Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
20 sermons cite this verse
… Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. We'll stop there. Let's review what we already discovered together. First of all, happy are the humble. Happy are the humble. Blessed are the poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit means you see yourself as you really are, spiritually destitute, a sinner in need of a Savior. Number two, happy people are unhappy people, if you will. Blessed are they that mourn, verse four, for they shall be comforted. Contextually, what this means is I see my sinful condition. I'm sorry for the way that I am. I'm sorry for the things I've said and things that I've done, and I mourn over it. The Bible says godly sorrow produces repentance. And thirdly, a happy person will be a meek person. Verse five, blessed are the meek. And all that means is simply seeing myself as I am. …
… Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. We'll stop there. Let's review what we already discovered together. First of all, happy are the humble. Happy are the humble. Blessed are the poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit means you see yourself as you really are, spiritually destitute, A sinner in need of a savior. Number two, happy people are unhappy people, if you will. Blessed are they that mourn, verse four, for they shall be comforted. Contextually what this means is I see my sinful condition. I'm sorry for the way that I am. I'm sorry for the things I've said and things that I've done and I mourn over it. The Bible says godly sorrow produces repentance. Then thirdly, a happy person will be a meek person. Verse five, blessed are the meek. And all that means is simply seeing myself as I am. …
… Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. So there are the first Beatitudes. Now, this has been wrongly understood to be saying blessed are the poor. This is not what Jesus said. He said blessed are the poor in spirit. What does this mean? Happy people are humble people. Happy is the person who sees themselves as they really are. Lost, hopeless, and destitute, and desperately in need of God. That's what it means to be poor in spirit. So you have to see yourself for who you are. You have to see yourself as a sinner who really needs a Savior. Beatitude number two, happy people are, I'll put in quotes, unhappy people. Happy people are unhappy people. Point number one, happy people are humble people. Number two, happy people are unhappy people. Verse four, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. …
… for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Point number one. God wants you to be blessed and happy. God wants you to be blessed and happy. There was a blessing that the priests were to pronounce over the people of Israel. And they would say, the Lord bless you. The Lord keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. God wants to bless you. Let me take it a step further. God loves to bless you. Sometimes we think God is stingy. He's holding back his blessings. Do you know a stingy person? No, you can't have that. Do you know a generous person? Yes, you can have that. And even more, God is generous, not stingy. God loves to bless you. but how different. His definition of happiness is from our culture. If we were to rewrite the Beatitudes for the modern culture, it might sound something like this. Blessed are the beautiful, for they shall be admired. Blessed are the wealthy, for they shall be envied. Blessed are the popular, for they shall be loved. Blessed are the famous, for they shall be followed. But that's not what Jesus said. He drops his palm shell. And I think people misunderstand their first beatitude. And because it's the linchpin of all the others, it's really important for us to understand …
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. So there are the first Beatitudes. And it's interesting that the word blessing is used again and again. You know, people use these words, even people who are not believers, they'll talk about blessings. Well, only the believer can genuinely experience blessing. I think sometimes we use the word bless to get rid of someone. and someone's talking too long, we say, great seeing you, God bless you. And it says, go away now, right? But here's point number one. God wants you to be blessed and happy. God wants you to be blessed and happy. Jesus both began and concluded his earthly ministry blessing people. When he met those two downhearted disciples on the Emmaus Road, after he was crucified, we read that he blessed them. When children came to him, he took them into his arms and he blessed them. …
… slave and hoping his brothers were miserable while he was in the palace, we wouldn't be talking about it. Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. When you keep your heart pure, Not offended not revengeful When you're a joseph You trust god to vindicate you You don't live to settle scores to get even Then you will see greater influence greater favor Sure, you may get hurt in the pit, but you'll end up in the palace People may do you wrong, but there will be a day when they're down and you're up Your kindness your mercy you being good to them when you had every right to ignore and push them down? That's heaping coals of fire on their head. God is using you to refine them and to show them how to live a life of character, honor, and integrity. 1959, my father left the church he was pastoring and started Lakewood. He didn't feel like he still fit in that denomination anymore. …
… It's actually blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Today, I'm going to preach from the Word of God with the help of His Spirit. From this title, allow joy to reintroduce himself. Allow joy to reintroduce himself. If we walked these Los Angeles streets and we started asking different people who taught the most important message on joy in human history, we would get all types of answers. Who taught the most important message on joy in human history? We'd have people pulling up TikToks. We'd have people pulling up reels. Like, I really like this definition. They will be quoting different talking heads of the day, different popular icons, and what it is they have said about joy. I mean, absolutely. Somebody's going to pull out Buddha. …
