By their making their way back to their seats, if you have a copy of the scriptures, find
your way to Matthew's Gospel. We're still in the fifth chapter. And then these Beatitudes
we're looking at one per week. This morning we find ourselves in verse 8. The Word of
God says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God. Let's pray. Father, would you help us this morning to
understand what this very important text means? God, we ask for your Spirit's help, for His
enablement, for His illumination of the sacred text, for His divine guidance as I speak.
And then Lord Father, to do a work in the hearts of your people. And if there's anyone,
Lord, that would be here, and their eyes are not opened to the glorious truth of Christ,
may He have mercy and open them this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're in
Matthew 5. But Matthew 5, I believe, is really not just a recapitulation, but rather a magnification
of Psalm 24. In Psalm 24, King David, he's going to ask a very important question, a
very poignant question. In verse 3, we read that Psalm 24, 3, who may ascend into the
hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? Now that's an important question.
What does it mean to ascend into the hill of the Lord? Well, we know the temple, which
is where God met with His people, where God dwelt. Well, the temple at that time was located
in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is an elevated city, so anyone who wanted to worship or go to the
temple must ascend. They must go up to Jerusalem, wherever they were. But we clearly see here,
David is not merely talking about geography, and I don't think he's primarily talking about
the temple in Jerusalem. So then what does it mean to ascend the hill of the Lord and
to stand in the holy place of the Lord? It means to enter into the presence of Yahweh,
and is entering into God's presence. So who can enter into God's presence is the question
that David is asking here, and the answer really doesn't come as a great surprise. We're
not shocked at what we read in verse 4. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who
has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. So who's going to be able
to enter into the presence of Yahweh? He says, you're going to have to have clean hands,
and you're going to have to have a pure heart. The question I would ask myself is how clean
and how pure are we talking about do you have to be before you can enter into the presence
of Yahweh? Now in our text this morning, the Lord Jesus is giving a benediction. He's pronouncing
a blessing. Blessed are the pure in heart. Why? Well they are the ones who will see God.
So the Lord is basically saying the same thing as King David. The prerequisite, if it is
anyone going to see God or enter into his presence, they have to be pure in heart. But
again, I want to know how pure are we talking about, and what does that really mean? Well
in Psalm 24 the question kind of answers itself. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, and
then it's kind of like an appositive here, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
nor sworn deceitfully, as the text says. So if we're talking about having clean hands
and a pure heart, David said you don't lift up your soul to an idol. You're not divided
in your allegiance. Your focus is on the one true living God. But it says you've not sworn
deceitfully. There's no falsehood. The best way I could word this is you're not duplicitous.
You don't say one thing and you do another. Your heart is not divided. So what David is
saying in Psalm 24, clean hands and a pure heart, it is an undivided allegiance to God.
How much allegiance, how much division is allowed? That's what we want to answer this
morning. Now we've been spending some time in the Sermon on the Mount. This is a great
sermon. It's the greatest sermon preached by the greatest preacher of all time, the
Lord Jesus Christ. So these Beatitudes, they're not in random order. There's actually a logical
sequence to them. They actually form what is known in literary devices as a chiasm.
Lloyd-Jones, Dr. Morton Lloyd-Jones says this, the first three Beatitudes are like hiking
up a mountain. Then the fourth Beatitude, you reach the pinnacle. And the last three,
you start to come back down the other side of the mountain. Now in the Scriptures, whether
in Hebrew or Greek, when you have that pattern of this matching this, that's called a chiasm
because it comes from the Greek letter chi, which is X like that. That's why they call
it that. So let's look at this. You have number one, blessed are the poor in spirit. These
folks are spiritually bankrupt and they know it. They have no righteousness. Because of
that, blessed are those who mourn. They mourn over their heart. They mourn over this bankrupt
position. Number three, blessed are the meek. They begin to see themselves as they really
are and that produces a humility. It also produces a gentleness. Humility before God
and the gentleness before others. Then blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
As Lloyd-Jones says, this is the pinnacle. This is salvation. These people have changed.
