Happy Are the Pure in Heart

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Heavenly Father,

who dares to approach your throne

without purity of heart?

Lord, this is such a

such a big and profound truth

that we are wrestling with this morning

and I desperately need your help, Lord.

Show us how to be pure in heart

because we want to see you.

We want to see you, Lord.

Amen.

Give us ears to hear

and eyes to see

that we might behold

the glory of God

in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's in his precious name we now pray.

Amen.

Please stand and if you are able to honor God

as we read from his word,

I will read verses 1 to 12,

but I'll be focusing only in on verse 8 for the sermon.

Seeing the crowd,

he went up on the mountainside.

And when he sat down,

his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth

and taught them, saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you

and persecute you

and utter all kinds of evil against you

falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad,

for your reward is great in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets

who were before you.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Amen.

It is not an exaggeration to say

that to see God

is the sum and goal of all religion.

One of the most influential philosophers

of Western civilization

was a 13th century pastor

named Thomas Aquinas.

And he writes in his book,

Summa Contra Gentiles.

Now the ultimate end of man

and of every intellectual substance

is called felicity or happiness.

Because this is what every intellectual substance

desires as an ultimate end

and for its own sake alone.

Therefore,

the ultimate happiness and felicity

of every intellectual substance

is to know God.

And so it is said in Matthew 5, 8,

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God.

And in John 17, verse 3,

John 17:3

This is eternal life,

that they may know thee,

the only true God.

The ultimate end of man,

the purpose of man,

is to know God and to see God.

That is our ultimate salvation and glory.

But how can we,

as human beings,

sinful human beings,

attain that ultimate end?

Who is sufficient for such things?

That's the subject of the sixth beatitude.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God.

Who gets to see God?

The pure in heart.

And that's my main point this morning.

Those with undivided hearts

shall see God with unveiled faces.

We're going to first talk about the condition

that we must be pure in heart.

And then we're going to talk about the solution,

which is to have a new heart.

And then third,

we're going to talk about the promise of seeing God.

Purity of heart is the condition for seeing God

because God is holy

and can admit no evil or sin into his presence.

It says in Habakkuk 1, verse 13,

Habakkuk 1:13

that God is of purer eyes than to see evil

and cannot look at wrong.

Our God is holy, holy, holy.

Thrice holy.

As holy as he can possibly be.

He's the consuming fire

who consumes sinners with everlasting burnings,

it says in Deuteronomy 4, 24.

For this reason,

only the pure in heart can see God.

We read from Psalm 24 for our call to worship this morning.

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his holy place?

In other words,

who gets to see God?

Who can go enter into his presence

and stand in his presence and behold him?

And this was the answer.

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to what is false

and does not swear deceitfully.

The pure in heart get to enter God's presence.

But what does it mean to be pure in heart?

In order to understand that,

let's first consider what the heart means

and then secondly, what purity means.

The fact that this beatitude emphasizes the heart

really cuts through all the fluff of religion.

Jesus is getting to the heart of spirituality.

It doesn't say blessed are the pure in appearance.

Blessed are those who are pure on the outside.

It says blessed are the pure in heart,

those who are pure on the inside.

The heart doesn't refer to the physical organ

that pumps blood,

but to the inner center of a person.

It encompasses what we might otherwise think of

as the heart, the mind, and the soul or the spirit.

When we speak of the heart in English,

we often mean the emotional center of a person,

the seed of our emotions,

our faculty of feeling.

The heart does include our emotions.

For example, Deuteronomy 28, verse 47 says

Deuteronomy 28:47

that we ought to serve the Lord our God

with joyfulness and gladness of heart.

The heart is where we feel joyfulness and gladness.

So it does include our feelings, the heart.

But it is not less than that,

but it's also more than that.

It's more than our feelings.

It includes what we would normally call the mind.

The seed of our thoughts, the intentions,

the moral intentions, our will.

For example, in Hebrews 4.12,

it says that the word of God

discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Later in Matthew 9.4, Jesus says to the scribes,

why do you think evil in your hearts?

The heart thinks.

The heart thinks.

It has thoughts.

This is why the terms heart and mind

are often used interchangeably in Scripture.

In 1 Chronicles 12.38,

acting with a whole heart

is in parallel with acting with a single mind.

They're one and the same thing.

