The Beatitudes: How to Be Pure in Heart and Develop Godly Character

This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Don’t Leave Home Without It.

Through the Beatitudes, the Lord Jesus teaches that character is far more important than anything else.

There is a saying: A child rejoices in what he has. A youth rejoices in what he does. But an adult rejoices in what he is. The more mature you are as a Christian, the more you will rejoice—not in what you have or what you do, but in what you are through Christ. And that is what the beatitudes of Matthew 5 are talking about.

Let’s focus on the sixth Beatitude.

Blessed Are the Pure in Heart

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

By purity of heart, Jesus is referring to integrity.

What does this word pure mean? It is translated from the Greek word katharos, which means “a purifying.” The word does not so much mean “cleanliness,” although that is inferred, but it has to do more with unity or singleness of mind. It literally means, “Blessed is that which is unmixed.”

For example, grain that has chaff in it would not be pure. Or metal that is an alloy would not be pure. An army with defectors in it is not pure. So when Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart,” He means, “Blessed are those who do not have double hearts.” In fact, Christ amplified this point later in this same Sermon on the Mount.

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

You cannot be double-minded. You cannot have an impure heart and see the glory of God. To worship God, you must do it without duplicity and without hypocrisy, with a clean heart unstained by the world. You cannot hold the world with one hand and Jesus Christ with the other—He must have your whole heart, undivided. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).

Biblical Examples of Integrity

Do you know what King David, the Psalmist, is called in the Bible? “He [God] raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will’” (Acts 13:22b; emphasis and word in brackets added). In both the Old Testament and New Testament, this is how God refers to David.

What is a man after God’s own heart? He is a man with integrity. Consider some of these verses that David wrote, and see what made him the man he was.

“The LORD shall judge the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity within me” (Psalm 7:8).

“Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Psalm 25:21).

“Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the LORD; I shall not slip” (Psalm 26:1).

“As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and set me before Your face forever” (Psalm 41:12).

God said of David, “There is a man after my own heart.” David was pure of heart. He had integrity, and singlemindedness.

You say, "But didn't David sin?" Yes, David sinned—horribly. He failed God. But though David had a sinful heart, he always had a single heart. He was not a hypocrite. And when he sinned, it broke his heart just as it broke God's heart, and David never offered an alibi. David offered a confession.

Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight— that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge (Psalm 51:4).

David knew what it was to be right, and what it was to be wrong. He wasn't sinless He was a sinner, but he was not a hypocrite about it.

Do you have that kind of integrity?

What Does the Bible Mean By a “New Heart”?

“Blessed are the pure in heart.” Are we talking about the pulsating muscle in your thoracic cavity? No.

When the Bible uses the word heart, it is talking about the core of the individual. The seat of our emotions, the inner person, the center of master control. Your heart represents your total commitment. When people fall in love, they are called what? Not sweetheads, but sweethearts. It is that part of the individual that dictates the character, directs the will, and dominates the affections.

Original Sin: The Natural Impurity of the Heart

The Bible says we are to be blessed if we are pure in heart. But the truth is that no one is.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings (Jeremiah 17:9-10).

Let’s consider what Jeremiah says about our natural hearts.

Our Sinful Hearts Are Diseased

Do you see the word translated as “desperately wicked” in the verse above? In the original language, that word means “incurably sick.” A few chapters before, Jeremiah uses the same word: “Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?” (Jeremiah 15:18a)

This means that every one of us is born with a heart ailment—and not a physical ailment. This ailment resists all medication. All the spiritual exercise and spiritual diet in the world will not cure the disease of your heart.

Sin is on the inside. Even if you reform on the outside, you have not dealt with the problem of the heart. If a man is a drunkard, for example, and he quits drinking without being saved, all that means is that he will go to Hell sober.

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man (Mark 7:21-23).

You need a new heart.

Our Sinful Hearts Are Deceitful

You may read Mark 7:21-23 above, considering the filthiness Jesus describes, and think, “That’s not in my heart—murder, adultery, and blasphemy are not in my heart.” That just proves that you do not know your heart.

Remember Jeremiah’s warning: “The heart is deceitful above all things…” (Jeremiah 17:9a). Jesus Christ is saying that all of these things are residual in every human heart, and we hardly dare dream the potential for evil that lurks in each one of us. It is there, down in the heart. And Jesus said it will come out.

“Follow your heart” is one of the world’s favorite catch-phrases. But this is the truth:

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered (Proverbs 28:26).

We can’t trust our own hearts. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. How can a deceitful heart investigate a deceitful heart? Who is going to say whether your heart is good or bad? For you to try to diagnose your own heart would be like looking at a sundial with a flashlight. It is impossible.

It must be God Himself who decides.

God Is the Standard and the Judge

You look so holy on a Sunday morning, but God's eyes go right past the church clothes you are wearing.

How does He do this? God puts circumstances into your life and sees how you react to those circumstances. If your actions do not prove what you are, your reactions certainly will.

Have you ever been rude to a person? “Well, he made me mad.” He only revealed the anger that was in you. That rudeness was already there—all he did was push the hot button.

One thing after another, and you might say, "I'm surprised at myself. I never thought I would do that.” You didn't think so, because your heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You did not know that down in that pit called the human heart were all of those vile things you are now surprised by.

When God comes to judge, what is He going to look at? Not primarily what you did, but who you are.

God does not see as man sees. God reveals what is in the heart, and God blesses or judges the heart accordingly. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Regeneration: A New Heart

So we see the condition of our hearts in their natural state: diseased, deceitful, desperately wicked. But thank God, there is hope!

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise (Jeremiah 17:14).

How does He heal? By saving you. How does God change you? He gives you a new heart. You are born again.

You cannot have purity of heart without a new heart.

Remember, the Lord is looking for integrity, singlemindedness. The heart is where this begins. You have got to be pure in heart, and only Jesus can give you a pure heart.

…For They Shall See God

What is the promised reward for integrity? "They shall see God" (Matthew 5:8b). Sin blinds you. (See 2 Corinthians 4:4.) If you are to know God, He must give you a new heart.

How will you see God? With the eye of faith. With His promise of seeing God, Jesus is not talking about your physical eye any more than He is talking about the purity of your physical heart. If your spiritual heart is right, your spiritual eye will see.

In this same Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus said, "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light” (Matthew 6:22).

You will see Him in circumstances. You will see Him in nature. You will see Him in the face of your child. You will see Him in the Scriptures. God will become a bright, living reality to you. The Bible will burst aflame in your hands. You will know Him because your heart is pure.

List of Scriptures Referenced in This Article

Matthew 5:8, 6:22-24; James 4:8; Acts 13:22; Psalm 7:8, 25:21, 26:1, 51:4; Jeremiah 15:18, 17:9-10,14; Mark 7:21-23; Proverbs 28:26; 2 Corinthians 4:4

More Bible Verses About Integrity and Purity of Heart

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully (Psalm 24:3-4).

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God (1 Corinthians 4:5).

The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them (Proverbs 11:3).