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Matthew chapter 15 verse 11. If you want another account of this same story, Mark chapter 7

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might be something good for you to look at this week. Compare some of the differences

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in them. Very similar, but there are some differences. Matthew chapter 15 verse 11.

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We'll read the verse and then we will pray and get started. It's not what goes into the

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mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. Let's pray.

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Father God, we come to you. We come to you today, dear Lord, because we need you. God,

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we come to you today because we want to hear your word. And I pray, dear Lord, that your

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Holy Spirit would be among us today. God, that we would hear from you, that you would

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protect us from any of the attacks of the enemy, any distractions or anything that may

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be in our mind or in our heart today, dear Lord, that in these few minutes that your

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Holy Spirit would work in our life, dear Lord, that your word would speak to us. God, I pray

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that you would hide me behind the cross, that you would give me the ability, dear Lord,

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to preach and teach in a way that brings glory to you. Dear Lord, I am incapable and unworthy

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to preach your word today. But God, you have called me and you've placed me here, dear

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Lord, so I pray that your Holy Spirit will work so that each one of us would hear from

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you, dear Lord, so that we would grow in you, so that you would receive all the glory, dear

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Lord. I pray that you bless these people. I pray that you just bless this time that we

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have. And I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Jesus is dealing with the issue of defilement.

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And in the passage we just looked at, in the verse we looked at, Jesus said, look, defilement

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does not come from what goes in your mouth, but defilement comes from inside. It's not

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what goes into you that makes one defile, but what comes out of you proves that there

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is defilement that is already there. But what does all this mean? Well, Jesus' apostles

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were about to ask the same question in the verses to come. But let's talk about what

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got us to this verse. Now, Jesus, in the chapter before, had been doing some miraculous works.

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And Jesus had just fed the 5,000, 5,000 men, it says, not included women and children.

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Now, certainly there would have probably been many thousands more than the 5,000, possibly

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10, 15, 20,000, who knows? That's certainly the largest crowd that is recorded for us

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anywhere in scripture. Maybe there were larger crowds, but at least that's the largest one

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that we know of. And many people were coming to follow Jesus because he was preaching with

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authority unlike any who had come before him. Now, certainly there were lots of rabbis around

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at the time of Jesus who were preaching and teaching the Word of God. But when Jesus

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came along, he was one who talked like one who had authority, as we see at the end of

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the Beatitudes. And so he was really able to catch people's attention. They recognized

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there was something different. And then on top of that, you begin to see that Jesus does

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these miracles. He begins to heal people. He begins to cast out demons. He raises people

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from the dead. He feeds these 5,000 with five fish, excuse me, five loaves and two fish.

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And Jesus is able to do all of these miraculous things. And word is getting around, as you

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can imagine, probably very quickly about who Jesus is. Now, this story seems to be taking

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place around the area of Genesirat. Now, Lake Genesirat, you've probably heard of that in

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the scripture. That's the same place as the Sea of Galilee. And that's where we see in

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the chapter before that that's where his disciples are. They're kind of in that region. And it

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says at the beginning of Matthew chapter 15 that there's a group of Pharisees and scribes

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from Jerusalem who come to see Jesus. They're coming to confront Jesus. Now, the best way

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maybe to describe the Pharisees, the simplest way is that they were a very religious group

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of people. And they really practice religion well and that they really thought that they

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were doing God's work and they knew God's word, but they really didn't know God's word

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quite as good as they thought they did. And so they were doing a lot of stuff that gave

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a good outward appearance, but they didn't really have a good understanding of the word

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of God. Paul, for instance, would be a good example of a Pharisee. He was a Pharisee of

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Pharisees, he says. He knew all the stuff that they taught. But Paul, as we see in the

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book of Acts, was right there holding the coats of those who were stoning Stephen, who

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was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, certainly Paul didn't really have a good

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understanding or at least not as good as he thought of the word of God or at least not

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how it applied. And so this kind of describes for us who the Pharisees were. And it says

