In our earlier posts, we learnt that when we give our lives to Christ, it is our spirit that is born again and made new. Our old nature, the flesh even after we give our lives to Christ, continues to seek control of our lives. So for every situation you face in life, you have to choose an action that will either gratify the desires of your flesh or gratify the desires of the Spirit of God in you; for what your old nature desires, is contrary to what the Spirit of God now in you, also prompts you to do. The Scriptures tell us:
The choice really is yours! Whatever we do, we ought to realize that you become the slave of whoever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. (Rom 6:16-17 NLT).
Last week, we examined the sin of sexual immorality as one of the works of the flesh, which every believer must mortify. In this post, we will look at the sins of impurity, sensuality and idolatry. Let us quote the Scripture in Galatians 5 again, where all the works of the flesh are outlined.
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. Gal 5:19-22 ESV
Impurity
Some versions of Scripture in this text refer to impurity as uncleanliness. Webster’s online dictionary defines Impurity as:
(1) the condition or quality of being impure in any sense: defilement; foulness; adulteration.
(2)That which is, or which renders anything impure; foul matter, action, language, etc.; a foreign ingredient.
The Cambridge English dictionary also defines impurity as sexual thoughts or behaviour that are wrong or not moral.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in explaining to His disciples, what uncleanliness or impurity is, had this to say:
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, … Matt 15:18-20 NKJV
Juxtaposing the dictionary definitions of Impurity and what the Scripture says about this subject, I define impurity as the state of being defiled emotionally, morally and spiritually through any of your five senses: eyes, taste, touch, sight and hearing.
No doubt in our present day and age, one is bombarded everywhere with content that defiles the recipient in one way or the other; talk about what we see on the billboards, TVs, adverts that pop up when you are watching something decent on the internet. The lyrics of popular music, the stagecraft of artistes, the list is endless.
Impurity therefore, to a large extent has to do with a distortion of one of God’s most valuable gifts to mankind: love. When love is demeaned and equated to open vulgarity such as we see on our screens and sometimes in pubs and such places; that can be described as impurity. Such vulgarity can be in dance, language and open display of sexual advances. God’s love is pure (1 Cor 13) and the sexual love between a man and a woman is meant to be expressed in the context of marriage. (Eph 5). Sad to say, impurity and not purity, seems to be the thing of the now in recent times.
It is important for the believer to be purposeful in his or her choices: which company of people to associate with, where to go and even which internet material and sites to visit; among others.
This is because the battle ground of our new life in Christ with our old nature, is mainly our minds, thoughts and heart. Whatever we listen to, watch, ponder over in our minds and heart, affects what we tend to touch, say and how we react. So when we watch pornography and fantasize about people, our thoughts run wild, and this is impurity. Jesus makes this clear in the Matthew 15 Scripture earlier quoted, that what comes out of a person’s mouth is as a result of the condition of his heart (mind) and that is what defiles that person and makes him or her impure.
Watching pornography for example can lead a person into masturbation, fornication or even adultery.
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt 5:28-29 NKJV
Similarly, listening to wrong suggestions and counsel may also lead a person to utter defamatory, insulting words or even poniards to another. Here again, while the Holy Spirit will prompt us to forgive an offender, our sinful nature will on the other hand often push us to say or do something harmful to the person who would have wronged us. The choice once again is ours. We decide whose voice we will obey.
You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living
That is why the Scripture urges us not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of our mind (Romans 12:1-2); and also urges us to also to pull down every thought that opposes the will of God for our lives.
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. …… We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,… 2 Cor 10:3-5 ESV
Impurity is dangerous because you cannot be sure where it will lead you to; and it can also end up as an addiction.
One of the ways to overcome impurity is to memorize Scripture. There is power in God’s word to overcome impure thoughts; and as we fill our minds with the Word and confess it, the enemy is defeated, and we are able to submit our thoughts and hearts to Christ. Let this Scripture be our guide to help us triumph over this sin of impurity:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phillp 4:8-9 ESV
Sensuality / lewdness
Sensuality, referred to as lewdness in some versions of the Bible, is also a sexual sin. The Cambridge English dictionary defines sensuality as the expression or suggestion of physical, especially sexual pleasure or satisfaction. It can also be explained as being sexual in an indecent or lustful way; public sexual acts. A lot has been said on sexual immorality in our previous post and this can be applied to the sin of lewdness. (Series 3)
Idolatry
The Merriam Webster English dictionary defines idols as (1) an object of extreme devotion, (2) a representation or symbol of an object of worship.
Idols are not only graven images. Our Lord Jesus Christ even referred to money as an idol.
No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matt 6:24 NLT
For the love of money is the first step toward all kinds of sin. Some people have even turned away from God because of their love for it, and have as a result, pierced themselves with many sorrows. (1 Tim 6:10)
Anything we put ahead of God in our lives is an idol and God hates it. (Exod 20:4-5) Your idol can therefore be your phone, your money and even your spouse among others. Scripture says:
Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Jonah 2:8
The new believer must understand that these sins are overcome progressively and not overnight. The more we surrender to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and to His direction through God’s Word, the more control over our lives that He has, and the easier it is to overcome more and more sins as the days go by. So when the Apostle John says “he that is born of God does not sin” it simply means the born again believer does not make a practice of sinning because that person has surrendered his or her will to God and sin no more has dominion over him! I pray that this will be the testimony of every reader of this post.
Stay connected, for a continuation of this weekly teaching!
God bless you!!!
