Vessel

2 Timothy 2:20-23

2 Timothy 2:20-23, But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honour and some for dishonour. 21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.

• Assess yourself Honour/Dishonour
• Conviction
• Repentance
• Pure and Holy
• Being Honourable use

The large house represents the body of Christ. All true believers, the vessels in the Church, representing individual believers.

The honourable gold and silver vessels, those committed to Christ, His truth and holiness. The dishonourable vessels of wood and of earthenware, those toying with error and living in wickedness. The Greek word for vessel was used of a wide variety of domestic implements, utensils, and furnishings, including furniture and tools.

The valuable items would be prominently displayed as decorations or used for serving important guests as a gesture of honour. The inferior articles were strictly utilitarian. They were common, plain, replaceable, unattractive, often dirty, and sometimes vile–because these pots were used for garbage, and as the ancient toilet for human waste. They were used for those duties that were never seen and were kept out of sight as much as possible.

To display these items before guests would be an act of unspeakable dishonour. The wood/clay vessels are despised from the Lord’s perspective.

2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul is glad to be an “earthen vessel,” because he is there using the analogy to express his personal self-evaluation and humility.

But here in 2 Timothy, vessel is used differently. Honour and dishonour do not refer to true and false Christians, or true and false teachers. Jesus is clear in the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30), and in His teaching about the sheep and goats’ judgment of the nations (Matthew 25:31- 46), that the visible Church on Earth will contain both unbelievers and believers until He returns and orders the final separation.

Paul is not speaking about that distinction in this context. Nor is Paul describing the God-given differences among believers. The honourable vessels represent believers who are faithful and useful to the Lord. They are the good soldiers (verses 3 to 4), the competitive athletes (verse 5), the hard-working farmers (verse 6).

By contrast, the dishonourable vessels are the cowardly, entangled soldiers, the cheating unfocused athlete, and the lazy farmer the defiled, so-called believers, possibly listening

to false teaching, even living secretly wicked (verse 19), fit only for the most menial, undistinguished purposes. Honour and dishonour therefore refer to the ways in which genuine believers are found useful to the Lord in fulfilling the work to which He has called them.

All believers should be, but are not always, vessels of honour. Some Ephesian leaders, including Timothy, were becoming discouraged and apathetic. Part of the problem was their apparent intimidation by false teachers such as Hymenaeus and Philetus, whom Paul specifically denounces in verse 17.

Because Paul repeats many of his strong admonitions to Timothy and the other leaders in Ephesus over and over, the serious problems he sought to correct must have been ongoing. Because this letter is addressed to Timothy, Paul’s apostolic representative in the church at Ephesus, Paul’s admonitions seem directed towards the leaders in that church, and then to every believer who desires to be used of God in any church.

Once Paul establishes his illustration of the house and the faithful and unfaithful, truth-pursuing and truth-negating vessels in verse 20, now in verses 21 to 26 Paul describes nine

commitments enabling a Spirit-filled believer to become that honourable vessel–the gold bowl, the silver spoon, the expensive plate, meaning a useful tool in God’s hands. We will look 5 commitments for this study. How can you be a usable instrument to God?

Paul will tell us the fruitful believer will make difficult lifestyle choices to be useful to Christ. What does it take to be an effective tool in God’s hands? 1. A Cleansed life. Cleansing your life will make you an honourable vessel with great usefulness. This is the exact opposite of the contemporary delusion that your character is irrelevant.

A holy inner life, a pure heart, a desire to please God when no one is looking, a commitment to dependently obey the Word 24/7 is essential to doing any good work in this life. V 21, Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

It involves your will! You must act on this. Paul says this as a choice that might be made. But always in Paul’s thinking and in New Testament doctrine, it can never be apart from grace. Cleansing can never be done purely in our own strength, but by the Spirit through us. We engage in cleansing, working out our salvation with fear and trembling, but God must empower He is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

You choose to cleanse. You engage your will to cleanse. Depend upon the Spirit as God accomplishes cleansing in and through you. Cleanses is the Greek verb means to clean out thoroughly, to completely purging. “cleanses himself from these things.”

These things refer to the vessels of dishonour from the illustration in verse 20. The faithful, godly believers cleanse themselves from those vessels of dishonour. Separate yourself from the so-called Christians who embrace doctrinal error in order to live wickedly. The vessels of dishonour are defiled people in the

church the false teachers and the churchgoers who embrace them. Honourable believers must reject their errant instruction and immoral life. So, Paul’s exhortation is for godly believers to separate themselves from the fellowship and example of impure believers who are not clean, not obedient, not submissive to the Lord, and not eager to serve.

