Purge & Clean

Purge & Clean

I spoke last week about the “purge and cleaning” of the branches, and I wanted to go back and reiterate on some of the things I spoke about. Also, I want everyone to know that this is something that has been going on in my life for the past couple months and I wanted to share what I have learned about the “purge” in the hope that it might help someone else who may be going through this process. The main thing I have learned about the purge is that there are two very important steps involved in the purging.

The first thing we have to understand about the purge is that God is trying to remove something out of our lives and that the purging will NOT go on forever. Also, when the purging is done we will have seasons of peace between the seasons of purging. I understand completely that at times it seems like the purging will never end, but our Father is merciful and the season of the purge eventually WILL come to an end but only for a season because purging will come and go as long as we decide to continue to be His disciples. HOWEVER, if we react like the children of Israel did and constantly fail the seasons of purging then we can expect to go around that mountain (aka-purging) over and over again until we pass that purging segment of our life. Jesus said this “Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away…if a man abide not in me then he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:2 & 6) which is a warning to all of us because if we continue to fail the purging then we may in time be cast into the fire and BURNED. I know that some people believe in “Once Saved Always Saved” (OSAS), but that doctrine is contrary to the Word of God as many passages clearly show. If we are committing the same every day, then asking for forgiveness and then going out and committing that same sin over and over again the next day then we only have a form of godliness because without repentance then there is no forgiveness. In addition, we have to realize that most of the time we are being purged from various flaws in our character and/or sins in our lives because we can never bear good fruit if we have tons of sin attached to our branches. So concept one is a simple one; the purging season will always pass and if we complete it then we will not have to go through it again but if not then we will see it again down the road. Purging is different than trials and tribulations because trials are sent by God to test our faith (to see if we really believe what we say we believe) and tribulations/persecution are send by satan to destroy us but purging is done to us by God himself so that we can bear more fruit thus bringing the Father more glory (John 15:8).

The second thing (and the most important thing) about the purging process is the cleaning that must take place during the purge! Jesus said that “…every branch that bears fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing…Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. You are my friends if you do what so ever I command you” (John 15:2-5, 8, 14) so the basic concepts of the cleaning process are these:

(1) It is the Word of God that will get us through the purging process and nothing else because as the purging is taking place the Word of God is cleaning us from whatever God trying to pull out of us.

(2) As the purging is going on we must stay close to Jesus because he is the SOURCE of our life and our comfort during this period (As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me).

(3) The only way we will ever bring forth much fruit is if we allow ourselves to be purged from the old things in our lives and this is how we bear more fruit (…and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit…he that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing).

(4) The reason we get purged is so that we will bring forth more fruit so that “his FATHER will be glorified” and that will make us “HIS disciples”. Just a side note on this last half (be his disciples); I see SO many people in the “church” who point to themselves constantly when things happen to them or others around them so that they will get a little glory (for what God did). They won’ t do it so boldly that people notice that they are pointing to themselves, but they will drop little hints about what they did to make it happen so that people will think they are so spiritual but that is stealing GOD’S GLORY and God said he would share his glory with NO man PERIOD (Isaiah 42:8)!

(5) Lastly, “you are my friends IF you do what so ever I command you” so if any of us claim to love Jesus or be the friend of Jesus and we have a pet sin that we love to do every day (drinking, lying, fornicating, gossiping/slandering, drugging, stealing, or whatever other sin we love) then we must go to the Word of God because it says this in Matthew 7:16-20 “You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit and neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” and that’s pretty clear and to the point.

So now let’s all stop for a second and answer these two very simple questions…

Are we being purged?

If yes then we must understand that the purging will pass if we complete the process. If no, then have we been purged in the past? If yes then we should know that the season of purging will pass and if the answer is no then we have to ask ourselves “are we sure that we belong to Christ” because he clearly said “Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit”. Also, did you notice that both of the branches are attached to Christ which once again destroys OSAS!

If we are being purged then are we allowing ourselves to be cleaned by the Word?

To answer this then we have to ask when was the last time we actually got alone, opened the Word (not some book about God, or some devotional, or whatever else we like to substitute for the Word of God) but the actually Word of God and spent time studying it and waiting on God to talk to us (which is WAY more than just reading a verse once in awhile). I am not saying other things cannot be read, but if we are not using the Word of God as our main source of spiritual food then satan can easily (and without even working at it) lead us astray! God did not say to study other things but to study his WORD. First we read in 2 Timothy 2:15 that we are to “study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed who is rightly dividing the WORD of truth” and in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith and PROVE your own selves”.  So how can we take these two verses and think that reading things about the Word of God is what God wants from us? Yes they can be great additions (if they are not the false teachers on TV), but they are NEVER to be our main source. If we are to survive the purging that all REAL believers will go through, then we must let the Word of God and NOTHING ELSE CLEAN us during the purging process…

Here is an illustration a Pastor once spoke on…

Purging is like the refining of gold. Gold is heated in big metal pots (smelters) and as the gold is heated more and more the impurities known as dross rises to the top. As the dross rises, the man working the smelter then uses a huge metal net to scrap the dross off the top of the gold. This process goes on and on until the gold reaches the leave of purification that the person needs to obtain.

In this illustration we are the gold, the heat is the purging process, the dross is what God is trying to remove from us, and the one removing and cleaning us from the dross is the Word and we all should know that the Word is Jesus!

Finally, if we do not allow ourselves to be purged our fruit will begin to rot; and then it will turn poisonous; and finally it will become hard. Once it is hard it may look like good fruit but one bite will tell you all you need to know about the fruit we have.