Blessed Are The Pure In Heart - Tim Conway

[Music] we are dealing today with just the short passage matthew chapter 5 verse 8 blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god blessed now think think with me because you know as soon as we look at this beatitude blessed are the pure but it goes further it's it's kind of like blessed are the poor it didn't just stop there it was a qualifier blessed are the poor in spirit i mean i i think the question is what was jesus wanting to distinguish that from poor in spirit he was distinguishing from other types of poverty obviously well you know the same thing's happening here blessed are the pure not just the pure blessed are the pure in heart what do you think he maybe wants to distinguish that from perhaps there's other kinds of purity maybe there's other kinds of purity that he wants us to recognize he's not talking about woe to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites for you cleanse kathyridzo now you know what that word cleanse it's the same word group is our word purify purity pure and so basically what he's saying to the to the scribes and pharisees is this you purify the outside of the cup and dish but inside see that that's the comparison but inside see when we talk pure of heart blessed are the pure in heart he's distinguishing that from that which is outward and surface they on the inside were full of extortion and self-indulgence now think about pure i try to think what do we think of as being pure it just i don't even know where it comes from but pure is the driven snow do you say that here something like that no anyway that may be just a saying in the u.s or maybe it's just a saying of my own imagination i don't know i think of pure gold or often times we think of even even the the you you think about it a virgin maiden getting married on her wedding day and putting on a white wedding dress what is purity i find it very interesting daniel do you know as daniel is wrapping up what god has given him to say chapter 12 of daniel daniel gets this prophetic vision of our day and here's what he sees christians he sees us those of us that are saved listen to what he says many shall be purified made white and refined but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand now here's here's what i want you to see three very closely related ideas purity made white and refined now think with me about what it means to be refined you know when i think of refining my mind goes to malachi anybody else's mind go there anybody think about a passage from malachi that deals with being refined he christ shall refine who the sons of levi now look if we have eyes to see who does peter tell us the true priesthood is us we are the royal priesthood we are the holy priesthood and so what you get is these old testament prophets they're looking at a purging that's going to be done many daniel is given this this site of you come into the later days and there are going to be many that are going to be coming into the kingdom and what's going to be true of them purity made white and refined now you know what it is to refine you put precious metals through a refinery process and what's happening you put silver in or you put gold in and you heat it up you eat it up until the point where it's liquid and what happens you basically slag impurities you know what you know what slag is you know what an impurity is when you're refining gold it's anything that's not gold that's what makes for an impurity that's that's exactly what we're talking about refining is a process by which impurities are removed and the thing is you have pure gold when all you have is gold and nothing else listen what we need to recognize is this get this purity corresponds to singleness and you can see it with the refining process see you're refined all the impurities have been removed when you only have one substance singleness and purity correspond to each other i have a glass of water it's pure if it's singularly water but if i throw mud in it you don't want to drink it because and you would not say it's pure and you're right because what did we just do we added impurities in other words we added something that's not water now when you look at the pitcher you don't just have water you have water and other things that's what makes for impurity a virgin think about a virgin we just talked about a virgin who's coming to get married and she wears a white dress you know what we consider that virgin to be pure not just because she has a white dress on but because she's actually a virgin but you know what when she goes and gets married and now the marriage has been consummated and she's walking day in day out with a husband we still count her pure as long as she's devoted to one husband it's when she becomes given to other men that we count her impure you see as long as there's singleness there's purity they go hand in hand with each other that's the idea when the snow is white it's viewed as as pure you can splash mud on it you've seen that yeah i grew up in the north we get these wonderful snowstorms and everything's white but you you see snow doesn't last around long around here so you don't really see this happen but in michigan we'd get snow that would basically last for months and then what happens is when it first falls it's beautiful but then in spring when it's melting it's just dirty you probably saw that in poland yeah slush and just dirty it's it's so you wipe a dirty rag on a white wedding dress and the purity is lost we think purity whiteness refined clean immaculate we're talking about the freedom from anything that pollutes the freedom from anything that contaminates now listen to this the lexicons um bauer danker art gingrich they say this it's being clean or free of adulterating matter thayer's greek lexicon says this free from the ad mixture or adhesion of anything that soils adulterates or corrupts now i find that very interesting both of these lexicons use the term adulterate that's that is very interesting listen to this listen to listen to james adulterers and adulteresses do you not know now let's see as soon as you hear that you can say what when you know these people being unfaithful to their wives and their husbands no no no that's not what we're talking about listen to this adulterers and adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with god you see that friendship with the world whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of god now listen you go to you go down just a few verses and here's what's being said draw near to god he will draw near to you cleanse cleanse purify your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded now see that's not what we we would expect purify your hearts because you're filthy no purify your hearts because you're not singular you're double see double-minded everything to do with impurity obviously james is implying double mindedness is to be filthy it's to be dirty it's to be impure that's the idea here a pure heart is a single heart a pure heart is single-minded what what we're talking about is a pure unadulterated heart of devotion to god you see if you go after the world you're an adulterer you're adulterated because now there's an admixture now there's a contaminant your heart is you're double-minded you see what james is imagining is the guy that's trying to partly give himself to god but partly give himself to something else and he says you're an adulterer an adulteress that's that's what he's dealing with there purity of heart is to will one thing no mixture no divided affections no impurities purity you want to think of two things that which is free from what adulterates you want to think of singular in devotion listen to what peter says sanctify the lord god in your hearts that means you want your sanctify the lord god in your hearts saying set god aside god is the one preeminent he's holy he's set aside in your heart that's purity of heart purity and and we we see this it's this divided loyalties you've got lots of people there's probably some sitting here it's you know what happens you fear hell who wants to go to hell the idea of hell the idea of torment that's unbearable the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever it's it's a place of damnation a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth and i'll tell you this virgin says over every door in hell is written hopelessness there is utter hopelessness the first moment you're there you are overwhelmed with the reality that this is beyond anything you can bear and it is forever and it is never going away and god is not going to show you mercy and see when you hear that and that is justice for your sin that is not god just being mean that is you getting what your sins deserve it is justice and you know what people people there's this tension people want to serve god because they fear that they want to be religious men are trying to be religious but what james sees is what is often very much the case people walk out the door and then they want to live a different life see it's divided they want to play two parts it's not singular it's not this devotion to god whether they're here whether they're in private whether they're here whether they're at home in their apartment whether they're here whether they're in the workplace that's the issue divided loyalties constantly i would challenge you to do something we don't like this word i don't know how it bounces off your ears here in the uk but you know almost 20 times in the book of hosea you get the word whoredom we don't like that word but you know what that's what god calls people that are trying to live this divided thing you're just kind of trying to serve him you're trying to do something else you know god is very dogmatic about sharing his people if you've never read god is a jealous god he does not want divided affections this blessed are the pure in heart and they're going to see god see he's going to welcome them close face to face but purity you know who he's going to bring close to him the people who want him with undivided affection now look i know i know in this world there are things we have to fight but you know what the fight the fight shows it like we were driving here today and my wife is saying that she has this fear that god might give us a certain thing because well i'll tell you what it is it's grandchildren and you know what made me think it made me think what she was saying was she had this fear she didn't want to love them too much she was saying that that her sister had that fear she didn't want to love her grandkid children too much i remember getting married i remember when i met ruby i suddenly my affections were being challenged in a way that they had never been challenged since i had been a christian and it caused me concern i think ruby told me she felt that too but i know there's a tension i know there are things that tend to buy at our affections but but the very fact that there is a battle the very fact there's a concern the very fact we fight and resist those things the very fact that that happens that there is a battle in that manner is actually it's a it's a very good indication of purity it's somebody that's longing for that purity they want it they don't want their affections for god challenged or turned away in any way listen to david pray psalm 86 teach me your way o lord i will walk in your truth unite my heart to fear your name now have you ever thought about i i don't know we used to sing that i believe we sang that at community i don't know i don't know if we did but somewhere along the line i that that verse came across my my attention and it stuck with me unite my heart and then it we don't pray that way unite my heart to fear your name why would david pray that you know why why does somebody pray that what don't they want they don't want a divided heart and why would he pray that because he feels that because he feels it this is not the prayer of a man who's walking through life and never feeling that there's some challenge to his affection for god prone to wander lord we feel it lord unite my heart there's a place of christ creating me a clean heart if they i mean david was crying out for this he felt this he wanted this this this is something that we should all be crying out for now make it one make it single make it whole let it be entirely free of hypocrisy now listen do you know what you find in hosea from chapter 1 through chapter 9 you find 19 times israel has this word thrown in their face and you know after god says that he says this their heart is divided in hosea 10 2 after 19 times of having this terminology thrown at them you see where it comes a divided heart is not a small thing it is to be a spiritual and see these are strong terms but you know what i want them to be strong i want to speak strong