In this sermon, Pastor Babij investigates Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees over ceremonial hand-washing. Pastor Babij discusses how Jesus uses the occasion to correct the Pharisees on the source of true uncleanness before God: not bodily contact with unclean objects or people, but an idolatrous, defiled heart. As Pastor Babij explains, unless a person’s heart is cleansed by God, that person has no hope of ever entering into God’s presence; obedience to man-made rules and traditions is totally useless.
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okay good morning everyone let’s take our Bibles today turn to Mark chapter 7.
we’re looking at a larger section of scripture this morning verses 1 through 23 and the reason for that is because it is a package and I didn’t want to break the package in half so um we got some ground to cover this morning let’s pray Lord thank you for the opportunity again that you give us today to have our minds and our souls Washed by the word of God I pray Lord that you would prepare every one of us present today for your presence I pray Lord that you would give us an understanding of who we are and what you’ve done and how you see us and I pray Lord as we understand these things it would bring us to the only one who could save us the only one who could rescue us the great physician Jesus Christ Lord impress these things upon our heart today and I prayed this in your name amen Mark chapter 7 verse 1.
sets it up it says the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together around him when they had come from Jerusalem now remember Jerusalem is about 90 miles south of where he’s at right now or about 90 miles to about 100 miles so it’s not a short distance this delegation from Jerusalem has now come up to Galilee to confront Jesus to spy on him to see where they could discredit him with the people and to find ultimately some legal action against him that’s why they were there now let me remind you about these two groups the Pharisees uh actually the Hebrew word means separatists they were the separatists they laid up most stress on the strictest interpretation of the Torah and the outward observance of the law including rabbinical tradition and regulations what they were attempting to do was to build a protecting hedge around the law of God in order to avoid breaking the Torah unintentionally they advocated a meticulous observance to the Torah in order to maintain purity keep the food laws and the Sabbath laws so on and so forth so the Pharisees tended to be self-righteous and formalistic the scribes on the other hand were professional students of the law they were in a sense the teachers of the law they came into existence about the fourth and fifth century before Christ they were not content with just the basic moral principles they wanted to take these principles and break them down amplify them and expand them into a thousand little rules and regulations so by time Jesus comes into the world there’s hundreds of rules and regulations and all made to protect someone from breaking the word of God all right so there’s a controversy that surrounded the Disciples of Jesus in which Jesus used to bring Clarity on the issue of what really defiles a person what really makes a person unfit for the presence of God and that’s what this whole section is about he gives a Timeless principle a Timeless truth that’s for all people so we this morning should try to get a correct view of man from what the Bible teaches a correct view of ourselves and the correct view of the great need we have of Salvation that’s what we must understand that’s what disciples of Jesus must understand but before we get there Jesus has to do some correcting he has to correct wrong thinking in the culture wrong thinking because of the Pharisees and the scribes and that’s what he begins to do and so there is in verse two through eight he is correcting the understanding that defilement comes with their traditional views of things and let’s look at that and let me just remind you again that the delegation that came looking for something to accuse Jesus of or his disciples of it didn’t take them long to find something first cause of confronting Jesus was a serious violation of the tradition of the elders and the elders in the passage I’m going to read in a second refers to the ancients like Rabbi Hillel and others like him that laid down many of these principles and these observances and these regulations see they caught certain of Jesus disciples eating with common hands with unwashed hands however they weren’t really interested in any hygienic purity they were interested in ceremony ceremonial cleanliness or cleanness look what it says in verse 2 of chapter 7.
