1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,720 If you will, turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 7, beginning at verse 1 and continuing 2 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:19,200 to verse 23 as we read God's word together. 3 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:26,080 As human beings, we have a tendency to deceive ourselves. 4 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:33,160 We may think that we are greater than what we are, or more holy than what we are. 5 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:40,240 Do you realize Jesus had to deal with that when He walked this world? 6 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:48,920 And He's going to tell us about what truly constitutes holiness and what really constitutes 7 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:49,920 sin. 8 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:56,920 So let's give our attention to the teachings of Jesus this morning. 9 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:02,200 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered 10 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:10,280 around Jesus and saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, 11 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,280 that is unwashed. 12 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:21,360 These and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing holding 13 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,760 to the traditions of the elders. 14 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:30,320 And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash, and they observe 15 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:36,160 many other traditions such as the washing of cups, pictures, and cups. 16 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:42,040 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, why don't your disciples live according 17 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:48,280 to the traditions of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands? 18 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:57,200 He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites as it is written. 19 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:06,160 These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 20 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,000 They worship me in vain. 21 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:14,280 Their teachings are mere human rules. 22 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:20,160 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions. 23 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:25,840 And he continued, you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe 24 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:27,940 your own traditions. 25 00:02:27,940 --> 00:02:33,040 For Moses said honor your father and your mother, and anyone who curses their father 26 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,960 or mother is to be put to death. 27 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:42,920 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father 28 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:50,160 or mother is Coraban, that is devoted to God, then you no longer let them do anything for 29 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,800 their father or mother. 30 00:02:52,800 --> 00:03:01,480 Thus, you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and you 31 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,440 do not do many things like that. 32 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:10,200 Again, Jesus called the crowds to him and said, listen to me everyone and understand 33 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:16,480 this, nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. 34 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:21,320 Rather it is what comes out of the person that defiles them. 35 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:26,320 And after he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about his 36 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:27,320 fareable. 37 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,480 Are you so dull? 38 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:36,240 He asked, don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile 39 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:41,280 them for it doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach and then out of the body. 40 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,800 And saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. 41 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:51,160 He went on, what comes out of a person is what defiles them. 42 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:59,120 For it is from within out of the person's heart that evil thoughts come, sexual immorality, 43 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:10,160 theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 44 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:16,240 All these evils come from inside and defile a person. 45 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:22,640 Let's pray and ask God to bless what we have read this morning. 46 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:33,800 Our Heavenly Father, may we be a people who understand sin and also help us to overcome 47 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:41,120 our own inclination toward hypocrisy. 48 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:52,000 May we be a people who truly are holy by what you are doing within our souls. 49 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,800 Let's pray and ask God to bless us. 50 00:04:55,800 --> 00:05:04,120 Back when I was in Virginia, there was a church incident which I will never forget. 51 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:12,560 It was a Christmas party at the church and all the church was there and one of the elders 52 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:17,880 was playing Santa Claus giving out gifts to the children. 53 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:23,440 And one of the women got very, very upset. 54 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,760 Why was she upset? 55 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:33,320 Because in a Christian church we have Santa Claus and presents are being given out. 56 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:35,000 What about Jesus? 57 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:39,520 What are we teaching children? 58 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:49,560 A little while later that same woman who railed against Santa Claus committed adultery and 59 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,200 left the church. 60 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:54,560 Now why am I telling you that? 61 00:05:54,560 --> 00:06:04,440 It's because at times in the church world we have this tendency to put on a false front, 62 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:12,160 to show other people that we are really holy but in reality not so. 63 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,080 And that's not the only example I can think of back when we were in Alabama. 64 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:23,920 I remember in the headlines one time about a church was having a Bible memorization contest. 65 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:25,080 Somebody got mad. 66 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:29,320 One guy shot another who was in the Bible memorization contest. 67 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,080 So much for memorizing. 68 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:32,400 You should love your neighbor. 69 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,160 I guess they didn't pay attention to that. 70 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:40,760 But when we think about the implications of this and how people view the church, I mean 71 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:42,280 think about it. 72 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:44,480 It's like bad fruit. 