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May turn in your Bibles to Matthew 
chapter 5 as we take up the sixth Beatitude this morning. Jesus 
says, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. We noted that the first four 
Beatitudes are attitudes consistent with the kingdom. Attitudes that 
are consistent with the kingdom. The last four are actions consistent 
with the kingdom. Those things that Christians 
who by God's grace have been saved by the blood of Christ 
alone, they live in a manner consistent with these things. 
Not perfectly consistent, unfortunately, but God has implanted these things 
in us. We are called to cultivate them 
and to develop them in a manner that is consistent with our calling 
in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll just begin reading in Matthew 
chapter 5 at verse 1. And seeing the multitudes, he 
went up on a mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples 
came to him. Then he opened his mouth and 
taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, 
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they 
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger 
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed 
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the 
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, 
for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who 
are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile 
and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely 
for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 
for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets 
who were before you. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we just pray now for the ministry of your Spirit to guide us in 
our understanding of your Word. We pray, Father, that you would 
just cause us to reflect upon the written Word, cause us to 
hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against you, and 
God, purify us by the power of your Spirit, by the power of 
your Word. We just thank you, Lord, for 
your mercy and your grace. We extol these things in our 
salvation. It's not by our strength, not 
by our merit, not by our willing or our wanting. but it is solely 
by grace alone that we are here redeemed. And we give all praise 
and glory and honor to you, and we do so in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as I said, the first four 
are attitudes or internal dispositions. Now, it's hard to make a real 
clear cut distinction. We did this more for preaching 
or homiletical purposes. But you do see a bit of a bit 
of a natural way there. Those first four dealing with 
what we are and then those last four dealing with how we live. 
So this morning we're taking up verse eight, specifically 
the sixth beatitude. Blessed are the pure in heart 
for they shall see God. And we'll do what we did last 
week. We'll approach this text in a 
similar manner. We'll note, first, its description. Secondly, its source. Thirdly, 
its cultivation. And fourthly, its promise. So, 
those four observations, I hope, will help us get at the thrust 
of the meaning here. Blessed are the pure in heart. So, its description, first of 
all. Commentators usually agree that 
there are two elements present. In this particular statement, 
blessed are the pure in heart. The first element means single 
mindedness. It means devotion. It means being 
given wholly to the Lord. And we see that in the background 
of background of Psalm 24. This is what I think is in the 
background of Jesus teaching here on blessed are the pure 
in heart. Remember, in Psalm 24, it asks the question, who 
may ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who may stand in his 
holy place? He who has clean hands and a 
pure heart. And then it goes on to describe 
what this looks like. Who has not lifted his soul to 
an idol. So, there's that single-mindedness, 
there's that devotion, there's that focus, there is that looking 
solely to the Lord God Most High. But the second element involved 
is internal righteousness. As the psalm goes on to say, 
he has not lifted his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. This penetrates the inner man. 
It's not just simply concerned with the outward performance 
or the external actions. Jesus is preaching, and Jesus 
is teaching, and Jesus is pronouncing a beatitude, not on the externalists, 
not on the Pharisees, who dotted their theological I's and crossed 
their theological T's. Rather, he is saying that purity 
is something that is measured in the heart. Blessed are the 
pure in heart. In the context of first century 
Judaism, with its strong emphasis on ritual purity, the phrase 
pure in heart might also be understood to imply a contrast with the 
meticulous preservation of outward purity, which will be condemned 
in Matthew 23 as having missed the point of godliness. There were no one, no people 
more meticulous than the scribes and the Pharisees. No one was 
more meticulous in outward or ceremonial purity. We'll reflect 
on abortion in just a few moments, but in Matthew 15, we'll look 
at that in further detail in a few moments. What do the Pharisees 
get bent out of shape over? They say, your disciples, they 
eat with unwashed hands. Jesus says the issue isn't eating 
with unwashed hands. The issue is one of the heart. 
The issue is one of an unwashed heart. How can a young man cleanse 
his way by taking heed according to your word? Not just the externals, 
not just the outward elements of one's life, but it is heart 
purity that God is after. One commentator takes these two 
elements and demonstrates a good definition or describes for us 
what Jesus is speaking to. He says to make pure by cleansing 
from dirt, filth, and contamination. That's sort of the idea of the 
word that Christ uses. He goes on to say, the word was 
used of metals refined until all impurities were removed. 
In that sense, purity means unmixed, unalloyed, unadulterated. Applied 
to the heart, the idea is that of pure motive, of single-mindedness, 
undivided devotion, spiritual integrity, and true righteousness. Blessed are the pure in heart. They're devoted to God. They 
don't lift up their hands to an idol and engage in genuine 
heart or internal purity. They don't swear deceitfully. 
