Happiness is...Purity…Purity has a Reward – Bob Kraning

Below are notes I took from Bob Kraning’s sermon about being pure in heart giving on March 12th.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” - Matthew 5:8

When you read this verse…everyone should stop, think and examine themselves.

The story of the woman names Anna who was blind for the last 46 years. When her sight has been restored…she says, “Look at the world that has been invisible all my life.”

Seeing God in heaven…surpasses our physical sight.

David said, “Create in me a clean heart.”

What does pure mean? Internal cleansing. Clean hands and a pure heart. God alone can give clean hands and a pure heart. God will put a new spirit in you. Longing for a new heart? Go to God.

Pharisees said blessed are those who are clean outwardly. But Jesus said to clean the inside…your heart…and the outside will be clean.

Outward clean…Jesus says be clean from the inside out.

What does it mean to be Pure in Heart…a heart that does not bring insincere motives and divided longings to your relationship with God.

Pure: 1) Concentration – fix one’s mind totally upon God; 2) Sincerity; 3) Singleness of mind.

Pure is impossible on my own. “I don’t know what the heart of an evil man is like. But I do know what the heart of a good man is like…and it’s terrible.”

Jesus has called us to perfection. I know I can never achieve that on my own. Instead I need to throw myself upon the grace of God.

John Newton cried out to God when his ship was sinking in the storm, “Oh God, save us and I will serve you.” God gave him a new and clean heart…and changed his life forever. Character of the Kingdom of God…God can place it in my heart.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? – Romans 6:1-2

Like the pig when cleaned up…he is still a pig and seeks out and returns to the mud. Or we can have the nature of the sheep…who seeks out the grassy, green hill. The sheep doesn’t like the mud…he has a different nature than the pig.

How’s your nature? Have you been given a new nature? Is my heart clean? Truly clean?

God demands a new character and give us the new character by his grace. Before Jesus our vision is narrow. How does it change after Jesus?

The reason? Blessed are the pure in heart…for they will see Jesus. This seeing is continuous.

“It is better to be blind and see with your heart than to have two good eyes and see nothing. – Helen Keller

Max Lucado reminds us that we may have constructed a temple and forgotten why? The church has both temple builders…and Savior seekers. Do you say, “What a great Christ” or “What a great building”?

So how do you improve or purify your heart?

Be honest with God about the condition of your heart.
Acknowledge it’s only God who can make your heart pure.
Allow God’s Word to do the work in your life. That means…being in the Word of God daily.
Think about where you are going and who you will be with in eternity.
Remember…God’s grace will get me home.

Anna had lived 42 of her 60 years blind because she didn’t know about the surgery…the cure for her blindness.

Our cure is 2,000 years old…and is 100% effective.

God will bring together and merge the old me and the new me. Then he will start removing anything that is not of God.