The Commands of Christ-12f-2
Notes
Transcript
September 8 & 15, 2021 The Commands of Christ – 12f-2
Adult Bible Study
The Beatitudes (Part 5)
Tonight we continue to consider the Commands of Christ
Recap: Series Foundational Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20 esp. vs.20
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Revelation 22:14 (NKJV)
Blessed are those who do His commandments [other manuscripts say, “wash their robes”], that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.
The 7th beatitude in Revelation: Rev. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7
As we study the Commands of Christ we are using Tom Blackaby’s approach in his 2012 book, The Commands of Christ. In his book, Blackaby divides the commands of Christ into 6 areas:
1: Coming to God| 2: Christ as Lord | 3: Character| 4: Concerning Others | 5: Calling | 6: Cautions
We have covered the commands that relate to coming to God:
Be born again | Repent | Come as a child | Love God with all your being | Receive the Holy Spirit | Enter through the narrow door | Worship in Spirit and in truth | Abide in Me
We continue to cover the commands that relate to Christ is Lord of our life as we:
Deny Yourself | Take Up My Yoke and Learn from Me | Follow Me | You Have Heard It Said . . . but I Say to You | Pray This Way | Do This in Remembrance of Me | Remember What I Said
Dig:
Read: Matthew 5:3-12 (2 readings)
Beatitudes
Be poor in spirit
To mourn
To be meek
To hunger and thirst for righteousness
To be merciful
To be pure in heart
To be a peacemaker
To GLADLY suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. Even more, to REJOICE when we suffer for Jesus.
One would be hard-pressed to identify a period in human history when people were as obsessed with their bodies, physical health, and external appearance as they are today. In a day when beautification of one’s “outer self” has become something of national hobby, purification of the “inner self” is a much needed emphasis. (Sam Storms)
1. Can we see a pattern to the beatitudes?
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones suggests:
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Chapter Ten: Blessed Are the Pure in Heart (5:8))
I suggest that the following is a possible way of understanding the sequence. The first question which must be answered is, why is this statement put here? You would have thought, perhaps, that it should have come at the beginning, because the vision of God has always been regarded by God’s people as the summum bonum. It is the ultimate goal of every endeavour. To ‘see God’ is the whole purpose of all religion. And yet here it is, not at the beginning, not at the end, not even in the exact middle. That, at once, must raise the question in our minds, why does it come just here?
A possible analysis, which commends itself to me, is as follows. I regard the sixth verse as providing the explanation. It comes, as I think we saw when we dealt with it, in the centre; the first three Beatitudes lead up to it and these other Beatitudes follow it. If we regard verse six as a kind of watershed, I think it helps us to understand why this particular statement comes at this point.
Now the first three Beatitudes were concerned with our need, our consciousness of need—poor in spirit, mourning because of our sinfulness, meek as the result of a true understanding of the nature of self and its great ego-centricity, that terrible thing that has ruined the whole of life. These three emphasize the vital importance of a deep awareness of need.
Then comes the great statement of the satisfaction of the need, God’s provision for it, ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.’ Having realized the need, we hunger and thirst, and then God comes with His wondrous answer that we shall be filled, fully satisfied.
From there on we are looking at the result of that satisfaction, the result of being filled. We become merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers. After that, there is the outcome of all this, ‘persecuted for righteousness’ sake’.
That, I suggest, is the way of approach to this passage. It leads up to the central statement about hungering and thirsting and then describes the results that follow. In the first three we are going up one side of the mountain, as it were. We reach the summit in the fourth, and then we come down on the other side.
But there is a closer correspondence even than that. It seems to me that the three Beatitudes which follow the central statement in verse six correspond to the first three that lead up to it.
The merciful are those who realize their poverty of spirit; they realize that they have nothing in themselves at all. As we have seen, that is the most essential step to becoming merciful. It is only when a man has reached that view of himself that he will have the right view of others. So we find that the man who realizes he is poor in spirit and who is utterly dependent upon God, is the man who is merciful to others.
