Blessed Are The Pure In Heart
The Sermon On The Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Welcome
Welcome
As we dive into God’s Word today, we are continuing our sermon series through The Sermon On The Mount in the book of Matthew, and we’ve been particularly walking through the first section of Jesus’ sermon called “The Beatitudes”. As we begin today, let’s review just the Beatitudes we’ve walked through thus far… let’s say them out loud together:
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.
Today’s Passage
Today’s Passage
Our passage for today is Matthew 5:8, now let’s say this one together:
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
This is the Word of the Lord… Thanks be to God.
Introduction
Introduction
Maybe you’d think this passage is quite timely because it is Valentine’s Day weekend and the passage is about our heart, but as far as I know, our pericopes were not planned that way… We’re just moving through the text and this is the way is panned out! I suppose that’s just the way God works!
As we consider what this passage means, consider this with me…
In his book, IBM and the Holocaust, Edwin Black makes the case that during World War II, some American companies unknowingly—or sometimes knowingly—profited from the Nazi regime. IBM provided technology that helped organize slave labor and manage death camps. Other companies sold trucks, oil, and components to Nazi Germany…
Even the most seemingly respectable business leaders were not immune to compromising their morals for profit.
A divided heart clouds vision.
Just like those businessmen’s outward success masked their moral compromise, our outward actions can hide the true condition of our hearts.
We might do good things, give advice to someone, or work hard, but our motives can still be self-serving…
Did you pay for that stranger’s meal to bless them, or to feel better about yourself?
Did you give advice to help, or to feel superior to them?
Do you work hard to honor God in your work, or to seek validation or pride?
Did you accept that promotion at work because that’s what you sense God calling you to or was it merely to climb the ladder? Boost your ego or your status?
This is the state of our divided heart.
Jesus addresses this issue in our passage today… He says…
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Jesus is not talking about outward appearance. He is talking about heart posture.
This is not merely behavioral modification. This is heart change. Jesus cares about the heart…
To define the term, heart… “Heart” is referring to the center of our being… including the mind and the will.
J.C. Ryle is a Bible commentator, and he writes this: “The Lord Jesus calls those blessed who are pure in heart. He means people who do not aim only at outward correctness, but at inward holiness. They are not satisfied with an external show of Christianity. They want to keep a heart and conscience without offence and to serve God with their spirit and their inner being. Blessed are such! “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The person that is most spiritually-minded will have the most communion with God.”
That’s the essence of our passage today.
Here in this one verse, holiness and happiness are fully described and put together.
Really, it’s the culmination of the Christian faith.
Purity of heart,
Seeing God.
How do we have a pure heart?
How do we see God?
We’re going to break this passage down into those two parts…
And we’ll walk through three movements to get there…
The Problem
The Provision
The Promise
Why and how do our hearts so often deceive us?
How can we have a pure and undivided heart?
How can we see God?
Don’t we yearn for these things? Don’t our hearts ache for these things?
Here’s the big idea:
By receiving the purity of Christ, we will have the clarity to see God.
The Problem
The Problem
This verse seems to imply that there are those who are not pure and it is possible to not see God.
Jesus is addressing a problem, giving a solution, and giving us a promise.
The positive is “blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
The negative is “cursed are the impure in heart, for they shall not see God.”
Remember that Jesus is preaching this directly to people in front of Him. Let’s consider who this original audience is here…
Jesus is preaching to people who — many of them — know their Old Testament Bible. This concept of “purity” isn’t necessarily new… They may recall Psalm 24…
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. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Question: Who can stand before a holy God?
Answer: Only one who has clean hands and a pure heart.
Why? Because the holiness of God demands purity, or cleanness.
The very essence of God’s glory, His supreme authority, His holiness that is beyond our comprehension… The very existence of God demands our attention, and more so, it demands perfection.
This is more than mere action.
Not even the religious leaders of the day were qualified in this way…
Later on in His Sermon On The Mount, Jesus says…
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
It’s not that praying publicly is bad, but it’s the motivation in your heart that matters.
Don’t value public prayer more than you value private prayer.
