That is a scriptural request.
Wilt thou not revive us again? Blessed are the pure in heart. Now when I was a young believer,
I would read that verse of scripture before I understood what it meant.
And it troubled me a great deal because I knew that my heart
was anything but pure. When I would read this passage
of scripture, I'd think, I don't measure up to whatever this means. Now, let me give you the definition
of pure from my blue letter Bible dictionary. Listen, please. Pure is free. from corrupt desire,
free from sin and guilt, free from every admixture of what
is false, sincere, genuine, blameless, innocent, unstained with the guilt of anything. 99% pure is contaminated. Do you have a heart? It's described like that. Do
I? Well, if we do not, we shall never see God. It is only the
pure in heart that will see God. I think of what the psalmist
said in Psalm 24, 3, who shall stand in the hill of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. In Genesis chapter six, verse
five, this is a scripture I know we're all familiar with. It says,
God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, not
even talking about the actions now, talking about the thoughts
that go on in his heart. was only evil continually. And do you hear that? This describes
what goes on in my heart and your heart by nature. This is
what our thoughts are made of. Only evil, non-stop, continually. Can that heart be pure? Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9. Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful
above all things, desperately wicked. And that word desperately
is generally translated incurably. Incurably wicked, deceitful above
all things, The wise man said, he that trusts in his heart is
a fool. You can't trust anything that goes through your heart.
If you do, you're a fool. The heart is deceitful above
all things, desperately wicked. Let me read you what the Lord
said about the heart. Mark chapter seven, verse 20. And he said, that which cometh
out of the man, that defileth the man, for from within, out
of the heart of men. precede evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, slander, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within,
out of the heart. These are what defiles. a man. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 9,
who can say, I've made my heart clean. I am pure from my sin. Job 19, 14, who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. Now can the heart described in
scripture be changed and become pure? No. Absolutely not. Incurably wicked. Jeremiah 13, 23, can the Ethiopian
change his skin or the leopard his spots? No. Then may also
You do good who are accustomed to doing evil. Now, if that is
the case, and it is, how can man be said to be pure in heart? Blessed are the pure in heart. Now, this is the sixth beatitude,
and we can't say one's more important than the other. They all stand
or fall together. We've seen that. All of these beatitudes proceed
from this pure heart. It's only the pure in heart that
are poor in spirit. You find me someone who has nothing
to recommend themselves to God, and that comes from a pure heart. It's only the pure in heart that
mourn over sin. They mourn over their sin because
it's sin against God, against His goodness, against His grace,
against His mercy. It's not just being upset because
you've been caught or exposed. You know your sins against God
and you mourn over it. You can't make it go away. What
do you do when somebody you love dies? You mourn because you can't
bring them back. You feel a helplessness before
sin and you mourn over it. This is not something you're
indifferent about or apathetic about. You mourn. over your sin
and it's out of that pure heart this meek spirit comes from,
this meek spirit before God that believes whatever God does is
right, whatever He sends my way is right, even if I don't enjoy
it, it's for my good and His glory, it came from Him and it's
good. And it's only the pure in heart
that hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Jesus Christ
because they know they have no personal righteousness and they
desperately want this and they hunger and they thirst. It's
from the pure heart that this merciful person comes from. That's the one who obtains mercy.
Only the pure in heart have this kind of merciful attitude. Now
we can see unbelievers that appear to be merciful, but this merciful
attitude is only found in the one who's obtained mercy, the
one who's experienced the mercy of God. Blessed are the pure
in heart. They're the peacemakers. They
preach the gospel of peace. They experience the gospel of
peace. And I think it's very ironic that just after they are
called peacemakers, we find out they're persecuted for righteousness
sake. If you're a peacemaker, you'll be persecuted for righteousness
sake because you're gonna stand for the righteousness of Christ
as the only righteousness there is. And none of these are found
in the natural man, only the one who is born of the spirit
of God. Blessed. highly favored are the
pure in heart. Now the heart comprehends the understanding,
the affections, and the will. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness." And that's not the heart spoken of in Jeremiah
17, 9, that's desperately wicked and deceitful above all things.
This is that pure heart, the gift of God's grace. This is the new heart that he
gives. A new heart also will I give
you. It was one that was not there
before, and it is now. And while you can't see purity,
you have a disposition that you did not have before you were
given this pure heart. This is that new wine skin. God doesn't take new wine, the
wine of His grace, and place it in our old hearts. Our old
hearts can't handle it, couldn't hold it. He puts the wine of
His grace in new hearts. This is the new heart that God
shines into. I love that passage of scripture
in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, but God, who commanded the light to shine
out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
It's that new heart he shines into. He doesn't shine into the,
desperately wicked and deceitful heart. It's only the pure heart
that can see God. That's the great blessing of
a pure heart, seeing God. What's greater than that? Than
to be enabled to see God. Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God. The natural man can not see anything
spiritually. He can't see the beauty of God.