So the heart encompasses what we would think of

as the heart and the mind,

and also in Scripture,

what we might think of as the soul or the spirit.

Proverbs 24.12 says that God weighs the heart of man

and that he also keeps watch over his soul.

Proverbs 16.2 says,

all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the spirit.

Almost identical proverb in Proverbs 21.2,

it says, every way of a man is right in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the heart.

Interchangeably used.

Over and over again,

the Bible mentions heart and soul together,

not to refer to two separate, distinct faculties,

but to refer to the whole unified inner person.

Heart and soul.

I am with you, heart and soul,

meaning I am with you as a whole being.

In summary then,

the heart is the emotional and mental

and spiritual center of a person.

It is the inward fountain

from which flows everything in life.

All our thoughts, all our actions,

all our attitudes,

all our affections and desires

are downstream from our heart.

This is why it is erroneous to think

that emotional care and soul care

are separate, unrelated, disparate issues.

Both of them have to do with the heart.

This is why it is unbiblical

to think of mental health

and spiritual health

as discrete, non-overlapping categories.

Apart from a small fraction of issues

that are primarily neurological

and can be traced to its origin in the brain,

most mental health issues

are actually matters of the mind,

the soul, and the heart.

They are spiritual matters

that the Bible addresses.

From Genesis to Revelation,

the Bible focuses relentlessly on the heart.

And in the Sermon on the Mount,

Jesus focuses relentlessly on the human heart.

In Matthew 5, 28,

Jesus says that not only a man

who commits physical adultery with a woman

that is not his wife,

but also a man who looks at a woman lustfully

commits adultery with her in his heart.

That raises the bar of obedience, doesn't it?

You see, if what matters is purity of heart,

not just purity of appearance,

purity on the outside,

then the mentality that,

well, as long as I don't have extramarital sex

or as long as I don't have premarital sex,

then I'm in the clear, is wrong.

Refusing to cross that clear line in the sand

that the Bible draws

is the bare minimum of obedience.

A man who has been married to his wife

for 40 years without ever sleeping

with another woman

can actually be a serial adulterer

who has committed adulteries

100 times over in his heart

by looking at porn regularly.

Maybe you don't look at porn.

But you have wandering eyes.

Lustful glances at passersby.

Maybe you don't scroll through porn,

but you scroll through

those suggestive photos of influencers

on Instagram.

If what matters is not outward purity,

but inward purity,

then these things that nobody else sees,

these things that nobody else condemns you for,

matter.

Because they betray an impure heart.

This is why Jesus condemns the scribes and the Pharisees

in Matthew 23, 25 to 27.

Woe to you, hypocrites!

For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate,

but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

First clean the inside of the cup and the plate,

then the outside also may be clean.

For you are like whitewashed tombs,

which outwardly appear beautiful,

but within are full of dead people's bones

and all uncleanness.

True purity is from the inside out,

not outside in.

This is a revolutionary truth.

Again, in Matthew 6, 19 to 24,

Jesus speaks of the heart

when warning against the alluring power of money

in our lives.

He says,

no one can serve two masters.

Either he will love the one or hate the other,

or he'll hate the one and love the other.

You cannot serve both God and money.

So he says,

because of that,

he enjoins us to choose our treasure carefully.

He says,

for where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.

If you treasure money and the things of earth,

then you will perish along with your money.

But if you treasure righteousness

and the things of heaven,

then you will have eternal rewards in heaven.

What matters is,

where is your heart?

Where is your heart this morning?

What do you treasure with your heart?

Because you can be a billionaire

who has donated a million dollars

to a good cause,

even to a church,

but still be an idolater of the heart

who worships money.

Likewise, you can be a poor widow

who gives two small copper coins

as an offering to God,

which is the equivalent of not quite even

two measly dollars.

And yet Jesus said of that poor widow

in Mark 12, 43, 44,

truly I say to you,

this poor widow has put in more

than all those who are contributing

to the offering box.

For they all contributed out of their abundance,

but she out of her poverty

has put in everything she had,

all she had to live on.

What kind of math is this?

It's the mathematics of the heart.

What matters is the heart.

In Matthew 15, 10 to 20,

the Pharisees and the scribes challenge Jesus,

saying that your disciples

don't wash their hands before they eat.

