I don't misunderstand. You've said that a person must attain their own heart purity before Salvation. The Pharisees also thought that the works they did caused their hearts to be pure and they would enter the Kingdom of God because of it.
John 3:14-15
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
The Pharisees thought righteousness was in strict (to the letter) outward adherence to the Mosaic Code without concern for love. Thus when the saw a man carrying his mat on the Sabbath it would disturb them, or when they saw evidence of a blind man being healed on the Sabbath their minds were immediately on the letter of the law as opposed to being awed at the power of Jesus Christ. They sought their righteousness in being a blood descendent of Abraham yet in their DEEDS they denied the FAITH OF ABRAHAM.
Heart purity is attained through obedience to the truth by the Spirit (yielding to the leading of God) as well as in conjunction with the blood of Jesus Christ being sprinkled to purify the conscience. It is not attained BEFORE salvation.
What is attained BEFORE salvation is the CESSATION OF REBELLION. In individual who ceases rebellion through being broken on the rock of Christ (through godly sorrow and repentance) is still dead in their trespasses and sin God clears them through raising them up and applying the blood.
Purity of heart only occurs when God raises one up to newness of life by His power. God manifests His power through the inner man. Heart purity is wrought through yielding to the leading of God whereby one adds to their faith, it is in this way that we partake in the divine nature (having ALREADY escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust).
This growth in purity IS NOT to be confused with the CESSATION OF REBELLION. They are two different things. A young child does not know much and needs to grow to maturity. So it is with a new born Christian.
The Prodigal Son was not born again in the pig pen. He recognised his sin and FORSOOK IT. HE left the pig pen to go back to the father. When the father restored him the son WAS NOT in a state of rebellion. The Prodigal Son was WILLING TO YIELD.
The new born Christian is no doubt ignorant in many areas and is very prone to error without guidance.
There is a purity wrought through repentance but it is a purity in the context of being cleansed of GUILE and SELF WORSHIP. Hence 2Cor 7:11 speaks of a CLEARING OF WRONGDOING where the previous wrong conduct has been forsaken and amended (restitution) as far as possible. Thus the repentant sinner is no longer TIED to their former conduct, it is HISTORY and not ONGOING. The no longer SERVE SIN because the BODY OF SIN was DESTROYED.
The old man is the man who walks in the lusts of the flesh serving SELF. That is the man that MUST DIE once and for all in repentance. The old man CANNOT be reformed. You don't chip away at the old man and gradually reform him. This gradual reformation of the old man is THE ERROR of the church system.
The old man DIES in the Baptism of Repentance where the axe is laid to the root once and for all where iniquity is CUT OUT. This is the circumcision which is done without hands and is absolutely ESSENTIAL for salvation to take place.
Here Paul writes of this so very clearly...
Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Col 2:11 is BEING BURIED WITH HIM IN BAPTISM. It is only through being buried with Jesus Christ that we can be RISEN with Jesus Christ.
Being SET FREE FROM SIN is connected to the BODY OF SIN being destroyed. The body of sin being destroyed is connected to NOT SERVING SIN.
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Look at this....
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Whom YOU OBEY is connected to whose servant you are. If you are obeying the lusts of the flesh and sinning then you are a slave of sin. You cannot be a slave of sin and set free from sin at the same time.
It is very simple. This is why 1Pet 4:1-2 speaks of the "cessation of sin" as being connected to "not serving the lusts of men." James describes how "lusts draws men into sin" (Jam 1:14-14). This is why those who are Christ's HAVE crucified the flesh with its lusts (Gal 5:24). The flesh being crucified is the old man being crucified (Rom 6:6).
This is all SO CLEAR IN SCRIPTURE yet people REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT.
Look at all the responses in this thread. They all dance around the crucifixion of the flesh with its passions and desires and talk about anything but that. WHY?
Go sit in practically any church and they WILL NEVER speak on the crucifixion of the flesh with the passions and desires. WHY?
This aspect of the Gospel is the ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM which the Church System IGNORES.
I have sat in on Bible studies and church sermons and while they will sometimes go through Romans 6 they will never CONNECT "being crucified" with the "passions and desires." If they do I have yet to hear it. They always teach being crucified with Christ as "PROVISIONALLY APPLIED" in the context of an "IDENTIFICATION" which has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR DEEDS.
Salvation in other words is PURELY taught as something abstract because of this they disconnect MANIFEST RIGHTEOUSNESS from BEING IN CHRIST.
It is PURE GNOSTICISM which has beguiled millions. The Gnostics taught that your soul could be pure and yet your deeds could still be filthy because the material world held the soul in bondage. It was only through death that the soul was released to be all that it was meant to be.
The Church System teaches the same thing under the guise of Christian Terminology. Instead of the soul being trapped by matter they teach Original Sin by which "the flesh" necessitates "sinful conduct" and therefore one will ALWAYS be a sinner while in the flesh.
The fundamental view of the constitution of man is in error and it totally redefines everything else which is built on top of it. This root error is the reason why professing Christian's THINK they can still sin (willful sin in yielding to the lusts of the flesh) and enter the kingdom. In their minds they cannot conceive how those lusts can be overcome COMPLETELY through Jesus Christ because they believe the FLESH ITSELF is the problem. The flesh is not the problem, YIELDING TO THE FLESH is the problem.
The problem is addressed through partaking in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We die to self and are raised up by God. The grain of wheat dies whereby it can grow and bear fruit. The old wine skin is thrown away so that a new wine skin can be put on and filled with new wine. The old man is put to death so the new man can be born and grow.
Yet people dance around this and keep to the oft, "your a Pharisee trying to save yourself by the law." Hogwash!
