Blessed are the Pure

Father, we thank you for tonight and the opportunity we have to

be together and study your word. We are a blessed people simply

because you've given us the word of the living God.

Tonight we pray that you'd open our hearts and minds to see the

the greatness of your Kingdom that we might understand how it

is we are to live like children of the King.

We realize, Lord, that because of your grace and because of

your mercy, we are able to enter into your great Kingdom.

So we thank you for that Lord, and pray that as we study Your

word, You would challenge us personally to live the kind of

life that brings glory and honor to You as our King.

We pray in Jesus name, Amen. King David was a man that was

characterized by a phrase that we all know well.

A man after God's own heart says that in the Old Testament and in

the New Testament, and that's what made David the man that he

was. David was not a perfect man, but

David was a pursuing kind of man.

He was always in pursuit of his God.

He wasn't a a sinless man, but he was the kind of man that

truly wanted to honor his Lord. And so by the end of his life,

he wanted to challenge his son Solomon.

So the Bible tells us these words in First Kings chapter 2

1 Kings 2 · chapter mention

verse #1 As David's time to die drew near, he charged Solomon

his son, saying, I am going the way of all the earth.

Be strong therefore, and show yourself a man.

In other words, I need you to act manly, Solomon, keep the

charge of the Lord your God to walk in His ways, to keep his

statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies

according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may

succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the

Lord may carry out his promises. Which he spoke concerning me,

saying, If your sons are careful of their way to walk before me

in truth with all of their heart and with all of their soul, He

says with all of their heart and with all of their soul.

He says, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.

So Solomon wants to be charged by his dad and his son is going

to be the king of Israel and the king Solomon will have 40 years

of peace because David was the warrior and so he paved the way.

So Solomon's reign would be pretty much a peaceful reign.

So again David charges his son in Second Chronicles 22, I'm

sorry, First Chronicles 22. This is what he says in verse

17. He says Solomon is not the Lord

your God with you. And has he not given you rest on

every side? For he has given the habitants

of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the

Lord and before his people. Now set your heart and your soul

to seek the Lord your God. Again, David, a man after God's

own heart, wants to challenge his son to make sure that his

heart and soul are completely committed to the Lord.

And then again, David will reiterate it in First Chronicles

1 Chronicles 28:9

28, verse 9. As for you, my son Solomon, know

the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and a

willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts

and understands every intent of the thoughts.

If you seek Him, He will let you find Him, but if you forsake

Him, he will reject you forever. David is trying to embed in the

mind of his son the importance of searching and seeking after

God with all of your heart. David was a man after God's own

heart. He wanted his son Solomon to be

a man after God's own heart, so he would instill in the son the

the the exhortation that he would need to be a follower of

his God. Solomon had a son.

His name was Rehoboam. Listen what it says about

Rehoboam in Second Chronicles 12 verse #14 Rehoboam did evil

because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.

The question is what happened between David, Solomon and

Rayabon that Rayabon would not seek to follow the Lord with all

of his heart? What happened in the

translation? What happened in that which was

being passed down from a father to a son to a son?

As to why Rayabon would not follow the Lord with all of his

heart, well, we get a hint of that when we turn back to First

1 Kings 11 · chapter mention

Kings Chapter 11. Listen to what it says now.

King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter

of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sedonian, and Hittite,

women from the nations concerning which the Lord had

said to the sons of Israel, You shall not associate with them,

nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn

your heart away after their gods.

Solomon held fast to these in love.

He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his

wives turned his heart away, For when Solomon was old, his wives

turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was

not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David

his father had been. Verse 6.

Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not

follow the Lord fully as David his father had done.

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemesh, the detestable idol

of Moab on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for

Moloch, the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.

Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned

incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was

turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared

to him twice, and it commended him concerning this thing, that

he should not go after other gods.

But he did not observe what the Lord had commanded.

So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this and

you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I've

commanded you, I will surely tear the Kingdom from you and

will give it to your servant. What a tragedy.

David was not a perfect man. His sin is splashed all over the

Old Testament. The repercussions of his sin

affected his family for the rest of their lives.

But yet David was a man after God's own heart.

Thus says the Lord. That's the Lord's testimony on

David. And David had a heart that

pursued his God he so desperately when it's Solomon to

be that way. Solomon names, names mean means

man of peace. His other name is Jedediah,

which means beloved of the Lord. So Solomon had those two names.

The man of peace was beloved of the Lord, and yet he turned his

back on the Lord. He went after four women, and

God said, if you do, they're going to turn your heart.

