Creating a Pure Heart

Good morning, everyone. Good to be with you. Greetings to all those on the webcast, wherever they are. It's good to be back at the home church. I seem to be going out more often and other places more than they am here. We approach Pentecost in a week or so. It's interesting to look at ourselves. We examined ourselves during the last feast, and now we're preparing to celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost. Of course, ancient Israel celebrated the giving of the Ten Commandments at this time. So I've entitled my sermon today, Creating a Pure Heart.

It's something that we need. Jeremiah 17.9, scripture that was on the scripture cards. I think it's in the new ones. I haven't looked at them all yet. We're in writing Jeremiah, God leading him.

Jeremiah 17.9, it says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Verse 10, it says, I, the Lord, search the heart. He's looking at your heart. He's searching it. I try the reins, even to give every man according to his way and according to their fruits of his doings. So God is examining our hearts. What are our hearts like? How pure are they? Turn to Psalm 24, David, who has termed a man after God's own heart. Missed the vote a few times. Had to examine himself and change his heart. Psalm 24, verse 1. The Psalm of David says, The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein.

For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who's going to have salvation? Who's going to make it up that hill? Who shall stand in his holy place? He answers that question in verse 4. He that has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Do you want salvation? Look at your heart. Ask for that pure heart. Again in Psalm 51, verse 10. David's still writing again this after his sin with Bathsheba, recognizing that he wasn't as pure as he hoped to be. Psalm 51.10. He writes, Create in me a clean heart, O God, a clean heart, a pure heart, and renew a right spirit within me.

Let me see things as they are. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold with me your free spirit. Then what will I do? I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you. If you have a pure heart and you're seeking God, you can help others turn to God as well. If he takes it away, you won't have that joy. None of us have a perfect heart, and we often deceive ourselves. And it's sad.

In my history with the church, having grown up in the church and being in Imperial schools and ambassador and Mr. Armstrong, I've seen a lot of people who rose up in the organization who eventually deceived themselves, who probably thought their heart was right, and often believed that they were right when they were really wrong. Maybe they had right intentions, but wrong actions. And sadly, so many of them took other people with them. We look at ourselves, and we particularly did it during Passover and Unleavened Bread, but we should be looking at ourselves all year long, because it's an ongoing process putting on Christ.

And we look toward Pentecost, and we know we need God's Holy Spirit to have a pure heart, to be right with God. But I'd like today to take you back 2,000 years to look at what happened with the apostles when they were disciples. Look at their heart. We tend to think of them as men of God because of what they did after Christ left. But if we look at what actually happened before that, we can understand ourselves a little bit better, perhaps. It was interesting because, you know, you go back 2,000 years before that to Israel leaving Egypt, and Moses had to go back to fight against the most powerful nation on earth at that time, Egypt.

And I'm sure when he told God he didn't want to go, you know, why me? He was thinking of the army he had led. If you read Josephus, he was the head of the Egyptian forces that conquered most of Africa and the known world at the time. And always, God does things differently than we do. And so Moses, of course, when God went back there, it was God who conquered Egypt.

He only used Moses as a voice to tell him what was going to happen and take them out. But often we see things very different. We know we're supposed to be humble, and being humble means you let God do it. And that's what we try to do.

But 12 men had a very unique experience 2,000 years ago. And each of us have unique experiences, but theirs was one-of-a-kind, obviously, because they were with Christ. They spent three and a half years with him, and they saw what he did, and yet they didn't really understand. So if you turn with me to Mark 14, right at the time of Christ was dying, he had been with him three and a half years, and there were things that happened that were amazing. He had sent them out to heal people and do things. And of course, Christ did all the miracles. In Matthew 14, verse 26, that Passover evening, it says, "...they sung of him, and then they went out to the Mount of Olives." And, you know, you sing of him, you tend to be in harmony, and you're singing, you're happy, and everything is siding. And he had said some things to him at dinner at the Passover that they didn't really understand, and they probably wondered what it meant. And Jesus told him something, and here they are. They sang a song. They're in good attitude. And Jesus says in verse 27, "...all of you will be offended because of me this night." All of you. "...for it's written, I'll smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." And they're probably thinking, okay, now, that's another thing he said. What does he mean by this? But he tells them again, after I'm raised, I'll go before you into Galilee. And then Peter said to him, of course, always seemed to be the first to speak up, "...although all shall be offended, yet I will not." Brave talk. How many of us have given brave talk in our lifetime? Something's coming up, I'll do it, I'll make it. Oh, yeah, we've all done it, especially as kids. Kids can do everything. They can climb mountains and things. I remember telling him, having all the first graders in my son's class over to waterski, and they all said they could do it, and none of them could. They all fell in their faces, except my son, and he felt real proud of himself. It was real good for his ego. But, you know, you think he can do it. I can do it. I mean, you just stand on a couple of boards on water. It's not a big deal. We hear Peter saying that, you know, I'm not going to be offended. I'm tough. I can take it. Jesus said to him, "...truly I say to you today, in this night, before the cock crows three times, or twice, you shall deny me three times." So the rooster is going to crow, and he's going to deny him. And I'm sure Peter was thinking, wait a minute, that's not it. And I'm sure Christ, he probably, you know, looked over at Peter and gave him that look. You know, the kids, you all know what that look is. Christ said, Peter, you know, you don't really know what you're saying, Peter. In fact, Peter then speaks up again, and he spoke more fervently. That's the way to solve the problem, to talk louder. It makes you more brave, right? If I should die with you, I will not deny you in any way.