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that the scribes were with them. Well, the scribes were those people who would have copied

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the text. They would have copied what we would call the Old Testament text. They would copy

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it from one scroll to the next scroll. And so they too had a pretty good knowledge of

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the word of God, at least a head knowledge. At least the Pharisees and the scribes had

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a head knowledge of the word of God. But there was a disconnect somewhere. They knew the

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word of God, but they didn't really understand the word of God. Now, this is what Jesus so

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beautifully helps us to see when we read the Beatitudes. That's a good thing for you to

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read, starting in Matthew chapter five. Jesus begins to talk about that really the key,

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the key to understanding God's word and the key to understanding how we should live and

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the key that God really wants us to focus on is not so much the letter of the law, but

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to realize that the letter of the law or the word of God is trying to deal with our heart.

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It's trying to deal with what's inside of us. And that's what Jesus tries to bring the

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point across in the Beatitudes. And it's after he brings these points across that the crowds,

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many recognize, wait a minute, this guy, there's something different about him. So no doubt

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these scribes and Pharisees, they had heard about who Jesus was and they had traveled

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approximately 75 miles from Jerusalem to where Jesus and the disciples were. And they came

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really to confront Jesus. They came to ask Jesus a question. Now, of all the questions

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that you might want to ask Jesus today, think for just a second, what question would you

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like to ask Jesus? Maybe you've heard the scripture, maybe not. Maybe you don't know

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what you'd ask him. Maybe you don't know much about Jesus, but maybe you have heard the

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scripture. You know a little bit about who Jesus is and maybe there's something you'd

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like to ask him. I mean, there's a lot of things that you could imagine that this group

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might like to ask Jesus. They hear about all these healings he's doing. Maybe they say,

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hey, let's get together boys. Let's get us a caravan. We'll go up there. Some of us are

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sick. We'll ask Jesus to heal us. We'll ask Jesus to heal our family. We'll ask Jesus

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to help us to understand the Word of God better. We'll ask Jesus if he's the Messiah who was

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spoken of through the prophets and what we would call the Old Testament. There's a lot

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of things that these guys could have asked Jesus about. But do you know what they asked

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Jesus about? They went all that way. They went before Jesus and this is what they ask

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him. Why don't your disciples wash their hands? Now, of all the things that you could ask

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Jesus, this man who is preaching with authority and doing miracles that had never been seen

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before and of all the things they could ask him, they said, why don't your disciples wash

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their hands? That's not the tradition. That's not the tradition that we do as Pharisees,

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us good religious Pharisees who know the Word of God, us and our rabbis who teach us. They

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know better than that. And here you're coming. Here you're in this position as a rabbi. You've

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got these people that are following you. Surely you know what their tradition is and what

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the rules are. So why don't your disciples wash their hands? Now, the Pharisees weren't

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concerned with hygiene. That was not really a big deal. You know, it wasn't until the

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1800s, 1847, this German doctor by the name of Simawise figured out that doctors and surgeons

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need to wash their hands to stop germs from spreading. 1847, it took that long for people

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to realize you need to wash your hands. He discovered that all the babies in one wing

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of their hospital was dying and was able to determine that, hey, those who were dealing

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with corpses and doing autopsies were then delivering babies. And that's the problem.

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They were bringing germs. That's a whole other story. Anyway, they weren't concerned with

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hygiene. The disciples, the Pharisees, they weren't concerned with hygiene. That didn't

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come to them much later. What the Pharisees were concerned with was what they thought

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was what God desired. Now, what they thought was what God desired was far beyond any of

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the commands of scripture. What they were talking about when it talked about the disciples

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did not wash their hands was not hygiene. It was about defilement. It was about uncleanliness.

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Because in the Old Testament law, God had quite a few laws. And some of those laws dealt

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with people being unclean. Sometimes you may hear it referred to as ceremonial unclean.

