This sermon by Derek Prince emphasizes the importance of purity with an eternal perspective, urging Christians to focus on eternity rather than just temporal matters. He highlights the need for believers to purify themselves as a response to God's purification, emphasizing the eternal hope of being like Jesus. Additionally, he stresses the significance of obeying the truth, leading to fervent love for fellow believers as evidence of a purified heart. Lastly, Derek Prince underscores the centrality of Jesus in the lives of believers, pointing to Revelation's imagery of Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the sacrificial Lamb.

Derek Prince Ministries Proclaiming the inspired Word of God around the world. Derek Prince is an internationally recognized Bible teacher and author. Through books, audios, videos, and radio broadcasts, Derek seeks to reach the unreached and teach the untaught. In over 50 years of ministry, Derek has reached over 100 nations in more than 50 languages. And now, Derek Prince. I love that phrase that Ruth and I repeated. He redeemed us from every lawless deed. That he might purify for himself his own special people. Zealous for good works. Pause for a moment and consider what it means that God wants you to be part of his own special people. Those whom God has redeemed are the most special people on earth. And it's for our sakes that God continues to tolerate all the evil, the agony, the suffering. Because he's going to get a people for himself out of it all. But we have to respond. Jesus has done his part. We have to do our part. To be part of that special people. And I want to speak just about two things that God requires of us. The first is purity. And purity that has an eternal perspective. That can look beyond time and into eternity. You see, Christians were not designed to live for time. We were designed to live for eternity. We were designed to have eternity always in view. But I would say in this nation and many other western nations, the majority of professing Christians have lost the view of eternity. They think only in terms of time. Paul had something to say which I think applies to our contemporary generation. I was talking to one of the young ladies that is with us. And she was saying, she's age 26, this is the X generation. There's nothing more left for us to rebel against. We are a kind of hopeless people. What is there left for us in life? And as I meditated on that, I saw that Paul had diagnosed the problem. And he says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 19. If you have your Bibles it would be good to turn to that because it's such a powerful verse. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable, the most miserable. In other words, if we claim to be Christians, but all we are looking for is things in this life. We are the most miserable, the most pitiable of all people. And that's why you meet so many miserable Christians. Because they have no expectation beyond what they can get in this life. Food, clothing, money, success, a home, maybe even a family. But their eyes never go beyond the limits of time. And we are not designed for that. We're designed to be a people with eternity in our hearts. Some years ago I became very sick when I was in Hawaii. And I wasn't afraid of dying, although it could have led to death. But I wanted to have an answer. God, I've always believed in divine healing. I've always preached divine healing. I've seen countless people healed. What's wrong? Why am I not being healed? And it was as if I had an interview with the Lord. I don't know if this is what it will be like to be before the judgment seat of Christ. But it says we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And I want to say, He never condemned me. He was very impersonal in a way. But He just took my mind back over scene after scene in my career as a minister. A full gospel minister. A charismatic minister. And He showed me how carnal I had been. Now I want to say, just to avoid misunderstanding. By the grace of God I've never been guilty of drunkenness. Or immorality. Or misappropriating funds. Which is the things that people always expect when preachers confess sin. And quite often they're right to. But God showed me, the Lord Jesus showed me, how carnal I had been. And He took me to various scenes. Quite a number of them were in restaurants. And He showed me the essence of carnality. Is to live at any time as if there's nothing beyond this life. And the moment you live like that, you may not be committing obvious sins. But you're carnal. You're living in the flesh. You're missing the whole ultimate purpose of God for His redeemed people. Because you remember that scripture that said, that we've quoted. It said, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior. Every one of us should be continually, every day, looking for the blessed hope. When you lose sight of that, you're carnal. You've lost sight of eternity. And you can still use religious language and attend church and say prayers. But you've lost the joy of the Lord. I've observed something that surprised me in my travels and meeting many people. Very often the Christians who had the least in this world. Who were poor and persecuted, had the greatest joy. Much greater joy than others who had much more in this life. And I came to realize it was because they were focused on eternity. They were looking for what lay ahead. And so, dear brother or sister, if you're not happy, you're a Christian. But you're unfulfilled, you're frustrated. You may even be angry with God because He hasn't done the things you wanted Him to do for you. Let me suggest to you, your basic problem is, you've lost the vision of eternity. You're only expecting things in this life. Of course you believe you'll go to heaven when you die. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about having a vision for eternity. If in this life only, we have hope in Christ. We are of all men, Paul says, the most to be pitied. There's nobody else quite so miserable as the Christian who's lost the vision of eternity. Now, I said that Jesus requires certain things. And the first was purity. And it's a two-way operation. Because the passage that I quoted from Titus chapter 2, says He gave Himself that He might purify His own special people. So the process of purifying begins on God's end. But that's not where it ends. We have to respond by purifying ourselves. And I want to give you two scriptures that are very clear about that. The first is in 1 John chapter 3. Beautiful words. I'm sure familiar to many of you. The first three verses. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. And we are. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. That's our eternal hope. That we will see Jesus and when we see Him, we'll be like Him. But then John goes on to say in the next verse. And everyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure. So what is the evidence that you're really hoping to meet Jesus? What will be the effect in your life? It's very clear. Everyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself. Jesus purifies us. We have to purify ourselves. And God has only got one standard of purity. Just as He is pure. That's our responsibility. That's the evidence that we really are looking for the return of the Lord. For everyone who has this hope of the return of the Lord, purifies himself, as He is pure. Brothers and sisters, I want to say to you very clearly, if you are not purifying yourself, you may believe doctrinally in the return of the Lord. But effectively, you're denying what you say you believe. Because the mark that you believe in, is that you purify yourself, just as He is pure. And then going back to the passage in 2 Corinthians, where we spoke about being the temple of the Lord. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. I'll go back to those verses and read on. For you, or we, some text say, are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. That's glorious. But it's not the end. The next word is, therefore. In other words, because of this, how do we respond? Paul says, come out from among them. That's the people that are not living for God. Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Notice, there's a condition upon which God will be our Father. It is that we come out from everything that is ungodly, and we do not touch what is unclean. Now there are many, many ways of touching what is unclean. But I think the commonest way for American Christians is television. There is so much that is impure and unclean, and you don't have to watch it. And when you do watch it, you are touching what is unclean. And it makes you unclean. It makes your thinking unclean. It gives you unclean suggestions. It gives you false standards. You begin to permit yourself to do things you would never do, if you hadn't seen somebody do them on television. I'm not as such against television. It has its benefits. Not many, but some. I have to say, I'm not totally in favor of preaching on television. Some of it we'd be better without. But you need to be a God. In 1986, some people here will remember. Ruth remembers, and some of the rest of you. We had a visitation in Good News Church, when it was still in the old building. And believe it or not, we were up by 5 a.m. and there for meeting with God, for about, I think, six weeks. And I can see some of you nodding your heads, you can remember. What was interesting was, that the small children in the various families, didn't want to miss that meeting. If their parents went without them, when the parents got home, they said, why didn't you take us? And they would just curl up in a blanket and lie on the floor. And I tell you, I got to know the smell of the carpet in Good News Church so well, I'll never forget it, because I had my nose into it for hours. There wasn't a lot of praying, practically no prophesying. We were just in the presence of God. And one of the things, and then people began to confess their sins. That wasn't immediate. There were sins of adultery, alcoholism, and others, amongst good church members. But I think the commonest sin that was confessed, was idolatry. Many people confessed they had an idol in their home. And it was, I don't have to tell you, do I, it was the TV set. And they worshipped before that. Now, they repented, and I wonder how many of them are still repentant. But it's touching the unclean thing. Now there are many, many other ways we can touch the unclean thing. But I think that's, when you can deal with that, you can deal with most of the rest. I was preaching in Zambia, if you know where that is, in Central West Africa. Or West Central Africa, whatever you like to say. And we were out in a really remote place, where they just got their first telephone. And I was preaching on addictions. And I should have known better. I usually, I'm careful, I take my audience into account. And I said, there's a new addiction that's come into the world lately. And it's television. Well, my interpreter had to spend five minutes explaining to them what television was. But it is an addiction, do you know that? And they have tested in schools, telling children for 24 hours not to watch the television. And they are just like people coming off drugs. So, you've heard it. Everyone that has this hope in him, purifies himself, just as he is pure. What we've noticed in places where the gospel has not penetrated, there's a degree of enthusiasm when it comes there. That is not seen in most Western churches. I will never forget the enthusiasm in Moscow last May. Tears come to my eyes when I think about it. Those people were excited. And I want to tell you, the gospel is exciting. If you cease to be excited by the gospel, you haven't