Let us turn again to God's Word
as we continue in Matthew chapter 5. In Matthew chapter 5, continuing
to consider the content of the Beatitudes that we have here
at the beginning of the Lord's Sermon upon the Mount. In Matthew
5 and The verse we come to this morning
is verse 8 Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 Blessed are
the pure in heart for they shall see God Thinking then of the
pure in heart remember as the Lord begins the sermon so in
particular he addresses himself to his disciples we're told aren't we in the opening
verse he sees the multitudes and uh... he goes up into a mountain
and when he was set, when he was seated the normal posture
of a rabbi, a jewish teacher when he was set his disciples
came on to him and he opened his mouth, it says, and taught
them. Now he addresses himself then
to those who were his followers and what does he do? As he begins
to preach we have these gospel words in which he is really delineating
something of the character of those who are his true followers. These be the attitudes, these
ones who are truly happy man. Think of the language of Moses
back in Deuteronomy, happy are thou O Israel, people saved by
the Lord. Well what are the marks of those
who are the saved of the Lord? Well we have these various characteristics
being spoken of. They are those who are poor in
spirit, or they feel very much their spiritual poverty, they
have to come before God as those who are ever begging His mercy
and His grace. Verse 4, there are those who
are mourning, they mourn over their sins, they feel, seem to
be a grievous burden to them. And so the Lord continues, there
are those who are meek, they received God's word with that
spirit of meekness they humbled themselves before the words of
God they come hungering and thirsting after righteousness they have
no righteousness of their own and then last week we were looking
at what the Lord says in verse 7 concerning those who are merciful,
they obtain mercy or they know the mercy of God, the Lord has
had pity upon them and so they evidence that by the way in which
they look to others and treat others in a merciful and a pitiful
fashion but we also said last time that it's not only that
there are those who have known the Lord's gracious pity but
they also are such as have been pardoned their many sins we referred
didn't we as we were looking at that seventh verse to what
Christ says in Luke 18 concerning the publican who goes together
with the Pharisee to the temple at the hour of prayer and that
publican, that despised Roman tax gatherer that was the man
that went to his house as the justified sinner. But what was
his prayer? God be merciful to me, a sinner. God be merciful. But we remark
that the word is not identical with what we have in the seventh
verse here in Matthew 5. It's a completely different word
really. And it's really asking the Lord God to be propitious. That's the prayer of the publican.
God be propitious. He's seeking the pardon of his
sins. that God would turn away his anger from. And who is the
one who is the propitiation for the sins of his people? The Lord
Jesus. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation. for our sins says John and so
those who are being spoken of in verse 7 they are not only
such as have experienced the great pity and the mercy of God
but they've known something more they've also known the forgiveness
of their sins. Well we come on now to consider
Another mark of the disciples of the Lord's, they are those
who are pure in heart. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. What are we reminded of here? Surely we see this basic truth
that the Gospel has to do with the hearts of men. is not the heart that is really
the root of all men's troubles it's what they are in their hearts
that's where the problem comes from and we see it so early in
holy scripture we only have to go through a few chapters into
the book of Genesis to behold Those dreadful words in chapter
6, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and every imagination of the thought of his heart was only
evil continually. Oh, what a statement he said,
what a Hebraism. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was evil continually. This is the man that God had
made upright When God created the first man,
Adam, bringing to his nostrils the breath of life, and set him
there in the Garden of Eden. Oh, what a man was that! God
looks upon all his creation, it's very good. And yet, in chapter
3, of course, we have the entrance of sin, the fall of our first
parents. And then, just a few chapters
later, Here is the earth now peopled with the people who are
full of all manner of wickedness and sin. Every imagination of
the thought of the heart of man was evil. What does the wide man say? Keep
thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues
of life. Here is the root of the problem
then, it's the hearts of men, and the Lord says, blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Only those who are pure
in heart can ever see God. We read there in 2 Psalms, didn't
we? Psalm 15 and Psalm 24. the language that we have there
in the 24th Psalm the same question that we have previously in Psalm
15 who shall ascend into the hell of the Lord or who shall
stand in his holy place and the answer that we have here in the
24th Psalm he that hath clean hands it says and a pure heart
who hath not lifted up His soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitful. Now, that psalm is a messianic
psalm and the man that is being described ultimately there of
course is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But it's also true of
those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the only ones
who are pure in heart. And so this morning as we come
to look at the text, this particular beatitude here in verse 8 of
