Blessed Are the Pure in Heart

Matthew 5:8
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Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible begins his sermon by focusing on Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This beatitude speaks about the purity of heart necessary to see God, a concept that initially feels impossible and almost unattainable.

Pastor Colin explains that a pure heart does not mean a sinless life but requires an undivided and clean heart. He challenges the congregation to understand that purity of heart means having a singular focus on God, free from a divided or double-minded nature. He gives practical advice on striving for this purity, including immersing oneself in God’s word and prayer.

The sermon elaborates on the theological concepts of justification, forgiveness, and cleansing that come through union with Christ. Justification is a legal standing where God drops all charges against believers because Jesus has atoned for their sins. Forgiveness is relational, where God reconciles believers to Himself, transforming them from enemies to friends.

Finally, cleansing, which is a personal and ongoing process, is emphasised. Pastor Colin encourages believers to trust in Christ’s power to purify their hearts continually. He concludes by urging those struggling with past baggage and sins to step into faith, trusting that Christ can indeed make their hearts clean.

1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,840 You are listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible, to contact 2 00:00:07,840 –> 00:00:12,700 us, call us at 1-877-Open-365. 3 00:00:12,700 –> 00:00:14,580 Or visit our web site openthebible.org. 4 00:00:14,580 –> 00:00:17,799 Let s get to the message. 5 00:00:17,799 –> 00:00:18,799 Here is Pastor Colin. 6 00:00:18,799 –> 00:00:25,840 Well I hope you will have your Bible open today at Matthew Chapter 5 and verse eight. 7 00:00:26,700 –> 00:00:35,919 These words of Christ our Savior Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. 8 00:00:35,919 –> 00:00:41,900 To tell you I ve prepared the message today with a sense of awe that I hope you will feel 9 00:00:41,900 –> 00:00:46,220 as we immerse ourselves in these words of Jesus together. 10 00:00:46,220 –> 00:00:47,320 Think of this. 11 00:00:47,320 –> 00:00:53,619 God is speaking to us from this scripture today about seeing Him. 12 00:00:53,619 –> 00:00:56,240 Seeing God. 13 00:00:56,240 –> 00:00:57,580 You will see God. 14 00:00:57,580 –> 00:01:03,419 And what will that be, to be face to face before Him? 15 00:01:03,419 –> 00:01:07,980 And He speaks here about purity of heart, a heart that thinks what is right. 16 00:01:07,980 –> 00:01:09,779 A heart that loves what is good. 17 00:01:09,779 –> 00:01:14,099 A heart that wills what is best. 18 00:01:14,099 –> 00:01:19,620 I have to tell you that my first reaction on reading this sixth beatitude is that what 19 00:01:20,180 –> 00:01:24,080 describes here seems on first reading to be impossible. 20 00:01:24,080 –> 00:01:27,980 Pure in heart. 21 00:01:27,980 –> 00:01:32,540 I would be very surprised if there is a single person in the congregation who immediately 22 00:01:32,540 –> 00:01:37,459 on reading these words, purity of heart, would say, oh, that’s me. 23 00:01:37,459 –> 00:01:40,339 I don’t think that’s what we’re saying, is it? 24 00:01:40,339 –> 00:01:41,339 Which is significant. 25 00:01:41,339 –> 00:01:45,120 Because when we read the first beatitude, blessed are the poor in spirit, it was very 26 00:01:45,120 –> 00:01:49,379 easy for us to say, hey, that’s the people who know that they’ve not got what it 27 00:01:49,379 –> 00:01:50,779 takes before God. 28 00:01:50,779 –> 00:01:52,500 That certainly is me. 29 00:01:52,500 –> 00:01:56,239 Or when we read the second beatitude, blessed are those who mourn. 30 00:01:56,239 –> 00:02:00,699 Blessed are those who become aware of their sins, and aware of their shortcomings, and 31 00:02:00,699 –> 00:02:01,820 mourn over them. 32 00:02:01,820 –> 00:02:06,180 It was not difficult for us by God’s grace to get to the place of saying, that is certainly 33 00:02:06,180 –> 00:02:07,180 me. 34 00:02:07,180 –> 00:02:08,860 That’s me. 35 00:02:08,860 –> 00:02:12,979 But when Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart, I don’t find myself saying that’s 36 00:02:12,979 –> 00:02:19,020 me at all, and I don’t expect that you do either. 37 00:02:19,199 –> 00:02:24,000 And then just thinking about the scale of these words of Jesus that we’re looking at 38 00:02:24,000 –> 00:02:25,000 today. 39 00:02:25,000 –> 00:02:27,179 Seeing God! 40 00:02:27,179 –> 00:02:31,300 That seems like a second thing that equally impossible at first sight. 41 00:02:31,300 –> 00:02:33,600 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. 42 00:02:33,600 –> 00:02:38,460 You remember in the Old Testament, Moses wanted to do that. 43 00:02:38,460 –> 00:02:42,100 Show me your glory, he says. 44 00:02:42,100 –> 00:02:45,679 And God says to him, are you going to hide yourself in a rock? 45 00:02:45,679 –> 00:02:50,600 And I will allow the brightness, the appearing, of my glory to pass by. 46 00:02:50,600 –> 00:02:56,059 And then God allowed Moses to see what we might describe as the afterburn of the glory 47 00:02:56,059 –> 00:02:58,039 of the presence of the Lord. 48 00:02:58,039 –> 00:03:01,839 And God says Exodus chapter 33 and verse 20. 49 00:03:01,839 –> 00:03:09,300 You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me, and live. 50 00:03:09,300 –> 00:03:12,559 Can’t see God and live. 51 00:03:12,679 –> 00:03:19,160 And yet here we have Jesus saying, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 52 00:03:19,160 –> 00:03:20,160 God. 53 00:03:20,160 –> 00:03:25,100 It seems like there are two miracles involved right here. 54 00:03:25,100 –> 00:03:29,139 So straight away, the apparent impossibility of these two things, seeing God in purity 55 00:03:29,139 –> 00:03:34,660 of heart, shows us what a great Savior Jesus Christ is, that He may offer these things 56 00:03:34,660 –> 00:03:35,660 to us. 57 00:03:35,660 –> 00:03:38,240 He does not give us this beatitude to mock us. 58 00:03:38,240 –> 00:03:40,059 He comes as the great Redeemer. 59 00:03:40,059 –> 00:03:41,660 He comes as a Savior. 60 00:03:41,660 –> 00:03:48,259 He comes as the Deliverer, and he holds these precious gifts in his hand, that in Christ 61 00:03:48,259 –> 00:03:54,679 a sinner, with all the baggage that sinful habits leave in the thoughts of your mind 62 00:03:54,679 –> 00:04:02,179 and the inclinations of your heart, that such a person should become pure in heart. 63 00:04:02,179 –> 00:04:09,639 That in Christ a sinner, being washed and forgiven and cleansed, should actually see 64 00:04:09,639 –> 00:04:16,959 God, and instead of shrinking back into an everlasting hell, should be able to move forward 65 00:04:16,959 –> 00:04:19,380 into an everlasting joy. 66 00:04:19,380 –> 00:04:26,100 These are amazing things, and this is what Christ is able to do for sinners. 