The Spirit's Purifying Fire

Galatians 5:16-26 (16, 18, 25); Titus 2:13-14

Subject: Power for Purity                                                                             

Theme: Walking in the Spirit results in purity, spiritual power, and growth in righteousness. Remember, “The price of spiritual power is purity of heart.”

Relevance: Beyond any doubt the Holy Spirit promotes spiritual freedom from sin’s enslavement and control. He advances maturity and responsible holy living even though our culture embraces moral corruption and the accompanying dishonorable behavior patterns. If you make corruption easy, normal (appear acceptable) and convenient it will go unchallenged in many hearts. In contrast, the Spirit's purifying influence supports or installs virtue, integrity and decency; He is the secret to victorious and fulfilling Christian experience. Really our culture can use a serious moral and spiritual upgrade! The Holy Spirit's purifying fire will purge the believer’s heart and habits...our minds and hands; He will lead us into sin-destroying triumphs freeing us from the control of our carnal nature. 

Introduction:

1. The Spirit Purifies Us Believer By Freeing Us From the Dominance, Slavery, and Mastery of Our Carnal Fleshly Human Nature. Galatians 5:16, says, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Also See Gal. 5:25)

Through a faithful “walk in the Spirit” we realize the blessings of freedom from sinful practices even when sin seems unmovable and extremely stubborn! Additionally, the Spirit, like fire, will illuminate the darkest sins hiding in the deepest recesses of our souls and purge it so significantly that it no longer tortures us through our motivations and desires. The promise of Galatians 5:16 is the Spirit of the Living God grants the trusting believer power and grace to refuse the gratification of carnal and fleshly desires. 

Even those feelings and yearnings just under the surface of our carnality waiting for the precise occasion to spring into destructive activity cannot escape His Fire. The Spirit of God affords us the power to reject and deny these "lusts" and motives expression or satisfaction. This is a wonderful part of our victorious freedom as we continue walking in the Holy Spirit’s power and grace! This walk is a step by step constant dependence upon God to strengthen and enable liberty from fleshly self-gratifying desires. 

The Spirit’s Power Helps Us Realize the Promise of Victory Over Habitual Sins (Gal. 5:16-18).

“The answer to the abuses described in the previous verse is to live by the Spirit. The phrase literally means to, “keep on walking.” As a believer walks through life he should depend on the indwelling Holy Spirit for guidance and power. But the Spirit does not operate automatically in a believer’s heart. He waits to be depended on. When a Christian does yield to the Spirit’s control, the promise is that he will not in any wise gratify, “complete, fulfill” in outward action) the desires of the sinful nature. Thus, while no believer will ever be entirely free in this life from the evil desires that stem from his fallen human nature, he need not capitulate to them, but may experience victory by the Spirit’s help.”—John Walvoord

With these concepts in clear view, let us look at a purifying ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Lesson:

The Spirit’s Removing Fire—Cleansing (Gal. 5:18-21).

By this I mean the Holy Spirit’s Fire Actually Purifies by Removing Wrong Attitudes from the Heart and Sinful Actions from the Believers Life. Impurities are Filtered out of our Daily Experiences.

The sins identified in this list are sensual, seditious, and superstitious transgressions (Gal. 5:19-21). They are violations of God’s holy law rooted in the fallen fleshly nature of all humanity. They are actions and motivations that taint and soil the soul in the gravest ways. They warp the mind, poison the human spirit, and destroy any chance of healthy relationships. Many of these are obviously sinful practices, but there are some mentioned here that the average person would not even consider as sins. Strife, envy, witchcraft, adultery, drunkenness, and reveling would not appear on some lists of sins. These have been approved, renamed, glamorized, and sanctioned by modern society. These behaviors and desires are so commonly featured in entertainment venues that we scarcely regard them as moral failures. Yes, sin is entertaining to our modern society; other forms of transgression are actually celebrated and advocated by the general populous and special interests groups. 

Speaking of special interests...elected officials and politicians routinely use their offices for personal financial favors. Bribery is alive and well the world around. I wonder how many laws were passed to secure special favors, kickbacks, and implied promises.... It appears to me at least...that if you have the money to significantly support a political campaign then you can leverage this for favorable results/accommodations during that term in office. If a lobbying agency influences congressmen and judges then it can control the direction of the state or the entire country touching certain matters of special interest. How many financial gains, special gifts, and exotic vacations have shaped political policy? I am afraid "quid pro quo" is not dead…why it’s not even sick! When special favors and personal benefits influence official decisions, policy, and even legislation then it is corruption that is at play. Too many elected representatives promise one thing, but really take care of number one while in public office. Beloved, we are experiencing serious erosion of ethical standards all over our political landscape. 

