Ron Dunn Podcast - Birthmark Of Purity

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

Ron Dunn speaks on purity

In Matthew chapter 5, verse 8, and then Matthew chapter 6, verses 1 through 6, and verses 16 through 18. Matthew chapter 5, the 8th verse, and then in Matthew chapter 6. six. Jesus continues speaking to those who follow him, describing what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And he says in the eighth verse, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And then in chapter 6, Jesus describes the pure in heart. What does it mean to be pure in heart? Verses 1 through 6, and then verses 16, 17, and 18 of chapter 6. Take heed that you do not your alms before men

to be seen of them. Otherwise, ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms,

let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly when thou prayest thou shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the street that they may be seen of men verily i say unto you they have their reward but thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly now verses 16 17 and 18 moreover when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces

that they may appear unto men to fast verily i say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret. Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. One of the most astounding statements in all the Word of God is Matthew 5, 8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. I don't know which one of those twin statements in verse 8 are the most impossible to believe. The pure in heart or the fact that we shall see God. The eye sees what it is trained to see.

You and I may stand looking at the same object. You may see more in that object than I do simply because you have been trained to see more in that object. How many of us have stood in a doctor's office as he has taken an x-ray of us, placed it before the light, and you've looked at it, and all you've seen is black and white? But the doctor who has been trained to see more looks at it and can give you a lecture on what he sees. He can detect abnormality, the trace of disease,

because his eye has been trained to see it. I've visited museums, and I've never been trained to look at a masterpiece. I may stand there and see a little bit in that masterpiece, but here is someone who sees much more. They see the texture, the strokes of the brush, the composition, the feeling, the life. They see so much more in it than I see. They get so much more out of it than I get.

The eye sees what it has been trained to see. Now, that's not only true physically, but it's also true spiritually. Isn't it amazing that two people can come to the same service? God can move and they both can leave. One can leave saying, I saw the Lord in that service. And the other can say, I thought it would never end. One sits there and says, Amen. The other sits there and says, So what?

The eye sees what it has been trained to see. And you know the ultimate goal and the ultimate destination of the Christian life is this. They shall see God. They shall see God. And every believer and every follower of Jesus Christ is being prepared for an audience with the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And the destination of my journey as a Christian is this, that someday I shall see the Lord.

God is going to give a vision of himself to those who follow him, but he limits that vision of himself to only certain people. We can see the Lord in this life. Even today, you and I, with faith, vision keen, can see the Lord. Some of us will not see him. Jesus said, if you start to follow me, I can tell you where the destination will be. They shall see God. And in preparation for this, he says, blessed are the pure in heart,

for they and only they shall see the Lord. That is the implication, the indication of the construction of that verse. Jesus said, happy, blessed, to be congratulated are the pure in heart, for these and only these shall see the Lord. Jesus says now to be a follower of mine, if you're going to be my disciple, this is it, to be pure in heart. I wish he would have said to be pure in body because that's so much easier and most of us have an idea that as long as we are pure in body that that's sufficient and that satisfies the demands of a holy God but yet Jesus Christ says blessed are the pure in heart notice

the area of that purity the heart the heart the body. Now Jesus was constantly cutting across the accepted teachings and traditions of his day. The Pharisees, who were always opposed to Jesus, were not irreligious. They were very religious. Their behavior was impeccable. They kept the law perfectly as no other man in that day could keep it. The Pharisees were pure in body, or they were meticulous in their keeping of the law. They had all of the rabbinic codes and laws memorized. They were so careful never, never to infringe upon the law of God. They were model citizens, outstanding citizens. You would have been privileged to have them give a character testimony if you were ever on trial.

Because everyone knew that the Pharisees lived impeccable, immaculate lives. Holy men. Yet one day Jesus pointed at these Pharisees and he said, The harlots will get into heaven before you do. The harlots will get into heaven before you do. What was Jesus saying? Jesus was saying, what I am concerned about is not purity of body. I'm concerned with purity of heart. You know, you can be pure in body without being pure in heart, but you cannot be pure in heart without being pure in body. And so God always

goes to the very center, the very source, and he knows that if a man is pure in heart, then he is going to consequentially be pure in body. Blessed are the pure in heart. Well, what does the word pure mean? Immediately we think of being clean, of cleansed, of being holy. The word pure means to be unmixed, unadulterated. It was used of corn that had been winnowed. All the chaff had been taken out.

