Resound Church
Kendall Thorsell
SERMON ON THE MOUNT: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART
NOV. 8, 2009
Matthew 5
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I. HAPPY ARE THE PURE IN HEART
A. Verse 8 can also be read, “Happy are the pure in heart,” but when looking into what it means to be
pure in heart, it is hard to comprehend how joy fits in. Coming to the place of being pure means
going through a process of purification. Looking at the end result, it’s easy to see happiness within
purity… but when in the midst of the process of purification, it’s harder to grasp.
Leviticus 4:3, “ If the high priest sins, bringing guilt upon the entire community, he must give a sin offering
for the sin he has committed. He must present to the Lord a young bull with no defects. (4) He must bring the
bull to the Lord at the entrance of the tabernacle, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and slaughter it before the
Lord.”
B. When the priest’s sin, they would have to bring in a bull, place their hand upon the bull’s head, and
kill it. They were standing face to face with the effects of their sin. Why do we think it is different
in our day? If you haven’t been face to face with your sin, you haven’t been purified.
C. So what about the fact that this bull had to have no defects? Because purity exposes impurity! So
the priests would have to bring a PURE sacrifice to the altar, exposing the true state of our
imperfection… and sacrifice it before the Lord.
D. This doesn’t change in our day. The Pure in heart are people who have come face to face
with their sin, have been cleansed of their impurities, and now live a lifestyle of purification.
When looking at this lifestyle… it doesn’t look so “happy” anymore. Still, Jesus says,
“blessed” or “happy” are the pure in heart. So Jesus must know something about the effects
of this process that we don’t.
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Resound Church
Kendall Thorsell
SERMON ON THE MOUNT: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART
NOV. 8, 2009
II. WHY PURE “IN HEART?”
Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
A. I’m not talking about the heart, as in, the organ that pumps blood into your body. I’m referring
to your heart as in… The core of your entire being.
B. The state of your heart determines the state of your entire self! Homosexuality, abortion,
adultery…etc. These are heart issues. Someone on drugs or in sexual immorality, these things
are all deep heart issues that shifted the person in the wrong direction and led to deep impurities.
It begins with just a small sin allowed to dwell in your heart, and it changes the course of your
life.
Matthew 15:10,” Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand.
(11)It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you, you are defiled by the words that come out of your
mouth.”
15:18, “But the words you speak come from the heart- that’s what defiles you. (19) For from the heart come
evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. (20) These are what defile
you.”
C. In the next 24 hours… 1,439 teens will attempt suicide, 2,795 will get pregnant, 1,106 will
have abortions, 9,506 will have their first (of many) drink of alcohol, and 2,989 will watch their
parents get divorced. In a recent survey 45% of woman and 55% of men have admitted to
having committed adultery.
1. The state of the heart of America is defiled. We need to be purified. Where are the
priests?
Leviticus 4:3, “If a high priest sins, bringing guilt upon the entire community…”
2. The church hasn’t had authority to change these statistics because these sins are
happening in the church! Adultery and sexual immorality is active in churches, yes,
but also don’t overlook the effects of lying, slander and evil thoughts! All these things
are defiling, and it’s time for the priests to stand up and purify themselves… and call
the church to align with the Lord.
C.
This is why David’s prayer was…
Psalm 51:9-11, “Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Create in me a clean heart, O
God. Renew a right spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit
from me.”
17: “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
David saw the importance of having a clean heart. For when your heart is right, all else will
be right, but when your heart is wrong, all else follows. You are defiled by the state of your
heart. It is not the sin alone that defiles you, it is the state of your heart that causes you to
sin.
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Kendall Thorsell
SERMON ON THE MOUNT: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART
NOV. 8, 2009
D. You are either pure, or your not. Your heart is either following the path of righteousness, or
it’s not. If you claim, “I have a pure heart… except for this one thing,” you do not have a
pure heart. Your heart is leading you down the wrong course, and it will affect every part of
your body.
Matthew 12:34, “Whatever is in your heart determines what you say.”
Matthew 5:28, “But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with
her in his heart.”
III.
THE LORD IS CONCERNED WITH THE HEART
Mark 7:6, “Jesus replied, ‘You hypocrites! Isaiah was right about you when he prophesied about you, for he
wrote: You people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (7) Their worship is farce, for
they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
Matthew 23:25-28, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For
you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy- full of greed and
self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will
become clean too.
What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like
whitewashed tombs- beautiful on the outside, but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of
impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and
lawlessness.”
A. These people looked pure and righteous on the outside. They were careful to obey all the
religious traditions and rituals… but Jesus rebuked them, for He was concerned with the
heart!
Proverbs 21:2, “People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord looks at their heart.”
B. This is exactly how it is in our day. Someone may come to church every week, or even be in
the prayer room… and look like they have it all together. Still, in their hearts there is unforgiveness towards a brother, or even pride in how “holy” they have become… they may
even be praised by those around them, but they hold evil in their hearts.
So in worship, they wonder why they feel like they are praying to a ceiling… but they don’t
realize it is the state of their own heart! Still they cry out, “God I want to see you!”
IV.
FOR THEY WILL SEE GOD
Revelation 21:3, “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among His
people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them. (4) He will wipe
every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are
gone forever.”