And they did. They turned his heart away from

the Lord. So Rayobone follows his father

as king of Israel. And Rayobone had his heart

turned away from the Lord. He did not at all follow the

Lord with all of his heart. And of course, after Solomon,

the Kingdom was divided. There were 39 different kings in

the northern Kingdom and in the southern Kingdom, and all but

eight were evil. The eight that were they, they

did what they could to follow the Lord, but the majority of

them had turned their heart away from the Lord.

So the Bible says, and the book of Second Chronicles chapter 16

2 Chronicles 16 · chapter mention

verse #9 these words, the eyes of the Lord move to and fro

throughout the earth, that He may strongly support those whose

heart is completely his. The Lord is looking to, to to

strengthen and support those whose heart is completely

committed to the Lord. And in the new covenant in

Ezekiel 36, the Lord says, I will sprinkle clean water upon

you and I will give you a new heart, because in order for you

to follow me, you must have a new heart that you might follow

the ways of the Lord. As you recall Book of Proverbs,

the 23rd chapter, Solomon is speaking under the inspiration

of the Spirit of God. And Proverbs was written early

on in Solomon's life as he had rayabon, as he had sons that he

might move them in the ways of God.

It wasn't till later in his life that he began to turn and marry

foreign women. But in the book of Proverbs, the

only book written specifically to teenagers, so if you have a

teenager, they need to memorize the Proverbs because it's a book

specifically written to young people.

He says this in verse 26 of chapter 23.

Give me your heart, my son. Solomon's not saying that to

Rehoboam. God is saying that to Raya Bone

by inspiration, through Solomon. Because God wants your heart.

And let your eyes delight in my ways.

You know, when God has a heart, the eyes speak loudly because

the eyes delight in the ways of God.

Solomon's eyes delighted in foreign women, and they turned

his heart. But there's something about the

eyes of a person whose heart is committed to the Lord, because

the eyes are the window to the soul, right?

Look at a wife's eyes and you can tell a lot about her

relationship with her husband, can you not?

There's something about the eye of the wife that shows you and

tells you that all is well at home or all is not so well at

home. All you got to do is look into

our eyes. They speak volumes.

That's why God says, give me your heart, Let me have your

heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.

God has always been concerned about the heart, and so when the

greatest preacher, whoever lived preached the greatest sermon

ever preached in Matthew chapter 5, he goes right for the heart.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

That's why he says blessed are the pure in heart, for they

shall see God. The Lord knew that Israel was

really into the externals. They were really into the

ceremonies, the sacrifices, the rituals, all the external

trappings that make Judaism what it is.

They, they were masters of the outward appearance.

And so when our Lord shows up on the scene, he knows the heart of

man. He appeals right to the heart of

a man. The externals don't mean

anything to him unless they're motivated by the inner, inner

man, the heart itself. But he knew that Israel were, as

Isaiah prophesied, the people who honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

They see all the right things, they do all the right things,

but their hearts are not committed to the Lord fully.

The Lord knows that the Lord knows your heart.

You might be able to fool your pastor or fool your friends or

even fool people in your family, but you can't fool the Lord,

right? He knows the heart of a man.

And so our Lord comes on the scene in Matthew chapter 5 and

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

begins to preach this sermon that goes right to the heart of

the matter, the inner man. That's why he, he would say

later on as we we go through Matthew 5, you, you have heard

that it was said, but I want to say unto you, you've heard what

the rabbis have said, you've heard how they've interpreted

the Scriptures. But I will let you know what the

heart of the matter really is. And Christ exposes everybody in

the mountain side there in the North Shore of the Sea of

Galilee. He, he kind of does open heart

surgery on everybody there on the North Shore because he wants

them to realize you think you're right with me, but you're not.

Just because you do everything externally doesn't mean that

you're right internally. I want your heart, my son.

Give me your heart. So he basically says these words

as he begins to preach. You need to realize your

poverty. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Unless you realize your poverty, you'll never enter the Kingdom

of heaven. And then you need to repent from

your iniquity. Blessed are those who mourn

because if you repent from your iniquity, you'll be comforted.

And then he says need to respond in humility.

Blessed are the meek, because if you do, you inherit the earth.

And then he says you need to remember your insufficiency,

that your righteousness is insufficient.

But if you hunger and thirst for my righteousness, oh, you will

be satisfied. And then he says you need to

react with mercy, because blessed are the merciful, for

they shall obtain mercy, and then you will reflect my purity.

And blessed are the pure in heart, for they and they only,

are the only ones who see the true and living God.