… makes the heart sick. the Bible says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God meaning that when my heart gets sick I can no longer see what God said clearly Hope deferred makes the heart unhealthy. And an unhealthy heart cannot see properly. so there's some who God has spoken lofty things to, but because you did not understand that he's making that promise to you that will show up in the life of another version of you, you've given up on the promise. And here is the thing. God is not withholding information, but how is he going to describe a you that you're not even familiar with to you? you've never seen this you you've never thought like this you you've never fought like this you you've never prayed like this you you've never submitted like this you so you're clay on the potter's wheel and the potter who knows what you're supposed to look like because before he formed you in the womb He knew you. …
… Jesus makes this incredible statement in the Sermon on the Mount, and I'll wrap up. He says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. The opposite is true as well. Those who have not cleansed their heart and owned their stuff will have a difficult time recognizing the work of God, the presence of God, or the activity of God, even in their own life. But blessed are the pure. So Jesus was saying, Zacchaeus, today salvation has come to this house because you have been faithful. You have seen clearly and you have acted on that thing that dinged your conscience. You are making things right. And now you stand in right relationship with your heavenly father. So I hate to ask a question like this. Have you been unfaithful? And is there somebody out there somewhere? Is there somebody out there somewhere whose life would be instantly better just to know you're owning it? Somebody who would say, now I know what's been going on and now I understand because I knew something was up. …
… and our blessedness as well. So again, if you'll turn to Matthew chapter 5, verses 3 through 12, and in the sermon, I've entitled the sermon, The Pursuit of Happiness. And you, of course, recognize that phrase. we're going to celebrate the document that comes from this summer, July 4th, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And you remember that one phrase. Most people don't remember the 27 statements to King George of the things we were unhappy with. What we remember is that preamble. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are, join me, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So the pursuit of happiness. So what is happiness exactly? And how do we pursue it? And what we're going to find is that Jesus offers us a very different path to happiness and really defines it differently than what we find in the world. So the word happy in Greek is actually in Latin is beatus. And this is where we get the name beatitude from. Beatus is the Latin word for happy or fortunate or blessed. …
… But, oh, brothers, don't underestimate or overestimate the ongoing effects of indwelling sin in your life to make insight impossible. blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matthew 5.8 everything impure every impurity anger you dealing with anger? I think anger kills more than sex greed lust every impurity will diminish your insight into the unsearchable riches of Christ. He leads the humble in what is right. He teaches the humble his way. The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear him. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place gaining insight near him, he who has clean hands and a pure heart. If you want to spread a table of insight for the nourishment of your people, keep your heart and hands clean. Now I'm only going to mention the obstacle of weaknesses of reading and thinking because when we get to how to overcome them, the nature of them will be obvious. So I'm going to pass over that and move to how do you overcome Satan and sin in the gaining of insight. …
… And what does Jesus say? He says, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who mourn. Now, I think sometimes we hear that word blessed and we think, oh, consecrated, we set apart. We don't know what it is to be blessed. It means to be set apart. It means to be consecrated. When Jesus actually says this word, it's the Greek word is makarios, which doesn't mean blessed. It doesn't mean set apart. It actually legitimately, it simply means happy. So Jesus is saying, no, actually happy, not just set apart, but you're genuinely happy. when? When you've spotted the counterfeits and you no longer spend real currency on counterfeit happiness. And the four counterfeits are what? The four counterfeits of happiness are wealth, power, pleasure, and fame. Because all those four things, wealth, power, pleasure, fame, they all promise to make us happy. Wealth promises this, you'll be happy if you have enough. power promises you'll be happy if you're in control pleasure promises you'll be happy if you can minimize pain and maximize feeling good and fame is you'll be happy if everyone knows you and here's the problem here's the problem with the counterfeit happiness is they actually all do that they all do make us happy the problem with counterfeit happiness is they actually work i mean honestly let's be honest get some money get happy. …
… Joy is a means of purity, but it's just in just 11 words. The verse is Matthew 5, verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Why would I do a talk on sexual purity that focuses on a single promise like Matthew 5 verse 8? Again, I think our greatest weapon, I really do think this, our greatest weapon in the war against sexual temptation is a stronger, fuller joy in Jesus Christ. John Piper's taught me a lot over the decades now. I'm sure he's going to teach me something new tonight. I'm looking forward to that. But one of the most important lessons that he ever taught me was that we sever the root of sin's promise by the power of a superior promise. Get that? We sever the root of sin's promise, it's lie, by the power of a superior promise. That means when it comes to sexual temptation, we don't just say that sin's lying to us. …
