“And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). Notice the object of the hope! It is not generated by imperfect man; the hope within man is and has been imputed. It is not generated or produced by him. It is in Him but has not been produced by means of his temporal flesh. It originates from the outside and comes to the inside of him by imputation. The standard that is required is the perfect purity of the indwelling Christ, and nothing less. If the purity emanates from man, it could not be pure. It would be as imperfect and impure as is imperfect and impure man. If the described purity is in Christ the purity is exceeding great and is to absolute perfection. It is not far less because of imperfection. It is far more because of perfection. The message is addressed to those who have 0a certain hope and to no others. You may ask… what is this great hope? It is clearly stated in (1 John 3:3) as referenced above.
“Beloved now are we the sons 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” (1 John 3:2).
This is the dogmatic and unqualified statement that those who are NOW children of God shall be like Christ. It is not, “those who remain children,” or “remain faithful,” or “hold out,” it is ALL who are NOW children of God! Please pause to realize this “now” has been recorded in the word of God for the entirety of the Church age. This blessed hope is expressed perfectly in the following scripture:
“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil: where the forerunner is for us entered, even JESUS, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:19,20).
It is because this sure hope is a current possession that those who have been saved are admonished to purify themselves. No one who begins and ends as filthy rags and undone before God can purify themselves and become fit for heaven. For it is… “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). A clear understanding of the realization of the fact that the believer shall be like Jesus Christ, the Son of God, makes all filthiness and disobedience of life seem strangely out of place.
If an individual has not learned the blessed assurance of salvation that clearly declares we shall be like Him, then these assurances lose their force and effect. Sadly, many Christians are not aware that they can KNOW that they shall be like Christ! How can anyone know if it is possible for them to be lost? If it is remotely possible for any saved person to be lost, that identical possibility exists for everyone. What a tragedy it is for a person to be saved and then to embrace an erroneous belief that they are committing a sin for which Christ did not die. It is even worse to believe they do not possess eternal life and are eternally condemned to Hell. No one can know of a certainty they shall be like Christ if the teaching against eternal security is correct. If no one knows that they shall be like Christ then the assurance of eternal salvation can never be an encouragement for the Christian.
Perhaps this incorrect understanding comes to some because of what is so often pronounced so fervently, and inaccurately, from many pulpits: “If you do this (something that shocks them) or if you do not do this or that, you are not saved and worse yet … you were never saved in the first place.” Does this sound like the marvelous grace of God or does it appear as the sounding brass and tinkling symbol of man-made legalism or “religion?” What is religion? Stand by for shocks. It is Satan’s ace trump! It is man by man’s futile efforts seeking to gain the favor or approbation of God by means of their futile human works or best efforts. The teaching of the eternal security of the believer is the foundation for God’s admonition for purity of life while a denial of it undermines the truth of its truth. Please notice the Biblical admonition for pure living as found in Paul’s letter to the Colossians:
“Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5,6).
Prior to this scripture, an unconditional statement to which the word “therefore” refers is expressed as follows: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also (those who are hid in Christ) appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). Can it be clearer? This definite, unconditional statement identifies and positions the believer in the presence of Christ in glory and is the reason given as the incentive to live a pure and obedient life. To teach that the saved and secure believer in Christ might not appear with Christ in glory flies in the face of recorded infallible scripture. To say further that any of the sins enumerated will take away the incentive to purity is to deny the divine guidance that God provides when the believer is tempted to commit an act of sin. Please consider this powerful scripture that has been recorded in my memory bank for sixty-four years… “There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful (we are not) who will not suffer (allow) you to be tempted (tested) above that which you are able, but will with the temptation (testing) make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
God’s admonition for purity of life is not strictly negative; it is for the specific purpose of incentivizing the believer to be desirous of listening, loving, and learning the word of God. The result then is to become wise and actually do the will of God. We are made by Him and equipped with spiritual gifts (at least one) to execute the plan of God while traversing through planet earth. Every child of God has a purpose and a mission in His perfect plan, and may I suggest, what higher purpose can anyone have than to embrace the unique privilege of executing the plan of God during this quickly passing temporal life? “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:1,2).