They're not longing, they're hungry, they're thirsting. They need righteousness and the
Lord promises they will receive it. They will be filled. Now we start to come down the mountain.
Blessed are the merciful. This corresponds to the poor in spirit. Remember those who
know how corrupt they truly are and how bankrupt they are, they've received mercy from God
and now they extend mercy to others. Blessed are the pure in heart. That's ours this morning.
This corresponds to those who are mourning. Those who are pure in heart have mourned over
how impure their hearts are and God has given them a new heart. Until one realizes how impure
you really are and how defiled your heart really is, you can never ever be pure in heart.
That's the irony. Purity in heart requires you to understand how impure your heart is.
Now in the scriptures we find that God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is always concerned with
the heart. The heart, what are we talking about? We're not talking about the organ that pumps
blood. It is the center of a person's intellectual activity. It's his emotional life, his physical
life, all his choices emanate and are derived from the heart. We could say it this way,
the heart is considered the seat of life. It is the source of every thought, every passion,
every decision you make comes from the heart. That's why it's so repeatedly emphasized
throughout both Old and New Testaments. We read in Proverbs 423, keep your heart. And
he doesn't just say keep your heart, but rather with all diligence, you need to be
diligently keeping and checking your heart. Why? For out of it spring the issues of life.
Everything that is important in life flows from your heart, so you better keep it, Solomon
says. God speaking in 1 Samuel 16 through the prophet Samuel, he says, for the Lord
does not see as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks
on the heart. Now here's what I find so interesting today. Knowing the Lord sees our hearts may
sound comforting. A lot of people say, and I've heard this so many times, people defending
themselves and excusing themselves, well the Lord knows my heart. Well he knows my heart.
And that may sound comforting until you hear the thundering indictment issued from the
lips of the prophet Jeremiah. Yes the Lord knows your heart. Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart
is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked, who can know it? And by the way it's
not you. The Lord does know it. I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind even to
give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. So yes the Lord
knows your heart. That's not a question. But what does he find when he looks upon it? He
finds hearts that are impure, that are not clean. In fact they're deceitful. You know
who they deceive? You know who the heart deceives? Me, you. We're deceived by our own heart.
And then Jeremiah said, and by the way it's desperately wicked, hopelessly wicked. This
is a central problem of man. This is what's going on in man's life. This is why all the
chaos ensues in the world today. Now there's a historical context that the Sermon on the
Mount was given in. Much of this sermon that the Lord Jesus is preaching was an indictment
against the leading religious figures of the day. Think with me of the Pharisees. Jesus
is now talking about purity of heart, right? Well the Pharisees were masters at purity.
I mean clean living would have been their forte. You want to talk about clean hands?
Look no further. These men loved to wash their hands. They did it often. They were fastidious
in ceremonial washings and oblations. If there was a purity police, if there ever was a purity
police, the Pharisees ripped. These guys had you. But their purity was externally focused.
It was keeping the outward law. Of course they loved rituals. They loved ceremonies.
They loved rules to live by. They loved to be clean. They loved to wash up. But by the
time Christ our Lord comes on the scene, their preoccupation with ceremonial cleansing had
largely displaced the true worship of God. And Jesus, mincing no words, issues a strong
denunciation of these Pharisees for focusing on external purity and ignoring the heart.
Listen to the words of our Lord in Matthew 23. Woe to you. And listen, if anyone ever
issues a woe, that's bad. If it's the Son of God, it's horrendous. Woe to you, scribes,
Pharisees, you hypocrites. For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside
they're full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisees, first cleanse the inside
of the cup and dish, but the outside of them may be clean also. Don't leave the outward
undone, of course. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You're like white
washed tombs. Oh yes, they indeed appear beautiful outwardly. But what are they? Inside they're
full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly, you look righteous.
