Biblical Purity

1. 0:00Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 41.
2. 0:12What is God's will for us in the seventh commandment?
3. 0:15That God condemns all unchastity, and that we should therefore detest it, wholeheartedly and live decent and chaste lives within or outside of the holy state of marriage.
4. 0:26Does God in this commandment forbid only such scandalous sins as adultery? We are temples of the Holy Spirit, body and soul, and God wants both to be kept clean and holy. That is why God forbid
5. 0:40all unchaste actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires, and whatever may incite someone to them.
6. 0:47A growing obedience to God's law out of thankfulness to Him for His salvation is something the Holy Spirit produces in every true Christian. But that doesn't mean it's easy. Not only
7. 1:00do we have Satan and our own sinful flesh against us, but we also live in a world that generally despises and disregards God's law. And nowhere is that more obvious than with
8. 1:11the seventh commandment: "You shall not commit adultery."
9. 1:14We live in a society that blatantly promotes adultery, divorce, seduction, pornography, sleeping around, incest, homosexuality, transgenderism, and a whole host of other things.
10. 1:27The temptations not to honor marriage and sexuality as God designed it are everywhere.
11. 1:33It's not always easy to resist these temptations.
12. 1:36But that's what this commandment is telling us to do.
13. 1:39as the catechism makes clear that God condemns all unchastity or sexual immorality and impurity. Why? Because it dishonors his institution of marriage. God
14. 1:52instituted marriage when he created Eve out of one of Adam's ribs and brought her to him to be his wife. Genesis 2 tells us all about And then it concludes with these words in verses 24 and 25:
15. 2:14That teaches us several things about marriage. One is that marriage is to be between one man and one man.
16. 2:19man and one woman.
17. 2:21It's also meant to be a very special relationship.
18. 2:24It involves leaving and cleaving.
19. 2:27It makes the married couple a whole new family unit that's not meant to be broken.
20. 2:33It also teaches us that marriage is the proper place and the only proper place for God's good gift of sex.
21. 2:39That's part of what being one flesh here means.
22. 2:42That's how being one flesh is most intimately expressed and experienced.
23. 2:47And that's only for a husband and wife, no one else.
24. 2:50That's how God made it.
25. 2:52And the point is, marriage is his invention.
26. 2:54And that means that it and everything included in it is not ours to do with whatever we want.
27. 2:59is also, as Ephesians 5 points out, it's meant to be a picture and a reflection of the relationship between Christ and His Church. And that means that every violation of marriage, especially
28. 3:11as Christians, reflects poorly on that bond, on that union between Christ and His people.
29. 3:18And that means, as the catechism says, says that we should detest it wholeheartedly and live decent and chaste lives within or outside of the holy state of marriage.
30. 3:27In 1 Corinthians 6:18 we're told to flee from sexual immorality.
31. 3:32But again, all of this is hard in our society and we might be tempted to think, well as long as we don't commit the obvious, the worst forms of sexual immorality, like physical adultery, that's good enough.
32. 3:46But it's not.
33. 3:48The catechism puts it like this: "We are temples of the Holy Spirit, body and soul, and God wants both to be kept clean and holy.
34. 3:56That is why God forbids all unchaste actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires, and whatever may incite someone to them.
35. 4:04Jesus himself teaches us this in Matthew 5:27-28 in his Sermon on the Mount.
36. 4:10"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed
37. 4:19adultery with her in his heart. And so what Jesus is making clear here is that the seventh commandment calls for the pursuit and promotion of total purity.
38. 4:29And that means that we need to flee even lustful thoughts and desires. We need to flee from things like pornography. We need to talk and dress and act
39. 4:39in ways that promote purity instead of impurity in others. And we need to flee things that would tend to lead us to impurity, like things like drunkenness, for example. If we're married,
40. 4:52we need to live in faithfulness to our spouse, delighting in them and not neglecting them.
41. 4:57And if we hope to get married, it means marrying in the Lord, seeking a godly spouse.
42. 5:02But how can we do all of this in the society wherein we live?
43. 5:06Well, it starts with trusting in Christ.
44. 5:091 Corinthians 6:9-11 makes clear that even those who have violated this commandment can be washed and sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
45. 5:19and by the Spirit of our God.
46. 5:21And so the way to purity begins with trusting in Christ, and then also recalling our union with Him, and that we are temples of the Holy Spirit.
47. 5:31And so when we are tempted, we need to remind ourselves, as Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 6, "I can't do this because I'm part of the church I'm a member of Christ.
48. 5:42My body is a member of Christ.
49. 5:44I'm a temple of the Holy Spirit.
50. 5:45I'm called to be holy for Him.
51. 5:48Another thing that helps and that we're called to do is to be radical.
52. 5:53And Jesus also refers to this in His Sermon on the Mount as well.
53. 5:56We're to do whatever we need to do to keep God.
54. 5:59pure, whether that's putting filters on our phone or having someone to keep us accountable or getting rid of our big screens, whatever it takes.
55. 6:09And lastly, if we fail in whatever way in this commandment, we need not to stay there, but to repent.
56. 6:18That's the way to forgiveness and restoration.
57. 6:19also for this sin. It's through Christ and His blood. He will give us the grace we need for forgiveness and also for the strength to live in total purity to Him.
58. 6:39Thank you.

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