Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• Concentrate on v8 - Blessed are the pure in heart
• A key verse to come back to
• Bringing to a climax the preachings of the Old Testament and then making a bridge to the teachings of the New Testament
• Remarkable for its simplicity but awesome for its profoundness

They shall see God

• Let us try and understand what it means for Jesus to say "They shall see God"
• We accept the Scriptures as the Word of God given by the Holy Spirit through men of God
• How we get to know a person - through speech
• In the Scriptures God is speaking to us; what He is like, what He intends for this world, what God demands of us
• God has revealed Himself in creation
• God is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings
• God is the righteous judge
• God is Holy and dwells in light
• God is eternal
• God is the great 'I AM'
• God is Spirit (and cannot be seen)
• Jesus makes the remarkable statement "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
• What does this mean?
• The Bible uses many illustrations and pictures
• Not just seeing with natural eyes
• Seeing with spiritual understanding
• Paul prayed 'I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened'
• Paul prayed that we have the light of understanding
• It is summed up in our 'heart'
• It is a seeing with hearts made new by Jesus Christ
• In our hearts we have the spirit of revelation to see the glory of God
• This makes us rejoice
• The psalmist rejoiced
• The Lord Jesus says that seeing with our hearts is a most blessed and happy state

A Pure Heart

• Jesus emphasises the need of a pure heart to see God
• He is summing up the Old Testament
• Example of the Psalmists
• Example of seeing the Queen and comparison to seeing God
• Can you flippantly and easily go into His presence?
• Who may stand in the Lords place: "He who has clean hands and a pure heart"
• Our sin is spoken of as filthy rags
• It is not the sinner and the unclean who will see God but only the pure in heart
• This seems an impossible standard for sinners like you and me
• The Bible says of each of us that 'the heart is deceitful above all things'
• The Bible says 'the heart is evil from childhood'
• We sin because we are sinners
• We are depraved - to varying degrees
• Jesus said 'Out of the heart come evil thoughts ...'
• It is a paradox
• Only the pure in heart will see God
• It is impossible to see God
• Paul writes that 'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God'
• Do we regularly ask God to search us?
• Although our hearts are sinful and evil we praise God for the heart enlightening Gospel
• Christ brought life and light through the gospel
• The gospel gives life to the dead and light to those in darkness
• The more we realise our sinfulness the more we praise God for the gospel
• Anyone in Christ is a new creation
• This change begins in our heart
• Jesus gives us this heart purifying blessing
• We deserve nothing but the judgement of God
• This gospel blessing is offered to all - but only received by humble sinners
• We all deserve God's judgement
• Not everyone will acknowledge it [the gospel]
• We must acknowledge we are "poor in spirit" (v3)
• We must "mourn" not for the dead but for our sin (v4)
• We must acknowledge that we are a 'nobody' (v5)
• We must come with a humble heart
• The Lord Jesus answers the longing of humble sinners
• If you want to see God - you must have a clean and pure heart
• Jesus died to purify the hearts of sinners like you and me
• Jesus died to "bring you to God"
• "If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" - 1 John 1:9
• Jesus enables us in heart to see God
• We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus
• 'Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart' cleansed and renewed by the Lord Jesus Christ
• "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"

Summary Remarks

• Jesus is speaking of the true Christian
• Being born again
• New life
• Paul says he is praying for us
• God gives us a foretaste of Himself now
• The blessings are immediate - the riches and glories that are ours in the Lord Jesus Christ
• If God is working in your heart this morning, come to Him right now
• May the Lord touch all our hearts
• Closing Prayer