And so, we're going to break this verse down into three simple parts and let this verse speak to
us. The first thing that I want you to see in reaching purity, is that Paul says to pursue
peace, righteousness. So to pursue purity. Pursue.
Pursue. So write this down if you're taking notes, is that purity is not a point you cross,
it's a pursuit. An ongoing pursuit or pursuit after Jesus. Purity is not a point you reach.
Oh when I get married, then I'm pure. Oh when I stop consuming pornography I am pure. When I
stop staring at girls butts, then I'm pure. When I stop looking for ladies who wearing yoga pants in
the gym, I'm pure. The same thing can be applied to girls. When I stop doing this, then I'm pure.
Purity is not a certain level you reach where you stop struggling. Paul doesn't say purity is
a point. It's a constant ongoing pursuit. When you stop pursuing, you stop purity. Even if you
don't commit physical, sexual, immoral sins. Purity is not a point you reach. It's a pursuit
after Jesus. So the goal is not to pursue purity, the goal
is to pursue Jesus and as you pursue Jesus that purity becomes a result. My problem was,
I got introduced to pornography at a very young age. I think I was about 12 years of age. It
was the first time that in the Ukraine somebody showed black and white magazine photos. It was
half of the page that was ripped off. I can't recall what I saw but I just remember,
that I saw for the first time women who could not afford clothes. Like a drug addict addicted
to drugs, I found myself being addicted to consuming pornography. It left me feeling dirty.
I was a disciplined man. I thought I was a disciplined man. I was disgusted with myself.
I hated myself. I started to preach at that time, already a young man. I would go to my pastor
for accountability. And I'm going to share my deliverance story in just a moment, but in my mind
I developed this thing, that I was not pure. I wasn't pure. Though I was a virgin, I wasn't pure.
And in my mind I said this, "If God gives me freedom from pornography, I will be pure."
So purity in my mind was this: Reaching a point where I no longer watch pornography. And that's
the problem. That's not what purity is. Purity is not reaching a point where you don't do that
sin that you do right now. That's not purity. Paul says, "To pursue." Meaning if you don't pursue it,
you can't walk in purity. And even if you stop consuming pornography, even if you stop
sleeping with your boyfriend, even if you repent of your lesbian lifestyle, even if you walk away
from sexual immorality, you get married and you have an ongoing physical intimacy. That doesn't
guarantee purity if you park your devotional, spiritual life in the garage of your religiousity.
And after I got delivered from pornography, I found out the battle
with lust. The battle and the struggle here continued but there was this sense of pride.
I no longer watch the stuff, so I am good. But see, if you're not pursuing,
you're not pure. Purity is not a point you reach, purity is a pursuit after God. Anytime you park at
the particular level with your walk with God, you start compromising physically. It always happens.
It's a matter of time, because the pursuit is the only thing that keeps me in purity. So the
root of my purity is the pursuit of God. The result of my pursuit of God, is pure lifestyle.
Are you comprende with what I'm saying? So the first thing that I wanted to share with you guys
today about purity, is the point it's not a point you reach. You don't park at a particular time
or a particular. Because I find people who, when they are needing to be free from a particular sin,
they are pursuing God. They're desperate. And then when you reach the freedom from the sin, there
becomes this complacent parking, where you sit down. Where you park at that freedom and you say,
"You know what, I am good. I arrived." But that's not what purity is, that's what freedom is. That's
not what purity is. What purity is, is a constant pursuit. So if you got free from that addiction,
if you got delivered from that. God says, "The same way you were pursuing Me when you were
addicted, continue to pursue Me. Otherwise some other addiction will slip you back in and you will
not be performing My commandments because you're not pursuing Me." Purity is the pursuit. Somebody
say, "Amen." The Holy Spirit is saying this, "Is that if you make it your goal to pursue Me,
without striving, purity, self-control. All those things will begin to come
natural, effortlessly." The only effort you have to put in is to run after Him. So all their effort
is not to be free. It's to run. When you put the effort to run, God says, "I put the effort to
bring purity. That even when you're free, I bring deeper levels of purity with every season of your
life." Because being free is not God's goal. God's goal is purity of heart. You can be free,
but not walk in purity. And that's why some of us, what happens is that we walk in freedom and
we think, "Well, I beat this sin. I beat that addiction. I no longer struggle with that." But
at the same time the purity of heart is deeper than that and you can't do that by trying to make
yourself pure. You can only do that by putting an effort to pursue and God says, "Now that you put
in the time to pursue." I'm not talking about just showing up to church. You got to pursue the Lord.
You got to pursue the Holy spirit if you want to live in purity.