Have you ever been in someone else's kitchen and see them prepare raw hamburger on the counter, then as you watched they immediately prepared some bread on the same surface? Have you ever been in a public washroom and as you wash your hands you notice a person from another cubicle just leave without washing at all? Have you ever seen someone counting money and they lick their fingers to get a better hold on the bills? All of these actions have a ?contaminating? aspect to them. Is this just a phobic response, or is it a bad practice that can be harmful to yourself and others?

Go a step deeper, is it sin? I want to talk with you about purity from an Old Testament perspective this morning. In the days of Moses when the Law was given, impurity was a complex issue. A person could do many natural actions and be considered impure because of them. A woman gives birth and is considered impure for a certain number of days, and that depending on whether it's a boy or a girl. A person touches a corpse, perhaps of a relative as they bury them, and is considered unclean or impure. Eating a certain kind of meat or preparing food in particular way resulted in impurity. This was considered just as defiling as a moral impurity would be, like swearing, lusting, lying, thieving, murdering. Until it was dealt with in the prescribed manner, it would render that person impure.

Here's the point and the reason for why we consider this in light of what we are about to read?Purity, to God, is the starting point. Before God empowers or employs, He purifies. Ritual purity was as high a requisite as Moral purity in the Old Testament. That ought to cause us to ask two questions: 1.Why?  2. What about today?

Before we consider that, turn with me to Joshua chapter 5.

I. Ritual Purity Is Founded Upon God's Prescription For Holiness.

We have all taken a prescription for medicine at some time. Basically, you trusted a doctor who knew what you didn't in order to regain what you'd lost in health. Every time God prescribed something for Israel , and even for us here today, it was according to what He knows about holiness and what He knows about what we have lost in physical, emotional and spiritual health for wholeness and ultimately holiness. Consider the context of this passage for moment: the nation of Israel has just arrived in Caanan, having just miraculously crossed the Jordan river . Before them are many hostile forces, before them lies a rich and inviting land. The very first day they are there, what is it they do? They have every male in the entire nation surgically incapacitated by circumcision. This emphasizes the importance of ritual purity, valued by the men who endured it, the commander who ordered it, the nation who risked it and God who designed it. Let's talk about this ritual of circumcision for minute. It was first instructed to Abraham, who at the age of 99 was circumcised and then circumcised Ishmael, his son through Hagar. It was a ritual that physically marked the males as belonging to the covenant of Genesis 17, which stipulated that nations and kings would come from Abraham and that his people would have a great and abundant land of their own. Circumcision was the mark God designed to declare these perpetual promises, from generation to generation. So from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob and all the time of captivity in Egypt , circumcision was practiced, a period of about 660 years. We also know that it was performed when an infant was eight days old (Gen.17:12), they were not named until they were circumcised (21:3), it was necessary for citizenship as a man(Exodus 12:48), without circumcision men could not participate in Passover. It was a painful and bloody ritual that pointed to a need for purity of heart (Deut.10:16) and a readiness to hear and obey God. You can see how important this ritual was, so it begs the obvious question, ?Why had the whole nation neglected it, for forty years no less? Did this also mean they had not partaken of Passover for the last forty years as well, according to Exodus 12:48?  We have very little from Scripture to answer these questions... perhaps the seal of circumcision had been set aside when the promise of a land was set aside for the forty years of wandering? perhaps Passover was not celebrated because of just having the manna and not the other prescribed foods for a Passover meal. It was unlikely that the entire nation under Moses leadership had been rebellious regarding this fundamental ritual for purity, yet it appears that for whatever reason, health or otherwise, the ritual of circumcision was neglected. BUT NOW, here Israel is in the covenant promised, land, and now the rituals of circumcision and Passover are to be strictly observed again, a second time. So much so that entire nation stops at the threshold of conquest and takes time and pain and blood to accomplish the rituals of purity. That is the context. Let's now ask the ?Why? question, Why was the ritual of purity so important?

1.  It called the people to what God most required of them, Faith.

Ritual always speaks past itself, it is a sign pointing to something higher. Ritual has the unseen as it's purpose, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction that certain things are and will be. Ritual instructed people to live by faith and that is what God has always sought the most from people.

2. It began to teach the people about the wonder of efficacy.

This is more clearly demonstrated in the Passover ritual than circumcision, though even there it points to an action done by another that works on their behalf. All the rituals of purification pointed to the work of another on our behalf? a lamb is put to death and the people have their sin covered over, it's blood for theirs. Even circumcision pointed to the painful and bloody work of the cross as the means for being a New Covenant people.

3.  It spoke into the sin nature of mankind and introduced the value of holiness to it.

All ritual purity had as its highest aim the holiness of God. When the 600,000 men of Israel were circumcised at Gilgal, it was the holiness of God that was the foundation of it. This act of sanctification, of being set apart as the people of God, declared the holiness of their God, to themselves, their families and to all the nations watching them.

II. Moral Purity Is Now the Demand of God Through Christ's Holiness.

Today God has made a higher way, a way more perfect than all the rituals. Today there are no longer any rituals upon which we need to depend in order to experience purity. Where Circumcision was- Baptism now is; where Passover was ? Communion now is; where sacrifice of lambs was ? the cross of Jesus Christ now is; where the ritual of the Temple was- the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling us now is. What is it that God requires of us today in terms of moral purity? Have a look at verses 13-15 of Joshua 5. Consider these observations regarding moral purity:

1. It takes a courageous heart.

What would you do if you were at war and you saw someone at a distance with a sword drawn? Joshua moved forward with the only challenge there is in times of war ? whose side are you on? It takes courage to ask that question of yourself and then to ask it of another, because there is no neutral ground. The line of compromise is drawn on enemy territory!

2. It takes a teachable spirit.

If One who is the captain of all the host of heaven and earth declares Himself to you, how quick are you to give up your command to Him? There will be a direct connection between humility and morality in this regard. If you are proud, you won't surrender control, and you will move towards immorality. Remember the definition of humility from Neil Anderson? Humility is confidence properly placed. Look at where Joshua placed his confidence, now look at Joshua's posture in vs 14. 

3. It takes an enquiring mind.

What is it that God requires of you? Have you asked Him that question recently. It will have everything to do with moral purity. ?What has my Lord to say to His servant.? Are you asking?

4. It takes hands willing to protect holiness.

Joshua had no idea he was standing on holy ground and needed to respond by removing that which was dishonoring to God. We too may need to remove that which is dishonoring to God in our lives before He will move in the next step of our faith.

The point becomes clear, before God employs or empowers, He purifies. 

Rev. Spence Laycock pastors at Church of the Open Bible, Ponoka, Alberta, Canada.
www.churchoftheopenbible.ab.ca