Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”

People have been trying to pursue purity for thousands of years unfortunately most of the pathways they have traveled have been pointless. Several of these popular but pointless pathways are:

Legalism, this was the preferred pathway of the priests in Jesus day. It always revolves around rules and regulations that must be strictly followed in order to gain favor with God and impress people. It’s a pointless system because it never penetrates the heart.

Modernism, this moves us to the opposite end of the spectrum where we can pick and choose our beliefs and they don’t have to be based on scriptural standards and beliefs. This pathway is very popular because it is based on personal preference. The Sadducees rejected several key doctrinal truths during Jesus day, picking and choosing what they wanted.

Activism, this pathway tries to bring about change by using political power and while we should participate in the democratic process through voting, only a heart change can bring about lasting change in a community. The Zealots of the first century believed that a political change was what God’s people needed, that’s why they were disappointed in the Prince of Peace.

Monasticism, practiced mostly by monks, believes that disengaging from society will promote purity. The problem with this is that sin lurks in the heart and not just in the world.

There are many more man made models that we could talk about but none of them promote purity. So how do we live pure lives in a corrupt culture? Philippians 2:12-13 gives us hope for holy living, revealing both our personal responsibility as well as God’s part. “12 Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” The pursuit of purity is a joint project, God calls us to personally participate in our sanctification as He works in us. There is a balance, we can’t sit back and do nothing but neither can we clean ourselves up on our own. So practically what does it look like for us to participate in purity.  First we need to:

• Admit our sinful impurity.

The first step is to acknowledge that we can’t change on our own without Christ. Proverbs 20:9 says: “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?’” Have you ever been honest about how unholy your heart really is? Second

• Ask God for a new heart

After admitting that you have a deceitful and diseased heart, agree with God’s diagnosis and ask Him for a new one. This is the story of salvation, we not only admit our sin but we turn to the Savior for the forgiveness of sin.

• Pursue purity through prayer

David had many moral messes and after confessing them to the Lord, he prayed for a holy heart in Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” This is more than just breaking some bad habits, its dealing with a defiled and dirty heart. David was also proactive when it came to purity, calling on God to search out his sin, Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Most of us use prayer to petition God over problems but how many use prayer to petition God for purity?

• Pursue God

Pursuing God will have a purifying effect in our lives because as we come close to Him we come close to holiness. James 4:8 says: “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” There is no way to be pure without clinging to Christ and cultivating your relationship with Him.

• Memorize and meditate on His Word

If you are serious about pursuing purity then make time to memorize and meditate on scripture. In Psalm 119:9, the psalmist asks a question, “How can a young man keep his way pure?” The answer comes in the second part of verse 11: “By living according to your word…I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Don’t just read the word hide it in your heart.

• Avoid complaining and arguing.

This one is a surprise to many but complaining is really exhibiting a lack of faith in Christ and an argumentative attitude allowing anger and unholiness to take root in our hearts. Philippians 2:14-15: “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure…”

• Watch what you watch.

While our heart is what harbor unholiness, the eyes are often the gateway to the heart. Part of the war involves watching what we watch, James 1:27 tells us that part of pure religion is to “keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” This is becoming increasingly difficult in our sin saturated society but God has given us two built in weapons to win the war. The first weapon we have that can bring victory involves our vision, we can only focus on sin that we can see. Our peripheral vision lends itself to purity because it’s too fuzzy to let us focus. Second God has placed all this on a pivot called a neck that can turn the vison away from sin and toward victory. This means that if we want to pursue purity we have to practice looking away from that which will pollute. That’s what Job did in Job 31:1: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.” We need to filter what we focus on.

• Wait and trust God’s Word

When it comes to sexual purity the world tells us to rush in but God’s word tells us to wait. Unfortunately instead of experiencing the wonder of waiting most experience the wounds of not waiting. Secular society tells us that we can have safe sex, and while we may be able to protect ourselves from sexual disease it doesn’t prevent us from damage. The truth is a prophylactic doesn’t protect purity. True love waits, Hebrews 13:4 says: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” It’s never too late to make a purity pact.

• Find a faithful friend

You may need to find some different friends if the ones you have are dragging you down and influencing you for ill. Proverbs 13:20 says: “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”

• Focus on your future hope

If you’re serious about pursuing purity remember it’s not a sprint but a lifelong race one we are to run looking forward to Christ’s return. Longing for Christ’s return will purify our hearts because we become what we love. 1 John 3:3: “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

Do you desire to pursue purity, then cut loose the sin that will sink you. There is a story told about a couple who had recently purchased a new boat, but were having some serious problems. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get their 22-foot boat going. It was very sluggish no matter which way they turned, no matter how much power was applied. After about an hour of trying to make it go, they putted to a nearby marina, hoping someone there could tell them what was wrong. A thorough check on the topside of the boat revealed that everything was in perfect working condition. The engine ran fine, the out drive went up and down, and the propeller was the correct size and pitch. Then, one of the marina guys jumped in the water to check underneath. He came up choking on the water because he was laughing so hard. Under the boat, still strapped securely in place, was the trailer! Let me ask you when God looks underneath your life, what does He see? When He looks behind your perfectly manicured mask, what does He discover? Is your heart strapped to some sin that is slowly pulling you under?

