The choir comes down and Junior Church is dismissed.
If you have your Bibles, if you would join me
in opening the Gospel of Matthew, as we make
our way through this study of this precious Gospel.
We'll hold as our text this morning, verses 10
down through verse 20. When he, that is Jesus,
called the multitude to himself, he said to them,
Hear and understand. Pay attention, guys, is
what he's saying there. Now what goes into the
mouth, it's not what goes into the mouth that
defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth,
this defiles a man. Then his disciples came and
said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were
offended when they heard this saying? But he
answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly
Father has not planted, Will be uprooted. It's
going to be pulled up. Leave them alone. They
are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind
leads the blind. Both will fall into a ditch.
Then Peter answered and said to him. Explain
this parable to us. Explain what you just said.
So Jesus said. Are you also still without understanding?
Do you not yet understand that whatever enters
the mouth. goes into the stomach and is eliminated.
But those things which proceed out of the mouth,
they come from the heart, and they defile man.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
man. But to eat with unwashed hands, does not
defile man. This is the word of God this morning.
Would you join me as we ask God's help and understanding?
Father, we thank you for your precious word.
God, we ask for the spirit of God to illumine
the text to us, Lord. Feed us from manna on high.
Feed us with Christ, Lord. God, this is your
word. It is rich. It is profitable. Lord, I pray
that, Lord, you would make it effective in the
lives of your people this morning by means of
your spirit. Lord, help me to be a vessel that
will be used for your glory and honor. Lord,
I pray that you would set a guard over my mouth
this morning, Lord. I am prone, Lord, to speak
too many words. God, would you help me, Lord,
not to speak one word more than is needed and
to keep me back from speaking one word that might
be unprofitable. God, would you help me in this,
I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, if we're going
to understand this passage this morning, you
have to understand the immediate context. which
really is verses 1 through 9, which is what we
looked at last week. But even if you weren't
here, we can still understand the text. See,
at this point in his ministry, the Lord Jesus
is wildly popular. And his popularity has grown
because he's done these mighty acts. He's healing
the sick. On occasion, he's raised the dead.
On two occasions, he's fed a hungry multitude.
So if you have anyone sick in your family, let's
get them to Jesus. And so he's really, his fame
has taken off at this point. And it's spread
everywhere, even down to Jerusalem, to the capital
city. But not only has word of his miracles,
but word of his teaching has spread. His miracles
gave credibility to what he taught. But there
was something different about Jesus. He was popular,
but he was different. He was different in that
he would not toe the party line. He refused to
follow the scribes and Pharisees' devotion to
ancient tradition. All the leaders at that time,
they followed tradition. The Mishnah, the oral
tradition of the law. But Jesus didn't. He refused
to do so. So therefore, we find in verses 1 through
9, particularly verse 2, a group of scribes and
Pharisees had been sent to Galilee in the north,
and they're going to challenge Jesus on this
particular point. They wanted to know. Why don't
your disciples follow tradition of the elders?
It's ancient. And we see that in verse 2. Why
do your disciples transgress the tradition of
the elders? How are they doing that? Well, on
this occasion, because they don't wash their
hands before they eat bread. Now, this concern,
we said last week, has nothing to do with hygiene.
It has everything to do with ritual purity in
the law of Moses. The scribes and Pharisees,
they both believed that if you ate without first
ceremonially washing your hands, then that defiled
you. You become unclean. Ritual defilement in
the eyes of the law. But there's one problem.
That belief was not based on God's word. Rather,
it was based on a tradition that had developed
through the ages. And the Pharisees' eyes, in
particular, if you broke with tradition, in their
eyes, That was tantamount to breaking God's law.
That's where the rub really came in. But Jesus
said, not only is that untrue, he called it hypocrisy.
The Pharisees he called a group of hypocrites,
and we saw that last week. The Pharisees were
fastidious in the way they sought to obey tradition.
They dotted their I's and crossed their T's.
But Jesus said, you can be as fastidious as you
want. You can be as zealous as you want. But
all of that is in vain. It's all for nothing.
These were man -made, self -imposed regulations,
and they were of no value at all in God's eyes.
See, the truth is the Pharisees were concerned
about hands, and Jesus was concerned about the
heart. And that's what we find here this morning.
Now, the Lord had been in large clouds. They
were standing there. And the crowds saw that
interaction between him and the Pharisees, and
he did not want the crowds to be influenced by
the Pharisees' teachings, so he called them over
to himself, and he's going to instruct them.
And by the way, the scribes and Pharisees, the
religious officials, they're standing right there.
