Take your Bible again and turn to Matthew 5.8. Just read this verse. Matthew 5 and verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see Let's pray. Father, it is a grief to us and certainly a grief to You. A true heartfelt religion has been displaced with triviality, with vanity, with ritual. that though there is much captivating circumstance and pomp, there is so little reality in the worship of you these days. Father, we pray that you might grant again the rediscovery of the gospel and what you do require of men. In Jesus' name we do pray, Our American culture, you're well aware of, has become rather hollow and brittle. I did this, it has followed the church. You know, the church doesn't like to discuss doctrine, doesn't like really to think very deeply about anything. And so our culture has followed that example. And presidential candidates today, or any kind of candidate in a political office, will promote rhetoric and image to garner a winning vote tally. Substance doesn't matter and is generally avoided. Individuals who would interview on television or radio are told what to ask. Good hardball questions they are not permitted to ask of candidates. So this is not something peculiarly unique to the 21st century. Moses exhorted the Israelites not to be hollow, superficial, shallow in their religion. He exhorted them to genuine religion, to true religion, speaking of it as heart circumcision. The prophets in their day preached against the legalism and the superficiality of the profession of God-fearing men of its time, of supposedly God-fearing men, calling them to a true heart religion. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, squares off face to face with the Pharisees of his day and does the same. And yet this Phariseeism, this triviality, this superficialness, this shallowness, is still alive and well today primarily because it agrees well with the pollution in our hearts. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, teaches very clearly that true religion is an issue of the heart. It is not merely, not solely an issue of the hands and the feet. Pharisees had the hands and feet, as it were, down. But there was no heart, no real love for God. The Word of God throughout stresses the importance of your heart. Turn over to Matthew 22.26. They're twenty-eight. Nope, I want thirty-six to thirty-eight. Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And He said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and the foremost commandment. All of life we're taught in the Scripture originates from the heart. Turn over to Proverbs 4 and 22. Do not let them depart from your sight, keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to all who find them, and health to all their whole body. Watch over your heart with diligence, for from it, from the heart, flow the springs of life." The Bible emphasizes the importance of the heart. Jesus in Mark 7, likewise again in that incident, deals with the importance of the heart. Mark 7, 20 and following. And He was saying that which proceeds out of the man That is what defiles the man, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. Saving faith is a matter of the heart. Turn over to Romans 10. This is a great passage to deal with individuals when they're not sure what it means to be a Christian, and you're talking to them, and there's a lot of confusion about it. Take them to Romans 10 and read with them. Verse 9 and following, that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus Lord, and believe in your heart, that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes, result in righteousness. With the mouth he confesses, result in salvation. Take them to that passage in Romans. And then point out to them how Paul stresses the heart. You believe in your heart, and with the heart man believes unto salvation. And point out to your friend that the only true saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is faith that involves the whole heart. It is with the heart men have faith. John Murray, one of the books that Pastor McDade referenced, A Redemption Accomplished and Applied, and I likewise would recommend that book. It's excellent. But what he speaks about in there throughout the whole thing is that it is the whole man, in saving faith, it is the whole man who embraces the whole Christ. You may not pick and choose what parts of Jesus you like and what parts. Well, I'll wait until I want to be a super spiritual saint or something. I'm satisfied with carnality now, and so I'll just take his arm and maybe his leg, but I'll take the rest of Jesus sometime later when I'm old and don't have much left to do or live or whatever. No, saving faith is the response of the whole man to the whole Christ. When you marry him, you get all of them. not bits and pieces. So you can take your Protestant evangelical, we won't call him to his face decadent Protestant evangelical, though he may well be not understanding much of the gospel, much commitment, not having much commitment to the Word of God. You take him to this and you say, look, a Christian believes with his heart. Paul says it is with the heart. man believes unto salvation. Now, what we need to do is define the heart. And when you do that, you will answer, you will refute a multitude of modern heresies regarding Christian life and experience. Define the heart. The Word of God stresses