Blessed are the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8)

Well, good morning Let's try that again. Good morning. I Just want to say that it was not an accident that you probably couldn't hear me singing very much and that's because I try to make a joyful noise very quietly and I'm very glad that my wife is gifted and thank you so much dear for just Singing to the

Lord and getting to do that together Really thrills my heart that being said if you would please open your

Bibles to Matthew chapter 5 Many of you are familiar that with the sermon series that we're going through we've called upside down We're going through the

Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is Completely flipping the script the world is pursuing after happiness

It is searching for truth and direction in life And Jesus is speaking in the eight beatitudes really kicking off the

Sermon on the Mount that it's he's telling us The exact opposite of what the world is doing the world is trying to reach after happiness and cannot seem to ever find it and that is because The world does not have a proper

Relationship with God Almighty as we've been seeing these eight decorations of the beatitudes

These are the blessed man and woman that already have a right relationship with God and from that We see that the beatitudes to show us the character that flows from that right relationship

And so through this eight week sermon series, we've been analyzing the beatitudes But each week

I want us to read all of them holistically together I want us to see how the beatitudes stack on one another and logically flow from the preceding one

So let's look at Matthew chapter 5 starting in verse 3 all the way through verse 12

Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied

Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see

God Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are you when others 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 so they persecuted the prophets who were before you

Let's go again to our Lord and prayer Lord, I pray that you would bless this time as we dig into your word

Lord I pray that you would send your spirit to illuminate hearts and minds God that you give us ears to hear

God Please give us wisdom Lord I pray that you would increase and Lord that I would decrease and it would be your truth that shines forth and would edify

Your people we pray these things in your name Jesus. Amen So this morning we are to the sixth of the eight beatitudes look back with me at verse 8 where we read

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God now a couple weeks ago

I wanted to bring up an important point about the Greek structure and I mentioned what was called the definite article

That is the word of thee in front of pure blessed are the pure in heart the reason why this is a big deal is because the definite article wants to focus on something very very particular forget everything else and focus in on this one thing and the definite articles right before the pure in heart and so what

Jesus is saying the pure in heart they and they alone possess a very unique quality and this quality refers to Holiness and so that's going to be a major point this morning that the pure in heart.

They are holy Happy are the holy blessed. They have true happiness with God and we see this

Overpouring in their lives with how they interact with other people. So keep that in your mind happy are the holy and so that phrase the pure in heart could be rendered clear or Clean in heart that word for pure means to be unmixed blameless

Unstained from guilt and the point is the heart has undergone some radical

Transformation Jesus is really focusing in on the heart and I was trying to think of illustrations to show you

What pure and clean really mean think about how gold and metal can go into a furnace, right?

It has impurities. It has dirt in it. But what does the flame do right? It purifies the precious metal it burns up the

Impurities and then it comes out refined, right? That's what those the blessed man and woman we have been refined we have been radically transformed from the heart and This illustration also works

With plants and Vines and I thought, you know, I'm gonna have to check with miss Karen to make sure

I got my facts straight on this She's she's a herbalist. And so I had a good time talking with her about this, but the same idea for Purification being purified is also cleansed in terms of a vine being cleansed by pruning so that it can bear more fruit

So I want to invite you to turn with me to John chapter 15 This is where Jesus declares that he is the vine.

He says I am the vine and you are the branches Here Jesus uses this imagery of being purified or cleansed this process of holiness that believers undergo

And so I want us to look starting at verse 1 John chapter 15 verse 1 says

Jesus says I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit

He takes away and every branch that does bear fruit. He prunes that it may bear more fruit

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine

Neither can you unless you abide in me? I am divine You are the branches whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit

For apart from me you can do nothing So if you would look back with me at verse 2 where Jesus says every branch that does bear fruit

He prunes now for those of us who are truly in Jesus Christ by saving faith

We are those that the Father has given to the Son and we have had the

Holy Spirit come into our life and transform our heart and we will bear the fruit of regeneration the

Holy Spirit changes our heart to see our sin and For us to see our need of a

Savior. And so this is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit We will bear some fruit because of the

Spirit's work in our life And when you hear the fruit of the Spirit, you should be thinking about love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness and self -control and so this is that cleansing purifying process of being made holy the

Holy Spirit indwells us and compels us to Manifest these things in our life in some way or another

Brother Keith a couple weeks ago Mentioned that there will be times in our flesh that we will fight against the work of the

Spirit We will quench or grieve the Spirit in disobedience Against the work of the

Spirit. But what does our Heavenly Father do when we do that? He doesn't just leave us to ruin in our sin by ourself, right?

