Blessed are the Pure in Heart (Part 3)

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

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Matthew 5:8 ESV

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

Pure of Heart: Sincerity

Recap

not hypcorisy

Pure of Heart: Integrity

Purity of heart demands biblical integrity both in belief and behaviour

As the pure of heart grow in grace they increasingly recognise ...

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

The challenge: Society promotes relativism (rejection of absolutes), compromise, permissiveness (freedom of behaviour) and situational ethics

Purity of heart means relentlessly seeking to bring every area of life into conformity with God’s Word and Will

Paul instructs ...

Romans 6:12–13 ESV

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

The Christian’s mind (what he thinks), feet (where he goes), eyes (what he sees) and hands (what he does) are all to be ‘instruments of righteousness’.

This is not a burden to the one who is ‘pure in heart’

Thomas Watson ( 2 slides)

The Beatitudes for Today Instruments of Righteousness

Thomas Watson’s words, ‘A pure heart breathes after purity. If God should stretch out the golden sceptre and say to him, “Ask and it shall be given thee, to the half of the kingdom”, he would say, “Lord, a pure heart.” ’

Beatitudes for today - John Blanchard - Example of Augistine

The Beatitudes for Today Instruments of Righteousness

The difference between a pure and an impure heart is well illustrated in the testimony of Augustine. In his Confessions he tells how, as a young man struggling with his emerging sexuality, he prayed, ‘Give me chastity and continency, only not yet’. He confessed to being afraid that God would answer him immediately, whereas at that time he wanted his lust ‘satisfied rather than extinguished’. He was at least being honest in his prayer, but as an unbeliever he was far from pure in heart. Augustine was eventually converted when in his early thirties, and the language of his prayer changed dramatically: ‘Power of my soul, enter into it, and fit it for thee, that thou mightest have and hold it without spot or wrinkle.’ Augustine was still not perfect, but his heart was pure.

David expresses his guilt over the affair with Bathsheba, and the death of her husband

Psalm 5:1–2 ESV

Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.

Adultery and murder were not the only burdens crushing David as he pleaded with God for mercy. Discontent, ingratitude, covetousness, hardness of heart, selfishness, pride, worldliness and unbelief were also on the record against him, and he pleads with God for complete forgiveness.

Psalm 51:10 ESV

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

David was not concerned merely with getting relief from his guilt. He longed to have the wellspring of his thoughts, words and actions purged and sanctified. Merely to pray for forgiveness would have shown an impure heart, one wanting not to get rid of sin but just of sin’s consequences. He longed for inner purity.

The contemporary Christian should have his prayer on their lips ...

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Pure of Heart: Fervency (Passionate Intensity)

For the pure in heart, holiness is a passion not a pass time

Not satified with

Purity of Doctrine

Purity as a Philosophy

Acceotable outward behaviour

Feverently focused on glorifying God in every part of life

Ryle quote (3 x slides)

The Beatitudes for Today Growing in Grace

J C Ryle puts it well: ‘A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives or whether he dies; whether he has health or whether he has sickness; whether he is rich or whether he is poor; whether he pleases man or gives offence; whether he is thought wise or whether he is thought foolish; whether he gets blame or whether he gets praise; whether he gets honour or whether he gets praise; for all this the zealous man cares nothing all. He burns for one thing … and that one thing is to please God and to advance God’s glory.’

Holiness

No body drifts into it

Nor can it be “claimed by faith”

nor achieved through some climatic spiritual experience

True Christian Experience (Jonathan Edwards - Rival 1734)

Overwhelming consciousness of the presence of a Holy God

Led to deep feelings and expressions of personal unworthiness and sinfulness

Led many to expressions of deep contrition and repentance, and pleading with God for the assurance of His forgiveness

They experienced a wonderful assurance of forgiveness and acceptance of God

Leading to a deep desire to be holy

Psalm 119:104 ESV

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

Paul’s instruction

1 Thessalonians 5:22 ESV

Abstain from every form of evil.

Puritans “darling sins” - the sin we cling to

Thomas Watson wrote “A godly man will not indulge himself in this darling sin. He takes the sacrificing knife of mortification--and runs it through his dearest sin! "I was also upright before Him, and kept myself from my iniquity." [Psalm 18:23] An upright heart is not only angry with sin, but hates sin! If he sees this serpent creeping into his bosom, the nearer it is, the more he hates it!”

All sin, every sin is to be hated, loathed, not least in that the realisation that it was that crucified the Son of God

The Beatitudes for Today Growing in Grace

John Owen writes, ‘I do not understand how a man can be a true believer unto whom sin is not the greatest burden, sorrow and trouble.’

Holiness requires a relentless pursuit of purity

Hebrews 12:14 ESV

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

John Owen: ‘Let not men deceive themselves. Sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary unto those who will be under the conduct of the Lord Christ unto salvation. He leads none to heaven but whom he sanctifies on earth.’

A believer seeks to make diligent use of the means of Grace which God has provided for their spiritual growth.