73 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:51,840 It may look good on the outside but people realize once you peel into that apple it's 74 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:54,600 rotten and full of worms. 75 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,480 Or it's like milk in the refrigerator that's been there too long. 76 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,000 It may look like milk. 77 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:10,040 But the first sip you want to spit it out because it is rotten. 78 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:15,440 As Christians we are to be the type of people who are truly holy. 79 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:21,320 But there is this temptation I'm afraid that we want to put on a false front. 80 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:29,000 We want to appear to be more holy and upright and righteous than what we are. 81 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:33,160 And I think as we look out of the church today there are several problems. 82 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:38,640 One is people just don't take the church very seriously at all or Christianity or even religion 83 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:40,140 seriously at all. 84 00:07:40,140 --> 00:07:46,120 It's like the party I went to in South Carolina one time where the host was serving ham and 85 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,000 wine with the meal. 86 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:54,240 Well there was a Muslim woman there and she didn't eat that. 87 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,280 And the host went up and apologized. 88 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,080 Oh I didn't know you were Muslim. 89 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:03,800 She said oh I don't take that stuff very seriously. 90 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,360 It's part of the teachings of your religion. 91 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:06,360 You should take it seriously. 92 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,400 If you believe it well that's one track. 93 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,600 Not taking things very seriously that you are to believe. 94 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:23,760 But there is this other track as well where you do the religious duties. 95 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:31,280 That you are not performing them for the right reasons or it is merely to impress or think 96 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:35,840 that if I do certain things God's going to accept me more. 97 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:40,640 Well today what this message is about. 98 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:49,560 It's about the failure of external religion and the problems of external religion. 99 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:55,520 Problem number one if you believe only in external religion it's man centered. 100 00:08:55,520 --> 00:09:02,760 Problem number two it's dehumanizing and problem number three it's just mistaken. 101 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,280 So let's dive into this passage here. 102 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:12,280 Let's see what Jesus is telling us about the problems of a faith that is really not a 103 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:14,280 faith at all. 104 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:21,840 It is merely external religion not a religion of the heart. 105 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,640 Now problem number one it's man centered. 106 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:32,640 Now if you have ever watched Saturday Night Live you remember the church lady that cracks 107 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:33,640 me up. 108 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:35,480 I love those skits of the church lady. 109 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:40,160 And you know it's about a very uptight elderly woman who has got to have everything in the 110 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,000 church just so all the rules have to be followed. 111 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:50,400 She is one of the biggest turn offs to those who run into her and by the way in those skits 112 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:58,560 she turns out to be just as sinful as normal people. 113 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:01,280 But she gives us impression. 114 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,600 I've got it all together. 115 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:05,520 I'm following all the rules. 116 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,600 Most of those rules are man centered. 117 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:14,160 She's got it decently in order but she's missing out on something. 118 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:18,360 A lot of those rules that she follows have nothing to do with the Bible. 119 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:24,560 And here's what Jesus is getting into by man centered. 120 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:33,280 They're based off of human traditions not the word of God. 121 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:37,840 And notice what Jesus is focusing in on here. 122 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:45,520 Human traditions you see it in verses 3, 4 and 5 where he repeats over and over again. 123 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:50,280 You Pharisees you are following a man centered tradition. 124 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:54,760 Now that word tradition that gets a lot of bad press today. 125 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:55,760 It comes from a Latin word. 126 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,200 It just means to hand down. 127 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:04,520 And in the Bible it's not necessarily against tradition. 128 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:11,800 In fact it says in 1 Corinthians 11, 2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for 129 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:20,880 the household to holding to the traditions just as I pass them on to you. 130 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:21,880 You see what it's saying? 131 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:24,560 The Gospel was being passed on. 132 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:30,520 The traditions of the Gospel which were good in Bible centered were being passed on. 133 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:37,960 And in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 15 listen to what Scripture says. 134 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:47,160 So then brothers and sisters stand firm and hold fast the teachings we passed on to you. 135 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:49,520 Whether by word of mouth or by letter. 136 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:54,720 So let's don't think those traditions are necessarily wrong. 137 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,800 Now there are some ways though that we can take traditions in the wrong way. 138 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:03,440 It's sort of like the seven last words of the church. 139 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,200 We've never done it that way before. 140 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:13,800 Or as one bishop said, nothing ought ever to be done for the first time. 141 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:18,640 There is a negative way that traditions can be used in a positive way. 142 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:26,160 Your faith and the Bible teachings which you believe have in a sense been handed down to 143 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,000 you. 144 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,920 But there's also a negative way. 145 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:32,640 And that's the real problem. 