The Meaning and Significance of Having a Pure Heart

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Short Summary
The study explores the meaning and significance of having a pure heart, centered on Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” It emphasizes that purity of heart involves sincerity, right intentions, humility, and aligning one’s will with God’s, requiring continual self-examination, confession, and reliance on God’s transformative power rather than human effort alone. The Beatitudes are presented as a framework for developing such character traits, which enable believers to live harmoniously with others and grow spiritually toward the goal of divine approval and communion with God.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary: The Meaning and Significance of a Pure Heart

Study Background and Choice of Topic
– Initially considered studying the Book of Jude but chose instead to focus on the theme of a “pure heart,” inspired by recurring themes in the Epistles of Peter about reminding brethren of known truths.
– The anchor scripture is Matthew 5:8: _”Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”_ This verse provides the core focus on what it means to have a pure heart and its spiritual significance.
– The study aims to refresh understanding, recalibrate thoughts, and explore practical application in daily Christian living.

Context of the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount
– The Beatitudes are part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7), delivered to a large multitude gathered after Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, Decapolis, Judea, and beyond.
– Matthew 4:23-25 describes Jesus’ widespread healing and teaching ministry which attracted great crowds from various regions, setting the stage for the Sermon on the Mount.
– The geography and familiarity of Jesus with the region (especially Capernaum in northern Galilee) emphasize that Jesus’ message was deliberate and targeted a well-known audience.
– Matthew 11:20-24 reflects Jesus’ rebuke of cities where He performed miracles but which did not repent, highlighting the seriousness of spiritual responsiveness to God’s work.

Reading and Reflection on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12)
– The Beatitudes list eight blessed conditions, including the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8).
– The term “blessed” (Greek: makarios, Strong’s 3107) signifies joy or happiness—both temporary moods and a permanent state resulting from character development and harmony with God.
– The Beatitudes describe attitudes and characteristics favorable to God’s kingdom, often pertaining to those who are humble, mourning, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted for righteousness.
– Luke’s parallel account (Luke 6:20-21) uses “poor” rather than “poor in spirit,” indicating a theme of lowly or needy individuals whose spiritual poverty positions them to receive God’s kingdom.

Defining “Pure in Heart”
– The Greek word for pure (_katharos_) means clean, without contamination, sincere, and undivided in loyalty—free from hypocrisy or corruption.
– The “heart” here is not the physical organ but the center of our being, including intentions, will, thoughts, and emotions—our inner core or essence.
– Purity of heart involves transparency, truthfulness, sincerity of motive, and a will aligned with God’s will.
– Psalm 24:3-4 emphasizes that those with clean hands and pure hearts can stand in God’s holy place, underscoring the necessity of purity to approach God.
– The example of Nathanael (John 1:47) illustrates a heart without guile—honest, open, and ready to receive God’s truth.

The Process and Possibility of Purity
– Reprint 5148 (a study aid) explains purity of heart as purity of motive, intention, effort, and will; it acknowledges that original man was created pure but fell into sin and selfishness.
– Achieving a pure heart requires a new heart and new spirit, made possible by full consecration and the operation of the Holy Spirit (cf. Ezekiel 36:26).
– Absolute perfection is not possible until the kingdom restores humanity, but perfect will or intention is necessary and achievable for divine approval.
– Psalm 51:10 is a key prayer by David asking God to “Create in me a clean heart,” reflecting repentance and desire for restoration after sin.
– The New International Version translates this as a “pure heart,” showing the interchangeability of clean and pure in this context.
– The Beatitudes’ progression also mirrors spiritual growth: humility (“poor in spirit”), mourning over sin, meekness, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and perseverance under persecution.

Relationship Between Purity, Love, and Faith
– 1 Timothy 1:5 states: _“The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith.”_
– Love (agape) is the ultimate goal of Christian instruction and is inseparable from purity of heart.
– 2 Timothy 2:22 urges believers to flee youthful lusts and pursue purity, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.
– The passion translation emphasizes holiness and peace as fruits of a pure heart, highlighting the spiritual pursuit required.

Challenges in Assessing Purity of Heart
– Good intentions alone do not guarantee purity; understanding God’s will is crucial to avoid “zeal without knowledge” (examples: Uzzah touching the Ark, disciples preventing children from Jesus, Peter’s rebuke of Jesus’ suffering).
– The heart’s purity is ultimately judged by God, though self-examination and accountability to others matter.
– The “fruit” of the heart (words and actions) reveals the true character (cf. Matthew 12:34, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”).

Practical Steps Toward Cultivating a Pure Heart
– Daily self-examination of motives and intentions is necessary; humility to accept correction and repentance is vital.
– Confession of sins (1 John 1:9) leads to forgiveness and cleansing, important for maintaining purity.
– Prayer for a clean/pure heart, as David exemplified, is essential.
– Faith in God and reliance on the Holy Spirit are required because self-purification alone is impossible—God does the internal cleansing work.
– Studying Scripture and applying its principles help align the will with God’s.
– Pursuing peace with all men and sanctification (Hebrews 12:14) are necessary; without sanctification, no one will see God.
– Proverbs 4:23 warns to guard the heart diligently, as it controls life’s issues.

Summary and Encouragement
– The pure heart is foundational to the Christian walk and key to seeing God and inheriting the kingdom.
– The Beatitudes provide a roadmap for spiritual character development culminating in purity of heart.
– The journey involves struggle, prayer, faith, repentance, reliance on God’s grace, and practical application.
– This study is intended as a starting point for deeper reflection and growth in this vital area.

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Key Bible Verses Mentioned:

– Matthew 5:8 — _“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”_
– Matthew 4:23-25 — Jesus’ widespread ministry and healing.
– Matthew 11:20-24 — Jesus’ rebuke of unrepentant cities.
– Matthew 5:1-12 — The Beatitudes in full.
– Luke 6:20-21 — The Beatitudes parallel with “poor” instead of “poor in spirit.”
– Psalm 24:3-4 — _“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.”_
– Psalm 51:10 — _“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”_
– 1 Timothy 1:5 — _“The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart…”_
– 2 Timothy 2:22-23 — Pursue purity and peace with those who worship God with pure hearts.
– 1 John 1:9 — _“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”_
– Hebrews 12:14 — _“Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”_
– Proverbs 4:23 — _“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”_
– Matthew 5:48 — _“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”_

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This comprehensive study highlights the deep spiritual meaning of a pure heart as essential for the Christian life and eternal fellowship with God. It challenges believers to sincere self-examination, repentance, and dependence on God’s transforming power to cultivate purity of heart.

Transcript

Our study today is the meaning and significance of a Pure Heart.