Believe it or not the Spirit of God can help the individual believer live above such moral corruption. This is worldliness and carnality. The “works of the flesh” are identified by a holy God as gross moral failures and stark violations of God's requirements. God designed life for fellowship with us; his plan includes blessing and liberty from all that interferes with that healthy fellowship. Yes, he stands opposed to marital unfaithfulness, shacking up, playing the field, night clubbing, homosexual practices, pornography, wife beating, child abuse, rape, incest, lying, bribery, extortion, embezzlement, cheating, stealing, fraud, pride, and on the list goes! Again our culture views this perspective as outdated and antiquated, but there is a better way involving release and freedom from the control of sinful practices. The good news is that God actively engages us to give us victory over such enslaving habits and entrenched sin. The fire of God’s Spirit has a cleansing and life changing impact on the submissive and cooperative believer in Christ Jesus.

1. The Spirit’s Fire Penetrates into the Realm of Our Attitudes and Desires—the Heart.

The solution to sin's controlling enslavement through our fallen nature is the Holy Spirit who diametrically  opposes the flesh. Again he is portrayed in the Word of God as a purifying and sin purging fire. He convicts us and removes sin from our daily experiences. He not only burns sin from us, but cleanses the heart of the believer so that we no longer desire to practice those same sins (Gal. 5:16, 25, 26). The struggles with wicked thoughts, desires and strong yearnings of the carnal heart is ongoing, but a conscious “walk in the Spirit” by faith enables us to deny the fleshly desires any expression. We do not need to give our carnal nature the upper hand—we can say “no” to the flesh!

Once He has purified us, part of the purification process is a desire in us to remain pure. Wrong desires can largely be displaced by right desires and the believer will actually undertake specific efforts to cleanse himself and stay clean. The marvelous truth is the Spirit of grace is at work in our hearts and minds. We must ensure we look to him in utter dependence and faith in his power to grant victory.  

2. The Expressed Goal of Salvation is Redemptive and Purification! Titus 2:13-14, says, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; [14] Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Also see Eph. 5:25-28)

Accordingly, Christ’s incredible sacrifice was not to permit us to passively endure an existence dominated by slavery to our fallen fleshly nature. Christ certainly gave himself to pay our sin debt delivering us from blood-guiltiness and eternal punishment for sin in Hell.

He also willingly gave himself without any reservation to redeem, deliver, and set us free from daily enslavement to sinful habits, deeds and practices. His goal was to purify or cleanse us from all iniquities and impurities. “Iniquity” refer to living with complete disregard for the plan, purpose, will, and laws of God. Beloved, one purpose of Christ's cross is freedom from the power of the flesh. God grants the ability to live in righteousness and holiness from the inside out. God’s people have no excuse for living carelessly in sin, lawlessness, and carnally indulgent lives. That’s a contradiction!

3. Often in Scripture fire is used to convey the process of purification and refinement. Fire is also a symbol by which the Holy Spirit’s work in believers’ hearts can be understood. Taken together the result is spiritually purified hearts by the cleansing flame of the Spirit of Burning. Note the following passages:

Acts 2:3, says, “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” You will recall that the Holy Spirit’s manifestation is described as divided tongues, “like as of fire.”  In another place God is described in His judgment role as a consuming fire (Deut 4:24; 9:3)!  Hebrews 12:29, says, “For our God is a consuming fire.”

In one other place God commands believers to stir up the flames of revival in the soul, and fan into a brilliant flame the gift of God.  2 Tim. 1:6, says, “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”

Then we are told that God labors to purge us like precious metals to remove impurities and refine us for greater usages—these are chastening and judgment acts of God upon His people. Isaiah 1:25, states, “And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:”

Isaiah 4:4, also says, “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.”

“This cleansing is done by the blast of the Spirit’s burning. Here is the searching, illuminating, refining, dross-consuming character of the Spirit. He burns up the dross in our lives …” –Evans, W. 1998, c1974. The Great Doctrines of The Bible.

The Spirit of God's cleansing activity in our lives is like fire; he discovers the sin and with our cooperation he empowers us to utterly reject carnal practices. The result is purity of life.

4. Fire and Burning Are Not Necessarily Comfortable Images to Us. Fire sounds painful, and sometimes the fire of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives is painful. His chastisements and admonishments often go against what we desire in the fleshly, human nature. But the results of His purification process are glorious!

