Turn with me to John 1:47-51, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said to him, "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit". Nathaniel said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree I saw you". Nathaniel answered and said to him, "Rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the King of Israel". Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you I saw you under the fig tree and you believed, you will see greater things than these. And he said to him, most assuredly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man".
Father, this morning we thank you for your faithfulness and we thank you for your word. Holy Spirit, we thank you for the joy that is in this place and we thank you for the joy that will be made complete as your word is taken into the heart. May we decrease and you increase, in Jesus name. Amen.
Verse 47 says, "Behold, an Iraelite indeed whom there is no deceit". The King James version says, "No guile". The NIV says, "There is nothing false". I like the way the amplified Bible puts it, "In whom there is no guile, no deceit, nor falsehood or duplicity". I love this idea of a pure heart. People like Nathaniel are rare to find even in the Kingdom of God. The Bible says that we are to be like this; we are to be the pure in heart. We live in a generation that is rapidly moving in the opposite direction from the heart of God. The world is moving away from godliness and the spirit of the world has even gotten into the church and certainly into many Christian's homes.
Today true purity is so rare that it is seen by the world as kind of weird and even out of date. Even among Christians, someone with a pure heart, someone you can trust and is very transparent, someone with no agenda and just has a love for God is seen as a different type of thing. In our day and age it is hard to find an innocent child over the age of six. Our kids are exposed to more at an early age than many of us were exposed to before we turned 20. From understanding sex and violence to crude humor, our children get jokes and inuendo that generations before wouldn't have even thought of. Just this week the Lutheran church of America decided at their annual meeting that they were going to begin to ordain homosexuals into the ministry and that these folks could pastor churches. How many understand that there is a standard in the word of God that doesn't change regardless of what man's opinion is? I want to encourage you as believers to stand up for what God's word says. We need to set that purity in the life of this nation. I pray that will never ever be a debate among the Assemblies of God. I assure you as your Pastor that it will never be a debate in this church. God's word says what it says.
Nathaniel had a pure heart and there is a reason why God took time in his word to mention what he was. With Nathaniel, what you saw was what you got and it went deep. He was what he was because God had done a deep work in him. He was a man of conviction and a man of honor. What you saw was what you got, there was no pretense about him, no ulterior motives or tricks. He was the same in public as he was in private. The pure in heart are undefiled by sin and their conscience is clean because their heart is clean.
Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God". This is one of the most powerful verses in all of scripture. I want to talk about those who are pure in heart this morning and about what they'll see from God. This is one of the greatest promises; sin pollutes but the blood of Jesus Christ makes us clean and it is out of that cleanness that we can see God in all of his glory. Everything that we say or do is influenced by the condition of our heart. That means that no matter how hard you try to hide, the inside is eventually going to show on the outside. You can put up a facad for a little while but pretty soon you're going to get tired of holding that face. The truth is that the real you will come out. Everything we say and do allows us the opportunity to honestly gauge where we are.
Last week when we preached about repentance, how many sensed the presence of God in a great way? The next step is to have that pure heart. Not only to be repentant and be set free but then to allow that purity that God gave us at the time we were saved to affect every part of our life.
Luke 6:45 says, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks".
I want you to remember this, you can't bring to the table what you don't already have. So whether you have good or bad, that's what is going to come out of our life. The heart represents the soul and it represents the spirit of the inner man, who we really are. It represents our mind and our mind effects what we think. Our thinking determines what we do and what we say because what we believe is what we act on. Our heart determines our attitude, our motives, our actions and our words. Let me ask you, are you ready to see God? Are you ready to see him move through your mouth, through your actions, through who you are and all that you are? Those who are pure in heart will see God.
David had the cry that is the cry of the pure in heart. He said in Psalm 19:14 says, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer".
What we meditate on, what we think about in our private time is what will come out all the time. I have found more and more everyday that I pray, this becomes the cry of my heart. "Lord, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you". How many love God with all your heart this morning? There are battle cries, cries for help, all kinds of cries but I believe that the cry of the pure in heart is this, "Let everything that I am, my thoughts and my words, be pleasing to God".
