What About the Inside

We've been going through the book of Mark on Sunday mornings. We are in Mark six with the feeding of the 5,000 last week and what a what an incredible incredible thing. What a wonderful miracle and that's what it was. It's a miracle. Only a miracle that God could do.

And in Mark chapter seven, we are going to move into a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees. Now, the Pharisees were not Jesus's fans. They were, however, the religious leaders of the day but they were not were not right in their relationship with God and we'll see that made evident in our lesson today. We're going to begin reading here in Mark chapter seven and verse one and we'll read through verse eight this morning. Then came together unto him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes which came from Jerusalem When they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled that is to say with unwashing hands, they found fault.

And the Pharisees and all the Jews except they washed their hands off, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they came from the market except they wash they eat not and many other things there be which they have received to hold as the washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. Then, the Pharisees and scribes asked him, that is Jesus, why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders but eat bread with unwashing hands. He answered and said unto them, well hath Isaiah's prophesied of you hypocrites. As it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips but their heart is far from me.

How be it in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of man, of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things you do. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you for your word today. We thank you Lord for the message that is here that we might learn from, that we might be challenged by, that we might be convicted.

Lord, of our shortcomings, the need of our heart, to be washed, cleansed not our hands Lord, I I pray that as we look into your word, we would see Jesus and that was we look to Jesus, we would see we would see Lord what it is that must change, that we might become more like our savior. Lord, you have called us to be your ambassadors, your representatives here in this place, this Earth. Lord, I pray that we would be made more fit vessels for that ministry and service. As we look to your word, as we look to you for help, guidance, and Lord as we worship you today sincerely from our hearts and we pray Lord if there be one here that's never trusted Jesus that today might be their day of salvation. In Jesus name, we do pray.

Amen. These Pharisees who had come from Jerusalem. Now, Jesus was ministering up in Galilee in the Northern part of Israel and the Pharisees and scribes that are meeting with him have come, have made a journey from Jerusalem in the South all the way up to Galilee in the North. Probably, they were actually sent by most likely the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious body in Jerusalem to check up on Jesus up in Galilee and they were by no means his fans. They were watching him for mistakes that they might have to accuse him.

They were watching him closely not to learn from him. They were watching him closely to see if there was anything that he did or said that they might be able to record that they might use against him eventually to accuse him and to get him out of the picture which they had already decided as a group they needed to do. Jesus exposed them for who they were and they didn't like that. They wanted everybody to think that they were the most upstanding, that they were the most holy, and that they were the ones God had chosen to leave Israel and be the arbitrators of the law. They were hypocrites.

And Jesus exposed that. And they didn't like it. So, they wanted rid of him. So, they came up there not to learn from him. They came up there to watch him to see if he might make mistakes.

You know, the world will often do that to Christians. The world isn't usually the cheerleader in our corner. The world tries to entice us away from Christ. And the world is watching. Watching to see if we are going to be real.

Watching to see if we are going to stick to what we believe. Watching to see if they might have something to accuse us of that might make them to feel a little bit better about themselves. The world is watching you. You may not realize it as a Christian but the world is watching. And what kind of testimony are we leaving?

The issue with the washing here was not one of hygiene but one of ceremonial defilement. They were concerned about germs as we know them. They were concerned about Gentile germs, okay? They were concerned about being defiled ceremonially by having touched a Gentile, By having touched something that belonged to a Gentile. And so they would meticulously they went through a process.

You know we go to sink and we're concerned about hygiene. We put our hands under there and squirt some soap, wash it and you know turn it off, dry it off and we're done. Well, they had a very meticulous way. They poured the water this way and they poured the water this way and they did this and they did that. It was a big ceremony to demonstrate that they were making sure they were cleansing themselves for many defilement they had picked up along the way.

The Jews had taken this way overboard. They washed their hands before they ate in this manner to keep from being defiled by the Gentiles. They did likewise with anything they purchased at the market just in case it had been defiled. The tradition of elders was a as a a whole myriad of unwritten rules which later was written and codified that were in addition to the law of Moses in the Old Testament. And the rabbis, the teachers of Judaism over the past several hundred years had added to it and added to it and added to it and added to it.

In in case of ceremonial washings, there were 18 rules concerning washings to keep them from having any contact or defilement with the Gentiles. 18 different rules concerning how you were supposed to wash, when you were supposed to wash, and again, this all had to do with being defiled by contact with the Gentiles. They were consumed with their superiority. They were better than. As Paul points out in Romans, we are all under sin.

