Blessed are the Pure in Heart

Driving home: The Beatitudes are not a road map directing us how to become Christians. They are a mirror reflecting to us what a true Christian is.

The Beatitudes are likened to a mirror reflecting what a Christian is, not a roadmap directing how to become one, emphasizing self-reflection over instruction for conversion.

Now let us turn again to the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 5, as we continue our studies in this sermon of all sermons, the Sermon on the Mount, and in particular the Beatitudes, these eight blessings enunciated by our Lord Jesus, which give to us, as we learned in the Sunday school class, perhaps the most certain description in all of the Scriptures of the character of a true Christian. Now remember, the Beatitudes are not a road map directing us how to become Christians. They are a mirror reflecting to us what a true Christian is. Blessed is the man that knows the di...

0:03 - 1:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines 'heart' biblically as the center of one's personality, encompassing mind, emotions, and will, and uses Jeremiah 17:9 and Mark 7:15-23 to demonstrate that sin…

A story about Bible translators encountering cultures where the 'liver' or 'stomach' is considered the center of personality, illustrating that 'heart' in Scripture refers to the core of one's being, not a physical organ.

being. It's not about the heart. It's merely to the heart, the center of our personality. In some heathen cultures, I was talking with a man who works with bricklet Bible translators.

7:53 - 8:07 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He critiques modern evangelicalism for focusing on external 'kinks' and 'empty places' rather than the heart, illustrating with Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees in Matthew…

Jesus' illustration of cleaning the outside of a cup while the inside remains dirty is used to expose the hypocrisy of external religious observance without internal heart purity.

We'll want to use scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye may clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

18:28 - 18:52 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains purity as a substance containing nothing foreign to its nature, applying this to the heart by examining Adam and Eve's original pure state of love and obedience to…

The concept of 'purity' is explained through examples of pure gold, water, and air, meaning a substance contains nothing foreign to its nature, to define what 'pure in heart' means.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they and they only shall see God. So whatever purity of heart is, it's a purity that touches the root of our being. Now, secondly, purity of heart is a purity which sets right or restores the heart to its original function. When do we call something pure? If I say this is pure gold, what do I mean? If I say this is pure uranium, and if I say this is pure water, if I say this is pure air, what do I mean when I say a thing is pure? Think for a moment if you will. What do you mean when you talk about something being pure?

22:31 - 23:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He asserts that God's purpose in sending a Savior is to purify the heart, restoring its capacity for love, obedience, and delight in holiness, a work accomplished by the Holy…

A polluted golden goblet mixed with impurities that needs to be melted down to draw off the impurities is used to illustrate how the human heart, once pure, became defiled by sin and needs God's redemptive work to be purified.

Ever we're to love God again as we ought to, that divided heart has got to be made pure. There was a pure golden goblet of some kind. And someone mixed in with that gold, its luster and its purity and ever that's to become a pure goblet again, it's got to be melted down and all the impurities drawn off. That's what the human heart must experience. That was once the pure gold goblet in which was held spontaneous love to God. Love for His will, love for His ways, and love for humanity. Now we take that I'm going to do something for man and my beloved son. And I'm going to send him to bleed and t...

29:26 - 30:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Seek the fellowship of God's people who are also running after the Lord with a pure heart, whose conversations center on Christ and the Scriptures, and who desire to pray together.

The analogy of finding Republicans by their green buttons is used to explain that there must be outward evidence or 'marks of identification' for Timothy to find others who are calling on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Look back on the things that will draw you aside in your youth. Begin to pursue those things that are eternal. Righteousness, holiness, faith. And he says, as you do it, Timothy, find some other people that are running after the same thing. And you run along together. Purity of heart. It's not something that is evidenced in the life. How could Timothy find some more people who were calling on the Lord out of a pure heart? There had to be some evidence that they were calling on the Lord out of a pure heart, right? If I say go on out and find everybody who's a Republican, you can't do it unless ...

50:42 - 51:26 Read in full sermon