Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Matthew 5:8

All of my desire is in this one thing, to see His Face (Psalm 27:4).  If we truly have this hope in ourselves, we will purify ourselves (1 John 3:3).

The New Testament is replete with examples that underscore the fact that the God of the Old Testament hasn’t changed His desire for purity and holiness as a lifestyle for those who are of His house.

Hebrews 12:14 says without holiness no one will see Him.  2 Corinthians 7:1 indicates that we should do it out of reverence.  It was because of His reverence that Jesus was heard of His Father when He prayed (Hebrews 5:7).  Ephesians 5:6 indicates strongly, lest we give way to being deceived with empty words, that God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient.  Even Jesus Himself, in Matthew 5:48, commanded us to be perfect, even as the Father is perfect.

We are pure and clean by the blood, but we are responsible for living up to what we know in Christ.  We are not permitted to simply live unholy, unsanctified lives without trying to live holy before the Lord.

All throughout the Old Testament, mixture was never permitted.  Different crops were not allowed in the same field, animals could not be cross-bred, and even garments could not be out of a blend of materials.  Shirts today are commonly made out of a cotton-polyester blend, but such in the Old Covenant would have been strictly prohibited.

Purity, lack of all other leavens, lack of all other teachings, is essential to any organization, and also the Kingdom of Heaven.  The moment another leaven is permitted, allowing for sin and iniquity, you have allowed entry to a force that, like mildew in one house, will infect the whole.  This is the mystery of lawlessness.

This is the distinction between the Old and New Covenant.  You see, as Paul wrote, there was no salvation for us without death.  The wages of sin were death, and the only way that we could be saved was for us to die to the law, to be wedded to Christ.  We were dead in our sins, and there was no propping up a corpse, so to speak.  There was absolutely nothing righteous within us, in our flesh, outside of Christ.

We see, sometimes as those learning Christ, a division between the Old and the New.  In the old, we see a God who killed sinners.  In the New, we one who loves them.  The difference is that God still has to kill every sinner, yet for the believer, it is through the cross!  What a glorious Gospel!

There is no cleansing of that which is contaminated, there is no salvation of culture or any contaminated system of the world short of its utter annihilation.  Just like us and our works before heaven, what cannot pass through the fire, what is not made of gold, silver, and precious stones, not just must be, but will be consumed, and destroyed.

The God who required holiness still requires it, in the capacity that we are able in Christ, requires it today, and the same God that regarded even the slightest transgression a complete violation of the law considers it the same today.  The soul who sins must die.  And today, through Christ, we say, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me.  The life I live, I live by faith the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  Galatians 2:20.

So, there is no fellowship between light and darkness.  There is no commonality between the Spirit of Christ and that of mammon or Belial.  We are now New Creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), and we are no longer mere men (1 Corinthians 3:4), but are partakers of God’s divine nature through His precious and magnificent promises (2 Peter 1:4).  We have the authority, or right, to become children of God (John 1:12).

There is no bride without purity.  Even culture’s tradition says that a bride that is not pure should not wear white on her wedding day.

And, today,  while God holds us in the light of Christ’s righteousness, it is a reverence, it is a love, for us to purify oursevles, because of this hope.

No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

1 John 3:9

We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

1 John 5:18

The light and the darkness are as distinct as light and day.  Sin and righteousness are neither arbitrary nor a blurry distinction.  That which is done to please the flesh produces corruption, and what we sow to the Spirit produces life (Galatians 6:8).

You cannot be abiding in Him and continue to live in sin an bondage as He reveals it, and brings you faith to stand in the new.  2 Corinthians 10:6 indicates that God will punish every disobedience once our obedience is made perfect.  There still is punishment in the world for our sins, as Anannias and Sapphira learned when they lied to the Spirit.  It is my sincere belief that they still entered into life, and into heaven, albeit with less of a testimony before God.  God did it as an example to the body, that we are responsible for the light and revelation we have been given.

While we are loved and called His children when we believe, we will be neither fruitful nor productive outside of His purity.  We not prosper, nor will we experience the ongoing refreshing and life He has for each one of us.  The heart that is not serious about holiness does not have a high enough revelation of how good He is, or they never would.

There is no difference in God’s absolute holiness, nor the greatness of His purity.  Today, it is the heart of purity, which is lived out in the power of the Spirit, that lives the sinless life.  If, on the one hand, you do not set out with absolute purity as your goal, you will never get close.  If, on the other hand, you do not do so in the light of the mercy of the cross, you will destroy yourself.  We do fail, and that many times, even in Christ, as we get distracted.  But, for those seeking to be the greatest, for those who desire to do nothing but please the Father, the greatest life of all is the life laid down, the life of One Thing, the life of holiness in Jesus Christ by His Spirit.

There is no lasting joy in anything else.  There is no merit in anything less.  Only exacting purity, excellence, and His divine enablement to live it pleases Heaven.  Though we fall down a thousand times, we get back up, and we do not rest until it is enough.  It is enough to be like Him.

When we hate this world, and have no more desire for it, our discipleship begins.  Luke 14:26.  Luke 16:13.