A Kingdom Heart

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Luke 11:38 NKJV

When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.

While they waited on Jesus to liberated them politically, they also waited on the Messiah to forgive them of their sins. The Pharisees had them so unconfident in their sin they yearned for forgiveness and God. The Pharisees had turned the law of God into such a system of works they had almost lost hope. No wonder when John the Baptist came preaching repentance so many came because they wanted to be forgiven and put back into the grace and presence of God. So when Jesus said this it shocking, riveting, encouraging, and hopeful!

The question became for many who were hopeless was WHAT MUST I DO?

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

This became the question of many of that day.

A lawyer asked in Luke 10.

Luke 10:25–27 NKJV

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

A rich young ruler asked what must he do.

Luke 18:18–27 NKJV

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”

John 3:1–16 NKJV

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

A KINGDOM HEART IS NEEDED TO BE SAVED!

A Kingdom Heart is Pure

A Pure Heart is The Standard

People have a tendency to set standards by what people say, think, or do. This is a man-made standard.

The world creates a standard of comparing itself to someone they feel is lower than themselves to elevated themselves.

The world does things to impress people and make them think they are one way when they are really another way.

The world has a system where people wants you to choose because of what they do, say, or how they look.

The Church must not do such things!

The Pharisees had created a such a system amongst the people of God where they did everything for the show and nothing to redeem or encourage God’s people. Their only motive was to make themselves look good rather than look like God.

Matthew 23:26–28 NKJV

Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Had they paid attention even in the Old Testament the goal was a pure heart.

What is the definition of pure?

Pure: Gk. Katharos - meaning cleansed

Psalm 51:10 NKJV

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

What is the Heart?

Heart: The mind, personhood

Proverbs 4:23 NKJV

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Matthew 6:21 NKJV

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Pure Heart is Made Pure by God and God Alone!

Ezekiel 36:25 NKJV

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

Jeremiah 32:39 NKJV

then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.

James 4:8 NKJV

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

A Kingdom Heart Transforms

Romans 12:2 NKJV

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

A Person With a Kingdom Heart Will See God!

This was not new in Jewish thought!

The Pharisees had those who felt like they failed God feeling like they would not see God.

But the pure heart cleansed by God and uses God as the standard will see God!

They did not pay attention to the scriptures.

No man in human flesh could see God as evident by Moses in the Old Testament.

Exodus 33:20 NKJV

But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”

But Job foreshadowed for them and us a future sense of seeing God in a resurrected sense.

Job 19:26 NKJV

And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,

There have been Theophanies of God but no one has seen God.

John 1:18 NKJV

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Son this is why when Jesus says pure hearted with Kingdom Hearts shall see God, it was riveting and powerful!

Those with Kingdom Hearts will see God. We will see Jesus in his glorified body. The personification of God in his glorified immortal appearance.

1 John 3:2–3 NKJV

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.