You Are Pure
When I was 23 years old, the Lord did some unexpected work in my heart to help me understand the meaning and importance of this verse.
Jen and I volunteered in the youth ministry at our church and were entrusted with teaching Sunday school. Normally, we had anywhere from zero to three students. So, one week, we asked what they wanted to learn about. Their answer? “Is pre-marital sex a sin?”
We agreed to tackle the subject the following week.
During this time, I worked two different jobs, totaling about 65 hours a week. One of my jobs involved driving students to and from the day treatment school where I served as a teacher’s assistant. During the three hours a day spent in the van, I prayed and listened to a lot of Christian radio.
One of my prayers was this: “Lord, I haven’t cried in years, and I’m afraid my heart is getting hard. Would you soften my heart and restore my tears?”
I didn’t think of this prayer at all while I studied to teach Sunday school, but the Lord was at work bringing personal conviction.
As I studied, I began to look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. In this passage, Paul begins a list of sins with a clear statement: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” Then he continues. “Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers… will inherit the kingdom of God.” He clearly states that these sins are acts of unrighteousness and ought not to characterize the life of a believer.
While preparing for Sunday, I learned that the word for ‘sexually immoral’ is pornoi in Greek (sound familiar?), and the word ‘adultery’ is moichoi. Thus, they are distinct. Sexual immorality refers to any sexual activity prior to marriage, whereas adultery refers to sex outside of the marital bond between one man and one woman.
Sunday soon arrived, and to our surprise, we had 14 students show up for class!! Apparently, word got around that we were going to talk about sex in Sunday school.
I opened up the lesson by briefly introducing the topic for the day and proceeded to read the Scripture in front of these 14 students.
“Or do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-11)
The moment I read, “But you were washed…” the Lord chose to restore my tears.
I didn’t mean for God to restore my tears in front of other people, much less 14 teenagers!!!
But the beautiful promise of verse 11 broke my heart. We were once defined by our unrighteousness and wickedness. But now, we are defined by the love of Christ by which he “gave himself up for (the Church - us!) to make her (us!) holy, cleansing her (us!) by the washing with water through the word, and to present her (us!) to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25-27, NIV). Wow! What a vision for our purity.
In this moment, the Lord convicted me of my own sin through His word and Spirit, and in doing so, He softened my heart and restored my tears. But another treasure from that moment came about 10 years later when I got a message from one of the students who was present that day. He said, “Do you remember that lesson from 10 years ago? Well, that inspired my fiancée and I to remain sexually pure, and we’re wondering if you would perform our wedding ceremony this summer.” What a joyful celebration of love and purity that was!
Dear Saints, you have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. We are a pure bride for God! What a joy it will be when we are united face to face at the marriage supper of the Lamb to our perfect Bridegroom whose name is Faithful and True. Until then, we have the opportunity—and immense joy—of living in the purity we received from Him.