A pure heart

1) One of the things that has fascinated me over the years is how office managers interview people for jobs.

2) In this area there have been examples of human resource managers meeting people at the bottom of steps.

3) The manager may run up the steps to see if the potential employee also runs or casually follows.

4) Lots of other procedures have also been used, sometimes in academic settings.

5) I once read about how a private religious school interviewed potential students.

6) One of the first questions was, “What will you do if we accept you as a student at this institution?”

7) Most students gave the same answer – “I will try to get the best education I can; be the best student I can be.”

8) A second question involving gradation was asked– what would a student do with an earned degree?

9) Most again gave the second typical answer – “I want to get a good job.”

10) A third question involved what would happen after a good job was landed.

11) Most said something like, “be happy and earn lots of money.”

12) Two final questions were then asked: what happened after students earned lots of money? Retirement.

13) What will you do when you retire? At this point virtually every student could offer no response.

14) I strongly suspect that there was one answer that would have overwhelmed the interview committee.

15) Think back to the first question – “What will you do if we accept you as a student at this school?”

16) What if a student had said, “I want to learn things that will help me improve on having a pure heart.”

17) A state school would not understand that response, but a private religious school likely would.

18) Purity of heart is important and it is also a challenge for all people, especially young people.

19) When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount He specifically mentioned this type of heart.

a) In Mt. 5:8 He said “blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

b) What does it mean to have a “pure” heart?

20) Today we want to look at the word that is translated “pure.”

a) The word Jesus used was used several years before the Lord came into the world.

b) During this earlier time “pure” meant free from dirt, clean, unsoiled.

c) The word had additional connotations such as “pure water” or “pure gold.”

d) This additional sense would indicate something “genuine” instead of something false.

21) The first time we see this word used in the New Testament is in Mt. 5:8.

a) The next time we see it being used is Mt. 23:26.

b) In Mt. 23 a number of rebukes were directed to the Pharisees.

c) In verse 25 Jesus charged these men with being greedy and self-indulgent.

d) In verse 26 Jesus spoke of dishes (cups and platters).

e) He said these dishes were to be “cleaned” on the inside and on the outside.

f) This passage hints at what Jesus had in mind in Mt. 5.

g) A clean heart involves both the internal and the external part of our lives.

h) We may work quite hard to work on the interior of our heart, but that work may not be too visible.

i) We may think good things and know what is right, but sometimes sin helps mask that goodness.

j) It is also possible for people to be outwardly nice or religious but inside the heart is corrupt.

k) A true heart will be right on both the inside and the outside.

22) In the world we do not have too much difficulty determining what is clean and what is not.

23) In Mt. 27:59 the word used in Mt. 5:8 occurs again; Jesus’ body was wrapped in a “clean” linen cloth.

24) In most homes people ask about the cleanliness of certain items.

a) Is a dish or a cup clean or dirty?

b) Are towels in the washer clean or dirty?

c) An article of clothing may be in a place where someone says, “is this clean or dirty?”

d) What if this same question were asked in regard to the heart?

e) What if someone said, “Is your heart clean or dirty?”

f) That is a personal question. That goes straight to the point and it is an important point.

g) It is hard to find something worse than someone who calls himself/herself a Christian but has a dirty heart.

h) We make determinations all the time as to whether or not something is clean.

i) God’s word tells us that we can do the same thing with the heart.

25) Teresa had rented some movies to watch with Angel before the Chupp’s left town.

26) She wanted me to see at least one of them so we sat and watched it last Monday night.

27) In one scene in this movie a wife told her husband (who was in a wheel chair due to an accident), “you stink.”

28) The wife filled up their large bathtub and then pushed her husband into the bathroom.

29) When the wheelchair was close to the tub the wife gave it a hard shove and the husband tumbled into the tub.

a) There are times when people stink; they are not clean.

b) God says this is true when it comes to our spiritual life. People, figuratively speaking, stink.

c) A passage I want to read in this regard comes from the 13^th chapter of John.

d) In verses 4-5 of this chapter we find the Lord preparing to wash the disciple’s feet.

e) Jesus came around to Peter and Peter didn’t think that was a good idea.

f) Peter finally agreed and the washed His feet.

g) During this process Jesus used the word translated “clean” in Mt. 5:8.

h) If you have found Jn. 13 let’s look at verses 9-10 together – READ.

i) Jesus said someone in the group was not “clean.”

j) Someone in their midst was soiled, dirty, spotted, foul.

k) We know that person as Judas.

l) We can have a dirty life and heart, and God will know it.

m) We have no indication of the disciples knowing at this point that Judas was a traitor.

n) Others did not know what was in the heart of this man but the Lord knew.

o) Today this is still the case. God knows the hearts of all men.

p) When something is amiss, or there is spiritual filth in the life, God doesn’t overlook it.

q) It will probably not take too long for others to see it too.

r) In verse 11 Jesus specifically said that the betrayal caused Judas to be considered dirty.