it says and he had seen and had seen that some of his disciples were eating their bread with impure hands that is unwashed verse 3 for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully washed their hands thus observing the tradition of the elders and when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe such as washing cups and pitchers and copper pots so in other words Jesus is putting before scripture is putting before us what the Pharisees and the scribes are looking for and they find that Jesus disciples aren’t going according to the rules they’re not living according to the rules and so they say aha we got you this is something we can get you on and if you notice in our text it uses two words in verse four that they cleanse themselves that’s the word for sprinkling water on their hands or pouring water on their hands and then they use the word last word washing of cups that word washing is actually the word baptism or baptizo to immerse and if you notice the ritual washing went beyond just hand washing in any case washing hands before meals was a regular practice of the scribes the Pharisees and the Jews in their culture and it’s been happening like that for a long long time it was embedded in their minds they were observed by everybody if they didn’t do it and if you notice the marketplace is mentioned because in the marketplace many contacts would be made making the hands and even the whole body very defiled there would also be contacts with Gentiles which were considered unclean contacts with money which was considered unclean and contacts with utensils so in the marketplace they probably most likely they may touch something truly unclean and so would immersed their arms or perhaps even their whole bodies in a ritual bath by the use of Washings or by the use of this word baptizo there was a sense though in the minds of the people that unless you are clean you can’t be present before a perfect and a holy God what they did not grasp though is the source of their uncleanness or their defilement so according to chapter 7 verse number 3 it says for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands thus observing the tradition of the elders so we’re dealing with a very deeply ingrained tradition everybody did it nobody was exempt from it so for example before every meal the Jews had to wash their hands in Ace special realist ritualistic way first they would as I was doing my reading and uh they would Point their fingertips upward and then water was poured over them and water was already set aside in a large jug and they would scooping out and they would pour it over their hands as it the water would run off their wrists and then they would Point their fingers downward and the water was poured over their wrists and the water would run off their fingertips so after this ceremonial washing was completed properly then their hands were considered clean and then they can go ahead and eat the food that was prepared now Jesus and his disciples did not perform this ritual obviously they were learning from Jesus that it was not important now keep in mind though that the Pharisees and the scribes believed not to do this was considered to be unclean in the sight of God the Pharisees and scribes were so adamant about this that they actually personally held Jesus responsible for not teaching his disciples the helica or the tradition the tradition of the elders or the tradition of the Ancients now look at verse number five the impassioned question they have for Jesus it says in the Pharisees and scribes asked them why do your disciples not walk according to to the tradition of the elders but eat their bread with impure hands they were actually accusing Jesus disciples of being defiled because of unwashed hands therefore unclean in the sight of God now that was a pretty serious accusation but see there is one important thing that escaped the Pharisees and the scribes attention the levitical law required no such Washings in other words they had been spending so much time trying to build a fence around scripture so they wouldn’t break it they actually moved it that kind of activity actually moved them far from the word of God which in turn LED them into the sin of hypocrisy and false worship so Jesus quickly assesses and identifies the real spiritual state of these legalistic minded Pharisees and scribes and Jesus actually turned the table on this delegation and he responds to their question in this way you know what he says hey you know what Isaiah the prophet spoke about you guys and that’s what he does you know what he does Jesus in in verse 6 says ice and he said to them rightly did I did Isaiah prophesy of you citing Isaiah 29 and verse number 13 which says then the Lord said because this people draw near with their words and honor me with their lip service but remove their hearts far from me and their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by wrote something learned by Road it’s repetitious you know little kids learn by Road you can have a little child recite to you the alphabet and they learned it by road but they can’t form words yet they can only tell you the alphabet they can’t go further with it so in a very real way Isaiah the prophet was describing the shallow religious lives of the 8th Century Jewish people they were just going through the motions and Jesus is saying to these Pharisees and scribes you are repeating the hypocrisy of the former Generations you are doing exactly the same thing of which they were hoping they weren’t but they were but don’t forget Jesus being the good physician is doing a diagnosis here and he’s bringing before them what’s really going on so Jesus brings a counter charge against these scribes and Pharisees and he accuses them of two