chapter 5, I want to take up that subject of the pure in heart,
and to consider it under two headings really. Firstly a negative,
and then secondly a positive. Those of you who might ever consult
Dr. Gill's commentary will find that
his approach as he comes to the word of God is to deal with it
in that fashion. He'll look at the verse and he'll
say, in a sense, this is what it does not mean. He'll begin
with the negative and then he'll go on and say, well, this is
what it really does mean. We have the negative before the
positive. Well, I want us to come to this
particular verse in that Gillite fashion this morning. And first
of all then to begin with the negative. What is it to be pure
in heart? And the negative is this, it
is not sinless perfection. It is not to attain a state where
we are all together free from all sin. Can that state ever
be attained in this world free from sinful thoughts, free from
all wicked attitudes, free from every ungodly intention? free
from all unholy desires. Is it really possible that we
could be pure in heart in such a sense as that? Surely we would
have to recognize that experience, the way we live our lives, teaches
us that that's not something that we can attain to. Experience
teaches us that, but also of course the Word of God teaches
us that. but looking at the negative in that sense first of all the
believers experience there have been some you know who have imagined
that they could attain that state of sinless perfection certainly
back in the 18th century there were those amongst the early
Methodists who taught the possibility of sinless perfection such a
man as John Fletcher of Maidley who was one of the Methodist
ministers, a great friend of the Wesley's he thought he'd
attained a state where he never sinned and there were others
of that opinion but really it's an awful condition to imagine
one has attained does it not in some way savour of the spirit
of the Pharisees Remember how Paul speaks of himself in that
third chapter of Philippians where he's speaking of his own
experiences. He speaks of what he was as a
Pharisee and then what he became as a Christian. You know the
third chapter, read through Philippians chapter 3. And there in verse
6 he says when he was a Pharisee touching the law or touching
the righteousness of the law he says he was blameless and
that's how he thought as a Pharisee he thought he was without any
blame without any sin he was free from all sin just like that
Pharisee who went into the temple at the hour of prayer together
with the publican that we've already referred to there in
Luke 18. That's what Paul thought of himself.
He was blameless. He had attained a state of sinless
perfection. But it's very different, isn't
it, to what we just sang, that hymn of John Kent's. In the last verse, sinless perfection
we deny, The chief of Satan's wiles, do thou my soul to calvary
fly, as oft as sin defiles. Isn't that the experience of
the people of God? The more we come to know of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the more we come to know of ourselves, the
more we see that we fall so far short of that standard. so far
short of the glory of God, which we witness in the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our outward lives might be respectable
in many ways, but what of our hearts? What of our hearts? The Lord seeth not as man seeth,
we're told, aren't we? Man looks on the outward appearance.
but the Lord looks upon the hearts." And how the Lord Jesus in the
course of His ministry, in His Gospel, in Matthew, He speaks
of what we are, what we are inwardly, the state, the awful state of
our fallen nature, the condition of our hearts by nature. The
words that we find later in chapter 23, And there at verse 12, the Lord says, Whosoever shall
exalt himself shall be abased, he that shall humble himself
shall be exalted. The Lord will deal with us so
as to humble us, bring us into that low condition, that recognition
of what we are as sinners. and this is that chapter of course,
chapter 23, in which the Lord is speaking those terrible woes
against the scribes and the Pharisees they didn't humble themselves,
they were proud men and what does the Lord say, verse 25,
Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye make clean
the outside of the cup and of the platter but within are full
of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside
of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity. This is the teaching of the Lord
Jesus concerning what those self-righteous people
really were. Now the Lord in the course of
his ministry doesn't he demonstrate the true spiritual nature of
the Lord of Gods or the breadth and the length of that Lord of
Gods and he does it here in this very chapter where he deals with
specific commandments the commandment thou shalt not kill He speaks of it here in verse
21 and then he interprets it in a spiritual sense in the following
verse, I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall
say to his brother racker or vain fellow shall be in danger
of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be
in danger of hell fire. It's not just a matter of not
killing a man, not murdering a man. It's whether or not you
speak ill of a man, whether or not you are guilty of seeking
to destroy his very character by the evil way in which you
speak of him or speak to him. And then he goes on in verses
27 and 28 to deal with the seventh commandment. Thou shalt not commit
adultery. And the Lord says, whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart. Or the way in which the Lord
shows that full character of the Holy Lord of God. Who can
claim in the light of Christ's teaching that they've attained
a state of sinless perfection? No, the Lord is spiritual, says
the apostle. But I am consoled under sin. And God's Word finds us out.
