Blessed Are the Pure in Heart

Matthew 5: 8

The key message from today’s sermon is the profound truth from Scripture: Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This Beatitude from Jesus presents us with the promise and the challenge that purity allows us to behold God himself.

The Greatness of Christ as Savior

While recognizing the seemingly impossible standard of purity of heart, the sermon elaborates on the indispensability of Christ Jesus as our Redeemer. It is He who, by grace, empowers us to embody the purity required to stand before God. Unlike human standards of purity, which are inherently flawed and inadequate, the purity that Jesus speaks of is made attainable through faith in Christ.

The Essence of Purity of Heart

Importantly, purity of heart is not equated with sinlessness but is defined by an undivided commitment to God and a life cleaned by His forgiveness. An undivided heart is one that is singularly devoted to God’s will, free from dual allegiances. This is captured in the phrase “Purity of heart is to will one thing,” highlighting commitment to single-mindedness in our spiritual pursuit.

A clean heart speaks of an ongoing process wherein we enter a state of being continually washed and renewed by Christ’s forgiveness and sanctification. We are reminded that Christians are justified, forgiven, and cleansed through a relationship with Jesus, a reality that transforms our very desires and loves over time.

Our Response to Christ’s Call

The sermon encourages a response to Christ’s call to purity – one that isn’t overwhelmed by the weight of our sin. Accepting that Christ can indeed purify the most blemished hearts is the first step. Belief in Jesus’ capacity to transform allows sinners to envision a future where they stand cleansed before God.

“Lord Jesus, I have come to believe that if I was in you and you were in me, you could wash this heart and make me clean. Now come to this twisted mind, this divided heart, and do your redeeming work in me. Wash me, cleanse me, and purify my heart—through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Amen.”

Scriptural References for Purity and Cleansing

  • 2 Corinthians 4:6 – The light of God in the face of Christ.
  • 1 John 1:8 – Acknowledgement of ongoing sin in believers’ lives.
  • Matthew 5:8 and 1 John 3:2 – The assurance of a future purity likened to pure gold.
  • James 4:8 and Philippians 3:13-14 – The pursuit of an undivided heart.
  • Titus 3:4-5, Matthew 1:21, and 1 John 1:9– The power of cleansing and regeneration.

WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 –> 00:00:07.100 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith from Open The Bible. 00:00:07.100 –> 00:00:16.660 To contact us call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website www.openthebible.org. 00:00:16.660 –> 00:00:18.540 Let’s get to the message Here’s Pastor Colin 00:00:18.540 –> 00:00:26.940 Well I hope you’ll have your Bible opened today at Matthew chapter 5 and verse 8, these 00:00:27.719 –> 00:00:38.540 To tell you I’ve prepared the message today with 00:00:38.540 –> 00:00:44.619 a sense of awe that I hope you will feel as we immerse ourselves in these words of Jesus 00:00:44.619 –> 00:00:46.340 together. 00:00:46.340 –> 00:00:47.340 Think of this. 00:00:47.340 –> 00:00:56.220 God is speaking to us from this scripture today about seeing him, seeing God. 00:00:56.340 –> 00:01:02.939 You will see God and what will that be to be face to face before him. 00:01:02.939 –> 00:01:05.699 And he speaks here about purity of heart. 00:01:05.699 –> 00:01:07.980 A heart that thinks what is right. 00:01:07.980 –> 00:01:09.959 A heart that loves what is good. 00:01:09.959 –> 00:01:14.080 A heart that wills what is best. 00:01:14.080 –> 00:01:19.580 I have to tell you that my first reaction on reading this sixth beatitude is that what 00:01:19.580 –> 00:01:24.180 Jesus describes here seems on first reading to be impossible. 00:01:24.339 –> 00:01:27.959 Pure in heart. 00:01:27.959 –> 00:01:32.599 I would be very surprised if there is a single person in the congregation who immediately 00:01:32.599 –> 00:01:37.440 on reading these words, purity of heart, would say, oh, that’s me. 00:01:37.440 –> 00:01:40.339 I don’t think that’s what we’re saying, is it? 00:01:40.339 –> 00:01:44.000 Which is significant because when we read the first beatitude, blessed of the poor in 00:01:44.000 –> 00:01:48.800 spirit, it was very easy for us to say, hey, that’s the people who know that they’ve 00:01:48.800 –> 00:01:51.980 not got what it takes before God, that’s certainly is me. 00:01:52.519 –> 00:01:56.699 Or when we read the second beatitude, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who 00:01:56.699 –> 00:02:02.099 become aware of their sins, and aware of their shortcomings, and mourn over them, it was 00:02:02.099 –> 00:02:06.160 not difficult for us by God’s grace to get to the place of saying, that is certainly 00:02:06.160 –> 00:02:07.160 me. 00:02:07.160 –> 00:02:08.880 That’s me. 00:02:08.880 –> 00:02:13.020 But when Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart, I don’t find myself saying that’s 00:02:13.020 –> 00:02:19.220 me at all, and I don’t expect that you do either. 00:02:19.220 –> 00:02:24.020 And then just thinking about the scale of these words of Jesus that we’re looking at 00:02:24.020 –> 00:02:30.419 today, seeing God, that seems like a second thing that’s equally impossible at first 00:02:30.419 –> 00:02:31.740 sight. 00:02:31.740 –> 00:02:33.399 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 00:02:33.399 –> 00:02:38.399 You remember, in the Old Testament, Moses wanted to do that. 00:02:38.399 –> 00:02:45.619 Show me your glory he says, and God says to him, well you go hide yourself in a rock, 00:02:45.699 –> 00:02:50.600 And I will allow the brightness, the appearing of my glory to pass by. 00:02:50.600 –> 00:02:55.899 And then God allowed Moses to see what we might describe as the afterburn of the glory 00:02:55.899 –> 00:02:59.339 of the presence of the Lord. 00:02:59.339 –> 00:03:05.679 God says, Exodus chapter 33 and verse 20, you cannot see my face, for man shall not 00:03:05.679 –> 00:03:09.320 see me and live. 00:03:09.320 –> 00:03:12.580 Can’t see God and live. 00:03:12.619 –> 00:03:19.020 And yet here we have Jesus saying, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 00:03:19.020 –> 00:03:20.020 God. 00:03:20.020 –> 00:03:25.100 It seems like there are two miracles involved right here. 00:03:25.100 –> 00:03:29.160 So straightaway the apparent impossibility of these two things, seeing God in purity 00:03:29.160 –> 00:03:35.020 of heart shows us what a great savior Jesus Christ is that He may offer these things to 00:03:35.020 –> 00:03:36.020 us. 00:03:36.020 –> 00:03:38.440 He does not give us this beatitude to mock us. 00:03:38.440 –> 00:03:40.020 He comes as the great redeemer. 