Blessed Are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God

LESSON EIGHTEENBlessed Are …

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

1.A) Write out Matthew 5:8. ______

B) What do you think it means to be “pure in heart”? ______

C) Pure is katharoiand it means: to be unsoiled, unmixed, unpolluted; to be cleansed, purged, forgiven; to be holy; to have a single purpose (that of God's glory); to make pure by cleansing from dirt, filth, and contamination; chaste.

Personal Does this describe your heart? Y ___ N ___ In Part ____ I Wish! ____

2. A) What do we learn about purity of heart from Ps. 24:3, 4; Heb. 12:4; 1 John 3:2, 3?______

Ps 24:3-4 who may ascend into the hill? Stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully.

Heb. 12:4 4 you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.

1 John 3:2-3 (AMP) 2 Beloved, we are [even here and] now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God's children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is. 3 And everyone who has this hope [resting] on Him cleanses (purifies) himself just as He is pure (chaste, undefiled, guiltless).

B) What happens to us when we neglect time with God? What becomes of our ardor? (Extreme vigor or energy; intensity; zeal; loyalty – passion, enthusiasm and devotion- great warmth of feeling) for Him? ______

C) Personal How would you rate your passion level for Christ? ______

3.What are some signs of an impure heart according to:

A) John 3:19-20 ______

John 3:19-20 (KJV) 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hates the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved

B) Rev. 3:17 ______

Revelation 3:17 (KJV) 17 Because thou say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knows not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

C) 2 Tim. 3:4 ______

2 Timothy 3:4 (KJV) 4 Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

D) Micah 3:2 ______

Micah 3:2 (KJV) 2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones.

E) What are some dangers of thinking we are o.k. with our spirituality? ______

F) How does part E square with “salvation by grace through faith”? ______

G) The Pharisees thought they had this “religion stuff” down really good. What did Jesus tell them? (See Matt. 23:23-26) ______

Matthew 23:22-26 (KJV) 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also.

Matthew 23:22-26 (KJV) 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also.

H) Do you think God’s standard for purity has changed? Y _ N _that’s Old Testament _

Malachi 3:6 (KJV) 6 for I am the LORD, I change not; therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

4.A) Can we keep all the rules? Y ___ N ___

B) Why try? ______

C) What then do you think it will take to please God? ______

D) Do you think the answer we come with to part C is pleasing to God? ____ How/why? ____

5. A) Nicodemus knew he was not meeting God’s standard for righteousness, what did Jesus tell him? (See John 3: 2-21) ______

B) Is it any different for us? Y ___ N ___

C) What precisely does it mean to be “born again”? ______

D) Does this make us pure in heart? Y ___ N ___ Not Sure ____

E) Does this deal with all the former impurities in our life? Y ___ N ___ Not Sure ___

F) What about all the present and future “impurities”? Y ___ N ___ Not Sure ___

6.A) Was Paul born again? Y ___ N ___ (see Acts 9)

B) Was Paul pure? Y ___ N ___ (see Rom. 7:15, 21, 25) (see Rom. 7:15, 21, 25)

Romans 7:15 (AMP) 15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].

Romans 7:21 (AMP) 21 So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

Romans 7:25 (AMP) 25 O thank God! [He will!] Through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

C) What should we be doing with this sin nature? Feed it. Crucify it. Ignore it.

7.When you were saved you were given a new nature with which you can/did/do tap into at will. Explain:

A) You were sanctified: ______

B) You are being sanctified: ______

C) You shall be sanctified: ______

8.A) Arewe responsible for this sanctification process or do we have divine help? (See John 16:13) ______

John 16:13 (KJV) 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

B) John speaking of Jesus: (Matthew 3:11. He shall come doing what? ______

Matthew 3:11 (KJV) 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.

C) What do you think this “baptism of fire” is all about? ______

9.This sixth Beatitude contemplates both the new heart or nature received at regeneration and the transformation of character which is the effect of a Divine work of grace in the soul. Why do you think purity of heart follows after Mercy recalling Mercy is the ‘birthmark’ of a true disciple? ______

10.A) Mercy is how we behave. Could we say ‘pure in heart’ is what we are? Y ___ N ___

B) Mercy cannot be tested. Can purity of heart be tested? Y ___ N ___

C) Personal Would you like to take a test?

1. Have I been freed from the dominion of hypocrisy?

2. Are my motives pure?

3. Are my affections set upon things above?

SYLLABUS EIGHTEEN

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The subject of holiness, of purity of heart, can be traced from Genesis to Revelation. The theme is infinitely vast and touches on virtually every other biblical truth. It is impossible to exhaust its meaning or significance. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, Israel was in desperate condition—politically, economically, and spiritually. For hundreds of years, with only brief respites, she had been under the oppression of foreign conquerors. The country had limited freedom to develop its economy, and a large part of income and profit was paid to Rome in taxes. Those were problems that every person saw and felt. For longer than she had suffered political and economic oppression, Israel had suffered spiritual weakness and faithlessness. Yet that problem was not recognized by many Jews. Jewish leaders thought their religion was in fine shape, and believed the Messiah would soon solve the political and economic problems. But when He came, His only concern was for the spiritual problem, the problem of their hearts.

When John the Baptist appeared on the scene the people were ready. Honesty compelled them to admit of their inability to keep the law in its entirety. They knew the problem was them, and they desperately wanted someone to tell them how to live a holy, sanctified life. They did not need more laws! They wanted to know the real way of salvation, the real way to please God, the true way of peace and relief from sin. They knew that the Scriptures taught of One who would come not simply to demand but to redeem, not to add to their burdens but to help carry them, not to increase their guilt but to remove it. No doubt it was such expectations as those that caused many people to think John the Baptist might be the Messiah.

