Turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter
7. I've entitled this message, Cleansing
Ourselves. Cleansing Ourselves. How does one go about cleansing
themselves? You know, this passage of scripture
says, Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Filthiness. What an apt description
of the defiling nature of sin. Filthiness. Besmeared. Soiled. befouled, you feel dirty, you
feel unclean, you feel filthy. That's the defiling nature of
sin. He speaks of the filthiness of
the flesh. The sinful cravings of fallen
nature, and you think of the filthiness. of fleshly sin. Do you think of the problem in
our society of sexual sin, the darkness and the filthiness that
covers? I mean, it just pervades our
society. The filthiness of substance abuse
and drunkenness and gluttony. The scripture speaks of those
whose God is their belly, debauchery, propagacy, riotous living, a
thirst for sin, the filthiness of the flesh, the filthiness of the spirit,
pride, self-righteousness, an evil eye, envy, jealousy, Gossip. Slander. Attacking someone's
character. That suspicious attitude toward
others that makes you question everything about them. You know,
the scripture says, as a man is, so he thinks others to be.
When someone's suspicious, he's always going to be watching out
for that other person. Malice. Ill will. Bitterness. Complaining. Sins
of the spirit. Now the fact that he says, let
us cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of the flesh and of
the spirit presupposes a need to be cleansed. What comes to
your mind when you think of the filthiness of the flesh and of
the spirit? Do you think of somebody else?
Or do you think of yourself? Paul says, let us cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. Paul is including
himself in that group that needs to be cleansed from all filthiness
of the flesh and the spirit. And I like the way he says, let's
cleanse ourselves. We have more than enough to deal
with our own self, and we need to worry about anybody else.
Isn't that so? Let us cleanse ourselves. from
all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. And it says in
this passage of scripture, in doing so, in cleansing ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, we are perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. What in the world does that mean?
Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Well, it means this.
We are bringing holiness to its predestinated end. Ephesians
1, 4 says, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be what? Holy and without blame. Before I turn to Philippians
chapter two for a moment, let me show you how the words used. Paul says. In verse six. Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it. That's the same word translated
perfecting holiness. He that began it will complete
it. He'll carry it out to its end. Look in Philippians chapter 2
verse 12. Wherefore, my beloved, as you've
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation. That's strong language, isn't
it? You give attention to, you work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. And here's why we're to do this,
for it's God which worketh in you both to will and to do. of his good pleasure. I love
that verse of scripture. It gives me such encouragement.
It's God that works in you. Both the will and to do his good
pleasure so you work out what God has worked in. Now, if I
do not cleanse myself, I have not been cleansed. Turn to 1
John chapter 3. If I do not cleanse myself, I
have not been cleansed. Verse 2, Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man, no exceptions
to this rule, every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself. even as He is pure. Now, we're called upon to cleanse
ourselves. Now, we're also told that He
cleanses us. Aren't you thankful for that?
What if all we had was cleanse yourself? We'd be pretty discouraged,
wouldn't we? But He tells us that he cleanses
us. And if I didn't see that in the
scripture, I would be utterly discouraged regarding this thing
of cleansing myself. Now, let me show you this in
the scripture. Matthew chapter 8. Behold, there came a leper
and worshiped him. Say, Lord, if you will, you can
make me clean. I know this. I'm unclean and
I know this. I cannot make myself clean. And I know this. If you will,
you can make me clean. This leper understood his need
of cleansing. He knew he wasn't clean. He knew
he couldn't make himself clean. And he knew only the Lord could
make him clean. And he came to the Lord saying,
Lord, if you will. Can you say that right now? Can
you come into his presence and say, Lord, if you will? You can
make me clean and you want the Lord said to him. I will. Be thou clean and immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. We read of cleansing by his blood
turned to 1 John chapter 5 or 1 John chapter 1. There in 1
John. Verse 5, this then is the message
which we've heard of him in declaring to you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. Now, if we say that we have fellowship
with him, if we say we have communion with him, I pray to him and he
prays and he hears my prayer and he answers my prayer and
I do his will and I'm all of his. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, We lie and do not the truth. And that's talking about walking
in the darkness of salvation by works. That's what that's
talking about. It's not talking about somebody
who professes to be a believer, but in the dark commits lewd
practices, although that's bad. But that's not what that's talking
about. That's talking about someone who Claims to be a Christian
and have fellowship with God, yet he walks in the darkness
of salvation by works. If we do that, we're liars. All this talk about having fellowship
with God is a put on. It's phony. It's not real. We're
liars and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light. Now, what's the light? What is
walking in the light? Remember when the Lord said,
I'm the light of the world? Upon what event did he say that? That
woman was taken in adultery in the very act. And he said to
that woman, I don't continue. He's the light of how God can
look at you and say, I don't continue. There's nothing to
condemn you for. The blood of Christ, Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Now, that's the light. If
we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. We have true communion with one
another. We're fellows in the same ship, aren't we? Saved by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. According to Titus 2.14, his
purpose in giving himself to die for us, he gave himself that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify, cleanse, there it
is, that's the word, cleanse unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. Look in John chapter 15. Here's
how he cleanses us. He cleanses us by sovereign will.
