Hope Church LV Sermons
Be Happy :: Happy are the Clean
Following Jesus is a radical way of life. What He's invited us into is not the norm. Now many in our culture have tried to, if you will, dumb down the Christian life and make it simply the observing of a few traditions and the keeping of a small list of do's and don'ts and said that that's what following Jesus is really all about. But the life that Jesus has invited us into is a radical way of life. If you take your Bible and open to the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, and Matthew chapter five, Jesus opens his mouth and gives the longest single description of what this Christian life, kingdom living, really looks like. It's called the Sermon on the Mount. Many call it the greatest sermon ever preached, and we're studying straight through this wonderful passage of Scripture, Matthew five, six and seven together as a church family. And he begins this sermon, if you will, he begins this discourse with a series of statements simply called the Beatitudes. What is a Beatitude? Well, when we began to walk through these together, we gave you a definition. I want to put it back up on the screen. Here's what a Beatitude is. It's a declaration of a radical way of life made possible in Christ, resulting in real, unshakable happiness. What Jesus opens this message with is a series of declarations that describe a radical way of life that is only possible through Jesus Christ in us, but it results in real, unshakable happiness, real joy, not the kind of happiness that rests in our circumstances, but the kind of joy that transcends circumstances. And we're as a church studying each of these statements, they're so powerful, we're looking at each of them individually. Now, we're not going to do that with the whole Sermon on the Mount, amen? We're not going to take every verse of the Sermon on the Mount and do one week on every verse. If we did that, we might be here until Jesus comes again in the Sermon on the Mount. But these first statements were so powerful, they are so packed. You literally could take two or three weeks on each of these verses. So I want you to take your Bible, look at Matthew chapter five, we're going to begin reading in verse number one. When we get to verse three, I want you to read along with me out loud. We're going to read these Beatitudes together, but I'll read the first two verses and then I'll tell you when to come in. It says, "When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down his disciples came to him. He opened his mouth and began to teach them saying, 'Now I want you to read out loud with me off the screen.' You ready? Here we go. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." That's where we are this morning. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now each of these statements is power packed. Each of these statements is radical, but the one that we come to this morning is one of those special nuggets and the deep mind of God's truth. Martin Lloyd Jones wrote about this particular beatitude. Why don't you look on the screen, listen what he said. He said, "We come now to what is undoubtedly one of the greatest utterances found anywhere in the whole realm of Holy Scripture." Anyone who realizes even something of the meaning of the words, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Can approach them only with a sense of awe and complete inadequacy. This statement, of course, has engaged the attention of God's people ever since it was first uttered, and many great volumes have been written in an attempt to expound it. Indeed, no one can ever exhaust this verse. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now read that to you this morning as somewhat of a disclaimer, because there's no way in one morning we can really dig into all of the depth of the truth that is revealed in this simple statement from the lips of the Lord Jesus. But as awe-inspiring as it is in our day, it was even more awe-inspiring when Jesus spoke it to that audience on that day. Remember who Jesus was speaking to in the Sermon on the Mount? He was speaking predominantly to a group of Jews, people that were the chosen people of God, people that had been given the law in the Old Testament and invited into a covenant relationship with God. When God gave them the law, God gave them the law, first of all, to reveal the holiness of His character. The law reveals the very character of God. It reveals the person of God, His holiness and His glory. And in the law, we see God's standard of righteousness. And God gave us the law so that we can understand who He is. Secondly, God gave us the law to provide guidelines to lead us into the best life possible. But thirdly, God gave us the law to show us our own inadequacy. God gave us the law as a school teacher, the New Testament says, to instruct us of our need for a Savior. Because when we see the law, guess what we find out about ourselves? I can't measure up to God's standard of righteousness. I need forgiveness. I need a Savior. I need a Redeemer. That's why God gave us the law. But these that Jesus was speaking to on this afternoon were predominantly under the spiritual leadership of a group of men known as the scribes and the what? Pharisees, right? We know them as the bad guys of the New Testament. The guys with the black hats and the big fuzzy mustaches, right? That's the Pharisees. Well, the Pharisees in their day were not seen as bad men. The