today because because i want you to hear that this is god's word i'm not quoting from some smutty magazine here i'm quoting from god's word he uses his terminology we need to feel this because this this is what god wants from his people one part of the max is if they want to know god they want to worship god they want to please god but what happens another part of them is going in a different direction they want something else listen to one of the promises of the new covenant i will give them one heart you see you can read that and it and it almost doesn't make any sense at times but in this context it makes lots of sense i'm going to give them one heart wow that's the essence of purity one substance single united not divided not double-minded a heart devoid of pollution no contaminants nothing that adulterates that's the issue no impurity so let's think about the heart what is the heart and sometimes people say well you know it's the seed of affection heart i mean that's that boy that that is a word like soul or spirit it's it the uses are broad listen when we're talking the heart you don't want to just think affections the heart is you the heart is your inner man that's what it's the center of your being it's the center of your personality it's who you are scripture says the heart what do you know about what do you know about the proverbs what does the proverb say about the heart of life right i mean you want to keep the heart with all diligence why it's the source because everything you are everything you do everything you say flows out of this it's your inner man it's who you are at the deepest level it's it's fr jesus says this from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders that's covetousness wickedness deceit lewdness evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness all these evil things come from within see that's it where's the heart it's that which is inside it's where your thoughts are it's where your feelings are it's it's the heart of the total man it's the center of your being the sword it's it's the spring head it's the fountain it's from keep it with diligence because everything springs from it everything you are what comes out of you comes from that source source of every activity this is and you know what's amazing blessed are the pure in heart what's jesus saying remember he's been talking about people in his kingdom i'll tell you one thing this says to us this is no mere religion christianity goes deep christianity goes after a man at the deepest level that's what we're talking about when we talk about the gospel we're talking about changing a man changing a woman right down to the depths blessed are the pure in heart not just external not just a white wash job not a white sepulcher not that kind of thing god now listen god's people are a.r.e in all caps pure in heart that needs to be said for i've been a christian a little over 30 years i have found that it is common in especially reformed circles to love to quote jeremiah 17 9 and i get a very uncomfortable feeling that it is used way too often to describe christians that is just simply not true if you don't know the verse i'm talking about somebody quoted 17 yeah we're basically talking that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it and i hear reformed preachers use that almost universally of mankind and it's like brethren i recognize do we feel a battle yes can we feel soiled yes can we feel filthy yes can we feel like where we need to fall down on our face and and repent and confess our sins before god yes but let me tell you something jesus is saying there really are people that are pure of heart and they're the ones that are blessed and they're the ones that are going to see god remember something about jeremiah do you know that jeremiah says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked but you know if you look in the context there do you know who he's describing he's actually describing the cursed man who puts his trust in man which is very interesting that's the cursed man jesus tells us who the blessed man is jeremiah's telling us who the cursed man is and you know what as you go through jeremiah you know what you find you find that jeremiah gets to the point where he wants to now tell us about the new covenant and he wants to tell us how god intervenes and changes a man's heart and what does he say i will give them a heart to know me they shall return to me with their whole heart that's jeremiah 24 and last week we looked at these promises jeremiah 32 i will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever i will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me you see scripture assumes that there are people whose hearts are no longer desperately wicked have you ever read this a good man out of the [Music] good anybody know out of the good treasure of his heart what does he do he brings forth good things did you and and then you have wicked people and then where is this this is matthew chapter 12 verse 35 a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things or you get this psalm 73 says truly god is good to israel to such as our pure in heart that is interesting you know what defines true israelite purity of heart that's precisely what it is and we could make a case from romans 2 that that's exactly what a true jew is as well if you look at the context there see purity of heart makes the true jew or you get this i well let me move on i think i i think when we're talking about purity what we have to do is we have to be honest and we have to ask ourselves some questions because he's talking about at the heart level and so what we have to ask ourselves is to what extent what people see see we each see each other we see certain things i see certain actions on your part i see how you hold yourself i see how you conduct yourself we each see each other there's that which is true on the external see that's with scribes and pharisees outwardly they were one way inwardly they were a different way you know what's true of the pure of heart well there it's it's kind of like this guy we just heard about from matthew a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things you see there's there are people who have evil hearts and they put on an act on the outside and then there are people with pure hearts that are striving to have word and deed that correspond with what's on the inside and what we really