I know over the last several years there has been this lax desire for this. I believe that God is restoring a passion in the church again not so much for a legalistic obedience to God's word but for a hunger for who he is, that we would be just like him. How many have a hunger in their heart today to be just like Jesus?
David gave us a great example of what a pure heart looks like. The truth is, what we meditate on and what we say is eventually what we will begin to do. The reason why people get frustrated with those who are sarcastic all the time and kind of mean with their jokes is because although they say they're joking somehow they mean what they're saying. Those who make sexually inappropriate remarks or jokes, what is going on in their mind and their heart is something that is not right in the sight of God. Having a pure heart doesn't deal with perfection. There is not one of us who will ever be perfect. But the truth is we are being made perfect through Christ everyday. A pure heart doesn't deal with perfection but it does mean that when impurity creeps up in my life I desire to get rid of it.
Acts 13:22 desribes David. God said this, "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who will do all my will". Those who have a pure heart desire above all else to do all of God's will. All of it, not just some of it or just the parts that make them happy or seem nice, but every bit of it. That's a pure heart. That bcomes the overriding desire of the pure in heart. "Lord, I want to do everything that you ask as well as I can, as often as I can for your glory". How many know that simplifies just about everything. The pure in heart really start having an easy life. Instead of living to please everybody else and do this and that, when we just say, "God, I want to do all that you ask, whenever you ask", that makes life a whole lot easier.
Psalms 51:10,11 reminds us that David was far from perfect. Not only did he desire to do all that God had, he fought to make sure that his heart was clean. Psalm 51:10, 11 is a verse that I'm sure everyone of us know, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me". David cried out for a clean heart, not just to be innocent of wrong doing but to not even desire to do it.
How many have found that when your heart isn't pure, God feels far away? Because it takes you away from him but really God didn't go anywhere. He's never moved from where he is. When our heart becomes impure we begin to move in the opposite direction from where he is and what he's doing. David cried out, "Lord, create in me a clean heart". How many understand that not one of us is capable to make ourselves clean? I like to encourage people, there are so many Christians living under such condemnation and when they struggle I have to remind them to get off their own back. The truth is that as hard as you try to do it, you can't do it on your own but if you will cry out to the Lord, he will help you do it.
David's motives were pure. Even in this he didn't cry out just for the blessing that being close to God brings. He cried out for a pure heart because he never wanted the presence of God removed from him at all. I pray that would be the cry of this church. I pray that would be our heart when we come to meet together and worship the Lord. "God, create in us a clean heart and take not your Holy Spirit from us". How many have ever been in a church where it seemed like God had left it a long time ago? Create in me a clean heart. When you've seen God and you've been in his presence it becomes a precious thing to you. The pure in heart desire that above all else.
Those with a pure heart see life from a whole different perspective. When you run into people who have a pure heart, most people in the world don't know what to do with them because it seems like they're in a whole different way of thinking. Titus 1:15 says, "To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure but even their mind and their conscience is defiled". To the pure, everything is pure. I believe that's one of the greatest mouthfuls in all the word of God. Their mind is pure and how they think about everything is different. For instance, they view people and their motives as clean. When they greet people, they're not suspicious. They're not always wondering who's going to stab them in the back or if they've got ulterior motives.
I was talking with someone this week and I thought it was a really great insight, that those who do certain things always think that everybody else is out doing the same thing. If you've been having an affair you think everyone you meet is having an affair. If you're a liar you think everybody is lying to you. But if you're pure in heart and always telling the truth you automatically think that when people are dealing with you that they're coming at it from a whole different place. Listen, that doesn't make them naïve, just not jaded. They trust people and they believe the best about people and their intentions.