Sin is contagious and association with openly sinful, so-called Christians is spiritually dangerous.

Proverbs 13:20, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” An immoral or doctrinally corrupt believer, especially a leader who is influential, is more dangerous than an atheist college professor, because careless believers may rationalize those certain practices and ideas they teach and live are permissible, simply because they are practiced or embraced by this errant church leader.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 where Paul spells out who’s the most dangerous person to a believer. Parents, it is more dangerous for your child to be around a wicked, so-called church attender, than a wicked non-Christian. For you, it’s harder on your soul to be around make-believers and marginal-believers than anti-believers.

No Christian should associate with professing Christians who are morally defiled. We should not want to be around those whose lifestyle does not honour Christ. We should not want to associate with so-called believers who have a critical tongue, who tolerate evil in their lives and in the lives of other believers, or those whose commitment to the Lord is shallow without any desire to grow deep.

The name Timothy means honour! Timothy can’t live up to his name unless he cleanses himself from these things, so that he will be a vessel for honour. A vessel for honour can’t remain honourable, nor usable, if he or she is continually contaminated by vessels of dishonour.

They cannot remain pure apart from true fellowship. Faithful service to the Lord requires separation from those who can contaminate you.

Are you willing to pick new friends? Are you willing to lose friends who believe error and practice wickedness? Are you willing to avoid association with churchgoing, so- called Christians who are not clean, not obedient, not submissive, and not eager to serve?

Are you willing to build new relationships with those who embrace sound doctrine and serve Christ? Paul says that is what it takes to be an honourable vessel. The fruitful believer makes difficult lifestyle choices to be useful to Christ.

2. Desire to have sanctified heart. V 21, Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. The useful tool in God’s hands desires sanctification.

Sanctified is from a word which basically means being set apart. A Christian is sanctified, set apart, in two ways.

• Negatively, a sanctified believer is set apart from sin.
• Positively, a sanctified believer is set apart for God.

Sanctified means to make holy, consecrate, holiness and sacred. All the instruments in the tabernacle were set apart from everyday uses and dedicated solely to God and His service.

Believers who are vessels of honour are also set apart, meaning sanctified. Their supreme purpose is to serve God. To remain usable, they keep themselves pure, pursue holiness, desire obedience, and avoid wickedness. There is no way you would use a bowl for a toilet pot, then immediately use the same bowl for a drinking bowl.

An honourable vessel is kept pure.

There are two kinds of sanctification

• Happens once at salvation,
• Ongoing in the life to be like Christ.

The moment we trust Christ as Lord and Saviour, we are sanctified set apart for Christ. Salvation itself is a sanctification, setting us apart to God. But it also is the beginning of a lifelong process. It is both a reality and a progressive experience.

Paul is telling Timothy the only useful tool in God’s hands is the one who is currently fleeing sin and pursuing Christ in the process of sanctification, flee and pursue. Christians live like they belong to Christ, set apart for Him with righteous living. Honourable vessels run from sin and pursue becoming like Christ in every action. With sexual purity, you

don’t post provocative selfies, talk dirty, dress trashy or live loosely–but reserve your body as the greatest gift of love you can give to your spouse. God is not trying to rob you of fun but fill your heart with joy in marriage.

If you have already gone too far, repent, and today marks your commitment to purity.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Progressive sanctification always means a negative movement away from sin, from the world, from the flesh, and from Satan. Pursuing sanctification means a positive movement toward love, holiness, service, purity, and doing what is right. Christian, pursue sanctification.

The fruitful believer makes difficult lifestyle choices to be useful to Chris.

Do you need to make sanctified choices? 3. Becoming Useful to God.

2 Timothy 4:11, Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.

The apostle wanted Timothy to be useful to Jesus Christ, the Master, just as Mark was useful to him in his apostolic work. Paul’s deepest desire was to be useful, and his greatest fear was to be disqualified from usefulness. God doesn’t mark you as disqualified, but you can become disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:27, “I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” Paul tells Timothy, a fruitful instrument will be useful to the Master. Useful means being able to serve, to furnish what is necessary, valuable, and beneficial. As a Christian, one of your main goals, with few exceptions, is to be the valuable employee, the one the boss doesn’t want to lose, the student every teacher wants in their classroom, the neighbour every neighbourhood counts on around them.

You accomplish that through dependent diligence and actively serving Christ in everything you do. For as you are, then you are useful to the Master. Master translates despotēs, from which we get despot. You Christians are not simply related to God. You wholly belong to God. He is your sovereign Master, your loving and benevolent Lord who actually owns you!