Verse 10. So when he called the multitude to
himself, he said to them, Listen up, guys. I
want you to hear something. Understand. It is
not what goes into your mouth that defiles you,
but what comes out of your mouth. That's what
defiles you. So you see, Christ is a good shepherd.
He's warning and protecting the people about
false teaching. But what was so insidious and
dangerous was this false teaching came from official
religious teachers, scribes and Pharisees. Their
teaching's not neutral. It was harmful. It was
false. And verse 11 is the key to this whole
passage. He said, it's not what goes into your
mouth that defiles you. It's rather what comes
out that is defiling. Now, to say that nothing
that goes into the mouth, that nothing that you
eat would be defiling, would have been a radical
and a revolutionary statement for the Jewish
people to hear at that time. What do you mean
nothing we eat is defiling? And Jesus said, no,
it's not what goes in, but what comes out. That's
what's important. Well, if that be the case,
why then were all those dietary laws and restrictions
in place? Why did they have the kosher laws?
If food is not defiling, how is one defiled?
Now, friends, how you answer that today is very
important. Where do you see the source of the
problem? See, the Pharisees saw defilement coming
from the outside in. They believed that you became
unclean when you had contact with the wrong people,
Gentiles, wrong food, non -kosher, wrong places.
Then you were defiled. So when you had contact
with something unclean, then you became unclean.
And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, disagreed.
And he said, no, true defilement originates from
within. It starts in your heart. Your heart,
and in this case the inner man, the operating
system, it is already defiled, by the way, which
is what leads to corrupt thoughts, which leads
to corrupt words, which leads to corrupt actions.
See, your problem is not outside of you. Your
most serious problem lies inside. But the Pharisees,
they saw the problem as everything around them.
And that blinded them to the true problem that
was within them. So again, think how they thought.
You're clean until you touch something unclean.
And particularly in this case, let's say your
hands are now defiled, which then touches your
food. Then you, with your hands, put the food
in your mouth. The food goes down in, and then
you become defiled all over. That's what they
believed. But Jesus... flatly and strongly contradict
their teaching. He says, you have it backwards.
Completely backwards. And by the way, the law
of God, the Torah, that which God gave to Moses,
agreed with Jesus. Remember, Pharisees' teaching
is based on tradition. Jesus is following the
law of God. How do we know that? Jeremiah 17
.9. Jeremiah writing, he said, the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who
can know it? In Proverbs 4, the author says,
keep your heart with all diligence. Why? Why
be so concerned about the heart? And we're not
talking about the physical organ pumping blood,
obviously. He said because it's out of the heart
springs the issues of life. Your heart is the
operating system of your life. If it's defiled,
your life is defiled. And that's what the Pharisees
couldn't see. See, if the problem is just outside
of us, then all we need to really do is obey
rules. Keep away from the contaminant. In this
case, food. So you have a bunch of rules. Don't
touch that. Don't taste that. Don't do that.
Then you're holy. But if the problem is inside
of you, well, you have a much bigger problem.
If the heart is the problem, well, what's the
solution? It can't be rules. You need a new heart.
Not do you just need a new heart. You need a
new birth. And that's what Jesus told Nicodemus
in John chapter 3. Now keep in mind, who is Nicodemus?
A leading Pharisee. Let's look at that conversation
in John 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This is an important
figure, by the way. This is not some come -by
-night guy. This man, I say it's not some come
-by -night guy, and look at verse 2. This came
to Jesus by night, but you understand what I
meant. And he said to him, Rabbi, teacher. We
know that you're a teacher come from God. You
have to be because look at all the works. No
one can do these signs that you do unless God
is with them. So Nicodemus is an honorable guy.
He's a pious guy. He's like, there's no way you
can be false. Look at all these miracles. Jesus
is not impressed by flattery. Jesus answered
and said to him, most assuredly I say to you,
unless one is born again, born from above, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Flatly. You don't
see it. Nicodemus said to him, well, he's thinking
very concretely. How can a man be born when he's
old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's
womb and be born? It's a ridiculous statement.
Of course not. No. Jesus said, he didn't clarify
though, did he? Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born of water and the spirit, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God. What's the point?
Man's inner corruption, mankind's inner corruption,
it's so pervasive, so all -encompassing, that
he must have a new birth if he's going to enter
into God's kingdom. He needs the Spirit of God
to give him a new heart. We need new operating
centers. Now, I think, keep in mind, to whom
is the Lord speaking? To Nicodemus. The leading,
a leading religious figure, a leading Pharisee,
a teacher of people. This man's life, Nicodemus
would have lived an exemplary life. He was righteous.
