If we’re going to keep a ardour for purity, we have to decide to stay our lives within the middle of the slender means and never on the sting.
We need to stay on the sting in the case of zealous evangelism. We need to stay on the sting in the case of servanthood. We need to be excessive in our love for Christ and for others. However we should always stay our lives solely within the secure zone in the case of the matter of purity.
“The slender means was by no means come across by probability, neither did any heedless man ever lead a holy life,” writes Spurgeon. To stay a holy life is an absolute act of willpower prompted by the Spirit of God, guided by the Phrase of God, and enabled by the facility of God. It requires a resolve that claims, “I’ve set my coronary heart to it, and now I’ll implement it. And I’ll decide that I stay my life within the middle of the slender means.”
In Proverbs 7, the narrator presents an image of a younger man residing on the sting with respect to purity. The younger man units himself on a path towards sexual sin, approaching the house of a promiscuous girl:
For on the window of my home
I’ve regarded out via my lattice,
and I’ve seen among the many easy,
I’ve perceived among the many youths,
a younger man missing sense,
passing alongside the road close to her nook,
taking the highway to her home
within the twilight, within the night,
on the time of evening and darkness. (Prov. 7:6–9)
It’s utter foolishness for the younger man to go there, placing himself within the path of temptation. To stroll down a highway isn’t sin, however to stroll boldly into the face of temptation actually is. As the author later asks, “Can a person carry fireplace subsequent to his chest and his garments not be burned?” (Prov. 6:27).
“Oh,” a younger man or girl may say, “it’s okay. You see, I’m free to do what I need. I can watch this. I can learn that. I can take heed to that music. These lyrics don’t have an effect on me. I do know some folks can’t abdomen them; they’ve acquired an issue on this space, clearly. However me? That stuff’s not an issue to me. I can take heed to it. I can learn it. I can watch it.”
If now we have a modicum of that in our minds, we’re not even true to frequent sense, for as a person thinks, so is he (Prov. 23:7 KJV). If we fill our minds with impurities, we can be influenced by them and ultimately act accordingly. A ardour for purity means that we’ll decide to maneuver towards the middle of purity and never idiot round on the sides.
There may be nothing to be gained by skirting the sting of the slender means.
This text was tailored from the sermon “A Ardour for Purity” by Alistair Begg.