00:03:40.020 –> 00:03:41.679 He comes as the savior. 00:03:41.720 –> 00:03:48.380 He comes as the deliverer, and He holds these precious gifts in His hand, that in Christ, 00:03:48.380 –> 00:03:54.699 a sinner with all the baggage that sinful habits leave in the thoughts of your mind 00:03:54.699 –> 00:04:02.220 and the inclinations of your heart, that such a person should become pure in heart. 00:04:02.220 –> 00:04:09.979 That in Christ, a sinner, being washed and forgiven and cleansed, should actually see 00:04:10.880 –> 00:04:18.420 of shrinking back into an everlasting hell, should be able to move forward into an everlasting 00:04:18.420 –> 00:04:19.420 joy. 00:04:19.420 –> 00:04:23.339 These are amazing things. 00:04:23.339 –> 00:04:26.079 And this is what Christ is able to do for sinners. 00:04:26.079 –> 00:04:29.000 This is what Jesus Christ is able to do for you. 00:04:29.000 –> 00:04:34.100 He can purify your heart, and He can shine His light into your heart, to give you the 00:04:34.100 –> 00:04:41.940 light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:04:41.940 –> 00:04:48.299 So while my first reaction on looking at this beatitude is to say, boy, this seems impossible, 00:04:48.299 –> 00:04:56.160 my second thought is to say now if I could lay hold of everything that Jesus speaks of 00:04:56.160 –> 00:05:02.200 in this beatitude and really make it mine, I would be blessed indeed. 00:05:02.200 –> 00:05:05.880 I would be blessed, and so would you. 00:05:05.880 –> 00:05:12.320 Now, again we have two weekends to immerse ourselves in this beatitude and today we’re 00:05:12.320 –> 00:05:17.399 going to focus on what Christ calls us to here, what is this purity of heart that he 00:05:17.399 –> 00:05:22.760 speaks about so that we understand it well in order that we may go after it. 00:05:22.880 –> 00:05:27.160 Then next week, God willing, we’ll come in the second part to look at the how question. 00:05:27.160 –> 00:05:29.480 How can I pursue this purity of heart? 00:05:29.480 –> 00:05:31.399 How can I cultivate it? 00:05:31.399 –> 00:05:35.920 What are the practical things that I can do to move in this direction? 00:05:35.920 –> 00:05:41.559 So we begin today then with what purity of heart is, and let’s begin with a negative 00:05:41.559 –> 00:05:44.760 because it’s important to see what it’s not. 00:05:44.760 –> 00:05:50.420 Let me put it this way, the purity of heart does not mean that you never have a bad thought. 00:05:50.420 –> 00:05:51.920 That should come as a relief to you. 00:05:51.959 –> 00:05:54.660 You might say, oh, good, okay that at least helps. 00:05:54.660 –> 00:06:00.799 Remember the apostle John says to believers, to Christians, if we say that we are without 00:06:00.799 –> 00:06:03.739 sin, we deceive ourselves. 00:06:03.739 –> 00:06:05.880 Christians are always sinners in this life. 00:06:05.880 –> 00:06:07.399 Sinners in the process of recovery. 00:06:07.399 –> 00:06:12.739 And if purity of heart meant that you simply never had anything wrong or that you never 00:06:12.739 –> 00:06:18.420 thought anything wrong or felt anything amiss, then clearly, this would be a blessing, the 00:06:18.420 –> 00:06:21.519 sixthly attitude, that no Christian could ever have. 00:06:21.880 –> 00:06:25.160 Christ does not say these words to mock us. 00:06:25.160 –> 00:06:28.920 He says these words because He offers something to us. 00:06:28.920 –> 00:06:32.600 Now, most writers pick up on this important point. 00:06:32.600 –> 00:06:39.100 No one says it better than A. W. Pink, just very succinctly he says, purity of heart is 00:06:39.100 –> 00:06:42.279 not sinlessness of life. 00:06:42.279 –> 00:06:43.700 These are two different things. 00:06:43.700 –> 00:06:47.519 There is no perfection that is being spoken of here by the Lord Jesus because there is 00:06:47.519 –> 00:06:50.399 no perfection for the Christian in this life. 00:06:50.459 –> 00:06:53.019 Purity of heart is not sinlessness of life. 00:06:53.019 –> 00:06:57.540 We’re going to see what it is but let’s be at least clear about this as to what it 00:06:57.540 –> 00:06:58.820 is not. 00:06:58.820 –> 00:07:01.059 It is not sinlessness of life. 00:07:01.059 –> 00:07:03.160 It’s not perfection. 00:07:03.160 –> 00:07:09.540 The Bible speaks in fact about purity in different ways, or holiness in different ways. 00:07:09.540 –> 00:07:12.160 And it is important to be able to distinguish between them. 00:07:12.160 –> 00:07:15.000 Let me just mention three very briefly. 00:07:15.040 –> 00:07:21.380 The first is that there is a purity or holiness that is ascribed to God alone. 00:07:21.380 –> 00:07:22.920 You have this in many places in the Bible. 00:07:22.920 –> 00:07:26.260 Isaiah 6, in verse 3, is one of them. 00:07:26.260 –> 00:07:37.220 Remember, in the presence of the Almighty there are millions of angels who have never 00:07:37.220 –> 00:07:38.220 sinned. 00:07:38.220 –> 00:07:41.619 Don’t know what sin is from experience. 00:07:41.619 –> 00:07:46.420 They are holy angels. 00:07:46.420 –> 00:07:57.440 But even the holy angels cover their faces in the immediate presence of the Almighty, 00:07:57.440 –> 00:08:03.399 and they say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. 00:08:03.399 –> 00:08:06.200 Why do they say it three times? 00:08:06.200 –> 00:08:09.359 Because His holiness is of another kind. 00:08:09.359 –> 00:08:11.279 It is the source of theirs. 00:08:11.299 –> 00:08:15.399 It is incomparable. 00:08:15.399 –> 00:08:20.779 You and I are like the angels, we’ll reflect the purity and the holiness of God in – when 00:08:20.779 –> 00:08:26.040 our Redemption is complete for all eternity, but we will reflect the holiness of God in 00:08:26.040 –> 00:08:28.899 the way that the moon reflect the light of the sun. 00:08:28.899 –> 00:08:30.179 The sun has its own light. 00:08:30.179 –> 00:08:33.440 The moon has reflected light. 00:08:33.440 –> 00:08:41.219 And so even the holy angels are covering their faces in the presence of the Holy, Holy, Holy 00:08:41.280 –> 00:08:46.719 God, there is a purity and a holiness that is ascribed to God alone. 00:08:46.719 –> 00:08:47.900 He is incomparable. 00:08:47.900 –> 00:08:48.979 He is God. 00:08:49.059 –> 00:08:50.679 He is God. 00:08:50.739 –> 00:08:54.640 Second, there is a purity and a holiness that will be ours in heaven. 00:08:54.640 –> 00:09:01.020 It really will be yours in the presence of Jesus, and already is for those who have gone 00:09:01.020 –> 00:09:02.580 into His presence. 00:09:02.580 –> 00:09:08.739 1 John chapter 3 in verse 2, when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see 00:09:08.739 –> 00:09:11.059 him as he is. 00:09:11.539 –> 00:09:15.140 If we wake up on this next week, how often the Bible connects our seeing of God with 00:09:15.140 –> 00:09:20.700 our growth in purity, and when we see him as he is, then our purity will be complete. 