A Pure Man with a Pure Heart in a Pure Way by a Pure Word

HOW TO PROPERLY RESPOND TO THE SPOKEN WORD

There are many things to say, and Im not here to repeat the training, but to say a few words from my heart as usual to all of you. Im especially drawn to use Psalm 119 as my springboard for fellowship this morning. You need to go back and do whatever you were charged to do, even to write out longhand the entire psalm. For sure you must go back and get into that message again. I will give you a milliondollar secret: the way is not just to listen to a message and do some sort of cursory study and just take a test and say a few words. Thats not wrong; Im not against that. But my secret is that in order for these things that you have heard to go beyond being fleeting impressions in other words, for them to become something that would stick in your being you need to do more than that. And I would like to recommend two things.

Spending Time With the Lord in a Particular Way

When you hear a message, frequently, something jumps out of the page, the lights seem to turn on. The Lord grasps you with a particular word or thought, or the Spirit is anointing a particular passage whatever it may be. When that happens, and it often happens during a message, dont just close the book and forget about it, because surely enough it will be forgotten. Even if its something from the Lord, it will be forgotten. Right after such a message, dont just close your note book or Bible. The Lord is trying to get something in you by his living Spirit in the word. So you need to get into it right now, not later. Spend some serious time with the Lord with that word while its fresh. Begin some transactions with the Lord with the help of that word. The Lord is calling. Every such touch by the Lord in a message is such a call: Come to Me. I want to talk to you. Im not done. After the meeting we should not just go to hang out with the saints and talk about all manner of things; before we know it, all inspiration will be gone. Make it a practice to go take a walk with the Lord and spend half an hour, spend an hour spend some time with the Lord, not generally, but focused only on the word the Lord has spoken to you about. It may be in a verse, in a passage, or in some point. I tell you, if you do this, that point will stick with you. The Lord will have a way to use that word and turn it into spirit, and it will operate in you. It will work in you, maybe for the rest of your life. Ive surely had that experience: one message affecting the rest of my life, by my definite (not willy-nilly) cooperation. And young people, you need to do that.

Applying the Word in a Particular Way

Dont close the notebook and go off and forget about it. No, you should resolve and should have a plan to go back in the next few weeks or months before the next training in a particular way. This doesnt mean you dont read other things, but do make this a frequent, regular practice. Go back and restudy by opening your Bible (dont just read the outline and notes) and check every reference. Take out your yellow marker, your pen, and study. You may not be able to study all twelve messages equally, but how about at least two or three or four? How about a half of the messages? And spend some time, longer time, in a studious manner. By doing that, this word will remain in and inhabit you as with the saints in Colossians 3. If we take the Lord and take the word in a light way, in a quick way, it will vaporize and be gone. Im very burdened for all of us, and especially for you young saints, to apply the word, not to be satisfied with just sitting here taking good notes but soon after this training is over gone. Apply the word. Thats the only way the word will be constituted in you, and this word will be lived out, constituted as truth, lived out as your life. This is the meaning in the Lords recovery today. We have seven feasts, and this word comes to us like Niagara Falls. You may not remember everything, but something sticks. And may that something become unforgettable, something that would remain and operate in you for a long, long time. So I give you these two secrets. You have to be serious with the word of God, so that He can talk with you.

A PURE MAN WITH A PURE HEART IN A PURE WAY BY A PURE WORD

Id like to remind you of a verse, Psalm 24:3: Who may ascend the mountain of Jehovah (Zion, the highest peak in Jerusalem), and who may stand in His holy place (clearly this is Zion, the center of Gods hearts desire)? Who? Verse 4 answers, He who has clean hands and a pure heart. There is a condition for you and me to ascend Zion and to fully become part of it. This qualification, this requirement, is not cheap. We must be one with clean hands and especially a pure heart. So this morning, I would like to put a title in my fellowship with you as follows: A pure man with a pure heart in a pure way by a pure word.

