0:00 We have a theme here, blessed are the pure in heart, and that is found in Matthew chapter 0:24 5. And verse 8. It's very important that all of us know these verses in the Bible. 0:49 See, just like you tell your children to pay attention in the class when they study in school. And we check up when they come home whether they have studied or understood what they heard. 1:11 But I find many Christians don't study the Bible like that. You ask yourself this question, you parents. 1:33 The way you study the Bible, if your children studied in school like that, would they get good marks? I think many children would fail if they studied their subjects the way their parents study the Bible. 1:55 We must take the study of the Bible as seriously as we tell our children to study in the school subjects. We want our children to study properly in school so that they can get a job when they grow up. 2:27 We study the Bible because we come to know God that way. And not only that, our children study only to pass some earthly examination. 2:55 But we read the Bible because our whole future and eternity is dependent on this. So here is a verse, Matthew 5, verse 8. You must remember it by heart. 3:20 Can you say it after him and Kannada? Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. I am saying it after him and the Bible is the same thing. Slowly. The pure in heart, the people of God are the same. 3:46 Once again. The pure in heart, the pure in heart. Very short verse, you can remember it. And when it says see God, it is not with our eyes. 4:08 Because God is not like a man that we can see with our eyes. Jesus Christ came as a man. But God the Father is not a man. But we can see him in our spirit. 4:31 You know, there are many things we can understand in our heart. Which we cannot see with our eyes. Or we cannot explain. We cannot even speak about it. See, if you love your children, your children know that. 4:56 It is not something they see. It is something they know in their heart. My parents love me. And they feel so comfortable to know, Daddy and Mommy love me. In the same way, we can know in our heart that God loves us. We don't have to see with our eyes. 5:24 We can see in our eyes. We can see in our heart. That is the meaning of this verse. But everybody will not be able to see him. 5:45 Only those who are pure in heart. So, during these days, we want to think about that. What does it mean to be pure in heart? If you turn to the first chapter of Genesis, you see how God created man. 6:17 In Genesis chapter 1, we read about many things that God made. In six days, He made the light and the heavens and the fish and animals and the sun and the stars. 6:44 But He never said anything before making these. He just made them. But when He was going to make man, He said something first. See, Genesis 1:26. 7:07 Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. He never said that about anybody else. He had made millions of angels before he made man. 7:29 But they are not made in the image of God. See, the angels have a lot of power. The power God gives them to do many things. 7:51 But they were not made in the image of God. But man was made in the image of God. It is very important to understand. You read that whole chapter, all the other things He made. 8:11 He never said anything. He didn't say let's make animals like this or let's make fish like this. No, He just made them. But only when He came to man, He said something first. 8:33 He didn't say let us make man in our image. Because He wanted man to be His son. God created us to be His sons and daughters. 8:57 Not servants. Sons and daughters. You know the difference between a son and a servant? So, He did not create us to be servants. He created us to be sons. 9:19 And He wanted man to reflect His likeness. But unfortunately, Adam sinned. 9:40 And when he and his wife sinned, God sent them out of His presence. So, there is something we can learn there. Most of you would have read Genesis chapter 3. 10:01 How the devil came and tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God. As soon as they disobeyed God, they were cut out from God's presence. And they were put out of God's presence. 10:24 So, you ask yourself, for how many sins Adam committed was he put out of God's presence? Not two, not twenty. One. One. That is a very important message in the beginning of the Bible. 10:47 And many Christians have not understood it. Yet, it is written in the very first chapters of the Bible. That with one sin, he was put out of God's presence. 11:08 So, now we can understand the meaning of this verse, "Blessed are the pure in heart" because only they will see God. If you have one sin, you are cut out from God's presence. 