1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:24,160 By their making their way back to their seats, if you have a copy of the scriptures, find 2 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:33,400 your way to Matthew's Gospel. We're still in the fifth chapter. And then these Beatitudes 3 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:42,440 we're looking at one per week. This morning we find ourselves in verse 8. The Word of 4 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:51,440 God says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in 5 00:00:51,440 --> 00:01:01,800 heart, for they shall see God. Let's pray. Father, would you help us this morning to 6 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:09,320 understand what this very important text means? God, we ask for your Spirit's help, for His 7 00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:17,960 enablement, for His illumination of the sacred text, for His divine guidance as I speak. 8 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:23,080 And then Lord Father, to do a work in the hearts of your people. And if there's anyone, 9 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:28,400 Lord, that would be here, and their eyes are not opened to the glorious truth of Christ, 10 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:34,920 may He have mercy and open them this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're in 11 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:43,900 Matthew 5. But Matthew 5, I believe, is really not just a recapitulation, but rather a magnification 12 00:01:43,900 --> 00:01:49,360 of Psalm 24. In Psalm 24, King David, he's going to ask a very important question, a 13 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:56,280 very poignant question. In verse 3, we read that Psalm 24, 3, who may ascend into the 14 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:04,840 hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? Now that's an important question. 15 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:11,160 What does it mean to ascend into the hill of the Lord? Well, we know the temple, which 16 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:16,760 is where God met with His people, where God dwelt. Well, the temple at that time was located 17 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:22,520 in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is an elevated city, so anyone who wanted to worship or go to the 18 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:29,440 temple must ascend. They must go up to Jerusalem, wherever they were. But we clearly see here, 19 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:34,040 David is not merely talking about geography, and I don't think he's primarily talking about 20 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:40,720 the temple in Jerusalem. So then what does it mean to ascend the hill of the Lord and 21 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:46,120 to stand in the holy place of the Lord? It means to enter into the presence of Yahweh, 22 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:52,040 and is entering into God's presence. So who can enter into God's presence is the question 23 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:57,560 that David is asking here, and the answer really doesn't come as a great surprise. We're 24 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:06,800 not shocked at what we read in verse 4. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who 25 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:12,880 has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. So who's going to be able 26 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:17,320 to enter into the presence of Yahweh? He says, you're going to have to have clean hands, 27 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:21,400 and you're going to have to have a pure heart. The question I would ask myself is how clean 28 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,800 and how pure are we talking about do you have to be before you can enter into the presence 29 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:32,580 of Yahweh? Now in our text this morning, the Lord Jesus is giving a benediction. He's pronouncing 30 00:03:32,580 --> 00:03:40,400 a blessing. Blessed are the pure in heart. Why? Well they are the ones who will see God. 31 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:45,960 So the Lord is basically saying the same thing as King David. The prerequisite, if it is 32 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:51,920 anyone going to see God or enter into his presence, they have to be pure in heart. But 33 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:57,640 again, I want to know how pure are we talking about, and what does that really mean? Well 34 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:04,440 in Psalm 24 the question kind of answers itself. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, and 35 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,840 then it's kind of like an appositive here, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, 36 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:13,400 nor sworn deceitfully, as the text says. So if we're talking about having clean hands 37 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:19,260 and a pure heart, David said you don't lift up your soul to an idol. You're not divided 38 00:04:19,260 --> 00:04:26,560 in your allegiance. Your focus is on the one true living God. But it says you've not sworn 39 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:33,120 deceitfully. There's no falsehood. The best way I could word this is you're not duplicitous. 40 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:38,880 You don't say one thing and you do another. Your heart is not divided. So what David is 41 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:47,720 saying in Psalm 24, clean hands and a pure heart, it is an undivided allegiance to God. 42 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,720 How much allegiance, how much division is allowed? That's what we want to answer this 43 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,400 morning. Now we've been spending some time in the Sermon on the Mount. This is a great 44 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,520 sermon. It's the greatest sermon preached by the greatest preacher of all time, the 45 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:05,240 Lord Jesus Christ. So these Beatitudes, they're not in random order. There's actually a logical 46 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:11,160 sequence to them. They actually form what is known in literary devices as a chiasm. 