UNCLEANNESS
Let’s start this conversation off by explaining sin. What is sin?
Dictionary.com defines sin as an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. We defined immoral previously in the adultery and fornication section of fleshy works.
What is a transgression?
Transgressions are an act that goes against a law, rule, or code of conduct; an offense.
Righteousness vs unrighteousness
When a person commits any transgression against the law this particular act is what makes them unrighteous. It causes one to no longer be in right standing with God. How does one become righteous? It is not by works that any man should boast but it is by REPENTANCE!!!
2 Chronicles 7:14 says, if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray seek my face and turn from there wicked ways then will they hear from from heaven and I will heal their land
Clean vs Unclean
1 Thessalonians 4:7
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
Unclean
Matthew 23:27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
If you ever observed leprosy in the bible, you would see that when a person acquired this disease, they were put outside of the camp for being unclean. No one was allowed to touch this person or come near this person for a period of time because they would become unclean as well and would be kicked out of the camp also.
What is leprosy?
Leprosy is caused by infection with the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. It mainly affects the skin, eyes, nose and peripheral nerves. Peripheral nerves are nerves that reside outside your brain and spinal cord. They relay information between your brain and the rest of your body. Symptoms include light colored or red skin patches with reduced sensation, numbness and weakness in hands and feet.
If anyone was infected with this disease they were highly contagious. You were forbidden to go near this person because you too would become infected.
Going back to our scripture reference, Matthew 23:27. This highly contagious disease in this case were the scribes and Pharisees. The bible says, “Woe unto you”. This means Judgment unto you. Then it proceeds to say, paraphrasing, “You don’t look contagious. You look beautiful on the outside just like a beautiful coffin but on the inside you are dead as a “corpse” (emphasized in parenthesis because this is the greek translation of that word) and have all manner of uncleanness meaning you got a lot of sores on the inside and you look like a sick leper inwardly.”
In other words, do not be deceived! You look beautiful to behold but you are highly contagious, highly sinful and if anyone comes in contact with you they will partake of only the dead things that lie within. In essence, you Pharisees hold many in contempt of not upholding a righteous standard when you yourselves are guilty of this very thing. Their sin within was hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).
Now you may ask after all that has been said, “What is being unclean?”
Let’s look at Isaiah 1:4-6
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
Pay attention to verse 5 it says the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint. When you are full of sin your mind is sick and your heart is in despair. In other words, you are not in your right(eous) mind.
Now let’s look at verse 6, it says paraphrasing, from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head there is no soundness in you. What is soundness? Wholesomeness. Here we go again with the sore as we spoke about in the unclean section, vs 6 says but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. What does that mean? The evil or the darkness in your soul has overtaken you. There is no good coming out of you. No one can hear what you are saying and receive any manner of life. You are dead on the inside and God is looking for you to cease doing evil.
Let’s look at one more scripture that talks about this Mark 7:20-25
20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. 24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
So here in Mark chapter 7 it talks about what makes a person unclean. It is evil thoughts that come from the heart of a man. Those evil thoughts are: thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, evil eye, blasphemy, pride and foolishness. These thoughts make you unclean. As we read further in Mark 7 then Jesus comes to women who request that an unclean spirit be cast out of her daughter and she was not a Jew she was Greek and Jesus was saying to the lady I can’t give the bread for the children to someone that is not a Jew and the woman’s response back was even the dogs eat from the King’s table and from that saying Jesus’ told the woman go back to your daughter the demon is gone. Jesus didn’t even have to be in front of this young lady to cast this demon of uncleanness out.
Clean
Isaiah 1:16-19 (an example of what God considers a clean man)
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
Another scripture that reiterates the cleanness of a man is 2 Corinthians 4:16. It says
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
The soul of a man is constantly going through the process of sanctification and when this process is no longer occurring then your inner man is no longer being renewed.
The thinking of man and the heart of a man is connected. When the soul of a man is not submitted to the Holy Spirit then the working of cleanness cannot be enforced in one’s life.
How do you submit your soul to the Holy Spirit so that sanctification can occur?
You submit your soul to the Holy Spirit by allowing His spirit to lead and guide you. To deal with the mind and the heart of one’s soul so that sanctification can occur, let’s review 2 Corinthians 10:5 in the passion translation
“We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.”
2 Corinthians 10:5 TPT
This is very pertinent to uncleanness. I will explain this through a dream I had. One day I had this dream. When I was younger and you went to the movies there was this movie projector. It projected light onto a screen. Through this light, this false light, an image is projected on a screen. In order for the brain to receive signals, understanding, everything is transmitted through light. This light comes through the eyes and whatever is received through the eyes is transmitted to the brain.
Light transmission through the eyes works like this….
According to the National Eye Institute, when light hits the retina (a light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye), special cells called photoreceptors turn the light into electrical signals. These electrical signals travel from the retina through the optic nerve to the brain. Then the brain turns the signals into the images you see.
This is how the enemy projects images or sows tares (seeds) into our lives. The movie screen, the tv screen, our cell phone lights and all of these lights are projecting an image and sowing seeds into our lives casting someone else’s vision of uncleanness into our lives. Our lives are becoming illuminated with the various signals being sent to the optical nerve then the brain turns the signals into the images you see which is “us”. We become the sum total of all the seeds/images that we have allowed to illuminate our eyes every single day, moment by moment, minute by minute.
This is the reason the bible tells us in Romans 12:1-2, going back to our very important scripture, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. You have to allow the illumination of the word into your soul to counter attack the images that the false light has tried to conform you into.
So now going back to 2 Corinthians 10:5. Someone who is clean enforces this very scripture.
“We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.”
Let’s talk about this. God has already given us this blueprint in the bible to utilize this strategy against the enemy. The Luke 10:18-20 the msg bible it states this:
Jesus said, “I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I’ve given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing.”
When lucifier decided that he was going to exalt his throne above God and there was this rebellion in the heavens. What did God do? He cast Him down! He stripped him of everything. He stripped him of this authority, he stripped him of his power. He stripped him. In Luke 10:18-20 above. I gave you power and authority over him through me and now you will cast him down.
Now he was cast down to earth. When God cast him down. The same thing happened when beguiled Eve. When God went to render judgment, He cast Him down again and this time He said and women’s seed shall bruise your head. Now man even has the power and authority to cast Satan down just as God did.
A clean person must have the word in their lives so that uncleanness does not make them contagiously resistant to the knowledge of God. A clean person isn’t resistant to God; they are constantly bringing into captivity EVERYTHING that resists God in their mind, thinking, sleeping in every aspect of their lives.
Let’s look at one last scripture concerning this matter.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
23 And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah). AMPC
A clean person is a guardian of their soul and they are willfully submitted to the sanctification process of our Lord and Savior that they may be wholly clean within.
