Four Keys to a Pure Heart
Key Passage: James 4
Date: May 14, 2023
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to James chapter number four in God’s Word tonight. James chapter number four. And for the Internet, the title would be Four Keys to Keeping a Pure Heart. Four keys to keeping a pure heart for the title of the message tonight for the Internet.
James chapter number four is just a wonderful, wonderful chapter. We have covered it several times, it seems like recently, so I don’t want to belabor the chapter, the beginning part of it. But the first four verses are almost all depressing. You have outward problems because you have inward problems.
Verse number one, verse number two: you fuss and fight, trying to get everything, and you’re really just not praying. Verse number three: you’re finally praying, but you’re just praying so selfishly. God says, “I’m not going to answer.” It’s just a miss.
Verse number four: you go to the world, really, for your answers, and you become worldly. And God says it just breaks my heart. It’s kind of like somebody cheating on their spouse. It’s just almost depressing.
Verse number five: your spirit—I think if I’m talking about our spirit inside of it—just lusts to envy. And our very own spirit just won’t, won’t, won’t, won’t, you know, until we’re envious of others not doing anything wrong.
Verse number six is a wonderful change. I love it. It’s an amazing verse. Verse number six: “But He giveth more grace.” Praise the Lord for that. If it wasn’t for that, it would be hopeless, amen. And praise the Lord, He giveth more grace. I’m so thankful for that. Even after salvation, He has grace for us to live for Him. And praise the Lord for that. “And God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” Proverbs uses that way, and it’s key that we’re very humble about when God’s trying to grow us and point out our problems. He’ll give you grace that we’re just humble about it. We can be so prideful people, can’t we be? We really can.
Verse number seven is a great verse. “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” That’s the key: submitting to God. Then you resist the devil. You won’t have the power to resist the devil like you ought to unless you first submit to God, because He gives the power to resist the devil. So submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. Praise the Lord, he can flee from you. Wonderful. All these are great, great verses.
Then verse number eight, where we’re going to start out tonight, verse number eight of James, chapter 4. God’s Word says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” Praise the Lord for that. Drawing nigh to Him is so puny in comparison to when He draws nigh to you. But the formula starts with us drawing nigh to God. Then He draws nigh to you. Oh, that’s wonderful when He does that.
Watch how it finishes the verse: “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.” That’s part of it. As you draw nigh to God, God will point out our sins, and we all have them. And you get close to God, and boy, you start saying, “Wow, I thought I had it all together. I realize I’m not even at first base yet.” If you really get close to God, that’s kind of a way to be. “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.” But then notice what it says: “and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” That is such a key. You just really want to use that phrase as a springboard: Purify your hearts. By the way, if someone’s double-minded, they’re unstable in all ways. Double-mindedness is a heart problem. “Purify your heart, ye double-minded.” It’s amazing how the Bible associates the heart and the mind together, but it’s key. Let’s focus on that little phrase: Purify your hearts. That is, I’m not where I like to be, but I’ve realized that’s key. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded.
Your heart, my heart—the heart really is the center of you, the core of you. You will not see God much without a pure heart. You know what Jesus said in Matthew 5? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Sometimes if I haven’t seen the Lord—and by that I mean I haven’t felt His presence, I haven’t had His leadership—and it may be testing (God does that), but so often when I just don’t feel His presence, and I’m not seeing Him in a while, I’ll say, “Lord, probably my heart’s not pure,” because the promise is, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Our heart is so very, very important. God really looks at the heart and blesses according to the heart. You know the story—I think the vast majority here tonight know the story—when the prophet Samuel came over to Jesse and those eight boys, and he was going to choose one of them to be king. The oldest one, Eliab, he must have been tall and strong, just like your pastor. But anyway, he must have been tall and strong and all that stuff, you know. And remember what God told Samuel? “Don’t look at his countenance or the height of his stature. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh at the heart.” There’s an important lesson there. Man does look at the outward appearance; that’s why we ought to be a good testament to the Lord in our dress. But the key is our heart. The Lord looketh at the heart. And God said, “I see the heart of David.” And God has noted him king—heart. Your heart. You say, “I like for God to bless me and give me a good home, a good marriage, a good family, or whatever it may be. I want God to use me and bless me.” Your heart’s the key. The heart’s the key. Someone said, “The heart of the matter is the heart.”
It’s interesting when God brought the flood and He wiped out the population of the world besides eight people. Read Genesis 6:5: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The heart. God looks at the heart. Imagine for just a moment what God could do in our lives and through our lives if our heart… So many sins and so many problems come out because it started in the heart. We don’t take care of it in the heart, so it manifests itself: fussing and fighting in Christianity, going into homes, and on down the line in churches, all that. That’d be solved if our heart was right. God could pour out His blessing if our heart was right. Imagine what could happen in America if all the Christians got their hearts right with the Lord.
Look over in Second Chronicles, chapter 16. Look in verse number nine. What a promise it is here: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth… To show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” God’s going to show Himself strong in behalf of someone. Whose heart? That’s the key. Whose heart is perfect toward Him? It doesn’t say a perfect heart because nobody can get there, but He said, “Whose heart is perfect toward Him.” The key is the heart—whose heart is perfect toward Him. God’s eyes are looking all over the earth. What is He looking for? Someone whose heart is perfect toward Him. Why? He’s looking for someone He can show Himself strong in their behalf. Wouldn’t you like it if God showed Himself strong in your behalf? That’s amazing. If your heart is perfect toward Him, your heart… God blesses; He judges often by the heart.
