The Perfect Standard For Life
A Change Of Heart Affects Our Eyesight-Part 6 of 8
Reading: Matthew 5v8
The true story is told of Anny Pennica, a 62 year old woman who had been blind from birth.
At age 47 she married a man she met in her Braille class and for the first 15 years of their marriage he did the seeing for both of them until he also became completely blind.
Anny had never seen a tree or a sunset or the ocean in her entire life, yet she had grown up in a loving and supportive family so she was never resentful about her physical position in life.
Then in 1981 a certain doctor performed surgery on her eye to, remove a cataract from her left lens., and for the first time in her life Anny could see.
She said that she found everything so much bigger and brighter than she had imagined.
…and since that day Anny has hardly been able to wait to wake up in the morning to put on her glasses and enjoy the rising of the sun.
Now, just for a moment, just think how wonderful it must have been for her when she saw for the first time in her life?
Just imagine seeing the ocean and trees and a flying bird for the first time at 62 years of age?
I think sometimes we take the gift of sight for granted, because physical sight is something wonderful.
The miracle of seeing for the first time can hardly be described I think.
…and yet if you think about it, there is a seeing that is more exciting than that, - and that is seeing God.
I think that day when we see Christ’s face we will be overcome with so much excitement and joy,…that we cannot even compare what Anny must have felt like when she could see for the first time.
…and this is what the sixth Beatitude is all about, seeing God.
Jesus says, “Blessed [approved of God] are the pure in heart, for they will see God”.
In other words, Jesus tells us here that a change of heart will effect your spiritual eyesight!
If you want to see God, then this is what you must do.
But here’s the question, “Do you really want to see God?”
What Does “Blessed are the pure in heart” Mean?
There are two things we have to look at this morning.
a. It Means Internal Cleansing.
The Old Testament often speaks about this.
I think when Jesus speaks about being “pure in heart”, He’s referring to Psalm 24v3-4, “Who may climb the mountain of the Lord and enter where he lives? Who may stand before the Lord? Only those with pure hands and hearts, who do not practice dishonesty and lying.” (LB).
Even the Old Testament Prophets looked forward to a time when God would give His people clean hearts.
Ezekiel tells us what God said (Ezek. 36v15-26), “Then it will be as though I had sprinkled clean water on you, for you will be clean—your filthiness will be washed away, your idol worship gone. And I will give you a new heart—I will give you new and right desires—and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love.” (LB).
Jesus Himself spoke of having a clean and pure heart when He spoke to the Pharisees about their fake spiritual lives.
He says in Matthew 23v25-18, “Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! You are so careful to polish the outside of the cup, but the inside is foul with extortion and greed. Blind Pharisees! First cleanse the inside of the cup, and then the whole cup will be clean. “Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders! You are like beautiful mausoleums—full of dead men’s bones, and of foulness and corruption. You try to look like saintly men, but underneath those pious robes of yours are hearts besmirched with every sort of hypocrisy and sin.” (LB).
What Jesus was calling for here, was radical inner purity of heart, Why?, because only people who live like this will see God, - no-one else!
b. It Calls For Purity In Our Devotion To God.
The word that is translated “pure” has two basic meanings, “clean” and “unmixed”.
It can be used in the sense of pure water or metals without alloys in it.
In other words,…it speaks of the idea that no person will ever see God whose heart is divided between God and the world.
…and this is what God has to say about that in James 4v4, “Don’t you realize that making friends with God’s enemies—the evil pleasures of this world—makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy the evil pleasure of the unsaved world, you cannot also be a friend of God.” (LB).
In other words, the word “pure” carries with it the idea of being free from every speck of evil.
Now, we often misunderstand the words, “pure in heart” to mean being pure in our minds about sinful physical pleasures, and yes, that’s only part of what it means, because it means much more than that.
“Pure in heart” speaks of a heart that does not bring mixed motives and divided loyalties to it’s relationship with God.
In other words, it speaks of having a singleness of mind and heart in your devotion to God, - pure unmixed devotion to God.
…and David is great example to us.
David did not have a sinless heart [just as we don’t have sinless hearts] but he did have a single heart, and that made him a man after God’s own heart.
James speaks about this idea when he says (James 4v8), “And when you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and let your hearts be filled with God alone to make them pure and true to him.” (LB).
What he’s saying here is this and it’s a message we must take to heart.
He’s saying, “Get rid of your mixed devotion, your double mindedness, and be pure in your devotion to God”.
I think it’s like talking to someone and telling them something important, only to notice they’re not focusing all their attention on you, but rather on the person walking behind you back.
