A Pure Heart in a Polluted World

All right, we're in week two of our series and what we're doing in our series, looking at the household, looking at family, we're looking at that through the lens of the beatitudes. And that word beatitude simply comes from the Latin word which means blessedness. And in Matthew chapter five, Jesus shows us eight different characteristics of those who are blessed. Last week, we looked at blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Today, I wanna apply one of the beatitudes to our family as we ask God to bless our household, because come on, who in this room wants to have a blessed house? I'm guessing many of you wanna have a cursed house then based upon that response. Come on, who wants to have a blessed household? You gotta participate with me in this message today. There we go. All right, so to ease into this message, let me ask you a bit of an odd question today. At all of our church and online, I'm curious, has anyone ever been robbed before? Let me see your hands if you've ever been robbed before. It's actually more hands than I was expecting. So growing up in New York, my family moved to Binghamton, New York. They relocated from Poughkeepsie to Binghamton, New York. And when we first moved into that house,

not even a couple of weeks, we had not barely moved all of our stuff and we were robbed one day. We were out running some errands and in our basement area was our entertainment system, TV and TV stand and some speakers and some things like that. And we came home from running some errands and they were all taken, all gone. The house had been broken into. And how many of you know, if you've ever been a part of that, been robbed, that's a eerie feeling and it kind of puts you on edge a little bit. And so for the next couple seasons, even now to my life in my house, if I ever even hear a creak in the middle of the night coming from the house, I get up and I'm like, oh, who's coming after us? I gotta protect my family, right? Men, you feel that in your hearts. What's so interesting in our culture today is you're applauded for protecting your kids physically. I mean, you put headgear on them, you put elbow pads on them before they go out to check the mail for you to keep them safe. But yet in our culture, when you try to protect their hearts and their morals, you're often called an overprotective parents. We're applauded for protecting them physically,

but people make fun of them when you try to protect them morally. And what we're gonna find actually in our text today is God calls us not only to protect the physical nature of our children or those under our care, but to also protect the purity of their hearts. Just as my family was robbed physically, I do believe that we have a real spiritual enemy who wants to rob our families of their purity. He does have one mission for your life, and that is to steal, kill, and destroy. And so Jesus gives us a very specific beatitude today in Matthew 5, eight. At all of our church, we're gonna say it out loud. He says, blessed are those who are pure in heart. For what? For they will see God. Come on, let's all say that verse together. Ready? One, two, three. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the pure in heart. Now that word heart in the Greek is the word cardio. It's where we get our word cardiac from that word. And Jesus was using this as a metaphor. He wasn't saying blessed are those who have a pure organ that pumps blood through the veins. He was using it as a metaphor to describe the emotions and the feelings of the inner self.

Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God. Now in our world today, it's very common for us to use the phrase of ourselves or our others to just say, oh, you know what? You're such a good person. He's such a good person. She's such a good person. They have such a good, they have such a good, they have such a good heart. She's got such a good heart. He's got such a good heart. Maybe you're a young single girl dating a guy and you say, oh, I know he's not a Christian, but he's got such a good heart. No, he doesn't. He's unemployed and he lives in a van down the river and he smokes weed for lunch, but he's got a good heart. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding, I'm kidding, all right? The reality is, although that's a common saying, it's not true for any of us, including the one who's preaching today. And let me show you in scripture. Here's the thought if you're taking notes. We need to understand that without Christ, there's no such thing as a pure hearts. Without Christ literally doing spiritual heart surgery on us, there's no such thing as a pure hearts or a good heart. In fact, Jeremiah 17, nine through 10 says these words,

the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure, it's deceitful. It lies to us and deceives us. Who can understand it? God says, I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind. The heart is deceitful above all things. In fact, Ephesians four, 18 through 19, the apostle Paul says something really profound to the believers in Ephesus. He's speaking to the church at Ephesus. And he said to those who were Gentiles, who had drifted from their faith, who were non-believers, he says, they've darkened in their understanding and they've separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. Due to what? Due to the hardening of their... of their hearts. They're darkened in their understanding. They're separated from the life that God wants them to have because of their ignorance. They don't even realize it because their hearts have grown hard in the things that mattered most. They're darkened in their understanding. They're darkened in their understanding. Here, I'll illustrate to you this way by asking this question. Have you ever walked into a movie theater before

