In our Bible study, we're looking
at the mysteries of God, and today our subject matter was
the mystery of sin. What? Everybody knows what sin
is. You sure? Turn to John chapter
13, if you would. Let me introduce ourselves to
our guests. I don't know how many churches
you've been to. I don't know anything about you. But I want
to introduce us. All of those you see sitting
here today. We are not a holier-than-thou type of church. You ever heard of that phrase
before? You know what those kind of people are? I quit. smoking, and I quit cussing,
and I quit drinking, and I quit doing this. And I serve the Lord
now. I turn myself over to God. That's
what I call the holier-than-thou group. The religious of the world. Some of these very folks here
have come from that. What you sit with today are a
bunch of sinners. This flesh, according to God's
Word, never gets any better. Paul himself declares himself,
O wretched man that I am. He doesn't say, O wretched man
that I was. I was this once before, but now I'm this, which is the
holier-than-thou group. It's the self-righteous of the
world. It's those who think, I'm a better
person because I quit doing something, or because I'm doing something
different now. So I have a message today for
sinners. And God has brought you too into
this church to hear what these folks were meant to hear. I pray. I pray the Lord may speak to
your hearts as well. I can't do it. I don't have a
voice that goes in and reaches and grabs a hold of anybody's
hearts. But God does, and He does it. We sang the song, He
Touched Me. Are you heavy laden? with sin? Does sin bother you as you go
about through this world? How could I doubt, how could
I doubt the very one who put me in my mother's womb? How could I think of myself in
that way when the very one who created all that is tells me that my righteousness
is as filthy rags. Sinners know what our righteousness
is, don't we? This flesh never gets any better. There's a word in scriptures
that grabs a hold of people like me, people like you folks who
know what you are before a thrice holy God. God has revealed the
depth of our sin to us. There's a word called, the word
is purged. You ever hear that word? What
a great word, isn't it? Purged. I was out mowing the
lawn yesterday, and you know, it's a beautiful lawn, isn't
it? The Lord's really blessed it this year. It's nice and green.
But you know something? Those little yellow flowers are
still popping up out there. You know what those are? Those
little yellow ones, they pop up and they've got the little
fuzzy things that put seeds everywhere when the wind blows. And I just
can't seem to get rid of them! They're a pest! And they're not
good. They're pretty when they're yellow,
but when the flower dies away, you know, that's a picture of
you and I. Scripture declares that we're like a flower. We
raise up, we're nice and pretty, you think for a moment, but then
we just wither away and die. And I was thinking, oh, how I'd
love to purge that lawn of those little yellow pesky flowers.
They belong in flower plants, not out in the middle of the
green lawn. Purged. It's a fun word to say
as well, isn't it? Kind of just comes off the list.
Purged. Look here. It's a wonderful word
to one whose soul is as a leper. You know what leprosy is? It's
a disease that, it's like cancer. It'll get inside and just take
over. It'll just spread it throughout.
Leprosy It's a nasty, nasty disease. That's what the revelation of
sin is to us. That's what we are before God,
who is so holy that He cannot even look upon sin. Listen to
these words. Stay in John 13. We'll be there
in just a moment. Listen to these words from Romans
3, verse 10. as it is written, meaning as
it is written in the Old Testament, there is none righteous, no,
not one. This is God's Word, folks. Don't
think John's just standing here accusing you of it. God Himself
is accusing all mankind of this. He's saying this about all men
and women, anybody who has come from a mother's womb. Except for Christ. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. Let those who, well, I went
looking for Christ and I found Him in this church over here,
or I went looking for God and I found Him in this congregation
over here. Our Lord says this, He says,
there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, they are together become I'm not one. John Reeves raises
his hand and says, that's me. God's people who are shown that
they're sinners raise their hand and say, that's me. Listen to
this in verse 13. Their throat is an open sepulchre,
and their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asp is
under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction
and misery That's me. Is that you? If that's
you, God's got a message for you this
morning. And the message is titled, Purged. What a word we're going
to see on how God uses that word to clean his people. To wash
them white as snow. To wash away all of that description
of what we are. The word means washed clean,
literally purified. When you take gold out of the
ground, almost always, very rare will you ever find anything other
than a nugget maybe that is pure. You'll find it mixed in with
quartz and it's got all kinds of different impurities in it.
