Blessed are the Pure in Heart
Pastor Victor Massey
Part of Jesus Revolution
April 23, 2023

Revolution - a sudden, radical, or complete change in the established order.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8, NIV).

The Human Heart:

• Refers to the emotions (John 14:1).
• Refers to the intellect (Proverbs 23:7).
• Refers to the will (Daniel 1:8).

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? (Jeremiah 17:9, NLT).

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NKJV).

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander (Matthew 15:18-19, NIV).

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence (Matthew 23:25, NIV).

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:26, NIV).

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of fleshI will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them (Ezekiel 36:26-27, NKJV).


What Purity of Heart is Not:

• Purity of heart is not perfect of heart.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8, NIV).

What is Purity of Heart?

• According to David:
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob (Psalm 24:3-6, ESV).

• According to James:
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4, ESV).

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded (James 4:8, ESV).

Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. 2  Their heart is divided… (Hosea 10:1-2, KJV).

• According to Jesus:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37, NKJV).

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light”  (Matthew 6:22, KJV).

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24, KJV).

• According to Paul:
One thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,    I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14, ESV).

How to Pursue ‘Purity of Heart’

  1. Believe
    And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith (Acts 15:8-9, ESV).

  2. Confess and Repent
    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9, ESV).

  3. Hear and Obey
    “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17, ESV).

    Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word (Ephesians 5:26, ESV).

    How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word (Psalm 119:9,ESV).

    Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says (James 1:22, NIV).

    But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do (James 1:25, NIV).

  1. Worship
    And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3, NIV).

    Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.  7  He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” (Isaiah 6:5-7, NIV).

  2. Ask (Pray)
    Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).

    “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name”
    (Psalms 86:11, ESV).

  3. Persevere
    Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me (Micah 7:8).

  4. Anticipate
    “We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Conclusion:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8, NIV).

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14, ESV).