have to ask is to what extent are our actions and our words an accurate reflection of what's inside i have to ask myself that i mean what am what do you think about what do you love what's in there what do you want what i mean to what extent do your words and actions constitute a cover-up where you know somebody's watching and the truth is if they weren't watching udac different and to some degree i mean we all brush our hair before we see one another unless you're the prime minister of this country how i mean do you do you think about how much am i acting how much is this put on and i mean i recognize this too i i come here i stand up in front of you i speak i say things i you know how how much like i can tell you in all honesty i can tell you like when we took the lord's supper and we were looking at hebrews and we were looking my heart is just jumping inside of me i love that how i mean the reality is few there be that find it few there be that find life and so if if we put you know the end of the sermon on the mount together with the beginning of the sermon on the mount and jesus at the end is saying few that be that find it and in the beginning he's saying that it's only the pure in heart that are going to see god you know what we can basically conclude there are few in the world that really are living [Music] that life which they actually are at the heart level how few of us live one life and live it in the open live it in here and it comes out to the outside it you know that men are liars and hypocrisy is a form of lies because you're basically trying to demonstrate something that's not true you want people to think something that's not true men are hypocrites and and i'll tell you this false religion we as we were driving here today we were talking about legalism you know it's very interesting you can find different men very legalistic they have these standards they have these rules and laws that you need to live the christian life by and how many of these people ended up turning out to be some kind of sexual perverts or some kind of skeletons in the closet have come out it's it's like false religion is hypocrisy it is that i mean it's built on that you have people who yeah they're afraid of hell i recognize they realize they need to tip their hat to god and they want to appear a certain way we and you know the thing is we tend to know what's acceptable in any given environment we know the rules you know what's what's gonna make me acceptable if i go in this environment or in that one or when i show up it at church you know look if if if you got into a horrible fight with your spouse and then you show up at church and you're all smiles i mean see you know it's what's happening there and jesus is talking about pure in heart we have to examine ourselves on this level i think look i would confess before you do it am i aware when people are watching me yes i'm aware when people are watching do you do you purposely want to be a good example in that environment i mean there are there are socially acceptable things that we probably don't do in front of other people because we know socially speaking that's just awkward that's not right you don't do that we teach our children that don't pick your nose in front of people in other words it's okay to pick your nose when you're you know they're at home i mean the reality is we don't but brethren we're talking at a spiritual level at a godly level at a purity level when it comes to our devotion to god are we appearing externally like we're god lovers see that's the real issue it's like these scribes and pharisees oh yeah god is our god god is our father and jesus is saying no he's not if he was from the heart level you would love me because i came from him you see this is the real issue this divided affections it's it's what's real what's not real pure in heart woe to you scribes and pharisees hypocrites you're like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but inside you're full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness you see we know the thing is we know i mean jesus jesus says john the baptist where'd he come from the scribes and the pharisees these guys are thinking well you know if we say this he's going to say that if we if we say this he's going to say that you see what they were doing no interest in what's true just how it affects them no interest whatsoever was all put on it was all a show you know i have often wondered why anybody would want to play that game in the church i've wondered that because you of all people are most miserable why because you're playing a lie in the end you're going to miss heaven and you know what paul paul said if the dead aren't raised we christians of all people are most miserable but you know what christ did rise and so are we so we're not we of all people are the most blessed you want to be in our shoes when judgment comes but you know who the most miserable people are in the world people that put on the outward beauty but inside it's dead men's bones why because you know what when they come in the church god's discerning people smell the death they smell the bones you know what i'm talking about you get to people that you just it's you're concerned you're just concerned because something seems off and you know what you're they're not totally accepted by the world either because they're trying to play the religious game oh you go to church on sundays yeah so you're not exactly like the world and you're not exactly like the church you're just kind of trying to play the middle and you have all people you know what paul said might as well eat and drink for tomorrow we die that's i often i often wondered you know when god truly saved me well yeah i want to be among god's people but when he didn't save me this is the last place i wanted to be where did i want i mean it's like come on if you're gonna if you if you're it's like the laodiceans be hotter be cold yeah i mean if if you want your sin go after it why play the game blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god not the game players brethren this is the root of the matter they shall see god do you recognize that that is really what the whole object of christianity is all about it's to bring us to this vision of god to see god to behold him so the question is this what then is needed before i can see god well that's what we're dealing with blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god