things in verse number six the first thing he accuses them of is lip service without heart that’s hypocrisy he says in verse number six and he said to them rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far away from me see their lips give the Eternal the the excuse me the external impression of devotion but their hearts and lives are a great distance from God the basic meaning of a hypocrite is someone who answers to a set conversation I.E an actor on a stage going according to a script acting as not themselves but someone else so then one whose life is a piece of acting without any sincere sincerity behind it at all just religious formalism just carrying out external rules and regulations regardless of what the person’s heart is thinking and acting so the principle behind their thinking is this because there’s God I must relate to God by being good this principle really we all work after however the principle is worked out religiously in different ways the legalist works out this principle by living their life by a code of conduct by a set of rules and in this case the tradition of the elders and if they follow it then God will look upon them with favor but if they don’t follow it then God won’t look upon them with favor so legalism takes account of man’s outward actions but takes no account of all of his inward actions a person may very well meticulously serve God outwardly in outward things they may do all the right things everybody else thinks they should be doing to be a Pious person but they disobey God in reference to their inner things see that’s what hypocrisy is it’s when the inner thoughts do not match the outward actions and the outward actions don’t match the inner thoughts the moment the heart keeps far from God it also leaves the word of God see there will be a failure to see the true source of religious Authority in scripture alone and so Jesus brings a second accusation against them the first one is your hypocrites and secondly in verse number seven and eight you worship without the word of God look what it says in verse 7 but in vain do they worship me teaching the doctrines and precepts of men and then in verse 8 neglecting the Commandment of God you hold to the tradition of men see they were substituting men’s rules or human ingenuity for God’s laws and in at the end of the day they’re not listening to God at all they are not accepting his word they are not following his voice they are actually trying to worship God and have left the word of God they have neglected the word of God even though if you ask them do you believe the word of God they would say yes but see there are TR their rules and Regulation and their tradition actually put such offense around the word of God that they never got to it because they had all these rules and regulations to go through first and so it just made the word of God you never got to the word of God and it seems like that’s not something that’s just happening there back then it happens to us too we seem to like to want to live by 10 things that show I’m a Christian you know and if I pass those 10 things I’m doing fine right well see those are the kind of things we need to really remove from our life because that tells nothing all that tells is that you’re doing external things that are right but see if those external things don’t line up with what’s going on in your heart then we can be accused too at that time of hypocrisy and we can be accused of worshiping God without the word of God worshiping God in our own way without running it through the grid of scripture to see if is God pleased with that kind of worship so see the Lord has he doesn’t mess around with these scribes and Pharisees he shoots from their hip with them and he’s shooting darts right into their heart see the Lord doesn’t put up with false teachers he does not treat them kindly he diagnoses quickly where they’re at and he’s he comes right against them so Jesus is continuing to correct the error and exposing at the same time the evil of their heart because they try to get around the word of God they design things to say yes I’ve kept all the regulations but they’re actually trying to get around the word of God so what does Jesus do he smashes the entire traditional system of the elders that’s what he does if you look at verse number nine he was also saying to them you nicely set aside the Commandment of God in order to keep your tradition so in other words Jesus is saying you abandon the commands of God you are substituting men’s rules for God’s laws you attractively do it too you attractively do away with what has already been laid down in God’s law to hold fast to your tradition in other words you constantly nullify the Divine in order to keep the human rule now the best way to refute error is to give an example right they may be saying this where have we done that well Jesus was right on them because if you notice in verse number 10 to 13 Jesus illustrates their error and exposes their sin now before I look at that verse the the best way to expose an error is to give an illustration on how that error is actually lived out or fleshed fleshed out in someone’s life so Jesus indicts this the Pharisees and scribes self-invented tradition by giving them a real life example you can almost feel the tension between Jesus and the Jewish leaders however Jesus presses them with a very personal example on how their system of rules and regulations and traditions are actually put before legitimate human need and at the same time wild sidestepping the scriptures and here’s the example look at verse number nine excuse me verse number 10 it says for Moses said honor your father and your mother and he who speaks evil of father and mother let him be put to death now of course