Pure

Philippians chapter 4 we've been doing a series called deposit these things in Philippians chapter 4 veres 7-9 the Bible says and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus finally Brethren what sort of things are true what sort of things are honest what sort of things are just what sort of things are pure uh what sort of things are of good report are lovely what sort of things are good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of Peace shall be with you that last phrase of verse number nine verse number

eight it says that to think on these things that word think is a is an accounting term it means to deposit these things you can go down to any bank here in Hawaii and open a checking account for free and uh you can go to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved for as a gift of God there's no cost to that but once you open your checking account if you want to take money out of it you got to put money into it and when you get saved is you're not saved by your works but if you are saved then if you want to draw upon the peace and the power of God you've got to be making the spiritual deposits in your life and so we've been T talking about depositing things that are true things that are honest things

that are lovely and today we want to talk about things that are are just and things that are pure is what we want to look at today the Bible tells us in Proverbs Chapter 30 and verse number 12 there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness there's a generation that are pure in their own eyes but not washed in their filthiness so we want to be a generation that is pure not just in our eyes but in God's eyes so what does it mean to be pure to deposit things that are pure in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse number one it says having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the Flesh and spirit

perfecting Holiness in the fear of God if we're going to be pure we need to be clean we need to cleanse ourselves you know uh as you make those deposits into your spiritual account uh are they clean deposits in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number three the Bible says not given to Wine no Striker nor greedy a filthy luer but patient not a brawler not Covetous says not greedy of filthy lucer did you realize that your money is filthy you realize it is very very filthy uh money they did a study on it they did test of money and 40% of the of money contains St staff infection uh about uh 7% of it has eoli 30% is covered with feal matter and then it has uh all kinds of other common colds viruses

and such on there in fact your money is so dirty I thought we would do you a a public service and we're just going to collect all your money right now so you get all that dirty stuff out of your pocket and out of your purse no but money is dirty if you've ever gone to the bank you might see bank tellers have wipes and they have uh they're using all kinds of uh different things on them to keep their hands clean sometimes they'll wear gloves because your money is dirty and we need to realize that as we make the deposits in our spiritual account that they need to be pure deposits and that starts with a pure heart in Psalms chapter 73 and verse number one and turn over there if you would Psalms

chapter 73 and verse number one Psalms chapter 73 and verse number one the Bible says in Psalm 73: number one truly God is good to Israel even such as are of a clean heart and God wants us to come to him with a clean heart with a pure heart in proverbs 4 verse 23 it says keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life and so we need to keep our heart clean before God we need to keep our heart pure before God so what is in your heart turn back a couple chapters in Psalms to Psalms chapter 66 Psalms chapter 66 and look at verses 18- 20 Psalms chapter 66 and beginning with verse number 18 if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me but verily God hath heard

me Heath tended the voice of my prayer blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer nor his Mercy from me the Bible says if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord has not heard me now the word iniquity is another word for sin but spefic specifically In this passage the word iniquity it means to exert oneself in vain or for nothing to exert oneself in vain or for nothing now when I go to a a fast food restaurant like McDonald's or Wendy's or some place like that I I don't like to go through the drive-thru drive-throughs are not fast to me those are slow and I don't like get stuck in the drive-through but one day I I was in kind of a rush and I thought well I'll try the drive-thru and

and I went and got into the drive-through line and order my food there and I I got into line for fast food remember it's fast food and uh I'm going along and it's taking forever the guys in front of me must have been ordering for the whole office or something like that and it just taken forever to get through those orders and finally got there ordered my food and and uh and and and so I had to go from one um you had to go to that little speaker thing that you can't understand you know what I'm talking about and you're trying to say no I want a Big Mac not a double you know and just trying to get all the information through there and finally got up to the first window at the first window they