00:09:20.700 –> 00:09:22.900 We shall be like him. 00:09:22.900 –> 00:09:28.260 In the presence of Jesus you will have a purity that is like pure gold, a holiness that is 00:09:28.260 –> 00:09:29.539 like pure gold. 00:09:29.539 –> 00:09:35.940 There will not in heaven be a trace of sin on you or in you or around you. 00:09:35.940 –> 00:09:38.140 It will be glorious. 00:09:38.340 –> 00:09:43.619 It will be an unrelenting and magnificent joy. 00:09:43.619 –> 00:09:50.280 But that awaits the time when Christ appears, that unmixed holiness, that pure gold. 00:09:50.280 –> 00:09:55.200 But then, thirdly, there is a purity or a holiness that God calls you to pursue now. 00:09:55.200 –> 00:09:57.700 And that’s what Jesus is speaking about here. 00:09:57.700 –> 00:10:02.559 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 00:10:02.559 –> 00:10:07.159 Thomas Watson, who we’re often quoting in this series, has this good phrase. 00:10:07.179 –> 00:10:13.020 He says, this is purity in a gospel sense. 00:10:13.020 –> 00:10:19.880 And he says that the Christian’s purity in this life is rather like gold that is mixed 00:10:19.880 –> 00:10:20.919 with dross. 00:10:20.919 –> 00:10:25.380 When you’re in the presence of Jesus, it’ll be pure gold, refined gold. 00:10:25.380 –> 00:10:29.380 Now it’s real gold, but it’s gold that is mixed with dross. 00:10:29.380 –> 00:10:36.640 And he says, this mixture, God calls purity in a gospel sense. 00:10:36.640 –> 00:10:42.780 As a face, he uses this analogy, as a face may be said to be faire, which has some freckles 00:10:42.780 –> 00:10:44.320 in it. 00:10:44.320 –> 00:10:49.119 So what he’s saying is this, that where there is a longing for purity, and where there is 00:10:49.119 –> 00:10:54.820 a loathing of impurity, there, in fact, is a purity of heart. 00:10:54.820 –> 00:10:56.780 It is mixed. 00:10:56.900 –> 00:10:57.900 It is not complete. 00:10:57.900 –> 00:11:00.239 It is not perfect, but it is real. 00:11:00.239 –> 00:11:04.919 It’s not pure gold, but it’s real gold, and it is of great value in the eyes of God because 00:11:04.919 –> 00:11:08.380 it is the work of the Holy Spirit in your soul. 00:11:08.380 –> 00:11:14.880 So, understand this, that purity of heart does not mean sinlessness of life. 00:11:14.880 –> 00:11:17.059 What then does it mean? 00:11:17.059 –> 00:11:18.940 Two things. 00:11:18.940 –> 00:11:28.039 Number one, a pure heart is an undivided heart, and number two, a pure heart is a clean heart. 00:11:28.039 –> 00:11:30.400 That’s where we’re focused today. 00:11:30.400 –> 00:11:37.880 A pure heart is an undivided heart and a pure heart is a clean heart. 00:11:37.880 –> 00:11:43.440 So think with me for a few moments, if you would, about the blessing of an undivided 00:11:43.440 –> 00:11:44.440 heart. 00:11:44.440 –> 00:11:46.700 What does the word pure means? 00:11:46.700 –> 00:11:52.239 One, whole, undivided. 00:11:52.239 –> 00:11:54.840 Blessed are the pure in heart. 00:11:54.840 –> 00:11:58.700 Blessed is the one whose heart is undivided. 00:11:58.700 –> 00:11:59.960 That’s what Jesus is saying. 00:11:59.960 –> 00:12:02.099 That’s what the word means. 00:12:02.099 –> 00:12:07.599 Now, it’s interesting that our Lord Jesus returns to this theme a little later in the 00:12:07.599 –> 00:12:08.619 sermon on the mount. 00:12:08.780 –> 00:12:14.299 Matthew, chapter 6 and verse 22, I’m quoting here from the King James Version. 00:12:14.299 –> 00:12:22.400 The light of the body, Jesus says, is the eye and if, therefore, your eye be single, 00:12:22.400 –> 00:12:25.340 then your whole body will be full of light. 00:12:25.340 –> 00:12:28.940 If your eye be single, the ESV says, if your eye be healthy. 00:12:28.940 –> 00:12:31.619 The NIB says, if your eye be good. 00:12:31.859 –> 00:12:37.719 They’re all expressions – good expressions – of this idea of wholeness or health or 00:12:37.719 –> 00:12:42.099 oneness that’s at the root of the Word that Jesus spoke. 00:12:42.099 –> 00:12:46.099 But I think that the old King James Version here is perhaps the most helpful of all. 00:12:46.099 –> 00:12:48.659 If your eye be single. 00:12:48.659 –> 00:12:51.940 If you are a person who is going after one thing. 00:12:51.940 –> 00:12:57.820 If you’re focused like a hundred meter runner that’s just going down the track there and 00:12:57.859 –> 00:13:02.559 Now, he hasn’t a moment to be looking to the sides or to the stands, but just is going 00:13:02.559 –> 00:13:03.559 for it. 00:13:03.559 –> 00:13:06.500 That’s the sense of what purity of heart really means. 00:13:06.500 –> 00:13:09.299 Single, undivided, focused. 00:13:09.299 –> 00:13:12.219 The Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. 00:13:12.219 –> 00:13:16.460 I don’t think he’s been ever quoted from this pulpit in the last sixteen years and 00:13:16.460 –> 00:13:20.419 probably won’t ever be again, but he’s very helpful on this. 00:13:20.419 –> 00:13:26.140 He wrote a whole book with this title that’s a definition of purity and a very good one. 00:13:26.780 –> 00:13:30.979 Purity of heart, said Kierkegaard, is to will one thing. 00:13:30.979 –> 00:13:33.820 That’s what it is. 00:13:33.820 –> 00:13:39.780 Purity of heart is to will one thing. 00:13:39.780 –> 00:13:43.739 So the opposite of a pure heart is a divided heart. 00:13:43.739 –> 00:13:50.559 So you remember Elijah standing on Mount Carmel, and he says, now how long are you going to 00:13:50.559 –> 00:13:53.979 go on limping between two opinions? 00:13:54.780 –> 00:13:56.059 If God be God, follow Him. 00:13:56.059 –> 00:13:59.200 If they’ll be God, then you just go and follow Him. 00:13:59.200 –> 00:14:05.299 Or, to put that in our terms, this side of the cross, how long are you going to go on 00:14:05.299 –> 00:14:09.059 trying to embrace Christ and the world at the same time? 00:14:09.059 –> 00:14:18.419 Divided, compromised, half hearted, how long will you continue toying with the same sins? 00:14:18.419 –> 00:14:23.539 Never quite giving yourself to them completely, but never quite giving yourself to Christ 00:14:23.700 –> 00:14:26.359 as He lays claim to your life completely either. 00:14:26.359 –> 00:14:27.799 How long are you going to do that? 00:14:27.799 –> 00:14:28.919 That’s a divided heart. 00:14:28.919 –> 00:14:35.500 That’s the opposite of a pure heart for purity of heart is to will one thing and that is 00:14:35.500 –> 00:14:40.640 why in James, in chapter 4, in verse 8, you find the apostle James saying cleanse your 00:14:40.640 –> 00:14:44.619 hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 00:14:44.619 –> 00:14:48.020 You see the connection there? 00:14:48.020 –> 00:14:50.380 Double-mindedness is the opposite of a pure heart. 