67 00:04:26,100 –> 00:04:29,040 This is what Jesus Christ is able to do for you. 68 00:04:29,040 –> 00:04:34,119 He can purify your heart, and he can shine his light into your heart to give you the 69 00:04:34,160 –> 00:04:41,899 light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 70 00:04:41,899 –> 00:04:48,220 So while my first reaction on looking at this beatitude is to say, boy, this seems impossible, 71 00:04:48,220 –> 00:04:56,000 my second thought is to say, now, if I could lay hold of everything that Jesus speaks of 72 00:04:56,000 –> 00:05:02,119 in this beatitude and really make it mine, I would be blessed indeed. 73 00:05:02,119 –> 00:05:05,799 I would be blessed and so would you. 74 00:05:05,799 –> 00:05:12,279 Now, again, we have two weekends to immerse ourselves in this beatitude and today we’re 75 00:05:12,279 –> 00:05:15,799 going to focus on what Christ calls us to hear. 76 00:05:15,799 –> 00:05:20,440 What is this purity of heart that he speaks about so that we understand it well in order 77 00:05:20,440 –> 00:05:22,679 that we may go after it. 78 00:05:22,679 –> 00:05:27,079 And then next week, God willing, we’ll come in the second part to look at the how question. 79 00:05:27,079 –> 00:05:29,679 How can I pursue this purity of heart? 80 00:05:29,679 –> 00:05:31,339 How can I cultivate it? 81 00:05:31,339 –> 00:05:35,839 What are the practical things that I can do to move in this direction? 82 00:05:35,839 –> 00:05:41,679 So we begin today then with what purity of heart is and let’s begin with a negative because 83 00:05:41,679 –> 00:05:44,679 it’s important to see what it’s not. 84 00:05:44,679 –> 00:05:45,679 Let me put it this way. 85 00:05:45,679 –> 00:05:50,359 The purity of heart does not mean that you never have a bad thought. 86 00:05:50,359 –> 00:05:51,959 That should come as a relief to you. 87 00:05:52,480 –> 00:05:53,480 Oh, good. 88 00:05:53,480 –> 00:05:54,760 Okay, that at least helps. 89 00:05:54,760 –> 00:06:01,119 Remember the apostle John says to believers, to Christians, if we say that we are without 90 00:06:01,119 –> 00:06:03,420 sin, we deceive ourselves. 91 00:06:03,420 –> 00:06:08,760 Christians are always sinners in this life, sinners in the process of recovery. 92 00:06:08,760 –> 00:06:12,899 And if purity of heart meant that you simply never had anything wrong or that you never 93 00:06:12,899 –> 00:06:18,380 thought anything wrong or felt anything amiss, then clearly this would be a blessing, the 94 00:06:18,380 –> 00:06:21,500 sixth beard attitude that no Christian could ever have. 95 00:06:21,500 –> 00:06:25,140 And Christ does not say these words to mock us. 96 00:06:25,140 –> 00:06:29,320 He says these words because He offers something to us. 97 00:06:29,320 –> 00:06:32,579 Now, most writers pick up on this important point. 98 00:06:32,579 –> 00:06:34,640 No one says it better than E.W. 99 00:06:34,640 –> 00:06:35,640 Pink. 100 00:06:35,640 –> 00:06:42,239 Just very succinctly he says purity of heart is not sinlessness of life. 101 00:06:42,239 –> 00:06:43,339 These are two different things. 102 00:06:43,339 –> 00:06:47,500 There is no perfection that is being spoken of here by the Lord Jesus because there is 103 00:06:47,559 –> 00:06:50,359 no perfection for the Christian in this life. 104 00:06:50,359 –> 00:06:53,000 Purity of heart is not sinlessness of life. 105 00:06:53,000 –> 00:06:57,640 We’re going to see what it is, but let’s be at least clear about this as to what it is 106 00:06:57,640 –> 00:06:58,799 not. 107 00:06:58,799 –> 00:07:00,760 It is not sinlessness of life. 108 00:07:00,760 –> 00:07:03,119 It’s not perfection. 109 00:07:03,119 –> 00:07:09,519 The Bible speaks, in fact, about purity in different ways or holiness in different ways, 110 00:07:09,519 –> 00:07:12,140 and it is important to be able to distinguish between them. 111 00:07:12,140 –> 00:07:15,059 Let me just mention three very briefly. 112 00:07:15,059 –> 00:07:20,239 The first is that there is a purity or holiness that is ascribed to God alone. 113 00:07:20,239 –> 00:07:26,679 You have this many places in the Bible, Isaiah chapter six in verse three is one of them. 114 00:07:26,679 –> 00:07:37,540 Remember that in the presence of the Almighty there are millions of angels who have never 115 00:07:37,540 –> 00:07:38,540 sinned. 116 00:07:38,540 –> 00:07:41,579 Don’t know what sin is from experience. 117 00:07:41,579 –> 00:07:54,359 They are holy angels, but even the holy angels cover their faces in the immediate presence 118 00:07:54,359 –> 00:07:57,440 of the Almighty. 119 00:07:57,440 –> 00:08:04,299 And they say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty! 120 00:08:04,299 –> 00:08:05,980 Why do they say it three times? 121 00:08:06,220 –> 00:08:09,299 Because His holiness is of another kind. 122 00:08:09,299 –> 00:08:11,140 It is the source of theirs. 123 00:08:11,140 –> 00:08:15,380 It is incomparable. 124 00:08:15,380 –> 00:08:21,700 You and I, like the angels, will reflect the purity and the holiness of God when our redemption 125 00:08:21,700 –> 00:08:23,799 is complete for all eternity. 126 00:08:23,799 –> 00:08:28,100 But we will reflect the holiness of God in the way the moon reflects the light of the 127 00:08:28,100 –> 00:08:29,100 sun. 128 00:08:29,100 –> 00:08:33,479 The sun has its own light, the moon has reflected light. 129 00:08:33,479 –> 00:08:40,580 So even the holy angels are covering their faces in the presence of the Holy, Holy, Holy 130 00:08:40,580 –> 00:08:41,580 One. 131 00:08:41,580 –> 00:08:46,700 There is a purity and a holiness that is ascribed to God alone. 132 00:08:46,700 –> 00:08:47,799 He is incomparable. 133 00:08:47,799 –> 00:08:49,039 He is God. 134 00:08:49,039 –> 00:08:50,320 He is God. 135 00:08:50,320 –> 00:08:54,760 Second, there is a purity and a holiness that will be ours in heaven. 136 00:08:54,760 –> 00:09:01,000 It really will be yours in the presence of Jesus, and already is for those who have gone 137 00:09:01,000 –> 00:09:02,960 into his presence. 138 00:09:02,979 –> 00:09:08,719 1 John chapter 3 in verse 2, when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see 139 00:09:08,719 –> 00:09:10,940 him as he is. 140 00:09:10,940 –> 00:09:12,239 Pick up on this next week. 141 00:09:12,239 –> 00:09:16,320 How often the bible connects our seeing of God with our growth in purity. 142 00:09:16,320 –> 00:09:20,719 When we see him as he is, then our purity will be complete. 143 00:09:20,719 –> 00:09:22,960 We shall be like him. 144 00:09:22,960 –> 00:09:28,320 In the presence of Jesus you will have a purity that is like pure gold, a holiness that is 145 00:09:28,320 –> 00:09:29,599 like pure gold. 146 00:09:29,599 –> 00:09:36,080 There will not in heaven be a trace of sin on you or in you or around you. 147 00:09:36,080 –> 00:09:38,159 It will be glorious. 148 00:09:38,159 –> 00:09:43,640 It will be an unrelenting and magnificent joy. 149 00:09:43,640 –> 00:09:50,299 But that awaits the time when Christ appears, that unmixed holiness, that pure gold. 150 00:09:50,299 –> 00:09:55,000 But then thirdly, there is purity or a holiness that God calls you to pursue now. 151 00:09:55,000 –> 00:09:57,640 And that’s what Jesus is speaking about here. 152 00:09:57,679 –> 00:10:02,520 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. 153 00:10:02,520 –> 00:10:07,119 Thomas Watson, who we are often quoting in this series, has this good phrase. 154 00:10:07,119 –> 00:10:12,179 He says, this is purity in a gospel sense. 