This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you back to our study through the book of Matthew, week four,
day four. Yesterday we talked together about these attitudes of life that Jesus
wants in our lives, that what you want determines who you are, and our need to
hunger and thirst for righteousness, and what you give determines what you get,
and our need to be merciful, because God has shown us mercy. Well, today, in
verse eight, we're going to be seeing the truth that our purity of heart makes a
difference in how we see life.

In verse eight, Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see
God. " So the attitude there is be pure. But the truth that's behind that is
what you are determines what you see.

So you see how Jesus is building this for us. What you want determines who you
are. What you give determines what you get.

What you are, pure in heart, determines what you see. You will see God. In order
to change our actions, we've got to change our perspective.

And in order to change our perspective, we have to change our attitudes. That's
why what Jesus is teaching here is so vital, so important. And he says here,
"Purity is the attitude that gives you the right perspective on life, on what
you see in life.

" If you're overwhelmed by guilt, you're going to see everything through that
lens of guilt. And someone may make some innocent comment to you, but you get
angry because you think that they're bringing up your sin. They're not.

You just happen to see it that way. Or if you're driven by selfishness, you're
going to see everything, everyone through that drive. So you see people not as
someone to be loved, but as someone to be used to get to what you want in life.

Blessed are the pure in heart. When I see with the purity of heart that God has
given, then I'm going to see God in every situation. The more pure my heart is,
the more I see God at work in this world.

So we need to be pure in heart. How does that happen? One of the keys that Jesus
taught us about this is purity.

Listen to this. "Purity flows out of my life, not into my life. Purity is not
determined by what I surround myself with.

It is determined by what I surrender to. Purity does not come from the outside
in. It comes from the inside out.

" If you could get purity from the outside in, then it would have worked for the
Pharisees, these group of religious leaders in Jesus' day that did everything
right on the outside, but Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. He said, "You
look great on the outside, but you're dead on the inside. " Purity of heart
starts from the inside.

Purity of heart starts with God's Spirit being in our lives. And then you start
to surround yourself with different things. That's the way that it works.

You don't surround yourself with different things and then that will cause
purity of heart. It never happens that way. You can't get it by throwing all the
bad stuff out of your house and putting all good stuff in.

You can't get it by going to be a monk up on some hill and having no contact
with this world. That's not where it comes from. It comes from God's Spirit in
your life.

And when God's Spirit comes into your life, then purity flows out of your life.
And when that happens, blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. You
start to see God in every situation.

There's a lot of people, they look at this world and they say, even a lot of
followers of Jesus, and they say, "This world is a rotten place. There's no love
in this world. There's no hope in this world.

What you are determines what you see. " And the truth is, this world is a
hurting place, loved by God, and given the opportunity to hope by God. And when
you begin to see this world in that way, you see everything in a different way.

The world is not a place to be escaped. The world is a place to be loved. What
you see determines then what you do.

When you start to see the world that way, you can't treat it in a selfish way
any longer. You have to serve. Jesus, obviously, was the only truly pure in
heart person, human being, who ever walked this earth, only perfect person ever.

And he saw this world through God's eyes. He saw a hurting world. He saw a world
to be served.

Blessed are the pure in heart. They will see God. In verse 9, Jesus taught us
blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God, children of
God, sons and daughters of God.

So be pure and now be a peacemaker. And the principle behind this one is what
you make determines what you're called. Blessed are the peacemakers.

They'll be called sons of God. Now, if you look even at names that we have
today, last names, literally that's true of a lot of last names. What people
made determined their last name.

So you have Baker, and that's someone who many, many, many years ago, their
family were the Bakers in the town. You have Singer. Many years ago, there was a
family of singers.

You have Smith, many years ago, the blacksmith of the town. What you make
determines what you're called. When you're a peacemaker, you're going to be
called a child of God.

Now, what is peace? What are we talking about here? We're not talking about
peace and war and what it means to go into a conflict like that.

Because the word here does not mean absence of conflict. The word that Jesus is
using here, shalom, if we're thinking about it in Hebrew, is this word that
means fullness of life. He's not talking so much about being peaceful as being
peace-filled.

There's more of a personal idea behind this. Now, it's okay to talk about being
a peacemaker when it comes to war between nations. We need to have that
ministry.

But these verses particularly are personal. They're about what's happening in
your heart and my heart. So how do you make it?

How do you make peace? Where is it manufactured? You make a car in an assembly
plant, you make lumber in mills, you make steel in factories.