that’s the fifth commandment right verse 11 says but you say if a man says to his father or mother anything of mine you might have been helped by is Corbin and then if you notice in scripture Corbin means to be given to God all right so or sacred to God if anyone wishes in other words to dedicate some money or some property to God he would dedicated Corbin all right so once given to God it could never again be used for any ordinary or secular purposes so then if a father or a mother were in need of help some would declare Corbin and of course saying that means sorry I can’t give you any help nothing that I have is available because I dedicated it all to God so I can’t give anything to you at the end of verse number 12 it says you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother so he was showing them that you guys have set up rules and regulations that actually prevent you from carrying out the fifth commandment you sidestep it you go around it so Jesus exposes the Damage Done by such self-invented human tradition and a particular term is used and I would like you to notice it in verse number 13. it says thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down and you do many things such as that see this Greek word invalidating some translations it has nullify or cancel literally the Greek word means to leave without Authority in other words Jesus is saying to these guys you have abolished the authority of not only the fifth commandment but the word of God itself you have taken that commandment and so obliterated it and so set it aside and so ignored it that you actually violate the whole word of God all of scripture and then he says you do similar things that Rob the word of its Authority also that’s just one example that’s all I need to give is one example see any regulation which prevented a person from giving help where help was needed was nothing less than a contradiction of the law of God especially in the Commandments where you’re to honor your mother and father that is a command of God that’s not a suggestion that’s something we ought to do so Jesus had showed that the rigid adherence to the traditional law can actually mean Disobedience to the law of God see True Religion can never be the product of man’s mind True Religion should not mistaken be mistaken for a mere outward observance and religious Acts anybody can be religious we’re all prone to be religious anybody can go to a church and do those things and put them in the practice and go through the road and anybody can do that and a lot of people do do that see real the real deception is making the man-made rules appear to be the teaching that comes from God and that’s what they were doing so Jesus brings all of them now to the place where he’s heading and he wants to show them the true nature and the source of real defilement and he begins that in verse number 14.
and before I read that Jesus calls his disciples to himself in order to correct the gross errors of the religious leaders but the Timeless truth is not just for the Pharisees and scribes the Timeless truth he’s going to teach is for everyone it’s for you you it’s for me it’s for all of us it’s for all of humanity and so he gives the general principle to refute and to turn over this false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees and he says to his disciples listen you must understand this you must know the real need humans have you must know this so look what it says in verse 14 and after he called the multitude to him again he began saying to them listen to me all of you and understand so obviously he’s now left the Pharisees and scribes and now he’s calling the rest of the multitude around them and he’s saying to them listen pay attention so you understand and he begins to say eating with unwashed hands cannot defile you as the Pharisees and scribes teach they claim defiled hands defiled the food they touch and thus defiled that person who ate the food and Jesus is saying that nothing that goes into the stomach of a person can possibly defile them it’s not what enters into but what comes out of the person that defiles them look at verse number 15.
it says there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile him and then verse 16 says if any man has ears to hear Let Him hear now that said of course in many places throughout scriptures and what he’s trying to do is let’s he’s saying to them remember you Disciples of mine you have ears to hear you have been given the privilege to understand how to enter the kingdom of God by repentance and Faith you’ve you’re given that but sometimes when the Lord gives more specific instructions especially when he’s overturning false teaching and especially when he’s overturning deep-rooted tradition he has to be more clear so he gives the general principle in verse 15 and 16 and now because this tradition of the elders has so permeated the minds and the thinking of the people he has to give more specific instruction when it’s needed and so from verse 17 to 19 he begins to do that and here’s this specific teaching again a person is not defile morally by what he eats even if his hands are not ceremonially washed defilement is not physical but moral and spiritual look at verse 17 and when leaving the multitude he had entered the house his disciples questioned him about the parable Verse 18 and he said to them are you so lacking in understanding also do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him verse 19 because it does not go into his heart but it goes into his stomach and is eliminated or goes into the latrine that seems like Common Sense doesn’t it and then notice what it says at the end of verse number 19 it’s in parentheses usually in the translation thus he declared all foods clean now