We don’t belong to ourselves anymore–it’s not about me, it’s not about what I want.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” To be a useful tool in God’s hands means you treat all of life as for Him–even the mundane, life-maintaining, regular driving, mealtime, hangout times.

There should be no difference between cleaning the house and teaching the Word, in that both are done for Him, when you are useful to the Master. I can’t have a Christlike ministry if my regular life is not lived for Christ.

The fruitful believer makes difficult lifestyle choices to be useful to Christ. 4. Choose to do Woks for God. V 21, Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

Christian, you are to be known for good works–doing Christlike actions for others. You are to witness with good works.

Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” If you don’t do good works, you are in a scary place.

Titus 1:16, “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” Paul tells Timothy, and you, all honourable vessels, all of God’s sharpest tools, all useful believers are prepared for every good work.

The Greek word for prepared carries the idea of willingness, readiness, and eagerness. You can’t wait to do something for Christ in service to people. The participle, prepared, is a perfect passive, pointing to a condition that already exists.

You are already created for good works.

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

When you were saved, the Lord placed you in a state of divine preparedness, in which you received His own Holy Spirit to indwell you and empower you and prepared you to live out preselected good works. But don’t miss this point–you also have His divine Word in Scripture to teach us (His truth and His will) about good works.

But unlike a metal, earthenware, or wooden vessel, a human vessel has a will. Our full preparedness for the Lord’s service demands more than simply having His Spirit within us, possessing the talents, gifts He has provided and knowing the truth He has revealed.

Being an honourable vessel also demands our genuine and unreserved willingness to submit to His Spirit and pursue using your spiritual gifts through you according to His revealed Word in service to His Church, for His glory.

You must act. Do something in the church for His glory.

• Get involved,
• Give to others,
• Care for people,
• Choose to do good deeds.

Are you?

5. Sharp tool will develop a Pure heart

V 22, Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. A useful tool is pure of heart. To develop a pure heart requires two essential steps. To develop a pure heart, God says you must both continually flee and follow.

Both flee and pursue are commands in the continual active tense–24/7.

Do you want to be usefully pure? Do you want to become one who is impactful for Christ? The sharpest tools in God’s service are the men and women who pursue living pure. The difficult choices you must make in order to live pure before God and man are to continually flee and continually follow.

All useful believers are pure, and to be pure you must flee and follow. To be effectively pure, you must negatively run away and positively run after. The only way to please God and live pure is to be a fleeing and following believer.

Develop purity by Fleeing. V22, “Now flee from youthful lusts.” Two lifestyle decisions are required to develop a pure heart and the first one Paul gives Timothy is the negative one–the command to be fleeing youthful lusts.

Flee is from phuegō, where we get the English fugitive. This verb is an imperative command–fleeing is not optional. The present tense makes fleeing persistent. You flee all the time. To be pure act like you are a fugitive!

You are continually on the run-in order to escape capture. You have been freed from the chains of your sins and strong desires, by Christ. So now flee, meaning never allow yourselves to be recaptured. Flee in order to remain a fugitive from recapture by sin. Flee, avoid, escape, take flight, get away and evade capture to impure sin.

Like Joseph running away from Potiphar’s wife. Run away, even if you lose your shirt. The pure Christian is continually on the run from your own internal, sinful passions which began when you were young. “Flee youthful lusts.”

What does youthful mean? Timothy was about thirty years younger than Paul, making him close to his thirties when Paul wrote this final letter.

Timothy was still youthful, and still tempted by many of the sinful desires that are typical of the young. But before you think Paul is only referring to sexual sin or sexual desire, understand lust means strong desire. This kind of lust includes things like pride, craving for wealth or power, inordinate ambition, jealousy, envy, an argumentative and self-assertive spirit and many other sinful lusts–flee all of them like a fugitive.

“Youthful lusts” is strong desires contrary to God’s will in God’s Word. Timothy was timid, possibly embarrassed by his close association with the apostle Paul and the uncompromising Gospel he proclaimed. Timothy was probably fearful of persecution and may not have boldly confronted all those who compromised truth and misinterpreted God’s revealed Word.

Timothy seems to have been especially intimidated by older men in the church who resented his leadership. “Let no one look down on your youthfulness.”

Losing the battle with youthful lusts would hurt Timothy’s credibility. Compromise in any area of lust will,

• harm his difficulties with leadership,
• damage his efforts to correct bad doctrine,
• limit his confronting the immoral practices of the false teachers.

Why should we obey what you teach, Timothy? You can’t even control your own desires. Compromising with lust would make things worse and aggravate the conflict. For his own sake and the sake of the Church, Timothy had to flee his desire temptations.

