The Sermon on the Mount (6)
Notes
Transcript
Today we are going to be in verse 8, we are going to be talking about purity and vision. remember when we started the Sermon on the Mount I mentioned there similarity to the 10 Commandments in their structure. Some of them deal with our relationships to man and some of them with our relationship to God. these are the characteristics of someone living the true Kingdom life. How important is your sight? Can you imagine not being able to see the beauty of a sunrise or a sunset, not being able to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. The vision we are talking about today is far greater than our physical sight.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Pure
Pure
Pure means unmixed with any other matter—free from contamination. In Scripture it means moral cleanness, purity, it implies the absence of impurity or filth, and it implies a singleness of purpose without distraction.
Psalm 24:3–4 (ESV)
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 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.
Perhaps this is the question Jesus had in mind when He made His statement in verse 8. Only those with a pure heart can stand, but the question we ask is how can we have a pure heart, what can we do to purify our own heart—absolutely nothing. We may try to clean ourselves up, make a few changes to our lives, but we are still filthy on the inside. Clean outside of glass partially
25 And I will sprinkle on you pure water, and you will be clean from all of your uncleanness, and I will cleanse you from all of your idols. 26 And I will give a new heart to you, and a new spirit I will give into your inner parts, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give to you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will give my spirit into your inner parts, and I will make it so that you will go in my rules, and my regulations you will remember, and you will do them.
It is God who can truly make us pure. He gives us what we need to be pure in heart, He gives us a new heart. He is the only one who can accomplish this. He cleans us from the inside out, because it is not about the external but about the internal.
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
It is about what is in ones heart that God is concerned with. Look at our jar it is somewhat clean on the outside but still dirty on the inside. That is the point Jesus is making here, if our housekeeper is not God then it only looks good on the outside, we must be cleansed from the inside by God. In order for us to be pure in heart, we must have a relationship with Christ, he is the only one who can give us a pure heart. The pure in heart also means one who’s loyalties and devotion to God are not mixed or divided. It is a heart of singleness in devotion to God, undivided pure devotion. our single focus is to be on God. We must keep in mind that in the Bible the heart was the center of our entire being, it is all of our everything—thoughts, emotions, and our will. We are to be devoted to God with all of our everything. Martin Lloyd Jones puts it this way “Blessed are those who are pure, not only on the surface but in the center of their being and at the source of every activity” We must realize it is from the heart that all our human problems come, Jeremiah 17:9 “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick”. Jesus tells us in Mark 7:15 that it is not what is outside a person that defiles them, but what comes from the inside, from the heart. It is about our hearts, and God is the only one who can change our hearts and give us a pure heart. Clean inside of jar
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“for they shall see God” there are a lot of things in Scripture that we get a small taste of now and a much fuller complete taste in the future, and this is one of those things, “for the pure in heart” they shall see God. We experience part of this now. we see God in the here and now. Helen Keller made this comment when someone said to her “isn’t it terrible to be blind” Keller's response was this “Better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing”. We obviously do not see Him in His total being, because we could not handle that, He is holy and we are sinful. But there are many ways in which we see Him. God’s word is one of those ways, when God opens our eyes His word is alive and He reveals Himself to us, we see Him with 20/20 vision. We see Him in His creation, you can see the handy work of God all around us, and that allows us to see Him. We see him in life events, even in the difficult ones. Job said this “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you” Job 42:5. Seeing God, truly seeing Him also causes us to be more like Him. 2 Cor.
18 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.
One commentator puts it like this “Blessed (approved by God) are the pure in heart (those with a clean unmixed heart for God), for they shall (continuously) see God (in life and eternity)”. I want to make one thing very clear, you must be born again to be pure in heart, you must be given a new heart. Jesus told Nicodemus it is a work of the Holy Spirit, you do not see His work, just as you do not see the wind, but only it’s effects. I must do everything I can and still realize it is not enough: only God can make my heart pure. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Immersion and interaction with God’s word will purify. Meditating on ti day and night, ruminating on it as a cow chews their cud, mulling it over and over.
The Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount
Being changed from the inside out, given a new pure heart at our rebirth. It is an understanding that it is about what Christ has done. Are we living the kingdom life the King calls us to, are we living the Beatitudes every single day. A.W. Tozer said “Any movement towards Christ is ascent, any direction away from Him is down” Are we striving to move towards Christ each and every moment, so that we can see Him now and one day in that glorious moment when we look directly into our Savior’s eyes, face to face with the one who paid the price for all our sins. What a wonderful day that will be.
