Defiled Teachers

[00:00:01] Our Father, your Word is a lamp to our feet. [00:00:08] It directs us in the way that we should go. [00:00:12] And we know that that way is to follow after the Lord Jesus our Savior, to trust in him, to entrust ourselves to him, to lean on him for everything that we need. [00:00:28] O Lord our God. We confess that our hearts would often lead us in other directions. [00:00:35] And there aren't many who would like to get our attention away from Jesus and from your Word and lead us all over the place. [00:00:46] And we confess, Lord God, that because of the sinfulness of our hearts, we very often give in. Amen. [00:00:53] We ask that in your mercy, you would be patient with us, forgiving us for Jesus sake, and for his sake also. [00:01:02] We ask that now, especially by your Spirit, you would guide us in the truths of your word, that we would see them clearly, and that by the power of your Spirit, we would be led to trust in Jesus and in him alone for salvation. In his name we pray. Amen. [00:01:25] Please remain standing for our sermon text. Our sermon reading this evening. We're going to read from Titus, chapter 1. [00:01:34] Read verses 9 through 16, and the sermon text will be verses 15 and 16, Titus 1, beginning in verse 9. [00:01:46] As a reader, remind you that these aren't just the Apostle Paul's words, certainly not my words. They aren't just the words of men. They're the words of God inspired by his Holy Spirit, and they're given for your salvation. So listen accordingly. [00:02:03] He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. [00:02:14] For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. [00:02:23] They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. [00:02:32] One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own. Said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. [00:02:41] This testimony is true. [00:02:44] Therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. [00:02:55] To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. [00:03:04] But both their minds and their conscience are defiled. [00:03:08] They profess to know God, but they deny Him. By their works they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. [00:03:23] Please be seated. [00:03:35] How many of you were told as children or have told your own children as you Saw them running across the yard. [00:03:42] Watch out. [00:03:44] Don't run into the street. [00:03:48] Or maybe you were taught or warned your children look both ways before crossing the street. [00:03:57] What are you doing? [00:03:58] You're warning your children. [00:04:01] You're warning them so that you could. [00:04:04] They would be turned away from danger. [00:04:08] Of course, the danger being the cars speeding along the street that might not see little children. [00:04:15] There's all kinds of warnings that we give and receive in life that are for our good. Of course, there's the famous story of the little boy who was supposed to be watching the sheep and was lazy and didn't want to. And he came and warned the people of the town that there was a wolf. And it was an empty warning the first three times. And then the people gave up and stopped heeding his warnings. And when finally there was actually a wolf, he came and he pled with the people. No, this time I'm telling the truth. [00:04:48] But they didn't believe him. [00:04:50] Well, in our sermon text this evening, Paul is giving us a warning, a warning against defiled teaching. [00:05:03] I want to look at that warning against defiled teaching in two points. [00:05:10] First, at the defiled teaching teachers. We're going to consider as he warns us about the defiled teachers. The way he warns about the defiled teaching is by pointing to the teachers and their defiled character. [00:05:25] Secondly, he, you might say, ups the ante. He increases the stakes. He goes from warning us that they're defiled to warning us that they are detestable or abominable teachers. So we'll look first at the warning against defiled teachers. And then secondly, the abominable or detestable teachers. [00:05:49] We looked last week, we began to look last week at this text, and we considered the brief phrase Paul uses. [00:05:57] To the pure, all things are pure. And we considered the biblical teaching on purity, how it is that one becomes pure through the blood of Christ. Why that's important? Because unless you're purified, unless you've been cleansed by. By the blood of Christ, you cannot enter the presence of a pure and holy God. [00:06:15] And we commented that Paul's method here was to start with the true teaching, the teaching about how one is first purified and then to the pure, all things are pure. He moves from the true teaching to the false teaching. [00:06:32] But the way he lays out the false teaching is by. Not by, you might say, explaining the false doctrine, but by pointing to the character of the false teachers, that they are detestable defiled teachers. [00:06:52] Paul's method here is to point to them and say, don't follow them. And the reason I'm giving you not to follow them is not just that their teaching is false. I've already told you that and explained that. [00:07:06] But I'm going to point you to the fact that