Noticed Jesus did not say “Blessed are the pure…” which is correct too.
• But He said, “Blessed are the pure IN HEART.” The emphasis is right.
• Man concerns the outward – we want to look good, to make an impression.
• We need to place more emphasis on what is unseen – the attitudes of our heart.
Man’s tendency is to put up a good front.
• The Pharisees made that same mistake. “Clean your hands!” they would say.
• They did all they can do to make the outside look good and clean.
• But Jesus says, “Clean your heart!” He reserved the harshest words for those who mask their heart. Matt 23:25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”
• Many times, we read in the Gospels, Jesus saw the wicked intentions of their heart.
• That is what He sees and that’s what He is concerned about today.
These Beatitudes remind us that God is not focused on man’s outward performance.
• God is very concern with the attitudes of our heart – what is on the inside.
• We are to take good care of what is inside us. Our attitude determines our altitude – how high can we climb, how far we can grow as a Christian.
• Without the regular maintenance of the heart, we cannot go far.
I’ve seen quite a few Christians falling away, although they look good on the outside.
• Why? How can they backslide so easily?
• It may have been there all along, right beneath the skin, unseen on the outside.
• The person has not been right with God. The problem is with the heart, not the forms.
• Christianity, ultimately, is more than just a matter of doctrine or understanding; it is a condition of the heart. It is not just a matter of the mind, but of the heart.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus forces us to look at our attitudes, the condition of our heart.
• If we want to be a blessed Christian, then we need to check our heart.
• You do not need to prove to me that you are a Christian, but you need to prove to God that you are a true Christian, and He sees the heart.
Samuel made that mistake when he was looking for the future King for Israel (among the sons of Jesse).
• The Lord corrected him, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)
• There is a great proverb - Prov 21:2 “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
• That’s where our attitudes, convictions, and ultimately our actions are shaped. Prov 27:19 “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.”
Do you know that when God looks at us today, He pays little attention to our outward appearance?
• I wish He does sometimes, because many of us are quite well dressed-up on Sundays.
• But frankly, that is not His real concern. God looks at our heart because that is who we really are.
We are to be PURE in two ways:
(1) Be RIGHT as oppose to wrong; being righteous, not evil or sinful
(2) Be TRUE as oppose to false; our outward and inward are in sync. Not hypocritical and deceptive.
A pure heart has a clear conscience. We need God for this.
• Only God can grant us forgiveness of sin and a clear conscience.
• We need to humble ourselves and accept His cleansing.
• Be quick to confess and repent. To say SORRY is a very hard thing to do, but we have to make it Second Nature to us.
Learn from the ermine (er-men) – a particular kind of weasel: THE ERMINE
There’s an animal in Minnesota called an ermine. An ermine is a short-tailed weasel with the unique ability to change its dark brown fur to a snow-white in the winter. God created this animal with this feature to protect it from others.
The ermine instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it. Fur hunters try to take advantage of this unusual trait. Thus they don’t set a snare to catch them, but instead they find their home, usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow tree, and they smear the entrance with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but refuses to enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, the ermine is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity.
For the ermine, purity is more precious than life.
… Our Daily Bread – 6.21.97
Purity of heart ought to be as precious as that.
BEING PURE goes beyond just being RIGHTEOUS, it also means being TRUE.
Psalm 24:3-5
3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. 5He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Saviour.
• No double allegiance, fully devoted and true to his love. No pretence.
• The heart is not pure – you want to do one thing and you want people to think you are doing another.
• The Pharisees praise Him with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. No wonder they did not see God.
• My action and my heart must be in sync. This is a man with integrity. Such a person encounters God.
GOT INVESTIGATED HIMSELF
A Wall Street broker who fell in love with a rising young Broadway actress? Before proposing marriage, he decided to have a private investigator check her out. "After all", he thought, "I’ve got a lot to lose."
He asked the agency not to reveal his identity to the investigator making the report.
When it came back, the report said, "She has an excellent character, an unblemished past and a great future. But we have one concern; she’s been seen lately with a Wall Street broker whose character and ethics are questionable."
STEALING A MELON
A deacon and son were driving down a country road and saw a watermelon patch a little way off the highway. The deacon told his son to keep a lookout while he went to get a melon. He snuck into the patch, took a melon and called to the boy, "Is anyone coming? Look both ways."
The boy wisely responded, "But Daddy, shouldn’t we look up too?"
… Our Daily Bread, 6.18.99
The pure in heart need not need to LOOK UP to see if God is watching. He knows He is and he has nothing to hide.
That’s why the Lord says they will see God.
• Not that he will physically see God, but that he is constantly aware of His presence and is able to see Him at work in His life.
• The pure in heart can see God (with eyes of faith) in nature, in history, and in the events of life. He knows God is there, he feels He is near and enjoys His presence.
• Today, just as we can hear His voice when He speaks to us – through QT and sermons, we can also see His hands at work in our lives and in our world today.
Cultivate Purity of Heart
1. Believe that God is your only chance of a pure heart
TRUST GOD - Phil 2:13 “…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
• Maintain a close relationship with God.
• Don’t even try becoming pure on your own. It is something you and I can never do.
• All man’s efforts at self-cleansing are doomed to failure.
BE QUICK TO CONFESS AND REPENT - David prays, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Ps 51:10)
• Learn from David. Look at his psalms of lament. He is a happy man.
2. Choose to Be Authentic
It’s a choice you make. No one can do that for you. You choose to be real, authentic, honest and true.
• It builds trust – people come to know you and trust you. It gives you credibility.
• But this doesn’t come naturally to us. People like to cheat, cut corners, mask their intentions, and pretend to be good.
• To stay corrupt-free is a challenge, even in the corporate world. It’s the same for us.
WATCH YOUR HEART - Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things…”
• That’s why we need to make a COMMITMENT to be truthful.
• If Jesus says true happiness and fulfilment comes from having your inside world put right, then we need to watch it. That’s the key to blessing.
• Confucius: "To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life. In short, we must first set our hearts right."
BE CAREFUL IN LITTLE THINGS - Luke 16:10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
• Whether you cross the line an inch or a mile, you’re still ’out of bounds.’
• Each time you decide to be truthful, you are creating a habit.
• The habit can be ingrained when you do the right thing day after day, week after week, year after year.
Conclusion:
OVERCOMING THE GREAT WALL
In ancient China, the people wanted to defend themselves from the barbaric hordes in the North and they built the Great Wall of China. It was too high to climb over, too thick to break down, and too long to go around. Very secure.
Yet during the first hundred years of the wall’s existence, China was invaded three times. Was the wall a failure? Not really. Not once did the enemies managed to climb over the wall, destroy it or go around it.
How then did they get into China? They bribed the gatekeeper, and then marched right in through a gate.
The fatal flaw was in placing too much reliance on a wall and not putting enough effort into building character.
Watch your character. The attitude of your heart is everything.
HOW PURE IS YOUR HEART? Consider these questions:
• Are you are devoted to God as you were before?
• Are you becoming more honest today than two years ago?
• Are you the same no matter who you are with, or where you are?