May your public prayer be the overflow of your private prayer life.
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
These people who fast are intentionally doing something and/or saying something to cause people to notice that they’re fasting, thus, get attention and approval from others.
In both of these examples, they have impure motives.
They have corrupted their outward action by their inward motivation.
The Pharisees have divided hearts.
They are legalistic to try to please God,
But they love the attention. They love the admiration of others.
They start to love the power they seem to have…
Their distorted intentions start to grow and grow… it’s like a sickness.
Why is this the case though?
We might try to do the right thing only to realize over time that our heart is deceiving us…
What might start out as good can grow into something if we don’t keep it in check…
When I was in high school youth group, we would go to downtown Chicago with $10 or $20 and see how we could bless people with it… so we would buy coffee or a sandwich for some of the homeless population or just random people. We even did this on a domestic mission trip in Knoxville, Tennessee too.
It felt good to do this. And, it’s good that it felt good. That’s OK. But, after a bit, I needed to check my heart… the action was great and opened the door for some really cool Gospel conversations, but I had to guard my heart against pride creeping in…
I could start to feel better than these people because I was giving them something that they didn’t have… yet, I was in high school. I didn’t even earn the $20 I was giving to them. It was given to me!
Then, even telling the story “look at this charitable thing I did” makes me cringe…
It’s like, even when we do a good thing, our hearts can change on us. Slowly, if we aren’t careful, our motive can change…
In a sense, it’s like our hearts commit treason on us.
Well, the Bible has a clarifying answer for us…
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Oh, so it is a sickness after all!
We have a major problem here, don’t we?
How do we fix this?
This is our sinful condition…
By nature, we are sinful and broken.
Ephesians 2:3 says that we “…were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.”
Picture a dart board and the bullseye represents the law… the bullseye represents perfection.
You can try your hardest to throw the dart at the bullseye, but even despite your efforts, you’ll still miss. Once in a while you’ll get it, but you’ll still miss it again. You won’t ever get 100% perfection.
Despite our efforts, we are imperfect.
No matter how hard you try, no matter how many rules you put in place, or how many laws you try to follow to a T… just think of Planet Fitness. Their rules to try to make their fitness center a “judgement free zone”, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t control what’s going on in people’s hearts…
That’s our sinful condition.
Right out of high school I worked for a window cleaning company… we did residential and commercial window cleaning, pressure washing, gutter cleaning, and installed window film… I got to clean a lot of windows in my 3 years working there and certainly the worst was when I came across a window that had oxidation. Oxidation is when the frame of the window leaves a white, chalky substance on your finger when you wipe it. It’s the same thing as when you wipe your finger on vinyl siding and it leaves a chalky substance on your finger… Well, it’s a complete mess when you’re trying to clean a window…
Real quick… here’s the secret method of professional window cleaning… mop the window with your solution (water + Dawn dish soap), then squeegee the window, then use the 3-towel method: 1) the junk towel to clean the sill or the track on the bottom, 2) the frame towel to wipe the four edges, and 3) the detail towel for any marks in the middle of the window. The goal was to use your 3rd towel as minimally as possible. The idea is that your squeegee skill would be so good that you wouldn’t leave any marks in the middle of the window.
When you use your frame towel on an oxidized window though — it’s a mess. White streaks and marks everywhere. It takes legendary professional expertise to get through one of these windows… it’s a “call the manager” type situation. The more you use your towel, the worse it gets, and the worse it gets, the more you use your towel… eventually you need to start over… it’s quite frustrating.
That, right there, is like our problem with impure hearts.
The harder we work to make our hearts pure, the more we see the impurity in our hearts. It’s like chasing our own tail.
In our passage today, Jesus is telling us that if we want to be blessed and if we want to see God, we must be pure.
How are we supposed to do this?
Is God asking us to make more bricks with less straw?
In a sense… yes…
So what do we do? We need a provision…
The Provision
The Provision
We need a substitute. We need someone who can do this for us.