I mean, if he wills me to be cleansed, you know what? I'm
cleansed. If the blood of Christ puts away my sin and cleanses
me, you know what? I'm clean. Now look here in John chapter
15, verse 3. He says, Now are you clean through
the word which I've spoken unto you? He cleanses us by washing
us with His Word. That's what we're doing right
now. Ephesians 5, 25 and 26 says, Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it that He might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word,
by the Word of God. You know, there's nothing more
cleansing to our soul than to hear the Word and have it applied
by God the Holy Spirit that we hear the Gospel. Nothing more
cleansing than that. As a matter of fact, you want
to know what foot washing is? Here's what foot washing is. You can
read about it in John chapter 13. The Lord says, now you're clean,
but you know what? We get dirty feet, don't we? We get defiled
feet. Walking through this filthy world
we're in, our feet get dirty. And it's the preaching of the
Word that washes our feet. Oh, we're clean. But our feet
are dirty, and they need cleansed day after day after day through
the preaching of the Word, don't they? We're cleansed through
the Word preached. Now look back in our text. He cleanses by an act of his
will. I like that. He cleanses by the blood of Christ.
And he cleans us through the word being preached and applied
to our conscience, applied to our soul. Isn't it cleansing
when the Lord gives you the grace to hear the gospel? That's so
cleansing. It's such a blessing. Now, look
what Paul says to these people he's writing to in 2 Corinthians
7. Now, I want you to remember that these people he was writing
to were continually questioning his apostleship. They resented
his efforts for their good. They didn't trust it. They made accusations against
him. As a matter of fact, in this
same epistle, he says, the more abundantly I love you, the less
I'll be loved. But I want us to notice his attitude
toward these people. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 1, having therefore these
promises Dearly Beloved. Dearly Beloved. I want to read you something
that Brother Mahan sent to me this week. Something that he
just wrote, and I've really been thinking about it. Something
to ponder. He said, I wonder, I think of
Paul saying to these people, dearly beloved, his love for
these people. He said, I wonder if when we
preach to others or witness. Does the love of God come through?
I wonder if when we write of the glorious doctrines of God's
grace, does the love, compassion and heart of God show forth or
harshness, vengeance and judgment? I wonder. If in our preaching
and witnessing to those to whom we witness detect not only a
belief in what we're saying, but a love for what we believe
and a love for him whom we believe and a love for them who do not
understand what we say. It was his love that chose us.
It was his love that gave us repentance. It was his love that
gave us faith. I do not suggest in any way that
we can compromise our principles or our message. or our doctrine,
but that our message be tempered with the love and compassion
of our Saviors. Are sinners blind, dead, deaf
in darkness? Were we not also there once? Dearly Beloved. Oh, that that
attitude might just come out of our pores at all times. Dearly
Beloved. And I, I like this a lot. He says, having therefore these
promises dearly beloved. Now, notice. He doesn't say we'll
have these promises if we cleanse ourselves, then they become ours.
No, these promises are something that every believer already possesses. Having therefore in our possession,
having therefore dearly beloved these Promises, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God. If I have these promises
in my position, that's what this is going to do for me. Now, let's
see what he's talking about when he's talking about these promises.
Look up in the first chapter of Second Corinthians. Second Corinthians, chapter one.
Verse 17. When I, therefore, was thus minded,
did I use lightness, fickleness, or the things that I purposed?
Do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should
be yea, yea, and nay, nay? Yes and no, the same thing. But
as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay, but
the Son of God. Jesus Christ, who also was preached
among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not
yea and nay, but in him was yea for all the promises of God. That's the promises he's talking
about. All the promises of God in him are yea and amen. So be it. To the glory of God. Now, what does he mean by yea
and nay? He said, this is not the way
our preaching was. Now, this is the way most preaching is. Yea and nay. Yes, the blood of Christ is sufficient
to save. You don't need anything else.
