Blessed are the Pure in Heart
Welcome to the Greater Life: Studies from the Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction: I’ve had the privilege of officiating a lot of wedding as a pastor.
And there is always that moment when at the end of the procession, the bride appears at the back of the room and all of the people stand and stare at the Bride. We often think of this as her moment. And in a sense it is.
I don’t look at the bride. The reaction I most want to see is the groom’s. Seeing his bride for the first time. Most guys cry.
For some reason, we’ve changed the tradition to have reveals before the ceremony. I don’t like it but oh well. Not my business.
In the Bible, the church, and Christinas are often referred to as the Bride of Christ.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Christ has washed and purified Hid bride and He presents her to Himself in all splendor and glory.
And when that day comes and He sees His bride, He will rejoice. Those who are in Christ will see Christ in all of His glory because we love Him and want to worship Him for all of eternity.
There is something beautiful about seeing someone you love and being seen by them.
At weddings, the hope is that in that moment, everyone else dissappears and it is just you and the one who is about to be your spouse. Time stands still and it’s just you and them.
This is what heaven will be like as see Jesus face to face.
Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bible to Matthew 5:8. We are on Beatitude #6 and we progress through this difficult gut check about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. At the time of the sermon on the mount there was no room for part-time disciples. Jesus said, you’re either all in or all out. Because we are picking up our crosses and going up a hill and we are going to be crucified later.
The beatitudes are about being right with God. And knowing that there is no great joy than being right with God.
But it is a gut check and it’s going to take sacrifice. It’s not for the faint of heart.
And ti comes down to a deep seated question.
Do I want this? Do I want to follow Jesus? And as we’ll see today….Do I want to see God?
Because if we truly do, we’re going to be willing to give up everything to gain Christ.
This is our attitude:
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Paul wanted Jesus so bad that everything else paled in comparison. To Paul, Jesus was just that amazing.
But Paul was never satisfied. He wanted to grow and get better at following Jesus.
And he knew that he was saved by grace and not works. But the gratitude made him all the more eager to grow. Like an athlete training for a championship.
23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
So as we look at our beattitude for today, we need to understand something. The Christian life is a process. A process of growing and becoming more and more like Jesus.
Let’s Read: Matthew 5:8
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
8 μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ,
ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται.
Beatitude #6: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.
Beatitude #6: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.
A couple of things that we need to understand about the idea of purity.
First, purity is about being purified. A purging of impurities. The idea is like a jeweler refining silver or gold through fire in order to get out the impurities. It’s a process. It doesn’t begin pure but it gets there.
None of us is born pure. In fact, we a born in sin. Sin must be purified out of us. The way we talk, walk, work, and struggle. All of these things show that we are work in progress. So many passages deal with God as a purifier of His people, but I’ll give you one.
25 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.
26 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.
27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
God will purify His people.
Another thing that we need to understand is that the heart and mind are deeply connected. We know this scientfically now. Our thoughts and emotions take place in our brain. But throughout history we’ve tended to separate the mind and the heart. We think with our minds and feel with our hearts. But even with that, what we think and what we feel are connected.
Which is why sometimes you believe your feelings even when your feelings are wrong. Just because you feel a certain way doesn’t mean you are right.
This is what people mean when they talk about “their truth.” And we have to respect their truth because of their experience. But that’s not what the Bible teaches us. The Bible calls us to believe truth even when our heart tells us otherwise.
We cannot let our emotions controls our belief.
Which is why so often we are admonished to purify our hearts.
So many people say….follow your heart! Don’t do that. Listen to God’s Word.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
In other words, don’t follow your heart until it is purified.
But how in the world can a sinner ever ben pure in heart?
Positional purity: In Christ as the moment of our conversion.
Progressive Purity: The Christian is being changed slowly but surely.
This passage is talking about the latter. And if I may, I think the Bible confirms that this begins in your mind.
1. Be TRANSFORMED in your MIND.
1. Be TRANSFORMED in your MIND.
Many have heard the passage….
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Explanation: The problem is that too many of us think that our feelings are the most important part of us. Why? Becasue they are the most powerful force in our lives.
So when your feelings are out of wack with truth, your are going to be out of wack with reality.
Think of your mind and your heart as two captains trying to fight for control of the ship that is your life. Someone has to take control.
If your heart is deceitfully wicked, and it’s in control, that’s a recipe for a shipwreck. Therefore, the heart must be purified and it must be guided to truth and right belief.
But the mind has it’s own problems.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
And here, we see the strong connection between the mind and heart.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
So we must have our minds renewed. And this is often put in the context of changing clothes.
Illustration: As a young boy, I loved to play in the mud. And often after playing in the mud I’d come in dragging my mudding clothes and feet everywhere. And it got on everything. And my parents would tell me to go change my clothes and throw my muddy clothes in the wash.
As a parent of daughters, I realize that playing in mud is not just a boy activity.
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Isn’t it funny that as children, getting ready for church on Sunday morning when you are washed up and you have your Sunday best on, that’s the moment that we are most tempted to want to play in the mud.
Application:We need to renew our mind and stay renewed.
What I’m saying is that we need to tell our heart what to feel and what to believe.
There are too many people running around allowing their wrong feelings dictate how they live their lives.
2. GUARD your HEART.
2. GUARD your HEART.
Explanation: We recognize that it is God who purifies our heart and makes us clean.
We recognize that we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus to belief right things and do right things.
But once we are purified, how can we stay purified in an impure world?
When everything around us is vying to pollute and soil us again?