He was God -fearing. He looked pious. And Jesus
told him, even you need to be born again. This
has implications for us. And let me just talk
to parents for a moment. This has implications
for the way we parent as well. If you have a
wrong view of man's ultimate problem, you will
give your kids the wrong solution. If you believe
the primary problem is outside us, it's just
the world and evil people. And by the way, the
world is evil and people are evil. But if that's
the primary problem, then you're going to shelter
your kids, you're going to protect them. How?
With rules. And you'll neglect where the real
problem lies in your child's heart. The problem's
not the enemy without, it's the enemy within.
And sadly, sadly, sadly, many parents have done
this. They have reared their children to be good,
moral people and not Christians. And you see
it. How? Because they focus more on behavior
than heart. Too many parents, in the name of
Jesus, are only concerned with how their children
look and behave. As long as their children grow
up to be honest, financially independent and
hardworking, well, then that's all that parent
can ask for, right? Then all must be well. But
Christianity is not and has never been about
looking good. It's about loving God. You can
be hardworking, honest, industrious, and not
love God at all. Many people, many children have
been reared in Christian homes, and they've grown
up to lead clean, moral lives that are indifferent
to God. and that is not Christianity. See, genuine
Christianity is a work that is done in the inner
man, which can only be accomplished by the Holy
Spirit of God. You and I can't do it. And it's
easy to parent like a Pharisee. And we all find
ourselves falling into that trap. My wife and
I can fall into that trap. And how do you do
that? When you merely focus on behavior, but
you ignore the heart that lies behind the behavior.
You just want them to... Toe the line, if you
will. And so many of us will assume if they're
respectful and mannerly, well then our job as
a parent is done. Friends, that's moralism. And
that will damn your child. I'm not saying, hear
me correctly, I'm not saying behavior doesn't
matter. Of course it does. I'm not saying there
aren't ever any rules. Of course there must be.
But behavior that does not come from a heart
that has been changed by God and loves God is
not pleasing to God. If your heart, or what you
do, doesn't flow from a heart that has been changed
that loves God, it's not pleasing to Him. See,
what Jesus said was at odds with the religious
figures of His day, but I fear many times it's
at odds with the religious figures of our day.
Verse 12. His disciples came and said, Hey, What
you just said, do you know it was offensive to
the Pharisees? They heard you. Now, why would
they say this? Because Jesus' disciples were
like the rest of Israel. They held the Pharisees
in high regard because they were deeply respected
in society. They would have been the upper crust.
They would have been the people everyone looked
up to. So they were thinking, Jesus, you need
to be careful. You're making some powerful enemies
and you're offending them. By the way, you could
get in some hot water, Jesus. Wouldn't it be
better if you acted in a more conciliatory manner?
Be a little more cordial, you know? Of course,
Jesus was offending them. He knew he was offending
them. He contradicted their view of holiness,
and he refused, flat out refused, to follow their
traditions. So how did he respond to their concern?
Was he like, oh, okay, yeah, I better soften
the language. Verse 13. He said, Every plant
that my Heavenly Father has not planted will
be uprooted, and just leave them alone. Leave
the Pharisees alone. They are blind leaders of
blind people. Earlier he called them hypocrites.
If the blind leads the blind, both are going
to fall into a ditch. Every plant which the Heavenly
Father did not plant will be uprooted. Jesus
was not at all concerned that these men were
offended. In fact, he doubled down, and here's
what he said. He said, they don't belong to God.
These were the official teachers of Israel, but
they were not of God. And since they did not
belong to God, he said, they will be eventually
uprooted. That means this is the language of
judgment. They're going to be judged one day.
They're going to be judged by God Almighty for
how they misled his people. What God does not
plant will not survive. They will be plucked
up as if they are a weed. That's what he's saying
here. And in verse 14, he says, leave them alone.
Yes, others in society may regard them as eminent
teachers of the law. But don't you. Because they're
not. Instead, he said, the Pharisees, the people
you're talking about, they are blind. And this
is the irony here. The Pharisees were experts
at discerning clean from unclean, but they could
not even discern their own lack of sight. They
were blind, but they didn't know it. They believed
it was their job as Pharisees to guide Israel
into truth. And Jesus said, leave them alone.
They're blind guides leading blind people, and
both of them are going to fall straight into
a ditch. If you follow them and their ways, it
ends in destruction. And we see that over in
Matthew 23, verse 15. Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, you hypocrites. For you travel land
and sea to win one proselyte. And when he has
won, you make him twice as much a son of hell
as yourselves. These men diligently studied the
law of God, but they failed to understand it.
