All right, Matthew chapter five. Our text this morning is verse
eight. Which says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
see God. Now you remember the word blessed
that our Lord uses here in the Beatitudes means supremely blessed,
supremely happy. And in the Beatitudes, our Lord's
not telling us how to be saved. Salvation comes not from what
we do. Salvation comes by faith in Christ. And the Lord is not
telling us how to live here. He's not telling us that we have
to produce this pure heart in order to be saved. He's not telling
us what a believer ought to be as we live in this life. He's
telling us what the believer already is. by God's grace. This is what God has made his
people to be. Now the word pure, the savior
uses here, it means to be free from sin. It means to be blameless
and innocent. And it also means to be free
from sinful desires. So the Lord's not teaching us
that we have to have and produce this pure heart in order to see
the Lord. What he's telling us is, This
is the heart. This pure heart is the heart
that God gives all of his people when he saves them. It's a good
thing that God gives this heart to his people, because none of
us have a clean heart and none of us can produce a clean heart.
You on the surface, it would seem like this verse stops me
from ever having any hope of seeing God. If I have to be pure
in heart to see God. I'll never see. Because our heart
is The opposite of cure. Job said, who can bring a clean
thing out of unclean? Not one. Look back at Genesis
chapter five. Here's the description of our
heart, of our nature. And it's always been this way.
Genesis chapter six. Verse five. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth. and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's
our heart, our heart by nature. It's only evil continually. And you know, the wickedness
of that natural heart grieves God's heart. Look at verse six.
And it repented the Lord that he'd made man on the earth and
it grieved him at his heart. The wickedness of our natural
heart, the impurity of it grieves God's heart. Now look at Jeremiah
chapter 17. Here's another description of our heart by nature. I'm going
to look at a few scriptures here so we see that there's no hope
in our heart by nature. There's no hope in us producing
a pure, clean heart. Jeremiah 17 verse 9. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? See, our hearts
not pure at all, is it? And scripture doesn't even say
it's wicked. It's desperately wicked. Oh, it's so wicked. And
this heart, our natural heart is so deceitful. It'll make us
think that we're pure. It's desperately wicked. Now
look at Matthew chapter 15. God cannot, will not accept us
as we are with this natural heart, because this natural heart of
ours defiles our whole being. Matthew chapter 15 verse 17. Do you not yet understand that
whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and
is cast out into the draw? But those things which proceed
out of the mouth, where do they come forth from? From the heart. And they defile the For out of
the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. But to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man. You know, we don't make ourselves
sinners by what we do. This is what the Lord's telling
us. We don't make ourselves sinners by what we do. We came that way. We came as sinners. We come forth
from the womb speaking lies. We don't make ourselves sinners
by what we eat or what we drink. The old Jews, they didn't make
themselves a sinner by eating pork. They didn't defile their
heart by eating pork. And whatever you want to call
them today, the moral majority, the religious people can't defile
themselves, make their heart impure by drinking a beer either.
It's not by what we eat or what we drink. And it's not our external
environment. It's not like, well, if I just
quit hanging around with the wrong crowd, I wouldn't sin as
much. You know, if I could just cut off all contact with this
sinful world, I wouldn't sin as much. Oh, yes, I would. Yes, I would, too, because sin
is in us. We take sin with us everywhere
we go because sin is what we are. And that sin comes out of
us, defiling us and defiling everything around us. Now, that's
our heart. But what God requires is a pure
heart, a sinless heart, a sinless nature. God doesn't require an
outward veneer of religion that might impress other men. God
requires a pure heart, a pure nature. Well, who has such a
heart? Who has a pure, clean heart?