It follows from that, that this second statement which we are now considering, namely, ‘blessed are the pure in heart’, also corresponds to the second statement in the first group, which was, ‘blessed are they that mourn’. What did they mourn about? We saw that they were mourning about the state of their hearts; they were mourning about their sinfulness; they were mourning, not only because they did things that were wrong, but still more because they ever wanted to do wrong. They realized the central perversion in their character and personality; it was that which caused them to mourn. Very well then; here is something which corresponds to that—‘blessed are the pure in heart.’ Who are the pure in heart? Essentially, as I am going to show you, they are those who are mourning about the impurity of their hearts. Because the only way to have a pure heart is to realize you have an impure heart, and to mourn about it to such an extent that you do that which alone can lead to cleansing and purity.
And in exactly the same way, when we come to discuss the ‘peacemakers’ we shall find that the peacemakers are those that are meek. If a person is not meek he is not likely to be a peacemaker.
I do not want to stay longer with this matter of order, but I think it is a possible way of discovering what underlies the precise arrangement which our Lord adopted. We take the three steps in order of need; then we come to the satisfaction; then we look at the results that follow and find that they correspond precisely to the three that lead up to it.
This means that, in this amazing and glorious statement about ‘blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God’ which comes at this particular point, the emphasis is upon the purity of heart and not upon the promise. If we look at it from that standpoint, I think it will enable us to see why our Lord took this precise order.
2. The "pure in heart" (Matthew 5:8) are not just inwardly pure, they are "utterly sincere" (J. B. Phillips). Their whole life, public and private, is transparent before God and others. Why is it difficult to live this way (transparent before God and others. Not that we can hide anything from God!)?
3. What is the heart?
Contrary to what many have suggested, the heart is not the opposite of the head, as if to suggest that the purity Jesus describes does not extend or apply to our minds or to what we think. In fact, often in Scripture “heart” = “mind”. E.g.,
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7).
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Prov. 19:14).
“Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?” (Mt. 9:4; cf. Rom. 1:21).
Other texts where “heart” = “mind” are 2 Cor. 4:6; 9:7; Eph. 1:18.
At other times “heart” = “emotions” or “passions,” even = “will”.
In other words, the heart refers to the center of the personality: thinking, feeling, willing, hoping, yearning. The heart is the core of our souls, the fount of our inner being.
Thus we read, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23).
4. Why does the heart need purifying?
“The intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21).
“The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9).
“Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Mt. 15:17–19).
See also Rom. 1:21; 2:5; Eph. 4:17–18. [Since] [in our “natural state” our hearts [are] not pure, we [are] not different from the Pharisees. Their holiness was wholly external. See Mt. 5:20.
20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
5. What kind of purification does the heart need?
In one sense, all Christians are already pure in heart: see Acts 15:8–9 (a reference to justification).
8 “And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
But that is not what Jesus has in mind here. This “purity” is not so much a completed possession as it is a current project. It is not imputed righteousness that Jesus has in mind but imparted righteousness. It is not justification but sanctification that is in view. See Heb. 12:14; Ps. 24:1–4.
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who live in it. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers. 3 Who may ascend onto the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? 4 One who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to deceit And has not sworn deceitfully.
6. What does purity of the heart involve?
a. The pure in heart is the person who mourns over the impurity of his/her heart!
To be pure in heart begins with the acknowledgment of one’s spiritual bankruptcy apart from the grace of God (5:3). To be pure in heart is to hunger and thirst after righteousness.
To be pure in heart is not absolute perfection in this life, but the intense, relentless pursuit of it (see Phil. 3:12–14).
To be pure in heart is to engage in an on-going, never-ending pursuit, in the power of God’s grace, for holiness. It is a pursuit of holiness in which we are never satisfied, never full, always hungry for more; never quenched, but always thirsty for more; never rich, but always with a sense of our spiritual poverty.
“That heart is impure which sees no need of purity” (Watson, 176).
The pure in heart may sin, but he feels no complacency in it.
b. Purity of heart is internal, not external. Simply being civil isn’t enough. “A man may be wonderfully moralized, yet but a tame devil.… Morality may damn as well as vice. A vessel may be sunk with gold, as well as with dung” (Watson, 175). Says Carson:
“Purity of heart must never be confused with outward conformity to rules.
