Illus: A man in Columbia, South Carolina went to a doctor because he was tired most of the time. The doctor examined him and found out he was only getting 20% use of his heart.
They did open heart surgery on him, opened up some valves and today he feels like a new man.
There are many people in our churches who have spiritual heart problems. Their spiritual "veins" are "clogged up" with all kinds of sin that Satan has put there. God wants to "operate" on them and remove all that garbage Satan has placed there and give them PURE HEARTS.
HOW CAN YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE A PURE HEART?
Look at what you are producing. A PURE HEART produces certain things, such as:
I. A PURE HEART PRODUCES GOOD ACTIONS
Look at verses 18-19, "My little children, let us NOT love in word, neither in tongue; but in DEED AND IN TRUTH. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him."
Notice, John says that the person with a PURE HEART does not just TALK THE TALK, HE ALSO WALKS THE WALK!
It is not always easy to love the unlovely. Only a person who has a PURE HEART can do that.
Notice, I did not say one of the hardest things is to say you love the unlovely; people do this all the time.
Illus: It is kinda like this. (You can call two teenage boys up front and use them to illustrate this point.) Let us suppose that these two young men are paramedics. They are on duty one day and get called to a home where a beautiful young woman needs some assistance. When they arrive she is unconscious. Immediately, in their expert opinion, they decide she needs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Now do you suppose these young men are going to fuss about having to administer the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? (Give congregation time to comment.) I DO NOT THINK SO EITHER!
Why? Because she is so beautiful and lovely!
But, suppose these same young men were called to an emergency rescue and a woman there also needed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but this woman was not so lovely. In fact this woman was very unlovely, and she had been weeding in her garden. She was smelly. She also chewed tobacco, so the juice was running out of her mouth. Now one of these two young men is going to have to administer the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This time they might look at each other and say, "I'll be happy to let you administer the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation this time!" At the same time they both say, "No way, you are going to have to do it or else she is going to die because I AM NOT GOING TO DO IT!"
The point I am trying to make is this; it is not difficult for a young man to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation if the recipient is lovely to look at.
Likewise, it is not hard to love those who love us, however, the hardest thing in this world to do is love someone who is not lovable.
Again, one of the ways we know that we have PURE HEARTS is that we do not just speak words of love, but WE TRANSLATE THAT LOVE INTO ACTION!
John said, "My little children, let us NOT love in word, neither in tongue; but in DEED AND IN TRUTH."
In other words, we are to practice love.
Illus: We are like doctors who have gone to universities to learn how to help people. There comes a time when knowing what to do has to be translated into doing what one knows to do. Those people have to BEGIN PRACTICING WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED.
This is one of the most difficult lessons for Christians, God's church, to learn. We do not have a difficult time TALKING IT. THE PROBLEM COMES IN WALKING IT!. For example,
Illus: The late Dr. Oliver Greene, in “The Epistle of John, p. 141," said, ”There are occasions when a minister visits widows where there are children in need, and after a pastoral call the minister bows in prayer and asks God to supply the need of that family, when at that time there are hundreds - perhaps thousands - of dollars of God's money in the bank to the credit of the big church with the tall steeple! The parishioners in that church sing. "Oh. how I love Jesus!" but they love Him in word only - not in deed and truth. The Bible admonition is. 'Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves'" (James 1:22)
Again, one of the ways we can know we have PURE HEARTS is that a pure heart drives us to act.
Look again at verses 18-19. We read, "My little children, let us NOT love in word, neither in tongue, but in DEED AND IN TRUTH. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
A PURE HEART PRODUCES ACTION. Also...
II. A PURE HEART PRODUCES UNDERSTANDING
Look at verses 20-21. We read, "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence toward God."
Have you ever started to pray and had your conscience begin to send a message to you that something you did, or said, was sinful?
Our hearts are our spiritual thermostats. For example,
Illus: The church that has automatic thermostats is always the same temperature. Once the desired temperature has been established, these thermostats operate twenty-four hours a day. The thermostats are so sensitive that the smallest degree of change in the temperature will cause them to respond by sending in cold, or hot air.