The only way to make it pure gold is to purge it with gold. That's what purge means. If God
has revealed the depth of your sin, purge is a great word. What is the depth of our sin? Our Lord tells us in Jeremiah
17.9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked who can know it. Scriptures tell us that we come
from our mother's womb. We looked at this in Bibles. a lie. Who taught you to tell
your parents, no, I didn't take that cookie. Oh, it's all over
your lips. But no, I didn't take it. Who
taught you that? Came natural, didn't it? That's our hearts. We naturally say, that can't
be right about me. I've never tried to kill anybody. I've never meant to hurt anybody. It can't be me. God says it is. And to say anything other than
that is to call God a liar. Peter was brought to understand
this very thing. Are you with me in John 13? Look
at verse 3. Jesus, knowing that the Father
had given all things unto His hands, and that He was come from
God and went to God, He riseth from This is the Creator of all it
is, as it says in 1 John 1. This is the very One who is God
in the flesh, as it says according to John 1, verse 14. He rises
from the suburb, and He lay aside His garments, and He took a towel,
and He girded Himself. After that, He poureth water
into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet. Picture that, if you will. The
very one who put you in your mother's womb, the very one who
created everything we see, got down on his knees and washed the feet of those
that he created. Does that not grab your heart?
This One who deserves all the majesty from what He's done in
creation got down and washed His feet, the feet of those He
loved. Let's go on. Then cometh He to Simon Peter
and Peter... Oh, don't you love Peter? Peter's
good at sticking his foot in his mouth. I'm so thankful the
Lord shows us in Scriptures people like John Reeves, people who
are good at sticking their feet in their mouth. Peter said unto
the Lord, he said, Lord dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered
and said unto him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou
shalt know hereafter. Peter said unto them, thou shalt
never wash my feet. Jesus answered and said, if I
wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Now look what Peter
says next. Peter understood what the Lord was saying here. He's
saying very clearly, if I'm not washed of this man,
this God man, if he doesn't wash me, I'm going to get my just
reward. Look what he says next in verse
9. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet only. Not just my feet, but also my
hands and my head. The very hands that work, wash
them as well. My works are nothing but filthy
rags. What I do in this flesh can do
nothing in salvation. But I can't make the decision
of salvation. I can't make a decision for Christ.
My decision has always been for John. That's the nature of man. Our decisions, our works with
our hands, our thoughts with our minds, wash those as well,
O Lord. I'm exactly what I read just
a moment ago in Romans chapter 3. I'm exactly that very one
there. I wasn't seeking the Lord. He
sought me first. Oh, to be sought of the Lord
and found by Him. Wash not just my head where my
thoughts are, but all of me, says Peter. Not just my heart,
but my hands and my feet. Wash the whole of me. And only
a righteous one can do that. Folks, Jesus Christ knew no sin. He never sinned. He was made
sin. Absolutely. He went to the grave
covered with our sin. To pay the debt for our sin. How can you explain that? I don't
know. But God's Word tells us, He who
knew no sin was made sin for us. Isn't that something? You look at me. You follow me
around. It won't take you long. And you'll say exactly what I
say every day. Why would God save a person like
that? Oh, John, you're not so bad.