11:29 And that is why all human beings are put out of God's presence. Children are born away from God's presence. And you know, children grow up and do so many wrong things and they are more and more away from God's presence. 11:56 So, one of the first messages we get in the beginning of the Bible is how serious it is to commit one sin. Sometimes, you know, you get angry with somebody. 12:18 Husband, wife, brother, sister at home. You say, "Oh, that is not serious, it is a small thing." What did Eve do here? Just took one fruit and ate it. That's all. Is that a very big thing? 12:41 She didn't kill her husband. She didn't even get angry at her husband. She just ate one fruit. Adam also ate it. And they were put out of God's presence. Why? Because God had said, "You should not eat of that fruit." 13:09 Sin is disobedience to anything that God has said. Now, in the Old Testament, the standard was lower because the people did not have the Holy Spirit. 13:30 We can say that the Old Testament, all the Old Testament people were like kindergarten children. In kindergarten you only teach them ABC and the spelling of different words. That's all. 13:54 And the entire Old Testament people only knew God like that. Very little. So, the commandments God gave them about sin was very, very simple ones. 14:17 Let me show you the commandments God gave in Exodus 20. Verse 3, 4 and 5. Don't make other gods. 14:38 Don't worship idols. And verse 7. Don't swear by the name of the Lord. Verse 7. And very simple words. Commands. Very simple commands. 15:00 Don't murder. Verse 13. Is that very difficult to keep? I don't think anybody here has murdered anybody. It's easy. Don't commit adultery. 15:22 Don't steal. Verse 15. And verse 16. When you go to court, don't bear a false witness against your neighbor. It's a very, it's like a kindergarten level teaching. The whole Old Testament, that was the standard. 15:47 Because God only wanted them to be pure on the outside. The Old Testament teaches an outside holiness. 16:07 But inside they were filthy. The heart was all filthy. So many bad thoughts. So much bitterness against others. And wrong attitudes and grudges against people. And judging people in the heart. 16:28 But none of that was sin. Only if you did something on the outside. You can kill somebody. Or go and commit adultery. Be unfaithful to your wife and go and commit adultery. Or steal somebody else's property. So we can say it was very easy to live by Old Testament standards. 16:57 But they could not see God. Because only the pure in heart can see God. That's why only Moses could go up into the mountain and see God you read. So, he could only come and tell them, this is what God is like. 17:19 You know, it's like a king of a country, only few people can go and see him. Others will only hear a message. The Old Testament was like that. And because their hearts were unclean. 17:43 But when you come to the New Testament, the thing changes. Jesus says in Matthew 5, that now you can see God. You can come face to face with him in your heart. 18:04 But only the pure in heart can see God. Now, in the Old Testament, the main thing was, you go to the temple and sing, praise God and listen to a message and go home. 18:26 But many Christians are like that today on Sunday. They go to a meeting and sing songs and they hear a message and they go home. And you ask them, did you meet Jesus Christ in the meeting on Sunday? 18:46 No, no. We didn't even expect to meet Christ there. We sang nice songs. We were supposed to be singing them to Jesus, but we were not very conscious of his presence there in the meeting at all. Even when we sang songs, like we sang today, can you say that you were conscious that Jesus is here listening to those words you were singing? 19:22 No. We were singing. We were singing. Everybody else is singing. We also sing. But it's not supposed to be like that. In the New Testament, we can sense the presence of Christ in the meeting. 19:48 And when we hear a message, it's not just a message. We can feel Jesus speaking to our hearts. 20:10 And what he is saying to you, the person sitting next to you cannot hear. You hear a message and God speaks to your heart, something. The person sitting next to you may not know that. Because God is speaking to you personally. 20:33 And if you listen to that, you'll be able to see God in your heart. So, God wants you to see him in your heart. He wants all of us to see him in our heart. He does not want us to be like those Old Testament people going, sitting in a meeting and going home. 21:00 So, by the time we come to the end of this weekend, these two days, I hope you'll understand how to see God. If you are sincere, every one of you can understand it. You don't have to be very clever. 21:23 You have to come like a little child. See, some people say, I'm not so clever, how can I understand the Bible? See what Jesus said in Matthew 11. Matthew chapter 11. 