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Now, to be unclean does not necessarily mean that someone is a sinner. It doesn't mean

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that. Now, certainly there's symbolism there. I believe that's part of the reason why God

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talked about that uncleanness and maybe part of the reason why God implemented some of

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those unclean uncleanliness laws and restrictions maybe was partly due to hygiene. It's possible

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that some of the reasons that God told them to do the things that they did was to keep

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them safe on some level. But God gave a lot of commands in regards to things that would

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make someone unclean. And not even bad things. Some of them were just normal good things,

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things that just occur naturally that would result in people being unclean. And some of

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these things were very serious. Some of the things that people would have like lepers,

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for instance, people who had leprosy. Well, they were unclean and they had to be separated

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from the rest of the people. It was a very serious thing. Now, again, it's not that lepers

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were sinful or that they were evil or that they were being punished. But nonetheless,

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God said, hey, look, these who have this skin disease, they need to be separated from the

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rest of the group. And anyone who encounters a leper would be unclean. And there are a

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variety of things which would make someone unclean. Here's one example, just so we can

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kind of know what we're talking about. One example of that is found in Numbers chapter

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19 verse 11. The person who touches any human corpse will be unclean for seven days. He

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is to purify himself with water on the third day and the seventh day. Then he will be clean.

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But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. Anyone

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who touches a body of a person who has died and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle

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of the Lord. That person will be cut off from Israel. He remains unclean because the water

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for impurity has not been sprinkled on him and his uncleanness is still on him.

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OK, so the Old Testament is full of a lot of commands like this. In this example, if

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you touch a dead body, you're unclean until you go through the proper washing. You wash

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your clothes and you wash up in the way that's prescribed that God tells you to. This is

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the idea that the Pharisees have in mind when they approach Jesus and say, why don't your

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disciples wash their hands before they eat? What they are saying is any good rabbi would

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know that what you should do is that you should make sure that you are clean and that you

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are not unclean before you eat food. Now, what the Pharisees did, what their problem

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was is that they were following traditions of men because nowhere in the Old Testament

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did God ever command the people. You have to wash yourself in a certain way every time

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before you eat. You have to wash all the utensils you use. You have to wash the furniture that

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you'll be seated on. Yet these are all things that the Pharisees believed and did. Mark

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7 gives us a little more detail about that. These are the types of things that they would

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do. Here's what the Pharisees would do. Kind of give you an idea of how this would play

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out. They would look at a command like this, anybody that touches the dead body is unclean.

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They would say, okay, well that person's unclean, but what if that person touched another person

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and that person maybe touched the utensils that we're going to use or sat on the chair

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that we're going to use. If it's unclean to touch a dead body and somebody might have

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touched somebody who might have touched something, then therefore that uncleanliness could have

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spread. So the only way that we can make sure that we're always clean is that we always

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wash all the time. And so this was a tradition that was passed down by men. This was not

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a command of God. This was a man-made tradition. And so what these Pharisees were saying to

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Jesus is, why are your disciples and you not following this tradition that we have made?

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So they asked Jesus this question and as Jesus does from time to time, he answers them with

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a question. And he says, why do you not follow the commands of God? Now they say, why don't

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you follow the commands of men? He says, why don't you follow the commands of God? And

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he gives them an example at the beginning of Matthew chapter 15. He says, why are you

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not honoring your parents? Because Moses said that you need to honor your father and your

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mother. But what it appears as though this group was doing is that they were neglecting,

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taking care of, and honoring their parents in some way, shape, or form. And what they

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were doing, Jesus says, is he says, what you say is that any help that you were going to

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give to your parents, you don't give to them because you say, oh, I've given that to the

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temple. Now some of your translations say you've given a gift of Corbin or you've given

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Corbin, which just means a gift to the temple. That is to say they were shirking their responsibilities

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to their parents for whatever reason. Oh, I'm sorry, I don't have the money or the means

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or the ability to help you because I've given it to the temple of God. And so they were

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justifying their not fulfilling and living by the commands of God saying, but we're doing

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something better. We're given to the Lord. So there's, I mean, hey, I wish I could help

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my parents, but I can't. There's nothing left. I'm giving it to the Lord. Well, maybe they

