Sermon 8: Blessed are the Pure in Heart: Matthew 5:8

Matthew 5:1-8

“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God…”

Summary: The following portion of the sermon on the mount reminds us that the blessed people who will one day see God are a people who are distinguished from the world as those who are pure in heart.

Proposition: God wants us to understand this reality and live consistent with our position in Christ.

Illustration: Two kinds of trees

· A Christmas tree is dead but beautifully decorated.

· A healthy fruit tree is living a filled with fruit that is consistent with its nature.

· A Christmas tree has qualities that are similar to man-made religion:It is dead, decorated externally, having the appearance of life, and set up to be viewed.

· A fruit tree has qualities that are similar to real Christianity:It is living, it produces fruit that begets life, it radiates its health and nature, and it is planted to sustain and reproduce life.

Part 1: Understanding Christ’s statement:

The details:

The realm of focus: It is the “heart”

Intellect: The way we think

Emotions: The way our thinking moves us internally

Will: What we desire and ultimately chose to do

The disposition of that realm: It is “pure”

It’s not tainted: The heart thinks and is driven according to God’s design.

Psalm 32:2 “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile…”

1 Timothy 1:5 “The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned…”

2 Timothy 1:5 “I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice…”

1 Peter 1:22 “See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently…”

It’s not divided: The heart does not have a dual allegiance.

Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon…”

James 1:6-9 “He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways…”

1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him…”

It’s not hypocritical:What we see externally is an accurate reflection of what is within. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”

23:13 “Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves…”

23:14 “Ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer…”

23:15 “Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves…”

23:23 “Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith…”

23:25 “Ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess…”

23:27 “Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness…”

23:29 “Ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous…”

The future privilege of those who possess this quality: “They shall see God”

This is a future reality guaranteed based upon the promise of God.

It is something we cannot fully grasp:

There are scriptures that state explicitly no man has seen God:

John 1:18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him…”

1 John 4:12 “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us…”

There are other scriptures that affirm there are people who have seen God is some sense:

The children of Israel saw God’s glory for a distance: Exodus 24:16-18 “And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights…”

Moses saw God’s glory to a greater degree than the nation, yet his ability to see God was also limited: Exodus 33:18-23 “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen…”

Isaiah also experienced a limited view of God in His glory: Isaiah 6:1-5 “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts…”

Most likely, he is saying that any revelation we have of God in this life is limited or veiled, but one day we will see Him as He is in all His glory:

1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known…”

Matthew 17:1-2 “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light…”

2 Corinthians 12:2-4 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter…”

One day we will see God as He is:

Revelation 21:1-7 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son…”

Part 2: Understanding why the statement is so shocking:

A biblical understanding of the human heart:

Isaiah 64:6 “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away…”

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Romans 3:10-18 “There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God…18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Romans 8:7-8 “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God…”

A biblical understanding of God’s holiness:

Psalm 96:9 “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth…”

Revelation 21:7-8, 27 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son…8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death…27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life…”

Psalm 113:4-6 “The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!”

A biblical understanding of the gospel:

God awakens sinners to their desperate plight: John 16:8-11 “When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged…”

He provided a basis in Himself to reconcile sinful people to Himself: Romans 5:6-10 “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son…”

He reminds His children that Christ’s sacrifice stands forever to keep us secure before Him: Romans 8:31-34 “If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us…”

Part 3: Putting these pieces together:

1 John 3:1-3 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure…”

Key implications:

There is a clear distinction between the world and Christian: 3:1-2 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not…”

We are God’s children now: 3:2“now are we the sons of God…”

We are not yet what we shall be in the practical sense: 3:2 “and it doth not yet appear what we shall be…”

One day we will be like Him: 3:2“But we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him…”

One day we will see Him as He is: 3:2“For we shall see him as he is…”

Those who have this hope take walking in holiness seriously: 3:3 “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure…”

Living in the light of this truth:

We should be sobered by the brokenness of fallen humanity.

We should be overwhelmed by the goodness of God.

We should be grateful for the way God has dealt with our sin.

We should be distinct in the way we live our life in Christ.

We should rejoice in our future privilege.