155 00:10:12,739 –> 00:10:19,840 And he says that the Christian’s purity in this life is rather like gold that is mixed 156 00:10:19,840 –> 00:10:20,840 with ross. 157 00:10:20,840 –> 00:10:25,320 When you’re in the presence of Jesus, it’ll be pure gold, refined gold. 158 00:10:25,320 –> 00:10:29,340 Now it’s real gold, but it’s gold that is mixed with ross. 159 00:10:29,340 –> 00:10:36,619 And he says this mixture, God calls purity in a gospel sense. 160 00:10:36,619 –> 00:10:42,719 As a face, he uses this analogy, as a face may be said to be fair, which has some freckles 161 00:10:42,719 –> 00:10:44,280 in it. 162 00:10:44,280 –> 00:10:49,039 So what he’s saying is this, that where there is a longing for purity, and where there is 163 00:10:49,140 –> 00:10:55,599 a loathing of impurity, there in fact is a purity of heart. 164 00:10:55,599 –> 00:10:56,919 It is mixed. 165 00:10:56,919 –> 00:11:00,260 It is not complete, it is not perfect, but it is real. 166 00:11:00,260 –> 00:11:04,940 It’s not pure gold, but it’s real gold and it is of great value in the eyes of God because 167 00:11:04,940 –> 00:11:08,239 it is the work of the Holy Spirit in your soul. 168 00:11:08,239 –> 00:11:14,880 So understand this, that purity of heart does not mean sinlessness of life. 169 00:11:14,880 –> 00:11:16,780 What then does it mean? 170 00:11:16,780 –> 00:11:18,940 Two things. 171 00:11:18,940 –> 00:11:28,700 Number one, a pure heart is an undivided heart and number two, a pure heart is a clean heart. 172 00:11:28,700 –> 00:11:30,500 That’s where we’re focused today. 173 00:11:30,500 –> 00:11:37,059 A pure heart is an undivided heart and a pure heart is a clean heart. 174 00:11:37,059 –> 00:11:44,179 So, think with me for a few moments if you would about the blessing of an undivided heart. 175 00:11:44,179 –> 00:11:52,239 That’s what the word pure means, one, whole, undivided. 176 00:11:52,239 –> 00:11:58,700 Blessed are the pure in heart, blessed is the one whose heart is undivided. 177 00:11:58,700 –> 00:11:59,919 That’s what Jesus is saying. 178 00:11:59,919 –> 00:12:02,039 That’s what the word means. 179 00:12:02,039 –> 00:12:07,900 It’s interesting that our Lord Jesus returns to this theme a little later in the Sermon 180 00:12:07,900 –> 00:12:08,900 on the Mount. 181 00:12:09,820 –> 00:12:16,320 verse 22, I’m quoting here from the King James Version, the light of the body, Jesus says 182 00:12:16,320 –> 00:12:25,179 is the eye, and if therefore your eye be single, then your whole body will be full of light, 183 00:12:25,179 –> 00:12:26,659 if your eye be single. 184 00:12:26,659 –> 00:12:31,900 The ESV says if your eye be healthy, the NIB says if your eye be good. 185 00:12:31,979 –> 00:12:39,020 They’re all expressions, good expressions, of this idea of wholeness or health or oneness 186 00:12:39,039 –> 00:12:43,640 that’s at the root of the word that Jesus spoke, but I think that the Old King James 187 00:12:43,640 –> 00:12:46,099 Version here is perhaps the most helpful of all. 188 00:12:46,099 –> 00:12:53,460 If your eye be single, if you are a person who is going after one thing, if you’re focused 189 00:12:53,460 –> 00:12:58,500 like a hundred-meter runner that’s just going down the track there and hasn’t a moment to 190 00:12:58,520 –> 00:13:03,400 be looking to the sides or to the stands, but just is going for it. 191 00:13:03,400 –> 00:13:06,340 That’s the sense of what purity of heart really means. 192 00:13:06,340 –> 00:13:09,440 Single, undivided, focused. 193 00:13:09,440 –> 00:13:11,679 The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. 194 00:13:11,679 –> 00:13:16,700 I don’t think he’s been ever quoted from this pulpit in the last 16 years, and probably 195 00:13:16,700 –> 00:13:20,599 won’t ever be again, but he’s very helpful on this. 196 00:13:20,599 –> 00:13:25,859 He wrote a whole book with this title that’s a definition of purity and a very good one. 197 00:13:26,080 –> 00:13:31,440 Purity of hearts, said Kierkegaard, is to will one thing. 198 00:13:31,440 –> 00:13:33,820 That’s what it is. 199 00:13:33,820 –> 00:13:39,799 Purity of heart is to will one thing. 200 00:13:39,799 –> 00:13:44,880 So the opposite of a pure heart is a divided heart. 201 00:13:44,880 –> 00:13:50,599 So you remember Elijah standing on Mount Carmel and he says, now how long are you going to 202 00:13:50,599 –> 00:13:54,020 go on limping between two opinions? 203 00:13:54,340 –> 00:13:55,760 If God be God, follow Him. 204 00:13:55,760 –> 00:13:59,419 If they’ll be God, then you just go and follow Him. 205 00:13:59,419 –> 00:14:05,299 Or to put that in our terms, this side of the cross, how long are you going to go on 206 00:14:05,299 –> 00:14:09,239 trying to embrace Christ and the world at the same time? 207 00:14:09,239 –> 00:14:14,059 Divided, compromised, half-hearted. 208 00:14:14,059 –> 00:14:18,419 How long will you continue toying with the same sins? 209 00:14:18,419 –> 00:14:23,559 Never quite giving yourself to them completely, but never quite giving yourself to Christ 210 00:14:23,599 –> 00:14:26,280 as He lays claim to your life completely either. 211 00:14:26,280 –> 00:14:27,640 How long are you going to do that? 212 00:14:27,640 –> 00:14:28,719 That’s a divided heart. 213 00:14:28,719 –> 00:14:31,200 It’s the opposite of a pure heart. 214 00:14:31,200 –> 00:14:35,280 For purity of heart is to will one thing. 215 00:14:35,280 –> 00:14:39,780 And that is why in James 4, in verse 8, you find the apostle James saying, 216 00:14:39,780 –> 00:14:44,760 Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 217 00:14:44,760 –> 00:14:47,020 You see the connection there? 218 00:14:47,020 –> 00:14:50,760 Double-mindedness is the opposite of a pure heart. 219 00:14:50,760 –> 00:14:54,979 He’s already said in the earlier part of James’ letter, the double-minded person, 220 00:14:54,979 –> 00:14:57,460 he’s unstable in all of his ways. 221 00:14:57,460 –> 00:14:59,979 Now, he says, Here you are, and you’re double-minded. 222 00:14:59,979 –> 00:15:03,940 You’re trying to be facing both ways at the same time. 223 00:15:03,940 –> 00:15:08,820 John Bunyan in his Pilgrim’s Progress invented all these characters with marvelous names 224 00:15:08,820 –> 00:15:13,460 and they invented a character called Mr. Facing Both Ways. 225 00:15:13,460 –> 00:15:15,859 That’s a divided heart. 226 00:15:15,859 –> 00:15:17,739 We immediately know what he means by that. 227 00:15:17,739 –> 00:15:21,559 He’s a Mr. facing both ways, and he wants to be a Christian, he wants to be in the world, 228 00:15:21,559 –> 00:15:23,440 he’s living a kind of divided life. 229 00:15:23,440 –> 00:15:28,640 He’s the opposite of purity in heart, and James says to such a person, now you are double-minded, 230 00:15:28,640 –> 00:15:29,640 what have you got to do? 231 00:15:29,640 –> 00:15:33,700 You’ve got to purify your heart because this double-mindedness is the very opposite of 232 00:15:33,700 –> 00:15:36,520 a pure heart which is to will one thing. 233 00:15:36,520 –> 00:15:44,640 So, if you want a commentary on what purity of heart is, you can’t do better than Philippians 234 00:15:44,640 –> 00:15:47,479 chapter three verses 12 to 14. 235 00:15:47,479 –> 00:15:52,919 Remember, that’s the passage in which Paul says, not that I have attained all this, or 236 00:15:52,919 –> 00:15:58,039 am already made perfect, so purity of heart is not perfection, it’s not sinlessness of 237 00:15:58,039 –> 00:16:01,479 life but then what does he say? 238 00:16:01,479 –> 00:16:08,200 One thing I do – one thing I do – forgetting what is behind and straining towards what 239 00:16:08,200 –> 00:16:13,820 is ahead, I press ontowards the goal to win the prize for which Jesus Christ has called 240 00:16:14,059 –> 00:16:15,239 me heavenwards. 