47 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:16,160 Lloyd-Jones, Dr. Morton Lloyd-Jones says this, the first three Beatitudes are like hiking 48 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:21,120 up a mountain. Then the fourth Beatitude, you reach the pinnacle. And the last three, 49 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:25,000 you start to come back down the other side of the mountain. Now in the Scriptures, whether 50 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,880 in Hebrew or Greek, when you have that pattern of this matching this, that's called a chiasm 51 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,720 because it comes from the Greek letter chi, which is X like that. That's why they call 52 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:39,120 it that. So let's look at this. You have number one, blessed are the poor in spirit. These 53 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:44,760 folks are spiritually bankrupt and they know it. They have no righteousness. Because of 54 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:50,880 that, blessed are those who mourn. They mourn over their heart. They mourn over this bankrupt 55 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:56,640 position. Number three, blessed are the meek. They begin to see themselves as they really 56 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:03,440 are and that produces a humility. It also produces a gentleness. Humility before God 57 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:10,380 and the gentleness before others. Then blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. 58 00:06:10,380 --> 00:06:15,640 As Lloyd-Jones says, this is the pinnacle. This is salvation. These people have changed. 59 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:21,680 They're not longing, they're hungry, they're thirsting. They need righteousness and the 60 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:28,360 Lord promises they will receive it. They will be filled. Now we start to come down the mountain. 61 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:34,160 Blessed are the merciful. This corresponds to the poor in spirit. Remember those who 62 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:41,240 know how corrupt they truly are and how bankrupt they are, they've received mercy from God 63 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:49,320 and now they extend mercy to others. Blessed are the pure in heart. That's ours this morning. 64 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:56,600 This corresponds to those who are mourning. Those who are pure in heart have mourned over 65 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:05,880 how impure their hearts are and God has given them a new heart. Until one realizes how impure 66 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:12,640 you really are and how defiled your heart really is, you can never ever be pure in heart. 67 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:18,600 That's the irony. Purity in heart requires you to understand how impure your heart is. 68 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:23,800 Now in the scriptures we find that God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is always concerned with 69 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:28,160 the heart. The heart, what are we talking about? We're not talking about the organ that pumps 70 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:34,800 blood. It is the center of a person's intellectual activity. It's his emotional life, his physical 71 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:40,760 life, all his choices emanate and are derived from the heart. We could say it this way, 72 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:49,120 the heart is considered the seat of life. It is the source of every thought, every passion, 73 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:54,520 every decision you make comes from the heart. That's why it's so repeatedly emphasized 74 00:07:54,520 --> 00:08:02,000 throughout both Old and New Testaments. We read in Proverbs 423, keep your heart. And 75 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,440 he doesn't just say keep your heart, but rather with all diligence, you need to be 76 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:10,880 diligently keeping and checking your heart. Why? For out of it spring the issues of life. 77 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,000 Everything that is important in life flows from your heart, so you better keep it, Solomon 78 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:21,080 says. God speaking in 1 Samuel 16 through the prophet Samuel, he says, for the Lord 79 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:26,240 does not see as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks 80 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:36,160 on the heart. Now here's what I find so interesting today. Knowing the Lord sees our hearts may 81 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:43,160 sound comforting. A lot of people say, and I've heard this so many times, people defending 82 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:48,160 themselves and excusing themselves, well the Lord knows my heart. Well he knows my heart. 83 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,760 And that may sound comforting until you hear the thundering indictment issued from the 84 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:58,040 lips of the prophet Jeremiah. Yes the Lord knows your heart. Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart 85 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:02,760 is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked, who can know it? And by the way it's 86 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:10,280 not you. The Lord does know it. I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind even to 87 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:15,960 give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. So yes the Lord 88 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:22,520 knows your heart. That's not a question. But what does he find when he looks upon it? He 89 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:27,760 finds hearts that are impure, that are not clean. In fact they're deceitful. You know 90 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:34,080 who they deceive? You know who the heart deceives? Me, you. We're deceived by our own heart. 91 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:39,480 And then Jeremiah said, and by the way it's desperately wicked, hopelessly wicked. This 92 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:44,960 is a central problem of man. This is what's going on in man's life. This is why all the 93 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:50,160 chaos ensues in the world today. Now there's a historical context that the Sermon on the 94 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:55,760 Mount was given in. Much of this sermon that the Lord Jesus is preaching was an indictment 95 00:09:55,760 --> 00:10:02,560 against the leading religious figures of the day. Think with me of the Pharisees. Jesus 96 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:08,200 is now talking about purity of heart, right? Well the Pharisees were masters at purity. 97 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:13,000 I mean clean living would have been their forte. You want to talk about clean hands? 98 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:19,960 Look no further. These men loved to wash their hands. They did it often. They were fastidious 99 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:25,840 in ceremonial washings and oblations. If there was a purity police, if there ever was a purity 100 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:33,800 police, the Pharisees ripped. These guys had you. But their purity was externally focused. 101 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:39,740 It was keeping the outward law. Of course they loved rituals. They loved ceremonies. 102 00:10:39,740 --> 00:10:46,880 They loved rules to live by. They loved to be clean. They loved to wash up. But by the 103 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:53,520 time Christ our Lord comes on the scene, their preoccupation with ceremonial cleansing had 104 00:10:53,520 --> 00:11:03,080 largely displaced the true worship of God. And Jesus, mincing no words, issues a strong 105 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:12,120 denunciation of these Pharisees for focusing on external purity and ignoring the heart. 106 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:16,920 Listen to the words of our Lord in Matthew 23. Woe to you. And listen, if anyone ever 107 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:23,840 issues a woe, that's bad. If it's the Son of God, it's horrendous. Woe to you, scribes, 108 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:29,960 Pharisees, you hypocrites. For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside 109 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:36,440 they're full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisees, first cleanse the inside 110 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,920 of the cup and dish, but the outside of them may be clean also. Don't leave the outward 111 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:46,320 undone, of course. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You're like white 112 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:52,280 washed tombs. Oh yes, they indeed appear beautiful outwardly. But what are they? Inside they're 113 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:59,280 full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly, you look righteous. 114 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:05,760 You appear righteous to men, only to men because God looks upon the heart, but inside you're 115 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:12,860 full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Wow, what a damning indictment if everyone has been 116 00:12:12,860 --> 00:12:21,040 given and he's indicting the most meticulous religious people of the day. They were hypocrites, 117 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:29,200 priding themselves on purity, but it was a false purity. But if they weren't pure, who 118 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:35,120 was? Well, that's what our Lord's talking about in Matthew 5.8. The word pure is the 119 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:42,040 Greek word katharas. We get our word catharsis or cathartic from this word. It meant clean 120 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:46,640 if it referred to an object. It could also mean undivided. So when referring to a physical 121 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:52,040 object, katharas meant clean. For example, the Pharisees cleaned the outside, cleansed 122 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:58,120 the outside of the cup. That's katharas. But if you're talking about your motive or why 123 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:05,600 you're doing something, it was meant to be katharas, to be pure, it meant to be undivided. 124 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:11,040 If you're talking about metallurgy, it meant unalloyed, no blemish, free from anything 125 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:16,120 mixing together or any adulteration at all. So what is an alloy? It's a mixture of two 126 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:22,400 metals. So the word katharas meant unalloyed, meaning it is pure to the highest degree. 127 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:28,520 It means the highest purity. It is like pure gold. There are no impurities whatsoever is 128 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:35,360 what the word means. And Jesus had blessed for those people. Spiritually speaking, it's 129 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:40,200 single mindedness, undivided devotion to God and his kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of 130 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:46,120 God. That's Matthew 6. So we go back to the religious leaders and Jesus is indicting them. 131 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,800 They're placing a premium on religious and ritual purity, but they failed to understand 132 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:56,560 and especially maintain inward purity. You think of the Pharisees, they never would have 133 00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:02,480 eaten with their hands unwashed. They never would have done it, but they were ignorant 134 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:07,400 as to the source of where real defilement came from. So they would wake up and listen, 135 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:12,800 these people were absolutely meticulous in keeping the law. Several years ago on our 136 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:21,560 flight to Israel, Kenny, Tim and I, or Kenny, or Russ, Tim and I, we all flew to Israel. 137 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:27,920 There we flew on the airline El Al, Israeli Hebrew airline. The Hebrew TV, very little 138 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:31,160 water was given. But we were on there with a bunch of Orthodox Jews. In the middle of 139 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:34,440 the night, they looked at their watches and they all began to take a little bit of water 140 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,760 and they had to cleanse their hands. Their hands weren't dirty, but it was the time to 141 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:40,600 cleanse them. So they would take a little water and they were doing it. And then a few 142 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:44,200 hours later as the sun was coming up, they all opened the window shades and they put 143 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,400 on their prayer clothes and they started looking to the east, they started looking to Jerusalem 144 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:51,360 and they were bowing and doing the prayer chantings. That's who we're talking about. 145 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:54,680 When people, their hands weren't dirty, they're still going to wash them. They never would 146 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:59,120 have eaten it. And yet Jesus saying these people are so ignorant. Wow, because where 147 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:05,040 does really defilement come from? It's not out there. That's the problem with a lot of 148 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:11,040 legalists. They think defilement comes from within. Defilement comes from within. Jesus 149 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:17,160 in Matthew 15, do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach 150 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:22,880 and it's eliminated? It's digested and passed out. But those things, look at verse 18, those 151 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:28,920 things which proceed out of the mouth, they come out of your mouth, come from the heart 152 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:34,720 and they defile man. Well, what comes out? Well, out of the mouth proceeds evil thoughts, 153 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:45,040 murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lying, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things 154 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:52,440 which defile man, but to eat with unwashed hands doesn't defile man. The heart is so 155 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:58,280 important because whatever's in there is going to come out. Matthew 12, 34, out of the abundance 156 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:02,480 of the heart, the mouth speaks. You hear people say, oh, I didn't mean to say it. Oh yeah, 157 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,600 you did. It was in your heart. You didn't mean to say it that way. So that person heard 158 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,880 it that way. That's what you're meditating on because whatever is coming out here has 159 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:17,800 been in here already. So you start to see the heart, it's a seed of all problems. So 160 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:24,080 if we're asking what's the problem with mankind, heart. G.K. Chesterton, I guess back, he was 161 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:30,160 a great British essayist and one of the, I guess the London Times asked an article, what 162 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,520 is man's problem? And all these people wrote in and Chesterton wrote in and he had two 163 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:39,520 word answer. What is man's problem? And he wrote simply, I am. That's what we're talking 164 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:44,040 about here. The heart is seed of problems. It's not environment, it's not education, 165 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:49,520 it's not heredity or genetics. It's your heart. Let me give you one example of how we mess 166 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:56,040 this up. In 2022, there was a study on births out of wedlock. It has skyrocketed. The numbers 167 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:02,000 are astounding. In 2022, so two years ago, 40%, four out of 10 of all births in the United 168 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:08,320 States are to an unmarried couple. Four out of 10. 70% of black children are to an unmarried 169 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:15,800 couple. Seven out of 10. More than 50% of Hispanic children are born out of wedlock. 170 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:19,800 Now the government would say we've got to ease the financial burden of these families. 171 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,240 That's neither here nor there. That's not what I'm talking about. But here's what, the government 172 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:29,040 believes the answer lies in the socioeconomic realm. They believe the answer lies in the 173 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:35,000 state. Again, I want to be compassionate, but can I suggest to you what Jesus would 174 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:42,520 say? What is the cause of children born out of wedlock? Is it not fornication? What is 175 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:47,840 the source of fornication? Matthew 15, 19, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, 176 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:54,120 murders, adulteries, fornication. Our society does not have a marriage problem. Our society 177 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:58,200 does not have a wedlock problem. Our society does not have a divorce problem. Our society 178 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:04,240 has a heart problem. That's it. And by the way, the state is powerless to do anything 179 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:10,880 about it. There's only one remedy and it's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love 180 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,520 what John Piper, he said, Jesus did not come into the world simply because we have some 181 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:18,600 bad habits that need to be broken. He came into the world because we have such dirty 182 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:25,240 hearts that need to be purified. This is the problem I have with most of secular counseling, 183 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:30,440 not all, but secular counseling will attempt to rehabilitate man. They'll change his environment 184 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:37,360 and that can offer some temporary helps or alter his behavior, his circumstances. But 185 00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:44,800 they are absolutely powerless to change the heart. What changes the heart? The gospel 186 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:53,180 of Christ. It gives lasting change. Why? Because it goes to the root problem. Here it is guys. 187 00:18:53,180 --> 00:18:56,440 This is what Jesus would say. It's what he said in Matthew 5, 8. It's what he said throughout 188 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:02,320 the scriptures. Man, because of our fall and descend through Adam, we are now corrupt, 189 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:10,600 desperately wicked and defiled. That's who we are by nature, children of wrath. All men 190 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:16,880 need to be given a new heart that can only come from God. But that's the promise of the 191 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:23,200 gospel in Ezekiel 36, God speaking, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit 192 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,760 within you and I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of 193 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:34,880 flesh. Do you see this is the problem? The problem is man's birth. That's how corrupt 194 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:43,280 we are. We need a new birth. But the problem with the heart also is that it's so easily 195 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:48,720 divided. If you're going to be pure in heart, it means single-minded devotion. It's undivided. 196 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,760 That means you're sincere, you're transparent, there's no guile. What you see is what you 197 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:59,800 get. You're not duplicitous, you're not hypocritical. They're pure, 100% the real deal, nothing 198 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:08,000 to hide. Ray Pritchard asks this question, is your life an open book or do you have things 199 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,960 that you hide from your best friends and from your loved ones? Is there anyone in your life 200 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:16,300 who knows the truth about who you really are? Blessed are the pure in heart for they have 201 00:20:16,300 --> 00:20:21,960 nothing to hide. What a horrible way to live trying to cover up and hope no one ever finds 202 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:27,880 out something. See, God is desiring. And that doesn't mean, not all of us, there's things 203 00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,840 in all of our lives that we'd like, I prefer people not to know, but you're not actively 204 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:37,000 hiding it. But I'm talking about people who are living a double life. God desires that 205 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:45,080 our actions flow from a pure, undivided heart. In 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5, now listen 206 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:51,200 to the words of Paul, the purpose, that means the end, the telos, the goal of the commandment, 207 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:57,400 what is the purpose of the commandment? Love from a pure heart, from a good conscience 208 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:03,480 and from a sincere faith. This is what pleases God when your love is flowing from a heart 209 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:10,160 that is undivided. Notice the adjectives, good heart, excuse me, pure heart, good conscience, 210 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:14,520 sincere faith. What is important to God? It's the real deal. We're not phony, we're not 211 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:21,560 fake. That's what he's saying there. We don't serve him with ulterior motives. We don't serve 212 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,800 him with a divided heart, still trying to hang on to our sin and yet serve God. You 213 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:31,560 can't do it. 1 Peter 1, Peter wrote the same thing as Paul. Since you have purified your 214 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:38,440 souls in obeying the truth, through the spirit, in sincere love of the brethren, love one another 215 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:45,680 fervently with a pure heart. All the commands of God, if you want to boil them down, they 216 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:51,240 come