And then it says, "...and also they all said likewise." So here they are, keeping the feast. They've done this with Christ, you know, at least three times in the previous years.

And didn't really understand what was going to be different about this one.

And they're not going to deny him. We're not going to do this. We're strong. Our heart's with you.

And then they came to a place called Gethsemane, verse 33. And he said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray. That was no different than he had done before. He'd left him in places and got him prayed. And he took with him Peter, James, and John. And he began to be amazed and to be heavy. And they're probably wondering, why is he as heavy tonight as when he wasn't before? And he said to them, My soul's exceedingly sorrowful to death. Stay here and watch. Stay here and watch. Watch out. And they're probably thinking, well, watch for what? They didn't really know what was going to happen. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground. And he prayed. Why don't he pray if it were possible that the hour might pass from him? And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible with you. Take this cup from me. I'm sure he was in fervent prayer there. And he said, But yet not what I will, but what you will. He knew he had to die for the Holy Spirit to come, for Pentecost to be fulfilled, for all the Holy Day plan to continue. And he came back to them, and he found them sleeping, which is probably normal. And he said to Peter, Simon, do you sleep? Couldn't you even stay awake one hour and watch? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. Peter's probably thinking, well, what? Why? Truly, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Our Savior knew the fleshly weaknesses. That's why Hebrews 5.8 says he learned obedience for the things he suffered. He understood what we go through. And Peter there didn't probably realize, what was he saying to him? What's so different about this feast? And he went away again and prayed and spoke the same words. And when he returned, he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. It was late. It had been a long day. A lot of things had happened.

I've been there before. I was flying to Mr. Armstrong. We had some long days. I remember being in Greece in the Sabbath services. Room temperature was about 90 degrees, and I sat on this couch. It just wrapped around me, one of those big fluffy ones. I knew I'd be gone in a few minutes. So I sat on Mr. Armstrong's blindside so he wouldn't see me. I was smart enough to do that.

And you're just tired. You don't think anything's going to happen? Of course, it did, because he asked me a question. I was asleep, but I answered him anyway, which amazed everybody in the audience.

But that was a gift God gave me, thankfully. So I didn't know that. I went back to sleep again. I could listen better asleep than I am, find a fight wake. And some of you are that way, too. Of course, some of you can't do it at all. That always bothers. All of my friends were jealous I could listen to my sleep. But that's just life. We're dealt different decks of cards.

The apostles had different deck of cards, too, that they were dealt. And they didn't see anything different, so they went to sleep. You know, it's late. Take a little nap, and you'll come back and get us. And that was it. So he did it again. And it says, he found him asleep. Their eyes were heavy, and they didn't know what to answer him. Well, they didn't know what to say because it didn't make sense. You know, you've gotten prayed before. He didn't ask us to watch, and watch for what? Watch for the sunrise. Watch for what? Birds. And a third time he came, and he said to them, sleep on, take your rest. It's enough. The hours come. Behold, the Son of Man has been betrayed into the hands of sinners. And they probably didn't know what to make of that, either.

And he tells them to rise up. Let's go. Lo, he who betrays me at hand. What do you mean? It didn't make sense. He wasn't guilty of anything. So what's going on? Immediately, while he spoke, Judas, being one of the twelve, came with them with a great crowd of swords and clubs, from the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders. And as he came up, I'm sure the other disciples were saying, well, what's going on? What's this about? And what did we do? And how did he know this? What did we miss? He who betrayed him and giving them a sign, saying, whomever I shall kiss, that's him. Take him and lead him away safely. And coming out, drawing near to him, he said, Rabbi, Rabbi. And he ardently kissed him. Betrayed him with a kiss. Ultimate betrayal.

And they took him and seized him. And the disciples' world was about to fall apart at that point because things were happening really fast, and they didn't know what to do.

And so what did they do? They had one understanding by. We read in the other Gospel of Peter. Drawing his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

Well, you've got to defend him. I'm going to stand up. I wouldn't deny you, so I'm taking my sword on him. Backing away.

It was interesting because he had said, I won't leave you. I won't forsake you. And so, I'm going to do it my way. I'm going to take my sword and defend you.

He was trying to keep his words, but you can't keep the words your way. You got to do it his way.