They are not marked by a tongue that is deceptive. They are not 
marked by a manner that is consistent with the devil and his kingdom 
rather than the Christ and his kingdom. Now, notice he says, 
blessed are the pure in heart. Let's just open that up for just 
a moment. We often make this disconnect between the head and 
the heart in the Bible. You say, oh, he knows a lot of 
knowledge. He's a real heady Christian, but he doesn't have 
the heart of the matter. The Bible doesn't dichotomize in 
that way. Very often the heart is put for 
the mind. Very often the heart is put for 
the thinking aspect in a man. That disconnect is more preacher 
driven than theologically driven. Head and heart oftentimes picture 
the same particular reality. In this instance, and in several 
other places in the scripture, the heart is the command center. It is what you are. The Bible 
teaches that we're physical and immaterial. The heart summarizes 
that immaterial aspect. It is what you are in private. 
It is what you are when no one is watching. It is what you are 
when you are all alone before the living and true God. It is 
the mind. It is the will. It is the emotion. It is the center of man's being. And as well, it is the center, 
get this, of all of our troubles, of all of our difficulties, of 
all of our problems. We need our hearts dealt with. That's what Christianity is about. That's what the gospel is all 
about. Christianity is not a message of self-help. Go out and do a 
little bit more and God will accept you. Go out and try a 
little bit harder. Be the engine that could and 
ascend your way up into his presence. That's the religion of man and 
the logic of the devil. It does not take into account 
the depraved nature that man finds himself in. So, not only 
is the heart, the mind, the will, and the emotions, it's to see, 
as Lloyd-Jones says, of all of our trouble. Blessed are the 
pure in heart, Jesus says. So, if we achieve any degree 
of purity, it must come from above. Turn to Matthew 15 for 
just a moment. Again, trying to describe what 
Jesus is getting at with his statement here. Blessed are the 
pure in heart. So, the heart is the mind, the 
will, the emotion, the thinking element in a man. It is the center 
of his being, and it is also the source of all our troubles. 
Notice in Matthew 15, beginning at verse 10, when he had called 
the multitude to himself, he said to them, hear and understand, 
not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes 
out of the mouth, this defiles a man. You see what he's saying? 
The Pharisees say, as long as you wash your hands, as long 
as you take care of your food, as long as it's kosher kill, 
as long as all those I's are dotted and those T's are crossed, 
everything's going to be okay. You see, just take care of the 
outside and the inside will follow suit. The Gospel teaches just 
the opposite. God deals with the inside and 
then the outside follows suit. Notice what he goes on in verse 
twelve. Then his disciples came and said to him, Do you know 
that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? 
I love Jesus statement here. Oh, heavens no, I can't offend 
anybody. I can't be politically incorrect. I can't be a theological 
heavyweight. I can't be a dogmatist. I can't 
assert truth. I have to be relative. I have 
to respect their truth as long as they respect my truth. I have 
to live in a namby-pamby society where people hold to what they 
call truth with very loose hands. I don't want to offend them and 
their delicate sensibilities. That makes me sad. Do you know 
that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? 
But he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly Father 
has not planted will be uprooted. God is sovereign, not man. God plants, not man. God is the elector, not man. He says in verse 14, again, something 
that would probably land him in jail in our democratic societies 
today. Instead of making a public apology, 
instead of getting on his knees and doing penance before their 
museums of toleration, What does Christ have the gall to say? 
He says, let them alone. They are blind leaders of the 
blind. And if the blind leads the blind, 
both will fall into a ditch. He wouldn't win brownie points 
for political correctness today. He probably wouldn't find a pulpit 
to preach in today because he would offend our delicate sensitivities. Now, notice in verse 15, Peter 
answered and said to him, explain this parable to us. So, Jesus 
said, are you still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that 
whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 
It's pretty simple. God, the Creator, made it in 
such a way that you ingest food, you take out the nutrients, and 
your body expels the waste. It's not that difficult. It's 
the way God made it. Now, notice what he says. But 
those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart. and they defile a man, for 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 unwashed hands does not defile a man. Just recently on the Reformed 
Baptist Fellowship blog, somebody posted a statement about total 
depravity. It was a quote from James I. 
Packer in his collected writings, and he said something to this 
effect. All of the malicious and unsubstantiated things that 
have been said about John Kelvin is a proof of total depravity. 
