Overview
Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “Seeing God” through Proverbs 4, Matthew 5, Romans 11, Psalm 27, showing how heart, pure, life shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding Seeing God
Please turn to Matthew chapter five. Seeing God. To see God is to register and acknowledge his effects, his involvement in our lives.
And the more that we partner with him by free will, the more we’ll see his hand at work in our lives. We’ll see his solutions. We’ll see his timing.
We’ll see his care and certainly his wisdom to guide us through things. In Matthew chapter five, there is a religious environment in Judaism that Jesus Christ is walking into. They had gone far afield from the Old Testament law by this point.
Hundreds of years of error and disobedience to God. And they were in an occupied situation. The Romans were occupying this whole area of Palestine.
And Jesus comes to teach. And this is what he says in one verse, Matthew chapter five, verse eight. He says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now, we know that God is spirit. John four twenty four.
He is invisible. He is not visible to the naked eye. What is this talking about? Well, this is talking about seeing God at work and the effects of God as he is involved in our lives.
This is the first time Jesus Christ brings up the concept of heart in the canon of the scripture, and it’s regarding a pure heart. And he says the pure of heart shall see God. The pure here are those individuals that see God in everything, whether something’s bad or good.
They see God. In other words, it’s not that God is the one that’s bringing calamity and challenge and difficulty, but they see his character, his solution, his answers. They see his timing and his care and his sovereignty in those challenging situations.
And of course, in the blessings of life. Because God is not the cause of bad, but he does allow free will. And eventually, all things come around because he is the one that will deal with all things in the future.
So seeing God is a benefit and a necessary component of having a pure heart. And what I mean by pure, it means an unstained heart from the world. It doesn’t mean that we’re not aware of challenges and calamities or evil in whatever form.
It’s just we don’t put that in our heart. We keep our heart with all diligence or have it come at the issues of life like Proverbs 4 says. The word pure here is interesting because it means pure from everything that would change or corrupt something’s nature.
The Biblical Foundation
We’re pure from those elements and those aspects in this world that would corrupt the nature of God in us. This pure means free from foreign admixture. Nothing’s added in.
When you think about this, our heart can be pure in a crooked and perverse generation. You can keep your heart pure. I can keep my heart pure.
And in so doing, we will see God. The word see here is not just to see something. It denotes the state and the affection of the mind to whose eyes or mind the object is presented.
So there’s a recognition. In essence, you comprehend, you know what you’re looking at. There’s a perception.
There’s an awareness of what we’re looking at that goes beyond just the object itself. I can look at a tree and I know that man didn’t make that tree. Man can plant the tree, but man can’t make it grow.
God is the one behind that tree. This is what we’re talking about. This word also indicates even when the physical object is no longer visible, the perception stays with you.
Amazing. So God can do something in our lives, and we still remember the significance of it, even though that object or that situation is no longer visible. It’s a past issue.
We still connect God to what happened. This is deep. See, the children of Israel, remember, walked through the Red Sea.
There were people that were literally there and walked all night on dry ground as the walls of the water of the Red Sea were on either side. They saw it, but it didn’t stop there. They rehearsed it from generation to generation with their children and their grandchildren and their great grandchildren again and again and again.
Even long after the people that originally saw it died off, people still brought that back because of the significance of what it meant. Our lives can be that way. It may not necessarily be that dramatic, but the pure of heart will see God because they do not allow the world to dictate the narrative in their own heart and mind.
What’s interesting here, too, in Matthew 5.8 is the Greek grammatic construction is in the sense of keep on seeing. So the pure heart will keep on seeing God. That’s right.
Every day, even in the simple things, it doesn’t have to be a parting of the Red Sea. It can be a quiet and peaceful day without agitation. God’s involved.
Look at Romans chapter one, verse 20. It says, for the invisible things of Him. That’s talking about His divine nature and His power.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
It’s what’s behind what you see in nature. From the creation of the world are clearly seen. Anybody that looks at nature with an honest heart can tell you, you can’t put this stuff together by itself.
There has to be something behind it. And that’s what we’re talking about, seeing God. Being understood by the things that are made.
Sure. Even His eternal power and Godhead or divinity. It’s His divine character.
So they are without excuse. God is invisible. But His handiwork, what some people call nature, is all around you.
The systems that He set up are so clearly layered and synced by the Almighty and how they work perfectly. Now, I know man does his deal. The earth is the Lord’s.
And it still returns back to the systems and the aspects that He set up. And what’s behind what you see on a beautiful sunny day. What is behind that? It isn’t just happenstance.