Why? They were blinded by their own tradition.
Now, verse 15, Peter then speaks, as normally
he's the spokesman for the group, and he said,
explain what you mean to us, Jesus. So now it
appears that the crowd is no longer with Jesus.
It looks like you have the 12 there, all right?
Peter, the spokesman of the 12, he's asking Jesus,
explain what you just said. What do you mean
they are uprooted plants and blind guides? How
are the Pharisees blind guides? I mean, they're
the most devout, serious students of the law.
Verse 16. Jesus said, and do you still not understand?
Do you still not get it? The language here is
actually a little bit like Jesus seemed surprised,
almost shocked. Really, Peter? You don't get
what I'm saying? And Peter didn't quite understand
yet. How were the Pharisees wrong? Why wouldn't
you wash your hands before you eat? But understand
this, what Jesus was teaching was radical at
that time. Dietary laws had always, and I mean
always, been an important part of their daily
life. You go back to the Torah, go back to the
law, Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14, they find
a list of animals prescribed that differentiated
between clean you could eat and unclean you couldn't.
So dietary laws, kosher laws, were part and parcel
of being a Jew. It's a part of your identity.
This is why Peter was, he's like, what do you
mean? Now, Jesus wasn't contradicting the law.
Remember, the Pharisees said you had to wash,
ceremony, wash your hands before you ate. The
law never said that. But we come to Acts chapter
10. This is after Christ has risen from the dead,
sent out his church. Peter is still not quite
sure what all this means. In fact, when the Gentiles
are going to be brought into salvation, Peter
sees a vision in Acts 10, and it concerns these
dietary laws. The next day, as they went on their
journey, they drew near the city. Peter went
up on the housetop to pray about the six hours,
noon, hot part of the day. He became very hungry.
He wanted to eat. It's lunchtime. But while they
made ready, he fell into a trance. He starts
to see a vision. And he saw heaven opened and
an object like a great sheet bound at the four
corners descending to him let down to the earth.
What was in that sheet? In it were all kinds
of four -footed animals of the earth. wild beasts,
creeping things, birds of the air. And a voice
from heaven says, Rise, Peter. Kill them and
eat them. Peter said, No, not so, Lord. I have
never eaten anything common or unclean. Peter's
a good Jew. He's keeping kosher. Leviticus 11,
Deuteronomy 14. And a voice spoke to him again
a second time. Peter, what God has cleansed you
must not call common. What God calls clean, no
longer call unclean. What God is cleaning, Now
he's referring to Gentile people. Don't call
common. Don't call unclean. They're coming in.
Now this was done three times, and then the object
was taken back up into heaven. Peter's there
on the rooftop, very hungry, and he says he wondered
within himself what this vision meant. He had
to think, I'm hearing God's voice wrong. This
vision can't be of God. Are you telling me Leviticus
11, Deuteronomy 14 are no longer binding? Is
that what you're saying? Get this, church. In
Christ, the dietary restrictions were fulfilled.
They are no longer binding, but they could not
understand that at the time. Understand the issue.
Even when God gave Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy
14, when God gave those dietary laws, it was
never about food. Those laws were given to show
Israel they had been set apart. That's God's
holy people. They were clean. So the laws between
clean and unclean were given to point to the
need of cleansing. They were given to show something.
They were shown a distinction here. But now,
in Christ, these restrictions were fulfilled
how? By Jesus' life, death, and resurrection,
because that's what achieved the ultimate cleansing
and purity. which is what the food law symbolized.
They've never made you clean, folks, ever, never,
never, never. They're pointing to something greater.
The greater came. The lesser is no longer needed.
In Jesus, we are clean. We are made pure. But
at this time, the disciples still don't get it.
They're still dull, and we understand that. So
Jesus had to explain what he meant. Look at verse
17. Don't you get it, guys? Don't you yet understand?
Whatever you eat, it just goes in the stomach,
it's digested, it's eliminated. It can't defile
you. Food cannot defile you because why? It can't
touch your heart. It doesn't go into the deepest
recesses of your soul. On the contrary, what
you eat goes into the stomach and begins to be
digested. So your body is going to extract the
minerals and nutrients that it can, and then
everything else, all the waste product is going
to be excreted, and nothing that is defiling
remains in the body. That's digestion. Okay.