A little bit of a tongue-in-cheek thing there. Somebody in the 
comments section said something that was just amazing to me. What is this total depravity 
you speak of, and is it biblical? Have you ever, ever opened a 
Bible? You might miss some of the intricacies 
of a biblical eschatology. You might miss some of the intricacies 
of certain theological periphery, but to miss man's state is unconscionable. Our Lord, in the space of a few 
verses, says your problem isn't what goes in, it's what comes 
out, and it's coming out because of that heart. It's because of 
the heart. What's man's attempt? What's 
false religion say? Fix the environment. I'm not 
here to be anti-environment. I'm not here to say that we ought 
to destroy the environment. But man, the social engineer 
says, let's just fix the externals and then the internals will take 
care of themselves. Listen to Lloyd-Jones. He says 
the terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundred years has 
been to think that all man's troubles are due to his environment 
and that to change the man you have nothing to do but to change 
his environment. He says this is a tragic fallacy. It overlooks the fact that it 
was in paradise that man fell. It was in a perfect environment 
that he first went wrong. So, to put a man in a perfect 
environment cannot solve his problems. No, no. It is out of 
the heart that these things arise. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ 
that addresses the heart. If you happen in here today, 
and you hear something about heart purity, don't conclude, 
I need to change the way that I live. You need to first change 
the way you think. Believe on the Lord Jesus. Repent 
from your sins. And then the externals will follow. Christianity is not about do 
the externals for the reward. God has taken care of that. God 
has sent his son. God was pleased to bruise him, 
putting him to grief so that he could lay upon him all of 
our iniquities and that he could take that righteousness and impute 
it to us and purify our hearts so that we'll then go out and 
pursue heart purity. That's the emphasis in the Bible. Genesis 6-5 says, and that every 
intent of the thoughts of his heart was what? Only evil continually. Now, I've often thought that 
if men get depravity down, the rest of those four points makes 
absolutely perfect sense. If you see how bad it is, you 
see how desperate your condition is, you see how depraved you 
are. Now, by that, I don't mean you 
do as many wicked things as Charles Manson, for instance. I'm not 
suggesting that your kid goes missing and you wait 30 days 
before you make a phone call to the authorities. I'm not suggesting 
that depravity means you're as evil as you could possibly be. 
The Bible uses total depravity, or that theological construct 
indicates that man's heart, man's mind, man's will, man's affections, 
man's everything is bound in sin. The heart is the control 
center. The will, the affections, the 
motives, everything follows from that particular place. How do 
you get around total depravity in Genesis 6.5, that every intent 
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually? Job's 
friends may not have been the nicest counselors, but they certainly 
understood something of homartiology. That's the doctrine of sin. They 
understood something about the doctrine of depravity. Job 15. What is man that he could be 
pure, and he who is born of a woman that he could be righteous? If 
God puts no trust in his saints, and the heavens are not pure 
in his sight, how much less man who is abominable and filthy, 
who drinks iniquity like water? There's a good check here. When 
you start saying, well, I'm not as bad as the Bible says, you're 
in a bad place. Right? Present this doctrine 
of depravity to someone and see how they respond. That's kind 
of overkill, isn't it? I'm not that bad. I don't drink 
wickedness like water. I'm not an abominable creature 
before God. What else did Job's friends say? 
How then can man be righteous before God, or how can he be 
pure who is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine 
and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man 
who is a maggot and a son of man who is a worm? Lay that one 
on your next social gathering and see how they respond. Thanks, 
friend. Thanks, brother. Then you got theologians like R.C. 
Sproul who say, no, you're worse than a maggot. You're worse than 
a worm. Maggots and worms do what God 
created them to do. Man, the maggot, raises his fist 
at God. Man, the worm, rejects that holy 
law. Man, the worm, identifies with 
Barabbas when the Son of God is on trial. I think in the grand 
scheme of things, maggots and worms fare a lot better than 
man, the sinner. So, witness test. What do you 
think of what the Bible says about your heart? What do you 
think about what the Bible says concerning your heart? I suspect 
that under the power of the Holy Spirit, it's only when we get 
the answer right, does Christ and his gospel make sense to 
us. I did not come to call the righteous, he says, but sinners 
to repentance. When God starts to pull away 
this veil that covers your darkened eyes and you start to see yourself 
as God sees you, you can't but flee to Christ as that refuge 
and strong tower who hides you, who gathers you under his most 
blessed wing. Jeremiah seventeen nine. The 
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 
Who can know it? Again, not a favorite statement 
of man today. Not even just outside the church, 
but inside the church. I think that if the Spirit of 
God is guiding you and you are studying these scriptures, you 
will say, yep, that's right, absolutely bang on. God knows 
me better than I know me. He knows my sin more than I know 
my sin. I can only lament what I possibly 
know. I don't even think about all those sins that I've committed 
or omitted in my ignorance. Praise God for his grace and 
for his gospel. This isn't a brand-new development 
in Biblical history or Biblical redemption. Jesus is speaking 
what the Old Testament always asserted. Psalm 51, Behold, you 
desire truth in the inward part, and in the hidden part you will 
make me to know wisdom. What's he saying in Psalm 51, 
10? Created me what? A clean heart, O Lord. It's not 
as if the Bible specified that a merely meticulous external 
obedience somehow pacified God, and that the Pharisees were champions 
in their particular day. The Pharisees had the Old Testament 
Scripture in Babylon in the exile. It got distorted. They took on 
the religion that was around them, and they prostituted the 
truth. They did not come out of that 
particular exile confessing grace alone through faith alone in 
Christ alone. That's not what happened. They 
came out saying, as long as we tie the mint and the anise in 
the covenant, as long as we're meticulous in our brings to the 
temple, we can just neglect matters like justice, mercy, and faith, 
and everything will go right with us. Pharisees are a lot 
like us. We throw God a bone, and he's 
supposed to reciprocate. We throw God a bit of external 
compliance, and he's supposed to deliver the goods. That's 
not what this passage is talking about. Blessed are the pure in 
heart. Proverbs 4, 23, Solomon says 
to his sons, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of 
it spring the issues of life. If a man does engage in external 
compliance, but if a man does keep rules quite well, and his 
heart is doing it for all the wrong motives, is that godly? Is that righteous? No, you desire 
truth in the inward parts. That's what the psalmist is celebrating 
there. So, I hope we've gotten a bit 
at the description, the single-mindedness, this internal righteousness. 