146 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,560 And I want you to look at verses 8 and 9. 147 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:41,040 Notice what it says is the problem. 148 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:52,400 It says in verse 8, you have let go of the commandments of God and holding to human traditions. 149 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,320 That's the problem. 150 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,400 That's what they are doing. 151 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:03,400 And you have a fine way of setting aside the commandments of God in order to observe your 152 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:05,760 own traditions. 153 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:08,680 It was not tradition in itself. 154 00:13:08,680 --> 00:13:13,480 But what they were doing by their traditions was making a separation. 155 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:21,320 They were disregarding what God actually wanted in favor of something that man came up with. 156 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:23,560 That's the problem. 157 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:29,640 And here, more specifically, it deals with hand washing. 158 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,360 And do you see this passage here? 159 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:35,560 Hand washing is not in the Bible. 160 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:41,600 It was for the priests, but not for everybody else. 161 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:50,760 But what the tradition list said, if you are going to be a holy person before all meals, 162 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:56,120 you have got to wash your hands. 163 00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:03,560 And that tradition becomes equated with true morality, which it is not. 164 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:06,120 Oh, and they had it worked out. 165 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:12,920 You had to use at least one and a half eggshells of water. 166 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:17,360 And you had to scrub your hands like this with your fists. 167 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:21,560 And they're saying, if you don't do that, you're not a good person. 168 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:27,560 Now, it's not as if the disciples came to eat with dirty hands. 169 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:28,720 No. 170 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:35,400 But they are saying to Jesus in his disciples, why didn't you do the ceremony? 171 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:40,200 Do you realize that there was a rabbi who was excommunicated because he did not follow 172 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,280 this ceremony? 173 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:45,440 And that's the problem. 174 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:50,200 It doesn't have anything to do with the real law of God. 175 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,240 But they're making it equivalent to that. 176 00:14:53,240 --> 00:15:02,680 And at heart, it's all very hypocritical because it is not true. 177 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:09,520 Their hearts are not close to God, which is exactly what verse 6 says. 178 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:15,360 And listen to the futility of it all from the apostle Paul in Colossians chapter 2. 179 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:16,880 Do not handle. 180 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:18,240 Do not taste. 181 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:19,840 Do not touch. 182 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:24,720 These are destined to perish because they are based on human commandments, all those 183 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:29,440 commandments that they had about you can touch this food, can't touch that food, can't 184 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:31,600 drink this, can't drink that. 185 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:33,880 All human traditions, he says. 186 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,200 They're not helping you to become closer to God. 187 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,520 It doesn't promote true piety. 188 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:44,880 In fact, it makes things worse. 189 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:51,480 But there is a sense where the external seems to be the most important. 190 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:59,080 Back in the 1980s, there was a man named Robert Ford from West Virginia. 191 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:05,920 His wife, second wife, married him thinking he was Joe Montana the quarterback. 192 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,160 Well, this makes the news. 193 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:13,480 Local woman, Marys Joe Montana. 194 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:18,400 But there was another woman, his first wife, who saw that. 195 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:22,440 And she goes, that was my husband. 196 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,320 I thought he was Hank Williams. 197 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,520 And she goes, it's all my fault. 198 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:32,040 I should have never given him that 49ers warmup jacket. 199 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:34,240 But do you see the problem? 200 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:37,000 It's the externals, but it's all a lie. 201 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,800 It's a charade. 202 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:49,040 And what is most important for Christianity is that we truly follow God, not some manmade 203 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:57,320 rules that we have made up to make ourselves feel better and to look good. 204 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:06,400 Those manmade rules often substitute for God's commandments. 205 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,400 And we need a church we can do that, can't we? 206 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:12,120 I am all for Sunday school. 207 00:17:12,120 --> 00:17:16,200 But does Sunday school in itself make you holy? 208 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:17,840 No. 209 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:22,040 There is no commandment to do that. 210 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,400 The amount of time you pray, this was a big deal. 211 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:26,640 Oh, you need to pray hours and hours and hours. 212 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:30,520 There is no biblical commandment exactly how long you should pray. 213 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:31,520 Should you pray? 214 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:32,520 Yes. 215 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,560 But a lot of this gets to be too much. 216 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,240 And remember back when you had the Bill Gothart crusade? 217 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:42,200 Oh, he could come up with all sorts of rules on what you should do, what you should wear, 218 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:43,200 how you should live. 219 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:48,520 And basically a lot of it didn't have anything to do with the law of God. 220 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:53,800 It was a form of control. 221 00:17:53,800 --> 00:18:02,280 Little Christians are a lot like Mrs. C. from the television series on PBS, Grandchester. 222 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,040 She works at the local parish. 223 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,080 She's got her hands into everything. 