If we are going to maintain a passion for purity, we need to determine to live our lives in the center of the narrow way and not on the edge.
We want to live on the edge when it comes to zealous evangelism. We want to live on the edge when it comes to servanthood. We want to be extreme in our love for Christ and for others. But we should live our lives entirely in the safe zone when it comes to the matter of purity.
“The narrow way was never hit upon by chance, neither did any heedless man ever lead a holy life,”1 writes Spurgeon. To live a holy life is an absolute act of determination prompted by the Spirit of God, guided by the Word of God, and enabled by the power of God. It requires a resolve that says, “I have set my heart to it, and now I will implement it. And I will determine that I live my life in the center of the narrow way.”
In Proverbs 7, the narrator presents a picture of a young man living on the edge with respect to purity. The young man sets himself on a path toward sexual sin, approaching the home of a promiscuous woman:
For at the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
and I have seen among the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man lacking sense,
passing along the street near her corner,
taking the road to her house
in the twilight, in the evening,
at the time of night and darkness. (Prov. 7:6–9)
It is utter foolishness for the young man to go there, putting himself in the path of temptation. To walk down a road is not sin, but to walk boldly into the face of temptation certainly is. As the writer later asks, “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?” (Prov. 6:27).
“Oh,” a young man or woman might say, “it’s okay. You see, I’m free to do what I want. I can watch this. I can read that. I can listen to that music. Those lyrics don’t affect me. I know some people can’t stomach them; they’ve got a problem in this area, obviously. But me? That stuff’s not a problem to me. I can listen to it. I can read it. I can watch it.”
If we have a modicum of that in our minds, we’re not even true to common sense, for as a man thinks, so is he (Prov. 23:7 KJV). If we fill our minds with impurities, we will be influenced by them and eventually act accordingly. A passion for purity means that we will determine to move toward the center of purity and not fool around on the edges.
There is nothing to be gained by skirting the edge of the narrow way.
This article was adapted from the sermon “A Passion for Purity” by Alistair Begg.
C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 5, Psalm CXI. to CXIX. (London: Marshall Brothers), 157. ↩︎
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