to loving God and loving others with a heart that's not divided. But even then 217 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:56,200 we're still indicted, aren't we? See, there's a promise. Each of the Beatitudes come with 218 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:02,040 a promise. There's a reward. The poor in spirit, he says, yours is the kingdom. The mourners, 219 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:06,080 will they get comfort? The meek, will they all inherit the earth? Hungering and thirsting 220 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:12,680 after righteousness, you're going to be filled. The merciful, will you're given mercy? But 221 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:21,040 what about the pure in heart? What is promised to them? Friends, this is the greatest reward 222 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:29,100 that can ever be given. The pure in heart will see God. Now that's the ultimate desire 223 00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:37,000 of all believers. It's to see God. It's to be with him. But the Apostle John wrote, no 224 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:42,880 one has seen God at any time. The Apostle Paul explains why no one has ever seen God, 225 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:49,120 because he dwells in unapproachable light, who no man has seen or can see. Paul says 226 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:55,000 it's an impossibility. God told Moses back in Exodus, he said, no one can see my face 227 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:02,160 for no one shall see me and live. So what is Jesus saying when he says that the pure 228 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:11,120 in heart will see God? It's a great question. The primary answer is eschatological, meaning 229 00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:15,040 it's going to happen at the end of the age when the kingdom comes in its fullness. This 230 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:20,920 is the primary answer. Revelation 22. John writing, and he, the angel, showed me a pure 231 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:26,760 river of water of life, clears crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In 232 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:30,520 the middle of its street, and on the other side of the river, was a tree of life, which 233 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:35,660 bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the trees 234 00:23:35,660 --> 00:23:42,080 are for the healing of the nations, and there will be no more curse. Praise God. But the 235 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:48,080 throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve him. Look at verse 236 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:55,400 four. They shall see us. Listen, hallelujah right there. They're going to see his face. 237 00:23:55,400 --> 00:24:00,560 To be in the presence of God is the greatest, it is the ultimate, it is the most significant 238 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:08,280 and extraordinary blessing ever conceived. We will be with God in unhindered fellowship, 239 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:14,480 no more walking by faith. But it's for the pure in heart. This is the beatific vision 240 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:20,960 that the people have always longed for. But you say, yeah, that's a way off. But isn't 241 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:26,280 there a way right now where the pure in heart can see God? Again, Lloyd-Jones says yes. 242 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,640 In a sense, there's a vision of God even while we're in this world. Christian people can 243 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:35,860 see God in the sense that nobody else can. You see him in nature, non-Christians can't. 244 00:24:35,860 --> 00:24:40,120 You see God in events of history, that's providence. But there's a seeing also in the sense of 245 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:45,740 knowing him, a sense of feeling he is near and enjoying his presence. We see him in our 246 00:24:45,740 --> 00:24:52,140 own experience in his gracious dealings with us. The scriptures say right now, church, 247 00:24:52,140 --> 00:24:58,980 we see through a glass darkly, but one day we will see him face to face. But right now 248 00:24:58,980 --> 00:25:03,080 we still see him. We see him in his works. This is natural revelation. The heavens declare 249 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:09,080 the glory of God. The vast expanse of the Galan sea, it's revealing something of God's 250 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:16,440 glory. And how glorious it is pales in comparison to the real glory. The beauty of the sunset 251 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:22,520 or the grandeur of the mountain, the vastness of the ocean, they're all telling a story 252 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:28,960 of the glory of God who created them. But we also see him in his word. The closer you 253 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:33,640 walk with the Lord, the more he illumines and shows you things in his word. The pure 254 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:39,480 heart. Hebrews says, pursue peace with all people in holiness, without which no man will 255 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:46,560 see the Lord. No holiness, not can't see. When you and I ignore sin or disregard it in 256 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:52,080 our lives, as though it's not important, any intimacy you would have with the Lord is hindered. 257 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:57,080 You cannot, friends, you cannot have fellowship with God Almighty and have a divided heart. 