But he intervenes in our life. He prunes us he disciplines us as a loving father

Hebrews chapter 12 says for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives

And so let me draw your attention to verse 3 because this is what directly relates to our beatitude this morning

Jesus says already you are clean or Pure because of the word

I have spoken to you This is an incredible statement because it's by the living

Breathing powerful Word of God in connection with the work of the Spirit that Transforms us it cleanses us and purifies our entire lives, right?

It's this process of sanctification and So I really wanted to key on this word clean

Because it's once again the same Greek word that we get for pure back in the beatitudes

But John only uses this word four times in his gospel and we just looked at it back in verse 3

So I want to show you the other three times. It's really closely connected turn back in your Bible Just a couple pages to John chapter 13.

I want us to get a full -orbed understanding of what clean To be purified understand this transforming work of the

Spirit And if you're familiar with John chapter 13 This is the chapter where Jesus washes the disciples feet the night before his crucifixion

And we learned so many things like Jesus models perfect humility how we ought to serve one another in love

But what's really interesting that I want to draw your attention to is I want to see how the

Apostle Peter responds in this particular context Look with me in verse 6

Jesus is just about to wash Peter's feet and then Peter says Lord. Do you wash my feet?

Jesus answered him what I'm doing. You do not understand now, but after afterward you will understand

Peter said you shall never Wash my feet and Jesus said to him if I do not wash you you have no share with me

Now you got to think in this moment Peter's like shouldn't said that got that really strong healthy rebuke that we all need from Time to time and it was funny because last week if you were here pastor

Scott He mentioned that the Apostle Peter is known as the Apostle with the foot shaped mouth He is constantly just saying what's ever on his mind with no filter and then what happens he gets rebuked almost promptly

But I think in this moment we can learn a good principle here because how often do we say things out of line?

How many times do we say something and we need rebuking right? We should be like Peter after we realize that we've been rebuked and called out

We should be willing to repent and change even when another brother or sister points out sin in our life

So at least Peter models that well look with me at verse 9

Simon Peter said to him Lord do not wash my feet only but also my hands and my head.

So I love that He's totally changed in his tune now, right? He's like give me a whole bath if that's what you need

But Jesus says to him the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet

But is completely clean There's that word again and you are clean, but not every one of you for he knew who was to betray him

That's why he said not all of you are clean And so here in this passage, we see that word clean three times and we looked at the fourth time in John chapter 15

And so it's verse 10 in this passage that really connects back to our beatitude this morning

Look with me again. Jesus says the one who has bathed does not need to wash

Except for his feet, but is completely clean So Jesus is talking about two different concepts here.

There is in one sense. You're already clean. You're washed you are justified

You have your sins forgiven, right? and then there's another aspect where we need an ongoing cleansing and this refers to Sanctification and so justification

I really want you to make note of that word because pastor Nathan and I want you to understand the differences between Justification and sanctification and also how they're so closely related

Justification is a one -time act where the Holy Spirit has regenerated you and you have responded because of the

Spirit's work in repentance and faith and now you live your whole life on this new trajectory of Sanctification being set apart being conformed more and more into the image of Christ looking less like the things of the world

So the imagery Jesus is saying you are completely clean and it's because of the cleansing work that he is about to accomplish

On the cross of Calvary you have to understand that Jesus's atonement pays in full the complete

Punishment for sin, that's why we can be cleansed when we repent and look to the

Savior in faith. We are cleansed We are justified. We are completely Forgiven, but then we have to understand what

Jesus mean when he says except for his feet I love the imagery of saying look you're completely cleansed

But there is this idea of us needing to clean off our feet from time to time. This is pointing to that sanctify

Sanctification process think about it. We walk around in this sin ruled world, right?