00:14:50.780 –> 00:14:55.179 He’s already said in the early part of James’ letter the double-minded person, he’s 00:14:55.179 –> 00:14:57.559 unstable in all of his ways. 00:14:57.559 –> 00:15:03.099 Now he says here you are and you’re double-minded, you’re trying to be facing both ways at 00:15:03.099 –> 00:15:04.099 the same time. 00:15:04.099 –> 00:15:08.820 John Bunyan in his Pilgrims Progress invented all these characters with marvelous names 00:15:08.820 –> 00:15:13.500 and he invented a character called Mr. Facing Both Ways. 00:15:13.500 –> 00:15:15.859 See that’s a divided heart. 00:15:15.859 –> 00:15:17.739 We immediately know what he means by that. 00:15:17.760 –> 00:15:21.659 Mr. Facing Both Ways and he wants to be a Christian, he wants to be in the world, he’s 00:15:21.679 –> 00:15:23.539 living a kind of divided life. 00:15:23.539 –> 00:15:26.380 He’s the opposite of purity in heart. 00:15:26.380 –> 00:15:29.640 And James says to such a person you’re double-minded, what have you got to do? 00:15:29.640 –> 00:15:33.780 You’ve got to purify your heart, because this double-mindedness is the very opposite of 00:15:33.780 –> 00:15:37.659 a pure heart which is to will one thing. 00:15:37.659 –> 00:15:44.700 So if you want a commentary on what purity of heart is, you can’t do better than Philippians 00:15:44.739 –> 00:15:48.200 chapter 3 verses 12 to 14. 00:15:48.200 –> 00:15:53.000 Remember that’s the passage in which Paul says, not that I have attained all this or 00:15:53.000 –> 00:15:55.219 am already made perfect. 00:15:55.219 –> 00:15:58.739 So purity of heart is not perfection, it’s not sinlessness of life. 00:15:58.739 –> 00:16:01.539 But then, what does he say? 00:16:01.539 –> 00:16:08.260 One thing I do, one thing I do, forgetting what is behind, and straining towards what 00:16:08.260 –> 00:16:13.900 is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which Jesus Christ has called 00:16:14.059 –> 00:16:15.179 heavenwards. 00:16:15.179 –> 00:16:20.539 One thing I do, that’s purity of heart, that’s exactly it being lived out in the words of 00:16:20.539 –> 00:16:27.280 the apostle Paul, there is not perfection, it is to will one thing. 00:16:27.280 –> 00:16:32.020 And Jesus said blessed are the pure in heart, blessed is the man or the woman or the boy 00:16:32.020 –> 00:16:37.460 or the girl whose heart is undivided. 00:16:37.460 –> 00:16:42.219 And there is a wonderful prayer that you can use, if you’ve not discovered this is well 00:16:42.299 –> 00:16:45.700 worth marking up in your Bible. 00:16:45.700 –> 00:16:54.239 It is Psalm 86 and verse 11 and it’s a prayer for purity of heart, though the word purity 00:16:54.239 –> 00:16:56.320 is never used. 00:16:56.320 –> 00:17:03.520 Psalm 86 and verse 11 it says this, teach me your way o lord, that I may walk in your 00:17:03.520 –> 00:17:05.219 truth. 00:17:05.599 –> 00:17:15.199 And then, notice the next word, unite my heart, Psalm 86 verse 11, unite my heart to fear 00:17:15.199 –> 00:17:16.359 your name. 00:17:16.359 –> 00:17:20.280 Make my heart one. 00:17:20.280 –> 00:17:27.219 Deliver me from this dividedness, this facing both ways. 00:17:27.219 –> 00:17:31.140 So you see what he’s saying, if we may put it in our terms today, he’s coming before 00:17:31.160 –> 00:17:38.119 God and he’s saying, oh God, here’s this heart, and you know this heart, it’s all over the 00:17:38.119 –> 00:17:40.119 place. 00:17:40.119 –> 00:17:45.979 Now please make this heart one, that’s what purity of heart is, that I may be a person 00:17:45.979 –> 00:17:50.319 who wills one thing, that I might be like the Apostle Paul, someone who says, one thing 00:17:50.319 –> 00:17:56.500 I do, forgetting what is behind, I’m pressing forward towards the goal, the prize for which 00:17:56.739 –> 00:18:00.739 God has called me upwards in Christ Jesus. 00:18:00.739 –> 00:18:07.400 That is a great prayer for purity of heart. 00:18:07.400 –> 00:18:14.400 So, a pure heart is an undivided heart and Jesus says blessed is the one whose heart 00:18:15.380 –> 00:18:21.180 is undivided, this person will see God. 00:18:21.199 –> 00:18:29.099 And then the second part of the meaning of a pure heart is obviously a clean heart. 00:18:29.099 –> 00:18:34.540 And so Jesus speaks to us here not only of a heart, the blessing of a heart that is one, 00:18:34.540 –> 00:18:40.099 but the blessing of a heart that is clean. 00:18:40.099 –> 00:18:45.459 And we’re going to look next week as I say, at how we go after these things, but today 00:18:45.599 –> 00:18:52.239 it’s really important for us to see and believe what Christ promises to us and lays before 00:18:52.239 –> 00:18:54.599 us. 00:18:54.599 –> 00:19:05.500 Now, I want to take a few moments to frame for you what a Christian receives in Jesus 00:19:05.500 –> 00:19:06.839 Christ. 00:19:06.839 –> 00:19:11.979 And you may find this to be a helpful framework, I hope you will, that you can keep in your 00:19:12.099 –> 00:19:17.180 mind to understand what is yours in Christ and what is yours in the gospel and to build 00:19:17.180 –> 00:19:21.619 your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:21.619 –> 00:19:23.680 Let’s begin here. 00:19:23.680 –> 00:19:30.680 When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, when any person believes in Jesus, a bond 00:19:30.680 –> 00:19:37.219 of holy union, faith forms a bond of holy union between that person and Jesus Christ, 00:19:37.300 –> 00:19:42.579 and in that union, Christ belongs to that person and that person belongs to Jesus Christ. 00:19:42.579 –> 00:19:47.219 Faith forms the bond of a union between you and Jesus. 00:19:47.219 –> 00:19:52.260 So that as the Bible puts it, you are in Christ or another way in which the Bible says the 00:19:52.260 –> 00:19:55.699 same thing is that Christ is in you. 00:19:55.699 –> 00:19:56.699 That’s what faith does. 00:19:56.699 –> 00:20:01.660 It forms a bond of holy union between you and Christ and in the bond of that union, 00:20:01.660 –> 00:20:06.199 wonderful gifts from God are poured into your life. 00:20:06.780 –> 00:20:14.199 I’m going to identify and remind you of just three and the glories of them. 00:20:14.199 –> 00:20:22.119 The first is justification, which is a legal transaction, a legal standing, and we may 00:20:22.119 –> 00:20:28.520 describe it this way, that in Christ God drops all charges against you. 00:20:28.520 –> 00:20:32.920 This is very important to remember while you’re living, it’s extremely important to remember 00:20:33.060 –> 00:20:37.239 while you’re dying and at the very moment when you enter into the presence of God. 00:20:37.239 –> 00:20:42.800 There’s nothing more important for you to stake your soul on then this truth, this glorious 00:20:42.800 –> 00:20:44.520 gift. 00:20:44.520 –> 00:20:52.319 Remember this, that the reason a Christian enters into heaven is not that he or she is 00:20:52.319 –> 00:20:53.420 without sin. 00:20:53.420 –> 00:20:59.739 That is not true of any of us, never will be, this side of heaven. 