And we all need a savior. And Jesus died for the sins of the what? For the sins of the world. Not just the Jews. But also the Gentiles.

Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the what? Also to the Greek, to the Gentile. But the Jews were consumed with their superiority as they saw it over Gentiles. They were consumed with ceremony. And they spent who knows how long every day observing ceremonies.

They were as Christ called them hypocrites for they acted like saints but inside they were sinners and your worse yet self righteous ones who looked down on everybody else. They had no concern for the needs of people. Only a set, only to set in judgement and condemn them. That's what they did. They didn't go out like Jesus and his disciples did and teach the people.

They made the people come to them. They weren't concerned about helping, feeding, they were only concerned about setting in judgement over them. Jesus pointed out later, they they loved having the best seats in the house. The honor that they were given because they were the leaders. They were the the examples but sad to say they were poor examples because though they followed the law on the outside, they had no heart of love for God or people on the inside.

Jesus said they were like whited sepulchres, graves that were painted, real pretty on the outside but inside, they were full of decay and dead man's bones. Not a pretty sight on the inside. The disciples of Christ had just spent many days ministering to others. Healing, teaching, feeding them, to the neglect of their own needs. Look if you would in chapter six and verse 31.

Chapter six verse 31. And he said unto them, come you yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat. His disciples had run themselves into exhaustion, ministering with Christ and he said, let's leave the city and go out into the countryside so that we might rest and that you might have time to eat and when they left the cities, the crowd followed them and Jesus continued to teach them and feed them and that's when we come to the the feeding of the 5,000. So, Jesus disciples had spent all this time ministering to people to the neglect of their own selves and so they were very likely quite hungry.

But all the Pharisees saw were a group of men eating with what? Unwashed hands. That's all they saw. They didn't see a group of servants who had given themselves to the ministry and to the help of others. All they saw that was men that didn't wash their hands before they ate.

And again, in their case, it was for ceremonial reasons. The traditions of men and not the law. We need to be careful not to jump to conclusions about others. Particularly, oh frivolous things and personal preferences. Sometimes you might go, hey, they went, they went in there.

They didn't wash their hands. We might drive by somebody's house on Sunday afternoon and look over and see that they're mowing their grass. We might look and see they're wearing shorts in church or we may say, hey, weren't they reading from a different translation? Do they always drive like that? We are awful quick to jump to what?

To jump to conclusions about other people. Based upon often frivolous things and personal preferences. We need to be a little more careful. Not so quick to judge. I suspect if others judged us the same way we sometimes judge them, they would come to some erroneous conclusions conclusions about us.

And so, we about them. The Pharisees jumped to the conclusion that Christ's disciples didn't care about the law. They did care about the law. But they didn't care so much about the traditions of men. The things that man had added to and made equal with the law.

And they just didn't see what the disciples had been doing that was far more important than the ceremony. The Pharisees valued external traditions more highly than the word of God. Jesus took the opportunity of their question to expose their hypocrisy concerning their tradition. And the scripture by quoting from the scripture. Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 13.

Christ quotes from. It says, wherefore the Lord said, for as much as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. If you look back in Mark chapter seven, he says in verse six, he answered and said unto them, well, hath Isaiahs or that's the same as Isaiah, prophesied of you hypocrites as it is written, this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me. How be it in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Now, when Isaiah wrote those words, at first, he wrote them to his direct audience which were the children of Israel and God condemned Israel, actually Judah in that day for their heartless piety and their abandonment of the laws of God for the ways of men.

That's what was happening in Israel back in Isaiah's day in about May. In Isaiah's day, a hybrid worship of God ruled the day. A hybrid worship where paganism had been intermingled with the worship of God leading to the overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar leading to the judgment of God upon Israel. They pretended to be worshiping God but they were using God. How often is that today in this world that we pretend to worship God but man is actually using God to justify his own intentions.

They were just going through the motions to gain God's blessing. Well, I'll go to church and I'll do this and I'll I'll go through the motions of bringing the sacrifice in the Old Testament but their heart wasn't in it. They had no real love or care for God. They just went through the motions to keep God at bay in their life. They went through the motions to try to procure his blessing.

The Bible says we cannot procure God's blessing through our own actions. By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us. They went through the motions to procure God's blessing. A god they really didn't know.

They were doing things in some cases God considered vile and yet worse, they were doing it in his name. Sounds a little familiar. I'm afraid we're not maybe too far behind in Christianity today. We are too quick too quick to employ the world's methods to do God's bidding. God has instructed us in his word that he is a holy God.