241 00:16:15,239 –> 00:16:17,119 One thing I do – that’s purity of heart. 242 00:16:17,119 –> 00:16:21,580 That’s exactly it being lived out in the words of the apostle Paul there. 243 00:16:21,580 –> 00:16:27,340 It’s not perfection, it is to will one thing. 244 00:16:27,340 –> 00:16:30,440 And Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart. 245 00:16:30,440 –> 00:16:34,440 Blessed is the man, or the woman, or the boy, or the girl whose heart is undivided. 246 00:16:34,440 –> 00:16:40,820 And there is a wonderful prayer that you can use. 247 00:16:40,880 –> 00:16:45,440 If you’ve not discovered this, it’s well worth marking up in your Bible. 248 00:16:45,440 –> 00:16:53,700 It is Psalm 86 and verse 11, and it’s a prayer for purity of heart, though the word 249 00:16:53,700 –> 00:16:55,460 purity is never used. 250 00:16:55,460 –> 00:17:03,500 Psalm 86 and verse 11, it says this, teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your 251 00:17:03,960 –> 00:17:05,199 truth. 252 00:17:05,199 –> 00:17:07,680 And then notice the next word. 253 00:17:07,680 –> 00:17:12,439 Unite my heart, Psalm 86 verse 11. 254 00:17:12,439 –> 00:17:16,359 Unite my heart to fear your name. 255 00:17:16,359 –> 00:17:20,280 Make my heart one. 256 00:17:20,280 –> 00:17:27,280 Deliver me from this dividedness, this facing both ways. 257 00:17:27,280 –> 00:17:30,479 So you see what he’s saying, if we may put it in our terms today. 258 00:17:30,660 –> 00:17:36,500 He’s coming before God and he’s saying, Oh God, here’s this heart, and you know this 259 00:17:36,500 –> 00:17:39,339 heart – it’s all over the place. 260 00:17:39,339 –> 00:17:45,079 Now please make this heart one, that’s what purity of heart is. 261 00:17:45,079 –> 00:17:47,260 That I may be a person who wills one thing. 262 00:17:47,260 –> 00:17:52,699 That I might be like the Apostle Paul, someone who says, one thing I do, forgetting what 263 00:17:52,699 –> 00:17:57,619 is behind, I am pressing forward toward the goal, the prize, for which God has called 264 00:17:58,060 –> 00:18:01,459 upwards in Christ Jesus. 265 00:18:01,459 –> 00:18:07,619 That is a great prayer for purity of heart. 266 00:18:07,619 –> 00:18:15,420 So a pure heart is an undivided heart, and Jesus says, blessed is the one whose heart 267 00:18:15,420 –> 00:18:21,219 is undivided, this person will see God. 268 00:18:21,219 –> 00:18:29,099 And then the second part of the meaning of a pure heart is obviously a clean heart. 269 00:18:29,099 –> 00:18:35,160 And so Jesus speaks to us here not only of the blessing of a heart that is one but the 270 00:18:35,160 –> 00:18:40,079 blessing of a heart that is clean. 271 00:18:40,079 –> 00:18:45,479 And we’re going to look next week, as I say, at how we go after these things, but today 272 00:18:45,520 –> 00:18:52,099 it’s really important for us to see and believe what Christ promises to us and lays before 273 00:18:52,099 –> 00:18:54,599 us. 274 00:18:54,599 –> 00:19:05,280 Now, I want to take a few moments to frame for you what a Christian receives in Jesus 275 00:19:05,280 –> 00:19:06,839 Christ. 276 00:19:06,839 –> 00:19:09,280 And you may find this to be a helpful framework. 277 00:19:09,280 –> 00:19:14,719 I hope you will, that you can keep in your mind to understand what is yours in Christ 278 00:19:14,819 –> 00:19:21,459 and what is yours in the gospel and to build your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. 279 00:19:21,459 –> 00:19:23,640 Let’s begin here. 280 00:19:23,640 –> 00:19:30,660 When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, when any person believes in Jesus, a bond 281 00:19:30,660 –> 00:19:37,260 of holy union, faith forms a bond of holy union between that person and Jesus Christ. 282 00:19:37,260 –> 00:19:42,459 And in that union, Christ belongs to that person, and that person belongs to Jesus Christ. 283 00:19:42,540 –> 00:19:48,819 Faith forms the bond of a union between you and Jesus, so that as the Bible puts it, you 284 00:19:48,819 –> 00:19:54,040 are in Christ or another way in which the Bible says the same thing is that Christ is 285 00:19:54,040 –> 00:19:55,040 in you. 286 00:19:55,040 –> 00:19:59,239 That’s what faith does, it forms the bond of a holy union between you and Christ. 287 00:19:59,239 –> 00:20:06,319 And in the bond of that union, wonderful gifts from God are poured into your life. 288 00:20:06,660 –> 00:20:14,219 I’m going to identify and remind you of just three, and the glories of them. 289 00:20:14,219 –> 00:20:22,099 The first is justification, which is a legal transaction, a legal standing, and we may 290 00:20:22,099 –> 00:20:28,540 describe it this way, that in Christ God drops all charges against you. 291 00:20:28,540 –> 00:20:32,920 This is very important to remember while you’re living, it’s extremely important to remember 292 00:20:33,079 –> 00:20:37,239 while you’re dying, and at the very moment when you enter into the presence of God, there’s 293 00:20:37,239 –> 00:20:44,500 nothing more important for you to stake your soul on than this truth, this glorious gift. 294 00:20:44,500 –> 00:20:52,319 Remember this, that the reason a Christian enters into heaven is not that he or she is 295 00:20:52,319 –> 00:20:53,420 without sin. 296 00:20:53,420 –> 00:20:59,719 That is not true of any of us, never will be, this side of heaven. 297 00:20:59,760 –> 00:21:06,680 The reason that a Christian enters into heaven is that God does not charge our sins against 298 00:21:06,680 –> 00:21:07,680 us. 299 00:21:07,680 –> 00:21:08,680 Why? 300 00:21:08,680 –> 00:21:16,780 Because God has charged our sins to the account of Jesus, in whom these sins have been judged 301 00:21:16,780 –> 00:21:24,699 and punished and atoned for through His sacrifice as our Savior on the cross. 302 00:21:24,800 –> 00:21:32,520 As Isaiah puts it, the Lord has laid on Him the iniquities of us all, so that in Christ, 303 00:21:32,520 –> 00:21:37,459 if you are in Christ in the bond of this holy union, then your debts have been paid in full. 304 00:21:37,459 –> 00:21:42,219 And if your debts have been paid in full, then they by definition cannot by a just God 305 00:21:42,219 –> 00:21:45,339 be charged to you again. 306 00:21:45,339 –> 00:21:48,520 That is the spectacular truth of justification. 307 00:21:48,520 –> 00:21:54,000 Romans chapter 5 and verse 1, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through 308 00:21:54,000 –> 00:21:57,359 our Lord Jesus Christ. 309 00:21:57,359 –> 00:21:59,079 So think about this. 310 00:21:59,079 –> 00:22:06,280 It follows therefore that Christians enter into Heaven not only on the basis of mercy, 311 00:22:06,280 –> 00:22:12,780 God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ, but also on the basis of justice. 312 00:22:13,479 –> 00:22:19,439 For as a just God cannot demand payment for sins that have already been atoned for. 313 00:22:19,439 –> 00:22:26,719 A just God cannot produce and will not produce a bill that has already been paid by another. 