Matthew chapter five and verse
eight. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. Let us never forget that. Let
us never imagine that in some way the Lord Jesus Christ is
lesser, or in some way that the words of the Lord Jesus Christ
don't carry the authority, the power, the awesomeness of Almighty
God. This world has got very clever
at talking about God and denying the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
can't do that. You can't do that. People will
talk about God because it's not offensive to talk about God.
Everybody has a God. This could be the Muslim God.
This could be the Buddhist God. This could be any God that there
is. And we talk about God and we
have a union. We have a commonality. We have
a common language and vocabulary. but the Lord Jesus Christ is
God and God is the Lord Jesus Christ and we cannot tease these
apart or separate them. The problem that we have today
in so many ways is that the language that we have, whether it's the
language of scripture or whether it's the language of our hymn
books, means all things to all men. And I could speak to someone
who has diametrically opposite views to salvation or justification
or pardon. And they will still quote me
the same verses that I would quote them. We come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and we humbly bow before him. and we wait upon Him to teach
us what He will have us to know. When God says something, no matter
what that something might be, when God says it, it is true. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
says something, because He is God, whatever He says is true. Now that might contradict what
you've believed all your life. Well, I'm sorry, but you need
to dismantle your beliefs and you need to believe what the
Lord Jesus Christ says. And if we struggle to rationalize,
if we struggle to reconcile our preconceptions with the testimony
of scripture, then it is our preconceptions that have to change. because the testimony of God
is true. So how strange it might appear
in our estimation, or how contrary in our expectation, or how much
beyond our imagination, what the Lord Jesus Christ says is
true, it is right, and it is dependable. So when the Lord
Jesus Christ declares, when our blessed Savior declares that
his people are blessed, that his people are a blessed people,
then we can be sure that we are. We can be sure that we are. Now you may be having a pretty
rough day today. And maybe it hasn't been a good
week, or maybe this has been a horrible year for you and your
family and your friends and your people. But when the Lord Jesus
Christ says that we are blessed, we better believe it. We better
believe it. We are a blessed people for we
have had bestowed upon us, deposited with us such riches of glory
and grace and mercy and love that God himself, the infinite
God, has granted us infinite blessings. Now we are flesh and
blood, and that constrains our grasp and understanding of these
things. We are limited because of our
human nature. But just because it doesn't add
up to us, doesn't mean to say that we can ignore or deny what
God has said. And if he has said we are blessed,
then we will believe it to be so. Tough day, but I'm blessed. Hard experience, but I'm blessed. Trials along the way, but I am
blessed. Let us hold these things as self-evidently
true. And let us trust the Lord that
what he is doing in our lives and what he is bringing to pass
and what he is accomplishing in us and for us and with us
is all to his glory, all for his church's well-being and all
for our individual blessing. We couldn't organise it, we couldn't
manage it if it was left up to us. But our great God has all
of these things well in hand and under control. I want you to notice something
about these beautiful Beatitudes. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
in the present tense. He's speaking about His people
now. The poor in spirit, those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, the meek, the mournful, these
are experiences that we encounter here upon earth. We're not going
to be mournful in glory. We're not going to be poor in
spirit forever. These are the outworkings of
the grace of God in our life. These are the spiritual hungerings
that are stirred up, that are initiated by God the Holy Spirit
in the life of His people, in the life of His church. And it
is a present tense experience. It is what our lot is in this
world. It is because we are in the world,
but not of the world, that we have these often wearisome trials
and these difficult experiences, these longings. But it is at
the very same time that we have these, that the Lord declares
us to be blessed. He's not saying that we will
