Dangers of Defilement

“Blessed are the undefiled in the way”

Psalm 119:1

Fresh rain, fresh mud, children always gravitate towards it- “Don’t walk through the mud!”

Sin:  there is the riveting form and the writhing form. Not just character flaws, habits, personalities, lifestyles, preferences, shortcomings, indulgences, or ‘quirks’ but SIN. DIRT. FILTH. DEFILED.

Mucking stalls- “Where no oxen are the crib is clean” He expects there to be messes;He expects there to be cleaning up also

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Psalm 24 “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.”

Hebrews 7:26 “Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.”

Psalms 19:9 “The fear of the Lord is clean“

We have a preoccupation in this country for taking daily showers, shaving, doing our best to hide what our bodies become in less than 24 hours. O that we could occupy ourselves in the same way with our souls and spirits also!

I pray God would ignite your senses to: Not only HEAR of the defilement of sin, but also

To see the defilement, Smell the defilement, Taste the defilement, and Feel the defilement that sin is!

Webster’s 1828 carries only scriptural definitions for its use:

1. To make unclean; to render foul or dirty; in a general sense.
2.  To make impure; to render turbid; as, the water or liquor is defiled.
3. To soil or sully; to tarnish; as reputation, &c.

He is among the greatest prelates of the age, however his character may be defiled by dirty hands.

‘They shall defile thy brightness.’ Ezek 28.

4. To pollute; to make ceremonially unclean.

‘That which dieth of itself, he shall not eat, to defile himself therewith’. Lev 22.

5. To corrupt chastity; to debauch; to violate; to tarnish the purity of character by lewdness.

‘Schechem defiled Dinah.’ Gen 34.

6. To taint, in a moral sense; to corrupt; to vitiate; to render impure with sin.

‘Defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt.’ Ezek 20.

‘He hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord’. Num 19.

We don’t look at dirty as dangerous; but if there is a benediction to cleanliness, there is a condemnation to dirtiness.

The dangers of defilement are:

Delusion- you can be dirty and not know it

Summer beach foolishness- people don’t go to the water because they are dirty, but because they are uncomfortable!

The story of a Marshall Islander who took her first shower in the US, and the water literally burned her skin because it removed a layer of dirt that had been there all along.

Feet always stink. Just because you don’t smell them,, doesn’t make it any less so!

Degradation- makes others unclean; attracts uncleanness

Doctors advise not to pluck nose hairs, infection can set in and go to your brain!

Sin is dirt- a man that curses at someone may just as well vomit on them- and it would be more clean.

Everything a carrier touches is contaminated.

1. Someone depends on you to stay clean.

I work in food trash, industrial waste, commercial garbage and when I come home, Amy still always runs to grab my legs.

2. Unclean places attract unclean people

Memorial Day, Pensacola, FL, ‘gay’ ‘pride’ weekend. Never have I smelled a more weakening stench. Booze, body odor, colognes and stink of sodomy, mingled with the fumes of hell.

“There always has been an intimate connection between iniquity and dirt. The filthy parts of the great cities are always the most iniquitous parts. The gutters and the pavements of some of the wards in this city illustrate and symbolize the character of the people in those wards. The first thing a bad man does when he is converted is wash himself. When I see a man on Sunday uncleanly in his dress, my suspicions in regard to his moral character are aroused; and they are often well-founded.”

Thomas DeWitt Talmage

71% of the earth’s surface is water- what is your excuse for being filthy?

Denial- cannot access clean places

Too Posh To Wash: William the ‘Ewerer’ (Ewww) was King John of England’s royal bather in 1210. Payments of 5 1/2 pence were paid for each bath the king took. He was paid exactly 22 pence over a six-month period.

1. Some company is invited with defilement; some is excluded
2. Fellowship is always enjoyed in order: first pure, then peaceable

Children are not allowed on clean floors with dirty shoes. Hands are washed BEFORE supper.

A leper had to put his hand over his mouth and yell ‘Unclean, unclean!’ as he ran OUT from the city of God.

