Introduction
· Last week we talked about achieving Godly success in 2007. We discovered that we must be speaking the Word, meditating on the Word and then putting action to the Word of God.
· When we do these things, our hearts are filled with the Word and we begin to have great success.
· This week we want to talk about maintaining a pure heart before God.
· We can not afford to place any contaminates in our heart and miss out on the blessings of God.
· The condition of our heart determines the outcome of our life.
· It is so important that as Believers, we must judge our hearts to make sure we have motives that are pure.
· Let us look to Jesus and the scriptures this morning on how to maintain a pure heart.
1. Hearts that are contaminated prevent Christians from receiving the blessings of God.
(NKJV) Psalm 24 3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
A. Motives, attitudes and thoughts originate in the heart. That is why we must always be checking the condition of our heart.
B. The Bible is clear that only the people with clean hands and pure hearts will succeed.
i. We must judge ourselves to ensure that are motives are pure and holy.
ii.Just because someone does good deeds doesn’t mean they have a pure heart.
2. In order to see more of God in 2007, the heart of man must be pure.
(NKJV) Matthew 5 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
A. A pure heart is developed by speaking the Word and meditation on the Scriptures. The Word gets deposited into the heart, destroying any unclean thing or thought.
B. We must not be man pleasers. We must be out to please God.
i. God weighs the heart of a man or woman.
C. Christians must live lives of holiness and purity.
i. Only holiness can dwell with holiness. This is missing in the church today!
ii. Holiness acknowledges God’s supreme greatness and provides to us a set standard for us to change from the inside out.
iii. We must never pretend that we have no faults, but must confess to one another and pray for healing.
(AMP) James 5 16 Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
3. Jesus warns us of people with contaminated hearts.
(NKJV) Matthew 23 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
A. Society today is more focused on the outward appearance than the condition of their hearts.
i.Christians who pretend they are something they are not end up leading ineffective lives. (Be yourself)
B. God desires the truth in the inward parts
(NKJV) Psalm 51 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. 6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
C. Satan wants to contaminate your heart with sin.
i. Just like the scribes & Pharisees, the devil wants to control and manipulate your life…guard your heart.
D. Proverbs instructs us to guard our heart.
(NKJV) Proverbs 4 20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. 24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you.
i. We can guard our hearts by reading, meditating and speaking scriptures daily.
ii. We can guard our hearts by being mindful of what we see, hear and say.
Conclusion
· As Christians, we must be motivated by love. This love for God allows us to make decisions based upon the Word.
· When we base our thoughts and actions on the Word of God, we will not get a contaminated heart.
· A contaminated hearts stops the blessing flow of God.
· We are to be God pleasers, not man pleasers. We must be about the Father’s business.
· Only a person with a pure heart can see God. Only holiness can stand before holiness.
· Church, we must get our hearts pure before God. We can look into the World and see what a heart that is not after God has cost our nation.
· Let’s guard our heart against Satan with study and mediation on the Word of God. Let us see God in the Open Heaven in 2007.
· Let us pray.
Salvation/ Altar Call