We walk around we get up and we interact with other people that are sinners We are constantly combating the desires of our flesh and the work of Satan, right?

So we need our our feet cleaned. We need God to intervene in our life and to discipline us

And I believe that only the pure in heart We understand that we are spiritually content

With God in all things in our life because he has worked a changed heart in us

We have been made right with God and we desire to walk with the Savior We are truly blessed and we are truly happy and I want you to remember happy are the holy

And before we move on to this I want to touch on the Apostle Peter one more time here because we see that he is a work in progress

Do we not he is the Apostle with the foot shaped mouth, but we see that the Holy Spirit is also

Working on him. We see that God is beginning that good work in Peter and he's not gonna leave him

But he's gonna continue to carry him along. The Spirit will sanctify him through his word

And so Peter is no longer saying you shall never wash my feet

He said that once in the past, but he learned his lesson He's growing and I want you to hear more sanctified

Peter in the beginning of his first epistle Peter says having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love

Love one another earnestly from a pure heart That sound familiar since you have been born again not of perishable seed

But of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God When we are walking with the

Savior Empowered by the Spirit we desire holiness. We desire to be holy as God is holy

So if you would turn back with me to Matthew chapter 5 or say Hopefully we have a better understanding of the word pure it can mean clean

It's a work that has been started by the Holy Spirit and he will see it to fruition

Jesus says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God now the word heart

I really think Jesus is emphasizing this word here because he is directly

Rebuking the Pharisees. They were not concerned with the heart. They were extern with their external works and their appearance

So Jesus is emphasizing the heart because it also that's what it all boils down to God sees the heart of man

God tests the heart are good works important. Absolutely But what's the motivation behind Doing the good works.

That's what God is intently looking at. And so Jesus is emphasizing that and before the

Holy Spirit Transforms our heart. We have to understand that man's heart is totally wicked evil and depraved

I wanted to read a small scripture with you to really illustrate this back in Genesis chapter 6

We read the Lord saw the wickedness of man that it was great on the earth and every intention of the thoughts of his heart

Was only evil continually Yeah, but Jeremiah that was before the flood.

It's different now No, it's not we see this confirmed in the gospel accounts. We see this in the

New Testament Epistles man's heart is bent on evil man is not good seeking after God That's why we need a purified heart one that has been totally transformed by the work of the

Spirit with new desires to grow in holiness Spending time in the word spending time with the

Saints What I think is almost ironic is even though man's heart is set on evil and wickedness

Man still wants to show off his religiosity show off his legalism and how good he can appear before other people

Who does that sound like as we've been studying through the Sermon on the Mount that sounds like the

Pharisees doesn't right? So I want you to understand even though man is Wicked and evil he can still appear to have it all together in his religion

And so when Jesus is referencing the heart he is totally rebuking the

Pharisees legalistic motivations And so I wanted just to highlight a few verses here in the

Sermon on the Mount Where we can see that Jesus is constantly driving this back to the heart

Matthew 528 Jesus says But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery

With her in his heart The Pharisees said as long as we don't actually do the action of the seventh commandment not to commit adultery

Then we're good. We've not committed that sin, but Jesus he's not he's not elevating the

Mosaic Law He's not inventing new commandments, but he's correctly interpreting the purpose of the law's intent

He says no sin is so much deeper than just our actions and the things that we do.

It actually stems from the heart And what we see that the heart will overflow and give evidence of what's truly inside Jesus says it's not enough to maintain physical

Purity alone, but the one must we must also guard from engaging

Unfaithfulness from our heart and mind. He's driving it back to the heart level

Matthew 621 Jesus says for wherever your treasure is there your heart will be also

The last chapter of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says you will recognize them by their fruits, but Jeremiah doesn't say heart there

Well later in Matthew's gospel It's an identical context Matthew says

Jesus says for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and so what's true on the inside will manifest itself and reveal itself through what we say and what we do the big point here is

Jesus is emphasizing the heart and rebuking the Pharisees and their system of religiosity the

Pharisees Championed championed their knowledge of the Torah the first five books of the law and they really they really cared a lot about their outer

Appearance and how they look towards others and so I want to talk about these two extremes for just a moment

The Pharisees had a lot of knowledge number one And so on the surface this can seem like a really good thing

The Bible tells us to read the word to know the word to understand correct theology and to contend for sound doctrine

But what if we have this knowledge that never actually makes it to our hearts?

