“Being Pure In Heart”
Matt 5:8
There are only two kinds of religion in the world – and only two. One is the religion of human achievement, which the belief that you earn your own way. This is the belief that somehow one can make them-selves acceptable to God. It is the belief that there is some good thing one can do, some rules that can be kept, some ritual that can be observed, something that will make things right with God.
The other kind of religion is the religion of divine accomplishment that says, "I can't do it. God did it for me in Christ." Every religion of the world fits into one of those two categories. So take your pick. But it must be remembered that the religion of human achievement is Satan's lie.
The psalmist spoke of man’s desire to approach God in Psalm 24:3-5. "Who shall ascend to into the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, and who hast not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not swore deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation." The Psalmist was asking the question, “How can one be worthy of standing in God’s presence?” David in Psalms 51:10 gives us the answer, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” David knew two things; first without a clean heart there was no possibility of ever being able to see God and secondly, this was not something he was able to do for himself.
With all that being said we need to understand that when Jesus spoke the Beatitude revealed in verse eight, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" He was really answering the question that is on every one’s mind.
We have in the last few weeks talked about Israel’s political situation under Roman rule and why they so desperate looked for a Messiah to deliver them. What this Beatitude does is touch on the spiritual reality of the people. The Jews were living under a repressive legalistic faith. God had given them Ten Commandments but the leading religious leaders (the Pharisees) had turned the Ten Commandments into a complex set of 600 laws that was a burden that no one could keep. If completely keeping the law was what was required to get into the Kingdom of Heaven every honest person knew they would never make it! So the people were not only looking for a political Savior, they were looking for a redeemer who could lift their unrelenting burden of sin and guilt.
In Luke 10:25 we read “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" That was the question on every one’s mind. What is the standard? It is the same question the Nicodemus had when he approached Jesus is John 3. It was the question of all those who had gathered on the hillside to hear Jesus preach His “Sermon on the Mount.” They had one great question, “What must I do? How can I make myself accept-able to God?”
This Beatitude, more than any single other, answers that question. Jesus sets out to explain to them that it is not a matter of human achievement. It is not attained by keeping a set of ceremonial rituals. In this message we will explore four things about purity!
First, The Meaning Of Purity.
So what does Jesus mean when He spoke of purity of heart? What does “pure” really mean? Does is mean perfect? If so we are in real trouble. Who among us has a perfect heart? The English word “purity” is (katharos) a form of the word we get catharsis .The word that is translated "pure" has two basic meanings: to make pure by cleansing and unmixed or undiluted.
So then first, the “pure” are those who have been cleansed. So the pure in heart are those who come to Jesus in recognition of their sins and who have received forgiveness and been cleansed of their sins. The pure in heart are those who have been cleansed. This purity can not be attributed to any human effort, but rather through the experience of a new birth.
But secondly “pure” means unmixed or undiluted. William Barclay tells us that the Greek word was used to describe clear water or of metal with the impurities removed or of grain that has had the chaff removed or of feelings that were unmixed. [Barclay p. ? Hughes] So purity in this sense means, having a heart that is unmixed with devotion to anything or any person other than God. Yet double-mindedness has always been one of the great plagues of the church. The trouble with us is our divided heart. One part of me wants to know God and worship God and please God; but another part wants things my own way. Paul expressed it well in Romans 7 when said there was a continuous war, one in which he finds the will to do right is present in him but the difficulty is in carrying that out. (Roman 7:15-18).
Purity of heart in this sense is singleness of heart, as opposed to the divided heart. The pure in heart are those who single-minded goal is to please and glorify God.
Having noted the meaning of purity we turn to….
Secondly, The Focus Of Purity - The Heart
The word translated heart (kardia) is the word we get cardiac and other similar medical terms. It is not surprising then that today when we speak of the heart we usually are thinking of the physical organ that pumps blood through our body.
Since heart disease is the single leading cause of death in America today, we are naturally concerned about the heart. A bad physical heart can kill you but a bad spiritual heart can send you to Hell.
