Happy Are the Holy
Matthew 5:8
Matthew Chapter 5 and verse 8. I want to read to you all the verses in the Beatitudes as the setting for our thoughts and then we'll have prayer together and we'll look together at this one verse. Beginning in verse 1, Matthew records "And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain and when He was seated His disciples came unto Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful for the shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets who were before you."
Let's share together in prayer. Father, we come to You tonight with deep sense of need in our own lives. It only takes a cursory look at the verse to know that we in and of ourselves can't qualify. For Lord, in our lives there are things that are not pure. There are always those things that are not right. And Lord, we are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. A righteousness we know in and of ourselves is an absolute impossibility. We are those who desire to be pure in heart Lord, but the battle is so hard. And the purity that we seek is so elusive. Just when we think we have it, we lose it. Lord, I pray that You'll help me by the search light of the word of God in the hands of the Holy Spirit of God to look at my own life tonight. And everyone of these dear people gathered here to look at their lives as well.
Father, I first of all am so grateful that this people would come to be exposed to the truth of this word. Thank You for the kind of people who will bring their lives to the test of the word of God. Who will come not to hear some fascination discussed or some theme unrelated to living. Not to deal in just some kind of tickling of the fancy, but who will come when they know that they'll be dealing with purity of heart and will place their life under the scrutiny of the word of God. God, for that kind of Spirit, I'm thankful and I know that's the kind of attitude with which You can deal and work and the kind of life that you can perfect and conform and mature to the image of Jesus Christ. And so Lord may what I say not be man's word, may I not speak in the power of my own mind and my own spirit, but may I be nothing but a mouthpiece through which the Spirit of God can speak. May we not listen for the cleverness of men, but may we listen for the voice of God. May we not apply things to others, but may we apply them only to ourselves. Give us the honesty to do that. Help us not to think of another, but only of us. And Father, we pray that when we're done we will be better equipped to serve You, more committed to Your glory than ever we have been before. With that anticipation we thank You for what You'll do in Christ's name. Amen.
There are some things in the Bible that you feel you can sort of handle. There are some truths in the Bible that you feel you can get a grip on and transmit. But then there are those things that seem like they are bottomless pits. They are wells whose depths are immeasurable. They are truths the breadth of which are impossible to encompass. This is one of those. To attempt to deal with such an incredible statement as "Blessed are the pure and heart for they shall see God." In one brief time would be an insult to God and to the power and the depth and insight of His own word.
This is one of the greatest utterances I believe in all of the Bible and there's no way that I can even begin to deal with it let alone exhaust it. It's one of those all encompassing things that stretches over everything else that's revealed in scripture. The subject of purity of heart can be tracked from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible. As one little boy put it "from geniuses to revolution." The them of purity of heart being necessary to see God is something that is vast and infinite. And it draws in almost every single biblical theme. There's no way we're going to be able to discover all that's here. But we've asked the Lord to help us to be able to at least focus on a central meaning that will be rich and meaningful for us.
Now our format in discussing the Beatitudes has been to ask some questions and then answer them. As we've said to you, you can't outline a simple statement like that really. All you need to do is just kind of turn it loose. And I find that the best way to approach something like this is to ask questions. That's what I do. In fact, what I'm giving you in these weeks is simply what I have asked of these verses. And the first question I asked of this was this question. What is the context for these words?
What is the setting in which Jesus said them? First of all, in its historical setting, what did Jesus refer to and to what issue was He speaking when He said this. And then, not only that, but in chronology why does this one appear here in the list of Beatitudes. To me this seems so crucial and so fantastically important and so utterly absolute in its necessity that it doesn't seem right at first glance to see it just sort of stuck in there indiscriminately as it appears. I'm wondering why it doesn't have a more strategic place perhaps at the beginning or the middle of the end.
So what is its setting and what is the context for these words? First, historically and then literarily. Now let's look at history first of all. And I don't need to spend too much time on this because you're becoming great historians as we're going through the setting in which our Lord is speaking here, but I'll try to refresh your memory. Remember first of all, that at the time of Jesus Christ's entrance into the world and the time that He began His ministry in Galilee and Jerusalem, Israel was in a desperate condition. Israel was in a desperate condition economically, politically, and most important of all, spiritually.
