Sermon on the Mount 07 – The Pure In Heart See God.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. –Matthew 5:8
You see God if your heart is pure. This is what we will be studying today. I repeatedly say this but the Sermon on the Mount is an explanation about the reality, reaction, and symptoms that appear in those who are already blessed with a heavenly blessing before the creation of the world. It is never about a secret to receive blessings. In Hebrew, the word ‘blessing’ and the word ‘covenant’ share the same root word. It is showing that blessing is what is freely given by the covenant of God. Therefore, all who are in the covenant before the creation are rightly blessed already. If so, you people who are saints are pure in heart, right? It says the blessed ones are pure in heart, doesn't it? But then, you feel guilty, don’t you? Are you really pure in heart? And it says the pure in heart see God, but do you? What does this mean then? In order for us to understand today’s text well, we must first know what this thing called ‘heart’ is, right? The Bible used the word ‘heart’ and the organ ‘heart’ interchangeably (In English translation, heart and mind are used interchangeably). Thus, it means this ‘heart’ is something directly related to life.
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. –Proverbs 4:23
Where does it flow from? The springs of life flow from the heart, it says. This means you die if something goes wrong with your heart.
But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind (Here the word ’heart’ in Korean is an organ heart), let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. -Jeremiah 11:20
The Lord tests the heart, not the outer appearance.
And I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. -Revelation 2:23
Like this, God searches and tests the hearts of men. If this heart is in connection with life, it is a living being, and if it is leaning towards the wrong things, it is dead. Therefore, you can think that the heart is a total character of a person, including intelligence, emotion, and will. The Lord is speaking firmly. “Blessed ones are pure in heart! The end. Blessed ones are pure in heart.” But there is a problem. The Bible says the heart of a man is the dirtiest thing in this world.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? –Jeremiah 17:9
It says, if you were to choose one thing that is the dirtiest in the whole world, it is the heart of a man. Then what is to happen? It means all men must die, right? That is why the Apostle Paul says all men are dead in the trespasses and sins. Then, what is it talking about when it says you are pure in heart? We should first clearly define the word ‘pure’.
What is being pure? The dictionary meaning of the word ‘pure’ is unmixed with any other matter, free from dust, dirt, or taint, free from moral fault and guilt, ritually clean, and etc. Is this the ‘pure’ the Bible is talking about? If so, I am not confident. Do you think being pure means always thinking what is good and nice without harboring a dirty and evil heart inside? The usual lesson from studying this passage was “discipline your heart to become pure so that you can be blessed, so that you can see God." So you diligently disciplined your heart. Were you able to clean your heart? Could it be cleansed? Is pure heart something we can have if we tried hard? If it is so, how about the monastic movement in the middle age, or the Qumran community who nailed and killed Jesus on the cross, or the Essenes Bible movement, or the diligence of the mystics who parasitized like a cancer throughout the Christian history? They all lived cleanly. People, how about the passion of the Buddhist monks who devote themselves to a spiritual training deep in the mountains so that they wouldn’t get their heart taken by the world? Can all these be grouped into the category of ‘pure’? If ‘pure’ means what the dictionary says, they are purer than us at least, aren’t they?
Indeed, could they have been able to achieve purity based on their diligence and see the invisible God? It says you see God if your heart is pure. The purity the Bible talks about is not the kind of purity that can be produced by men’s training, devotion, or diligence. The Bible repeatedly and firmly declares here and there that men cannot keep their heart pure on their own.
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (He is saying he cannot control his own thought, his own heart. He wrote this toward the end of his ministry but even so, he is saying he couldn’t.)
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. –Romans 7:15, 18, 19, 23
The Apostle Paul could not control his own heart. He could not make it pure. On the contrary, he was only feeling that a certain law was continuously corrupting his heart. So finally at the end, he was crying out, “Wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me from this body of death?” Then, how can you make your heart pure? It means God will make you that way by blessing you. Saying this once more, but the Sermon on the Mount is a symptom, reaction, and reality that appear only in the ones who are blessed by God. Therefore, the purity Jesus has spoken of has to be the purity that can only appear in the saints.