“Ever experienced that?’
It’s like they’re not really interested in what you’re saying.
Now, if you and I do that with our relationship with God, if we don’t totally focus our attention on God, then we’re not going to see God.
In other words, what we must do is have all our focus, all our attention, all our concentration on God to have a singleness of mind, for only then will we see God!
…and I know this is one of the greatest challenges we have as Christians living in South Africa today, because we’re more busy with our jobs and building our own empires than focusing our attention on God.
We’re more devoted in spending our attention on our pay-cheques than spending our devotion on God.
We’re spending more of our devotion on what cars we want to drive, what homes we want to live in, what company to work for, what education to get, than spending our devotion on God.
How sad it is to see a father with money and no joy!
The man studied economics but he never studied happiness of the heart!
No wonder so many Christians are so disillusioned: they never see God because of their lack of devotion to Him.
We must remember that God is more concerned about your inward state than your outward circumstances.
Unfortunately we have put the cart before the horse.
We are more concerned about our position in life than with our position before God!
That’s a tragedy!
We must remember that God is more concerned about our inward character than what we drive or where we live or which company we work for.
Jesus never said, “Blessed are the rich in circumstances, the prosperous life”,
No!, He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart”.
No wonder we pray and we pray and we never hear anything from God, because we are not pure in heart.
Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”, and no-one else will see God.
Sadly only very few people are capable of the spiritual attention this Beatitude calls for.
…and that kind of leads us into the next question,…
What Kind Of Devotion Does God Call For?
If we want to understand what devotion God wants from us, we have to look at the word “heart” in this verse.
In the Bible, the word “heart” means more than just the mind, because it also includes my emotions and my will.
It includes everything that I think about, what I feel and what I decide.
In other words, “pure in heart” means that not only our minds, but also our feelings and actions are to be concentrated singly on God.
What that means, that if I only think of God then I am not pure in heart.
It has to include my actions and my feelings.
In other words, God wants a radical complete cleanness of my heart which is totally focused on God.
“Why does God call for our hearts to be clean?” because God says that it is from the heart that all our human problems come from.
This is what God says about our hearts in Jeremiah 17v9, “The heart is the most deceitful thing there is and desperately wicked. No one can really know how bad it is!” (LB).
God also says in Matthew 15v19, “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lying, and slander.” (LB).
In other words, all you and I have to do is look inside our hearts to know that what God says is absolutely true, isn’t it?
Ivan Turgenev, the Russian novelist said, “I do not know what the heart of a bad man looks like. But I do know what the heart of a good man is like. And it is terrible”.
Now if that is the case, there is an obvious question you might be asking yourself,
“How in the world can I have a pure heart?”
“Isn’t what Jesus is talking about here beyond any person’s accomplishment?”
…because further down the passage in chapter 5v48 Jesus even says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”.
…and we all know we cannot be perfect this side of heaven.
None of us perfectly shows a poverty of spirit.
None of us perfectly mourn over our sins.
None of us are perfectly humble and gentle.
None of us perfectly hunger’s and thirsts after righteousness
None of us are perfectly pure in heart.
It’s like telling a coal miner emerging from underground that his hands and face should be clean.
“So how is it possible?”
“What are we to do?”
Well, there is only one thing we can do.
We must throw ourselves on the grace of God and so receive His renewal in our lives.
We must ask Him to implant the character of His Kingdom in our lives, and if we do this, these qualities will then take root and grow within us though we will never reach absolute perfection in this life.
And here comes that all-important test again.
If the character of the Kingdom is not present in our lives, then we must question whether we are truly believers in Christ or not.
Therefore as we read this Beatitude, “Blessed [approved of God] are the pure in heart”, we must ask ourselves, “Is my heart really clean and do I know anything of this single-hearted devotion to God?”
…and the answer to that question will show us whether we’re Christians or not.
It will show us the state of our spiritual health.
Yes,…God demands from you and me a humanly impossible character,…but then He gives us that character by His grace.
What Is The Reward For Being Pure In Heart?
Our reward is a vision of God Himself.
In other words, when the heart is pure, then the vision of God is clear.
Again like all the other Beatitudes, that little word “they”, is very emphatic, because it means, that they and they alone will see God, - no-one else.
In other words, as you become pure in heart so you will see God more and more and you will see Him continuously.
Helen Keller was once asked a question, “Isn’t it terrible to be blind?”
She responded, “Better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing”.
How and When Do We See God?
a. We See God Now.
Now that does not mean that you actually see God physically, but we do see Him in many other ways.