They don't go through the Jewish ritual cleansing

before they eat.

And then Jesus teaches his disciples,

it is not what goes into the mouth

that defiles a person,

but what comes out of the mouth

that defiles a person.

Do you not see?

Whatever goes into the mouth

passes into the stomach and is expelled.

But what comes out of the mouth

proceeds from the heart,

and this defiles a person.

For out of the heart comes evil thoughts,

murder, adultery,

sexual immorality,

theft,

false witness,

slander.

These are what defile a person,

but to eat with unwashed hands

does not defile anyone.

Again, it's not what comes from outside in,

but things that come from the inside out

that either defile or purify us.

This is important for us,

and I'm hammering it home,

because when we sin and when we fail,

it's our automatic impulse

to blame other things that are on the outside.

If it weren't for those people,

I wouldn't have acted that way.

If it weren't these circumstances,

then I would not be this way.

And that's one of the persistent delusions

of the modern age,

that all the problems that we face

are outside problems,

problems external to us,

when in reality,

the root problem of it all

is inside of us humans.

This is why the historical practice

of Christian asceticism and monasticism,

though well-intentioned,

are very misguided.

They thought that,

well, this world is full of temptations and sins,

so if I withdraw myself from this

and isolate myself

and go into a monastery,

or if I withdraw myself

and go into the desert,

into the wilderness,

then there I shall be clean,

and there I shall be pure in heart.

The problem is that impurity is in here,

and you take it with you wherever you go.

That's why James 1.14 says,

each person is tempted

when he is lured and enticed

by his own desire,

the desire of the heart.

Here's my obligatory

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones quote.

He says,

the terrible, tragic fallacy

of the last hundred years

has been to think

that all man's troubles

are due to his environment,

and that to change the man,

you have nothing to do

but to change his environment.

That is a tragic fallacy.

It overlooks the fact

that it was in paradise

that man fell.

It was in a perfect environment

that he first went wrong.

So to put man in a perfect environment

cannot solve his problems.

No, no.

It is out of the heart

that these things arise.

Having defined heart,

let's not consider

what it means to be pure in heart.

Psalm 24, verse 4

Psalms 24:4

defined someone with a pure heart

as the person

who does not lift up his soul

to what is false

and who does not swear deceitfully.

Lifting up one's soul

to something

is the Hebrew idiom for worship.

So someone who is pure in heart

worships the true God only

and worships no other gods

and no idols.

And likewise,

a pure in heart

is someone who does not

swear deceitfully.

Whenever he makes an oath

according to the name of God,

the God who is truth,

whose word is truth,

they keep all their oaths.

They do not swear deceitfully.

There is no authority

or fear or desire or pressure

that can make them

renege on the promises

that they made to God

because they serve God alone.

To be pure in heart

is to worship God alone.

That's why, in fact,

the greatest commandment

is to love God

with all our hearts.

Look at Deuteronomy 6, 45.

It begins with,

Hear, O Israel,

the Lord our God,

the Lord is one.

And then it proceeds

to the commandment,

You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart.

Those two things,

that declaration of,

that confession of faith,

that God is one,

the Lord is one,

is directly and intimately related

to the command

to love God

with all your heart.

Because if there are

multiple gods

and multiple lords,

then our hearts

would rightly be divided.

They would have to be divided.

If you have multiple masters,

then your allegiance

has to be split.

However, if the Lord is one,

then your worship

and your devotion

and your obedience

must be single.

We must love him

with all of our hearts,

not just part of it.

The unrivaled God

demands and deserves

undivided worship.

That's why David prays

in Psalm 86, verse 11,

Psalms 86:11

Unite my heart

to fear your name.

The New International Version

translates it this way,

Give me an undivided heart

that I may fear your name.

It's a beautiful image.

To summarize then,

to have a pure heart,

is to have an undivided heart.

James 4, 8 confirms this,

Draw near to God

and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands,

you sinners,

and purify your hearts,

you double-minded.

What happens

when sinners

purify their hearts?

They go from being double-minded

to being single-minded.

Instead of being of two minds

and two wills,

instead of having a mixture

of what God wants

and what I want

and what they want,

the pure in heart

have one mind.

They have a single purpose.

They have an undivided heart

that desires to please God.