Right if we only have a mechanical interest in the Word of God only These types of people in churches usually are a curse, right?

They usually think that they're better than everybody else. Why is that because they are functionally Pharisees And so I want you to understand that having knowledge is a wonderful thing

The Bible tells us to have knowledge to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But it can't stay in the head.

It has to actually move to our hearts. The Pharisees abused this they also abused

Certain people's giftings to appear beautiful on the outside, but scripture tells us inwardly

They just wanted praise from men So that's number two the affair the Pharisees had the ability to appear beautiful on the outside And I think this is unfortunate because you have some people that have an artistic eye

They're able to you know, have that flair and make things look really nice But what's the heart motivation it always comes back to the heart issue

Some people had these giftings right and who is the gift giver but God himself, right?

So we have to check our hearts Are we wanting people to look at the things that we do how we look like to get praise for them?

Or we wanting to point them back to glorify God if we're not constantly checking our heart

Then we will fall into this fair say equal trap and so Jesus Probably one of the hardest rebukes that he ever gave in Scripture comes from Matthew 23 to the

Pharisees He says woe to you scribes and Pharisees you hypocrites for you are like whitewashed tombs

Which outwardly appear beautiful but from within are full of dead man's bones and uncleanliness you also appear outwardly to be righteous to others, but within you are full of Hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Is that you this morning? Are you somebody that wants to appear?

Intellectual before other people to wow them with your speech Are you somebody that cares a lot about how you look in your appearance to receive praise from them and Extending that principle.

Are you someone that's been gifted to be able to design big structures to be able to put really nice crafts together

What's the heart motivation? Are you wanting praise from other people or are you wanting to point back to the gift giver himself?

Now it's unfair that I asked these questions because do you know the answer to that question? It's yes

We've all fallen short at this point if you say oh, I don't do that You're a

Pharisee the Pharisees said that because we are all sinners. We all are in the same boat together

Right. That's why we have to constantly look at our heart see the wickedness That's there and continue to pray that God would continue to transform us

We have this sin nature that must be mortified. That must be crushed. I Just want to tell you that I struggle with these things every day

I've been in those situations where I've wanted to win an argument for just the sake of being right

I see some hands going up there too, and that's sinful, right? I'm wanting just to appear that I know a lot of stuff, but that is vain right,

I Pray that in those moments I would be rebuked by my brothers and sisters right when you hear that pride creeping out

We need that accountability in our lives But I praise

God for his abounding steadfast love Grace and mercy.

He is still working on me through the power of the Spirit He is still molding me and sanctifying me day by day to be more into the image of Christ And if you are in Christ, that is your story as well

And so the key to all of this is having our heart set on Jesus Christ He alone is perfect and we are following after him

I believe that's the only way we can have a proper balance of these things if we have really good

Gifts and abilities we must use that to point other people to the gift giver himself

And I think about more sanctified Peter, right He was growing in his walk as well

The last thing that he said in his second epistle was this Grow in the grace and the knowledge of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be the glory Both now and to the day of eternity

Amen, I love that because I don't want you to hear mishear me and think well knowledge just puffs up only and it's not important Anymore.

Well, I have all these artistic abilities, but I don't want to give the people the wrong impression No, we do all of these things to give

God glory Knowledge is so important But it has to move to the heart and that will affect how we when we leave this building when we leave and go into The world it'll affect how we actually treat people

But the motive on the motivating factor is to always glorify God So let's look back at Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 as you see the kind of the flow that we do this

We take it phrase by phrase. We even sometimes take it word by word Jesus is blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see

God Now if you're very familiar with what the scripture teaches, this should be a very staggering statement

The pure in heart are going to see God. How is that possible? Didn't God say to Moses you cannot see my face for a man shall not see me and live

John's gospel says God is spirit. That means that God is immaterial. How are we gonna see something?