314 00:22:26,719 –> 00:22:32,000 That is why John says in a very important verse in the New Testament, that God is faithful 315 00:22:32,000 –> 00:22:37,239 and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness. 316 00:22:37,239 –> 00:22:39,160 Why does he bring in the justice of God? 317 00:22:39,160 –> 00:22:44,359 Because he’s pointing to the atonement that the bills already been paid and when a bill’s 318 00:22:44,359 –> 00:22:49,119 already been paid a just God will not produce it a second time. 319 00:22:49,119 –> 00:22:54,560 That’s a marvelous truth of justification and as one hymn writer has put it so well, 320 00:22:54,560 –> 00:23:06,319 payment God cannot twice demand first from my bleeding Savior’s hand and then again from 321 00:23:06,319 –> 00:23:08,619 mine. 322 00:23:08,619 –> 00:23:15,300 So this is why justification is the basis of Christian assurance or to put that another 323 00:23:15,300 –> 00:23:21,119 way our confidence before God in this life and when we come to death and when we enter 324 00:23:21,119 –> 00:23:26,359 into heaven, on what do I base my confidence, certainly not the quality of my Christian 325 00:23:26,359 –> 00:23:29,339 life that’s patchy at best. 326 00:23:29,339 –> 00:23:38,459 I base my confidence on this, the character of God who is just and the work of my Savior 327 00:23:38,459 –> 00:23:45,859 who has sealed my justification by paying my debt through His blood on the cross. 328 00:23:45,859 –> 00:23:52,439 That’s rock solid and justification is legal language so that we may be able in God’s kindness 329 00:23:52,439 –> 00:23:59,300 and in His mercy to know that this is secure for all who are in Jesus Christ. 330 00:23:59,300 –> 00:24:02,780 I’m going to pause for someone to say Amen to that. 331 00:24:02,780 –> 00:24:04,140 It’s wonderful, isn’t it? 332 00:24:04,459 –> 00:24:05,599 It’s wonderful. 333 00:24:05,619 –> 00:24:09,099 It’s wonderful, the gift of justification. 334 00:24:09,099 –> 00:24:14,660 You’re rock solid, legal standing before God, in Christ. 335 00:24:14,660 –> 00:24:21,420 It’s only the beginning because the second and equally wonderful gift that streams to 336 00:24:21,420 –> 00:24:27,180 us when we are in this bond of a holy union with Jesus Christ is the gift of forgiveness. 337 00:24:27,180 –> 00:24:33,140 Now, justification of course is legal, forgiveness is relational. 338 00:24:33,140 –> 00:24:41,819 This is huge, we may express it this way, that in Christ God reconciles you to Himself. 339 00:24:41,819 –> 00:24:48,339 When God justifies, He also forgives, that’s 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 15, He reconciles 340 00:24:48,339 –> 00:24:50,739 us to Himself. 341 00:24:50,739 –> 00:24:54,020 Again, this is a spectacular blessing. 342 00:24:54,020 –> 00:24:59,180 Think about this, you were by nature, all of us were by nature, enemies of God. 343 00:24:59,180 –> 00:25:00,180 We were His enemies. 344 00:25:00,180 –> 00:25:06,079 We were on the wrong side and our very nature was hostile towards Him. 345 00:25:06,079 –> 00:25:12,359 But God has made His enemies to be His friends in Jesus Christ. 346 00:25:12,359 –> 00:25:23,140 And I love this song, and your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus thank you. 347 00:25:23,140 –> 00:25:30,060 The Father’s wrath completely satisfied, Jesus thank you. 348 00:25:30,060 –> 00:25:36,239 Once your enemy, now seated at your table. 349 00:25:36,239 –> 00:25:39,300 What a transformation that is. 350 00:25:39,300 –> 00:25:43,219 Jesus thank you. 351 00:25:43,219 –> 00:25:47,060 Now we looked at this marvelous subject of forgiveness in the last Beatitude, the Fifth 352 00:25:47,060 –> 00:25:49,119 one, blessed are the merciful. 353 00:25:49,119 –> 00:25:54,780 And you remember we saw that God forgives when repentance begins. 354 00:25:54,780 –> 00:25:59,660 And we observed this very important point that forgiveness is relational. 355 00:25:59,660 –> 00:26:05,099 That is, it is in its nature both given and received. 356 00:26:05,099 –> 00:26:09,160 We saw that love, as we all know, can be a one-sided thing. 357 00:26:09,160 –> 00:26:13,040 You can love a person who does not love you back. 358 00:26:13,040 –> 00:26:17,079 God indeed loved us before we ever loved Him. 359 00:26:17,079 –> 00:26:21,839 And when Jesus says love your enemies, obviously He’s calling us to a one-sided thing because 360 00:26:21,839 –> 00:26:26,439 your enemies, by definition, certainly don’t love you. 361 00:26:26,439 –> 00:26:30,359 So love can be one-directional. 362 00:26:30,359 –> 00:26:35,239 But forgiveness in its very nature is relational. 363 00:26:35,239 –> 00:26:40,619 Two parties are always involved in forgiveness properly understood. 364 00:26:40,619 –> 00:26:43,619 There is One who forgives. 365 00:26:43,619 –> 00:26:46,920 There is another who is forgiven. 366 00:26:46,920 –> 00:26:50,479 And out of the forgiving and the being forgiven comes what? 367 00:26:50,560 –> 00:26:52,979 Wonderful reconciliation. 368 00:26:52,979 –> 00:26:59,439 And this is how God deals with us in Jesus Christ. 369 00:26:59,439 –> 00:27:01,739 This is the grace of God to you, in Jesus. 370 00:27:01,739 –> 00:27:05,880 He forgives all your sins so that you may be reconciled to him. 371 00:27:05,880 –> 00:27:07,400 So, that you may walk with him. 372 00:27:07,400 –> 00:27:09,760 So, that you may know him as your friend. 373 00:27:09,760 –> 00:27:14,400 So that his Spirit may dwell in your life. 374 00:27:14,400 –> 00:27:17,319 And he gives these wonderful promises to keep reminding us, 375 00:27:17,319 –> 00:27:18,900 because Satan’s always accusing us. 376 00:27:19,020 –> 00:27:24,479 He says, your sins and your iniquities, I will remember no more. 377 00:27:26,099 –> 00:27:31,260 And the bible piles up visual images to help us see what it is that 378 00:27:31,260 –> 00:27:34,420 God does in the putting away of our sin. 379 00:27:34,420 –> 00:27:36,819 I love the way that Micah, the prophet puts it. 380 00:27:36,819 –> 00:27:42,780 He says, you oh God will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 381 00:27:44,219 –> 00:27:45,119 Isn’t that a great picture? 382 00:27:46,119 –> 00:27:49,040 And I always remember an old preacher I heard once years and years ago. 383 00:27:49,040 –> 00:27:51,520 And he was preaching on that verse and he said, 384 00:27:51,520 –> 00:27:56,079 when God casts your sins into the depths of the sea, he said, 385 00:27:56,079 –> 00:27:59,119 he also puts up a big sign that says, no fishing. 386 00:27:59,119 –> 00:28:00,760 I like that. 387 00:28:00,760 –> 00:28:02,219 No bringing it back up. 388 00:28:02,219 –> 00:28:04,680 No bringing it back, Satan will try and do that. 389 00:28:04,680 –> 00:28:11,400 But God has put it in the depths of the sea and you’re forgiven. 390 00:28:12,599 –> 00:28:13,119 Relational. 391 00:28:13,660 –> 00:28:14,119 Justification. 392 00:28:14,119 –> 00:28:19,660 So, justification this marvellous legal gift in you standing before God in Jesus Christ 393 00:28:19,660 –> 00:28:23,959 in which God drops all charges against you because they’ve already been paid by him in 394 00:28:23,959 –> 00:28:25,619 full. 395 00:28:25,619 –> 00:28:33,660 Forgiveness this relational gift in which being in Christ God reconciles you to himself. 