You didn't kill anybody. You know, every time I think,
oh, I wish that person was never in my life, I've killed somebody. Every time I think of somebody
that I wish that person, I wish I'd never known them, I've killed somebody. Only a righteous one can wash
the filthy rag that stands before you today. If everything of this
flesh is tainted with sin, and it is. That's what Paul meant
by when he said he, when he did something good, and I'm paraphrasing
it, when he did something good, he saw evil. He saw wickedness. Even my goodness is unworthy
to be called good in the sight of God. You see, the comparison
is not like we would compare to each other. The comparison
is like we would compare ourselves to God. Do you get that? Do you understand that? I may
not be as bad as you, but I'm nowhere anywhere near as good
as my Lord. You may not be as bad as me,
but you are nowhere anywhere near as good as God Almighty. And that's what you have to be
to be in the presence of God. Someone has to be righteous.
And our Lord Jesus Christ is the only righteous one. If everything
in this flesh is tainted with sin, then I am nothing more than
a filthy rag. Listen to Isaiah 64.6. But we
are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. And we all do fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. God the Father
sent His only begotten Son to be the propitiation, that means
payment, for His people. He sent His Son to deliver those
whom He has loved with an everlasting love, as He states in Jeremiah,
I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
I draw you. Turn over to Malachi chapter
3. If you're in the book of John, go to the left It's just passed.
It's the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 3. If you come to Zechariah, you've
gone too far. In Malachi chapter 3, verses
1 through 6, we read these words, Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of
his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire,
and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner,
and a purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge, and there's that word. And purge, that means clean,
that means purify, purge them as gold and silver. You know, our sister Polly Mary
says, I don't know why the Lord is doing this to me. She's 84
years old. I don't know why the Lord is
doing it to me. I wish I had spoke to her before I put the
message together today. This would be such a good word
for her to hear. And I'm going to call her and
share it with her later after services. Why is the Lord doing this? Because
we're purged with fire. Folks, any minister, any man
who stands before a group of people and says, life is going
to get better if you'll just do this, is lying. His God is trying, as that sign
says, as you walk in the door. And the true and living God does
not try anything. He does what He has purpose to
do. If He couldn't do what He has on God, does He? He purged them as gold and silver
that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of old
and as in the former years. And I will come near to you,
says God, to judgment, the sorcerers, and against the
adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that
oppress the hireling with his wages, the widow, and the fatherless,
and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not
me, saith the Lord of hosts, for I am the Lord." Edward, what's
next? He says to Edward, now we're
talking about this very thing. Oh no, it wasn't Edward, I'm
sorry, it was Mike Smith. For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed." Isn't that good words? Notice who did the purging? It was God Himself. It was God
Almighty who does the works. That's wonderful news to me,
because I'll mess it up if it has to wait on me. If it depends
on me for anything, I'm going to screw it all up. I'm so thankful. Everything God
requires of me, He has provided in His Son. That's the gospel. That's the good news. It's called
the good news because I can't do anything. I need somebody
who's done it all and Christ has done it all. That's exactly
what He did. Look over at Luke. Go to the right. Back into the
New Testament again. Look at Luke chapter 3. I want
to look at a couple verses there. I don't want to get too far behind
here. Luke chapter 3. We're talking about the Lord
who has done all the work there. He said He would do the purging.
Listen to these words in Luke chapter 3 verse 16. John answered,
saying unto them, I indeed baptize... This is John the Baptist. He
says, I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier than I
cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose,
he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose
fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and
will gather the wheat into his garner, but the sheaf will he
burn. with fire unquenchable. Now turn
over to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, all the way
back over towards Revelation. Right after the three T's. 1 Timothy, Thessalonians, Titus,
Philemon. Hebrews chapter 1. No, no, I'm sorry, not that part
yet. We'll come back to Hebrews 1.
Hebrews 10. You're where I asked you to be,
aren't you? I'm not where I was asking you
to be. In Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 1. For the law,
having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image
of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offer
year after year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect. Even if you could fulfill the
law yourself, you could not do it perfectly. That's what the
mark of the beast is. 666. You know what that is? That's short of perfection. 777.