So let me ask you a question. Have you seen the true and

living God? How do you see Him?

Do you see him clearly or vaguely?

Do you see him amidst the fog or do you see Him amidst clear blue

skies? How do you see the Lord?

So if you have your outline in front of you, hopefully you do

the same 4 points are the same 4 we've covered every week.

We're going to, first of all, help you understand #1 the

condition. What does it mean to be pure in

heart? Define the condition, and then

we'll describe the consequences, detail the characteristics, and

then determine our course. Same outline we have for all of

the Beatitudes that we might come to grips with what they

really mean. So Christ is speaking, He

basically says this about man's heart.

Blessed are the pure in heart. How do you define that?

What does that mean? Well, we're going to look at the

location of purity, the definition of purity, and then

the application of purity by helping us understand exactly

what it means. Blessed are the pure in heart

cardia, the inner part of a man. The heart of a man is

everything. The heart of man is the center

of your intellect, not your brain.

Your heart is your heart is the center of your emotions.

The heart is the center of every choice that you make.

Let me explain it to you. The heart is the center of your

emotions. Christ that in John 14 verse #1

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

How is a man ever afraid in his heart?

Because it's the center of his emotions.

In Nehemiah 2, it says or talks about the sorrow of the heart.

Because the heart is the center of your emotions, it's also the

center of your volition, your choices.

Daniel, it says in Daniel 18, purposed in his heart not to be

defiled by the King's meat. He made a choice.

He did make a choice in his brain.

He made a choice in his heart not to be defiled by the King's

meat. That's why it says in Ephesians

66 we are to do the will of God from the heart.

The choice you make in your heart.

Luke 2114 Christ said make up your hearts not to prepare

beforehand to defend yourself. What do you mean make up your

heart? Don't you make up your mind?

Yeah, but your mind only operates according to your

heart. Your heart is the center of

everything. It's the center of intellect.

Proverbs 23 seven as the man thinks in his heart, so is he

doesn't say as a man thinks that his brain is says as a man

thinks in his heart, he is because the heart is the central

mechanism of everything that you do.

So the location of purity has to happen in the central aspect of

your life. That is your heart.

This is in Matthew 941 Jesus asks the group of scribes, why

are you thinking evil in your hearts?

Because your heart is the center of intellect.

It's the center of emotion, it's the center of all choices that

you make. Everything stems from the heart

of a man. And Christ is concerned about

your heart. He's concerned about what you

believe in your heart. He's concerned about how you act

in your heart because the heart is the center of everything.

That's why he says, give me your heart, my son, that your eyes

might delight in my ways. I need your heart.

If I have your heart, I have your mind.

If I have your heart, I have your emotions.

If I have your heart, I have every choice that you make.

I need your heart. So Christ comes and preaches and

says blessed are the pure in heart.

Notice the Bible says in Proverbs 423, guard your heart

with all diligence, for out of it flow all the issues of life.

That sums it up completely. Guard your heart, protect your

heart, watch over your heart, keep your heart because out of

your heart flow every issue that pertains to life.

If you can't guard your heart, you cannot guard your heart.

I mean your eyes, your mind, your hand, anything.

It all stems from the heart of a man.

Notice in Genesis 6 verse #5 when the Lord destroyed the

earth with the flood, it says these words.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on

the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was

only evil. Continually God destroyed the

earth because of man's evil heart.

The evil heart is the center of all thought life.

The evil heart is the center of all evil actions.

Matthew 1519 For out of the heart come evil thoughts.

You thought your evil thoughts came from your brain?

Oh no, they come from your heart.

It says murders come from your heart, adultery from your heart,

fornications, thefts, false witnesses, slander.

These are the things which defile a man.

Christ made it very clear that the reason the man is defiled is

because of what happens on the inside.

Because what happens on the inside is reflected on the

outside. Murders, thefts, slander,

adultery, everything comes from the evil heart on the inside.

That's why Christ says the blessed person is the one whose

heart is pure before me. And so what's the definition of

purity? The location of purity is the

heart. The definition of purity is

what? Well, the word is from the verb

cartharizo, which means to cleanse.

You've heard of the word catharsis, right?

A cleansing. OK, so the, the definition of of

the pureness of the heart is the cleansing of the heart.

And and note this, it it goes way beyond just a sweeping of

something clean. It's a word that means to be

unmixed, unstained, untainted. In other words, a pure heart is

a heart that's single minded, a heart that's singularly focused.

It's not detracted or distracted by other things in it.

It is unmixed with any foreign object.