some people passed by this and says well he’s just saying that you know all foods don’t contaminate but the way it’s written in the Greek what it’s really doing is Jesus saying listen I am above the law I am the law Giver Leviticus chapter 11 gives a list of animals that are unclean the Jews had a whole system of things which were clean that they can eat and things were that were unclean that they couldn’t eat so levitical law did not forbid or excuse we did forbid the Jews from eating certain foods that’s clear but Jesus is not abrogating the levitical law he’s actually fulfilling the law by his notice declaration that all foods are clean for that’s what it says he declared all foods clean see you have said this but this is what I say I am the law Giver I’m the one who has Authority Jesus is speaking as God himself in that declaration Jesus is not just saying those dietary laws are outdated go ahead and eat it’s okay he was not merely setting aside the cleanliness laws matter of fact according to one Theologian Greek experts agree it reads Jesus declared Jesus pronounced and as of now I make these Foods this these Foods clean that Jesus is displaying his authority I call the world into existence I harmed and called the storm to Halt I called the girl back from life or from Death I called demons to leave their captives and now I call all foods clean see the cleanliness laws have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ that their purpose was to get you to move towards spiritual purification and once that’s carried out then toward the one who can actually clean the person see there were there were only men to put in people’s minds listen you must be clean before you become come before God you must be purified in order to come to the presence of God that was embedded in their minds from the Old Testament and it should stay there because it’s good but remember Jesus is saying now listen those were only put in place to move you towards spiritual purification and that spiritual purification has been carried out and that should move you now to the ones who could act to the one who can actually purify you and of course we know who that is right that’s Jesus Christ see in spite of all our efforts to to be pure to be good to be moral to cleanse ourselves God sees our hearts and our hearts are full of Filth our hearts are full of Filth we are completely dirty inside in our Natural State we are all unfit for the presence of God every single human being that ever lived is unfit for the presence of God so now Jesus once he says these things and once he lays these things out and once he now displays his authority now he gives the ultimate diagnosis and the ultimate diagnosis is not just on the scribes and Pharisees it’s on all of us see Jesus repeats and amplifies the truth not outside things that cleanse you it’s the inside that must be cleansed first it’s not the outside stuff see since food does not pass into the heart how can it possibly possibly defile it cannot the file it just can’t do it so what really produces the file men see nothing that comes from the outside makes us unclean defilement is moral and spiritual it is it always involves our heart and the heart is the center of Personality where it’s it will its will lies and where its thoughts dwell and when the contents of our hearts spill out they spill out through words and actions those are with the file those are what make us unfit before God look at verse 20. it says and he was saying that which proceeds out of a man that is what defiles the man and then in verse 21 he says for from within out of the heart of man now what defiles a person is in their own thoughts and words and actions which are the product of their own heart and scripture lists 12 sins and these are born in the human heart and they appear outside of us in our thoughts or and our words and in our Deeds one commentator put it like this what what’s really wrong with the world why can the world be such a miserable place to live why is there so much Strife between the Nations and the races and the tribes and the classes of people why do relationships tend to fray and fall apart why Jesus is saying this to all of us you are we are what’s wrong and we all contribute to what’s wrong why are there rumors and wars in the world because of us because of what’s already in our heart so it’s what comes out from the inside it’s the self-centeredness of the human heart it’s sin in fact these evils that come from the heart is what makes us so unclean let’s look at them verse 21 it’s amazing sins are listed here six are singular six are plural it’s not very evident in English but in the Greek it is all right buddy if you notice where it starts in verse number 21 it says for from within out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts is the first thing that’s not one of the lists that’s where it all starts in our mind inside of us evil devising evil schemes that all set the stage for what follows Every Act of sin is preceded by an inward Act of choice and everything outside is pretense and everything inside is reality if you want to know who how you really are if you want to know the diagnosis of the diagnosis God gives all of us is right here in this text and he starts with this and it’s amazing I was looking at other passage of scripture that list sins sexual immorality is almost the first one in every list maybe because it’s one of the most powerful emotions the most the most difficult to contain it’s a it’s a it’s actually the word poor Nia fornications General word identifying any and all sexual sins contrary to God’s will it includes premarital sex extramarital sex unnatural sexual behavior homosexual Behavior bisexual Behavior bestiality incense pornography any