T HE TREE ’ S WEAKNESS BEGAN THE MOMENT INSECTS ENTERED IT

THE TREE’S WEAKNESS BEGAN THE MOMENT INSECTS ENTERED IT.

THE TREE’S WEAKNESS BEGAN THE MOMENT INSECTS ENTERED IT.Impurity in our heart makes us weak.

JESUS SPOKE THIS BEATITUDE TO THAT EXTENT.

JESUS SPOKE THIS BEATITUDE TO THAT EXTENT."Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

♥In many ways, this Beatitude forms the "heart" of the Sermon on the Mount.

♥In many ways, this Beatitude forms the "heart" of the Sermon on the Mount.♥Jesus, in this Sermon, is greatly concerned with the

heart.


heart.♥"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not

commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:27-28, ESV).


heart.♥"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your

neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5:43-45, ESV).


heart.♥"When you fast, anoint your head and wash your

face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Mt 6:17-18, ESV).

WE WANT TO LOOK AT THE "HEART" OF THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART.

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one imagines.

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one imagines: "The LORD

saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gn 6:5, ESV).

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one thinks.

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one thinks: "Out of the heart

come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person" (Mt 15:19-20, ESV).

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one questions.

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one questions: After Jesus

healed a paralytic: "Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, 'Why do you question these things in your hearts?'" (Mk 2:8).

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one believes.

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one believes: "Because, if

you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom 10:9, ESV).

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one loves.

♥The biblical heart, rather than the organ in our chests, refers to the thinking of man.♥It is with the heart that one loves: "Having purified

your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart" (1 Pt 1:22, ESV).

JESUS IS CALLING FOR A PURITY IN OUR THINKING.

♥Purity was an important concept, even in the Old Testament.

♥Purity was an important concept, even in the Old Testament.♥"The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and

the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live" (Deut 30:6, ESV).

♥Purity was an important concept, even in the Old Testament.♥"The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and

the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live" (Deut 30:6, ESV).

♥"Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully" (Ps 24:3-4, ESV).


♥Thus, the pure heart for which Jesus calls here was not a new concept to his audience.


♥Thus, the pure heart for which Jesus calls here was not a new concept to his audience.♥Granted, he consistently raises the bar throughout

the Sermon on the Mount.


♥Thus, the pure heart for which Jesus calls here was not a new concept to his audience.♥Granted, he consistently raises the bar throughout

the Sermon on the Mount.♥But, he isn’t adding something new.

♥Jesus here contrasts his Gospel with the "gospel" of the scribes & Pharisees.

♥Jesus here contrasts his Gospel with the "gospel" of the scribes & Pharisees.♥They cared greatly about outer righteousness, but

they generally cared little for true, inner purity.


they generally cared little for true, inner purity.♥"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you

clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean" (Mt 23:25-26, ESV).


they generally cared little for true, inner purity.♥"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are

like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness" (Mt 23:27-28, ESV).


they generally cared little for true, inner purity.♥The scribes & Pharisees certainly seem to have had

a serious heart problem.



a serious heart problem.♥They seem to have believed as long as they obeyed the Law

& their traditions, they didn’t need to worry about purity of heart.





♥Surely, some of them were sincere.♥Saul of Tarsus was.





♥Surely, some of them were sincere.♥Saul of Tarsus was—he declared before the Sanhedrin that he had

lived "before God in all good conscience" (Acts 23:1, ESV).

BUT, THEY HAD REALITY BACKWARDS.

BUT, THEY HAD REALITY BACKWARDS.Inner purity matters!!!

♥One serious criticism leveled against us in the churches of Christ has been that we only care about outer purity.

♥One serious criticism leveled against us in the churches of Christ has been that we only care about outer purity.♥The argument goes that by careful adherence to

Scripture, we lose the heart of the Gospel.

