REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Matthew 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show “window pane” of the 8 beatitudes.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving).
INTRODUCTION:
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
1. Who is GOD that the pure in heart will see?
2. How do we SEE God?
3. Why is the condition of the HEART so important?
4. What does PURE in heart look like?
READ THE BEATITUDES:
3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
PURE IN HEART?
INTRODUCTION:
John Stott wrote, “The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete
delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-
culture. (Stott, Pg. 19)
This verse is written to the Christian but it is one of the most demanding
in the Sermon. FLIP CHART: Show the 4 “High Demand” verses.
Let’s study the Beatitude by focusing on the four key words, God, See,
Heart and Pure in that order.
I. WHO IS THIS GOD THE PURE IN HEART WILL SEE?
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see GOD.” (Mt. 5:8).
TABLE ACTIVITY: Provide each table with a transparency and pen. Tell them to choose a scribe who is good at printing. They will have exactly 30 seconds to answer the question. When 30 seconds is up the scribe will stand and bring the transparency to the front of the room. The question: Write down as many characteristics or attributes of God that you can.
Have the flip chart ready with two columns titled: Soft Qualities & Severe Qualities. List the qualities from the table and add numbers behind them on either of the two lists.
Talk about the conclusions. Ask, “How do we visualize God?” “In our minds, who is God? What is He like?”
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4).
The word “beauty” here has connotations of delightful, lovely, sweet.
The God we serve is perfect – “God is the sum-total of all excellencies, the One than whom no greater, higher, better can exist either in thought or reality” (Hermann Bavinck).
“All of God’s attributes contribute to His beauty. God is perfect in every way. His attributes are perfect. God is beautiful because of His love, mercy and compassion. He is beautiful because of His holiness. He is beautiful because of His hatred of sin. Can you imagine how horrible it would be for a judge to reward and encourage wickedness and evil? God is beautiful because of His love of truth. He is beautiful because he act is righteously. He is beautiful because of His power. His beauty is displayed in His wisdom. Remember what the Queen of Sheba said about Solomon? (I Kings 10:7-8) – – “in wisdom and wealth you have exceeded the report I hard. How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!”
How much more blessed are we who dwell in God’s presence and see His attributes displayed in all that He does.
“Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.'” (Rev. 4:8).
Why ‘day and night’? Are they programmed, machines? No, they are overwhelmed with the beauty of the Lord.
ILL: I have a list of 365 names of God as given in the Bible.
Awesome scenes in nature, a handsome man, a beautiful woman, a superb skater or athlete, a beautiful child captures us and we gaze. Has the beauty of God captured your gaze?
II. HOW DO WE SEE GOD?
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will SEE God” (Mt.
5:8).
To “see God” is the whole purpose of all religion” (MLJ. 106).
“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is
at the Father’s side, has made Him known.” (John 1:18). …
“Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough
for us.’ Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even
after I have been among you such a long time?’ Anyone who
has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:8-9).
Lost in Thy greatness, Lord! I live,
As in some gorgeous maze;
They sea of unbegotten light
Blinds me and yet I gaze.
QUESTION: So what does it mean, to “see” God?
1. In nature, creation
“In the stars His handiwork I see,
On the wind He moves with majesty.
Though He ruleth over land and see,
What is that to me?
2. Admitted to His presence
“Pharaoh said to Moses, ‘Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.’ ‘Just as you say,’ Moses replied, ‘I will never appear before you again.'” (Ex. 10:28-29).
ILL: When you ask to see a doctor, you mean you want to be admitted into his presence.
Till by faith I met Him face to face,
And I felt the wonder of His grace,
Then I knew that He was more than just a God
Who didn’t care
That lived a way out there and
Now He walks beside me day by day
Every watching o’er me lest I stray,
Helping me to find the narrow way,
He is everything to me.
3. Being comforted by His grace
“Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face! Your face, LORD, I will seek.’ Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior.” (Psalm 27:7-9).
4. We see God work in our lives.
“Another way we see Him is in our own experience, in His own gracious dealings with us. Do we not say that we see the hand of our Lord upon us in this and that? That is part of seeing God” (MLJ, 114).
TESTIMONY: How Maya how she has seen the hand of God in her life by bringing her to the USA etc.
5. We see God in the events of history
6. We see Him with the eye of faith
“By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27).
7. We will see Him after death
“And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh will I see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes … How my heart yearns within me.” (Job 19:26-27).
8. We will see him when at the Second Coming.
“We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we will see Him as He is.” (I John 3:3).
“…every eye will see Him, even those who pierced him, and all the people of the earth will mourn because of him.” (Rev. 1:7).
III. WHY IS THE HEART SO IMPORTANT?
“Blessed are the pure in HEART, for they will see God.” (Mt.
5:8).
“Heart translates kardia from which we get cardiac and similar terms. Throughout Scripture, as well as in many language and cultures throughout the world, the heart is used metaphorically to represent the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality. But in Scripture it represents much more than emotion, feelings. It also includes the thinking process and particularly the will. In Proverbs we are told, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he (Prov. 23:7). Jesus asked a group of Scribes, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts” (Mt. 9:4). The heart is control center of mind and will as well as emotions” (MacArthur, 200).