I've been in ministry for over 20 years and I've seen a lot of things and I have to cry out to God daily, "Lord, create in me a clean heart". How many believe that God believes the best about you and me? He loves us purely. There are no ulterior motives, nothing except our best in mind. The pure in heart, when things are spoken, their mind doesn't go to the perverted. They don't see in every statement a possible double meaning. How many have found that in our society almost every phrase that we say has a possible negative meaning to it? I have said some things from the pulpit that people chuckled at because they thought it was possibly inappropriate and that it had a double meaning behind it. How many know to the pure all things are pure? To the defiled all things are defiled. God says that we are to be like little children who have our hearts clean. I understand where those things come from, I'm not a prude. We understand our world and what is going on but to the defiled everything is dirty and to the clean all things are clean.
I remember when I first told someone that we loved to go up to Dollywood and enjoy ourselves. They thought that place was kind of weird just because Dolly is a well figured woman and hence thought Dollywood was all about that. How many know Dolly is a born again Christian? That's one of the cleanest theme parks that you will ever go to in your life. You can walk through and hear gospel songs. Whether you like gospel music or not, it's fun to walk through the theme park and feel the annointing and presence of God as people are singing to the Lord. The atmosphere around there is way different. She purposely set out to create a place where families can come and be undefiled.
The pure in heart even see things differently because the Bible says that those who are pure in heart will see God even in their trials and their difficulties. Those who have said, "God, create in me a clean heart", when they're going through the hard times in life, when their heart is right with God, they aren't wondering, "Where is God in all this? God forsook me, God's not in this. Where's God? I thought you were my savior, I thought you came to help me through everything, I thought the promises of your word were there?" The pure in heart see God in it all, even when they're in the midst of it. They can see how God is using that situation for good. That's a cool place to be. They can see the little things that God is doing to bring blessings. They're not praising God for the situation that they're in but they can see that God says he will work all things out to the good for those who are in Christ.
When they're in the midst of going through some of the hardest times in their life they're not wondering where God is, they can see very clearly their Savior at work. That changes everything. He is our God, he is faithful and he is the one that brings joy and gladness. Even when the glass is only half full there is still something there. As long as you've got God in your life there is always something there. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Those who are pure in heart understand that God is always there.
The truth is this, everything is filtered through the lens of our heart. If you own a pair of glasses that are cracked then everything you look at will look broken. How is life being filtered for you? What are you seeing? How are your spiritual lenses? The pure in heart hate everything impure, they aren't attracted to it. They don't desire it and are not entertained by the thoughts of things that don't bring glory to God. They're not even moved in that direction and if their minds start to move that way they change their mind. How many know you have a mind and you can change it? They change their mind, not their outlook. They avoid impure conversation, not wanting to taint their heart and their mind because they remember that the pure in heart see God.
The pure in heart know that God is there with them all the time. That doesn't make them a kill-joy; it's the greatest blessing that you and I could ever have. There are things I won't say when my wife is around because I know that it would hurt her. I've learned that If I can't say them when she is there then I shouldn't be saying them when she's not there. The truth is this, the Holy Spirit is there all the time. That began to change my thinking because I wanted to be pure. Even when those things are said I recognize that the Spirit of God is there. Sometimes it's not just what would Jesus do? It's why are you doing it? Because he's right there with you. There's a watchfulness and a purposeful guardedness knowing that the world is evil and not wanting to be caught up in it.
Ephesians 5:15 says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, that you watch what you're doing, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil".
Those who are pure in heart walk carefully. They make sure what they're getting into and that they have a plan where they're going. A pure heart is grieved at the sight of sin, not only at what sin is but how it effects those who are living in it. The pure in heart begin to feel like Jesus feels.
When I opened up this message I began to talk about what was happening in the Lutheran church. Sometimes people see that as such a hard stance against sin and against people. Listen to me, my family grew up Lutheran and a lot of my family still attend the Lutheran church. They were saved and born again. How many know when you get to heaven God isn't going to check your denomination? He doesn't care one bit. Do you belong to him or don't you? Why that matters to me is because I know what sin does to the heart of people. I know what it does when we begin to embrace it and to mess with it because I know what I used to be like when I gave myself wholeheartedly to him. Although God has forgiven me and he has cast that sin far away, I remember the effect that it had on my life.