Well, look back at Psalm 24 and I'll show you. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He's the only person with a pure heart. Psalm 24,
verse 3. David says, who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted
up his soul into vanity nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive
the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of
his salvation. Now those verses, you know, this
can only be talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only
possible person that can be talking about. He has clean hands. and a pure heart. Everything
he did was holy and clean because his nature is holy and clean. He never one time lifted up his
soul to vanity. And that word vanity David uses
there has to do with idolatry. The Lord Jesus never lifted up
his soul to idolatry. He always trusted the father
perfectly. He never swore deceitfully. He
never said anything that was deceitful. There was no guile
in his tongue. So the only man who has a clean
heart is the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the good news. He
makes all of his people clean in him. Look at verse six here,
Psalm 24. This is the generation or the
description of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob,
or O God of Jacob. Now this is the description of
those that seek the God of Jacob. Somebody else has a clean heart,
too. And I can tell you who they are. They're everybody who's
in Christ. They're everybody who is seeking
to be found in him. They're everyone who is seeking
righteousness in him. This is the description of them,
too. They have a pure heart because that's what Christ has made them
to be. They are what Christ is because
they're in him. All right, now look at Ezekiel
chapter 36. Ezekiel is going to tell us,
how is it that those people who believe Christ can have a clean
heart? We know it can't be our natural
heart. We know that natural heart cannot
be cleansed. So how is it that those people
that believe Christ can have a clean heart? Well, here it
is. It's because God gives them a
clean heart. He gives them a new heart, a
second heart in the new birth. Ezekiel 36 verse 24. For I will take you from among
the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring
you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you should be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give
you a heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit within
you, and cause you to walk on my statues, and you should keep
my judgments and do them. And you should dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers, and you should be my people,
and I will be your God. I will also save you from all
of your uncleanness." So you know, God gives everybody he
saves a new heart, a new, pure, sinless heart. Salvation is not
fixing up our old heart, our old nature. Salvation is not
changing our old bad habits, our old external bad habits.
Salvation is not to quit sinning as much as we used to sin. Salvation
is not God teaching that old heart some spiritual truth. Salvation
is not God giving life or some light to that old, cold, dead
heart. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. It's dead and it's sinful. It'll
never be anything but dead, sinful flesh. Salvation is not God changing
that old heart. Salvation is God giving us a
new heart in the new birth. Ezekiel told us God promised
to do it. And if you look at first Peter
chapter one. Peter tells us how God does it.
How is it that God gives us this new heart? It's in the new birth. 1 Peter 1. Verse 22. Seeing you purified your souls
and obeying the truth through the spirit and unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure
heart, fervently. Now, how am I going to get that
pure heart? Verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. For all flesh is his grass, and
all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth
and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. See, that's how we receive a
pure heart. It's in the new birth when God
gives a new heart and he does it through the preaching of his
word. He does it through the preaching
of the word because God's word. is holy and sinless, and it can
only produce something that's holy and sinless. Through the
preaching of the word, God plants that seed and gives life and
gives a new heart. And that new heart is free. It's pure. Remember the definition
of pure is to be free from sin, is to be blameless and innocent.
That new heart that God gives, he doesn't give us a clean slate
and say, OK, now you're innocent. It's clean and you got to keep
it that way because we couldn't keep it that way, could we? The
new heart is a new nature that's also free from sinful desires.
That's the definition of this word pure. Remember, it's free
from sinful desires. The new heart God gives can never
sin because it's pure and it will always be pure. That new heart that God gives
is a heart just like the heart of Christ the Savior. Look across
the page there, page over 1 Peter 2. Verse 21. For even here unto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that you should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Now that is the heart of Christ
the Savior. It's pure. He did no sin, no
guile was found in his mouth. because his heart was pure. Out
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Well, his
mouth spoke no guile because his heart had no guile. He did
no sin because his heart had no sin. Right now, look at chapter
three, verse 10. Here's the heart God gives his
people. For he that will love life and see good days, let him
refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak
no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace
and ensue it. Now, this is the description
of a believer. It's not something somebody might
do. This is the description of the heart of every believer. That new man refrains his tongue
from evil. He speaks no guile because he's
got a pure heart. You're refraining our tongue
from evil. This is what that is. It's not
that we'd never say, you know, an evil word or say something
I'll not say. Refraining our tongue from evil
is not saying anything contrary to the gospel. It's not saying
something contrary to Christ's glory and salvation. That new
man can't say anything contrary to the gospel because he believes
it purely. And his tongue speaks no guile.
