I'm glad we don't just sing that
hymn at Christmas time. That's a glorious hymn. In the morning, Lynn and I are
going to Mexico, and we're going to be with the brethren there. I'm preaching in four different
churches and doing the preacher's class on Monday, and I'll return
Tuesday evening. So it's a quick trip and a lot
of preaching during that time, but I'm looking forward to seeing
the brethren there. I've entitled this message, Who Are the Pure? Am I? Are you? Who are the pure? Look what he
says in verse 15, under the pure, all things are pure. Who are these people? Under the
pure, all things are pure. Who are these people? Paul calls
the pure. Well, first, what does the word
mean? Pure. Words mean something. We can't
change the meaning of them. They mean what they mean. And
the word means unmixed. Pure gold. No aloe is with it. Pure gold. Distilled water has
its contaminations filtered out, so it's Pure water. If you have
a gallon of distilled water, pure water, and you add one cc
of arsenic, do you have pure water anymore? No. Even our textiles, we have 100%
cotton. That's my wife's favorite. 100%
cotton. If it's not 100% cotton, it's not 100% cotton. There's 100% wool. There's 100% linen. If something's pure, it's 100%.
Not 99, 100%. That is what the word means.
The word is an adjective of description. Clean. Free from corrupt desires. That's pure. free from sin and
guilt, free from every admixture of what is false. That's what
pure means. Blameless. Innocent. Unstained with the guilt of anything. Now that's what that word means.
Who are the pure? Well, to them, look what our
text says, under the pure, all things pure." Doesn't matter
what it is, to the pure. All things are pure. But unto
them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. Now to the believer, all things
are pure. What's that mean? Well, remember
the Lord's words, there's nothing from without a man that entering
in can defile him, but the things that come out of him are the
things that defile a man. This exposes the religion of
touch not, taste not, and handle not. That's corrupt. To the pure,
all things are pure. There's not sin in things. Sin
comes from the heart. It's from out of the heart that
defiles a man, but to the pure, all things are pure. Now we consider last time the
qualifications of a bishop or a pastor. If any, verse six,
if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful
children, not accused of right or unruly for a bishop must be
blameless. as the steward of God, not self-willed,
not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to
filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good
men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word
as he hath been taught. Now, if someone is a true bishop,
somebody's taught him. It might have been through a
man, but God has taught that person. And they're to hold fast
that faithful word as he has been taught that he may be able
by sound doctrine. That's the doctrine of Christ.
That's the gospel. Gospel preaching, what we're doing right now. That
by sound doctrine, he may both exhort. That means encourage,
comfort the believers and to convince the gainsayers by that
same message. It's going to comfort God's people. It's going to cause them to rejoice
in what they're hearing. This is good news to my soul. That's the exhortation, the comfort
of the gospel. But that same message will convince
the gainsayers, the contradictors, those who are opposed to the
gospel. For, he tells us in verse 10,
there are many, not just a few, There are many unruly and vain
talkers and deceivers. Many unruly, the word means insubordinate,
unsubmissive, rebellious, vain, empty talkers and deceivers.
That is what, that which sound doctrine is not. It's not that. False doctrine is going to have
these vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision.
Now what's this all about? Turn to me to Philippians chapter
three for just a moment. Especially they of the circumcision. Paul says in Philippians chapter
three, verse one, finally, my brethren, Rejoice in the Lord. Now, to write the same things
to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous. It's not irksome. It's
not vexing. It's not boring. But for you,
it's safe. Now, may that enter into our
heart. The gospel, the same message,
is not grievous. It's safe. Anything else is not safe. Now I'm not talking about just
saying the same things over and over by rote. I'm not talking
that way at all, but I'm talking about the gospel, the one simple
message, the gospel preached in the power of the Holy spirit.