It was used of an army in which the cowards, the weaklings, had been taken out. It was a pure army. No mixture there of cowards and weaklings in it. It was used of wine that had no other mixture in it. It was used of wine that had no other mixture in it. It was pure wine. It was used of milk that was pure milk and had no other liquid added. The word pure simply means what you see is what you get. Have you ever gone into a restaurant and you've ordered french fries

and they ask for ketchup and they bring you the ketchup? You take the top off and you pour it and it all pours out. They've added water to that to make it go farther. It's not pure ketchup. Something has been added, something has been mixed. To be pure means that there is no hidden commodity there is no secret ingredient to be pure means that you are what you appear to be you are what you say you are and it means to have no hidden motive no mixed motive jesus says blessed are the pure in heart the heart is always the center of a man's life as far as the bible is concerned the heart is the seat of his affection the heart is the steering wheel of a man's life and as a man thinketh jesus says in his heart so is he the bible considers that a man thinks in his heart. For instance, the book of Hebrews speaks of an unbelieving heart. We would have said an unbelieving head. But as far as God is concerned, it's not an unbelieving head, it's an unbel his heart. And if you control a man's heart, you control his life.

If his heart is pure, unmixed, honest, sincere, then his whole life will be that way. But it doesn't make any difference how pure and holy is his body if his heart, if at the center, if at the core of his being, there is not purity, then God rejects him and says,

this man shall not be able to see the Lord. Only those who are pure in heart will be able to see the lord are you pure in heart this morning i don't know about you but this is one of the most searching and scathing statements that jesus ever made i really can't understand these people who when you talk to them about being born again and trusting jesus as their savior and repenting of their sins, they say, oh, I don't need that. My religion is the Sermon on the Mount. Well, friend, let me say this morning that if your religion is the Sermon on the Mount, you are condemned by your own religion.

Is there any one of us this morning that would stand up and say, oh, all my life, everything I have done, I have been pure in heart. I have never said one thing when I meant something else. I have never done anything without a whole heart. I have never done an act of kindness that was not really an expression of what was in my heart. I never said one word of flattery to somebody, but really I was just flattering them to cover up what I really thought about them. Everything I've done, every deed, every word spoken, even the very thoughts of my heart have been cured. I don't know of any other statement in the Word of God that convinces me that I am lost

and that I need to be born again and that I need the blood of Jesus applied to my life. Blessed are the pure in heart. Are you pure in heart this morning? What does it take to be pure in heart? I want us now to turn over to Matthew chapter 6. And in this passage, Jesus Christ illustrates and describes to us what it means to be pure in heart. And there are two qualifications if a man is going to follow Jesus in this respect. And I remind you that Jesus Christ is always the perfect illustration of the Beatitudes. Jesus is the Beatitudes in human form.

If I want to know what the Beatitudes really is like, I look at Jesus. And when Jesus is giving us the Beatitudes, he's merely performing an autopsy on his own life. He's saying, this is what I'm like. Jesus was pure in heart. He's the only man who ever had the courage to live inside out. And if you could have looked into his heart, Jesus was the same on the inside as he was on the outside. He was able to live inside out. He was pure in heart. Are you pure in heart? What does it take? What are the characteristics? What are the qualifications? All right, let's begin reading in verse 1. Now, verse 1 of chapter 6 is an introduction.

Jesus says, take heed that you do not your alms, and the word alms there really is the Greek word your righteous acts, your righteous acts. Now Jesus is talking about the practical expressions of a man's religion. He's talking about what you do, the acts of righteousness that you perform in the name of the Lord. Take heed. The Christian life is very fragile. Handle with care, Jesus says.

Watch out because it's possible for you to do a good work in an evil way. Watch out. Be careful now how you do your acts of righteousness. Be careful how you perform your religious duties. Don't do them to be seen of men, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Now, verse 1, Jesus makes the statement. Then following, verses 2 through 6 and verses 16 through 18,

Jesus gives three illustrations of this. And in those verses, he takes the three primary acts religious acts of a christian now when he says in the second verse therefore when thou doest thine arms the word translated arms in verse two is not the same word translated arms in verse one verse one it's the word righteousness righteous acts but in verse two it is a word that means acts of benevolence benevolent acts acts of mercy i see you in need and i am benevolent towards you and i reach out in an act of mercy and give to meet your needs not the same word so jesus first of all says there are three righteous acts primary righteous acts that a christian does one is acts of all, says there are three righteous acts, primary righteous acts that a Christian does.