It was a second choice because when actually more than I think it was probably the fourth choice went through its number of iterations. We had been studying with my siblings and my mom on Saturday mornings about this time. We were studying Jude, the Book of Judea, and I was thinking, oh, that would be a great study. We just finished it.

I have a lot of notes and I was going to do Jude, and I looked at the program. I think we have Jude coming up. Was that last night? Okay, so I missed that.

But I saw it on the program. I thought, okay, can’t not do Jude. Probably wouldn’t be a good compliment after you had already had a study of it. So I went through a number of iterations, and we had been studying in our class, we’ve been studying the Book of Peter, the Epistles of Peter.

And there is a recurrent theme in Peter where it’s about reminding the brethren of things they already know, and I, you know, when I was thinking about this, we were trying to settle on a particular topic. This idea of a pure heart came up, and of course the theme scripture, the key, or the anchor scripture is in Matthew 5, 8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Yeah, it seemed like an appropriate study to have one. That’s a reminder. I always find myself understanding that there is really nothing that one brings to a discourse or a study that the brethren are not already aware of some sort, at least many, if not all, are aware of, and it’s always a good thing, though, to be reminded of these things and spend some more time refreshing our hearts about what this really means and how we might recalibrate the thoughts around the topic in our hearts and how we might actually reengage in the application of those thoughts in our daily lives. Now, this is a study, so I am not going to do all the talking.

I notice the Brethren have assigned 90 minutes and I cannot talk for 90 minutes. So looking forward to hearing from all of you on your thoughts about what you feel about some of these elements. So we have an outline here. It’s really a. It’s a guide to the conversation.

I don’t think it’s one that we necessarily need to be so rigid about following, but it’s a guide we want to talk about. We want to do some introductory remarks about this topic and the context of it. We also want to talk about some scriptures that talk about the pure heart. What those scriptures say and how shapes our understanding of what it means to Have a pure heart, and especially when we think of it in the Context of Matthew 5, 8, how is it such that it affords us the opportunity to see God?

What is it about the pure heart that affords us that? So think on that a little bit, and then we want to also look at the characteristics. What about a pure heart is emblematic in the behavior that we would see? What should we be looking for if we in fact know that we’re attaining that pure heart and how should we apply it and how should we live by it?

So these are sort of the. That’s the outline we want to follow. But again, I think we’ll go wherever you all feel the spirit moves us in the conversation, because I want to make sure it is a conversation and looking forward to learning. I have my pen out. I’ll be making notes as much as you’re making notes.

I want to start with the context of Matthew 5. Obviously, we’re all familiar with the Sermon on the Mount. This is the context. The Sermon on the Mount. On the Mount.

This covers, in Matthew 5, Matthew 5, 6, and Matthew 6, Matthew 7, all of this. The three chapters basically cover this sermon. The opening of the sermon is where the Beatitudes are, and so they’re part of that, and so that’s a context.

But if you peel back a little bit and kind of understand what was the nature of the day for our Lord that compelled this conversation, this discourse that he had with the disciples, with the multitude in. In tow. We want to go back to. Actually go back to Matthew 4 and read verses 23 to 25, Matthew 4, Matthew 4, 23 to 25, and is there a volunteer?

I’m looking for a volunteer to read that? Yes, Sister Benson.

And he went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom in healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them, and great crowds followed him in Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. All right, do you have any insights in what you just read this context?

Okay. Anyone? What did we just read there? What comes across to you while you’re thinking about it? I. I’m a geography nerd.

I studied geography in school, so I always like to understand the geography of an event where things are happening, and one of the things I like about this context is. It gives us a lot of geography about where he was. He was going about in Galilee, we’re told, and he was preaching, and then we are also told that the news of him went all into all of Syria.

And they brought all these people to him because of the miracles that they perceived of him, and we’re told the multitudes followed him from Galilee and Decapolis and as far south as Jerusalem and Judea. Why did I say as far south? Because where he was was really north. He was really on the northwest area of the Sea of Galilee is where he was.

And how do we know that is if we go back to earlier verses in chapter four. In chapter four, verse 12, we’re told that when he heard about. When he heard that John had been taken into custody, he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

And so we know he was, you know, he was further north than Jerusalem and away from Nazareth. So it gives us a sense of the geography of where he was, and when he. When we’re told that he saw the multitude. In chapter five, verse one, when he saw the multitude that had gathered, He.

We’re told he went up into the mountains and sat down, and then his disciples came to him. So I just want you to imagine for a minute that our Lord had been canvassing this area that was known to Him. This is where he spent most of his time, quite frankly. In fact, there’s a verse if somebody would look up Matthew 11, and just doing this on the fly real quick.

Matthew 11. If we could read 20 through 24. Matthew 11. 20, 24.

It’s a little bit of an aside, but it has. I think it has a. Yes. Were you going to read it? Yeah, please.

Matthew 11:20 to 24.

Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles were done because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsai Theta. For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

And you, Capernaum will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades. For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for you. Okay, there’s a lot there.

There’s a lot there. Any thoughts about what’s going on here? Because my focus is on verse 20. Because verse 20 gives us a sense of our Lord’s geography, where he spent a lot of his time. We’re told that he began to reproach the cities in which most of his miracles were done because they did not repent.

And so this is the same area that the Sermon on the Mount was given. That’s really the point, and so he mentions these three cities that are indicative of this area that he spent a lot of his time, and so the word that went out in chapter five, that we’re told in chapter four, I should say, where the great multitude came from, all over Galilee and Decapolis, which is further south of the Sea of Galilee and down to Jerusalem and Judea, and his Word had gone all over Syria.

This was his primary area of operations for the most part, and so he was familiar to the folks.

Just.

You want to borrow another one? Test, Test. We’ll try that again. Yes. Just the interesting thing on this is imagine.

You have to kind of figure out a way to insert yourself into this narrative, and if you were the one that Jesus was castigating, what would you think? So I like to kind of envision, like a scenario like imagine God sends someone into our midst, but he or she. But let’s say he or is a Baptist or a Catholic or whatever, and they say, you know, you Bible students, it’s going to be more tolerable for you or for the cat, for their Baptists in the Day of Judgment than it will be for you.

And so I think most of us would probably be pretty startled by such a pronouncement against us, and so just thinking along those lines about what that interaction must have looked like when Jesus was telling them that their lethargy or everything they saw didn’t impact them in the way that it should, and I don’t think Jesus was being hyperbolic when he said Sodom would have repented. You know, the one we hold out, like, especially the Jews, but we do as well that we hold that out as kind of being like the pinnacle of sin and debauchery and debasement and everything, and think that they got their just desserts. But using it in this context, that there are things that are worse that you can do that have nothing to do with anything.