said here's how much it's going to be and so I reached back and pulled out my wallet to pay for it and I didn't have my wallet didn't have my credit card didn't have any cash and and so I'm stuck in that line and the two people in front of me there's still two people in front because two more windows and there's still two people in front me so I'm sitting there in that in that line in vain waiting for food that I'm not going to get because I didn't have my wallet you see that's what the idea of this word iniquity is the Bible says but if I regard iniquity in my heart see if when I come to God and I'm not right with God and I don't have that spiritual deposit ready then what do I expect to

get from God and and we get stuck in life because of that iniquity in our life you see we need to realize first of all that we cannot buy our Salvation turn over to Isaiah chapter 55 Isaiah 55 and look at verses 1-3 Isaiah chapter 55 and beginning with verse number one is every ho everyone that thirsteth Come Ye to the waters and he that hath no money Come Ye buy and eat Y come buy wine and milk without money without price wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not nor hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul Delight itself in fatness incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall uh live

and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David let's skip down to verse number six seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near you see there are some today that what they're doing is they're coming to the Lord for salvation in their iniquity and and we're standing in the line of religion we're going through all these rituals and all these different things that we're doing like getting baptized and catechized and going through all the rituals of religion and yet it's all in vanity it's all iniquity because we cannot buy our Salvation we cannot come and earn our salvation and you're going to be stuck in that line of religion and

when you're going to get down to the end there's going to be nothing there because you don't have the salvation of Jesus Christ you see you cannot buy your salvation God doesn't want your filthy money in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verses 18 and 19 says for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot see God doesn't want your filthy money he's you cannot buy your salvation you cannot earn your salvation God does not does not want your filthy money he doesn't want your filthy Works in Isaiah chapter 64

and verse number six it says but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness there filthy rags and we all do Fade as a leave and our iniquity ities like the wind have taken us away you see those iniquities have drawn us away from God because we're trying to earn our Salvation through our religion and through our rituals and through our own righteousness and through all the things that we do and God says I don't want your filthy money I don't want your filthy works I have already paid for your salvation it's all taken care of in Titus Chapter 3 and verse number five it says not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he has saved us by the washing

of regener ation and renewing of the Holy Ghost you see it's a works it's not our own righteousness it's not our own works that's going to earn our way into heaven if we're trying if you're trying to earn your way into heaven it's like me sitting in that line at McDonald's and going through that whole process and driving away with nothing because it was all iniquity was all vanity see you got to have Jesus Christ it's not your religion it's not your rituals it's not your own righteousness it is a relationship with Jesus Christ Bible says in Romans chapter 10 and verses 9- 10 that if Thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Shall Believe in thine heart that God has raised from the

dead Thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth on the righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation in Romans 1013 it says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and if you want to go to heaven you've got to open up that account with God in the Bank of Heaven you've got to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and God doesn't want your filthy money and God doesn't want your filthy works and God doesn't want your religion God doesn't want your own righteousness God wants to have a relationship with you through Jesus Christ as your personal savior but as a Christian what is our life full of in Proverbs 14:14 it says the backslider

in his heart shall be filled with his own ways and a good man shall be satisfied with himself now I want to uh see if we can do something here real quick if you'll help me out and that is I want to see men who has the thickest wallet here today so if you got a thick wallet take it out of your pocket right now and and hold it up help me out I need this illustration come on get it out of there I know a lot of you guys got a real thick wallet I know tupu does for sure uh but if you got a thick wallet take it out hold it up here for a minute now number of years ago I was having a lot of back problems and I went to the chiropractor and he said you know what your problem is it's your wallet I said

yeah you're going to take all my money and he said no he say your thick wallet when you sit on that you're driving your car you you're off kilter and it's throwing your back off he said take your wallet out and you'll be better and it did work by the way but you got these big thick wallets you know that that you carry around with all this stuff in there that really is just all this junk that's inside there or maybe you ladies who got that heavy purse you know got to talk about guys you know that purse you wonder how your wife is so strong she can carry that thing around it just fools it's got everything included the kitchen sink inside of there you know we got all this stuff that we carry