One is acts of mercy, helping others that are in need. Number two is prayer. And number three is fasting. By the way, most of us would not have included number three in the primary acts of a Christian, would we? This has nothing to do with what we're talking about. But notice Jesus doesn't say that if you fast. He says when you fast. How about that? Now, these are the three primary functions, according to Jesus, of a Christian. Acts of mercy, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Now he says it's very

easy for a person to do these three things with the wrong motive to be seen of men therefore be careful you must be pure in heart when you exercise these three righteous acts so he goes on therefore when thou doest thine arms do not sound the trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Point number one, first qualification for being pure in heart is,

I must be conscious of the presence of God. Conscious of the presence of God. Now notice verse 4. And thy Father which seeth in secret. Verse 6. And thy Father which seeth in secret. Verse 18. But unto thy Father which is in secret.

And thy Father which seeth in secret what's jesus saying jesus is saying first of all in order to keep from being impure in your religious life in your christian performance you must be conscious of the presence of god thou god seest me all things are open and naked to the eye of him with whom we have to do, the writer of Hebrews says. And the touchstone of the Christian life is that I realize that I am always in the presence of God. Thou, Lord, seest me, conscious of the presence of God. And really, the thing that makes the difference between a spiritual Christian and a carnal Christian is this. That carnal Christian,

that Pharisee, who does things in order to be seen of men, is more conscious of the presence of man than he is of the presence of God. I think the prayer on every Christian's heart this morning ought to be, Lord, make me more conscious of thy presence, even though it is an invisible presence, make me more conscious of thy presence than of the presence of anybody else. Most of us play to the galleries. Most of us live unto men. and we evaluate everything we do by what men think of it. Jesus says, remember this, three times over in that chapter, Thy Father which seeth in secret, conscious of the presence of God. Now, the Bible does say that one of these days, you and I, when Jesus comes back or when we die,

we are going to be right there in the very presence of God but you make a mistake if you relegate the presence of God only to a future day and a future event I am right now at this moment in the presence of God let me read a verse in first Thessalonians chapter 3 Paul is talking to these Thessalonians Christians now about their service notice what he says. He says, I remember without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice this last expression in that verse, in the sight of God and our Father. Where were they doing their work of faith?

Where were they doing their work of faith? Where were they doing their labor of love? Where were they exercising their patience of hope? In the church? Maybe. But Paul says they were doing all of this in the sight of God. In the sight of God. They were conscious of the presence of God. Now, if you're conscious of the presence of of God this means two things about your Christian acts, your Christian living. Number one, it will be sincere. It will be sincere. Over and over again in this chapter Jesus says don't be as the hypocrites are. Don't be as the hypocrites are. Don't be as the hypocrites are. The word hypocrite means an actor, a actor you know what an actor is don't you an actor is someone who pretend pretends to be something he is not that's an actor

he pretends to be something he is not jesus says don't be like a hypocrite, don't be a play actor in your religion, pretending to be something you are not. I find over and over again how very much God hates the sin of pretense, pretending to be more than we really are. You can go all the way back to Acts chapter 5 at the early church and you know the story of Ananias and Sapphira. The reason that the Spirit of God slew them is because they were pretending to be more than they were. They were passing off

partial surrender as a total surrender to the Lord. Don't be as the hypocrites are. But not only does it mean that you'll be sincere in your Christian living, it also means that your acts will be done in secret. Over and over again, Jesus says, but do it in secret. Let thine alms be given in secret. Look at the third verse. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth over and over again he says when you pray don't do it in front of men you know sometimes people think God

not does not have a sense of humor I think he does I think verse two is one of the funniest pictures in all the bible Jesus says therefore when thou doest thine arms do not sound the trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets. For me, that's one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen. Now, maybe you can't see it, but I do. I see this Pharisee walking down the street, long flowing robes, long beard, a little scroll. I see him as he walks down the street and the streets are crowded with people going here and there. He comes down the street and the streets are crowded with people going here and there. He comes to the corner and here's a beggar. He may be a cripple, he may be a blind man, but he's a beggar. And as he sees the Pharisee pass by, he lifts

up his hands, palms upstretched, um, arms, arms, arms. And the Pharisee sees him. And the Pharisee has a dime that he'll give to this poor beggar. So with one hand he reaches in, he pulls out a dime. With the other hand he reaches in and he pulls out a little trumpet. And he gives a blast. Now, what would you do if you were walking down the street one day and you heard a trumpet blast behind you? You'd immediately turn to see what in the world was going on.