they themselves are defiled. Now, the false teachers were going around and giving people teaching instruction. Paul References in verse 13 the commandments of men who turn away from the truth. That's what he's, what we're referring to here, these commandments of men as the false teaching. [00:07:26] They were giving false teaching on how it was that a person could be purified and have a relationship with God, how one might know God. [00:07:36] And in order to know God, you have to be pure. So they were teaching about purity and ways that people, sinners could be purified. [00:07:45] And Paul points his way of answering their false teaching is to point to their own character and to say, look, reject them, not just their teaching because it's false and because it's the commandments of men, but reject it because they themselves are defiled. [00:08:01] So to put it really, really simply, and we're just going to be restating this over and over again as we go through the sermon, Paul is saying, look, their teaching must be false and you need to reject it because their teaching doesn't lead to purity, it leads to defilement. They themselves are defiled, therefore their teaching must be defiled. That's basically, you might say, his rhetorical argument, his strategy here. [00:08:28] Well, what was their defiled teaching? [00:08:32] All teachers have a teaching, right? These people are going around teaching something to people. [00:08:38] They were claiming to have a way that sinners could be purified and come near to God. [00:08:45] Verse 14 gives us the clue, the commandments of people who turn away from the truth. [00:08:54] Now, the principle of this teaching is not laid out or expanded in detail in Titus, but we can gain it from other epistles, other letters of Paul. [00:09:03] The basic principle of this teaching seems to be something like can become pure based on the things that you do. [00:09:14] By keeping certain rules, observing certain rituals, avoiding certain foods, maybe even avoiding marriage, you can attain purity and therefore be accepted by God. That's the basic idea here. Here's a couple examples. An example of these same false teachers that were troubling the church at Ephesus. Paul wrote to Timothy as Timothy was the pastor of the church at Ephesus. 1 Timothy 4:3. [00:09:42] He's describing the false teaching that Timothy is to reject and to to teach against. [00:09:50] He describes this false teaching as those who are forbidding people to marry and commanding. Remember the commandments of men and commanding to abstain from foods which God created, to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created. [00:10:12] Or we find something similar in Colossians chapter 2:2, verse 21 and 22. There Paul rebukes the Colossians, who are some of them perhaps being led astray by similar false teaching. He says, why do you submit to decrees? [00:10:29] Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle. [00:10:34] Why do you submit to decrees, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men. [00:10:52] Now there's two key points that's common. You can hear it in both of those verses. If you look at them up later, you'll see this in this false teaching. [00:11:03] First of all, it deals with outward things, whether foods or marriage or rituals that people would perform, things eaten, touched and so forth. It deals with outward things and outward rituals. [00:11:19] Secondly, the source of the teaching, it's man made ideas, man made teachings, commandments of men deals with outward things and it's the commandments of men. In other words, not from God, and especially not things that Jesus had given the apostles, including Paul, to teach his Church. [00:11:46] The principle that they were promoting with these man made rituals and commandments and rules is basically, there is something that you as a sinner can do that will bring you purity, purge away your sin and your defilement, and that through your following of these rituals and attaining purity, you will gain access to God's presence. [00:12:12] That's basically what their teaching amounted to. [00:12:17] Put it really, really simply, there's something that you can do that brings you before God in purity. [00:12:29] This may sound like, okay, that's something Paul you're talking about that was floating around in Ephesus, Colossi, maybe even Crete. [00:12:42] What's that got to do with us today? [00:12:45] Well, this teaching has remained alive and well all through church history. Two thousand years now, in every era of church history, this basic principle, man made principle, man made rules that will bring you purity if you do them. And then you can be in God's presence. It's been there all through church history. And of course, the easy thing to pick on is the Roman Church. [00:13:12] The Roman Church has heaped up man made rituals and laws all through its history. [00:13:18] If you pray this prayer five times, you go do some work of penance, then you can earn some forgiveness for your sins, you can achieve some purity. [00:13:32] And if you do this all your life, Long. And you're a faithful Roman Catholic. [00:13:38] If you do this all your life long, at the end of your life, when you die, you'll get to go to