be blessed when our hunger and our thirst is taken away. He
doesn't say that we will be blessed when we no longer mourn because
of our spiritual state and our flesh and our weaknesses. He
says we are blessed now. In the midst of our trials, we
are blessed. During our hardships, we're blessed. Under those longings that we
have, no matter what they might be, for our own souls, for the
souls of those that we love, we are blessed. Don't feel it. Believe it. Believe it. That's what faith is. Faith is
believing. Faith is believing when the evidence
isn't jumping up and biting you in the nose. Faith is believing
when you don't have the substantial evidence around about you to
say, well, I know it's true because I can see it there. It's not
faith then. But faith is what the Lord's
people, faith is what His church is called to. And it means believing
the promises, and it means understanding that when Christ says something,
God has spoken. And the very same voice, the
very same word that spoke out, eternal word that spoke out in
order to create everything that we see around about us, is the
very same word that says, you blessed people, you blessed people,
you blessed people here and now. We are blessed, presently, currently,
actually, really. And I would that we could lay
hold upon that more and more. I speak personally. I would that
we could lay hold upon that more and more. How much doubt, how
much fear, how much anxiety, how much weariness, how much
trial and tribulation and trouble it would deal with if we could
see ourselves as the Lord sees us. Isaac Watts. He wrote these words. Why should
the children of a king go mourning all their days? Great comforter,
descend and bring some tokens of thy grace. Dost not thou dwell
in all the saints and seal the airs of heaven? When wilt thou
banish my complaints and show my sins forgiven? Assure my conscience
of her part in the Redeemer's blood, and bear thy witness with
my heart that I am born of God. Thou art the earnest of His love,
the pledge of joys to come, and thy soft wings, celestial dove,
will safe convey me home. The Holy Spirit dwells in every
quickened soul. He dwells in the church. He dwells with the people of
God, those that Christ has redeemed, those that the blood has cleansed
and pardoned. And we are joined to Christ. We are united to him. He dwells
in us and we in him. Christ In you, the hope of glory. And God calls us blessed. Blessed because we have the Father's
love upon us. In all this world, God, and he
doesn't love everyone, but he loves us. He loves us. I count myself privileged that
I have a woman who loves me. My father in heaven loves me. That is a privilege beyond anything
that any person in this world deserves. And yet it is freely
granted and bestowed. And precious blood, Christ's
blood, has been shed for me. That was the price of my redemption,
not the millions that the millionaires have in their bank, not the portfolio
of the property owner, not the shares of all the companies in
the Fortune 500, not all of the wealth of the mines of this earth,
but the blood of Jesus Christ alone could cleanse my sin. Blessed people, blessed people
for whom Christ shed his blood. And the Holy Spirit's comfort,
the Father's love, the Son's blood and the Holy Spirit's comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I'm
going away, he said, but I'm going to send someone. And he won't come until I go
away, but I will send the Comforter to you, and he will dwell in
you. And that Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of God, dwells with his people. We have a song. in the UK that
we sing sometimes it's a popular anthem with some of the soccer
clubs and it is this you'll never walk alone and all the massed
crowds stand up in the terraces and they sing you'll never walk
alone well they will but we won't but we won't The Lord Jesus Christ
has promised to be with us. Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world. And he has promised his spirit.
His spirit comes to us. His spirit dwells with us. His spirit dwells in us. Blessed
people. Blessed people. The triune God
says, we are blessed. Why go mourning? all our days. Do we dare call ourselves blessed
of God? Do we dare call ourselves blessed
of God? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ calls
us blessed of God. Let's give him a moment to come
back in. They are, it's delightful. I
sometimes think that none of the neighbors know that we are
here. But that's not right. They do know we're here. I think there's been a little
bit of knocking since we've started, but he's coming back. They're running away. OK. Here
is another characteristic then of these blessed people. These loved people. Here is another characteristic.