Thank you to have a seat. So after this, after this, something will be different. After this, something will have changed. After this Mass, there is something that will never go back. By the end of this Mass, there is something that will never be the same. Right after this. even thinking about that after this after this life you know when it comes to after the afterlife when it comes to life after death there are so many questions and one of the questions people ask you know kids ask this all the time but some adults ask this they ask the question um will my will my pet be in heaven which is a good question i mean you love your pet you want to know if your pet will be in heaven and i think smart people wise people good people will say something along the lines of, well, if you need your pet to be happy in heaven, then you'll have your pet in heaven, which is a great answer. It's just such a good answer. And it's a good answer because the person offering the answer knows the truth. The truth is you won't need your pet to be happy in heaven. That here's the reality of that. But someone says, well, yeah, but like, will there be golf in heaven? Will my spouse be in heaven? Will my family be in heaven? Will my friends be in Who else will be in heaven? …
… To see God the way that God really is. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall, ready for this, they shall, there it is again, they shall see God. Jesus says, I'm the light of the world and I'm not in some just big intangible ethereal way. I wanna be the light of your world and if you follow me, you will discover the truth and the truth will set you free. And you will begin to see your paper walls for exactly what they are. And do you know how his audience then responds to this amazing statement? They begin making excuses. It's unbelievable. Here's what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law say because they're trying to make sure the people don't follow Jesus. They answered him, what? Be free? You're gonna set us free? We are Abraham's descendants. We have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say we shall be set free? You can't set us free. There's nothing to set us free from. …
… for me I want a pure heart because the Bible says, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. I truly believe it. And here's why, you know, the scriptures say in Jeremiah, I believe it's Jeremiah 17, it says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And then it says, who can know it? Okay, that's scary that's scary because that's telling me that I have something in me that's powerful that is influencing me that can deceive me and then it literally says and it's desperate above all things and it says who can know which means that without God I can be thinking that I'm good. I can be thinking that I'm okay. I can be thinking that I'm right and be wrong. That scares me. There's a passage of scripture that's in Proverbs twice in two different places and it says, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. That scares me. I don't want to be wrong, but I can handle being wrong if I know I'm wrong because I have the opportunity to be right. …
… in the Sermon on the Mount and I'll wrap up. He says, blessed or blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. The opposite is true as well. Those who have not cleansed their heart and owned their stuff will have a difficult time recognizing the work of God, the presence of God, or the activity of God, even in their own life. But blessed are the pure. So Jesus was saying, Zacchaeus, today salvation has come to this house because you have been faithful. You have seen clearly and you have acted on that thing that dinged your conscience. You are making things right. And now you stand in right relationship with your heavenly father. So I hate to ask a question like this. Have you been unfaithful? And is there somebody out there somewhere? Is there somebody out there somewhere whose life would be instantly better just to know you're owning it? Somebody who would say, now I know what's been going on and now I understand because I knew something was up. …
But God is wrestling out the dirt that's in my heart. the bible says in jesus says this in matthew 5 that blessed are the pure in heart for they will inherit the kingdom of god god is constantly working on my heart like a catheter we all know what a catheter is it's disgusting but it's pumping out the disgusting parts of my heart it's it's pumping out bitterness it's pumping out uh uh unforgiveness it's it is pumping out what doesn't need to be there because I can't walk in what God has called me to and I can't receive the blessing that God has for me if he's not transforming me through the struggle. The blessing is in the what? Struggle. It's in the struggle. It's in the struggle. And so he doesn't call you because you're qualified. He qualifies you because he's called you and he's gonna wrestle those things out and he's gonna wrestle out those generational curses and he's gonna wrestle out those demons and he's gonna set you free. …
… preaching one word today you'll see in a minute i'm preaching one word and either you grab it or you don't but it's one word i'm gonna read a lot but i'm preaching one word today matthew chapter five verse one through twelve listen at the beatitudes these supreme blessings matthew chapter five verse one through twelve new revised standard version reads like this when jesus saw the crowds he went up to the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him then he began to speak and taught them saying read it with me verse three blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness but they will be filled blessed are the merciful but they will receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were message bible let's read let's read let's read message bible message bible message bible here we go let's read one two three read when jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds he climbed …
… Now who, to whom was the promise made that they would see God? are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The reason why I can't see God, the reason why God is invisible to me is because there's something wrong with my heart. My heart is not pure, and unless it becomes pure or until it becomes pure, there will always be a veil over the face of God. But this is what John is promising us in his letters and in the book of Revelation, that when that moment of transition occurs where we move from this world to the next, we will be purified. We will have the residual, the remnants, elements of our wickedness taken away so that after we are purified, the scales will fall from our eyes and we'll be able to see Him face the face, the vision of God, the supreme vision for which every human person was created. And no human being can ever possibly be fulfilled short of that moment when we see Him as He is. …