Think on Things that are Pure

Appreciate Justin for leading our songs this morning, and it’s good to see everyone. Glad to be back with you. We did have a good vacation time, and I appreciate so much the opportunity to do that. Thankful to the elders for giving me time to spend with my family as we have time to spend occasionally, and we appreciate that so much.

This morning, we’re going to be continuing our series from Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Think on these things, and maybe you remember this verse. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. And we have worked through the first three of these, true, noble, and just. And this morning, we’re going to look at thinking on things that are pure.

Before we do that, let’s just remind ourselves what this series is about. We have the opportunity to control what we think, and there are many and strong influences, though, in this world on what we think. The Bible teaches that we have the opportunity to filter those things. We can direct our thoughts to things that are good and wise and beneficial, or we can direct our thoughts to things that are bad and foolish and harmful. It just depends on how we want to operate.

The Bible says in Proverbs 4 and verse 23, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. And the heart is what we’re talking about. The Bible heart. That’s not our blood pump that we have in the center of our chest, but rather our mind, our ability to think, our ability to reason. We need to keep that. We need to guard it.

And that’s what this series of lessons is about. Because how we think affects our attitudes and our decisions and our actions. And then our actions become habits and our habits become a way of life. And so before we know it, our life has passed by and it’s been influenced by what we have thought in the past.

Well, we want our thoughts to be good thoughts so that our lives will be good lives. And we do not have to dwell on bad thoughts. We do not have to think things that don’t fall into the category of things we’re commanded to think on here.

We can, at any moment, change our thinking and direct it to good things, which will bring great joy to our lives. And thinking about the topic this morning, think on things that are pure, let’s consider the definition of the word pure for just a moment.

This is from the Greek word hagnos, which is related to the word holy, hagios, in the Greek language, and it has behind it the idea of that which is pure or chaste. There’s an older word that we don’t see too much anymore, or the word modest, and the notion is to have that which is separated and isolated from things that are not pure.

That is, the word pure means to be unspoiled or not mixed. It means to be elemental. When we think about the elements such as gold and silver or maybe oxygen or hydrogen, those things are pure in the sense that they’re elemental, they’re fundamental.

When we think about the different compositions of these elements and how to get to that state where we have pure gold or pure silver or pure hydrogen, you know, it takes some effort. And when we want pure lives, we’ve got to make that same effort to filter out all of those evil influences that may come upon us.

A pure heart is the center of our being, and it should be the center of our being. Our spirit, focused wholly upon God’s designs and purposes. And not our own. To love Him and to love our neighbor. Having that sincere purpose within our lives.

Think about some of the songs that we sing. Pure in heart, oh God, help me to be. And so this morning, we can work on that by thinking on things that are pure. Now, when we think on things that are pure, first thing, we will be clear in our thinking. You know, a lot of times when we go to the various rivers around here and see the water, You know, it’s very muddy in this area of the world, this sulfur river. I’ve never seen a clear sulfur river. It’s always muddy somehow, someway.

But when you get into other parts of the world, such as the part that we were in just this past week, the rivers up in Colorado are clear. You can see to the bottom, you know, the water isn’t muddy. It’s not sullied with other things, even though it can be and has been at times, I suppose.

But when you see that clear water, you think, wow, that’s great. And something that’s clear is something that’s pure. We want our thoughts to be clear. We want our thinking to be clear. And for our thinking to be clear, we need to have a heart that isn’t mixed with impure thoughts. Consider Titus chapter 2 and verses 7 and 8.

When we think about being clear in our thinking, we are sincere in our thoughts. Sincerity is, in large part, clarity in regard to our thinking. It’s a clear thought when we’re being sincere. Paul writes, “…in all things show thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, in gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.”

So when our thoughts are clear, they’re sincere. When our thoughts are clear, they don’t have anything mixed with them that is of the evil part that Paul is discussing here that others would condemn us about. When our thoughts are clear and sincere, they’re authentic. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 12 says, The testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you.