224 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:11,280 She is very morally upright, you would think. 225 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:17,360 But yet she is also harsh, demeaning, and angry. 226 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:25,960 She has the facade of religion, but her heart is not where it often should be. 227 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:32,200 Problem number one, a lot of the rules that people who call themselves Christians follow 228 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:36,960 are based on the traditions of man, not on the word of God. 229 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,000 Here's the second problem. 230 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,400 It can be dehumanizing. 231 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:46,680 External religion can be dehumanizing. 232 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:51,040 And look at what it's talking about here in verses 9 through 13. 233 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:54,680 It's talking about Corabin. 234 00:18:54,680 --> 00:19:00,600 This morning for our responsive reading we read the commandment, you should honor your 235 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:02,600 mother and your father. 236 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:07,440 That can mean several things, but one of it is when your parents get older, they may need 237 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:11,800 financial help, you need to help them. 238 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:21,040 Well, what the religious teachers came up with was a way to get out of that. 239 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:25,200 And it was called Corabin. 240 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:34,400 If you wanted to dedicate something to God, you simply said Corabin. 241 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:39,360 And that gift, that money you would say, well, that's going to God, I don't have to now give 242 00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:41,600 it to my parents. 243 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:43,880 And then you can hold on to the money. 244 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:45,720 You didn't have to do anything about it. 245 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:51,040 So much for that commandment, honor your mother and your father, you took a quote, vow to 246 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:57,040 get you out of that, of doing your primary duty. 247 00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:04,920 And Jesus says this is wrong because it is dehumanizing. 248 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:10,640 Part of the fulfillment of the law was to love God, but also congregation, who else 249 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,160 are you to love? 250 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:14,360 Your neighbor. 251 00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:21,240 And that includes your parents, your brothers, your sisters, all these things. 252 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:27,360 But they took a vow so they didn't have to help. 253 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:28,360 Dehumanizing. 254 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:34,080 Now this takes place all throughout the world, not just the church world. 255 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:38,280 For example, one time Japan had a major earthquake. 256 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:45,080 Do you know what one of the complaints of Japanese citizens was? 257 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:53,640 The government cares more about rebuilding bridges than they do us. 258 00:20:53,640 --> 00:21:00,640 In other words, they were more interested in infrastructure and helping get that in place 259 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:04,280 than the people who had suffered. 260 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:10,520 It happens all the time with governmental rules for education which seem to multiply 261 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:11,720 over and over again. 262 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,720 And after a while you're saying, who's this designed to help? 263 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:20,120 A lot of it is not designed to help students. 264 00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:22,880 The world does that. 265 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,840 But we also do it too. 266 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:32,960 We come up with all these rules which really don't help other people. 267 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:38,520 Or we follow secondary rules and violate the primary. 268 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:46,760 So for example, in what used to be called Zaire, it is now the Democratic Republic of 269 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:51,040 Congo, there was a leader. 270 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,880 And what did this leader do? 271 00:21:53,880 --> 00:22:00,720 Well, he went to church, knelt down, took communion. 272 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:07,160 He traded the people under him like dirt and many of the people in what was then called 273 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,480 Zaire suffered. 274 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:15,440 Oh, he was doing those outward religious commandments. 275 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,320 But it was dehumanizing. 276 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,400 Think about this. 277 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:25,480 The name Robert Rakes may not be familiar to you. 278 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,600 He is the one who started the Sunday school movement. 279 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:30,700 Why? 280 00:22:30,700 --> 00:22:34,040 Because he looked at the slums of London and there were all these kids who couldn't read, 281 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,680 didn't know anything about God. 282 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:40,520 So he said we've got to do something about this. 283 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,080 So he came up with the Sunday school movement. 284 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,640 Now I would say that is an implication of the gospel, but do you know what a lot of churches 285 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,640 said? 286 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,160 No. 287 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:54,520 We can't have those kids in our church. 288 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:55,520 They're dirty. 289 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,160 They'll make too much noise. 290 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,960 We don't want them in there. 291 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:03,520 So what were they thinking? 292 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:06,160 Did they care about those kids? 293 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:07,160 No. 294 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:11,520 But once again, they were coming up with rules to keep those who needed the help most out 295 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:12,520 of the church. 296 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:16,640 Now, good news was Sunday school movement caught on. 297 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,800 But there are others as well. 298 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:24,360 Think about Wesleyan Whitfield preaching out in the fields. 299 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:29,120 They were up people back then and said, oh, you can't do that. 300 00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:38,600 But he was meeting the spiritual needs of work who came to hear the gospel. 