These justified people. These redeemed, sanctified, quickened
people. Here is another characteristic. Yours and mine, if we are the
Lord's, we have pure hearts. Pure hearts. Now, this is quite
extraordinary. This really is something quite
extraordinary. And contrary to anything that
I could possibly suggest for myself, You see, that's why I
started out by saying, if God says it, it's true. That's why
I said, if the Lord Jesus Christ declares it to be so, who are
you to contradict him? The Supreme Court in the country
passes a judgment. It can't be overthrown because
that is the final arbiter. That is the final authority in
the land as far as these laws are concerned. What it says goes
and everyone complies with it. Why would we want, why would
we ever imagine that there is any value in gainsaying the Lord
Jesus Christ if he says we have pure hearts? And yet the experience of the
man says that he knows the deviousness of his own heart. And the word
of God concurs, of course it does. It declares that the heart
of man is deceitful and desperately wicked. Whence then this pure
heart? I could talk all night about
devious hearts. But there's not an awful lot
of value in that because you know the deviousness of your
own heart better than you, better than I could talk about and vice
versa. But when's this pure heart? How
is this possible? It is possible for a man to have
pure motives. when it comes to a particular
thing that is happening. We may desire to do someone some
good out of a genuine, pure motive. But even that's not that common.
And most of us have an agenda for the things that we do and
the things that we say. It might even be that in a particular
incident, a man has pure hands. He didn't do the thing that is
suggested or he is accused of. But a pure heart, a pure heart,
how is it that we can have a pure heart? Moses, the lawgiver, He
knew that the children of Israel were men with wicked hearts. And wise Solomon, he said that
our heart is a potsherd covered with silver dross. That's quite
a description. You know what a potsherd is?
It's a clay jar. And probably it's like a broken
clay jar covered in cheap silver foil or paint, something to make
it look better. But you see, that's all our heart
is, a piece of clay painted up to look better than it really
is by the way we speak or the way we act or interact with one
another. the things that we suggest to
one another that makes it appear that we're better than we are. The Lord called the Pharisees
of his day whited sepulchres, which indeed appeared beautiful
outward, but within are full of dead men's bones and of all
uncleanness. Whence then a pure heart? How
is it possible? Well, we'll think about how it's
possible, but it must be because the Lord Jesus Christ himself
says it is. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed just as much as there
are those who mourn for their sins and who hunger and thirst
after righteousness. Here is a blessedness that comes
to the pure in heart. He's telling us that purity of
heart is the portion of the mourners who mourn for their sin. is the
portion of the mourners who hunger and thirst after righteousness. So that while we don't feel that
we are righteous, while we don't feel any purity of heart, while
we have very little justification when we look at ourselves to
imagine that we are pure in heart, yet the Lord God has declared
it to be so. Why is that? How is that possible? It is possible because He has
made us so. True it is that the saints in
heaven have pure hearts, but we're not talking about them.
We're talking about us. True it is that the angels have
pure hearts, but we're talking about men and women here upon
this earth. And the Lord declares it to be
so. The Lord Jesus Christ, of course,
is that only one who has ever had purity of heart in its totality. He is called the God-Man. He is called the Holy Child. He is called the one who did
all things well. Now that's not an exaggeration. When the Holy Spirit wrote that
the people declared he had done all things well, it's because
he has done all things well. Paul says he knew no sin. John says in him is no sin. And Peter says, he did no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth. The Lord Jesus Christ
is that one who has a pure heart. But you and me, how can we have
pure hearts? How can it be said with any honesty
when we know the nature of our own heart? It's a question that
has beset men since the beginning of time. One of the earliest
books written, it is thought, is the book of Job, and in chapter
25, verse 4, the question is asked, how then can a man be
justified with God? Bildad the Shuhite asked, how
can he be clean that is born of a woman? How can he be clean? How can he be justified with
God? How is it possible that God could
say of any man, he's pure, he's holy, he's upright, he's sinless. How is it that God, who sees
and knows all things, nevertheless sees no sin in his people? We were thinking about that in