the importance All of your life flows out of the heart. Jesus, when he's setting forth the true gospel against the counterfeit gospel of the Pharisees and of the current culture of the day, stresses the heart. Who will see God? Jesus says the only ones who will see God are the ones who are pure in heart. They, and they alone, shall see God. The religion of the Pharisees and Sadducees in the first century was a religion of show. It was the projection of an image. It was all external. Jesus hates such a religion, and he condemned such Phariseeism. In Matthew 23, we won't turn to that, we won't read it, we've read it earlier. That is, you know, all the woes, a section of woes to them who are hypocrites. They present a face. They have this image of righteousness and of love to God. But inside, there's no love for God. There's no heart for God. It's just an external thing. Mere ritual, mere external ritual, going through the motions, wearies God. Look at how the prophet said this, because it's important to realize that the desire for spiritual, for heart religion is not simply a New Testament thing. God in the Old Testament also demanded heart religion. Again, we referenced it. Moses said, circumcise your hearts, the foreskins of your hearts. The prophets prophesied the same thing. True biblical religion has never been merely external ritual or ceremony. It has always been a matter of the heart. Isaiah, in his first chapter, speaks very explicitly to this issue. Isaiah 1, 10 and following. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Now remember, he's writing to the Israelites. And he says, you rulers of Sodom. This is manly, forthright language. You rulers of Sodom, give ear to the instruction of our God. You people of Gomorrah, what are your multiplied sacrifices to me? You see, externally, they look good. They were adding all sorts of sacrifices. They were involved in the church growth movement. They were doing all sorts of things and adding ceremonies and adding feasts and doing all sorts of external rituals and ceremonies in their service to God. God's prophet says, what are your multiplied sacrifices to me, says the Lord. I've had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? This is God's view of this kind of worship. Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Their incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and a solemn assembly. Godless, unlawful living, and then you come and pretend to worship me. I can't stand it. I hate Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of bloodshed." Religion is all external. It's an abomination to me. I want your heart. I want your whole heart. Like Moses said. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength. Jeremiah has the same. thing to say to the people about their external religiosity. Jeremiah chapter 7, the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word. You imagine? Jeremiah, I like Jeremiah. They tried to kill him. Priests tried to kill him. Civil officers tried to kill him. People tried to kill him in general. God says, Jeremiah, here's what I want you to do. This Sabbath day, you go up and stand right in the gate of the temple. While the people are coming to worship, while the Levites are chanting the Psalms, you stand right there, smack dab in the center of the door. And this is what I want you to say. Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter by these gates to worship the Lord. All right. Now, remember, he's preaching to the worshippers. Thus says the Lord of Hosts. The God of Israel, amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place. In the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever, behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and offer sacrifices to Baal, walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say, We are delivered. You may do all these abominations. Is this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers at your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, declares the Lord. But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel." A lot of folks don't remember historically that the first appointed place of worship in Israel was Shiloh. And now it was in Jerusalem by Jeremiah's day because they were not faithful in Shiloh and God destroyed Shiloh. Do not think I won't do it to Jerusalem just like I did it to Shiloh. Of course, you all know, historically, he did do it to Jerusalem, A.D. 70. Now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and I spoke to you rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear. I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore, I will do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trusted, to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all of your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim." Sennacherib had already carried away the northern kingdom. Jeremiah says, God says through Jeremiah, the way I did it to them, I'm now going to do it to you because you've not repented. I want your heart. You've not given me your heart. I'm going to destroy Jerusalem. I'm going to spit you out of the land. Because true religion has always been and always will be a religion of the heart. What is the heart, according to God's work? Turn to Genesis six, one. Six, five, excuse me, that the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, what I'm doing here isn't nothing real difficult or real hard. I'm going to give you six texts, two on each account, since it takes two to establish truth and all that. But six texts to remember in terms of the definition of heart, you can do this. All you need to do is pull out a good concordance, look up the word heart, even in English. That's fine. And then go through all these texts and just ask yourself, what is the biblical definition of heart? And put all I forget the number 600 and some text together and you'll get a definition of the heart, not 600 parts, but three parts. And in this verse we've just read, you have found one of the three constituent parts of man's heart when the Bible talks about heart. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and in every intent of the thoughts of his heart. The heart of man includes his mind, your thinking, your intellection, your capacity of thought and of rational reasoning, of logic. The heart includes the intellectual facility of man. Turn to 1 Kings 3. This is probably the easiest text to remember on this issue of heart, because you all know this man, and you probably know his prayer. Maybe even you know the address of the prayer. 1 Kings 3, 9. David is dead. Solomon is king. Solomon is a young man. And he is rightly understanding that he is not adequate to the task. And so he prays, 1 Kings 3, 9, So give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of thine? The heart of man includes his ability to understand, the understanding part of his makeup, your mind, your intellect. Then again, back to Genesis 6 and we find another aspect of the heart spoken of there in the next verse. And the Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. What is the heart? It's the intellectual faculty of man, but the heart is also something else. It is something that can be grieved. It is something that has at least affections. And so the heart of man also is his capacity for affection. I say affection, not emotion, because emotions ebb and flow, and they can change from the morning to the evening, depending on somebody looking at you crosswise. You can be happy and cheerful, and somebody looks about and grumps at you, and then you're down the dumps. So we're not talking about emotions, we're talking about affections. We're talking about the deep-seated dispositions of soul. What it is that I like and enjoy, that thrills me, that excites me, that interests me. And what is it that I could care less about? Or what is it that I am actively repulsive towards? We're talking about the affections. Another easy one to remember, as easy as Solomon for the understanding heart because of his prayer, is Hannah. Turn to 1 Samuel 1, verse 8. 1 Samuel 1 verse 8. Hannah here is a wife of Elkanah. He has two. She has not been able to bear him children. The other wife has. And the other wife has begun to taunt her and scoff her for not providing children to the husband. And in verse 8 of 1 Samuel 1, Then Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons? This husband is quite a sensitive and understanding man. But notice the language of Scripture. Why is your heart sat. Biblical usage requires us to understand that the heart has the faculty of intellect and has the faculty of affections. But there's still more. The heart includes Exodus 35, verse five, turn if you would. to that. Exodus 35 and 5, take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as the Lord's contribution. Gold, silver and bronze. The heart has a faculty that wills. The heart has a faculty that resolves. A faculty that makes decisions. A faculty that makes commitments. that in tune with its mind, its intellect, its thinking, in tune with its affections, it makes decisions, it makes commitments, it enters into covenants, or refuses to do so. Again, Solomon is the simplest to remember in terms of an understanding heart. Hannah is the easiest one to remember in terms of an affection, of a sad heart. is for me the easy one to remember in terms of this faculty of the will. Turn, if you would, to Deborah's song, Judges 5, verse 15. Judges 5 and verse 15. She had, with Barak, destroyed the oppressors of Israel. And to bring glory to God, she writes a song. She and Barak teach the people this song. And so they are to learn this song and to sing this song so that it would remind them of the glory of God in His wondrous deeds, in hearing their prayers and in destroying their oppressors. And in verse 15 of that song, she says this, that the princes of Issachar were with Deborah. As was Issachar, so was Barak. Into the valley they rushed at his heels. Among the divisions of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. What Deborah is saying is, praise God, that when we faced our oppressor, when we faced our enemy, who outmanned us, who outgunned us or outsworded us, who were better armed than we were, that when we rushed into battle, God so worked in the hearts of our army that they had resolved to fight and they stood their ground and won the day by the blessing of God. And so the heart, you see, biblically has those three faculties. When the Bible speaks of your heart and guard your heart, it is saying guard your thoughts and how you think about things. Guard your affections, what you like, what you dislike. Guard your resolve, your willing faculty, what you decide to do, what you decide not to do. Take care of the heart. It's