You appear righteous to men, only to men because God looks upon the heart, but inside you're
full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Wow, what a damning indictment if everyone has been
given and he's indicting the most meticulous religious people of the day. They were hypocrites,
priding themselves on purity, but it was a false purity. But if they weren't pure, who
was? Well, that's what our Lord's talking about in Matthew 5.8. The word pure is the
Greek word katharas. We get our word catharsis or cathartic from this word. It meant clean
if it referred to an object. It could also mean undivided. So when referring to a physical
object, katharas meant clean. For example, the Pharisees cleaned the outside, cleansed
the outside of the cup. That's katharas. But if you're talking about your motive or why
you're doing something, it was meant to be katharas, to be pure, it meant to be undivided.
If you're talking about metallurgy, it meant unalloyed, no blemish, free from anything
mixing together or any adulteration at all. So what is an alloy? It's a mixture of two
metals. So the word katharas meant unalloyed, meaning it is pure to the highest degree.
It means the highest purity. It is like pure gold. There are no impurities whatsoever is
what the word means. And Jesus had blessed for those people. Spiritually speaking, it's
single mindedness, undivided devotion to God and his kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of
God. That's Matthew 6. So we go back to the religious leaders and Jesus is indicting them.
They're placing a premium on religious and ritual purity, but they failed to understand
and especially maintain inward purity. You think of the Pharisees, they never would have
eaten with their hands unwashed. They never would have done it, but they were ignorant
as to the source of where real defilement came from. So they would wake up and listen,
these people were absolutely meticulous in keeping the law. Several years ago on our
flight to Israel, Kenny, Tim and I, or Kenny, or Russ, Tim and I, we all flew to Israel.
There we flew on the airline El Al, Israeli Hebrew airline. The Hebrew TV, very little
water was given. But we were on there with a bunch of Orthodox Jews. In the middle of
the night, they looked at their watches and they all began to take a little bit of water
and they had to cleanse their hands. Their hands weren't dirty, but it was the time to
cleanse them. So they would take a little water and they were doing it. And then a few
hours later as the sun was coming up, they all opened the window shades and they put
on their prayer clothes and they started looking to the east, they started looking to Jerusalem
and they were bowing and doing the prayer chantings. That's who we're talking about.
When people, their hands weren't dirty, they're still going to wash them. They never would
have eaten it. And yet Jesus saying these people are so ignorant. Wow, because where
does really defilement come from? It's not out there. That's the problem with a lot of
legalists. They think defilement comes from within. Defilement comes from within. Jesus
in Matthew 15, do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach
and it's eliminated? It's digested and passed out. But those things, look at verse 18, those
things which proceed out of the mouth, they come out of your mouth, come from the heart
and they defile man. Well, what comes out? Well, out of the mouth proceeds evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lying, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things
which defile man, but to eat with unwashed hands doesn't defile man. The heart is so
important because whatever's in there is going to come out. Matthew 12, 34, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaks. You hear people say, oh, I didn't mean to say it. Oh yeah,
you did. It was in your heart. You didn't mean to say it that way. So that person heard
it that way. That's what you're meditating on because whatever is coming out here has
been in here already. So you start to see the heart, it's a seed of all problems. So
if we're asking what's the problem with mankind, heart. G.K. Chesterton, I guess back, he was
a great British essayist and one of the, I guess the London Times asked an article, what
is man's problem? And all these people wrote in and Chesterton wrote in and he had two
word answer. What is man's problem? And he wrote simply, I am. That's what we're talking
about here. The heart is seed of problems. It's not environment, it's not education,
it's not heredity or genetics. It's your heart. Let me give you one example of how we mess
this up. In 2022, there was a study on births out of wedlock. It has skyrocketed. The numbers
are astounding. In 2022, so two years ago, 40%, four out of 10 of all births in the United
States are to an unmarried couple. Four out of 10. 70% of black children are to an unmarried
couple. Seven out of 10. More than 50% of Hispanic children are born out of wedlock.
Now the government would say we've got to ease the financial burden of these families.