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could have took something else that they were using and given that to their parents, still

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give the Lord the Lord's, but maybe they could have helped in some other way. But it's pretty

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clear that their hearts weren't right. And they did many things like these, it says in

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the book of Mark. So they had lots of these little things and lots of these ways that

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they knew the word of God and the commands of God, but they did not understand the heart

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of the command. The heart of the command is to love your parents and to take care of them

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and to respect them and to honor them even into their old age as they took care of you

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and you were young. So you take care of them when they're old. You don't try to shirk that

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responsibility and say, ah, the letter of the law says, and I'm fine. And that's what

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they would try to do. They would try to twist and pick these things out of the word of God

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to make it fit what they wanted to do. So they say to Jesus, Hey, why aren't you following

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these manmade rules that we go by? And Jesus says, why aren't you following the word of

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God? Now you can imagine this probably did not sit well with them. And we see that later

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on as you continue to read Matthew chapter 15 and then Jesus quotes from Isaiah chapter

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29 verse 13. He says, the prophet was right when he said this of you for these people

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honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Now that's a good verse. That

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is a good verse and that is a tough verse. And that's a verse that we need to think about

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for a second today. Now we can look at these Pharisees and these scribes and we can say,

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oh, these horrible people. Oh, they're just so religious and they just, they just, they're

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living for themselves and not for God, but hold up a second. And we need to make sure

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that we don't fall into the same trap because maybe it's very easy for us, even those who

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are Christians to get into these routines of, of religion and these routines that are

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traditions of me. And we have lots of traditions that I'm not saying that they're bad, but

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churches generally have lots of traditions that, that aren't commands of God. It are

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just things we do and they're not, they're not bad or good. They just are. But sometimes

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we, we get so, so caught up on our traditions that we kind of forget who we're here to serve,

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that we kind of forget the word of God and that our whole religion really becomes nothing

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more than just, well, I come to church sometimes and I know God's word pretty good and I pray

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every once in a while, I do all the things that a religious person should do and that's

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good enough. And those are things that we should do. But is that all we're doing? Because

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if that's all we're doing and our heart is not focused on God and we're just going through

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the motions kind of every week and every day, but we really have no desire, no heart to

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serve God and to serve others, then perhaps today, if we are honest with ourselves, we

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are those who honor God with our lips, but our hearts are far from it. And we don't like

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to think of ourselves as being those people, but we have to test ourselves because sometimes

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we fail. And it's okay today if you hear that word and the Holy Spirit speaking to you and

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you say, you know what? I failed in that way, God. Praise the Lord. That's why we read God's

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word. God's word, it's like a microscope that gets down into the deepest, darkest parts

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of our heart, parts and things that we may bury away that we may not realize and recognize.

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These folks that come to see Jesus, they thought they were pretty holy men. Turns out they

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weren't. Turns out Jesus says that they're blind, that the blind lead the blind and they

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both fall into the pit. We don't want to be those who are blinded today. We want to be

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those who say, God, let your word speak to my heart. God, let your word open my eyes

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so that I can see. God, let my mouth, when it speaks of you, speak words that come from

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the heart that honor you and praise you, words of service, words that lift you up, God, so

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that we don't become those who honor God with our lips, but that our hearts are far from

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Him. I want to read you that passage from Isaiah 29, 13 from a different translation.

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This is from the New English translation, kind of a more modern take on it, but nonetheless,

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it gets the point across in a good way. These people say they are loyal to me. They say

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wonderful things about me, but they are not really loyal to me. Their worship consists

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of nothing but man-made rituals. Are we those who say we are loyal to God? Are we those

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that say all the right things? Amen. Praise God. God is good. Do we really care in our

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heart? Do we really care? Do we just say the words because we know the words? You don't

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have to go to church long. You go to church a couple of months. You know all the words.

