Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
Notes
Transcript
Blessed, happy, fortunate, well-off, rich are the pure in heart. Why? Because they shall see God.
The pure in heart:
Pure (katharos)
There are several biblical thoughts concerning the word “katharos” initially it means pure, purity, undefiled......undefiled. So when we look at the word defile which is the antonym (opposite) of undefiled we will find according to Old Testament that defile encompasses several different meanings.
Break down each of these:
To become unclean, sexual immorality.
Sexual Immorality:
Homosexuality- sexual intercourse, sexual desire with the same gender.
Fornication- sexual relations outside the realm of marriage.
Adultery- sexual relations with a person who is married or a person that is married having sexual relations outside the marriage bounds.
Rape- forced sexual intercourse upon a person who resists.
Beastility- sexual relations with an animal.
Incest- sexual relations with a family member (Mother, Father, Sister, etc.)
Lewd behaviors- flashing oneself (you in public and you just show yourself).
To become unclean religiously, idol worship, or necromancy.
Idol worship- the worshiping of other gods or spirits.
Necromancy, witchcraft, familiar spirits- tapping into demonic occult practices (talking to the dead, casting spells or seeking to control nature or people, astrology, palm reading, psychics, fortune-tellers, crystal ball readers, consorting with the unseen world, soothsayers, conjurers, allowing spirits to take over, etc.
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
To become unclean ethically, wrong doing.
Telling a lie
Deceiving for gain
Backbiting
Murdering
Causing division
Strife
Jealousy
Slander
Cheating
Abusing
To become unclean ceremonially. Touching dead things, eating prohibited things.
Now take note that ceremonially, Jesus came to fulfill the requirements of sacrificial laws, meaning that you no longer have to offer bullocks, goats, lambs, turtledoves ex. because Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for our sins. So Jesus makes us clean by his blood, by his sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus died, so that we wouldn’t have to die (spiritually, 2nd death):
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
New Testament thought on kathraos:
And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
The Pharisees had an oral tradition (law) that if a individual did not wash their hands before they ate, that the individual was considered to be ceremonially unclean.
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
Now it is true from a physical sense that when you don’t wash your hands you can get sick. Whenever an individual got sick, that person had to be quarantined and separated from the community and was considered to be unclean. When we consider the context of the speech coming from the Pharisees who asked Jesus why his disciples broke the tradition of the elders (oral law) by not washing their hands, they were not asking Jesus this from a pure intent. They had some other motives, they were seeking to upend Jesus, they were seeking to discredit him and his followers to make themselves look good and to bring accusation against Jesus. So now when they ask Jesus this seemingly innocent Jesus, Jesus replies in a way that the Pharisees were offended......why......because Jesus could see thru them and he knew what was really in their heart.
Therefore Jesus’ reply to their question was that in its truest sense, it is not what goes into an individual that defiles or makes a person un-pure, but what comes out of the mouth and what comes out of the mouth originates in the heart that defile a man. When your heart is defiled you cannot have a pure heart. Jesus then lists things that proceeds out of the heart (mind, thoughts, seat of emotion):
Evil thoughts-
Evil- injurious, thoughts to do harm to someone, ill thoughts. Calamitous, vicious, wishing or doing harm, lewd behavior.
Thoughts- reasoning, debate or discussion. So then when we start reasoning harm, evil, affliction to another within our mind, although we may have not committed the act we are still guilty.
murders- to kill to dash in pieces, to destroy an individual. You don’t have to necessarily kill a person physically to be considered a murderer.
adulteries- first and foremost, from the Hebrew mind set, it means to be unfaithful to God. This is the reason why idolatry and adultery not only sound alike but the are synonymous in Old Testament literature. Furthermore, it also means to be unfaithful in marriage.
fornications- In Hebrew, to commit whoredoms or prostitution. You can be a prostitute without receiving money, you can give your body so that your bills get paid, so that you can get clothes and get a nice car or even just a car ride. You can use sex as a way to manipulate on your job (sexual harassment). You can use sex as a means to gain or feel love. Historically, the Israelites succumbed to fornication on many occasions. They would get influenced by other nations, they would go into temples and lend their bodies out and have sexual intercourse with others in an attempt to gain favor with false deities. Unchaste, sexually suggestive, sex outside of marriage, multiple sexual partners, etc.
thefts
false witness- untrue testimony.
blasphemies- contempt spoken against God, evil accusations against God, vilification, railing against, can also mean speech that is injurious towards a person’s good name. Usually when we think of blasphemies, in its truest sense it is committed against God, but here Jesus is not only suggesting blasphemy against God but we can blasphemy one another, we can slander each other. This is one of Satan’s chief tactics is slander, he is the accuser of the brethren.
Notice here that Jesus does something interesting in explaining the list of things that proceed out of the heart that defile a man. He first uses evil thoughts followed by a list of things that according to mosaic law was worthy of death. Why? Because evil thoughts lead to evil actions and in regards to what the LORD is saying here, he puts evil thoughts in the same category as murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. Furthermore, the rest of these actions proceed from evil thoughts.
(Illustration)
A tree that sprouts out of the ground. The ground is the heart, the seed in this instance represents sin.
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
As sin continues to develop in the life of the individual it develops branches. These branches represent various degrees and types of sin. These sins that we have identified so far are branches of sin.
The Apostle Paul further expounds upon the teaching of Jesus as he teaches the church @ Galatia.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
In a separate address to the church of Colosse Paul also writes:
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
So we see a parallel with Jesus’ teaching and Paul’s teaching.....the idea is that the Apostle Paul expounded upon the principle that Jesus taught on the sermon on the Mount.
Blessed are the pure in heart, those who just don’t look clean on the outside, but those who are clean inwardly and outwardly. Pure thoughts (remember human actions originate in the mind), pure motives and intentions, pure principles (Godly principles).
Jesus warned against those who looked clean outwardly but inwardly were defiled. These are those who seek the praises of men, seek to be popular, seek to make a name for themselves, yet are not truly for God but for themselves. Those who love to pray openly, great swelling words, to appease men.