This is a sincere heart. That new man speaks no guile. He may have no hypocrisy about
him. I'm a sinner. and the only hope
I have of salvation is God's grace in Christ Jesus. That's
a sincere, true, honest heart. Roth used to say, honest men
don't go to hell. This is an honest, true heart. I've got no hope but Christ alone. I've got no hope but salvation
by grace. I'm not looking for grace plus
my works mixed into it to make it better. I'm looking for, I
need pure, unadulterated grace from God. That's the tongue that
speaks no guile. It's a sincere heart, not talking
about a cooperative effort between me and Jesus. No, salvation is
in and by and through Christ alone. That's the way a pure
heart speaks. And every believer has that pure
heart. All right, here's a paradox for
you. Anybody who has a pure heart sees themselves as a sinner. Anybody that's got a pure heart
doesn't see himself as sinless and holy. Anybody that's got
a pure heart says, I'm a sinner. Everything I see about myself
is sin. Somebody that's got a pure, sinless
heart says, all I see about myself is sin. A person who says, I
don't sin as much as I used to, or I've got a pure heart, so
I don't sin as much as other people, that person's lying. I really believe they think they're
telling, at least some of them believe they're telling the truth.
But you know why they believe they're telling the truth? It's deceiving. It's desperately
wicked. And it's deceived them into thinking
that. But somebody that's got a pure
heart, you know what he sees about himself? Sin. Look back at Romans chapter 7.
I'll show you this. Romans chapter 7. Beginning in verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. I don't want to do it. For what
I would, that do I not. I want to do good, but I can't.
But what I hate, that's what I do. Now, if then I do that
which I would not, I consent under the law that it's good.
Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. For to will is present with me.
That new man, he wills to be perfect and holy. To will is
present with me. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. I can't do something that's pure
and sinless. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not,
that's what I do. Now, if I do that I would not. It's no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law. that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. After that new man, he delights
in the law of God. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. Now this is the way
man has got a pure heart speaks. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now that's the way a man with
a pure heart speaks. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? There's only one
way. I thank God it's through Christ Jesus, my Lord. That's
the way the person with a pure heart speaks. Now look at first
Timothy chapter one. We're going to see a pure heart
in action. First Timothy one verse five. Now the end of the commandment
is charity, love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and
a faith unfaith. A pure heart loves God and a
pure heart loves others. And that love, love always acts. True love always acts. If it
doesn't act, it's not love. Love is put into action to worship
God. And that love is put into action
to help others. And it's done in a good conscience,
Paul says. It's not done trying to make
up for past sin. It's not done trying to, you
know, earn a better favor or position with God. It's done
out of a good conscience. I love for God, love for one
another. And that love and that faith
is unfeigned. You can't fake it. You just can't
fake love. You can't fake faith. It is the
real McCoy because it comes from a pure heart. And every believer
will say this. Now, I love God. I believe God
that it's the real McCoy. It's not as strong as I wish
it was. But it is the real thing. It comes from a pure heart. And
that pure heart, that can't come from our nature. That cannot
be something that we produce. If God has saved us, he's given
us that new heart. God put it in us. And our Lord
says, here's the blessing that comes from this. If God's put
this pure heart in you, here's the blessing. Those people shall
see God. Now that word see means to understand,
it means to perceive, and it also means to appear. Now, why
does a believer understand Christ? Why does someone who is a believer,
how is it they understand how God saves sinners? I understand
that. I do. You do too. You understand
how God saves sinners. Well, why is it you understand
that somebody else doesn't? It's because God's appeared to
you. Remember what the scripture talked about the Lord after his
resurrection. It says he appeared his disciples. That word appeared is the exact
same word see in our text. It is translated two different
words. The disciples, they saw now they understood the scriptures. Why? Because Christ appeared. He appeared to them and they
saw. And if God's given you a new heart, you see. You see these
things. You see that they're true. You
perceive that they are true. It's because Christ appeared
to you. That's that's the only reason you see is because Christ
appeared to you. You used to be blind. You used
to not be able to see these things, but now you do because Christ
has appeared. And there's so many things a
believer sees. You see how God can save a sinner
like you and still be God. He still be holy and just because
he punished your sin and your substitute. If God's given you a pure heart,
you believe Christ. You just can't not believe Him
because God's given you a pure heart. Now look back at John
chapter 3. If God's given you that new heart,
it's because He's caused you to be born again and That is
the only way we can ever see Christ. It's the only way we
can ever see God and see God's kingdom is if God causes us to
be born again with this new heart that sees. John 3 verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest.
except God be with them. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. See, the
only way to see God and see God's kingdom is to be born again with
this pure heart. And God has to give that heart.
