Blessed Are The Pure In Heart

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God

Pure means unadulterated, without corruption, blameless, sincere, unstained with guilt.

Is this talking about sinless perfection?

Could this really be saying, Happy and blessed are those who’s hearts are without sin?

The blameless shall see God?

ONLY in light of the redeeming work of Christ, the GOSPEL, because to be born again by the Spirit is to be a new person altogether and to have the imputed righteousness of Christ as our justification.

To pause on an important doctrine for a moment...

It is this doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Jesus that argues for the total depravity, and total inability of saving ourselves by human works or effort, and therefore, if someone is to be forgiven and justified before God, it CANNOT happen without a miraculous transaction in which righteousness is given to the sinner.

When imputed righteousness was completed in you, the Christian who has trusted in Christ, the righteousness that was given is now nothing less than YOUR righteousness.

It is not imparted righteousness. It is not infused righteousness - both of which would imply a partial work.

In the same way that the sin and guilt of Adam is carried through the gene pool, and their guilt is considered our guilt from Birth…We need the perfection, purity, and righteousness of the second Adam, as Jesus Christ is called, the perfect man, to be imputed to us.! And how is this done? It is by repentance from sin and faith in Jesus. GLORIOUS!

Romans 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,

Romans 5:19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

SO, that makes sense as an interpretation. The happiest people on earth are those who’s sins are forgiven and have been brought into a relationship with God.

Blessed are those with purified hearts, for they see God!

Psalm 24:3-4 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

So we have seen that the pureness of heart that we need comes from the imputed righteousness of Christ and his pure record, but The Bible also speaks of this purifying work in an incredible surgical manner.

Because the heart without Christ is in such a state that nothing short of the surgical hand of God could bring about the change necessary for us to see God and be satisfied.

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

Ezekiel 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

This is the sovereign work of grace upon a sinner being drawn to salvation. And the resulting life is one of surrender, satisfaction, and new sight.

Let’s think about the word “see” for just a moment.

In the original language it’s a broader meaning than just physical sight.

It can mean that, but it also means to see with the mind, be aware, perceive, and pay attention to.

Humans are able to know God, to be aware, to experience, and to really see Him.

Consider the experience of Adam and Eve once again.

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

They saw more clearly than any of us ever have because they once walked in the presence of God in perfection of body, soul, and spirit.

But that changed when they chose to receive from Satan what God never offered them.

God conceals from us what is not good for us. That’s love.

Satan flaunts and exaggerates the things that will hurt and destroy us.

In this fallen world affected by sin, the natural man sees, wants and takes what is right in front of his eyes, only to destroy his soul.

This natural man cannot see God due to spiritual blindness, until God lifts the scales from the eyes.

To the pure in heart, the world is full of what God has made, His beauty, His design. To the corrupt in heart, God is of no concern.

How you interpret what you see is related to the condition of your heart…the inner most part of your soul.

It’s not what goes into a person the defiles, but what comes out.

.

Jesus said in Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

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Let’s consider another layer of this for some application.

In the beatitudes we’ve been thinking consistently about an inner work of God that is manifested outwardly in God’s people…the people of His Kingdom.

What is this outward purity.

Well, another way to translate this word for purity is to think of it as more of an undivided heart in devotion and commitment to God. This is the person with a singleness of mind toward Jesus Christ.

Pure in motives, and pure in action.

Having been cleaned through faith in the Gospel, healed of spiritual blindness, we can see God in everything, and therefore we can walk in purity before Him and others.

Church, we need God ever before our eyes.

Is God ever before your eyes?

Let me share three areas where you can check your heart today. What good is learning and talking about pureness of heart by the power of the life-changing Gospel if there is no challenge to living it out?

1. The pure in heart see God in nature...

purpose of it?

stars?

storms?

beasts?

Mountains?

2. The pure in heart see God in Scripture...

purpose?

“The impure mind cannot see a trace of God in the bible.”

doubts often, and believes little...

The pure see God in the pages of Scripture, and are like the psalmist

Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

3. The pure in heart see God in the church...

what is the church of God?

is God there?

Gathering?

Worship?

Do you see family there?

If you cannot see what I’m talking about, this is not proof that there’s nothing there…only that you can’t see while others can.

So, how can we respond and pray accordingly?

Do you need cleansing?

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Looking to God who created the heavens and earth, can he not sanctify your heart today of any sin, deceptiveness that you’ve walked in?

God can purify the most vile man or woman with a single word of grace and love.

Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

We are looking back on the work of Jesus on the cross for all the assurance needed to draw near to him today. Dirty conscience? Stained with guilt? DEALT with at the cross. SO we draw near in Christ’s name, believing and holding to his cleansing power.

James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Do you notice common theme in the scriptures when it comes to purity?

Purity is linked to the presence of God. This is the mystery of the Gospel revealed in Jesus Christ. Sinners can draw near to God because God drew near to us. God became man, suffered the cross for the cleansing of sinners, and through faith we can see God.

2 stanzas of this famous Hymn

There is a fountain filled with blood   Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,   Lose all their guilty stains:

The dying thief rejoiced to see   That fountain in his day; And there may I, though vile as he,   Wash all my sins away:

I want to leave you there, thinking of that fountain this morning…the pure and spotless Christ who makes guilty sinners pure and new through faith.

The pure in heart are the ones who see God in this life, but not only this…the pure in heart, pure because of Jesus, will see God face to face in the eternal state, and will be happy for eternity.