Pure in Heart

The Artesian Spring

When the believer comes to Christ and drinks,

• We not only quench our thirst but we receive such an abundant supply that rivers of living water flow.
• John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

This new life in Christ should increase in measure during our journey on earth.

• The transformed lifestyle that God produces will be evident in our daily experience
• This life inevitably creates a hunger and thirst for more.
• 2 Timothy 4:13 Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come—and the books, especially the parchments.

The life that Jesus gives is no tame and stagnant thing.

• It flows in us and through us like an Artesian spring of good, clean, fresh water.

It is the abundant life, and the Holy Spirit living within people is evidence of this.

• Psalm 63:1 O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.
• Psalm 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.

Once we realize that God designed us to grow in our new life, and makes all things available to us to grow, we’re left with some practical questions:

• How does growth take place?
• What does God do in this process, and what must I do?
• How does God’s power transform my daily walk?
• How can I have a lasting change in my thoughts, attitudes, and actions?

The answers to these questions lie in the heart, the most important biblical term in relation to man’s nature and actions.

• The heart is the control center of life.
• Proverbs 27:19 As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.

The Bible makes it clear that God is the ultimate heart-changer.

The Bible also tells us that life flows from the heart, hence it urges to guard it.

• Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Our responses to life’s circumstances come out of our heart.

• Tithe/Circumcision – Abraham vs law of Moses – whom do you serve?
• John 8:6 NKJV Jesus stooped down … as though He did not hear – Where is God in this?
• John 20:29 Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

The Creation of the Heart

The human being is composed of a material body and immaterial spirit.

• Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

As human beings we are a union of

• material substance, “dust from the ground,” and
• immaterial substance, “the breath of life,” or spirit.

This union of material (body) and immaterial (spirit) results in “a living soul.”

• 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Functions involving thought are sometimes attributed to the spirit and to the soul.

• 1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
• Psalm 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
• Soul is thus the term for man’s total human nature—the total person, what he is, not just what he has.
• Soul represents the human as alive with life that consists of emotions, passions, drives, and appetites.
• The human heart is biblically depicted as part of the “soul”.

The faith of a person is always expressed with the heart.

• Romans 10:9–10 ⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
• it is in the heart that we acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
• Christ dwells in the “heart”
• Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
• 1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, & always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness & fear;
• 1 John 3:18–22 ¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹ And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. ²⁰ For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. ²² And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Heart to Heart

The scriptures mention the “heart” in different ways.

• Mark 12:30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
• Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
• Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
• Matthew 18:35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
• Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
• 1 Samuel 13:14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
• 1 Timothy 1:5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,

These verses are enough (for now) to tell us that human life focuses on the heart.

The heart represents the whole person—who we really are.

• 1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
• As I explained before, the heart and liver can be interchangeably used, depending on the translation and your generation.
• Proverbs 7:5 That they may keep you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words.

These passages specifically talk about how wisdom enables us to escape from immoral women.

• Proverbs 7:23 (NKJV) Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, He did not know it would costhis life.
• Liver = heart in today’s lingo.
• Liver transliteration: kābēd
• Celine Dion, if writing this way, would soulfully sing “My Liver Will Go On” in “Titanic”.
• Lamentations 2:11 (NKJV)  My eyes fail with tears, My heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the children and the infants Faint in the streets of the city.
• Lamentations 2:11 (World English Bible) My eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.

 

Evil, wounded, and a heart of self-strength

The very first reference to “heart” in Scripture is the “evil” heart of humans at the time of the flood.

• Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the second, which follows immediately, tells us that God as a result this human condition “was grieved in his heart”.

• Genesis 6:6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

The Wounded and the Strong

• Proverbs 7:26 (NKJV) For she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong
• Mark 3:27 (NKJV)  No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
• The wounded requires inner healing in their soul.
• Strong man’s insecurity of the heart.

The heart is deceitful because of our fallen nature.

• Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it
• Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.
• Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

That is precisely the reason that we are a new creation in Christ.

• Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
• James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Summary

• Show where the scriptures are instead of just telling you that it is there.
• The heart represents the whole person—who we really are.
• The reason that we are a new creation in Christ is to avoid the pitfalls caused by the fallen heart.
• Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.