258 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:03,960 A Lord says, you won't serve two masters. Matthew 6, 24. No one, no one, so don't even 259 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:08,200 try, can serve two masters. He will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be loyal 260 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:13,000 to the one, despise the other. You can't serve God and mammon, that's wealth. You can't serve 261 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:19,680 God and money. Don't even try, it's ridiculous. So what he's saying, you can't hold on to 262 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:27,280 the idols of our culture. Wealth, pleasure, power, prestige, and then the wealth, yeah 263 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:32,320 I'm gonna pursue God too. Yeah, give me a little bit of Jesus. Yeah, that sounds good. 264 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:38,120 Doesn't work that way. You can't do it. Like Elijah said on that fateful day, you must 265 00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:42,680 choose this day whom you're gonna serve. You're either gonna be all in for the one true living 266 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,720 God, and by the way, if you know him and you've seen a little bit of his glory, you're all 267 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:53,800 in. Because where else are you gonna go? I mean, what else compares to him? Nothing. 268 00:26:53,800 --> 00:27:00,480 Spurgeon, he said, no, it is a most blessed attainment to have such a longing for purity 269 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:05,360 as to love everything that is chaste and holy and to abhor everything that is questionable 270 00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:11,640 and unhallowed. There's a wonderful connection between hearts and eyes. A man who has sustained 271 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:17,240 a filth on his soul cannot see God, but they who are purified in heart are purified in 272 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:25,000 vision too. They shall see God. This is one of the horrors of pornography. What an evil 273 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:31,000 thing it is. It degrades you, it defiles you, and it destroys your ability to see God. But 274 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,960 it's not just the obvious things that defile. Some people are so caught up in entertainment 275 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:41,560 and music and movies that just wage war against your soul. You're not gonna see God that way. 276 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:46,360 Some of you have loyalties. You're like, this is more important because we choose this every 277 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:53,320 time. You're not gonna see God that way. There is no rival to him. Pure in heart is absolutely 278 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:58,160 an undivided heart. So you see him in nature. You see him through his special revelation. 279 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:02,360 You see him through the providence of your life, the way he works in your life. You look 280 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:07,440 at his care and the way he takes care of you. I think about this. You get a flat tire and 281 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:14,080 we're tempted to complain. Man, maybe the Lord was keeping you from a wreck down the road. 282 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:20,800 What about circumstances that seem unfair, that seem unjust? He's in control. He's leading 283 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:26,920 you. He's leading you in ways you don't know of. Remind yourself, he's all good, so his 284 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:34,520 will is perfect. He's all wise, so his will is best. He's all powerful, so his will gets 285 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:42,240 accomplished. And sometimes friends, the most clarifying agent and the best way to see God 286 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:49,760 is in pain. It's in suffering. That's why the word allows you to do it. Sometimes it's 287 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:58,440 his will. It has a way of sharpening spiritual sight like nothing else does. It does. What 288 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,080 characterizes a pure in heart? Charles Seming gives three characteristics. I'm gonna go 289 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:06,760 through these very fast. First of all, you abstain from all acts of uncleanness. You 290 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:11,480 know your body's a member of Christ. You flee fornication. You flee impurity. You flee the 291 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,760 conversation with the woman who you know is flirting with you. You flee from that guy 292 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:19,560 who's speaking good things to you and he's not your husband. You don't fear being found 293 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:25,220 out or detected, but you do fear displeasing Christ. Number two, you don't harbor evil 294 00:29:25,220 --> 00:29:31,880 or desire in your heart. The flesh, it's crucified. You don't wanna become a prey to your evil 295 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:36,600 passions. You cry out with David, create in me a clean heart and renew a right or steadfast 296 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:41,120 spirit within me. You're not like the Pharisees who you're content just to have the outward 297 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:45,820 looking good as long as people think well of me. Who cares what they think? But you 298 00:29:45,820 --> 00:29:51,040 desire inward purity. And then thirdly, you avoid the occasion of evil. You're not gonna 299 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,360 read the books friends. You're not gonna hear the songs. You're not gonna watch the movies 300 00:29:54,360 --> 00:30:01,640 or attend the scenes, which degrade the mind. So now as we close, here's the million dollar 301 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:06,040 question or the billion dollar question however you wanna pose it. How do you become pure 302 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:12,600 in heart? Now I think it should be fairly obvious this is a work that man can't accomplish. 