all three faculties. It's what the Bible is speaking of with respect to the heart. Now, come back to Romans 10. I'm going to be shorter in this session than in the previous sessions, partly because you've been quite patient. But this issue with the heart and how it's defined biblically is the crux of what I wanted, thought should be presented. Come back to Romans 10. When you're talking with your friend and they're not real sure what a Christian is and what saving faith is, and you're helping them to... move away from the false and the counterfeit Gospels that teach fluff and lightness and all of this, and you want to teach them the truth, the real Gospel, the reality of a heart love, a heart faith for the Lord Jesus Christ, and you bring them back here to Romans 10. You've taken time to show them about Solomon's prayer for an understanding heart. You've taken time to show them Hannah's concern and having a sad heart. You've taken time to show them Deborah's song about a resolve of hearts. And so you've defined the heart and now you come back to your friend and you say, here it is. And if you can bezel your mouth, Jesus Lord, believe in your heart. Friend, you understand that your belief in Jesus, we're talking about saving belief in Jesus, is a belief that requires the intellect. You understand truths about Jesus? How many of you would allow me to pull out my wallet, so far you'd allow me to do that, whip out my driver's license, my government issued photo ID, and say, there's Frank! Right. His wife would say, boy, that guy's really a jerk. That's not you, he doesn't know you at all, doesn't look like you. How many people do that with Jesus? I believe in Jesus, I have faith in Jesus. Tell me something about Jesus. Well, I can spell his name. I've talked with folks. That's about their knowledge of Jesus. Perhaps you have too. If that's it, they're not a Christian. Believe the heart. That means the intellect must be involved in this belief of Jesus Christ. Dear friend, what that means is you must understand certain truths about Christ. To be sure, you don't have to understand everything. You will not get a systematic theology exam at the gates of heaven. But there are certain things you must know about Jesus to have a saving belief in Jesus. You must know who He is, that He is the eternal Son of God. He is God. He's not a manifestation. He's not a mode of revelation. He is a person God. One God in three persons. You must understand that he came as a substitute for his people, for all who believe in him. God said, here is the requirement of title to heaven, perfect righteousness. Adam blew it. Adam was in a covenant relationship as your covenant head, and when he failed, you failed in him. Now you know about covenants, right? You all know about covenants. December 6th, I pop a Japanese. What am I? I'm a murderer. December 7th, 1941, after Congress declares war, I pop the Japanese person. By the way, I have Japanese friends, so don't take this in any way. I pop the Japanese person in uniform. Now, I'm not a citizen. I mean, not merely a citizen, but a military person. What am I now? I'm a war hero. Why? Because a man who represents me, or men rather, who represent me in Congress by virtue of covenant have declared war. I didn't declare war. They declared war. They represent me. I'm at war with Japan. And I'm not a murderer. I'm a valiant soldier doing my duty. All other things being equal in terms of the circumstances. We understand covenants. Adam sinned, and now we become sinners in Adam. We are corrupt. Even from the moment of our conception, David says, I was corrupt. I was a sinner. Jesus, like Adam, is a covenant head of His people, of His church. And God had said to Adam, the title to eternal life is this, perfect righteousness. Do my work. So how do I gain title to heaven? I gain it only by the requirement God gave in Genesis chapter 2, by perfect righteousness. I can't do that! You're right, you can't do that. How do I get perfect righteousness? A substitute had to do that for me. Who is that substitute? That's Jesus! Why didn't Scotty beam Jesus down one week and get crucified? Why do you live 33 years? Because for me to go to heaven, to have title to heaven, I needed righteousness. Perfect, law-abiding righteousness. Therefore, Jesus, in my shoes, had to walk under the law in perfect obedience to earn a righteousness that could be put on my account so that I would have title to heaven. Let's talk of justification. If you deny Adam's relationship to God by covenant back here in Genesis 2, you must deny the doctrine of justification. Because that's what it's founded on, that covenant with Adam. Believing with the heart includes the mind. And so I have to understand the righteousness I don't have and I can't have and I can't produce can only be found in this one who for me kept the law. Galatians 4, born under the law that he might redeem those who are under law. But then that's half a justification. That's only the positive part of justification. What I get in justification, I get the righteousness of Jesus on my account. So now I have title to heaven. But now there's still another half that has to be done. I am guilty. I'm liable to condemnation. I am under the wrath of God. And the law says, damn you sinner. How can the law be silenced? Jesus Christ. He goes to the cross in my place, in the place of all of his