This isn't just about external compliance with certain rules, 
though internally, if our hearts are right, there will be external 
obedience to God's holy law. Let's move on to the source. 
How do we get this heart purity? Well, I want you to go home to... 
No. It's not a checklist. Who's the 
source of heart purity? God the Father. What's the promise of the New 
Covenant in Jeremiah 31? I will write my law where? On 
their heart! God's the source of this pure 
heart. What about the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 36? I will 
give them a new heart. I will take out the old stony 
heart, and I will put in its place a new heart, that they 
may fear me, that they may walk according to my word, that they 
may follow my law. We see this in the New Testament. 
Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Teacher, we know that you're 
a man sent from God because no one teaches the way you do. What's 
Jesus' response? Unless a man is born again, he 
shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. He knew what Nicodemus 
was after, and Jesus speaks specifically to it. Nicodemus, with that native 
heart that is in Adam, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 
You must be born from above. You must be born again. Something 
must happen from without. Something must invade. He's not 
giving him a command. Billy Graham has a book called 
How to be Born Again. That's not what Jesus is doing 
in John 3. John 3 says that you are passive 
in this transaction. That you are not active, that 
you're not even a participant. The new birth is monergistic. 
It is God who takes out the old stony heart. It is God who puts 
in a new fleshly heart. It is God who writes his law 
upon your heart. So when we trace back heart purity 
to its source, it's the father. We go to the book of Acts, and 
we see Paul at Philippi, and he finds these women on the Sabbath 
day, and he's speaking to them by the riverside. And he sees 
Lydia, and it says that the Lord opened her heart to believe the 
things spoken by Paul. St. Virgin says this, to clear 
the eye, we're going to see God, to clear the eye, we must cleanse 
the heart. There are no pure hearts on earth 
unless the Lord has made them so. And none shall see God in 
heaven who have not been purified by grace while here below. Blessed are the pure in heart. Jesus isn't holding out a hoop 
saying you do this and I will pronounce you blessed. Remember, 
these are descriptions. These are indicatives. These 
are what are true of you as a Christian. These are not imperatives. You've 
got heart purity. You give all the glory to the 
Father. But you don't stop there. You give all the glory, not to 
you, but to the Son. What's the prophet Zechariah 
speak of in Zechariah 13.1? Behold, in that day there will 
be a fountain open for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. There is a fountain filled with 
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that 
flood, lose what? All their guilty stains. We have 
stole the Father in His electing grace and in His sovereign power 
to change the heart. We have stole the Son, who by 
His own work obeyed the law perfectly. We stole the son by his own death. Shed that blood which cleanses 
us from all sin. Our hearts are dirty. They're 
filthy. They're depraved. They're wicked. 
They're abominable. They're every bad word you can 
possibly apply to that situation. And Jesus' blood cleanses. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that 
amazing? You've broken God's law. You've 
not done what God says. You've lived your life with rebellion 
to him. It may not have looked like that. 