and it's really dark? And so when you first walk into that movie theater, you're like hit by the darkness and you're like, I can't even see, it's so dark. Who knows what I'm talking about? It's like, you better not spill that popcorn and candy that you smuggled into that theater, right? Be careful, right? Well, what happens is after you're there for a few minutes in the midst of the darkness, suddenly you can see much better, why? Because your eyes adjusted to the darkness. Could it be that just maybe, just maybe in many of our house today, that our families that we love are separated from the life of God and the fruit of following Jesus and the blessing of God on their life because they've been darkened in their understanding, because their ignorance in their hearts have become hardened and we don't even recognize that we're missing the goodness of God because we've allowed so much impurity into our families and yet we might not even know it. He goes on, he says these words in verse 19, Ephesians chapter four, verse 19. He says, having lost all sensitivity, they've given themselves over to sensuality as to indulge in every kind of impurity. There are a few verses

that might better describe our culture today. Having lost all sensitivity. Our culture today is giving itself away to all sorts of sensuality and indulging in every kind of impurity. Now in our lives and in our families and in our children and even in our church and the next generation, we love them and we wanna protect them and we wanna care for them and so we'd never do anything again that would physically harm them, right? Parents that have babies, you would never give your baby a bottle that has poison in it, right, would you? No, you would never do that. Parents that have kids that can swim, you would never tell them on summer break, hey, go jump in that pool full of acid, right? You would never do that, right? Because you would harm them physically. Yet if we're not careful, we sometimes don't look out for our kids spiritually and look out for the best benefit of them morally and so we just say things like, you know what, kids? You can date whenever you want and whoever you want. No rules, no regulation, no regard in that area. You know, we'll give our kids that are 14-year-olds their cell phones for the first time and they just get unlimited access to any media, any app and there's no parental supervision

and then we take our hard-earned money and we pay to be entertained by music, by apps, by subscriptions, by media that breaks the heart of God and we just say, it's just normal. It's just normal, it's just what we do. Could it be that just maybe, just maybe, I know I'm stepping on your toes this morning but could it be that just maybe, just maybe one of the reasons our households are not blessed is because our hearts have grown hardened and we've been darkened in our understanding without even knowing it. The Bible says have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. So what's gonna be different in our lives? What's gonna be different in our church? If you missed it last week, you missed the key thought for our series so I'll say it to you again. We're saying in this series that we're not just a Christian family by name. We're saying we're a Christ-centered home. Come on, say that phrase with me. Ready, one, two, three. We're a Christ-centered home. Come on, say it like you actually believe it. Ask for me in my house, we're gonna serve the Lord. We're a Christ-centered home. And if we want the blessing of God and the hand of God on his family,

then we're gonna have to learn how to put ourselves under what the word of God says because blessing always follows order. Psalm 119, nine through 10, the writer asks, how can a young person stay on the path of purity? How can the young person keep their way pure? Here's what the psalmist says, by living according to your word. I live according to the word of God. I will seek you with all of your heart. Do not let me stray away from your commands. I translated this verse now for a family context. Here's how you could say it over your family. How can our family stay on the path to purity? Here's the answer, not by following your heart. Stop doing you, boo. It ain't working. Stop following your heart. Your heart is deceitful above all things. How can our family stay on the path to purity? By living according to your word. We'll seek you with all of our hearts. God, do not let us stray from your commands. Now, I know some of you in this room today are already thinking, well, I don't have a family. I don't have kids. That means I can just come to church whenever I want and I can live however I want and I can sleep with whoever I want right now and I can drink what I want right now

and I can smoke what I want right now and I can watch what I want right now and I can say what I want right now and I can hang out with who I want right now because I have a family. I'll get it right later when it actually matters. I mean, later, I want my family to serve the Lord. Later, I want us to come to church every week. Later, I want to live for God. I'll get it right later. Listen to me today. What you do today matters. You don't build a life of righteousness on a foundation of sin. Oh, that's good preaching. You were not ready for that one today. You don't build a life of righteousness on a foundation of sin. If you want to harvest the righteousness in your family, if you want to plant seeds for future generations to know and follow Jesus in your family, you've got to plant seeds of righteousness today. What you sow, you're going to reap one day. How can a young person stay pure? By living according to your word. Psalm 119.11, thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Come on, I'm thankful that the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God stands forever. What is his word?