scribes and the Pharisees were some of the most respected religious leaders of the day. And yet they'd made a great mistake. They had misinterpreted the law. They didn't see the law simply as a standard to reveal the character of God and to show us our need for a Savior. They saw as the law as a means to earn favor with God. If you simply keep the law, if you simply observe every tenant of the law, then maybe God would accept you. And so what they'd done is they'd heaped a pile of legalism onto the people, onto the Jews. The scribes had taken the law and they had given notations. They had taken every point of the law and they'd given it definition. For example, when the Bible says on the Sabbath, "You shall not work." They weren't satisfied with that. So what the scribes did is they wrote hundreds of rules defining what it meant to work. They did that with every point of the law to the point that the people of Israel were so frustrated and so perplexed. John MacArthur wrote about it. Listen to the way he described it. So the mass of people in Israel were frustrated by a legal system they could not keep. And it produced in them tremendous guilt and anxiety. Yet here was a people committed to the reality of God. And to the fact that he had revealed himself in laws, they were crying for a savior, a redeemer, one who would not impose more rules on them, but one who would forgive them for the ones they'd already broken. They wanted something real. They wanted to know how you really get into the kingdom. Because if you got in by keeping the law, nobody would be in the kingdom and they knew it. Now that's the context. All of these laws, this monumental system of legalism. And here's this crowd gathered and Jesus speaks this simple, concise, blessed are the pure in heart. No lists, no laws, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. When he spoke those words, the statement filled the hearers with hope, hope in its simplicity, hope in its promise. Man, we can know God. And yet they were saturated with wonder at the same time. We can't even get the outside part right, pure in heart. What did Jesus mean when he said this? Well, what I want to do this morning is a little bit differently. A lot of times at Hope when we're teaching Scripture, what we'll do is we'll give you a truth that the Scripture is teaching, and then we'll kind of break that down. Well, I want to do a little differently this morning. I want to kind of unpack some key words in this verse. And then at the end, I want to draw two conclusions, all right? So if we're going to understand what Jesus said, it's very important that we understand the words that he used. So I want to define three very important words in this sentence that Jesus makes. Here's the first one. It's the word pure. The word pure. What did Jesus mean when he said pure? Well, the word pure in the Greek language had two basic meanings. Depending on its context, depending on how it was used, it meant one of two things. First of all, it meant cleansed or without defilement. It was used in this context to refer to a garment that had been soiled from wear and tear, and someone had taken that garment and they had completely cleansed the garment. They cleaned it to where it was pure. I love what Kay Arthur said. She said, in other words, God is not saying that if I want to see him, I have to have a heart that has never been dirty or tainted. Rather, it is a purity that comes from having been cleansed. If what Jesus said here is those that are perfect, they've never been dirty, they've never been tainted, then guess what? None of us have a shot of ever seeing God, right? But what he's saying here is speaking to the issue of cleansing. It's the kind of cleansing that Isaiah wrote about. In Isaiah chapter 1 when he said, "Come, let us reason together, though your sins are as scarlet. They shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson. They will be like wool." Cleansed. This cleansing, this purity that Jesus is describing. The cleansing that results in purity, results in a purity that is like the person of Jesus Christ Himself, when the Bible describes Him as unblemished and spotless. It's not just sort of clean. It's as pure as the person of Jesus Himself cleansed. The second meaning of this word, pure, sometimes this word is used to mean singleness. Or by that, maybe better stated, not deluded, a single-eyed devotion. And when it was used in this context, it would refer to water, excuse you, to milk or to wine, that's not deluded with water. It's pure. There's nothing defiling it. There's no delusion taking place. When used in the context of our relationship with God, it's a word that speaks to a single devotion. One pursuit, pure, cleansed, focused, pure. Second word is the word heart, the word heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. When we hear the word heart, often we think of the blood-pumping organ located on the left side of our chest cavity. But when Jesus uses the word heart here and often when it's used in Scripture, it's not referring to that organ on the inside of our body. It's referring to the seat and center of human life. When the Bible uses the word heart here is referring to the center of our desires, our feelings, our impulses, our passions, our thoughts. That's the heart. The heart is the real you and the real me. It's who I am on the inside, right? I mean, who I really am is not my hands and my face and my hair and my body. Who