God created the earth and the heavens in seven days and it
was perfect. Go to verse 2. For then would
they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." If
you were purged through all that stuff that we just mentioned
there in verse 1, you'd have had no reason. No reason for
having a conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices, verse
3, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body thou hast prepared me." Christ Jesus. A body was prepared from old. Folks, the Son of God has always
been the Son of God. He's the eternal God Himself. He just had not been Born in
the flesh. Something He had to do. Because
if you're going to die, if you're going to sacrifice a body, you've
got to have one. And this is that body that was
prepared for Him. This body was prepared for this.
Listen to Matthew 16, verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus
to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders, And the chief priest
inscribes, and be killed and raised again the third day. Lord, lead me to Calvary. This is how he purged the sins
from his people. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5.21,
For he hath made him God the Father, hath made God the Son,
to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness. See the purging? The righteousness
of God in you? No, that's not what it says,
is it? The righteousness of God in Him. Ephesians 1, verse 7. In whom? In Christ. We have redemption
through His blood. We're talking about purging.
We're talking about being purged. washed clean. All of our sins
being put away. The forgiveness of sins through
His blood. The forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. It doesn't say according to something
you have done. It doesn't say anything about
you at all. It has to do with His grace. Unmerited favor. Something you can't earn. You
can't buy. It has to come Ephesians 2 verse 4, But God,
who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened, that means
made alive, quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved. Turn over to Hebrews 1 now if
you would. Hebrews chapter 1, just a few pages to the left. The Lord our Savior, He promised
that He would remove the iniquity of His people in one day by one
tremendous act of grace over in Zechariah 3, verse 9. You go ahead and go to Hebrews
1. Let me turn over to Zechariah
real quick for you and read what it says. The stone that I have laid before
Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will
engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and
I will remove the iniquity of the land in one day. Lead me to Calvary. One day. The Lord God, our Savior, He
promised that. And Jesus Christ has by Himself
completely purged away and removed forever all the sins of His people. His blood has not merely covered
our sins, but purged them. His blood has not only remitted
the iniquities of us all, our transgressions and our sins of
His people, but He has removed them forever. This is forgiveness. This is pardon. This is absolution. Sometimes God promises to cover
our sins. He says, blessed is the man whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Truly, that man
is blessed whose sin has been covered by God. Sometimes the
Lord speaks of blotting it out, or erasing our sins. He says,
I am He that blotteth out the transgressions for mine own sake,
and will not remember thy sins. Oh, the Lord God has blotted
out our sins from the pages of justice. In Zechariah's prophecy,
the Lord describes this great work of redemption and grace
as the purging and the removal of our sins. How a sinner can
delight in this very thing. The Lord Jesus Christ has, by
His precious blood, purged and graciously removed our sins as
far as the east is from the west, They stood between us and God,
and we could not climb over it. So he said, I will remove it.
Sin laid upon us a heavy burden on man's shoulders, and God said,
I will remove your burden. Look with me if you would, and
I'll bring this to a close. Hebrews chapter 1, beginning
at verse 1. God, who at sundry times and
diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. What are you talking about, John?
Are you sharing things, John? Do you need to go talk to some
specialist or something? In the book of John chapter 1,
it says, in the beginning was the Word. This is that Word. Jesus Christ is the Word. In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. In the last chapter of Luke,
the Lord tells two men on the road to Emmaus, He says to them,
He says, you know, there you go, see,
I told you. I have to prove it to you once
in a while that I can forget things, right? Let me just turn over there so
I don't read it wrong. He says this, O fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets, that's what that's talking about
there. He's spoken to him in the prophets, the Old Testament
prophets, but now has spoken unto us by his right hand. Now
look what this says next. going up to Jerusalem, speaking
of Him laying down His life, speaking of Him shedding His
blood for His people. Should not Christ have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? He was raised again.
Did you know that every time the Lord Jesus talks about His
death, He always, always mentions His resurrection? Why? Because
His death was accepted before He ever even did it. That's why
John wrote in Revelation, declared Christ to be the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. It wasn't plan B. It was His
plan all along to do that. He's God. He's purposed everything. Everything that is created was
purposed for His people to spend an eternity with Him, purged
of their sins. Isn't that wonderful news? If
you're a sinner, that's great news! Then he says to those two men,
he says, and in the beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
he expounded, taught, preached, described, spoke of unto them
in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Back in Hebrews
chapter 1, verse 2, "...hath in these last days spoken unto
us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also
he hath made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory..."
