TEXT: Matthew 5:3-10

SUBJECT: Watson on the Beatitudes #6

Tonight, with the Lord’s mercy, we’ll continue our study of Thomas Watson on the Beatitudes. Watson was a Puritan pastor who published a book on the Beatitudes in 1660. At times, the wording is awkward, but the content is almost always great. The Puritans were not perfect men, of course, but they wrote with a knowledge, a sensitivity, and a courage few modern teachers can match.

The word beatitude means happiness. In the opening paragraph of His Sermon on the Mount, Christ describes for us the kind of people who are happy now. And will be happy forever. The Beatitudes—remember—are not a series of commands or exhortations. They don’t tell us to do something; they tell us to be something. By nature and upbringing, no one is fit for God’s Kingdom. That’s why you need something more than nature and upbringing! To please the Lord,

That’s where the Christian life starts—not in the baptismal font or in your decision to follow Christ. It starts with a supernatural and almighty work of God’s Spirit in your soul. Without that, you cannot be happy in this life or the next!

Thus far, we’ve five traits of the Christian. Without being perfect (or even mature, necessarily), every believer is "poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hungry for righteousness, and merciful". Now, we come to Beatitude Number Six,

What does it mean to be "pure in heart"? Watson knows this is an easy one to misunderstand, so he spends a lot of time explaining it. First, he tells us what heart purity is not, then, what it is.

To be "pure in heart"—he says,

Is more than a good profession of faith. To profess faith, of course, means to call Jesus Lord or to say you’re a Christian, to go to church, and so on. These are all good, but you can have them all—and more—without being pure in heart,

Purity of heart is also more than civility (or outward morality or decency or being really, really nice).

If heart purity is more than saying you’re saved and being good, what is it?

To sum it up in a word: Sincerity. The pure in heart are far from sinless (they’d be the first to admit that). But they want to be holy and they work at it.

The Pharisee worked at holiness, but he didn’t really want holiness. What he wanted was a reputation for holiness. That’s not purity of heart! And neither is wishing for it without doing anything about it! Or reading books about holiness without striving for it. Or praying for holiness—and nothing more.

Back in the late 70’s I was a young, enthusiastic Calvinist (as were many of my friends). We spent hours and hours talking about holiness, reading about holiness, praising holiness and condemning people who didn’t think it was necessary. But as I grew older and wiser (I hope), it occurred to me that we were more interested in holiness as an issue or a debating point than we were with holiness as life in Christ. Our minds and words were pure, but our hearts were not!

Are you pure in heart? I know you’re not perfect in heart, but I didn’t ask that. Are you pure in heart? Do you prize holiness (even when we fall short of it)? And do you strive for holiness? That’s what heart purity means. And without it, no one will see God.

THE NECESSITY

Having defined his term, Watson goes on the show the necessity of being pure in heart. Underline the word, "necessity". He doesn’t say holiness is good or helpful or neat. He says it is necessary. Absolutely necessary. Why? For three reasons:

If you’re a "religious person" at all, you have only two choices: Purity of heart or Pharisaism! Since the Pharisees were our Lord’s worst enemies—and went to hell when they died—you see the importance of being pure in heart.

Watson doesn’t cite the verse here, but he’s alluding to Proverbs 4:23,

A clean heart will make everything you do clean. But a dirty heart is like greasy hands—everything you touch is stained by it. You can always tell when I’ve been working on my bike: my shirt and pants are black, my hands and face are black, my sink and towel are black. It’s like being in a dark room: all you see is black! Remember, the holiest works never cleaned a dirty heart, but a dirty heart will stain the holiest works. If you want to be holy at all or do anything holy or say anything holy of feel anything holy, you’ve got to begin with the heart!

Do you straighten up the house when company’s coming over? Most of us do. We’d be embarrassed for anyone to see it turned upside down. But will we care more for human company than for God’s Presence? Will we make our homes presentable to our friends while leaving our hearts filthy for the Dearest Friend we ever had?

How does the heart become pure? On this one, the Puritan leaves no doubt,

Charles Spurgeon’s favorite hymn was There is a Fountain. His favorite verse says,

Ah! The preciousness of that word, "all"! Not some of our guilty stains—the little ones, maybe, or the ones we only did once or didn’t mean to—but all of them, every last stain washed clean in the blood of Christ!

There’s a place for tears and prayers and sermons and sacraments and good company, and effort and so on, but nothing takes the place of Christ’s blood! Not every good work, every penitent cry, every church ordinance—

If you want purity of heart, you start with Christ—not His teaching or example (though they’re good), but with His cross. For it is only there that we’re,

I’m tempted to leave it here, but that wouldn’t be fair to Thomas Watson. Without adding anything to the work of Christ, he reminds us that we’re responsible to stay away from the grime of sin and keep clean through the means appointed by God. The daily washing of our souls begins with…

Sorrow for sin.

It’s so easy to cry over the consequences of sin, may God give us the grace to weep over its guilt. Some of us are criers, of course, while others are less emotional. The key is not water from your eyes, but sorrow in your heart. That’s what the Lord is looking for—

Next, we have faith in the Promise of God. Sorrowing for sin is a good place to start, but you mustn’t stay there! There’s no value in wallowing in your guilt and misery. No! The Lord wants you to receive forgiveness by believing His Promise,

Next, we have Bible study,

After Bible study comes prayer,

Go to church and cherish the Word of God preached,

Finally, choose your friends wisely,

This last line is clever and wise. The best way to learn a foreign language is not to study it in school, but to live with people who speak it! You can learn more Spanish by living with Mexican farm hands than by attending Spanish classes taught by a Gringo with a Ph.D.

If you want to be pure in heart, begin with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for sinners. And then be responsible to do what you can do, trusting the Lord to bless your efforts.

At the end of the chapter we have the reward of heart purity,

What does this mean? Watson says,

The thought of seeing God as He is is not entirely pleasant, is it? Men in the Bible didn’t want to see Him and feared they would die if they did. But this sight of God—in heaven—will be seen with glorified eyes, that is, eyes made in such a way that they can see Him and enjoy the sight!

One day everyone will see God. But not everyone will enjoy the sight. For some, He will be the sum of all terror. But for others, He’ll be the sum of all joy.

Which will it be for you? I pray that Day will be the Best Day for everyone here. And it will be, but only if you’re