Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / What Makes Someone Spiritually Dirty?

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What Makes Someone Spiritually Dirty? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, what makes someone spiritually dirty? This is an important
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  Speaker 1: question and one born out of our Bible reading together,
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  Speaker 1: specifically in three Bible texts that a female listener to
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  Speaker 1: the podcast named Ivy is trying to put together and
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  Speaker 1: understand herself texts coming up for us and our reading soon.
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  Speaker 1: Ivy writes this Pastor John, I never saw this connection
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  Speaker 1: until it was put together in the span of one
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  Speaker 1: week in the Navigator's Bible reading plan in Leviticus five
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  Speaker 1: to two. In Leviticus seven, verses nineteen to twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: we read that touching unclean things makes one unclean, but
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  Speaker 1: Jesus completely changes this. He later says, it is what
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  Speaker 1: comes out of us that makes us unclean. He says
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  Speaker 1: this in Matthew fifteen eighteen to twenty. I'm trying to
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  Speaker 1: put myself in a first century Jewish mindset that was
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  Speaker 1: conditioned to think about clean and unclean things, what to
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  Speaker 1: touch and what not to touch. This seems like a
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  Speaker 1: radical change. Uncleanness is born inside of us. What caused
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  Speaker 1: such a major turnaround here in what seems to be
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  Speaker 1: a fundamental redefinition of evil?
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  Speaker 2: I think this question is an example of making right
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  Speaker 2: observations from the Bible, but drawing from them a wrong conclusion. Sorry,
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  Speaker 2: but let me see if I could gently nudge a correction.
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  Speaker 2: It is right to observe that in the Old Testament
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  Speaker 2: there are laws against touching or eating certain things because
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  Speaker 2: they are ceremonially unclean. For example, if you touch a carcass,
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  Speaker 2: then you become unclean until the evening Leviticus eleven. Or
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  Speaker 2: every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven footed,
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  Speaker 2: or does not choose the cod is unclean for you.
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  Speaker 2: Everyone who touches them shall be unclean Leviticus eleven. Again,
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  Speaker 2: so there is such a thing in the Old Testament
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  Speaker 2: as external ceremonial contamination through the touching of something that
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  Speaker 2: is declared in the law to be unclean. That's a
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  Speaker 2: true observation. These laws were one of God's ways at
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  Speaker 2: that time of separating his people from the nations around
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  Speaker 2: them and emphasizing his distinctness, his holiness. It is also
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  Speaker 2: true that Jesus spoke about becoming impure because of what
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  Speaker 2: the heart produces from within, for example Matthew fifteen eighteen.
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  Speaker 2: But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart,
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  Speaker 2: and this defiles the person, makes them unclean. So that
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  Speaker 2: true is a true observation. So far, so good. But
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  Speaker 2: the mistake is in drawing the conclusion that in the
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  Speaker 2: Old Testament impurity was only external, while in the New
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  Speaker 2: Testament impurity is internal. That's a mistake for two reasons.
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  Speaker 2: In the first place, it contrasts the wrong things. Instead
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  Speaker 2: of contrasting Old Testament ceremonial uncleanness with New Testament moral uncleanness,
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  Speaker 2: the contrast is between Old Testament ceremonial uncleanness and the
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  Speaker 2: declaration by Jesus that there is no ceremonial uncleanness anymore
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  Speaker 2: Mark seven nineteen. He declared all foods clean. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: Jesus does away with the Old Testament ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness.
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  Speaker 2: It's not replaced by internal moral cleanness and uncleanness, but
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  Speaker 2: rather by the removal of ceremonial defilement entirely doesn't exist
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  Speaker 2: in the church anymore. The other reason it's a mistake
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  Speaker 2: to say that the Old Testament impurity was external while
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  Speaker 2: the New Testament impurity is internal is that already in
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  Speaker 2: the Old Testament there was internal purity and impurity. It
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  Speaker 2: was already there in both the New and the Old Testaments,
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  Speaker 2: there is internal moral purity or impurity. That's not a
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  Speaker 2: contrast between the Old and New Testaments. So in the
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  Speaker 2: Old Testament there was both ceremonial external uncleanness and moral
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  Speaker 2: internal uncleanness, whereas in the New Testament the ceremonial aspect
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  Speaker 2: of uncleanness is done away with and the moral dimension
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  Speaker 2: is what's left.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 2: That may seem like not a big deal, but it
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  Speaker 2: is a big deal because of the implications of it.
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  Speaker 2: Let me try to draw them out. This is a
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  Speaker 2: bigger deal than we might think, because what it implies
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  Speaker 2: is that already in the Old Testament, before Christ had
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  Speaker 2: died for our sins, and before the unique outpouring of
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  Speaker 2: the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the forgiving
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  Speaker 2: work of the Cross and the transforming work of the
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  Speaker 2: Spirit were already active in the saints of the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 2: That's huge for the way we read our Bibles, the
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  Speaker 2: way we appropriate patterns and commands and illustrations and so on.