And you make peace in the human heart. If you took true peace and you turned it
over and you saw the "made in" label at the bottom, it would say "made in the
human heart. " Because what we're talking about here, true peacemaking, it's a
relational job.

It's connecting people to Christ. And when we do that, blessed are the
peacemakers, you're called a child of God. Listen, people see us as God's
children when we invite them into his family.

There's no better work that you can do for God than that. Invite him into his
family. And then there's a final "be" attitude that Jesus teaches us here.

And it's a tough one to hear. Jesus teaches us in verse 10 to be joyful in
persecution. In verse 10, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

" Now, I wonder if Jesus maybe knew we'd struggle with this one. I wonder if
Jesus knew we'd struggle with this one. Now, I wonder if Jesus maybe knew we'd
struggle with this one.

Because with this one, he adds a couple of verses, as if to say, "I really mean
this. I want to go into this deeper so you understand that this is really the
truth. " So in verse 11, he says, "Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

" All right, I got it, Jesus. But Jesus is concerned that we really get this. So
in verse 12, he says, "One more time, let me go at this, rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the
prophets who are before you.

" Jesus is teaching us here that what you endure determines what you enjoy.
Jesus says when you endure persecution, but notice he doesn't just say
persecution. He also says insults and false statements.

You may not be facing persecution, heavy persecution in our life. Some of you
may be right now, but we all face insults if our faith is known to others. We
all face false lies being told about us if our faith is known to others, because
people are threatened by the faith that you have.

They shouldn't be, but they are. They're afraid of it in some way. And so the
insults come, the jokes come, the false lies come.

Persecution, Jesus is teaching here, blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness. Persecution in the end is a sign of where you're
living, and persecution is a sign of where you're headed. Blessed are those who
are persecuted because of their righteousness.

Persecution, insults, show that where you're living is a place of righteousness.
You're living in right relationship with God, with the right kind of life that
grows out of that relationship. You're not perfect, but it's obvious that you're
different because of what God's doing in your life.

And that makes some people uncomfortable. Now, the truth of the matter is, out
of that persecution, hopefully someday, Paul was the greatest persecutor of the
church, hopefully someday they'll come of faith. But there is the persecution
right now.

Persecution is a sign of where you're living, but it's also a sign of where
you're headed. He says theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He says you're going to
have great reward in heaven.

In this world, let's just be honest, you often have to endure life. Because as a
follower of Christ, you know this is not what it's supposed to be. It's not how
it's supposed to work.

And on top of that, you have people criticizing you for knowing that. You endure
life in this world because you know that it's not this world that you'll most
enjoy. You're looking forward to a greater joy.

And in one sense, persecution, think about this with me, is the world's way of
proclaiming your hope. When you're persecuted, it's because you have a hope
that's above and beyond this world. And those who want to stay in this world
feel uncomfortable with that.

So the insults, so the attacks. The truth is, even knowing this doesn't always
help emotionally. We all struggle when we face persecution, when we face
insults, when we face lies, because we know it just isn't right.

When you face those things, these verses invite us to say a couple of things to
yourself. When you battle the fear that's in another person's response, say to
yourself, first, I have a great reward, and second, I have some great company. I
have a great reward, first.

Great is your reward in heaven. This is not the end of the story. And second, I
have some great company.

Jesus said they persecuted the prophets who were before you. They persecuted
Jesus. They insulted Jesus.

So obviously, we're going to face some of those same things. Even if you face
the worst persecution, those of great faith down through the ages have faced
that kind of persecution along with you. So where is it that maybe you need in a
new way to enjoy the hope that you have, even in the face of the persecution,
the insults, the lies that you're facing?

Because this world, that job, that loss, that struggle, that difficulty, that's
not the definition of your life. The definition of your life is the
righteousness, the right relationship with God that's come into your life
because of Jesus. The definition of your life is the reward, what you're looking
forward to in all eternity.

Let's take a minute to thank God for those things. Would you pray with me? Our
Father, we thank you.

We thank you that even in light of the struggles that we have in this world, we
have a hope to look forward to. And right now, we look forward to that hope.
Help us to live that day, this day, with that hope, the kind of hope that only
you can give, that's above and beyond this world, above and beyond our
circumstances.

Thank you for the hope, the life that we have in Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray,
amen. Join us for tomorrow.

We're going to be talking about in the last day of this week the fact that you
are the salt. You are the light that this world needs.