a place called Purgatory, where the rest of the sins that you didn't quite make atonement for, through your penance, you'll finish being purified, purged purgatory. [00:13:58] You'll finish being purified for those sins. And then when you've spent enough years in Purgatory paying for all of those sins, then you'll be purified and you'll get to go to God in his presence in heaven. [00:14:12] It's the same basic principle. There's things that you can do, they say here and now, but then also in purgatory, in the afterlife, that you can do to finish paying for purifying for your own sins. And then God will let you into his presence. [00:14:28] And the Protestant Church in America, we've got the same kinds of things. [00:14:34] We pick on Rome, but if we look in the mirror, if you look around the Protestant Church in America, we're beginning to pile up similar rituals. [00:14:44] Maybe it's a second baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you get this second baptism of the Holy Spirit, then you'll really be saved. [00:14:52] What's that look like? Well, you've got to perform miracles because you've been baptized by the Holy Spirit, or you learn to speak in man made gibberish. And then you can know that you're purified because you've received this second baptism of the Holy Spirit. [00:15:09] And then there's other wings of Protestantism that are beginning to reintroduce old Roman Catholic rituals. In other words, we left Rome, but, but now we're going back and saying, you know, we'd like to bring some of that back. And so we tell our people, you should start practicing Lent. If you deny yourself this thing or that thing for this next 40 day period, you can prepare yourself for entering God's presence and Easter. [00:15:36] It's all nonsense. It's all man made rituals, the doctrines of men. But I lay all this out to warn you, as Paul does. This defiled teaching is alive and well, not just in Rome, but in evangelical Christianity also. [00:15:55] There's something that we can do to purify ourselves so that we can gain access to God. [00:16:03] Now, what's the truth? [00:16:05] Paul wants us to hear the truth about these defiled teachers and their defiled teaching. [00:16:11] And he says, see their defilement? That's what he says in verse 15 to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is Pure. [00:16:25] Look at their persons. He says they're actually still defiled. [00:16:31] The truth is that their works do not purify them. [00:16:36] Titus 3:5. [00:16:39] God saved us not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. [00:16:49] That's the truth. [00:16:51] Nothing that man does can ever purify him. [00:16:55] And if any teacher comes along and says, if you do these things, you'll be closer to God and a little bit less sinful, it's false. [00:17:06] No work that you can do will save you. The purification of sin has never come from and never will come from something that man does. It doesn't come from something you abstain from because you don't eat this food or that food, because you hold back from this or that, or because you perform this ritual or that ritual. [00:17:26] Purification oil only ever comes through the blood of Jesus Christ, and you receive it by faith. [00:17:34] So the truth is, their works do not purify them. [00:17:39] They are still defiled. That's the truth. They pursue purity. This is ironic, isn't it? They pursue purity. [00:17:48] If we do these things, we can be pure. But Paul says they are defiled. [00:17:55] Why? [00:17:56] He explains the next word. They're defiled and unbelieving. [00:18:02] Because they're unbelieving, they remain defiled. [00:18:06] What's he saying? He's saying they don't believe in Jesus Christ. [00:18:12] They do not have faith in the one who offers purification. They don't trust in the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. [00:18:24] They remain defiled. [00:18:26] Jesus came to purify a people for himself through his death. [00:18:32] You find that in Titus 2, verse 14, who gave himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people. [00:18:47] Jesus is the only way of purification. And he purifies us through his death, and then as we receive it by faith. [00:18:55] We looked at that last week where Peter says in Acts 15, verse 9 that God purified the hearts of Gentiles by faith and gave them His Holy Spirit. [00:19:08] And it's from the purified heart that we live pure lives. That's Paul's principle. To the pure, all things are pure. [00:19:16] They do not believe. [00:19:18] They haven't received Jesus, so they remain defiled. [00:19:24] The truth speaks yet further. [00:19:29] Not only are they defiled, but to them everything is defiled. [00:19:36] He says they are defiled and unbelieving. [00:19:39] To the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. [00:19:45] To them, everything is impure. Defiled. [00:19:50] What's going on? Their teaching that leaves them defiled also leads them to Greater defilement. [00:19:59] Why? Because their mind and their conscience remain defiled. [00:20:04] What does the mind do? [00:20:06] The mind is the part of our inner life that contemplates things. It considers what's before us, the choices we have to make. What, what are we going to