Sodom and Gomorrah did so at any rate, just. I don’t know if that’s helpful or whatever, but it is helpful because you remember earlier on we talked about this idea of being reminded of the truth. I mean, this is what we do in convention is we come away from the cares of the world and we gather together and we spend a lot of time in study. We spend a lot of time listening to brethren who have spent time preparing those studies, and we internalize them with the hope that we would go away and it would have an effect on us, and here are these folks in this area that our Lord had spent a lot of time with that it did not have any effect on them.

And I think disciples were witness to that, and again, we wanted to bring that context out that this was not just a place where our Lord was in passing. It’s a place where he spent a lot of time, a place where he was familiar with. Where the folks were familiar with Him, and so when he sat down to speak, he was very intentional.

The lesson was very intentional. Now, the lesson goes longer. We said three chapters. We’re going to spend time on one verse, and we’re just building the context around that one verse and kind of give us a sense of the import of each one of those verses, but with a focus on verse 8 of Matthew chapter 5. Any other thoughts on where we’ve been so far on the geography?

So we know that our Lord had spent a lot of time in this area, and so we know what the source of this multitude would have been because they had heard of Him, and he was sitting over on a hill overlooking the sea, an area that he’s very familiar with, and we are told, and we’re going to read.

We’re going to read Matthew chapter 5 now and read the first 12 verses of it before we so we can get into in the study proper. Matthew chapter 5, 1:12 who will do the honors?

Matthew 5:1:12 and seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, 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 which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which 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 exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they, the prophets which were before you. Thank you.

I’m tempted to ask you what you think, but that’s a lot.

Yes, yes. Well, actually, as I was reading through this, I thought if I could accomplish each one of these things, I’d be well on my way, is what I was thinking as I was reading this. But because there is so much there, I can see where we need to take one at a time and start working on those as far as our characters and accomplishing each of these steps. Well, I think you just summarized the study. That’s really the point of it, Right.

Is for us to be able to accomplish each one of those things. Because our Lord didn’t say this for nothing.

I think he just gave us a summary. I appreciate that. So these are the Beatitudes, they’re called. Right. There are, in fact, eight of them.

There are eight of them. There is the poor in spirit. There is, by the way, the poor in spirit. If you look in Luke, I keep doing this aside, I’m sorry, It’s just I’m like a cat. I follow the bouncing ball.

When you look in Luke chapter six, it doesn’t say poor in spirit, and I just throw this out for your consideration. In Luke 6, I believe it’s in verse 20. Reading verses 20 and 21, it says, and in the same context that we have in Matthew 5, it says, and turning his gaze to his disciples, he began to say, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh, and it doesn’t quite say poor in spirit in Luke, and so is it poor in spirit or just poor? And we think there is a little bit of both in there. The idea is to be low resourced, to not have access to all the capacities in the world, to not have access to everything that one could, one that’s really endowed, could have access to.

But to understand that even in the lack of access, we do in fact have a hope of inheriting that which is beyond reason, that which is beyond human contemplation in terms of riches, that which is the kingdom of heaven, that is what is in store for us. So to be able to exist in a state of poverty, I think is partly what he’s saying. That’s not the study and I just wanted to throw that out, that there is a distinction between how Luke records it and how Matthew records the poor in spirit. So we have these eight Beatitudes, the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the gentle or meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are merciful, and of course our scripture today, those who are pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted, and those who joyfully endure persecution.

These are the eight Beatitudes that our Lord said and he uses the word blessed, and what does it mean to be blessed? Because that’s really the underlying part of the underlying takeaways. We’re blessed if we are these things and then it gives us a sense of what comes with being blessed. Brother Michael well, what I notice in the categories that he’s describing, you know, those are the mourn, the meek, those who thirst after righteousness and so forth.

He’s talking to a class of the society that are not up front and rich in all of the worldly wisdom and material resources. He’s talking to those who have, have a need and are more soulful in their thoughts, and because of those characteristics, they are in a position to be blessed by the Lord and to be used by Him, and so he’s giving them encouragement that they don’t have to just be that way and be downcast about it. But they are, because they have those characteristics, they can be rejoicing over.

And the Scriptures does tell us to rejoice even in tribulation, right? In whatever state we find ourselves, give thanks and the sense of being joyful and rejoicing or being happy, which is what the word blessed means. Being happy is a lot. That’s what we have to kind of deal with, deal with it, be happy. It’s like what it’s saying that we as Christians, knowing what we know, we’re in a position, we’re in a place irrespective of our lot, to be happy.

And that word blessed in strong 3107 has that meaning of being happy. Brother Jerry, Brother Comey and brethren, I was looking at Brother Russell’s comments for Matthew 5, 3 and under blessed he has he said blessed here carries with it the thought of great or honorable happiness describes joyful moods which come from time to time. But blessedness relates to the permanent joy comfort which results from attaining character and harmony with the divine.

And he’s talking, well, we’ll go on from there. But pretty much having the character of the divine sort of developing these graces of character. Yeah, it’s really to be in a place where you appreciate what you have in the beloved to then live according to how you’ve come to appreciate it. Sister Kathy, thank you.

I wanted to follow up on what Brother Jerry said because I was also looking at verse three and I was wondering what Brother Russell, how he described how someone could be blessed if they have a poor spirit. That was something that if, if brethren have an opportunity, I’d like to hear some thoughts as to how you can be blessed. Blessed if you have a poor spirit. That’s something I would like to know. Thank you.

Any, any takers? How, how can you be blessed if you have a poor spirit?

Brother Rick I’ve always looked at that text as blessed are those who are poor in self spirit, in other words, who are not full of themselves. Blessed are those who have been trodden down in their lives who just trying to get along, just trying to get there, and Jesus is saying, you are the prime source of where the call is going to go to, so you can be blessed because you are not full of yourself.

And that would also indicate those who are not tied to the riches or the successes or the attainments of this life. Because you are looking forward to the kingdom. Right, and that’s. I like that.

I like that idea. So I’ve always looked at the idea of being poor in spirit, to be one that is really under resourced in so many different ways, including, including your self actualization. Any other thoughts?

So when you look at the, when you take the Beatitudes, the all eight of them together, it begins to look like, as we just read, it begins to look like some action, steps or behavior conditioning that we need to have as new creatures together. Because our Lord didn’t give this just out of happenstance. This was intentional message. He sat down and I always appreciated what the second verse said. It says, opening his mouth.