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Other translations say, “Above all else guard your heart…”
It’s that important.
I had to go to Target earlier this week. I really love that you can buy online and drive up and they will bring your stuff out to you for no extra charge. Not everything that came out of the pandemic was bad.
But on this occasion I needed to actually go in.
And as I was walking into the store, I saw a sign that said, “Don’t leave your valuable in the car. We are not responsible for breakins.” Or something to that effect.
And anyone who has had their windows smashed for a couple full of change knows this reality all too well.
But just think, when we go into a store, we know not to leave our valuable in plain sight. We know not to leave a purse or a wallet on the front seat.
We know not to leave a backpack or laptop bag, or even our kid’s tablet in plain view. Because we know that the consequences are going to cost you.
But the most valuable thing that we have is our heart yet we wear our hearts on our sleaves for anyone to come and break it.
The heart is like a toddler than needs to be guarded and protected. Even for us older and wiser we will do anything to feel that dopamine hit…even if we know it’s fake.
First of all we need to know what is true and worthy of our attention.
Now, as Christians we are committed to scriptural truth. We are to read the Bible and believe the Bible.
160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
We most susceptible to denying the truth not from an intellectual standpoint, but from an emotional one.
We deny God’s word when our emotions kick in. This is why Scripture is so adamant that God’s people should not date or marry outside of the faith. Because in the end, we are tempted to compromise our values to keep peace in relationships.
When our kids grow up and live lifestyles that violate God’s word, we say, “well maybe the Bible is wrong,” rather than holding firm to the word of truth and speaking truth to our kids in love.
We can also get into this situation where people outside of the faith are nicer than the Christians we know. They are more joyful and loving and accepting.
When we know a lot of mean-spirited Christians who are judgmental and seems angry all the time.
Now to be fair, one way Christians really need to Guard their heart is to keep from being angry all the time in a world that is godless and full of sin.
The world is fallen and you need to watch yourself lest you fall into sin as well.
Application: So how do you guard your heart.
I think it goes beyond just reading the Bible. It’s about treasuring God’s Word.
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Guard your ways according to God’s Word.
Keeping God’s commandments.
Store up God’s Word in my heart.
In other words, we need to memorize scripture.
The beatitudes are great because they are easily memorized.
3. DESIRE to see GOD.
3. DESIRE to see GOD.
Explanation: The reward for having a pure heart is that you will see God. But it begs the question, do you actually want to see God?
To be fair, it’s a legitimate question. Because everyone in Scripture who came face to face with God, were terrified because it is is in that moment that you feel the weight of your unworthiness.
The holiness of God in light of our sin, feels like we are going to die.
So many of the Jewish people did not want to see God. They wanted everything to go through an intermediary. A prophet, a priest or a king would go between God and people.
Because they knew that they were unworthy.
One of the most beautiful pictures of this is Isaiah’s call.
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
God had to purify Isaiah for Him to stand in His presence.
I find this incredibly ironic in that during the Sermon on the Mount, God is standing right in front of them. And most of them, even His own disciples, don’t know it yet.
They don’t know who this guy is?
But they know that He is different than anyone they’ve ever met.
He speaks with authority. He does incredible miracles. But to them He is a man just like them.
Illustration: I used to love the show Undercover Boss. At our last church we would go over a church family’s house on Sunday night. We’d watch the amazing race and undercover boss.
The CEO or someone high in the company would go and pretend to be an entry level employee. I’m pretty sure it was all fake now, but it was interesting to see how much the person learned about their company by being on the ground floor.
But the best part of the show was the end when there was the big reveal. Some of the people they interacted with along the way would be invited to corporate and they would reveal themselves as the CEO and then give out gifts.
Application: There is a day of revelation coming for everyone. When we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive our reward or punishment.
And there is only one question. Did you believe in Jesus?
Repenting of your sin, did you turn to Him for grace and forgiveness?
Did you trust in His Work and not your own?
But there will be a part where we give an account for the things that we did with the life He gave us?
Did we share the Gospel? Did we grow in grace and love for God and others?
Did we continually renew our minds and guard our hearts?
But most telling, is do we even want to see Jesus? Which is our response today.
Response: Do you WANT to see JESUS?
Response: Do you WANT to see JESUS?
Summation:
1. Be TRANSFORMED in your MIND.
2. GUARD your HEART.
3. DESIRE to see GOD.
Think about the way that we talk about heaven and eternity.
People talk about seeing loved ones again. Parents or grandparents who have passed on.
We talk about seeing friends again who we lost too soon.
Some are hoping that “All Dogs really do go to heaven” so we can see our childhood dog again.
Been in talking about heaven, and we do this a lot at funerals, where does Jesus rank in your list of people you can’t wait to see when you get to heaven?
For many, Jesus is an afterthought. He’s the means by which we get in, but if he wasn’t there, many would be ok with it.
That’s the problem with many people’s Christianity.
We only see the Gospel and Jesus as a means to get to heaven and not the goal.
When you are pure in heart, you will know that He is all that matters.
We want Jesus and Jesus alone.
Sure hopefully our loved ones will be there worshipping Jesus as well, but the true test of Christianity is not the moral life or that you want to go to heaven, but that you want to see Jesus and be in His presence for eternity.
Because if you’d be ok with heaven without Jesus, you probably aren’t going to heaven.
And today, if that’s you, I would encourage you to repent and turn to Jesus that you may see Him in all of His glory. And to be thankful for all that he has done for you.
It’s all about Jesus and it always has been. The question is, do I want Jesus.
Let’s pray.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
2 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.
3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