30) So many people pay such close attention to being clean.

31) There are lots of folks who would never leave their house in unclean clothes.

32) Regular bathing is for the most part an established part of our society.

33) We have people who want a clean house. Others are embarrassed to be seen in a dirty car.

34) Offices workers sometimes want a “clean desk.” We have a process to keep this building clean.

35) True cleanliness goes far beyond soap and water—it is also spiritual.

36) This is why we sometimes sing songs about being washed in the blood of the lamb.

37) When a heart is clean, it is a beautiful thing.

a) 1 Tim. 1:5 refers to loving from a pure heart.

b) Deacons are described as men who have a “pure conscience.”

c) 2 Tim. 2:22 makes reference to “all who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.”

d) Why was Paul able to talk about a pure heart multiple times?

e) It was because he preached the same gospel the Lord had preached.

f) It seems doubtful that Paul heard the Sermon on the Mount.

g) He didn’t need to hear that sermon; he came to understand the need for a pure heart.

h) Being carefully instructed in the Old Testament Paul would have known a lot of Scripture.

i) One verse in the Old Testament that many now know is found in the book of Psalms, Ps. 24.

j) If we under the New Testament era know this verse, it was surely a popular text among first century Jews.

k) The writer of this psalm asked a question – a really good question.

l) Here is what he said – Ps. 24:3-4 – READ.

m) At an earlier time in Psalms a similar question is asked.

n) Let’s back up just a bit to Ps. 15:1-2.

o) Both passages are substantially the same – READ. Ps. 15:1-2.

p) God has always required from man a “clean heart.”

q) This is not what man has always wanted to give.

38) James said (1:27) that there is a “pure” religion.

39) This is the same word used back in Mt. 5:8.

a) A heart can be pure or impure.

b) A religion can be “pure” or impure.

WE SEE THE IMPORTANT AND REQUIREMENT OF A PURE HEART AND WE CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS. THUS, WE ARE LEFT WITH JUST ONE FINAL (AND QUITE IMPORTANT) QUESTION: HOW DO WE ACHIEVE IT?

a) Rom. 6:17 refers to being “obedient from the heart.”

b) We cannot have a clean heart without obedience to the Word of God.

c) This means we become a Christian as the Bible describes and continue to live as a Christian.

d) Maybe a few of us have at one point or another blackened a pot or pan.

e) We were trying to cook something and when we finished, a layer of crud was on the container.

f) While in Scouts I saw a lot of burned pans and helped scrub several of them.

g) Our hearts need to be scrubbed, and the only thing that will take away the grime is the blood of Christ.

h) If we do not obey the gospel, our heart will never be cleansed.

2) Joined with an obedient heart is a believing heart.

3) In Acts 8:37 the Bible refers to believing with all our heart.

4) Our hearts cannot be cleaned unless we believe.

5) Once we become Christians, we must be steadfast.

6) 1 Cor. 7:37 refers to having a “steadfast heart” (this involves a father’s wishes about his daughter).

7) God can and will purity any heart once a person has obeyed the plan of salvation found in the Bible.

8) After that heart has been cleaned, there is some maintenance that needs to be done.

a) If we are not careful, the heart that was cleaned can once again become defiled.

b) The movie I mentioned earlier portrayed two women who were sisters.

c) One of the sisters was presented as a child with a good heart in the earlier years.

d) Later in life there was a change of heart and she became a junkie—a drug addict.

e) A heart once changed to God can become blacker than any pot ever burned by an open flame.

f) A clean heart is also a heart open to truth.

g) Jesus at various times spoke about “hard hearts.” A hard heart will not be a clean heart.

9) A dirty heart can often be seen in our actions and our conversation.

10) In the world dirty hearts are often applauded. People think they are funny.

11) If we are Christians, dirty hearts are not funny. They are not even a bad joke.

12) A dirty heart is a deadly heart. It is a heart that needs to be cleansed and refined.

13) Is our heart pure or impure? It is defiled or defined by the love of Christ?