“BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART:

FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.” (Matth. 5:8).

Far too often, church-going people feel religious because they are doing some things they should, and NOT doing some of those things, which God forbids. In fact, I believe most people feel righteous and godly if they do not get drunk and do not commit adultery. While we often concentrate on the “Thou shalt nots”, we often neglect many things which are required to actually be a true Christian. Remember the definition of “pure religion”?

God’s word says, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27). We can clearly see that if we are not visiting, as we should, we do not even have pure religion, though we may go to church every Sunday!

Being a true Christian consists of much more than merely believing Jesus is the Christ. It includes being a follower and a learner of Jesus. “Pure religion” and a “pure heart” are necessary for us to really be a true Christian. All the right actions without a pure heart are of no pleasure to God. First, God must give us a new heart. Before God comes to quicken us and make us alive spiritually, we do not love God, and we have no desire to please him. But after God has made us alive spiritually, we have a heart that seeks after God and is able to please Him because we then have faith. Every good deed must be a work of faith and a labor of love! (Remember I Corinthians 2:11-14; John 3:3-5; Ephesians 2:1; Hebrews 11:6; I Thessalonians 1:2-4.)

After God has come to us and made us alive, caused us to be born again, quickened us, we then have spiritual life. We are no longer simply a natural man! We then are super-natural because we then have the ability to actually please God. We have a desire to please Him. We love Him because He first loved us! After we have been born again by the working of God in our lives, we then have a new spirit. Whereas before all we had was the spirit of man, now we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. The flesh is still there, but we have another part of our being which is different than anything we received from our natural parents. We actually have two opposite natures: one which hates God, and the other loves God. We have two personalities. We then are taught by God to “put off the old man, and put on the new man.” (See Ephesians 4:17-32, especially vs. 22-24.) From then until the day we die, we have a warfare, a battle, in these mortal bodies. But by the grace of God, we no longer have to sin! We now have the ability to serve the Lord, to overcome temptation, to resist the devil, to draw nigh to God, and to purify our hearts!

There are great blessing in this life for God’s obedient children who do not receive the grace of God in vain. (Remember II Corinthians 6:1, 14-18.) If we fail to purify our hearts, separating ourselves from the world after God has given us the ability to do so, we dishonor Him, and will experience His chastening hand in our lives. But if we look to Him for the strength we need each day to purify our hearts, we come to have sweet fellowship with Him, to feel His manifest love shed abroad in our hearts, to know Him, and to “see Him.” Thus, we have the text from our Lord Jesus Christ: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8).

Numerous other Scriptures declare the blessings God bestows on those who do purify their hearts:

1. “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.” (Psalm 24:3-5).

2. “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” (Psalm 73:1).

3. “With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.” (Psalm 18:26).

And the word of God shows the pre-eminence of a pure heart in I Timothy 1:5: “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”

Please remember this important commandment: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (James 4:8-10).

IF THERE IS A PURE HEART, THERE WILL BE PURE ACTIONS!

If the heart is not pure, nothing else is of any benefit!

PLEASE STUDY: Proverbs 4:23; Luke 6:45; Matthew 23:25-28