396 00:28:33,660 –> 00:28:38,680 But there is a third gift that comes to all who are in Christ when we are made one with 397 00:28:38,680 –> 00:28:41,640 him, and He, Christ, is made one with us. 398 00:28:41,979 –> 00:28:46,839 Think of these not as separate things but as different fruit that come in the same basket. 399 00:28:46,839 –> 00:28:49,300 God always gives them together to us in Christ. 400 00:28:49,300 –> 00:28:51,520 These are the things that are ours in Christ. 401 00:28:51,520 –> 00:28:58,280 All of them are ours in Him and none of them are ours without Him. 402 00:28:58,280 –> 00:29:02,660 And the third is simply this, it’s cleansing. 403 00:29:02,660 –> 00:29:05,839 And that is personal. 404 00:29:05,839 –> 00:29:11,160 It’s what goes on in this heart, in this life, in this mind. 405 00:29:11,160 –> 00:29:13,839 It’s a marvelous gift. 406 00:29:13,839 –> 00:29:20,560 In Christ God washes your heart and your life. 407 00:29:20,560 –> 00:29:28,839 And of course, this is what the sixth beatitude is all about-purity of heart, being washed. 408 00:29:28,839 –> 00:29:37,439 You will see as you think about it that clearly there is an ongoing dimension of this work 409 00:29:37,439 –> 00:29:42,839 of Christ in the life of a Christian believer. 410 00:29:42,839 –> 00:29:46,880 So last night I took my car to the car wash. 411 00:29:46,880 –> 00:29:49,020 It was absolutely filthy. 412 00:29:49,020 –> 00:29:54,400 Can’t turn up at church on Sunday with a car that looks like this, you know. 413 00:29:54,400 –> 00:29:58,739 But guess what, by next weekend it’ll need to go to the car wash again. 414 00:29:59,540 –> 00:30:05,079 Because it’s in the nature of life that a car’s picking up dirt from the road and you 415 00:30:05,079 –> 00:30:09,459 may have a very, very expensive car, a much fancier one than mine, but I tell you, I’ve 416 00:30:09,459 –> 00:30:12,540 never seen a car of which this is not true. 417 00:30:12,540 –> 00:30:16,920 No car salesman was ever able to make the sale on the basis that this is a car that 418 00:30:16,920 –> 00:30:17,920 will not need washed. 419 00:30:17,920 –> 00:30:19,420 Have you ever heard that line? 420 00:30:19,420 –> 00:30:22,599 It sounds like a car salesman kind of line, doesn’t it? 421 00:30:22,599 –> 00:30:24,439 So, I get into trouble for that. 422 00:30:24,439 –> 00:30:28,079 I shouldn’t have said that but there we go. 423 00:30:28,079 –> 00:30:36,020 It needs to be washed no matter what particular brand it is and forgive me for pondering 424 00:30:36,020 –> 00:30:38,260 this a little more, but I want to settle it in your mind. 425 00:30:38,260 –> 00:30:41,500 It’s the same with your clothes. 426 00:30:41,500 –> 00:30:46,300 So you go into the store and you see these clothes that have this little sign on. 427 00:30:46,300 –> 00:30:47,939 They don’t need to be ironed. 428 00:30:47,939 –> 00:30:49,699 Oh, we’ll go for that shirt. 429 00:30:49,699 –> 00:30:50,739 It’s not going to need to be ironed. 430 00:30:50,739 –> 00:30:51,739 Marvelous. 431 00:30:51,739 –> 00:30:55,979 But where did you ever see shirts that didn’t need to be washed? 432 00:30:55,979 –> 00:30:56,979 I mean they’re not there. 433 00:30:56,979 –> 00:30:57,979 You can’t buy them. 434 00:30:58,979 –> 00:31:05,180 And, Karen and I, there are two of us in our house, and every week there’s another 435 00:31:05,180 –> 00:31:07,260 pile of laundry that needs to go in the tub. 436 00:31:07,260 –> 00:31:12,380 I mean, you think we’re not particularly filthy people, but you know every week it’s 437 00:31:12,380 –> 00:31:13,579 exactly the same. 438 00:31:13,579 –> 00:31:15,859 It’s the nature of life. 439 00:31:15,859 –> 00:31:22,180 Every morning, I get myself into the shower- this is the ultimate evidence of having assimilated 440 00:31:22,180 –> 00:31:26,760 completely to American culture by the way jus so you know. 441 00:31:26,760 –> 00:31:27,920 Why do I do this? 442 00:31:28,040 –> 00:31:31,540 Because every morning I have not been through a swamp in the night. 443 00:31:31,540 –> 00:31:36,280 I’ve not been rolling in mud, I’ve just been asleep in a bed, and the bed’s perfectly 444 00:31:36,280 –> 00:31:39,020 clean, but when I get, I wake up, what happens? 445 00:31:39,020 –> 00:31:44,479 I am immediately aware of my need to be washed. 446 00:31:44,479 –> 00:31:50,040 So now I’m trying to settle this obvious distinction in your mind that justification 447 00:31:50,040 –> 00:31:54,839 in its nature or legal transaction, you’re standing before God happens once and once 448 00:31:54,839 –> 00:31:56,020 for all. 449 00:31:56,020 –> 00:31:59,819 Your forgiveness, your reconciliation with God happens once. 450 00:31:59,819 –> 00:32:01,459 And it happens once and for all. 451 00:32:01,459 –> 00:32:02,719 You say, well, what happens when I sin? 452 00:32:02,719 –> 00:32:06,920 Well, even when you sin in the mercy of God you don’t go back to being His enemy, you 453 00:32:06,920 –> 00:32:07,920 are still His friend. 454 00:32:07,920 –> 00:32:12,040 You may grieve a father’s heart but you are not who you were. 455 00:32:12,040 –> 00:32:14,699 You are a forgiven person in Jesus Christ. 456 00:32:14,699 –> 00:32:17,719 But cleansing is different. 457 00:32:17,719 –> 00:32:23,540 I need this on a continuing basis and so do you. 458 00:32:23,579 –> 00:32:29,060 And I will never get beyond my need of it no matter how far I progress in the Christian 459 00:32:29,060 –> 00:32:32,140 life. 460 00:32:32,140 –> 00:32:37,579 If you can keep these three priceless gifts of God that are given to us and to all who 461 00:32:37,579 –> 00:32:41,699 are in Christ, these things are yours through faith. 462 00:32:41,699 –> 00:32:45,319 You are Christ’s and Christ is yours, and these things are yours. 463 00:32:45,319 –> 00:32:52,079 And they are wonderful gifts that all speak to different dimensions of our glorious salvation. 464 00:32:52,160 –> 00:32:55,859 There’s one verse in the Bible that pulls all three of them together in the same verse 465 00:32:55,859 –> 00:32:58,800 and it’s worth remembering you perhaps know it well. 466 00:32:58,800 –> 00:33:01,920 It’s 1 John 1 and verse 9. 467 00:33:01,920 –> 00:33:08,339 If we confess our sins He is faithful and just. 468 00:33:08,339 –> 00:33:12,599 So, there’s the pointer to justification right there. 469 00:33:12,599 –> 00:33:13,599 To do what? 470 00:33:13,599 –> 00:33:16,160 To forgive us our sins. 471 00:33:16,160 –> 00:33:17,160 Is that it? 472 00:33:18,000 –> 00:33:23,920 And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 473 00:33:23,920 –> 00:33:29,819 So, you see in this one verse we’re being reminded of these three marvelous gifts that 474 00:33:29,819 –> 00:33:33,739 in Christ God justifies your legal standing. 475 00:33:33,739 –> 00:33:39,920 In Christ He forgives your reconciled to the Father, brought him to His family, not His 476 00:33:39,920 –> 00:33:41,839 enemy, but now His friend. 477 00:33:41,839 –> 00:33:44,500 And in Christ God cleanses. 478 00:33:44,839 –> 00:33:52,579 Now quite clearly when we come to the sixth beatitude we are focusing in on the power 479 00:33:52,579 –> 00:33:57,219 of Christ to cleanse the pure in heart. 480 00:33:57,219 –> 00:34:00,859 You can trust Christ to cleanse. 481 00:34:00,859 –> 00:34:05,099 He is faithful, 1 John 1.9 , to cleanse. 482 00:34:05,099 –> 00:34:11,520 He has the ability to purify your heart and your life. 483 00:34:11,659 –> 00:34:17,239 This is what he brings to you through his bond of living union in which you become his 484 00:34:17,239 –> 00:34:19,100 and he becomes yours. 