That's neither here nor there. That's not what I'm talking about. But here's what, the government
believes the answer lies in the socioeconomic realm. They believe the answer lies in the
state. Again, I want to be compassionate, but can I suggest to you what Jesus would
say? What is the cause of children born out of wedlock? Is it not fornication? What is
the source of fornication? Matthew 15, 19, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornication. Our society does not have a marriage problem. Our society
does not have a wedlock problem. Our society does not have a divorce problem. Our society
has a heart problem. That's it. And by the way, the state is powerless to do anything
about it. There's only one remedy and it's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
what John Piper, he said, Jesus did not come into the world simply because we have some
bad habits that need to be broken. He came into the world because we have such dirty
hearts that need to be purified. This is the problem I have with most of secular counseling,
not all, but secular counseling will attempt to rehabilitate man. They'll change his environment
and that can offer some temporary helps or alter his behavior, his circumstances. But
they are absolutely powerless to change the heart. What changes the heart? The gospel
of Christ. It gives lasting change. Why? Because it goes to the root problem. Here it is guys.
This is what Jesus would say. It's what he said in Matthew 5, 8. It's what he said throughout
the scriptures. Man, because of our fall and descend through Adam, we are now corrupt,
desperately wicked and defiled. That's who we are by nature, children of wrath. All men
need to be given a new heart that can only come from God. But that's the promise of the
gospel in Ezekiel 36, God speaking, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you and I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of
flesh. Do you see this is the problem? The problem is man's birth. That's how corrupt
we are. We need a new birth. But the problem with the heart also is that it's so easily
divided. If you're going to be pure in heart, it means single-minded devotion. It's undivided.
That means you're sincere, you're transparent, there's no guile. What you see is what you
get. You're not duplicitous, you're not hypocritical. They're pure, 100% the real deal, nothing
to hide. Ray Pritchard asks this question, is your life an open book or do you have things
that you hide from your best friends and from your loved ones? Is there anyone in your life
who knows the truth about who you really are? Blessed are the pure in heart for they have
nothing to hide. What a horrible way to live trying to cover up and hope no one ever finds
out something. See, God is desiring. And that doesn't mean, not all of us, there's things
in all of our lives that we'd like, I prefer people not to know, but you're not actively
hiding it. But I'm talking about people who are living a double life. God desires that
our actions flow from a pure, undivided heart. In 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5, now listen
to the words of Paul, the purpose, that means the end, the telos, the goal of the commandment,
what is the purpose of the commandment? Love from a pure heart, from a good conscience
and from a sincere faith. This is what pleases God when your love is flowing from a heart
that is undivided. Notice the adjectives, good heart, excuse me, pure heart, good conscience,
sincere faith. What is important to God? It's the real deal. We're not phony, we're not
fake. That's what he's saying there. We don't serve him with ulterior motives. We don't serve
him with a divided heart, still trying to hang on to our sin and yet serve God. You
can't do it. 1 Peter 1, Peter wrote the same thing as Paul. Since you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth, through the spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another
fervently with a pure heart. All the commands of God, if you want to boil them down, they
come to loving God and loving others with a heart that's not divided. But even then
we're still indicted, aren't we? See, there's a promise. Each of the Beatitudes come with
a promise. There's a reward. The poor in spirit, he says, yours is the kingdom. The mourners,
will they get comfort? The meek, will they all inherit the earth? Hungering and thirsting
after righteousness, you're going to be filled. The merciful, will you're given mercy? But
what about the pure in heart? What is promised to them? Friends, this is the greatest reward
that can ever be given. The pure in heart will see God. Now that's the ultimate desire
of all believers. It's to see God. It's to be with him. But the Apostle John wrote, no
one has seen God at any time. The Apostle Paul explains why no one has ever seen God,
because he dwells in unapproachable light, who no man has seen or can see. Paul says
it's an impossibility. God told Moses back in Exodus, he said, no one can see my face
for no one shall see me and live. So what is Jesus saying when he says that the pure
in heart will see God? It's a great question. The primary answer is eschatological, meaning
it's going to happen at the end of the age when the kingdom comes in its fullness. This
is the primary answer. Revelation 22. John writing, and he, the angel, showed me a pure
river of water of life, clears crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In
the middle of its street, and on the other side of the river, was a tree of life, which
bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the trees
are for the healing of the nations, and there will be no more curse. Praise God. But the
throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve him. Look at verse
four. They shall see us. Listen, hallelujah right there. They're going to see his face.
