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Having A Pure Heart
Flushing Out The Contaminants
During this study, Jesus isn’t working on your wrong, bad, or evil issues that are already in your life. He is concentrating on helping you yield to right, good, and righteous things. When you are washing out a container, some of the debris will automatically come out just by running water over it. But, frequently you will have to use some soap and some scrubbing to get the rest of the contaminants out. Right now you are to concentrate on just yielding to those things Jesus wants in your life. Later He will help you with those stuborn issues that are already inside you that take some special work to get out. As Jesus helps you see the benefits of all these wonderful things He is offering you, it will help you LET GO of things you currently are allowing to exist in you.
The Goal
Mat 5:48 (NIV) Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Suppose you took a class and learned a whole lot of things; but, when you were tested, they asked you a lot of questions about things you didn’t learn. It would be possible to fail a class that you actually learned a lot from. With Jesus, this isn’t possible. The world uses a phrase that says, “the sky is the limit.” To them this means it is unlimited as to what can be accomplished. With Jesus, He has given you a record with God that is PERFECT; that is even higher than the sky. There have been assignments that you have felt were impossible; so, you didn’t even try to accomplish them. Even though perfection is something you will never reach in this life, if perfection is Jesus’ limit, then you can press forward without fearing you will ever be held back.
Having A Perfectly Clean Heart
In most assignments you are given, you start out with not having accomplished any of the assignment. You start out from scratch and then go on from there. But with Jesus, you start out with perfection being credited to your record with God. Since that gives you DIRECT access to God and all He provides, you start growing spiritually; you start ACTUALLY living things that before you were only credited for. This is like entering a class and being given an “A+”. The only way for you to diminish that “A+” is to not fulfill all the assignments. But, because you are starting with an “A+” you are one of the Instructor’s top students. This gives you special privileges and DIRECT access to the Instructor.
Having A Pure Heart Through Grace And Mercy
It doesn’t sound like it; but, here is a person who has a pure heart: Rom 7:15-19 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. And IF I do what I do not WANT to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the DESIRE to do what is good, but I CANNOT carry it out. For what I do IS NOT the good I WANT to do; no, the evil I DO NOT WANT TO DO--this I keep on doing.
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A Pure Heart In Your Record With God
The person in Romans 7:15-19 has a pure heart through salvation and justification. This is because they now have the WANT and the HATE that being born again gives them. As long as they have the WANT and HATE DESIRE, God credits a pure heart on their record with Him. This is like a young child; we know they don’t have the training, skills, talents, and abilities to act like an adult; so, we give them grace and mercy. Even though they are doing a lot of things wrong, we love them, forgive them, and consider them “perfect” in our sight.
A Pure Heart In Your Behavior
Salvation and justification put a pure heart on your record with God; sanctification (spiritual growth) puts a pure heart in the thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds of your behavior. Jesus has credited you with perfect attitudes and character. But, you and the people around you don’t see your actual behavior that way. How are you going to take the perfect attitudes and charater on your record with God and get it activated in your life with yourself and others?
Your DESIRE of wanting to do good and hating to do wrong, bad, or evil will push you forward toward the perfection of a pure heart. You will have to STUDY the Bible and learn how to progress toward this purity. You will have to PRAY and invite Jesus into helping you move forward in living this pure-heart life. You will have to fix your eyes on Jesus until He gives you the faith to BELIEVE HE is joining you in heading toward that perfect purity. You will have to yield to God’s LOVE so you can be powerfully motivated to treat yourself and other people with a pure-heart behavior. And, you will have to take FAITH-ACTION as you join Jesus in yielding to His power to ACTUALLY live out this pure heart more and more.
You Cannot Stay There
Rom 6:15 (NIV) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Some people read Romans chapter seven and try to justify, excuse, and forgive themselves for staying there. They learn that God starts them out with a perfect record and then read Romans chapter seven and decide to remain in that failing life. They start WANTING to keep on sinning; they start liking having a pure heart credited to their record with God while sinning. They no longer have the WANT and HATE: For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do.
When a person loses their DESIRE to do what is right, good, and righteous, they are no longer a true Christian. They don’t realize or don’t want to know that God gave them this perfect record so they could have DIRECT access to Him and all His provisions. They don’t realize or don’t want to know that He gave them DIRECT access to Him and all His provisions so they could grow spiritually. They don’t realize or don’t want to know that He is empowering them to grow spiritually so they will be a mature, adult child of God. You are to apply The Six Biblical Principles to your life so you can move from the Romans chapter seven life to the Romans chapter eight life.
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