He sees no beauty in the character of God. He sees no beauty in
God's way of being just and justifying the ungodly. It's not even on
his radar. He doesn't even care. I mean, it's not an issue with
him. Why does that even need to be? He can't see the beauty
of holiness, nor can he see sin for what it is. Like a covetous
man sees no beauty in generosity. He thinks he's the loser by it.
That's the way the natural man views all of these beatitudes. We'll be the loser by these things. And this new heart, this pure
heart, is the heart God gives in the new birth. The heart of which David said,
create. in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me. That's what we were singing about
when we were singing Revive Us Again. Renew a right spirit within
me. That's the desire of this new
heart. It's a new creation. As David said, create in me a
clean heart. We read in 2 Corinthians 5, 17,
where Peter speaks of the hidden man, or if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Peter speaks of the hidden man
of the heart. Now think about that statement,
the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible, which
is not even subject to corruption, which is pure. And he says, see
that you love one another fervently with a pure heart. Paul speaks of calling on the
name of the Lord out of a pure heart. And to the pure, all things
are pure, blessed. are the pure in heart that have
been given this new heart that was not there before. Listen
to these descriptions. This is the spirit in whom is
no guile, no deceit. There's no deceit or guile in
this new heart. It's honest before God. This is the heart that the Lord
describes that receives the seed and the good soil. He calls it
an honest and good heart. That is the pure heart being
spoken of, an honest heart, honest before God, good. This is the heart of which Paul
said the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart. and a good conscience. What's
a good conscience? Somebody says, well, I got a
clear conscience. Well, that's because your conscience is seared. It's no
good. It doesn't work. If you had a good conscience,
it's one that has nothing to feel guilty about. That's what
a good conscience is. The end of the commandment is
charity out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith
unfeigned, unfaked. It's genuine. That's what comes
from this pure heart. The fact of the matter is, listen
to me, I still have the heart Jeremiah describes of that is
deceitful above all things. Desperately, incurably wicked. I still have that heart. You
still have that heart. Somebody says, I don't, then
you're just blind. You have no spiritual life. If you have spiritual life, you'll
know that you still have this evil heart of unbelief. You still
cry, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. But it's also
true, every believer has this pure heart. Given in the new
birth, and according to John, This pure heart is incapable
of committing sin. Turn with me to 1 John 3. I want
you to read this with me. Why is it incapable of committing
sin? Because it's born of God. It's
born of the Spirit. God can't give birth to that
which is corrupt or subject to corruption or consent. 1 John
3. Verse nine, whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Now I think it's interesting
if you read most of the translations, they'll say he doesn't practice
sin. That's not what this word says.
That's somebody just forcing their own interpretation on them
because they don't like it. What it actually says is, he
that is born of God doth not commit sin. For his seed, the
seed of God, birthed by the Spirit of God, his seed remaineth in
him, and he, what? What to say? He cannot sin. He lacks the ability to sin. Just like God cannot sin, that
man born of God cannot sin. This is the blessed pure in heart. Paul said, with the heart, man
believeth unto salvation. This is the heart that man believes
with. It's the pure at heart that believes. It's the pure
in heart that repents. It's the pure in heart that loves. It's the new man that owns the
sins of the old man. The old man doesn't even understand
sin. There's no natural man, not born of the Spirit of God,
that really has a grasp and an understanding of sin. It's only
the new man that understands sin, and it's the new man that
owns the sins of the old man. Somebody says, how do you understand
that? I don't. I just believe it. I believe what the word of God
teaches. This is where poverty of spirit,
mourning, meekness, hungry and thirsting after righteousness
comes from. Like I said, I used to be troubled
by this greatly because I didn't know what it meant. My heart
sure doesn't seem to be very pure. John Newton, the writer of Amazing
Grace, said, when I turn my heart within, you ever do that? I don't recommend it. When I
turn my heart within, all is vain and dark and wild, filled
with unbelief and sin. Can I deem myself a child? And that was his experience at
that time. The only way I can understand this pure heart given
is the pure heart given in the new birth. It's what the scripture
teaches. It's the only thing that makes sense. And this is gospel to me. This
is good news to me. Now here, the blessing of pureness
of heart. I love this. Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. What's a greater blessing than
that? This trumps all other blessings. They shall see God. Now he speaks of this in the
future tense. They shall see God. God, this is what David
was speaking of in Psalm 1715, when he said, but ask for me.