Don’t make the mistake of misunderstanding lust. The Greek word lust is not solely used to describe sexual desire. The word lust comes from the root idea of something uncontrollably boiling over. The Greek word lust means strong desire, craving, passion, wants, impulse–an intense desire for something.

Lust is a strong internal desire and that is the shocker. A crucial truth is–to have a pure heart, you are commanded by God to continually run away from your own internal desires and those actions which fuel them.

To flee lust means you are running from yourself fleeing your own heart, running away from your own feelings. Fleeing all internal secular passions–even hopes. You run from you! You are distancing yourself from your own strong desires not that other person, circumstance, external, website, crowd, or money. You are running from you. Flee your own strong desires.

She is not the problem, your wealth isn’t the issue, your circumstance is not the blame, but you are the problem. “With those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” You must continually flee your own strong heart desires.

Paul doesn’t tell Timothy to fight his strong desires. Paul tells Timothy and you, in order to g ow useful you must develop a pure heart. To do that, in dealing with your strong desires, you must run away, not stand and fight. Preserve your heart.

If that means avoiding, running away, staying away, separating yourself to keep your internal strong desires in check, then that’s what you must do.

The nature of your unique temptations and the list of idols which impact your desires will be different for you than others. Fleeing your own strong desires for each Christian is unique to you. Some of you are more tempted in certain areas than others.

Each of us has our own sinful bent.

• David’s was lust,
• Solomon was lust,
• Abraham was lying,
• Jacob was scheming,
• Peter was speaking without thinking.

You should not make fleeing your unique battle–universal for everyone. All of us flee youthful lusts, but not every issue is a strong desire for everyone equally. A drunkard will flee differently than a non-drunkard. A previously immoral new Christian will often flee differently than another who was not immoral.

Your fleeing is different than others. But to be useful requires purity, so all useful Christians will flee.

What are a few methods of fleeing from our own strong desires? Prepare in advance for tempting situations. Joseph was ready to run when Potiphar’s wife pressed him. She was repeatedly pursuing him, and Joseph knew she would make a play. He was a slave and couldn’t remove himself, so he was ready to run. Believers need to decide in advance what you will do when something happens to tempt your heart.

Proverbs 27:12, A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself;

The simple pass on and are punished. If you see evil, the wise Christian literally hides himself like a fearful animal. Flee your own heart by knowing where you are weak and avoid the tempting environment. Plan to stay away from environments where your strong desires become uncontrollable.

Pick your people carefully. Don’t spend intentional time around people (even Christians) who encourage inappropriate talking, thinking or strong desires.

Youthful lusts begin in the mind. Therefore, the battle starts with disciplining your thinking. Paralyze your glances–watch what you look at. Fleeing includes guarding your eyes. Do what Job did!

Job 31:1, I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes. (MSG) You flee by not taking the second, long look.

Psalm 101:3, I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. If you keep looking at the shopping network, you are going battle with lust for things. Develop purity by Following.

The positive side of developing purity is to pursue Christlikeness. Believers are to run after living the Scripture and to busy yourself serving Christ. Then you won’t have time for evil, sexual lusts or strong, inappropriate desires.

Christian, stop defining Christianity by what you don’t do! I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t chew–nor do I go out with girls that do. So, I must be godly.

No! Christianity is not merely putting out the fires of sin in your life. It’s building a Christlike character. Sanctification is not only not sinning, but dependently putting on the life of Christ. Get busy with ministry–serving, witnessing, giving, mentoring, teaching, caring, loving and you won’t have time to sin.

Instead of merely trying not to do evil, invest your time doing good and you’ll find yourself automatically fleeing. V 22, Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Paul tells young Timothy to run away from your strong feelings–do not allow them to control you nor compromise you. Pursue is not a casual idea, a suggestion if you have time, or merely a nice option. Pursue is a 24/7 command to chase after these qualities with the goal of capturing them. Zealously follow. Run after these virtues, like an Olympian training for a gold medal.

To develop purity, you must run away from your strong feelings and passionately run after Christ qualities which are often the opposite of your strong desires, at least at times. What are these crucial traits required to develop a pure heart? Four positive attributes of a pure heart.

1. Righteousness, 2. Faith,

3. Love, and

4. Peace.

• Righteousness–doing what is right, a manward focus on living right before God.
• Faith–depending on the Lord, a Godward trust in God and His Word.
• Love–devotion to the Lord, an outward biblical sacrifice toward others.
• Peace–delighting in the Lord, an inward heart thankful to live serene with God.

Do not forget you will not grow like Christ, nor develop a purity of heart by following some external formula, or seeking a mystical experience, or making an emotional decision. It will be as you pursue righteousness. Meaning, you pursue faithfully learning and living the truth of Scripture.

