Gospel of John [16:33]. Why the believer has tribulation in the world [part 10 - pure in heart]. Mat 5:3-12; Psa 73; Isa 29:7-8.

Title: Gospel of John [16:33]. Why the believer has tribulation in the world [part 10 - pure in heart]. MAT 5:3-12; Psa 73; ISA 29:7-8.

 

JOHN-936-141214

 

MAT 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

 

"pure" - cleansed, spotless, without blemish. Heart - the real inward person. There is a great difference between inward purity and outward.

 

The pure in heart have God's way as their priority in life even though they continue to be sinners. They recover and repent of sin and press on towards the upward call. There is therefore no deceit in their hearts. When they deviate from the way of God they don't try to hide it from Him, but acknowledge it and reject their way in favor of His. Purity is a perseverance, a thirst and hunger for practical righteousness, a soul that is lifted up to the Lord (PSA 25:1) which is a longing for Him. This heart and this pursuit is a gift from God to the believer (PSA 24:5). It is not a burden or a means of impressing God. It is a grace gift given to the believer so that he may follow a superior way that is given by the Superior King of kings.  

 

Sometimes the pure in heart witness the wicked prosper and their faith in God's way may falter. Wisdom is restored in the house of God.

 

PSA 73:1 Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart! [again, true Israel is distinguished from those who are so only in appearance.]

 

PSA 73:2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling; My steps had almost slipped.

 

PSA 73:3 For I was envious of the arrogant, As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

 

Impatience exaggerates.

 

PSA 73:13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure, And washed my hands in innocence;

 

PSA 73:14 For I have been stricken all day long, And chastened every morning.

 

PSA 73:15 If I had said, "I will speak thus, "Behold, I should have betrayed the generation of Thy children.

 

The still small voice within him causes him to shrink away from openly endorsing ungodliness.

 

Positive volition in a believer restrains full blown revolt against God when doubt and impatience are entertained.

 

PSA 73:16 When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight

 

The powers of human reason, speculation, and research cannot accomplish any understanding concerning the way of God and man. Only God's revelation can do so.

 

Attempting to rectify the ways of wicked man with the ways of God and make any sense of them and their relation to one another will only bring mental and emotional pain. This is why much of mankind would rather ignore the question entirely.

 

PSA 73:17 Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end.

 

With learning, time, patience, experience, trials, successes, failures, etc. the lens focusing on God's way and glory comes more and more into focus. Unbelievers don't have the lens at all. Believers come in to the CWL with it extremely out of focus. Thousands of spiritual screws that adjust the position of the lens ever so slightly are tightened and loosened and God does the adjusting with the believer's consent. As one way is adjusted your world may be greatly upset or uncomfortable for a while, but it is necessary in order for us to begin to see more clearly and with more enlightenment.

 

The sanctuary was the appointed place of meeting between God and His people: then God manifested His glory and goodness to His people.

 

PSA 63:1 O God, Thou art my God;

I shall seek Thee earnestly;

My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

 

PSA 63:2 Thus I have beheld Thee in the sanctuary,

To see Thy power and Thy glory.

 

PSA 77:11 I shall remember the deeds of the Lord;

Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old.

 

PSA 77:12 I will meditate on all Thy work,

And muse on Thy deeds.

 

PSA 77:13 Thy way, O God, is holy;

What god is great like our God?

 

PSA 73:18 Surely Thou dost set them in slippery places; Thou dost cast them down to destruction.

 

David prays similarly for those who oppose him and so oppose God:

 

PSA 35:6

 Let their way be dark and slippery,

With the angel of the Lord pursuing them.

 

The psalmist sees their end because he learned doctrines from God in the house of God. In contrast Moses spoke to Israel of their failure to worship God:

 

DEU 32:27

"Would that they were wise, that they understood this,

That they would discern their future!

 

There is a future for the wicked as well as the pure in heart. God's patience and purpose must be understood in order for patience to succeed in developing into hope in the heart of the believer from which he will rest and find peace.

 

Even the pagan recognized that punishment will eventually find the wicked. The Roman poet Horace wrote: "Rarely does punishment, even at a slow pace, fail to overtake the criminal in his flight." This is but one example of many in which we would conclude that the natural man knows - you reap what you sow.

 

Calamity comes quickly upon some wicked but so slowly or seemingly never upon others. Hengstenberg [theologian from University of Berlin around 1830] states it well:

 

'The exceptions are designed to perplex those who do not go into the sanctuary of God' [Hengstenberg]

 

PSA 73:19 How they are destroyed in a moment! [as with Pharaoh at Red Sea; Sodom and Gomorrah; etc.] They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!

 

PSA 73:20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, Thou wilt despise their form.

 

ISA 29:7 And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel, Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, Shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

 

ISA 29:8 And it will be as when a hungry man dreams — And behold, he is eating; But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied, Or as when a thirsty man dreams — And behold, he is drinking, But when he awakens, behold, he is faint, And his thirst is not quenched. Thus the multitude of all the nations shall be, Who wage war against Mount Zion.

 

PSA 73:21 When my heart was embittered, And I was pierced within,

 

He condemns his past impatience and folly.

 

PSA 73:22 Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast [irrational] before Thee.

 

PSA 73:23 Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou hast taken hold of my right hand.

 

Though acting as a beast at times we recognize that God is continually with us and leading us to understanding.

 

And there is a recognition of that. The arrogant don't recognize their times of irrationality, but the humble do, and by recovering the proper mindset of faith and patience they realize that God has never left them. It is not the believer who is continually faithful but God, and that faithfulness leads us to a pursuit of faithfulness.