303 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:19,800 Our hearts are wicked, deceitful, and you and I are powerless to change that. So we 304 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:23,520 can't have any hope in ourselves. That's not gonna, it's a fool's errand. Our only hope 305 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:29,400 is in the mercy of God, right? Well I began this sermon with Psalm 24 and I read verses 306 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:35,240 three and four. And we ask that crucial question, who shall send into the hill of the Lord and 307 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:42,040 who shall stand in this holy place? That was a great question. So there's only one way 308 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:49,640 to see God you must be holy, clean, absolutely pure in both actions and thoughts or else 309 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:59,520 you are damned. So we're damned, right? We need someone who is holy, clean, absolutely 310 00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:06,960 pure, completely free of sin, who will climb the mountain of the Lord for us and bring 311 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:16,680 heaven down to us. Oh this is the good news. Psalm 24 points forward to Jesus as our only 312 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:22,720 hope of righteousness. There is only one man who could ever ascend the hill of the Lord 313 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:28,120 and stand in the holy place. There's only one man who ever had clean hands and a pure 314 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:32,960 heart who is clean both inwardly and outwardly. There's only one man who has ever loved the 315 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:38,480 Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength all the days of his life. There's 316 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:42,620 only one man who's ever been completely free from sin and always did that which is pleasing 317 00:31:42,620 --> 00:31:47,640 in God's sight. And this one man has a name and his name is the Lord Jesus Christ and 318 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:58,280 he ascended the hill of the Lord. This one man climbed a hill named Calvary where he 319 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:08,080 would offer himself as the atoning, cleansing sacrifice for his people for all time. There 320 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:15,720 is one man who is pure in heart and we need him. Phil Johnson said, only those who are 321 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:22,200 united with Christ and clothed in his righteousness, whose hands are washed clean in his blood 322 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,080 and whose hearts are purified by that blood, only they can ascend the hill of the Lord 323 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,760 and stand in his holy place. And the only ground on which they stand is not their own 324 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:36,180 righteousness but his. In other words, the only way you and I can come boldly before 325 00:32:36,180 --> 00:32:44,000 the throne of grace and render worship to God is by being in union with Christ. How 326 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:51,120 do you become pure in heart? In union with Christ. I read verse 3 of M4, Psalm 24, but 327 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:58,520 I did not read verse 5 until now, Psalm 24, 5. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, 328 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:05,360 now listen, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. There's only one way that 329 00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:08,320 you and I could ever climb the mountain of the Lord and that's as if we have received 330 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:16,680 righteousness from God. How do we receive righteousness from God? By faith. It's in 331 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:23,480 union with Christ. Listen to Paul in Romans 3, but now the righteousness of God apart 332 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:29,240 from the laws revealed, witnessed by the law and the prophets, verse 22, even the righteousness 333 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:40,120 of God, how? Through faith in Jesus Christ. For whom? It's to all and on all who believe. 334 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:45,980 It's by faith. Romans 5, he said the same thing. Much more those who receive abundance 335 00:33:45,980 --> 00:33:54,700 of grace, notice we receive abundance of grace, and we receive of the gift of righteousness. 336 00:33:54,700 --> 00:34:02,280 They will reign in life through one Jesus Christ. Praise God. That's the gospel. Spurgeon 337 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:08,040 says, they do not ascend the hill of the Lord as givers, no, but as receivers, and they 338 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:15,440 don't wear their own merits. What do we wear? A righteousness which we have received, not 339 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:24,680 earned. Listen church, those who trust in your own righteousness, you will be rejected. 340 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:29,320 Absolutely clean, absolutely pure. You will never see God. You will be excluded. You will 341 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:37,440 be banned. Our only hope is in Jesus, and he provides both the cleansing and the covering 342 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:46,840 that you and I need to climb that hill. God makes us pure in heart as a gift of grace. 343 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:54,220 It's yours if you humble yourself. You're spiritually bankrupt. You mourn over that. 344 00:34:54,220 --> 00:35:01,560 You hunger and thirst for righteousness, and God gives it to you. What a wonderful, merciful, 345 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:08,520 just so beyond words, great savior. Let's pray. Let's prepare to commune with God. Let us 346 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:14,280 take this, this gospel, and as we meditate upon now, let's go to the Word in prayer and 347 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:24,920 prepare our hearts for the table of the Word.