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blessing that could come upon individuals and upon the church in general if we, as
God’s church, saw sin the way that He does and instead of making it less than it is,
took upon ourselves the attitude that Jesus recommends.)
#5: Ultimate Purity – this is the purity that is spoken of in the place called Heaven.
In Heaven there will be no more sin and, therefore there will be no more sadness,
tears, sickness, or pain. Heaven will be perfect in every way and our relationship
with Jesus will not be affected by the dilemma of sin. Remember too, that this
perfect place is reserved for perfect people, people who whilst here on earth found
their perfection not in human performance, but in a personal relationship with
Jesus.
Prayer Thought: As you pray today, won’t you pray through each one of these
aspects of purity, making sure, especially as it relates to positional purity and
practical purity, that you have personally realised their nature and their application
to your life.
Wednesday
Reading: Luke 18 v 9 – 14
At the outset of our study, I told you that there were three words we were going to
look at: pure, heart and see. We have so far looked at the word “pure”, today I
would like to turn our attention to the word “HEART”.
HEART – In the time that Jesus was here on earth He had many hectic conversations
with the Pharisees. The Pharisees thought that purity in action was good enough.
They thought that if they could just portray a hard stance on the breaking of the Old
Testament law, that this would be good enough to impress God to the point that
God would accept them on the basis of a “self-help” type of purity. Jesus, however,
emphasised very strongly the fact that purity in action was nowhere near good
enough, and although some may attempt it with good intentions, could so easily
become corrupted and lead people to a position of pride. This is the position that
many of the Pharisees found themselves in.
In our reading today, Jesus hammered home this point by comparing the prayer of
the Pharisee with that of the prayer of the sinful tax collector. The Pharisee prayed