21:43 Here Jesus says in Matthew 11 and verse 25. That God has hidden these things from clever, intelligent people and has revealed them to little babies. Can you tell me, what does a little baby have, which clever, intelligent people don't have? 22:17 All of you have seen a newborn baby just two, three days old. You are a clever person. Even if you didn't go to school, you got a lot of cleverness in your mind. 22:40 You know much more than that two, three day old baby. But, Jesus says that God hides these things from all these clever people. And it reveals that the baby. 23:01 When you look at a baby, what does that small baby have, which you don't have? You have more cleverness. You have more knowledge. You can speak better. That baby cannot even speak. He cannot walk. 23:21 He cannot eat. You can do all those things. But the baby has got one thing, which you and I don't have. What is that? More than one thing. Pure heart. 23:43 You look inside that baby's heart. There's no bitterness against anybody. What about your heart? Can you say, I've got no bitterness against anyone? You look into that baby's heart, there's no anger there against anybody. 24:06 What about you? Have you got some anger in your heart right now? Did you have some anger earlier today or this week? Yeah, that baby doesn't have it. And the baby will not remember if somebody did harm to it yesterday. He doesn't remember it. 24:26 Supposing you go and pinch that baby. He hurt it, he cries. Tomorrow you come. He smile at you. He doesn't remember that you pinched him and hurt him yesterday. 24:49 You see how good a baby's heart is. That baby can see God because of that heart. So, you know, that's why God reveals things to people who have got a heart like that. 25:14 See, Jesus said in Matthew 18. They asked him a question in verse 1. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 25:35 You know, heaven is a place of total purity. So, the greatest is the one who is most pure. Who is that? Who is that? Who is that? Who is that? And Jesus said, a little child. Verse 3, unless you are converted, become like little children. 25:56 You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. But whoever humbles himself, verse 4, like this child is the greatest. And it's not by cleverness that we can see God. It's not even by Bible study. 26:18 It doesn't say blessed are those who have a lot of knowledge, they'll see God. No, it's the pure in heart who sees God. Knowledge is good. 26:39 No, the Bible is very good. I have a lot of Bible knowledge. But we read in the Bible, the Pharisees also had a lot of Bible knowledge. But with all that Bible knowledge, they killed Jesus Christ. So, you can have a lot of Bible knowledge and the Lord may not be close to you at all. 27:07 The Lord is near those who have a pure heart. Your heart is more important than your mind. When you go to study in a school or a college, it's the mind that is important. 27:29 Or when you go to work, it is your mind that is important. So, you must use your mind for all that. When you come to God, it's not mind. It's your heart. You can know so much of the Bible in your mind and you may be far away from God. 27:49 So, a person who really wants to know God will concentrate on making his heart pure. Now, I believe if you will listen carefully in the next couple of days, you will go away from here being able to see God much better than you were when you could when you came here. 28:17 And if we see Him, we can become like Him. God wants us to see Him in our heart. 28:37 So, we need to understand how to have purity of heart. Now, I want to tell you another thing. That the devil does not want you to know God. You read in Genesis 3 that as soon as Adam and Eve went into the garden, the devil immediately came to separate them from God. 29:10 I want you to know that all the time, Satan's aim is to separate you from God. Why does the devil tell you to get angry with your wife and shout at her? 29:33 Why do you want to know your wife and shout at her? I'll tell you. It's got nothing to do with you or your wife. He wants to separate you from God, that's all. Why does the devil tell you to do something wrong in your business? 29:59 To cheat somebody of money. You do business with somebody and you cheat him of money. And that poor man did not know that you cheated him. 30:22 But you know it. Why does the devil make you do it? Because he knows then you'll be separated from God. You cheat somebody, you will definitely be separated from God. 30:42 Little things like this. God has given us who are married a wife. And we must enjoy the beauty and face of our wife. 31:04 Your wife may not be beautiful to other people, but must be beautiful to you. But if you look at some other woman who is not your wife, And you start admiring that woman. And you start admiring that woman. 