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You know all the phrases. And sometimes we might just get caught in the loop of saying

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those phrases and saying those words when we pray and saying them when we think the

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right time to say them is because that's what we're supposed to do. Well, saying those words

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are good. Saying amen and praise the Lord and all these things are good, but sometimes

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we don't say them from the right heart. Sometimes we say them because we know that's what we're

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supposed to say, but that's not really what our heart's feeling. It's good for us to be

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honest with ourselves and say, you know what, my heart's not always right. Jesus gives a

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hard word here. Maybe this word is speaking of us today. Maybe we fall into that trap

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of those who honor the Lord with our lips. We sit on the pew every week. We do some pretty

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good things. But what's your heart like today? What's your heart like? What's really deep

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down inside? And Jesus speaks this to these people and certainly they weren't happy to

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hear it. And maybe some of us aren't happy to hear it today. Maybe we are happy to hear

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it. If God has revealed to us today that our heart is not right, then praise God, we need

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to rejoice and we need to repent. God speaks to us through his word and through his Holy

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Spirit. And when God reveals to us things in our heart that shouldn't be there, then

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we need to say, God, you've got to help my heart. And so these guys didn't care about

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washing their hands. They cared about the traditions of men. And Jesus said, look, I'm

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not worried about man-made traditions. I'm worried about serving God and following his

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commands. And more importantly, what Jesus is most concerned about is what's in our heart.

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And so he said in the verse we started with, defilement does not come by what you eat.

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You see, this group said, oh, if you eat something that's touched something unclean, you're going

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to be unclean. And Jesus is saying, no, no, no, no, no. That uncleanness in the Old Testament,

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certainly in some way it was symbolic of what our sin is. Now, again, not to say that all

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those in the Old Testament who were unclean were sinful. Some of them were natural things.

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But nonetheless, it's symbolic of you and I that we are unclean before God, that we

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are like those leopards who are separated from God because of our uncleanliness, because

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of our sinfulness. And the only way for those who are unclean to be made clean in the Old

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Testament was to be washed. That's the only way. And certainly that's pointing us forward

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to Jesus Christ, who washes us by his blood so that our sins may be forgiven. That we

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are those today whose hearts are as black and as dark and as evil as they can be. And

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even when we strive to do our best and we seek God and we read his words and we desire

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to live by his commands, there are things in our heart that creep up. There are things

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that should not be there. And Jesus said, look, don't worry about what you eat. These

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Pharisees didn't need to worry about what they ate. These disciples of Jesus didn't

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need to worry about what they ate. What Jesus says, what comes from the mouth is what defiles

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a man because what comes from the mouth comes from the overflow of the heart. So not just

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what we speak, but all of our actions. Everything we do shows what's in our heart. Now we can

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fake people out for a little while. You can have a lot of real evil in your heart. You

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can be a pretty rough person, a pretty bad person, and you can hide that for a little

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while. But ultimately our heart will reveal itself. And that's a scary thing. And you

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know that's a scary thing because there's been some times in your life that there's

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some things in your heart that revealed itself. That you said that thing that you've been

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harboring for years and then one day it comes out. That you acted in such a way that you

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shouldn't have acted. Sometimes those things that are deep down in our heart that shouldn't

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be there, they make their way out and Jesus wants us to examine our heart. Chances are

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I'm going to go on a limb and say every one of us has something in our heart today, maybe

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a lot of stuff in our hearts today that shouldn't be there. And maybe some of it we hadn't dealt

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with and we hadn't wanted to deal with because we're just stewing over something. And maybe

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some of them we are dealing with and we're praying to God and we're saying, God, I need

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you to help me. It's there. I don't want it to be there. And we keep failing and we keep

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struggling and those thoughts keep coming and those feelings keep coming. Then we just

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keep coming to God and say, okay, God, I need you to help change my heart. Change my heart,

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oh God. Open up my eyes. I want to see your glory coming in my life. You know those are

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the words of a VBS song. That's the importance of VBS. I learned those words years ago. That's

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my prayer sometimes, the words from that kids song from VBS. God, change my heart, oh God.

