Grosey's Messages

Leviticus 19:17 warns, "Do not hate your brother in your heart."

What does "pure in heart" mean? It means unmixed motives. You are a person of integrity.

You don't say one thing and act another way. Your motives are true.

The word that is translated pure has two basic meanings: "clean" and "unmixed." Our English word cathartic comes from this Greek word. A cathartic is an agent a doctor uses to cleanse the physical system. A psychiatrist also uses catharsis on the emotional level to "cleanse" the patient of hostilities and other destructive attitudes. There is also a spiritual catharsis, a cleansing of the inner person. "He purifies their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9) is one example. "The blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7) is another.

But the word as it is used in this Beatitude takes the second meaning, for being "pure in heart" involves being unmixed as well as being clean. God is concerned with why we do things as much as He's concerned with what we do. He's concerned with our motives. Matthew 6:1 "Be careful not to parade your good deeds before others to attract their notice or you will lose all your reward from your Father in heaven." Jesus spent a whole chapter talking about this subject – Matthew 6!

The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.

 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17:9–10)

The Disease of the Heart

My wound is incurable, it refuses to be healed." (Jeremiah 15:18)  "And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him.21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:20–23)

The Deceitfulness of the Heart

What is the most deceitful thing in the world today? The most deceitful thing in all of the world is the human heart. "It is deceitful" "above all things." (Jeremiah 17:9)

"He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." (Proverbs 28:26) "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." (Jeremiah 17:9) Sometimes somebody will ask you a question, and you'll say, "Well, if I know my heart…" Well, the problem is you don't know your heart.

C. The Diagnosis of the Heart

"I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins." (Jeremiah 17:10)

God searches your Heart   1 Samuel 16:7 says the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Chronicles 28:9 says, "The Lord searches every heart." Psalm 44:21 says the Lord "knows the secrets of the heart."

"Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." (1 Corinthians 4:5)

D. The Doctor of the Heart

MacLaren writes "How hearts can be made pure. Now, the key which has unlocked for us, in previous sermons, the treasures of meaning in these Beatitudes, is especially necessary here. For, as I have said, if you take this to be a mere isolated saying, it becomes a mockery and a pain. But if you connect it, as our Lord would have us connect it, with all the preceding links of this wreathed chain describing the characteristics of a devout soul, then it assumes an altogether different appearance. 'The pure in heart' are they who have exercised and received the previous qualifications and bestowments from God."

"Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed, save me, and I shall be saved." (Jeremiah 17:14)

"And I will give them a heart to know me." (Jeremiah 24:7)

There's a heart transplant. That's how God does it. God just gives you a new heart.

When He saves you, He gives you a new heart. And friend, you cannot be pure in heart without a new heart.

First of all, you see yourself as a bankrupt sinner: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." (Matthew 5:3)

Secondly, you are broken over that: "Blessed are they that mourn." (Matthew 5:4)

Thirdly, you yield yourself to Him: "Blessed are the meek." (Matthew 5:5) You say, "Here, God, I want your will." God puts a hunger in you. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness." (Matthew 5:6) That's Jesus. You have a hunger and a thirst for the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, by mercy, He gives you mercy: "Blessed are the merciful." (Matthew 5:7) That's what you need today: that you might have mercy. Then, my dear friend, there's a pure heart. It's a work of God.

"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4)

1. Remember that God sees everything.

The key phrase in Matthew 6 is "your Father sees what is done in secret."

Nothing is a secret from God. Nothing is ever a surprise to Him. Does it bother you in knowing that you have no secrets from God? It bothers me sometimes. There's a lot of secrets I would like to have from God. But God says He knows everything about us. A lot of people think they're fooling God. Have you ever had the devil tell you, "Go ahead, nobody will ever find out."

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." 1 Samuel 16:7 says the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Chronicles 28:9 says, "The Lord searches every heart." Psalm 44:21 says the Lord "knows the secrets of the heart."

If God already knows everything I might as well have a pure heart than try to fake it.

2. Review your motives.

I do an honest evaluation of why do I do what I do.

Proverbs 24:21 "God knows and judges your motives. He keeps watch over you; He knows. He rewards you according to what you do."

