Sermon Tone Analysis

The Purge [Part III]

“The Benefits of Purge”

The benefits of doing what the Lord ask us to do.

: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Opening Illustration: Four Christians met for a friendly gathering.

During the conversation one said, "Our pastor said people often come to him and pour out there hearts, confess certain sins and needs.

Let's do the same.

Confession is good for the soul."

In due time all agreed.

One confessed he liked to sneak into a neighborhood fishpond without permission.

The second said he went to bars and would sneak off when away from his church.

The third confessed to liking to smoke and gamble.

When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn't confess.

The others pressed him saying, "Come now, we confessed ours.

What is your secret or vice?" Finally he answered, Well if you insist, mine "It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get out of here."

: Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

The Psalmist cried out to God to purge his soul and spirit, to wash him clean!

We must never harbor sin.

Never let sin exist in you, confess it, bring it before the Lord and repent, and be made clean again.

You say what is sin?

The bible names a few…

ESV

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

What happens if I live in the flesh in these things?

The Bible answers the question…

ESV

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

ESV

Whoever conceals his transgressions [those in the scriptures] will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Therefore: We began this series titled The Purge.

Part One, August 5th: We dealt with the individual purging necessary by the Holy Spirit to walk in a manner worthy of the Holy calling.

Jesus said pick up your cross- “daily” and follow me.

That means die to your self- absorbtion, your self-centeredness, and your sinful side… Daily.

That’s individual purging, necessary to walk Holy and blameless before God; to walk in a manner worthy of Gods calling.

Purge daily.

Die daily to the flesh.

Pick up your cross daily.

You get it.

Part Two, August 12th: We dealt with the purging of the church family.

We visited the 7 churches of Asia in Revelation and heard the good news and the bad news what Jesus Christ said to those churches.

Judgment begins in the house of the Lord.

Therefore, knowing now that God disciplines his own, He will level complaints against his own children…then what will the world receive when they reject Christ?

Lets just say it will not be good!

Part Three, August 19th: Part three today will move us to answer the question “ what can expect if we obey God to purge us, individually, and corporately?”

Obedience to God through Jesus Christ opens up the floodgate of Gods favor on us individually, and collectively as His people.

I. The bible reminds us who we are in Christ.

Holy Bible tells us:

I Peter 1:29.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; - I Peter 1:29.

ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is

ESV But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

ESV …and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

ESV

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him the Spirit also is molding you together and building within you a dwelling place for God.

“He that began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.”

I.

The Bible reminds us who we are in Christ.

II.

The Bible reminds us of the indwelling Holy Spirit living in us.

Purging sin daily is obedience to God through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Since we know who we are…how then should we live in relationship with God? How do we walk in a manner worthy of the calling?

Well, not in your own strength that’s for sure!

ESV But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Illustration: Speaking to a large audience, D.L. Moody held up a glass and asked, "How can I get the air out of this glass?"

One man shouted, "Suck it out with a pump!" Moody replied, "That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass."

After numerous other suggestions Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass.

"There," he said, "all the air is now removed."

He then went on to explain that victory in the Christian life is not accomplished by "sucking out a sin here and there," but by being filled with the Holy Spirit.

We must be emptied before we can be filled."

[ Water Chalice demonstration here… Being filled filled is good…sinning in the process drains us, we leak, and need to be cleansed and re filled.

Grant me a few minutes here please to honor the third person of the Holy Trinity our Blessed Holy Spirit.

Question: "What or who is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?"

The indwelling of Holy Spirit,[ the 3rd person of the Trinity] is the action by which God takes up permanent residence in the body of a believer in Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, the Spirit would come and go from the saints, empowering them for service but not necessarily remaining with them (see ; ; ; ).

Jesus revealed to His disciples the new role the Spirit of Truth would play in their lives: “He lives with you and will be in you” ().

The apostle Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

For you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” ().

These verses are telling us that the believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit, living in him.

When an individual accepts Christ as personal Savior, the Holy Spirit gives the believer the life of God, eternal life, which is really His very nature (; ), and the Holy Spirit comes to live within him spiritually.

The fact that the believer’s body is likened to a temple where the Holy Spirit lives helps us understand what the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is all about.

The word temple is used to describe the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctum in the Old Testament tabernacle structure.

There, God’s presence would appear in a cloud and meet the high priest, who came once a year into the Holy of Holies.

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest brought the blood of a slain animal and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

On this special day, God granted forgiveness to the priest and His people.

Today, [ for now] there is no Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and the animal sacrifices have ceased.

The believer in Christ has become the inner sanctum of God the Holy Spirit, as the believer has been sanctified and forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ ().

The believer in Christ becomes the habitation of the Holy Spirit of God.

In fact, Scripture also says that the believer is indwelt spiritually by Christ () and by God the Father ()—the Trinity is involved.

As the Holy Spirit lives in the believer, He brings about some life-changing results:

1) The indwelling Holy Spirit comes to a soul dead in sin and creates new life ().

This is the new birth Jesus spoke of in .