WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.940 Good morning. It's good to see you all. I'm glad you're here this morning. As we 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:11.439 turn to the scriptures, if you are not a note-taker, you might want to be a 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.580 note-taker this morning. We're going to be looking at a bunch of different 00:00:14.580 --> 00:00:19.320 scriptures. They will be up on the screens, but you may want to jot them 00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:24.019 down so you can refer to them again later as you're reflecting on 00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:28.760 God's Word this morning. So that's my public service announcement 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:33.640 before we begin. The other thing I just want to say is it's not that warm in 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:37.700 here this morning, but if you find yourself overwhelmed by the heat, we do 00:00:37.700 --> 00:00:42.400 have in the downstairs meeting room, the service is live-streamed and it is air 00:00:42.400 --> 00:00:47.120 conditioned. So if you need that, please, you can walk out these doors here and the 00:00:47.120 --> 00:00:50.740 ushers can direct you to where you would want to go if that would be true for you. 00:00:50.740 --> 00:01:00.960 Jesus had a problem with religion in the first century. This may be a surprising 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:07.359 statement to you, but I believe he did. He came proclaiming the kingdom of God, that 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:11.960 the kingdom of God was at hand, and yet what he found in the religious leadership, 00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:18.780 particularly in Jerusalem and Israel where he came, the Jewish leaders, they had 00:01:18.780 --> 00:01:26.060 different ideas about what true religion really was. He ended up confronting false 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:33.900 views about what God really wants from us. For it seems, from the witness of the 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:39.060 Scriptures, that the Jewish leadership in the first century held a view where 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:47.439 external observance and ritual obedience was the most important thing to God, that their 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:56.219 religion was about doing the right thing and obeying the law in the obvious external means. 00:01:56.219 --> 00:02:04.560 And Jesus is constantly dancing with this false view of religion, confronting, 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:11.840 clarifying, and trying to help people see what the kingdom of God that he was bringing would 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:21.180 really look like. Here, some of his words, Matthew 21, in the Sermon on the Mount, a few verses after our 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:23.620 passage that we'll focus on this morning. He said, 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:29.699 You have heard it said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to 00:02:29.699 --> 00:02:36.560 judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:43.099 and whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says, you fool will be liable 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:51.199 to the hell of fire. A few verses later in Matthew 5, 27, he says, You have heard it said, 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:58.219 you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent 00:02:58.219 --> 00:03:05.580 has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, 00:03:05.580 --> 00:03:10.500 tear it out and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:17.780 whole body be thrown into hell. That's at the beginning of his ministry. At the end of his 00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:24.860 ministry, Jesus confronts the Pharisees near the end of his life. In Matthew 23, verses 23 through 28, 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:34.120 he says these things, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin. 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:41.700 These are things that are part of the law, the law of Moses, but have neglected the weightier matters 00:03:41.700 --> 00:03:49.159 of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:57.400 others, you blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 00:03:57.500 --> 00:04:02.840 hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they're full of greed and 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:09.060 self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:17.040 that the outside may also be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, for you are like whitewashed 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:25.079 tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:33.759 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:43.599 Now when you listen carefully, Jesus is not saying that their external righteousness was wrong in and 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:53.500 of itself, but that it did not constitute what true religion was, but instead that there was an internal 00:04:53.500 --> 00:05:02.760 reality where the kingdom of God truly dwelt. And friends, I wonder if this is not just a first-century 00:05:02.760 --> 00:05:10.780 attitude that Jesus was confronting. I think it's an attitude that we find in our world today, too. 