It's not grievous to me to speak the same things over and over. And it's not boring. It's glorious. The gospel to me, by the grace
of God, is more glorious and majestic and awesome than it's
ever been. That's not just words. That's
not just words. I see more of the glory of Jesus
Christ. I see more of the glory of justification,
what he accomplished in our behalf. I stand before God right now
while I'm talking to you as one who's never sinned. That's what
justification is. That's what Christ accomplished
for his people. How mysterious, how glorious that I can stand
before God as one who has never sinned, and he's going to say
to me on judgment day, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And he's going to say that to
every one of his believers, people. This isn't just for some special
person. This is every believer. Every believer is special in
that sense. They're loved by God. They're saved by his grace.
They have the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. They've been
born of God. Now to speak of the same things,
it's, it's not grievous. It's, it's more glorious to me. When I say something like that,
I said, you better make sure you're telling the truth and not just trying
to go with hype. It's more glorious to me than it ever has been. And I hope it stays that way.
Pray for me. I hope it stays that way. To
write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous,
but for you, it is safe. Now look what he says in verse
two, beware of dogs. He's not talking about canine
dogs. He's talking about false prophets. And what does he call
them? Dogs. That's strong language. Beware
of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. Now that's what he calls the
circumcision. He coins a new word, beware of the mutilators. All they talk about is circumcision,
you need to be circumcised, what they are is mutilators. This is a new word, beware of
the concision. For we are the circumcision,
the true circumcision. Now remember, circumcision for
a believer is that of the heart. He that is of the Jew is not
a Jew outwardly, but one inwardly, whose circumcision is that of
the heart. What happens in circumcision? Something's removed. All your
hope of self-salvation is removed. and cut away. We are the circumcision. We are the true Jews whose circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise
is not of men, but of God. They think of this. God praises
that circumcised heart. He's the one who did it and he
praises it. But who does he call these Jews
that were trying to bring people under circumcision, under works
in some way, he calls them the concision. Now back to Titus, he says concerning these people
he calls the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert
whole houses teaching things which they ought not for filthy
lucre's sake." That's their motive. Something other than the glory
of God, their own personal gain. Verse 12, one of themselves,
one of these Cretans, one of themselves, even a prophet of
their own said the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, wild
beasts, Idle gluttons, slow bellies. Now that's pretty strong language,
isn't it? And yet that's what he calls these men who are not
preaching the gospel, not bringing sound doctrine. He calls them
evil beasts, idle gluttons, liars. And then what Paul says in verse
13, this witness is true. This is what they are. This witness
is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply.
that they may be sound in the faith. Don't handle them with
kid gloves, rebuke them sharply, but here's the motive, here's
why we want this. We want everyone to be sound
in the faith. That doesn't simply mean everybody
having their doctrine right, although I want to have right
doctrine, but I mean sound in the faith. Sound by the grace
of God in the faith. That's our motive in doing what
we're doing. It's not just trying to make
people feel bad. We want everybody to be sound in the faith, the
faith of God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth, which is after
godliness. Verse 14, not giving heed to
Jewish fables, stories, and commandments of men. I don't want to have
anything to do with the commandments of men, do you? I want to know
what God says in his word. I don't want my religion to be
made of the commandments and doctrines of men. And that's
what he's warning us about. With regard to these men whose
mouths must be stopped, if somebody comes into this church preaching
some other doctrine, some other doctrine other than the doctrine
of Christ, the doctrine of God, what? His mouth must be stopped. It's our responsibility. If I
preach some other doctrine, my mouth must be stopped. Now this
is how serious this is. Not giving heed to Jewish fables
and stories and commandments of men that turn from the truth. So that the turn from the truth,
they don't bring you to the truth, they turn from the truth. Now,
here we have this word pure. We're going to come back to it
in a moment. Under the pure, all things are pure, but unto
them that are defiled. Defiled is the opposite of pure. It means polluted. contaminated,