485 00:34:19,100 –> 00:34:23,639 Out of that, as you think about it, you can define faith in this way. 486 00:34:23,639 –> 00:34:31,300 That faith in Jesus Christ is confidence in his ability to justify and to forgive and 487 00:34:31,300 –> 00:34:34,000 to cleanse through the power of His blood. 488 00:34:34,000 –> 00:34:35,639 That’s why He died on the cross. 489 00:34:35,639 –> 00:34:38,080 That’s why He lives at the right hand of the Father. 490 00:34:38,080 –> 00:34:40,439 What does faith in Him look like? 491 00:34:40,439 –> 00:34:53,199 Faith in Jesus Christ is confidence in His ability to justify and to forgive and to cleanse 492 00:34:53,199 –> 00:35:00,719 through the power of his shed blood. 493 00:35:00,719 –> 00:35:11,379 Now, here’s where I have prayed there will be a breakthrough moment for some people in 494 00:35:11,379 –> 00:35:16,120 this congregation right now. 495 00:35:16,120 –> 00:35:26,959 I have met over the years, not a few, but many who will profess to be Christians and 496 00:35:26,959 –> 00:35:35,379 believe in a Christ who forgives, but they do not yet believe in a Christ who has the 497 00:35:35,379 –> 00:35:40,899 ability to cleanse. 498 00:35:40,899 –> 00:35:45,320 And a conversation with such a person sounds like this, I’ve had a conversation like this 499 00:35:45,320 –> 00:35:49,659 many times and perhaps you have also perhaps you’ll recognize this kind of language and 500 00:35:49,659 –> 00:35:50,840 this pattern of thought. 501 00:35:50,840 –> 00:35:54,139 It goes like this. 502 00:35:54,239 –> 00:35:55,899 villain? 503 00:35:55,899 –> 00:36:04,360 You have to realize that I’ve got baggage. 504 00:36:04,360 –> 00:36:13,739 Over the years I’ve seen things that I now wish I had never seen, and I have done things 505 00:36:13,739 –> 00:36:18,239 that I now wish I had never done. 506 00:36:18,239 –> 00:36:23,699 And all of this has had an effect on my soul. 507 00:36:23,699 –> 00:36:27,060 My thinking is messed up. 508 00:36:27,060 –> 00:36:31,379 My feeling, my desiring shoots off all the wrong ways. 509 00:36:31,379 –> 00:36:37,000 There are patterns of twisted thinking and patterns now of compulsive behavior that come 510 00:36:37,000 –> 00:36:40,060 from all this stuff. 511 00:36:40,060 –> 00:36:50,320 And these things are in me, pastor, and I can’t imagine ever being different. 512 00:36:50,320 –> 00:36:54,000 And here’s my challenge to you today. 513 00:36:54,000 –> 00:37:02,820 I want you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 514 00:37:02,820 –> 00:37:07,879 Now, you will immediately say, Oh, I do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and I will say to 515 00:37:07,879 –> 00:37:12,020 you, no you do not. 516 00:37:12,020 –> 00:37:18,800 Because as long as you persist in believing that nothing can be done about the baggage 517 00:37:18,800 –> 00:37:24,419 in your mind and in your heart, you do not yet know and you have not yet experienced 518 00:37:24,419 –> 00:37:29,760 the Christ of the Bible, who is the son of God. 519 00:37:29,760 –> 00:37:33,639 You may say that you believe in a Jesus who forgives. 520 00:37:33,639 –> 00:37:39,620 But I am saying to you that so long as you persist in this deeply held conviction that 521 00:37:39,620 –> 00:37:44,899 nothing can be done about the accumulated twistedness that has come from past decisions 522 00:37:44,899 –> 00:37:47,739 and past behaviors and past sins in your life. 523 00:37:48,040 –> 00:37:52,899 As long as you persist in believing that nothing can be done to change that, you do not yet 524 00:37:52,899 –> 00:37:58,979 know and you have not yet experienced the power of the living Christ of the New Testament 525 00:37:58,979 –> 00:38:08,500 who is the son of God because He washes and He cleanses and He purifies messed up minds 526 00:38:08,500 –> 00:38:10,360 and hearts. 527 00:38:10,360 –> 00:38:14,199 Christ offers more than forgiveness. 528 00:38:14,199 –> 00:38:18,159 That is what it means to understand the gospel and what it is in Jesus Christ. 529 00:38:18,159 –> 00:38:23,399 Some of us have not yet got clear as to how magnificent this gospel actually is. 530 00:38:23,399 –> 00:38:29,179 Not only justification forgiveness, it is cleansing on an ongoing basis. 531 00:38:29,179 –> 00:38:31,520 You shall call His name Jesus. 532 00:38:31,520 –> 00:38:32,520 Why? 533 00:38:32,520 –> 00:38:36,580 Because He shall save His people from their sins. 534 00:38:36,580 –> 00:38:38,360 What does that mean? 535 00:38:38,360 –> 00:38:39,360 It includes habits. 536 00:38:39,360 –> 00:38:40,820 It includes compulsions. 537 00:38:40,820 –> 00:38:43,560 It means ingrained patterns of thought and behavior. 538 00:38:43,679 –> 00:38:48,820 Christ came not only to justify a people for Himself but also to use the Bible’s terms 539 00:38:48,820 –> 00:38:52,179 to sanctify a people for Himself. 540 00:38:52,179 –> 00:38:56,580 In other words, He came not only to forgive you for your sins but He came to make you 541 00:38:56,580 –> 00:38:57,580 holy. 542 00:38:57,580 –> 00:39:02,179 Oh, yes, a holiness that’s like gold mix with ross right now but eventually in His presence 543 00:39:02,179 –> 00:39:03,820 will be pure gold. 544 00:39:03,820 –> 00:39:07,320 That’s what it means for Him to be a savior. 545 00:39:07,320 –> 00:39:09,459 And so the Bible consistently speaks about this. 546 00:39:09,459 –> 00:39:11,560 What does it mean to be saved? 547 00:39:12,000 –> 00:39:15,320 Titus chapter 3 and verse 5 we’ll come back to this next time, of course. 548 00:39:15,320 –> 00:39:22,139 But, it says this, that He saved us by the washing of regeneration. 549 00:39:22,139 –> 00:39:24,520 What a phrase that is! 550 00:39:24,520 –> 00:39:25,520 How does He save us? 551 00:39:25,520 –> 00:39:27,919 He saves us by washing. 552 00:39:27,919 –> 00:39:32,659 By the washing of your mind, by the regenerating of your heart. 553 00:39:32,659 –> 00:39:37,860 That means giving you new affections that you didn’t have before, giving you new interests, 554 00:39:37,860 –> 00:39:43,899 new inclinations, new energy, new life, the washing of regeneration. 555 00:39:43,899 –> 00:39:48,899 And here’s what that will look like over time as Christ washes and washes, and goes 556 00:39:48,899 –> 00:39:51,500 on washing your heart as you’re walking with Him. 557 00:39:51,500 –> 00:39:54,459 Here’s what you’ll find, here’s the evidence of it. 558 00:39:54,459 –> 00:40:03,199 You will increasingly begin to hate what you used to love, that thing that always drew 559 00:40:03,199 –> 00:40:06,739 you, and you always fell for it, and you were always going in that direction even though 560 00:40:06,760 –> 00:40:09,620 you knew it was wrong, because you loved it. 561 00:40:09,620 –> 00:40:13,719 You’re going to find it more, and more, and more, and more repulsive in the light of the 562 00:40:13,719 –> 00:40:16,300 washing of Jesus Christ in your heart. 563 00:40:16,300 –> 00:40:22,239 And you’re going to say, I want that less than I used to. 564 00:40:22,239 –> 00:40:26,939 And you’re not only going to hate what you used to love, you’re going increasingly 565 00:40:26,939 –> 00:40:30,739 to love what you used to hate. 566 00:40:30,739 –> 00:40:35,260 Here, for years, you’ve been a person, really, honestly you hardly read the Bible, you don’t 567 00:40:35,260 –> 00:40:36,540 have much hunger for that. 568 00:40:36,540 –> 00:40:39,100 You have hunger for other things. 