Now, we've talked in some great detail about the political situation in Israel. We've talked about the fact that they were anticipating a Messiah who would come and set up some kind of a political overthrow, knock off the Roman oppression and establish the kingdom. We've dealt with that, but tonight, I want to kind of focus in on Israel's spiritual condition at the time that Jesus came, because this is the issue with which our Lord is dealing predominately in the Sermon on the Mount. He is talking about spiritual things here. They're not political, they're not economic, they are spiritual. Particularly, verse 8, this Beatitude has at it's heart a spiritual reality. Now let me talk about Israel's spiritual condition at the time Christ began His ministry.
They were for the most part, burdened by an oppressive, authoritative character on the part of the Pharisees. The dominant influence and the dominant force on Israel at the time of Christ's ministry were the Pharisees. A legalistic system, in fact, usually tends to dominate the scene wherever it exists. It tends to draw such absolute parameters around what is spiritually acceptable that by virtue of its definitive character it tends to be the oppressive and reigning thing. And so in this particular time of Israel's history the Pharisees were the dominant force on the life of the people.
They had misinterpreted the law of Moses. They had, because of inability to keep the law of Moses, invented new laws that they could keep and so they could pacify their conscience by keeping their traditions if they couldn't keep God's laws. And so out of their misinterpretation of mosaic law and out of a sort of a quasi commitment to mosaic law and out of an addendum which they had added to mosaic law, they had formed a relentless and imposing rigid system of legalistic duty on the people. And by the way, it was absolutely impossible to perform it. And that was something of the frustration of the lawyer who came to Jesus and finally said in the last gasp effort to try to acquiesce to a legalistic system that he couldn't handle, "Lord what is the one thing that we can do? Just give me one thing that I can do and please You. What is the one thing?" And the Lord said, that's easy, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself. And if you've done that you've fulfilled all the law and the prophets."
Well, it wasn't so easy was it? But it was a frustrated lawyer that came to that point, because there was no way that they keep all the law. In fact, the leaders themselves had decided, if you read history you'll find out, that if you could just keep a few of the laws God would understand. And then they couldn't even do that, so they said if you could just find one law and keep it, God would understand and that's what that lawyer was really after. What's that one thing we can do? So what is interesting is that as you look at the mass of people in Israel, it seems apparent to me that they were somewhat frustrated by a legal system which they could not keep. And it produced in them tremendous guilt as well as frustration and anxiety. And it would in a people who were really committed no matter how superficial it was to the reality of God and to the fact that God revealed Himself in laws.
So here they were given a set of laws. They were already a religious people, and they knew they needed to obey these laws, that's what their society was telling them, they knew they couldn't do it and so they lived with a tremendous amount of frustration, anxiety and guilt, just as anybody does under any legal system. That is a...that is an impossible system. Now you can invent on that just incorporates the things you can do and justify yourself. But in this case, they were hopeless. And so the oppression of the legal system had created a tremendous amount of guilt.
Now personally, I believe this is one of the things that contributed so dramatically to the power of the ministry of John the Baptist. I think John the Baptist had a ready audience because people were literally looking for some place to go to relieve the burden of sin. When John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness, you remember that multitudes flocked to John the Baptist. That they literally came to him in huge crowds. And even, it says, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and scribes would show up. I believe that the reason it says all Israel, all Jerusalem was coming to John was because there was this tremendous oppression and the consequent guilt from the legal system and the people's hearts were literally aching for a sense of forgiveness, a sense of salvation, a sense of tranquility to their very troubled souls.
They were crying for a Savior, crying for a Redeemer, crying for one who would come and not impose more rules on them. Not another rabbi with another rule, but one who would come and forgive them for the ones that they had always broken. And they knew that God long before had promised a Redeemer. And they knew the word of Isaiah well enough to know that there would come one who would forgive their sin. There would come one who would do away with their iniquity. There would come one who would right the wrongs. There would come one to find the remnant of honest and truly motivated people.
