The Pure in Heart
Notes
Transcript
Jesus sermon has had quiet a beginning. So far we have poor, weeping, humble sinners being filled with the righteousness of God. These sinners have now been transformed into merciful servants of God. In this verse Jesus continues His description of kingdom people by calling them the “pure in heart”. This beatitude may be the most perplexing so far. One can understand how to be poor in spirit, mournful, meek, and hungry for righteousness. Possibly one could even understand what it was like to be merciful. But who could comprehend what it means to be pure in heart? Proverbs 20:9 says “Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” This is easily the hardest thing Jesus has said so far in this sermon.
I view this verse as one of the most profound in the entire Bible. My reasoning is simple. I can think of no two things man desires more than the two mentioned in this verse. Man desires to be perfect. Even the unconverted man desires to be perfect. The uneducated man wants to be perfect. The unreached people living in places the gospel has never been desire to be perfect. Perfection is a universal desire that all of humanity yearns for.
Man desires to see God. The innumerable amount of religions in the world proves this. Since creation man has had the desire to see God. Some desire to see Him out of curiosity others out of love, but no one would refuse to look at a photograph of Him if it were offered. This beatitude speaks to the two great desires of man: perfection and seeing God.
The natural man has a wicked heart. This statement does not go over well in our culture. We are taught that we are all good at heart but sometimes people ignore what their heart says and do bad things. That idea could not be any more further from the truth.
The heart has been described in many ways. One of the most common definitions is “the heart is the seat of the emotions”. This is true, but the heart is more than that. The Bible teaches us that the heart is not only related to our emotions, it is also related to our thinking process.
Our heart governs our actions. Proverbs 23:7
Our heart thinks evil thoughts. Matt 9:4
Our heart devises plans to sin and these plans defile us. Matt. 15:18-19
Our heart is to blame for both our sinful thoughts and actions. Mark 7:21
This is what makes purity so difficult. It is not enough that we simply do not indulge in the act of sin. If we really want to be pure we cannot even entertain evil thoughts. Jesus will expound on this in verses 21-30.
The thoughts and actions are set on sin because of our heart. Listen to what the Scripture says about the unsaved person’s heart.
*It is continually evil. Gen. 6:5
*It is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Jer. 17:9
*It is foolish and darkened. Rom. 1:21
The only way a person can be pure in heart is to receive a new heart. That is exactly what happens when a person comes to know Christ. To be born again means to be changed from within. Ezekiel promised a new covenant where God said “A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ez. 36:26). The cry of the unsaved man is “Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). Kingdom people have had their heart of stone replaced with a pure heart.
Kingdom people strive to live in purity before God. We are pure because God has made us pure. God alone possesses purity in Himself therefore only God can grant purity. While we possess purity positionally speaking, there is still a process that we endure to become more pure in our actions and thoughts. The process of purification can also be known as sanctification. 1 John 3:3 says “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure.” The pure righteousness of God within us transforms us into a more practically pure person as we practice righteousness. How does this happen?
* God is the priority of the believer. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all that we have. The Psalmist said in 27:8 “When Thou sadist seek my face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face LORD will I seek.” The unredeemed heart would have rebelled against the commandment to seek the face of God. The pure heart joyfully obeys the command to seek the face of God. The flesh will battle against this new nature. It will seek to make self the priority. The new redeemed heart of God within us, however, will continue to desire God. It will counter the lust of the flesh with the lust of the spirit. The pure heart will cry out to have God as its priority.
* Sin is disgusting to the believer. The deepest desire of a kingdom person is holiness. The kingdom person knows that without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). Therefore, the desire to be pure and to see God is inseparably linked. The believer continues to live in purity because of a hatred of sin. This does not mean that he does not struggle with sin, it simply means he does not enjoy it. Sin makes the believer feel terrible personally, it grieves the heart of God, and it keeps him from bringing more glory to the One he loves.
*Integrity is more important than action to the believer. Action is important but motive is more important. The believer checks his heart more than his actions. It is not enough for him to be faithful to his wife; he must also make sure he is not lusting in his heart. It is not enough for her to be kind to someone, she must also be sure she has forgiven that person for hurting her. It is not enough for them to serve in the church; they must also delight in that service in their hearts.
These three basic truths keep the redeemed person on the road of purity.
Kingdom people will see God. The person who is pure in heart is single-minded. He looks forward to the day that he will see God. It is the holiness of God that makes Him so appealing to us (Ps. 27:4, 29:2). An impure heart runs from God (John 3:20) a pure heart runs to God. There are two ways that the believer will see God.
*The believer sees God presently. That is, we perceive Him as He truly is. We comprehend Him. The natural man cannot see nor can he understand the things of God (John 3:3, 1 Cor. 2:14). Therefore, he certainly cannot see God Himself. The believers’ spiritual eyes have been opened. We see God in the person Christ Jesus. We have seen His character, His ways, and His heart. We know God at this present time (John 17:3).
*The believer will see God in the future. It is true that everyone will see God (Rev. 1:7). However, the impure will only see part of God. They will see Him in His wrath. Believers will see God in His fullness. This has never been done by anyone on earth since the Garden of Eden. Moses saw part of the Lord, the prophets saw visions of God, a generation saw the incarnate Jesus. We are looking for the day when we will see the fullness of God. On that day we will fall before Him in adoration and humility. We will eternally sing the praises of His holiness.
Do we really want to see God? Is there a longing within us to dwell in His presence? If so, we will live with a single-minded heart of purity. Is our heart pure? Is it seeking that which is pure? Only the pure in heart will receive the great privilege of seeing God in all of His fullness (Psalm 24:3-5).