But in a biblical context, the heart has a much broader perspective. The Bible speaks of the heart in three different connotations; the human emotions (John 14:1 & Nehemiah 2:2), the human intellect (Mark 2:8 & Hebrews 4:12), and the human will (Daniel 1:8). But all of these references view the heart as being the seat of character. Thus the proverb "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverb 4:23).
Our human heart is and always has been the source of all our trouble. In truth the human heart has not changed for the better since sin entrance in the Garden of Eden. By the time of Noah things had degraded to such a point God said that the wickedness of man was so great “that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) Hundreds of years later the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah warned, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked…” (Jeremiah 17:9)
Jesus Himself said, that “…out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matt 15:18-19)
Jesus said the contrast is found in nature of one’s heart, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)
These verses hammer home the truth that the heart is the center of spiritual life. The question that demands our attention is: Can the heart be changed??? The answer is YES!
The focus of demand for purity is the human heart and …
Third, The Pathway To Purity.
If we are to have the purity of heart that God desires we must …
• Admit our Impurity
First we must recognize and admit the impurity of our heart. God is after a changed heart. But how? (Proverbs 20:9) “Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin"? The answer of course is no one can! And once we have admitted our need the looming question is, “What now? How can I ever accomplish this?” And the answer is, “It is beyond our reach.” Then what are we to do? There is but one answer. We must cast ourselves on the grace of God and ask him to do what we cannot
But to admit that only God can make your heart pure is not to suggest that you become passive about the matter. Or as Martyn Lloyd Jones suggest it “…does not mean that I should walk through the gutters of life waiting for God to cleanse me.” [D. Martyn Lloyd Jones. p. 116]
Perhaps at this point I should make the point between positional purity and practical purity. When you repent of your sins, pray and ask for forgiveness you gain positional purity. From the moment of salvation the believer has positional purity. That means that God now sees you through the shed blood of Christ. Our position before God is based on our relationship with Christ and is one of purity.
The believer receives a pure heart through acceptance of Jesus – that is positional purity. But the hard part when it comes to purity is practical purity. You knew there was going to be a hard part, right?
Each believer is personally responsible for maintaining the purity of their heart. Paul writing to the church at Corinth says, “let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1 - NIV)
• Pray for Purity
David knew how impure his heart was when he thought back to his mistakes and sexual sins. After confessing to God he prayed in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” John Piper writes, “Jesus did not come into this world simply because we had some bad habits that needed to be broken. He came into this world because we have dirty hearts that need to be purified.” [John Piper. “Blessed Are the Pure In Heart.” www.desiringod.org/resources]
• Apply the Word of God, Daily.
Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young man cleanse his way (keep his way pure)? By taking heed according to Your word.” In Ephesians 5:26 the Apostle Paul tells us that God plans to make His church holy by the washing with water through the word. God’s word will make you pure and holy.
Water can make you clean, but not until you apply it in either the bathtub or the shower. In the same way the word of God can purify your heart but you’ve got to take a bath daily in the water of the word. Some-one said it works like this. “It you take a five gallon jug and pour it out on a wicker basket every day. You won’t have much water in the basket … but you will have a clean basket.” So it is with the Word of God. Take a bath in the Bible every day and you will soon have a pure heart.
Having seen the Pathway to Purity we move to…
Fourth, The Reward Of Purity
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"
Warren Weirsbe says, “The highest joy of man comes from cultivating the deepest part of man, the heart. When the heart is pure, then the vision is clear, and a man will see God." [Warren Weirsbe. “Live Like A King: Develop-ing A Royal Lifestyle From the Beatitudes.” (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1995) p. 138]
So How Do We See God?
• We See God Now.
There are a number of ways that the believer is able in the present see a partial fulfillment of this promise to see God.
We See God In His Creation.