people, in the place of his bride, in the place of his church, in the place of everyone who believes in him with their heart. He goes to the cross and on that cross he becomes sin in my place. And God damns him on the cross. He feels hell on the cross. And so Paul can write to the one who has been justified in Romans 8.1. There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Belief of the heart demands an intelligent understanding of Christ. All of the ins and outs of that, no. However, let me qualify that right now, because the conversation we already had this afternoon. Just because you don't have to know everything that you can know, is no excuse not to try to know everything that's been revealed. You will never know everything there is about God. He is incomprehensible. After 10 million years in heaven, you still have more to learn about God. He is incomprehensible. But he is knowable. And whenever and wherever he has spoken and said, let me tell you about myself, you are responsible to know what he has said. You are responsible to know the content of the Bible. It is not a book written for theologians. It is a book written to the saints who are in Ephesus and who are faithful to Christ Jesus, to the saints who are in Rome. In fact, the Bible has children's books in it. Did you know that? There's children's books. There's a book for little girls. You know what that one is? Song of Solomon is written for little girls. What book is written for little boys? What book do you read over and over again? It says, My son, pay attention to the teaching of your mom and dad. My son, may the words of my mouth be as a bracelet around your neck. Don't ever forget them. My son. What book is that? Proverbs. It's written for little kids, little boys. The Bible is written for the saints of all ages, not for theologians. I mean, not just for theologians. Believe in your heart. It is with your heart that you believe unto salvation. That includes the intellect, the understanding. Who is Jesus? He is the eternal Son of God. He is the only mediator between God and man. He is the covenant head of the church, of His bride. And by the way, this church and this bride isn't just a little bit, you know. When it's all over and they separate the sheep and the goats in the playground, And Jesus is over here with all the sheep and Satan's over here with all the goats. If your conception is goats and a few sheep, you're not thinking biblically. Again, remember, the angels are incompetent to count the number of saints, an innumerable multitude of saints. And in the great day of reckoning and the great day of judgment, it will be so clear when there's a number of the sheep and the number of the goats, that all of creation will say, Jesus wins. He's the magnificent conqueror. We believe in the success of the gospel. We believe the Bible was not speaking tongue-in-cheek when it says, Jesus, the savior of the world. The multitude of the saved will be so great, so vast that that language is not a lie. One must understand that his justification is all to be found in Jesus, in Jesus' righteousness. And in Jesus' death on the cross, His righteousness that He earned in my place is put on my account. My sins, my filthy garments, as Zacharias says, are taken off of me and they're put on Jesus. And Jesus, as the sinner, feels the full wrath of the Father against Him for my sins. So that the law is satisfied. Certainly, justification is, as Luther said, the linchpin, the hinge upon which it all turns. And there are other things that one must know and understand. But just as much on this issue with the intellect, the heart, it is with the heart that man believes. It includes the intellectual faculty, the mind. You must have real objective facts. You must have real objective teaching about who Jesus is, what He has done, what our condition is that requires what Jesus does, and how it's applied by faith, through faith alone. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. You tell your friend further who's a little confused about what faith in Jesus is, you tell him, look, it's with the heart. It includes the mind. You have to understand certain truths about Jesus Christ and who He is and what He has done on behalf of all who believe in Him. But also you have your affections. Your affections embrace Christ. You must love Jesus. You must love all of the truth about Him. Turn to James. You have an example here. of those who have faith, but it's not a saving faith, it's a damning faith. Whoever knows the address, let me know. It is the Demons Believe. 219, thank you, James 219, you believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also believe and shudder. All right, the demons in their intellect have a proper doctrine of God. In fact, it's a marvelous study to go through the gospel of Mark, because Mark deals most with the demons for whatever reason. That's the emphasis the Holy Spirit had for Mark. But it's interesting to go through the Gospel of Mark and look at the theology of the demons. They know quite a bit true about Jesus. I know who you are. And I know my eschatology too, Jesus. You're here too early to do your thing to us. It's not time. They have a certain understanding of the truth. They know certain doctrines. And yet what's missing? Why is it there's a saving knowledge and a saving faith? They believe God is one. They understand the doctrine of