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:17.599 If you walk out on the street and you ask people, what do you think God really wants? What's going 00:05:17.599 --> 00:05:26.119 to be their first answer? That you be a good person. That you be a good person. And by that, 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:31.699 they probably mean that you're kind and gentle, that you don't do egregiously heinous things. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:36.000 And of course, everyone's standard will be different about what that would look like, 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:43.399 good person. But whatever it is, that's what the world would say. This is what God wants, 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:50.939 isn't it? That you do good things. I wonder if even in the Christian church, we struggle with this 00:05:50.939 --> 00:05:59.839 view. I wonder if we think, if I'm good enough, then I'm okay with God. If I haven't blown it 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:06.879 that badly. If I didn't look at pornography that many times. If I didn't lose my temper 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:13.560 too much. If I got angry, but I didn't punch the wall, then I'm okay. 00:06:18.139 --> 00:06:24.120 And then some of us may struggle with the opposite. I know I'm not good enough, and I try really hard 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:30.620 to be good, but I'm not, and God will never accept me. How many Christians think like this in our 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:38.759 everyday lives? How many of us think like this? The spirit of religious observance looking good 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:44.180 enough on the inside, or it's core to our human heart, our human fallen heart. 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:53.840 And we so easily bring it to the Bible, and then it shapes how we view the Bible, so the Bible simply 00:06:53.840 --> 00:06:59.699 becomes a list of rules for us to follow. And we think that's what God really cares about. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:09.740 And that brings us to our passage today. We're in a series in the Beatitudes. It's in the book of 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:18.819 Matthew chapter 5 in our Pew Bible. It's page 759. And if you remember, the Beatitudes in the book of 00:07:18.819 --> 00:07:26.280 Matthew is the first of five teaching sections where Jesus is laying out visions of the kingdom of God, 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:32.600 bringing in passages from the Old Testament, and helping people understand the fulfillment of them 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:38.980 in what Jesus is bringing. And he's clarifying it's not a new set of laws, these Beatitudes, 00:07:38.980 --> 00:07:47.140 but instead it's a portrait of what life in God's kingdom looks like. It's when God is reigning in 00:07:47.140 --> 00:07:53.600 people's hearts, these are the people who are blessed. This is what it looks like when that is 00:07:53.600 --> 00:08:04.240 true in people's lives. So let's read the Beatitudes together, and we'll pray, and then we'll look at 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:13.280 this for a few minutes together. Matthew 5, starting in verse 2. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:20.019 And he, that is Jesus, opened his mouth and taught them, saying, 00:08:21.039 --> 00:08:26.779 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:33.659 for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those 00:08:33.659 --> 00:08:39.339 who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, 00:08:39.340 --> 00:08:47.360 for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:53.240 peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for 00:08:53.240 --> 00:09:01.019 righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:07.860 persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, 00:09:07.860 --> 00:09:15.240 for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 00:09:15.940 --> 00:09:22.060 Let's pray and ask God's help as we look at his word today. Lord Jesus, we ask for your help this 00:09:22.060 --> 00:09:32.899 morning. Lord, we know that on our own, we are so prone to bring this religious framework to your word. 00:09:32.899 --> 00:09:36.860 Lord, I pray, Lord, this morning that you would help us see a different way. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:40.539 Lord, in the nature of what your kingdom is really like. 00:09:42.419 --> 00:09:49.759 Lord, I pray for our hearts that we would be soft before you, humble and willing to receive your word. 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.659 And Lord, I pray for your help that I might speak your words clearly. 00:09:54.659 --> 00:10:24.639 Lord, I pray for your help that I might speak your word. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:25.639 Lord, I pray for your help. 00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:26.199 Lord, I pray for your help. 00:10:26.199 --> 00:10:30.639 These beatitudes aren't very complicated. So, the outlines are fairly similar. What does this 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:35.580 really mean and how does this look like in our lives? So, those are our three things. So, 00:10:35.580 --> 00:10:40.340 the first question that we look at as we look at this, blessed are the pure in heart for they 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:48.480 shall see God, is what does it mean to be pure in heart? Well, clearly, Jesus is clarifying purity in 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:55.920 the face of the first century Jewish religion where ritual purity, cleanliness, washing your hands. 