sin in that area and category sinful sin that is offensive to God and against the word of God including stuff like polygamy uh and even masturbation are all off the charts and start in the evil of our mind that’s where it starts and it works out in our life in a way that’s not pleasing to the Lord so that was that’s the first one the second one is thefts all right stealing taking from another what is not yours of course that’s the eighth commandment in fact in in this section of scripture we have five maybe six of the Ten Commandments listed it’s a violation of what God laid down the Ten Commandments are still Moral Moral obligations for us as Christians we’re not condemned by them because Christ took our condemnation but we sure are to live by them and then look at the next one murder taking an innocent life that is of course the sixth commandment and we know the Lord says that if you were angry at your brother you’re the root of that murder is is anger you’re guilty of that sin also and then adultery it lists from sexual immorality or uh pornier or fornication it’s listed adulteries violating the marriage covenant by engaging in sexual behavior mentally or physically would someone you are not married to that’s the seventh commandment so he’s directly saying like where does all these things come from it’s already in your heart everyone is capable of any doing any of these sins anyone everyone every human being and then the fifth one greed Deeds of covening coveting a desire for more at the expense or the exploitation of another that’s the tenth commandment evil actions or wickedness behavior that is bad Wicked and deliberately malicious deceit that means putting bait out before people and deceiving them with dishonesty and cunning treachery sensuality is the unbridled Shameless living that is lacking in moral discernment and restraint just living the way you want living according to your passions and desires that’s it if your passions say do this you do it your desire to say do this that’s what you do see there’s no restraint on it and then the next one is Envy could be literally translated an evil eye or stinginess jealousy rooted in unbelief a person who believes that God is withholding his best for them that God is is giving them something that they never deserved and then blasphemy or slander defaming speaking evil of people and of God and then of course Pride number 11 arrogance and haughtiness and then the last one is foolishness it’s just senselessness spiritual insensitivity not caring how you live I don’t care how people think I what I do and live I don’t care about them that’s a fool a fool doesn’t care about any of that stuff and look at verse number 23.
all these evil things proceed from within and defile a person that’s that’s where we get to file that so when somebody says I think I’m a good person if they read this list they would say wait a minute you have to say to them listen to the diagnosis of God above is that you got evil stuff going inside your heart and it proceeds from within you not from outside of you and that’s what makes you unclean before God that’s What Makes You unfit before God so everything on the outside is pretense everything on the inside is reality this is how you really are so once we get God’s perspective on things then we can we can check our heart output what’s going on in your heart a person can take care of the externals of piety yet Overlook spiritual realities a person can make a checklist of behavior and do them but that does not mean that that person’s heart is right before God we all Harbor in our hearts self-praise and hypocrisy and self-righteousness see the point is and what Jesus is driving home is that we must we must be completely truthful about ourselves you are not the good person you thought you were you may be nice at work but your heart is still evil you may go to church every Sunday 10 times a day every day that does not cleanse the inner heart you may light candles go through all the sacraments do everything that is external to that religious system or any religious system but that has not touched the inside of your heart you are still defiled you are still unclean you are still unacceptable to God see Jesus confronts us with ourselves and our need to have our hearts cleansed that’s where he’s heading so that our inner eyes and ears would be open to be amazed by two things number one how spiritually sick we really are and number two how powerful and good Jesus really is see we’re called to be fully honest because the one who has the power to heal and cleanse our heart already knows our condition while they were ungodly I died for them while they were unwilling I’d Die For them while they were rebellious I died for them while they were living in sin I died for them he already knows your condition and being the great physician he already has the solution to your condition he is the solution we can trust God’s loving Pursuit in this sense because he does this not merely to show us the weight of our inner lives but to liberate us from it with the cleansing Assurance of his love and by embracing the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ see we could never get sin off ourselves there’s nothing we could do to get sin out of our heart there’s nothing we can do to cleanse our hearts but God clothed Jesus Christ with our sin the Bible says where it says in second Corinthians he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so we might become the righteousness of God you know what that means so we can be in the right standing before God so we can be acceptable before God so we can be perfect before God if we believe in Jesus Christ because it’s Jesus Christ who took our sin he took our penalty he took our punishment