Blessed are the Pure in Heart (Part 4)

They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!

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Hymn - When I survey (453)

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Hymn - MEEKNESS AND MAJESTY (315)

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Sincerity

Integrity

Fervency (Passionate Intensity)

Seeing God

We will not see Giod in person in this life. We will be able to in eternity.

John 1:18 ESV

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

“See God” at our conversion

We can though lay hold of the promises...

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers. God will reveal himself.

When we seek God with sincerely, integrity and intensity we will find Him (“see” him).

John 14:9 ESV

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

“See God” in Creation

Nehemiah 9:6 ESV

“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

The minds of the pure in heart are not cluttered with confusion

Richard Dawkins “blind physical forces and genetic replication” that has “no design, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference” and “life is just bytes and bytes and bytes of digital information”

“See God” in the unfolding of world history

Psalm 22:28 ESV

For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

Oliver Cromwell: ‘What are all histories but God manifesting himself?’

“See God” in Scripture

1 Peter 1:23 ESV

since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Augustine: they see the Bible as ‘a volume of letters from the heavenly country’

“See God” in Prayer

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Proverbs 15:29 ESV

The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

George Müller testified, ‘I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk about, when I lie down and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming.’

What a contrast to the person whose prayers are described by William Barclay as ‘a walking civil war in which trust and distrust of God wage a continual battle against each other’ and whose prayers are riddled with double-minded doubts.

Unbelievers ....

James 1:7 ESV

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

“See God” in their Christian Service

They serve God with genuine humility, not seeking to enhance their own reputations

Knowing even if tangible results are absent or insignificant they can rest in God’s promise

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

When God does bless their work, the pure in heart give Him all the Glory (taking none of the credit)

“See God” in all of life’s circumstances

1 Samuel 2:6–7 ESV

The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

British preacher G Campbell Morgan, ‘The man who measures things by the circumstances of the hour is filled with fear; the man who sees Jehovah enthroned and governing has no panic.’

“See God” in trial and adversity

Trusting in God - who is in control of everything

Moses:

Hebrews 11:27 ESV

By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Moses look to God in uncluttered faith, and was given the courage, strength, and determination to overcome every obstacle.

Puritan preacher Thomas Brooks, ‘A gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud and see God smiling on him.’

Face to Face with God

Assurance of faith (Blessed are)

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Proverbs 4:18 ESV

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

Exhilerating truth has rejoiced in the hearts of God’s people for thousands of years and made them long for the when they would enter God’s glorious presence.

David provided an example...

Psalm 17:15 ESV

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

Revelation 22:4–5 ESV

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

When pondering if we will see the God with the “naked eye”....

Martyn Lloyd-Jones agrees: ‘We just do not know. The very Being of God is so transcendent and eternal that all our efforts to arrive at an understanding are doomed at the very outset to failure.’

Paul declared...

Romans 15:13 ESV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

The Beatitudes for Today Face to Face

If we sense his presence, power and love so deeply here, how much more must we do so there? If worshipping and serving God can be such a delight now, what must these be like then? If there is ‘joy and peace in believing’ (Romans 15:13), how much greater will these be in seeing? In heaven, the blessedness of the pure in heart in seeing God will be utterly beyond anything we can presently imagine or describe.

John share the promise...

1 John 3:2 ESV

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Peter Jackson (2 slides)

The Beatitudes for Today Face to Face

Peter Jackson—pastor, preacher, and gospel pianist extraordinary—was blinded through measles when he was just eighteen months old. He knows that God could restore his sight immediately, and he would no doubt rejoice in the blessings that would follow, but nevertheless delights to say, ‘If I remain as I am, the next person I see will be my Saviour.’ Could any vision be greater than that?

In this life, God’s people are graduallually … being transformed

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

In seeing their Saviour, the pure in heart will be made perfectly happy by being made perfectly holy. They will have no frustrated ambitions, no unfulfilled longings, no unsatisfied desires.

The Beatitudes for Today Face to Face

Thomas Watson’s words, ‘The saints shall have their heads so full of knowledge and their hearts so full of joy that they shall find no want … We shall never be weary of seeing God, for, the divine essence being infinite, there shall be every moment new and fresh delights springing forth from God into the glorified soul … The more the saints behold God the more they will be ravished with desire and delight.’

Hymn - THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION (577)

Closing Prayer

Doxology

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