People, please define the concept of ‘pure’ in your mind. What is the state of being pure? Are you picturing your house in your mind? Your room? Your bathroom? What is ‘pure’? What comes to your mind when you think of ‘pure’? Let me give you an example. There is filth that should not be there on the bathroom floor. We call this an impurity, right? In order for that to be purity, that has to be cleaned. But let’s say what is on the bathroom floor is not something dirty but a bibimbop that is deliciously prepared and very pure. That is pure if it is in a bowl and not on the floor. And if it's in a bowl, the bathroom floor is also pure. But when these thing are together where they should not be, it becomes an impurity.
Let’s try using colors. The bathroom floor is white and the bibimbop is black. Like this, something black dropped on the white back ground is an impurity. Then what is pure? If the black disappears, it is pure, right? Thus, purity is things finding and going back to where each belongs and different colors becoming one color. The word that contains all these is ‘pure,’ ‘katharos.’ In English, it is ‘pure.’ It is not ‘clean’ but ‘pure.’ So, being pure in heart means the heart finding its own place where it should be and having one color. That is being pure in heart. Then, what does it mean to be impure? Being impure means the heart not finding a place where it should be and existing in numerous colors. The Bible expresses this as being double-minded.
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (Do what? Purify your heart, you double-minded.) 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. –James 4:6-10
Here, James is warning the double-minded people that they purify their heart, that they sanctify their heart. So, the opposite of a clean heart, a pure heart, is a heart that is split into two or more, a heart that is in the wrong direction. But, as you can see, James calls a double-minded person a proud man who lifts himself before God. And then he tells them to mourn and weep. People are happy, refreshed, and joyously worshipping themselves in this world, but James is telling them that they should be lowered, sad, and mournful. Why? Because that is purifying the doubled-minded. Doesn’t it equal to the flow of the Sermon on the Mount? It’s saying, “mourn, be sad, be lowered, that is being blessed.” Being double-minded means a heart that should be focused only on God is dispersed to self-ego of the flesh. That is called pride, right? ‘Hubris.’ Isn’t ‘hubris’ a creature getting out of its place and invading into the realm of God? And it is translated as being ‘proud.’ That is pride and that is lifting oneself up. That is why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount not to be double-minded and that a man cannot serve two masters. And He names the two masters as God and Mammon. Mammon is translated as money but it is a name of a god. Mammon and God. Who is the center, the main character of Mammon? It is “I”. Therefore, you cannot serve both yourself and God. The majority of today’s Christians want to become a master of their own and put God to work for them, but they do not want to be a servant of God and His will accomplished. But God clearly said you cannot serve two masters. That is your heart being divided into two and that is being impure in heart, and that is the identity of a sinner who is under the wrath of God.
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.[a] –Matthew 6:24
Well, given that mammon and God are the two masters, as you know, there are only two beings in the Bible that can seize and lock up a person to make him a slave. One is sin, Satan, right? That is why it says ‘the slave of sin.’ It says ‘you were the furniture of Satan." It also says “your father is Satan”, right? And who is the other? It is God. It is written as ‘servant of God, servant of the Lord’.
So having two masters means worshipping something other than God, having ‘myself’ in the center, having more focus on that. That is Satan, being a owner of my own life. That is the true identity of Satan and there are only two kinds of people, being a slave of Satan, or getting oneself denied and eliminated by being a servant of God. People of God cannot serve two masters. This means the people of God will surely be dragged by the grace of God to become a person who trusts only God, a person who places his heart only in Him. In another words, this means saints will be deprived and missed of their self love and self trust geared towards themselves.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind (heart) to do what ought not to be done. -Romans 1:28
Having God in your heart makes you a living man because that is being pure in heart. God has to take over your heart to be a living man. There are those who hate to have God in their heart, and their heart is filled with what men have decided, defined, and agreed as an expansion of their own existence, instead of God. It is full of such interests. It is called a debased mind (heart). That is called a dirty heart. If God leaves it alone as is, it is dead. Isn’t that what it’s saying right now? “God letting you do as you want and fill up your heart with the things other than God is a curse. It’s saying this right now. Then, what should God do to make His people come to life? God has to cut away one by one whatever men are holding on to other than God, whatever they are giving their heart to. This is the purity of heart. Being pure in heart is not something you can do but it’s what God is doing in our life of faith. But that is hard. That is why being pure in heart comes out in connection to mourning, being poor in spirit, and being hungry and thirsty for righteousness. This is not what we can do. God making us to be like that comes out in our life as purity, as placing our heart only to God, a little by little as directivity.