We can't make it up. God has to give it because it's
a spiritual heart. It's not a fleshly heart. It's
a spiritual heart. Read on verse four. Nicodemus saith unto him,
how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? See, all he can, the
only plane Nicodemus can think on at this time is a fleshly
plane. And this heart's not a fleshly
heart. And Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So marvel
not that I said unto you, you must be born again. You've got
to be born again with a new spiritual heart from above, a heart that
only the Holy Spirit can give. This new birth comes from a supernatural
birth of God, sovereignly given by God, the Holy Spirit, to whom
he will, when he will. That's what the Lord says in
verse eight. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth. So is everyone that's born of
the Spirit. Everyone who's born of the Spirit
is sovereignly born of God the Holy Spirit through the preaching
of the Word. It's just like the wind. You
don't know when it's coming and suddenly it comes and there it
goes. You can't control it, can you? That's God the Holy Spirit. He comes in the preaching of
the gospel. And you may have heard the gospel hundreds and
hundreds of times. You may be listening to the gospel
for the first time ever in your life. And you see. Well, why is it you've seen somebody
else study? The Holy Spirit sovereignly comes
to whom he will, when he will, and gives them life, gives them
this pure heart. Now, just like poor old Nicodemus,
the natural mind cannot comprehend these things. How can these things
be, Nicodemus said. The only way anybody can ever
understand these things is if God reveals them to us. God's
got to give us a new heart. And I tell you how he does it.
I've told you before, I'm going to say it again and show you
why this is what our Lord says right here. He does it through
preaching. Look at verse nine. Nicodemus
answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered
and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these
things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do
know and testify that we have seen, and you receive not our
witness. I've told you earthly things
and you believe not. How shall you believe if I tell
you of heavenly things? See, these things must be revealed
and they're going to be revealed through the preaching of the
gospel. And this is the message that God uses to give this salvation
and give this new heart. It's the preaching of Christ.
Verse 13, our Lord says, no man hath ascended up to heaven, but
he that came down from heaven, even the son of man, which is
in heaven, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the son of man be lifted up. The whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on
him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten son of God. Now that's the gospel. And he
that believes it, he that believes on Christ, he's not condemned
because Christ is life. And this person who has a new
heart, who's been born again, born of the Holy Spirit, they
see. If you've been born of God, you
see that. You see that all of this, all
of salvation, all of life is Christ. You see that because
you see Christ. The person who's been blessed
with this new heart sees Christ everywhere. You just can't help
it. You see Christ everywhere. You
see Christ in the word. You see him revealed in the word
that it's all written of him because you see Christ. God's
given you the heart to seize. You see Christ in history. I
was going to say you see how all the events of history, but
maybe not all of them, but at least part of all of the events
of history, we've seen how God has worked all these things together
to accomplish his purpose for his glory and the good of his
purpose. And even if I don't see what
God's purpose is in this, I do know this. God's directed it
all. Now, I don't know how, what outcome he's going to produce
from it, but I do know this. It happened because it's God's
purpose. And people who see Christ, we don't just see him in history.
We see him in our lives right now. Right now. Somebody who
sees, they understand that everything that happens to me happens because
God ordained it to happen from all of eternity. Everything that
happens to me is good. Everything, even when it's painful
to the flesh, everything that happens to me is good. You know, those things that are
painful to the flesh. God's going to use them to teach
us. He's going to use them to teach us more of Christ. He's
going to use them to teach us more of our weakness so we depend
more upon Him. He's going to use those things
when He puts us on our back so that we're helpless. He's going
to teach us this. He's going to teach us more of
God's faithfulness to His people. We may be on our back. We may
be helpless. We may feel like we've reached
the end of our road, but God's faithful to us. God's given you
a new heart, you see that. Here's something else that people
see. If God's given them a new heart,
they see Christ in others. They see faith and love and sincerity
in others, even when we can't see it in ourselves. When we
look at ourselves, all we see is sin and weakness and depravity. But when others look at you,
they see faith. They see love. They see they
see Christ there. Now, one more scripture, Hebrews
chapter nine, this. Sums all this up. Our Lord says
the person who has this pure heart is blessed, they are supremely
happy, they shall see God. And one day those people who
see right now, they see by faith one day they're going to see
the Lord face to face. Hebrews 9 verse 27. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this, the judgment. So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him.
So he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. And that word appear is C that's
translated in our text. When Christ appears, we should
see him. And when we see him, we'll be
like him. but we shall see him as he is. Now that person is supremely
blessed and supremely happy aren't they? That one day we're going
to see the Savior face to face. Lord bless you.