♥One serious criticism leveled against us in the churches of Christ has been that we only care about outer purity.♥The argument goes that by careful adherence to

Scripture, we lose the heart of the Gospel.♥But, Jesus never condemned the scribes & Pharisees

for following God’s Law.

♥He condemned them for a careful obedience to Scripture without a pure heart.

♥He condemned them for a careful obedience to Scripture without a pure heart.♥"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For

you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others" (Mt 23:23 ESV).

♥He condemned them for a careful obedience to Scripture without a pure heart.♥Mt 23:23.♥Mint, dill, & cumin are small herbs.

♥He condemned them for a careful obedience to Scripture without a pure heart.♥Mt 23:23.♥Mint, dill, & cumin are small herbs. ♥Jesus does not say that tithing the small herbs was

improper.


improper.♥In fact, he says quite the opposite.


improper.♥In fact, he says quite the opposite: "These [justice, mercy, &

faithfulness] you ought to have done, without neglecting the others [tithing small herbs]."


improper.♥In fact, he says quite the opposite: "These [justice, mercy, &

faithfulness] you ought to have done, without neglecting the others [tithing small herbs]."

♥The tithing was appropriate; their hearts weren’t.

♥Jesus did condemn the scribes & Pharisees for placing their traditions above Scripture.

♥Jesus did condemn the scribes & Pharisees for placing their traditions above Scripture.♥In their wealth of tradition, the scribes & Pharisees

declared that one could keep from taking care of parents by giving a gift to God (Mt 15:3-6).

♥Jesus did condemn the scribes & Pharisees for placing their traditions above Scripture.♥In their wealth of tradition, the scribes & Pharisees

declared that one could keep from taking care of parents by giving a gift to God (Mt 15:3-6).

♥Jesus says, "For the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God" (Mt 15:6, ESV).

♥But, I’m sure that some brethren have the heart of the scribes & Pharisees.

♥But, I’m sure that some brethren have the heart of the scribes & Pharisees.♥They think as long as they are faithful in externals,

God doesn’t care about the heart.


God doesn’t care about the heart.♥Please don’t misunderstand me, for we have already

said it’s important to obey God’s commandments.


God doesn’t care about the heart.♥Please don’t misunderstand me, for we have already

said it’s important to obey God’s commandments.♥But, we must also be careful that our hearts are

right before God.

♥There are two inappropriate extremes to which we can go.

♥There are two inappropriate extremes to which we can go.♥One is to say that as long as we are sincere, God

doesn’t care what we do.


doesn’t care what we do.♥Tell that to Saul of Tarsus who had lived before God in all

good conscience, but was lost!


doesn’t care what we do.♥Tell that to Saul of Tarsus who had lived before God in all

good conscience, but was lost!♥Tell that to Cornelius who was "a devout man who feared

God" (Acts 10:2, ESV), but was lost until he obeyed the Gospel!


doesn’t care what we do.♥The other is to say that God only cares about the

externals.



externals.♥Tell that to the scribes & Pharisees who had their externals

right, but whom Jesus condemned as hypocrites.



externals.♥Tell that to the scribes & Pharisees who had their externals

right, but whom Jesus condemned as hypocrites.♥It’s not either/or. It’s both/and. Our externals AND our

hearts need to be right before God.

♥It certainly also seems that Jesus is concerned that we serve God with all of our heart.

♥It certainly also seems that Jesus is concerned that we serve God with all of our heart.♥God has always required service with the whole

heart.


heart.♥"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with

all your soul and with all your might" (Deut 6:5, ESV).


heart.♥"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with

all your soul and with all your might" (Deut 6:5, ESV). ♥"Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth;

unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O LORD my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever" (Ps 86:11-12, ESV).


heart.♥It is unacceptable to have God locked in a "box"

where he only reigns over part of our lives.

HOW CAN WE HAVE A PURE HEART?

♥In a very real sense, we cannot have a pure heart.