Of course, we read in the other Gospels that Christ reached out and picked the ear up, put it back on the servant. And you've got to imagine what that soldier thought at that point. He had his ear put back on. That's a first. And this guy's got something special about him. We're taking him here, and he's going to be crucified. And you had to wonder what he was thinking. All those people on the sidelines that had things happen that were totally from God and unique. But they took him. And Jesus said to them, when they drew a sword, if you come out with swords and clubs, it's a robber to take me. I was there in the temple daily with you. And you didn't seize me there in front of the people. But the Scriptures had to be fulfilled. They said that's how he'd be taken. And since they couldn't fight with their swords, what did they do? These brave men who said, we'll never leave you, all of us. Verse 50, And leaving him, all fled. They all took off. And one, a certain young man followed him, having thrown a linen cloth around his body. He was naked. And the young man caught him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. He really got out of there. It was an embarrassment.

Better embarrassed than dead, I guess, he's thinking. But I won't flee you. I won't deny you.

Their heart wasn't what they thought it was.

And they led Jesus away to the high priests. And with them were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. All of them. All of them were in this, the leaders, to get rid of Christ. Peter followed him. He's still trying to keep his word in some way, perhaps, I suppose.

From inside the inner court of the high priest, he sat with the servants and warmed himself with the fire. It was a cool evening in Jerusalem, the altitude there. The chief priests and the San Hedren sought for witnesses against Jesus to put him to death. And they found none. Again, it committed no wrong, which probably, again, surprised the disciples that he hadn't done anything. It's like people in this country went, injustice is done in your phone in jail or something you didn't do. Christ hadn't done anything. But they had false witnesses and they had set up, like happens, verse 56, many testified falsely against him. But their testimonies weren't identical. They weren't saying the same thing. They couldn't get two people to lie identically.

And certain ones rose up and bore false witness, saying, we heard him say, I'll destroy the temple that's made with hands and in three days I'll build another one without hands. Of course, they didn't understand what that meant. But their testimony wasn't identical either. They didn't have the story straight. Finally, standing in the middle of the high priest questioned Jesus himself. Did you answer nothing? Of course, that fulfilled with Isaiah 53. He didn't answer anything. He wasn't there to defend himself. What are these witnesses witnessing at you? Why are these people saying this? And he was silent and answered nothing. And again, the high priest asked him. Finally, he said to him, are you the Christ, the Son of the blessed? Finally, he asked him a straight up question. And Jesus said, I am the name he had said with Moses. And you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. The high priest tore his clothes and said, what further need have we witnesses? Of course, this was a mock trial. And he was trying to get it over with. And finally got Christ to say something that he could kind of twist. You've heard the blasphemy. What do you think? And they all condemned him guilty of death at a mock trial. Some began to spit on him to cover his face, to beat him, and to say to him, prophesy. And the young officer struck him and slapped him. Peter could probably see this from where he was. But Peter was below in the palace. And one of the servant women of the high priest came. And when she saw Peter warming him, she looked on him and said, you are with Jesus. You are with the Nazarene. You're one of them.

But he denied saying, I do not know or even understand what you're saying.

And he went out into the fork cart in the rooster crowd. And he thought he had thought about that.

But the servant went and saw him again and began to say to those who stood by, this is one of them. He's one of them. And he denied it. And a little after, those who stood by again said to Peter, surely you're one of them. For you are a Galilean and your speech agrees that you're a Galilean. You know, you're a southern boy. Y'all and all that stuff. We know where you're from. Of course, Galilee is to the north. But they had their own slag.

And what did he do? This bold man, I'll never leave you. The one who cut off his ear to try to do it. No, I can't do it that way. He began to curse and to swear, saying, I do not even know this man, who you speak. Oh, his heart was burning here. And then the second time, the rooster crowed.

And Peter remembered the words that Jesus had said before the cock crows twice. You'll deny me three times. And thinking on this, he wept. His heart was revealed to him in this episode.

Wasn't this tough and strong and as pure as he thought?

And of course, Peter wept. And he went and repented. It's interesting if you look at the actions of Peter versus the action of Judas. Peter saw his sin and repented. Judas felt sorry for himself and went and hung himself. But this day was laden with sin. False witnesses, physical and emotional abuse to the most extreme levels against Christ. Betrayal, lying of his own disciples to save themselves. The chief priests knowingly murdering a just man out of jealousy. All of it has there ever been a day of more corruption than that. A totally guiltless man, the trial and the death of our Savior. It was an incredible day for all people, past, present and future. Because his sacrifice is what saves all of us, Old Testament, New Testament. But for the disciples that were soon to become the apostles, I believe this experience was crucial for them in preparation for what was to come, for Pentecost and the other holy days. Because this experience, they came up to the Red Sea and they failed to cross. They failed. They fled. They didn't realize that Christ was dying to open the Red Sea for them. They didn't understand what was going on at that time.