stained, soiled, a mixture to them that are defiled and unbelieving,
unpersuadable. They will not be persuaded to
believe. They are defiant toward the gospel,
disobedient. To them, nothing is pure. Nothing
is pure, no matter what they're doing. It's all sin. It's all evil. It's impure. It's
wicked. But even their mind and their
conscience is defiled. Their mind's no good. And that's
the mind that the Lord talked about in Genesis
chapter six, verse five. This is the mind of every natural
man. that doesn't have the spirit of God, that's not been born
of God, that God has not saved. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, if the Lord has not saved
me, that describes my heart. Every imagination of the thoughts
of my heart is only evil Non-stop. Everything is defiled. I can't
do anything but that which is evil. Even their conscience is
defiled. Their conscience is no good. It doesn't work. They profess
that they know God, verse 16. Now these people, these are preachers. He's not talking about the rabble-rousers
right now. He's talking about religious
people. He's talking about preachers. They profess that they know God. I know God. I believe God. I pray to God. I have fellowship
with God. I speak to Him and He speaks
to me. I love God. They profess. that they know
God, like the people in 1 John 1, 6, if we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness. And that's the darkness of salvation
by works. I love God, but I walk in darkness. What's the scripture say? I'm
a liar and his word is not in me." Like those people Paul described
in 2nd Timothy chapter 3, they have a form of godliness, but
deny the power thereof. That's the people he's talking
about right now. They profess that they know God, but in works,
they deny him being abominable. Disobedient unto every good work
reprobate. They may speak of their works.
Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons in your name? In your
name, have we not done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto
them, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. Now back to verse 15. Now unto
the pure, All things are pure. Who are the pure? Let me repeat the definition
I've already given you. This comes from the Greek dictionary.
This is not my thoughts or my way. This is what the word actually
means. And it's quite often translated
this way, clean, clear, transparent, nothing hidden. free from every admixture of
what is false. Unmixed. Not a mixture of good
and bad. Unmixed. Unstained with the guilt
of anything. Who are these people? Am I one? Do I even know one? Who are these
people called the pure? Now, right now, present tense,
I am painfully aware of me being a sinner. Painfully aware of that, of being
defiled, sullied, stained, polluted with sin and with sins. While I'm talking to you, I am
painfully aware of that. You know, to even commit one
sin is to negate purity. Well, I've only murdered once.
What's that make you? A murderer. Well, I've only committed
adultery once. What does that make you? An adulterer. or whosoever shall keep the whole
law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. James chapter
two, verse 10. To commit one sin is to break
every commandment. That's what the word of God says.
There's no time in my experience that I have no need to cry with
Paul, oh wretched man that I am. Not that I was. Oh, I was awful
before God saved me. No, that's not what I'm saying.
Oh, wretched man that I am right now, present tense. Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners of whom I used to be the chief
before God saved me. No. of whom I am the chief. Can I possibly be described as
pure? Because the word means without
sin. Can I possibly be one of these people that Paul's talking
about when he says, to the pure? All things are pure. Are you
pure? How can a sinner be pure and
it be so? Now, I can claim purity and it
not be so. I can make a lot of claims. As
a matter of fact, every time I say I'm innocent, there's something
saying, no, you're not. No, you're not. I can make claims
of purity, but how can I actually be pure? I'm going to show you
several scriptures. Turn to John chapter 13. And this answers the question
of how, when I said the things that I said about myself, I'm
painfully aware of impurity, of Sinfulness, how can I be said
to be pure and it be so? Well, look in John chapter 13,
verse three, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things
into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God. He rises from supper and laid
aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. After that,
he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples'
feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, 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 saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. I'm far too
humble to let that take place. Jesus answered him. If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Don't you
love how impetuous he is? First he says, no, you're not
going to. Now wash me all over. Jesus saith to him, he that is
washed need not save to wash his feet, but is clean every
wit. Now that word clean is pure.