Because it is the heart which must be pure, this beatitude interrogates us with awkward questions like these:
‘What do you think about when your mind slips into neutral?
How much sympathy do you have for deception, no matter how skillful?
For shady humor, no matter how funny?
To what do you pay consistent allegiance?
What do you want more than anything else?
What and whom do you love?
To what extent are your actions and words accurate reflections of what is in your heart?
To what extent do your actions and words constitute a cover up for what is in your heart” (25).
c. The pure in heart serve God with the whole of their heart. Although purity of heart is never to be reduced to civility, it certainly results in it. The pure in heart must never be half-hearted in their devotion.
“How blessed are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart” (Ps. 119:2).
d. The pure in heart hate sin.
It is possible to leave your sin, yet still love it.
Like a rattlesnake that sheds its skin but retains its poisonous venom, so also some cease from evil but wish they hadn’t.
7. How do we obtain purity of heart?
It is always a gift of God’s grace, but he has appointed certain means or instruments for us to employ.
a. The Word of God—“Thy Word is pure” (Ps. 119:140).… “Sanctify them through thy Word; thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). The Bible functions much like a water purifier, filtering out of our spiritual system the debris, dirt, germs, etc. that would pollute our souls.
b. It we wish to be pure in heart, we must walk and talk with others who are pure in heart. “He that walketh with the wise shall be wise” (Prov. 13:20).
c. We must pray for purity of heart. Job cried: “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” (14:4 and 15:14). God can! Pray with David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God!” (Ps. 51:10).
d. Deal ruthlessly with whatever tends to defile your heart (Mt. 5:29–30).
e. Fix your eyes and energy on Jesus (Heb. 12:1–2)
8. Why pursue purity of heart?
• First, we must seek holiness of heart because that is what God is like: “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Pt. 1:16).
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
• Second, it is the goal of our election. “He chose us … to be holy and blameless” (Eph. 1:4). Cf. Rom. 8:29 and 1 Pt. 1:1–2.
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
A Survey of Bible Doctrine The Concept
It may be defined as the action of God in choosing certain people for certain purposes.
God chose us to be “in Christ” (saved). AND to be holy and without fault.
• Third, it is the reason or purpose of Christ’s death. “He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:14).
Titus 2:14 (NASB 2020)
[Jesus] gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, eager for good deeds.
• But fourth, the primary reason for pursuing purity of heart is that the pure in heart shall see God! God’s reason for commanding purity of heart isn’t because he wants to deprive us of the pleasures of impurity. It isn’t that God is a killjoy, a celestial sourpuss who lives in fear that someone somewhere might be having a good time. God’s motive is his loving desire to impart to us a pleasure and joy and happiness that far exceed both in depth and duration anything that impurity could ever produce. And what might that be? Seeing God!
1 See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
When we see Him we will be like Him. Because we have been seeking to be pure in heart we will have that purity perfected when we see Him.
Even just having the hope of seeing Jesus causes us to seek His purity because we know He is a pure God.
9. What does it mean to “see” God?
• God is a spirit, invisible to the physical eye. Finite man cannot, in himself, see the Infinite God, in himself. Indeed, to “see God” is to die (Ex. 19:21). See also John 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:15–16.
14 that you keep the commandment without fault or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
The best ANYONE has ever seen God is only partially.