God says that our reward is based on not just what we do, but why we do it. In Matthew 6, Jesus gives three examples: He uses giving, prayer and fasting - 3 good things you can do, but you can also do them in the wrong way.

1) Giving. Matthew 6:2 "So when you give to the needy do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and on the streets to be honored by men. I tell you the truth. they have received their reward in full." "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, then your Father who sees what is done in secret rewards you." Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Don't even talk to yourself when you give!

2) Praying. Matthew 6:5 "When you pray don't be like the hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you they've received their full reward."

Have you ever heard anybody pray to the galleries, pray to other people? They pray a real flowery prayer, and when they're finished you want to say, "Wow!" and you feel like clapping. God says, they have their reward.

Have you ever heard anybody pray reminding God of something He already knows to tell the other people who are listening?

3) Fasting. v. 16 When you fast you don't go around looking as the hypocrite with a sad face so someone will ask if you are fasting. "Wash your face, put oil on your head, [so it won't be obvious to men that you're fasting]" What is the point of all these things? Jesus is saying, the point of pure in heart is you keep it a secret when you do good. If you can't, maybe your motives are mixed. Maybe you want the praise of men more than you want the praise of God. The test of pure in heart is can I keep it a secret? Or do I have to blab every time?

If you spent a night in prayer, could you keep that a secret? Don't be a hypocrite he says three times.

Opposite of pure in heart is being a hypocrite.

Jesus said John 12:43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

1Thessalonians 2:4 "We do not aim to please others, but to please God who knows us through and through."

D M Lloyd Jones , "You can start trying to clean your heart, but at the end of your long life it will be as it was at the beginning, perhaps blacker. No! it is God alone who can do it, and, thank God, He has promised to do it. The only way in which we can have a clean heart is for the Holy Spirit to enter into us and to cleanse it for us."

3. Realign Your Priorities

Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me."

Matt 6:19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How do I know what my priorities are? Three tests:

1) I must look at my Activities. Where do I invest my time and my money? The Bible says, "Don't pile up treasures on earth ... but keep your treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, your heart will be there too!" Circle "your heart". Wherever you put your investment that's where you put your heart. I can ask "What is the first in your life?" And you will answer "The Lord has first place!"

Regardless of what we say is first place, where we spend our time and money determines what is first place. The first part of the day, the first part of my money, the first of every week goes to God.

God is first.

2) I must look at my anxieties. What do I worry about the most? You can tell a lot about a person by what they worry about. Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life..."

If you'll go through all of Matthew 6, the five most common worries are in this passage.

v. 24 -- finances; v. 25 -- food; v. 27 -- fitness; v. 28 -- fashion; v. 34 -- future.

If you're worrying about any of these things, it means God is not number one in your life. You have a misplaced priority. You need to check out your activities and check out your anxieties.

Worry indicates there is a wrong priority.

Worry says, "God, I think I'm in charge here." Do you worry about your finances instead of trusting God? Do you worry about fashion? The Bible says, don't worry about clothes. God says "Check out these things to see if your motives are right."

3) I must look at my ambitions. What are my goals? My goals reveal the direction of my heart.

Whatever is the number one goal in my life, ambition of my life, what's important to me, that is what is my god.  Matthew 6:31-33 (Phillips) "... Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  The little word "seek" means "always looking for" - that's ambition. Don't be "always looking for" "seeking" what everybody else is looking for. The problem with a lot of Christians, many believers have the exact same ambitions as unbelievers. No difference. They've bought into the culture, into the system. So as a result, they have the same tension. Same stress. Same headaches. Same problems. God says, set your heart first on doing what God wants you to do and all these other things will be brought in as a matter of choice. Who do you want to please most? That's the condition of your heart. If you want the praise of other people, that's what you'll get. But that's all you're going to get.

James 4: What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"?6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Are you conscious of God's presence?

A pure in heart person is conscious of the presence of God all the time. That is the mark of maturity. The more mature you are the more you're conscious that God is with you all the time and the less conscious you are of other people around you when you're doing good.

An immature person, when he prays, is more worried about the people around him than he is about God.

Happiness boils down to simply, Who you want to please in life?