You know what that means? That means Christ is the brightness
of the glory of God. You want to see the glory of
God? Look at His Word and see Christ. Look at the Bible, what
God says about His Son, Christ, Jesus, the Son of the living
God, and Him crucified for His people. That's what this is all
about. And the express image of His
person. And upholding all things by the
word of His power. You know what that gives comfort
to me in? That means that I don't want to, and I'm trying not to,
I want to be the best I can. I'm trying not to think thoughts
of doubt. I'm trying not to think thoughts
of sin in my body, in this flesh. But I can't help it. Sometimes
it comes in. Sometimes I do. Jesus Christ, if He died for
me, He upholds everything if He died
for me. Can I do anything to mess that
up? No. No. He upholds all things by
the power of His will, by His power when He had by Himself,
now look what it says there last, purged. Who did it? He did it. How did
He do it? By Himself. You realize it says purged, past
tense, done. He said the same thing on the
cross. The last words of our Lord Jesus Christ was, it is
finished, isn't it? Am I not right? Isn't that what
he said? He purged our sins. After he
had done that, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. What does it mean? What does it mean to be purged
of your iniquity? It means to be removed from the
punishment of sin. A person for whom God pardons
cannot be punished for sin again. If he could, then what Christ
did on the cross did nothing. What does it mean to be purged
of our iniquities? It means to be removed. It means
to have the guilt of sin removed forever. To be justified is to be declared
not guilty. It means the removal of sin's
defilement. The very sin within me is removed because
of what my Savior has done. You see, I don't stand before
you today with any righteousness of my own. I am not holier than
you, but I have one who is. Who's dwelling in my heart. Who took up residence because
He wanted to. It was His desire. You look at Me and I'll let you
down. But look to My Savior and you'll
find perfection. What does it mean to be purged
of your iniquities? It means to no longer be under
sin's dominion. Before Christ came and gave me
a new heart. I was ruled by what was in this
flesh. I did what I thought was right. Now, I try. I don't do very good
at it. I'm not telling you I'm any good
at it at all, but sin doesn't have dominion over me. I want His will to be done. I
want to bow the knee to Him as my God. I want to love Him because
He first loved me. What does it mean to be purged? It means to have the removal
of sin's sorrow. Could you imagine Could you imagine
what it would be to know how bad sin is and not know who the
Savior is? See, I didn't say forget sin. I'm saying the sorrow of it. To be purged of our iniquities
means to have the removal of sin's consequences. I can't be charged again for
it if my Savior was charged in my place. The consequences of my sin have
been laid on the very one that we've been talking about since
the beginning of today's service. He took him into the grave. And
he left him there. And he remembers him. No more. Why does that break my heart?
Because my Savior had to lay down His life. He had to humble
Himself. He had to become a servant. He had to get down on His knees
naked and wash my feet. Not just my feet, but my whole
body. Everything about me. That's what
the word purge means. That's why the word purge is
such a good word to sinners. Sin is the attempt of men and
devils to rob God of His glory. But He has foiled His enemies.
He will get glory to Himself even by the wrath of men. The wrath of man worketh not
the righteousness of God, but the righteousness of God makes
even the wrath of man to pray to Him. And that's what we do. We get out of bed every day and
we think to ourselves whether we're in turmoil, whether we're
in trouble in this world, whether we're like our dear sister Pauli
Mary, who is fighting this very moment, the pain that she's having
to deal with in her bones, and say, praise the Lord. He's
created everything. What else could I have for Him?
Do you know what He says to you and I? He says in Romans 8.28,
all things are for our good. That's tough to see, unless you
can see the One who has purged you from all of that. Amen.