That's why 19th century

Danish philosopher,

who was a believer,

Soren Kierkegaard,

hit the nail on the head

when he wrote the book

entitled,

Purity of Heart

is to Will One Thing.

To Will One Thing.

To Will One Thing.

And that one thing

must be God.

The purity of heart

is to will,

to desire,

to trust,

and to love,

and to worship

the only true God.

That's what it means

to be pure in heart.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

But this presents us

with a big problem.

Because our hearts

do not will

one thing.

At least not on our own.

There's a similar beatitude

to this in the Old Testament

in Jeremiah 17, 8.

It says,

Blessed is the man

who trusts in the Lord.

That's the man

who's pure in heart.

Blessed in the man

who trusts in the Lord.

And that's contrasted

with this statement

of this curse.

Cursed is the man

who trusts in man.

To be pure in heart,

you must trust in God

and not in man.

Unfortunately,

Jeremiah 17

is given in the context

of denouncing

the idolatry

of God's people.

And it spells out

the reality

that the sin

of God's people

are written,

and it says,

written with a pen of iron,

with a point of diamond,

it is engraved

on the tablet

of their heart.

Sin is indelibly

engraved

on the hearts

of God's people

with the point

of diamond,

it says.

And it says,

going on

in chapter 17,

verse 9 to 10

of Jeremiah,

it describes

the default condition

of the human heart.

And it says this,

the heart is deceitful

above all things

and desperately sick.

Who can understand it?

I, the Lord,

search the heart

and test the mind

to give every man

according to his ways,

according to the fruit

of his deeds.

The heart

of a sinful man

by default

is divided

and defiled.

It's deceitful.

We have other allegiances.

We have run

after other gods.

It's as if

the human heart

as worship ADD

can't focus

on one thing,

distracted

and divided.

So much so

that we deceive ourselves.

It says,

our hearts

are deceitful.

Who can understand it?

Our own hearts

deceive us.

So who can understand

and know the heart?

Only the God

who searches the heart

and tests the mind.

This is why

Proverbs 20,

Proverbs 20:9

verse 9

asks a rhetorical question.

Who can say,

I have made my heart pure.

I am clean

from my sin.

Who can say that?

How many of you

in this room

can say that?

I have made my heart pure.

No one,

not a single person

in the world

can say that.

because no one

is perfectly pure in heart.

No one

in all of

history,

among all of humanity,

except for Jesus.

And Jesus is the solution

to our problem.

He gives us

a new heart.

To a people

who are despairing

of their deceitful,

desperately sick hearts,

God makes a wonderful promise

in Jeremiah 31-32.

He says,

Behold,

the days are coming,

declares the Lord,

when I will make

a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and the house of Judah.

I will put my law

within them

and I will write it

on their hearts

and they shall be

my people

and I will be their God.

I will give them

one heart

and one way

that they may fear me

forever

for their own good

and the good of their children

after them.

God promises

that one day

he will give

his people

a single heart,

one heart

that will worship

the one true God

and he,

instead of our sins

being in them

being engraved

with a point of diamond

on our hearts,

he says he will

inscribe with the finger

of God

his law

onto our hearts

so we obey him

from the heart.

Ezekiel 11-19-20

echoes this promise,

and I will give them

one heart

and a new spirit

I will put within them.

I will remove

the heart of stone

from their flesh

and give them

a heart of flesh

that they may walk

in my statutes

and keep my rules

and obey them

and they shall be

my people

and I will be

their God.

How can it be

that an idolatrous people

will be the Lord's people

and the holy God

will be their God

and Lord

only if they can have

a single heart,

one heart,

heart of flesh.

This is what we read

about in

the assurance of pardon

from Ezekiel 36,

same promise.

God says,

I will sprinkle you

with clean water

and you shall be clean

from all your uncleannesses

and from all your idols

I will cleanse you

and I will give you

a new heart

and a new spirit

I will put within you.

He will remove

the heart of stone

and give us

a heart of flesh.

When is this promise

fulfilled

and how is this promise

fulfilled?

Has it already been

fulfilled?

Is it soon to be fulfilled?

The author of Hebrews

in Hebrews 10

makes the case

that this promise

has already been fulfilled

in the atoning sacrifice

of Jesus Christ

and in the subsequent gift

of the Holy Spirit

that Jesus sends

after his death,

resurrection,

and ascension to heaven.