You see, Polish sinners look pretty respectable, but a Polish 
sinner has the same raised fist that a holy God who commands 
Christ's blood takes away our sin. It is through his obedience 
that we receive righteousness. It is through his death that 
we receive cleansing through his blood. In Revelation 7, 14, 
there's a beautiful picture, and this is what it says. These 
are the ones who come out of the great tribulation. Notice 
this. These are the ones who come out 
of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb. What a picture. It's crazy on one hand. You don't 
take a robe and put it in blood and it comes out white. Just 
think about it. It's like saying you're going 
to fill up your washing machine with water and pour a bunch of 
red food coloring in there. And you're going to take the 
whitest shirt that you have and you're going to put it in there 
and it's going to come out extra white. You say, that's not going 
to happen. There's no way. What's he speaking 
of here? Speaking of spiritual realities, 
they wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and that is 
why they're white. That purity, that standing, that 
acceptance with God comes not through our doing. It comes through 
the finished work of the Savior who laid down His life for us. 
The source, the sovereign grace of God, the active obedience 
and passive obedience of Christ, and the indwelling power of the 
Holy Spirit. See, as justified by grace alone, 
through faith alone, believers in Christ, we now live the life 
of sanctification. How do we pursue purity? By the 
Spirit. Romans 8, Galatians 5. The Spirit 
is in us. The Spirit wages war against 
the flesh. While the flesh wages war against 
the Spirit, the Spirit restrains, the Spirit enables, the Spirit 
gives us appetite, the Spirit gives us desire. All heart purity, 
in the final analysis, that you or I will ever know is attributable 
to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That's the position from which 
we operate. That brings us, thirdly, to consider its cultivation. 
God's implanted it. God's washed our hearts. God's 
purified us. God's given us the Spirit. How 
do we pursue heart purity? You're probably thinking, use 
the means of grace. Absolutely. Use those things 
that God has given so that we can pursue purity. First, meditate 
often on the gospel of Christ. What gives power to killing sin? 
Christ. His gospel. Justification. He not only frees us from sin's 
penalty, but he frees us from sin's power. His gospel is victorious 
from first to last. Dwell often in the gospel. Those 
who are the most sin-hating, sin-killing Christians are those 
who dwell most in the gospel. That's the dynamic. These things 
are right to you, John says, that you may not sin. But if 
anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ 
the righteous. We go back to him. Romans 6, 
even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to 
God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Think in terms of gospel. Meditate 
often on the gospel to pursue heart purity. Secondly, pray 
for heart purity. You search your heart and you 
notice impurity, what do you do? I hope you pray. God, take this desire from me. Replace it with a desire that 
is holy and righteous. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
Paul says in Romans 13, 14, and make no provision for the flesh 
to fulfill its lusts. If your flesh is fulfilling its 
lusts, get on your knees before God and say, Lord, please help 
me put on Jesus. You see, it's a put off, put 
on. It's a get clothed in so you won't keep doing. Pray for 
heart purity. Lord, I have an affinity for 
this particular sin. I've identified it. Lord, help 
me to kill it. Not take prisoners, not play 
games, but to cut its throat. Keep me from being like Saul. 
Remember Saul? God tells Saul and the inhabitants 
of Israel to go in and wage war against Agag and the Amalekites. What does Saul do? We did what 
you said, Lord! God says, why do I hear the bleeding 
of sheep? Why is Agag still breathing? Did I tell you to deal with them? 
God probably didn't sound like that, sorry. Well, Lord, we thought we were 
doing you a favor! What's the take-home lesson from 
that event? To obey is better than to sacrifice. What do we 
see then? Samuel hacks Agag to pieces. That's how we deal with sin. 
We hack Agag to pieces. We don't leave him in the corner. 
We don't let him play games. We don't let him threaten us. 
We hack him to pieces. We're like Phineas with that 
javelin. When he drives it through that Israelite, that Midianite 
woman. What does God say? Oh, how dare 
you take such radical actions against my people? God says, 
that was great. You're zealous for my zeal? Phineas, 
you're a man that I love. Pray for heart purity. You've 
got to meditate on the gospel. Pray for heart purity. Three, 
study the scriptures. I hope you're not going, wow, 
these are amazing. You knew this, right? Cultivation. How else 
do you cultivate the pursuit of holiness? You don't need a 
conference, you don't need special sessions, you don't need love-ins, 
you don't need all the things that people are trying to sell 
you. You need the Bible, you need the Spirit, you need the 
Lord of Glory, you need the Gospel. But study the Scriptures. We 
looked at this on Wednesday night. What is the Christian called 
to do? He has to be renewing his mind. How? Through the Scriptures. Through the Scriptures. R.J. 
