Proverbs 21:8
“The way of a guilty man is crooked, but as for the pure, his conduct is upright.”
Q: What is “upright conduct?”
Proverbs 21:12
“The righteous one considers the house of the wicked, turning the wicked to ruin.”
Q: What do righteousness and purity have in common?
Q: How do you pursue righteousness?
Proverbs 21:23
“He who guards his mouth and his tongue, guards his soul from troubles.”
Q: How do you guard your tongue?
Proverbs 19:1 & 18:7
“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool.”
“A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are the snare of his soul.”
Q: Why are your words an accurate measurement of the degree of purity in your life?
Psalms 119:7-9
“I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments. I shall keep Your statutes; do not forsake me utterly!”
Q: How does God’s Word develop uncompromising moral purity in your life?
Psalm 119:37
“Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways.”
Q: How can you turn this Psalm into a personal prayer?
Picture
Matthew 6:22-23
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Q: What role does the “eye” play in maintaining purity?
Q: Why does an “eye of darkness” fill the entire body with darkness?
Paul
2 Timothy 2:20-22
“Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (NASB)
2 Timothy 2:22
“Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness – faith, love, peace – joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God.” (The Message)
Q: Why is purity so vitally important in order to be “useful to the Master?”
Peter
1 Peter 1:14-16
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
Q: What would it take for you to completely abandon your “former-ness” and elect a standard of holiness in your life?
APPLICATION:
How do these passages relate to me today? What changes do they bring to my life?
LOCKER ROOM:
Is there anything this week that you have been enslaved to, and how we can help you?