It is singly focused. That's what it means to have a

clean heart. I love what William Barkley says

about this. He says in his commentary on the

Beatitudes. He says the, the the Greek word

is, is is used of Clearwater, sometimes of metals without

alloy, sometimes of grain that had been winnowed, freed from

the mixture of other particles. And sometimes they've the the

feelings of, of being completely and totally UN mixed.

So in other words, a, a cleansed heart is an undivided heart.

OK, It's not a divided heart. It's an undivided heart.

In fact, the Bible says that that a double minded man is

unstable in all of his ways. Why?

Because a double minded man has a a dual heart, a heart that's

divided between other things. God wants you singularly focused

on him. That's why he says loving with a

whole heart, loving with all of your heart, not just part of it,

but with all that you have. It has to be completely and

totally focused on God himself. And that's why the definition of

purity is so important. James says purify your hearts.

You double minded. Why?

Because in your heart there is a duality of purpose.

So it needs to be cleansed from that other obstacle that's

keeping it from being singly focused and being totally

committed to God. So cleanse your hearts, take

away that which is an an obstacle, A detraction away from

the Lord. Jeremiah 3239 says I will give

them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever.

Same thing. One heart is a cleansed heart,

one heart is an undivided heart. It's not double minded and it's

thought process. It's completely focused upon the

Lord. So what's the application of

this two things. One is the a positional purity

and the other is a a practical purity.

When you are cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, you are clean

positionally before Christ. When the Bible says that he who

knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the

righteousness of God in him. Second Corinthians 521 that

there is a cleansing that takes place in the heart of a believer

when he gives his life to Christ.

Because Christ died for your sins, right?

In the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sin.

And so there is a positional purity, a positional cleansing,

a positional positional unmixedness, if that's the word,

if it's not, it should be that there's nothing in there that

that's clouding that the, the, the, the difficulty comes into

practice of that, right? That's why the Bible says be

holy as your Father in heaven is holy.

That's why in Matthew 5, which we'll see in a few weeks, be

perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

The challenge is matching my practice with my position with

God because I've been totally cleansed from all of my sin

because of what Christ did at Calvary's cross.

I live still in the flesh and so there are still things that

enter into my heart and mind that draw me away from the Lord

that caused me to be double minded in my ways.

And so therefore I need to rid myself of those things and be

totally focused upon the Lord. It's called the the practice of

purity, right? Positionally, we are pure before

God. But matching my practice, my

everyday life with my position in Christ is what the Christian

walk in the Christian life is all about, right?

And that's what we do. And there's a constant struggle

every single day of going to the Lord and asking the Lord.

Lord, cleanse me from my sin. Lord, help me to keep my eyes,

my mind focused upon you, my heart fixed upon the Lord Jesus

Christ. That's why in Matthew 6, which

we will see in months down the road, that Christ says you

cannot serve 2 masters, right? Matthew 624.

Why? Because you'll love the one and

hate the other. You can't serve 2.

That's why you can't have two wives, right?

You got to love one, hate the other, can't love them both,

right? So you can't, you can't serve 2

masters. You can't serve money and God

can't serve prosperity and God. You can't serve that of the

things of the world and the things of the Lord because one's

going to draw your heart away. That's why.

That's why the Lord said do not marry foreign wives because they

will turn your heart away to Solomon.

So what did he do? He married foreign wives.

And what did they do? They turned his heart away

exactly as God said, because He wants all of your heart, not

part of your heart. He wants all of you, not certain

aspects of you. God wants everything because He

died for you. He died that you might have His

life, and so He wants His life operational in your life.

Point #2 Describing the consequences.

Two of them. One, satisfaction in life and

vision in life. Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God, that the blessing comes because of what

they see. They'll be satisfied when they

see that which they long for. That's why the Bible says in

John 14-8, Philip says to the Lord, show us the Father and it

will be enough for us. And Christ says, if you've seen

me, you've seen the Father. There's something about

spiritual vision that's enough. There's something about seeing

God for who he is that satisfies.

And so many times we, we forget that the pureness of our heart

done by God causes us to see, Remember, Remember Simeon, He

just longed to hold the Christ child and the Lord promised him,

you will not die until you see the Lord's Messiah, right?

Because the Lord is God's Messiah.

He is not Israel's Messiah. He's not even your Messiah.

He is God's Messiah. And so Simeon longed for that

day and when he held the the Christ Child in his arms, said,

that's it, I'm done. I've seen it all.

There's nothing else for me to see.

There's nothing else for me to live for.

What I've longed for, what I've lived for now is here, I'm done,

I can die. Why?