A Pure Man
The reason I have this burden of purity is because of some passages written in Psalm 119. Verses 9 and 10 say, With what should a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Is this your prayer? I would like to see all of you turn these verses into your desperate plea. Dont leave these verses on the pages of your Recovery Version. Turn them into your most earnest and desperate prayers, one-on-one with the Lord: In my heart I have treasured up Your word that I might not sin against You (v. 11). Now Id like to read a few other verses. Verse 101 begins, I have withheld my feet from every evil way. The psalmist paid a lot of attention to his way. Your way where you walk, the path you tread every day is too important. The rest of the verse says, That I

might keep Your word. In the previous passage (v. 11), it says by regarding Gods word you will keep your way pure. Here, verse 101 presents us with the opposite: it is by keeping yourself from the evil way that you can keep His word. Both are true. Verses 102-104 say, I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, for You have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste! Sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I gain understanding; therefore I hate every false way. And verse 127-128 say, Therefore I love your commandments more than gold, indeed, more than fine gold (this means refined gold, purified gold; thats the pure word of God); therefore I speak all Your precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. Let me read one last verse from this psalm: Your word is very pure, and your servant loves it (v. 140). All these verses are concerning a pure man, or should I say a pure young man, like those to whom I am speaking this morning. Brothers and sisters, you are all young men. Im burdened for you young men. A young man in the Lords recovery, a young man in Christ, should be a pure young man. A young man who is qualified to ascend to Zion, to be part of the holy Zion, must be a pure young man. In 1 Timothy 5:22, the apostle charged the young man Timothy to keep yourself pure. The apostle John said in 1 John 2, I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. In chapter 3 he said, Everyone who has this hope (i.e. the hope of seeing the Lord in his return) set on Him purifies himself even as He (i.e. Christ) is pure. Brothers and sisters, purify yourself; aspire to be a pure young man in the Lords recovery. Then you can fulfill with your life His desire to gain Zion for Himself. Your purity has everything to do with whether Zion will appear or not.

A Pure Heart
What is a pure young man? It starts with the heart. To be a pure man, you need to have a pure heart. For a particular description of heart that is pure, the topmost verse is found in Matthew: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (5:8). Id like to testify to you that much of my time in my Christian life and church life, particularly in my early youth when I built up such a habit, was to spend moments seasons, in fact in the Lords presence to do one thing: spend time with the Lord. A pure heart is one that wants nothing else but God, that is undefiled by the world and sin. This heart has a pure mind, single for God, without vile imaginations; regulated emotions to love the Lord solely; and a pure will that chooses God and chooses Gods way. That is a pure heart. And to be a pure man, you have to start with a pure heart. To be pure is to be more than clean. Clean means not dirty; pure means unblemished. I can have a cloth here that is dirty, and I can wash it and make it clean, but this piece of cloth is not white; its yellow or brown. It is clean, but not pure. I want not just a clean piece of fabric. I want it white. Theres nothing more blessed in the Lords eyes than to find in a young person such purity. Purity in this way is the marriage of the Christian virtues.

A Pure Way
The third thing is to walk in a pure way, not just to have a heart that is purified. Besides a pure heart within, we have to walk in a pure way without. You can have a pure heart, yet your ways may be impure. What is your way? That is your life: the stuff that you busy yourself with, who you hang out with, the way you talk, the way you spend your down time. And when speaking about your way, brothers and sisters, I cannot help but bring up the Internet. I cannot help but bring up the computer games. This is no joke. I know, how that sewage of the Internet is responsible for the utter degradation of morals and depravity of the human condition. Half of the world, or close to that, may have access to the Internet. You dont need a desktop or laptop or tablet; all you need is a phone. That phone in your hands is a 1000 times more powerful than the computer aboard Apollo 11. You have instant access to everything you want. In the privacy of your own room, brothers and sisters, that thing can undo your Christian life in a hurry. It can undo the church life in no time. It has the power to destroy you as it has destroyed many already and is still doing so. Sin, the world, and unimaginable things are being propagated. It defiles your eyes, your mind, it defiles your conscience. There is so much said here about the way of the young men. Im so concerned about your way. On campus, you have to be different. Dare to be different. Stand up. Dont join the crowd. Many young people have been addicted and addled, and soon they find themselves walking in another way, a way that leads to destruction, a way hated by God, unrighteous, not to mention immoral. There are so many things calling you to take that way. Keep your way pure. You must do that. It comes with an exercise, and comes with a price. But it starts with a most certain resolve on your part. Im not telling you to be law-keepers. Weve seen it already; were not law-keepers, were God-seekers. The law is not negative to us, but positive. Still, you must keep your feet on the right path, because the path determines where you end up. Pray-read these verses that I suggested to you. In Psalm 119, it says, The fear of Jehovah is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of Jehovah are truth and altogether righteous (v.9). We have a holy, uncommon, pure God. We are His children, His people, and His Zion. Young people, during your college years, keep your way pure. Theres a strong wave of atheism and humanism sweeping across the campuses to work in your mind and shake the foundation of your faith. Dont go that way. Also, who youre with determines what way you take. Flee youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2:22). Lust doesnt just stand there by itself; lust resides in people. Run away from such company. Be with those who call on the Lord out of what? A pure heart. Be with the pure people, exercise your pure heart, and make yourself a pure man in the process.