569 00:40:39,100 –> 00:40:42,219 Not much of a prayer life. 570 00:40:42,219 –> 00:40:45,979 Don’t have a hunger for that, you’ve got a hunger for other things. 571 00:40:45,979 –> 00:40:49,739 You come to worship and that’s great, but it seems sort of external to you. 572 00:40:49,739 –> 00:40:53,699 You see other people who seem to be lifted and engaged, but it seems outside of you. 573 00:40:53,699 –> 00:40:56,979 You’ve not really had an appetite for that, you’ve got a hunger for other things. 574 00:40:56,979 –> 00:41:02,060 But now, as Christ is washing your soul, these things are seeming less, and less, and less 575 00:41:02,060 –> 00:41:06,979 attractive to you, and the things of Christ are seeming more, and more, and more attractive 576 00:41:06,979 –> 00:41:07,979 to you. 577 00:41:07,979 –> 00:41:10,040 That’s what washing looks like in real life. 578 00:41:10,040 –> 00:41:22,300 The purifying of the heart and out of it a growing and wonderful changing of the life. 579 00:41:22,300 –> 00:41:25,959 Defeats and failures getting less. 580 00:41:25,959 –> 00:41:31,280 Strength in the battle becoming more as your heart is washed. 581 00:41:32,239 –> 00:41:38,459 Purified on a continuing basis by the Lord, Jesus Christ. 582 00:41:38,479 –> 00:41:42,580 Now, friends, here’s the very last thing. 583 00:41:42,580 –> 00:41:46,479 I want to end on this note. 584 00:41:46,479 –> 00:41:52,399 To speak directly to the person today, you’re hearing these things, and you feel in your 585 00:41:52,399 –> 00:41:58,959 heart, Colin, that the baggage that I’m carrying is so great that I hear what you’re saying, 586 00:41:59,199 –> 00:42:07,260 I just look at myself, and I know myself, and I cannot really imagine ever, ever, ever 587 00:42:07,260 –> 00:42:10,260 becoming whole again. 588 00:42:10,260 –> 00:42:15,600 And what you feel right now is however wonderful these things may sound and they may be for 589 00:42:15,600 –> 00:42:20,639 other people, somehow trusting Christ just seems a stretch too far from you. 590 00:42:20,639 –> 00:42:28,439 You can’t get over the sense of the overwhelming, accumulative stuff that has made you who you 591 00:42:28,439 –> 00:42:36,320 are today in your heart and in your mind, and I want therefore in this last moment just 592 00:42:36,320 –> 00:42:43,360 to give you a stepping stone to faith, a step that you can take today that’s going to move 593 00:42:43,360 –> 00:42:44,360 you forward. 594 00:42:44,360 –> 00:42:48,800 I want to tell you where faith begins, where its launching point actually is. 595 00:42:48,800 –> 00:42:50,840 This is for you. 596 00:42:50,840 –> 00:42:52,639 I want you to take this step today. 597 00:42:52,780 –> 00:43:01,899 it when you meet me here that the beginning of faith is to say, if I were in Christ. 598 00:43:01,899 –> 00:43:08,399 If Christ was in me, I believe that he could make this heart clean. 599 00:43:08,399 –> 00:43:11,600 Can you get there today? 600 00:43:11,600 –> 00:43:15,520 If you feel that you cannot yet trust Christ to cleanse you, I’m inviting you to take this 601 00:43:15,520 –> 00:43:19,919 step to get at least to the launching point of faith today, believe that he could make 602 00:43:19,919 –> 00:43:20,919 you clean. 603 00:43:20,919 –> 00:43:21,919 You say well, that’d be an absolute miracle. 604 00:43:22,000 –> 00:43:24,080 Yes, of course it would be an absolute miracle. 605 00:43:24,080 –> 00:43:28,840 But believe this, if the power by which Jesus was raised from the dead were to come into 606 00:43:28,840 –> 00:43:33,879 your life, can you believe that if that were to happen you could be made clean? 607 00:43:33,879 –> 00:43:35,620 I mean think about the Apostle Paul. 608 00:43:35,620 –> 00:43:40,300 This guy’s a murderer, he’s a blasphemer, he’s a violent man. 609 00:43:40,300 –> 00:43:42,260 Think of all that’s going on in that heart. 610 00:43:42,260 –> 00:43:43,679 That heart was made clean. 611 00:43:43,679 –> 00:43:48,699 If that heart was made clean, why could yours not be if this Christ were indeed to be in 612 00:43:48,699 –> 00:43:51,239 you? 613 00:43:51,659 –> 00:43:54,419 So settle that in your mind. 614 00:43:54,419 –> 00:43:57,219 Write it down. 615 00:43:57,219 –> 00:44:03,159 My heart could be made clean. 616 00:44:03,159 –> 00:44:12,320 I believe that if I was in Christ and Christ was in me, he could make me clean. 617 00:44:12,320 –> 00:44:15,780 Then write down some Scriptures that give you the basis for this confidence. 618 00:44:16,100 –> 00:44:22,320 Titus chapter 3 and verse 5 would be one of them, that God saves by the washing of regeneration. 619 00:44:22,320 –> 00:44:28,560 You could write this down, if that should happen to me, I would be clean. 620 00:44:28,560 –> 00:44:30,879 Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21 would be another. 621 00:44:30,879 –> 00:44:37,080 You shall call his name Jesus because he shall save his people from their sins. 622 00:44:37,080 –> 00:44:43,239 You could write down this, if this Christ should save me, then I would be delivered 623 00:44:43,239 –> 00:44:45,739 from the power of these sins. 624 00:44:45,739 –> 00:44:48,100 You could write down 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9. 625 00:44:48,100 –> 00:44:53,699 I’m trying to get you to settle this in your mind, that God is faithful and just to forgive 626 00:44:53,699 –> 00:44:56,560 us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 627 00:44:56,560 –> 00:45:06,260 I believe that if he were to cleanse me I would be clean. 628 00:45:06,260 –> 00:45:14,479 Settle this conviction in your mind and in your heart as a conclusion. 629 00:45:14,540 –> 00:45:19,979 And then friend, when you have come to the place of believing as you look to Christ 630 00:45:19,979 –> 00:45:33,320 that he could do it, you will be ready to take the next step which is to ask him to do it for you. 631 00:45:33,320 –> 00:45:39,379 Let’s pray together. 632 00:45:39,399 –> 00:45:46,760 Lord Jesus, I have come to believe that if I was in you, and if you were in me, you could 633 00:45:46,760 –> 00:45:52,060 wash this heart and make me clean. 634 00:45:52,060 –> 00:46:00,979 Now come to this twisted mind and this divided heart and do your redeeming work in me. 635 00:46:00,979 –> 00:46:04,000 Wash me. 636 00:46:04,000 –> 00:46:06,780 Cleanse me. 637 00:46:06,780 –> 00:46:17,679 Wipe my heart through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior in whom I come to you. 638 00:46:17,679 –> 00:46:19,060 Amen. 639 00:46:19,060 –> 00:46:30,139 You’ve been listening to A Sermon with Pastor Colin Smith, to contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN465 640 00:46:30,139 –> 00:46:32,939 or visit our website, openthebible.org

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

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Sermons on the Beatitudes The Beatitudes are not telling you how to become a Christian – they tell you what a true Christian looks like. Everyone wants to be blessed. We want to be blessed in life, blessed in death, and blessed in eternity. In the Beatitudes, the Son of God tells us about the

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