Because his whole life was centered around seeing the

Christ child, the Messiah, God's Messiah.

And once he got a glimpse of the Messiah, that was it.

He was completely and totally satisfied.

So the Bible says in in Psalm 73, God is good to Israel, even

to such as are of a clean heart. God is good to those who whose

hearts have been cleansed. Psalm 73 says, But As for me,

the nearness of God is my good. Psalm 1715 I shall be satisfied

when I awake with thy likeness. There's something about getting

a glimpse of God that is completely and totally

satisfying that nothing of the world can, can do.

It just can't. So I ask you again, have you

seen the true and living God? Not only is there satisfaction

in life, but there's also vision in life.

Remember Moses, I beseech you, Lord, let me see your glory.

Well, what is the glory of the Lord?

It's the, it's the, the, the it's a, it's a manifestation of

God and brilliant light. It's the, it's the attributes of

God. It's, it's, it's who God is.

I want to just see you. And of course, you know, God

said, I can't let you see me. You're going to have to die

because I dwell in an unapproachable light and you'll

be incinerated if you see me. So I can't let you see me, he

says, but the Bible says these words in John 118.

No man has seen God at any time, and yet 1st 3616 says God dwells

in unapproachable light, where no man has seen or can see.

So then how do you see God? How can a man see God?

That's very important because you don't see Him with a

physical eye. You see him with a spiritual

eye. You can't physically look upon

the Christ or you you die. You'd be incinerated.

OK, Not until you have a glorified body can you ever do

that. That's when you go to heaven.

So how does a man see God now? Well, number one, you can see

him in the world. How do you know that?

Because the heavens declare the glory of the Lord.

So when you look at the world, when you look at the universe,

when you look at the heavens, what do you see?

You see a Creator. You see someone who designed all

that. You see God.

Psalm 29 is very, very insightful.

Psalm 29. Listen to what the psalmist

says. He says in verse 3 the voice of

the Lord is upon the waters. Now he's talking about a storm,

OK, and how he sees God in the storm.

He says the voice of the Lord is upon the waters.

The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful.

The voice of the Lord is majestic.

So he, he's hearing the voice of God in the storm.

He says the voice of the Lord breaks the Cedars.

Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the Cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Syrian like a young

wild ox. The voice of the Lord divides

out flames of fire. In other words, the voice of the

Lord divides out the striking of lightning.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.

The The voice of the Lord is so strong.

When God thunders, the wilderness shakes.

The Lord shakes the wilderness of catish.

The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calf.

In other words, it makes the pregnant animals give birth.

He says that the the strips and excuse me and strips the the

forest bare. The voice of the Lord is social.

How does the voice of the Lord strip the forest bare?

Have you ever seen a tornado? Have you ever seen a hurricane?

All of that declares the glory of God.

You you see that the believer sees God in the storm.

The unbeliever just sees the storm, but the believer sees the

God whose voice thunders and causes the storm and separates

the lightning in the flashes. He's the God who causes trees to

be demolished because his voice is so powerful.

You see, so many times we miss how God wants us to observe him

in the world. God is everywhere.

That's why the heavens declare the glory of the Lord.

The Bible says in that same Psalm, the Lord sitteth king as

king over the flood. In other words, God controls the

flood. God control the flood of Genesis

6. And by the way, God controls

every single flood on the planet today.

Everything. Is there a tsunami?

God caused that. Not an earthquake in the in the

middle of the ocean. No, God caused that.

Why? Because if there's calamity in

the city, Amos says, guess who caused it?

God did See God's in control of everything or is in control of

nothing. God rules over all.

And so you must be able to see God with a spiritual eye to know

that God is at work and doing what it is he does.

That's what causes us to trust Him even all the more now that

you see him in the world, but you see him in the ways He works

in the world. Listen to Psalm one O 5.

Psalm one O 5. Listen to what the Bible says.

This is so great. The psalmist recognizes God's

mighty hand in everything. Remember what Peter says in

first Peter 5-6 Humble yourselves under the mighty hand

of God. Remember that.

Remember he says that. And what is the mighty hand of

God? The mighty hand of God is a

phrase used the book of Exodus to describe how God's hand

delivered and disciplined the nation of Israel.

OK, so Peter is picking up from the Old Testament saying you

need to submit yourself under God's mighty hand of discipline,

God's mighty hand of deliverance, because God is in

charge of all things in life. Well, Psalm one O 5 describes

this for us. Verse 24 that God caused his

people to be fruitful. God did that.