the Lord's day past, only one way, our hearts have to be cleansed
by the blood of Jesus Christ. And this is why Christ is so
important to us. This is why the blood of Christ
is so essential to any understanding of the gospel. This is why we
continually return every time we have communion together, every
time we preach the gospel to the blood of Jesus Christ, the
precious blood of Jesus Christ, for it alone cleanses us from
sin. And here's the thing, it cleanses
us from sin. It really does. It really does. Because God says it does. Because
Jesus Christ says it does. Because God the Holy Spirit comforts
us in the knowledge that when the blood of Jesus Christ has
been applied, when faith is exercised, when we lay hold upon the significant
things that Jesus Christ has done and accomplished for us,
then our hearts are pure in the sight of God. because he sees
that Christ himself has taken all that sin and carried it in
his own shoulders, in his own body, in his own soul, and he
has died for us and paid the price. 1 John chapter 1 verse
7 is familiar to us. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
has said. That's what God the Holy Spirit
has inspired his apostle to write. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanseth us from all sin. Don't feel it. Don't feel it. But we believe it. We take the
promise at face value. We take the statement that Jesus
Christ has made. Blessed are the pure in heart. John 15 verse 3 says, Now ye
are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. That is the cleansing word of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. That which he has done, that
which he has accomplished, Our hearts are sprinkled with clean
water. Our souls are washed in the washing
of regeneration. The new man is created and purified
by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. And pure principles of
grace have been formed in our soul. The old man of this flesh
still has all of the dirtiness, all of the soiledness, all of
the iniquity that characterized it from its birth still dwelling
in it. But in the soul, in the new man,
there is a perfection, there is a holiness, there is a purity,
and God himself declares it to be so. So the writer to the Hebrews
says, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Believe it, in full assurance
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water. When the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ is applied to the heart of a sinner, it washes away all
the iniquity, all the sin, all the wickedness that resides there
by nature. A sinner is born again, born
anew. A new man is created. And that new man is holy and
just and pure and perfect. In the sight of God, there is
no iniquity, no sin, no transgression anymore. God justifies his people. God does not impute sin to them. God only imputes righteousness
to them. And that sin, which the Lord
Jesus Christ himself carried, is carried away, never to be
remembered against us anymore. Search as one might, the Lord
sees no sin in his people. Now I do not say that we do not
have sin dwelling in us at all, for in the flesh we do. That
is the fault and the failure of this flesh. That is the legacy
that Adam has given us. That is the consequence of the
wickedness that has been perpetrated in our own actions because of
sin that is there. But that sin will die with the
flesh, and our new man will rise and
soar into the presence of God with that purity, that perfection,
that holiness that God looks upon us even now as having. As people are justified from
sin, The righteousness of God in Christ is applied and imputed
to us, and we are clean through the Word. Justification is pronounced
upon them on the account of that righteousness which has been
given to us. Iniquities are all forgiven and
we are made pure. There is not the least spot or
stain of sin in them because they are a new creation. The
old things have passed away and behold, all things have become
new. And yet, in this flesh, It is
that besetting problem that we will feel the weakness of the
flesh all the days of our life. And we will hunger and thirst
after righteousness. And we will mourn for the lack
of passion and desire that we have after the things of God. And we will constantly feel that
we are beset with a weariness in spiritual matters and long
to be more Christ-like in our life. This is our lot in this
world. Balaam, we read about him the
other day, a mercenary prophet who sold blessings and curses. He came against the people of
God, but the Lord put words in his mouth. words that spoke of
the way in which God looks upon his chosen redeemed people. God is not a man that he should
lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said
and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken and shall he not
make good? That's exactly what we've been
saying. This is God who has spoken. This is Christ who has spoken.