To be in the presence of God is the greatest, it is the ultimate, it is the most significant
and extraordinary blessing ever conceived. We will be with God in unhindered fellowship,
no more walking by faith. But it's for the pure in heart. This is the beatific vision
that the people have always longed for. But you say, yeah, that's a way off. But isn't
there a way right now where the pure in heart can see God? Again, Lloyd-Jones says yes.
In a sense, there's a vision of God even while we're in this world. Christian people can
see God in the sense that nobody else can. You see him in nature, non-Christians can't.
You see God in events of history, that's providence. But there's a seeing also in the sense of
knowing him, a sense of feeling he is near and enjoying his presence. We see him in our
own experience in his gracious dealings with us. The scriptures say right now, church,
we see through a glass darkly, but one day we will see him face to face. But right now
we still see him. We see him in his works. This is natural revelation. The heavens declare
the glory of God. The vast expanse of the Galan sea, it's revealing something of God's
glory. And how glorious it is pales in comparison to the real glory. The beauty of the sunset
or the grandeur of the mountain, the vastness of the ocean, they're all telling a story
of the glory of God who created them. But we also see him in his word. The closer you
walk with the Lord, the more he illumines and shows you things in his word. The pure
heart. Hebrews says, pursue peace with all people in holiness, without which no man will
see the Lord. No holiness, not can't see. When you and I ignore sin or disregard it in
our lives, as though it's not important, any intimacy you would have with the Lord is hindered.
You cannot, friends, you cannot have fellowship with God Almighty and have a divided heart.
A Lord says, you won't serve two masters. Matthew 6, 24. No one, no one, so don't even
try, can serve two masters. He will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be loyal
to the one, despise the other. You can't serve God and mammon, that's wealth. You can't serve
God and money. Don't even try, it's ridiculous. So what he's saying, you can't hold on to
the idols of our culture. Wealth, pleasure, power, prestige, and then the wealth, yeah
I'm gonna pursue God too. Yeah, give me a little bit of Jesus. Yeah, that sounds good.
Doesn't work that way. You can't do it. Like Elijah said on that fateful day, you must
choose this day whom you're gonna serve. You're either gonna be all in for the one true living
God, and by the way, if you know him and you've seen a little bit of his glory, you're all
in. Because where else are you gonna go? I mean, what else compares to him? Nothing.
Spurgeon, he said, no, it is a most blessed attainment to have such a longing for purity
as to love everything that is chaste and holy and to abhor everything that is questionable
and unhallowed. There's a wonderful connection between hearts and eyes. A man who has sustained
a filth on his soul cannot see God, but they who are purified in heart are purified in
vision too. They shall see God. This is one of the horrors of pornography. What an evil
thing it is. It degrades you, it defiles you, and it destroys your ability to see God. But
it's not just the obvious things that defile. Some people are so caught up in entertainment
and music and movies that just wage war against your soul. You're not gonna see God that way.
Some of you have loyalties. You're like, this is more important because we choose this every
time. You're not gonna see God that way. There is no rival to him. Pure in heart is absolutely
an undivided heart. So you see him in nature. You see him through his special revelation.
You see him through the providence of your life, the way he works in your life. You look
at his care and the way he takes care of you. I think about this. You get a flat tire and
we're tempted to complain. Man, maybe the Lord was keeping you from a wreck down the road.