Every wit. And you are clean, pure, but
not all for he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he,
you're not all clean talking about Judas. So after that, he'd
washed their feet and taken them, his garments, and he'd sit down
again and said, no, you're not what I've done to you. And they
were to find out. Now, if Jesus Christ has washed
me, I'm pure, every wit, inside and
out. That is the power of His blood. You're looking at and I'm looking
at some people who are pure, purer than the driven snow. Every believer is altogether
pure. Now unto Him that loved us and
washed us from our sins in his own blood and made us kings and
priests to God. You're clean, you're pure. Listen
to me. You're pure every wit, inside
and out, all together pure. That's what the Lord says. Well,
what about this feet washing? Well, you walk through this world
every day you get your feet dirty, don't you? Every day you get
your feet dirty. And what does he do? Wash your
feet. Every day, with the preaching
of the gospel, with the believing of the gospel, He washes your
feet. He doesn't expose how ugly your
feet are. He washes your feet. And that's
when He said we ought also to wash one another's feet. That's how we deal with sin in
other believers. Somebody says, how do you deal
with sin in other believers? What do you do about it? Well,
preach a gospel to them. Preach a gospel to myself. Wash
their feet. And that's what feet washing
is. It's not an ordinance that you get together and wash each
other's feet. If somebody wants to do it, go ahead. But that's
not what it means. We wash each other's feet because
every day we're in a dirty world and we walk through this world
and our feet get dirty, but that doesn't take away from the reality
of what the Lord said. You are clean, you are pure,
every wit, all together. Matthew chapter five. Verse 8, blessed are the pure
in heart. For they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart. Now remember, this does not mean
relatively pure. This does not mean sort of pure.
This means absolutely pure. No sin, unstained, unsullied,
perfectly pure, 100% pure. That's what the word means. Blessed
are the pure in heart. Now, as far as the way I feel,
My heart feels anything but pure. For something to be pure, it
has to be sinless, without sin. Now this pure heart is the new
heart he gives in the new birth. A new heart will I give you. A pure heart, a clean heart. and honest and a good heart. These are scriptural definitions
of this pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. Turn with me to first John chapter
three. This is the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible. First John chapter three, verse nine. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." Well, it
can't mean that. That means, you know, the general
bent and tenor of our life is good. It can't mean that. What's
it say? What's it say? He that is born
of God doth not commit sin. That's the pure heart. That's
the new nature. That nature does not commit sin. And that's what it says. Let's
go on reading in that verse. For his seed The seed of the
Holy Spirit, the seed of God, remaineth in him and he, what? Cannot sin. He lacks the ability
to sin. Why? Because he's born of God. Now that's what that verse of
scripture says. Now, we have our old nature that we were born
with. And when we're born again, we're
given a new nature, and that's the pure heart he speaks of,
the pure heart that every believer possesses that's unmixed with
sin, that's unmixed with guilt, that is pure. Every believer
has this pure heart. the pure in heart for they shall
see God." Now this is the spiritual nature given in the new birth.
Now when it says that in Galatians 5 17, the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, the Spirit lusteth against the flesh. These are
contrary one to the other, you can't do the things you would.
That's not talking about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit,
you can't say He can't do what He wants to do. This is talking
about the spiritual nature that God the Holy Spirit has birthed
in every believer. You know, a lost man doesn't
have a spirit. Not a spiritual nature. That's what he lost in
the fall, remember. That's how he died. He died not
having a spiritual nature. That spiritual nature is given
in the new birth. And that's how every believer has this pure
heart. And it comes out of the same
consciousness that the sinful heart is. That's why it's so
hard to grasp. I've used this illustration before. It's like
hot water and cold water coming out of the one faucet. We have
one consciousness that this pure heart operates in. This is the
heart that believes. This is the heart that loves
God. This is the work of God in a man. John chapter 15. Gospel of John chapter 15. Verse 1. I am the true vine, and my Father
is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit
he purgeth." Now that word purge is the verb form of the adjective
pure, he purifies, he purifies. Writer to the Hebrews said when
he had by himself purged, literally made purification for our sins,
he purifies, he purges every branch in me that bears not fruit,
he takes away every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, he
purifies it that it may bring forth more of your fruit. Now
you are clean. That's the word. Now you are
clean, pure through the Word which I've spoken
unto you. You know what purifies? Hearing His Word. Hearing His
Word. Now are you clean, pure through
the Word that I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you,
as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine. No more can you except you abide
in me." Now, abide in Christ. What's that mean? The simplest
illustration I can give of that is if all of God's favor is in
this room, this room we're in right now, 40 by 65, we're sitting
in here, All of God's favor, all of God's mercy, all of God's
blessing is in this room. And there's nothing but wrath
outside of this room. Guess what room I want to stay
in? I want to stay in this room. I want to stay in His favor.