If our HEARTS ARE PURE, if we see a brother or sister in need, we get the message to go to work finding a way to help that one.
But listen, if our hearts are NOT PURE, OUR HEARTS CONDEMN US! We get the message that something is wrong and we are not functioning as we ought to.
Again, we read in verse 21, "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."
A PURE HEART PRODUCES UNDERSTANDING.
III. A PURE HEART PRODUCES REWARDS
Look at verse 22. We read, "And whatsoever we ask. We receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
This verse has been misinterpreted by some.
That is, some think these words, "And whatsoever we ask we receive of him...," simply mean that we can ask for a brand new Cadillac and someone will walk up and put the keys to one in our hands, and the car is ours, free.
What this verse is really teaching is this, if a child disobeys his father, he does not please him. And, if a child of God disobeys God, The Father, He CAN NOT REWARD him for doing evil.
If God rewarded evil He would be sending the wrong message to His children. We know that does not work.
Illus: If your child threw a rock and knocked out someone's window and you gave him a great big hug, you would be sending the message that the bad thing was good.
If God rewarded us when we sinned, He would be sending the message that evil was good and if we wanted His blessings on us we would have to sin.
But God assures us in our text that if we want His blessings we have to have a PURE HEART! A PURE HEART produced rewards.
Again, verse 22; we read, "And whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."
Look at the last few words, "...we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight." In other words, a Christian whose heart is PURE does not pray for material things 99% of the time. He wants to PLEASE GOD and much of his praying is for spiritual things, not material things. That is why "whatsoever" they ask can be granted - they are asking for God's will.
A PURE HEART PRODUCES REWARDS. Also,
IV. A PURE HEART PRODUCES ASSURANCE
Look at verses 23-24. We read, "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby WE KNOW THAT HE ABIDETH IN US, by the Spirit which he hath given
us.”
Notice, the person with a PURE HEART keeps God's commandments. For example...
A. WE HAVE TO HAVE THE RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SAVIOR
What is a right relationship with the Savior?
Look at verses 23 again. We read, "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
The right relationship is that we, "believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ...
A person's name stands for what that person is. That is, to believe in Christ means that we believe in all Christ claims he was, the SON OF GOD.
That is, a person can never become a child of God until he or she believes on the name of the Son Of God, Savior of the world.
Illus: Years ago Dr. Jerry Falwell made the statement on national television that if the Jews did not come to believe on the name of the Son of God, they could not be saved.
The liberal press immediately jumped on that statement, and tried to make it sound like he was preaching a weird doctrine.
But, the fact is, not a person alive can be saved unless he comes to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, God's Son!
The lost world might not want to hear it, but this Bible teaches, Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
There are NOT MANY WAYS to heaven. There is only ONE WAY. Christ said, "I am the way..." The only way you and I can have a PURE HEART is to believe on the name of the Son of God.
B. WE HAVE TO HAVE THE RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS
Look at verse 23 again. We read, "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
It is difficult to understand how anyone can read the books of 1, 2, and 3 John and reach the conclusion that a person can claim to be a child of God and hate the brethren at the same time.
John has stated on many occasions that such a profession is a profession built on lies.
Verse 23 tells us that a PURE HEART is the heart of the person who BELIEVES ON THE NAME OF GOD'S SON, JESUS CHRIST, and who LOVES OTHER CHRISTIANS.
This is how we have the assurance that we have a PURE HEART.
Look at verse 24. We read, "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us."
Conclusion:
God would have us have a PURE HEART. This is a testimony to the world of God's love for the world, and many are drawn to Christ when we have pure hearts .
I. A PURE HEART PRODUCES ACTION
II. A PURE HEART PRODUCES UNDERSTANDING
III. A PURE HEART PRODUCES REWARDS
IV. A PURE HEART PRODUCES ASSURANCE