He is instructed in his word. In many respects, how we are to worship and to serve him. And I'm afraid sometimes we have pushed those things aside. To employ the world's methods. We've allowed the world to dictate how we worship.

Instead of God. That is a mistake By applying this passage here to the people of Jesus' day, Christ is indicating to the Jews of his day that their own heartless religion based upon insincere adherence to rules. Was not sufficient. That their self righteous condescending attitude towards others was no better than the idolatry of those who went before them. That their sense of entitlement to God's kingdom because they were Jews was just flat out wrong.

They weren't entitled to God's kingdom. Jesus said to Nicodemus, except the man be what? Born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus wasn't entitled to heaven or God's kingdom because he was a Jew or because he was a teacher. The only way to enter God's kingdom is through Jesus Christ, his son by faith.

Being born again by his spirit. And not by our own works. Their way, the way of the Pharisees serve them no better than the idolatrous riddled worship for which they were punished in Isaiah's day. Cycle had kind of. It was different.

It wasn't idols they were worshiping. In this case, it was themselves they were worshiping. Might I dare to point out that the worldly escape hatch from hell, I owe God nothing, entitlement, entertainment oriented Christianity of today serves us a little better. And still sickens the heart of God just because Christians or professing Christians have been worshiping God the way of the world just because we have become accustomed to it doesn't mean God has become accustomed to it. God says, I change not.

God is still a holy God who expects his children to worship him. In holiness and with respect and honor, to lift him up as the God of heaven as well as the savior and friend of man. But we have allowed into our lives, into our worship, and into our service. Often times that which does not belong there. We've added the traditions of men.

To the commandments of God and God will hold us accountable also. I digress a bit from the passage. Let's get back to verse eight if we would. Verse eight, it says, Christ continues. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of man as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things you do and he said unto them, full well, you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition.

For Moses said, honor thy father and thy mother and whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death. In other words, for cursing your father and mother under the law of Moses, you could be executed, stoned to death. Very serious matter in the eyes of God. Verse 11, but you say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, it is Corban, that is to say a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free and you suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother making the word of God of none effect through your tradition which you have delivered and many such like things do you. We need not ignore the traditions of our faith.

We need not ignore the values of those who have gone before us. But we must never raise those traditions equal to the scripture. The scriptures are that from which we get our faith, our doctrine. It is the foundation and basis for our our values and convictions but we must not be careful to we must be careful not to raise our application and our tradition to the level of scripture. We spent several months in Sunday school the last this past year.

We started in Jude where it talks about contending for the faith and being wary of false teachers and we took that and we applied that to several different false teachers, groups, and cults that are out there today And we compared what they teach to what the scriptures teach. And one of the things that I noticed as we were going through this is in almost every case where there is a cult or false group that pops up is this, the reason that they pop up, the reason that they go astray is because they have added something to the Bible. They have another book. They have the Book of Mormon. They have the teachings of Awake and Watchtower.

They have the teachings of book by Ellen G. White or they have the teachings of a book by Mary Baker Eddy or they have the teachings of L Ron Hubbard or whatever it is that they've added to the scriptures and raised to the same level leads people astray from the word of God into that which is a fast track to hell. All the time saying, oh we're Christians. But what they're teaching is not no longer the word of God because they have raised the traditions of men above God's word and essentially nullified the word of God. By their own teachings and this is what was happening in Jesus's day.

Jesus pointed out, they were using a tradition which to begin with seemed to be in accordance with scripture but in the end it was used to justify disobedience to scripture. Okay. So take just a minute to explain. What is this Korban, this gift? Well, according to the tradition of the elders, they could make a vow by which they consecrated or dedicated a certain portion of wealth or a certain portion of the harvest or their possessions to the Lord.

And when they vowed to dedicate this portion of their wealth, this money, whatever it was to the Lord, it could not be used for anything else because it was a gift to who? It was a gift to God. And therefore because they made this vow it couldn't be used for anything else. So some of them figured out, hey, I can declare my wealth a gift to God, a Korban, and therefore, that will make it so that I can't use it to help my what? To help my parents.

To honor their father and mother. To help take care of them in their old age. Well, they'd say, well, I'd help em but I can't help em because I I I made all my money. I consecrated it to God. Therefore, I can't help them and that made it what?

And that made it okay. Very likely as the Jews did with many things, they made a vow at the time to keep from having to fulfill another obligation and later on, they just kind of oops, I forgot the vow and use the money for something else anyway. They allowed, they used tradition to nullify the responsibility that God had given them to take care of their parents in their old age. Are we guilty of the same? Let's think about it for a second.