Disguise- dirt covers/causes more problems

1. First thing that must be done to treat any injury is sterilization. If it isn’t sanitary, it is not conducive to healing.

You are hurt- first you must be clean

You are grieving- you must be clean

You feel badly- first get clean

Your senses are dull- “And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. ” John 9:7

You are offended-  get clean

You are doubtful- you can be clean.

2. Best way to stay clean: protection

Mark 7:14-23 “All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” I’ve often thought that confession of sin is like vomiting. You never like to ‘eat your words’ and it is always more despicable  when you reap what you sow.

• Ehud stabs Eglon, and ‘the dirt came out’.
• Reformers Unanimous Principle #2 ‘Every sin has its origin in the heart.’

Damnation- Dust to dust “He which is filthy, let him be filthy still.” Revelation 22:11

If the undefiled are blessed; those defiled are cursed.

How many little kittens have I scooped up to bury, all because they were birthed into filth- and never cleansed!

1. This danger says you may not BE ABLE  to get clean
2. Also that there may not be TIME ENOUGH to come clean.

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

Psalm 51:7

I heard of a missionary whose wife was very fastidious. They moved into a small hut, and soon she noticed that the floor was filthy. The first thing the wife wanted to do was to scrub that floor, so she scrubbed and scrubbed but to no avail. She began to wonder if she would ever get the floor clean. Finally, somebody told her the problem. It was a dirt floor! The more she scrubbed the more dirt she scrubbed up.

In the same way, we can never scrub off our sinful nature. All we do is reveal more of what is there.

I hate to tell you this, but we’re rotten to the core.

Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

‘Come clean’ Cleansing Tower by Joni Eareckson Tada

“. . . Cleanse thou me from secret faults.”           Psalm 19:12   Dismantling the war machine at the end of World War II was an enormous task. Unfortunately, in their haste to close up one of the major supply depots in Southern California, many toxic barrels were buried above valuable water aquifers near the San Bernardino mountains.   The sin of haste and waste was found out years later. The soil was contaminated for miles around, threatening the water supply. After years of legal and technical debate, however, an ingenious solution was devised. Pumps were installed, reaching deep into the water aquifers. The pumps brought the water from the ground up to the top of tall towers. The water then flowed down the towers through filters and back into the ground, clean once more.     Exposure of our sin is God’s way of healing our soul. Like the contaminated water, the danger is in the concealment of the poison. As long as it was down there, the water would kill. It had to come up and be exposed to cleansing elements before its deadliness could be neutralized.     God digs past our attempts to hide our sins and brings them to our minds. Then He exposes them to His faithful and just character to cleanse and restore life. “Here,” He says of an exposed sin, “is what’s bothering you. This is what is sapping your joy and your strength. Remove this, let me forgive you and restore you. Give me the word and I will cleanse you according to my promise of faithfulness and justice.” ________________________________   Confess your sin today. There is something eminently refreshing about His cleansing. Even something as physical and elemental as breathing becomes an exercise of joy when we have been cleansed. At such times we are given a glimpse of what our hearts will be like in heaven when we finally see ourselves as He has seen us all along- clothed in righteousness.  “When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. “ Matthew 8:1-3 Would you come and worship the Lord? He is willing to make you clean.

Who says you can be clean?

Napoleon was once reviewing his troops near Paris, and his restless horse darted from under him when he dropped the reins for a moment. A young private in line leaped forward and grabbed the reins, saving his commander from a fall. The Emperor glanced at him and said quickly, “Thank you, captain.” The private unbelievingly said,  “Of what regiment, sir?” “Of my guards” answered Napoleon, and galloped away.

The soldier laid down his rifle and proceeded toward a group of officers, who angrily said, “What is this insolent fellow doing here?”

“This insolent fellow,” the young soldier answered looking the others steadily in the eyes, “is a captain of the guards.”

“You are insane” they replied, “I beg your pardon, captain, I was not aware of your promotion.”

Though he was still uniformed as a private, with bold assertion of his dignity he declared, pointing to Napoleon: “HE SAID IT!”

Luke 17:14  “And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. ” HE SAID IT! HE said it!