He cites Jeremiah 21's promise

that I just read

a short while ago.

He cites it in Hebrews 10

of the new covenant

and how God will write

his law on our hearts

and then he says

that that promise

is fulfilled by Jesus

in verses 19-22

of Hebrews 10.

Therefore, brothers,

since we have a confidence

to enter the holy places

by the blood of Jesus,

by the new and living way

that he opened for us

through the curtain

that is through his flesh,

and since we have

a great priest

over the house of God,

let us draw near

with a true heart

in full assurance of faith,

with our hearts

sprinkled clean

from an evil conscience

and our bodies

washed with pure water.

by offering himself

as the once-for-all

atoning sacrifice

for our sins

on the cross

and dying

in the stead of sinners

and by shedding

his own blood

which cleanses us

of all of our sins,

he, Jesus,

then enters

into the holy of holies,

the most holy place

in the heavenly temple

before God

and there serves

as our great high priest

and our advocate

and our intercessor

so that we can

be assured

that our cleanses,

that our conscience

is cleansed,

that our hearts

are purified.

I've often run

into people,

Christians,

who persist

in their thinking

that

and relate more

to the description

of Jeremiah 17,

my heart is

deceitful

and desperately sick

and then they forget

the spiritual reality

that they have received

new hearts.

I know I'm quoting

a lot of scripture

but I'm going to give you

a few more

because I want to

demonstrate this

conclusively

not on my own authority

but on the authority

of scripture

that this promise

really has been

fulfilled for

every single

believer

in Christ.

Acts 15, 9

has God

made no distinction

between Jews

and Gentiles

having cleansed

their hearts

by faith?

That's happened already.

He has cleansed

our hearts

by faith.

Purified

through faith

in Jesus Christ.

Romans 6,

Romans 6:17

verse 17

Thanks be to God

that you who

were once

slaves of sin

have become

obedient from

the heart

to the standard

of teaching

to which you

were committed.

Here's the difference

between the Pharisee

and the Christian.

Here's the difference

between people

of the law

and the people

of the gospel,

the people

of the spirit.

We do not

merely obey God

outwardly

but inwardly.

We are not

merely obedient

out of fear

with the external

enforcement

of God's law

but we are

obedient from

the heart

because we

have a new

heart.

After all,

didn't Jesus

assure us

in John 7,

38-39,

whoever believes

in me

as the scripture

has said,

out of his

heart

will flow

rivers of

living water.

Now this

he said about

the spirit

whom those

who believed

in him

were to receive.

After Jesus'

death,

resurrection,

and ascension,

he sends

the Holy Spirit

to us

into our hearts

to make

our hearts

flow with

rivers of

living water.

That has

happened to

us.

1 Peter 1,

22-25,

having purified

your souls

by your

obedience to

the truth

for a sincere

brotherly love,

love one another

earnestly from

a pure heart

since you

have been

born again

not of

perishable

seed but

of imperishable

through the

living and

abiding

word of God

and this

word is the

good news

that was

preached to

you.

How do

our souls

get purified?

How do we

get pure

hearts?

By our

obedience,

but it's not

what you think,

not our

obedience to

the law,

our obedience

to the truth.

And what is

this truth?

It says

the living

and abiding

word of God.

What is the

living and

abiding

word of God?

It tells us

the good news

that was preached

to you,

the gospel

of Jesus

Christ.

That Jesus

died as the

atoning

sacrifice for

our sins

on the

cross so

that sinners

with

adulterated

and defiled

and divided

hearts can be

clean and

can be pure,

can be

forgiven,

and be pure

in hearts so

they can enter

into the kingdom

of God and

stand up in the

presence of God

and see God

in his glory.

The gospel,

it's the gospel

that gives us

pure hearts.

So in John 15

3, Jesus says

already you are

clean,

already you are

pure because of

the word that I

have spoken to

you.

You can think

of it this way.

I'll share two

and I'll just

explain why

then.

If I have a

new heart,

if I have a

new spirit,

why is there

still sin in

my life?

Why do I

still wrestle

and struggle

with my sinful

flesh?

You can think

of it this way.

When you

graft a

plant,

an unhealthy

plant that

is prone to

disease and

death,

and you

cut it off

and you

graft it

into a

more solid

rootstock,

a healthy

rootstock,

and when

you graft

the plant

in that

way,

it grows

healthy.

