Tag: Judgment Series

Do you remember Pure gas stations? Their slogan, “Be Sure with Pure,” was something of a losing proposition, seemingly, for in the late 60s its parent company rebranded Pure as Union 76. It seems people were willing to tolerate a little dose of impurity in their gas tanks, after all. So it is likewise with our spiritual life: we accept some measure of impurity; in fact, our sin nature prefers it. But God does not.

Sometimes we errantly look upon God’s mercy as a “replacement” for His judgment, as if sin is no longer sin — or no longer to be judged as sin — and as though sin has somehow outlasted God’s Word and won the day. For example, a pastor friend once mused about sexual sin clearly condemned in the Bible. “I think under the new covenant, it may no longer be a sin,” he said. I was stunned, for by no means will God ever taint His purity through capitulation. Such would be unmerciful to us.

To understand God’s mercy, we must understand our sin. By its nature, sin separates us from God, as David confessed in song, “No evil can dwell with You.”¹ Isaiah proclaims of humankind, “your wrongdoings have caused a separation between you and your God.”² Moreover, even “our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”³ And lest we think God grades us on a curve, James warns us, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”⁴ It is into this squalor that God’s mercy brilliantly shines.

Then to understand God’s judgment, we must understand His purity. Sin must be completely eradicated, but how could a flawed people so separated by sin from God even begin atone for our sins, let alone succeed in doing so? Only God’s sinless life can sacrificially atone for a people made in His image. And so it is that God “made Him who knew no sin [Jesus] to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”⁵ This sinless Jesus “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds.”⁶ In Hebrews we read, “Such a high priest truly meets our need — one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.”⁷ In His purity, Jesus withstood God’s judgment and, in His mercy, He purifies all who live in Him. In Christ, we’re pure for sure. He makes us so.

Then, “since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”⁸

Be sure. You’re pure.

Father, thank You for Your judgment of sin, and thank You for purifying us through the sacrificial atonement of Your Son. In His name we pray. Amen.

¹ Psalm 5:4 NASB
² Isaiah 59:2 NASB
³ Isaiah 64:6
⁴ James 2:10 ESV
⁵ 2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB
⁶ Titus 2:14 NASB
⁷ Hebrews 7:26 NIV
⁸ Hebrews 10:21-22 ESV