It’s when you experience seeing God when you read your Bible.
It’s when you read your Bible and the Bible comes alive.
It’s when you see people being healed.
It’s when you see someone coming to Christ.
In other words, we see the mercy of God at work in the lives countless people.
We also see God when we look at His creation.
In Psalm 29v3-4 David writes about watching a thunderstorm and he saw God.
He says of the thunder, “The voice of the Lord echoes from the clouds. The God of glory thunders through the skies. So powerful is his voice; so full of majesty.” (LB).
b. We See God In The Events Of Life.
When Matthew wrote his gospel he used the word “fulfilled” almost a dozen times, showing us that the events of life were and are controlled by God.
Jesus’ birth was the fulfillment of Isaiah 7v14.
His flight to Egypt fulfilled Hosea 11v1.
His growing up in Nazareth fulfilled the promise in the prophets.
In other words, if you and I are in the will of God, if our hearts are singly devoted to Christ, then we too shall see God in the circumstances of life.
John Wesley once said that he read the newspaper to see what God was doing in the world.
Then on a different front, we even see God in the difficulties of life.
Job wrote of his experiences of seeing God in 42v5, “But now I say, ‘I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you,…” (LB).
In other words, life is a window through which we see God, but if we’re not single in our focus on God, then the events of life become a mirror in which you see only yourself.
c. We See God In The Words Of The Bible.
Unlike any other book you might read, the Bible demands preparation of heart if it’s message is to be understood.
The double-mined person will never see God in the Bible.
d. We See God More As We Become More Like Him.
2 Corinthians 3v18 says, “But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.” (LB).
In other words, the purer your heart becomes, the more you will see God in this life.
The more your heart is focused on God, the more you become single-minded toward God, the more you will see Him.
e. We See What God Sees.
When you start to see God you also start to see what God sees, and that humbles us.
It drives us to see ourselves who we really are in the eyes of a holy God.
For instance, Abraham stood and talked with God and called himself, “but dust and ashes”.
Job saw God and said, “I loathe myself and repent in dust and ashes.’ ”
Peter fell down at Jesus’ feet and said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man”.
Paul saw himself as the “chief of sinners”.
Isaiah saw God and said, “Woe to me, for I am undone”.
In other words, spiritual sight leads to spiritual insight about ourselves and what God sees when He looks at me.
Nothing robs the hearts from spiritual vision, as the sin in our lives.
f. We See The Mission Of God.
Seven centuries before the birth of Christ, Isaiah recorded this vision, “The year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord! He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the Temple was filled with his glory. Hovering about him were mighty, six-winged angels of fire. With two of their wings they covered their faces, with two others they covered their feet, and with two they flew. In a great antiphonal chorus they sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is filled with his glory…Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go?” And I said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.” (LB).
In other words, blessed are those people whose hearts are pure enough to see their role in the revival of our land here in South Africa.
A change of heart affects our eyesight.
A change of heart enables you and me to see the world and then see your place in it.
Therefore it seems that seeing God, is a condition for serving God.
g. One Day We Will See Christ Face To Face.
This will be the greatest event in history, but it only comes to those who are pure in heart.
It only comes to those who belong to Christ.
We need to believe like old Job did when he said in Job 19v25-27, “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And I know that after this body has decayed, this body shall see God! Then he will be on my side! Yes, I shall see him, not as a stranger, but as a friend! What a glorious hope!” (LB).
In other words, if we have to look at this Beatitude again, it should read something like this, “Blessed [approved of God] are the pure in heart [those with a clean and unmixed heart for God] for they will [continuously] see God [in this life and in eternity]”.
Conclusion.
Question is, “Is this singleness of focus on God your desire?”
If not, then listen up very carefully.
Remember the story I told you about Anny in the beginning of the sermon?
Well, according to her doctor, such surgical techniques were available as far back as the 1940’s and it could have corrected her problem then already.
In other words, Anny lived 40 years of her 62 sightless years as a blind person without knowing there was a remedy for her illness.
In relation to that story, please hear this and hear it well, “The “technique” for curing spiritual blindness has existed for over 2000 years now.
The procedure is radical and 100% effective, because God is the physician.
You must be born again, because to be pure in heart you must be given a new heart.
In other words, it is the work of the Holy Spirit and you do not see it physically, you only see it’s effects on your life.
So you must trust God’s Word, believe that Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for your sins in full, and then ask God to be your Saviour.
Yes, it’s a miracle and it’s all of God.
It’s free and it is yours if you believe.
The question is, “Do you believe?”
“Will you believe and be born again of the Spirit of God?”