The blood of Christ is all you need to make you clean. But if
you don't do your part, it won't work for you. Now that's called
yea, nay preaching. Yes, salvation is all of grace. The Bible says by grace are you
saved. Yes, it is. But no, you can lose your salvation
if you don't have the works to keep it up. If you just fall
away, if you don't give it, that's yay, nay. Yes, we are completing
him. Yes, we are. Said that. But no,
you're not totally complete. You may lose some rewards in
heaven if you're not obedient up here on earth. Or maybe you
could gain more rewards if you're more obedient. That's yay, nay
preaching. Paul says all the promises of
God in him are yay and amen. If Christ died for you, you must
be saved. Period. Period. Since salvation is all of grace,
listen to me, I can't take this too far. Since salvation is all
of grace, good works don't recommend you. And bad works don't disqualify
you, and you cannot lose your salvation. All the promises of God in him
are yea and amen. Nothing can be added to what
he has done, and nothing can be subtracted from it. Colossians
2.10 says you're complete. You are full in him of him. Are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption? Yay and amen. Look with me at
Galatians chapter four. Beginning of verse 16. I mean, Galatians chapter 3,
excuse me, Galatians 3 verse 16. Now, to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ, to
Abraham and his seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, was the promise
made. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was 430 years afterward, cannot disannul, that it should make
the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of
the law, if God gives you the inheritance according to your
personal obedience to the law, it's no more a promise. But God
gave it to Abraham. by promise, an unconditional
promise that can't fall to the ground. It's a promise we can't
mess up, is what that means. It's a promise that we cannot
mess up. Now, in the context, turn back
to 2 Corinthians chapter 7. In the context, the promises
are what he said in verse 16 of the previous chapter, the
covenant promises. Look in verse 16, 2 Corinthians
chapter 6. What agreement? At the temple
of God with idols. For you are the temple of the
living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk
in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Now, do you see these are covenant promises? God says, I will do
this and they shall do that. It's not. I'll do this if they
do that. He said, I will do this and they
shall do that. Don't you love the I wills and
the they shalls of the Bible? That's covenant promises. They are not subject to being
unfulfilled if I don't do my part. I think of David's dying
words. I love David's dying words. He
said, he said, although my house be not so with God. Here you
die. What would you think about if
you were dying? Right now, what would come to your mind? Now,
I try to put myself in David's place. David committed some pretty severe
sins. I mean, he did commit cold-blooded murder. He committed adultery. He brought other people into
a sin and got them implicated and guilty in it. He caused the
death of over 70,000 people through his pride. I mean, he could have
thought of all kinds of things that happened. You know, when
I thought I was dying, I thought about stuff like that. I have. He could have also thought about
all the good things. I mean, he's the guy that killed Goliath
and delivered Israel. He was the sweet psalmist of
Israel. I mean, he was a special man. Who else has it said? He's
a man after God's own heart. There wasn't anybody else but
David. But what does he think of when he's dying? Although
my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me. everlasting covenant ordered
in all things. And sure. Now in this passage
of scripture in second Corinthians chapter three, we have the promise
of adoption verse 18. I'm in chapter six, verse 18.
I will be a father into you and you should be my sons and daughters.
Sayeth the Lord. We have the promise of indwelling.
He says, I will dwell in them and walk in them. We have the
promise of communion. I will walk in them. We have
the promise of God being our God. I'll be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? Now, with these promises, he
says, wherefore, come out from among them. He's talking about
Babylon religion. He's talking about human religion.
I don't try to stay before human religion. I get out of it. Come
out and be separate, saith the Lord. Don't touch the unclean
thing. You know, I used to wonder, I wonder what that is I'm not
supposed to touch. I mean, can you get it? What is it that I
don't touch? I mean, we are all as an unclean thing. And our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. You touch that, the Lord
won't receive you. Come out and be ye separate,
saith the Lord, touching not the unclean thing, and I will
receive you, and will be a father unto you, and you shall be my
sons and daughters, saith the Lord. Now, therefore, having
these promises, these promises, God being my God, Him before
me, Him dwelling in me by His Spirit, Him walking with me,
Him being my Father, me being His Son, having these Covenant
promises the I wills and they shalls let us cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit. And how do I
go about cleansing myself? The Bible gives us some answer. Now,
first, I know that the only way I'll be cleansed is if he cleanses
me. Don't you know that the only way you'll be cleansed of your
filthiness is if he cleanses you. You won't be cleansed if
he doesn't do it. But what is the evidence that he has cleansed
me? I'm going to start cleansing myself. Now, how does one go
about cleansing themselves? Well, let me give you four or
five scriptures. Turn to 1 John. I want you to turn to all of
these. 1 John chapter 1, verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. And what? Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, this thing of confessing
sin, what is it? Is it being able to name all
your sins? Name them out. I did that. Guilty. Well, when
you know one, you ought to name it out and confess it. But most
of the sins you've committed, you don't even know about. What true confession is. is you
truly take sides with God against yourself. Guilty as charged. You take sides with God against
yourself. And do you know if you do that,
you'll find that so cleansing? You really will. He promises
if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9, verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling
unclean, sanctified through the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without thought to God, purge your conscience
from dead works? Cleanse your conscience, that's
the same word, from dead works to serve the living God. Now,
