The Pure in Heart Shall See God

The Progression of the Beatitudes and the Nature of Purity of Heart

0:02 Now we turn to conclude this morning the sixth beatitude that we have been studying together. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 8.

0:26 We have seen in our studies in the beatitudes that there seems to be a definite progression in the truths embodied in these beatitudes. We saw the ascending rungs of the latter in God's dealing with the human heart through his grace. The bottom rung, or as one man of God said, when God begins to form the cord of grace, he always starts with the base note. And the base note is poverty of spirit.

1:02 God's stripping me down. And showing me that I am nothing, have nothing, can do nothing. And that I'm a needy sinner. And I must throw myself upon his mercy if I'm ever to have forgiveness.

1:16 Poverty of spirit. Poverty of spirit gives birth to holy mourning over my sinfulness and my rebellion against God. And when I've seen myself poo and I've mourned, then the strut and the cockiness is gone. And he's a meek man.

1:35 That man broken down, hungers and thirst, and God fills him. And then as a result of that filling, having received mercy, he is a merciful man. And having sought the Lord for righteousness, God has operated in his heart in a marvelous way. And he has been made pure in heart.

1:56 Last week we tried to answer the question, I'm sure, poorly, but at least we made an attempt. What is it? What is purity of heart? And I trust we got hold of at least several simple principles that purity of heart is purity of heart.

2:12 It's a purity that touches the roots of our being. Sin is basically a heart problem. And God's grace deals with the root of the problem, not merely the fruit. Then we saw that heart purity was basically that work of God which involved the taking away of the heart.

2:34 The alloys of the human heart. Making the heart pure that it might be what God intended it should be. The source of love to God. The source of joyful obedience to God.

2:47 The source of glad surrender of ourselves to live to his glory. And purity of heart we saw is only the result of the mighty operations of the grace of God. You and I may feel quite adequate to...

3:05 Acquire some Bible doctrine. We may feel quite adequate in our natural strength to regulate our lives so that we're fairly respectable and go to church. But you start trying to clean up your own heart. You start trying to deal in your own strength with perverse thoughts and perverse attitudes and perverse motives.

3:28 Try to deal with those things. And you come to the realization that, oh God, as David said, thou must create. Make in me a clean heart. I don't have the materials with which to do this.

3:40 With my mind, I can assimilate doctrine. By my will, I can regulate my life. But, oh God, when it comes to touching the heart, I've got nothing that can reach there. And so purity of heart is that mighty operation of God by the blood of Christ and by the Spirit by which we come into this relationship.

Manifestations of a Pure Heart

4:01 What are the manifestations? We considered just three last week. First, manifestation of a pure heart is a real and vital inclination to holiness. We desire to be holy in thought, in motive, in attitude, and then in our conduct.

4:16 Secondly, there's a consciousness and a burden concerning the lack of holiness. The man who's pure in heart is never content with any degree of holiness that he attains. He's never content that he's lopped off some of the outward vices. And he's a fairly respectable man.

4:35 The most holiest men who ever lived died panting to be more holy. The most holy men who ever lived were the ones who were most conscious of the remains of their unholiness and their corruption. Read the life of the Brainerds and the Jonathan Edwards and the Henry Martins of India and these mighty men whose holy lives glowed like diamonds against a black velvet backdrop. These were the men, when you read their writings, you find that they were the ones who were most conscious of their unholiness and their corruption.

5:05 You find they were most conscious of their uncleanness. They were pure in heart. The man who's not pure in heart is never troubled about inward corruption. He's content that he's respectable and nice, and this is as far as he goes.

5:19 And the third evidence of purity of heart is a serious regard for every means that will help us to go on to greater purity of heart. A man who's pure in heart will put himself in the way of becoming yet more pure. The word, the fellowship of God's people, the searching, exposing ministry of the word of God. Now today we want to consider the promise that the Lord Jesus gave to the pure in heart.

The Promise: They Shall See God

5:48 We had hoped to get to it last week, but we didn't, and so we'll deal with it this morning. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they, and again the emphasis is on they. You can underline it in your Bible, the Lord Jesus stated in such a way, that he was really saying, for they and they only shall see God. This little phrase, they shall see God, is one of those phrases which as a preacher I wish I didn't have to preach on.