His word is a lamp onto my feet and a light onto my path. I love what David says in the Psalms. He says, create in me a clean heart, oh God. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. And then I love what he says, restore to me the joy of my salvation. Oh God, restore to me the joy of when I loved coming to church every single Sunday when I first got saved. God, restore to me that joy when I hungered for your word. And God, I was obedient to what your word actually said. God, restore to me the joy of when I sinned, when I knew that it broke your heart and I felt conviction. Restore to me that passion that I once had for the things of God and renew a right spirit in me. And so we just gotta acknowledge it today that maybe, just maybe, perhaps in our homes, our eyes have grown accustomed to darkness, our hearts have become hardened, and we don't even see the ways that we've let impurity become a part of our lives. How do we practically create a culture of purity in our households? Great question today. I'm gonna give you three thoughts today if you're taking notes, and I sure hope you are. Three thoughts, I'm gonna be real granular,

real practical, real focused. Let's go through it with the rest of the time that we have together. Three thoughts. The first is this, number one, before we try to change anyone else, let's start with ourselves. Number one, get your own heart right. Get your own heart right. Let's start right there. Proverbs 4, 23, Solomon says these words. Here's my best advice, he says. The wisest man who's ever lived. He says, here's my best advice. What did he say? He said, guard your hearts for everything you do flows from it. Guard your hearts for out of it flows the waters of life. I love 2 Corinthians 7, verse one. Therefore, since we have these promises, what are the promises? Promises that come from scripture. All of the promises of God are yes and amen for those who love him. Promises that God wants to anoint you. Promises of Psalm 23. Surely goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life, that God has good plans for you. Come on, does anyone believe that today?

Since we have all of these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves. There's that word again. Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. We gotta search ourselves and we gotta see, is there any area of our life that we're allowing that's inconsistent with the word of God? I tell you many stories as I get the great opportunity to get to preach to you most Sunday and most of the stories I tell you are things when I do things well. Let me tell you a story why I did not do something well, okay? So many of you know, I served many years as the youth pastor here at Calvary Church. And one day I received a text message from about five students and they said, pastor Dan, we wanna go see this new superhero movie on Friday night, would you like to come? And I said, yes, let's go, I'd love to go see it. Now I figured most superhero movies were rated PG-13. I did not look at the rating. This happened to be an R-rated movie. Come on, the youth pastor took students to an R-rated movie. And I get into the movie and it was not five minutes in and I was already uncomfortable with some of the things that were being displayed

on that screen. And the whole time I'm just thinking, I cannot believe I did not check the rating. I cannot believe that I'm here with five students that call me their pastor and we're watching this movie. And about halfway through, I was like, guys, I am so sorry, I've gotta leave this movie. I am just too uncomfortable with the things that are being seen. They walked out of the movie with me and they said, we, the whole time we're thinking, we can't believe that we invited our pastor to an R-rated movie, we feel so bad. Now here's the thing, I'm gonna pick on entertainment and pick on media for a moment because this is all of us, right? A lot of us will just justify the things that we watch today and say, it's only something I'm watching, it's not affecting me. It's only a horror movie, it's really not affecting me. Oh, you know, it was just funny what they were saying. I would never say those things to someone. It's not really gonna affect me. It's not gonna come out of my speech or my language. Listen to me, let me ask you a question today. If I told you a sexist joke or a racist joke from this platform while I was preaching, even if it was really, really funny, does that make it ever okay to say? No, funny doesn't make wrong things right.

Funny makes wrong, wrong. So God, we have to say, help me get my hearts rights. Help me get my heart. I love what David prays in the Psalms. He says, God, search me, oh God. Search my heart, oh God. God, test me and know my anxious thoughts. Why my anxious thoughts? What we fear the most reveals where we trust God the least. God, see if there's any offensive way within me and then lead me in the way everlasting. If there's conversations that I'm having that are impure, oh God, would you convict me? If there's things that I'm thinking that are impure, oh God, would you convict me? If I'm allowing things in my household that are impure, oh God, would you convict me? If I've got relationships or friendships that are taking me down more than bringing me up and building me in the things of God, God, would you show me? That's really, really important. That's why we're hitting on joining small groups for the spring semester, because show me your friends and I'll show you your future. You need some people in your life that will actually love you and hold you accountable to what the word of God says. You need some people in your life that are praying for you daily.

Who's looking after your soul and praying for you daily? Who's in your life that is godly community in your life that will actually lovingly tell you when you're doing things inconsistent with the word of God? Because you're the sum of the three friends you spend the most amount of time with. Choose wisely. And so we gotta say, God, help me get my heart right first. The second thing, if you're taking notes as this, and this is so important for parents, is that you've got to parent to the hearts. You've gotta parent to the heart. When you're working with kids, you've gotta parent to the heart. Most of us, we wanna parent to the actions because we want behavior modification, but as parents, we must parent to the heart because you've gotta guard your heart because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I love in the Old Testament when Samuel's anointing David as king. In 1 Samuel 16, seven, he says these words, people look at the outward appearance, but what does the Lord look at? The Lord looks at the hearts. God looks at the heart. In fact, Jesus was a fanatic about the heart in scripture. In the Old Testament, scripture taught don't murder. Then what did Jesus do? He talks to the heart, and in the New Testament,