These people are blessed. Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. The
Lord Jesus Christ has blessed his people. God the Father, God
the Spirit has blessed his people and we cannot reverse it. We
can't even reverse it because God has declared it to be so
and God's not a man that he can lie. God doesn't change his mind. We're blessed today because we've
been blessed in eternity and we will be ever blessed for eternity
to come. And God looks upon us in his
unchangeableness, and he says, you are mine, and you are perfect
in my sight. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of a king is amongst them. Therefore, while
we know our own heart in this fleshy body. While we know that
in it dwelleth no good thing, yet because God has declared
it to be, God who cannot lie, because he says we are pure in
heart, We take him at his word, we believe him and we rejoice
at all that he has done for us. We reckon ourselves to be so. Knowing this, says Paul to the
Romans, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, and henceforth we should not serve sin. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Well, I've only really dealt
with half the verse, so let me just say something, and we won't
split this into two halves. This will be a short half. Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Seeing God, seeing
God, seeing the invisible. Are you looking forward to seeing
God? Are you looking forward to seeing
God? You know that might be very, very soon. None of us, none of
us know what a day will bring. We've already remarked in our
service about three different people who have been ushered
into eternity in the last couple of days that are known personally
to people in this congregation. Are you looking forward to seeing
God? Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God. This is Christ that speaks. The hymn writer says, when all
my labors and trials are o'er, and I am safe on that beautiful
shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore, will through the
ages be glory for me. Oh, that will be glory for me. Glory for me, glory for me. when by his grace I shall look
on his face, that will be glory, be glory for me. But wait a moment, because there's
more to this than simply looking forward to seeing the face of
the Lord in heaven. Do we not see Jesus, the God-man
now? Do we not see him now? The writer
to the Hebrews in chapter two, verse nine says, we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man. That is the church,
that is the body for whom the Saviour died, the people for
whom He gave His life. "'I know,' says Job, "'that my
Redeemer liveth, "'and that He shall stand at the latter day
upon the earth. "'And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, "'yet in my flesh shall I see God. whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins
be consumed within me." Job had confidence that he would
see the Lord with his own eyes. And many did behold Jesus in
the days of his flesh with the eyes of flesh. They came to the
disciples and they said, sir, we would see Jesus. We want to
see Jesus. We want an audience with the
Lord. We want to be in his presence. We want to hear words falling
from his lips. And in Acts chapter one, verse
nine, It says, and when he had spoken these things to him, while
they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out
of their sight. But I think the Lord's people
do see the Lord. I think we see him with the eye
of faith. I think we see him every time
we come in faith and worship together. I think that's what
keeps us coming back. I think that's why we gather
out week by week to share in these things together, because
we desire to see the Lord. We see him when we pray. We see him when we sing his praises
and worship him. We see him in the preaching of
the gospel when he is lifted up before us. We see the Lord
Jesus Christ when we come and take the bread and the wine or
when we witness a brother or sister in the Lord. going into
the waters of baptism and rising up again in testimony to the
conversion experience that they have enjoyed. And do we not see
him in the lives of his people? Do we not see him in the church
when we see his body, his people, It is his people's joy to see
this Saviour by faith each time we come together. When we see
one another on the Lord's Day, do we think, this is the Lord's
body? This is the Lord's body that
I am seeing. He is the head. We are the members
of his body. We see the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. And we do. When we gather to
worship him, we see him. And soon we shall see him face
to face. Now we see through a glass darkly
but then face to face. We shall see Christ in his risen
glory and we shall see God in Christ for Christ is God. We shall see and we shall understand
all the work that our Saviour has performed and all that he
has accomplished from eternity past till now and into the future. And it will be glorious to behold. It will be delightful and it
will be satisfying. It will answer all our questions. We will be free from all darkness
and all error and all the limitations of this flesh. and we will worship
him for eternity and praise the glory of his name. Free from
interruption and it will last forever. In the United Kingdom we have
had over the years people who have endeavoured to make some
sort of public witness to God or the gospel and sometimes you
would see people carrying a board on a stick and they would march
up and down the street not saying anything. would march up and
down the street just holding this placard. And on the placard
it would say, from the words of Amos the prophet, prepare
to meet thy God. That was all they said. No words,
just that statement on the board, prepare to meet thy God. Brothers and sisters, we have
no fear. of meeting our God. We have no
fear of meeting our God because our God has said, you are pure
in heart, blessed people. We long to see him. We long to
see our blessed God and saviour. And he has promised to come again
and to receive us unto himself. Revelation 22, verse 20, we testify
with him who speaks. He which testifieth these things
saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Amen.