6:25 For the simple reason that we're dealing with something that so far transcends the capacities of the human mind and the human intellect, that at best all we can do, is take a little verbal stab at it and hope that we can somehow give you a little faint idea of what it's talking about. This is something that is more felt than understood, and thank God there are things that are more felt than understood. From that standpoint, I'm a mystic. I believe that there can be in our hearts experiences that can be never framed with words.

7:03 There can be an understanding and perception of truth that can never be brought out, point one, two, three. Now I believe we ought to go point one, two, three. That's what we're going to do tonight. I'm not decrying that.

7:15 But there comes this area where the heart enters in and the head stands outside the door and allows the heart to pass in lost in wonder, love, and praise. Such is the phrase, they shall see God. And I want to state first of all this morning that this matter of seeing God is the whole goal of redemption. The purpose for which Jesus Christ took upon Him a body and in that body bled and died and rose again and in that glorified body sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for His own.

7:53 The purpose for which He sent forth the Holy Ghost amongst men to convict of sin and to draw to Christ. Here's the whole goal of it. That one day men might see God. For when we turn to the Holy Spirit, in the last chapter of the book of the Revelation, Revelation chapter 22, and John was given a little glimpse of what the redeemed will know and experience as they're in that everlasting habitation with their Redeemer and with their God, we find this wonderful little phrase.

8:27 He says there is the throne of God and of the Lamb and His servants shall see His face. There it is. Then it says they'll follow Him and other things will follow but they shall see His face. And the whole goal of all of God's redemptive work and all of His redemptive purposes was that one day a great multitude which no man can number might look upon the face of the living and the true God and worship Him and adore Him and magnify Him world without end.

Reconciling the 'Seeing God' Passages

9:10 And so the Lord Jesus in pronouncing blessed the pure in heart, He gives to this particular characteristic of the true child of God the most wonderful promise that they shall see God. Now you say, Pastor, is that a literal vision? Does that mean we will actually see with physical eyes God in His true essence, in His true substance? Some passages seem to indicate no.

9:39 For you remember that the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 1 and verse 18, No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. We read in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 15 that God dwells in light unapproachable whom no man can see.

10:05 God told Moses in Exodus chapter 33 and verse 20 when Moses said, Show me, I pray thee, thy glory. Jehovah God said, No man can see me and live. So there are these portions and others with them that would seem to indicate that no human being, even a redeemed creature, for when Jesus said no man hath seen God at any time, remember, there were already a multitude of redeemed souls in heaven. Moses and Elijah and the great host of those whose names we'll never know till we get there.

10:38 And yet Jesus said, No man, even these have really seen God in His true essence.

10:45 Even the redeemed cannot see Him as He fully is. And yet I turn on the other side and I read verses like this in 1 John chapter 3. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. He doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall what?

11:04 See Him as He is. 1 Corinthians 13, I believe in verse 12, declares, Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. So what do we do? Well, throw out the Bible.

11:20 It's full of contradictions. No. We just recognize that when we come to deal with this matter of seeing God, we're dealing in such a realm that God cannot break through to us with the things that we have to deal with, with words, and give us an adequate concept of what it's going to be, to see God. But one thing we know, and this is what's vital, and get this, one thing we do know, that there's going to be such a glorious thing as seeing God that will completely satisfy the heart of every redeemed man and woman.

11:58 Whether that means we'll actually see Him in His unclouded essence and substance, I do not know. But I do know that Jesus said, blessed, blessed, perfectly happy of the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And all that I need to see of Him to be perfectly blessed, that much I'll see of Him and know of Him. Isn't that wonderful?

12:22 That's all God needs to tell me. That's enough for me. And the rest, I can wait till I get there to know what He meant. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The 'Now and Then' Fulfillment of Seeing God

12:35 Now when will this be fulfilled?

12:39 This promise, they shall see God. Is it something that's fulfilled now? Or something that's fulfilled then? Or is it both?