As you may remember… a few weeks ago our furnace went out in the Worship Center here and it was very cold… to add on to that, I smelled gas after the Saturday night worship gathering from down the hallway. I tried to do what I could, but that was very limited… I needed to call an expert. So, after calling our in-house expert within our congregation, I called an HVAC technician to come out and fix the problem. Thankfully, the gas smell was just a dried up floor drain and it wasn’t a gas leak… don’t worry… all is well now… but the furnace was broken.
When we can’t do something, we need a solution beyond ourselves.
The pattern in the Old Testament was to have a high priest who would serve as the substitute on behalf of the people… a professional substitute, of sorts, to come before God on behalf of the people.
The problem was, of course, this high priest was also a human… and, Romans 3:23 tells us… “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”… so, if you’re a human, you’re a sinner. No matter who you are, and no matter what your intentions are; you are a sinner. You are not perfect. This “high priest” solution was no bueno. It did not work. No matter how hard this high priest tried — and no matter how hard you and I try — perfect purity cannot be obtained on our own.
Remember what we’re talking about here… inward purity, inward perfection.
With enough effort, you can make yourself look good on the outside, but God looks at our hearts…
So, here’s our hope.
19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
Who is this better hope? It’s a better high priest…
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 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.
Here is the answer to our biggest need.
The high priest who is purely perfect in every way… inside and out. The One who remains without sin.
It’s where we find purity in heart… it’s in what Jesus has done, not in what we have done.
To pursue the Lord is to pursue His purity. It’s the only answer to our problem.
It’s not try harder or be better…
It’s actually not about our perfection… but rather it’s the direction of our hearts.
***Remember about a month ago our passage was Matthew 5:4…
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
That passage works hand-in-hand with our passage today…
Only those who mourn their sin can be pure in heart.
BECAUSE if you don’t mourn your sin, your heart is deceived.
What’s the comfort you’ll receive as you mourn your sin?
Forgiveness of your sin… and, ultimately, you’ll see God! Amazing!
As we acknowledge our sin problem, receive the provision of Jesus, we are given an incredible promise…
The Promise
The Promise
The promise is that “… WE shall see God”!
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
On the contrary, we won’t see eternal conscious punishment in hell.
For the Believer, we will see God!
What an absolutely incredible promise and comfort…
Unfortunately, I don’t know if this concept strikes us as shockingly as it should.
Consider how the original audience would have first heard this from Jesus…
If they knew their Bible, they would associate the concept of “seeing God” with a passage like…
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he [the Lord] said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
No man is worthy to see the face of God.
His very essence is so holy, so “other”, that our finite existence cannot handle the infinite glory of the LORD God Himself.
A little bit later in Exodus…
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
So, as you’d imagine, the idea of “seeing God” is truly an incredible, profoundly amazing, deeply awe-some and a righteously terrifying concept.
Because of our sin, we cannot come before a holy God.
BUT, God the Father, saw us in our sin, sent us His Son to be perfect on our behalf and pay the penalty we deserved for our sin, so that we could stand perfect and cleansed before Him.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
God saw our Problem of our impurity — sent us a Provision in Jesus — and now, as we trust in Jesus and claim Him as our Savior and Lord, we have a Promise to cling to that we will see God!
How will we see God?
Only with a pure heart… and through Jesus, we have been given a pure heart before the Father.
We will see God, the Father, through the Son.
You know how there are some people in your life who bring a certain side out of you?
For example, there’s a high school friend of mine, Matt, of whom my wife says can make me laugh in a way only a few people can. When Matt’s around, there’s a certain level of childlike goofiness, I suppose. Matt brings out a certain side of me that most people don’t. Maybe it’s because we were childhood buddies back in the day…
In the best way, that’s how it is with Jesus, the Son of God.
Jesus brings out a beautiful light in the Father.
Just as Matt brings out a certain side of me, the Son brings out certain angles of God the Father that we wouldn’t see otherwise.
The promise in Matthew 5:8 is that we will see God the Father through the Son.
There is a beauty that the Son brings out of the Father.
We want to see the Father through the Son.
The Son brings out beautiful, glorious, merciful, gracious, and tender attributes of the Father.
Just like my two sons bring out the father in me, and my wife brings out the husband in me.
