Word of Salvation – Vol.26b No.50 – September 1981
The Pure In Heart
Sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Matthew 5:8.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 24; Colossians 3:1–17
One day a young man was walking along the footpath of a busy shopping street. Many of the shops had large front windows that reached down to ground level. The young man noticed, as he was walking along, that when he looked sideways he could very often see a clear reflection of himself in those windows.
There were many other people in that same street, and the young man noticed as he glanced at them that some looked untidy and scruffy. Others walked with their backs bent and again others looked ungainly, because they were either too tall or too small, had too much weight or not enough.
But he looked okay! As he watched his reflection every now and then, he was impressed by his neatness, his good physique and upright way of walking. He felt pleased with himself and thought that others might feel that way about him too.
Another person in that same street had noticed this young man and observed him carefully. He concluded that although the young man was impressed with himself, he did not appear to be over-proud and perhaps would not be offended if something was said to him.
So he caught up with the young fellow and tapping him on the shoulder, said, “Excuse me, young man, but may I offer my congratulations to you for your fine appearance.” The young man smiled, a bit embarrassed but yet pleased with the remark. However, he was quite unprepared for the stranger’s next remark, for it destroyed his self-assurance at once.
The stranger said, “From the outside it all looks very good. But tell me, how does it look on the inside? Is it as good as the outside?”
Yes, many of us here today are at our Sunday best. We are well laundered, well scrubbed and at our best behaviour. But how pure are our hearts? How does it look on the inside? Are we inwardly the same person as we try to be outwardly?
Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” As we come face to face with this Scripture truth today, we shall consider three things:
- Purity of heart is more than being sincere and honest.
- Purity of heart is to be like God, and
- Purity of heart and repentance.
Firstly then, purity of heart is more than being sincere and honest.
Many people would be inclined to think that the pure in heart are those who are known as having great sincerity and honesty. Integrity and purity of heart are regarded as being much the same thing.
We can be excused for thinking along these lines for the Word of God itself seems to give that impression. For instance, in Psalm 24 it is asked, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” This refers to the Old Testament temple of course but the same meaning is there if we ask, “Who may stand in the presence of God?” The Psalm answers, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.
Here the pure in heart appear to be those whose consciences are clean, who have not been involved in anything wrong, whose hearts are true and who trust in God and not in false gods. Such honest and sincere people seem to be blessed by God.
Psalm 24 says as much, “He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Saviour”.
Psalm 73 seems to support this when it says, “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” (vs.1)
Also the New Testament seems to share this view that purity of heart is the same as having a good conscience and being sincere. For that is what 1Timothy 1:5 says, “…..love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 2Timothy 2:22 places a pure heart on the same level as fleeing the evil desires of youth, righteousness, faith, love and peace.
From all this one could easily come to conclusion that the pure in heart are, without further qualifications, those people who are sincere, who think, act and speak without hypocrisy. And if they are the kind of people Jesus is describing here in this 6th Beatitude, then they are pronounced blessed. Moreover, they shall see God. They have the twin blessings of being happy and seeing God.
But now not one person here today can claim to be pure in heart because not one of us is always sincere and always honest. No one here can claim to have clean hands and there are traces of hypocrisy in all of us. Perhaps others may think of you as being pure in heart but we ourselves know better. But having said that, you would not be really disturbed at this stage because we started off by saying that purity of heart is more than being sincere and honest. And when we referred to a few texts a moment ago, then we said that it seems as if the Bible is saying that purity of heart is the same as being a person of integrity, leaving the door open for the possibility that there is more to it.
Well, when Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart….!” then maybe it needs, in the light of Scripture, some further qualifications, for obviously there are no persons who are pure in heart. None here are, anyway. Maybe we should understand Jesus’ words to mean, “Blessed are those who are regenerated.” It may be more accurate to say that a pure heart is a regenerate heart, a heart born again of God’s Spirit. Then we could say that this Beatitude refers to us, for we claim to be Christian people who are born again of God. Then Jesus is blessing us here and we will see God. But perhaps that may be a too hasty conclusion. And maybe we shouldn’t be too sure about this matter of seeing God, by simply assuming that all that is needed is a regenerate heart. Can one say that a pure heart is not so important, as long as one is born again?
