The Pure In Heart | Matthew 5:8

Scripture

• Matthew 5:8

About this sermon

Introduction: It is possible for NATURAL people to give great EFFORT in religious activity while they are still dead in their sins. It is possible to be sincere, careful, exacting, disciplined, principled, consistent — and be far from God, and outside the kingdom of God. Blind to your true problem. Blind to the true solution. Knowing nothing in your experience except what the flesh can produce. That was the life of Martin Luther before the Lord saved him. That is the life of many religious people in our own day and age. THEY COME TO CHURCH, THEY READ THE BIBLE, THEY SAY PRAYERS, THEY SING SONGS, THEY SPEND TIME IN THE COMPANY OF GOD’S PEOPLE, BUT THEY DO NOT SHARE THE SAME LIFE. THEY ARE STRANGERS TO THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT THAT IS THE NEW BIRTH AND PRODUCES THE NEW NATURE. People who claim to be dressed in the righteousness of Christ, but they give no give evidence of the new heart that has been granted wherever the gift of righteousness has been granted. They give no evidence of it because they don’t have that new heart. SINCERE BUT LOST. You also have people who are great PRETENDERS in religious activity. ESV 2 Timothy 3:5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. There are people who expend great effort, expend careful thought, make careful choices, with the desire to craft an image for the eyes of other people — OR TO EASE THEIR CONSCIENCE, maybe lying to themselves in the process — but nonetheless still dead in their sins. You can be religious and lost with sincerity. You can be religious and lost with insincerity. Either way — WITHOUT the new birth, WITHOUT A NEW HEART — you would be religious and lost. OUR LORD CONFRONTED BOTH KINDS OF LOST PEOPLE. THE BIBLE CONFRONTS BOTH KINDS OF LOST PEOPLE. Our Lord confronted a sincere but lost man in the rich young ruler. ESV Mark 10:21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Our Lord confronted hypocrites in the scribes and Pharisees. ESV Matthew 23:25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. The sixth beatitude describes a kind of person who is altogether different. HOW CAN SOMEONE AVOID THE TRAGEDY OF EMPTY RELIGION? How do we explain people who are not only sincere, but they are also truly different? ALL OF THE BEATITUDES, INCLUDING THIS ONE, EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE. God’s people are explained by God. As we saw last time, God’s people are explained by God’s power. They are the work of God. God’s people have not only heard of Christ, they have met with Christ, they have received Christ through belief in the gospel. What God requires of humanity only He can GIVE to human beings. ESV John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ESV John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. This is why the people who are described in this 8th verse, along with the other descriptions in these beatitudes, are called BLESSED. Blessed in the objective sense. Approved of God. Having received the grace of God. Spiritually favored by God. Those who know Jesus as King ARE THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED BY GOD SO THAT THEY ARE TRULY DIFFERENT AT THE HEART LEVEL. JUSTIFIED PEOPLE ARE NEW PEOPLE. JUSTIFIED PEOPLE HAVE COME TO KNOW — BY GOD’S GRACE IN JESUS CHRIST — PURITY OF HEART

Topics

• Holiness
• Purity