It is not that I did choose thee Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neither. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Mattawar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now, here's our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. In what is known as the Beatitudes
that our Lord gave on the Sermon on the Mount, I'd like to read
the sixth Beatitude or state of blessedness. Blessed, the
Savior says, are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. It is only the pure in heart
that shall see the living God. I hesitate to say that one beatitude
is more important than another one of the beatitudes. The beatitudes
are a description of what a believer is. The state of blessedness
is a state of blessedness that the Lord has brought them into.
And where you have one, you have them all. And if one is missing,
in reality, none of the Beatitudes are there. Blessed are the pure
in heart. All of the other Beatitudes come
out of this pure heart. You see, it is only the pure
heart that creates this poverty of spirit where you realize that
you have nothing to recommend you before God. It is only the
pure heart that mourns over sin. In reality, it's only the pure
heart that can see what sin is. It is only the pure in heart
who are meek before God. They believe that whatever God
sends them way, their way is right and best because He sent
it. He who is too wise to err and too kind to be cruel. So
there's this meekness before God. It is only the pure heart
that hungers and thirsts after righteousness. It's only the
pure in heart who understand what righteousness is. And they
know that the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness
there is before God and how they hunger and thirst after it. It is only the pure in heart
who are truly merciful because they've experienced God's mercy. It's only the pure in heart who
are peacemakers. It's only the pure in heart who
are persecuted for righteousness' sake. So, we see that all of
the Beatitudes come from this thing of having a pure heart. That word pure means without
blemish. It's what is called in the Old
Testament a perfect heart. A heart that is without sin,
that is without blemish. Now, what is the heart in the
Scripture? We read of the heart over and
over again, and you know this is not just a reference to that
muscle that pumps blood throughout the body. The heart is the whole
man. Man looks on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh on the heart. The heart is what God sees. It's
man's will. It's man's desire. It's man's
understanding. It's the affections. It's what
we really are. That's what the heart is. The
heart's what God sees, and the heart is what we really are,
the whole man. You believe with your heart.
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made to salvation." The heart is what
you really are. The heart is what I really am. And this is what God looks at.
Now, with that in mind, I want to read these three scriptures
to you. The first one is found in Genesis
6, verse 5. And it says, And God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart, not even talking about
the actions right now, every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. Not a mixture of good and bad,
but only evil continually. And then we read in Jeremiah
chapter 17 verse 9 regarding the human heart. The heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know
it? And then we read in Matthew chapter
15 where the Lord is speaking of sin. And He says, for out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, those things that proceed from the heart. Now, these descriptions
I've read in the Bible of the heart. I want to ask a question.
Can that heart be purified? Can that heart be pure that God
says when he looked on it, he saw only evil continually? Can
that heart be purified? The answer is No, it cannot. It can't be reformed. It can't
be amended. Job chapter 14 verse 4 says,
who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. That heart is hopeless. Yet the scripture says it's only
the pure in heart who will see God. The natural man is spiritually
blind. He sees no beauty in God. He sees no beauty in God's way
of saving by His grace. He sees no beauty in God's attributes.
He sees no beauty in God's sovereignty or His holiness or His absolute
justice or His loving kindness. He sees no beauty in these things.
Much like a covetous man can see no beauty in generosity.
He thinks it's foolish. But A generous person sees the
beauty of generosity. A person with a pure heart sees
the beauty of God. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. So what is this pure heart? If
the natural man's heart cannot be pure, it cannot be made better,
it's as bad as it can be, bad all the way through, what is
this pure heart the Scripture is speaking of? This is the heart
given in the new birth. We read in Ezekiel 36, verse
26, where God says, a new heart will I give thee. A heart that was not there before. It's not the old heart changed
or the old heart improved or turning over a new leaf. It's
a brand new heart that was not there before given in the new
birth. This is what David is asking
for when he says, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew
a right spirit within me. Peter speaks of the hidden man
of the heart, which is not corruptible. It's not even subject to sin.
And he says that we're to love one another with a pure heart.
fervently. This is the heart that loves
God. This is the heart that loves his people being born again,
not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. Paul spoke in Titus
of calling on the name of the Lord from a pure heart. It's only the pure heart that
calls upon the name of the Lord. And He said to the pure, all
things are pure. You see, it's only the pure heart
that sees the evil of sin. A natural man cannot really understand
sin. He doesn't understand the sinful
nature of his own natural heart. He can't see because he's blind.
He's not honest before God. Remember that heart is deceitful
above all things. It will deceive itself. It tries
to deceive God. It's desperately wicked. It's
not honest before God. But the pure heart is honest
before God. Listen to this Scripture. Psalm
32, verses 1 and 2 says, Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin, and in whose spirit There is no guile,
no deceit. It's honest before God. Now,
I'd like to show you in the Scripture what honesty before God is. Romans
chapter 7, Paul is talking about his own experience of grace.