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Kendall Thorsell
SERMON ON THE MOUNT: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART
NOV. 8, 2009
Revelation 22:3-4, “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be on the city, and His servants will serve Him.
They will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads.”
1 John 3:2, “We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
A. There is a fulfillment of this verse, as stated in Revelation, that can refer to when God
Himself makes His home among the Earth. At that time, Jesus will have already
separated the righteous from the wicked… so only the righteous will see God when His
fullness comes. This is the eternal fulfillment of Matthew 5:8.
B. But, there is also a partial fulfillment that we are made to be living in now. We are made
to enter into the Lord’s presence now… but unless you are pure in heart, you are hindered
in what you can see and experience.
C. The word “see” used here, in the greek, is the word “optanomai”(op-tah-nah-my). It’s
from the stem word “optomai”. According to the Strongs concordance it can mean or be
translated: “to gaze” or “With eyes wide open.” It is not merely voluntary observation,
passive, or a watching from a distance. The Hebrew verb, “to experience” is also
translated to optomai’s alternative source word “horao.” It also means, “to stare at” or “to
discern clearly.”
So this word “see” used here is not just a casual glance. It’s referring to gazing at, and
experiencing God’s presence.
Psalm 24:3, “ Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand In His holy place? (4) Only those
whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. (5) They will receive the
Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior. (6) Such people may seek you and
worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.”
C. ONLY those whose hands and hearts are pure may enter the holy place. Those are the
only ones who may enter His presence.
Isaiah 6:1, “It was in the year that King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne,
and the train of His robe filled the temple. (2) Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings.
With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. (3) They
were calling out to each other, ‘Holy holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled
with His glory!’ (4) Their voices shook the Temple to it’s foundations, and the entire building was filled with
smoke. (5) Then I said, ‘It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among
a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’ (6) Then one of the
seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. (7) He touched my
lips with it and said, ‘See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are
forgiven. (8) Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go
for us?’ I said, ‘Here I am. Send me.’”
1. Here, Isaiah saw the Lord, and then was separated because he was unclean. Right
after seeing the Lord, who is pure, his impurities were exposed and he was separated.
He cried out “It’s all over… or Woe to me!... for I am a sinful man!”... for he had
gone from seeing the glory of the Lord to being completely cut off from Him. Isaiah
felt the consequences of his impurity because he was separated from the Lord.
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Kendall Thorsell
SERMON ON THE MOUNT: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART
NOV. 8, 2009
2. Then, the seraphim came to purify him… and he automatically heard the voice of the
Lord again saying, “Whom should I send?” So our sin separates us from the presence
of the Lord… but He also allows us to be purified and come to Him again. We do
live in a world of sin… we live among people of unclean lips… so we have to live a
lifestyle of purification daily. That is when we transition from experiencing the
presence of the Lord in a moment, to dwelling in His presence always.
Titus 1:15, “Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt
and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.”
D. The pure will see God in everything! When your heart is pure, you become unhindered in
your mind, your sight and your devotion. Someone with a pure heart has the ability to see
the Lord working through every situation… because He is! Our perception of God depends
entirely on the state of our hearts.
1. On the opposite end, someone with a corrupted heart is blinded from the works of the
Lord in their life. They replace purity with offense and are instead hindered even
more.
Proverbs 18:19, “An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city…”
2. Unforgiveness is a big form of hindrance, but we see through the word that we are
hindered in our pursuit after God when we hold something against a brother.
Matthew 5:23, “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember
that someone has something against you, (24) Leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to
that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”
Mark 11:24-25, “I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe you have received it, it will be yours.
But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in
Heaven will forgive your sins too.”
E. We are fooling ourselves if we think our worship is accepted when your hearts and our hands
are not pure. To come before the Lord, even in worship, we must be purified.
Isaiah 1:15, “When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will
not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims. (16) Wash yourselves and be
clean.”…
…18:”Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white
as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them white as wool.”
F. So although we are hindered by sin… God also offers purification. Can you imagine what
your eyes would behold if you came before Him daily with a pure heart? The process is hard,
but the reward is so worth it! TO SEE GOD. Both eternally, and in your life now. To be able
to dwell in His presence… and be unhindered in your sight.
V. HOW DO WE BECOME PURE IN HEART?
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Kendall Thorsell
SERMON ON THE MOUNT: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART
NOV. 8, 2009
A. We cannot make ourselves pure in heart. We can’t stir up purity as we stir up our emotions. It
takes God. Only He can do it, but we have to be willing to go through the process of
purification. Then, it takes a lifestyle of coming before Him and being purified so we can
continue to dwell in His presence.
Psalm 86:11, “…Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor You.”
B. To be pure in heart doesn’t mean to have an “empty” heart… it means to have the heart of
God. To remove all of our own filth and be left with how God created the core of our being
to be, which is in His image.
1 John 5:21, “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”
C. We have to let God have control, and keep away from anything that will hinder our devotion.
Then, and only then, will we be able to have eyes that see God! The reward is great, both in
this life and the life to come… it’s worth it.
Proverbs 22:11, “Whoever loves a pure heart and gracious speech will have the King as a friend.”
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