The pure in heart desire to be faithfully depending on God and His Word. As you grow physically older, you should grow independent of your parents. But as you grow spiritually older, you should grow more dependent upon your Saviour.

The truly faithful Christian will depend on Christ through His Word for everything, pray about everything, trust Him in every trial, depend on Him for every need. Agapē love is not based on the attractiveness or worthiness of those who are loved, but based upon meeting the needs of others, even when they are most unattractive and unworthy.

Agape is selfless and self-giving. Agape is the love of the Father to the Son, the love of Christ for His children, and the love of a Saviour for a lost world of sinners. The honourable useful vessel will also develop a heart of peace. Peace does not refer to the absence of warfare here, but describes harmonious relationships between you and God, you and other Christians, even you and non-Christians.

Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” Sadly, not every church attender who calls on the Lord for salvation continues to faithfully serve Christ and obey Christ.

So Paul adds this final phrase—“from a pure heart.” These are the godly believers who qualify as honourable vessels. The term pure comes from the same root word as cleanses, found in verse 21. That takes us back to where Paul’s instruction began—and that is the truth that a clean vessel is a useful vessel.

The most useful tool for God to use is a clean tool–a pure one. You are to pursue purity with other believers. Purity is learned with other believers. Purity is developed in your heart with other Christians. But not any others. Not your crew, your family, or your friends—unless they love Christ with all their heart, unless they love Christ from a pure heart.

They must be those believers who are seeking to become useful vessels. They must be those who pursue developing a pure heart before Christ. They grow a pure heart in the context of a church of believers pursuing a pure heart.

Christians seeking to be useful will pursue developing a pure heart. That process will require fleeing strong desires and following after righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

That pursuit will make you a sharp, useful tool in God’s hands. That’s why the effective, fruitful believer makes difficult choices to become useful.

Conclusion

CHARACTER is important What you are inside determines what you do outside. What you are is first what you do, comes from what you are. Are you a gold vessel or a clay pot? Don’t boast about being earthenware from this passage, because here the Lord despises earthenware and desires you to be a gold vessel in behaviour and in heart. God wants you to be cleansed, sanctified, be useful and do good works.

Christ is LORD

Is there any area of your life where Christ is not Lord?

What sin must be repented of?

What habit must be broken? To be useful to God, Christ is to be your Master.

Is He your Lord? Have you surrendered to Christ by turning from your sin and trusting in Christ alone? Do you believe Christ died for your sin, rose to give you life and do you trust in Him fully? Christ is your PASSION In order to become a useful tool in God’s service, Christ must be your passion. You won’t be useful to Christ unless you are in Christ and Christ is in you.

If you love Christ first, He will be first with your time, money, and service. Church will matter. Obeying His Word will be your passion. Useful vessels want to do what He wants us to do. Seek Christ first

1 John 3:2-3, Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that

when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Purity starts with Christ, wanting to imitate Him, be like Him, fear Him and love Him. Purity begins with a life focused on the only pure one.

Many of you have learned this through experience. Purity starts, not with dos and don’ts, but with Christ. Purity comes from exposure to, and intimacy with, His beauty, His character, His person, and His love. If purity does not start with Him–daily intimacy with Him, learning His Word, living in His presence with every relationship, in each marriage, through every conversation, with every task, in every free moment–then no amount of rules will keep you pure.

A Christianity without Christ is only a bunch of difficult rules. A Christian lifestyle without the pursuit of Christ cannot maintain purity because purity only comes from Christ. It starts with and continues in Christ Himself.

Don’t expect to stay pure unless you seek Him with all your heart and depend upon Him with every difficulty. For a few of you, that means submission to Christ. You may have made a decision to be a Christian, but unless you follow Christ from a heart that wants to obey His Word, then you are not a genuine, born-again believer and you need to submit to Christ. Cry out to God to open your heart, to give you dependent faith and repentance from sin.

For the rest of you, that means you seek to build greater intimacy with Christ through His Word, prayer, fellowship, service, and worship in your life. We must be close to Christ and dependent upon His Spirit to remain pure since purity seeks Christ first.

Purity starts WITHIN To grow pure in a dirty world, you must remember that real purity starts within.

Matthew 5:27-28, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Purity not only starts with Christ, but also starts in you–not outside of you, but inside your heart, mind, and soul. Purity is not a bunch of external dos and don’ts, but a heart attitude and an inner longing to be right with God.

It starts with a true desire to have a clean, guilt-free conscience. Purity begins with an inner attitude that lives out holy behaviour.