And I don't believe that there's ever been a greater man than
the Apostle Paul. I guess you could argue that
John the Baptist was greater in the sense that the Lord said,
among them that are born of women, None are greater than John the
Baptist, but Paul was the chief apostle. He was the man who God
used more than any other man to expound the gospel. Now listen
to his testimony of his experience. He says in verse 14 of Romans
chapter 7, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under sin. Somebody says, well, that's the
way he felt before he was saved. No, that's how he felt when he
was saved. He didn't feel that way before.
But when he's been given spiritual life, he understands something
about sin. It goes on to say in verse 15,
for that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do
I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it's good. Now, it's no more
I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me. It's not the
new man committing the sin. Now, the new man owns the sins
of the old man. The only reason the sins of the
old man are seen is because of the new man. But that sin is
the old nature. It's not the new nature. Now,
then, it's no more I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth
in me. For I know, Paul said, I know that in me, that is, in
my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
I would be perfect. I would never sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. To will is present with
me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not." He doesn't
say, I mess up sometimes or I make mistakes. He says, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not, that 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 in 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, 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. O wretched man that
I am! Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then, with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin." Now
that's an honest man. Religious people would not own
up to this. They'd say, oh, I'm better than
that. What was wrong with Paul? But honesty before God makes
you see your sinfulness and your need of grace and your need of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, blessed are the pure in
heart. This is the heart that sees sin,
and this is the heart that sees its need of the Savior and its
need of grace. Now, blessed are the pure in
heart. And here's the promise for the pure in heart. Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And only they shall see God. We read in Hebrews 11, 27, they
endured as seeing him who is invisible. Peter said, Whom having not seen,
you love. Though now you see Him not, yet
believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Now, what does it take to see
God? It takes a pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. Here's the exact same thing in
other words. Our Lord said in John chapter 3 verse 5, it said,
the man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. A natural man cannot understand. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. He cannot understand the gospel. A chimpanzee could understand
calculus before a natural man could understand the gospel.
It's not going to happen. It takes the spirit of God. It
takes a work of God's grace. He may have terms down, and he
can repeat terms, but there's no true understanding of sin.
There's no true understanding of the need of Christ. There's
no true understanding of Christ's righteousness being the only
righteousness, unless you're given a new heart, this pure
heart that sees God. What does it take to see God?
Well, it takes blindness. Somebody says, what in the world
do you mean by that? Well, let me show you. In John chapter
9, beginning in verse 39, Jesus said, for judgment I am coming
to this world, that they which see not might see, and they which
see might be made blind. The only people who are going
to see are those people who are blind, who cannot see. And those
people who think they see, God is going to pass them by. Now
what does that mean? You find me someone who cannot
see why God would ever love them when they look at themselves.
When they look to themselves, they can't see why God would
have mercy on them. They can see why God would judge
them. They can see why God would send them to hell. But they can't
find one reason in themselves as to why God would look in favor
toward them. You find me somebody like that,
I'll find you somebody who's seen God. They see who He is
in His holiness, and they see who they are in themselves, and
they say, why would He ever have anything to do with me? Now,
that's the person that the Lord is going to reveal Himself to,
that person who's blind. What does it take to see God?
Well, it takes holiness. Hebrews 12, 14 says, follow peace
with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. What does it take to see God?
It takes holiness. It takes faith. Listen to this
scripture in John, chapter 11, verse 40. The Lord said to Martha,
said, I'm not unto thee that if thou would believe. You'd
see the glory of God, you'll not see first and then believe
that's not faith, you must believe and then you will see. And when
you see, you believe. I love that Scripture in John
chapter 6, verse 40. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on Him
has everlasting life. You see, it's only faith that
sees. It's not seeing and then believing.
It's believing, then you see. Now, what do I mean by that?
I don't see how God can be one God in three distinct separate
persons. I don't see how that can be,
but I believe. I believe He is God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the three persons of
the blessed Trinity. Do I understand that? No. Do
I believe it? Yes, most assuredly I do. I don't understand. I can't see
how God never began to be. There's no beginning point. There's
no starting point with God. He's always been, and He'll never
cease to be. I can't see that, but I believe
it altogether. I can't see how I've always been
known by God, even before I was born. He said to Jeremiah, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. You can't know a non-existent
person. I was a person. before I was
ever born, eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ, one with
Him. I've always been in Him and God
has always known me in Him. Now, can I see that? No. Do I
believe it? Yes, I do. I don't see how God
can become a man, but He did. I don't see how the God-man died. Christ Jesus is God manifested
in the flesh and He died. I had someone say to me once,
well, the man part died and the God part didn't. No, you can
make that distinction. The God man died. Do I understand that?
No. Do I believe it altogether? And I believe I don't understand
how my sin became his sin and his righteousness becomes my
righteousness and that great transaction of his death. I don't
see how that is, but I believe it because God said it. That
settles it. I don't see first, then believe. I believe what God says, and
when I believe, I see. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God." Now, first and foremost, they see
God in Christ. Philip said to the Lord Jesus,
show us the Father, and it suffice it does. We'll be satisfied if
you show us the Father. And the Lord replied, 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 didn't say it's as if he'd
seen the Father or he'd seen one just like the Father. He
said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Do you remember
in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 when it says, Unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Do I understand what I'm talking
about? No, I don't, but I believe it. If you see Christ, you see
the Father. And if you don't see Christ,
you've never seen the Father. You have no idea who God really
is. We see God in Christ. He is called the express image
of His person. In seeing Christ, we see the
invisible God. We see God in nature. The pure
in heart see God. First we see God in Christ, and
we see God in nature. What do I mean by that? This
world is His creation. He created the world. He owns
all things and everything I see in nature. When I see the beautiful
stars, the sun, the moon, truly the heavens declare the glory
of God and the earth shows forth His handiwork. He's glorious
and we see this in His glorious creation. This is my Father's
world. What a blessed thing. We also
see Him in Providence. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. What do I mean by that? Well,
the Lord said this, not a sparrow falls to the ground without your
heavenly Father. A sparrow on the other side of
the world, when it fell to the ground, it did so according to
the will of God. The lot, the wise man said, is
cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord."
He controls everything in Providence. I love that story of Joseph.
Joseph is sold into Egypt by his brothers. How malicious,
how wicked they were, how heartless and cruel they were in selling
their brother to be a slave and deceiving their father, letting
their father think that he'd been eaten by a beast. Brought back the coat of many
colors to show him, the blood on it, from a bee's face flew
and put it on there. How deceitful and deceptive and
wicked they were in how they did Joseph. But years later,
they find out when they come to Joseph for food, God has used
all this providentially to make Joseph the most powerful man
in the world and the one who had all the food. If you're going
to get food, you had to come to him for it. And when his brothers
found out that Joseph had risen to Pharaoh's right-hand man,
the one who controlled all the food, they were scared to death.
They thought he would get vengeance. And Joseph said to them, he said,
you meant it for evil. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And regarding everything that
happens to every believer in Providence, it's all good, used
by God for His glory and their good. Romans 8, 28 says, And
we know that all things work together for good, to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. And
we see Him in the Scriptures. The Bible is the Word of God. Can I prove that to you? No,
I can't. I feel no need to. I know this
book is the Word of God. It's the revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's a book regarding Christ. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
you search the Scriptures and in them you think you have eternal
life. You're looking for loopholes. You're looking for ways of some
way to earn God's favor. If I can keep this rule, if I
can keep this commandment, He says, but they are they which
testify of Me. Every Scripture testifies of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We see Him in the Scriptures,
and most clearly, we see God. This is as clear as we ever see
Him. We see God when we look to that
one hanging on a cross. Every attribute of God is displayed
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see His sovereign
purpose being performed. Revelation 13.8 says Christ is
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and His reason
for coming was to die. We see God's wisdom, how He has
made a way to be absolutely just and not let sin go unpunished,
and yet justify the ungodly. Only God could do that. We see
God's absolute justice when sin is found even on His own Son.
He's going to punish sin. He's not going to let it go by.
God is holy. He can't accept sin. We see God's
mercy and grace that He would give His Son to die for sinners. We see God's power in Him putting
away sin. Every attribute of God is on
complete display in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we see God in His people. Now, let me repeat that. If we
see God, we see God in His people. It takes grace to see grace. But when you have grace, you
see it. Oh, I know people that I see God in. There's no question
in my mind about it. They belong to the Lord. When
we see Him, we see His people and we see God in them and oh
how thankful we are for them. And we see God in that we actually
have fellowship and communion with Him. If I'm a believer,
if I have this pure heart, that means I have a heart that's fit
for fellowship with God. I have a heart that's fit for
communion with God. A heart that prays to Him, and
He hears that prayer for Christ's sake. And He speaks to this heart. He speaks to me in His Word.
It's a heart that's fit for fellowship with God. He made us meet. He made us fit, Paul said, to
be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints and lights. Everything
that the saints and lights have, I have. Now, I still have my
sin, and they don't anymore. I still have my old nature. But
all that they have, I have too. I'm fit with this pure heart
for fellowship with God, and one day is coming when I'm going
to see Him face to face." David said, as for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness. I won't have to put my head down
in shame. Because I'll be perfectly righteous, perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I will behold His
face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied, David said.
I'll be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness. And when we
awake in His likeness, we'll see Him as He is, and seeing
Him as He is, we'll be conformed to His image. We'll see His face. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. And until then, the pure in heart
walk by faith and not by sight, while we look, not at things
that are seen, but things that are not seen. For the things
that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen
are eternal. Now we have this message on DVD
or CD. If you call the church, write
or email to send your copy. This is Todd Kniper praying that
God will Be pleased to make yourself known to you. That's my prayer.