301 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:45,600 We can come up with all sorts of rules which are not necessary and at times those very 302 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:48,640 rules hurt people. 303 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:53,960 So that's why these rules that the Pharisees had were wrong. 304 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:59,760 They were unbiblical and they were dehumanizing. 305 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:10,240 And one other problem here, they're just mistaken because we often think that the way to control 306 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:16,640 sin is by following rules. 307 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:27,120 You're not going to control sin by necessarily following rules because sin is not external. 308 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:31,120 Sin begins with something that is inside of you. 309 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:36,320 And hypocrisy is where you're trying to control the externals but you're not interested in 310 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,440 the internals. 311 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:44,000 Sin is a problem of the heart. 312 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,320 It comes from within us. 313 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:55,760 And if you look here at what Jesus says at the end of this passage in verses 14 through 314 00:24:55,760 --> 00:25:03,640 21, he tells us plainly what the problem is. 315 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:07,600 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. 316 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:13,980 Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them. 317 00:25:13,980 --> 00:25:16,720 Think of what Paul said. 318 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,800 You obey from your heart. 319 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:21,480 That's what Christ wants. 320 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:28,720 In Proverbs it says above all else guard your hearts for it is the wellspring of life. 321 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:33,480 That is what you desire. 322 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,760 Not just outward conformity. 323 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,920 Not just proving to other people that you are good and holy. 324 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,280 Not even trying to prove to God that you're good and holy. 325 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:50,560 If you have a desire in your heart to fight sin and to truly love God and truly to love 326 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,560 me. 327 00:25:53,560 --> 00:26:00,880 The story is told about one Muslim who was chasing another Muslim with a knife in hand 328 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:04,600 about ready to kill him. 329 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:06,840 Well there run the law. 330 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,280 The man with the knife is about ready to catch up. 331 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,800 It was a time of day where all Muslims have prayer. 332 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:15,840 So what does he do? 333 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:17,720 He drops to his knees. 334 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,160 He has his prayer. 335 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,080 And when prayer time is over, guess what he does? 336 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:26,760 Picks up his knife, continues the chase. 337 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:28,440 What about the heart? 338 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:29,960 What about the heart? 339 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,480 It's not there. 340 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:38,880 And what the real problem with a lot of what goes on in Christianity, it's a problem of 341 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:39,880 the heart. 342 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:45,880 It needs to be broken so that desires to follow God. 343 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,840 That's the problem. 344 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:51,720 Desires. 345 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:56,080 We can give you all the commandments you need. 346 00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:01,280 But if you have no desire, it's not going to mean a thing. 347 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:07,640 Now I got to tell you, recently various state legislatures have said we want to put the 10 348 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,120 commandments in schools. 349 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:11,720 I'm all for it. 350 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,120 There needs to be some sort of moral code. 351 00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:16,440 I'm all for Christianity and the 10 commandments. 352 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:25,840 But I also got to tell you, if there is no desire of the heart, kids aren't going to listen. 353 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:33,920 There needs to be something else like a work of the Holy Spirit to make them have a desire 354 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:40,440 to truly follow the will of God. 355 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:46,240 As we think about this passage, what's the problem that we Americans have? 356 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:52,200 We like to look at the externals appearance. 357 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:56,400 It's got to look good. 358 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,560 Think about the fashion model. 359 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:00,960 What do we care the most about? 360 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:02,880 She looks good. 361 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:03,880 Never mind. 362 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,080 Think about personality like a wrapped snake. 363 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,200 But she looks good. 364 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:14,400 Think about some of those glamorous stars from those movies in the 40s and 50s who made 365 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,040 pinup girls. 366 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,080 Look at their personal lives. 367 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:23,800 You would think they're so good and wholesome and beautiful, but inside, oof. 368 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:25,040 Stay away. 369 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:26,040 Stay away. 370 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:32,600 Well, it's the same with us as well in Christianity. 371 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:44,680 We need to look inside, not always to the outside, because external religion only is 372 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,280 a huge problem. 373 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:54,480 And it may be why so many people get turned off to Christianity. 374 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:55,480 Let's pray. 375 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,680 All right, Heavenly Father. 376 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,600 There's so many problems that we face. 377 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:11,640 And often we forget that we are to be a people who have hearts that are drawn to you. 378 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:15,840 It's not just about putting on airs. 379 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,720 It's about the love of God, the love of Jesus. 380 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:26,520 So be with us now, Holy Spirit, and give us hearts that truly love you. 381 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,960 Amen.