And it was sad. But this experience was crucial for them because of the power they were going to have, what they had to do. See, power has destroyed far too many men. I've seen that in too many, even the disciples had the same problem. We see the evidence when the mother of James and John came and asked for her two sons to sit on Christ's right hand and left in the kingdom of God.

And the other disciples got jealous and upset. We see God was going to place them in positions of authority. We read later that they were going to be over the tribes of Israel in the kingdom, the millennium. They'd be using the Holy Spirit to wield power, to heal, to teach, to cast out demons, to authoritatively teach a different way. Not the Jewish way in the same way that the Jews had taught it, and certainly not the way the Gentiles kept their laws. That power could go to their heads very easily. I think this exposure to their own hearts, this failure, I think, gave them a pure heart to realize that we're not that tough. We do need help. We do need the comfort of the Christ that He would send because they were hurting. They had to see their hearts had not been as true as they had braggingly thought when they spoke to Christ, and it cut them quick, and I think it changed them forever. But how did the disciples keep that unleavened bread as that day began? They knew the stories of Exodus 12 and coming out of Egypt and going up to Sinai and receiving the law of Pentecost. They had been with Christ. They had been told, I mean, talk about an unusual, not too much deserved, to spend it with Christ all those years, someone who could recount everything that happened. Those unique experiences are so special, and it's a special time. Each of us have had very special times like that. Do you remember? My wife and I are most memorable on Unleavened Bread. We've had a number of them in different countries, but one we had in Pasadena with Mr. Armstrong called up. He had John's dad at camp. She had dropped into Los Angeles, and she asked to stay with him, and she was at his house. We were home for one of the first times because usually it'd pass over in Israel or Rome or somewhere else. So I had invited all our friends over to have Unleavened Bread with us and to have the night too much deserved. He called the house at about 615, and he said, Aaron, I need you over here. Can you help Michelle come to dinner? So I've got John's dad here. I don't know what to say or what to do with her. So our guests had already left. They were going to be there at 630, and so we left a note on the door on the key end of the mat, and they had a wonderful night too much deserved without us. We had a really wonderful one without them because we were with John's dad. It's fun to have a night too much deserved with the Queen of Egypt. She knew all the stories. They talked about the Passover, talked about the plague, and all the things of Egypt. It was a wonderful experience. And those things you don't forget.

And I'm sure Christ had talked to his disciples and explained exactly what had happened back during those times more vividly than any of us could because he lived it. He had it in his memory.

And so that's what they expected this to be when they came to that Passover night too much reserved. The feast, they were going to keep that. And here all of a sudden it was their Messiah, their leader, their hero was gone. They didn't know what to do.

It wasn't Israel being delivered. It was not the night that they expected. They went to Jerusalem to keep the feast. And it wasn't like the night that we all had six weeks ago, seven weeks ago.

It was different. It wasn't like the night they had had for the last three years and the rest of their life growing up. They expected to be doing the same thing as before.

Surely this doesn't seem like a day of deliverance to them, which is what Unleavened Bread was, deliverance for Israel, deliverance out of sin.

And here the only man who had never sinned was being taken off to be killed.

Hope was going through their heads. They were going through the trial of their lives.

They were hurting in a flash of their master. The one who had healed the sick, who had raised Lazarus from the dead, changed water into wine, cast out demons, was gone, had died. He had told them this. They knew it. Academically, they kind of knew it, but they didn't really know it. In their hearts, they didn't understand. They didn't really have the trust, the faith that they thought they had when they told them. No, Peter said, I'll never deny you. And so said they all. All of them. Would you deny Christ? What's your heart like? I would like to think I wouldn't have, but I'd have been there. I'm sure I would have.

If I'd already had the Bible I have now and read their story, I might not have. Although, I would know that it wasn't appointed for me to die at that time because Christ was trained in ever something else that they didn't realize. But he had to face that moment alone.

It was interesting. Truly, they had to examine themselves and look at their own hearts. Peter, Webb, Mark, fled naked. Each had their own way that they had to face themselves for what they did, just as you and I must face ourselves as Christians. While their hero was there, it was easy to be strong. A lot of us have heroes. Little children have heroes. Their parents, different ones have made heroes out of men. But they had a perfect hero. They had a hero that could do everything and anything. And little kids, my dad can do anything. Well, they can't, but they had one that could. He had done so many things that if they needed food, just catch a fish or two and some bread and pass around a basket. It'll make it. If they needed money, go catch a fish and take the two gold coins out of its mouth. I'd like to catch some of those fish. I lived on a lake for a long time and I never caught anything like that. But Christ could just tell them what to do. It happened. They had a hero. And their hero, when he was there, they were strong. And now he was gone. And they had to recognize, I haven't internalized this the way I should have.