Oh, it's quick, it's powerful, it's sharper than a two-edged
sword, piercing through, dividing the thunder of soul and spirit
into joints and marrow. It's a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of the hearts of men, that heart that is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked, surely. Surely we recognize
if we're honest with ourselves and if we're going to be honest
before God, we have not yet attained that state where we are free
from all sin, that we have a pure heart in
that sense. And yet the Lord says, blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God. You see, it's not only the experience
of God's people but it's it's a plain teaching of the word
of God God's word contradicts the very notion of sinless perfection
and this is our authority it's to the law and to the testimony
and if they speak not according to this word it is because there
is no light in them we're told back in in Isaiah 8 20 we appeal to God's words. I've
already referred to those words in Genesis 6, 5, how God saw
the wickedness of man great in the earth, and every imagination
of the thought of his heart was evil continually, it says. And
again, think of the words of the Lord Jesus here in the Gospel,
what does he say later in chapter 15? And there at verse 19, out of
the heart, proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man. You know the context here as
it Again, we see the scribes and Pharisees so ready to be
critical of the Lord's disciples because they're not observing
the ritual washings that they said were so necessary if you're
going to be a righteous man. And the Lord reminds them, you
see. It's not those external things. it's what a man is in
his heart it's what a man is there in his own heart out of
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh he says and so
the scriptures as well as our experience show us quite clearly
that it is not possible to attain that condition that state of
sinless perfection But let us turn in the second place to the
positive. What are we to understand then
by the pure heart? Blessed are the pure in heart,
it says, for they shall see God. Well, there are three positive
marks of a pure heart that I want to mention. What sort of a heart
is it? Well, first of all, a pure heart,
it's a broken heart. It's a broken heart. The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart
they will not despise, says David in the psalm. Oh, where there's his broken
heart, you see, there's that realization, that sense of what
we are as sinners. There's that grieving over sin. Hasn't the Lord already said
it? Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Oh, how they feel it. and they mourn over it. And the strange thing is, you
see, it's the sight of God, it's that sight of God that causes
them to have that sense of their sinnership. They see God. Do we not see it in Scripture?
We see it there in Isaiah chapter 6 where the prophet he's speaking
of himself and how he sees that remarkable vision he receives,
he's called, he's commissioned to be the Lord's prophet there
in Isaiah chapter 6 he sees the throne of God and in the light of that he sees
himself, woe is mine for I am undone for I am a man of unclean
lips, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for
mine eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts. Oh, he feels
his uncleanness. How can he ever be the Lord's
servant and speak the words of the Lord? He's called to be the
Lord's prophet, but how is he prepared? Well, remember, he
confesses the uncleanness of his lips. And then one of those
seraphims about the throne flies to the brazen altar and takes
a coal a live coal from the altar of sacrifice, and put it to the
lips of the Prophet. Oh, he is cleansed, you see,
by all that is represented there upon the brazen altar. Cleansed by that great sacrifice
that would be made in the fullness of the time, the great antitype
of all those sacrifices in the Old Testament. cleansed by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ but how the man feels
his own uncleanness because he has a sight of God but it's not
just there with Isaiah it's also there isn't it in the experience
of Daniel there in Daniel chapter 10 he speaks of how all his comeliness
all his comeliness is turned to corruption because
Daniel is brought in the light of the vision that he's granted
to see and to realize what he is himself before the Holy God. Look at the passage in Daniel
10 verse 4 following He says, in the four and twentieth day
of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river,
which is Idical, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and
behold, a certain man, one man, it says in the margin,
behold, one man, clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with
fine gold of Uphaz, His body also was like the bevel, and
his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flames
or lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to
polish brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a
multitude." And you know, it's the same man, isn't it, that
John is describing in the opening chapter of the Revelation. Who
is this man? Why, it's the Christ. it's God it's God who in the
fullness of time of course would be manifest in the flesh and
Daniel continues he says and I Daniel alone saw the vision
for the men that were with me saw not the vision but a great
quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves
therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision and there
remained no strength in me for my comeliness was turned in me
into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the
voice of His words, and when I heard the voice of His words,
then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the
ground. And behold, an hand touched me,
which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands, and
He said unto me, O Daniel, the man greatly beloved understand
the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright for unto thee
am I no sense and when he had spoken this word unto me I stood
trembling and so it goes on he sees something you see he sees
God and all his comeliness his corruption and yet he must be a man pure
in heart for it's only the pure in heart that can see God that's
what the Lord says and as I said there his experience is so alike
to what we have in the New Testament when we read of John there in
that opening chapter and John he falls down dead and Christ
puts his right hand upon him and says fear not for I am he
that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore
to have the keys of hell and of death where men see anything of God
and their hearts are broken they know that real contrition that
sense of their sinnership or they would be holy Isn't that
the mark of the people of God? They would be holy. The good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that
I do, says the apostle there in Romans chapter 7. He feels
himself to be a wretched man but he wants to do the thing
that he's right. now the flesh lost against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary
one to the other and ye cannot do the thing that ye would says
the Apostle. O wretched man, wretched man
that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death? This is the longing of those
you see who know anything of God, who see anything of the
glory of God Take away the love of sinning. Alfa and Omega be,
says the hymn writer. Oh, this is surely a mark of
those who are the pure in heart. What is the promise of the new
covenant? A new heart. I will give you, says God. A
new spirit I will put within you. I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh.