or this you know this text holiness without which no one will see the lord are you holy but you see holiness has holiness is right there with purity why purity has to do with singleness holiness has to do with being set apart for god again it's that singleness it's that idea holiness it's this unmixed condition of being nothing less than the whole person is involved it's devoted it's singular it's purity one substance no mixture simple oftentimes the word simple goes with purity why simp you know what simple means not complex the most simple you can have is one and that's the idea that we're after here it's it's a single bent for god a desire to know him and love him serve him obey him remember what peter said sanctify the lord god in your hearts and our lord says that only such people as are like this are actually going to see god you think about this i think about this what is the greatest reality i mean i can hear john piper preaching about these kinds of things it's like god is the greatest reality imaginable there's there's no greater not at all he is the great i am you think about what the i am that i am god is if there is any reality it is that god is he upholds everything he knows everything he's everywhere you know what psalm 139 you've searched me you've known me sitting down my uprising you understand my thoughts afar off you comprehend my path my lying down acquainted with all my ways there's not a word in my tongue behold oh lord you know it all together where can i go from your spirit where can i flee from your presence if i send to heaven you're there i make bed in hell you're there i take the wings of the morning dwell in the other most parts of the sea even there your hand is going to lead me indeed the darkness that can't hide me from you night shines his day the darkness and the light are both alike to you god is the truest god is the most real most magnificent reality of all and yet we have to ask this where is he isn't i mean isn't that what the atheist is saying [Music] i mean we it's it's like he's here he fills every every place we can gaze out into the universe and he's there you go down in the depths of the sea and he's there and not only is he there he upholds it all there's nothing more real than god and yet we say where is he where listen to these verses god says in deuteronomy 32 20 i will hide my face from them i will see what their end will be for their perverse generation children in whom is no faith or isaiah 59 2 your sins have hidden his face from you ezekiel 39 24 according to their uncleanness according to their transgression i have dealt with them and hidden my face from them do you know why we can't see god our sin and you know what happens when a person gets saved they begin to see god again that's precisely what the promise of the gospel is listen to this ezekiel 39 and i will not hide my face from them anymore don't we read in scripture looking unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith you see scripture the new testament uses visual terminology why because you know there's a there's a very close relationship between knowledge and seeing and what happens is suddenly a person gets saved and they begin to know god they begin to see they begin to feel jesus promised to manifest himself there we begin to have a sense of his presence and even though paul says we behold like through a glass through a mirror darkly still we behold isn't that what it says beholding the glory of the lord in second corinthians you see this this sight begins to break in upon us of moses it said there in hebrews 11 he endured as seen him who is invisible don't you love that see here we begin to see what's invisible and we feel him we know he's there he speaks to us christian people begin to have the spiritual sight that the truth is others simply don't have an unbeliever he can sit there and say to me show me proof it's like you know exactly what it's like it's like a blind man saying to a man that can see show me proof that there's really a sunset it's like i'm looking at it right but he can't see it and so he thinks i'm a fool for thinking the sun's to see god reveals himself to us that's what's happening does it say does not scripture say draw near to god where is he you see the assumption is he's there and he can be drawn close to we have a sense of knowing him there's a sense of his presence there's a sense of reality we talk about the smile of god you suddenly we talk about god withdrawing see we suddenly have these sensitivities to god being closer god being far god's smiling upon us god showing himself to us there's a nearness and and the thing is how do we get near to him how do we see him blessed are the pure in heart listen to this draw near to god purify your hearts it's in the same verse there in james 4. draw near to god purify your hearts you double-minded or in hebrews 10 22 let us draw near with a true heart or how about this who may ascend the hill of the lord who is it [Music] clean hands and a pure heart brethren i'll tell you this there's no sense being fake if you know you're the hypocrite take it to the lord confess it to him if you know you're not pure in heart you're not real cry out to him to save you from that pitiful position you don't want to be there you don't want to be there at all listen there's got to be reality because the reality in christianity is god the reality in christianity is finding god he is what makes christianity the living the triune god is what you want to find he is the treasurer of this brethren do you recognize he created us to be worshippers and man is determined to worship and brethren when we worship that which we were designed to worship when we behold the lord there's nothing more glorious absolutely nothing the only reason that anybody thinks that their sin is more glorious than god is because they're blind they're deceived and the devil has successfully just deceived that individual god and here's the thing god is light and so here's one of the things that happens that is we draw near to the light and it's very it's isn't it interesting scripture actually says it's an approachable light whom no man has seen or can see so we're told blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god in fact we look we look through this glass kind of dimly or darkly right now but then face to face and yet no man has seen him or can see him