Christ had a hero also. God, his Father, was always there with them. That's why in Mark 15, 34, at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out, about to die. And he said, What does that mean? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? At that moment when he took on all the sin of the world, and God doesn't look on sin, Christ had to face that moment. Indeed, he was tested in all things. That's what it says in Hebrews 4.15. All things. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He faced it. But in all points was tempted as we are, yet without sin. Christ had to face those moments alone as all sin was placed on him. Because he had to do it to bring Pentecost and the Holy Spirit to finish the plan. He had to die for your sins and my sins. But he also wanted to give us something to make us stronger. And so as he faced those final minutes of his physical life alone, he had always had a pure heart. He had always done the will of his Father. He had always had the love of God, even to the very end, to death.

He never gave up his holy righteous character. When he made a promise, he kept it. When he said he wouldn't desert you, he didn't desert you. When he made a promise, his word was gold.

And you and I must face ourselves. And as we draw near Pentecost, we picture that time when God's Spirit comes to allow us to do that. Because physically, humanly, we can't do it. We don't even do it with God's Spirit as good as we ought. But that's what we're trying to do.

Sadly, humanly, many people make heroes. Most heroes don't live up to what they think they are or what others think they are. And I've seen many men deny Christ. Not directly saying, I deny Christ, but denying Him in word and in deed and in action far too often.

Many men of renown, who, like it says, if you turn to number 16, read about Korah.

Men who thought they had a pure heart. When you read what it says about them, they thought they were right. Just like the apostles of the disciples said, we won't leave.

Number 16, verse 2, these men thought they had a position or something by birth, an entitlement.

And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly. These are not small men. These are men who'd been appointed. Famous in the congregation, men of renown. All too often it's these men who stand up and think their heart is pure and find out it's not. And they gather themselves against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, you take too much on you. Seeing all the congregation is holy, every one of us, and the Lord is among us. Wherefore then why do you lift yourself up above the congregation of the eternal? Why are you so special? Moses acted like he always did because Moses' heart, he was the meekest man on earth, he fell on his face. Moses had a pure heart. He always responded with humility and meekness, concern for others, just as Christ did for us. He was willing to die for them, just as Christ died for us. Every time Moses got in the situation where most of us want to stand up and say, do you know who I am? Do you know who you're talking to? Moses said, don't do it. Don't bring the sin on yourself. God, please forgive them. Please protect them. Don't hurt them. 1 Corinthians 9, 27. Even Paul knew that he could be susceptible.

Paul was a very educated man, more educated than any of the other apostles. He knew the tendency of men. That's why he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9, 27. But I keep my body under subjection and bring it into subjection lest by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. We can lose it. Paul knew he could lose it. The disciples in that episode learned that they could lose it. And those times when you're tested and you fail, you learn that God doesn't test you beyond what you're able, so you know you failed. He didn't.

So you can try harder. It wasn't just then back when people did in ancient times with Moses and Korah and the rebellions there and different ones we read about. We had the same thing happening today. I've seen it happen several times in my lifetime in the church where people say things. They'll never leave. They'll never go away. And they're gone. I look at a document occasionally that I have up my office. It's one that a dozen men signed over a decade ago. It said that all of us don't believe in sewing discord. We believe in unity. And it was called a unity statement.

Within a few months, several of those men who had signed that, two men did exactly the opposite of what they said they would do. Ten years later, another three more men, men of renown, did the same thing. Something about power, something about those things that makes it difficult for people to see clearly. God is the judge, and I don't read it to judge anybody. I read it to look at myself and say, what is it that would take me away? I had a lot of opportunities, and I've had to put hedges around myself. It says in Deuteronomy that the law is a hedge about you. If you make the law a hedge about you, it keeps you in. It centers you. If you don't put those hedges up, you get outside the hedge, and you do things. You deny Christ. You get vain. You get proud. You lose that pure heart David talked about. And it's sad, but I would fear to be where those who have written and signed things and said things and don't do them, don't keep their word. Are there the millstones that Christ spoke about? Luke 17. You turn that. We'll read that. The millstones, where you take people with you?

Luke 17.1, He said to the disciples, it is impossible, but offenses will come. People have been offended. But woe to those to whom they come. It was better for him a millstone were hanged about his neck and cast into the sea than he should offend one of the little ones.

Many people have been offended for thousands of years.

And He says, Take heed to yourselves. If your brother trespass against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. There's an if there. If he repents, he has to repent because if you cause a sin or you have a problem, you have to repent of that sin. But then you have to forgive if they repent. If you trespass against you seven times in a day, seven times in a day, turns and says, I repent, you shall forgive him. Again, He's talking about real repentance, and chances are it's more like the little kids. If He does it seven times, they do something. You say, Repent, change, and say, You're sorry. And the kids, I'm sorry. And He does it again. And I'm sorry. They kind of learned that saying, I'm sorry, somehow lessens the punishment, but doesn't stop the action at times. But you can get weary forgiving, but you're told to forgive. Sometimes you have to assume the benefit of the doubt.

