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I’ve never had a pure motive in my life.

I’ve never had a pure motive in my life.

MAY 11, 2022

/ Programs / Key Life / I’ve never had a pure motive in my life.

Pete Alwinson:
I’ve never had a pure motive in my life. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Steve Brown:
This is Key Life. We’re here to communicate the freeing truth that God’s not mad at his children. Steve invited our friend, Pete Alwinson to teach us all this week. Pete is a former pastor, founder of ForgeTruth.com and the author of Like Father Like Son.

Pete Alwinson:
Thank you Matthew. I so appreciate all of you tuning in today. It’s good to have you with us on Key Life. My name’s Pete Alwinson and I’m sitting in for Steve Brown this week, giving him a little bit of time, to get off and take a little break and prepare some other materials. So, it’s good to have you with us and we’re dealing with the Beatitudes this week. And I don’t know how you feel about the Beatitudes, but they are really interesting and challenging. And today we’re going to be looking at the sixth. Beatitude.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

He started out by saying.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Happy are those who mourn for their sin. For those who are meek in allegiance to the King, who hunger and thirst for righteousness and who are merciful.

And today he’s talking about pure in heart. And as I said in the teaser, and I’m being perfectly honest there, theologically and practically, I have never had a pure motive in my life. And that’s full disclosure, but the Bible teaches me that that’s the truth. I would like to say that was different, but the Bible says that sin has affected me at the very core of my being. And as much as I have tried to follow Jesus and be a good pastor and do what’s best for other people, gosh, I’ll tell you a sin is so insidious, there’s always something in it for myself. And so that’s what I mean, when I say I’ve never had a pure motive in my life. I know that’s gotta be true. What about you? Well, when Jesus says.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

We really are entering into a phenomenal and challenging idea. What does Jesus mean first of all, by heart? That’s key. We’ve got to start there, because when you and I, as Americans think of the idea of a heart, we often think of the, well the literal heart on Valentine’s day. You know, we think of cupids and we think of the heart and we get emotional. It’s like when we see a commercial on TV about puppies that have been abused and would you adopt them. And we go awww, you know, I’ve got to get one. And we get emotional on certain situations. Well, it’s not talking about that. When the Bible talks about heart, it really is talking about the reality of the inner person. From a Hebraic standpoint, from a Hebrew standpoint, the heart is the very center of your person. And so it really includes all the dimensions of personality. How I think, how I feel the affections of my heart. Yeah, that’s included in heart, but also the decisions that I make as a person. So, in the Biblical way of thinking, in the Hebraic way of thinking, heart is the very center of your your person. David was a man after God’s heart, the Bible says. Well, that means that in the way he thought, in the affections of his heart and in the actions of his life, normally speaking, he was a man after God’s heart. And so, that’s what we’re dealing with here, the center of our being. And so, when Jesus says.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

You’ve got to picture the Sermon on the Mount, where he’s sitting up there teaching his disciples, but there’s also scribes and Pharisees that are up there. They’re standing there listening. And when Jesus says.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

The Pharisees and the scribes are saying no, no, no, that’s not true. It’s not about the external. It’s not about the internal man. It’s about what I do out here, because you see the Pharisees were the epitome of the external life. They were about applying the law externally, not internally. And what Jesus comes to do is he comes to show them, that their righteousness wasn’t cutting it at all. In fact, in Matthew 23, verse 23, there’s an incredible statement, Jesus says this.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin.

And mint used as a medicine and as a flavoring. And cumin were seeds that they put in food and they’re very, very small, so he says.

You scribes, you Pharisees, you hypocrites. You tithed mint, dill and cumin, but you’ve neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You’ve ought to done those things without neglecting the others. You blind guides,

I love this.

you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside,

That’s the key.

inside they’re full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees!

Well, Jesus goes on and on and on. He says you’re like dead men bones. You go to Israel today and you get a tour of Jerusalem, you will see that there are tombs all around the city, all around the temple area. And around the temple area, there are tombs made out of the light, white limestone that exists around Jerusalem, a great deal. And these tombs are bright and light. They look like somebody took a pressure cleaner to them, but it’s just white limestone. And Jesus said.

You Pharisees are such hypocrites that you look great on the outside, but on the inside, you’re filled with dead men’s bones.

And that’s why Jesus says to us and to his followers, that our righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees because it was external only. And so, that’s why Jesus is focusing on the heart.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

And that’s why when we think about growth in the gospel, we realize that what the gospel has to do in us, what it wants to do in us, is transform us, like Larry Crabb used to talk about, transforming us from the inside, out. Changing the way we think and the way we feel, and the decisions that we decide in our minds, and actually carry it out. That’s why we have to be careful, even when we think of this idea of being wild at heart, I mean, I love that book by John Eldredge. And we’ve interviewed him on Key Life. He’s a great guy. And, I get what he’s saying in that book, but the heart from the Scriptural standpoint is a heart that has to be unleashed by the Holy Spirit. And that’s really where John is going with that whole idea, that to be wild at heart, to be pure is to be pure in heart, to be fueled by the Holy Spirit and to think God’s thoughts after him. And so, it’s important to understand that what he’s not saying here is that we just need to have all of the right educational, political theory and keep religion out of those areas. No, you can’t do that. Our spirituality affects how we think about everything, the mind, the heart, and everything has to be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. You know what Jesus means by pure, is really this idea of being without hypocrisy. It’s to be cleansed without defilement of any impurity. And boy, that’s a life long challenge, isn’t it? In Matthew six, verse 23, Jesus says.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness. How great is the darkness!

And so, to be pure by Jesus’ standard means to be without hypocrisy, single focus and mind. How do we become pure in heart? Well, we become pure and heart as the word of God continues to saturate us. And as we preach the gospel to ourselves every day. Somebody said this recently, and I thought it was powerful that,

A mind filled with fear can not be filled with truth. A mind filled with fear cannot be filled with truth.

And I think that’s so important. And what has helped me is to focus more and more upon the truth and grace of God, so that my thoughts are becoming purer and purer for my heart, from the inside out. What does Jesus mean by seeing God? Well, I think he means that the more our hearts become focused on the holy word of God. And we begin to think God’s thoughts after him, the more we see God around us, we see them in creation. We even see him in the works of history, but we also see and sense him spiritually and personally, even as we pray and spend time with him alone.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

And when we see God, we begin to experience him all around us, in every way, shape or form. How do we cooperate the developing a pure heart? Well, this is what Colossians said.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom admonishing one another with songs and hymns and spiritual songs.

Let his word dwell richly in you and you will become more and more pure in heart. You take it to heart. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Pete. That was our good friend, Pete Alwinson continuing to unpack the truth found in the Beatitudes. Today, blessed are the pure in heart. Good stuff. And more good stuff tomorrow. Be sure to join us then. By the way, if you missed any of this, week’s broadcast with Pete, be sure to catch those at keylife.org. So much great content to check out. We have a station finder tool that will let you know which radio stations near you will be playing Key Life and Steve Brown Etc. We also have transcripts for Key Life. That means every single thing you hear Steve or Pete or Matt or Justin teaching, you can get that word for word, super useful in deepening your study. Also at keylife.org you’ll find our digital magazine, sermons, video versions of Steve Brown Etc, Key Life Connection, and even a link to our new Key Life app. And all of it is still free, thanks to the generous support of listeners, just like you. If you’d like to donate, just call 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. Or you can mail your donation to

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