It doesn't

succumb,

it's not

susceptible

to the

same

diseases

that

plant

in its

native

form

is

when it's

grafted

into that

rootstock.

That's what

God has done

for us

in Jesus.

He takes

dead

branches

and he

grafts us

into the

healthy

rootstock

of the

vine of

Jesus

Christ.

He says

I am

the vine,

you are

the branches,

abide in

me and

then you

will bear

fruit.

already we

are new,

already we

have new

life,

already we

have a

new heart.

But just

as it

takes some

time for

that newly

grafted

plant to

start to

derive life

more and

more and

more and

more from

that source,

it takes

us some

time.

And that's

what our

present life

of sanctification

is.

we have

a couple

members,

one member

and one

baby in

the church

just recently

go through

heart surgery.

Jenny's

right here

with us

which we

praise God

for.

And we

experience

first hand

that even

when you

repair a

broken

heart,

the heart

doesn't

just

automatically

start,

the body

just doesn't

start automatically

functioning in

a perfectly

healthy way

along with

that fixed

new heart.

It takes

time for

the body

to get

adjusted.

When you

give someone

a heart

transplant

surgery,

they don't

just start

using that

heart right

away,

they're still

on a

ventilator

and they're

on various

catheters

because it

takes time

for the

body to

acclimate

to the

new heart

and for

the blood

to start

pumping

from that

new and

healthy

heart

into the

rest of

the body

to restore

life to

it.

It takes

time for

that to

happen.

Our

flesh in

this life

is still

accustomed

to the

old life.

It still

operates like

it has a

defective

heart sometimes

and it

takes time

for us

to be

weaned

off of

that.

But we

already have

a new

heart.

We already

have a

new spirit.

We are

already

holy.

That's why

we are

called

saints and

we are

being made

holy,

becoming

holy.

Sanctification,

you might even

say,

is becoming

what we

already are

in Christ.

This is

why purity

of heart

is not

a pipe

dream but

a reality

for us.

1 Timothy

1.5,

the aim of

our charge

is love

that issues

from a

pure heart.

2 Timothy

2.22,

so flee

youthful

passions and

pursue

righteousness,

faith,

love,

and peace

along with

those who

call on

the Lord

from a

pure heart.

this is

possible.

And how

do we

become more

and more

pure in

heart?

How do we

work out

the purity

of heart

that's

already

ours

in Jesus

Christ?

Not by

trying to

be pure

in our

own

strength.

Not by

beating

ourselves

up in

the flesh

and trying

to force

ourselves

to be

more

pure.

when we

live

under

the law,

it says

in 2 Corinthians

3,

there's a

veil that

remains over

our faces.

We cannot

see God.

But when

we turn

to Jesus

with unveiled

faces,

we get to

behold the

glory of

God.

It says

in 2 Corinthians

3.18,

and we all

with unveiled

faces beholding

the glory

of the Lord

are being

transformed

into the

same image

from one

degree of

glory to

another.

For this

comes from

the Lord

who is

the Spirit.

And then a

few verses

down,

2 Corinthians

4,

Paul says

that beholding

the glory

of the

Lord is,

once again,

seeing the

light of

the gospel

of the

glory of

Christ.

For God

who said

let light

shine out

of darkness

has shown

in our

hearts

to give

the light

of the

knowledge

of the

glory

of God

in the

face

of Jesus

Christ.

Again and

again,

the answer

from the

scriptures is

the same.

How do we

become pure

in heart?

By letting

the light

of the

gospel of

the glory

of Christ

shine in

our hearts.

By beholding

Jesus Christ,

by believing

in Jesus

Christ,

by abiding

in Jesus

Christ,

the Son of

God who

died for

our sins

to purify

our defiled

and divided

hearts,

to give us

new hearts

by the power

of the Holy

Spirit.

it's

when our

faith in

Jesus Christ

is worked

out in

our lives

that we

become people

with undivided

hearts who

will one

thing.

It's only

when we

see Jesus

in his

true glory

and in

his true

grace

and mercy

that our

hearts are

transformed and

our hearts

are captivated

by him

and we

will one

thing.

To please

him.

19th century

English

pastor J.C.