But it was difficult for the disciples, and what they say in verse 5 of Luke 17, the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith, because it takes faith, faith in God and in Christ to be able to do these things. And through His Spirit, you do. But our job is to look at ourselves, I look at myself, to increase our faith.

As the disciples asked Christ, and I ask Christ all the time and God to increase my faith, increase the faith of His people. Are we stronger than the disciples or stronger than Paul?

Do we think we can do it, or do we deceive ourselves?

I think I've learned more about the mistakes of others than I have about the good examples.

Sadly, it's too true. And I have to realize that I'm just as human, just as frail as any of them.

And so I look at the things they did and continually ask God for more of His Holy Spirit.

Because it's only through that that you can put the wrong thoughts out of your mind.

You can ask Christ to put in you a clean heart, a pure heart, more of His Holy Spirit.

To have a proper respect for authority, yet to only have God and Christ as your hero.

Their role model. They're my hero. I've had other heroes in my life. I've had people I've admired. Mr. Armstrong, my mentor, a wonderful man, taught me incredible things. Yet I knew his weaknesses better than anyone else as well. But you fail if you make other people your heroes instead of God and Christ. And people, when they trust men and emotion gets involved and not fact, tend to give up. When they're unwilling to suffer wrong, real or perceived.

It's interesting, one of the old evangelists years ago, that all the old times I remember Dr. Hay, he was casting out a demon. And he asked the D.A. before he casted out, what, why did you rebel against God's perfect government?

And the answer was, because God wasn't fair.

There's always times when things seem unfair. Of course, God was fair. God is perfect.

But it's interesting, in all the splits over the years, for the last 50 years, probably for 2,000 years, every time I saw one, it was something was unfair.

Something was unfair. I didn't get a fair shake. I needed more. I deserved this. I, you know, pride, various things. And you look at that, and you wonder, how did that happen to them?

Why'd they feel that way?

Sadly, the same thing happens. Over, unless you're close to God.

Unless you really understand, unless you're willing to take the back seat, the step down.

Too many men have wanted positions. And sadly, too many men get the position.

And often, God takes it away to see how you react.

Sadly, everybody seems to want to be Joseph or Jacob or Joshua, not Caleb. I was like Joshua, and all the problems he went through with leading Israel. But Caleb, he gave a good report. He came back. He has a descendant here on earth somewhere. Maybe one of us. God promised it. 1 Peter 2, 20.

Peter makes a comment that we need to take to heart and look at. 1 Peter 2, 20. For what glory is it when you're buffeted for your faults that you take it patiently? Yeah, but you did something wrong and you take it. That's fine. But he says, but if when you do well and suffer for it and take it patiently, this is acceptable to God. Can you take second place? Can you take the low seat?

Can you take things patiently? When things seem unfair, do you take it? Because, tell me, can you really have faith in God unless something seems unfair and you take it patiently?

If you get everything now, then you're like Job. What does Satan say about Job? Of course, he's good to you. You've been good to him. You've made him rich. You've given him all these things.

It's wonderful. Take it away. See what he does then. And that's what happens. And too many people don't wait. My wife and I have had to wait for a lot of things. We had to wait 12 years for children.

We had to wait for certain things that were going around when we were traveling to be worked out. And you pray and say, God, is it time? And you wait. Too many men who tried to...perhaps their reasoning was good that they wanted to make the church better, but their actions were not pure.

Old Testament Israel, they had to do what they were told or they died. They committed a sin and you got stoned. It was interesting. They kept the feast physically. They didn't do it. But where to keep these feasts spiritually, whether it be Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, feasts, or Tabernacles? They're a spiritual lesson for us. Israel, they didn't do right physically. They died. If we don't do right spiritually, we die.

We have to raise that level. Sin is bondage. And they had to learn. And they didn't, for the most part. Because it's not about a physical inheritance. It was for Israel. They put love in other houses. They kept the feast and they eventually, after 40 years because their sins went into the Promised Land and they inherited this beautiful land. But for us, we're inheriting eternity. We're inheriting a spiritual life. The same metaphor.

In Ezekiel 18 verse 20 it says, "...the soul that sins it shall die." And that's true.

We've all sinned and we die physically. But because of Christ, we can live spiritually.

It also says in that verse that we don't bear the iniquity of our fathers. Let's read that. Ezekiel 18 and 20. The soul that sins shall die, the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father, neither shall the Father bear the iniquity of the Son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon Him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon Him. If you're wicked, it's on you. If you're righteous, it's on you. You can only be righteous through Christ. But we answer for ourselves and the answer is death unless we do as Peter said in Acts 2, 38, repent and be baptized. Unless we have Christ's sacrifice, unless we have His Holy Spirit, we must hear His voice. We must do as He did. He told us to keep the commandments. So we do. We keep them. We don't try to throw them away. And that's how we show our love for God. That's how we show our hearts pure. That's why He gives us His grace because we placed our sins on the altar before Him, the sacrifice of Christ. And like David, we say, create in me a pure heart so that I can be like Him. And like Paul writes in Galatians 2, 20, it's Christ in you that does this. How does someone with a pure heart act?