12:49 I believe the scriptures make clear that with most of these blessings promised in the Beatitudes, there is a now and a then. For we read in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 14 that the Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance. So that all that God has given to us by way of an inheritance in Christ, He gives us a little earnest, a little down payment of it now. Will there be fullness of joy when we're in His presence?

13:20 Ah, the scripture says, in thy presence is fullness of joy. But right here and now, what do we have? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost.

13:32 So God gives us a little down payment.

13:36 The full thing is there, but He gives us a little earnest of the inheritance here. Will there be perfect peace then? Yes. All of these things, but God gives us something of it now.

13:46 I believe the same thing is true of this passage. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. When? Not just out yonder, but the Holy Spirit has given to us an earnest, a down payment, a pledge of that beautiful sight of God then by what we can experience even now.

14:10 I think the clearest example of this, which actually uses, the phrase seeing God, is found in Hebrews chapter 11, concerning the life of this mighty man of God in the Old Testament, Moses. Notice what we read in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 27. Hebrews 11, 27.

14:32 By faith, he, Moses, forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. Remember what that involves. The wrath of the king, Egypt, the most powerful nation in its time, the most powerful army.

14:50 Here's one man who says, I don't fear that whole bunch. Why?

14:56 Not because he had confidence in his escape plans. Not because he had confidence in his ability to dodge the army. No. Why?

15:05 What's it tell us? For he endured as seeing him who is invisible. There's the key. Why could Moses, one man, made of flesh and bone and blood such as you and I are made of?

15:26 One man could dare to stand against all the influence and the army and all the pressures of the Egyptian nation. Only one reason. It said Moses saw something that nobody else saw in Egypt. He saw him who is invisible.

15:43 And the gains of the soul upon his God was that which fortified him and strengthened him. To do the will of God no matter what opposition stood before him. And as you read the life of Moses, you see this again and again. When he came out of Egypt with that great host of the Israelites, and there was the Red Sea before them, mountains on one side and the other in the Egyptian army behind them, all the children of Israel saw was the Red Sea, the mountains, and the Egyptian army.

16:13 And they say, wouldn't you have thought we'd die in Egypt? Wouldn't you bring us out here for? Moses saw something they didn't see. Oh, he saw them.

16:20 He saw the Red Sea. He saw the mountains. He saw the army. But he saw him who was invisible.

16:27 See? And the man who's pure in heart is the man who's a true believer. He's the man who's passed from death unto life. And he has been given eyes in that heart.

16:38 And with those eyes, he sees God. The eyes of faith. And he sees him now. And it's this that gives him courage.

16:47 It's this that gives him stability in the midst of... of adversity and the pressures of the enemy.

16:56 You don't see God with the eyes of your intellect. You don't see him with the eyes of your emotions. But you can see him with the eyes of faith.

17:07 We see him not only in this way, but the pure in heart also see him in the revelation of the word of God. 2 Corinthians 3.18 says, But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the image of the Lord, are transformed into that same image from glory unto glory, even by the Lord the Spirit. Paul says, We who are believers, we behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.

17:41 And the pure in heart are the men and women who see God in the scriptures. And remember, you can study the scriptures and hear them preached by me for 50 years and never really see God. With the eyes of the soul. For Jesus said of the people of his day, he searched the scriptures.

18:01 For in them you think ye have eternal life. And he says, These are they which testify of me, but you'll not come to me. Why? Because they never saw Christ in the scriptures.

18:10 All they saw was a list of do's, a list of don'ts, a list of dogmas, a list of prohibitions. That's all they saw. I wonder this morning, you've heard preaching for years, some of you. But have you?

18:25 Have you ever seen him? Oh, you know the dogma. You know the do's and the don'ts.

18:32 But do your eyes see him when this blessed word is preached? When you open it up on your own, in the quiet of your own bedroom or living room, do you see him? Do you see him?

18:47 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And those who've experienced this purity of heart, this mighty operation of the Holy Spirit, bringing our hearts captive to him. These are the men and women who see God. But there is, of course, a future fulfillment, which is but the culmination of the present experience.