do? [00:20:16] We reason about things. [00:20:18] We make a plan of action. Maybe we do it in an instant, maybe we take some time to do it. But either way, the mind is considering, contemplating, guiding us. [00:20:28] And then the conscience comes along and your mind may be contemplating a pathway that leads to something that's not good. [00:20:37] And God gave us a conscience to poke, to prod, to say, wait a minute, you're about to do something sinful and displeasing to God, you need to turn away from it. [00:20:50] And it doesn't give us peace. We feel restless when we've done something wrong, right? That's our conscience poking and prodding us. But Paul says their mind and their conscience remain defiled. [00:21:02] In other words, they haven't been purified when on the inside by the Holy Spirit. [00:21:08] And as you can imagine, when one's mind and conscience remain defiled, it affects everything that you do. [00:21:16] Everything these false teachers go to do all day long is affected by a mind and conscience that haven't been purified. [00:21:24] They consider things and they make bad choices, they make sinful choices and their conscience comes along and it's defiled too. [00:21:33] And so it doesn't keep them from turning to sin. Instead it says, that's okay, go ahead and do it. [00:21:39] So Paul says to them, everything is defiled. Everything they do is defiled because it comes from a defiled inner heart, mind and conscience. [00:21:52] All of their attempts to achieve purity, they're all defiled. Paul says, what do we do with this? [00:22:04] Well, it's not just false teachers. [00:22:07] Everyone who does not believe in Jesus remains defiled. [00:22:12] If you haven't come to Jesus, put your trust in him, then on the one hand, you haven't been purified, your sins haven't been forgiven, you remain guilty. On the other hand, it isn't just in terms of the guilt of sin and purification or. But also who you are on the inside remains defiled. He hasn't come by his Spirit and given you a new heart and given you new desires and a renewed conscience and a renewed will. And so what comes from your heart is also defiled. And everything you do is defiled. And nothing you do can purify you. [00:22:52] So there's a warning there. It isn't just for false teachers, but for those who haven't yet come to know Jesus. Jesus, this describes you. [00:23:01] Secondly, it's a warning sermon. Beware of defiled teaching. [00:23:09] What do you do with this? [00:23:11] When someone points you to rituals, to rules, to experiences, you can have that through these things maybe you can become pure and forgiven. [00:23:24] Run. [00:23:25] Run the other way as fast as you can, because they're leading you away from Christ and into further defilement. [00:23:34] Only Jesus. Only Jesus purifies sinners both in terms of the guilt of sin and the power of sin. [00:23:42] Once again, Titus 2:14. Jesus, who gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself the people, for his own possession, beware of defiled teaching and run to Christ. [00:23:58] Secondly, I said we would look at detestable, abominable teachers. [00:24:05] Paul calls them defiled. And then he calls them detestable. In other words, they're hated. [00:24:13] What's going on here? [00:24:16] Look at verse 16. [00:24:18] He calls them defiled. He says, look, everything comes from them is defiled. Their teaching is defiled. It's no good. Don't listen to them. [00:24:27] But then he goes a step further. [00:24:29] He says they're hateful. [00:24:32] Why do we need to hear this? [00:24:35] Because many of us object when Paul speaks this way. [00:24:39] Many of us object when we hear our pastors or other people speak this way about Christian teachers who seem to be good people, people who seem to be in the church. [00:24:50] They profess to know God. Is it really fair, Paul, for you to speak this way about people who say they're Christians, who even hold teaching positions in the church of Jesus Christ? [00:25:05] That's a tricky problem, isn't it, Paul? Do you really get to talk this way about Christians? He says, well, they profess to know God, but they're lying. [00:25:19] He says their works deny God. [00:25:25] Paul's applying a principle that Jesus gives us in Matthew chapter 7 and in other places. [00:25:31] And that principle you've probably heard this. Jesus says, by their fruits you will know them, by what comes out of them, by how they behave, how they live their lives. [00:25:42] You'll know what's on the inside. We've already started to see this dynamic, right? [00:25:49] God has to purify our hearts in order for pure things to come out. On the other hand, if our hearts aren't purified, if they're still detestable, sinful, then what's going to come out is more sin. [00:26:03] Paul says, well, their teaching is bad enough because it leads away from Jesus, but their very lives testify to the fact that they don't truly know God. Their works deny him. [00:26:18] They have an outward piety, they have the appearance of religiosity. [00:26:25] In fact, they have all sorts of religious rules and rituals that they pile up. And if you listen to them, you think, wow, these are some holy righteous people. [00:26:35] They must know