what are dead works? Anything that stands in opposition
to He hath by one offering perfected for everything that are sanctified,
that He obtained eternal redemption for us. Any work that you do
that you think has anything to do with your salvation that you've
done, it's a dead work and it'll just lead you further away from
Christ Cleanse your conscience from that dead work. Don't try
to offer up some kind of work to God. Christ offered himself
and then you offer something. That's an insult to the living
God. Purge your conscience from those dead works and look to
Christ alone. Turn to James 4. Verse 1, From whence come wars and fighting
among you? Come they not hence even of your
lusts that war in your members? You lust and you have not. You kill and desire to have and
cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have
not because you ask not. You ask and receive not, because
you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts. You adulterers
and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore shall be
a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think the
scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? But ye give it more grace. Wherefore, he saith, God resists
the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he'll flee
from you. Draw nigh to God, and he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse
your hands. There it is. Cleanse your hands,
ye sinners. and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord. And here's the promise. He shall
lift you up. You humble yourself. You know,
it's a lot better to humble yourself than to have to be humiliated,
isn't it? Humble yourself under his mighty hand. You see, God gives grace to the
humble. And he resists the proud. You
humble yourself at his feet. Whatever he does is right. Like
that leopard did. He came and bowed down at the
feet of Christ. He humbled himself, saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. And he made him clean. Turn to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. Confess your sin. This is the
way I cleanse myself. I confess my sin. I purge my
conscience of those dead works, and I look to Christ only. I
humble myself. under his mighty hand, and look
here at Acts chapter 15, beginning in verse 6. And the apostles and elders came
together for to consider this matter, and when there had been
much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren,
you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us
that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and And God, which knoweth the heart, bare them witness, giving
them the Holy Ghost, even as he did to us, and put no difference
between us and them, purifying, cleansing, that's the word, cleansing
their heart by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt ye
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe, there's
the faith that we believe, we believe that through the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they.
You know what cleanses? Believing the gospel. Simply
believing that Christ is your salvation cleanses. Now, somebody says, can't you
give me anything else? What else you need? I'm telling you what's the truth.
If you and I, by His grace, confess our sins, repent of our dead
works, humble ourselves before God and believe His gospel, we're
cleansing ourselves. Let me show you one other thing.
Look in Romans 6. Verse 11. Likewise, reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Believe, you are dead to sin.
If Christ paid for your sin, sin has nothing to say to you.
You stand before God's law without guilt. You stand before God's
law perfect. Verse 12, let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust
thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God. Now that word yield
is the same word translated present in Romans chapter 12. That's
what it means. Present yourself to God. You don't make any promises.
You don't say, Lord, If you'll just have mercy on me, I'll never
commit that sin again. I promise I won't. I'll give
that up and I'll stay. You know, the Lord warned us
about a religion of personal resolve, didn't he? Swear not
at all. Swear not at all. Don't make
any promises. You ought to know yourself better than that. If
you make a promise, you show what a hypocrite you are, really.
I mean, any promise that you make to the Lord, you're not
going to keep. And I'm not saying that's OK. But I'm saying that
if you know your flesh at all, you know how easily you'll fall.
It's not a religion of personal resolve. I'm going to push that
down and I'm going to know I present myself to the Lord. Lord, here am I. Now, let me
show you an example of what it is to present yourself. Turn
to Psalm 119. And David doesn't talk about
the things that he's going to do. Look in verse 33 of Psalm
119. He doesn't talk about the things that he's going to do,
but he presents himself to the Lord and he does make these requests
in presenting himself to the Lord. He says, teach me, O Lord,
the way of thy statutes and I'll keep it unto the end. Give me
understanding and I shall keep thy law, ye shall observe it
with my whole heart. Make me to go. in the path of
thy commandments. For therein do I delight, incline
my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness." I know
that's the way my heart will go if you don't incline it that
way. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. That's exactly
what they'll behold and grab hold of if you don't turn my
eyes away. And quicken thou me in thy way, the way of the gospel.
Establish thy word into thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Turn
away my reproach, which I fear, for thy judgments are good. Behold,
I prolong after thy precepts. Quicken me in thy righteousness.
Now you see the way David presented himself to the Lord. He didn't
talk about how many he was going to do, did he? It's what he asked
the Lord to do for him. And that's what I do when I present
myself to the Lord. I don't make promises. I'd like
to, but I know myself better than that. I say, Lord, incline
my heart to Thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Lord, order
my steps in Your Word. That's this presentation. You
know, as far as, well, just stop saying it. Quit it. Don't do it. Don't do it anymore.
Don't think it. It doesn't work, does it? It
doesn't work. Oh, may the Lord enable you and
I to confess our sin before Him, to purge our conscience from
dead works, to humble ourselves, to believe His gospel, and present
ourselves to the Lord. And you know, in doing that,
I'm being cleansed. That's the Lord doing His work
in me. And I'm cleansing myself. And this is what brings to the
finish. This is what perfects holiness
in the fear of God. Let's pray.