He began to say. Well he could have just said, he began to say as it says in so many other places. But we’re given this phrase in this particular place, in this particular scripture, opening his mouth. This was a deliberate action that our Lord was engaging in to ensure that what was going to be said now that it’s recorded for the next three chapters were going to be significant and going to be seminal such that it becomes a core of who we are as Christians. Brother Omer, just a brief comment and I’m going to go to Matthew chapter 11, 29 and 30 where our Lord is talking about Himself.

And he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls, and I think what he’s saying there, of any individual who ever lived, our Lord could have manifested his greatness in certain ways because of his perfection, because of his miraculous powers. He said, but learn of me. What’s the quality? You know, when you think, if you were to ask, and we could have come up with different definitions, what was the most valuable trait that our Lord Jesus manifested?

And there are many of them, and I would say humility is. I would pick humility. Maybe someone else would have another one, and I think that, you know, to be able to humble yourself goes against the grain of every human being.

You do not humble yourself. You live in a world where it’s every man for himself, and if I humble myself, somebody’s going to step on me. I’m not going there. So he’s giving us.

So even the fact that he’s in Galilee, and I think about the fact that why did he go to Galilee? I mean, he did miracles, and where he did it, you know, they say a prophet is not. Is without honor in his own country.

So he went elsewhere. So I think that we can sort of maybe relate to that, let’s put it that way. Oh, I appreciate that, because I think, and again, you’ve sort of gone to the end of the study here where you’ve summarized the Beatitudes. Who best exemplifies the Beatitudes?

Our Lord, and so when you. I mean, when we read him, when we read the Beatitudes sometimes and we just read in isolation, we’re thinking, oh, he’s telling us this, he’s telling us that. But he’s also telling us about the traits that he is laying down for us. He’s telling us about the example that he’s given us.

He’s not of means. He. He learned more, and he was touched by our infirmities where we read in Hebrews every aspect of that, and I appreciate what brother Homer mentioned earlier on in his discourse about seeking this position in the kingdom, where we’re seeking a position in the kingdom and we have to be like Christ to get to the kingdom.

And when he says, inheriting the kingdom of heaven, that is what it is. It’s working towards that position of being part of the bright class that will bring about with the Master, the blessing of all the families of the earth. Who then amongst all of the folks that exist today would know how to deal with the resurrected mankind in the kingdom, except those who have been cultivated in this Beatitudes, and I think that’s the point. I appreciate that even though it’s supposed to be our closing remarks, I think it’s important to sort of, you know, tell what you’re going to say and tell it and then tell it again.

And here is where we are going with this study. Hopefully you’ll get there with. We’ll get there together, and so we just looked at the Beatitudes, the eight conditions to welcome the right spirit as we seek to be with and to be like God. That’s what these eight conditions are in the Beatitudes.

And it says we should be consider ourselves blessed. I’m reminded of James where James says, consider it all joy when you experience these diverse temptations, and so in the same way, I think we’re conditioned to be in a place of joyful existence, understanding that in whatever state we find ourselves as we understand the truth and have come to appreciate all of this precious and magnificent promises, that we are maintaining that state of being blessed and happy, and so let’s talk now about. Are there any other thoughts, Brother Mark?

Yeah, I just want to. I appreciate the discussion. I wanted to. Excuse me one second.

I wanted just to read a scripture. It’s in Psalms 24, 3, 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in this holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully from a standpoint of what our Lord was teaching. You know, these Beatitudes is like we were saying, he was the embodiment of meekness, humility, and as was stated, you know, not full of themselves, even though he had all power available to him.

You know, at the end of his course, he could have had 12 legions of angels to show them know who he really was. But he chose God’s will. His will is God’s will. So I think from this standpoint of pure and heart, we have to be careful that, you know, the purity is seeking God’s will, and God knows if we’re doing that or not, you know, if we have our own agenda.

And so in the Psalms text, it says, you know, who’s going to be able to go up to the hill of the Lord and stand in his holy place? It’s completely holy. It’s a holy and just God. We have to have clean hands and impurity of heart. So our intentions need to be clean and pure.

And that’s how we’ll be able to see further what God’s will is. If we bring our own agenda, we’re going to have a lot of difficulties along the way.

Absolutely. Sister Kathy? Yeah. I. I want to follow up on something you said. How many Beatles did you say there were?

Eight. From which verses? I versus what, you’re gonna test me now? Well, if you start with verse three. The poor in spirit.

Yeah. Verse four. Those who mourn, the gentle. A mix three. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake.

Those who are merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted. Oh, I. I thought you stopped at verse 8. Okay. Verse 11 would not be a Beatitude. Well, it could be, but I think it sort of continues.

Verse 10. Okay. All right, thank you. All right. Any other.

Are there any others that think differently? Are there eight Beatitudes or more?

Because we need to make sure we all agree on that point before we leave. Thanks for that clarification, Sister Kathy. So let’s focus now on verse eight. Verse eight is our focus. Scripture, and it’s one of the Beatitudes.

It’s in fact the sixth in line. It talks about those who are pure in heart, and we looked, as we do as Bible students, we look up the word in the Greek. What does it mean to be pure? What does heart mean?

And looking at those two words, it’s not for debate. It’s clear what it means. Pure is devoid, basically devoid of any admixture on divided loyalty. I think it’s described as. It’s the sense of without corruption, clean.

These are the words that are translated from that saying. For the most part, the word pure is used in that Greek word in the King James Strong’s 25:13. So we know what pure means. It’s kind of hard to describe it because it’s sort of intuitive in a way, and I don’t want to just walk by it, but I think it’s good to understand that our Lord picked that word and applied it to heart.

And that really is the key, is what does heart mean? Because for most of us today, well, we all have a heart and we have a heartbeat, and we know it’s from, you know, cardia. The word cardio that we use today, cardiologists, comes from that Greek word cardia. So it is talking about the heart, but we know our Lord is not talking about the physical heart.

What is that? What does that mean then? You were going to say something, Brother Michael. In addition to being pure, being, you know, not Tainted, but being sincere about your commitment to the Lord and in your approach to Him. That’s right.

Yeah. There’s a certain reverence in coming to God with a clean. I think the Scripture was read in Psalm 24, clean hands and a pure heart. I think it’s a very, very clear, clear reference to how we approach the Heavenly Father. So, yes, Benson?

Well, for heart, I was thinking our very core, our being. We want to be sincere or have that innocence of being, showing our love to our Heavenly Father.

It’s the essence of our being. When the word heart is used, you know, when it says, who shall approach the, you know, the hill of the Lord, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? This idea of coming with the essence, your essence being clean, I think is important, and the heart here is the way it’s used metaphorically. It’s sort of like the center of our being.