Rush Doody said this, I love this, he says, too often the 
modern theologian and churchman goes to the Bible seeking insight, 
not orders. Indeed, I may go to Calvin, Luther, 
Augustine, and others, to scholars, Christian and non-Christian, 
for insights, for data, and for learned studies. But when I go 
to the Bible, I must go to hear God's marching orders for my 
life. I cannot treat the Bible as a 
devotional manual designed to give me peace of mind or a higher 
plane of living. It is a command book which can 
disturb my peace with its orders, and it tells me that I can only 
find peace in obeying the Almighty. The Bible is not an inspirational 
book for my personal edification, nor a book of beautiful thoughts 
for my pleasure. It is the word of the sovereign 
and almighty God I must hear and obey. I must believe and 
be faithful because God requires it. I am His property and His 
absolute possession. There can be nothing better than 
that. Amen. There can be nothing better 
than that. Those who, by the grace of God, 
have come to the fount, have been cleansed from their sins, 
have the Spirit indwelling them, they want to devour the Scriptures. 
They want to hunger and thirst after righteousness. They want 
to pursue heart purity. They don't treat the Bible simply 
as a devotional manual. They don't treat it simply as 
insights for living. They treat it as the historical 
record of God's redemptive plan. centering in on the person and 
work of the Lord Jesus, with all of the benefits accrued by 
Him at the cross, including sanctification. So that when I come to the book, 
when I come to the scripture, I must hear, as Rushdie says, 
God's marching orders for my life. Blessed are the pure in 
heart. Fourthly, in terms of its cultivation, 
ponder the promise of the text. Blessed are the pure in heart. 
They shall see God. If that doesn't make you want 
to pursue heart purity, you might need to be born again. Do you 
see the promise? They shall see God. Ponder that. Doesn't temptation and sin hold 
out the promise for pleasure? Oh no, not to me, Pastor, I'm 
too holy and pure. Moses refused the passing pleasures 
of sin. The author of the book of Hebrews 
didn't downplay that. Sin of wars or temptation holds 
out the promise of something, right? And when you look at the 
madness going on around us, you ask the final question, why did 
you do it? Because I thought I would get 
this. Right? I thought I would have 
this freedom. I thought I'd have this liberty. 
I thought I'd have this pleasure. Never does someone say, because 
I mean, there's probably someone out there that will be an exception 
to this rule, because I love Satan, I love hell, I love everything 
bad, and I just want to sin. No, it's usually there's something 
that is associated with the temptation and sin. So with the blessedness of the 
purity of heart, think in terms of the promise. Think in terms 
of what God holds forth. Turn over for just a moment, 
the first John three, where this is illustrated in this particular 
connection. First John chapter three. Behold, 
verse one, what manner of love the father has bestowed on us 
that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world 
does not know us because it did not know him beloved. Now we 
are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we 
shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, 
we shall be like him. And notice this, for we shall 
see him as he is. Isn't that what Jesus is pronouncing 
in this 6th Beatitude? Isn't this what Jesus is saying? 
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. John 
tells us the same thing. When the consummated glory comes, 
we will be like him, not deity. It means without sin. And we 
shall see him as he is. Now notice verse 3. And everyone 
who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. The promise of the sixth beatitude 
ought to serve as a powerful tonic to promote the pursuit 
of purity. The fact that we are heaven bound, 
the fact that we will see God, the fact that we'll lay our eyes 
upon the ascended, glorified, exalted, reigning Christ. ought 
to promote the pursuit of heart purity. So we've seen its description, 
its source, its cultivation. Fourthly, its promise. Let's 
just open this up a little bit. Again, the backdrop is Psalm 
24. Psalm 24. He shall receive blessing from 
the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This 
is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face. That parallels the promise attached 
to this sixth beatitude. We shall see God. Does that make you happy? Does it 
thrill you? This is where all of redemptive 
history is heading. Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool 
of the garden, didn't they? They had free reign with the 
Lord God Almighty. They had blessed intercourse with God Most High. 
God put them in the garden to extend it. God put them in the 
garden as a prophet, priest, and king over His creation. God 
stationed Adam with a specific task, to bring the created order 
unto the worship of the living and true God. Adam sins, Adam 
is driven from the garden. What happens in between until 
the end of the book of Revelation? All the events necessary so that 
when we get to the book of Revelation, what happens? The people, the 
redeemed, they see His face. The curse is lifted. The tree 
of life is there. The nations of the peoples are 
in that place, eating those fruits and delicacies. They shall see 
God. I wonder if we meditate on that 
enough. All the things we said, notwithstanding 
maggots and worms and all those things, God has cleansed us. God has purified us. God has 
saved us by Jesus Christ. God has fit us and made us accepted 
in his sight through the beloved. That's where we're heading. We're 
going to see God. We already see him currently, 
don't we? I'm not talking about I had a 
dream the other night and Jesus was standing at the end of my 
bed and he told me I should buy that house or purchase that car. 