Psalm 119:9 ESV

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Psalm 119:11 ESV

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

The Beatitudes for Today Growing in Grace

Matthew Henry says, ‘We love God as much as we love his Word.’

The pure of heart … Pray

1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV

pray without ceasing,

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

There was never a man of purity or spirirtual power who was not first a man of prayer

The Beatitudes for Today Growing in Grace

the eighteenth-century preacher Octavius Winslow put it, ‘Prayer is the pulse of the renewed soul and the constancy of its beat is the test and measure of the spiritual life.’

Paul urged Timothy

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

One of the most powerful stimulations and sources of strength we can receive is found spending time in the company of those whose throughts gravitate towards spirirtual things, and whose sole concern is to ....

2 Peter 3:18 ESV

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

If you are not growing in your faith and purity of your heart then consider in whose company do you spend and desire to spend most of your time?

Seeing God

We will not see Giod in person in this life. We will be able to in eternity.

John 1:18 ESV

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

“See God” at our conversion

We can though lay hold of the promises...

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers. God will reveal himself.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

When we seek God with sincerely, integrity and intensity we will find Him (“see” him).

John 14:9 ESV

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

“See God” in Creation

Nehemiah 9:6 ESV

“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

The minds of the pure in heart are not cluttered with confusion

Richard Dawkins “blind physical forces and genetic replication” that has “no design, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference” and “life is just bytes and bytes and bytes of digital information”

“See God” in the unfolding of world history

Psalm 22:28 ESV

For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

Oliver Cromwell: ‘What are all histories but God manifesting himself?’

“See God” in Scripture

1 Peter 1:23 ESV

since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Augustine: they see the Bible as ‘a volume of letters from the heavenly country’

“See God” in Prayer

2 Timothy 2:22 ESV

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Proverbs 15:29 ESV

The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

George Müller testified, ‘I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk about, when I lie down and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming.’

What a contrast to the person whose prayers are described by William Barclay as ‘a walking civil war in which trust and distrust of God wage a continual battle against each other’ and whose prayers are riddled with double-minded doubts.

Unbelievers ....

James 1:7 ESV

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

“See God” in their Christian Service

They serve God with genuine humility, not seeking to enhance their own reputations

Knowing even if tangible results are absent or insignificant they can rest in God’s promise

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

When God does bless their work, the pure in heart give Him all the Glory (taking none of the credit)

“See God” in all of life’s circumstances

1 Samuel 2:6–7 ESV

The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

British preacher G Campbell Morgan, ‘The man who measures things by the circumstances of the hour is filled with fear; the man who sees Jehovah enthroned and governing has no panic.’

“See God” in trial and adversity

Trusting in God - who is in control of everything

Moses:

Hebrews 11:27 ESV

By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Moses look to God in uncluttered faith, and was given the courage, strength, and determination to overcome every obstacle.

Puritan preacher Thomas Brooks, ‘A gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud and see God smiling on him.’

Face to Face with God

Assurance of faith (Blessed are)

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Proverbs 4:18 ESV

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

Exhilerating truth has rejoiced in the hearts of God’s people for thousands of years and made them long for the when they would enter God’s glorious presence.

David provided an example...

Psalm 17:15 ESV

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

Revelation 22:4–5 ESV

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

When pondering if we will see the God with the “naked eye”....

Martyn Lloyd-Jones agrees: ‘We just do not know. The very Being of God is so transcendent and eternal that all our efforts to arrive at an understanding are doomed at the very outset to failure.’

Paul declared...

Romans 15:13 ESV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

The Beatitudes for Today Face to Face

If we sense his presence, power and love so deeply here, how much more must we do so there? If worshipping and serving God can be such a delight now, what must these be like then? If there is ‘joy and peace in believing’ (Romans 15:13), how much greater will these be in seeing? In heaven, the blessedness of the pure in heart in seeing God will be utterly beyond anything we can presently imagine or describe.

John share the promise...

1 John 3:2 ESV

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Peter Jackson (2 slides)

The Beatitudes for Today Face to Face

Peter Jackson—pastor, preacher, and gospel pianist extraordinary—was blinded through measles when he was just eighteen months old. He knows that God could restore his sight immediately, and he would no doubt rejoice in the blessings that would follow, but nevertheless delights to say, ‘If I remain as I am, the next person I see will be my Saviour.’ Could any vision be greater than that?

In this life, God’s people are graduallually … being transformed

2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

In seeing their Saviour, the pure in heart will be made perfectly happy by being made perfectly holy. They will have no frustrated ambitions, no unfulfilled longings, no unsatisfied desires.

The Beatitudes for Today Face to Face

Thomas Watson’s words, ‘The saints shall have their heads so full of knowledge and their hearts so full of joy that they shall find no want … We shall never be weary of seeing God, for, the divine essence being infinite, there shall be every moment new and fresh delights springing forth from God into the glorified soul … The more the saints behold God the more they will be ravished with desire and delight.’

Hymn - FOR THE CAUSE (1265)

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