As a believer in Jesus Christ becomes aligned with and compelled by inculcating the word of God into the human spirit day by day, the outlook on life takes on meaning, purpose, and definition. The human view begins to see as God would have you to see, to look as God would have you to look and to do as God would have you to do. The impact of the powerful word of God provides the spiritual fodder which equips the believer for the service to which God has called him and to view matters in this life (no matter how difficult or impossible) as opportunities ordained by God. The inculcation and application of the word of God within the soul becomes God doing the work and teaches the believer to look beyond present circumstances, all the way to the end, whether they are good or bad.
This divine viewpoint requires a Biblical view that only comes from the word of God. This God ordained spiritual view comes from being occupied with the person of the book…even, Jesus Christ… the King, overall, in you all, and Lord of all. The trusting believer becomes wise and learns through many trials that God is not always the way out of a difficulty, but he is most certainly the only way through. Where is man to look in his darkest hour? At himself or the best of his best? No! He is to look to the manifest person of the Godhead who knows and supplies his every need including all spiritual, physical, temporal, and emotional needs.
The believer does not have a need that God did not know about all the way back to eternity past. If he knew about them then… He knows about them now. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Since you arrived after eternity past you may learn, in time, (during your life) that God is not surprised you have needs that appear (to you) unreachable. He knows you have problems that you have not been able to resolve, and that you become faced with apparent impossible circumstances. You have tried, and tried, but you continue to be enveloped and taken away by these temporal matters. You, in the near term, have only looked within. This within self look becomes as limited as you actually are when the look is directed at your temporal flesh. You are not comfortless…there is good news! The word of God offers a bright light of hope for you… look without, not within, and embrace what is beyond your fleshly thoughts to His divine and eternal thoughts (His word).
You may be thinking… I have read His word again and again, but “it doesn’t work for me!” I heard these chilling words, many years ago, from someone I loved. However, the debauched pattern of life had become so entrenched that this person was imprisoned by the darkness, and believed there was no way of escape. This misaligned pattern changed little because the illicit behavior had become entrenched and concretized as the reality of life. Small emotional and short-term changes made little or no difference. Remember this fatalistic statement… “I have read God’s word and it doesn’t work for me!” This humanistic thought pattern abandons the only life vest for survival during the most extreme trials. It provides nothing that will enable escape from the entrenched behavior patterns. Unacceptable behavior takes a toll on any human being. This is the law of sowing and reaping. When poor behavior becomes a permanent part of the reference frame the inevitable end is to arrive at a perilous and unhappy end.
Have you considered whether the word of God works in your life during any circumstance? Does the truth to resolve human problems reside only within homo sapiens? Or, are solutions available outside the realm of humanity? Is the question to be asked… “does the word of God work” or should it be understood that “God’s word is truth” and can be trusted and drawn into the soul? When a believer embraces the promises that God designed in eternity past, miracles begin to happen, circumstances change, and the view of self changes. When people change, everything around them changes. When change occurs within, everything around that person is viewed differently; the goal posts and hardened boundaries change. What once was that which was wrong and hurtful, now becomes that which is right and helpful.
When an individual has only learned one song or knows only one verse the entire universe of knowledge remains available but does not work well for that person. Such limited knowledge sets a constrained and narrow pathway that appears to be the only route forward, but it is not. Are other options available, and are they contained within the word of God? I will let you decide after reading the following verse of scripture.
“This is what the Lord says: Stand at the crossroads, and look, ask for the old paths, ask where the GOOD WAY IS, and walk in it, and YOU SHALL FIND REST for YOUR SOUL” (Jeremiah 6:16).
