Jesus has Made us Pure (05/07/2026)
Jesus Has Made Us Pure
Sarah Searle shared with us this week about purity — and she started with something that might surprise you: purity has absolutely nothing to do with how disciplined you are, and absolutely everything to do with Jesus.
That's not a get-out clause. It's the gospel. And if you've ever felt weighed down by the gap between who you know you should be and who you actually are, this message is for you.
The problem with how we think about purity
Most of us hear the word "purity" and feel immediately inadequate. It sounds like a standard we're supposed to meet — a list of things to stop doing, a bar we keep falling short of. Sarah named that feeling directly. But she was clear: that's not what purity is about.
Purity isn't a performance. It's a position. And that position has been secured for us by Jesus on the cross.
She pointed us to Romans 8:3 from The Passion Translation: "God did what the law could not do... And in that body, God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins."
God has declared an end to sin's control over us. Do we believe that? Not just in theory — but for ourselves, personally, for the thing we keep failing at?
You are already clean
From Hebrews 10:19–22, Sarah read words that are almost too good to sit with: "We have been freed from an accusing conscience... We are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out."
Not one day. Not after we've sorted ourselves out. Now. If you know Jesus, you are clean now. The challenge isn't to become clean. It's to believe that you already are — and to let that truth sink from your head down into your soul.
As Sarah put it: if God says something in His Word, it's true. And the thing that needs to change is our experience, not the truth.
The web we think we're stuck in
Sarah was refreshingly honest about a season of her own life — seven years of rebellion as a young woman, convinced she was trapped in a mess of her own making. She quoted Coldplay's Trouble: "Oh no, what's this? A spider web, and I'm caught in the middle." That's exactly what sin feels like. Hopelessly tangled. Impossible to escape.
But she said it plainly: that's a lie. We are not trapped. The enemy loves to whisper that we'll never change, that we're too far gone, that we'd better get ourselves together before coming back to God. But none of that is true. As soon as we look Jesus full in the face, shame loses its grip.
She told the story of finally coming home after those seven years — sitting on the steps of her building in Birmingham, her parents pulling up in the car. Her mum jumped out and ran towards her, saying: "We knew. We knew. It's okay." That, Sarah said, is exactly what Jesus says to each one of us. He already knows. He's already paid for it. He's not waiting for us to clean up. He's running towards us.
So how do we stay pure?
Not by gritting our teeth. Not by being more disciplined. By believing what God has already declared to be true.
That means reading the Bible and doing what it says. It means meditating on scripture — going over a verse again and again until the truth of it gets deep inside you. It means asking the Holy Spirit to make it real, not just intellectually known. And it means confessing the things we've kept hidden, because as Sarah said: it only gets bigger in the dark. As soon as we bring it into the light, freedom comes.
She closed with Joel 3:10: "Let the weakling say, 'I am a champion.'" That's the posture God is calling us into. Not because we've earned it. Because He has made it true.
A reflection question
Is there something you've been holding back from Jesus — believing the lie that you need to sort it out first, or that it's too big, or that He already knows too much? What would it look like to look Him in the face today?
If this message has stirred something in you, we'd love to connect. Come and chat with one of our team on a Sunday, or find out more about Redcar Baptist Church. Everyone is welcome.
