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Augustine, one of the great Christian theologians who ever lived, died not long after the fall of the Roman Empire in 410 AD.
There is a legend that says that he was once challenged by a pagan, who held up an idol to him and sarcastically said, “Here is my god.
Where is yours?”
To which Augustine replied, “I cannot show you my God, not because He doesn’t exist, but because you have no eyes to see Him.”
* *I think there are many who have no eyes to see God.
Of course, in one sense, nobody can see God.
He is Spirit, and spirits are by nature invisible.
He is holy, and for a sinful human being to try and see Him would be like trying to focus your eyes on the sun.
God doesn’t seem to make very many personal, physical appearances.
Yet in another sense, it /is/ possible for us to see God.
You cannot stare at the sun, but you can see everything else by its light.
You cannot see the wind, but you can see feel its effects.
There is a way to see God, though it is like Paul writes in *1 Cor.
13:12* .../in a mirror, dimly…/Like Moses we can catch glimpses of His glory, enough to know Him personally, to recognize Him as our Heavenly Father, to believe in Him as our Savior and Lord.
You cannot see Him with your physical eyes, but you can see Him by faith through the eyes of your heart.
Somebody once put it this way:
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is
essential is invisible to the eye.---Antoine
de Saint-Exupéry
This morning I want to talk to you about how to clear up the vision of your heart, so you and I can see God better.
To help us, I will focus on the words of Jesus found in *Matt.
5:8*.
*PRAYER*
Sometime back in March we bought a house in Florence that came with a pool so filthy you couldn’t see the bottom of it.
We’ve been trying to get it to look like all those beautiful pools where the water is so crystal clear you can see a tadpole swimming on the bottom.
Purity and clarity are connected, not only when you’re talking about swimming pools, but when you’re trying to see God.
This is why Jesus begins by saying /Blessed are the pure in heart…=The happiest people in the world have a pure heart…/What exactly does it mean to be /pure in heart?
/
/ /The word for /pure=/*/ /**καθαρός *from which we get our English word /catharsis= a cleansing of mind or emotions /and /catheter,/ used for cleaning out the body.
To be pure in the sense the Bible uses the word means to be clear to be unmixed or to be clean.
This gives us some clues to what it means to have a pure heart *What is a pure heart?*
*/A pure heart is a clean heart./
**/ /*
*Ps 51:2, 7, 10 */2//Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God…/
King David prayed this prayer after he had committed adultery and murder.
He realized his sins blackened his heart with guilt, and he prays for God to purify Him.
A pure heart is not a heart that’s never sinned (Jesus had the only one of those) but a heart that has been cleansed from sin and guilt.
*Is 1:18* /Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool./
/ /A pure heart is a clean heart, but also
*/A pure heart is an honest heart./*/
/Like a spotless window pane, there is a transparent integrity to a pure heart.
There is no phoniness, no hypocrisy, no pretense.
There is a consistency between inward attitudes and outward behavior.
Jesus called for this kind of purity
*Mt 23:25-26 */25//“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
26Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also./
A rather arrogant man was teaching a boys’ Sunday school class; “Why do people call me a Christian?” he asks.
After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, “Maybe it’s because they really don’t know you.”[i]
A person with a pure heart isn’t interested in keeping up appearances—what you see on the outside is what they are like on the inside.
But also
/ *A pure heart is a loyal heart.*
/There is a pure devotion in a pure heart.
Jesus makes this point brilliantly in
*Mt 6:24* /No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon./
A person with a pure heart doesn’t play the field; they stay on the same team.
They’re not fair weather friends, but all weather friends.
They can be counted on when you’re down for the count.
/Their love is loyal.
/
Put all of this together and you get a good picture of what Jesus means by /the pure in heart.
/
A person with a pure heart is a person whose heart is cleansed from sin, a person who is real, not phony, and who is totally sold out to loving God.
This kind of heart will see God.
I suppose this is a big reason why so many people rarely get a glimpse of His glory.
It’s easier to play religion than it is to be real with the Lord.
Going through the motions really isn’t all that hard.
Learn a few catch phrases, buy a big Bible, be nice for a few hours at church each week and you can go pretty far in the eyes of other people.
But don’t expect to see God.
Nobody else sees our hearts.
They don’t know see the stains our sins have made.
Many of us are very good at hiding our wickedness.
You can have a filthy mind, and a filthy heart full of guilt and you won’t hear anybody else condemn you.
But don’t expect to see God.
You can pretend to love Jesus and still be in love with money, or possessions, or even yourself.
You can try to play for both teams---heaven and hell—and feel like a winner.
But don’t expect to see God.
A man dressed up as the devil was walking to a costume party when a downpour hit.
To escape the rain he darted into a church where a revival meeting was in progress.
When he walked in people began to scattered every which way to get out, all except one man who got it coat sleeve caught in the pew.
As the man came closer, the poor fellow gave up, turned and said, “I just want you know I’ve been on your side the whole time.”
If you and I want to see God, Jesus says you’ve got to have a pure heart.
You cannot see God until your heart is cleansed from your sins.
You cannot see God until you get real with Him.
You cannot see God until you give Him your whole heart.
But if you have a pure heart, then the rest of this verse is yours: /Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. /
How will they see God? Will He come to us in a vision or a dream?
Will He show up in Person, as He did in the Bible?
Probably not.
I know we all /think /we’d like to see God this way, but I’m afraid most of us really don’t know what we’re asking.
It would be terrifying thing to see God the way you see me right now.
We would not survive.
*Ex 33:20* /…for no man shall see Me, and live.
/
But there are other ways to see God.
Perhaps one way of illustrating is the viewing of a solar eclipse.
They tell us that if we just look up at a solar eclipse, it will permanently damage your eyes, even blind you.
But they also tell you that there are indirect ways to view the eclipse that will be safer.
I think there are safer ways you and I can see God.
*How do the pure in heart see God? *
Perhaps the most important way to see God is *through Jesus Christ.*
*Jn 14:8-9* /8Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?
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