Well, you know that new heart, that new nature, it never sins.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, because his seed
remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he's born of God.
Well, that's the new nature. The new nature never sins. What
is that new nature? Well, Peter speaks of how believers
are partakers of the divine nature. It's the life of God that's coming
to the soul of the man. And it's evidenced. It's evidenced
because there's that awful sense of sinnership, that brokenness
of heart, that broken, that contrite spirit that David speaks of in
Psalm 51. That remarkable 16th chapter
in Ezekiel. Remember what we're told there
at the end of that chapter, where God speaks of bringing His people,
as it were, into the bonds of the covenant. Here in the last two verses of that chapter,
that very long chapter, is Ezekiel 16. God says, I will establish
my covenant with them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open
thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified
toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God." Oh, a dumbstruck you see, a broken
heart, such a dreadful realization of
what we are as sinners. I said three things with regard
to the positive. What is the pure heart? It's
the broken, the contrite heart. And yet here is the paradox,
it's also a whole heart. It's a whole heart. We're not
to have a divided heart when it comes to the things of God. Our affections are to be set.
upon the things that are above where Christ is at the right
hand of God we not have a heart that set on the things of this
fallen world the pure heart what sort of a
heart is it? it's very much a seeking heart you shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord he that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul
unto vanitin, nor sworn deceitfulness." Those words that we read earlier
there in the Psalm, Psalm 24. And what does it say? This is the generation of them
that seek Thee. They are seekers. Seekers after God, wholehearted
in their seeking. You shall seek me and find me
when you shall search after me with all your hearts is what
the Lord God says. And what is that seeking? That
through seeking after God? It's more than just saying words. No, these are those who they're
doing business with God and they're doing business at times in great
waters. They're feeling something of
the conviction of sin in their souls. Isn't that what we see in the
310th hymn? that will sing at the close of
our service. Lord, when thy Spirit descends
to show the badness of our hearts, astonish at the amazing view
the soul with horror starts, the dungeon opening, foul as
hell, its loathsome stench emits, brooding in each secret cell
some hideous monster sits, swarms of ill thoughts, their bane diffused,
proud, envious, false, unclean and every ransom's corner shows
some unsuspected sin. I don't think we can sing really
those words that we have in the second and the third verse. We'll
omit those verses. But how it goes on, verse 4,
our staggering faith gives way to doubt our courage yields to
fear, shocked at the sight we straight cry out can ever God
dwell here? or can God really dwell in our
hearts when he's caused us to see something of what we are?
we stagger at the thought and yet this is the heart that God
is pleased to dwell in and so we have to do business with him,
we have to come before him with our sighs and our cries, our
groanings, our moanings, our wrestlings, our strugglings,
our weightings upon Him in that spirit of expectation that He
will come and He will dwell in our hearts and establish in our
hearts that blessed reign of grace and that He Himself will
subdue every sin and deliver us from all our iniquities. That's the believer's hope. He's wholehearted, you see. In
his desires after God, he longs for God, he yearns for God, and
yet it seems an impossibility that ever God could come and
dwell in such a heart as that man is made to feel that he possesses. It's a broken heart. The pure
heart, it's broken, it's whole, And then finally this morning,
what is it? It's a believing heart. It's a believing heart. In Acts 15.9 we read of purifying
their hearts by faith. Purifying their hearts by faith. How is it? It's that looking
then. Oh, it's that looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I said, the Psalms that
we read, they're Messianic Psalms, aren't they? Certainly what we
have there in Psalm 24, "...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."
Who is this one? Who is this one? Well the question is put at the
end isn't it? Who is this King of Glory? Lift up your heads O ye gates
be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of Glory shall
come in Who is this King of Glory? The Lord Strong and Mighty. The
Lord Mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory
shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of Glory. Selah. How we do well to stop
and to think and to meditate. upon who it is that is being
described is the Lord Jesus Christ and he is that one who has accomplished
all the Father's goodwill and pleasure that one who has finished
the work that was given him to do made an end of sin and made
reconciliation for iniquity entered heaven itself and now appears
in the presence of God he's been received then into the very heavens
but he is that one who comes also into the hearts of his people
or we we know him by faith when he enters into our hearts strong
and mighty the Lord mighty in battle that one who is able to
subdue all our sins and to save us from all the assaults of that
great adversary, Satan himself, or that we might be those, then,
friends, who know Him, who see Him, see Him by the eye of faith,
the pure in heart. Oh, blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. The Lord then bless the word
to us. Amen.