God. [00:26:38] Paul says the reality is, and you can see it, once you get to know them in their lives, their hearts haven't changed, Their hearts haven't changed. And so what they say with their mouths, I'm a Christian, I know the way to God, follow after me. He says, if you see their lives, you'll know how you live flows out of who you are on the inside. It's like a muddy river or fountain. [00:27:03] What comes out of a muddy river? Can you get clean water out of a muddy river? [00:27:09] No. [00:27:10] How about a well that's poisoned or contaminated? No matter how many buckets of water you pull out of that well or how much you pump, what comes out is just more poisoned water. [00:27:21] Paul says that's the way it is with these people because their hearts are defiled. What comes out shows the reality. [00:27:29] Now Jesus, you see this in his interactions with the Pharisees. And really these men that Paul's opposing here are really just sort of the continuation of the Pharisees. In the Gospels they went around teaching all sorts of man made rituals. In fact, this phrase, the commandments of men comes from Jesus own lips. He says that they go around and they invalidate the word of God by teaching the commandments of men. [00:28:01] Jesus says this about the Pharisees who did the very same thing, the same kind of defiled teachers. He said, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, for you are like whitewashed tombs who indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. [00:28:27] That's what Paul's saying here too. [00:28:29] He's saying they have this outward appearance of being holy, of pursuing purity, but because the inside hasn't been changed, what's on the inside is death. That's what Jesus is saying. He says in Luke, you're like tombs that men walk over unawares. They don't know that there's death on the inside. [00:28:49] It's like if you're walking over an unmarked grave, we can't see it, but what's inside are rotting, decaying corpses. [00:28:58] And if there's death on the inside, that's what's going to spew out. [00:29:03] In Luke 20 he says, Beware of the scribes. And then he goes on to list all of these religious appearing outward beautiful things they desire to go around in long robes. They love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues. [00:29:18] And then he says, who devour widows houses? [00:29:27] There's that principle. [00:29:29] They come to you saying, we're godly, we're religious teachers, we'll lead you in the way of truth. And then what really comes out from these false teachers? [00:29:42] It's death. [00:29:44] Filth. [00:29:45] We'll pick on the Roman Catholic Church again. Here, for all its outward rituals, all of its pomp and circumstances, all of its beautiful robes and beautiful cathedrals, it consistently follows the commandments of men turning away from the truth. [00:30:03] The truth says, we're only purified in Jesus Christ. And they say, well, yeah, you need to believe in Jesus and be baptized. And then here's all these things you need to do to purify yourself from sin. [00:30:16] And then it forbids all sorts of things. [00:30:19] That's what Lent is about. Deny yourself this and that, and you'll be a little more purified and a little more ready for Jesus when he rises on Easter. [00:30:29] It forbids all sorts of things. In fact, most famously, perhaps, it forbids priests, its pastors, to marry. [00:30:39] And you know the result of that, don't you? Most of you. If you don't, it's not hard to find out. Down through history, the priests of the Roman Catholic Church have been some of the worst adulterers in society. There's times when the Roman Catholic Church has maintained brothels on its payroll so that its priests could go visit the prostitutes there. [00:31:00] And of course, if you've been in America for the last 10 to 20 years, you know about all of the child abuse scandals perpetuated by the Roman Catholic Church and then covered up. [00:31:14] And Protestantism, we're not a whole lot better, are we? [00:31:19] Same 20 years, you can find probably just as many scandals of preachers who become wealthy at the expense of their congregations. [00:31:28] Some of them get put on a trial for tax fraud. You can go look this up. [00:31:33] Some of them are flying around in private jets at the expense of God's people. [00:31:38] And many of them live wicked lives and get caught in it over and over and over again. [00:31:46] And Jesus warned us about all of this, as did Paul. [00:31:51] What defiles a man is not what he eats. It's not the things outside of him, it's the heart. [00:31:59] And they're pointing you to things on the outside, and that's because they themselves have not been purified from the inside out. Jesus says there is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him. [00:32:12] But the things which come out of him. [00:32:17] These are the things that defile a man. [00:32:20] Mark 7:15. And then he goes on, Verse 21. [00:32:25] For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. [00:32:42] All these evil things come from within. [00:32:45] And Jesus says. He uses the same word. They come from within and they defile a man. [00:32:53] So Paul says, these defiled false teachers remain incapable of