It’s the core of our reasoning. Help me out, Brother Jerry. I was just thinking about Nathanael when he was seeking the Lord, and they were all thinking about Messiah, and they came, we found him, and he did not have any kind of deception in his mind or evil thoughts, and, and Jesus saw him coming.

Hey, an Israelite, indeed, who has no guile, and so he had. I think that could be like a pure heart, a pure mind, ready to receive whatever the Lord has. So his brethren came to him to tell them this, and he was all assured us, or had the anticipation of his studies and his faith and his prayers being answered.

So he was not thinking the worst, he was just open to the best. Yeah, and it has to be the way we approach everything. We talk about approaching the Heavenly Father with all sincerity, those who worship him in spirit. Right.

We worship him in reverence and in spirit. Approaching the throne of grace. We come with clean hearts. But even approaching our brethren has to be approached similar way, and it also has to be reflected to the rest of the world that we come with no God.

Now, it’s a very difficult thing to do in our day and age, maybe forever as humans. But this is the challenge that we have, and I just wanted to, as you’re trying to set the stage for this, our Lord, when he was in his ministry, was going to the synagogues every day, and he was doing all these things, and it wasn’t until when he healed the man with the withered hand, and what did they say?

They sought to destroy him, and after that, now we see him going out to the people. So he gave every opportunity to the leaders to proclaim Tim but now he’s going to the people and it seems like he’s letting them understand, you know, there’s something changing here from the law to grace, and here is what you need to develop that these Pharisees and scribes did not have. They had all these prides and all these things that closed their hearts and minds.

And so Jesus is coming now and he’s laying out, this is the path, this is the graces that you need to put on so you can get to the point to where you can be proven. So I won’t go too far, that’s fine, and to that point you make about our Lord going and not being as well entertained, he still had no ill will towards them. He still maintained a pure heart towards them, and so it’s not unusual then that we see in the same chapter in Matthew 5 where it says, love thy enemies.

This is sort of an extension of having that purity of heart that we say. It’s really looking at our understanding, the source of our understanding, appreciation of things that are happening to us and how we internalize those things and how we reflect them is an example of how we practice purity in heart. Because our heart is the place of understanding, is the control of our intellect, it’s the control of our psyche. That really is what it means. If we can maintain that purity, where we don’t retain biases and revenge and hold things against people, I think we then are maintaining some measure of purity.

I think there was a hand here. Yes. I was thinking also that we aren’t perfect like our Lord was, but our intentions and our motives and what we want to do is, I think is what counts also, and I think we need to look at ourselves on a daily basis and evaluate ourselves and make sure that our motives and intentions are pure and what the Lord would find pleasing.

Absolutely. I think you sort of triggered a. It’s a little bit of a long read and I’m going to. If you don’t mind, just indulge me. This is from reprint 51 48.

It says what constitutes the purity heart 5148. The word pure is a comprehensive term meaning without adulteration, sincere and solid. Purity of heart is purity of motive, of intention, of effort, of will. Purity is the sense of transparency, of truthfulness. In other words, blessed are the honest hearted, those who have absolutely right intentions.

The word heart in this text does not refer to the organ that pumps the blood throughout the system, but to the intentions, the will of man. In his creation, man was made in the image of God. The reprint goes on, and so was originally pure in heart, honest. In other words, man was created honest, sincere, truthful, perfect in intention.

But by reason of the fall from his natural condition, sin and selfishness have developed in his heart, and godlike qualities given to him in creation had been considerably obliterated, and then it goes on. I’m going to jump to the next paragraph. Says, when one has made a full consecration of himself and has been begotten of the Holy Spirit, he is said to have a new heart, a new will, new ambitions, new desires.

Where the conversion from sin to righteousness is thorough, it may be truthfully said, old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new. To accomplish so radical a change requires the operation of a powerful influence, that of the Holy Spirit. So purity of thought, however, does not mean absolute perfection, just as you were saying, does not mean absolute perfection of thought, word and deed. To this condition no member of the fallen race can attain until the beneficent influences of the kingdom shall have restored the race to its original perfection. But to will, right to will perfectly to be pure in heart is quite possible indeed it is very necessary to all who desire divine approval.

The standard set before us, to which our hearts, our wills must give assent, is divine standard. Be ye perfect even as your Father, which is in heaven. Perfect. Matthew 5:48. That’s unquote.

That’s from reprint 5148. I think it speaks to what the sister just said about this intention that we have and how we perfect the intention, but more importantly, how we examine and re. Examine ourselves to be sure that we’re in line. How many times do you. Do you feel like you’re doing the right thing and all of a sudden you go, hmm, maybe not.

I just said something I meant when I said it. But on further thought, maybe I shouldn’t have said it that way. Maybe it could have been misradged a certain way. These are things that we do where we forever, every single day, try to recalibrate what it is to have a pure heart. Brother Brenda.

And maybe it was mentioned I was preoccupied with something for a moment. But it’s interesting, that word catharos, or catharos, however you want to pronounce it, that’s actually the source of where we get our word catharsis. Was that already brought up or no? Okay, good. But it is interesting that catharsis is like a purging of your heart, like emotions and things that are weighing down on you.

So that is the purification or purgation of the negative things that are going on in the human heart. So it’s kind of something that we’re. The very word that we use frequently today.

And how do we get there? I guess is the point, which I guess is where you’re going, how do we get it? How do we get a pure heart? So, but looking forward, I just thought it was interesting that Catharos. Catharos, whatever.

However you pronounce it. Yeah, it’s a cleansing. You know, the Bible talks about this cleansing by fire, which is what our works will be subjected to. There is a need to be cleansing reflective and be always thinking about cleansing our hearts and have those catharsis that you talked about. Let’s look at the scriptures that we’ve listed and they’re not exhaustive.

We just picked some scriptures and you might have others that you want to throw in that make sense to consider as we think about scriptures that talk about being pure in heart, why this is key. It sort of speaks to the end when we talk about why is this important? Why is this something that we’re required to do? And so whoever is able. Could we read.

Let’s start with Psalm 24. I think it’s been read. We read Psalm 24. Okay, let’s look at first Timothy, then first Timothy 1:5, and you can read around it if you need some context.

Now, the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscious and from sincere faith, and what do you think?

Yeah, if you’re going to read the scripture, you’re going to have a little bit of a comment. Yeah, so. So, yeah, yeah, it’s just, you know, I would love of God. We have to have that love of God in our heart.

That’s it. Over. Thanks. So when you look at that scripture, you know, for somebody who we, you know, we always talk about goals and objectives at work and you’re trying to focus your agency to do the right things and you set goals. This scripture talks about the goal of our instruction.