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Open up my eyes so I can see your glory coming in my life. That's what Jesus is talking about

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here. He's not talking about what we eat. He's not talking about washing our hands.

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So he says this and the disciples come to him and they say, look, Jesus, these guys

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has come up to you. They're not happy about this. And he says, look, leave them alone,

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he says. Let them be. The blind lead the blind. They'll fall into a pit, he says. Leave them

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alone. And then his disciples come to him as they often do. When you read God's word

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and you're confused and you say, I do not know what that means. Don't feel bad. Jesus's

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disciples did it all the time. They would say, Jesus, can you explain that to us, please?

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We don't get that. It's hard sometimes to understand. And then Jesus explains it and

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often, more times than not, he's like, oh, well, that's super easy now that he's explained

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it to us. And so when you don't understand the word of God, don't fret. Don't think that

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you're dumb or you're not a good enough Christian. Do what the disciples did. Say, Lord, I need

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you to help me to understand this. God, I don't quite understand your word. I need you

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to help me to understand your word. And that's exactly what Jesus did.

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In Matthew chapter 15, verse 15, then Peter replied to him, explain this parable to us.

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Are even you still lacking in understanding? He asked. Don't you realize that whatever

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goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated. But what comes out of the

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mouth comes from the heart. And this defiles a man. So even Jesus's disciples, they weren't

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quite sure about all this defilement, what this man about eating and washing your hands

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and what this had to do with anything. And Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. And

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the heart of the matter is the heart of the matter. That Jesus says, look, defilement

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comes from within you. What is within you needs to be changed. Our hearts that are within

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us that are full of evil and full of selfishness and full of sin. Jesus says that is where

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things need to start. Now, if you want to flip with me to Mark chapter seven, Mark chapter

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seven, very similar to what comes next in Matthew. However, Mark elaborates a little

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bit more on the last part of this. Mark chapter seven, Mark chapter seven, verse 21. In Matthew

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15, Jesus gives a list of some things that are in the heart. And Mark gives the same

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list except he gives us a few more things to chew on, a few more things to think about.

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Now think about this as we read through this list of things that Jesus says come from the

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heart. And let's examine our hearts today. Let's see if there's any of these things

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that are in our heart. Mark chapter seven, verse 21. Far from within, out of people's

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hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions,

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deceit, promiscuity, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things

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come from within and defile a person. That's a pretty good list right there. I suspect

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that if we are honest, there are probably some things on that list that we struggle

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with. Maybe a lot of things on that list that we struggle with. And Jesus says, look, these

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are the things that defile a man. These are the things that are in our hearts. Evil thoughts.

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If we can stop for a second without even reading the rest of these things, if we begin to focus

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on our thoughts and refocus our mind, we would probably be able to eliminate a lot of the

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things on this list. But we get these evil thoughts in our minds. We get jealousy in

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our mind. We see people and we are so jealous of who they are and what they have. It causes

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a hatred to build us in us and hatred leads to murder or a variety of other things. We

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see the things that other people have and we become envious so much so that we want

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to do anything we can so that we can keep up with them and have what they have. And

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that leads us sometimes to being greedy and wanting more and more and more. And a lot

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of things that we dwell on in our mind, that we focus on in our mind, they just consume

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us because we think about these evil things all the time. And then eventually when we

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think about enough, eventually they come to be. Eventually we act on those things. And

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we need to deal with those things. We need to deal with our mind, that our mind is a

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mind that's focused on God. That our heart would be a heart that does not dwell on these

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sinful things. But that our heart would be a heart that is changed by God. So maybe there

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are some of these things in our heart today that shouldn't be there. Maybe there are some

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of these things that are built up in your life, in my life. These are things that we

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need to begin to deal with. I don't know what your heart is like today. I don't know. I

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hope your heart is good. But I know this, none of us have a perfect heart. There are

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probably some things in there that's been kind of hiding and tucked away that maybe

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you don't realize are there. Maybe there are some obvious things that you do realize are

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there. Maybe there's some hatred you have for another person. Maybe somebody has done