• Whenever someone is said to have “seen” God, it is always a mediated or partial vision. Moses saw the “back-side” of God, from within the cleft of the rock. R. C. Sproul explains:
“Men are not allowed to see the face of God. The Scriptures warn that no man can see God and live. We remember Moses’ request when he ascended into the holy mountain of God. Moses had been an eyewitness of astonishing miracles. He had heard the voice of God speaking to him out of the burning bush. He had witnessed the river Nile turn into blood. He had tasted manna from heaven and gazed upon the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. He had seen the chariots of Pharaoh inundated by the waves of the Red Sea. Still he was not satisfied. He wanted more. He craved the ultimate spiritual experience. He inquired of the Lord on the mountain, ‘Let me see your face. Show me your glory.’ The request was denied.… (see Exod. 33:19–23). When God told Moses that he could His back, the literal reading of the text can be translated ‘hindquarters.’ God allowed Moses to his His hindquarters but never His face. When Moses returned from the mount, his face was shining. The people were terrified, and they shrunk away from him in horror. Moses’ face was too dazzling for them to look upon. So Moses put a veil over his face so the people could approach him. This experience of terror was directed at the face of a man who had come so close to God that he was reflecting God’s glory. This was a reflection of the glory from the back of God, not the refulgent glory of His face. If people are terrified by the sight of the reflected glory of the back parts of God, how can anyone stand to gaze directly into His holy face? Yet the final goal of every Christian is to be allowed to see what was denied to Moses. We want to see Him face to face. We want to bask in the radiant glory of His divine countenance” (The Holiness of God, 34–35).
• The sight of God Jesus refers to in Mt. 5:8 is more than mere physical vision.
Although Jesus was himself God, he had more in mind than merely seeing him.
After all, he was standing right in front of them, although “veiled” in human flesh.
To “see” God, therefore, is to encounter, experience, and know him in the deepest and most intimate way possible. See esp. Rev. 22:3–4.
3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
10. What are the characteristics of this “vision” or “sight” of God?
• It will be utterly transparent. Paul says that now “we see through a glass darkly.” But God will one day unveil himself in all his resplendent brilliance, glory, and clarity for us to see!
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known.
See also 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB 2020) But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
• According to 1 John 3: 1-3 that we read a few minutes ago:
It will be altogether transcendent. It will in every conceivable respect transcend the glory and majesty of anything we have ever seen on this earth. It will transcend any and all joy we have experienced here. We will never grow weary of seeing Him!
It will be beyond anything or anyone we have ever seen on earth.
• It will be totally transforming. See 1 John 3:1–3. By his grace we become wholly pure in heart.
Just as the vision of Christ in the future will sanctify us wholly, the vision of Christ in the present (in Scripture) sanctifies us progressively.
Agree/Disagree
It is our experience of Christ that sanctifies. If progressive assimilation to the likeness of Christ results from our present beholding of him through a glass darkly, to behold him face to face, i.e., “to see him as he is,” will result in instantaneous perfection or glorification.
What is the precise causal relationship between the vision of Christ and final glorification? Two views are possible:
• On the one hand, it may be that we shall see Christ because we are like him; likeness, then, is the condition of seeing him (cf. Mt. 5:8; Heb. 12:14). Thus, this view says that holiness is a prerequisite to the vision of Christ and thus must precede it (the holiness, of course, is God given, not earned by man).
• More likely, however, is that he shall appear, we will see him, and as a result of seeing him we shall be made like him. I.e., in his presence sin will be eradicated from us and we will reflect his glory and through the majesty of that moment we will be made like him.
The possession of such hope is the strongest imaginable incentive to purity of life. It is no passing fancy; it is a hope securely fixed upon him.
Simply stated: the Christian hope is incompatible with moral indifference. “A mind singularly focused on meeting Jesus will discover a renewed power to pursue righteousness” (Burge, 147).
The words purify and pure stress the personal, internal aspect of purification.
The emphasis is on one’s sensitivity to sin, the tendency to shrink away from all contamination.
It is an intense, inner purification from sin because of a deep sensibility to it.
12. Why would the promise of seeing God (Matthew 5:8) be reserved for those who are pure in heart?
Michael Phillips theorizes that it would be okay to add the word “like” into this beatitude.
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see like God.
He says:
Only purity in heart produces the ability to see as God sees.
There are so many temptations to impurity: in thinking, in words, in actions, in attitudes.
Phillips believes these impurities build up like scales on our eyes — in makes us incapable of seeing as Jesus sees. Indeed, due to be desensitized to sin, we are unable to look in even the right directions.
Thoughts?
Because they are the only ones qualified to do so.