This is Paul talking to Timothy says the goal, the outcome, the end of our instruction, what it should bring out is love. But not just enough that it’s love, but it’s love from a pure heart, and so pure heart is very, very foundational to the expression of the type of love that we have. Because again, we’re dealing with our Heavenly Father, who is nothing but pure, and we’re told God is love.

And so if the end of our instruction, the end of our learning, the outcome of where we need to Be with all of what we learn. Is this agape love, having love that’s like our Heavenly Father’s. It’s one that also comes with a pure heart, a good conscience, a sincere faith, and I just like the way that coupled with the ultimate end of our faith is this love. Because that’s the essence of.

I think it talks about in Peter. The salvation of souls is the end of the faith. The essence of that is love that’s shown by our Heavenly Father. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to save all of mankind. That love is really the basic end of our learning, but it’s also one for us that has to come with pure heart and a sincere conscience and faith.

Let’s go to the next. Yes, you want to read the next one? Sure.

And I’m going to read it out of the passion translation. Okay. Second Timothy 2:22. Run as fast as you can from all the ambitions and lusts of youth and chase after all that is pure. Whatever builds up your faith and deepens your love must become your holy pursuit.

And live in peace with all those who worship our Lord Jesus with pure hearts. So I think it came out in the other study. You have to be aware and alert in self examination to realize things you need to get rid of and things you need to add over. Yeah, that translation is passion, did you say? Okay, I like it just because I’ve read this so often in the new America and it’s sort of.

It put me off kilter a little bit. But when it says, now flee from your useful lust and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Again, our focus here is on the pure heart, but we can’t discount everything else around it. It’s about love, it’s about faith, it’s about peace. We’re told we have this peace that passes all understanding, that is from a pure heart.

Brother Brian, take a step back to the previous scripture for a second. I was looking something up. This, this idea of character, that this, the word love has the idea of benevolence or this natural characteristic to want to be benevolent or to treat people in a loving manner, and I think again, that goes back to the way we were created, and I mentioned this before in the class, but there’s.

When you look at the way the heart is designed, the heart’s not a pump. The heart creates a vortex, and when you combine that with positive negative charges on the inside of the arteries and the opposite charge in the blood, it escalates or pushes. It’s like a maglev train, forces the blood through. When the heart vortexes, there’s a way of converting gold, natural gold, into what they call monatomic gold, which is a lighter gold with special properties.

You do that at a high rate of speed in a vortex, and when it reaches that point, there’s a flash. They call it the spark of life. We have trace amounts of gold in our blood. We have trace amounts of everything in our body. It’s the way we were created.

So if you look at this, we’re naturally designed by the Creator to have these characteristics. We just have to learn to perfect them, to recognize them, and to continue to purify what we’re talking about now, and then that natural character will come to the top. I appreciate that. You know, I think, you know, we can only understand in the context of the language that we have.

And, you know, our heavenly Father could speak to us in so many diverse ways, but I think what he’s chosen to do is to speak to us in the voice, in the words that we can understand, and so when we look at things that are in the scripture, things that are familiar to us. So using the heart as an example of a place of the governor, of the body, of the person, I think is an important context to have here, and we know the heart. If your heart stops, there is no life.

But that’s. But what you just described, I think, gives me a better sense of this idea that our heavenly Father has chosen, or our Lord here in this case, has chosen to use something familiar with, that we can relate to, to make sense of. First, to be aware that we need to know this, and then next to understand that we need to work on it. I think there are two steps there. If you’re not aware that you need a pure heart, well, then nothing really matters.

You can just go on with life. Because you’re a Christian, you study the scriptures, you’re just, you know, you’re doing all you need to do. But if you become aware that there is a specific need for you to work on this governor, this governor of yourself, this thing that governs your intellect, your understanding, your basis, then that calls a different attention, and then the question is, well, what does that look like? And.

And so some of the scriptures will talk about that. Yes.

So I should have read this before. So I’m going to read the last half of verse 22, and then verse 23. This is in 2nd Timothy, 2nd Timothy 2, 2, and live in peace with all those who worship our Lord Jesus with pure hearts stay away from all foolish arguments of the immature, for these disputes only generate more conflict. So that’s one way that we can live in peace with our brethren is to not get involved in useless, foolish arguments over.

Really, we need to guard and guide our hearts and be sure that we’re focused on certain things. There’s a scripture I know we have one more scripture on the Psalms that we’re going to read. Does anybody want to read that? Sister Kathy.

Thank you, Brother Comey. Psalm 51:10 10 reads, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me, and the reason why I wanted to read this scripture is because I don’t know what David was thinking when he said, when he asked the Lord to create in him a clean heart. I know this incident occurred after Nathan the prophet approached him about his relationship with Bathsheba and his ultimate marriage with her. But it would seem to me that.

I don’t know. I think I would prefer reading it saying, create me a pure heart. Because David was not perfect to have a clean heart. Thank you. That’s interesting.

Are there any other reactions to that?

We know the context of Psalm 51. I think we’re familiar with what David was suffering through and needing to be penitent about. He’s called to the Heavenly Father, the way I was looking at it, and I don’t know that clean. This is just me. I don’t know that.

Clean and pure, not synonymous in this case, because he could have said, creating me a pure heart. So I would grant that. I take your point. He says, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. The word renew would suggest that David has come to awareness that he lost some ground.

He has come to awareness that he lost some ground and he needs the help of the Heavenly Father to restore him, and part of that restoration is to create this clean heart, and we notice in the 11th verse says, do not cast me away from thy presence. Now we know that those who are pure in heart will see God. You’re in the presence of God to see God.

And so David’s become aware of his loss of standing, and so he’s come to the Heavenly Father with a prayer that would suggest that he wants to be restored. Do not cast me away from thy presence. Do not take thy Holy Spirit from me, and it goes on to say, restore to me the joy of the salvation.

Let me be blessed. Let me be able to rejoice. Yeah, I agree with that point, I. I guess I don’t know what David meant when he said a clean heart. He could have meant a pure heart. But when I read the words clean heart, it suggests to me in my mind that he wanted a perfect heart.

And that’s something that no human being would have because we’re all imperfect. So I don’t know what he meant, but he could have meant pure heart. Thank you, Brother Rick, sister over here and Brother Michael. Yeah. First of all, new international version uses the word pure just there.

But as we’re reading through the Scripture and you were given the summation I had written down, you know, the Beatitudes in their order, and it just a thought looking at what David is asking for, creating me, a pure heart. He wants to go back to a place or go to a place where things are in order. Well, how do you do that? Well, first of all, you have to be poor in self spirit.

You have to have that sense of not being full of yourself. Humility. Yeah. Secondly, you have to. He’s mourning over his mistake.