around of life you know as Christians our lives are full of stuff and the Bible says the backslid in heart should be filled with his own ways in second Peter chapter 2:14 it says having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls and a heart that they have exercised with Covetous practice cursed children see the problem is we're so full of sin that we don't have room for God and the things of the purity of God we're so full of bitterness in Acts 8: 22 and 23 it says repent therefore of this day thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart might be forgiven thee for I perceive that thou are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of

iniquity when your heart is full of sin there's no room for God when your heart is full of bitterness there's no room for God's Purity and we need to empty our heart of the things that are iniquity that are cluttering up our heart in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 22 it says let us draw near with a True Heart in full Assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water if we're going to deposit things that are pure we need to get rid of the bitterness we need to get rid of the anger we need to get rid of the iniquity and the sin and we need to get a heart that is right with God if we want to draw near to him we want Hearts filled we've

got to open up our hearts to God to fill them but we also not only need clean Hearts but we need Clean Hands in Psalms 24 in verse number four it says he that hath Clean Hands and a pure heart who had not lifted up his soul onto vanity nor sworn deceitfully God says those that want to draw nigh to me need to have Clean Hands see I can love my heart my wife with all my heart but if my hands aren't clean she's not holding hands with me it doesn't matter how much I love her with all my heart if my hands are not clean she's not going to hold hands with me and you can say I love God with all my heart but are your hands clean also as you come to walk with the Lord the best way to keep your hands

clean is don't let them get dirty begin with in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse1 17 says wherefore come out from among them be separate sayith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I'll receive you we live in a dirty world we live in a filthy world everywhere you turn there's there's impurity in this world today and we need to be careful where we go and we need to be careful what we touch we need to be careful that we keep ourselves clean before God and that's not easy in the world we live in today and when you do get dirty in 1 John 1:9 it says if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness you know we need to wash our

hands during during Co we learned how important it was to keep your hands clean how important it was to wash your hands often and folks that's what we need to do is we need to stay right before God if we're going to deposit things that are pure we need to keep clean we need to keep pure and when we get dirty we need to confess those things to get right with God in 1 Timothy 5:22 it says lay hands suddenly on no man neither be partakers of other men's sins keep thyself pure they say well Pastor how do I keep myself pure do you ever notice this do you ever Ever Knows the higher the denomination of the bill the cleaner it looks dollar bills really look filthy but $100 bills most of those look

nice and fresh and clean why is that because they're not handled as much you see the higher your standards the pur you will stay if you want to have if you want to stay clean before God have higher standards not lower standards set standards that are high about what you'll watch what you'll listen to where you go what you'll do the higher your standards the purer you'll stay in Hebrews 10:22 it says let us draw near with a True Heart in full Assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water God wants us to deposit things that are pure that are clean to have a clean heart to have clean hands before him but the word pure also means to

be holy in Revelation 3 and verse number before it says Thou Hast a few names even as Sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy you see to be holy means to be set apart and there's just not many that are holy today now I've been giving away money during this uh study here and so I figured I'd kind of reverse it to see who has money so how many of you right now you don't have to pull it out but how many right now in your pocket your purse and your wallet you have at least a dollar bill raise your hand okay if you have at least a dollar bill raise your hand hold it up for just a minute okay and how many of you say well I think I

probably have a $5 bill raise your hand all right how many think you have a $10 bill raise your hand how many think you have 20 raise your hand how many have a $100 bill raise your hand all right now we'll take the offering all right but you know there's not many hundreds out there is there there's fewer of those and you've got to choose whether you're going to be a $100 Christian you got to choose whether you're going to be that Christian that is going to be set apart see we got to be holy or set apart the Bible tells us in First Peter chapter 1 turn over there if you would 1 Peter chapter 1 1 Peter chapter 1 and verses 13- 16 1 Peter chapter 1 and begin with verse number 13 says whereby G