♥In a very real sense, we cannot have a pure heart.♥Because we are sinful, we can never hope to have a

pure heart.


pure heart.♥"Who can say, 'I have made my heart pure; I am clean from

my sin"? (Prov 20:9, ESV).


pure heart.♥"Who can say, 'I have made my heart pure; I am clean from

my sin"? (Prov 20:9, ESV). ♥"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the

truth is not in us" (1 Jn 1:8, ESV).


pure heart.♥Therefore, we need God to purify our hearts.



♥"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps 51:10, ESV).



♥"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps 51:10, ESV).

♥When Peter spoke about Cornelius & his household at the Jerusalem Conference, he attributed the cleansing of their hearts to God: "God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts (Acts 15:8-9, ESV).

♥Yet, God only cleans our heart when we come to him.

♥Yet, God only cleans our heart when we come to him.♥"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance

of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water" (Heb 10:22, ESV).



♥"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart" (1 Pt 1:22, ESV).



♥"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart" (1 Pt 1:22, ESV).

♥Therefore, when we respond to the Gospel, God purifies our hearts through Jesus’ blood.

BUT, WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO KEEP OUR HEARTS CLEAN.

♥We can keep our hearts pure through Scripture.

♥We can keep our hearts pure through Scripture.♥"How can a young man keep his way pure? By

guarding it according to your word" (Ps 119:9, ESV).

♥We can keep our hearts pure through Scripture.♥"How can a young man keep his way pure? By

guarding it according to your word" (Ps 119:9, ESV). ♥If we want a pure heart, we need to spend time with

the Word of God.

♥We must also make a covenant with our hearts to keep them pure.

♥We must also make a covenant with our hearts to keep them pure.♥Job made such a covenant with his eyes.


♥"I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?" (Job 31:1, ESV).


♥"I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?" (Job 31:1, ESV).

♥Job determined not to look at a virgin lustfully; therefore, he did not.

♥We must also make a covenant with our hearts to keep them pure.♥Job made such a covenant with his eyes.♥We need to make just such a commitment with our

hearts.


hearts.♥"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the

springs of life" (Prov 4:23, ESV).


hearts.♥"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the

springs of life" (Prov 4:23, ESV). ♥Have you made such a commitment?

THEY SHALL SEE GOD

♥A pure heart provides entrance into heaven where God is.

♥A pure heart provides entrance into heaven where God is.♥"Nothing unclean will ever enter it [the heavenly

city], nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev 21:27, ESV).

♥A pure heart provides entrance into heaven where God is.♥"Nothing unclean will ever enter it [the heavenly

city], nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev 21:27, ESV).

♥"They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads" (Rev 22:4, ESV).

♥However, we can also see God in this life.

♥However, we can also see God in this life.♥Granted, we cannot see God with our physical eye.

♥However, we can also see God in this life.♥Granted, we cannot see God with our physical eye.♥God to Moses: "You cannot see my face, for man

shall not see me and live" (Ex 33:20, ESV).

♥However, we can also see God in this life.♥We can see God through faith.


♥Moses saw God through faith.


♥Moses saw God through faith.♥"By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger

of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible" (Heb 11:27, ESV).

♥However, we can also see God in this life.♥We can see God through faith.♥We see God through the glory of the Gospel.


♥"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor 4:4, ESV).


♥"In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor 4:4, ESV).

♥Notice that those who fail to see the glory of Christ—the image of God—have impure hearts.

♥However, we can also see God in this life.♥We can see God through faith.♥We see God through the glory of the Gospel.♥Doing right allows us to see God.


♥"Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God" (3 Jn 11, ESV).


♥"Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God" (3 Jn 11, ESV).

♥By implication, the opposite would also be true: Whoever does good has seen God.

HAVE YOU SEEN GOD THROUGH FAITH?

HAVE YOU SEEN GOD THROUGH FAITH?Are you expecting to see him when this world is no more?

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T HE TREE ’ S WEAKNESS BEGAN THE MOMENT INSECTS ENTERED IT