he said, you've heard it said, don't commit murder. If you even hate someone in your heart, it's as if you've already committed murder in your hearts. In the Old Testament, he says, don't commit adultery. Jesus, teaching to the heart, he says in the New Testament, if you've even looked lustfully at a woman, you've already committed adultery in your hearts. Then he hammered on the Pharisees who had all of the right outside behavior. He says on the outside, they look good. The problem is on the outside, their cup is clean, it looks good, but on the inside, where their heart is, it's filthy and dirty. He actually calls them whitewashed tombs. So when we're working with our kids, we don't wanna just settle for outward submission, where there's still inward rebellion. We wanna parent to the heart. We wanna work towards purity of the heart. I said it, I'll say it again, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. First thing is we gotta get our own heart right, number one. Second thing is this, we gotta parent to the heart. Now, if I haven't offended you yet or made you uncomfortable in this message, get ready, okay? This third point is for you. Number three, number three, which is most important in our homes, if we want Christ-centered homes, we're gonna pursue perfect purity of the heart.

We're gonna pursue perfect purity of the heart. We're gonna pursue perfect purity of the heart. The reason why I chose the word pursue is because we can't achieve it on our own, but with the help of the power of the God, come on, His Holy Spirit, we're gonna pursue perfect purity of the hearts. Why perfect purity? Isn't that raising the standard? Isn't that raising the bar a little high? Yes, because anything less than perfect purity, according to the Bible, is not purity. Look at Ephesians five, verse three. Paul says these words, amongst you, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. Amongst you, there must not even be a what? There must not even be a hint. Not even a little bit, not even a tiny bit. Now pause for a moment, pop quiz. Let me ask you some questions and I need all of your participation because it's fun when everyone participates, okay? The answer is yes or no, okay? Would committing adultery with four people, would that be a hint of sexual immorality, yes or no? Yes, the answer is yes. Would sleeping with 75% of the people that you date before you're married, would that be a hint of sexual immorality, yes or no?

Yes. Would looking lustfully at images on a screen, breaking your spouse's heart, would that be considered a hint of sexual immorality, yes or no? Yes, man, if some hot girl walks in the gym by you and is working out next to you in the tight outfit and you're staring at her and you're thinking lustful thoughts in your head, would that be considered a hint of sexual immorality, yes or no? Yes, according to Jesus, that would be. And he says, let there not even be a hint of sexual immorality. Let there not be any kind of impurity, or of greed or whatever, because these are improper for God's holy people. I think the question so lovingly I wanna ask you today is this, how much impurity do you wanna let? into your life. How much impurity do you want to let into your life? I like the story of the kid who asked his mom if he could go see a movie that had a bad rating. And the mom said, nope, absolutely, you're not watching that movie. I checked the rating. I know what that movie's all about. You're not watching it. The kid said, why not, mom? There's not a lot of bad stuff in it. It's going to be okay. I'm going with my friends. It's just a little bit of stuff in it. There's not that much bad stuff in it. And the mom said, fine, you can go to the movie, but first let me make you some brownies. The kid was excited. He was so pumped. The mom goes out into the yard and grabs a little spoonful of dog poop, mix it into the brownies and make some brownies for her son. And she says, here you go, son. Before you go to the movie, you must eat these brownies. But you just need to know there's just a little bit of poop inside of those brownies. He says, I'm not eating that. That

is absolutely gross. That's disgusting. She says, no, no, no. There's just a little bit of poop in those brownies. It's not all that bad of stuff. Listen, listen, that's what the Bible is saying when it's saying, let there not even be a hint of sexual immorality in your life. Let there not even be a hint. Man, I'm challenging you as a church to grow this year. I'm challenging you as a church to go all in this year. What's your standard going to be? Because the Bible says, blessed are those who are pure in heart. For what? For they will see God. I don't know about you, but I want to see God move in this church. I don't know about you, but I want to see God in your life and your family. Come on, who wants to see God moving in their life? And imagine with me today, if God answered every single prayer that you were praying. And imagine if you saw God using your life to make a difference through your giving and your serving. And imagine if even through the trials and the tribulations, as Romans 8, 28 says, you saw God working all things together for good for those who love the Lord. Imagine if you saw God working in your life. Why? Because you had a heart that was pure. I believe this. Purity is the pipeline to the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life. Somebody, you've been praying and seeking and asking the Holy Spirit to fill your life. You're going to come May 27, expect him for the Holy Spirit to fill your heart as we get down the altars. Could it be just maybe, just maybe? There's some things that are in the way that are impure to God that are blocking his presence from being unveiled and unfolded through your life. Now before some of you go, Pastor Dan, that's a great sermon for you, Pastor Dan. Raised in that sheltered Christian household. Never got a cell phone until you went off to college. Married to only one person. Pastor, you don't know my story though. I've screwed up big time. My heart is obviously messed up. I've done things that are so wrong and so far off. Well, here's the good news. If you remember a couple of weeks ago when we did our relationship series, we're talking from this day forward. If you've said yes to Jesus, confessed your sin, it's wiped under the blood of Jesus Christ, divided as far as the East is from the West. He remembers it no more. Let's not look to the past anymore. Anytime the past comes up, that's from Satan. He's the chief accuser of the brother. Let's not live in the past. Let's just say from this day forward, from this day forward, we're going to choose purity. We're going to choose purity. And listen, I relate to you more than you know, because