Verse 25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal

craftily with His servants. He sent Moses his servant, and

Aaron whom he had chosen. Verse 28 He sent darkness, He

made it dark, He turned the waters into blood, and caused

their fish to die. Verse 31 He spoke, and there

came a swarm of flies. Verse 32, He gave them hail for

rain, and flaming fire in their land.

Verse 33 He struck down their vines, also their fig trees, and

shattered the trees of their territory.

Verse 34 He spoke and locusts came, and young locusts even

without number. Verse 36 He also struck down all

the first born in their land. Verse 37, Then he brought them

out with a with silver and with gold.

Verse 40 it says he brought quail.

Verse 41 he opened the rock and outflowed water.

Verse 43 brought forth the people with joy.

Verse 44 he gave them also the lands of the nations.

The psalmist knew that God's ways was were working in every

aspect of Israel's life. You see, we need to be able to

see God in the way He works, in your family, in your church, in

your workplace. God does all those things, but

do you see his hand and all of that or do you do you just

attribute it as to well, just bad things happen at different

times? No, no, God's in charge of all

those things, but only the pure in hearts see God.

Only those who are not double minded, only those who are

singly focused really, truly see God.

Those who hearts have been cleansed from the sustain of sin

and are focused completely upon him.

They're the ones who see God. They'll ultimately see Him in

glory face to face, right when we see Him, we'll be like Him,

for we see Him as He is. But but there are certain things

that we see even today that God does as he operates in every

aspect of our lives. That's why Job said, I have

heard of thee with the hearing of my ear, but now my eyes have

seen you. When did Job ever see God?

He never saw him physically, but he said, I've heard of you with

the hearing of my ear, but now, now my eyes have seen you.

How did Job see God? He saw him with a spiritual eye

because God spoke to Job. And that's why you always see

God in his word, not just in the world and not just in the

wonders around the world, not just the way he works in the

world, but in the word he's given to us.

And that's how Job saw God. Oh, I've heard of you.

I've heard of you with the hearing of my ear.

But now, for the very first time in my entire life, I have seen

you. That's just a powerful

statement. That's why the Bible says this

in John 539. You search the Scriptures

because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And it is them that bear witness of me.

He's condemning the religious leaders.

You know, the Bible frontwards and backwards, but you don't

know me. How do you miss me?

How do you read the Bible and miss me?

See, see, that's the problem. We go to church and we, we, we

have this issue that we're dealing with and we want the,

the, the, the pastor to talk about my issue or deal with my

issue, right? But see, that's not how God

works. God wants you to see Him in the

scriptures. And so here are the leaders of

Israel, and they would search the scriptures day and night,

but they missed the Messiah. And so when he stands in front

of them, they can't see Him. They can't see him as God in the

flesh. They can see Him as their

Messiah. What?

Because when they read the scriptures, they weren't looking

for him. They were looking for solutions

to their problems. Just a little hint here.

When you have a problem, don't go to the Bible looking for

solutions to your problem. When you have a problem, go to

the Bible and look for Jesus. And when you see Jesus, all your

problems will go away. Not that they're going to

disappear. Oh, you still have them.

But your circumstances don't need to change.

Your perception of the God of circumstances needs to change.

And when that changes, your life changes.

That's why when you go to the scriptures, you look for Jesus,

not solutions to your problem, because you're going to have

problem after problem after problem after problem.

They're going to be innumerable for before you die.

So when you go to the scriptures, the Lord says, how

can you search the scriptures and miss me?

That's why we say when you when you, when you come to church on

Sunday, Sir, we wish to see who Jesus right talked about that

two weeks ago. You come to church to see

Christ, to see Jesus. You don't come to church to see

your friends. You don't come to church to see

your your buddies. You don't come to church to to

be seen. You come to church to see

Christ. If you go to church for any

other reason, you're wasting your time.

I hate to say it. You're just wasting your time

because you're going to miss him.

And if you miss Jesus, you've missed everything but the pure

heart. Those who hearts are undivided

and totally focused upon the Lord, unmixed with any foreign

object. They will see the Lord and you

see Him in His Word. 2nd Corinthians 318 We all with

unveiled face, beholding as in the mirror the glory of the Lord

are being changed from one level of glory to the next level of

glory, even as by the Spirit of God.

Paul says that to us, we we come to the scriptures, the mirror

with an unveiled face, and we're able to behold the glory of the

Lord. What's the glory of the Lord,

His attributes, His character, His nature.

And, and when you go to the Bible to to behold the glory of

the Lord, you're being changed from one level of glory to the

next level of glory to the very next level of glory by the

Spirit of God. That's what God does.

And that that's why Bible study is so important.