QUESTION: In this paragraph what words should we underline that best describe what “heart” means in the Bible? (Underline them with a transparency pen).
QUESTION: What Scriptures do we have that emphasize the
great importance of the state of the heart?
“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart'” (I Samuel 16:7)
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14).
“Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.” (Psalms 26:2).
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Prov. 4:23).
“All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.” (Prov. 21:2).
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
“For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.” (Mark 7:21-23).
“Take any problem in life, anything that leads to wretchedness; find out its cause, and you will always discover that it comes from the heart somewhere, from some unworthy desire in domebody, in an individual, in a group or in a nation” (MLJ, 110).
Jesus did not come into the world to help us break bad habits. He came to helps us with our heart problems.
And in this situation and with this verse Jesus was specifically challenging the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law whose focus was on the external and not the heart:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Mt. 23:25-28).
ILL: Hamza told me that one of the main differences he saw between Islam and Biblical Christianity is that Biblical Christians tend to put much more emphasis on motives, on what is happening in the heart. All works religions will externalize. Because we are saved by grace “externalizing” is meaningless. The focus must be on the heart.
QUESTION: Would Jesus be satisfied with a society where there were no acts of adultery?
IV. WHAT DOES PURE IN HEART LOOK LIKE?
“Blessed are the PURE in heart, for they will see God.” (Mt. 5:8).
“The Greek word which is translated pure is katharos. If it sounds like the word catharsis, it is because catharsis comes from the Greek word. It simply means to make pure by cleansing. It is used in psychology and counseling to refer to a cleansing of the mind or emotions. This term in Greek was sometimes applied to milk or wine which is unadulterated with water, or of metal which had been refined until all impurities were removed. So, we might think of pure meaning unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed.” (Donald Hoke)
OBJECT LESSON: Have a glass of milk and add some water to it. Explain, before the water was added, it was katharos (pure) but afterwards it was adulterated, mixed, no longer pure.
Professor Tasker defines the pure in heart as ‘the single-minded, who are free from the tyranny of a divided self’. In this case the pure heart is the single heart and prepares the way for the ‘single eye’ which Jesus mentions in the next chapter (Stott, 49).
APPLICATION: If you are “single-minded” you are pure in heart. If you are “single-minded” you will say as Paul, “This one thing I do …” or as the Psalmist, “This one thing have I desired ….” We serve God with unmixed motives, we come to church with unmixed motives. Are we in church out of habit or because of a desire to meet with God? Do we serve because it is our duty or is it our delight to please God?
“Holiness (purity of heart) deals with the thoughts and intents, the purposes, the aims, the objects, the motives of men. Morality but does skim the surface, holiness goes into the very caverns of the deep; Holiness requires that the heart shall be set on God, and it shall beat with love for Him” (Holiness Demanded, Spurgeon).
Purity of heart, based on the context, goes beyond the inward and moral and focuses on relationships.
The pure heart, including thoughts and motives, are pure and unmixed with anything devious, ulterior or base. Hypocrisy and deceit are abhorrent. The pure in heart are without guile (Stott, 49).
But, “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?” (Prov. 20:9).
I do not know what the heart
Of a bad man is like.
But I do know what the heart
Of a good man is like.
And
It is terrible. (Turgenev)
Hebrews 12:14 says, “Without holiness no man will see the Lord.”
Thus the emphasis in the Word of God is not on intellectualism, Bible knowledge, character qualities if we are to see God but upon holiness, purity of heart. This verse drives to despair. How can a person ever be pure in heart?
FLIP CHART: Show the four “High Demand” verses …. Show how Beatitude # 6 – “Pure in Heart” could be added to the list.
Pity from Thine eye let fall,
By a look my soul recall;
Now the stone to flesh convert,
Cast a look and break my heart.
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 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. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).
But, even though God gives us a new heart that longs after purity it does not mean that actual purity is attained.
READ FROM THE BOOK AND SHOW HOW IT RELATES TO THE “LEGAL/ACTUAL RIGHTEOUSNESS” CHART:
“Only God can cleanse your heart from impurities. David knew this and prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). God does that for all who believe on Jesus Christ. He does it judicially in the moment of our belief. He does in practically during the moments of our earthly life as we yield to the gentle urging of his Holy Spirit. He will do it finally and completely in the moment of our death as we are then purified from all evil and brought without spot into his presence (Boice, 47).
FLIP CHART: Review the “Triangle” that refers to the sources of righteousness for the Christian and focus on “Train yourself to be godly” or the “Rehab Room.”
“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8).
CONCLUSION:
Blessed [approved of God] are the pure in heart [those with a clean, unmixed heart for God] for they will [continuously] see God [in life and in eternity] (Hughes, 58).
READ: FROM HUGHES the story of the blind woman that was healed pages 53 and 58.