I.　The Lord's recovery is unique, and in the recovery we must be purified of every kind of mixture:

A.　Babylon is a mixture of the things of God with the things of idols, and the principle of Babylon is the principle of mixing the things of man with the Word of God and the things of the flesh with the things of the Spirit—2 Chron. 36:6-7; Ezra 1:11; Rev. 17:3-5:

1.　Anything that is a part of Babylon is abominable in the sight of God, and anything Babylonian gives Satan the ground to defeat the people of God—Josh. 7:1-21.

2.　God hates the principle of Babylon more than anything else; only when we judge everything Babylonian in us can we confess that we too hate the principle of Babylon.

B.　Before Ezra arrived, there was mixture among God's recovered people, but he purified the recovery by causing "the holy seed" to be separated from anything heathen—Ezra 9:1-15:

1.　The Lord's recovery must be pure and without mixture; thus, we need Ezras and Nehemiahs to carry out a purifying work—Neh. 13:23-30a.

2.　In the local churches, we must be purified from all mixture—2 Tim. 2:21.

C.　In Acts 21 and in the book of James, there is mixture, because James was a mixed person:

1.　Acts 21 exposes the terrible mixture in the church in Jerusalem; this mixture was a cause for God's sending Titus and the Roman army to destroy the city of Jerusalem, including the temple—Matt. 24:1-2; 22:7.

2.　James mixed the Old Testament with the New Testament, the new dispensation with the old, the new people of God with the old, and the new man with the old man—James 1:1, 17-18; 2:1-4, 8-12; 3:2; 4:11-12; 5:10-11.

D.　A great problem among God's children is the mixture of the self with the spirit— Heb. 4:12:

1.　This mixture disqualifies many from serving God, for in their spirit there is much mixture, which is displeasing to God—2 Tim. 1:3.

2.　The spirit in our innermost part is pure and undefiled; however, when the spirit comes forth and passes through the soul and the body, it may become contaminated by filthiness and corruption—2 Cor. 7:1.

3.　Dealing with the spirit emphasizes dealing with impure motives and intentions and other mixtures within us—1 Thes. 5:23; 2 Tim. 1:7.

II.　We need to be pure in heart, in conscience, and in spirit:

A.　Those who are pure in heart will see God—Matt. 5:8; Job 42:5; Rev. 22:4:

1.　To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God's will for God's glory—1 Cor. 10:31.

2.　A pure heart is a heart that takes the Lord as the unique goal—1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:22; Psa. 73:1.

3.　In the New Testament sense, to see God is to gain God, and to gain God is to receive God in His element, life, and nature in order to be constituted with God, to become one with God, to become a part of God, and to become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead—Matt. 5:8; Rev. 22:4.

4.　We should be pure in heart and single for the Lord's recovery; only then will we be a help to the recovery—1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Pet. 1:22.

B.　We need to have not only a good conscience but also a pure conscience—Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Tim. 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:3:

1.　A good conscience is a conscience without offense toward God and man—Acts 23:1; 24:16.

2.　A pure conscience is a conscience purified of any mixture; such a conscience testifies that, like Paul, we are seeking only God and His will—2 Tim. 1:3.

C.　The first qualification in the work is purity of spirit—2 Cor. 6:4a, 6:

1.　It is very difficult to find a person whose spirit is pure—7:1.

2.　Pureness is the prerequisite in the leadership and a basic condition of our service—1 Tim. 3:9; 1:5:

a.　It is unusual to find a pure motive in what touches the Lord's work or His church; the problem of mixture is the greatest problem among workers— 2 Tim. 1:3; 1 Tim. 3:9.

b.　Impureness is often the source of misunderstanding and suspicion—Titus 1:15.

3.　We need to deal completely with all the mixture in our spirit so that when our spirit is released, it will not be dangerous or cause trouble to others.

4.　If we want to be used by God, our spirit must be released, and our spirit must be pure—2 Cor. 6:4a, 6.

III.　The city of New Jerusalem is pure gold, like clear glass, and the street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass—Rev. 21:18b, 21b:

A.　Gold signifies the nature of God; the city's being pure gold indicates that the city is of the divine nature and takes the divine nature as its element—v. 18b.

B.　The pure gold of the street and the city is like clear glass, signifying that the entire city is transparent and not in the least opaque—v. 21b:

1.　If we take God's nature as our unique way, we will be pure, without any mixture, and transparent, without any opaqueness.

2.　If we are infused and saturated with the life-giving Spirit, our inner being will become transparent and crystal clear—2 Cor. 5:21.

C.　If we want to have the real church life, the church herself must be pure gold, that is, altogether of the divine nature; here we need the work of the cross to purge us and to purify us—Rev. 1:11, 20.

D.　The difference between apostate Christendom and the genuine church is that one is a mixture and the other is pure; the local churches, like the New Jerusalem, should be crystal clear, without any mixture—22:1.