really, you don't any longer realize what it is. You were lost. You were condemned to hell. You were going there where you deserved to go. And you had no hope. And Jesus intervened to save you. People don't like to talk about hell today. But it's a lot about it in the Bible. And most of what is said about hell is said by Jesus. I was preaching in Germany just recently this year, no, last year. And I spoke about being saved from hell. And my interpreter, who was a very good interpreter, and I understand German, said, being saved from a lost eternity. I said, brother, I didn't say that. I said hell. And I realized how reluctant people are to contemplate hell. But it is the destination of every person that does not live for God. And that's where we all deserve to go. And if you once realize that you've been saved from hell, you get excited. I have another little example. I gave it in Moscow. About the word justify. Which sounds such a theological word. And people say, well I'm justified by faith. But they don't really know what it means. It means to be acquitted. To be found not guilty. To be reckoned righteous. To be made righteous. And I gave a little picture. Come up here, sweetheart. I gave a little picture of a man in a court being tried for a crime which carried a mandatory death sentence. And he was sitting there waiting for the judge to pronounce the verdict. And the judge said, not guilty. And I said, when he met his wife afterwards, he didn't say, that was a nice meeting. He said, honey, I don't have to die. I'm free. Hallelujah. How many of you go out of a meeting like that? That's the truth. That's what justification is. You, and you, furthermore you were guilty. The truth of the matter is, that Jesus took your guilt upon himself. That's why the judge says, not guilt. Not because of anything you've done. But because of what he did. Now, one more question. A very simple one. How do you purify yourself? Now, we could spend hours on this, but I want to give you just one scripture. In 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 22. 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 22. Speaking to believers. He says, since you have purified your souls. In obeying the truth, through the spirit. To sincere love of the brethren. Love one another fervently, with a pure heart. So, how do we purify our souls? By obeying the truth. Not by knowing the truth. But by obeying the truth. And what is the result of obeying the truth? It's fervent love for one another. Paul said to Timothy. The goal of our instruction is love. Out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfamed faith. Do we recognize that? What are we aiming at? Why do we hold meetings? What is the purpose of preaching? Do we ever score a goal? What would you think of a football team? And I mean, I have to think in terms of soccer. Because I don't understand American football. But they're running up and down across the field. Backwards and forwards, passing the ball to one another. But they never aim at the goal. That's like a lot of churches. Because the goal of our instruction is what? Love. And if we don't achieve that, we haven't scored. So purifying your heart comes through obeying the truth. Not just knowing the truth, or quoting the truth. But obeying the truth. And it leads to unfamed love of the brethren. Our fellow believers. And listen, I've been a believer 52 years. And I know some other believers are not easy to love. I mean, you might not be bold enough to say that, but I am. God has got some strange children. You know what somebody said? You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. And John said, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. What's the evidence? Love. That's the result of a purified heart. Alright, the other and the final recommendation I have. If you can call it a recommendation. That God requires of us to be his people. Is to make Jesus central in your life. I was preaching on Revelation. Last Sunday, this matter of fact. No, the Sunday before last. And I was preaching on the first seven chapters of Revelation. And as I was preaching, I got a revelation. That's the position of Jesus. In Revelation chapter 1. John heard this voice like a trumpet speaking behind him. And then in verse 12 he says, Having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, One like the Son of Man. That was Jesus. What were the lampstands? He tells us, the churches. Where was Jesus? In the middle. And that's the only place he belongs. Is in the middle. And then you go on to Revelation chapter 5. And John was weeping. Because no one could open the scroll. That contained God's plan for the close of the age. And one of the elders said, don't weep. I'll read it, verse 5. But one of the elders said to me, do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David has prevailed. To open the scroll to loose its seven seals. Just let me point out to you. That Jesus is still the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And you know the word that comes from Judah. Is Jew. He didn't become a Jew just for 33 years. He is eternally identified with the Jewish people. And you better be careful of your attitude to them. So John turned to see the Lion. And he was shocked by what he saw. I looked and behold in the midst of the throne. And of the four living creatures. And in the midst of the elders. Stood a Lamb as though it had been slain. See that's the demonstration of God's power. God's power is made perfect in weakness. Paul says the weakness of God is stronger than man. The foolishness of God is wiser than man. The weakness of God and the foolishness of God is the cross. And through the cross. Jesus became the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In other words. If you fight for your rights. You lose them. If you lay them down. God will restore them to you. Before honor is humility.