Because I minister everyday I know the effect that sin has on people's lives. The pure in heart don't just rail from a moral standpoint because it's something to do. We do need to take a stand and there are absolutes. The reason why those absolutes are there is because Jesus died so the effects of that sin would not be able to affect people anymore. I understand what that sin is going to do to the Lutheran Church. I understand what it's going to do as those men and women who are bound up in homosexuality begin to preach that sin as legal to people who embrace it and the enemy will have a foothold. It's no different than saying it's ok for people to steal, no different than people who are having an affair and no different than murder. Sin is sin in the eyes of God.
Those with a pure heart have compassion. They will stand up for what is right because they know the difference that God's goodness makes so that people can be set free. My prayer is that that would be our heart. Every time that we leave the purity of God, not only does it affect us but it affects those who come in contact with it. God was moved with compassion and his motives were to take a stand that would not damage people's lives. The reason he did what he did and the reason he lived how he lived was so people could live in the blessing and the fulness of a heart right with God. That's our call.
Those who are pure in heart recognize that they are only that way because of God. The pure in heart aren't pure if they're walking around in self righteousness declaring their own goodness all the time because they think they did it themselves. The pure in heart know that they have been made pure because of what Christ did for them.
Psalm 32:1-2 says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed are those whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit or impurity".
Those who are pure have a true understanding of all that God has done for them. They do not take lightly the price that forgiveness bought them. Our sin is not covered by our works; our sin is covered by the precious blood of the lamb. The pure in heart keep themselves from self righteousness, walking around thumping their chest thinking, "I'm better than you because of who I am". Who we are is only because of what Christ has done in us and for us. Those who are pure in heart are happy because they have received the promise of the pure: they shall see God.
When Jesus saw Nathaniel in John 1:51, he said, "Most assuredly I say to you, hereafter you shall see Heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man". He said what you're going to see are things that are going to blow your mind. You're going to get to see God in all his fulness; you're going to get to see God do a work and change people's lives. You're going to get to know who he is for real. Those who are pure in heart see God and they see him move. The presence of God dwells with them. Nothing impure can know his blessing and no one who is impure can experience his fulness. But those who are pure will see God. Purity is the price of the annointing.
Those of us who want to see God move through our lives, churches that want to see a town reached for Jesus, to see the sick healed, to see the blind see, to see those who are in sin come out of sin, to see marriages restored, must pay the price for the annointing and that is a pure heart.
Without holiness no one will see God. Purity is not only the requirement of heaven, it is also the requirement for seeing God move in your life and in the lives of others as you are obedient to him. Those who are pure will see God face to face. People say, "Pastor, I want to be like David. I want to know that I've met with God". I say, "then be pure in heart". How many have found that when you are pure your prayer time becomes sweeter than it has ever been? How many have found that when you come to worship time and there's not sin in your life then you know you're connected with God? How many have found when there's sin in your life and your trying to hide it from everybody else that you just stand there and can't feel God and wonder where in the world did he go? He is faithful, the pure in heart see the Lord. He'll reveal himself in a personal way and in powerful ways because those who are pure in heart will dwell in his presence.
When we started this year, the theme that God gave us was to have a passion for his presence. Here we are in the month of August and how many can tell that there's been a difference in what God is doing in this church? I believe the reason is because the people of God have been saying, "Lord, we want you more than anything else in our whole life". People are saying, "Not only are we experiencing God when we come to church as we've set our heart to seeing and knowing Him, we've watched God do great things when we leave the house of God". How many know that it's supposed to be that way? Because this church is just a building. We are the church. He lives and moves in every one of us. We've been noticing God doing great things in our homes and our families.
Churches that are pure will know his presence. I believe that's why we're seeing God beginning to move because we've been honest with him, "God, deal with my heart. Remove every sin, cleanse us, make us pure so that we're like Jesus". God said, "There's Nathaniel, a man in whom is no deceit and no guile". As I was preparing for this, I said, "God, that's what I want you to say about me". If God sees it then other people are going to see it as well. What a blessing it is.
