It is such a blessing to be preparing to give God’s truth out to others! As you all know, the teacher most often learns more from his preparation than the students do from his resulting presentation. In the near future, I get to preach on the next verse in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. In meditating on this verse, I am seeing many other Scriptures that support and expand on it. Here is what I read this morning in the Daily Light:
Holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.
Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. § There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles. § There is no spot in you.
You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. § As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. § Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and … put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. § He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
Heb. 12:14; John 3:3; Rev. 21:27; Song 4:7;
Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:14–17; Eph. 4:22–24; 1:4
We can only see God by becoming holy (pure, set apart from sin), and we can only become holy by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior from our sin. He is the One who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. (Titus 2:14) Once we accept this Gift of Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away our sin, we are justified and stand before Him as a saint (“holy one”). Then we become holy in practice (sanctification) as we put off the old man and are renewed in the spirit of our mind and put on the new man. Yes, as we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith and behold His glory, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (II Cor. 3:18)
There is no question that true holiness is not in vogue in our day here in America, but it remains the only way to see God and be truly blessed. Let’s Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. (Ps. 29:2) and become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Phil. 2:15)