No, we see God in creation. When other men look out, they 
see the results of an evolutionary process that took billions and 
billions of years. We look out and it leads us to 
consider the righteousness of God. The heavens declare the 
righteousness of God. And the firmament, what does 
it do? It preaches His handiwork. We see those stars, we see those 
creatures, we see how God has fit animals to live, and we stand 
amazed at God. We see Him in providence. We 
see Him raise men up and put men down. We see Him raise up 
empires and put them down. We see all the nations of the 
earth at his disposal. As the prophet says, they're 
like a drop in the bucket. We stand amazed while men worship 
their idols. They have ears that don't hear 
and they have eyes that don't see. The Psalter says, our God 
is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. 
You take a seat who has tried and afflicted and has difficulty 
and things unimaginable to the rest of us. And yet you see God 
in providence. They see the smiling of God in 
Providence. The psalmist says it was good 
for me that I was afflicted. We read a prayer letter from 
Johnny Farese this morning. In one sentence, he highlights 
more that he has been doing as a man that can't move. Then probably all of us put together. He praises God. He rejoices in 
the Lord. His letter says, I want to keep 
serving the churches. Why? Because that brother is 
pure in heart and he sees God. Providence. It's not luck. It's not random. It's not fortuitous. It is God active in society from 
the little things to the big things. Some of the medieval 
scholars used to say, well, God doesn't really concern himself 
about things like gnats and about things like, you know, bugs and 
that sort of thing. Look at some of the illustrations 
that Jesus used. His eyes on the sparrow that 
falls certainly is going to take care of you. The hairs of your 
head are all numbered. Those medieval scholars think 
that God sit there and take notice of how many hairs are on somebody's 
head. That's just a refusal to deal with the Bible. God is concerned 
with the big things and the little things. God is concerned with 
the little things and the big things. We see God in providence, 
but we see him in redemption as well, don't we? Where are 
we? We're in a church trying to worship 
God. We're in a church trying to receive 
the word of God. Is that by nature? Is that by 
nurture? Is that the way it is? Or did 
God lay hold of you? Did God call you out of darkness 
into marvelous light? 11 2 Corinthians 4, when the 
apostle is showing us God's sovereign power in the reception of the 
gospel, he says, the God who commanded the light to shine 
at the creation has caused the light of the gospel of His Son 
to shine in your hearts. The same power displayed in Genesis 
chapter 1 is the same power displayed in the salvation of your soul. We see Him, don't we? Yeah, you do. Yeah, you see him 
when you didn't end up in that predicament. You see him when 
you did end up in that predicament, but he graciously delivered you. 
You see him in your salvation. You see him at the cross. And 
again, I'm not talking about have a picture of Jesus. No. 
Talk about seeing the works of God all around you. So there's 
an already sense in which we see God, but there is the not 
yet. There is what Revelation 21? 
Let's just read it. I can't do justice to it. I believe 
it. I love it. I can read it. But we need to hear God speak 
it. Revelation twenty one twenty two, but I saw no temple in it 
for the Lord God Almighty and the lamb on its temple. The city 
had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it for the 
glory of God illuminated it. The lamb is its life and the 
nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light and the 
kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its 
gate shall not be shut at all by day. There shall be no night 
there. And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations 
into it, but there shall by no means enter anything that defiles 
or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written 
in the Lamb's Book of Life. He showed me a pure river of 
water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of 
God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, 
on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore 
twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves 
of the tree were for the healing of the nations, and there shall 
be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall 
be in it, and his servants shall serve him. They shall see his 
face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. There shall 
be no night there. They need no lamp or light of 
the sun for the Lord. God gives them light and they 
shall reign forever and ever. See the movement of the scripture. 
Adam is driven out. The second or last Adam comes 
and saves so that all in him come back to that blessed garden, 
come back to that blessed society, come back to that communion for 
which we were created. God has promised that blessed 
are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. Probably 
one of the closest descriptions next to Holy Writ, uninspired, 
is this statement. The bride eyes not her garment, 
but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but 
on my king of grace. Not at the crown he gifteth, 
but on his pierced hand. The lamb is all the glory of 
Emmanuel's land. ponder the promise of the text. Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God. Well, in conclusion, brethren, 
we need to remember that this is a gracious disposition. This is implanted. This is grace 
that taught our hearts not only to fear, but to pursue purity. Thomas Watson, in his good little 
treatment on the attitude says, If we must be pure in heart, 
then we must not rest in outward purity. Civility is not sufficient. A swine may be washed, yet a 
swine still. Civility does but wash a man. Grace changes him. Civility, 
like a star, may shine in the eyes of the world, but it differs 
as much from purity as the crystal from the diamond. Civility is 
but strewing flowers on a dead corpse. A man may be wonderfully 
moralized, yet but a tame devil. How many have made civility their 
savior? Morality may dam as well as vice. A vessel may be sunk with gold 
as well as with dung. You don't trust in morality. 