In the first chapter of Romans the Apostle Paul says the that hardness of men’s hearts is revealed in their unwillingness to recognize that God is revealed in the handwork of His creation (Romans 1:18-21). The Psalmist said, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork." (Psalm 19:1)
We See God In Our Circumstances.
As we look at the history of our world we see God at work. We also see God at work in our daily lives, especially as we look backwards. As we look backwards in our lives and have the benefit of hindsight we see that life is not a series of accidents, for the Child of God it is a series of divine appointments.
We See God In His Word.
Perhaps one of the first things you noticed after we were saved was how much better you understood the Bible. Paul reminds believers the truth of God’s word is “spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
• We See More of God.
This is a promise that is continuously being fulfilled in the present. This experience of seeing God through the eyes of the heart is not a momentary thing; it is constant and growing. The Greek here is future continuous tense - in other words "They shall be continually seeing God for themselves." The Apostle Paul wrote, “ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
The eyes see what the heart loves. If the heart loves God and is single in this devotion; then the eyes will see God at work whether others see him or not.
• We See God Ultimately.
Yet all that we have discussed concerning seeing God is nothing in comparison to that which is to come. The ultimate of seeing for the believer will be when our faith becomes sight. When we will receive the fulfill-ment of the promise that Jesus made to his disciples in John 14 where Jesus said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” - (John 14:3) I have always loved that promise because what it literally means when He says He will “receive you to Myself” means literally “face to face."
The Apostle Paul speaks of this when he wrote,
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) John wrote to the church with promise, “…when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2)
Conclusion
The overriding consideration for achieving purity of heart for the Christian seems to being “unmixed” in having no double allegiance. Warren Wierbse writes that the “basic idea is that of integrity, singleness of heart, as opposed to duplicity or a divided heart.” God longs to locate people who have undivided hearts. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal (or fully committed) to Him.”
When we get all the divided loyalties out of our lives we begin to see things more clearly. When we get our hearts fixed on the Lord it will resolve so many things that cause stress in our lives. Stress comes when we have to make decisions among many conflicting interest. When the believer fixes their heart on the Lord many decisions will automatically be made. We no longer have to make a decision about whether we are going to church on Sunday morning, or whether we are going to tithe or what we will do when we are placed in a compromising position. When we make the Lord the primary focus of our hearts those decisions are made. That is what it means to be pure in heart!
Paul Thigpen writes: “Unfortunately sin has blinded us, leaving our spiritual eyes swollen shut. Unable to see God, we grope in the darkness, searching desperately for someone or something to make us happy…our heart is splintered and scattered. We run to and fro, gathering first this trinket, then that one, dropping both for the next shiny one we spy…the result is a civil war of the soul. All the while our Father stands close by, waiting for us to turn around and run into His arms…if our vision of God is to grow wider, clearer, and brighter, our will must be united in a single focus on Him and an overriding desire to know and love Him.” (Paul Thigpen. “Discipleship Journal” Issue 138, pp. 64-65).
“Being Pure In Heart”
Matt 5:8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"
First, The ______________ Of Purity.
Secondly, The _____________ Of Purity - The Heart (kardia)
Biblical context of the human heart,
___________________ (John 14:1 & Nehemiah 2:2)
____________________ (Mark 2:8 & Hebrews 4:12)
_____________ (Daniel 1:8).
God is after a changed heart. But how?
Third, The Pathway To Purity.
• _____________ our Impurity (Proverbs 20:9)
• _____________ for Purity(Psalm 51:10)
Positional purity – attained through being ___________
Practical purity – believer’s personal __________________
• Apply the ___________ of God, Daily. (Ps.119:9, Eph.5:26)
Fourth, The _________________ Of Purity
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"
How Do We See God
• We See God ________.
We See God In His ____________ (Psalm 19:1)
We See God In Our ______________________
We See God In His ____________(1 Cor. 2:14)
• We See _______________ of God. (2 Cor. 3:18)
• We God______________ (1 Cor. 13:12, 1 John 3:2, John 14:3)