That's why Bible memorization is so important.

That's why Bible meditation is so important.

Why? Because I'm going to see the

Christ and I see him in his word, and when I see him for who

he is and all of his glory and all of his splendor, all my, all

my problems just pale in comparison to the beauty and

glory of the Christ. So what did Paul pray for in

Ephesians? 118I pray that the eyes of your

hearts be enlightened. You think your eyes are in your

head. Your eyes are in your hearts.

See, the eyes of your heart will be enlightened.

That was Paul's prayer. And you know what?

That should be the prayer of all of us for every one of us,

right? You know, we, we get so boiled

down by health issues. You've noticed that our our

prayer life is consumed with health issues, but they're not

concerned with spiritual health issues and they should be.

All you got to do is read Paul's prayers and see what he prayed

for and ask yourself, what is my prayer life like?

We get so bogged down with the physicality of life that the

spirituality of life is set aside because my physicality is

more important than my spirituality.

Not knowing that the solution to my physicality is my

spirituality. We forget that that's very

important to understand. When you talk to somebody who

walking, walking with the Lord in the midst of their physical

illness, there's a joy about their lives.

But if you understand them and know them, they are rejoicing in

what God is doing, even though they can't even get out of bed

because God is at work in their hearts and they're growing

closer and closer to the Lord through their difficulty.

So if you go back to the illustration of Job, right,

Job's physicality never changed. He, he was still covered with

boils. He still had no kids, no Job, no

house, and a wife somewhere who knows where.

Right? And what did you say?

Oh, I I've heard of you, but boy, now my eyes have seen you.

I repent in dust and ashes. Job was satisfied and nothing

that changed his life. Nothing.

Remember when they changed and the Lord turned the captivity of

Job? When he prayed for his friends,

his miserable comforters, and God gave him twice as much as

what he had before, Joe didn't pray to get to get more things

back. Joe didn't pray for his

physicality, for his boils and his pain.

He prayed for his friends. Why?

Because he got a glimpse of the Lord.

And so he prayed for his friends who really didn't know the Lord

that well. They thought they did, but they

really didn't know him. And God turned the captivity of

Job and gave him twice as much as what he had before when he

prayed for his friends. And that's only because he was

able to finally see the true and living God for who he is.

And that's simply because God spoke to him.

And God speaks to you every time you open the word of God.

Open it up. These are His words.

This is the living and abiding word of God #3 got to hurry

quickly, sorry. Detaining the characteristics.

What is the characteristic of somebody's pure in heart?

Number one, they abhor evil. They abhor evil.

Psalm 119 one O 4 Psalmist said, I hate every false way.

Nothing Rob's vision like sin. Nothing sin will always cloud

your vision of God, always mar your vision of God, just will.

So those who are pure in heart, they have poor evil #2 they

avoid the appearance of evil, they avoid even the appearance

of evil. The 1st Thessalonians 522 Psalm

One O 635 says they were mingled among the heathen and they

learned their works and served their idols.

You know, so many times we, we, we just say we hate evil, but we

dabble around in sinful behavior.

Everyone knows that we we not just to abhor evil, we are to

abstain from the appearance of evil.

Paul talks about not even talking about the things done

done in darkness. They shouldn't even be mentioned

among us. And then #3 the pure heart

abandons all sin. Psalm Proverbs 30 verse #12 says

there was a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet

have not been washed from their filthiness.

First Corinthian or Second Corinthian 7 verse #1 Let us

cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and

spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Those who appear in heart, not only do they abhor sin, they

abstain from the appearance of evil, and they abandon anything

that would detract them from the true and living God.

And then #3 or #4 A person who is pure in heart really truly

acknowledges his true self. He acknowledges his true self.

For instance, it says in Luke 5 verse #8 when Peter saw the

Christ, he said, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.

When Paul saw himself as he truly was, he said he was the

least of all the Saints. You think he'd be the best of

all the Saints. But Paul, because he was pure in

heart, acknowledges his true self that he was the least of

all the Saints. In fact, he said in 1st 71 he

was a chief of all sinners. Wow.

How many of us have said that we're the chief of sinners?

We, we tried to compare ourselves among ourselves and

think they were pretty good, right?

But the apostle Paul, who wrote 13 epistles of the New

Testament, would say that he was the least of all the Saints, and

yet he was a chief of all the sinners.

Yet he was used mightily by God simply because he had a true,

true picture of his own self. Daniel when he got a a glimpse

of the living God, he said there remains no strength in me, for

my comingness was turned in me into corruption and I retain no

strength. Here is Daniel, a man who would

not defile himself, but when he saw God he realized that he was

filled with corruption on the inside.