00:10:55.920 --> 00:11:01.000 If you read through the Levitical law, you see there's all these laws about being pure, 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:05.720 people who can go into the temple and when they have to stay out of the temple and touching dead 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:12.000 bodies and bodily fluids and all sorts of interesting things that make you unclean or keep you clean and 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:21.639 allow you to enter into the temple. And Jesus, in the light of this, Jesus is saying the purity of the 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:29.840 kingdom of God is actually not those external things, but it's something greater than that. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:41.320 It's internal. It is an inner reality that the heart is a place where our…not just where our feelings or 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:49.000 our emotions reside in humanity, but in the Bible, the heart is a place, the nexus of our physical and 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:59.200 spiritual and mental life. It's where our soul and our mind and our body and our will all work together. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:08.700 So the heart is the center of our human being. And Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart. 00:12:09.420 --> 00:12:15.440 Now, what kind of purity is he thinking about? What does pure even mean? Pure is without flaw or 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:21.440 blemish. When you think about pure drinking water, right? Okay, so I know that there's a level at which 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:27.220 this gets really complex with some of you chemists out there. Give me a little bit of leeway here. 00:12:27.220 --> 00:12:34.360 Pure water is water that is only water without a lot of additives, without a lot of pollutants, 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:42.019 without things that are going to do damage to you, right? That's what pure water is. And when water 00:12:42.019 --> 00:12:50.279 isn't pure, when it's impure, it's because it has things that are not water that do harm, that pollute or 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:55.379 corrupt the water. So it's not able to do what it's supposed to do. So if you drink polluted water, 00:12:55.379 --> 00:13:00.799 it does damage for you instead of drinking pure water, which does good things to you. So this is 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:07.200 a picture of what purity is in a physical world. What does purity look like in our hearts? 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:16.340 I want to argue that there are two aspects to it. One is probably the one that we often think of, 00:13:16.400 --> 00:13:23.860 and this is a purity of our moral thoughts and actions. You see Jesus talking about this, right? 00:13:24.340 --> 00:13:29.140 It's not just good enough to not commit adultery and do murder, but in your hearts, 00:13:29.139 --> 00:13:37.179 do you hate? Do you lust? This is a kind of purity of heart, and Jesus continues to do this without 00:13:37.179 --> 00:13:41.059 the Sermon on the Mount. We're going to expound the Sermon on the Mount this fall. We're going to keep 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:47.139 going through Matthew this fall, and so you're going to see this over and over again how Jesus is going 00:13:47.139 --> 00:13:56.059 to say it's our heart attitudes that are at the core of what this looks like. And so we see that 00:13:56.059 --> 00:14:05.059 it's loving the right things, and it's loving rightly. It's pursuing the right heart posture of 00:14:05.059 --> 00:14:11.879 obedience, of humility. It means that we hate things that are evil, that are wrong, that are sin. 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:21.359 It means that our greatest desire is to know the character of God and then to imitate it 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:26.259 as much as we can. It is being like Jesus. 00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:34.620 This is purity of heart in our morality, in our kindness, in our relationships, in our inner thought 00:14:34.620 --> 00:14:43.480 life. But I think that's only one of the aspects of purity that we see here, because I think the 00:14:43.480 --> 00:14:51.680 other form of purity that we see is a purity of devotion. We read earlier from Psalm 24, 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:58.580 and many people think that Psalm 24 was in Jesus' mind when he was preaching this sermon, because 00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:04.139 we see the elements of blessing and of purity of heart and of cleansing. 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:13.939 We see this, right? And so what we see here in Psalm 34 is Jesus saying, 00:15:13.939 --> 00:15:20.419 who can ascend to God's holy hill? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, 00:15:20.699 --> 00:15:28.759 who do not lift up their soul to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully. 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:37.240 It's an interesting translation decision. In the NIV, it translates those last verse that I just said, 00:15:37.439 --> 00:15:43.939 in verse 4, translates, who do not trust in an idol or swear by a false God. 00:15:45.419 --> 00:15:54.179 So the purity of heart isn't just moral purity, but it's a single-minded devotion to God Himself. 