Gospel of John [16:33]. Why the believer has tribulation in the world [part 11 - pure in heart]. Mat 5:3-12; Psa 73; Heb 9:14.

Title: Gospel of John [16:33]. Why the believer has tribulation in the world [part 11 - pure in heart]. MAT 5:3-12; Psa 73; HEB 9:14.

 

Announcements/opening prayer: 

 

 

MAT 5:8

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

 

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.

 

PSA 73:24 With Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me [as a Shepherd to sheep], And afterward receive me to glory.

 

PSA 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth.

 

Notice the contrast in attitude with a simple change in focus and perspective. Now he is full of joy and fulfillment.

 

PSA 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength [Heb: rock] of my heart and my portion forever.

 

PSA 18:1-2

"I love Thee, O Lord, my strength."

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

 

LAM 3:22-26

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Thy faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I have hope in Him."

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

To the person who seeks Him.

It is good that he waits silently

For the salvation of the Lord.

 

PSA 73:27 For, behold, those who are far from Thee will perish; Thou hast destroyed all those who are unfaithful to Thee.

 

PSA 73:28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Thy works.

 

No one is a good ambassador for the Lord who does not take refuge in Him alone.

 

The NT makes clear what makes a heart pure or clean - faith in Christ.

 

ACT 15:8 "And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them [Gentiles], giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us [Jews];

 

ACT 15:9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

 

The heart is cleansed forever by faith in Christ. Experiencing that cleansing demands faith in the doctrines from God.

 

HEB 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,

 

HEB 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 

Understanding of our cleansing at salvation cleanses the conscience from works of the flesh and adds a desire for the fruit of the Spirit.

 

HEB 10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

 

HEB 10:20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,

 

HEB 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

 

HEB 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

The evil conscience, the dirty body contaminated by a dirty heart are no longer the real you. The believer must become convinced of who he really is in Christ.

 

ROM 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

2TI 1:12

 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

 

A knowledge of our total cleanliness encourages a desire to walk in His light.

 

1JO 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

 

1JO 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

2CO 7:1

Therefore, having these promises [of our position in Him], beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

 

MAT 5:8

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

 

The pure in heart shall see God's person through His functioning in their own lives. The best way to see God is by being conformed to the Lord's image.

 

1JO 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

 

1JO 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.

 

1JO 3:3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

 

ROM 8:29

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;

 

HEB 12:14

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.