Beatitudes: Merciful & Pure Heart

Remember all of these beatitudes line up with each other. You can’t have one without the other. And you can’t have one before the other. These are strategically placed in the order they are in for a reason.

The first stage of someones faith in Jesus is to come to realize their spiritual state: poor because of our sin. The Godly reaction to our spiritual state is to mourn, to be meek and gentle, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to be merciful, pure in heart, and to be peacemakers. And then all these “states of spirituallity” lead to being persecuted by the world. We will get to those last two next week.

But this week we are going over Matthew 5:7-8.

Story of me punching Josh.

Big guy, verses little guy. At camp, preacher gave all the Junior Higher's rubber band for a sermon illustration. (I don’t know what it was.) Josh popped me in the eye, and out of anger I popped him in the face.

Who showed mercy, Josh(Big guy).

Matthew 5:7–8 ESV

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the Merciful.

Mercy is showing compassion to whom deserves punishment. It is not justice. Justice is giving what someone deserves.

Mercy is giving what is undeserving.

Josh had every right to swing right back at me but he didn’t. He showed me an amazing amount of mercy.

My mom brought the justice by whooping my butt.

One of my favorite bible stories, where someone shows great mercy is David and King Saul.

Backstory: God then told Samuel that He had a King in mind that was after His own heart, that was different from Saul. Samuel then anointed David as king but couldn’t become King until Saul was dead. Saul knew this so, he (Saul), sought to kill David, because he was envious of David and wanted his kingdom to go on forever.

David then was on the run! Then came this moment when David was hiding in a cave from Saul, and Saul came in to use the relieve himself.

1 Samuel 24:4–8 ESV

4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’ ” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way. 8 Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage.

David had every right to take Saul out right then and there. Saul has tried to kill him numerous of times, has been chasing him all throughout the wilderness. But David showed compassion for him anyways.

King Saul deserved death, but it was not David’s calling or duty. And because of that David also recieved mercy.

David had multiple instances like this. Where he was able to do away with Saul, and yet instead he showed mercy, because of that God showed mercy to David when he fell and slipped into lustful sin, committing adultery with Bathsheba.

We show mercy, because we have recieved mercy.

Matthew 5:7 “7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Even when forgiveness is underserved, we still give it. Because Jesus said this:

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Luke 6:36 ESV

36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

This is the complete opposite of what the world goes says. The world says that the ones who show mercy, are weak. The ones who are compassionate, will never get anywhere, will get trampled over in life.

But as a Christian and a child of God, you are blessed when you are merciful, and He will show you mercy.

When we receive the mercy of God, it will overflow to others.

When we are merciful, and we understand that we have recieved mercy, it will make us want a pure heart.

Blessed are the Pure in Heart.

Matthew 5:8 ESV

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

In the ancient Greek, the phrase pure of heart has the idea of straightness, honesty, and clarity. There can be two ideas connected to this.

One is of inner moral purity as opposed to the purity on the outside.

The other idea is of a single, undivided heart – those who are utterly sincere and not divided in their devotion and commitment to God.

Jesus is saying, “Happy are those who are holy, with godly character, for they will see God.” Those who are not divided in their hearts. Wanting to please both the world and God. You can’t do that.

The Pure in Heart have an intimate relationship with God.

The pure in heart receive the greatest reward of all, they will enjoy greater intimacy with God than they have ever imagined.

This intimate relationship with God should become our greatest motivation for being pure in heart.

To be pure in spirit you must first realize that you cannot make yourself pure on your own will power.

To grow in purity is admitting that we can’t do it alone, and need God.

To be pure we are in God’s word, you can’t know God’s will if you are not in His word.

To be pure in heart you walk in the spirit. Just like Paul says in Galatians 5:16 “16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

To be pure in heart you are in prayer. Ephesians 6:18 “18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”

Thats what it means to be pure in heart. And the blessing is that we will see God.

Final thought.

The only people who receive mercy are those who surrender their life to Christ. Those who have not, will not recieve it. Not saying that this is just a gift for special people, this is a free gift for everyone. But He wants all of you. God washes our sins away to make us have a pure heart, but you have to make a commitment to Him. It says right there in Romans 10:9-10

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Prayer: Heavenly father, You are so great. You have forgiven us, you have showed us mercy, even when we dont deserve it. And you call us to do the same. If there is anyone in our lives that need forgiveness, I pray that you give us the power to go and forgive. God, give us a pure heart. One that is unstained from sin. Let our passions and desires be what you want them to be. Let us