"After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. [If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."]
Good morning my beloved,
We
welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are so thankful that you're here. If God has been using this ministry to impact your life, please write and let us know, we'd love to hear from you. We humbly ask that you would continue to pray for God will open the ears of the hearers as we continue to proclaim the Truth in love in the days ahead, as His Word continues to be maligned in our nation and around the world. Yet, Christ continues to build His Church as people from all over the world, even in the most persecuted regions are responding.
As we look at the wretched state of the world today, it is often difficult to imagine that God is still on His throne. Sin and corruption are running rampant in our society, as every man seeks to do what is right in his own eyes, without fear of the consequences. Accountability has gone by the wayside, as sinners blame everything and everyone for the evil acts they commit. Criminals are martyrs as good law abiding people are vilified, has become pervasive in a world that calls evil good, and good evil.
It's unsettling that even those within the church, who publicly profess to know Christ, freely and openly engage in sin, as many pastors redefined the meaning of repentance, denying turning from sin required for salvation, cheapening God's grace in direct conflict with what Scripture teaches. And we wonder why our society is plunging further and further into corruption, darkness and depravity. It doesn't matter what you outwardly profess if you're defiled on the inside. When it comes to man’s fallen nature, only God can transform the heart.
Today's Message: The Heart Of Your Problem Is The Problem Of Your Heart
Open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 7. Mark chapter 7 verses 14 through 23. I
invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds. Let us open our hearts and see what the Spirit of God has to say to us today. Mark 7:14-23.
"After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. [If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."]
Let's look at verses 14 and 15, "After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man."
We can assume, the crowd was the multitude of people as described in chapter 6, and in chapter 7 verse 1, when the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him, who were under the illusion that defilement was something that came from outside of them. So when Jesus says "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand" it is an important phrase, not because what He’s going to say is difficult to understand but He wants them to listen carefully and understand that defilement is not a physical issue, as He explains to the crowd in no uncertain terms that sin begins in heart and works its way from the inside out. The word defile is the Greek verb "koinóō," which means to treat what is sacred as common, to corrupt or pollute it making it unclean. In Matthew's parallel account, he says it's what proceeds out of the mouth that defiles the man because evil is more often spoken than is done. In James 3:6 he says, "And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell."
God calls His people to be clean, to
be holy, to be pure. Whenever the Bible speaks about a particular subject repeatedly, that's because it’s a big issue with God. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5, that the Lord wants His Church to be spotless, without wrinkle or blemish, holy and blameless. And in Jeremiah 17, God says, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart." The external rituals were merely symbolic, God's way of reminding them they were defiled inside. But they took God's prescriptions and created an elaborate system of external cleansing, ignoring the inward issue of defilement. In other words, the heart of the problem is a matter of the heart. That's why there are no rituals in the New Testament, once Christ came He obliterated them all. The defiling influence is the heart.
Verse 16, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." Though Jesus said this often, it doesn't appear in the original manuscripts here, that's why it’s included in brackets.
Verse 17, "When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable." The disciples wanted an explanation because this was so contrary to everything they'd been taught they had to abide by their entire lives, not that they didn't understand what He was saying. I believe that's why Matthew adds they also said "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?" That tells you they understood it. But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit." What God doesn’t plant is going to be up rooted, He's talking about the wheat and the tares. Wheat is sown by God and tares are sown by Satan. They’re headed for judgment, the pit can mean nothing other than hell, anybody who follows them will end up in hell, so don’t expose yourself to them, let them alone. In other words, external rituals were the traditions of men, while these things were not sinful, they focus on the external, rather than the internal, just as circumcision didn’t save people, it was an outward sign of what God wanted to do in the heart.
Verses 18-19, "And He *said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" Jesus is saying they were part of the blind being led by the blind guides, He's asking if they were still stuck on that? They were supposed to be past that, has nothing changed? Then He gave them a graphic illustration "Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" You understand what comes out when you eat something, and it goes into the stomach, right? God created our bodies in such a way that impurity that is unhealthy is eliminated by the body.
Verse 20, And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man." Sin is a reflection of the impurity in the heart, all evil begins in the heart, the source of impurity. All defilement is internal, no external ritual can address the issue of unrighteousness in the heart. You must be born again to cleanse you from all your filthiness. God will change you on the inside, giving you a new heart, that’s the promise of salvation. Jesus is saying it's all about the heart.
Ezekiel 36:26, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."Then in verses 21-22, He gives them a list of twelve things, the first six are plural and refer to acts and the second six are singular and refer to the attitudes behind the acts. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness." Evil thoughts, what goes on in the mind. Fornications, it's the Greek word "porneía," it encompasses all deviant sexual sin and perversions, from which we get the English word pornography. To better understand the depth of our nation’s moral depravity, pornography is a billion dollar industry, a cesspool of every filthy sexual activity imaginable. Thefts and murders are obvious. Adulteries refer to any sex act that violates the marriage covenant. Deeds of coveting, means greediness. Wickedness refers to all kinds of evil. Deceit refers to not telling the truth, lying and bearing false witness. Sensuality refers to lewdness, an obscene mind is revealed in speech and behavior. Envy refers to the eye, the window of the mind, to look at with hate. It's the word "ophthalmos," from which we get ophthalmology. Slander or "blasphēmía," exchanging the truth for a lie, refers to abusive speech toward others. Pride refers to excessive self-exaltation, feeling superior. Foolishness refers to having a lack of perspective, thinking senselessly. Thinking foolishly leads to a lack of clear understanding of doctrine, doesn't it? When the Holy Spirit resides in us, He enables us to understand and obey the ways of God.
That brings us to verse 23, "All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." An unclean heart is what gives birth to sin, not unclean hands. The religious leaders might have washed their hands, but their hearts were still filthy. That’s why Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, "‘You must be born again.’" I feel very deeply that the church today desperately needs to experience the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit to have a right understanding of God's Word, which has been grossly misinterpreted. They have completely missed the meaning of true repentance, partaking of the Lord's Supper with corrupt hearts. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly." True worship always focuses on God and His ways.
In 1 John 1, John tells us "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The Good News is, there is forgiveness no matter how far you've strayed, if you are willing to humble yourself and confess your sin to God and repent of your sin, He is faithful to forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. What a precious gift!
In Closing..
If we would all spend less time in the mirror examining ourselves and more time in examining ourselves in God's Word, we would see ourselves differently. Your conscience is a gift from God to warn you not to do what is putting you in moral danger, just as physical pain alerts you not to do something you shouldn’t. However, when you repeatedly ignore the warnings, you sever your conscience's ability to function properly, and eventually, there won’t be any warnings to ignore. That's one of the destructive effects of false teaching, is it renders the conscience useless in moral discipline and sin goes unrestrained. I believe that the catastrophic failure of ungodly, immoral leaders in the church who refuse to confront sin have actually contributed significantly to the problem we are witnessing in the world today. The church has lost the most precious commodity the world has today, her Christlike influence.
It is humbling to recognize that even as I deliver these words, they will sadly be veiled to some, rejected by others because they do not have a genuine relationship with Jesus. I shudder to think of the eternal consequences that awaits unrepentant sinners. Sin, which has so thoroughly permeated our culture, extinguishes man’s capacity for understanding God's Truth.
Salvation is a gift from God, however, it is the responsibility every believer to live a life that reflects God's grace, consistent with that divine gift. God's grace makes room for failure, as we struggle to break old sinful habits, but it provides no room for open, unrepentant sin. I urge you not to underestimate the importance of faithful obedience in the lives of His people, which is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.
May God by His grace and mercy, draw every sinner to Himself,
and grant them repentance and faith, leading unto salvation.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen