The Pure in Heart (Part 1)

Self-made religion fears the message of Jesus—"Blessed are the pure in heart" (Mt. 5:8)¹—because self-made religion is manufactured, thus it is forced from an impure heart, a heart that is an enemy of truth and of God's holy love.

Self-made religion obtains its security in rules and regulations for supposed holy living; its motto is "Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch" (Col. 2:21).

This motto—paraded as a sanctimonious placard—creeps into testimonies, church manuals and sermons. It is incapable of wearing a disguise, for self is at the center.

Self-made religion is nothing but sinful pride held captive to appearances; it is in reality a monstrous projection of an unsanctified ego and an idolized self. It is a religion without the Cross; it is a religion without the Holy Spirit. Perceiving itself to be beautiful, it is ugly; perceiving itself to be holy, it is wicked.

True Christianity on the other hand is a religion of the heart, a heart that has been sprinkled clean by the atoning sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God; a heart purified by the Pentecostal Flame—the blessed Holy Spirit. Any religion and message that falls short of preaching this two-fold truth—cleansing the conscience from the guilt of sin, and purifying the heart of entrenched self-centeredness,² is a defective and deficient propagation of the complete gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Calvary and Pentecost meet fallen and twisted mankind at his deepest need. Through the Cross of Christ and the interpenetrating Holy Spirit, man is reconciled to God, forgiven of his sins, receives the very life of Christ, is indwelt by a Power coming down from above, and is made pure—both in God's sight as well as existentially. The Lord said it would be so when he spoke through the Old Testament prophets. 

Old Testament Pointers

Using Ezekiel as his mouthpiece in the 6th century B.C., the Lord foretold of a day of unprecedented and unparalleled heart purity: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules" (36:25-27).

Writing in the 5th century B.C., the Lord revealed to Daniel a time when "Many will be purified, made spotless and refined,..." (12:10a NIV). In the 4th century B.C., the prophet Malachi is informed that in the coming dispensation of God the Lord will minister "like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD" (3:2b-3).

The last of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, said of the consummate Baptizer, the Lord Jesus Christ, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire" (Mt. 3:11b-12).

Note again the purity God promises to effect through the coming Christ and the Holy Spirit: 

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart,..." 

"Many will be purified, made spotless and refined,..." 

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver,..." 

"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." 

The prophets employed the symbols of water, fire, laundry soap and a winnowing fork to illustrate the Messianic ministry of the Son of Man and the dynamic ministry of the Holy Spirit. Water, fire and soap are all cleansing, purifying agents. The winnowing fork was a separating agent—cleansing the chaff from the wheat—a "sanctifying" agent, if you will.

When the Master announced to his followers on the Galilean slope that day, "Blessed are the pure in heart," he was not holding before them an idyllic, impossible status to be achieved through human effort, but the ushering in of a new dynamic to be received. It was through his rent body and poured out Spirit that defeated , broken humanity was to be made whole. Hearts made hard by sin and sinning, wills debilitated by broken promises and good intentions, divided souls incapable of pleasing the Master— would be healed and cured by Christ's broken body and shed blood, by the Holy Spirit's indwelling and heart cleansing. "I will give you a new heart;" "Many will be purified"; "He will sit as a refiner and purifier;" "the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." 

Clear at the Center

The "heart" in Hebrew psychology is literally the center of human personality, the home of personal thinking, desiring, imagination and willing. (heart, will and mind are essentially the same in biblical thought). Theologian Frederick Bruner says we can "translate 'pure in heart,' ... as 'clear at the center.' "³

This reminds us of the metaphor of "light" that both Jesus and the apostle John used in connection with purity of heart and holiness of life. For example, Jesus once said, "The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.... If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no part dark part in it, it will be totally illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays" (Lk. 11:34, 36 NASB).

My friend, this is a powerful truth the Lord Jesus not only shared with his listeners two thousand years ago, but a real and necessary truth he reiterates to all who will listen today. He says some have a "clear" eye and some have a "bad" or an "evil" eye. Those possessing a "clear" eye are "full of light;" those possessing a "bad" eye are "full of darkness." And those who are "full of light" are "totally illumined" ["wholly bright" ESV].

Can we not logically deduce from the above that a "clear" eye is only made possible because the heart has first been made "clear," and the reason many eyes are "bad" is because the heart is "bad"? To repeat Bruner, to be pure in heart is to be "clear at the center" of one's person. And when one is clear at the center then the whole body is totally illumined, wholly bright.