00:20:59.739 –> 00:21:06.680 The reason that a Christian enters into heaven is that God does not charge our sins against 00:21:06.680 –> 00:21:08.119 us. 00:21:08.119 –> 00:21:09.859 Why? 00:21:09.859 –> 00:21:16.880 Because God has charged our sins to the account of Jesus in whom these sins have been judged 00:21:16.880 –> 00:21:24.680 and punished and atoned for through His sacrifice as our Savior on the cross. 00:21:24.680 –> 00:21:32.579 As Isaiah puts it, the Lord has laid on Him the iniquities of us all, so that in Christ—if 00:21:32.579 –> 00:21:36.520 you are in Christ, in the bond of this holy union—then your debts have been paid in 00:21:36.520 –> 00:21:41.599 full, and if your debts have been paid in full, then they by definition cannot by a 00:21:41.599 –> 00:21:45.300 just God be charged to you again. 00:21:45.300 –> 00:21:48.599 That is the spectacular truth of justification. 00:21:48.599 –> 00:21:53.520 Colossians chapter five and verse one, being justified by faith, we have peace with God 00:21:53.520 –> 00:21:57.339 through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:21:57.339 –> 00:21:58.800 So think about this. 00:21:58.800 –> 00:22:06.000 It follows therefore that Christians enter into heaven not only on the basis of mercy, 00:22:06.000 –> 00:22:12.739 God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ, but also on the basis of justice. 00:22:12.979 –> 00:22:19.099 Because a just God cannot demand payment for sins that have already been atoned for. 00:22:19.099 –> 00:22:26.739 A just God cannot produce and will not produce a bill that has already been paid by another. 00:22:26.739 –> 00:22:32.040 That is why John says in a very important verse in the New Testament that God is faithful 00:22:32.040 –> 00:22:37.260 and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all righteousness. 00:22:37.260 –> 00:22:39.420 Why does he bring in the justice of God? 00:22:39.719 –> 00:22:43.979 Because he is pointing to the atonement that the bill has already been paid and when a 00:22:43.979 –> 00:22:48.400 bill has already been paid, a just God will not produce it a second time. 00:22:48.400 –> 00:22:51.660 That is the marvelous truth of justification. 00:22:51.660 –> 00:22:59.780 And as one hymn writer has put it so well, payment God cannot twice demand. 00:22:59.780 –> 00:23:08.619 First from my bleeding Savior’s hand, and then again from mine. 00:23:08.619 –> 00:23:13.540 So this is why justification is the basis of Christian assurance. 00:23:13.540 –> 00:23:19.819 Or to put that another way, our confidence before God in this life and when we come to 00:23:19.819 –> 00:23:24.900 death and when we enter into heaven, on what do I base my confidence? 00:23:24.900 –> 00:23:28.500 Certainly not the quality of my Christian life that is patchy at best. 00:23:28.500 –> 00:23:38.459 I base my confidence on this, the character of God who is just and the work of my Savior 00:23:38.459 –> 00:23:45.859 who has sealed my justification by paying my debt through his blood on the cross. 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 00:23:52.439 –> 00:23:59.079 and in his mercy to know that this is secure for all who are in Jesus Christ. 00:23:59.079 –> 00:24:02.380 I’m going to pause for someone to say amen to that. 00:24:02.380 –> 00:24:03.939 It’s wonderful, isn’t it? 00:24:03.939 –> 00:24:04.939 It’s wonderful. 00:24:04.939 –> 00:24:05.939 It’s wonderful. 00:24:06.660 –> 00:24:09.060 The gift of justification. 00:24:09.060 –> 00:24:14.900 You’re rock solid, legal standing before God in Christ. 00:24:14.900 –> 00:24:21.619 It’s only the beginning because a second and equally wonderful gift that streams to us 00:24:21.619 –> 00:24:28.060 when we are in this bond of a holy union with Jesus Christ is the gift of forgiveness. 00:24:28.060 –> 00:24:33.099 Now justification of course is legal, forgiveness is relational. 00:24:33.140 –> 00:24:34.140 This is huge. 00:24:34.140 –> 00:24:41.819 We may express it this way, that in Christ God reconciles you to Himself. 00:24:41.819 –> 00:24:44.119 When God justifies he also forgives. 00:24:44.119 –> 00:24:50.859 It’s 2 Corinthians 5, verse 15, he reconciles us to himself. 00:24:50.859 –> 00:24:53.979 Again, this is a spectacular blessing. 00:24:53.979 –> 00:24:54.979 Think about this. 00:24:54.979 –> 00:24:59.140 You were by nature, all of us were by nature, enemies of God. 00:24:59.140 –> 00:25:00.140 We were His enemies. 00:25:00.140 –> 00:25:02.780 We were on the wrong side. 00:25:02.780 –> 00:25:06.780 And then our very nature was hostile towards Him. 00:25:06.780 –> 00:25:13.939 But God has made His enemies to be His friends in Jesus Christ. 00:25:13.939 –> 00:25:23.119 I love this song, and your blood has washed away my sin, Jesus thank you. 00:25:23.119 –> 00:25:30.099 The father’s wrath completely satisfied, Jesus thank you. 00:25:30.219 –> 00:25:36.260 Once your enemy, now seated at your table. 00:25:36.260 –> 00:25:43.300 What a transformation that is, Jesus thank you. 00:25:43.300 –> 00:25:47.119 Now we looked at this marvelous subject of forgiveness in the last beatitude, the fifth 00:25:47.119 –> 00:25:48.959 one blessed are the merciful. 00:25:48.959 –> 00:25:55.900 And remember we saw that God forgives when repentance begins, and we observe this very 00:25:56.099 –> 00:26:00.380 important point that forgiveness is relational. 00:26:00.380 –> 00:26:05.119 That is it is in its nature both given and received. 00:26:05.119 –> 00:26:09.199 We saw that love as we all know can be a one-sided thing. 00:26:09.199 –> 00:26:14.900 You can love a person who does not love you back, God indeed loved us before we ever loved 00:26:14.900 –> 00:26:17.140 Him. 00:26:17.140 –> 00:26:21.859 And when Jesus says love your enemies, obviously he’s calling us to a one-sided thing because 00:26:21.859 –> 00:26:25.319 your enemies by definition certainly don’t love you. 00:26:25.319 –> 00:26:30.359 So, love can be one directional. 00:26:30.359 –> 00:26:35.239 But forgiveness in its very nature is relational. 00:26:35.239 –> 00:26:40.640 Two parties are always involved in forgiveness properly understood. 00:26:40.640 –> 00:26:43.640 There is one who forgives. 00:26:43.640 –> 00:26:46.920 There is another who is forgiven. 00:26:47.040 –> 00:26:50.219 And out of the forgiving and the being forgiven comes what? 00:26:50.219 –> 00:26:53.040 A wonderful reconciliation. 00:26:53.040 –> 00:26:59.479 And this is how God deals with us in Jesus Christ. 00:26:59.479 –> 00:27:01.800 This is the grace of God to you in Jesus. 