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you wrong. And maybe you know you shouldn't harbor that kind of hatred and those kind

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of feelings, but you just can't bear to let it go. And so you just let it grow in your

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heart. And that affects us. When sin grows in our heart and we don't deal with that sin

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and we don't repent of that sin, then it affects us. It affects our attitudes. It affects how

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we treat other people. It affects our relationship with God. But what Jesus desires is that our

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hearts are changed. And the only one who can change our heart is the Lord. The only one

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who can change it is the Lord, is Jesus Christ. And our hearts must be changed. Jeremiah said

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that our heart is deceitful above all. It's full of wickedness, Jeremiah says. So we've

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got to be careful with our hearts. Our hearts can lie to us sometimes. We have to be real

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careful because sometimes people will say stuff like this. They'll say, oh, well, I

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feel like this is right or I need to do this because I just feel it in my heart. Well,

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your heart is deceitful above all. So you need to recognize that. Sometimes what your

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heart is telling you is not really from a good heart because our hearts full of all

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this junk that's there. Let's flip to Jeremiah. We'll close with these scriptures. Jeremiah

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chapter 17, nine is the passage I just read to you. Jeremiah chapter 17, Jeremiah chapter

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17, verse one, that's in the Old Testament. God is getting on to Judah here because of

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their sinfulness. That's what we see in Jeremiah 17 verse one. It says this, the sin of Judah

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is written with an iron stylus with a diamond point. It is engraved on the tablets of their

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heart. That's pretty serious with an iron stylus with a diamond point. Now, diamond

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is one of the hardest, if not the hardest mineral that we have in this world. You can

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use a diamond to cut through everything. And what does God say here in reference to that?

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He says with a diamond, their sin is engraved on the tablet of their heart. That's to say

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their heart's in a bad shape. There's a lot of sin there. It is ingrained in the hardness

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of their heart with a diamond. They're in pretty bad shape. And there may be some of

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us in here today, if we're honest, that we're in pretty bad shape, that we've been living

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in a lot of sin and a lot of disobedience to God and our heart is hard and our heart

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is in a bad shape and our sin is ever before us. And then it's not long after that that,

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he says in Jeremiah 17 verse nine, the heart is more deceitful than anything else and incurable.

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Who can understand it? So our hearts are pretty wicked. Praise the Lord. God desires to change

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our hearts and even God's people whose sin was written on their heart. As we see in Jeremiah

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17, God gives them good news. God gives them good news. And Jeremiah 31 and Jeremiah 31

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33, God says this, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those

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days, the Lord's declaration. I will put my teaching within them and I will write it on

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their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. Do you notice what God

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said there? What happened before in Jeremiah 17? What was written on their heart? It was

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sin that was written on their heart. But God says, I want to establish and will establish

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a new covenant with my people and then in their heart will be written me. God will be

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written in our hearts. And what a beautiful, beautiful truth that is for us today. That

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we may have come into this room today with hearts that are full of things that should

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not be there. But if God is going to begin to work in our lives today, tomorrow, next

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week during our revival, if God is going to move in our life, then we have to have a heart

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that is ready for God to move. We have to have a heart that is ready for God to hear

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God's word. The Pharisees and scribes that came to Jesus, they did not have a heart that

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was ready to hear God. They did not have a heart that was ready to listen to Jesus. What

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about you and I today? Do we have a heart that is ready to listen to God? If we're living

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in sin, then our heart's not where it needs to be. If we're living in sin and we're not

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studying God's word and we're not repenting of our sin and we're not seeking God, then

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we're not going to find him. I ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock

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and the door will be opened. God is there for us today if we would only call upon him.