up the loins of your mind be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you for at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children not fashion yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance but as he which has called you is Holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written be holy for I am Holy See God wants us to be holy that idea of that word Holiness is the sum total of our Holiness in Proverbs 4:23 again keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life you see our Holiness starts with our thinking our Holiness starts in our heart turn over to Luke chapter 6 so Luke chapter 6 and look at verse number8 Luke

chapter 6 and verse number eight Bible says but he knew their thoughts and said to the man which they with with the with which had the withered hand rise up and stand forth in the and he rose and stood forth you ever have somebody say to you I'll give you a penny for your thoughts a lot of times our thoughts are not holy our thoughts are not pure our thoughts have no value look at uh Luke chapter 6 and look at verse number 45 Luke chapter 6 and verse 45 a good man out of the good Treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good and an evil man out of the evil Treasure of his heart bringing forth that which is evil for the abundance of the heart man the mouth speaketh see it's out of

that heart the purity of the heart the purity of our thinking what we put inside is what comes out of our Lives the Bible says to be holy not to do you holy in 1 Peter chapter 1 again it says be holy as I am Holy and we need understand that Holiness is not something we do Holiness is something we are you've heard me make this quote before but I'll quote it again and that's this you can do all all the right things and not be the right person but you cannot be the right person and not do the right things see if we understand the concept of the idea of Purity and Holiness to and to be set apart it's not just that I don't do this and I do that as a Christian it's not just about what I do or I

don't do but it's being holy because if you are being the person you ought to be then you're going to do the things that you ought to do and so we need to be holy my wife doesn't like me to carry cash around because she says I spend it well that's what it's for right so she will not give me much money to carry around she didn't like me to do that but I found one thing if I carry around like $100 bill I'll carry that longer did you ever notice that when you got something that's a big denomination you don't want to break it but if I got a $100 bill in my wallet and then I I spend it and I break it and maybe just spend a dollar or two of it it all all of a sudden just disappears it goes quickly

because once you break it it's easy to be gone the Bible says in 1 John chapter 3 and verse number three and every man that hath this hope and him purifi himself even as he is pure see as Christians we need to understand we live in a world that once you start breaking your Purity once you start making exceptions say well I'll do this and I'll do that then it it goes quickly and that's why we need to hold on to that Purity in a world that is filthy in 1 Thessalonians chap 5 and verse 23 it says the very God of Peace sanctify you holy and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ you see we need to be holy h o l y and the

way to be holy h o l y is to be holy w h l l y it's to be holy pure it's to be holy committed unto God because once you break that Holiness so once you take back something and and you're not going to keep this pure and keep this right before God then your Holiness is gone and so we need to stay faithful to the Lord go to First Peter chapter 1 First Peter chapter 1 again 1 Peter 1 and: 14 and 15 we read it just a moment ago 1 Peter 1 14-15 as obedient children not fashion yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance but as he which has called you is Holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it written be holy for I am Holy See God wants us to be holy not

fashioning ourselves not following the pattern of this world in Romans 121 and2 it says I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a Living Sacrifice holy acceptable on him which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove was that good and acceptable and perfect will of God and folks we need to understand we in as Christians we can't fashion ourselves according to this world we can't follow the pattern of this world but we've got to be pure we've got to be holy we've got to be set apart and that's what the word pure means also it means to be set apart something that

is set apart is special it's treated differently in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and: 17 If any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy for the temple of God is Holy which Temple you are see we need to hold on to our Purity we need to keep it set apart and safe I read a story years ago when people would travel across the ocean by ship there was a a wealthy man that was traveling across the ocean and he bought a bunch of diamonds and he had one very special diamond and he was showing it off to everybody on the ship there and and somebody said well you better be careful there you don't want drop that and he says it's okay I got a good grip on it inste the fact watch this and he tossed it