So sincerity and simplicity, we have clarity there. When someone is sincere, we see that. It’s clear to us. When someone is simple, coming across in a simple way, not having dual purposes, not having impure thoughts, not having insincere motives or multiple motives or something like that, they’re authentic. And that’s clear. When we’re clear, we’re not deceitful with others.

2 Corinthians 2, verse 17, “…for we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” So, when we think about being pure, we need to be clear in our thinking.

And our clear thinking comes from sincerity, it comes from authenticity, and it comes from not being deceitful, but rather sincere. Always intending and saying what we think, not thinking one thing and saying another, or being duplicitous, or something of that nature.

Simplicity in Christ, 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3 talks about. We talked about that in our Bible class recently. The simplicity doesn’t mean being a simpleton. There’s a big difference between those two things. Things that are simple are not necessarily foolish. A simpleton is someone who is rather foolish.

It’s not foolish to say 2 plus 2 equals 4, even though it is simple. And it can be simple. But when we think about things that are simple, we’re reducing things to their basics. And there is this simplicity in Christ. In Titus 1 and verse 15, Paul said, “…to the pure all things are pure, but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.”

Simple. When we look at the world, we see it in its simplicity. We can see purity there if we are pure in our thinking. If we are not pure in our thinking, we’re going to see evil, and our minds need to be fixed, if that’s the case, because Paul says they’re defiled if we so look at the world in an impure way.

And so there’s a simpleness to purity. And then there is serenity that we have as a result of clear thinking. When we think clearly, when our thinking isn’t muddled, when it’s not befuddled by wrong thinking, by false notions, things become serene.

They become a source of contentment. And that’s something we need to consider as well. Philippians 4 and verse 9 says, “…the things which you both learned and received and heard and saw in Me, these things do.” Now there’s simple. You see, you learn, you hear, you do. That’s very simple.

And then the result of that is the God of peace will be with you. There’s serenity. There’s contentment with peace. Philippians 4, verse 7, “…the peace of God which passes all understanding shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus when our thinking is clear.” And so, when we think on things that are pure, first of all, we’re going to think on things that are clear, that are sincere, authentic, simple, and serene.

But then secondly, when we think on things that are pure, we’re going to think on things that are clean, particularly clean in our living. We want to be clear in our thinking and we want to be clean in our living. Purity of life follows purity of heart. Consider James chapter 3, verses 17 through 18.

“…but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

When we have that purity of wisdom in our lives, that is going to sow peace, and it’s going to make peace, and our living will be clean. Christ Jesus is the greatest source of purity, and we need to model our lives after Him.

As we have faith in Jesus Christ, Acts chapter 15 and verse 9 then teaches us that faith will purify our hearts, will make our hearts clean. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 22 says, “…seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently.”

Purification of life comes from obedience to the truth. And if we want a pure life, if we want a clean life, we’ve got to obey the Word of God. And this means letting Christ live within us. Paul wrote, It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Christ living in us will give us a clean life. And that clean life then can exhibit the fruit of the Spirit that we read about in Galatians 5 and verses 22 through 25. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law.

And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. There’s the impure elements. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. There’s the pure elements. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. And so practicing the fruit of the Spirit is the ultimate consequence of living that clean life that comes from thinking on pure things.

What happens if the heart is not pure? Well, we’ll be like the Pharisees, and Jesus talks about in Matthew 23, verse 25, when He says, “‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.'”

That’s not how we want our lives to be. That’s not a pure life. Maybe the outside looks pure, but the inside is corrupt. We don’t want that. We want both the inside and the outside to be clean. When we don’t practice clean living, we’re like jannies and jamborees of 2 Timothy 3 and verse 8. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.

In Jude 1, verse 10, Jude talks about those who weren’t living in a clean way. He says, “…but these speak evil of those things which they know not. But what they know naturally as brute beasts and those things, they corrupt themselves.”