any good work because their hearts aren't purified. [00:33:07] It's a warning sermon because it's a warning text. [00:33:11] We haven't quite gotten to the peak of the warning. We're getting there, though. [00:33:15] They're not only defiled, though we said, the point here is that they are detestable teachers. [00:33:24] They're abominable teachers. They're not just defiled, but they live wicked lives and are disobedient to God. [00:33:36] That's verse 16. They're detestable, disobedient, in other words, to God. [00:33:42] And it's not just that they're disobedient to God. [00:33:47] Go back a word. They're detestable to God. [00:33:54] You following? [00:33:56] In other words, God looks at them not just in their inward defilement, in their outer defilement, in their disobedience, but also in how they lead other people astray, away from Christ and into sin. [00:34:12] He looks on them and they are detestable to him. [00:34:17] Paul's saying God sees these false teachers and he hates them. [00:34:26] Strong language. Yeah. [00:34:31] Are you convinced yet that Paul's right to use this language? [00:34:38] God hates them. Why? [00:34:41] Their profession is false, their lives are not changed, and they carry right on in their sin even though they pretend outwardly like they don't. [00:34:51] Jesus in Matthew 7, when he warns about these men, he says, many, many, many will say to me, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and perform miracles in your name and do all sorts of things in your name? We were teachers in your name. [00:35:08] Jesus says, then I will declare to them, I never knew you. [00:35:14] Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. [00:35:22] Where is Jesus sending them? You know, he's just saying. Jesus is saying, this is what he's going to do as the king on the Judgment Day to those who taught his sheep in his name and yet lived in lawlessness and led his sheep astray. [00:35:37] Depart from me. I never knew you. He's going to send them to destruction, to judgment, to hell. [00:35:50] Where are these false teachers leading people with their false teaching. [00:35:55] They're leading people away from Christ, away from purity, into defilement, right into the crosshairs of God's judgment. [00:36:05] They're teachers. Teachers lead people. They're leading people to hell. [00:36:11] That's why Paul says that they are detestable, abominable, and he hates them. [00:36:21] Now, this isn't coming from me. This is coming from Paul and from Jesus himself. Jesus is warning you, do not listen to these abominable teachers. [00:36:32] Jesus is saying, as it were, to you. [00:36:37] They will lead you away from me. [00:36:39] They will lead you away from me, the Savior who came to purify you. [00:36:45] They will lead you away from me and. And right into God's hatred and judgment. [00:36:55] There is a way of purification and forgiveness is through the blood of Jesus Christ. [00:37:01] So come and wash away your sins by believing in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. [00:37:09] Let's pray. [00:37:14] Our God and Father in Heaven, we confess that you are pure and holy and you are good. [00:37:23] You are wonderful. [00:37:26] But we know that you tell us that your eye is too pure to behold evil. [00:37:33] There is no place in your presence for sin. And it has to be purified if we are to have fellowship with you, to be your friends, to see you face to face and to live with you in eternal life. [00:37:49] Our God, we confess that we are sinners. We confess not only that we are defiled sinners, but we confess that our hearts have tendencies in them that make us susceptible to false teaching. [00:38:04] False teaching comes, Lord God, and it appeals to our pride. [00:38:09] It presents itself to our lust, to our complacency, and to all sorts of sinful desires that we have. And it wants to lead us astray from you, O Lord, our God, we ask that you would purify our hearts from all of these sinful desires, that we would be no more susceptible to such teaching. [00:38:31] In its place, O God, we ask that you would give us a clear vision of Christ our Savior. That we would see Jesus who died for sinners who rose, that we might have new life, that we would see him by faith looking upon us and smiling on us, in compassion, in mercy and love. That we would see in him the One who holds the key to heaven, the. The one from whose wounds flows the blood that purifies, and the One who has the power to grant us eternal life, purifying our hearts by faith and placing in our hearts that Holy Spirit, that it might well up in us, a spring springing up to eternal life. O God, help us to see and receive Jesus in all of his glory and all of his goodness, in all of his purifying power. [00:39:32] Draw us to him ever, that we might never be led astray. [00:39:37] Lead us to him that as we struggle, as we're weary, as we're weak, we might come to him again and again as the bread of life, that we might receive him and that he in him we might never hunger and never again thirst. [00:39:56] Lord Jesus, you promise that the pure in heart will see God purify our hearts, that we might behold him face to face at your return. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.