In James 1, James calls a double-minded person a doubter and the one who is purified with one heart a believer. A bit by bit, the meaning is becoming clear.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (On Sunday, I have explained what this wisdom is, right? All wisdom in the Bible refers to the wisdom of building the temple.) 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. –James 1:5-8
This passage does not simply mean God won’t answer if you doubt when asking. It does not mean this. People, have you ever not doubt when praying, not even once? I doubt every time I pray. “What if He doesn’t answer my prayer?” Isn’t this a doubt?
Then, when even just once, have we prayed without doubting? The more you say, “I shouldn’t doubt. I will not doubt, the more you doubt, don’t you? You feel like it won’t happen. But there are times these prayers do get answered, right? What is it then? Is God double-tongued? The Bible does not define doubt as impatiently acting up asking “will it work or will it not?” That is a dictionary concept of doubt. The Bible calls doubt that which does not result from faith. What does not result from faith is called doubt. That is why a man of faith is being contrasted with a doubter. Please go to Romans.
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness[a] of Sarah's womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” –Romans 4:18-22
The Apostle Paul is helplessly ignorant, right? Did Abraham and Sarah really not doubt? Not only had they doubted, they even laughed out loud. “That old man must be out of his mind!” Then, based on what is the Apostle Paul saying that Abraham and Sarah never doubted? People, who is the primary owner of faith? It is God, right? “God, by faith, Abraham, God by faith, Sarah…” This is Hebrews 11, isn’t it? The main word of Hebrew 11 is faith because faith made them who they were. Every act done by a man who is in the progress of being led by faith is ‘no doubting.’ It is ‘no doubting’ because it is an act of going towards faith, being led by faith. That is why the Apostle Paul is saying they did not doubt. Therefore, you have to understand the Bible, laying down your own definitions and redefining them. If you read the Bible based on the concepts in the dictionary, you cannot understand these things. Let me summarize it as the following. An impure heart which is not pure refers to a state of being split into two, not being able to gather as one, and that double-heartedness is a doubting heart, and a doubting heart is a state of faithlessness. Do you understand thus far? Then on the contrary, what is a pure heart? While being led to a destination called eternity by the faith of God, the whole process and the result of one’s heart of self-worship being taken away by God is called purity of heart. It is the state of one’s heart being gathered into one place. So, James is telling those who lack wisdom to ask for it. That wisdom is the wisdom of building myself as a perfectly clean temple of God in which God may completely dwell. That is why he is telling us to ask for wisdom and telling us to ask without doubting. It is not saying you should ask without doubting, "would He give wisdom, or would He not?” What does it say about a man who does not doubt? A man with faith. That is a man called to be pure in heart. Such a man and such people will ask for the wisdom of being built up as a temple and those who are gifted with faith will surely receive what they ask for. God’s original goal of destination is making us into a temple that He may completely dwell in, right? Then in the end, the self-identity of that being is completely eliminated and denied, isn’t it? It is so that God may enter and take him over completely as a dwelling place. So it means that those who are called by the grace of God in the covenant before the creation, those who have been gifted with faith, will finally pray, “God, please let me be wholly built up as a temple of God” and this prayer will surely be answered. That is why it says you will be given if you ask without doubting and it does not mean “since you can receive all you ask if you ask without doubting, do not doubt even if you use mind control!” Try asking without doubting no matter what and see if He gives to you. He does not give to you. There is not a single line in the Bible written about how to get on in the world or rules of conduct in life. It means God will definitely give the grace, power, and mercy, which are the wisdom needed in building His people into the holy city of new Jerusalem. But what was that? I have explained to you starting from Genesis 1, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. What was it? Wasn’t it the Holy Spirit? Right? The Holy Spirit enters into us, becomes the wisdom, and completes us as the people of God. That is why Jesus said this:
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give (good gifts in the other place) the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” –Luke 11:13
He said, “Knock! It will be open. Seek, it will be given. Why wouldn’t He give good things to those who ask?” And that good thing was the Holy Spirit. This is saying the same thing. God gives His people the Holy Spirit, the wisdom, and makes them pure in heart. They are pure because they are emptied out for God to enter. God is pulling us to it, to purity.