00:15:54.179 --> 00:16:00.659 And friends, is this not what we hear throughout the Scriptures? In Deuteronomy chapter 6, when God 00:16:00.659 --> 00:16:07.039 wanted to summarize all the commandments, what did He say? It's to love the Lord your God with all of 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:18.719 your heart and soul and mind and strength. Jesus will reiterate this idea later in the Sermon on the 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:25.420 Mount in Matthew 6.24. When He's talking about money, mammon, He says, 00:16:25.420 --> 00:16:31.180 no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted 00:16:31.180 --> 00:16:36.139 to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 00:16:36.139 --> 00:16:51.659 And so this purity of devotion is a purity of God is first in everything. God is my primary one. He is 00:16:51.659 --> 00:16:56.759 the one that I long to please. He is the one that I will lay down my life for. He is the one that I 00:16:56.759 --> 00:17:09.519 make my whole life open to His use. I will say this. We often think of an undivided heart in this sense 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:15.039 as someone who has their priorities right. So our motives are pure. We give attention to the right 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:22.160 things. And I think that's generally good. But I was thinking about what it looks like to have an 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:27.519 undistracted heart. And I was thinking about having conversations with people. Have you ever had a 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:33.920 conversation with someone who's distracted? You know, you're talking with them. Maybe you're 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:39.300 pouring out your heart and sharing with them something. And they're listening, but then their 00:17:39.300 --> 00:17:44.040 eyes are wandering and they're watching other things. Or maybe they're in the stage. They're pulling out 00:17:44.040 --> 00:17:47.660 their phone. They're looking at their phone a little bit while you're at. Have you ever had a 00:17:47.660 --> 00:17:54.940 conversation with someone who's distracted like that? And you just want to sort of grab their face 00:17:54.940 --> 00:18:02.180 and say, I want you to look at me. I want you to listen to me. I want you to value me. I want you to 00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:11.040 pay attention to me. I want you to make me the point of this interaction. Friends, that's what God desires 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:20.940 from us. That we would not live lives that are so distracted that we're not paying attention to God, 00:18:21.220 --> 00:18:26.599 that we're not listening to Him, that we're not seeking Him, that we're not conversing to Him, 00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:32.240 that we're not loving Him and making Him the focus of our lives. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:41.559 So I think when Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart, this is the picture. Moral purity, but also 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:48.960 undivided devotion. A unified heart of love for God. 00:18:52.460 --> 00:19:00.519 So this is those who are blessed, who live this kind of life. The beatitude goes on and it says, 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:14.180 so with these people, they get to see God. We see this in Psalm 24, this image of ascending to His 00:19:14.180 --> 00:19:21.519 holy hill or standing in His presence is this idea that we could go to a place and God's presence 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:27.160 would be there and we could actually see Him. But if you've read your Bible for a while, you know 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:32.620 there's a problem with this idea. And we need to address the problem before we can talk about the 00:19:32.620 --> 00:19:43.160 solution. And the problem is this. From Exodus 33, verses 18 through 23, Moses, remember this, 00:19:43.420 --> 00:19:49.360 Moses, God delivered people from Egypt. He gave them the Ten Commandments. He gave them the law. 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:55.480 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. The people were worshiping other gods, the golden calf. 00:19:55.480 --> 00:20:01.980 God brought judgment. And then He said, okay, Moses, now move on. Lead these people out of Egypt and 00:20:01.980 --> 00:20:07.339 into the promised land that I have for you. And Moses says, whoa, whoa, whoa. I can't lead these people. 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:10.539 How can I? I need to see your face 00:20:10.539 --> 00:20:14.559 to know that we can go ahead. 00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:18.660 And Moses says this, 00:20:18.660 --> 00:20:27.640 Please show me your glory. And God said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:34.660 before you my name, the Lord. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom 00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:45.259 I will show mercy. But, He said, you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. 00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:51.839 And then God goes on and says, but I'm going to hide you in a rock and I'm going to pass by and you can 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:58.259 see like the after, the back end of my glory. And that'll be enough. You'll see just a taste of it. 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:01.039 And that'll be enough, but it won't destroy you. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:06.640 Right? This idea is repeated in other parts of the Bible as well. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:12.780 God is called invisible in Colossians 1.15 and in 1 Timothy 1.17. 00:21:14.100 --> 00:21:23.900 In 1 Timothy 6, Paul has this benediction about God. And he says that God is the blessed and only 00:21:23.900 --> 00:21:29.640 sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords who alone has immorality or immort… 00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:32.720 Golly, that was a myth. Let me restate that. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:42.420 He is the King of kings and Lord of lords who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable 00:21:42.420 --> 00:21:51.140 light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion forever. 00:21:52.360 --> 00:21:59.180 So how can Jesus say these can see God when the Bible tells us in other places we can't see God? 00:21:59.180 --> 00:22:06.000 What is the problem with seeing God as we've seen so far? Well, I think there are two theological 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:15.120 reasons. One is that I think that this inability to see God is based in some verses, particularly 00:22:15.120 --> 00:22:22.680 in Colossians and 1 Timothy, in the idea that God is a spirit and that he is not a part of the physical 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:30.200 world. And so we as a part of the physical world cannot see, literally see the physical world with 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:36.200 our eyes. And so some of the distinction of we cannot see God has to do with our ontology, that we 00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:42.980 can't see a spiritual being unless he chooses to manifest himself in certain ways like he does with 00:22:42.980 --> 00:22:49.299 Moses or a few other places in the Scriptures. So I think that's one of the ways. And then the other 00:22:49.299 --> 00:22:57.460 way, we saw this in the 1 Timothy 6, and I think it also is…we're reminded about it from the Psalm 24, 4, 00:22:57.700 --> 00:23:05.599 where we're reminded that God is holy. That means he is perfect and glorious. The unapproachable light 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:16.159 that he lives in is the blazing fire of his moral perfection. And like the sun, we cannot get close to it 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:25.519 without the imperfection of our fallen nature being so burned up that we are like moths to a flame, 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.240 and we just…we would be burned up if we get too close. 00:23:32.519 --> 00:23:38.740 So this is why the Bible puts out this. No one can see God. No one can get that close. 00:23:38.740 --> 00:23:47.880 No one can bear the fullness of his glory without being completely destroyed by it. 00:23:49.180 --> 00:23:54.819 Yet, there are ways in which the Bible says we can and will see God. 00:23:56.500 --> 00:24:03.039 What does that look like? Well, first of all, it's because we have Jesus. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:07.220 John 1, 18 says this, 00:24:08.180 --> 00:24:15.159 No one has seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. 00:24:16.659 --> 00:24:21.920 This is at the end of the grand John prologue to his gospel when he says, 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:30.960 God was…Jesus was with God in eternity. He was God, and he came and he took on human flesh, 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:37.259 and he came so that we could see God in human form. This is the greatest manifestation, 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:43.920 the singular incarnation of God in human flesh so that we can see what God looks like, 00:24:44.539 --> 00:24:51.140 not in the fullness of his glory in the sense of his being a burning sun, but the fullness of his 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:57.940 glory in that here's all of his perfection portrayed in one who took on human flesh. 00:24:57.940 --> 00:25:07.880 So, Jesus, the glory of God dwells in human…in the human body, and so we can see God in Jesus in that way. 00:25:08.320 --> 00:25:17.340 The second way is that we can see God by faith. Hebrews 11 reminds us that faith is the assurance 00:25:17.340 --> 00:25:24.320 of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it, the people of old receive their 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:28.159 commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:34.679 so that what was seen was not made out of things that are visible. There's a lot in that verse I'm 00:25:34.679 --> 00:25:41.119 not going to pay attention to, but I just wanted to pull it in to say faith gives us eyes to see 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:49.019 in a way that we don't see with our physical eyes. It's not about us being literally physically 00:25:49.019 --> 00:25:55.299 in the presence of God, but by faith we are able to understand and apprehend and know God. 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:08.319 And finally, the Bible tells us that one day when he renews all things, when we are finally in a new 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:17.680 heavens and a new earth, and the fullness of his kingdom comes, that we will actually see God face to face. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:22.380 So Revelation 22, 3 and 4 says, 00:26:22.900 --> 00:26:28.420 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, 00:26:28.539 --> 00:26:35.840 and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:44.460 So there will be a day, because when our sin is removed, when our fallen nature is fully remade 00:26:44.460 --> 00:26:50.779 in the eternal heavens and the earth, we will not have those impurities to be burned up by God. 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:57.840 And I don't know the ontology of heaven to know how our spirits and our physical being 00:26:57.840 --> 00:27:03.600 somehow combine, but it sure seems like whatever that eternal being is, 00:27:03.600 --> 00:27:11.000 there's a unification of it in a glorious way where we will actually be able to see God 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:13.339 in ways that we cannot. 