The people who really worshiped God and He would come and He would cleanse them and they knew the word of Ezekiel that some day God was going to come and God was going to sprinkle them with water and they would be clean and God was going to take out the stony heart and put in a heart of flesh. God was going to wash them from their iniquities. God was going to purge them from their sins. And they knew the testimony of David who knew what it was to have that sense of forgiveness, who knew what it was to cry out and say oh God happy is the man whose iniquities are not imputed to him. They knew that, but they just never experienced it.
And so here they were under this tremendous burden of oppression. And when John the Baptist came an announced that there was a Messiah, there was a Redeemer, there was a Savior, it's no wonder to me that they came out and when he began to say "repent for the kingdom is at hand," they couldn't get there fast enough to repent, to unload the burden and seek the forgiveness that the Messiah could give. Now one of the reasons I believe this is true is because this seems to be the longing in the heart of people as they met Jesus.
For example, look with me at the 3rd Chapter of John. John Chapter, in John Chapter 3, in verse 1, it says, "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews." Now here was a Pharisee. Now Nicodemus was a pretty honest guy, and if he had any honesty at all and I'm confident that he did, because that's what drew him to Christ, if he had any integrity at all, you knew he was in real trouble. The emphatic was used here. Now this man was thee teacher, the ruler in Israel. Top man in terms of recitation of divine principles. This was an important man, but he was a frustrated man. His heart was filled with anxiety and he came to Jesus and he said, "Rabbi, we know thou are the teacher come from God. For no man can do the things that thou doest except God be with Him."
Now, that's a tremendous insight into what was on his mind. He found somebody from God. Why? Because he wanted to know what God said about something. He came at night to Jesus and he said, "You're from God. I know you're from God because of what you do. Nobody could do those things except He be from God." And in his heart was this tremendous question. And what was the question? The question is what do I have to do to be righteous? What do I have to do to get in your kingdom? What do I have to do to be a child of God? What do I have to do so that God will redeem me? That was the question. And Nicodemus, by the way, never even asked the question. Why? He didn't get a chance. Jesus read his mind. Jesus answered what he didn't ask in verse 3.
Jesus answered, isn't that great? Sometimes you don't even need to ask the question. He knows the question. He just gives the answer. Jesus answered the question in his heart and said, "Verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." What was Nicodemus's question? How can I see the kingdom of God? See? That was the question. And Jesus said, by being born again. Now that is the gnawing question in the heart of the Jew in the time of Christ. Nicodemus looks at his life and says I know I'm a Pharisee and I'm trying to keep the law. And I'm a ruler in the land and I'm a teacher of the law and all of these things, but I'm not sure this enough. He was honest enough to admit his sinfulness and as one who tried to keep the law he had failed miserably. And so he says what do I need to do to enter the kingdom?
You go over to Chapter 6 of the gospel of John and verse 28. And here come the people again. And Jesus, of course, has done this marvelous miracle of feeding 25,000 people plus, no doubt. And they said unto Him, in verse 28, this is so clear. "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" And Jesus answered and said unto them, "This is the work of God that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." Now you know what they're really saying? It's the same thing as Nicodemus. We know the whole legal system. We know the whole ritualistic routine. We've got all the ceremonies down. We've got the traditions down. What do we do to know the reality of the work of God. See? How do you get behind the ceremony to the reality?
It's the same question and it betrays the attitude of the hearts of the people of Israel at this time. They wanted something real. They wanted to know you really get in the kingdom, because if you got in the kingdom by keeping the law, nobody would be in the kingdom and they knew it, if they were honest. Look with me at the 10th Chapter of Luke and verse 25. And this is very straightforward. "And behold a certain lawyer stood up and questioned Him saying, Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Now apart from what Jesus said to him, that is the same question. That's what the multitude wants to know. That's what Nicodemus wants to know. What's the standard? I mean, what is the way you get in the kingdom. How do you get relief from guilt and anxiety and frustration that comes when you are faced with a legal system to please God and you know you cannot do it.
That was ever and always the question on the hearts of the people. The 18th Chapter of Luke and the 18th verse, we find another man. This time it's not a lawyer, but it's a young ruler. But his question is the same. "And a certain ruler asked Him saying, good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" You see it is always the same basic question. How do we get to the reality? See? How do we get behind the ceremony? How do we get forgiveness? How do we get in the kingdom? They had no sense of security, you see. Faced with a legal system which you cannot keep and cannot maintain, you are faced with a terrible sense of insecurity. And they wanted to know how they could have security. How they could know they were citizens of the kingdom.