And so we want the heart to be pure. We want the heart to be clean. And as a result of that, our living will be clean. Our living will be pure. And so, thinking on things that are pure means thinking on things that are clear, and having clear thinking. It means thinking on things that are clean in our living. And finally, it means thinking on things that are close. Close to God and close to one another.

Now, I want us to think about this, because as we think about purity, thinking on things that are pure, part of thinking on things that are pure is drawing nearer and nearer to God, and when I draw nearer to God, and when you draw nearer to God, we draw nearer to one another in a holy and clean and pure way.

Think about James chapter 4 and verse 8. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. It takes a pure heart. It takes clean hands to draw near to God. We cannot draw near to God if our hearts are impure and if our hands are not clean.

That is to say, if we’re involved in sin, we can only draw near to God when we purify our hearts and our lives. In Psalm 18 and verse 26, the psalmist wrote, “…with the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure.” We need to draw nearer to God, and as a result, we will draw nearer to one another.

It says, When we think about dwelling with God, do we think about having clean hands? Do we think about having a pure heart? That’s what it takes in order to ascend into the hill of the Lord, in order to stand in His holy place.

When we think on things that are pure, we will draw closer to God. Think about Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 14, which says that sanctification or purification is necessary in order for us to see the Lord. Follow after peace with all men and the sanctification or holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

In 1 John chapter 3 and verses 2 through 3, John writes these words. He says, Beloved, now we are the sons of God. That is, we’re children of God. And it does 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.

That is, think about that. If you hope to get closer to God, if you hope to see God one day in heaven eternally, what are you going to do about that? You’re going to purify your life. You’re going to have a pure thinking, you’re going to have pure living, and you’re going to draw closer to God.

God, each and every day as you live your life. When we purify our hearts and purify our lives, we draw closer to God. We can do this also by thinking about the Gospel. Romans chapter 3, verses 21 through 22 says, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the laws revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.

So as we think about the Gospel, we think about drawing closer to God, we think about getting closer to Jesus Christ, living the righteousness of God within our lives, we draw nearer to Him. And we draw nearer to one another, and that is done through the Gospel as well. You know, when we obey the Gospel, we live the Gospel, we draw nearer to God.

And as I mentioned, if I’m here and I’m getting closer to God and you’re here and you’re getting closer to God, we are getting closer to one another as well. And that’s by design. As we mentioned, Romans 3, 21 through 22 mentions that gospel message by which we all display faith through Jesus Christ draws us closer to one another.

And 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 6 tells us to commend ourselves to one another by purity, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love. That idea of commending ourselves to one another, what does that mean? It means getting closer to one another.

But not in just any casual way. Not in some secular way. Not in some earthly way. But in a righteous way. By purity. By knowledge. Long-suffering. Kindness. The Holy Spirit. Love. That’s how we draw closer to one another. As God’s people. Think on things that are pure.

Now consider 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. Now that’s what we need to do. Love one another fervently with a pure heart.

And we can do that by getting closer to God and thus getting closer to one another. When we think on things that are pure, we can control our thinking. There’s so many things to think about in this list that Paul gives us here in Philippians 4 and verse 8.

And if we just dwell on these things and consider these things, then our thinking will be great. It will be wonderful. And our lives will be wonderful because they will flow from our good thinking. So let’s think on things that are pure. And let’s, number one, be clear in our thinking. Number two, be clean in our living. And number three, be close to God and to one another.

Maybe you need to become closer to God this morning by responding to His invitation to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and to hear His Word, and to repent of sin, and to confess Him as Lord, and to be baptized for the forgiveness of sin.

There’s your first step in drawing closer to God, in being obedient to the truth. And when you draw closer to God by obeying the gospel, by being baptized into Christ Jesus, identifying with Christ, then you draw closer to those who have already identified with Christ, and then you become a brother or sister with those in Christ, and you become part of the family of God, and you’re already getting closer both to God and to those who are in God’s family.

Maybe you need to do that this morning, and we invite you to do so right now while together we stand and while we sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!