00:27:16.180 --> 00:27:22.539 So these are some ways in which the Scripture talks about seeing God and why it's hard to see God 00:27:22.539 --> 00:27:27.299 and why the pure in heart can see God. 00:27:27.299 --> 00:27:38.419 Now, by faith in Jesus and in the future in a new and glorious way that we may only be able to begin to describe. 00:27:39.819 --> 00:27:41.659 And this is true religion for Jesus. 00:27:44.619 --> 00:27:47.539 Those who see God are those who have a pure heart. 00:27:47.539 --> 00:27:55.599 Now, you may be sitting here this morning, like I was as I was preparing for this and thinking, 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.420 this beatitude does not seem like good news to me. 00:28:01.859 --> 00:28:06.480 Because some of the beatitudes, I can think, oh, I can do that. 00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:07.740 I can mourn. 00:28:09.159 --> 00:28:10.720 Maybe I could be meek. 00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:11.839 Maybe. 00:28:13.159 --> 00:28:14.659 But to be pure in heart? 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:16.200 Are you kidding me? 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:21.880 There's no way my heart is truly pure. 00:28:22.660 --> 00:28:25.779 My understanding of right and wrong is still flawed. 00:28:27.299 --> 00:28:31.840 And my doing of right and wrong is still flawed. 00:28:33.660 --> 00:28:35.279 My heart is divided. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:41.259 I love too many other things too much and love God far too little. 00:28:41.259 --> 00:28:48.420 We cannot make our hearts pure even if we strive and grow in it. 00:28:48.579 --> 00:28:53.339 We cannot do this to the perfection that we would want that this calls us to. 00:28:53.339 --> 00:28:57.240 But God knows this, friends. 00:28:57.720 --> 00:29:00.039 And this is the good news of the gospel. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:04.019 Because we can get a pure heart. 00:29:04.019 --> 00:29:05.019 God. 00:29:05.019 --> 00:29:06.019 God. 00:29:06.019 --> 00:29:07.079 Not by our striving. 00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:09.200 Not by our external observance. 00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:16.639 But by turning to God and letting Him give us something that we can't have and can't get on our own. 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:19.400 This is the good news of the gospel. 00:29:21.420 --> 00:29:23.840 Alex has already referred to this a number of times. 00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:25.580 We're going to look at another passage. 00:29:25.700 --> 00:29:27.860 One of the great passages in the Old Testament. 00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:32.560 If you remember the story of the nation of Israel. 00:29:33.080 --> 00:29:36.560 God had delivered them from Egypt and brought them into a promised land and said, 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:38.279 Just be faithful to me. 00:29:38.500 --> 00:29:39.740 Just follow me. 00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:42.259 And love me with all of your heart and soul and mind. 00:29:42.259 --> 00:29:46.299 And I will give you a blessed promised land. 00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:47.659 But they couldn't do it. 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:49.480 They couldn't maintain their purity of heart. 00:29:49.679 --> 00:29:51.299 And they failed and they failed and they failed. 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:53.419 And God finally sent them into exile. 00:29:54.659 --> 00:29:59.619 And there was despair that people could ever know God and be God's people. 00:29:59.619 --> 00:30:08.279 But in Ezekiel 36, the prophet Ezekiel speaks of a new covenant and of a new day when God will come. 00:30:09.739 --> 00:30:10.599 He says this, 00:30:10.659 --> 00:30:13.199 And I will sprinkle clean water on you. 00:30:13.259 --> 00:30:16.859 And you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses. 00:30:17.579 --> 00:30:20.559 And from all your idols I will cleanse you. 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:25.939 And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. 00:30:25.939 --> 00:30:29.359 I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. 00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:31.319 And give you a heart of flesh. 00:30:31.379 --> 00:30:33.299 And I will put my spirit within you. 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.199 And cause you to walk in my statutes. 00:30:36.379 --> 00:30:40.500 And be careful to obey my rules. 00:30:41.679 --> 00:30:45.699 Friends, this is the good news of the gospel. 00:30:46.139 --> 00:30:52.399 That Jesus came and lived the perfect heart, the perfect life of a pure in heart person. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:54.099 That we could never live. 00:30:54.099 --> 00:31:06.579 And then he gave himself up and died on the cross bearing the judgment and the punishment and the scorching, burning fire of God's righteousness against our sin. 00:31:06.579 --> 00:31:09.559 He bore that in himself. 00:31:09.859 --> 00:31:16.259 So that all who place their faith in him will know that Jesus has borne that for us. 00:31:16.359 --> 00:31:26.539 And instead of receiving judgment before God, God's going to give us forgiveness of sin so that it no longer is accounted against us. 00:31:26.539 --> 00:31:32.319 He's going to cleanse us so that we no longer have the stain of sin on our hearts. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:39.379 He's going to renew us, making us born again, giving us a new heart and a new spirit. 00:31:39.380 --> 00:31:49.760 So that our old heart and our fallen self that loved sin and self always and unerringly no longer has the power. 00:31:49.900 --> 00:31:53.060 But we are made new and God gives us a new heart. 