00:27:01.800 –> 00:27:06.859 He forgives all your sins so that you may be reconciled to Him, so that you may walk 00:27:06.859 –> 00:27:12.280 with Him, so that you may know Him as your Friend, so that His Spirit may dwell in your 00:27:12.280 –> 00:27:14.439 life. 00:27:14.459 –> 00:27:18.599 And He gives these wonderful promises to keep reminding us because Satan’s always accusing 00:27:18.599 –> 00:27:19.599 us. 00:27:19.599 –> 00:27:25.060 He says, your sins and your iniquities I will remember no more. 00:27:25.060 –> 00:27:32.880 And the Bible piles up visual images to help us see what it is that God does in the putting 00:27:32.880 –> 00:27:34.280 away of our sins. 00:27:34.280 –> 00:27:36.760 I love the way that Micah the prophet puts it. 00:27:36.760 –> 00:27:43.040 He says, you, oh God, will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 00:27:43.540 –> 00:27:45.339 Isn’t that a great picture? 00:27:45.339 –> 00:27:49.880 And I always remember an old preacher I heard once years and years ago and he was preaching 00:27:49.880 –> 00:27:56.560 on that verse and he said, when God casts your sins into the depths of the sea He also 00:27:56.560 –> 00:27:59.439 puts up a big sign that says no fishing. 00:27:59.439 –> 00:28:04.839 I like that, no bringing it back up, no bringing it back, Satan will try and do that. 00:28:04.839 –> 00:28:10.739 But God has put it in the depths of the sea. 00:28:10.739 –> 00:28:13.239 And you’re forgiven. 00:28:13.239 –> 00:28:14.520 Relational. 00:28:14.520 –> 00:28:19.719 So justification, this marvelous legal gift in you standing before God in Jesus Christ 00:28:19.719 –> 00:28:24.400 in which God drops all charges against you because they’ve already been paid by Him in 00:28:24.400 –> 00:28:25.400 full. 00:28:25.400 –> 00:28:33.619 Forgiveness, this relational gift in which being in Christ God reconciles you to Himself. 00:28:33.619 –> 00:28:38.640 But there is a third gift that comes to all who are in Christ when we are made one with 00:28:38.640 –> 00:28:41.959 Him, and He, Christ, is made one with us. 00:28:41.959 –> 00:28:46.839 Think of these not as separate things but as different fruit that come in the same basket. 00:28:46.839 –> 00:28:49.300 God always gives them together to us in Christ. 00:28:49.300 –> 00:28:51.400 These are the things that are ours in Christ. 00:28:51.400 –> 00:28:58.280 All of them are ours in Him and none of them are ours without Him. 00:28:58.280 –> 00:29:00.660 And the third gives simply this. 00:29:00.660 –> 00:29:02.680 It’s cleansing. 00:29:02.719 –> 00:29:05.880 And that is personal. 00:29:05.880 –> 00:29:10.319 It’s what goes on in this heart, in this life, in this mind. 00:29:10.319 –> 00:29:13.880 And it is a marvelous gift. 00:29:13.880 –> 00:29:20.719 In Christ God washes your heart and your life. 00:29:20.719 –> 00:29:28.839 And of course this is what the 6th Beatitude is all about, purity of heart, being washed. 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 00:29:37.439 –> 00:29:42.819 of Christ in the life of a Christian believer. 00:29:42.819 –> 00:29:46.859 So last night I took my car to the car wash. 00:29:46.859 –> 00:29:48.900 It was absolutely filthy. 00:29:48.900 –> 00:29:54.959 You can’t turn up at church on Sunday with a car that looks like this, you know. 00:29:55.020 –> 00:29:58.760 And I guess what, by next weekend it will need to go to the car wash again. 00:29:58.760 –> 00:29:59.760 Why? 00:29:59.760 –> 00:30:05.079 Because it’s in the nature of life that a car is picking up dirt from the road, and 00:30:05.079 –> 00:30:09.459 you may have a very, very expensive car, a much fancier one than mine, but I tell you 00:30:09.459 –> 00:30:12.520 I have never seen a car of which this is not true. 00:30:12.520 –> 00:30:17.060 No car salesman was ever able to make the sale on the basis that this is a car that 00:30:17.060 –> 00:30:18.060 will not need washed. 00:30:18.060 –> 00:30:19.560 Have you ever heard that line? 00:30:19.560 –> 00:30:24.619 Sounds like a car salesman kind of line isn’t it, but I’ll get into trouble for that. 00:30:25.540 –> 00:30:36.000 It needs to be washed no matter what particular brand it is, and forgive me for pondering 00:30:36.000 –> 00:30:40.380 this a little more, but I want to settle it in your mind, it’s the same with your clothes. 00:30:40.380 –> 00:30:46.699 So, you go into the store and you see these clothes that have this little sign on, they 00:30:46.699 –> 00:30:51.099 don’t need to be ironed, oh we’ll go for that shirt, it’s not gonna need to be ironed, 00:30:51.099 –> 00:30:52.099 marvelous. 00:30:52.300 –> 00:30:55.979 But where did you ever see shirts that didn’t need to be washed? 00:30:55.979 –> 00:30:59.699 I mean, they’re not there, you can’t buy them, I mean it’s a, you know, Karin and I, two 00:30:59.699 –> 00:31:06.739 of us in our house, and every week, there’s another pile of laundry that need to go in 00:31:06.739 –> 00:31:07.739 the tub. 00:31:07.739 –> 00:31:12.420 I mean, you think, we’re not particularly filthy people, but you know every week it’s 00:31:12.420 –> 00:31:18.099 exactly the same, it’s the nature of life every morning. 00:31:18.099 –> 00:31:22.739 I get myself into the shower, this is the ultimate evidence of having assimilated completely 00:31:22.739 –> 00:31:26.199 to American culture, by the way, just so you know. 00:31:26.199 –> 00:31:28.500 Why do I do this every morning? 00:31:28.500 –> 00:31:34.060 I have not been through a swamp in the night, I’ve not been rolling in mud, I’ve just been 00:31:34.060 –> 00:31:39.079 asleep in a bed and the beds perfectly clean, but when I wake up, what happens? 00:31:39.079 –> 00:31:43.280 I am immediately aware of my need to be washed. 00:31:44.280 –> 00:31:50.020 So, now I’m trying to settle this obvious distinction in your mind that justification 00:31:50.040 –> 00:31:54.800 in its nature, a legal transaction, you’re standing before God happens once and once 00:31:54.800 –> 00:31:55.959 for all. 00:31:55.959 –> 00:32:00.880 And forgiveness, your reconciliation with God, happens once and it happens once and 00:32:00.880 –> 00:32:01.880 for all. 00:32:01.880 –> 00:32:02.880 You say, well what happens when I sin? 00:32:02.880 –> 00:32:06.800 Well, even when you sin in the mercy of God, you don’t go back to being His enemy. 00:32:06.800 –> 00:32:12.000 You are still His friend, you may grieve a fathers heart, but you are not who you were. 00:32:12.000 –> 00:32:14.719 You are a forgiven person in Jesus Christ. 00:32:14.719 –> 00:32:17.719 But cleansing is different. 00:32:17.719 –> 00:32:22.599 I need this on a continuing basis and so do you. 00:32:22.599 –> 00:32:29.060 And I will never get beyond my need of it no matter how far I progress in the Christian 00:32:29.060 –> 00:32:30.500 life. 00:32:30.500 –> 00:32:37.319 Now, if you could keep these three priceless gifts of God that are given to us and to all 00:32:37.760 –> 00:32:41.680 in Christ, these things are yours through faith. 00:32:41.680 –> 00:32:45.339 You are Christ’s and Christ is yours, then these things are yours. 00:32:45.339 –> 00:32:52.079 And they are wonderful gifts that all speak to different dimensions of our glorious salvation. 00:32:52.079 –> 00:32:55.959 And there’s one verse in the Bible that pulls all three of them together in the same verse. 00:32:55.959 –> 00:32:58.819 And it’s worth remembering, you perhaps know it well. 00:32:58.819 –> 00:33:01.939 It’s 1 John 1 and verse 9. 00:33:01.939 –> 00:33:04.520 If we confess our sins. 00:33:05.260 –> 00:33:08.880 He is faithful and just. 00:33:08.880 –> 00:33:12.579 So there’s the pointer to justification right there. 00:33:12.579 –> 00:33:17.000 To do what, to forgive us our sins, is that it? 00:33:17.000 –> 00:33:18.000 No. 00:33:18.000 –> 00:33:23.839 And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:33:23.839 –> 00:33:28.839 So you see, in this one verse, we’re being reminded of these three marvelous gifts that 00:33:28.839 –> 00:33:33.579 in Christ, God justifies your legal standing. 00:33:33.579 –> 00:33:35.739 In Christ, He forgives. 00:33:35.739 –> 00:33:38.180 You’re reconciled to the Father. 00:33:38.180 –> 00:33:42.260 Brought into his family, not as enemy, but now as friend. 00:33:42.260 –> 00:33:45.479 And in Christ, God cleanses. 00:33:45.479 –> 00:33:52.479 Now, quite clearly when we come to the sixth beatitude, we are focusing in on the power 00:33:52.479 –> 00:33:57.219 of Christ to cleanse the pure in heart. 00:33:57.219 –> 00:34:00.859 You can trust Christ to cleanse. 00:34:00.920 –> 00:34:05.119 He is faithful, 1 John 1 9, to cleanse. 00:34:05.119 –> 00:34:13.979 He has the ability to purify your heart and your life and this is what He brings to you 00:34:13.979 –> 00:34:18.520 through this bond of living union in which you become His and He becomes yours. 00:34:18.520 –> 00:34:23.659 I mean, out of that as you think about it, you can define faith in this way. 00:34:23.739 –> 00:34:31.479 That faith in Jesus Christ is confidence in His ability to justify and to forgive and 00:34:31.479 –> 00:34:34.020 to cleanse through the power of His blood. 00:34:34.020 –> 00:34:35.679 That’s why He died on the cross. 00:34:35.679 –> 00:34:38.100 That’s why He lives at the right hand of the Father. 00:34:38.100 –> 00:34:40.439 What does faith in Him look like? 00:34:40.439 –> 00:34:53.439 Faith in Jesus Christ is confidence in His ability to justify and to forgive and to cleanse 00:34:53.800 –> 00:34:59.139 through the power of His shed blood. 00:34:59.139 –> 00:35:06.139 Now, here’s where I have prayed there will be a breakthrough moment for some people 00:35:11.139 –> 00:35:16.120 in this congregation right now. 00:35:16.120 –> 00:35:23.120 I have met over the years, not a few, but many who will profess to be Christians and 00:35:26.959 –> 00:35:33.959 believe in a Christ who forgives, but they do not yet believe in a Christ who has the 00:35:35.399 –> 00:35:40.879 ability to cleanse. 00:35:40.879 –> 00:35:43.919 And a conversation with such a person sounds like this. 00:35:44.040 –> 00:35:47.439 I’ve had a conversation like this many times, and perhaps you have also. 00:35:47.439 –> 00:35:50.840 Perhaps you recognize this kind of language and this pattern of thought. 00:35:50.840 –> 00:35:57.840 It goes like this, Colin, you have to realize that I’ve got baggage. 00:36:04.399 –> 00:36:11.399 Over the years I’ve seen things that I now wish that I had never seen, and I have done 00:36:12.060 –> 00:36:19.060 things that I now wish I had never done. And all of this has had an effect on my soul. 00:36:23.540 –> 00:36:30.540 My thinking is messed up. My feeling, my desiring shoots off all the wrong ways. There are patterns 00:36:32.439 –> 00:36:39.439 of twisted thinking and patterns now of compulsive behavior that come from all this stuff, and 00:36:39.979 –> 00:36:46.979 these things are in me, Pastor, and I can’t imagine ever being different. And here’s my 00:36:50.620 –> 00:36:57.620 challenge to you today. I want you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you will immediately 00:36:57.919 –> 00:37:04.919 say, Oh, I do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will say to you, No, you do not because 00:37:12.159 –> 00:37:19.159 as long as you persist in believing that nothing can be done about the baggage in your mind 00:37:19.739 –> 00:37:25.260 and in your heart, you do not yet know, and you have not yet experienced the Christ of 00:37:25.260 –> 00:37:32.260 the Bible, who is the Son of God. You may say that you believe in a Jesus who forgives, 00:37:33.639 –> 00:37:39.620 but I am saying to you that as long as you persist in this deeply held conviction that 00:37:39.620 –> 00:37:44.899 nothing can be done about the accumulated twistedness that has come from past decisions 00:37:44.899 –> 00:37:50.199 and past behaviors and past sins in your life, as long as you persist in believing that nothing 00:37:50.199 –> 00:37:57.199 can be done to change that, you have not yet experienced the power of the living Christ 00:37:57.780 –> 00:38:04.780 of the New Testament who is the Son of God because He washes and He cleanses and He purifies 00:38:07.320 –> 00:38:14.320 messed up minds and hearts. Christ offers more than forgiveness. That’s what it means 00:38:14.739 –> 00:38:19.520 to understand the Gospel and what it is in Jesus Christ. Some of us have not yet got 00:38:19.659 –> 00:38:24.939 clear as to how magnificent this Gospel actually is. It’s not only justification and forgiveness, 00:38:24.939 –> 00:38:31.939 it’s cleansing on an ongoing basis. You shall call His name Jesus. Why? Because He 00:38:32.540 –> 00:38:39.540 shall save His people from their sins. What does that mean? That includes habits, it includes 00:38:39.959 –> 00:38:44.419 compulsions, it includes engrained patterns of thought and behavior. Christ came not only 00:38:44.459 –> 00:38:50.879 to justify a people for Himself but also, to use the Bible’s terms, to sanctify a people 00:38:50.879 –> 00:38:56.100 for Himself. In other words He came not only to forgive you for your sins but He came to 00:38:56.100 –> 00:39:01.479 make you holy. Oh yes, holiness that is like gold-mixed with dross right now but eventually 00:39:01.479 –> 00:39:07.219 in His presence will be pure gold. That’s what it means for Him to be a Savior. And 00:39:07.219 –> 00:39:12.699 so the Bible consistently speaks about this. What does it mean to be saved? Titus chapter 00:39:13.379 –> 00:39:16.600 in verse 5. We’ll come back to this next time of course, but it says this that He 00:39:16.600 –> 00:39:25.340 saved us by the washing of regeneration. And what a phrase that is. How does He save us? 00:39:25.340 –> 00:39:32.639 He saves us by washing, by the washing of your mind, by the regenerating of your heart. 00:39:32.639 –> 00:39:37.580 That means giving you new affections that you didn’t have before, giving you new interests, 00:39:37.739 –> 00:39:43.899 new inclinations, new energy, new life, the washing of regeneration. 