Our Lord's use here of the "body," of course, encompasses the totality of one's conduct. The body is the instrument of the heart; it acts as the heart dictates. If the heart is bad, evil actions result. Thus the rationale for Christ's words in Mark 7:20-22: "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness." 

More than Absence—Presence

To have a pure heart is to be cleansed of that which is foreign to our humanity. In the words of the prophets it is to be cleansed from our uncleannesses, and from all our idols; it is to be cleansed of a stony heart.

But heart purity is more than the absence of "foreign matter," it is the presence of the Holy One—the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit arrives, he brings with him a new heart, a new spirit, a heart of flesh (i.e., a soft heart as opposed to a heart of stone), and a new power—"I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." It is not enough to be cleansed of unrighteousness, iniquity and sin. God desires to fill us with the new "corn and wine" of his rule and reign: "For the kingdom of God is ... righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."

The pure in heart "see" God, enjoy God, experience God. They are enabled to "see" God because they have "clear" eyes; they have clear eyes because they have a clear heart. Christ reigns without rival in such hearts. 

Dynamic, Not Static

Does all of this mean that the pure in heart experience no conflict, are without need of deeper cleansings? Not if I understand the Scriptures correctly or know anything about the human condition.

As long as the Christian lives in this world—the pure-in-heart Christian—he is in need of constant vigilance. The Master so warned: "Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness" (Lk. 11:35). Again, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Mk 14:38). Or, in the words of Paul: "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Gal. 5:17). Jesus warned that light can become darkness, that it's possible to give in to temptation; and Paul said if we don't keep in step with the Spirit we will inevitably act according to the flesh. George Heath understood this conflict when he prayed: 

How can it be that the pure in heart are in need of periodic deeper cleansings? If the heart is pure, why does it need additional cleansings? After all, isn't there such a thing as a cleansed-once-for-all experience? I know of none and I don't believe the Bible teaches such.  The shores of disillusionment and disappointment are strewn with those who have sought and testified to such an experience, when afterward they discovered something alien in their "pure heart."

While "pure" means "pure," it is only such in view of the disciple's ongoing dynamic, personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ, and not some illusory static experience to be kept in a "box." The Christian life is a walk, and in the course of this pilgrimage it remains the prerogative of our High Priest to reveal to us all things that are contrary to his holy love. A pure heart will humbly receive the Spirit's faithful corrections and attendant cleansings.

To illustrate: The late F. B. Meyer was an able exponent in the deeper life movement. He excelled in the pulpit and had earned a reputation for being a godly, Spirit-filled Christian and preacher. He exhorted multitudes of believers to holy living, and earnestly endeavored to lead a careful life. However, at the height of his ministry he had a jolting experience.

While preaching to immense crowds in a convention, there arrived on the grounds a younger preacher and Bible teacher who was gaining considerable attention.  Most of the crowds left Meyer's meetings, and began attending the services of Dr. G. Campbell Morgan. For the first time in Meyer's ministerial career, he felt professional jealousy. He confessed such to a group of friends and said, "The only way I can conquer my feeling is to pray for him daily, which I do."⁴

The mightily-used-of-God revivalist, Duncan Campbell, said on this subject, "Nowhere does the Word of God promise a once-for-all cleansing. We are to walk in the light if we are to know continuous cleansing. Let this be clearly understood and then we shall not fall into the error of trying to live today on the cleansing of yesterday."

Neither Meyer nor Campbell nor I am espousing a "sinning religion." They didn't teach it, nor do I. What they and I am saying is what I believe the Scriptures teach on this matter: God desires to give each of his people a pure heart, and it is only by walking in the light of God that He keep pure what he first cleansed (1 John 1:7).  

The heart-cry of all of Christ's followers should be framed in the prayer of the famed Scottish pastor, Robert Murray McCheyne: "Lord, make me as holy as a saved sinner can be." Be assured, my friend, God never creates a soul-thirst that he cannot satisfy. 

- Soli Deo Gloria -

1. All Bible references are taken from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.
2. See Hebrews 11:22; Acts 15:9.
3. Frederick D. Bruner in The Christbook, p. 175.
4. Story told by W. E. Sangster in The Path to Perfection, p. 135.