Not what the world considers. Not what the world does. Christ spent time with sinners.

People like that the world considers wrong. People like Zacchaeus in Luke 19. If you turn there, you know, this world all runs to the people of the world. They flock to see movie stars and politicians and people. And yet Christ in Luke 19, verse 5, says, When Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and He saw Zacchaeus there, He said to him, Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I'm going to stay at your house.

Now, all of us would be surprised if most of the women would probably die when we walked up and said, I'm staying at your house because they'd wonder, is everything clean? And my wife, have you done that? But Christ knew Zacchaeus was hospitable. Hospitality was a way of life for him, more than likely. I'm sure He understood that. And Zacchaeus, what did He do? He climbed up in a tree. He was a midget. He wasn't very tall. He was height challenged, politically correct.

And He went up there just to get a view of Christ, just to look at Him. And imagine what He thought when Christ said, come down here, I'm going to stay at your house.

Whoa, my! I'm sure He'd been with pride, but everybody else is thinking, what is going on here? And He came down and received Him joyfully. And seeing this, they all murmured, saying, He's gone to stay with a sinful man. That guy's a tax collector. He's wealthy. He got it uneven. He didn't divide the wealthy equally. He's a bad guy. But Zacchaeus stood and said to His Lord, He said, Behold, Lord, if I give half my goods to the poor, and if anything I accuse anyone falsely, I restore it fourfold. He really wasn't a bad man. He had a job that nobody wanted, and nobody liked anybody who collects taxes, especially for the Romans at that time. And He replaces things. And Jesus said, In this day salvation has come to this house because He also is the son of Abraham. He knew Zacchaeus. His heart was right in that sense. We don't know much about what happened after that. But salvation was there. Christ was there. Christ is salvation in that sense. Verse 10, The Son of Man has come to seek and saved that which was lost. Sinners are lost. You and I were lost. We're all sinners. We need it.

And we're lost if all we do is keep the Holy Days physically, keep the laws of God physically. We're to live God's law of love. We're to help others. Look at Paul's admonition. Look at 1 Timothy 1, if you would. It's interesting because sinners are easier to convert than people who think they're righteous because people who sin know they're wrong. People who are self-righteous are hard.

We have to be pure as a little child, not worrying about whether it's the right person.

Little children don't ignore the elephant in the room. They just talk about it. They say, Oh, look at that. And everybody else has got their heads down. 1 Timothy 1, 5.

Now, the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart.

The end result of the commandment is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscious and of faith unfeigned. You can fake it. You can have a bad conscious, but it has to be pure with a pure heart, from which some have swerved, having turned aside into vain jangling, saying things that aren't true and just making up things. Desire to be teaches the law understanding neither what they say or where they affirm. But we know the law is good if a man uses it lawfully. And it is good. It teaches you how to obey God, how to love God.

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man. And if you love God, His law is second nature. But if you don't, the law is written for the lawless and the disobedient, for the ungodly, for the sinners, for the unholy, the profane, murderers.

And he goes on, you see, if you want to show your love of God, you keep the commandments.

Keep me the commandments doesn't save you. Like Paul said, works don't save you.

But when James wrote, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works, I say, show me your love without obedience. I'll show my love by my obedience.

My children, they love me. If my children were to go out and break windows and do drugs and come back and say, I love you, Dad. Go out and, you know, commit some immoral act and come back and say, I love you, Dad. And go out and lie and cheat and steal and come back and say, I love you, Dad. Do they really love me? One of my kids never say, I love you, but they keep the laws of God. They do the things that the rules of the house. They keep their room clean and neat. They study hard. They marry. They live a virtuous life. Do they love me? Yes.

Because if you love something, you do what's expected. That's how you show it.

If you don't, you're not showing it.

Christ came to save us. He's passed that on to us.

Verse 12 and verse 11, 1 Timothy 1, According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which is committed to my trust. It has been passed on. It's passed on to us. It's committed our trust as well. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious.

Of course, He did it with His whole heart because He thought it was the right thing when He persecuted the Christians. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. He didn't know what He was doing. I'm reminded of the ceremony that goes on. So many ceremonies in royalty when they crown people and they have different things that happen. King Frederick, back in the 1915 or 13, whenever he was crowned, he was crowned Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. And he took over the Austro-Agerian Empire and he was the father of some of the French friends in Europe that he met with.