Ryle puts it

in a much

better way

than I

can.

Zeal in

religion is

a burning

desire to

please God,

to do his

will,

and to

advance his

glory in

the world

in every

possible way.

It is a

desire which

no man feels

by nature,

which the

Spirit puts

into the

heart of

every believer

when he is

converted,

but which

some believers

feel so much

more strongly

than others

that they

alone deserve

to be called

zealous men.

This desire

is so strong

when it really

reigns in a

man that it

impels him to

make any

sacrifice,

to go through

any trouble,

to deny himself

to any amount,

to suffer,

to work,

to labor,

to toil,

to spend

himself and

be spent,

and even to

die if only

he can please

God and

honor Christ.

a zealous

man in

religion is

preeminently

a man of

one thing.

It is not

enough to

say that he

is earnest

and hardy,

uncompromising,

thoroughgoing,

wholehearted,

fervent in

spirit.

He only

sees one

thing.

He cares

for one

thing.

He lives

for one

thing.

He is

swallowed up

in one

thing,

and that

one thing

is to

please

God.

whether

he lives

or whether

he dies,

whether he

has health

or whether

he has

sickness,

whether he

is rich

or whether

he is

poor,

whether he

pleases

men or

whether he

gives offense,

whether he

is not

wise or

whether he

is not

foolish,

whether he

gets blame

or whether

he gets

praise,

whether he

gets honor

or whether

he gets

shame.

For all

this,

the zealous

man cares

nothing at

all.

he burns

for one

thing,

and that

one thing

is to

please

God

and to

advance

God's

glory.

If he

is consumed

in the

very burning,

he cares

not for

it.

He is

content.

He feels

that like a

lamp,

he is made

to burn,

and if

consumed

in burning,

he has

but done

the work

for which

God

appointed

him.

when you

see

Jesus

in his

glory,

that's

how you

burn,

and you

will

one

thing.

And the

person who

wills one

thing is

blessed

because God

is so

gracious

to give

him or

to give

her

the one

thing

that he

seeks,

to see

God.

Like all

the promises

in the

Beatitudes,

this promise

has both

present and

future

dimensions.

There is a

sense in

which we

as Christians

presently

see God

by faith.

Hebrews

11,

27

speaks of

how by

faith we

endure as

seeing him

who is

invisible.

By

beholding

the glory

of Jesus

in the

gospel

with unveiled

faces,

we are

in a

real

spiritual

way

seeing

God.

Isn't

that why

Jesus

said

during his

time on

earth in

John 14,

9,

whoever

has seen

me has

seen

the

Father.

Jesus

is the

one who

makes

the Father

known.

And if

you have

seen

Jesus

and if

you

behold

the

light

of his

glory,

then you

have in

a real

spiritual

sense

seen

God

the

Father.

It's

only when

our hearts

are

enlightened,

it says

in Ephesians

1,

18,

that we

can truly

see God.

We can

have hope

and faith

in God.

So this

is a

present

reality

for all

those who

profess faith

in Jesus

now.

Yet there

is also

a sense

in which

we do

not yet

see God.

And it

shall be

fulfilled

in the

future.

That's

where it

says they

shall

see

God.

Because we

see him

in a real

way,

but we do

not yet see

him fully.

We do

not see

him face

to face.

In

Exodus

33,

if you

remember,

Moses,

pleased with

God,

show me

your glory,

and God

amazingly,

he condescends

to grant

him that

request,

says,

yes,

I will

show you

my glory.

I will

make my

glory pass

before you.

But he

says,

you shall

not see

my face,

for no

man shall

see my

face and

live.

Instead,

you may

see my

back as

my glory

passes

by.

There's

this longing,

the cry

that we

see all

throughout

scripture of

sinners who

know that

their sin

hides the

face of

God from

us,

saying,

how long,

oh Lord,

how long

will you

hide your

face from

me?

Because we

cannot see

God face

to face.

even the

angels,

the

seraphim

in Isaiah

6,

it says

they hide

their faces

before God

because they

are not

worthy to

behold him

in his

glory.

That's

why in

this life,

our vision

of God,

our seeing

God is

always mediated

by something

else.

It's always

indirect.

And we

long for

that direct

and immediate

vision of

God.

face to

face.

And we

are promised

that in

1 Corinthians

13,

12,