unapproachable light and yet we're told to approach i know there's a tension in scripture we we feel it and yet it comes down to this scene has to do face to face when you see somebody face to face it's like paul says that we will know as we are known it's got to do with revelation there's a certain this is what makes glory so glorious this idea that heaven is like some stagnant thing where you boringly sit on a cloud and play a harp nobody wants that that that would be torment the beauty about glory is this that there is always more of god to see that no matter how much we take in there is going to be more and so last thing of all that heaven is is static it's it's like god is never going to show us all of him we're never going to see him fully it is always going to be like moses where moses you can't see the whole thing you can't see the whole deal or you die and yet somehow in a glorified state we are going to be enabled to take in a revelation of god that is just absolutely impossible here but the beauty is that god is going to constantly be revealing himself more and more we can't even comprehend we just get these little statements that through all the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness it's like what is that i mean there's no definition it's just this broad statement that it's so glorious that we can't hardly comprehend it but that's i i mean but here's what happens as you draw close to this unapproachable light you actually try to approach it well what happens god is light and so it's much like have you ever you ever been in a room like here you know you get a gloomy day and all of a sudden i don't know it takes just the right setting but all of a sudden the sun comes out from behind the clouds and the ray comes through the window have you ever seen all the little things floating in the air well they were there before but you didn't see them it's kind of like us as we draw close to this light one of the things that happens is we feel all the more the impurity and you see it happen in isaiah write the classic text isaiah chapter six i mean here's probably the holiest man in the land isaiah the prophet and he comes to the temple and he comes in before the lord and suddenly he's recognizing he's a man of unclean lips and he dwells among the people of unclean lips and that's what happens peter we see the same thing depart from me lord that's you stand or you know this place we're singing in here it it doesn't have mirrors like we're used to at home or lights and so you know we were here the for the first the last year and then we go back to the us and you go in our bathroom there and we've got like these super bright led lights and a mirror that's like this big and blue and suddenly you realize oh i look really ugly i've got all these blemishes oh look at these hairs and these things i couldn't see them over there well that's what happens you come close to the light and suddenly you begin to recognize and brethren oftentimes it's the people that come closest to see most of god that become very aware of their own blemishes [Music] now hear me on this when we're talking about purity obviously this has everything to do with idols in our life because that's where we end up divided god says this this is this is a new covenant promise i'm going to sprinkle clean see it clean it purifies i'm going to sprinkle clean water and you shall be clean i will cleanse this is all in that purify category of words i'm going to cleanse you from all your filthiness see filthy contaminants and from your idols and if we're honest those idols that are most difficult in our lives that beloved thing it has roots that go down into our heart and it never comes out painlessly that tough old miser which is your flesh it's not you know this since when is the flesh just prone to lie down and roll over at our command that's not what happens and fact is idols which it loves which is endeared to the flesh it's it's like i'm kind of an outdoors guy kind of like gardening like having a nice lawn you know i've come to recognize i borrowed a friend's bulldozer to clear some of my land back in the states there's two prominent types of trees on that property that i had to remove one the roots were shallow they were big trees but i went up and hit them with the dozer and they'd fall over much smaller tree these hickories they had a tap root that went so deep and idols are like that it's like pulling out a weed that has roots that go way down and they go into the heart it's that this is what idols are like so that if you if you try to tear them out you feel like you're tearing out part of yourself and see and we don't like to be honest about what those things are oh i could give that thing you ever hear people that smoke i could give this up any time why don't you well i don't want to yeah exactly that's exactly the issue you see the i don't want to behind the idols and they and they go down there and i'll tell you this god says it's whoredom when you've got these things in your life that you depend upon that are going to bring you happy happiness and you just think you cannot live without this thing there's this tough fibrous root within the human heart whose nature is to possess and you know it how often do you use those words me mine that's mine you see on paper you can write those words down we could put them over here on the screen they seem relatively harmless right me mine my yeah but i'll tell you what they they reveal something that the truth is they're verbal symptoms of something that goes deep within us that's wrong with us a deep disease the roots of our hearts have grown down into things and you start doing an inventory you start and you know this happens ruby and i moving over here you really start to do inventory on things why because you pretty much have to leave everything behind except for you can fit in a few suitcases and and we do this inventory what is it what is it that really has us the roots of our hearts that grow down deep and we dare not pull those things up lest we die and that's exactly what christ says you better do you better die and you better die daily and you better die to self and to see what happens is god's gifts take the place of god himself and as soon as that happens that is a divided heart and god is not at all pleased with that hilt and brother he tests us just like with abraham he tests us on what truly has our affections