God makes sure that the people of God who are gifted with faith cry out a prayer of “Lord, revive me in the midst of the years!” That was the prayer of Habakkuk. What did I say that revival was? It is “Please come quick and cut away all the things in me that must be cut away before God. Please cut them away.” It means being pushed down as a person who is more and more turning his eyes away from world values and power and building a temple for himself as a main character in this world. This is being pure in heart.
If you look at James 1:6, it says the one who is double-minded, who doubts, is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. The one who is impure in heart is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. What episode comes into your mind when reading this verse? Who was yelled at and called ‘a man of little faith’ in a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind? It was Peter. Like this, the Bible is connected as one.
And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind,[a] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. –Matthew 14:28-32
What did Peter doubt? Did he first walk on water as if it was nothing and all of sudden doubt, thinking “Am I walking wrong? Am I dreaming?” Peter asks Jesus in a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, to make him walk on water. The word ‘command’ comes out in verse 28, right? Here Peter is looking to the power of the word of Jesus. He is thinking “If the Lord commands, even the wind, even the law of nature called gravity will submit before His word.” This is called faith. Jesus says “Come!” After all, the word shows its power, and nature really becomes obedient before the word. The law of nature is blocked by the word and cannot do what it is supposed to do. Even gravity disappears at that time. Realizing and admitting this is called faith. Faith is admitting that everything comes to submission before the will of God and becoming free from the reality and situation called history with me in the center, and what makes us to be like this, is also faith. The faith of God makes us to be like that. “If it is the will of God, this reality and this situation is not something I should be swayed by.” The faith of God makes us exercise this faith. That is faith. One’s potential, accomplishments, and ability are of course included in that reality and situation called history. Same for the events or reality that befall us, all these things are mere tools needed in accomplishing the covenant of God in the will of God. Saints become free when they realize that these are mere tools needed for accomplishing the covenant of God, the will of God, and not something they can personally own. This is called faith.
However, Peter, who was walking on the waves of water by such faith - God is staging this to explain what faith is and what doubt is and you should not try to analyze what kind of man Peter is here. Peter, walking on water and looking to Jesus with a pure heart, had faith and believed that the power of His word would calm the wind and this wind would not overcome him. This is a clean heart. This is a pure heart. Peter, who was walking on water in that state, came to fall into the cursed water when he all of a sudden looked to his own ability and reality thinking “Am I really a man who can walk on water?” and when he looked to the waves in the wind coming unto him, without interpreting them in the will of God. In fact, when he walked on the tossing waves, those tossing waves were not conquered by his own ability or qualification, were they? Then he could have just kept going, believing that, but all of a sudden he started thinking “What about me then? How am I going to keep my own self worth?” By doing so, by warranting a value to himself, the tossing waves would actually eat him up, instead of him overcoming them. Peter, who came to completely forget the power of the word because he was looking to his own power and ability and the reality of the wind, obviously falls into the water. That is called ‘having no faith,’ or ‘doubt.’ That is why Jesus is saying “Why did you doubt?” and the kind of doubting Peter did is not what we need to be curious about. Turning their eyes to themselves and to the world by those who should only look to the will of God and His power is called ‘being faithless’ or ‘doubt,’ and this is expressed as ‘money,’ and this is called ‘being double-minded,’ and this is a heart that is not pure.
