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John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12 tell us that no man has seen God at anytime.
1 Timothy 6:16 gives us a hint as to why no man has ever seen God and why no man can ever see Him. He
is light (1 John 1:5) He clothes Himself in light (Ps 104:2). He dwells in unapproachable light. Yes,
He is invisible (Col 1:15) but He is light. We are told that even the cherubim cover their faces in His
presence.
Pure Hearts. Jesus’ Jewish listeners must have really been shocked
at His remarkable statement that they could see God. What did the Gentiles think? It is your guess.
Did they understand what it meant to be “pure in heart"? Our English Bible leaves
something out because the Greek word, KATHAPOS, for “pure” has the idea of 100% clean. The
word was sometimes used to refer to wheat that had all the chaff removed. It was also used to describe
a body of soldiers purged of cowards. A wonderful example of KATHAPOS is the healing of a leper in Matt.
8:2-3. Matthew tells us that a leper pleaded to be made clean, KATHAPOS, and Jesus made him KATHAPOS.
Jesus removed the disease from his body. This is Jesus’ idea of a pure heart -
a heart purged from sin.
He is not talking about being clean on the outside. The Pharisees were religiously clean
on the outside and Jesus had ugly words for them (Matt. 23:25-27). To Jesus’ disciples, He said,
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (NIV) John 15:3 We are clean when we believe God - when we are constantly depending on Him - when we are constantly
committing ourselves to Him by faith. It is then that we have clean hearts (Acts 15:9).
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus repeatedly tells the crowd it is not the outside that counts with God, but it is the inside. The beatitudes deal with the inside, our inside feelings and attitudes. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus will tell the crowd that their holiness must be better than the holiness of their spiritual leaders. In Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus will say that it is possible to commit murder and adultery in our hearts. In Matthew 6, our hearts need to be willing to give money to others, forgive others, submit ourselves to God in prayer, serve Him and trust Him. Is your heart pure? Do you want to be God’s friend?
Why did Jesus talk about the outside so much when the inside is what He is really interested
in? The answer is found in Matt 15:17-20. The answer is that the outside conduct reveals the disease
on the inside. How is your heart?
If you are a Christian today, God has forgotten about your sins because He has said,
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow . . ." (NIV) Isa 1:18
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| Sermon on the Mount | |||||