You don't trust in civility. You trust in the gospel of a 
dying and risen savior. Just one more thought from Watson, 
it was too good not to share. He says, this is a cordial for 
the pure in heart, some encouragement, some boons and things to think 
about concerning this six to be attitude. I thought they were 
bang on. He says, first, stand amazed 
at this privilege that you who are worms crept out of the dust 
should be admitted to the blessed side of God to all eternity. Be amazed. Be amazed. The gospel still amaze you. The 
gospel still thrill you. You still read the text and say, 
what is so this is so glorious that my savior went through that 
for me. Stand amazed, Brooks, Watson 
says. He says, secondly, begin your 
sight of God here in this world. He says, let the eye of your 
faith be still upon God. Moses, by faith, saw him who 
is invisible, according to Hebrews 1123. In Acts 15, it speaks of 
the heart being purified and cleansed by faith. You have faith, 
seek God now. Thirdly, he says, let this be 
his cordial water. to revive the pure in heart. To revive us. What happens sometimes 
in the Christian life? We start to run a little empty, 
don't we? Start to run a little slower. 
Start to get weighed down. Whether it's through our own 
doing or whatever, we just aren't always as equipped to deal with 
things as we once were. He says, let this be as cordial 
water to revive the pure in heart. If you're downcast this morning, 
If you're depressed or melancholy or whatever it is that that you 
identify with in terms of terminology or nomenclature. Let this be 
a cordial one, just be a tonic. Let's be refreshment and see 
God. And then he says, fourthly, and 
I think this was perceptive, be not discouraged at sufferings, 
be not discouraged at sufferings, all the hurt that affliction 
and death can do. is give you a sight of God. Isn't that countercultural? What do we teach? I mean, we, 
North American evangelicalism. Suffering is bad. Stay away from 
suffering. What's Watson the Puritan say? 
You know what suffering and affliction do? They bring you to God quicker. That kind of puts a perspective 
on it that I think we need to adopt it. Maybe although I do, 
I need to see it. I need to understand it. Suffering 
and affliction are vehicles to bring us to God. He goes on to say this. As one 
said to his fellow martyr, one half hour in glory will make 
us forget our pain. Probably one half minute, one 
half second. When we gaze upon our bridegroom's 
face, we're not going to, but I went through this, or I had 
to deal with this. Eternal weight of glory outshines 
the momentary light affliction. Brooks goes on to say, the thoughts 
of this beatific vision, that means the vision of God, should 
carry a Christian full sail with joy through the waters of affliction. This made Job willing to embrace 
death. I know that my Redeemer lives, 
and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall 
see God." Watson is to be thanked for this 
divine, for this cordial. And finally, if you're here and 
your heart is not cleansed. You say, yes, Pastor, I've heard 
something about what the Bible says concerning my sin. I can 
identify with that, though I don't know if I'm ready to heap as 
much on me as you are. I know that I'm a sinner. The 
answer for you is in the Savior. When the psalmist asks the question 
in Psalm 24, and when he asks the question in Psalm 15, and 
he says, who may dwell in your presence? Who may abide in your 
holy hill? There is one. One alone who fulfills 
the requirements, and that's Jesus. Jesus through his life, 
Jesus through his death, Jesus through his resurrection. When 
we believe on Jesus, we are united to him, so that as he enters 
into the presence of God, we are joint heirs with him, and 
we enter in as well. You read Psalm 15, you read Psalm 
24, and you ask yourself, what man, what one man alone ever 
fulfilled that requirement? It's Christ. The gospel, the 
good news is, is that there is a champion, there is a victor, 
there is a redeemer, there is a savior, and his name is Christ. 
He did what you could never do, and he took upon himself the 
punishment for your sins. Believe on him, and you shall 
be saved. That's what you need to consider 
this morning. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you so much for this statement. Blessed are the pure 
in heart, for they shall see God. I pray that we would ponder 
this, that we would reflect upon it, that we would study it, that 
we would consider it, and that God it would indeed cause us 
to go full sail through all of the trials and all of the difficulties 
that we may face in this life. I pray for Johnny Farese, God. 
I commit him to you, and I thank you for him. And I pray that 
you would continue to smile upon this dear brother, what an example 
he is to us all, to all the churches. And I pray, Father, that in his 
final days, however much longer he has, he would just have gracious 
and fond and most excellent thoughts of our Lord Jesus. And for all 
of us here, God, help us to take this cordial to heart. Help us 
to think in terms of these things. Help us to read Revelation 21 
and 22. and to thrill our hearts with what lies ahead. We just 
pray now that you would watch over us. We pray that you would 
bring us together again to worship you. And we ask through Christ 
the Lord. Amen.