The Christian's Desire: Nothing Less Than the Sight of God

19:12 I want to read a statement that was such a blessing to me and it's just sort of hounded me. You get a thing sometimes that hounds you and you wish you would.

19:20 Maybe something you've heard or seen that's defiling and the thing seems to hound you and you just wish you could scour it out of your mind. Well, there are some things you see or read, or hear, that are blessed hounds. Well, this is one of them. Listen to this statement.

19:35 A Christian is a man or woman in whom there has been awakened a desire which nothing less than the sight of God in glory can satisfy.

19:56 What is a Christian? Among other things, this author said that a Christian is a man or woman in whom God, God has so worked that there is an aching desire which nothing less than the sight of God in glory can ever satisfy.

20:17 And I said, well, that sounds good, and it makes sense, and it answers to something in my own heart, but is it scriptural? If it isn't scriptural, I'm not going to use it, even though it sounds good. And my attention was directed to the 17th Psalm, which is nothing but the scriptural statement of this very same thing. Will you listen as I read from Psalm 17, verses 14 and 15, or beginning with verse 13?

20:48 Arise, O Lord, confront him, cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword. And now he's going to describe who the wicked are. Notice, who are the wicked? Wicked, from men by thy hand, O God, from men of this world, whose portion is in this life, whose belly thou fillest with treasure, they are satisfied with children, and they leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

21:22 Now, this is interesting. Notice how he describes the wicked. Not as men who curse, men who swear, men who murder. No, no.

21:29 He said, The wicked are... They are those whose portion is in this life.

21:35 They're satisfied with things. Home, car, family, refrigerator, washing machine, TV. And may I say, dear ones, I hadn't watched the TV as far as the sport thing once in a while, so I was down in Montgomery Wards yesterday to pick up something, and I saw the Olympics on there, so I stood to watch. And on the other TV, they had a movie or a play or something, and I came home stunned.

22:01 With what was coming over the TV.

22:04 The nudity and the immorality portrayed right before one's eyes. I didn't realize this for years since I've sat down to see anything like that. Beloved, God have mercy on you if you're letting that stuff come into your living room.

22:24 That thing is just shaking me.

22:29 The psalmist says, The wicked are those whose portion is in this life. Things, entertainment. Maybe not wicked, but that's their portion. Notice.

22:39 They're satisfied with food. Whose belly thou fillest with thy treasure? They're satisfied with a love of home and family. They are satisfied with children.

22:47 Now, nothing wrong with a love of home and family, but he says they're satisfied with it, and they're very frugal. They're good providers. Listen. They leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

22:57 They had plenty of life insurance. Good providers. Nice men.

23:03 But he said, The thing that characterizes them as wicked men is the fact that they're satisfied with what, this life gives, but the psalmist says, Not so with me. Listen. As for me, he said, I shall behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake, and your Bible says, with thy likeness.

23:28 The translation in the American Standard is more accurate. I shall be satisfied when I awake with beholding thy form. See it? The psalmist said, Wicked men, men who are not pure in heart, they're content with what this life can offer, but he says, Oh, God, I'll never be satisfied.

23:49 I'll thank you for my home, for my family, for my children, for my loved ones, Lord. I'll thank you for all of this, but I'm never satisfied until that day when I shall awake and behold thy form. Oh, dear ones, I ask you this morning, do you have in you today desires which nothing less than seeing God in glory can fully satisfy?

24:18 Do you?

24:21 When Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, this is what he was talking about. And then those wonderful promises that I quoted a while ago, now we see, thank God we see, but it's through a glass darkly. Every true Christian sees, hallelujah, but it's through a glass darkly. But then he says, face to face, we shall know even as we are known.

24:47 We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. This is why Faber wrote the last verse of a hymn that's in our new hymnal. Father of Jesus, love's reward, what rapture will it be? Prostrate before thy throne to lie and gaze and gaze on thee.

25:14 That was the crowning glory of salvation to this man, Faber. And he wrote it at the last stanza of that wonderful hymn. Great God, how wonderful thou art, thy majesty, how bright, how glorious is thy mercy seat in depths of burning light. Then goes on to say how that he may love God as well as fear him, for God is stooped to ask the love of his poor heart.