By simply assuming that a regenerate heart will see God, one can allow for all kinds of impurities and not be too disturbed about it. But the Lord Jesus is concerned about an impure heart. He says it plainly enough, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”.
That word ‘pure’ is also used by Jesus when He denounced the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. He said that they were like cups and dishes, outwardly clean but inwardly dirty. From the outside they looked good, respectable, sincere, men of integrity. But inside they were full of greed and self-indulgence. And Jesus said to them, “Blind Pharisee! First clean (i.e. purify) the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside, also will be clean (i.e. pure).” (Matthew 23:26).
Jesus went on to say that they were also like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside they are full of dead men’s bones and everything is unclean. “In the same way,” Jesus said, “on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (23:28).
The picture that we get from these cups and dishes and the whitewashed tombs is that of dividedness. Not just one thing stands out in the sight of God but two things. The outside and the inside. They are not the same whereas they should be.
When we admit that we don’t have pure hearts, and no one here can say anything different, then we are confessing that each one of us has a trace of the Pharisee. There is a touch of their hypocrisy, of their double standards, of their double mindedness, about us all. There is a bit of the dirty cup and the dish and a bit of the whitewashed tomb in all of us.
Outwardly we can be fighters for the truth, but inwardly we ourselves sometimes work with lies and falsehoods. Outwardly we can speak out in favour for the need of supporting the church and the Christian school but inwardly, that is privately, we don’t honour our pledges and don’t pay our fees. Outwardly we agree that we must not destroy the other person’s reputation by sinful gossip but inwardly, that is, to a few close friends we unblushingly bring down their good name. Outwardly we blow off steam about things that are unrighteous, but inwardly we are terribly bitter and resentful, revealing a pool of unrighteousness. Outwardly we denounce the permissive society and are crusaders for proper moral behaviour, but inwardly and privately our sexual standards leave something to be desired. Outwardly our speech is fine and we sing beautiful words in church but inwardly, that is with our friends, we may be throwing out foul obscenities.
Indeed, there may be more to pure hearts than just being honest and sincere but at least let us not take away the force of Jesus’ statement by saying that. He did emphasize purity of heart and by saying that He condemned all double standards and hypocrisy. He rejects duplicity. What we are on the outside must be in harmony with what goes on inside of us. We must be pure of heart inwardly and outwardly.
Let us in the second place see that purity of heart is to be like God.
Why is there more to purity of heart than just being sincere and honest? Well, we have just reminded ourselves that in all of us there is a bit of the cup and the dish and a bit of the whitewashed tomb. Hypocrisy is a real problem and a real sin!
So unless we want to reduce Jesus’ statement here to a mere superficial suggestion as how to be good decent people, we had better see Jesus here as being far more than just a teacher in moral behaviour.
He is the King of the kingdom of heaven who came to a sinful mankind to establish among men the purity of God. To do that Christ had to be Saviour and Redeemer. He had to change men, not only their outward behaviour but first of all their hearts.
For once the sinful heart of man is changed, then everything else about the person will also change, for it is our heart that motivates us. So Christ had to take the purity of God right into men’s hearts, thereby making them pure like God. To do this He had to first destroy the power of sin that causes the sinful hearts to commit all kinds of impurities. The Saviour did this very thing by His suffering and death on the cross. He took the sinner’s impurity upon Himself and died under God’s sentence of condemnation.
Having satisfied God’s judgement upon the sinner’s impurity, He then took God’s purity into the saved sinner’s life. This He did through His resurrection from the dead and by means of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God now dwells in the hearts of those whom Christ has cleansed from impurity, and through the Spirit the purity of God is established in them.
To be pure in heart, therefore, is to be like God for God is pure. But whilst Jesus brought that purity of God to all those who believe and accept in trust this saving work of Christ, it nevertheless is necessary for the believer to allow this purity of God to work right through him. That is, whilst Christ has made the believer pure, the believer must see to it that everything about him becomes pure. He must become what he is already in Christ. His thinking, speaking and acting must all bring out God’s purity that Christ gave to him.
