“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
Last week we looked at what the term “pure” means with the heart in the background. We must not think of a pure heart as one that simply stays away from sin, but is in fact one that pursues purity. Not only that, but the heart must be pure in order for anything pure to come from it. Last week the conclusion was that a pure heart was a unified heart that willed one thing. Purity is something which is not mixed with another and so is unified on one thing. A pure heart is one that is set on and focused on loving God and living for His glory. Indeed the concept of purity means the absence of pollutants, but it must be so in order to pursue what is pure. We will wait until next week to get into the issues of what the heart is and is not. This week we want to look at the importance of the truth of purity in other Scriptures and how vital it is for the Christian in all areas of life.
What is one main reason that the heart must be pure? It is because the heart is the dwelling place of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is perfect and never sinned while on earth and will certainly never sin now. He hated sin so much that He went to the cross and suffered the wrath of the Father so that His people would no longer be in its bondage. He died so that His people would be free from sin. This shows how much His people should pursue holiness out of love for Christ and out of delight in the indwelling Christ. If indeed He dwells in the hearts of His people, then His people must pursue holy hearts in order to please Him.
Without question the heart is the dwelling place of God. God looks upon the heart and He is only pleased with purity. How could a pure God be pleased with an impure dwelling? How could a God that is perfectly blessed live in a miserable heart that is impure? How could a God that loves His own glory as His holiness live in a heart that loves other things which makes it filthy? We are told in powerful language to flee sin because the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. “But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (I Cor 6:17-20).
It is out of love for Christ, then, that the believer is to pursue holiness and purity. The reason given in I Corinthians 6 (above) is that the body is a temple and the Spirit indwells the believer. But another reason, though linked together, is that the believer is one with Christ. A believer that sins is therefore sinning against Christ. Can one love Christ and continue to sin against Him? Can one continue in sin which is against the temple of the living God and of the Holy Spirit? It is not an option to do so. But we can see in the Scripture in our text about how true blessedness is found in those who have pure hearts. These are the people that are one with Christ and have the presence of the Holy Spirit in them. It is also the Holy Spirit and not just any spirit. The Holy Spirit will work holiness in the heart which is certainly purity of heart.
Titus 1:15 gives two reasons to pursue a pure heart: “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” One reason to pursue a pure heart is that to the pure all things are pure. That does not mean that the believer with a pure heart can run around living in sin and think that it is pure. But what it does mean is that the things within the commands of God are pure and the legalistic rules of purity (context) do not determine what is or is not pure. The second reason to pursue a pure heart is because that without a holy heart nothing is pure and that includes religious things. There is nothing that a person with an unclean heart can do that is not impure. What flows from an impure heart is impure and everything that is done comes from that impure heart.
Titus gives us a picture that we must pay attention to and shows us the vital importance of seeking a pure heart. For a pure heart all that it does will be pure. But for the impure heart all that it does will be impure since the heart determines whether the actions are pure or not. All that flows from a polluted spring is impure. All outwardly good actions, which include religious activities, are impure when done with an impure heart. Yet all the common activities along with the outward actions and religious activities are pure if done from a pure heart. An example and illustration of the principle is seen in love. True love can only come from a pure heart. All that comes from a non-pure heart is non-love. “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (I Timothy 1:5). This text shows that the goal of teaching is love from a pure heart. Acts 15:9 tells us that a heart is cleansed by faith: “cleansing their hearts by faith.” Galatians teaches us that faith works by love: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love” (5:6). The circle is now complete. The heart is cleansed by faith, that is, through faith one receives Christ and the heart is cleansed of guilt. The faith that the heart is cleansed by is the same faith that works by love. True love, then, can only come from a pure heart because a pure heart is one that has been cleansed by Christ through faith.
All that the impure heart does is not from faith and we know that one must have faith in order to please God (Hebrews 11:6). The text itself says that it is impossible to please God without faith. The heart without faith is impure and does not work by true love, but rather operates from self-love. We also know that there is nothing that a human being can do that is acceptable to God if it is without love. “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The link between all that the impure heart does is impure and nothing is acceptable and pleasing to God apart from faith and love is clear. Even in the Titus text it speaks of the impure heart as unbelieving. The impure heart is not purified by faith and without faith nothing is pleasing to God. The heart that is pure and has faith works by love and nothing is acceptable to God without love. We can also see this link in II Timothy 2:22 where Paul instructs us to “flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” One is to flee from youthful lusts which are from an impure heart and pursue faith and love.
James 4:8 sets out some truths in this that should be instructive as to how important this is. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James instructs us to draw near to God. He then tells us how to do that. Sinners are to cleanse their hands and purify their hearts. But notice what he does at this point. He calls them “double-minded.” This is where this week’s article ties in even closer with the one from last week. Last week we set out that a pure heart was one that was unified and willed one thing. A double-minded person does not have a unified mind. This shows us that a double-minded person must have a unified heart in order to have a pure heart.
James 4:8 also has a context: “6 Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” 7 Submit 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. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you” (4:6-10). Verse 6 shows that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. In light of that, we are to submit to God. In doing that we are to draw near to God. This is done by purifying the heart and not being double-minded which is to have our minds and hearts on multiple things. Part of submitting to God and purifying the hands and heart is seen in v. 9. It is to seek spiritual things instead of the things of the world. We end with verse 10 with humility which is where verse 6 starts off.
All of these things come together at this point. A proud person has an impure heart and is opposed to God and grace. All that the proud does is from a double or non-unified mind and heart and so all that he does is not from faith and love. But it takes humility in order to have faith and love. We cannot trust in God and ourselves at the same time. We cannot love ourselves and God as the supreme love at the same time. Humility is utterly necessary to have a pure heart and to have the true blessedness of God. Humility is to take our proper place as a creature before its Creator. Humility is the emptiness of self, but self and pride are the properties of the impure heart. A pure heart is a unified heart that loves God supremely and is not divided between God and self. Since it is empty of self it is able to love God and others from a pure heart. That is true blessedness in sharing in the love of God.
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