What was the response to Jeremiah’s powerful and encouraging words? It was identical to the futile and short-sighted words that were uttered by my calloused acquaintance in saying, “I Have read God’s word, and it doesn’t work for me.” Jeremiah had just conveyed to these scoffers, the right pathway, but why did his word find no place in their hardened souls? They said, “we will NOT Walk therein.” He further stated that the sound of the trumpet would warn them, but still “they refused to listen and did not harken.” Once again, they were told to hear and to know, but they were hardened and did not listen! I suppose some may have said, “you have a good point BUT, the word of God does not work for me.” Be forewarned! God does not set by idly regarding a hardened and rebellious heart! In response to the hardness and indifference of these scoffing unbelievers, God pronounced, “I will bring evil upon this people, even THE FRUIT OF THEIR THOUGHTS, because they have not harkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.” …
“The word of God does not work for me!” I will go my own way. “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
Is the right question does the word of God work… or is a better question, is the word of God the truth of God’s truth that must be realized, believed, and applied? To course through the word of God and refuse to stop, look, and listen to its message is sheer blindness, that comes from an empty, darkened, and flawed mind. The mind is flawed because of a limited and unbelieving human viewpoint. This becomes a concretized mindset that has chosen unbelief and rejects the very solution that leads from darkness to light and provides escape from a flawed and unbelieving human view point to a foundation of steadfastness, assurance, rest, and deliverance for the soul.
“The word of God does not work for me! What is the source for believing such an inaccurate and fallacious statement? How did you come to this realization? Do you realize these kinds of statements reveal a darkened and empty soul that scoffs at the truth of God’s truth. What is the right source, means, and end. Look at your looking! The opposite end of a telescope, gives a myopic view of the landscape, and by looking at the wrong end you lose sight of the real or big picture. What is… what is not… what can be, or what will be. What are your yeses and noes? What is your source, means, and end for arriving at a mindset of unbelief that just may accompany you to an eternal lake of fire?
Examine yourself and ask, where am I going, and what brought me to these beliefs? Where did I get them; how have I come to believe what I believe? And more importantly, where will they take me? What will be my eternal destiny if I continue to hold fast to these beliefs that have led me far, far, and farther from God’s truth? Pause to ask, what is my source, means, and end for arriving at the persuasions that have not aligned me with the sovereign God of the universe who provides light in a darkened world that is comprised of doubt and dangerous unbelief. Only two sources of knowledge are available for learning, growth, and development. One is human viewpoint; the other is divine viewpoint. Which one are you using as your source for knowledge and truth? What are your means. The means of obtaining human knowledge and truth are from the offerings and energy obtained from the best of humanity. The end of all human philosophy and acquired knowledge is to bring glory to self. The Bible presents a much brighter and reliable opportunity that is defined as Divine Viewpoint. This view translates as God being the source of a consistent, coherent, and comprehensive system of truth.
With this powerful source of truth, we are in possession of the means to acquire divine viewpoint and to be equipped to think and live as God’s word directs. The means of pressing forward and accomplishing the will of God is the word of God, which is clearly declared to be alive and powerful. The amazing Holy Spirit of God works within the believer so that he may work without to accomplish God’s purposes.
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are SPIRIT and they are life” (John 6:63).
In John 17:17, it is declared that God’s word is truth and that we are set apart and saved by means of this truth. I have mentioned THE source, means, and end for reliable knowledge. The source is God, His word is the means, and the end is that all glory belongs to God, and not to any human being. The word of God is the only source of objective truth. The focus is on the wisdom and glory of God. God has placed His word above all names, men, and things and so declared it by stating ….“For I have magnified my word above all of my name” (Psalm 138:2).
All other sources and searches for truth may be termed “discovered truth” and are subjective with a primary focus on self. Please look at a portion of the eternal word of God for a pertinent insight into the limited wisdom of man. “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I AM the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight” (Jeremiah 9:23,24).
The Bible is God’s blueprint for successful outcomes in every area of life. Please meditate on the following scripture and be as impressed with its power as I have been for the entirety of my life in Christ. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be mature, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16 to 17). These amazing words testify to the authority and sufficiency of God’s word. The word of God will prepare and enable the believer for every good work, not only when things are going well, but in every area of life whether good or bad. God’s word is the great convertor wherein all things, whether good or bad, will ultimately work for good and for His ultimate Glory.
“For we KNOW that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
The eternal and powerful word of God is not a book of convenience while in the church assembly or in the presence of other believers. God’s word is the blueprint for successful outcomes in every aspect of the Christian way of life. Outcomes from God’s word occur whether storms are surging or while the soul is stilled by the breathtaking and infallible word of God. Since God has exalted His word above all of His name, we are wise when we examine the magnificence of that name to know and learn the information He has provided that is above His unique and Holy name.
“And of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2 to 3).
“Wherefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2: 9 to 11).
A Purifying Hope