and whether it's truly him god will test you go sell all that you have and give to the poor yeah that was a test for him but i'll guarantee you this you can say well that he didn't say that to me yeah but i'll tell you this he will say something to you and he'll test you and he'll test your idols because he wants this purity of heart god's gifts take the place of god himself now i'll tell you this it is a monstrous substitution it turns everything upside down and in the reasons behind why god made us god made us to worship him and to love him listen he made us to find our greatest delight in him our greatest satisfaction our greatest fulfillment these idols they're an impurity that plagues us it plagues us as a race we have a natural bent to this and you know it and this is where the whoredom comes in have you ever have you ever wondered like i've wondered this why would israel trade their god for one of these false gods who's simply an idol can you imagine it see we can pretty much look at this and say that is so foolish and yet we're just like them i mean it's a statue yeah look at it they carved it out of rock chiseled it carved it out of wood they burnt half of it in the fire made a meal see we can look at that and we can say how could they ever go after that how could that get their heart well you you see it you see exactly how they can you know what they said they said you know what since we worship the queen of heaven everything goes good when we stop portion the queen of heaven things went bad you see what it really comes down to is this they said our crops did well when we started worshiping the queen of heaven you know this is that what that group said that went down to egypt and when they took jeremiah with them but that's where it is you start thinking well things go good things you see those things were long after rather than having god himself the man who has god for his treasure see that's the thing we have we have it all in one no there's no need to be divided do you recognize the insult it is to god when he is who he is and can satisfy as he can satisfy and it's the treasure that scripture says he is when you say i want that thing instead and it is a little trivial money or little trifling pleasure unity of heart oneness of heart that's what god's after not divided and you know many ordinary treasures we can be denied them and it's okay and even though god may give us some of them that still we don't want those things to be allowed to to basically control us they're never necessary for our happiness the and out and you know this the deepest rooted idol is that old miser self that's you know it it self is what is most responsible for causing us to have a divided heart those self sins you know what they are self dependence self confidence self righteousness self self-aggrandizement self-exaltation self self self sufficiency self love and you know what happens see blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god if you really want to be honest with something i'll tell you this self is the greatest veil to seeing god and i feel it it's that surrender to the will of god that takes the veil away self self will [Music] singleness is found in bringing all those self sins to the cross for judgment really seeing god is bound up in the death of self if you've heard me quote this before hear me again because this is well worth hearing edward payson they call him praying payson of portland maine long since gone to be with the lord been to his graveside there in maine listen to what he said he's dying he's on his deathbed oh what a blessed thing it is to lose one's will since i've lost my will i've found happiness there could be no such thing as disappointment to me for i have no desires but that god's will may be accomplished christians might avoid much trouble and inconvenience if they would only believe what they profess that god is able to make them happy without anything else christians imagine that if such a dear friend were to die or such and such blessings were to be removed then they'd be miserable but the truth is god can make them a thousand times happier without those things to mention my own case god has been depriving me of one blessing after another but as everyone was removed god himself has come in and filled up its place and now when i'm a and not able to move i'm happier than ever i was in my life before or ever expected to be and if i had not believed or if i had believed this 20 years ago i might have spared myself much anxiety now think about this this is another aspect god you remember this this is peter after the ordeal at cornelius's house and he's talking to these leaders in jerusalem listen to what he says god made no distinct distinction between us jews and them gentiles purifying their hearts by faith now that's a thought think about this what is faith i mean we talk about self sins loving self and loving stuff that god has created instead of loving him like we all if overvaluing self and overvaluing god's created stuff tend to be our chief idolatries that tend to adulterate the heart cause us to be divided what is the effect of justifying faith where you come to recognize all my sins are forgiven because of that one sacrifice of christ what's the effect of that i mean what's what's the prime object of faith i see our eyes turn away from self and it turns away from everything else and suddenly your eyes are upon the lord christ i mean what happens in my heart when i come when a sinner comes to realize that christ did that for me he took that upon himself for me i mean you see what happened suddenly my my all my bent towards wanting to worship myself it's like he's the one that's worthy the life of faith is the death of pride and it you know what it does too it takes the it takes the shine off the things in the world turn your eyes upon jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace and there is truth to that now look like i said before i'm not ashamed of using this language because i'm wanting to drive home a point this is one of your own englishman he's an english christian so if you want to blame anybody you blame him the old english anglican bible commentator john trapp i've got traps five volumes i gave it to joshua when i moved here way too heavy pulling over here listen to what he said faith as a neat housewife that's what he likens faith to a neat housewife sweeps clean and suffers never