Here’s the hard thing about your heart. The heart is deeper than just what you do. You typically do what you do because of what’s in your heart. Heart’s the tree; the fruit is what you do. If the tree’s bad, the fruit’s going to be bad. But your heart… “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.” That’s part of it. The formula there in James 4: “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and then purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” But your heart’s different. It’s not necessarily what you’re doing on the outside; it’s what’s going on in your heart.
It’s interesting how often the Bible associates the heart and the mind together. If we would just learn to… my heart’s so prone to wander. When I go to sleep and wake up the next morning, I have a heart full of junk again. My heart’s prone to wander.
So very quickly, let’s just give four keys to keeping a pure heart. Would you look over to Ephesians chapter number five, verse number 25? “Husband, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” So we pattern that after God loving the church.
Verse number 26: “that He might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of the water by the Word.”
Verse number 27: “that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” How does He clean up His church? He washes it with the water by the Word.
So if I am going to have a pure heart, if I’m going to be purifying my heart, God does that through His Word. We have a heart prone to wander. The song said, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” That’s all of us if we’re honest about it. So how can I have a pure heart? My heart’s just deceitful and desperately wicked. How can I have a pure heart? I let and I ask and I seek for the Bible to wash my heart.
When you get up in the morning and you’re reading your Word, God’s Word, and I hope maybe you have some kind of assistance. Maybe it is reading the Bible through in a year. That would be a wonderful thing. But be in the Word. When you get up and you make your coffee… when you have your drink and you’re in your Word, say, “Lord, please, would You wash my heart? Please, I need a good washing on my heart.” Every single day of your life, you need washing. Go to the Bible and say, “Lord, would You use that Bible to wash my heart? I need it.” I realize if I don’t have a pure heart, I won’t see You. If You’re going to bless me, I’ve got to have a pure heart. My Lord, my heart is prone to wander. Would You take Your Word and scrub down my heart today? Every single one of us needs the washing of the water by the Word. Go there and say, “Lord, please do a work in my heart. Get all the way down to the core of the center of me. Would You wash my heart up, God?” He uses His Word to do that. You know, we’re all prone to pride. Apart from God’s Word washing our heart, we’ve got no hope. Just get in that Book and say, “Lord, please, please wash my heart. Scrub my heart. Reveal to me things from Your Word.”
We should be Christ-like, godly. I think that’s some of the higher tiers of Christianity, and that’s when you have brotherly love and charity. If you have a heart like God, you won’t be looking down your nose, you won’t be criticizing everybody, you won’t be complaining at all. You’ll be loving people. You’ll stand for righteousness, but you’ll have love in your heart. God is love. He’s righteous and holy. He’s also love. Ask Him sometime, “Lord, my critical, complaining, selfish, biting heart—please, would You do work in my heart?” Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If you have a problem with all that, it’s because the heart’s not right. I ask Him, “Lord, please do something in my heart. Let me have a heart that at least a little bit resembles Your heart.” He’s able. He’s able to get your heart right.
Four keys to keeping a pure heart: Number one: Get in the Word of God. “Lord, use Your Word to wash my heart often.” Number two: Make it a matter of prayer. “Please, Lord, please work in my heart; make my heart right.”
Number three: Would you look at Psalm 139? “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ask God to point out sins in your heart. Search my heart. Show me the sins of my heart. Show me where I’m wanting pity, where selfishness is all about me. Ask Him, “Lord, would You search my heart?” Your heart can be so tricky. We must let the Spirit of God say, “Hey, here’s what’s going on in your heart.”
We just had men’s prayer meeting here. One of the men said something, “Lord, would You cleanse my heart by the blood of Jesus?” As the Spirit of God brings that thing up in our heart, go to God and say, “Lord, would You apply the blood to my heart?” He can make you whiter than snow. God says, “I can make you whiter than snow.” Lord, cleanse me by the blood of Jesus.
Number four: Guard it. Look back over in Proverbs chapter number four, verse number 23. He says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” Guard it. If I’m going to have a pure heart, I can’t be watching all kind of junk on the TV or on YouTube or Instagram or TikTok. I’ve got to guard all that. “My eye affecteth my heart.” If I’m going to have a right kind of heart, I’ve got to guard what I’m looking at. I am fooling myself if I think I can have a right kind of heart and watch some filthy movie all the time. I’ve got to watch what I listen to. If I’m listening to a bunch of trash music, I’m filling my heart with junk. Friend, it’s not going to happen. You’ve got to guard that heart. You’re not going to have a pure heart if you’re spending all the time gossiping and criticizing. You’re fooling yourself if you’re doing that. You’ve got to guard it. Keep thy heart with all diligence. Why? Because out of it are the issues of life.
I have four keys to keeping a pure heart. Number one: Ask God to wash my heart with His Word. Number two: Make it a matter of prayer. “Please, Lord, please work in my heart, make my heart right.” Number three: Ask God to search my heart. Let God show me what’s on my heart. Get it cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Number four: Guard it. Guard it. Sometimes you have to say, “You know what? I just can’t hang around them,” because every time I do, our conversation goes left, and I want my heart to stay right. Keep the heart with all diligence.
Imagine if our hearts were right with God. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.
Original File: 4 Keys to Keeping a Pure Heart - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday PM 05072023