my heart is deceitful above all things as well. That's why I must lean on the Word of God daily. Where Ezekiel 36, 26, God says these words, I'll give you a new heart. Calvary Church, he wants to give you a new heart today. He'll place a new spirit inside of you. I'll remove from you your heart of stone. Some of you in this season, your heart has grown hearted. Listen, if you're offended today, could it be that your heart has grown hard? Could it be that your heart has grown cold to the things of God and His Word? Scripture says I'll give you a new heart. I'll remove from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Because there's a standard of righteousness that we cannot achieve on our own. On our best day, our righteousness, it's like filthy rags in the presence of God. But I know this church wants to pursue righteousness, not only right standing with God, but right living here on earth. And so the way to do that is say, God, let your presence and your power change my heart. Take out that rocky, stony heart and give me a new heart. God, over my family, take out any actions, any impurities, any lifestyles that are not consistent with your Word and give us as a family spiritually a new heart, sensitive to your voice, but also sensitive to what you're calling us to do. And suddenly what we'll see over our household is when we do that is the standard arises and the power of God, as imperfectly executed as it will be, the power of God is manifest through us as a whole because blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. God, help us be pure in heart so that we can see you like we've never seen you before. Father God, I just thank you today for the power of your Holy Spirit, just doing some heart surgery on us this morning. Some of you right now, we just talked about purity and pursuing God, and you recognize there's areas in your life where you've lowered the standard. Maybe you've allowed some things into your heart, into your mind, into your home or your relationship that's not drawing you closer to Jesus. What I love about our God is that when He convicts us, it's not to shame us. It's His kindness that leads us to Him. Some of you today, you want to pursue Him at a deeper level. You want a heart that honors God. Not perfect in your own strength, but a genuine intimacy with the Lord. If that's you today, maybe just open up your hands before the Lord, just as a sign that

your heart is available to Him, and just say these words today, God, help me to pursue you with a pure heart. God, help me to pursue you with all that you are. God, that you'd remove bitterness or compromise or lust or pride or unforgiveness. God, anything that's keeping us deeper in intimacy with you, God, we want hearts of flesh, not hearts of stone today. Like David said, let us be people after your heart changes from the inside out. As we're continuing praying today, every head's still bowed, every eye's still closed. Some of you that realized today that your greatest need is not behavior modification, it's salvation. Maybe you think, I need to clean myself up first. I need to fix my life before I come to God. But the truth is this, you cannot clean your own heart up. Bible says your hearts are broken by sin. That's why Jesus came. And Jesus, who was without sin, came to earth, died on a cross, never sinned, and rose again. So now let anyone who calls in the name of the Lord may be made new, brought in relationship with God. Grace through faith. It's not works or religion, but it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ. And at all of our church today, in person, online, behind bars, in a prison cell, I feel like there's those of you today that need to make that decision. You need His grace. You need His forgiveness. You need His love. You need a fresh start. Today, if you're saying, Jesus, I want to give you my life, I'm going to count to three, I want you to lift your hand. Ready? One, two, three.

Come on, just lift it loud, lift it boldly. Come on, before the Lord right now in this place. Unashamed, because He's unashamed of you. Fantastic. Come on, let's lift those 12 hands in this place today. Come on, the Lord is saving and working right now in this moment today. Come on, let's all of our church pray aloud. Come on, no one prays alone. Repeat after me. Say, Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sins. Jesus, save me and make me new. God, give me a heart that follows You. Fill me with Your Spirit so I can live for You. Then say these words. Say, thank You for loving me. Thank You for saving me. I give You my life, in Jesus' name we pray.