Happy Are the Pure in Heart (2)

Happy Are the Pure in Heart

Text: Matthew 5:1–11 (KJV 1900)

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 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 they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Introduction:

* We have come now to the 6th beatitude that Jesus preached to the people in the Sermon on the Mount.

* Look with me now at verse 8- Here is where we will take our text this morning:

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Introduction:

* The people who were gathered to hear Jesus preach that Sermon on the Mount, what we call the beatitudes, were amazed by the radical teaching of this prophet Jesus.

* The legalistic teaching of the Pharisees religious system had produced tremendous guilt and frustration in the hearts of the people of Israel.

* For generations the people were burdened by the oppressive legalism of the Pharisees and their teaching.

* The apostle Paul, in the book of Romans explains that the original intent of the law was show us that mankind, in his own power, could not live up to the high standards of the God contained in the law.

* Paul tells us that the law was given as a “schoolmaster” or teacher, to show Israel their need for a messiah, a savior, who would come and one day cleanse them from their sins.

Ezekiel 36:23–27 (KJV 1900)

24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

* After the terrible punishment of the captivity of the Jews for 70 years in Babylon, the Jews began to add what became known as “fence laws” to keep the people from breaking the commandments of God.

* Over many years these laws began to add up. The Jews counted 613 laws in the Torah, but the Rabbis had added an additional 1,500 more laws to keep the people from breaking the law of Moses.

* That’s somewhere around 2000 laws the people were told that they had to keep to be right with God!

* For example, they added laws intended to separate the Jew from all contact with Gentiles who were considered unclean.

* Any contact with a heathen, even the touch of his cloths, would mean defilement, so coming from the market the Jew would have to immerse himself in water.

* Earthen vessels that had contracted impurity were to be broken; those of wood, horn, glass, or brass immersed; while, if vessels were bought from the Gentiles, were to be immersed, put into boiling water, purged with fire, or at least polished.

* Over time, the Jews began to teach that those man-made traditions and laws were equal with the Laws of Moses.

* They taught that the oral laws of the Rabbis were just as inspired by God, and just as binding on the people, as the law of Moses.

* Jesus openly rebuked these man-made laws and traditions of the elders and preached against them.

Matthew 15:3 (KJV 1900)

3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? ...

Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

* The religious rulers of Jesus day had hidden the true Word of God behind their man-made traditions and teaching.

* Jesus was diametrically opposed to these leaders, their teaching and traditions, and He said that they "made the Word of God void" and they were "making disciples of hell."

* This is the very same thing that the Roman Catholic church and it’s religious rulers did for centuries, as the church ruled over the kingdoms of the world through the powers of the Pope.

* These laws made a great division in the people between the so-called Religious and the so-called sinners.

* These legalistic teachers also accused Jesus Himself of being a breaker of God’s law when He refused to respect their man-made laws.

* Jesus had no respect to their laws and publicly discredited their man-made laws.

* These hundreds of man-made laws had made following God such a burden, that Jesus said it was too heavy to for men to carry.

Matthew 23:4 (KJV 1900)

4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

* The Pharisees religious system had produced tremendous guilt and frustration among the people who had gathered that day to hear Jesus preach.

* The people who had come to hear Jesus preach that sermon on the mount were burdened down by the oppressive legalism of the Pharisees.

* They thought that Jesus would bring them relief, but Jesus told them something that must have totally amazed them:

Matthew 5:19–20 (KJV 1900)

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

* Jesus in another place told the people:

Matthew 11:28–30 (KJV 1900)

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

* How could this be?

* How could their burden be made lighter, if they must be even more religious that the Pharisees to get into the Kingdom of God!

* Look with me now as we examine this great truth form the 6th beatitude that Jesus preached that day on the mountain:

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

I. The literal fulfillment of what Jesus of this beatitude.

* The pure in heart will one day behold the very face of God and dwell with him.

Revelation 21:1–7 (KJV 1900)

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,

and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

* Who are these happy people who we see here in this passage of Scripture that see God face to face?

* These are the ones who are pure in heart!

* I am sure those people listening to Jesus wondered “But how can we truly be pure in heart?” – because they law made them painfully aware of their sinfulness.

* Judas tried to get rid of the guilt of sin.

* He threw the money back at the feet of the religious leaders, but his repentance and sorrow did him no good because he had rejected the only one who could forgive his sin!

* With no escape from the guilt of sin, Judas went out and hanged himself and went straight to the fires of Hell!

* Judas could not be saved from Hell because He rejected the one you came to save him from Hell!

* Pilate symbolically tried to wash away his guilt and sin when he sentenced Jesus to death on the cross.

*In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth begins to compulsively wash her hands in an attempt to cleanse an imagined stain, representing her guilty conscience regarding the murder she had committed and induced her husband to commit.- but they will not come clean!

* David asked God to wash the sin away.

Psalm 51:1-7 (KJV 1900)

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: And my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, And done this evil in thy sight: That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, And be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

* Paul and his problem with sin that would not go away.

Romans 7:14–25 (KJV 1900)

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:

for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

* Like Judas, Pilate, and Macbeth, mankind vainly tries to wash away their sin with the works of religion but alas it will not work!

* The Pharisees of Jesus day were also in vain trying to cover their sin with an outward showing of religious works!

* They tried to overcome their sin with the works of the flesh and religious ceremonies, but alas the crimson stains of sin still remain on their souls because, like Pilate, they are trying to wash their sins away on the outside, when the problem is on the inside!

* The symptoms of sin are revealed in the body, the outside of a man , but the disease of sin is a problem of the heart, the inside of a man.

* Jesus told the religious Pharisees of his day that they were washing the outside of the cup and platter, while the inside of a man remained dirty with the stains of their sin!

* Religion dams the souls of man to Hell!

* In our text Jesus said. The pure in heart will see God, not the pure in body!

* The people of Israel began to trust in themselves and their acts of sacrifice to cleanse them of sin, but their hearts were not pure!

* Their religious acts wearied God to the point that He was sick of their worship!

Amos 5:21–23 (KJV 1900)

21 I hate, I despise your feast days, And I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: Neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; For I will not hear the melody of thy viols.

* He said the day would come when they worship Him with a pure heart, a new heart, a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone!

Ezekiel 11:17–20 (KJV 1900)

17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.

19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

* Jesus came to fulfill this promise.

* John the Baptist said that Jesus had come to baptize, or submerge, our hearts with the Holy Spirit that we might worship God with a pure heart!

* Nicodemus recognized that his religion was not sufficient to get him in to the Kingdom of God, where men live in pure happiness and joy and behold the face of God!

* Jesus explained that his religion could not fix or repair a man’s heart and make him fit for the kingdom of God- his heart had to be completely re-made! His heart had to be re-born, born again!

* Born again not in the flesh as religion tries to do, but where the problem of sin lives- born again in the heart!

* Jesus explained that he needed a pure heart! A heart pure and innocent from the guilt and condemnation of sin!

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

* When the woman at the well confronted Jesus with her religion, He said that they did not know what they worship- He said that God was looking for those who would worship him in spirit and in truth! That means the pure in heart!

* Jesus said that their joy and happiness would be like a spring bubbling up within them!

* She left that well that day rejoicing and happy with a pure heart, declaring unashamed here new found happiness!

* Who are those people in the book of Revelation who are in eternal bliss beholding the face of God? They are the overcomers!

Revelation 21:1–7 (KJV 1900)

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,

and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

* These beholding the face of God in eternal bliss and happiness are they who have overcome! Overcome what? Sin!

* How were their hearts purified? By Faith.

Romans 4:2–5 (KJV 1900)

3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Acts 15:7–9 (KJV 1900)

7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

* By faith in what. The Blood of Jesus!

1 Peter 1:18–22 (KJV 1900)

18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit …

* How did they overcome sin? The blood of Jesus!

Revelation 12:9–11 (KJV 1900)

10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb…

* These are they who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 3:5 (KJV 1900)

5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment;

and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Revelation 7:12–17 (KJV 1900)

12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me,

These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

* Bless God! Or test says:

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

* Isaiah said “though they b e a crimson, they shall be white as snow!

Song there is a fountain filled with blood:

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains; And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day; And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away. Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away; And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more. Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more; Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die. And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die; Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

* These happy people are the pure in heart- those who stand before the throne of God, having their hearts purified by the blood of Jesus!

* And these happy people are the sons of God!

John 1:12 (KJV 1900)

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Revelation 21:7 (KJV 1900)

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Song “There is power in the Blood”

Would you be free from the burden of sin? There's pow'r in the blood, pow'r in the blood; Would you o'er evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood. Refrain There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder working pow'r In the blood of the Lamb; There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder working pow'r In the precious blood of the Lamb. 2 Would be free from your passion and pride? There's pow'r in the blood, pow'r in the blood; Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide? There's wonderful power in the blood. 3 Would you do service for Jesus your King? There's pow'r in the blood, pow'r in the blood; Would you live daily His praises to sing? There's wonderful power in the blood.