25:40 But he says that this is the glory of it all. Prostrate before thy throne to lie and gaze and gaze on thee. The saintly Rutherford wrote words like this. The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face.

26:01 I will not gaze on glory, but on the king of grace. Not on the crown he weareth, but on his pierced hand, for glory, glory dwelleth in him. What glory? The glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

26:22 And a saved man takes as his greatest reward that he shall one day see God and prostrate, lie and gaze upon him.

Why Only the Pure in Heart See God

26:37 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now, through the eye of faith, through the eye of the scriptures, then face to face, now I want to ask this question this morning. Why is it that only the pure in heart will see God in this way?

26:57 Well, the reason is very simple, but we can overlook it.

27:03 Jesus said only the pure in heart will see God for the simple reason that they alone are fitted to enjoy the sight of God. Let me give a little parable, if I may. Suppose I were to say to a bird, if I could talk bird language, suppose I were to say to that bird, bird, you're a blessed bird and you're so blessed it is a reward of this, you shall have the whole ocean for your habitation. And the bird looks up at me and says, huh, some blessing that is.

27:40 A lot of good these things will do me in the ocean. I'm not made for the ocean. But I say, I'll give you the whole ocean. He said, no, that's no blessing to me.

27:49 So I turn around and I take a little fishy up in my hands and I say, blessed art thou, my little fishy, for you shall have the whole expanse of heaven for your habitation. Little fishy, small comfort that'll bring to me. These gills just don't fit me for the air. See what I'm driving at?

28:08 Blessedness is only blessedness when we're fitted for the thing that's promised. Jesus said, blessed, perfectly happy are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Why are the pure in heart the only ones that'll see God and be perfectly blessed? For the pure in heart are the only ones who are fitted to enjoy the sight of God.

28:30 Who is God? The scripture says God is light. God is love. He's pure light.

28:37 He's pure love. He's pure justice. By nature, the human heart hates light. For my Bible says in John chapter 3 and verse 19, this is the condemnation that light has come into the world.

28:52 Speaking of Christ and men love darkness, rather than light because their deeds were evil and they will not come to the light. Listen to me, friend. Listen carefully. If you'll not be honest enough to bring the need of your life and heart to the searchlight of the word of God, if you cringe from the Bible standard of what sin is and that we are sinners and need a Savior, and if you're not willing to be exposed to the light of God's pure word, what makes you think that seeing God would bring any delight to you?

29:31 It would bring nothing but a rising to the surface of the deepest horror when you were to face Him who is burning light. Only the pure in heart are so fitted to enjoy the sight of God. And only the pure in heart are fit to receive such a sight of God. For you see, when the heart is perverse in its desire, in its desires and its affections, it acts like the sea.

30:02 The sea and the lakes and the rivers constantly giving up vapors into the air drawn up by the sun. And those vapors are formed into the very clouds which on a rainy day hide the sun from our view. The human heart that has not been cleansed by the mighty operations of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord, that heart is continually giving up vapors that form a cloud which hide the face of God. And we can never see it.

30:37 We're not fitted to receive that sight until there has come the purifying fire of the Spirit and the purging power of the blood of Christ. And when the heart is pure, then we're prepared to see Him. And only the grace of God can blot out that cloud that hides the face of God, that cloud made up of the vapors of our own sinful corruption. But thank God the grace of God is able to do it.

The Grace of God Purifies the Heart

31:10 For my Bible says they purified their hearts by faith. And if you'll turn in repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus, He will do what you cannot do. And now as we conclude our study in this beatitude, of what use? Should this study be to me as an individual?

Comfort for Believers

31:33 We've tried to lay hold of what purity of heart is and we've poorly done it, but I trust at least some of this has been helpful. We've looked at the promise they shall see God, what it means, when it'll be fulfilled, now and then, and why it is that only the pure in heart are fitted to enjoy the sight of God and only the pure in heart are fitted to receive the sight of God. Now of what practical use should all of this be to me? Well first of all it should be of tremendous comfort to every true Christian.

