Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
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SUBJECT: Attitudes, Beatitudes, Purity
TITLE: Beatitudes – Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
PROPOSITION: Why are the pure in heart blessed/happy? 1) They are sincere, simple, and serene. 2) Their lives are clean. 3) They have a great promise.
OBJECTIVE: To understand what it means to be pure in heart and the blessing that comes from being such.
AIM: To encourage each to seek purity and holiness in their lives so that they may see God.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Read: Matthew 5:3-10
2. About the Text:
1) This passage begins the famous Sermon On The Mount.
2) This sermon speaks concerning the character of those who will be in the kingdom of God.
3) All who would be citizens of God’s kingdom should study and understand the contents of this great sermon.
3. The beatitudes
1) In this sermon, we are going to focus upon the first part of the sermon, know as the beatitudes.
2) Each beatitude has a particular form. There is in each one…
a. A declaration of blessing.
b. A description of attitude.
c. A disposition of blessing.
3) Each beatitude begins with the declaration of blessing.
a. The word for “blessing” in Greek is MARKARIOS.
b. The word contains idea of happiness and contentment.
c. 1 Cor.7:40 “But she is happier if she so abide….”
4) There is then the description of the attitude.
a. Here is why these are called the “beatitudes.”
b. We are attitudes that describe who we are to be.
5) Then there is the disposition of blessing.
a. This is the actual blessing itself and the reason for the happiness.
b. This is also what we can expect will result from having the attitude described.
4. Some definitions.
1) In the Bible, the heart is the center of a person’s being, His soul/spirit.
2) We need to know what the definition of “pure” is.
a. It is the idea of unspoiled, not mixed, elemental.
b. When we think of pure gold we think of gold that is uniform in composition.
3) A pure heart is the center of our being, our spirit, focused wholly upon God’s designs and purposes, and not our own – to love Him and to love our neighbor.
5. We sing: “Purer in heart, O’ God, help me to be!”
6. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.
DISCUSSION: The pure in heart are blessed/happy because . . .
I. They are sincere, simple, and serene.
1. They are sincere.
1) Their heart isn’t mixed with impure thoughts – Consider Titus 2:7-8 “In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.”
2) Authentic – Consider 2 Corinthians 1:12 “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.”
3) Not deceitful with others — 2 Corinthians 2:17 “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.”
2. They are simple.
1) They are simple in that they reduce life to its basics.
2) 2 Corinthians 11:3 teaches that there is a simplicity in Christ.
3) Truth isn’t really that complicated; it is error that makes things complex.
4) For the pure in heart, life isn’t complex for them and it doesn’t need to be. Consider Titus 1:15 “To the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.”
3. They are serene / contentment with peace.
1) Philippians 4:9 “The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”
2) Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.”
II. Their lives are clean.
1. Purity of life follows purity of heart.
1) “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:17-18).
2) We need the greatest source of purity, Christ Jesus.
3) Faith in Christ makes our hearts pure. Acts 15:9 – “Purifying their hearts by faith.”
4) Obedience makes our hearts pure. 1 Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”
5) We must let Christ live in us – Galatians 2:20.
2. What happens if the heart is not pure?
1) We will be condemned like the Pharisees – Matthew 23:25.
2) We will become corrupt.
a. Consider 2 Timothy 3:8 “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.”
b. Consider also Jude 1:10 “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.”
III. They have a great promise – God will by them be seen!
1. Psalm 18:26a “With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure….”
2. Consider Psalm 24:3-6 “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.”
3. Hebrews 12:14 “Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.”
4. 1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
CONCLUSION:
1. Why are the pure in heart blessed?
1) They are sincere, simple, and serene.
2) They have a life that is clean.
3) God will by them be seen.
2. Invitation