That's not physical that we can actually see with our physical eye John 1 18 says no one has ever seen

God the only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known

So we got to take a step back and ask the question in what sense are the pure in heart able to see

God I think that's the proper way of looking at it because to the Christian we see

God in everything We possess the eye of faith We see

God in nature. We see God in all events of history We see God in the sense of knowing him feeling that he is near and we are encouraged by his presence

So as I was looking for different ways to kind of illustrate this Kept finding myself going back to Hebrews chapter 11 the great hall of faith and the adults are studying through this

I'm like, ah, this is perfect because these men and women Model for us what it looks like to know

God and to see him in their lives Hebrews 11 verse 1 begins by saying now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen

This is basically giving us a definition of what faith is faith is

Deep trust that comes from within our hearts are very inner being it is faith that is able to understand that the entire world

Hangs the entire world hangs in the Creator's hand Faith is able to look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen and eternal

Hebrews chapter 11 We see that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses men and women that have walked by faith and not by sight and So I want to look at just one person here in Hebrews chapter 11 and it's

Moses Hebrews 11 verse 27. We see that Moses is a wonderful example of an individual who was pure in heart

Holy and as a result he was able to see God verse 27 says by faith he

Moses left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king for he endured as seeing him

Who is invisible? Now this is interesting because I really think this is what strongly connects to our be added to this morning seeing the one who is invisible now some commentators

Kind of grapple over what's being talked about because didn't Moses see God in some way with his physical eye in the burning bush later in Exodus 33

Moses got was in the cleft of a rock and he saw a glimpse of God when he passed by it, right?

I don't think those examples are what the author of Hebrews has in mind here rather Moses walked by faith.

That's the whole context right and as he was walking by faith He was able to see him who is invisible and I actually think verse 26 gives us some more key insight to why it's talking about this relational knowledge

Walking in relationship with God. That's the sense of seeing him. Look with me at verse 26.

We may have it posted where Moses considered the reproach of Christ Greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward

I've always thought this was very interesting because Moses lived Centuries before our

Lord took on flesh and dwelt among us So, how was he able to consider the reproach of Christ in any manner?

Well, he identified his sufferings with the people of God and he understood of the coming anointed one the coming

Savior that was still promised to come and he rested in that Right, so you see that this seeing the invisible

God is trusting in him and walking with him day by day as we suffer and go through persecution in this life

Moses was looking to that eternal reward reward and So that's the same principles that we take to when we go through the hurts and pains of this life

What do we do we rest in Christ? We see him who is invisible We see the

Lord working holiness into our lives and Moses modeled that perfectly

No, no shot, but that's okay. We even see with the Apostle Peter, right?

We are all works in progress we share in his holiness because he is the one at work in our lives and that will produce a

Fruit the peaceful fruit of righteousness as we interact with other people in our life

And so I'm wanting you to see the connection between the pure and heart being holy and it's holiness that allows us to see

God Relationally and the writer of Hebrews mentions this in Hebrews chapter 12 just briefly

He says strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the

Lord So holiness it really comes down to being holy as God is holy

Can we do that by our good works? No shot Jesus was the one that was perfectly holy and righteousness

But by faith if we trust in him and rest in him, then we can be declared, right?

We can actually be declared holy and then we desire to live our life in obedience to what

God has revealed to us So as we are winding down We're heading in that direction.

We're not quite there yet, but we're winding down right we see God Here and now

Relationally through his word by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the gathering together of the Saints That's how we see

God here and now but we still have a future fulfillment of seeing

God. Don't we? The Apostle Paul in first Corinthians 13 says for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face

Think about our context on earth here and now even though we are walking with the Lord Relationally, even though we are growing in holiness

We possess the all -sufficient Word of God in the indwelling Holy Spirit, but think about it

We are mere children in our spiritual development and we have such a small

Perspective on God's glory and his purposes in the world So here now on earth, we truly do see through a dark glass mirror

We do not get the advantage of seeing the whole picture But one day we will step into the

Lord's presence and then we will see him face to face Our maturity will reach its apex in eternal glory

Even though we see by faith now one day that will come a reality

And I love singing hymns that point this truth out. It makes me long for that day

One hymn writer said and Lord haste the day When my faith shall be sight the clouds be rolled back as a scroll

The Trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend even though it is well with my soul

I love that because our faith one day will be turned to sight and if we really take a moment to think about it

This is the most amazing promise truth that we could ever wrap our minds around We have so many problems that surround us every day in this world

But one day we are going to see the Lord face to face If we truly hang on to this promise

It will transform our lives are you and I are being prepared to go into the presence of the king of kings

Do you believe that do you know what we are being prepared for? Do you realize that there is a day coming where you're going to see the

Blessed God face to face? Not as a dark colored glass, but truly tangibly face to face

The moment we grasp this everything else will pale in Comparison to enjoying

God for all eternity in his glorious presence It's wonderful.

The Apostle John I could bring in another apostle here real fast. He also encouraged his

Fellow brothers and sisters with these same truth in 1st John 3 He basically said what the

Lord said in the beatitude and he reversed it. I thought why would he reverse the order? I thought you know what? It doesn't matter because we will we long to see

God face to face when we realized that we realized that we desire that purification process John said

Beloved we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared

But we know that when he appears we will be like him because we shall see him as he is and everyone who thus hopes in himself

Purifies himself as he is pure. Do you hear that specific group?

Right? Remember we talked about the pure in heart He's talking about this group this group alone who is pure the holy they are going to see

Christ Do you agree with me that this is the most significant significant thing that we could contemplate here in this life

And I want to ask you is this your supreme goal and desire and ambition to see

God? Are you preparing yourself for this glorious day? But if we're honest don't we fall short of that You're probably like me.

I feel ashamed Often how I waste my time day by day with things that don't ultimately matter

We struggle with this. That's why we need each other. That's why we need to spend time in God's Word We struggle don't we but we got to keep pressing forward in this purification process

We must understand that the devil is warring against us The lusts of our flesh are warring against us and so is the entire world.

So let's unite together Last thought the

Apostle John we know that he longed to see the face of God One of the very last things that he wrote in the book of Revelation He said no longer will there be anything accursed

But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him

They will see his face and night will be no more They will need no light no light of lamp or Sun for the

Lord God will be their light and they will reign with him forever ever

No unglorified human could ever see God's face and live But as true citizens of the kingdom of heaven one day we will see

God's face without harm Because we will be holy Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see

God Hope you are encouraged with that this morning But as we do every

Lord's Day, I want us to begin to transition to the Lord's Supper here in a moment after we pray feel free to come over this side where I'll be at and People over here.

We'll have this side prepared But as we come to the Lord's table I want us to remember all of what

Christ has done on our behalf How he paid the full punishment of sin and that's a past reality, right?

But it affects us presently here today This is such an important time for unity not only with one another but with the triune

God It's so important That's why I believe the scripture warns us of actually not coming to the table if we have

Unrepentant sin in our life. What does that look like chairman? Well, if you are not sure that you are even in Christ If you're not sure that you have been saved by the blood of Christ cleansed

Then I want to implore you do not come to the table The scripture tells us some have partaken in this unworthy manner and have left sick

They have been harmed and some have even died as a result because this is such an important time of unity

If there is ongoing sin in your life that you're just having trouble letting go. There's no praying to God Confessing it and praying that he would discipline you as a loving child or or through the body

If you're having trouble letting go of sin, please do not come to the table I don't want you to be discouraged with that because I care about all of you that are here

And so if that is you Please at some point in time reach out to me or pastor

Nathan so we can come alongside you Right go to the Lord together and make these things right in your life

So we talked about that that past reality of what all Christ has done

We are engaging in this future reality presently, but we are also looking forward

We this is but a foretaste of the marriage supper of the Lamb where we will see

Jesus face to face Let's pray Heavenly Father Felt like I just ran a marathon

God, but you are so gracious even in my frailty Lord. We long to see your face

Lord, please Grant us your presence here and now God really and truly by your spirit and through your word

Lord, please let that comfort us as we go through the pains and the hurts of this world

Knowing that one day that that faith that we see you by faith now will one day be turned to sight for all eternity

Let us rest in that. Please. Let that transform our lives Please help us to become more holy as a result and encourage others with the same truthfulness of the gospel