2 Corinthians 7:1 (NKJV) Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Perfecting Holiness Last month we looked at a lesson that is foundational as well as a part of the verse under consideration We spoke of what drives us or motivates us in our quest to bring our holiness to completion Our verse begins by saying, “Therefore, having these promises…

Perfecting Holiness Those promises are what motivates or drives us Based upon that motivation, action begins as we read, “…let us…” It’s this next part that we want to concentrate on today

Perfecting Holiness The best commentary on perfecting holiness will come from the Bible itself When we look at the verse itself, it guides us in the direction of perfecting holiness So we read, “…let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit”

Purity The idea of purity and cleansing ourselves is not a foreign concept in the Bible This is not the only place we see the idea of keeping ourselves pure and unspotted Even in the Old Testament we see the idea of keeping oneself pure from many things, most especially sin (Lev. 16:30; Ps. 51:2; 119:9)

Purity The Israelites were to separate themselves from the nations around them lest they be pulled away from God (Deut. 7:16; 20:17-18) Solomon told his son to keep himself pure (Prov. 4:20-27) Job thought purity important enough to make a covenant with his eyes (Job 31:1)

Purity Jesus said we cannot serve two masters (God and mammon – Matt. 6:24) James said that one who is religious is one who keeps himself unspotted from the world (Js. 1:27) Paul reminds us that we are not to be conformed to this world (Rom. 12:2)

Our Dirt It is difficult to be pure when we have sin and filthiness in our lives Paul states that this had occurred in the life of all (Rom. 3:23) God’s plan to bring Christ into the world was a plan to cleanse us from our sins (Heb. 9:14; I Jn. 1:7; Rev. 1:5)

Our Dirt There were those in Corinth who had some of this filthiness in their lives Paul names a list that is not only lengthy, but contains some sins that most would regard as grave sins (I Cor. 6:9-10) “And such were some of you. But you were washed…” (v. 11)

Our Dirt We too were those who had dirt in our lives We were sinners just as Paul states in Romans 3:23 However, through the blood of Christ we were cleansed from our sins and we had that filthiness washed from us

Dirty Again? So what can hinder us from perfecting holiness? It is possible for a cleansed Christian to return to the filthiness that they came from It could be that there were those in Corinth who were washed and cleansed who now had returned to that same filthiness

Dirty Again? Understand that we cannot complete the process of holiness unless we decide to get rid of the filthiness in our lives Sin is a defilement and one with sin cannot enter into heaven to be in the presence of God (Rev. 21:27) We must work to cleanse the dirt and keep it out of our lives

Dirty Again? “Be holy, for I am holy” cannot be followed if we continue in sin (I Pet. 1:16) God is perfect and therefore we must strive to be perfect Therefore we cannot continue to wallow in the dirt if we are seeking to be holy

Cleanse Yourself In a very real way, we must remove the filthiness from our lives and live lives of purity That means I must guard my temper and control my anger and emotions (Eph. 4:26-27) That means I must learn to talk like a child of God and not as the world speaks (Js. 3:9-12)

Cleanse Yourself That means I should keep my eyes from “lust” or looking again (Job 31:1; Matt. 5:28) That means I am not to covet but rather be content in my life (Heb. 13:5) That means that I can no longer live like the world lives, but rather follow God in all that I do