and your heart is like a bedroom. We invite people into our living rooms all the time, right? But we don't invite them into our bedrooms unless they're someone very special. When we invited Christ into our hearts, we were inviting Him into our bedrooms - not just to visit, but to live with us and become our Lover. When we let a lustful thought come into our minds, it's in the living room. If we entertain it, it eventually makes its way into our bedroom as a desire. Can you imagine how Christ feels being in the same room - the room He shares with us in the most intimate way - with a lustful, sinful desire?

One of two things will happen: either He will help you to kick the desire out before it becomes an action; or, if He sees you don't want Him to kick it out, He'll leave - not permanently, but until you've figured out who you want to spend your most intimate moments with. Because He will not share a bed with impure, unholy desires.

Either you love that analogy or you hate it, right? Those of you who hate it don't want to think of Christ sharing a bed with you, because He's on some pedestal up in the clouds somewhere - some icon, like Michael Jackson - which is why you're still struggling with sexual sin and other forms of impurity. Once you realize that Christ is right there in the room with you when you're using pornography, watching every website you go to, seeing everything you're imagining projected on the wall in 3-D with you as one of the actors - once you realize He cares - you'll realize how important your purity is to Him, and how hard He'll fight to help you achieve it. It cost Him his blood. What price are you willing to pay?



Waitsel Smith, July 9, 2009

Text © 2009 Waitsel Smith. All Rights Reserved.