And I really think that this was the perfect time for Jesus to come, because He had the right answer. You see God is a holy God. And God as a holy God does absolutely righteous. In Him there is no sin. And God offers salvation to sinful man. And sinful man says to himself how can a holy God give salvation to a sinful man. And a Jew says how can it be? An honest devout Jew would say how can I ever enter God's kingdom when I can't keep God's laws? If that's the condition, how can I do it?
And that poses the question that Jesus answers in the Beatitudes. The simple question is this, "how can a person be saved?" How can a person be saved? How do you enter the kingdom? How do you inherit eternal life? How do you become righteous? How do you get in the kind of a situation where a holy God with no sin can ever accept you? How can that be? And believe me, this is the question most in the minds of the people sitting on that Galilean hillside as our Lord speaks in Matthew Chapter 5. Now you remember that He had gone about all Galilee teaching in the synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom? Healing all manner of diseases and His fame went everywhere and when the crowd came they had heard about Him. They had seen Him, heard His teaching. His miracles had been spread abroad and they had one great question. How can a person enter the kingdom? What kind of righteousness must we have to be accepted by the Messiah, to become part of the kingdom? How do we get in?
And I believe more than any other single Beatitude this Beatitude, verse 8, gives the answer. "Blessed are the pure in heart for they," altoi, they and they alone is the emphatic meaning, "shall see God." If I can paraphrase, you want to know who gets in the kingdom? The pure in heart and they and they alone will see God in His kingdom. That's the answer. It's the pure in heart. Now watch this, it is not those who observe the external washings. It is not those who go through the outside ceremonies. It is not those who have what I've chosen to call the religion of human achievement. It's not those who crank out a ritualistic external works righteousness system. It is the ones who've had their hearts purified who see God and they alone are the ones who see God. What an incredible statement this becomes then. This is the answer to the question that's being asked by the population that Jesus confronts.
It's a powerful statement. The pure in heart and they alone shall see God. Now man tends, now I want you to listen to this, man tends to measure himself by his fellow man. In other words, you use another human criteria. It's like 2 Corinthians 11 where it talks about the false apostles who measure themselves by themselves. And we've talked about this haven't we? The Pharisees were good at that. In other words, whenever you desire to test your character or whenever you desire to test your morality or whenever you desire to test your ethics or whenever you desire to test how good a person you are, you always find somebody worse as the criteria.
Right? Think about it. Sure you do. You can always find an inferior human standard. And that's what the Pharisees would do. The Pharisee would come in and pray thus with himself, "I thank thee that I'm not as other men even as this publican, wretched man." See? His standard was lower than himself. Now do you know what that does? That means that the ultimate human standard is the most rotten person alive, because if everybody just keeps basing his own evaluation on one person lower, the whole thing spirals down till the ultimate standard is the most rotten person in the world.
But that's the way God set it. When God set a standard for acceptable character, He didn't say you have to be better than a publican. You have to be better than an immoral man. You have to be better than a liar and a thief and a cheat. You have to be better than one who isn't fair to those around him. He enacts injustice. You have to be better than somebody who beats his children. You have to better than a murderer. He said, if you want to see God, you have to be 100% what? Pure. And the standard is God and 1 Peter 1 says it, "Be ye holy as I am holy." And if you want it in terms of the Sermon on the Mount, you'll find it in Chapter 5 and verse 48, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Now that's the standard.
Now men want to set the standard as the worst human being alive and God sets the standard as Himself, the absolute holy, righteous, and only God of the universe. Who's going to enter the kingdom? Who's going to heaven? Who's going to be saved? Who is fit to ever enter God's presence? Who will ever have a vision of God? Who will ever see God face to face? Who will ever enter into bliss? Who will ever know blessedness? Who will ever know true happiness? Only those who are pure in their hearts.
Now when I began to think about that, I thought boy that really hits them right where they were in their day because they were so concerned with externals weren't they. Boy the
Unleashing God's Truth One Verse at a Time