The people knew from Ezekiel that someday God was going to come and sprinkle their souls with water, cleanse them from their sin, and replace their hearts of stone with hearts of flesh (Ezek. 36:25-26). They knew the testimony of David, who cried out, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit, there is no deceit!" (Ps. 32:1-2). They knew of those truths, and they longed to experience the reality of them.

Nicodemus wanted to know how to please God, to be forgiven. "How can I be made righteous?" he wondered. "How can I be redeemed and become a child of God? How can I become part of God's kingdom?" Had he not had a deep, compelling desire to know God's will? Nicodemus was honest enough to admit his sinfulness. He was a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, and a ruler in the Sanhedrin; but he knew in his heart that all of that did not make him right with God. He had been through all the ceremonies and rituals. He had attended the feasts and offered the required sacrifices. He had tried to keep the law and the traditions. But he knew that something was missing—something crucial that he did not know of, much less had experienced.

A rich ruler asked Jesus the same question: "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18). This man apparently asked sincerely, but he was unwilling to pay the cost. He wanted to keep the wealth of this life more than he wanted to gain the wealth of eternal life, and he went away "very sad" (v. 23). He knew he needed something more than outward obedience to the law, at which he had been diligent since childhood (v. 21). He knew that, with all his devotion and effort to please God, he had no assurance of possessing eternal life. He was seeking the kingdom, but he was not seeking it first (Matt. 6:33).

Others were asking, "What must I be to belong to the kingdom of God? What is the standard for eternal life?" All of those people, at various levels of understanding and sincerity, knew that they had not found what they sought. Many knew that they had not kept even a single law perfectly. If honest, they became more and more convinced that they could not keep even a single law perfectly, and that they were powerless to please God. It was to answer that need that Jesus came to earth. It was to answer that need that He gave the Beatitudes. He shows simply and directly how sinful man can he made right with holy God.

We have progressed through the Beatitudes to reach this: Supremely Happy are the pure in heart—for they shall see God. This is what it takes. This is the epitome of the search. How simple/how complex!

Heart translates kardia, from which we get cardiac and similar terms. (Latin cor, “heart”); the heart, i.e. (figurative) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the middle: - (+ broken-) heart (-ed). Throughout Scripture, as well as in many languages 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] thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7, kjv). Jesus asked a group of scribes, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?" (Matt. 9:4; cf. Mark 2:8; 7:21). The heart is the control center of mind and will as well as emotion.

Used in scripture and used 6 ways.

1.The physical pump (1 Samuel 25:37; Proverbs 14:30)

2.Soul affections (Deut. 19:6; Deut. 20:8; Deut. 28:47; Psalm 4:7; Psalm 13:2; etc.)

3.The conscience (1 Samuel 24:5; Job 27:6)

4.Human nature (Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:20-23)

5.The mind (Ex 35:5,35; Deut. 29:4; 1 Kings 3:9, 4:29; Isaiah 14:13; Rom. 10:6)

6.The center of anything (Exodus 15:8; Matthew 12:40)

In total contrast to the outward, superficial, and hypocritical religion of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said that it is in the inner man, in the core of his very being, that God requires purity. That was not a new truth, but an old one long forgotten amidst ceremony and tradition. "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life," the writer of Proverbs had counseled (Prov. 4:23). The problem that caused God to destroy the earth in the Flood was a heart problem. "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).

The pathway to “seeing God” is through purity of heart. I was thinking about this concept of purity and the impurities of life. If we were to take a one gallon sterilized jar and were to fill it with distilled water (the best description I could find with our human limitations), the contents of the jar would be ‘pure’. We begin with this basic concept. God created Adam (pre-fall) ‘good’, in fact ‘very good’ [by God’s estimation]. With the first sin, we could say, the first drop of formaldehyde was introduced to the pure content of the jar. For each succeeding sin an added drop, drop, drop, until the once crystal clean water becomes polluted. Unclean. Deadly. If we redistill the contents of the jar, the contaminated water, all the formaldehyde would again be external, then if we re-sterilize the jar, we would once again have pure a pure container with pure water inside. The pure water was always there—the formaldehyde hid it from us. Likewise, Jesus from the cross extracted our pollution. Our vessel cleansed. We now choose what additives are added to our container. GRACE enable us to keep our containers clean, but we do not always choose grace and choose folly instead.

Church people often have suggested various ways to achieve spiritual purity and holiness. Some have suggested monasticism, getting away from the normal cares and distractions of the world and devoting oneself entirely to meditation and prayer. But the problem of sin is not primarily the world around us but the worldliness within us, which we cannot escape by living in isolation from other people. But God always provides for what He demands, and He has provided ways for us to live purely.

1. First, we must realize that we are unable to live a single holy moment without the Lord's guidance and power. "Who can say, I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin'?" (Prov. 20:9), the obvious answer to which is "No one." The Ethiopian cannot change his skin or the leopard its spots (Jer. 13:23). Cleansing begins with a recognition of weakness. Weakness then reaches out for the strength of God.

2. Second, we must stay in God's Word. It is impossible to stay in God's will apart from His Word. Jesus said, "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3).

3. Third, it is essential to be controlled by and walking in the will and way of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16 says it clearly: "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."

4. Fourth, we must pray. We cannot stay in God's will or understand and obey His Word unless we stay near Him. "With all prayer and petition" we are to "pray at all times in the Spirit" (Eph. 6:18; cf. Luke 18:1; 1 Thess. 5:17). With David, we cry, "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Ps. 51:10).

The great blessing of those who are pure in heart is that they shall see God. The Greek is in the future indicative tense and the middle voice, and a more literal translation is, "They shall be continuously seeing God for themselves." It is onlythey (the emphatic autos), the pure in heart, who shall see God. Intimate knowledge of and fellowship with God is reserved for the pure.