The Sermon on the Mount
Blessed are the Pure in Heart; Matthew 5:8
Exposition of Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
- Blessed: Happiness or inward joy that comes from God
- Blessed are those who seek to be emptied of themselves
- The spiritually poor, Matthew 5:3
- Those who mourn over spiritual poverty, Matthew 5:4
- Those who are gentle with others who are spiritually poor, Matthew 5:5
- Blessed are those who seek to be filled with the things of God
- Righteousness, Matthew 5:6
- Mercy, Matthew 5:7
- Blessed are those whose motives are pure, Matthew 5:8
- “Pure in heart”
- The promise that fulfills the longing of every believer’s heart
- “For they shall see God” (Connection with Psalm 24)
The Sermon on the Mount
Blessed are the Pure in Heart; Matthew 5:8
Mission Testimony: Lyndi Pate
Scripture Reading and Prayer
- Read Matthew 5:3-12 (slides)
Exposition of Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
(Slide 1 – Header Slide)
- Blessed: Happiness or inward joy that comes from God
- Blessed are those who seek to be emptied of themselves (Slide 2)
- Overview again of the nine beatitudes and their relationship to one another
- Not a full disclosure of doctrine in this passage, but instead an overview of the fundamental principles of spiritual life
- However, these nine statements give a powerful, simple and comprehensive overview of what it means to be a follower of Christ
- There is more information needed than just the beatitudes to fully comprehend what Christ has said here
- There is a progression in these
- Not that you only do the first and if you wish you proceed to the next
- This is the call for all believers in Christ is to continually progress through these attributes and to continually embrace each attribute
- The spiritually poor, Matthew 5:3
- Those who mourn over spiritual poverty, Matthew 5:4
- Those who are gentle with others who are spiritually poor, Matthew 5:5
- Blessed are those who seek to be filled with the things of God
- Righteousness, Matthew 5:6
- Mercy, Matthew 5:7
- The next beatitude reminds us that God is not looking for merely external evidences
- Blessed are those whose motives are pure, Matthew 5:8 (Slide 3)
- Not only is there a progression of life through these beatitudes
- There is also a progression in outcome or in promises
- Notice the outcome of these promises (Slide 4-5)
- In the kingdom, … see God, called Sons of God
- The reversion back to the basic promise is the result of persecution – this makes sense because if an individual goes through trouble they may wonder if they are “in” or “out”
- We will speak more of this in a few weeks, but persecution does not mean you are out of the kingdom
- Today’s beatitude, blessed are the pure in heart (Slide 6)
- Purity – clean, washed, without blemish, spiritual - without duplicity
- “Pure in heart”
o Let’s see how the term heart – cardia (cardiac) is used throughout Scripture
o There are times in Scripture that heart refers to the physical muscle in the chest that pumps blood throughout the body
o However, more than that, the Old and New Testament use the term to describe a spiritual reality and not a physical reality, 600 Old and 200 New references
o We need to get to the heart of the matter
o I love you with all my heart
o There aspects of the human heart from a spiritual prospective are not all flattering
o Consider these verses
o The first occurrence of the word heart in the bible, Genesis 6:5 (Slide 7)
o In God’s dialogue with Moses, He told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart and so it happened, Exodus 8:15 (Slide 8)
o The psalmist refers to the atheist as making a heart decision, Ps. 14:1 (Slide 9)
o In Matthew 15 the Pharisees challenge Jesus about the failure of His disciples to follow the parasitical tradition of ritual hand washing before eating bread
o Jesus quotes the Old Testament to them, Matthew 15:8 (Slide 10)
o “Whoa to you Scribes and Pharisees”
o The disciples pull Jesus aside and say, “I think you offended them.”
o Jesus then gives this principle of spiritual life, Matthew 15:18-19 (Slide 11)
o Sin is an expression of what is inside a person, lies come from within, hate comes from within, these are not merely physical reactions like Pavlov’s dogs
o On the positive side of spiritual life and the use of heart, there are several expression in sacred Scripture
o The greatest commandment in the Bible found in Deut. 6:5-6 (Slide 12)
o This statement is quoted by Jesus as the greatest commandment
o David, after his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah the Hittite is in need of forgiveness so he begs God for such
o Part of that confession is found in Psalm 51:10-11 (Slide 13)
o Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
o One other Psalm that connects directly with what Jesus says in the beatitudes
o Read Psalm 24:3-5 (Slides 14-16)
o Read Ezekiel 11:19-20 (Slide 17)
o Read Ephesians 3:16-17 (Slide 18)
o The human heart is the center of vitality, if your heart stops beating you are declared legally dead
o Spiritually, the heart of an individual represents the center of the person’s life
o The mind, the emotions, the will, the conscience all the dimensions of spiritual life
o With the spiritual heart we love and hate God and others
o With the spiritual heart we sin or perform acts of righteousness
o The spiritual heart, the inward life of a person, marks the integrity of the person
o The spiritual heart is by nature wicked and evil and turned against God
o God comes and gives us a new heart, a clean heart, a pure heart
- “For they shall see God”
o Connection with Psalm 24 and Psalm 51
o The connection between the purity of heart and the outcome
o They shall see God
o Moses request, “Show me your glory.”
o Isaiah, “I saw the Lord, high and lifted up.”
o Jesus prayer for His disciples in John 17, “that they may see my glory.”
o John describes our greatest joy is to see Jesus Christ as He truly is (Slide 17 -Read I John 3:2)
o For the individual who is lost, there is little appeal in this sentence by Jesus
o For the believer there is infinite joy in this prospect
- Application:
- Read Matthew 5:8 (Slide 19)
- There is a blessing or happiness, a joy that is associated with a life of purity in heart
- God will not let those who have pursued Him with such motives be disappointed
- So what does this look like? (Slide 20 – Header Slide)
- Self-effacing, humility, a gentleness, personal righteousness, mercy all down from a genuine attitude toward God
- Someone who is pure in heart is…
- Not concerned about external appearances, not doing what we are doing for the recognition by others, not living in a way so as to be noticed and respected
- Not trying to impress or receive credit from others for their actions
- Living out the other beatitudes with a engaged heart, thoughts, attitudes
- Living out the beatitudes with a purity of motives so that we do what we do for the sake of God’s glory, His name and His reputation and His kingdom
- May 18 is our anniversary - Marriage and the external actions
- External actions are important, but the heart is the issue
- As with marriage, our relationship to God is a heart decision
- This is the check for a purity of heart
- This moves us from the mere external actions and moves us to the far more challenging aspect of kingdom living
- This verse calls us to check our motives, our thoughts, our dreams, our desires
- This verse calls us to evaluate honestly what is going through our mind when we do anything