Life Group Leaders’ Notes
Title: Blessed Are The Pure In Heart
Key Text: Matthew 5:8
We continue this series on ‘How to be blessed in life’, based on Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on The Mount in Matthew 5 known as the beatitudes. We move to the statement of Jesus in Matthew 5 verse 8 that says: “blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”
What does it mean to have a good heart? You may have a good heart, you might have very good qualities, but if there is something hidden, it will affect your whole life. You need a brand-new heart…a pure heart.
Billy Graham says, “The heart is the seat of all emotions: fear, love, courage, anger, sorrow, and hatred, they are all ascribed to the heart.”
The bible asks in psalm 24:3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Verses 4-5 gives the answer: Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their Saviour. In other words, if you want to have fellowship with a holy God you have to be holy or pure in heart. Hebrews 12:14: 14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
A Pure Heart Requires Examination (Psalm 139:23-24, Proverbs 28:13; 1 Samuel 16:7, Mark 7:21-22) Our Hearts Can Only Be Cleansed By God (Ezekiel 26:25- 27, John 1:13, 1 John 1:9) A Pure Heart Will Lead To A Blessed Life (Matthew 5:8, Revelation 1:17-18)
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A pure heart requires examination
King David who was called a man after God’s own heart knew from bitter personal experience what it was to do wrong and mess up. He prayed this prayer in Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
David knew as we often say that the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
What is really going on in your heart? There can be nothing hidden, we have to recognise where there is a problem. For as Proverbs 28:13 says: He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper.
The Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7 - “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”
Unfortunately, many people do not grasp this. We live in a culture where people are obsessed with how they look on the outside, and how people perceive them.
We all need to examine our hearts to see what is at the root of our lives. For as Jesus said in Mark 7:21-22: For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.
Many things may need to be removed in our hearts for us to have a pure heart.
Envy - being jealous of people because of their success
Sexual immorality - are you fighting temptations or are there things you have allowed to corrupt your mind because of what you have looked at
Greed - always wanting more, never being satisfied with what we have.
Deceit - telling lies, just to build yourself up or make yourself feel bigger.
Pride - being full of yourself and not full of God. look at me, look at what I've done.
We have to look at our hearts and see where we have allowed things to bring impurity and hardness . At the start of this year Pastor Adriana shared some other signs of a hard heart:
Stubbornness Being defensive Feeling like you have to be in control Being cynical Not interested in trying to understand other people Finding it hard to accept love or to give love
Our hearts can only be cleansed by God
The Lord states in Ezekiel 26:25- 27:“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness's, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
Don’t think that you can clean the dirt from your own heart. Don’t try and sort yourself out, independent from God. We need to humble ourselves and know our need for God if we want to receive real change.
Also, it is a big mistake to think that you would be different if only you lived in a more positive environment. Well, that can certainly help if you break contact with people who are always negative, but that alone won’t change your heart.
The great preacher Martin Lloyd Jones said that many people think that if their surroundings would change, if the place they lived in, or the people they are with changed, then their troubles would go away, they could have a fresh start. But he points out, that Adam and Eve lived in paradise! They had everything, they lacked nothing, they had nothing to worry about, no one against them, yet still they messed up, still trouble came. So putting someone in the perfect environment will not solve your troubles.
To have a pure heart then cannot come about because of our own efforts or the environment we are in but only by a miracle from God. God says. “I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart. I will remove that heart of stone.”
In his book, “the secret of happiness”, Billy Graham says that purity of heart is a result of a rebirth, a new creation. John 1:13 says “which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God”.
This can only be found by receiving the forgiveness and justification that Jesus brought when he died on the cross for us. He took on our sins so that we could be made clean.
As the old hymn says: 1 What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Charles Spurgeon said: Morality may keep you out of jail, but it takes the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of hell.
John Newton, the former slave trader who wrote Amazing Grace, said in old age ‘“Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
When we honestly admit our sins and say sorry to God for our sin and asked him to clean all the dirt away, then God will give us a new heart. A pure heart. As 1 John 1:9 says:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
A pure heart will lead a blessed life
The word says in Matthew 5, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”.
Sometimes people wonder why they can’t see God’s vision of reaching multitudes with the love of God by making and multiplying disciples. Or they can’t see why it’s necessary to live
a different lifestyle to the world. Or they can’t see how they or their family could ever change.
Why can’t they see? Because having clear vision is totally connected to having a clean heart. When you get real about the state of your life and cry out to Jesus for His help, He will change not just your heart but your vision.
You will see God! You will have a vision of the great love of Jesus. Of the purity and beauty of Jesus. Of the greatness and power of God.
When our hearts are in the right place, we will see God’s blessings, we will see His hand upon our lives, we will see His glory and most importantly we will see Him in heaven for eternity.
The prophet Isaiah was totally changed when his sin was removed, and he had a vision of an awesome and holy God.
The disciple John, had a vision of Jesus, whose ‘face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.’
Revelation 1:17-18 says: 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Do you want to see God? Do you want to experience His power? Do you want to see a great spiritual revival in your life and in the church and the nations?
Well, it all starts with heart change. When the dirt goes the light comes. You will see everything differently when you are made pure and kept pure by God. For ‘blessed are pure in heart for you will see God.’ Let’s pray.
What is the state of your heart today? Do you have a clean heart? Do you need for God to make you clean? Well take this moment to confess your sins and call out to the Lord.