32:06 Jesus said perfectly blessed are happy are the pure in heart. Listen to me dear child of God. Has the sight of a crucified Savior and your throwing yourself upon His mercy, has there been that work of God in your heart so that you do desire to be holy? And your greatest problem in life is the remains of impurity that are still there and there are times when you're not able to do that.

32:33 There are times when there's the struggle and the consciousness of the defilement of the flesh and when there would be that desire to love Him and serve Him and praise Him. There's that dullness and slowness and the wandering of the thoughts and the fickleness of the heart and you cry out as Paul did, we that are in this tabernacle do groan and there are times when you could groan before God for the lack of purity. Ah listen to me dear child of God, that very groaning is an evidence, that God's given you a pure heart. And the Lord would comfort you this morning with this glorious truth that one day you'll see God and as Robert Murray McShane said, when I see thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart. Hallelujah. Think of it. To love Him with an unsinning heart.

33:24 Never again to have to come to Him ashamed and feeling unclean and defiled and having to confess that though we love Him, we've breathed Him and we've sinned, never again to have to come that way. Ah beloved, it thrills me just to preach this, to think of it. What tremendous comfort I find in this text, blessed to the pure in heart for they shall see God. And when I see Him, I'll be like Him and the last remains of sin purged from my entirety.

Conviction for Unbelievers

33:58 But this is not only a word of comfort to the saints, it's a word of conviction to all others. For you'll see God someday, but not in this sense. You'll see Him as your judge. The Bible tells us in Revelation chapter 20, there shall be gathered before Him all men out of all nations.

34:20 They'll stand before the great white throne and we read that heaven and earth flee away from that face. Revelation 6, some of the most horrible words in Scripture, and the Bible's full of horrible words as well as sweet words. Listen to these words in Revelation chapter 6, verse 6, verse 16. It says they shall cry, hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

34:48 And they'll cry to the rocks and the hills, fall on us, cover us, but hide us from that face. Oh, beloved, this is a searching text, blessed to the pure in heart for they shall see God. How? See Him in a way of redemption.

35:05 For those who've not submitted to Christ and turned from sin and trusted in Him, to cleanse the heart by His blood, listen, you'll see the face of God in judgment and oh, that face will hold nothing but horror. I exhort any of you who do not have clear evidence and assurance that you've been given a pure heart, don't rest until you know that God has done this work of grace in you. Don't rest. And then last of all, it's a word of instruction.

Instruction for the Unsaved and for Believers Seeking a Brighter Vision

35:40 A word of instruction to every unsafe, every unsaved person. If you're going to see God, you've got to be pure in heart. You say, I can't make my heart pure. Hallelujah.

35:52 If you've seen that much, you're on your way to getting saved. For you'll never be saved by Christ until you despair of being saved by yourself. The Lord doesn't come along and help us to get saved. The Bible says we're His workmanship.

36:09 Jonah said salvation's of the Lord, period. Not the Lord plus me. And oh, if God's brought you to sin, I can't clean my heart up. I can't turn my thoughts from filth and uncleanness to purity.

36:22 Ah, there's one who can. That's the Lord Jesus. The very one who uttered these words, blessed are the pure in heart, is the one who can make you pure in heart. Oh, what wonderful words of instruction.

36:35 And would to God this morning, dear unsaved friend, you'd hear the word, turn to Christ, throw yourself upon that He would make you pure in heart. It's a wonderful word of instruction. If you're ever to see God, you don't need to join this church or that group or that sect or believe this. Dear ones, you need to have a pure heart for the Bible says without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

36:59 Hebrews 12 and verse 14. And then, dear child of God, do you want to see Him with a brighter vision day by day? Do you want to see Him as Moses did? So that when the pressure comes and everyone around you has thrown their hands up in horror and says, would to God I've died in Egypt, you can endure seeing Him who's invisible.

37:19 Do you want to see Him with a brighter vision day by day and all the perplexities and pressures of life? Listen, God says with the pure, thou would show thyself pure. Psalm 24 says, who shall ascend into the hill of God and who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.