Me too, David. Ask for me. I will behold thy
face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. Now he's talking about something
future, but it's also true The pure in heart see him now. How do we see him? By faith. That's how the pure
in heart see. We walk by faith and not by sight. Whom having not seen, you love. You love his person. You love
his attributes. You love him for who he is. You love him. Now, I know when
you start thinking about your love, you'll start thinking,
well, I don't love him enough. I know you don't. Neither do I. But
when you quit thinking about your love and start thinking
about him, you love him. You love his holiness. You love
his salvation. You love his Sovereignty, you
love his meekness, you love his humility, every characteristic
about him you love. Why? You know him. You've seen
him. By faith, you've seen him. Having not seen your love, in
whom though now you seem not yet believing, you rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory. I love what Job said. He said,
I've heard of thee with hearing of the ear. I've heard stuff
about you. But now mine eye seeth thee. I see who you really are. Wherefore
I hate myself, he said, and repent in dust and ashes. They endured as seeing him who
is invisible. That's the walk of faith. They
persevered, they endured. As seeing him who is invisible,
the Lord said, he that has seen me, hath seen the Father. Now what does it take to see
God? I hope This is my greatest desire. Yes, I desire for my sins forgiven. I desire to have grace. I desire,
I sure don't want to go to hell. I want to be accepted. I can
name all those things I desire. But I want to see God. I want
to see who he really is. I want to know him. I want to
see him face to face. What does it take to see God? Well, number one, a pure heart. This heart I've been talking
about, this heart the Bible talks about, blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God. The Lord said in John chapter
three, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. For me to be able to see God
in his kingdom, I'm gonna have to be born again, born from above,
birth of the spirit of God. Number three, this may surprise
you, blindness. Blindness. What did the Lord
say to the Pharisees in John chapter nine? Are we blind also? If you were blind, you should have no sin. If you
couldn't see, this is really poverty of spirit. You can't
see one reason in yourself as to why God would look in favor
toward you. If you were blind, you'd have
no sin. But now you say, we see! I see
why God would have mercy on me. Therefore, your sin remaineth. What a horrible thought. What
does it take to see God? Holiness. Follow, pursue peace with all
men and holiness. That's what the pure heart is.
Without which no man shall see the Lord. What does it take to
see God? Faith. If you would believe, The Lord
said this, said I not to you, that if you believe, you'd see
the glory of God. Somebody says, I don't see it.
Of course you don't believe. If you believe, you see the glory
of God shining in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith, we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things
that are seen were not made by things which do appear. This
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone that seeth
the Son and believeth on Him." You know when you're going to
believe? When you see who He is. If you see who He is, you
will believe. You cannot not believe. It would
be impossible if you not believe if you see who He is. This is the will of God. that
everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, might have
everlasting life. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Now, how do we see God? You know, the Lord did say, no
man will look on my face and live. So what's this about seeing
God? Well, it's seeing God in Christ. It's seeing God in Christ. Do you see God in Christ? Show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. Have I been so long time with
you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. He said, I and my Father are
one. Do you see that? I'm not asking
you if you understand it, but do you believe it? He's one with
God, equal with God, because he is God. Colossians 2 line
says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and you are complete in him. He's the image of the invisible
God. Now let's talk about how we see
God in our experience. First of all, We see God in nature. The invisible things of him by
the creation of the world are, Paul says, clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made. even his eternal power
and Godhead so that they are without excuse. Creation says
God is. Now the unbeliever sees this
by logic. Why is there something and not
nothing? There's only one logical answer
to that. Somebody that believes God didn't create the universe
is illogical. It makes no sense. With every
effect, there must have been a cause, and he caused the universe
to exist. An unbeliever sees that, but
a believer sees it differently. This is my father's world, and
to my listening ears, all nature sings and round me rings the
music of the seers. This is my father's world. I
rest me in the thought of rocks and trees and skies and seas. His hand, the wonders wrought.
This is my father's world. The birds their carols raise. The morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker's praise. This is my father's world. He
shines in all that's fair. In the rustling grass, I hear
Him pass. He speaks to me everywhere. This is my Father's world. I don't use logic and figure
out, yeah, God must have created this. This is my Father's world. We see Him from creation. We see Him in providence. The Lord said, Not a sparrow
falls to the ground without your heavenly father knowing it. Hold
on. I misquoted that. Not a sparrow
falls to the ground without your heavenly father. Oh, he's so in control of everything that
takes place. And we love it that way. We see
Him in His providence. And we know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. The Lord is cast into
the light, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. We see Him in His providence.