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  Speaker 2: Let me say the end, the forgiving effect of Christ's
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  Speaker 2: death and the transforming effect of God's Spirit were already
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  Speaker 2: at work in the saints of the Old Testament. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, the reality of internal purity or impurity was known,
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  Speaker 2: and the purity was required in the Old Testament, internal purity,
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  Speaker 2: not just external ceremonial purity. The Old Testament knew about
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  Speaker 2: the deep internal reality of original sin. For example, David says, behold,
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  Speaker 2: I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did
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  Speaker 2: my mother conceive me? In other words, the saints of
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  Speaker 2: the Old Testament knew that their bad behavior came from inside,
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  Speaker 2: not outside. So Proverbs for twenty three says, keep your
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  Speaker 2: heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs
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  Speaker 2: of life. That's like what Jesus said. And David prayed,
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  Speaker 2: create in me a clean heart. O, God, renew a
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  Speaker 2: right spirit within me. He expected that to happen. It
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  Speaker 2: did happen. And Psal I'm twenty four three says who
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  Speaker 2: shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall
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  Speaker 2: stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands
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  Speaker 2: and a pure heart. Now that did not mean nobody.
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  Speaker 2: It was possible through prayer, through repentance, through forgiveness, through
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  Speaker 2: sacrifice to get a pure heart before God. God was
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  Speaker 2: at work in the Old Testament among the faithful remnant
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  Speaker 2: of Israel, transforming their hearts and leading them in passive
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  Speaker 2: righteousness for his namesake. For example, in First Chronicles twenty
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  Speaker 2: nine seventeen, David says, now I have seen your people,
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  Speaker 2: Oh God, who are present here offering freely and joyously
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  Speaker 2: to you. Oh Lord, Keep forever such purposes and thoughts
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  Speaker 2: in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts
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  Speaker 2: toward you. That's amazing. That's exactly what he does today
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  Speaker 2: for the saints, and what he did then for the Saints.
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  Speaker 2: Or here it is again. In Second Chronicles, chapter thirty,
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  Speaker 2: verse twelve, it says the hand of God was also
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  Speaker 2: on Judah to give them one heart to do what
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  Speaker 2: the King and the princes commanded by the word of
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  Speaker 2: the Lord. In other words, God was at work in
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  Speaker 2: the hearts of his people to give them the kind
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  Speaker 2: of disposition and heart to be trusting and obedient toward him.
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  Speaker 2: This is why Jesus, and this is my interpretation of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus in John three, this is why Jesus was amazed
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  Speaker 2: in speaking to Nicodemus that he didn't understand that you
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  Speaker 2: must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. Well,
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  Speaker 2: people saw the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 2: They saw God, they knew the reign of God. They
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  Speaker 2: walked in holiness before God. The saints did that was
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  Speaker 2: true in the Old Testament. You must be born again.
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  Speaker 2: And in the New Testament, nobody can overcome their unbelief
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  Speaker 2: hardness of heart without the sovereign work of the spirit,
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  Speaker 2: whenever they live four thousand years ago or twenty minutes ago.
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  Speaker 2: So Jesus said, do not marvel that I said to you,
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  Speaker 2: you must be born again. Nicodemus says to him, how
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  Speaker 2: then can these things be? And Jesus, I can see
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  Speaker 2: him rolling his eyes or throwing up his hands and saying,
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  Speaker 2: are you a teacher in Israel? And you don't understand
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  Speaker 2: what I'm talking about when I talk about the New Birth?
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  Speaker 2: What have you been reading? That's my paraphrase Jesus. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, surely you see that this is how spiritual
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  Speaker 2: deadness was overcome among the saints in Israel. They can't
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  Speaker 2: do it themselves. It had to be done for them,
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  Speaker 2: just like today. So we can see then that there's
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  Speaker 2: more writing on this question than it seemed at first.
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  Speaker 2: There was a real faith, a real obedience of faith,
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  Speaker 2: a real holiness in the saints of the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 2: and that is not possible Romans eight seven. That is
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  Speaker 2: not possible except that Jesus died for their sins in
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  Speaker 2: the future counted backwards, and the Holy Spirit was at
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  Speaker 2: work overcoming their sinful bent. So when we read the
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  Speaker 2: beautiful statements, for example, in the Psalms of genuine love
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  Speaker 2: for God, obedience to God, delight in God's Word, we
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  Speaker 2: don't have to deny any of that, as though such
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  Speaker 2: things were not possible in the Old Testament. We can
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  Speaker 2: take these saints as wonderful patterns for our lives and
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  Speaker 2: be stirred up by them to love God the way
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  Speaker 2: they did.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank Bestor John, thanks for joining us today for
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  Speaker 1: this episode. Talking about food being clean or unclean reminds
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  Speaker 1: me of the quest question isn't veganism closer to God's
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  Speaker 1: original design? Very closely related question here when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to talking about holy foods and even want more on that,
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  Speaker 1: isn't veganism closer to God's original design? See the APJA
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  Speaker 1: book on pages two sixty six to two sixty eight
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  Speaker 1: and a whole chapter I put together in gathering up
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  Speaker 1: your best food questions over the years. Check it out.
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  Speaker 1: Ask Pastor John the book, pages two sixty six to
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  Speaker 1: two sixty eight. If you have it a handy well,
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  Speaker 1: how important is life application to a sermon? Can you
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  Speaker 1: even have a sermon without application? Or is application optional
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  Speaker 1: and unnecessary to it? Another great question up next time.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Ranky. We'll see you on Thursday.