31:26 That's… That is the devil. That's the devil. He makes you do it so he knows that you'll be cut off from God. And then in their heart they don't see God, they see that woman. 31:48 There are many men like that. In their heart they don't see God, they see some woman. Another day another woman. Another day another woman. And then in some cinema, television, some other woman. And they never see God. 32:08 God is testing you. Whom do you want to see? You want to see me? God says then you must keep your heart pure. It's a wonderful thing to see God in your heart. Because he will guide you. 32:30 He will steer you away from wrong paths. He will keep you healthy. God wants to do good to you. See what Jesus said. Matthew chapter 7. You see this question. Jesus asks a question. The question is this. What is the question? 32:49 What is the question? Matthew 7 verse 9. If your son asks you for bread, will you give him a stone? He will give you a stone? He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. 32:53 He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. You see this question. Jesus asks a question. He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. 33:02 He will give you a stone. He will give you a stone. The question is this. Matthew 7 verse 9. If your son asks you for bread, will you give him a stone? Any mother, father here, your son asks you for bread, you give him a stone to eat? 33:25 Even if you are so poor, there is no food in the house, you won't give a stone. No. Then next question. If one day your son asks you for fish, will you give a snake? 33:51 Will you put a snake on his plate and give it to him? These are the examples Jesus uses. You are not good people. But you know how to give good gifts to your children. 34:13 Even the bad people, they will give good gifts to their children. And then he says, "How much more your heavenly father will only give what is good," verse 11 to those who ask him. This is one of the most important things you must believe. 34:38 I don't think everybody believes it. Because I have heard so many believers say, "Why has God allowed this evil to come to me?" Have you ever said that? 34:58 Have you ever said, "Why has God allowed this to happen to me?" Why didn't he give me this good thing which I wanted? All these questions show that you don't believe God is a good God. 35:19 Then you need to come back to this passage. Will you give a stone to your children to eat? Will you give a snake to your children to eat? No. Then God will never, never, never give you anything evil. That is one of the first things you must believe if you want to have a pure heart. 35:51 You children, you must know that about God our Father, that he would never want to give us anything evil. Some things can look evil, but they are not evil. Supposing, for example, you do not know that in a hospital doctors sometimes cut a person's stomach to take out some bad part of that body. 36:29 Supposing there is some serious sickness inside. Like a cancer. You know what the doctor does? He takes a knife and cuts the stomach and takes out that cancer and throws it away. And he stitches it up. 36:50 And the person's life is saved. But if you don't know that, and one day you are looking through the window of that surgical room, and you see this doctor taking a knife and cutting. 37:13 You say, "What? He is a murderer. He is murdering that." He is not murdering that. He is saving that person's life. So, sometimes God uses a knife on us also. He cuts out something. Because that is spoiling us. 37:36 I remember one of the serious prayers I prayed to God as a very young man. "Lord Jesus, save me from the love of money." 37:57 I'll tell you why I prayed that prayer. Because if you want a pure heart, you must pray that prayer. In Luke 16, verse 13, Jesus said, "There are two masters in the world, money and God." 38:18 "God and money." "God and wealth." "And you cannot serve both." 38:40 So, I read that and I said, "Lord, there is a lot of love of money in my heart." I was very honest. I was earning a good salary in my work when I was a young man. 39:02 And I loved it. And I said, "Lord, if I love that, I cannot love you." So, I prayed, "Lord, take away this love of money." I didn't say take away money, I said take away the love of money. 39:22 I need money to live on this earth. I need to pay house rent, I need to buy food, I need money. I said, "Lord, take away the love of money." And you know what God did? 39:43 I lost a huge amount of money one day. A few thousands of rupees. And I said, "Lord, why did you do that?" He said, "You prayed that you should be delivered from the love of money." 