I think of Joseph. Seventeen years old, teenager.
His brothers betrayed him, sold him to some merchants going down
into Egypt. He's sold into Potiphar's house.
He's unjustly accused. He spends at least 10 years in
prison when he'd not done anything. Well, his brothers are sent there
after he's made the most powerful man in the world. If you're gonna
get food, you had to come to him for it. And he looked at
his brothers in their terror when they found out this is Joseph,
the one we betrayed. He said, you meant it for evil. You did. There's nothing that
you can do to justify what you did. You meant it for evil, but
God meant it for good. We can say that about everything.
God meant it for good. Only God brings good out of evil. Not only is this my father's
world, these are my father's works. He controls everything. We see God in the scriptures. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. All scripture. Somebody says,
I don't believe that. I do. I do. I really do. I read this book, and I know
God wrote this book. This could not be written by
a man, this glorious book with this glorious revelation of the
person of God. And I love what the Lord said
to the Pharisees, you search the scripture, in them you think
you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. Now we see God most clearly when
we see the Son of God nailed to a cross. I don't know how to deal with
that image, but if you want to know the true character of God,
you look to that one violently nailed to a cross, the cross
lifted up in the air and dropped in the stand. There's God. This is God's eternal purpose.
This is why the universe was created for this to take place.
He's called the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Every attribute of God is displayed. This is God's disclosure of himself. You see Jesus Christ nailed to
a cross. You see the character of God
Almighty, every attribute of God that he's been pleased to
make known fully displayed. Oh, we see his purpose. We see
his wisdom. how He's made a way to be just
and justify the ungodly. We see His righteousness. He
will not let sin go unpunished. We see His sovereignty and those
two thieves beside Him. One He saved, the other He passed
by as an act of His irreprehensible will. We see His independence,
His power, how He could put away sin and make it to not be. How
He can make me to be perfect and holy and righteous. We see
every attribute of God displayed in the Son of God being nailed
to that cross. This is God's disclosure of Himself. And listen to this, we see God
and His people. Do you see anybody that you can
see these Beatitudes? You know, it takes grace to see
grace. It takes the grace of God to see grace in somebody
else. But if you've got the grace of God, you see it in somebody
else. You see it in their poverty of spirit, their mourning over
sin, their meekness before God, their hungering and thirsting
after righteousness, their merciful attitude, all coming from this
pure heart. We are His workmanship. We see His work, don't we? We
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
And we see God, and I want to say this, not in a way that would
make us feel like we're lacking, but we see God in fellowship
and communion with Him. And what do I mean by that? God
spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh with his friend. And if you have this pure heart,
God speaks with you. face to face as a man speaks
with his friend. There's an actual relationship,
a friendship with the living God. God counts you his friend. You can't be friends with somebody
you don't know, can you? There's an actual relationship. You are my friends, if you do
whatsoever I command you. And that's believed the gospel.
And love one another as he gave commandment. Every believer is
the friend of God. Yes, we're the bride of Christ.
We're the body of Christ. We're the temple of God. All these glorious, high, and
holy things. But every believer is his friend. to have the friendship of God. If I have His friendship, what else could I want? And the blessed day is coming
when we will see Him face to face. That's speaking of Jesus Christ,
His dear face. Now we see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face. I love this story about Fannie
Crosby, the blind writer of hymns. And you'll notice she would write
a lot of hymns about seeing the face of Christ. And somebody
said, I know it's been a trial to be blind. She said, no, it's
the greatest blessing I've ever experienced. They said, why would
you say that? She said, because the first face
I'm going to see is the face of Jesus Christ. Face to face. with Christ my Savior, face to
face what will it be, when with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ
who died for me. Now until then, we walk by faith
and not by sight, that faith that comes from a pure heart
while we look not at things that are seen, but things that are
not seen. The things that are seen, temporal. Things that are not seen are
eternal. Blessed are the pure in heart. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for this
blessed, pure heart that you've given every single one of your
people. Lord, we know it's the gift of
your grace. We know it's not found in our
nature, being birthed of your spirit.
And Lord, what a eternal inheritance we have.
of seeing you face to face in the person of your son. Lord,
we ask that you would hasten your second coming according
to your will, that we may see him as he is and be like him. In his name we pray. Amen.