The Pure Word

Now I come to the main point. How is it possible for you to be pure? for your heart to be pure? for your way to be pure? Theres only one solution, one thing that works: the pure word of God. Id like to read some of these verses to you. In Psalm 12, it says, The words of Jehovah are pure words, silver refined in a furnace on the earth, purified seven times (v. 6). If you want to be pure, you must go to the source of purity, the word of God purified seven times, pure as refined silver. It is more to be desired than gold, even much refined gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. (19:10). Its refined silver, refined gold. Silver of Christs redemption and gold of the Fathers nature all are conveyed through the word of God as refined metal. In all these verses we have read already, we find there is no other way, no other means for us to be purified except by the pure, most pure, word of God. Pray-reading the Word I want to leave you with this burden. Young brothers and sisters, get into the word of God. Get yourself into the word of God daily. Morning by morning, pray-read this word. Id like to have a conference on pray-reading, because Im afraid that for some of you, your kind of pray-reading is not getting you far. Turn the black and white into life, the word into spirit, by this unique way of accessing the word through prayer. You must be an expert pray-reader. You have to train yourself up. Your words are like honey, they are so sweet. How can you taste it or eat it? Its by pray-reading. Become experts in pray-reading, knowing how to muse on the word. Get carried away in the sweet word of God, just gone, floating away, in spirit because of this wonderful word that has become spirit and life. Young people, I speak from my testimony. Thats how I was. We must be addicts, addicted to the word of God and pray-reading. Id like to see, on campus after campus, groups doing nothing but pray-reading up a storm. And I tell you, that pure word infused and transfused into you will start to purify your heart, your being, and your way. Reading the Word Not only so, but you have to read the word. Coming to the Full-Time Training, how can you not have read the New and Old Testament at least once? Thats the minimum requirement. Fill your hands with and lift your hands to the word. Treasure the word. Spend time in the word. The word will work, it will sanctify: Sanctify in the truth, your word is truth (John 17:17). He chases away imaginations in your mind and displaces all the worldly things. Amen the word of God. Praise the Lord for his word. Read the word. Just read it, read it. Dont understand it? No problem, there are footnotes. If you dont have time for footnotes, still no problem; just read the word. One day the light will come; the Spirit will reveal all that you have read, and it will become living. Studying the Ministry Also study the ministry. Set apart the time. (You have time.) Set up time to study the ministry, and not in a superficial way. Christianity is more superficial than ever before. Were not going to heaven; were ascending to Zion. Were not for politics; were for Christ. Were not here for any kind of prosperity gospel and self-help philosophies; were here for Gods economy. How can we really have that without the word? Youve got to read the word, whether you feel like it or dont feel like it. And study the ministry. Choose a few main books, classic ones, or Life-studies. Get into it. You may not have time to read everything. Schedule yourself. Make a project out of it; set goals, just like school. Be most serious about it. Im an avid reader. Im still reading. And dont read it like a newspaper, but read in a studying way. This gives you depth. Pray-reading gives you life; studying with ministry equips you with the truth. For the Lords recovery, whose goal is to build up Zion, we need a vast army of young people college students and high schoolers who are pure men, with pure hearts, walking in a pure way, because they live by the pure word of God. The Lord bless you all. Amen. -- M.C.