I really am is on the inside, the real me's in here. When Jesus is talking about the word heart, He is referring to the real you on the inside. But not only is He referring to the real me, He's also referring to the real source of the problem, right? The real problem is on the inside. The source of all uncleanness is the heart. I mean, I struggle enough with cleaning up the outside. Thank God people can't see me on the inside, amen? Aren't you glad this morning nobody comes equipped with those glasses? I mean, if we were all going to take our church face off this morning and be real honest, we're real grateful today that nobody in here knows the thoughts that go through our mind every week, right? Aren't you glad there's not one of those LED screens over your head? Where's all that come from? You see, the real problem is on the inside. Jesus said it this way later on in the gospel of Matthew in Matthew chapter 15. Look what He said, the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man. But to eat with unwise hands does not defile the man. You see, He was talking specifically about all these rules and regulations, the Pharisees that added on. And the Pharisees said, oh, if you just simply observe all the ceremonial washings and you're okay. Jesus said, that's not the problem. The problem's on the inside. It's what comes out of a person that defiles and that's where the root of all sin is in the heart. You know the reality this morning, every one of us sitting in this building today does not. I don't care who you are or how long you've been walking with God. Every one of us in this building is capable of anything under heaven. And the moment you think you're not, some moment you're really in trouble. 'Cause as soon as I think I'm not, guess what I am. I'm proud. I've got confidence in me. Heart. Jesus here is talking about a purity, a cleansing that goes beyond the outside and speaks right to the heart. Third word, see. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall what? See God. See. In the Greek language, there are three different words that are used in the New Testament. And each of those words we translate into English with the word see. Now in English, we use the word see in all three of these different ways. Unfortunately, we're not as smart as the Greeks where we use a different word. We just use the same word in a different context to make it real confusing, right? Let me share with you what I mean. In the Greek language, first of all, there's the word blepo. Say that out loud with me. Blepo. You know what it means? To see. But here's the way you would use it. I want you to take your hand. I want you to hold it up in front of your face. And I want you to say, I see my hand. Now put it down. Now say, I don't see my hand. Now put it back up there. I see my hand. Put it down. That's blepo. I see it. I looked at it with my eyes. I saw it. A second Greek word is the word pha-o-my. Say that out loud. Pha-o-my. Learning some Greek words this morning. Pha-o-my. We get an English word from it. You know what word we get? The word theator. When you go into a movie, you say, I'm going to see a movie. Now you're not just going to go when you see a movie, right? When you go see a movie, you are observing every detail of that movie. You're concentrating on what you're watching because you're trying to intellectually draw some conclusions and opinions based on what you're seeing, right? Pha-o-my. Third word is the word a-ra-o. Say that word out loud. A-ra-o. Know what it means? To see. Here's how we would use that. I am going to see my friend. And when you say, I'm going to see my friend, you're not going to go to them and go, right? And you're not going to go up to them and go. That'd be a little weird, right? When you use the word a-ra-o in the Greek language, here's what that word see means. It means to see face to face, to converse with, to experience fellowship with. I'm going to see my friend. You know what that means? I'm going to go sit down with my friend and I'm going to have a conversation. We're going to see each other face to face. We're going to enjoy fellowship with one another. I'm going to see my friend. I see my hand. I see a movie. I see my friend. Which of those three words do you think Jesus used in Matthew chapter 5? He used a-ra-o, exactly. Blessed are the pure in heart for only they will enjoy fellowship with God. They will know God only they will enjoy. Now do you understand why in this context it was so powerful? It was a people that were starving. They were hungry for fellowship with God. They wanted to know God. They wanted to see God. And yet they had all these rules and regulations piled up on top of them. And they knew they couldn't keep them. They were hopeless. And Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will know God." So with those three words let me draw two conclusions this morning and we're finished. Here's the first one. Only those who have been cleansed on the inside will ever know God. Only those who have been cleansed on the inside will ever know God. Now listen, this is why the greatest lie to ever come out of the pit of hell is religion. Religion says clean up the outside. Religion says clean up your act, obey these rules, observe these traditions. And if you'll simply do these things then maybe one day God will accept you. Listen, it doesn't matter if you call it Islam, if you call it Mormonism, if you call it Hinduism, or if you call it Christianity. If all it focuses on is the outside, you will never know God. Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart." Man, I need to cleansing on the inside. Well that raises a serious question. How do I? I'm not doing very good on the outside. How do I clean up the inside? And there is the beautiful message of the gospel. You see Jesus came to do for me what I could not do on my own. You know what the answer to the question is, how do you clean up the inside? You can't. There's nothing I can do to clean the inside. But Jesus came to do for me what I could not do on my own. Let me show it to you in the Bible. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, look at it on the screen. The Bible says, "He, God the Father, made Him Jesus the Son, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Here's what that says. On the cross, God put all of my sin, all of your sin on the person of Jesus, all the uncleanness in my heart, every attitude and every action, all of my sin, Jesus Christ, as God in the flesh, took that on Himself. And when Jesus died, He paid the penalty for my sin, but He did not stay dead. Amen? We're going to celebrate in a couple of weeks the truth, that Jesus rose again from the dead. And what that verse says is when I put my faith and trust in what Jesus Christ did on the cross, the Bible says all of my sin was placed in His account and His righteousness. It's a very important phrase in that verse, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. You know what that means? That means that now God has imputed to my account. Say what does that mean? Here's what that means. When God looks at Vance Pitman, God sees me as pure as the son of God Himself. Is that because I've earned that? No. Is that because I deserve that? No. Is that because I live that pure in my life? No. It's because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. The glorious message of the gospel is that through faith in Jesus Christ, I can be forgiven of my sin from the inside out and be declared to be right with God. Only those who've been cleansed on the inside will ever know God. Number two, only those pursuing purity in their daily lives experience real fellowship with God. You see, this purity that Jesus speaks of is not simply my standing before God, but it also describes the life that Christ desires to produce through me. You could translate Matthew 5.8, "Blessed are the ones walking in purity." You see, what I've experienced in my life positionally, Christ now desires to work out in my life practically as he lives his life through me. Yes, it's true that before God I have been declared righteous, I am clean. Nothing I have to do to change my standing before God, but what is true of me positionally now, God is at work in my life, bringing that purity out of my life as Christ lives his life in and through me. God's purifying us. It's the passion of Paul's life in the New Testament. Listen to what Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, look at it on the screen. He said, "More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. It may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ. The righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Remember what we said the word "pure" means? It means to be cleansed, but it also means a single-eyed devotion. Do you hear that in Paul here? Paul says, "Man, everything else is lost in view of the surpassing value." Paul says, "Man, I'm pursuing Christ and his righteousness." Not a righteousness where I'm out trying to turn over a new leaf and clean up the outside. No, but a righteousness which is founded God. As I grow in intimacy with him, God manifests his righteousness through my life. Say, "Well, how does this happen?" Am I really focused? Am I pursuing purity in my life? Well, let me close the message this morning by asking three questions. And these three questions I want you to take and apply and use in your own life and ask your own self these questions this morning because these questions can really examine the pursuit of purity in our daily lives. Here's the first one. Am I being honest with God about everything in my life? You see, we have a tendency to give God major areas of our life, but we like to keep little corners. Not quite ready to... You know why sin is so dangerous in the life of a believer? It doesn't change our relationship with God. Listen, I'm as pure before God as I'll be when I've been in heaven for 10,000 years because my purity is not based in my performance. It's based in my position in Jesus Christ. But sin robs me of walking in fellowship with God. And I was created to enjoy intimacy with God, and sin robs me of intimacy with God. And if I'm keeping little corn... Listen, it's not like I'm hiding anything. He's God. Hey, let me let you on a secret this morning. You do know he knows, right? But does he know because you've been honest? Look at 1 John chapter 1 verse 6. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, you hear the honesty in that? If we just 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. Look down at verse 9. If we confess our sin, you know what the word confess means in the Greek language? It's a compound word. It literally means to say the same. You know what that means? To confess is to just agree with God. To say the same thing about it that God says. You're right. I'm wrong. He says, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Man, when I live with honesty before God, listen, it's not that I'm perfect at all, but I live in an honest, transparent relationship with God. You're right. I'm wrong, Lord. I blew it today. The Bible says he forgives me of my sin, and then I love the last phrase, and he cleanses me from all the things I'm not even aware of that I've done. Are you living in honesty before God? Are you keeping that list short? Of those areas of your life that you agree with God about? Not number two. Am I allowing God to speak into my life through His word? God desires to produce purity in our lives, but the way He does that is through time spent in His word. God through the Holy Spirit takes the word of God and does this work of transformation in our heart. You see, as I read the Bible, man, God through His words like a mirror that points out those areas in my life that aren't in agreement with Him, and then God through His word shows me how to bring those things into conformity with His standard of righteousness. I was reading in a quiet time this week in Ephesians chapter 5, and we talked about this verse in our study time this week, but then it came up again in my personal quiet time in Ephesians 5, 25. It's a verse you all know. We think about it in the context of marriage. It says, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." Listen to the next verse. It's describing Jesus' love for the church and why He loved this. Look, why did He give Himself up so that He might sanctify her? Having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. The Psalmist wrote about it in Psalm 119. It's almost as if in frustration, he blurts out this question in Psalm 119 verse 9, "How can a young man keep his way pure?" And the Spirit of God inspires this response by keeping it according to your word. With all my heart, I've sought you. Lord, do not let me wonder from your commandments. Then here it is, your word. I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you. Are you giving the word of God a place of priority? Listen, I don't read the Bible because I have to because I'm a Christian. If you're going to be a good Christian, God's going to like you. You've got to read the Bible every day. No! I read the Bible because God desires intimacy with me. And God's giving me His word to speak into my life. And as I spend time with God in His word, God does a work of purity in my life, brings me to a place of honesty before Him and deepens my fellowship with Him. Third question, am I consistently examining the influences in my life? Am I consistently examining the things that influence my life? Every day we're bombarded, especially in Vegas. Radio, television, billboards, restaurants, places that we go. Listen to what the right of Proverbs says in Proverbs 4, 23. Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it. Flow the springs of life. You know what he's saying there? Guard what you allow to influence you on the inside because everything on the outside comes out of the inside. My granddaddy used to say what's down in the well comes up in the bucket. The writer of Proverbs says we've got a guard. That phrase with all diligence literally means above everything else. Above all else, guard your heart. We don't spend time in the Word. We keep little areas. We're not ready to give those over to God. We bombard our lives with the influences of this world. And then we wonder, why can't I live in purity? Why can't I be more like Jesus? Only those pursuing purity and daily lives experience real fellowship with God. Only those cleansed on the inside will ever know God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Let's pray. Father, speak to us today. Lord, we need you. God, we need you to speak into our lives this morning. As you sit quietly before the Lord this morning, I want to ask you a very simple question. Have you been focusing simply on the outside? Or have you ever allowed God and His grace through Jesus to cleanse and forgive you on the inside? Have you ever experienced salvation? Listen, the only way to know God is by being clean on the inside. You can't do that, but Christ desires to do that for you. This morning, if you're here and you'd say, "Pastor, man, for the first time in my life, I understand the gospel that Jesus came to clean me up on the inside." In just a moment, we're going to stand and we're going to sing a song of worship. It's an opportunity for us to respond to God in praise. When we stand to sing this morning, if you're here and you are ready to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you're ready to be cleansed on the inside. As soon as we stand, we have some pastors over here at the front. We have some prayer volunteers along the side and at the back. If God is spoken to you this morning and you are ready to give your life to Jesus, as soon as we begin to sing, you slip out of your seat, come to one of these pastors or prayer volunteers and say to them, "I need Jesus," and they'll open the Bible and they'll show you exactly how you can be clean. For the rest of us this morning, if you're already a Christian, I want you to think about those three questions. Are you honest with God about everything? Are you seeking God in His Word? Are you lying His Word to speak into your life daily? Are you examining the influences in your life today? God, would you speak to us this morning? Have your way. Cleanse us, O God. May we walk in deeper fellowship with you. It's in the name of Jesus we pray.