Purity of heart is a characteristic of the Christian that has to be there as much as all the other Christian characteristics mentioned by Jesus here in The Beatitudes.
We therefore have to be pure like God is pure. To be pure like God is not a matter of being just honest and sincere. It implies a great deal more. It means, for instance, that our whole being and all our existing must be in accordance with the truth of God. There is a standard to which we must measure up. This standard is God’s truth revealed in the scriptures.
People may think they are pure in heart, but the questions is: “By what rule do they determine that?” They may feel honest and sincere about something, but they can be honestly and sincerely wrong if their thinking and acting is in conflict with God’s standard of truth.
To be pure in heart is to know God as He is and to think and act as He does. It is to live in accordance with the truth revealed in His Word and to strive without hypocrisy to please and glorify Him. Yes, it is to have our hearts and minds set on God, as we are reminded of in Colossians 3, which was read earlier. To be pure in heart is to have all the virtues of Christ control us and be part of us. The heart is in tune with the heart of God. Our feelings and thoughts go in that direction.
It is not trying hard to be something different than what we really are. It is not a matter of pretending, but it is to be like Christ. Christ’s kind of compassion, His kindness and humility and gentleness and patience becomes our kind, or our kind becomes like Christ’s. There is nothing forced or spooky about it, we wear Christ’s nature like a second skin.
When we are pure in heart like God, or like Christ, then it is not surprising that we see God. For God reveals Himself in those who are His true children in Christ. He is in them through His Word and Spirit. Christ lives in them and they in Christ. He who has seen Christ has seen the Father.
Only in this way can one have fellowship with God. Only in this way can we pray to God. We understand something of God because we are part of Him.
This understanding is not complete and our vision of God is not complete. That is because we are still part of this imperfect world and our seeing of God is like a poor reflection. But when the new heaven and the new earth come, then we shall see perfectly, face to face.
Finally, and briefly, a word about purity of heart and repentance. It is very well possible that the believer’s earthly nature still bothers him. Yes, there are times that his heart is in tune with God’s heart and then he knows and experiences peace with God.
Unfortunately, there may also be times that his heart is out of tune with God’s heart. Colossians 3 hints at that when the Lord there urges the believer to put to death sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed (vs.5.). All those impurities do not begin with the act but in the heart. Some may never end up in action but that doesn’t make us less impure.
Some of you may have read the books about Joni Eareckson who as a result of a diving accident became totally paralysed from the neck down. At one stage, Joni admits, she was allowing herself to develop wild, lustful sexual fantasies. But not one part of her body was involved, except her mind. It was all in the mind and all impure.
Now these things that still belong to our earthly natures, we must bring them under control and repent of them before God. If we don’t, then we will be consumed by them.
Purity of heart is not the same as sinlessness. Whilst in this life we won’t be without sin, we can be pure in heart in honestly facing up to sin and fighting it. When Jesus exposed the Pharisees by comparing them to the cup and this dish and to the whitewashed tomb, outwardly looking clean but inwardly dirty, they became enraged. Their hatred towards Christ intensified and they hardened their hearts against Him.
How do we react to Christ?
Jesus, through His Word and Spirit continually exposes also in us those traces of the cup and the dish and the whitewashed tomb. When He does – and we pray that He has done it to you today – then see it as a blessing, as an indication of His mercy and compassion.
For He calls upon us to humble ourselves and to confess before Him our double mindedness and our hypocrisy. He makes us feel ashamed of ourselves and brings out the guilt in us.
But He does more. He also calls us to repentance. No matter how involved we have been in impure things, we may go to the Lord and say: Lord, I am sorry, forgive.
Believe that there is complete forgiveness with God. For the sake of Christ He removes our impurity and puts within us His own purity.
Be therefore pure in heart and you shall see God. And in that, in that seeing of God, you will be blessed.
Amen.