By Rev. Juliet Schimpf
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Broadcast Notes
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LINK to CFRA broadcast of Sunday, November 13th, 2016
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'Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God'
(Matthew 5:8)
ON THE HEART
- The heart includes the mind; it includes the will; it includes the emotions—It is the master control center of one’s life.
- PROVERBS 4:23 “WATCH OVER YOUR HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE, FOR FROM IT FLOW THE SPRINGS OF LIFE.”
THE PROBLEM…
- JEREMIAH 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
- ROMANS 3:21 “It now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through faith in his blood.”
- MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: “You can see God only when you are pure in heart, and we have just seen what we are by nature. It is a complete antithesis; nothing could be further removed from God. What the gospel proposes to do is to bring us out of the terrible pit and to raise us up to the heavens. It is supernatural.”
THE SOLUTION…
- A PERSON IS NOT CHANGED FROM THE OUTSIDE IN; HE MUST BE CHANGED FROM THE INSIDE OUT!
- GREG LAURIE: “GOD CATCHES HIS FISH, AND THEN HE CLEANS THEM!”
[GOD DOES ALL THE WORK]
- JOSEPH HART: “‘Tis thine to cleanse the heart,
to sanctify the soul,
To pour fresh life in every part
And new create the whole.”
- PURITY IN DEVOTION
- PURITY IN DESIRES
- PURITY IN DIRECTION
- PURITY IN DEVOTION
- JEREMIAH 24:7 [IN REFERENCE TO THE EXILES OF JUDAH] “My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
- JEREMIAH 31:33 “‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD.’” "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’”
- EZEKIEL: 36:26-29 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness.”
BILLY GRAHAM: “Purity of heart has both a _(NEGATIVE)_______ and a _(POSITIVE)_______ side. On one hand, our hearts are to be __(EMPTIED)________ of sin and its dominion over us. On the other hand, we are to be pure in our actions and __(FILLED)_______ with all that is pure.”
Colossians 3: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion,e vil desire…put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, foul talk…Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience….and above all these put on love”
JAMES 4:8 DRAW NEAR TO GOD AND HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU. CLEANSE YOUR HANDS, YOU SINNERS, AND PURIFY YOUR HEARTS, YOU MEN OF DOUBLE MIND.”
IMPURITY OF DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS IS EXPLAINED IN JAMES 4:4 “WHOEVER WISHES TO BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD MAKES HIMSELF AN ENEMY OF GOD”
Saul was a double-minded man: he tried to fear the people and fear the lord at the same time. Saul worried about the outward appearance; “honour me, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel” (1 samuel 15:30). David sought no honor for himself but only for god. “I will praise thee, o lord, with my whole heart” (psalm 9:1)
David was utterly honest before God: “examine me, o lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart” (psalm 26:2)
David: “YOU DESIRE truth in the inward being,” and “Teach me wisdom in my secret heart”, and “create in me a clean heart, O God.”
2. A PURITY IN OUR DESIRES
ON PURITY
- The Greek word for pure is “katharos”, and it has two meanings.
- The first meaning is “clean”.
- Our English word “cathartic” comes from this Greek word.
- A “cathartic” is an agent used by a doctor for the cleansing of the physical system.
- A psychiatrist also uses catharsis on the emotional level, to “cleanse” the patient of hostilities and other destructive attitudes.
- There is also a spiritual catharsis, a cleansing of the inner man. “Purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9) is one example. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”
(1 John 1:7).
- But the word as it is used in our Beatitude takes the second meaning—namely, “unmixed”, unadulterated, unalloyed. Being “pure in heart” involves being unmixed as well as being clean.
- WILLIAM BARCLAY: “Blessed is the man whose motives are always entirely unmixed, for that man shall see God.”
- For example, the word “katharos” is regularly used for corn which has been winnowed or sifted and cleansed of all chaff.
- The basic idea is that of integrity, singleness of heart, as opposed to duplicity, a double heart, a divided heart.
- Jeremiah 32:39 “I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them.” This is spiritual and moral integrity.
- Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”
- SOREN KIERKEGAARD BOOK, “PURITY OF HEART IS TO WILL ONE THING” (PROVIDED THE ONE THING WE WILL IS THE GLORY OF GOD)
- MOTIVES:
- Is our service given from selfless motives or from motives of self-display?
- Is the work we do in Church done for Christ or for our own prestige?
- Is our Church-going an attempt to meet God or a fulfilling of an habitual and conventional respectability?
- Loving God with all my SOUL MEANS THAT I KNOW THAT I come from God, and all my needs and desires are ultimately met and satisfied in Him alone.
- What are my strongest desires? How do I satisfy my desires? Do I violate any of God’s commands in my attempts to get what I want? What do I want that God doesn’t want me to have? What do I want more than a relationship with God?
*THIS IS ABOUT MAKING JESUS LORD—NOT JUST SAVIOUR—OVER EVERY AREA OF OUR LIVES.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: “It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.”
3.A PURITY IN OUR DIRECTION
WARREN WIERSBE: “At some point in life, each of us must decide what is his highest joy; for the thing that __(DELIGHTS)_________us __(DIRECTS)_______ us…So, every person has an outlook on life; he is seeking his highest joy. Outlook determines _(OUTCOME)__.”
Matthew 6:21 “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”
Alice: Can you tell me which path I should take?
Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to go!
Alice: I don't really know.
Cheshire Cat: Then, clearly, any path will do!
Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to go!
Alice: I don't really know.
Cheshire Cat: Then, clearly, any path will do!
(Lewis Carroll; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
You cannot reach the promised land of God’s presence if, all the while you are marching through the wilderness of this life, you are casting wistful glances in the direction of Egypt and wishing for the pleasures of sin…
PROVERBS 3:5-6 “Trust the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
SEEING GOD
- There is a sense, of course, in which God cannot be seen.
- JOHN 1:18 [JOHN] “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.”
- EXODUS 33 :20 [MOSES] But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." 21 Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."
- (REVELATION 22:4) ULTIMATELY, THE CHILDREN OF GOD WILL, IN HEAVEN, “SEE HIS FACE”
Physical sight, mental vision (through the eye of the min you can imagine something); there is spiritual vision, by which through the eyes of the soul you can go beyond discerning a material object to apprehending a spiritual presence (when you shut your eyes, you can still see—you can see him who is invisible)
1. we will see God in His creation:
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1)
2. We see god in circumstances….”History is His story”
THE MESSAGE: MATTHEW 5:8 “YOU’RE BLESSED WHEN YOU GET YOUR INSIDE WORLD RIGHT—YOUR HEART AND MIND—PUT RIGHT. THEN YOU CAN SEE GOD IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD.” (THE MESSAGE)
3. we see God in His Word as He really is AND BE AWESTRUCK BY HIS GLORY
a. you begin to see yourself in the light of god’s glory
Job 42:5-6 “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes”
Revelation 1:17 The apostle John, an intimate friend of Jesus, had a similar experience: “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.”
b. you see others in a new light
MOTHER TERESA: “I SEE GOD IN EVERY HUMAN BEING. WHEN I WASH THE LEPER’S WOUNDS, I FEEL I AM NURSING THE LORD HIMSELF.”
STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN:
I can see the fingerprints of God
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of God
And I know it's true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of God
CONCLUSION: HAPPINESS (BLESSEDNESS) IN PURITY!
Purity is happiness!
C. S. LEWIS: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea”
PSALM 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Rev. Juliet Schimpf
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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the following link:
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