What about circumstances that seem unfair, that seem unjust? He's in control. He's leading
you. He's leading you in ways you don't know of. Remind yourself, he's all good, so his
will is perfect. He's all wise, so his will is best. He's all powerful, so his will gets
accomplished. And sometimes friends, the most clarifying agent and the best way to see God
is in pain. It's in suffering. That's why the word allows you to do it. Sometimes it's
his will. It has a way of sharpening spiritual sight like nothing else does. It does. What
characterizes a pure in heart? Charles Seming gives three characteristics. I'm gonna go
through these very fast. First of all, you abstain from all acts of uncleanness. You
know your body's a member of Christ. You flee fornication. You flee impurity. You flee the
conversation with the woman who you know is flirting with you. You flee from that guy
who's speaking good things to you and he's not your husband. You don't fear being found
out or detected, but you do fear displeasing Christ. Number two, you don't harbor evil
or desire in your heart. The flesh, it's crucified. You don't wanna become a prey to your evil
passions. You cry out with David, create in me a clean heart and renew a right or steadfast
spirit within me. You're not like the Pharisees who you're content just to have the outward
looking good as long as people think well of me. Who cares what they think? But you
desire inward purity. And then thirdly, you avoid the occasion of evil. You're not gonna
read the books friends. You're not gonna hear the songs. You're not gonna watch the movies
or attend the scenes, which degrade the mind. So now as we close, here's the million dollar
question or the billion dollar question however you wanna pose it. How do you become pure
in heart? Now I think it should be fairly obvious this is a work that man can't accomplish.
Our hearts are wicked, deceitful, and you and I are powerless to change that. So we
can't have any hope in ourselves. That's not gonna, it's a fool's errand. Our only hope
is in the mercy of God, right? Well I began this sermon with Psalm 24 and I read verses
three and four. And we ask that crucial question, who shall send into the hill of the Lord and
who shall stand in this holy place? That was a great question. So there's only one way
to see God you must be holy, clean, absolutely pure in both actions and thoughts or else
you are damned. So we're damned, right? We need someone who is holy, clean, absolutely
pure, completely free of sin, who will climb the mountain of the Lord for us and bring
heaven down to us. Oh this is the good news. Psalm 24 points forward to Jesus as our only
hope of righteousness. There is only one man who could ever ascend the hill of the Lord
and stand in the holy place. There's only one man who ever had clean hands and a pure
heart who is clean both inwardly and outwardly. There's only one man who has ever loved the
Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength all the days of his life. There's
only one man who's ever been completely free from sin and always did that which is pleasing
in God's sight. And this one man has a name and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ and
he ascended the hill of the Lord. This one man climbed a hill named Calvary where he
would offer himself as the atoning, cleansing sacrifice for his people for all time. There
is one man who is pure in heart and we need him. Phil Johnson said, only those who are
united with Christ and clothed in his righteousness, whose hands are washed clean in his blood
and whose hearts are purified by that blood, only they can ascend the hill of the Lord
and stand in his holy place. And the only ground on which they stand is not their own
righteousness but his. In other words, the only way you and I can come boldly before
the throne of grace and render worship to God is by being in union with Christ. How
do you become pure in heart? In union with Christ. I read verse 3 of M4, Psalm 24, but
I did not read verse 5 until now, Psalm 24, 5. He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
now listen, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. There's only one way that
you and I could ever climb the mountain of the Lord and that's as if we have received
righteousness from God. How do we receive righteousness from God? By faith. It's in
union with Christ. Listen to Paul in Romans 3, but now the righteousness of God apart
from the laws revealed, witnessed by the law and the prophets, verse 22, even the righteousness
of God, how? Through faith in Jesus Christ. For whom? It's to all and on all who believe.
It's by faith. Romans 5, he said the same thing. Much more those who receive abundance
of grace, notice we receive abundance of grace, and we receive of the gift of righteousness.
They will reign in life through one Jesus Christ. Praise God. That's the gospel. Spurgeon
says, they do not ascend the hill of the Lord as givers, no, but as receivers, and they
don't wear their own merits. What do we wear? A righteousness which we have received, not
earned. Listen church, those who trust in your own righteousness, you will be rejected.
Absolutely clean, absolutely pure. You will never see God. You will be excluded. You will
be banned. Our only hope is in Jesus, and he provides both the cleansing and the covering
that you and I need to climb that hill. God makes us pure in heart as a gift of grace.
It's yours if you humble yourself. You're spiritually bankrupt. You mourn over that.
You hunger and thirst for righteousness, and God gives it to you. What a wonderful, merciful,
just so beyond words, great savior. Let's pray. Let's prepare to commune with God. Let us
take this, this gospel, and as we meditate upon now, let's go to the Word in prayer and
prepare our hearts for the table of the Word.