00:31:53.360 --> 00:32:02.140 And we finally have the power and the possibility of pursuing God and loving God in the way that he's called us to. 00:32:04.860 --> 00:32:07.620 This is what Jesus has done for us. 00:32:07.619 --> 00:32:13.619 This is the good news of the gospel, that he has given us a new heart so that we could be. 00:32:18.959 --> 00:32:35.739 Pure because we are transformed more and more into the likeness of Jesus so that our character has the nature of Jesus with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and self-control. 00:32:35.740 --> 00:32:44.480 Not anger and jealousy and rage and impurity and all the other things that so often control our hearts. 00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:48.259 This is what Jesus has done for us. 00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:53.200 And he's also given us a heart that we can finally love God. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:59.640 Because when our hearts were dead in their sins and trespasses, we couldn't love God at all. 00:32:59.880 --> 00:33:13.160 But when God, who is great in mercy, made us alive with him in Christ, we are able then to see and love God above all other things. 00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:25.460 And so James, in James chapter 4, verses 8 through 10, can say this as a command to the church. 00:33:25.700 --> 00:33:27.820 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. 00:33:28.259 --> 00:33:32.620 Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 00:33:32.800 --> 00:33:34.580 Be wretched and mourn and weep. 00:33:34.900 --> 00:33:38.120 Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 00:33:38.119 --> 00:33:42.699 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. 00:33:44.199 --> 00:33:48.419 James says you can pursue cleansing your heart. 00:33:48.979 --> 00:33:50.399 But what does it look like? 00:33:50.699 --> 00:33:52.299 Trying harder to do better? 00:33:52.979 --> 00:33:53.419 No. 00:33:53.839 --> 00:33:58.159 It looks like humbly acknowledging and confessing your sin. 00:33:59.159 --> 00:34:02.039 Mourning that you are not pure as you would. 00:34:02.039 --> 00:34:07.979 And pursuing God because he will draw near to you and be at work in your hearts. 00:34:08.119 --> 00:34:16.779 As we begin to pursue God's kingdom with this new heart that he's given us from the gospel, 00:34:17.099 --> 00:34:25.440 then finally we can pursue being pure in heart, not in a pharisaical way where all we care about is the external, 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:30.380 we want to look good for others, or thinking that our actions achieve God's pleasure, 00:34:30.380 --> 00:34:34.780 or, I'm sorry, let me rephrase that, achieve God's acceptance. 00:34:38.300 --> 00:34:42.440 But we do it that flows from this heart that God has already given us, 00:34:42.579 --> 00:34:46.700 that we know we don't deserve, and that we need desperately to depend on him, 00:34:46.860 --> 00:34:50.440 to cultivate and to make more and more real in our lives. 00:34:50.440 --> 00:34:56.420 And as we do this, we submit to his word and allow him to define what is right and wrong. 00:34:56.420 --> 00:35:02.519 And we seek to obey and ask for the Spirit's help daily to do it more and more. 00:35:03.940 --> 00:35:09.780 And we ask God to continue to change our hearts so that we would love him 00:35:09.780 --> 00:35:16.400 and love the things that he loves and hate sin and the things that he hates. 00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:24.059 Now, some of you really want me to be practical, so I'm going to try for a few minutes. 00:35:24.660 --> 00:35:25.619 How do we do this? 00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:29.639 First, be in God's word. 00:35:30.820 --> 00:35:35.740 Let God grab your cheeks and make you look at him and say, 00:35:36.579 --> 00:35:37.760 pay attention to me. 00:35:38.420 --> 00:35:42.360 This is how we pay attention to God, by reading his word. 00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:49.440 We must be in his word to saturate our heart and our soul 00:35:49.440 --> 00:35:52.700 and to shape our mind and the way we think 00:35:52.700 --> 00:35:56.800 and to influence how we relate to one another. 00:35:58.539 --> 00:36:01.720 Let God's word dwell richly in your heart. 00:36:02.380 --> 00:36:06.000 Secondly, rid yourself of filth. 00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:14.719 If you know that you're consciously embracing and taking in impurity and distraction, 00:36:16.019 --> 00:36:17.320 cut it off. 00:36:17.940 --> 00:36:19.199 Remember what Jesus said. 00:36:20.179 --> 00:36:25.260 If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out so that you may pursue God. 00:36:26.139 --> 00:36:35.219 Be ruthless in eliminating the things that capture your heart and stain your soul. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:41.360 Think about your media, your books, the company you keep. 00:36:42.780 --> 00:36:51.400 Guard your heart against the things, the places where you allow your heart to go in trials. 00:36:52.179 --> 00:36:57.519 Know what leads your heart astray and rid yourself of these things. 00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:08.059 Third, recognize that coming to faith in Jesus is a once-for-all thing that Jesus does in our hearts, 00:37:08.179 --> 00:37:11.719 but it is then an ongoing affirmation of what we… 00:37:11.719 --> 00:37:17.840 So determine this day, I will have no other gods before the God of the Bible. 00:37:18.300 --> 00:37:20.820 I will worship no one but Jesus. 00:37:20.820 --> 00:37:25.640 Ask God to show you what are the rivals in your hearts. 00:37:25.740 --> 00:37:30.660 Is it your own personal pleasure, your success, a relationship, another person? 