I want to... Christ, abiding in Christ, all of God's favor
is in Christ. It's not in your works. It's
not in anything you do. It's in the Beloved. Now are
you clean. Now are you pure through the
Word that I have spoken unto you. Do you believe the word?
You're clean. You're pure. We read in both 1 Timothy 3,
9 and 2 Timothy 1, 3 of a pure conscience, a pure conscience. Now, what is this pure conscience?
Because like I said, every time I have ever said, My conscience
is clear, pure, clear. No, it's not. I will always have some kind
of hypocrite. You might have, you've done something
worse. You thought something, you know, my conscience is never
clear in that sense. So what's he talking about when
he talks about this pure conscience? You know, Paul speaks of a Seared
conscience, he speaks of a weak conscience, he speaks of a defiled
conscience, but there's a pure conscience also called a good
conscience. A pure conscience uncontaminated by sin is what
Peter calls the answer of a good conscience by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now listen to this, the only
thing that satisfies my conscience is the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. That's the only thing that gives
me a pure conscience. I know God's satisfied with what
He did. I know God's satisfied with me by what He did. I know
what He did made me pure. His resurrection is what gives
me this pure conscience. Now, somebody says, well, I don't
feel guilty. Well, that's because you have
a seared conscience. That's because you have a bad conscience. Somebody
who has a pure conscience is that person who only finds comfort
in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's
the only thing that answers an accusing conscience. The resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. There is the pure conscience. One final scripture turned to
Revelation 19. beginning in verse six. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia! For the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. That is what we call the sovereignty
of God. The Lord God omnipotent, all-powerful
reigns. He's reigning right now. He always
has reigned. He always will reign. This is
who He is. And what does the church say
to this? Hallelujah. Oh, this makes us
glad that the Lord God omnipotent Reigneth. Let us be glad, verse 7, and
rejoice and give honor to Him for the marriage of the Lamb
is come and His wife hath made herself ready. That's the church,
that's every believer. And to her was granted graciously
given that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean. That's the word pure. That's
the word pure. Fine linen, pure. And wife of
the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Question, is this talking about
the good works and the righteous deeds of the saints? How many of your works would
you consider fine linen, clean, and what? This is talking about the righteousness
and merits of Jesus Christ, which is the righteousness of the saints. This is the name wherewith he
shall be called, Jeremiah 23 6, the Lord our righteousness." In Jeremiah 31,
this is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. Now, how can I be pure? Because I have this wedding garment on, arrayed,
dressed by Christ Himself. I didn't put it on, He put it
on me. I didn't earn it. He granted it to me. It was a
grant. It was a free gift. And it's
mine. He doesn't say this is the righteousness
of Christ imputed to the saints. He says, this is the righteousness
of the saints. And having this garment on, I
am pure. Unto the pure. Who are these
pure people? Well, they've been washed. in
the blood of Christ. They have a pure heart. They
have been made pure by believing the Word. They have a pure conscience
satisfied by the resurrection of Christ. And they have this
pure robe, clean and white, unto the pure. All things are pure. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
power and the glory of your gospel that makes defiled sinners pure,
holy, and clean. How we thank you for our wedding
garment. How we thank you for the pure
heart that you've given us. How we thank you that the blood
of thy son has washed us and made us clean every whit. How we thank you for the satisfying
power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that answers
an accusing conscience. Lord, how we thank you for the
purity of your gospel. Enable us to preach your gospel
in this generation in its purity, for Christ's sake. In his name
we pray, amen. Matt, come and lead us.