During the study of Genesis, we learned what the episode of Noah’s Ark meant. These veteran fishermen are rowing from the desert in the east to Canaan in the west. How do I know? They are going in the opposite direction from the site of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. The place where this miracle took place was ‘eremos,’ the desert. This means it was to the east of Jordan, to the east of Galilee. It is the desert, right? It is Canaan after crossing the Jordan River, isn’t it? It is showing a picture of crossing Galilee from the desert and going into Canaan. Veteran fishermen are rowing the boat to show that there is no one who can reach Canaan by overcoming the wind called ‘this world’ and exerting himself, even if he is a veteran fisherman. They cannot go across till dawn. Even if they pull out the world’s best system of good deeds or knowledge, they cannot go into the Promised Land. That is why the best professionals are appearing. Wasn’t Noah’s Ark the only thing that was floating on water in a situation where all were to drown in the cursed water and die? The ark was the only thing that was floating on water when all breathing living things were drowning. That was the kingdom of God, right? Jesus said, “I am the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God has come here.” Jesus, the ark, is coming floating on water. And He is saying to enter into Him because that is how they would live. So when they received Him, it said they reached the land they were going to. The only way for us to enter the land of Canaan is to believe in Jesus, to receive Jesus, but we drown if we look to our own condition, qualification, or character. What was drowning in water in the event of Noah’s flood? It was the curse of God, the judgment, and death. The event of Peter drowning in water is to show that is death. That is doubt and being double-minded. Therefore, completely trusting God and completely trusting Jesus is faith, not doubting, and that is being pure in heart. You don’t seem to believe me… I will find and show you all the Bible verses. Please break down all the frame works you had and listen. You are sitting here lying to yourselves that you are pure even though your hearts are not pure hahaha and that is why you are looking at me with a thick face saying, "what is he talking about? It is not true!” hahahaha… Do you keep deceiving yourself that your dirty heart is pure? hahahahah
A story of being faithless, a story of doubt, a story of an impure heart is inserted into a story of faith and that is the event of Peter drowning. Then, what should God do to bring out His people from death? He is beating the man’s ego of flesh so that he can no longer have self trust, self love, and self interests. That’s how he can live. “I cannot have faith in myself. Why did I try to keep my own qualification, condition, diligence, and effort when I can just hold onto Jesus? I did not know what was drowning in water and dying.” Like this, God keeps cutting away one’s self trust, self love, and self obsession. He keeps making us disappointed in ourselves, and exposes who we are to ourselves and to the world. That is us going well.
Therefore, being pure in heart refers to the reality of a saint appearing in the work of God, making the double-minded man only trust the grace of God by visiting him in his life and cutting out the heart that was directed to himself. When this happens, he slowly begins to see that everything in the reality of men is not a wind of curse he must bear and overcome but is a reality of grace that goes on in the will of God, even though it is hard for him to bear. That is “I see God in this world!” This is what “the pure in heart sees God" is.
There is a place where this is prophesied in detail and it is a scene where the new covenant is being declared in Ezekiel. It is an important story so let’s read it once more before moving on.
“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. 22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.[a] 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. –Ezekiel 36:17-28
If you look here, it says He will clean the heart and He will put a new spirit and His spirit in it, right? This is the passage where the word of James 1, that the wisdom or the Holy Spirit asked by those who are not double-minded, those who do not doubt, will be given for sure and the word in Luke 11, “would He not give His Spirit to those who ask” are being accomplished. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, comes in and makes it a new heart by washing it clean. That is purification of the heart. The story of the new creation, where the heart of a man to whom the wisdom, or the Holy Spirit is poured out, becomes clean and he becomes God's people and God Becomes his God is all included in the verse, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." It means He made us pure. With what? With the blood of Jesus. It means "Therefore, you will be hammered and broken in this world into a man who is pure and into a man who will treat God as God, instead of using Him so that we can live like a god. Haha although it sounds strange... That is your life. Who purifies the heart? Who does it say will wash it clean? It does not say “You clean it yourself.” It says, “I will wash it clean.” God is the one who purifies. Therefore, you should not wonder as you read this “How can I make my heart pure?” As I said before, God purifying your heart means Him cutting away your heart that is reaching out toward yourself. That is why the life of a saint who is becoming pure in heart is mournful and is shown as spiritual poverty and hunger and thirst for righteousness. He is being cut away. He is being broken.
Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”? 10 Unequal[a] weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord. –Proverbs 20:9-10
“Who can purify his own heart among you?” God is asking. The wisdom is asking “Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord.” He is saying “Only I can do it for you.” God is equating making the heart pure with cleaning from sin, right? Becoming pure in heart is becoming clean from sin. Therefore, becoming pure in heart is not just simply abandoning greed and not thinking dirty thoughts but it is becoming free from the substance of sin, where your heart, which should reach out only to God, is being taken by something else.
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify[a] for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our[b] conscience from dead works to serve the living God. –Hebrews 9:13-14
What purifies the heart? It is the blood of the lamb, the blood of Christ. Like this, being pure in heart refers to the reality of the saints in which they become denied of themselves and only trust in the blood of Jesus. It is you trusting only that saying, “Only the blood of Jesus can purify me.” That way, you become able to not trust or lean on your own existence or your own potential and to not call on the system of good works or of knowledge, or a certain value or power of this world.