But, on the other hand, verse 18. But the things
which come out of the mouth, they come from the
heart. And they do defile man. What comes out
is what defiles. That is a Copernican revolution
in Jewish thinking. What are you saying, Jesus?
It is not unclean people. It is not unclean places,
nor is it unclean food that defile you. Your
unclean hearts make you unacceptable to God.
This is the way it's always been. True defilement
does not come from outside. It originates within
us. So you say, what is wrong with the world?
I am. You are. G .K. Chesterton, I think, that
was one of the major newspapers that submitted
a contest said, asking people what's wrong with
the world, and he submitted a two -word response,
I am. What's the problem? Us. We are the problem.
How? Our hearts are not clean before God. Look
at verses 19 and 20. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts and murders and adulteries and
fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies.
Jesus starts a list of myriad of things that
flow from unclean hearts, but he begins with
evil thoughts. Why? Because evil thoughts give
rise to evil actions. Earlier, in verses 1 through
9, what we looked at last week, do you remember
what he accused the Pharisees of breaking? He
said, you broke the fifth commandment, which
requires you to honor your parents. You violated
that. But now he shows how the other commandments
are being broken as well by unclean hearts. Now
stay with me here. Out of the heart comes first
evil thoughts. Now, really, to have evil thoughts
is a violation of the Tenth Commandment. What
is the Tenth Commandment? You shall not covet.
What is covetousness? It's a strong desire to
have what someone else has. And when you covet
too much, it leads to things. When you really
want what someone else has, you're going to try
to take it. Okay, so it leads to things like
murder. That's a violation of the Sixth Commandment.
It leads to adultery. You want your neighbor's
wife or fornication. You want that woman or that
man. That's a violation of the seventh commandment.
It leads to theft. It's a violation of the eighth
commandment. It leads to false witness. That's
a violation of the ninth commandment. It leads
to blasphemies against God and against our fellow
man, speaking evil of them. It's a violation
of the third commandment. Now do you see the
progression? From evil hearts, come evil thoughts,
which lead to evil actions, and then leads to
evil speech. The problem is pervasive. All of
it is disordered. Do you see the problem? It's
the heart. If you fix your heart, then these
actions will also be fixed. Now this list is
not exhaustive. It's not as though if you avoid
these sins, well now you're in the clear, because
that was the mistakes the Pharisees made. Don't
murder? Okay, well technically I'm not taking
a life. Don't commit adultery? Technically I'm
not sleeping with her. They believed in holiness
by rule keeping. But the Ten Commandments were
not given for that purpose. The Decalogue, the
Ten Commandments were given to show how corrupt
our hearts really are. We have broken them. Jesus
talked about that in the Sermon on the Mount.
Okay, you've not committed adultery. Have you
ever lusted in your heart ever? You violate it.
Okay, you've not committed murder. Have you ever
been really angry? Okay, you violated the intention.
So it shows us how we've broken the law and it
also shows the resulting guilt we have before
God. There's God's standard, yes. But they're
given to show how we've transgressed that standard.
The first one, thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Has there ever been a time in your
life where you wanted something above God? Can
you say that you have loved God with all your
heart, mind, soul, body, and strength at all
times, perfectly, in every way, every second
of your entire life? Of course not. Then you're
an idolater. You've broken God's law. See, we
sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners
because we sin. You were born a sinner. So what
is going to come from the sinner? Sin. We are
not made sinners because we sin. I hope that
you understand the distinction there. Jesus said
we are corrupt from within. We don't go corrupt,
grow corrupt from without. Which is why, where
do we really need to be cleansed? In the inner
man. With what? With what? The gift of new life.
Verse 20, if you look at it again. These are
the things which defile man, but to eat with
unwashed hands does not defile. This is the essence
of his complaint. against the Pharisees. They're
ignoring what's really important. But there's
one question as we close that we have not yet
addressed. How did we get those unclean hearts
in the first place? We were born. We were born
in Adam's line. And we inherited his guilt and
his corruption. Romans 5 talks about this. Through
one man, that is Adam, sin entered the world.
and death through sin, thus death spread to all
men because all sinned. All sinned in Adam. The
old New England prayer, remember, in Adam's fall,
we sinned all. We all sinned in Adam. We got
his guilt and his corruption. Therefore, through
one man's offense, Adam's judgment came to all
men, resulting in condemnation. What Paul in
Romans 5 is saying, you and I were born depraved,
separated from God, and in need of new life.
That cute little baby you gave birth to is cute,
but it is corrupt. Jody Bauckham used to call
them vipers and diapers. And it's a true statement.