Matthew 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”

If Jesus would have just said, “Blessed are the pure, for they will see God,” then the religious would have rejoiced because they were experts at outward purity. They had a long list of over 600 laws on what to do, when to do it and why, they even had rules that regulated how far they should walk on the Sabbath. While they expended all their energy trying to make the outside look good they were really engaged in maintaining masks to cover up what was really taking place on the inside. But you will never clean the heart by changing a habit, you can’t fix the inside by focusing on the outside. Instead of pursuing heart purity they practiced a false piety, instead of authenticity there was acting. Rules and regulations don’t lead to righteousness they lead to self-reliance. Instead of purity of heart we end up posing as pretenders trying to hid a putrid heart and Jesus said some of his sternest words to those involved in religious mask management. Matthew 23:25-28: “25 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish,[a] and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Instead of pure hearts they had hearts of hypocrisy. They mistakenly believed that their religious acts made them right, but it was really just a show of spirituality. Jesus saw through their pomp and pretense and looked right into their hearts as He quoted Isaiah in Matthew 15:8: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Holiness must come from the heart because everything else flows from the heart. Proverbs 4:23 provides a pointed challenge to all who are prone to pretend: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.” What comes out of the heart can contaminate, if the source is polluted it will poison everything downstream. Jesus is not interested in reforming our manners to make us look good He wants to transform our lives so we will live like Him. Purity does not come as a result of cleaning up our conduct, or rigorously keeping the rules, it’s a heart issue. In Matthew 15:18-19 Jesus said: “But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.” God is not caught up with our outward appearance, which may be hard for some to hear since that’s where many spend much of their time in maintenance and manicuring, no God hones in on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 says: “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Proverbs 21:2 reminds us that: “the LORD weighs the heart.” God is not looking for believers who are busily engaged in behavioral modification, he is searching for sold-out followers who have fully committed their hearts to Him. Proverbs 27:19 says: “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” The heart is the chair of our character, it’s what Max Lucado calls the “switch house that receives freight cars loaded with moods, emotions, and convictions and puts them on the right track.” When the heart is bad the track becomes broken, and it’s just a matter of time before we experience the disaster of derailment. Bad behavior comes from a broken heart, the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. Today there are many diseases but the deadliest deals with a deceitful heart, our greatest problem is not a race problem, or even a poverty problem it’s a heart problem. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” Its here that we see four heart realities.

• The Deceitfulness of the Heart.

The word deceitful has its roots in the name Jacob, which means “supplanter.” Jacob was a dealer in deceit until God dealt with his heart, changing both his heart and his name. In Genesis 35:10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.” Second we see:

• The Disease of the Heart.

Jeremiah refers to the hearts as “beyond cure” because the sickness of sin has tainted our hearts causing them to be terminally diseased. The heart is beyond human healing, something man cannot mend or medicate. This is the disease the Reformers referred to as total depravity because it infiltrates and infects ever part of a person, influencing how we think, feel, and behave. Today we are being taught that we sin as a result of our surroundings, but it’s not what’s around us but what’s in us. Before you argue this look at Adam, he was in a perfect environment yet he still sinned. Genesis 6:5 speaks to both the seriousness of sin and the source: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Sin comes from the inside and its impact is both fearful and far reaching. Third we see:

• The Diagnosis of the Heart.

Verse 10 says: “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind.” Because the heart is deceitful and diseased, we desperately need God to diagnose the heart. Only God can see inside the heart and show us what is really in us. We can attempt to manage and mask the heart, but hide the heart never works because eventually what’s in the heart will rear its head. It’s like the story of the little girl who started crying when she heard a dog barking. The owner scolded his dog and it immediately settled down. The mother tried to comfort her daughter and said, “You don’t have to cry, honey. He stopped barking.” The little girl continued to whimper and said, “Yes, but his bark is still in him.” Religion is like the bit and bridle it tries to rein in the heart much like a rider reins in a horse. But religion’s muscle will at best only manage the heart it will never mend it. We may be able to control ourselves for a while, but sooner or later the beast will bark again. Last we see:

• The Doctor of the Heart.

In Jeremiah 17:14 the prophet proclaims, “Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.” Only the Holy One can heal your heart, our condition is so grave that the only cure is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We are not talking about turning over a new leaf we are talking about total transformation and that requires a transplant. In Jeremiah 24:7 God says, “I will give them a heart to know me…” and Ezekiel 36:26 says: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” You will never be pure in heart until you admit your sin and surrender your life to the Savior. Are you ready to receive a new heart or are you going to run to rules and regulations to mask and manage you’re broken one? Why not bring your diseased heart to the doctor to be healed because relationship is a lot more fun than rules.