so we can be clean somebody who thinks oh I’m going to clean my act up before I become a Christian you can’t do it it’s an effort of futility it’s it’s vain matter of fact you’ll never accomplish it if you lived a million years a million trillion years you could not do it Hebrews chapter 13 says Jesus was crucified outside the gate that’s an interesting statement and that’s what goes on outside the Gate of Jerusalem well that’s where they burned the trash that’s where they throw the garbage that’s where they burn the bodies that means outside the gate where Jesus was crucified was a place of absolute uncleanness scripture tells us this he did that so we can be made clean therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside the gate he took all our defilement all our uncleanness upon himself so we can be cleansed so we can be made right with him through Jesus Christ and and and through this this infinite cost to himself God actually clothes Us in costly clean garments Revelation tells us that we’re going to have white robes showing the Purity that we have it cost them his blood and it is the only thing that can deal with the problem of your evil heart and that is and defile hard and that’s the blood of Jesus Christ so he see he’s definitely going somewhere with this he’s definitely bringing before not only the scribes and the Pharisees they were the outward guys right they did all the outward things their heart was evil too but he said he he does the same thing with the crowd and he pulls his disciple into the house and he says you know what don’t think you guys are any different you got evil Hearts too and your heart needs to be cleansed just like everyone else just like the scribes and Pharisees you’re no different you need you need and of course why is the gospels leading up to the cross because it’s giving us the solution to the problem and of course I’ve been giving that to you and you know that if you’ve been around you know what the solution is praise the Lord know it so hypocrisy is a real spiritual danger still in our Christian Life everyone tries to look good before others and hides the reality of who they really are in the core of their being we must live as an open book that’s how we have to live as Christians we must live each day with the understanding that we were cleansed by Jesus death in our place from the inside out and our inner thoughts determine our outward words and actions a cleansed transformed heart should reflect a cleansed and transformed lifestyle in words and in Deeds all right that’s what the Lord’s doing he’s we’re not doing it perfectly but we’re being changed from one level of glory to the next word being made like Christ and of course the internal heart determines external conduct like it says in Romans do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect so in a very real way what we think is Who We Are and that will determine what we say do and plan so who are you Christ already knows but do you know yourself who you are I pray you do I pray if you haven’t come to Jesus Christ to be cleansed of what’s in your heart that you can’t cleanse yourself and no one else can cleanse no amount of external religion from cleansing no amount of Good Works can cleanse it only the blood of Christ can wash you clean and make you right only Christ’s death can do that if you haven’t done that please today pull somebody aside and ask them how can I become a Christian and make sure that you are and if you are a Christian and you already know how God sees your heart then every day every day we ought to give ourselves over to the transformation of our souls and our minds so we display in our life the will of God in our words and our actions it should display a new thing that happened to us I used to talk like this but no longer I used to act like this but no longer I used to go here I used to do this but I don’t do that anymore not because I’m checking off a box on what to do and what not to do because of gratitude I love Jesus and I love what he did for me and now I want to live for him see that’s what Believers think they serve God out of gratitude out of thankfulness and that’s the only way to serve God so we’ve got a lot to think about this morning a lot to consider but I tell you what if you become a Believer you have a lot to praise God about because there’s a lot of stuff going on on inside of us why do people have so many psychological problems you know why they have it because of this passage of scripture but the problem is is that they’re now not applying the right diagnosis they’re not applying the right remedy you know it’s not drugs that help these things it’s not any of those things that help these things Christ is the one who solves those problems right let’s pray Lord thank you this morning thank you Lord for the truth found in Scripture Lord how it how it cuts us how it breaks us down but Lord how it builds us up how it takes us from as low as we can go to as high as we can go Lord I thank you for that and I pray Lord that every day of Our Lives we would be filled with praise because you have done something we could have never done that you took the initiative so we can be cleansed that you already know what’s going on in our heart and you already supplied the solution so I thank you Lord for your death I thank you Lord for your shed blood I thank you Lord for defeating Satan in death and rising from the grave and I thank you Lord that you said you’re coming going to heaven and you’re coming back again we look forward to that day that we’re going to be in your presence and I thank you Lord we’re only going to be able to be in your presence because of what you did on behalf of your children thank you for that and I Praise You In Christ’s name amen