So what essentially happens is the Beatitudes come into order here. Thirdly, he is meek. Blessed are the meek. He is meekly asking, I need help. I can’t do that, do this on my own.

Fourth, he’s hungering and thirsting for righteousness because he had done things that were so far off, and he is asking for mercy. He’s asking for mercy. Blessed are the merciful. He is.

He. He’s putting himself in the position to receive it, and then we come to the Beatitude that we’re talking about. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, and there is in, in some ways it’s somewhat of a conclusion of that process that David actually had to go through in this 51st Psalm over.

Appreciate that, and really I think you can go to the next one where he’s making peace with God. Right? He’s making peace with you. I really appreciate your thesis there because I think it does begin to.

At least it confirms again that our Lord was intentional. In Lena, there’s eight Beatitudes in the sense that these are the traits that we need to develop and one of them is the pure heart. We have the sister over here, Brother Michael, and then we’re good. Brother, mark this scripture to me like, I know we all haven’t committed the sin, David has, but to me, I think it’s a good reminder that we should be praying for a pure heart because we’re all committing sins every day, and it’s something we’re working towards so not to leave out asking God to help us have a pure heart and to look at what we do need to do to have one.

And David was a good example for us to. He’s a good example for us to always find ways to emulate one that was seeking, sought God with every intent we know during his time. He was very quick to go to God in prayer for every endeavor that he had to face. He didn’t neglect the fact that even as king, he didn’t have all the power and had to go to God to seek his guidance, and I always appreciated this Context In Psalm 51, Brother Michael and then brother Mark.

Well, in the strongest concordance, the word for clean is tahor. It’s from pure in a physical, chemical, ceremonial, moral sense. So definitely pure. Pure. Thank you, brother Mark.

Okay. Well, I think it was David’s recognition that he’d sinned and he was desirous of the relationship that was broken and being returning, and so, so he recognizes that created me a clean heart. In the gospel age, when we’ve been begotten by the Holy Spirit, it’s different than David. David had a degree of the Spirit influencing in his thinking, but he recognized that he fell.

And that’s the unique thing about David.

He was beloved of God and due to his own self will, his blindness, he saw Bathsheba and he, you know, fell into sin. But when Nathan, it’s interesting when Nathan revealed that to him being a king, you know, imagine Nathan’s job to reveal King David’s sin to him. He did it in a wise way. He told a story and it was like a parable, and I’ve heard talks in the past, you know, the brother is saying, you know, the confrontation between Nathan and David, he says, thou art the man, like nailing him to the wall.

But a certain recognition that being the king, he could have squashed you like a bug. But Nathan was wise, and I heard a talk by a brother that he actually gave in Chicago. He gave a scenario and he says, I think he said after he gave the story, you know, Dave was angry. Who, you know, who is this hunter?

He says, you’re the man.

And David, because of his desire of having a pure heart with God, was instantly corrected. He saw the error. You know, he didn’t resist, he didn’t debate. Well, you know, you know, all kings do this. When he heard the lesson, he was repentant.

And that’s the point. I think that in this Beatitudes that Jesus is pointing out the characteristics of those that are beloved of the Father and desiring to be like Jesus. When your faults are pointed out to you, you don’t debate it, you don’t rationalize it. Because the rationalization, the defending your wrong stance, defending your sins, that’s the flesh, okay? It’s not being the pure in heart that God is seeking.

And unless we have that purity of heart. That’s why in the quote that you had from the reprint article, Brother Russell is saying, it’s possible, no, it’s necessary to have pure intentions. You know, that’s the only thing that we really have when we’re dealing with the flesh here. But when we stumble or fall or sin, and some can be terrible sins, we have to recognize it, and that’s why we need to confess it and repent.

And then that’s where we can be healed in that restoration process. But if you resist, you’ll get more trials until it becomes eminently aware to you. Yeah. Again, the point is to always be quick to examine and re examine ourselves with honesty, with good intentions. Because if you start to rationalize like David did, not would be lack of humility.

But he was humble enough to before that. Actually, David was able to recognize an injustice in the parable that he was told, and he was quick to jump to it because that’s the nature he had. He hadn’t been paying attention to himself, and now it was brought to his attention, and when it’s brought to your attention, I think it’s incumbent upon you then to be able to accept with humility what that is.

Yes. Brother Vivian appreciated all the comments on this, and I think this is kind of a bread and butter kind of topic about being pure and hard and pure intention. But I had. Is it really bread and butter?

Yeah, I’m about to get to that. Yeah, exactly. That was my hook. You. You got me good.

But it’s really two questions, you know, first one is kind of a setup for. The second one is, who decides you have a pure heart? Is it yourself or is it others around you or is it God? Obviously the answer would be, you know, the obvious one is God. But do you decide, hey, I think I had the right intention there.

Test, test. I can hear you testing. Okay, who decides that? And so there’s a couple examples in scripture. You go back to the Old Testament, you have uzzah who was trying to stop the ark.

Right. I mean, that’s the common sense thing to do something precious about to fall. I’m going to touch that, make sure that doesn’t Fall on the ground. You have in the New Testament, you have the disciples trying to stop Jesus from letting the children come to him, because that’d be bothersome. You know, this is a pretty big deal guy.

You don’t want little children trying to stop the main event. You have Peter himself trying to stop Jesus from carrying out kind of his last moments and dying on the cross. He said, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you. But Jesus makes sure. It’s like, you don’t understand.

This has to happen, and another example that we all know is Paul before he converted, and in Acts 26, he’s very specific. He said, I was absolutely convinced that I was doing the right thing, and I’m paraphrasing, but he’s used the word convinced.

So that’s my question. Who decides you have a pure heart? Because you can go from a pure intention and still sin? Because I just listed those examples. So, you know, you may see that in the kind of interpersonal communications among brethren.

Brother Rick mentioned it yesterday at the end of his study of you might be standing up for Scripture. You might. He added a couple times, right. So that was the right. Pure intention, you think, but you still sin.

All right, great question. We’re going to start.

Regarding the question, there’s a reprint, reprint five thousand 518. In our Lord’s statement, the heart is representative of the character, and the mouth is the index of that character, and based on this statement, you look at the fruit of the spirit, you have the good fruits and the bad fruits and the heart content, we can only evaluate it when we compare it to Jesus to the fruits that he bore. So it’s through study that we can can see if our characters are right, and the article also mentioned that we need to especially have a close scrutiny of heart and mouth.

Because of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So for me, I really like that statement. In our Lord statement, the heart is representative of the character and the mouth is the index of. Of that character, and it will be revealed by our fruits whether our words and also our actions.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I have 10 minutes. Okay, we gotta collapse the rest of the study into the next 10 minutes because we want to talk about. I think the question is actually timely.