00:37:31.080 --> 00:37:34.380 What is it that controls your day-to-day lives? 00:37:34.900 --> 00:37:37.740 Let God be that more and more. 00:37:37.739 --> 00:37:44.279 Fourth, do this in humility. 00:37:46.739 --> 00:37:54.000 Nick's reading in church history this fall is going to show you that the path of the church has been littered 00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:59.119 with people who have gone astray seeking purity and righteousness in different ways. 00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:02.179 And so do this in community. 00:38:02.480 --> 00:38:03.699 Don't try to do this alone. 00:38:03.880 --> 00:38:08.059 Ask other people to help you, to support you, to encourage you, 00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:13.319 to ask you the questions that you know you don't want anyone to ask about whether your heart is pure or not. 00:38:14.460 --> 00:38:18.139 Invite others in and love one another well enough 00:38:18.139 --> 00:38:23.400 so that you might encourage one another to please the Lord. 00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:28.380 And finally, again remember what James said. 00:38:29.180 --> 00:38:32.619 We can only do this by God's power. 00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:40.700 One of the greatest curses of the world is the self-righteousness of the church 00:38:40.700 --> 00:38:44.260 where we say we have made ourselves clean. 00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:46.780 We have made ourselves good and right. 00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.460 We have made ourselves acceptable to the world. 00:38:49.460 --> 00:38:53.980 And then as we look down on others who are not like that. 00:38:54.659 --> 00:38:58.240 This is not the gospel. 00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:06.220 The gospel is I have an unclean heart but God in His mercy has given me a new heart. 00:39:08.119 --> 00:39:12.699 And I can't be good apart from God's Spirit working in me. 00:39:12.860 --> 00:39:15.740 So daily ask God for help. 00:39:15.739 --> 00:39:21.419 Let God engage in the regular practice of confessing your sin 00:39:21.419 --> 00:39:24.899 and letting God cleanse you from your sin 00:39:24.899 --> 00:39:30.099 and purifying your hearts from all unrighteousness as it says in 1 John 1. 00:39:31.219 --> 00:39:36.419 Let God do this based on what He has already done for you in Jesus. 00:39:36.420 --> 00:39:44.559 I want to close simply by reading from Hebrews chapter 9. 00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:50.400 This is a concluding exhortation in the argument in the book of Hebrews, 00:39:50.599 --> 00:39:53.639 or Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 25. 00:39:54.740 --> 00:39:59.260 I'm going to read this and then we'll pray to close our service. 00:39:59.260 --> 00:40:09.020 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 00:40:09.260 --> 00:40:14.580 by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain that is through His flesh, 00:40:14.800 --> 00:40:18.100 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 00:40:18.560 --> 00:40:23.540 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, 00:40:23.539 --> 00:40:27.259 with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, 00:40:27.619 --> 00:40:30.279 and our bodies washed with pure water. 00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:34.880 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, 00:40:35.139 --> 00:40:37.119 for He who promised is faithful. 00:40:37.599 --> 00:40:41.860 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 00:40:42.320 --> 00:40:46.380 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, 00:40:46.380 --> 00:40:52.440 but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near. 00:40:53.539 --> 00:40:58.840 Friends, this is true religion, not external conformity, but an internal transformation. 00:40:59.760 --> 00:41:03.579 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 00:41:03.660 --> 00:41:04.200 Let's pray. 00:41:04.199 --> 00:41:17.359 Oh, Lord, we come before You and we recognize, Lord, 00:41:17.419 --> 00:41:21.719 that You are a great and holy and perfect God. 00:41:22.599 --> 00:41:26.319 Lord, perfect in Your majesty, perfect in Your righteousness, 00:41:27.179 --> 00:41:29.339 perfect in Your love and grace. 00:41:29.340 --> 00:41:35.200 And, Lord, who can stand before You? 00:41:36.120 --> 00:41:39.620 Who could be in Your holy temple or ascend to Your holy hill? 00:41:42.320 --> 00:41:44.420 Lord, in and of ourselves, not us. 00:41:47.720 --> 00:41:52.320 But, Lord, You have done in Christ what we could not do for ourselves. 00:41:53.980 --> 00:41:55.079 And, Lord, I pray. 00:41:55.680 --> 00:41:58.740 I pray for those who are here this morning who have never known 00:41:58.739 --> 00:42:04.639 the gift of a new heart given by Jesus through faith to those who believe. 00:42:05.500 --> 00:42:08.799 Lord, I pray that You would help them today to believe 00:42:08.799 --> 00:42:11.039 and to take hold of this amazing gift. 00:42:12.779 --> 00:42:14.959 And, Lord, for those of us who know You, 00:42:16.019 --> 00:42:23.919 Lord, help us to have undivided devotion 00:42:23.920 --> 00:42:26.920 in a pursuit of righteousness, 00:42:27.920 --> 00:42:29.740 of a purity of heart, 00:42:30.740 --> 00:42:35.159 Lord, that is befitting of the grace that You have shown us in Christ. 00:42:36.420 --> 00:42:40.320 Lord, help us walk away from unrighteousness. 00:42:41.639 --> 00:42:43.780 Help us cut out distraction. 00:42:43.780 --> 00:42:47.540 For, Lord, we want to see You. 00:42:48.940 --> 00:42:50.640 We want to see You by faith. 00:42:51.500 --> 00:42:54.519 And, we want to see You one day, face to face. 00:42:56.300 --> 00:42:58.400 We pray these things in Jesus' name. 00:42:59.420 --> 00:42:59.860 Amen. 00:42:59.860 --> 00:42:59.960 Amen.