It’s God. And we can bring that down, starting with nature, and we can bring it down to a practical level in our own lives. That’s right.
Look at Romans 11, please. We want to see God on a daily basis. Again, you can’t see Him physically, but you see the effects of God’s hand and care, His character and sovereignty in your life.
Romans 11, verse 36, for of Him God, meaning He’s the source, and through Him, meaning nothing gets past God. He sees everything, every thought, every word, every action, everything that happens under the sun. And to Him, meaning He is the end of all things, are all things to whom be glory forever.
Amen. See, this describes God’s sovereignty so beautifully, because His sovereignty, one way of looking at it, is He gets the final word on everything. There isn’t a person on this earth that has the final word on basically anything.
God has the final word. Now, maybe that final word will come in the future in terms of judgment, sure. But He still gets the final word.
He is sovereign, and that character and that care of God is so important to understand. We see His hand in our lives. Look at Psalm 27, please.
Faith in Action
Psalm 27. Oftentimes, the world, the corrupted portion of humanity, wants to direct what you look at and tell you what you’re looking at, and you can’t allow that. We want to see God.
In Psalm 27, David says in verse 13, I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That means there’s going to be some action on our part. You’ve got to look for Him.
You look for the goodness of God, because that’s what leads a man to repentance. We look for it, and David says, I had fainted unless I believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. The land of the living is everything that happens under the sun.
Look at Mark, please, the Gospel of Mark. See, things can happen in our lives, but if too much of the world or too much religion gets into our heads, what ends up happening is we don’t see God in our daily life. We don’t see His solutions, His timing, His care.
We don’t see it. What we see is what the world tells us we should see. Mark 6. Here in this situation, Jesus Christ has just fed about 5,000 men, and it would have been women and children as well, with five loaves and two fishes.
Then He disperses the crowd, and He tells the disciples that I’ll meet you on the other side of the lake. The disciples go out, and He prays, and then He comes out to them on the water while the wind is boisterous, and He walks on the water towards them. In verse 50, it says, For they all saw Him and were troubled.
They thought He was a spirit. And immediately He talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer, in his eye, be not afraid. And He went up unto them, into the ship, and the wind ceased.
And they were so amazed in themselves, beyond measure and wonder. And here’s the verse, verse 52. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.
The reason why their heart was hardened is because they did not connect the dots. That God was involved in that miracle. That God was behind providing that nourishment.
Here’s a follow-up. Look at Mark chapter 8. Here Jesus is teaching again His disciples. And they had again departed from a boat in verse 14 of Mark 8. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread.
Neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And He, Jesus, charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. That means the influence negatively of the Pharisees and of Herod.
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, He says unto them, Why reason ye? Because you have no bread? Perceive ye not, neither understand. Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not.
Walking in Love and Confidence
There are people in life that a miracle can happen right in front of them. God’s timing can happen right in front of them. God’s solution is right there.
But they cannot put it together. Because they got too much religion, and they got too much world in their head. Perceive ye not, neither understand.
Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not. And having ears, hear ye not. And do ye not remember? When I break the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto them twelve.
And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said seven. And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand? To see God, we have to have a pure heart. And to have a pure heart, you can’t mix in with the narrative, the fear, the agendas of the world.
You see God on a daily basis. Even in the little things that he does for you, you’ll miss him. And he’s right there, because we got too much world in our heads.
Look at 1 Thessalonians, please. The pure of heart shall see God. How do you keep your heart pure? Well, you keep your heart with all diligence.
You don’t adopt, you don’t embrace, you don’t follow the narratives, the negatives, the fears, the agendas of the world. It doesn’t mean that you’re not aware of calamities and challenges and things that are difficult. You’re aware of them.
But within them, you see God’s character, and you see God’s solution, and you see his God’s sovereignty. That’s the pure of heart. 1 Thessalonians, if you’re having difficulty seeing God, here’s a clue.
We’re going to read it here in a minute. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 15, see that none render evil for evil unto any man. So if somebody does evil to you, you don’t return with evil.
That’s the way of the world. That’s the agenda of the world. Seek out your vengeance.
Seek out your retribution. That is not the way Jesus Christ operated. If you want to be pure of heart, don’t respond evil for evil.
And it says unto any man. But even follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. That’s right.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
That’s the way Jesus Christ was like. He did not pick up their agenda or their banner of retaliation. Rejoice evermore.
That means you can rejoice all the time. Pray without ceasing. Absolutely.