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God is here today if you would seek him. We come into this room today with hearts that

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are just wicked, with things that we would cringe if people knew today what was in our

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hearts. God knows what's in our hearts. You know the craziest part? God knows what's in

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your heart, that thing that you would not even dare want anybody else to know. God says,

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I love you and I want to forgive you of that. God says, I want to change your heart. I want

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to cleanse your heart. I want to make you a new man and a new woman. I want to write

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my words and my commands on your heart. I want to be your God and I want you to be my

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people. That's what God tells us and that's what Jesus wants us to get. He wants us to

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understand what he's talking about here. He wants us to understand where we are and the

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evil that's within us so that we can call on him, the only one who can save us, the

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only ones who can cleanse our hearts and make them as white as snow is Jesus Christ. May

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we be those today who pour out our heart before God, that we would open up our heart to God

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today and this week as we prepare for these cottage prayer meetings, that this would be

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a time that we would confess our sins to one another, that we would be those who lift up

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our burdens to one another, that we would be those who praise God, that we would be

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those who say, God, I need a heart transplant. Here I am, dear Lord. I'm ready for you to

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come and work in my life. I hope that we choose that option. But those Pharisees and scribes

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that heard Jesus speak that day, it doesn't sound like they chose the right option. It

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sounded like they heard the word of God and dismissed it. I pray that this morning that

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none of us would be those who would hear the word of God and dismiss it, that we would

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hear the word of God and put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that our hearts can

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be changed to hearts that live for God. Let's pray. Father God, we come to you this morning.

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We thank you for your good word. Dear Lord, I pray that you be with us. God, we need you.

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God, I know for sure there are certainly things in my heart that need work. And maybe there

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are others in this room today that know that their heart's not what it should be. Maybe

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there are some things that they're struggling with. I pray that you just help them, dear

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Lord, just to keep struggling, not to give in, to keep fighting those temptations, dear

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Lord, of the things that are within us, dear Lord. But God, we don't even want to have

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to deal with those things. We want to overcome those things. Dear Lord, temptation will always

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be before us. But the closer we draw to you, the more that we seek you, the more that we

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live by your commands, the stronger we become, dear Lord. And it's through your power that

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you forgive our sins and you help us to overcome those temptations in our life. So dear Lord,

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I pray that today that your Holy Spirit, even now, has started to show us things in our

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heart that maybe we don't realize. Maybe we give ourselves a little bit too much credit,

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dear Lord. Sometimes we think we're a little better than we are. But dear Lord, what we

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are is we're wretched sinners in need of a Savior. So dear Lord, I pray that today that

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we would seek Jesus Christ, that we would call on him, God. Maybe there are some in

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this room today that do not know Jesus. Maybe they have come into this room today and they

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are no better than Judas we saw in Jeremiah, dear Lord. And their sin is engraved on their

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heart today, dear Lord. But God, I pray today that their heart would be changed. That God,

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it would not be their sin that defines them. That they would no longer give in to that

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sin, dear Lord, but it would be a new life in Jesus Christ that would define them. That

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they would repent of their sins today. That they would put their faith in Jesus today.

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That they would ask you to forgive them today, dear Lord. That they would give up the sin

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and that they would turn to the Savior. That you would write a new law in their hearts,

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dear Lord. That you would make them a new man and a new woman today, a new creation

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in Jesus Christ, dear Lord. I pray that you'd be with us as a church as we prepare for revival,

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God. That you would help our hearts as individuals to be where it needs to be. I pray, God, that

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you'd bless us and help us to prepare to hear your word and to grow in your word in the

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next couple of weeks. God, I pray as a church that you would help us as a church to have

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a good heart. That you would give us a heart, dear Lord, that focus on the things that you

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want us to focus on, dear Lord. That our heart would reflect your heart. That we would not

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look to our own man-made traditions and our own human desires, dear Lord. But that we

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would seek you in all that we do, God. That we would seek your words and your commands.

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And I pray, God, that you bless these words today. Let your spirit work among us. Bless

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us as we prepare for these baptisms. God, if anyone's made a decision today, if anyone's

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put their faith in Jesus today as we prepare to sing, I pray that they would come forward,

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dear Lord, so that we can rejoice with them. God, maybe there are some today that just

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need prayer. I pray that they would come forward in this time of invitation. And I ask these

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things in Jesus' name. Amen.