a corner in the soul and she loves it i mean that's like the horde of language faith does not tolerate the corner the adulterated it doesn't faith doesn't do that it is ever purging upon corruption and lets out the lifeblood of it for it shows a man a better project than to lie sucking at the botches of carnal pleasures you gotta love that language sucking at the botches of carnal pleasures or to be basically affixed to earthly prophets every true believer his faith consecrates his heart and makes it god's enclosure or there's this john 15 3 you're already clean because of the word that i have spoken to you sanctify them by thy truth your word is truth or you remember paul says christ loved the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify and cleanse her with washing of water by the word see these disciples he said you're already clean because of the word do you recognize what that's saying if you sit at the feet of christ and listen to him teach and you actually heed what he says that's purifying do you realize this book brethren this is this is no empty task for you to rise up every day and take this book and open it up and prayerfully begin to read in it because i'll tell you what empowered by the spirit of god it washes where you can't wash brethren do you realize christian do you realize this about yourself you and i are being prepared to stand in the very presence of the king of kings christian you're going to see god face to face that's what we're promised i mean don't would you not agree this is the most momentous the most stupendous the most amazing job says after my skin is destroyed this i know in my flesh i shall see god whom i shall see for myself don't you love that i'm gonna see him for myself nobody's got i'm not going to be like the blind guy that's got a seeing guy that's leading me about and telling me about something it's like the samaritans remember the samaritans well at first we believe what we believed because you the adulteress lady that had five husbands came and told us but now it's not because you told us it's because we've seen for ourselves that's basically what job is saying and my eyes shall behold and not another how my heart yearns within me i hope that's what makes your christianity altogether glorious is you've got this expectation you're moving towards that that's the hope that we have there shall be no more curse but the throne of god and the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him they shall see his face and isaiah says your eyes will see the king and his beauty now i just leave you with this because john says this he said you know what's going to happen we're going to see christ when we see him we're going to be made like him and he says this everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as christ is pure when the kingdom is consummated new heaven the new earth and christ stands there there are people in this room we are going to be shoulder to shoulder i think the only reason we will look at each other you know how the song says it the the the bride does not eye her dress but the bridegroom we're not gonna i don't think we're gonna have much cause to look at each other other than just the disbelief of his beauty and glory and we will look at each other like can you believe this right wow you see the expectation in the hope is that we're going to see him we're going to be like him and john argues that everyone who has that hope they will purify themselves according to john this is what he says the christian purifies himself now because the christian has a hope as to what he's ultimately going to see and ultimately going to be and his present look brethren what john is telling us is our present efforts to purify ourselves are consistent with that future hope that we have the disciple of christ who looks forward to this is already determined to be preparing for it we're going to have an audience with the king what i mean look this what an incentive to purity and there's the end blessed are the pure in heart [Music] for they shall see god let's pray father we would ask you to quicken each one of us to live in light of this hope and this expectation and lay hold on eternal things we ask you lord to open our eyes lord help each one of us to feel even right now in this world at this time the sight and the vision and the closeness that we may be forfeiting simply because we're allowing such impurities dividedness double mindedness double-heartedness to creep in to veil our eyes from seeing more of the glory i pray father that you would grip us with such an anticipation so strong that it leads us to endeavor right here in this life right now to pursue purity father i pray that you'd make heaven more pure more more real to us father we we admit it so often sin clouds our vision it clouds what we see of you makes it impossible for us to only makes it impossible for us to see as we all as we would like to see and it's lord we recognize that there's still a reason even now why we can only see but dimly we know that you are pure eyes sin just cannot dwell with you lord if we're if we're honest we have we have so cheaply at times sold out to idolatry we we allow those roots to continue down into our hearts and it's true lord we feel it to uproot certain things it's we we feel like it kills us takes part of us out we would ask you just like david did long ago please lord create in us a clean heart we pray for this inward purity that the lord jesus christ is speaking about so that we may gaze upon you lord i look forward to it i want that day to come where with these brethren we will behold the king in all of his beauty i look so forward to falling on my face next to these faithful brethren who have striven after purity of heart us together to fall down on our faces overwhelmed by the absolute glory in that day that is my hope that is my expectation and i pray lord that you would cause such hope and expectation to just well up and well over into a lord a real earnestness on the part of all of us here to pursue purity in a way that we never have before and i pray all this in the name of our lord jesus christ amen you are dismissed

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 6,508

Rating: 4.9708028 out of 5

Keywords: pure, heart, Tim Conway, believer, sermon on the mount

Id: TiUcBgb--L4

Length: 71min 54sec (4314 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 12 2021