the Trinity. They shudder. You see what's missing? They don't believe with the heart. They've got part of the head there. They know this is our truth. And they can't deny the truth, though they ain't but the affections. There's the issue. They hate that truth. Saving belief, belief of the heart loves that truth. I love you, Jesus, for who you are. I understand who you say you are. And I love that fact. And I love who you are. And I love what you love. And I hate what you hate. Yes, Christians are to hate. And it is true hate speech to deny that you can hate. You are to hate. Psalm 1, the book of the Psalms opens up with it. You say no to the way and the thinking of the world. You say yes to God's law. You say no to anything that God says no to. You say yes to anything God says yes to. And so a saving faith is a faith that has affection, that loves the truth and loves God's law and loves God's righteousness and loves everything there is about God, that He reveals His Word in all of His ways and hates everything God says He hates. You have no real affection for these truths of the gospel, then you're not a Christian. You're in the same boat with the demons. Third aspect, you can tell your friend. And friend, saving faith, the whole heart believes. That means the mind. You've got to know certain things about who Jesus is and what He's done and who you are, why you need Jesus. You've got to know. You have to have affections. You have to have godly, righteous affections. And you have to, in your will, resolve. You have to commit yourself. The old Puritans used the language, you have to cut a covenant. Of course, that's the Hebrew language, literally cutting a covenant, because whenever they made a covenant, they cut. You know, covenants were always ratified with blood. So you've cut the goat in half and laid inside. You have to commit your life to Christ. Saving faith includes this self-conscious awareness. Jesus, you are Lord and Savior. And I acknowledge, I am your subject. I am yours. Save me. That's what the psalm says. That's what Martin Luther also said, the night of his trial. I am yours. Save me. Friend, that's what saving faith is. It's the heart. of all the three faculties of the heart. It is the whole man embracing the whole Jesus. Jesus demands that true religion is a religion of the heart. It is spiritual. Being a religion of the heart because all the issues of life come out of the heart. True religion also is concerned with the hands and feet. You see, you do not want to make, and we'll come back to this tomorrow, you do not want to make the mistake of legalists. Religion is just what I do with my hands and feet and make a good image before people that watch regardless of what's hollow inside. You don't want to do the error of the pietists. It's me and Jesus and butterflies in my stomach and good feelings, but has nothing to do with how I live on Monday. Biblical Christian, the religion is of the heart, but because out of the heart flow all the issues of life, his religion is also involves the hands and the feet. God demands all of you. Not just a portion. If you profess Jesus Christ as your Lord, then on Monday, you better follow his commands. And on Tuesday, you better follow his commands. And on Wednesday, you know... Jesus says it is these pure in heart. Notice the blessing. Blessed of pure in heart. Unlike these Pharisees whose heart is full of cobras and vipers, yet on the outside they look like good, righteous men. Pure in heart. And the pure in heart, the blessing of the pure in heart is they shall see God. Jesus says that you are blessed if your thinking, if your thoughts, are pure, are in agreement with the revelation of God and His written Word. Jesus says you are blessed if your affections and your emotions are pure. You love what God loves and you hate what God hates. Jesus says you are blessed and you will see God if your decisions, your will, Resolving faculty, if your decisions are pure, if you determine and decide and with resolve do what you know is in accordance with God's law. Teach them to obey all that I have commanded you. What is the reward? What is the blessing? It is the sight of God. is what the philosophers used to debate and call the summum bonum, the sum of all good, the greatest good. What is man's greatest good? Man's greatest good is the sight of God. Those whose heart is not pure, they will not see God, but they will experience His righteous wrath. Is your heart pure? Is your religion the true religion? A religion of the heart, out of which flow all the issues of life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, O Lord, that you are the great heart surgeon That it is you alone who can take out our hearts of stone and implant a heart of flesh. Lord, our God, we pray that we may indeed, in the light of your word, examine our own hearts. Are we truly yours? Have we given to you our hearts? And we pray, O God, with the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, that increasingly and more fully, more consistently our hearts would be wholly yours. To the praise and the glory of Jesus Christ we pray. And, O God, help us to be able to speak to our friends who are deceived, who hear but trivialities, who hear but soundbites, May we speak to them the true and the genuine gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone can save. In Christ's name we do pray. Amen.