37:38 Dear child of God, if you want to know the presence of God and have the vision of God brighter day by day, then you've got to get more serious. Be more serious about this matter of being holy and dealing with the hidden sins of the heart and the hidden sins of the attitude and the motives. Don't pray, oh God, show me Yourself and tolerate that thing in your life that you know is displeasing to Him. God won't do it.

38:05 With the pure, thou would show thyself pure, David said. 2 Samuel 24, and that's repeated in one of the Psalms. So if you want to see Him, then, dear one, you're going to have to deal with everything that acts like a vapor to form a cloud to hide His face, even as His child. It's a wonderful hymn, and I quote these hymns because they've been written on my heart, on my knees, as I've sung them alone with God.

The Way to See God: Offering, Sacrifice, Spirit, Advocate

38:42 It deals and perhaps summarizes what we've been dealing with better than anything I could do. The hymn writer said, eternal light, eternal light, speaking of God, how pure that soul must be when placed within thy burning light, it shrinks not, but with calm delight can live and look on thee. The spirits that surround thy throne may surely bear this bliss, but truly that is theirs alone, for they have never, never known a falling world like this. But how shall I, whose native sphere is dark, whose mind is dim, before the ineffable appear, and on my naked spirit, bear the uncreated being? There is a way for man to rise to that sublime abode, an offering and a sacrifice, a Holy Spirit's energies, an advocate with God. These, these prepare us for that sight of holiness above. The sons of ignorance and night may dwell with the eternal light through the eternal love.

39:55 Hallelujah. Beloved, there's the answer. Who can dwell with one whose eternal light? Only the pure.

40:03 But I'm unpure. I'm impure. I dwell in darkness. There is a way.

40:08 An offering. The Son of God. A sacrifice. His precious blood.

40:14 A Holy Spirit's energies. The new birth. These prepare me to see God. Have you experienced their power in your heart?

40:23 Have you experienced the power of that offering, the cleansing of that sacrifice, the renewing of His Spirit? If not, dear one, may God grant that this morning you will and just cry out to God for mercy through His beloved Son, and then God will make you pure in heart, and you can have the promise that you're going to see God. Shall we pray? Lord, O blessed Father, what can we say to think that Thou has destined us to see Thee? Lord, as we've considered it this morning, and as we've just reached up and touched the fringes of it, our hearts thrill within us, O that Thou wilt help us who know Thee, who have been given a pure heart through faith in Thy beloved Son. May the thought that we're destined to see Thee do something in us that nothing else could do. And then for those among us

41:49 who do not have a pure heart, those whose portion is in this life, those whose concern is merely the external, whited sepulchers, O God, in mercy, strip all this down, and may Thy Word thunder in their hearts until they turn to Thee, blessed are the pure in heart, for they and they only shall see God. May this Word not fall to the ground. We're trusting Thee that it shall spring forth into the fruits of everlasting life. For Thy glory, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Beloved, I believe God has spoken to some hearts here this morning. I trust all of us, but in a special way, I have felt liberty, enlargement of heart in pleading with those of you who may not have a pure heart.

42:59 I don't care what you've professed or what others think you have. Why go on another day with just a measure of purity of conduct in life, but not a pure heart? You can't see God without a pure heart. God's willing to give you a pure heart.

43:16 He says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he turn and live. Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die? Beloved, God stands ready to give you a new heart this morning, a pure heart, but you must heed his voice. You must heed his voice.

43:37 If God has spoken, turn to ask as we're dismissed in a moment of prayer, that you just step out of your seat. As others make their way to the door, before they do, you'll come. Just take a seat down here on this front pew as an indication that God's found you this morning. With all your heart, you desire this.

44:01 I can't say if you'll come and sit in this seat, you'll get a new heart. Get a pure heart. I can't say that. But I can say this.

44:09 If you're willing to meet God on his terms, he'll create in you a clean heart. I can say that because God's promised that. I can make no predictions, but I can give you God's promise. And I believe if God's spoken, you'll be desperate enough to want help and seek help.

44:27 And we stand ready to give that help. So I'm going to ask that we stand, congregation standing together. Shall we stand?