Just like when your spouse or your children are sick and it brings out the caregiver in you.
Jesus, the Son, brings out the Father in God.
We will see God through the Son.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Two Applications
Two Applications
To the unbeliever.
To the Believer.
First, to the unbeliever…
Receive Positional Purity.
John 15:5 says that a part from Jesus we can do nothing.
Acknowledge your sin… more than that — for all of us — mourn your sin.
Acknowledge your need for a Savior.
Hear and receive the Gospel:
You are a sinner ——— Jesus lived a sinless life.
You deserve death and eternal conscious punishment ——— Jesus died in your place.
You cannot earn this ——— it is a gift to receive.
Trust in Jesus’ work ——— not your own.
God requires purity. You — and none of us — are pure without Jesus’ intervention.
Jesus was pure on our behalf.
Hear and receive this message… receive and believe… repent from your sin — turn from trusting in yourself, and turn towards God… trust in Jesus’ work for you… Repent, believe, and be baptized!
It is only from this position of purity gained by Christ on our behalf that we can be pure and see God.
The second application is to the Believer.
Pursue Practical Purity.
It is only from our positional purity in Christ that we can pursue practical purity in the Christian life, for God’s glory.
This promise to “see God” is both in the “already” and the “not yet”.
There is an eschatological reality to this promise: that in our eternal state in the new heavens and new earth we will see God.
Let this be an amazing comfort to you…
If you are grieving, if you are hurting, if you are broken… embrace the promise that you will see God and live!
If you are stuck wrestling with your sin… stuck in a cycle of impurity in a lot of ways… believe and cling to the reality that Jesus was pure for you and when you trust in Christ, God the Father will see the purity of Jesus rather than your sin…
The song Completely Known, Completely Loved by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa has been an incredible comfort to me recently…
The chorus says “Completely known, completely loved, I’m covered by my Savior’s blood; I’m robed in white, and God is pleased to see His Son when He looks on me.”
This is the glorious reality of being “in Christ”. Praise the Lord!
AND there is a present reality of “seeing God” in this life too… this has more to do with our communion with God.
Sin in our life clouds our view of God.
[PICTURE] Like when you’re in an airplane and you look down to see the ground, but the clouds are hindering your view…
A divided heart clouds your vision of God.
Consider… What in your heart needs to be purified? This lack of purification is keeping you from deeper communion with God… your sin is keeping you from seeing God more clearly.
What do you do?
Pray. Examine your heart and ask God to help you…
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
2. Scripture. Fill your mind and your heart with God’s Word.
Be a sponge of God’s Word… soak it in daily and sit in His Word… let it fill your mind…
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
Let the Word of God fill your heart, thus guard and protect your heart…
45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
3. Consider what you fill your heart with…
What do you allow your eyes to see?
What do you allow your ears to hear?
What do you allow your time to be consumed with?
8 …whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
What does this look like practically?
Maybe it’s not watching the TV show or the movies that make your mind drift… that fill your heart with evil things… you know what they are.
Maybe it’s getting rid of your social media.
Maybe it’s getting rid of your TV! Radical…
Strive for a pure heart… rid your heart of the trash, and fill it with the good… the things that are of-God.
What you fill your heart with will spill out.
So, Colossians 3:2 tells us to set our minds on things that are above!
Setting our minds on the things of this world will hinder us from seeing God clearly.
A divided heart clouds our vision of God.
Fix your eyes on Jesus — the Author and Perfecter of your faith — and let this promise of seeing God motivate godly living in our life today…
3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face…
Receive His provision, receive His promise.
See the promise through the provision.
By receiving the purity of Christ, we will have the clarity to see God.
Let’s pray…
Pray
Pray
Lord, thank You that You are pure in heart for us… that You made a way when we could not... that by Your blood we are cleansed, healed, and delivered from our impurity forever. Lord, give us undivided hearts… hearts that seek You and You only. May we trust in You and strive to rest in Your provision... Thank You for the promise that we will see You one day... and that will be our glorious state for all of eternity! May this be our hope, in Jesus' Name... Amen.