Adam's sin affected all of humanity, except one.
The one who was born through the virgin's womb.
See, the answer to our deepest problem is found
with a virgin -born son of God. Jesus gives a
clear diagnosis of what is wrong in Matthew 15.
Our corruption, pollution, defilement, however
you want to say it, it's not external. It's not
outside of us. It is internal. Which means the
problem that is fundamental is not with the culture.
The culture is depraved, but that's not your
primary problem. Or with your circumstances,
but with us. So if the problem were external,
then just clean up your behavior would work.
But if it's internal, cleaning up behavior and
adding rules fails to address the problem. So
you can incorporate better habits. You can add
more religious rules to your life, but they're
not going to matter. We need to be cleansed from
the inside out. We need to be changed. The Pharisees
said, well, you can be holy, just don't eat certain
foods. You need to wash your hands a certain
way, and you need to follow these certain purification
rites. But Jesus said, no, you need more than
ceremonial washings. You need more than that.
You need to have a new heart, a new birth. And
that's why Jesus came. The promise of the new
covenant was given in the old covenant. In Ezekiel
36, we read these words, God speaking, I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit within
you. and I will take the heart of stone out of
your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
I will put my spirit within you, and I will cause
you to walk in my statutes. And you will, because
God did it, you will keep my judgments and do
them. Jesus did not come to give us a new set
of ethics, a new set of rules. Instead, he came
to give us new life. It's a life we never had
before, a life we could never have on our own.
See, Jesus was the only one who ever had a completely
clean heart. He was pure, completely. He loved
the Lord God rightly. Nothing sinful ever was
found in him or came out of him because nothing
sinful was ever in him. Ever. Peter called him
a lamb without blemish and without spot. He's
perfect in every way. Internally, he loved the
Lord as God, and externally, he kept all the
commandments of God. And this pure, spotless
lamb. He goes to a cruel cross, a rugged tree,
where he died for sinful people with sinful hearts
like you and me. On that cross, the sinless one
bore the judgment that you and I absolutely deserve.
We were corrupt, but he took our corruption and
he started to make us clean. Listen to the words
of Peter again. Speaking of Jesus, that last
slide, guys. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit
found in his mouth. Oh, when he's reviled, he
did not revile in return. When he suffered, and
he suffered. He didn't threaten. He committed
himself to him who judges righteously. Who himself
bore our sins in his own body on the tree that
is the cross. That we, having died to sins, because
now we've been made new, might live for righteousness
by whose stripes you were healed. The stripes
of Jesus, the suffering of Jesus, that cleansed
you. That's what heals you. He died on the cross.
He rose again the third day. And he offers cleansing
and new life. To everyone who will trust in him.
J .C. Ryle said, the right heart is a heart that
is sprinkled with the blood of Christ that has
been renewed by the Holy Spirit and it is purified
by faith. My admonition, my plea to you is come
to Christ and be cleansed. Come to Christ and
find new life. We're getting ready to come to
the table. We call it the table of the Lord,
communion. Do you know what communion represents?
Listen carefully. God comes to us in our mess.
Our messes. This past week, I suspect you, like
I, have failed again, right? We didn't live quite
up to even our own standards. And Jesus is not
embarrassed by that. He offers himself to us.
Come receive his grace. Receive his forgiveness.
Come to Jesus, his broken body, his shed blood
that was given for you. Commune with Christ.
He's not ashamed of you. You may be thinking
here, Pastor, my life's a mess. I believe it.
I think all of us have that at times. But Jesus
loves and takes delight in cleaning up messy
lives. Come to him. There is no other solution.
There is no other name, there is no other Savior
than the one that was born from the virgin who
gave his life and rose again the third day. Let's
praise God and let's come to the table, friends,
as believers rejoicing in his forgiveness through
his body and through his blood. Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, we thank you so very much, Lord, for
your word this morning. Lord, it is rich, it's
beautiful. Lord, it gives us sustenance. God,
it ministers to us, Lord, as we just see Christ
and the beauty of his person and the beauty of
his grace. God, would you do a work in the lives
of your people? Lord, there may be some, and
there probably are, Lord, who are assembled here
this morning amongst this group, Lord, whose
hearts still are cold and stony. Lord God, I
pray that you would remove the heart of stone
and give them a heart of flesh, help them to
see their sin. Help them see the beauty of the
Savior and the grace that's in him. Lord God,
bring them into the kingdom and may they celebrate
forgiveness and cleansing that's offered through
Christ. Lord, we love you. Thank you, Lord, for
this time. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.