And the Pharisee, the play actor, the hypocrite, who's pretending to be something he is not, he's not sincere in what he's doing. He's not doing this because he has compassion on this man. He's doing this so everybody will think he's really involved in the work of the church. And so with a dime in one hand and with his trumpet in the other, he blows the trumpet and immediately everybody looks to see where the sound was coming from and when he has all their attention, he drops the dime in the poor man's hand.

Everybody says, well, how benevolent, what a merciful man, Brother Ferrick, he is. Could you pray all night and not tell anybody about it? Could you fast for 40 days and not tell anybody about it? That's the test. That's the secret. He says, when you fast, don't appear on tremendous fasts like the hypocrites of a sad countenance. They disfigure their faces. The hypocrites would say, why waste the fast?

It's on the Lord. Man, what if the Lord got ahold you tonight and in prayer and you prayed all night wouldn't be something prayed all night hour after hour after hour prayed all night well it'd be hard not to you know get that in some way wouldn't it now you wouldn't want to come up here to the pulpit and announce everybody that you prayed all night last night but but maybe somebody would lead you in prayer at the next sunday school class meeting and in your prayer you just happen to mention oh lord i think of that night all night of prayer i had last thursday night

wouldn't it be difficult to pray all night and not tell anybody about it wouldn't it be difficult? I have a pastor friend who went on a 40-day fast. God blessed him. I think he ruined it all because at the end of the fast he published in his paper

the headline, Pastor Ends 40-Day Fast. It's so difficult for us not to let the left hand know what the right hand's doing what does jesus mean when he says don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing he says don't even tell yourself what you're doing you know i have a hard time not talking to myself telling myself how wonderful i am how spiritual i am john bunyan one day after he preached the message stepped down from the pulpit and one of his how wonderful I am, how spiritual I am.

John Bunyan one day, after he preached the message, stepped down from the pulpit and one of his members came up and said, Mr. Bunyan, that was a great sermon. He said, I know it. The devil has already told me it was. Do you constantly hear yourself

telling things about yourself? You're such a good teacher. You're such a much better preacher than that person is. And you can pray so much better than this person can. Jesus said, do it in secret. Now listen, he's not saying that you're never to pray in public and you're never to give alms in public. You can be in a crowd and still enter into your culture. But your praying, even in a crowd, is to be unto the Lord. Isn't it difficult when we pray in public to think more of God

than we think of the people? Have you ever noticed sometimes when we pray in public, suddenly we're talking to God in the third person you listen for that when that happens it means that at that moment we are more conscious of the presence of the people than we are the presence of God my real my life my Christian life is to be lived in secret no that doesn't mean I'm to be a monk hide myself from the view of public life, but it means that even in the midst of a crowd, what I do, I do unto the Lord. Conscious of the presence of God, but not only must he be conscious of the presence of God, he must be content with the praise of God. You know what the Christian life boils down to? It all boils down to who do you want to please most. Now, I want to tell you something. You cannot please God and everybody else, too. Really, the man who

tries to please everybody is attempting something that even God himself cannot do. God cannot please everybody. And I cannot please everybody. Isn't it amazing? I cannot please even half of the people in this church. Sooner or later, I'm going to say something or do something or forget something that's going on in this place. It is impossible for me to please man. But here's the amazing thing, I can please God. Isn't that something? God whose standard is much higher than man, God who is a God of holiness,

God who knows all about me, the inside out, yet I can please him. I can please him. And if I'm going to be pure in heart, not only must I be conscious of his presence, I must be content with his praise and nobody else's. Notice what he says. They have their reward. Now that's interesting. The word have, the

word translated have in New Testament times was used as a receipt and it meant payment had been made and received and there was no further payment coming. Isn't that interesting? They have their reward. If you do it to be't that interesting? They have their reward. If you do it to be seen of men, they have their reward. Payment has been received in full. They got it, and that's all they're going to get. For if God is concerned,

when you want others to praise your life and you want the applause of others, then that's what you'll get. That's all you'll get. But notice what he says. But thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly the word reward there is a different word than the word reward in verse 2 the word in verse 2 refers to immediate reward but the word in verse 4 refers to a reward that is like an investment.

The word means to give back, to return, to recompense. And it's like an investment. You do not immediately reap the benefits of that investment, but down the road, further, in the future, God will reward thee openly. God will reward thee openly. How many of us sell out the future for the present? How many young people today selling out the future for the present?

On a physical plane. I think I can sum up my own heart's desire this morning just like this. I want to be a pleasure to God. I want to be a pleasure to God. Blessed are the pure in heart. Pleasure to God.

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