But it was interesting that he had to go up and the ceremony went down and he had all pomp and ceremony and capes and crowns and things. He'd go up and he had to go knock on the door of the Catholic archdiocese, the cathedral there, and all this pomp and ceremony. And he'd knock on the door and the voice inside would say, who is it? And his answer was, I'm Frederick, you know, prince of this and king of this and Frederick Henry George. And they all have 15 names or something that they go through and let me in. And the door wouldn't open. So he had to knock again and the voice would say, who is it? It's me, Frederick, you know, king of Hungary, emperor of Austria and the empire and all these titles. The door wouldn't open. Finally, the third time, it was a ritual they went through, but they knocked again and who's there? And the answer was, it's me, Frederick, a sinner. And the door opens. Now, they didn't live up to that, but it says something about where we should be because that's where we are. No matter how many years you've been in the church, no matter how many battles you've won, no matter how many, you know, goliath you've conquered, it's still me, a sinner. Me who needs Jesus Christ, who needs his Holy Spirit.

And that's where Paul was when he wrote this. Verse 14, the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus for him, for you, and for me. And this is a faithful saying and worthy of all accepting that Jesus Christ came to the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. That's what Paul thought. But for this cause, I obtain mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show first all the long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Do we show that pattern that Paul said? Do we show the pattern that Christ said? Do we show the pattern that Moses said? The good things that the disciples showed after they became apostles and lived up to what they were supposed to do. God puts you in the body of his church to live that pattern, to be an example, to have that pure heart. Go to 2 Timothy, a few pages forward. 2 Timothy 2.23, he's talking to Timothy, who is young. Flee youthful us. Yeah, physical. But follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call the Lord out of a pure heart. We're all to have that pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they gender strife, and they do. People that pick at each other create strife and division. The server of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach and patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves if God, paired venture, will give them repentance to acknowledging the truth. How many people have come in because of someone that they saw alight in? A difference. Someone who kept their word. And why, verse 26, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him and his will? So many people have been taken captive so easily. But we, through God's Spirit, as we count up on Pentecost, we look at that day when it was delivered to us, we purify ourselves. 1 Peter 1, 22, going back there again, seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love for the brethren. A true love where you really care. A hospitality, a concern, seeing a need and filling it. That's what I was taught for my youth. My parents always said, if you see something that needs to be done, you do it. You don't ask, you just do it. See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Do we have that pure heart? If you have God's Spirit, you're going that direction. You're doing it more often than you're not.

Verse 23, being born not of a corruptible sea, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Perfect truth for flesh is grass, the glory of man is the flower.

Grass withers, the flower falls away. That's what happens. But the word of the Lord endures forever.

And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached to you. That's why we preach the kingdom of God seminars. That's why we do what we do. That's why we obey things that seem different, but they're in this book. That's what God says to do. We recognize we have to have a pure heart to be able to do that. Peter was fervent in his belief of what he would do that Passover night, but his heart wasn't right. And then we come to the day of Pentecost 50 days later. And of course, Christ appeared to them. They still wanted to go fishing. They still didn't have it because they didn't have his spirit. But on that day of Pentecost in Acts 2, in verse 37, when Peter, who had denied Christ, who'd seen himself and now was willing to die for Christ, stood up and said to them what they had done in killing the Messiah. Verse 37, when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and they said, What shall we do? Peter said, Repent and be baptized.

Repentance. Same message that John the Baptist had. Same thing Christ said you have to do. It's repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The comforter that was promised, by now they were starting to understand what Christ had done. What the Holy Days really meant.

It wasn't just historical. It wasn't just some chapter of history. It was reality of the future.

Peter in the 12 did this. Why? For the promises to you and to your children and to all that are afar off and where about as far off as you can get before Christ's return. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. These are the things that we teach and believe. It's interesting because Christ in Mark 15 again, verse 37, Jesus cried with a loud voice and died.

The veil of the temple was rent and twain from top to bottom, miraculously not bottom to top.

And when the centurion which stood over against him saw that he cried out and gave up the ghost, he died, and he said, truly this man was the Son of God. That soldier, I'm sure, knew it. I'm sure the soldier who had his ear taken off and healed knew it. The disciples were figuring it out.

We, because of that sacrifice and because of receiving the Holy Spirit, have a chance to go through that veil that was rent directly to God through Jesus Christ into the Holy of Holies, through our High Priest. And we can put our petitions before him.

Yes, your older brother, my older brother, is indeed God. He's the Son of God.

He showed the truth to you and to me. He had a pure heart, the only truly pure human heart in history. He will help create in you a pure heart. He'll create in me a pure heart. If we let him, if we yield to him, if we don't let our heart deceive ourselves, and we ask for humility and we ask for wisdom, let it close in Jude 24. You turn there. Because Christ wants to do that for you. He wants to make you his brother spiritually. Verse 24, now to him that is able to keep you from falling through the Holy Spirit, through his sacrifice, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. He has a joy in wanting to do this to the only wise God our Savior.

Be glory and majesty, dominion, and power both now and forever.

Brother, let him do his job in creating in you a pure heart.