00:39:43.899 –> 00:39:49.620 And here’s what that will look like over time. As Christ washes and washes and goes on washing 00:39:49.620 –> 00:39:54.479 your heart as you’re walking with Him. Here’s what you’ll find. Here’s the evidence of it. 00:39:54.479 –> 00:40:03.020 You will increasingly begin to hate what you used to love. That thing that always drew 00:40:03.020 –> 00:40:06.760 you and you always fell for it, and you were always going in that direction even though 00:40:06.760 –> 00:40:11.659 you knew it was wrong because you loved it. You’re gonna find it more and more and more 00:40:11.659 –> 00:40:16.919 and more repulsive in the light of the washing of Jesus Christ in your heart. And you’re 00:40:16.919 –> 00:40:24.939 gonna say, I want that less than I used to. And you’re not only going to hate what you 00:40:24.939 –> 00:40:30.860 used to love. You’re going increasingly to love what you used to hate. 00:40:30.860 –> 00:40:34.959 You know, for years you’ve been a person, really honestly you hardly read the Bible. 00:40:35.100 –> 00:40:40.580 You don’t have much hunger for that you have hunger for other things. Not much of a prayer 00:40:40.580 –> 00:40:46.000 life. You don’t have a hunger for that. You’ve got a hunger for other things. 00:40:46.000 –> 00:40:49.860 You’ve come to worship, and that’s great, but it seems sort of external to you. You 00:40:49.860 –> 00:40:53.580 see other people who seem to be lifted and engaged but it seems outside of you. 00:40:53.580 –> 00:40:57.060 You’ve not really had an appetite for that. You’ve had a hunger for other things, but 00:40:57.060 –> 00:41:02.100 now as Christ is washing your soul, these things are seeming less and less and less 00:41:02.159 –> 00:41:07.000 attractive to you. And the things of Christ are seeming more and more and more attractive 00:41:07.000 –> 00:41:13.320 to you. That’s what washing looks like in real life, the purifying of the heart and 00:41:13.320 –> 00:41:20.320 out of it a growing and wonderful changing of the life. Defeats and failures getting 00:41:23.879 –> 00:41:30.879 less. Strength in the battle becoming more as your heart is washed. 00:41:32.760 –> 00:41:38.899 Purified on a continuing basis by the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:41:38.899 –> 00:41:45.899 Friends, here’s the very last thing. I want to end on this note. To speak directly to 00:41:47.739 –> 00:41:54.260 the person today, you’re hearing these things, and you feel in your heart, Colin, that the 00:41:54.260 –> 00:41:59.679 baggage I’m carrying is so great that I hear what you’re saying, but I just look 00:41:59.739 –> 00:42:06.739 at myself and I know myself, and I cannot really imagine ever, ever, ever becoming whole 00:42:09.159 –> 00:42:15.280 again. And what you feel right now is, however wonderful these things may sound, and they 00:42:15.280 –> 00:42:20.639 may be for other people, somehow trusting Christ just seems a stretch too far from you. 00:42:20.639 –> 00:42:27.639 You can’t get over the sense of the overwhelming accumulative stuff that has made you who you 00:42:28.239 –> 00:42:35.239 are today in your heart and in your mind. And I want, therefore, in this last moment, 00:42:36.120 –> 00:42:42.959 just to give you a stepping stone to faith, a step that you can take today that’s going 00:42:42.959 –> 00:42:46.280 to move you forward. I want to tell you where faith begins, where 00:42:46.280 –> 00:42:52.580 it’s launching point actually is. This is for you. I want you to take this step today. 00:42:52.580 –> 00:43:02.500 Can you meet me here? That the beginning of faith is to say if I were in Christ. If Christ 00:43:02.500 –> 00:43:11.659 was in me, I believe that He could make this heart clean. Can you get there today? If you 00:43:11.659 –> 00:43:15.679 feel that you cannot yet trust Christ to cleanse you, I’m inviting you to take this step. 00:43:15.679 –> 00:43:19.959 To get at least to the launching point of faith today, believe that He could make you 00:43:19.959 –> 00:43:21.739 clean. You say, well, that would be an absolute miracle. 00:43:21.879 –> 00:43:27.060 Yes, of course it would be an absolute miracle. But believe this. If the power by which Jesus 00:43:27.060 –> 00:43:32.520 was raised from the dead were to come into your life, can you believe that if that were 00:43:32.520 –> 00:43:37.159 to happen you could be made clean? Think about the Apostle Paul. This guy’s a murderer. 00:43:37.159 –> 00:43:42.280 He’s a blasphemer. He’s a violent man. Think of all that’s going on in that heart. That 00:43:42.280 –> 00:43:47.639 heart was made clean. If that heart was made clean, why could yours not be if this Christ 00:43:47.639 –> 00:43:59.840 were indeed to be in you? So settle that in your mind. Write it down. My heart could 00:43:59.840 –> 00:44:09.879 be made clean. I believe that if I was in Christ and Christ was in me, He could make 00:44:09.879 –> 00:44:15.820 me clean. Then write down some Scriptures that give you the basis for this confidence. 00:44:16.159 –> 00:44:22.320 Titus chapter 3 and verse 5 would be one of them, that God saves by the washing of regeneration. 00:44:22.320 –> 00:44:29.080 You could write this down. If that should happen to me, I would be clean. Matthew chapter 00:44:29.080 –> 00:44:34.300 1 and verse 21 would be another. You shall call His name Jesus, because He shall save 00:44:34.300 –> 00:44:42.139 His people from their sins. You could write down this. If this Christ should save me, 00:44:42.139 –> 00:44:47.219 then I would be delivered from the power of these sins. You write down 1 John chapter 00:44:47.219 –> 00:44:52.860 1 and verse 9. I’m trying to get you to settle this in your mind, that God is faithful 00:44:52.860 –> 00:44:58.020 and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I believe that 00:44:58.020 –> 00:45:09.620 if He were to cleanse me, I would be clean. Settle this conviction in your mind and in 00:45:09.699 –> 00:45:18.639 your heart as a conclusion, and then friend, when you have come to the place of believing 00:45:18.639 –> 00:45:28.439 as you look to Christ that He could do it, you will be ready to take the next step, which 00:45:28.439 –> 00:45:36.840 is to ask Him to do it for you. Let’s pray together. 00:45:37.840 –> 00:45:47.560 Lord Jesus, I have come to believe that if I was in you and if you were in me, you could 00:45:47.560 –> 00:45:59.080 wash this heart and make me clean. Now come to this twisted mind and this divided heart 00:45:59.179 –> 00:46:13.520 work in me, wash me, cleanse me, purify my heart. Through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior 00:46:13.520 –> 00:46:17.520 in whom I come to you, Amen.

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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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