Beatitudes 4 - Blessed are the Pure in Heart

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

I was reading this beatitude of vision the other day when someone reading over my shoulder, unknown to me, abruptly asked “What does it mean to be pure in heart?”
Actually it was the very question I was asking myself and it seemed as though both our minds reached the same point at the same time. Isn’t it exactly the question this saying of Jesus prompts us all if we read it thoughtfully. Straight away it whisks us into a scene of dazzling brightness. We are with Moses, hiding in the cleft of a rock, as the glory of the Lord passes by or standing where Isaiah stood when the train of the Almighty filled the temple, or with the disciples bower and with our hands covering our faces before the glory of the transfiguration.
And we are a little awestruck and afraid. Maybe we find ourselves saying “How pure the soul must be when placed in thy all searching sight” Exactly! How pure? What does it mean?
The question is involuntary because the utterance is so searching. Our conscience recognises the justice of it too, Who but the pure in heart should see God? Can we hope for such a vision?
Yet isn’t it true that the age long desire of men has been to see God? ‘O that I knew where I might find Him’ cried the Psalmist of old. And Phillip years later, experiencing the same desire said “Show us the Father and it sufficeth us” and thus have men cried in each succeeding age, for even in the blindness of his sin and folly man has reached after this vision. He has made great sacrifices, sought in discipline and codes, and costly offering the place where he might see, not realising the blessing was to be found in these simple words of Jesus ‘the pure in heart shall see God’
In our own day men realise the defect in their vision I think, but instead of seeking a cure they try to find a pair of spectacles to remedy the defect. (Daily Newspaper discussion God and the War)  Men are inclined to blame the war on the existing state of evil things that they cannot see God while really all the time the reverse is true. The evil in the world is not the cause of man’s inability to see God so much as man’s misconception of God being the cause of the evil.
It is not a question of getting new spectacles with which to see God it is a matter of getting healed sight, or as Paul has it “A renewed mind” If men’s hearts were pure they would find God everywhere, it isn’t the great evil forces which hide us from God so  much as our own prejudices and  conventions, or own little selfishnesses and insincerities.
The Pure in heart shall see God.
Yes but my heart is already sullied. I need cleansing before I can see. Of course and when we recognise that and pray “Cleanse Thou me” in sincerity the sight healing process begins – God sees our desires for a pure heart, hears our cry and understands.
The Pure in Heart – yes that is where it begins, with the first sincere desire to cherish the high ideal and pure resolve.
The heart is the … - the fountain head
The heart may be pure tho’ the stream that gushes from it becomes sullied later on in contact with the world. We mustn’t sneer at good intentions, holy desires, “Man considereth the deeds whilst God weigheth the intentions” (An imitation of Christ – Thomas a Kempis) Edith Cowell  -  find consolation in lord self not as ‘man self’
“We may hope that our praise, Our God not only reckons
The moments when we tread his ways, But when the Spirit beckons -
That some slight good is also wrought, Beyond self-satisfaction
When we are simply good in thoughts, howe’er we fail in action.”

The Pure in Heart (Men of such intent) do see God, in fact, they have already seen him, and in that fact lies the explanation of the pure desires of their hearts. “At the cross, where I first saw the light” …....... thereby faith I received my sight.
Then a man’s whole vision is altered, he learns to see God everywhere and in all things. He meets the face of deity at every turn, every sound is the echo of his voice, he meets with Him in “every country lane and street” Just as kagawa meets him in the slums of Japan to-day, so this man who has seen God he sees Him in every means of grace, the church to him becomes the house of God, every Hymn the outward expression of the inward gladness of a purified heart, God becomes nearer than breathing, closer than hands or feet.
The way to Purity of Heart is by way of Bethlehem, Nazareth, along the hills and roads of Jesus, and onward to the steep green hill outside a City wall – it is the way of Jesus. As we walk with Him evil is purged from us and we see God dwelling in the midst of His people.
How eager we are to put the world in order, and how impatient we sometimes get, we much keep the vision splendid – must keep our spirits fresh, but it can only be done as we keep in company with Christ, and always there must be a willingness to climb that last will with Him and be prepared for such self-sacrifice ourselves.




Handwritten on back

O could I tell,
ye surely would believe it
O could I only say what I have seen
How should I tell or how can ye receive it
How, till He bringeth you where I have been.

Other passages written at top of sermon
Psalm 51
Ephesians 5:1-20
4:11-32.



Dates listed on back of sermon.
Sydney Street, 02/2/41
Rolleston 20/2/41
B 20/2/41
B 11/5/41
Pankell st 25/5/41
Horninglow 08/6/41
NEWHALL
Willington 26/7/41
Etwall 19/8/41

Also
Sydney Street Methodist Church
March 24th and April 28th 1946 folded together.