God says, You want to please other people? Fine. Try it. You can't please everybody. As soon as you get one crowd pleased, another crowd gets angry with you. You can't please everybody. But you can please God. You say, "God, I want to do what you want me to do." Doesn't that simplify life?

Are you content with God's praise?

He says, I want the reward of God, not the reward of man. The people who are the biggest givers are not the most show offey. It's the people who hardly ever give. The word "reward" in those two verses are different words. The word "reward" for when you're showing off means a temporary reward. The word "reward" for when God rewards you means a permanent investment. You won't get the reward immediately but it's coming.

Are you controlled by God's priorities. He or she has his heart set on what God says is important.

What is the result? If I start trying to be an honest, transparent person of integrity with unmixed motives, what is the result?

The Puritan Thomas Watson,1620 -1686,  "This sight of God will be a satisfying sight. Cast three worlds into the heart, and they will not fill it; but the sight of God satisfies! "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Psa 17:15). Solomon says, "The eye is not satisfied with seeing" (Ecc 1:8). But there the eye will be satisfied with seeing. God, and nothing but God, can satisfy. The saints shall have their heads so full of knowledge and their hearts so full of joy that they shall have no lack.

 Jonathan Edwards,  "If men should hear of some vast estate, or some rich hidden treasure, and at the same time should hear of some very feasible way in which they might make it all their own; how ready would they be to hear, with what eagerness would they listen to those who should bring such news and give them such directions, provided they had reason to believe that what was told them was true! We are here told of a much truer and greater blessedness than any treasure of silver, and gold, and pearls can yield; and we are also told of the way whereby we may assuredly become the possessors of it, by him who certainly knows.

So how do I get a clean heart? How can I clean up my heart so I can be happy?

The answer is you can't. You cannot clean up your heart on your own. Otherwise Jesus wouldn't have needed to come to earth. I would like to recommend to you a heart specialist. His name is Dr. Jesus. He makes house calls. He doesn't cost a thing. He has never lost a patient. He is a pro in heart transplants. He wants to give you a new life.

DMLJ "The fact that I know that I cannot ultimately cleanse my heart in an absolute sense, does not mean that I should walk in the gutters of life waiting for God to cleanse me. I must do everything I can and still know it is not enough, and that He must do it finally."

Do what David did in Psalm 51. He had had the most shattering experience of his life. He had committed adultery with another man's wife and then had him killed. He was a murderer and an adulterer. He felt bad. "Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires."

ADMIT your need for a pure heart

Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Thomas Watson said "Purity of heart is heaven begun in a man."

Psalm 51:7Take away my sin, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8Make me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you crushed be happy again.

Psalm 51: 9,10 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

BARE yourself and be open to God's working

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

COMMIT yourself to Christ fully

Psalm 51:1,2 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

Jeremiah 32:39 "I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them."

Ezekiel 11:19 "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." (also 36:26) Ezekiel 18:31 "Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit."

And of course, the gospel of Jesus is all about the heart.

Romans 10:9-10 "If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."

1John 1:7 the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

To get a clean heart you just ask God.  God wants to give you a brand new heart. He wants you to put your trust in Him. It's simple, you ask Him for a clean heart and He'll give you a new heart, a new outlook, a new life, a new start. Spiritual heart checkup. What's the condition of your heart? Some of you have a broken heart. And it's hurting. Some of you have a hard heart. You've had so much bitterness and resentment in your life for so long, you've let it pile up and you have a stony, hard heart and nothing can break through. Your husband can't get close to you or your wife can't get close to you. Nobody can get close to you. You've allowed your heart to be hardened. Some of you have a divided heart. You're trying to serve God one way on Sunday and the devil on Monday. You're trying to please many different people. You act one way with one group of people, other ways with other groups of people. It's divided and no wonder you're not happy. Let God give you a new heart.

Isn't it time you stopped pretending? Isn't it time you stopped pretending that you're really happy and you're not? Isn't it time you stopped pretending that you're following Christ when you're only doing it half heartedly if at all? Would you come to God and say, "OK, God, I need a new heart." Happiness is from the inside out. Happiness is a heart condition.

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:23) If you are going to be pure, my dear friend, you must be pure in heart before you can be pure any other way. And, that brings us to a real problem.