We want to talk about how we in fact work on this pure heart. We’ve talked about the heart and why it’s important and what the Lord has intentions for us to do. But how do we do it? And what are some of the characteristics how can we tell that we are evolving a pure heart? And should others be able to tell that we have a pure heart?

I just want to quickly react to, I think, some points that Brother Vivian made, those three examples that he gave about which. What were the three examples? Again, you don’t remember the ark trying to stop the ark. Paul before he became Saul. Before he became Paul.

Yeah. Disciples, and then Peter disciples trying to hold the children away. So there are three Peter trying to stop that. Those are great examples.

They had good intentions. But we also know about zeal without knowledge, and I think that’s part of that. So just because you have good intentions is not enough. I think it’s good intentions with a better understanding of what the Lord would have you do. I think that’s critical.

So one can have zeal. Like Saul had a lot of zeal, but he didn’t have the Holy Spirit, didn’t have the understanding. So I think a quick response to the response to that is we have a lot to do with understanding and appreciating how we get to a clean heart. We are the only ones that can confess our sins, just like David did in Psalm 51. We are the only ones.

If we want to get to a clean heart, we have to confess our sins, and so that’s one step. I think you had a comment. I don’t want to forget you go ahead. But our.

Are you talking about right now? That’s all right. Talk about. Talk about what you want to talk about. So.

Well, my comment was on 5110, Psalm 51. 10. Yes. So clean heart to me is means representing dirt was there and sin is dirt. So David was asking not only to remove the guilt, but also build a renewal internally.

And only God can do that, and you can look back in Genesis when he created man, you know, he created pure and clean, and man messed that up. But a characteristic of pure heart would be sincerity and focus on God.

Two things. One, remember when Peter goes to Jesus and he asks him, it’s a good question. It’s a fantastic question. Actually, Peter asked it with a relatively pure human heart when he asked Jesus, how many times am I expected to forgive my brother? And he asked kind of a rhetorical question like seven times.

Am I supposed to do this seven times? So he understood, yes, we are supposed to be merciful and forgiving and graceful and all these things, but what’s the limit to that mercy and grace that I’m supposed to extend? And of course, we know Jesus response that basically it’s kind of infinity, that there really is no end to grace or mercy, and thankfully for us that’s the case. But the other thing is, and it’s all rolled into one, what are the characteristics?

How do we cultivate? Why does it matter all those three things?

You cannot purify your own heart. That’s an impossibility. Because if you could, you would. You can’t do it. It’s a two party conundrum.

Without God, it’s impossible because it has to be cleansed from the inside. You can’t cleanse it from the outside. We can only act from the outside, outside in, that’s all we are. We are input devices. We’re receivers.

Our eyes, our ears, our nose, these are all input devices. The only output device we have is our mouth and that pulls double duty. That’s also an input device too. So it shows you where God values. We should be listening and we should be watching and we should be using our senses.

But most importantly, we should allow, and the only way for it to happen is through the blood of Christ, God to do. When he says unto him who is able to present you faultless, blameless, that’s, I think, the part that a lot of us stumble with because we take too much of the responsibility of this heart purification onto ourselves and think, I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to get better at this, I have to be more loving, I have to be more understanding, I have to be more kind, I have to do less evil. Speaking all these things, and these are all true and they’re I think, good motives. But the real issue is, is that you can’t, it is impossible for you to do these things on your own.

So we have a part to play and we have certain things to do. But most importantly, how do we cultivate it? And, and why it matters is because that’s the work that God and Jesus are doing in us and we have to allow him to perform that work in us rather than always constantly getting in the way. I’ll just say one last thing. Flogging yourself like an Opus DEI disciple with your own sins and shame is not the path to a pure heart.

Over. Pass the mic real quick. Well, I would say just from a conversation we were having this morning, one of the things that have helped change my heart, I don’t say I’ve got a pure heart yet, but change is interceding for our brethren, and in that it makes you more tender, makes you more receptive to their changes, your changes, and it just changes your heart If. If we truly intercede for our brethren.

Over three minutes. Okay, we have three minutes. So what are things that we must do? Because I think your point is not to suggest that there’s nothing we can do. We just got to sit around and wait.

And the Heavenly Father would do this for us, right? The Heavenly Father is there. He who began a good work in you will surely perfect it. We know that there’s that assurance. But we have to come.

He says, without faith, it’s impossible to please God. So we have to come without faith, we have to come with that full assurance of faith. A scripture that comes to mind real quickly is in Psalm 119, reading from verse 9, says, how can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word? With all my heart I have sought thee.

Do not let me wander from Thy commandments. Thy word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against thee. So obviously it’s important to study. It’s important to come to an awareness of what the Heavenly Father’s will is. It’s also important to pray.

That’s what we just read about in Psalm 51:10, David gave us. The example of how to get to a pure heart is to ask the Heavenly Father for help and for a restoration. But in the meantime, there’s also a need for us to confess our sins, and in John 1st John 1:9, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. If we say, we have not sinned, we have made him a liar, and the Word is not in us.

And so we have this as ways to get to a clean heart. We also know that it is important to have a clean heart because it is the only way we can be in our Heavenly Father’s presence. We can’t maintain our presence. You know, I always appreciate Romans 5:1, and we never read it all through in Romans 5:1, which is a very, I think, clear Scripture that we are familiar with, says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. We always stop when it says justified by faith.

But really the essence of the justification is that we can be the presence of God, that we have peace with God, but it’s through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained an introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exalt in hope of glory. We exalt. In other words, we’re blessed, we’re happy in the hope of the glory of God, and lastly, we’re going to close on on a text in Hebrews.

There’s a lot more. Brethren, my hope is that this study is just only the beginning of your consideration of these topics and that it would be a blessing to you as you continue your study. It says in Hebrews 12. I was thinking about Hebrews. Well, I’m going to read it.

And then I have one more scripture. Hebrews 12:14 says, Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see God, and this is talking about this idea of seeing God. It talks. You know, the text we read in Matthew 5.

8 said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Here it also talks about seeing God. It’s this idea of with a pure heart you pursue peace with all men, and with a pure heart you have this sanctification. You sanctify the Lord in your heart and without which no one can see God, and then I think the last scripture, I’m just going to cite it, it’s in Proverbs 4:23 that talks about keeping thine heart.

There is an active sense there. There’s work that we have to do. We have to keep our heart. For out of it are the issues of life, and I think it’s an important point.

This is why this idea of a pure heart becomes very important. This idea of being in charge of being aware of and being intentional about this thing, that’s the governor of our being such that we are in right with the Heavenly Father. May the Lord add his blessings.

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