As the Lord purifies us, our motives, behavior and goals become acceptable in His sight and are effectively prepared for use in His kingdom. Purification is a necessary part of our being sanctified, which is to be cleansed and set aside as holy in God’s eyes.  Hebrews 12:10-11, states, “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. [11] Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.  (See also 1 Pet. 4:12-14)

The Lord is highly motivated to to purify his people because he loves and treasures each of us in ways difficult for us to understand. During the corrective measures he takes with us, it is very difficult to appreciate what he is doing or how he is going about it. Our part is to take such passages very seriously--trust him, takes some inventory, confess our personal failures and embrace holy and submissive attitudes towards him. God's goal is that we become fruitful and productive believers. We all must anticipate yielding the "peaceable fruit of righteousness" under his cultivating hand. I know I need this kind of care from the Father in my life. 

5. Purity of Heart Cannot Be Separated from the Fire of the Holy Spirit.

That’s a vital concept for us to understand. We are purified by the Holy Spirit, and we continue to walk in purity because of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power in us. There is no way we can clean up our lives apart from His enabling us to do so. While it is true a person can change their habits and behavior without the Holy Spirit, they never the less cannot alter the state of their hearts. Nor can they truly please the Lord through their independent self-efforts. The Spirit truly gets to the heart of the matter where real transformation transpires.

6. Many People Attempt to Clean up Their Lives by a Mere Change in Their Behavior. They start going to church, attending Bible study, giving some of their money to God, reading their Bibles, and saying their prayers. All of these are good things, but it is best to yield to the Spirit first! None of these actions drive sin from our lives effectively without Him. Only as we yield to the Holy Spirit can we truly be cleansed like God desires. Our attitude toward God’s disciplinary burning to remove sinful actions, activities, ambitions, and attitudes should be acceptance, appreciation and yielded-ness.

The Lord Jesus said in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Beloved, this is wise counsel from our Lord. There is no room for objections and debate; we all must submit to our Lord’s directive. Remember, such guidance proceeds from a great heart of love; he is the one who died for us to deliver us from the penalty and power of sin. Jesus would that we be free by the power of the Holy Ghost in our daily experiences. Repenting of sin is well within order. 

The Book of Job reminds us of the blessedness of God’s corrective love in our experiences. Job 5:17, says, “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty”.  We should count ourselves happy or blessed to have such care from the Almighty Father.  Too many parents simply allow their children to do whatever they want. These young people live very insecure lives in a dangerous and hostile world. No one loves them enough to guide them away from the landmines and pitfalls. Not true of genuine believers! We have the security of the Father's love and the guidance He affords to lead us into freedom, liberty, and purity of habits and heart. Beloved, don’t reject God’s corrective and life changing initiatives; it is wise to submit and embrace his will. The happiest people on planet earth are cared for by Almighty God. They appreciate the Spirit of God's efforts to purge and purify their experiences. 

Conclusion:

Psalm 139:23, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Perhaps we all should pray with the Psalmist, “Search me, O God.” In every believer there should be a desire to be clean and an awareness of strategies to stay clean. Cooperating with the Holy Spirit is God's will for each of us. Find a place to get alone with the Lord and then do some house cleaning. 

Keep this truth uppermost in your thinking: “The price of spiritual power is purity of heart.” Ask God to reveal anything that might hinder His flow of power in your life.

·       Do I treasure deceptive and misleading goals, sinful-worldly pleasures, Christ-dishonoring habits, ugly pride, myself or my friends?

·       Have I fully submitted to the authority of my Lord expressed in the Bible by refusing conformity to this world while choosing the transforming power of a spiritually renewed mind (Romans 12:1, 2)?

 NOTHING BETWEEN

Words and music by Charles A. Tindley, 1851–1933

Nothing between my soul and the Savior, naught of this world’s delusive dream: I have renounced all sinful pleasure—Jesus is mine! There’s nothing between.

Nothing between, like worldly pleasure! Habits of life, tho harmless they seem, must not my heart from Him ever sever—He is my all! There’s nothing between.

Nothing between, like pride or station: Self or friends shall not intervene; tho it may cost me much tribulation, I am resolved! There’s nothing between.

Nothing between, e’en many hard trials, tho the whole world against me convene; watching with prayer and much self denial—Triumph at last, with nothing between!

Chorus: Nothing between my soul and the Savior, so that His blessed face may be seen. Nothing preventing the least of His favor: Keep the way clear! Let nothing between.