Now here in this next verse is a key. Being thankful is like a gateway to seeing God. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
When you’re having trouble seeing God on a day by day basis, thankfulness is the gateway. It’ll open the door to begin to see His goodness in your life. Now, this is not teaching us that we should be thankful for negative situations, for calamities and disasters and all these different things that happen.
Or evil. No. But within the calamity, within the evil, within the challenge, you see God’s character.
You see God’s solution. And certainly, eventually His judgment. You see His sovereignty because He will have the last word, no matter what anybody says on this earth, they don’t have the last word.
God has the last word. He is sovereign overall. This is part of what we do as believers in Christ Jesus.
And we maintain that thankfulness because thankfulness is a real great way to begin to see God again. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 2, please. 1 Timothy chapter 2. The pure of heart will see God.
It doesn’t mean He’s going to materialize. It means you’ll see His handiwork. You’ll see His providence.
You’ll see His protection. You’ll see His blessing. You’ll recognize that in negative situations, eventually judgment will be given.
So it’s not our responsibility. That’s right. You see His timing in 1 Timothy chapter 2. It says that we are to exhort verse 1. Therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.
Absolutely. Pray for everybody. For kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty or dignity.
We pray for our physical life and those that affect our physical life. The people that make decisions of authority do not affect my spiritual life. They cannot remove me from the right hand of the throne of God.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
Neither can they remove you, but they can affect your physical life. The word life there is talking about your physical life, not your eternal life. So you pray for those in authority that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life.
And this quiet means a tranquility from without. If you can picture yourself sitting, relaxing alone by a still lake, that would be a nice way to describe this word quiet. And then peaceable.
It’s a tranquility from the inside. It’s just like you’re seated, you’re at rest, you’re good. So there are decisions that do affect our physical life, and we are to pray for these things.
So we can do this in godliness and dignity. And godliness here means a piety or a devotion, a reverence to God. It’s like we’re in a relationship because we understand his character and his sovereignty.
In that relationship, we partner with him. And that’s when we see God in a thankful heart. It’s a great way to get there.
Prayer is another way. So what we’re after is seeing God on a day by day basis. Whether it’s a parking space that we need, whether it’s the cell that we need, whether it’s an open door, whether it’s the opportunity to minister healing to somebody, whether it’s an answer we’ve been looking for for a long time, we see God on a daily basis.
The sun comes up, the sun goes down, the rain falls, and the things grow. All of that is part of the heart of seeing God, his handiwork, his design, his grace in your life. But it’s going to take some effort on our part.
And you know what the effort really is, is getting rid of the agendas and kind of the worldly focus and taking that out of our heart. And once we do that, you’re good. You’ll see God on a day by day basis.
Even if it’s just a quiet and peaceful day, God was involved. It says in 1 Timothy 4.7, But refuse profane and old wise fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness, that piety, that devotion, that reverence for God in partnering with him. It says in 1 Timothy 6.3, If any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, that devotion to his character and his sovereignty.
We seek him out on a daily basis, no matter what’s going on down here on earth. His character and his sovereignty does not change. And finally, Paul says in Titus 1.1, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness.
Truth is according to that devoted reverence and relationship with God, wherein we partner with him. That’s where we find truth. That’s where we see him on a day by day basis.
But it’s going to take us to remove out the things of the world that do not recognize God. To see God requires a pure heart, and you can have one if you want one. And that’s up to us to devote ourselves to reverence God in our hearts, first and foremost, and then we will continue to see him on a day by day basis in the big and the small things of life.
Key Takeaways
- It may not necessarily be that dramatic, but the pure of heart will see God because they do not allow the world to dictate the narrative in their own heart and mind.
- And to have a pure heart, you can’t mix in with the narrative, the fear, the agendas of the world.
- You see His sovereignty because He will have the last word, no matter what anybody says on this earth, they don’t have the last word.
- All of that is part of the heart of seeing God, his handiwork, his design, his grace in your life.
- He says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “Seeing God”?
Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “Seeing God” through Proverbs 4, Matthew 5, Romans 11, Psalm 27, showing how heart, pure, life shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from Proverbs 4, Matthew 5, Romans 11, Psalm 27, Mark 6.
How can believers apply this teaching?
Believers can receive the truth presented, verify it in Scripture, and put it into practice with faith, humility, love, and consistent action.
Scripture References
Proverbs 4; Matthew 5; Romans 11; Psalm 27; Mark 6; Mark 8
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