up in the air and as he tossed it up in the air a wave hit the ship and the ship moved and the diamond went down into the ocean and he lost it forever and that's the way the Purity is don't play with your Purity once you've lost it it's gone and we need to hold on to it we need to set it apart in 2 Timothy chap 2 and: 22 it says flee also youthful lust but follow righteousness Faith charity peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart you need to flee those those situations that will take away your Purity you know what would be a very dumb thing to do to go down to the bank and get a a wat of a thousand doll in bills and then go down to Chinatown at 11 o'clock at night what

would you expect to happen you'd lose that money wouldn't you you see we need to hold on to our Purity and if I want to keep my Purity There Are Places I should not go if I want to keep my Purity there are things I should not listen to if I want to keep my Purity there are things that I should not watch if I want to keep my Purity I should stay off this part of the internet we understand if we're going to hold on to that Purity then there's places we ought not to be going to to flee those youthful lusts in James Chapter 4 verses 7 and 8 it says submit yourself therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands you

Sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded you see the way to hold on to that Purity is to draw an eye to God you know if I was uh I I go going somewhere that I had a lot of money or I had I was in a danger area uh the person I'd called to go with me be tupu uh tupu is my personal bodyguard over here he's uh he's taking on to take care of his pastor and and and you know what if I was around somebody was dangerous I would just get closer to tupu cuz tupu is a big guy uh they're not going to bother me when he's there and the way we need to realize folks is that when we if we want to hold on to our Purity if we want to hold on to those things from God then we need to draw nigh to God

because the closer we are to God the less we're going to lose that Purity we're going to hold on to that Purity and we need to hold on to it in Titus Chapter 2 and verse number 14 it says who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works you ever set money aside for a specific purpose and then you decide you know what I need to buy this right now so I'll take that money use it to buy that and the money never goes back for the original purpose is so often what happens is we we we we need to realize that we are set apart for a purpose for God we are set apart onto the Lord as a peculiar people that word peculiar is

the same word the word pure a people that are set apart to God and God says listen don't take the life that you've given me and use it for the world don't take the life that You' given me and use it for the wrong things because you never really get it back and so we need to posit things that are pure and so in your spiritual account if you want to draw upon the peace and the power of God then we need to think on things that are pure we need to think on things that are clean to have a clean heart before God is your heart clean before God have you trusted Jesus Christ as your savior have you received him in your heart and life because God doesn't want your filthy religion he doesn't want your

rituals and your righteousness and all of your good works he says those things don't matter to me he says I've already bought your salvation through Jesus Christ as your savior but if we're to walk with the Lord I know how much my wife loves me I have no doubt about that but when my hands are dirty she won't touch me she says go wash your hands because I don't want to walk with somebody who's got dirty hands and God says if you want to walk with me you got to have a heart that's clean if you want to walk with me you got to have a heart that is pure he says you need to be holy and to be holy is not just what you do it's who you are it's that relationship with God and being see I am uh I am my

wife's husband I'm not her husband because I I don't date other girls I'm not her husband because I I do certain things I mow the lawn or whatever else that's not what makes me her husband now because I'm her husband I don't date and because I'm her husband I go out and mow the lawn but I don't do those things to be her husband I do them because I am her husband and the idea of this word purity is to be holy to be set apart to realize that because I am God's child because he loves me because he sent his son to die for me because I want to have that relationship with him I want to have clean hands I want to have a clean heart I want to be set apart from him I want to be the person he wants me

to be and then I want to be set apart and realizing that if I'm going to keep my Purity there's certain places I can't go if I want to keep my and by the way that's not just physically it's on the Internet it's on the video it's it's wherever it might be but I just can't go there if I want to keep my Purity then I I I've got to keep my Purity as a whole because once you break that Purity it's so easy to just keep on going to keep it for him to realize that that Purity is part of my deposit spiritually when I have that Purity that I can draw upon that peace and the power of God in my life