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