10 the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments.” 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. –Exodus 19:10, 14
Do you get consecrated only if the garments are washed? In Exodus, God repeatedly tells His people on Mount Sinai “Consecrate yourselves.” And why would He make them wash their clothes? This comes out in Revelation.
I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. –Revelation7:14
People are coming out of the great tribulation and they are wearing white robes. But in what were the robes washed? They are washed in the blood of the lamb, right? The story of Exodus 19 is inserted as a device to tell this story. The only way for your heart to become pure is the blood of Jesus. It is believing this. The act of mixing something else to the merit of the blood of the cross is inclusively called being impure in heart and that is called doubt or faithless and being double-minded. Mixing something else other than the merit of the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ. That is why the Apostle Paul is describing those who are not pure in heart like this.
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (Look what is your heart being led astray from being pure) 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. -2Corinthians 11:2-4
To say this, he is saying “be afraid that your heart will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion.” So what is your heart being led astray from being pure? It is attaching blemishes like legalism, Judaism, or Gnosticism to the Gospel of the cross, the Gospel of the blood of Jesus Christ which the Apostle Paul preached. This is not being pure in heart. What are Judaism and legalism? What are successism and mysticism? It is a man being the main character. It is still leaning on the potential and power of men. Not admitting their powerlessness, isn’t this Judaism? Isn’t this legalism? I am saying this is being unclean in heart. If you become pure in heart, you get to feel yourself continuously being beat up in this history and time.
It is clearly written in Hebrews how a heart can be pure and strengthened. Do not be led away by- diverse and strange teachings, (It comes out again. Do not be led away by anything other than the Gospel of the cross.) for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. –Hebrews 13:9 (To explain what “foods” are, Judaism and legalism came into the church with laws of food consumption and seasons. False prophets and false teachers came in. It is saying “Your heart is not becoming pure by these. Do not be led away by other doctrines since your heart can become pure only by grace”.
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. –Hebrews 10:22
Purity of heart is achieved by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus on our heart. The writer of Hebrews calls the true heart washed clean as being in full assurance of faith, a true heart in full assurance of faith. Being in full assurance of faith and trusting only in Jesus as a true heart washed clean, a pure heart. See How Paul explains a pure heart.
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, (Jesus Christ is the truth.) men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. -2Timothy 3:8
Who are men corrupted in heart? They are those who are disqualified regarding the faith and those who oppose the truth with unrighteousness. They are dirty in heart. Isn’t the act of covering Jesus Christ the truth with the righteousness of men opposing the truth with unrighteousness? We have studied about this a number of times during the study of Romans. That is having no faith. Being dirty and corrupted in heart is when men keep trusting their own works when they should just believe in Jesus.
Let’s see how Luke thinks in Acts.
And he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. –Acts 15:9
What did he say He cleaned the heart with? By faith. That faith is primarily God’s faith and our faith. Heart can be cleansed only by faith. That means those who believe only Jesus are being pure in heart. Rather than those who try hard to keep their heart clean and brag about how clean it is when they succeed once in awhile, those who struggle with their messy heart and confess, “God, I am just impossible. Why is my heart so dirty? What could have happened if not for the grace of Jesus? How could I have been able to go before you God?” are pure in heart. Please understand this carefully. That is why it is the Gospel.
Then, what does it mean to see God? Let’s go to Psalm 24 and read David’s poem.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 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. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.[a] –Psalm 24:3-6
It says he who has a pure heart shall ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in the holy place. And it is he who received blessing from the Lord. He is who received righteousness from the Lord. He is a man pure in heart. What is important is that it says he is who seeks the face of God at the end of verse 6. “Those who seek the face of God.” Then, it means those who see the face of God are the ones who are blessed by the Lord, pure in heart, and received the righteousness from God, right? If you go further down, it comes out clearly who these pure in heart that see God are.
Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! –Psalm 24:7-8
This is also a praise song you sing a lot. I sometimes wonder if you know what you are singing about. That is why I am scratching my head sometimes. The Lord of victory who is mighty in battle is entering into the gates. This is what the Levites always shouted. “Lift up your heads, O gates!” means “Open the door!” It means “open the doors of the holy place.” While talking about those who are clean and pure in heart, it all of a sudden says, “Open the doors of the holy place!” Why? It means the Lord who is mighty in battle has won. Then where is the holy place? It is a place where God is dwelling- the temple. “Open the temple door.” This means, those who are pure in heart initially had their heart tightly closed up as a master of their own but God triumphs over them and opens up the temple and God, who won the battle, enters in and fills it up. This is being pure in heart and he is who sees God. Then, what happens to me when God, who triumphs over me and opens the temple door and enters me and fills me up? I am being denied in that place. Realizing that it is a good will of God in the place where I am being denied is ‘seeing God.’ How can you see God who is invisible? Discerning the will of God in our daily routines, in the visible daily routines and history, and in life, and admitting that this is how God is leading me is ‘seeing the Lord.’ You can see what it means to see God in more detail if we go to Psalm 73.
Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. –Psalm 73:1-3
The pure in heart will see God and it says God is good to those who are pure in heart. However, Psalm 73, which you know so well, is what that ‘good’ the pure in heart must experience. What was that “good”? “How could those who do not know God die in peace and painlessly and make so much money when they are not even trying and fed so well that their eyes would pop out? But, what about me who is serving God? I am having a new punishment every morning and afflictions all day long. Is this the goodness of the Lord to those who are pure in heart?” Asaph later understands. It is the goodness of the Lord to make the heart of His people pure. This is ‘seeing God.’ It is saying “I see God in the waves of the sea, tossing and turning in the wind.” If we feel that God is working in all of our daily routines in life and we see God there, we should not be moved by what we see in our environment or reality or by the events coming in our way, should we? This is Peter’s story. He who doubts is being moved. I am not saying you will not be moved. Because you cannot help but be moved God is making you as those who only trust God. It does not mean “You’d better not be moved.” But as you hear the Gospel more, as you know it more and more, a little by little you become unable to not be moved.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present[b] help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. “Be still, and know that I am God. 10 I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” –Psalm 46:1-3, 10
The land and the sea in this history will surely be turbulent. And those who do not take refuge in God cannot help but fluctuate with them. ‘Be still’ does not mean ‘don’t do anything and stay still’ but it means ‘ to root down and not move.’ It means, “You be still! Why? I am the refuge. You are already inside of me who is the ark, and you should not be moved. It cannot kill you. Therefore, be still!” This is being pure in heart. It means “Do not look at yourself and do not look at your reality. If you look at it you will fall into the water of death. You are exerting to overcome it? As soon as you begin trying, you will begin drowning one foot at a time.” God is saying, “Just hold on to me.” That way you won’t drown. That is “be still.” By us being still, God is exalted among the nations and in the earth. I have told you this was the purpose of history. God does not want us trying hard and swimming across to Canaan. You must be used in a place where the name of God and His power is exalted among the nations and in the earth. People, that is the life of a saint. So, who was the only one whose heart was truly pure? It was Jesus, right? He followed only the will of God. He was not double-minded. Even though He was God Himself, He was interested only in the will of God the Father. He only looked to one thing: glory of the Father. That is a pure heart. And even in the cross, He saw the will of God. Hanging on the cross, He saw, “Ah! This is the will of the Father. Father, your amazing wisdom and the power, glory, mercy, and love of accomplishing the covenant are all in this, as you make your people your children by doing this.” That is seeing the Father.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? –John 14:9
People, recognizing Jesus is seeing God. In other words, the faith of believing Jesus is seeing God. When we can believe that Jesus completed all of our blessings and bestowed it unto us, our situations or reality in history cannot crush us with much weight. Like this, we will see God in our reality and situations and as we see God like this, we will trust and look to Him. That is a pure heart.
The pure in heart will see God the Father in Jesus. “I could have been in big trouble had I not believed in Jesus.” This is being pure in heart. That is why it is says they can see God the Father in Jesus. That is being done in your life, right? Isn’t it? It’s not working out well? “Why is life in faith like this?” That is why you need to hold onto Jesus. That is being pure in heart. I am repeating myself because it seems like you are not quite getting it, even though it is done. You understand this right? Okay. Let’s pray.
Thank you God for your grace.
Father God, when we are dead in sins and transgressions because our hearts are so dirty and corrupted you came looking for us and you are making our hearts pure like this. Even if we feel that as pain in our senses, please let us not forget that is a real blessing and let us live as those who see the Father God.
I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.