Good morning. The comment that I have has to do with me pushing this button over here. In all the times that I've come up here to speak, no one's ever handed me a mic. So I'm wondering if Peter's talk about volume control has to do with me. Is he going to shut me off here in a moment? OK, I'm getting a thumbs up from up there. All right, good deal. Well, I'm glad to understand that. Brethren, I'm over my head here. The other comment I was going to make about wearing this mic is you might hear my heart thumping because I do feel like what the Lord has put on my heart is beyond my scope of ability to talk about. But at the same time, it's what he put on my heart. So that's where I'm gonna go. You know, I came to a new understanding of what the scriptures say about the foolishness of preaching. You know, the Lord calls it foolish to preach from his perspective. And the reason it's foolish is because who are we to talk about God? Who am I? Who is any man to say that they can talk about the things of God? How foolish to think that we can expound on the things of our God, on the nature of our God. It's foolish. But by that foolishness, the scriptures say that for after that in the wisdom of God, The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So even though it's foolish, from God's perspective, it was God's choice to do it this way. I'm going to share with you a very simple verse that you've all known and read and heard throughout your life. But it's something that consumed me this week to think about. And that verse is in Matthew 5, 8. It says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. You know, I considered asking the presentation team up there to only put that verse up. and don't put any other verses that I talk about. Because that's really where I want our focus to be today. So even though I didn't ask them to do that, and they are certainly able to change, and it's such a great service that they offer in that way. So I appreciate that. Sometimes I'll look down and lose where the speaker was speaking, and then I can look up and see, oh, OK, that's where we are. So I don't want to hinder in that way. But as I share with you this morning, keep that in mind. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. You know, Peter's demonstration here was about communication. and the still small voice. I had actually looked at some verses along those lines as well that are, I guess, here's where I'll go with this. The title of what I'm talking about is, Do I See God? Do you? Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. So do I? Do you? I started reading a book last week by Francis Schaeffer, and the book was titled, The God Who Is There. The God Who Is There. And it made me think of, and again, Peter, I guess you were dealing in the same realm that I was this morning, because I went to Elijah, and I thought about Elijah on Mount Carmel. The God Who Is There. You know, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. And it was a contest. And he told them, you call on the name of your gods, and I'll call on the name of the Lord. And the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, well spoken. Good plan, Elijah. So in case you don't know the outcome, Bale never answered. Elijah started mocking them. Is he sleeping? Is he on a journey? He wasn't there. Bale wasn't there. But then it came Elijah's turn. This is how he began, he said, and it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. What happened? Fire fell down from heaven. Because Elijah saw God. Elijah had a pure heart toward God. And God answered. In that book by Francis Schaeffer, he makes a statement. He says, God is God, and you're not. God is God, and you're not. So we need to rest in what God can accomplish in us, not what we can accomplish in ourselves. But in order to accomplish anything for God, we got to know He's there. We got to acknowledge Him. We got to see Him. We got to see God every day of our lives. I listened to a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on this particular verse, and he had a comment about, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Spurgeon's comment was, an impure heart, an impure heart causes spiritual blindness. An impure heart causes spiritual blindness. And, you know, that's not just talking about the lost. That's talking about all of us. When our heart is not pure toward God, we become blinded to his presence. We become blinded to what direction he's going. And so we fail to follow as we should. Proverbs 423 says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. A pure heart is so important. It's so important to guard our hearts. We, I mean, we've heard People talk about the nature of the world that we're in. I think sin has always been sin. And I think men have always had a bent toward turning against God. But I think we get much more evidence of it more quickly now. I can pull out my phone and find as much sin as I want to find. It's at my hand. Those things feed into our lives and cause problems. I see Troy back there. I know Troy works with the heat and air. So there's air filters, you know? If your air filter gets clogged up and gunked up, you're going to have some problems. God provides a filter for us. It's his word. to filter out the things that cause impurity in our lives. You know, the purity, and I've heard the pastor talk about this in his previous employ, that they had standards in the job that he had. And they were very fine and precise standards that were required in order to function. And if you didn't meet those standards, then out with that product, on to the next one. You know, the Lord has precise standards for us, too. It's a precise standard to walk by faith, to not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It's a precise standard that God has for us. Psalm 69 verses 30 through 32 say, I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hooves. The humble shall see this and be glad, and your heart shall live that seek God. The humble will see this. You know, we've been going through several studies that talked about, in the evening, talking about how the Judaizers were bringing in all of their conditions for serving God. The sacrifice was one of those things. But there came a time when that sacrifice was no longer viable. And God had provided his own sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the humble saw that. Those that were humble saw that God had changed something here. that His sacrifice was now present. John 118 says, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. You know, I'm talking about blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And then this scripture came to mind as I was thinking about it, no man has seen God at any time. But the Son has declared Him. You know, Jesus Christ is our mediator between God and man. And he is the one that declares the Father. We have to see Jesus. We have to see him for who he is and what he's done. The woman at the well was told that if only you knew, if you only knew who you were dealing with, then I would give you water. that would never run dry. You know? Peter was told that flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Father, which is in heaven, revealed who Jesus Christ was. It's not something we can work toward to accomplish. The Spirit of God has to reveal these things to us. Some other passages that came to mind in regards to this was Jeremiah 17, verse nine says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Thank the Lord for the following verse, huh? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. God provides that filter to our desperately wicked hearts. He provides that filter for us. A very famous passage is out of Job 19. Verse 25 says, for I know that my Redeemer liveth. and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. Do I see God? Do you? Do we see God like Job was talking about seeing God? He says, in my flesh I shall see God, and mine eyes shall behold not another. This is for me. And it's for you. is for all of us. God wants to reveal himself to us. He wants to be present, a very present God in our lives. He wants that. And brethren, we need it. We need it. You know, we're not going to find success in this world by ignoring God, by ignoring the one we know to be our Lord and Savior. You know, one day, everyone will acknowledge God. One day, everyone will. Philippians chapter 2 tells us that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and under the earth. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. One day, that'll be true of everybody. Wouldn't it be better to see God in His love than to see God in His wrath? Wouldn't it be better to do that? You know, when I wrote that down, I thought about the children of Israel when they came to the mount and Moses had gone up and says in Exodus 20, says, and all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die. That's not the relationship I have with my Savior. The relationship I have with my Savior is one of closeness and intimacy with him. You know why? Goodness folks, He knows me. He knows me. He knows me deeply. He knows my faults. He knows my failures. But He still loves me. So that's the relationship we want with God. Revelation 1 In verse seven says, behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Every eye will see him one day. We're going to rejoice in that. I ran into a friend yesterday in Lowe's and we were talking about some of our times that we've had together in the past. And it was a blessing. He blessed me, I blessed him, he said. I don't know his side, but he blessed me. And, you know, that day when the Lord calls us home, we'll be able to share all the stories. And we'll know as we're known. We'll know as we're known. You'll get to see the bad stuff about Gary, but not very long, because after you cry about it, God's going to wipe away the tears. And then we'll rejoice forever with our Savior. And that was sort of how we left our conversation yesterday. Seeing God, seeing God. I had written down Isaiah 6, 1. It reminded me when Isaiah said in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. How do you see God? That was another That was another consideration for a title of what I was going to talk about, is how do you see God? Is he high and lifted up? You know, some faiths tend to see him broken on a cross. Not so. Not so. My Lord is risen. My Lord is risen. And he's alive today. And he's interceding. on my behalf and on your behalf. Isaiah 55 says, seek the Lord, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him. That's our God. He's God, you're not. Because he says that my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. You know, that's very comforting to me. It really is, because I don't think there's any circumstance in this world that can overcome my God. And that's why in my prayer, I said, hide me behind the cross of Christ. Hide me in your care. You know, don't let Gary be out front, because Gary's gonna fall. But Jesus Christ will not fail. He will not fail. I'll move along. Job, chapter 42. You know, there was a time when when Job was challenging God somewhat, you know, and he got back better than he gave. He got back better than he gave from God. Job 42 verse two through six says, I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not. Here I beseech thee and I will speak. I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear. But now, but now mine eyes seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Now understand, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. But when you see God truly, you'll see yourself. You'll see yourself like Job did. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. So he got more than he gave. You know, I wanna, I asked them to prepare a song. Every time I stand up here, the Lord puts a song on my heart that just fits with what he was saying to me. And brethren, maybe it was just for me, okay? So you're just gonna have to suffer through what the Lord put on my heart for me to hear. So it's a song by C.C. Winans, and it's called He's Always There. I'm just gonna let you hear a little bit of it. Are we ready with that? Do it. He's always there to brighten up your day. Always there in every way. When it's cold and dreary and your faith is growing weary, you don't He's always there. Just ask for what you need. He'll be there if you believe. Open up your heart. Invite him to come in. He'll turn your life around. Look that up. And I think the Lord uses song that way. At least he does in my life. To say he's always there. The God who is there. Do I see him? Do you? He's always there. And as she said in the song, waiting to care. He's there. I have two more passages I want to share briefly with you. One's found in Luke chapter five. It's an account of a man full of leprosy. Luke chapter five verse 12 says, and it came to pass when he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus fell on his face and besought him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand and touched him. saying, I will be thou clean. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Had this man not seen God, he would have died with his leprosy. But he saw Jesus, and he asked of him, And Jesus was willing. I will be thou clean. That is such an encouragement to me. But see, that's not the end of that story, actually. Because it says, and immediately the leprosy departed from him. but so much the more went there a fame abroad of him and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities, by Jesus of their infirmities. So the result of him seeing Jesus and being healed, great fame went out about that. So when we see Jesus, Jesus is gonna do a work. He's gonna do a work around us. Great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed. Don't we want that, brothers and sisters? Don't we want that for the people around us? You know, somebody wanted that for me one day. because they made the effort to bring the gospel to me. Don't we want that for people around us, to see Jesus? First place they're gonna see him is in you. That's where they're gonna see him. A lost world is not gonna see him unless you reveal him. I'll end with this. It was a favorite verse of my grandmother's. At least that's how I remember it. I always let my family know when I'm going to be speaking up here because, you know, you don't get to see them very often. So maybe some of them are watching. So this was a verse that I remember Grandma Georgia used to use. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. So I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord. Thank you, brother. We're glad you joined us for our services here at Mission Boulevard Baptist Church. We look forward to having you join us again online, but you are always welcome to personally attend any of our services at the Mission Boulevard Baptist Church here in Fayetteville, Arkansas.