Just examine the men of God in Scripture and realize that they

had a proper view of themselves when it came to came to knowing

the Lord. Spiritual sight always leads to

spiritual insight. Spiritual sight will always lead

to spiritual insight. In other words, when you are

able to see God for who He really is, it helps you see the

inner man as it really is. And like Job said, I repent in

dust and ashes. So in 4 minutes, what's my

course? That's point #4 right?

Well, number one, realize you can't do it on your own.

That's number one. The Bible says in Proverbs 20

verse #9 Who can say I've cleansed my heart, I am pure

from my sins? Answer nobody, nobody.

Jeremiah 1323. Can a leper change his spots?

Nope. Acts 15/9.

The heart is purified by faith first.

John 17 It's the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all

sin. You want a pure heart, you can't

do it yourself. God does that.

It's the blood of Christ that cleanses us.

So you throw yourself with the mercy of God.

You say, Lord, I'm a Sinner, I need to be cleansed by you.

Cleanse me from all of my sin. And God does that.

He is the cleansing agent. Once you realize you can't do it

on your own, read the Word of God.

Why? John 15?

You have been made clean. You've been cleansed through the

Word which I've spoken unto you. God's Word is a cleansing agent.

Why? Because God's word is His word.

The inspired word comes from the Incarnate Word.

Bible says in Psalm 119. Nine How could a young man keep

his way pure? By taking heed to the word of

God. The Bible says in Psalm one

19140 Thy word is very pure. Blessed are the pure heart, for

they shall see God. The only way to maintain purity

is to read the word of God, to be in the Word of God.

It's the best cleansing agent there is.

It's God's word that cleanses you and so you, the more you're

in the word, the more you're being washed with the water of

the word. I mean, that's how we came into

the Kingdom, right? By the washing of regeneration,

by the renewing of the Spirit of God.

It's the it's the washing of the water of the word, Ephesians 526

that brings us into the Kingdom. Will the continual reading of

the word is the continual cleansing that we need every

single day. Was Thomas Watson that great

Puritan who said this? By looking into this pure

crystal, we are changed into the image of it.

That is the Word of God. The word is both a glass to show

us the spots of our souls and a labor to wash them all the way.

Isn't that true? You read the Word, you see your

spots, but the very same word is the cleansing agent that removes

them all. Read the word.

Realize you can't do it on your own.

Request request a pure heart from God Job 14 four who can

bring a clean thing out of an unclean job set?

What did David say? Created me a clean heart.

Oh God. Psalm 51.

You got to request it from the Lord and then need to relinquish

your flesh by relying upon the Spirit of God.

Walk in the Spirit so you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh.

How do you walk in the Spirit? One step at a time.

How do you walk in normal life one step at a time?

How do you walk in the Spirit? Every step you take, you rely

upon the Spirit of God to guide you through that situation.

That's walking in the Spirit, trusting God, relying upon him

every single step of your life. And lastly, respond right now

immediately. Psalm 27 says, when thou did say

seek my face, my heart said to thee, Thy face, O Lord, I shall

seek. Don't we respond immediately?

If you've never been cleansed from your sin, you can be

because Christ cleanses us from all of our sin.

He died to take away your sins. So why would you wait for that?

Why would you want to sit in your sin when you can be

cleansed from your sin? And having been cleansed from

your sin, Like all of us, there are certain things that cause us

to fall back into sin. Well, our God is a faithful God

and when you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to

forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all

unrighteousness. And then truly you see the true

and living God. So let me ask you again, have

you seen the true and living God?

Have your eyes been focused on the Lord?

Do you see Him in His Word when you read the Word?

Do you see Him in the wonders of life when you look into all

that's happening around you? Do you see Him in the world as

His hand works and reworks all kinds of things around us?

Do you see God every day? You see Him in your family.

You see him in your church. Do you see him refining your

life? Do you see him molding and

shaping you every single day? Do you see him at all?

If you do not see him, you have missed the blessing of purity of

heart. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for this time that

we've had together. Thank you, Lord, for how it is

you work in our lives. We are so grateful to read Your

word and study it together. Lord, for everyone who's here

tonight, work in their hearts as only You can.

I can't do it, but you can. That's what you do.

That's your specialty. You work in the hearts of men.

And our prayer fathers. There's someone here who's not

saved that you'd save them from their sin.

Those who are saved, keep them always looking to You.

They might live a life of purity before you, that they might see

the true and living God every single day.

Refrain your name. Amen.