The Promise for the Pure in Heart

Introduction

Today, we will once again find ourselves in the introduction of Jesus great Sermon on the Mount in what is referred to as “The Beatitudes.”

Over the last 5 weeks now, we have taken each one and broke it down and looked at the blessings behind each of these Be-Attitudes.

And I have have said every week thus far that these are what?

They are attitudes that ought to be found in the born again believer.

We began by looking at how the first four beatitudes deal with our attitudes toward God and then last week we transitioned to looking at how these last five deal with our attitudes towards those around us.

Today, we will be looking at Beatitude # 6 in Verse 8. So if you have your Bible’s with you, and turned to Matthew Chapter 5, I’d ask you to stand with me for the reading of God’s reverent word.

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 1, if you have it would you say, Amen.

The Principle of being Pure in Heart

The first thing I’d like us to look at this morning is The Principle of being Pure in Heart.

What exactly does it mean to be pure in heart?

Jesus says here, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

In order to understand the meaning behind the phrase “pure in heart” we need to first understand what the object of the statement is.

What is it that is to be pure?

The heart is, right?

But is it talking about my physical heart? Is it saying that my physical heart has to be pure?

If so, I need to lay off the butter and grease and eat some more veggies, Amen!

But that’s not what it’s speaking of here when it speaks of the heart.

The Greek word used here for heart is the word (kardia). It’s where we get our English word “cardio” from.

And while it does refer to the vital organ we call our heart, in the Bible it more often refers metaphorically to the inner being of a person.

The inner man if you will.

The writer of Hebrews referred to it as the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

It speaks of our thoughts, our feelings, our passions, our desires, and our intentions.

In this day and time it was understood that the mind and the heart were intertwined. The deep desires of the heart are what fed into the minds thoughts and therefore when you spoke of one you spoke of the other.

It spoke of the innermost being that shaped a person and spurned them into action.

Adrian Rogers referred to it as “The Master Control of a man.”

The heart is the seat and source of all that springs out of a man.

This is the object Jesus is referring to here when He says, “Blessed are the pure in heart.”

Blessed are they who are pure in their thoughts and intents; in their passions and desires; in their feelings and intellect.

But knowing what the heart represents is only a half understanding of what the phrase is actually implying.

The other half is not the object itself but the meaning behind the description of the object.

What does the Bible mean here when it uses the word “pure”?

The word “Pure” is the Greek word (katharos) and it speaks of something genuine, sincere or clean; it speaks of a morally pure or innocent person.

So, if “pure” means genuine, sincere or clean and the word “heart” speaks of our thoughts, intents, desires, we can now understand that the principle of the phrase is that Jesus is speaking of someone who is pure, genuine and sincere in their dealings with God and with others, right?

Chuck Swindoll said...

Such people are honest, trustworthy, faithful, and loyal. Lying and deceit are far from them. They don’t have to keep track of little white lies in order to avoid being found out as fibbers, and they maintain integrity of actions even when nobody is looking. The pure in heart will see God.

One commentator said this...

People characterized as pure in heart are morally pure, honest, and sincere. They are people of integrity and single-minded commitment to God. Moral purity, honesty, and integrity come only through such a commitment. In turn, people committed totally to God will seek to be morally clean. Because of their sincere devotion to Christ, they will see God, here and now through the eyes of faith, and finally face-to-face. — Life Application Bible Commentary

Blessed are the Pure in Heart: for they shall see God!

Now that we know the principle of being pure in heart, next we need to understand the process of being pure in heart.

The Process of being Pure in Heart

Can I tell you this morning that man isn’t born pure in heart?

Actually, man is born right the opposite!

The great King David, a man after God’s own heart, said in...

Psalm 51:5 KJV 1900

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.

And then, David’s son Solomon said in...

Ecclesiastes 9:3 KJV 1900

3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

If you look in...

Jeremiah 17:9 KJV 1900

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

And going all the way back to Genesis, in the very beginning, the Bible says,

Genesis 6:5 KJV 1900

5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And if that weren’t enough, Jesus says in...

Mark 7:21–22 KJV 1900

21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

You see friend, when we are born into this world, we are born with a heart problem and as John G Butler said, “the inside is to be right before the outside can be right.”

The heart of the problem when it comes to man is the problem of the heart!

The Bible says in...

Proverbs 4:23 KJV 1900

23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.

All our problems begin and end with our heart and therefore, if we are going to be pure in heart, there has to be something that changes in our heart.

We literally but spiritually need a heart transplant!

You see dear friend, I can’t see your heart this morning, I don’t know what’s going on on the inside of that heart of yours but God does.

God can see right through each and every one of us to the very core of our being because He is our creator and He knows the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts and whether or not there has been a change in our hearts or not!

1 Samuel 16:7 KJV 1900

7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

God sees you this morning. God sees your heart this morning. God knows whether or not there’s been a change take place or not!

If we are going to be pure in heart, seeing as every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts evil continually, then there has to be a change take place!

And the only way that change comes about is through the removing, replacing, restoring and reviving power of God, Amen!

God told Ezekiel in...

Ezekiel 36:26 KJV 1900

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.

You see friend, in order for a person to be pure in heart, there has to be an operation from above take place inside that person.

There has to be a change in ownership. There has to be a change in leadership. There has to be a change in receivership!

In order for this operation to take place, first off a person must be born again!

We are born originally with an evil heart of unbelief and therefore we must be born again from above by believing and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

We must believe that He came and died for our sins, was buried and rose three days later and that now He sits on the right hand of the Father making intercession for all who call upon His mighty name!

That is the receivership change.

Then there is the leadership change.

Once we have believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, then we must submit to the call of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to be our guide.

