"Bless Are the Pure in Heart" Matthew 5: 1-8 (CSB)

When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to teach them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Introduction: Matthew who carefully lays out the pattern of his gospel shows us Jesus instructing his disciples that he had carefully chosen. He sat down and opened his heart and pour out mind to the disciples having a heart-to-heart communion with them. He gives them this message which they are to follow and to take it to other people. The sermon was the ordination message for these newly appointed disciples before they would go forward in their calling in His name. This message, the sermon on the mount is the essence of the teachings of Jesus. The beatitudes—is a summary of all the sermons that Jesus would ever preach.

Scriptural Text: Today, as we look at the sixth beatitude in Matt. 5: 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Jesus explains this it in Matt. 22:37 The purity of heart is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. He is concerned with our heart. It is not enough to clean up our act on the outside. It is written in Matt. 23: 25-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity (aggressive greed). You blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside also may be clean. The aim of Jesus Christ is not to reform the manners of society, but to change the hearts of sinners like you and me. Jesus would not be satisfied with a society in which there were no acts of adultery. Matt. 5: 27-28 “You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The heart is what you are, in the secrecy of your thought and feeling, when nobody knows but God (that place). And what you are at the invisible root matters as much to God as what you are at the visible branch. What you see is not what you always get. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). From the heart are all the issues of life. What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart … For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man. (Matthew 15:18–19). Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit … For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:33–34). So, the heart is utterly crucial to Jesus. What we are in the deep, private recesses of our lives is what he cares about most. Jesus did not come into the world simply because we have some unhealthy habits that need to be broken. He came into the world because we have such dirty hearts that need to be purified—they needed to be circumcised. Sadly, this is the deep issue with our Congress that would pass a bill knowing it will kill lives when people do not have access to Medicaid. Mass deportation and separation of children from their parents. The nation has a heart problem. We are so bombarded by human tragedies of poverty and crime and abuse and neglect and war and the injustices of man to man, that we are tempted to agree with the world that it is useless to be concerned with whether the soul, we will ever see God. But this is the greatest of all tragedies—that in seeking to relieve the temporal miseries of humanity we set aside the greatest importance of God. We are reminded this morning, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” not first because they change society, but first because they will see God. Seeing God is the ultimate goal of being pure.[3] To see God is an intimate encounter with Him in this life and yes, the vision of God in the afterlife. While we are living in whatever the challenges we may face—it is to live out God’s purposes and plans for the world. Purity of heart is to want God’s truth and God’s value in everything we do. The goal of the pure heart is to align itself with the truth of God and magnify the worth of God in human life and existence. If you want to be pure in heart, pursue God with an utter single-mindedness. Jesus is saying to focus on being pure in your heart. Those who do that will see God meaning they will see God's intentions, desires, and love for this world. A pure heart embraces humility, comprehends and embraces our identity in Christ, and makes a covenant vow to surrender our will in order that we might accomplish God’s will for His glory. Let me say it this way, If your heart is not pure, you cannot experience a deep understanding of God’s character and will, which leads to a more profound relationship with Him. Listen, if you have malicious thoughts, intentions, and desires as to what you do in life—you do not have a pure heart. Someone once said, “Strength is found in purity, not in pretense." "The strongest hearts are those undefiled by malice." A pure heart is devoted to God that is focused on goodness, truth, and love, both in its internal and its outward expression. With a pure heart there is no duplicity, no contradiction between thoughts, intentions, and actions. A pure heart is the state of being free from malice, deceit, and selfish desires. It’s about having a heart that is untainted by negativity and focused on good intentions. What’s your motive? Anytime there’s a crime and/or act of violence, the main one question is to find a motive. If you can answer that, your investigation becomes stronger in identifying a suspect. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Ps. 51: 10. The Greek word for pure is katharos which simply meant clean. The basic meaning is unmixed unadulterated, and unalloyed. So blessed are those whose motives are always entirely unmixed for they shall see God. This beatitudes demand from us self-examination. Is our work done by other motives of service or motives of pay? Do we selfless give of our service or from motives of self-display? Is the work that we do in the church done for Christ or done for our own prestige? Do you come to church to meet God or a fulfillment of a habitual tradition? Are praying and reading the word of God to engaged with sincere desire to commune with God or is it because it gives pleasant of superiority? Are conscious of nothing so much as the need of God within our heart or a thing in which we have comfortably thoughts? What are your motives? Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Examining our motives is a daunting and shaming thing. there are a few things in the world that we do with completely unmixed motives. Blessed are those whose motives are absolutely pure, free from hypocrisy and devoted to His will for they shall see God. To see God means to be permitted and admitted (not in the waiting room like the hospital) into His presence. Seeing God means being awestruck by his glory—by a direct experience of his holiness, experience his glory! Finally, seeing God means being comforted by his grace. Again, and again the psalmists cry out to God that he not hide his face from them. Psalm 27 (verses 7–10) David says, Lord, hear my voice when I call; be gracious to me and answer me. 8 My heart says this about you: “Seek his face.” Lord, I will seek your face. 9 Do not hide your face from me; do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or abandon me, God of my salvation. This means that seeing the face of God is considered to be a sweet and comforting experience. If God shows his face, we are helped. How many of you need the Lord to help you? When we see Him, help show up. When we see Him, healing shows up. When we see Him, deliverance shows up. When we see Him, salvation shows up. When we see Him, miracles show up. When we see Him, blessings show up. When we see Him, help breakthroughs show up. When I see Jesus There's a reason that I can't turn back now. I've come too far to turn around. There's a reason that I can't stop running this race. I've got to see Jesus’ face to face. For your glory I will do anything. Just to see you and behold you as my king. When I see Jesus. Even though the way that I came seems ... (so hard sometimes). When I had to cry in the midnight hour ...(so dark sometimes). When cares of this life they burden me down it seems ... (So heavy sometimes). And when all my friends are turned around and I walk alone sometimes). Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord cares for me. When God shows his face, we are helped. Keep on fasting, keep on praying, keep on praising, keep on protesting, keep on marching, keep on standing up, keep on speaking up for the poor, the vulnerable. Keep on believing, stay in the race. Til I see Jesus’ face to face. Ooh, when I see Him, when I see His glory, I'll fall on my knees when I see Him. I'll praise Him forever. When I see Jesus’ face to face, I know my heart is pure! Shout glory!! See him work in you. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it [a]robbery to be equal with God, 7 but [b]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

[1]John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).

[2]John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).

[3]John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).