40:04 So, this is only first step, I will do more things to deliver you more. Oh, I said, "Thank you, Lord, thank you very much." Have you ever thanked God when you lost money? 40:25 I did. Because the Lord showed me that is the answer to my prayer. So, if you are really serious, God will purify your heart. Now, he doesn't have to do it like that with everybody. 40:51 Let me show you an Old Testament example in the book of Job. You know the story. In the book of Job, which comes before Psalms. Let me tell you, this man was a God-fearing man. 41:15 He was like already gone into college, spiritually. And God said, "Now, I want to go take him to post-graduate higher, more than college." 41:37 And so, he suffered something nobody else in the world suffered. One day, God allowed somebody to come and kill all his ten children. And to destroy all his property. 41:58 He lost his property and he lost his children. And you know what he did? He didn't complain, "Oh God, I'm so so good to you and you're treating me like this." 42:22 You know, some people, if one child is seriously sick, they begin to question, "Oh God, why don't you… Why are you treating me like this?" Let's see what Job did. When he heard this message, servants came and said, "Your ten children are dead." 42:39 And all your property is burnt up. He says in Job 1, verse 20, he got up, he shaved his head, and he fell down on the ground and worshipped God. 42:59 And look what he says, "When I came from my mother's womb, I did not have one child." I did not have any property. I didn't even have a shirt on me. 43:19 And when I die, I cannot take anything out of this world. So, see what he says, "When I came into the world, I had nothing." How a baby is born. Not even a shirt. When they die, you can put a shirt on their body, but the soul is gone without anything. 43:46 It's empty. It's gone without anything. He can't take one rupee out of this earth. He can't take one of his children from this earth. And so he says in verse 21, "I came from my mother's womb without nothing, I'll go also back without anything." 44:12 And so, during this few years that I'm here on earth, the Lord gave me children. He gave me property. He gave me many good things. And now, he's taken them all away. That's his. He gave it to me and he took it away. 44:33 Praise the Lord. And there it says in verse 22, "He did not sin." God was trying to give Job a pure heart. Where you love God more than all these things. 44:57 God has got a good plan for your life. And the first step to that is that you must confess your sin to the Lord. 45:19 Lord, I have done this wrong, I have done that wrong. Lord, I love money more than I love you. And Lord, I don't control my tongue. So, there's many things I love more than you. Please deliver me from all of them. 45:43 Give me a pure heart. Forgive me all my sins. Because Jesus died for me. So, I told you that we see the holiness of God in Adam being turned out of his presence for one sin. 46:07 Eden, Garden of Eden, that's the first place where we see the holiness of God. And the second place where you see the holiness of God is Calvary. Where Jesus died. Where Jesus died. That's the second place where you see the holiness of God. 46:35 It says, Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Why did the father forsake Jesus on the cross for three hours? Because he was bearing my sin. Your sin. 46:57 And so, when God looked at him, there was sin there. Not Jesus' sin. He never sinned. Your sin. My sin. And when God looked at that. Even though it was his own son. 47:17 No, I can't look at you. There you see how holy God is. That he could not tolerate one sin even when it was on his own son. So, these are the two places in the Bible where you see how holy God is. 47:39 Adam turned out of his presence for one sin. And Jesus, even though God loved him so much, God persook him because he had my sin. So, once you understand these two, you will understand how God hates every sin. 48:03 And then you will also start hating sin. That's how your heart will become pure. And you will be able to see God. Let's pray. Let's bow heads before God. 48:30 We must not receive this message only in our understanding. Say, Lord, I want this to come into my heart. Not that I understood a message. I want to hate sin. 48:52 Because you turned out Adam for one sin. Even though you loved him. And when Jesus' sin was on Jesus, you just turned away from him. Lord, I see now, how much you hate sin. 49:12 I want to hate it, Lord. I want to hate sin more than poverty. I want to hate sin more than sickness. I want to hate sin more than being insulted by others. 49:32 Lord, help me to hate sin more than anything else in this world. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' name. Amen.