And then, when we have been born again and submitted wholly and completely to the Spirit’s call upon our lives, we understand that we are not our own and that we were bought with a price and this leads to the ownership change.

I no longer live for myself and my thoughts, intents and desires but now, I live for God!

He has bought me and paid for me with the precious blood of His dear Son and therefore my life is now hid with Him and His thoughts are to be my thoughts.

His desires are to be my desires.

His intentions are to be my intentions!

And when these things take place in the life of a born again believer, this leads to the process of being pure in heart!

First, we must come broken in spirit.

Then, we must mourn over our sin and submit to God’s will for our lives.

Next, we will begin to hunger and thirst after righteousness which will lead to us being merciful to those around us and this change in posture, perception and poise will lead to us being pure in heart!

Blessed are the Pure in Heart: for they shall see God!

This is the Process of being pure in heart!

Now that we understand the principle and the process, next, I want us to quickly look at the prospects of being pure in heart.

The Prospects of being Pure in Heart

Who are the recipients of us being pure in heart?

Who is our pureness directed towards?

Who does it benefit?

First off, it benefits us as individuals.

Can I tell you some of the happiest, most joyous, most peaceful times a born again believer will ever have are when we are right with God.

When we have laid aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and received with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save our souls as James says; when we have come and confessed any lingering sin in our lives; when we are walking step in step with God; when our thoughts are His thoughts; our desires are His desires; our passions are His passions; when everything we are is only focused on everything that He is; when our hearts are intertwined with his heart; that my friend is the sweetest place the born again believer can ever find themselves on this side of eternity!

First off, being pure in heart benefits us.

But it should also be a benefit to those around us.

Pureness of heart, sincerity of thoughts and genuine intentions should also be directed to those around us and towards God.

James said in...

James 1:27 KJV 1900

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Pure hearts lead to pure religion and pure religion is seeing those around us in need and allowing the sincerity of our love for them be called into action and going back to last week, having mercy on them!

The prospects of being pure in heart are ourselves, those around us and God, Amen!

Not only are the thoughts and intents of a pure heart directed toward us and those around us but they are also to be directed toward God.

When the object of our focus is God, continually and perpetually; when all we concentrate on is Him and His word and His will; then pureness of heart will come automatically and we shall see God!

We shall see His hand move in our lives. We shall see His will accomplished in our actions. We will see the lives of those around us changed because they know where we stand and who we stand for!

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

Not only is there the principle of being pure in heart, the process of being pure in heart and the prospects of being pure in heart but next I want us to see the prerogative of being pure in heart!

The Prerogative of being Pure in Heart

Why are we to be pure in heart?

I want you to look back with me real quick at James 1:27

James 1:27 KJV 1900

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Not only should our pure hearts affect those around us in a positive way but being pure in heart...pure religion as James says here...is keeping ourselves unspotted from the world!

The pure in heart have been cleansed from the sin stains of this world and we are to try to keep it that way for the only thing the world wants to do, is drag us right back into that pit of sin that God just called us out of!

The very word pure means unsoiled, unmixed, unpolluted!

The Pure in Heart are to be set apart, holy and different from the rest of the world!

The prerogative of being pure in heart is for the church of the living God to stand out in such a way that it draws others to God!

Peter said it this way in...

1 Peter 2:9 KJV 1900

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

The pure in heart are to be set apart from the ways of the world!

We are to be a city set on a hillside for all the world to see and there should be such a drastic difference between those who are children of God and those who are children of the world that the children of the world sees the children of God and are drawn to God because of them!

The world should see the Church and want to be apart of it because of it’s drastic, dramatic difference to the ways of the world!

They should seek God because we have seen God and they can see the difference He has made in us!

That my friend is the prerogative of being pure in heart!

To draw others to God!

What other reason is there to exist?

The Psalmist David said in...

Psalm 9:1–2 KJV 1900

1 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

To make His name known today dear friend is the only reason we exist and when the time comes, as the days of Noah were, when no one cares about coming to know the one true God of all creation anymore, then I believe that will be the end!

We’re almost there today but not quite.

There is still a remnant, as in the days of Elijah, who are pure in heart, and sharing the love of God the world over.

And praise God, they shall see God!

Which is our last point I want us to look at today.

The promise for the pure in heart.

The Promise for the Pure in Heart

First off, Jesus says those who are pure in heart will be blessed.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be blessed, amen.

I want to be happy.

I want to be joyous.

I want to be complete.

And Jesus says I can be all these things if I am pure in heart.

He also says that the pure in heart “shall see God!”

I don’t know about you, but the most joyous day I will ever experience in all eternity is the day that I get to meet the one face to face that I’ve only ever known heart to heart!

To be able to fall at His feet and say thank you!

To hopefully be able to do as John the beloved did and lay my head upon his chest but for a moment in time and feel His loving arms surround me.

That my friend is the day that I long for.

The day when I shall get to see “MY GOD!”

The only way that will be possible though is if I’ve allowed Him to do a heart transplant on me. If I’ve allowed Him to change me from the inside out.

I can say this morning that God has done that for me.

Are there remnants of that old man that try creeping up from time to time?

Of course.

Are there times when I fail and fall victim to those old ways and desires?

Absolutely.

Am I ashamed of myself when it happens?

More and more each time!

I may not yet be the man I want and long to be but praise God, I’m not the man I used to be!

I’m still a work in progress but I have submitted my life to a Savior who finished the work of my salvation on a cross at Calvary.

And not just for me only but for all who would believe in Him and call upon His name.

And His name this morning is Jesus.

He is the reason I have a pure heart. He is the one who initiated the heart transplant that took away my old stony heart and gave me a heart of flesh that feels how He feels about my sin.

And He can do the same for you this morning if you’ll let Him.

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