We have gone from legalism in dress and appearance to stark immodesty based on the motto, you can't judge a book by its cover. Or God looks on the heart. Now the God does look on the heart, I grant you. But that doesn't mean that God doesn't see anything else. And is it true that you can't judge a book by its cover?

I dare say people put the covers on books in order to communicate something about the book. And how we act and how we appear to others indicates something about what's inside. But we have moved from the point of, well, if women wear pants, they're not going to heaven to where it doesn't matter what we do with our body. Tattoos and body piercings and strange colored hair painted on clothes and outright nudity are No big deal today. And the scripture which says, we are not to put a stumbling block, a stumbling block in our brother's path.

Or the scripture that says our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. They're just they're just tossed aside. Why? Well, because you can't judge a book by its what? By its cover.

We have taken separation of church and state and we have written God out of our school textbooks. We have taken separation of church and state and we've removed his laws from our courtrooms. We've taken separation of church and state and accepted the teaching of a man made myth called evolution in our science classes and we Christians call it what? Progress. Separation of church and state is a good principle.

But it's not what? It's not the word of, it's not the word of God. We may even celebrate when someone is elected to office who is an atheist, agnostic, Muslim, or Satanist because it's the American way. We have taken judge not that you shall not be judged and grossly misapplied it to mean this, we must not only tolerate but celebrate all sorts of perversion and no longer preach against that which God identifies as a sin and as a disgrace. Many a church today that is making it publicly known that they are no longer preaching against homosexuality and same sex marriage and all of these pervers ions in our society.

That being married is no longer an important thing as long as you love each other, just live together. God doesn't care. The government can do as it pleases but we must stick with what? We must stick with God's word. Whether it's popular or not.

We have taken, you must be open minded and not narrow minded and justified watering down our faith and doctrine to accept many false teachers and false teachings. Ignoring God's challenge in Jude to contend for the faith and his warnings in Corinthians not to be unequally what? Yoked together with unbelievers. I was going to put it up on the screen. I forgot but if you have ever seen a bumper sticker that says coexist, You ever notice how they spell coexist?

They use symbols from different religions. The purpose is to convince you that every religion is just as valid as another. That's called pluralism. Now, as Christians, we believe you can't be forced to be a Christian. You must accept Christ by what?

By faith. It must be a personal choice. Therefore, it does no good to force people to accept Christ and when countries have tried to, it didn't work. But at the same time, not every religion is just as valid. There is only one truth.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me and I do believe that by God's grace, I can coexist and live at peace with others that believe differently than me and I should but it doesn't mean that I go over to them and and they say, when I try to witness to them and they say, well, you have your belief and I have mine. They're equally as valid. And the answer to that is no, they're not. Because they're in conflict with one another.

They can't both be true. And yet I think sometimes we've swallowed the pill and there are Christians that have those bumper stickers on their cars. We have misinterpreted and misapplied the words of Paul, I am all things to all men that I might all means might save some. To justify using whatever means necessary from rock concerts to drunken parties to bring people in the church. Choosing rather to ignore the scriptures which say, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the what?

To the glory of God. Do all to the glory of God. What does it mean to do all the glory of God? It means to give the right impression to the world around us who God is. Sometimes, I wonder if we're trying to give a false impression of who God is to people just so we can get em in the door.

Now, I want em in the door. We're not having a rock concert to get em in here. Because that gives a false impression of who God is. God is not a good time rock and roll party animal. God is holy.

And I think sometimes in Christianity, we've gone almost as far as to purposefully mislead people and the thinking that God is something else just to appeal to them. You see, in some cases, we've taken our traditions and we have taken our commandments of men and place them over the commands of God and nullified them in our own life as Christians and in Christianity today. So, before we are so quick to condemn the Pharisees, we need to take a check at how we do things today as well. If you look in verse 14, it says and when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, hearken unto me everyone of you and understand, there's nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If a man have ears to hear, let him hear and when he has entered into the house from and when he was entered into the house from the people and his disciples asked him according to the parable, he say it unto them, are you so without understanding also?

Do you not perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into a man cannot defile him because it entereth not into his heart but into his belly and go without into the drought purging all meats and he said that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man for from within out of the heart of man proceedeth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and defile the man. Jesus said to those to his disciples and those that were gathered there in the crowd, he said, don't you understand? It isn't the defilement of the Gentiles or the the germs on your food that defile you when you eat. It is the things that are inside your heart that defile you. When you follow your heart, it is deceitfully wicked.

You now follow your God. How many of you heard? Well, just follow your heart. That's another saying of the world that sometimes we've adopted but the Bible says the heart is deceitfully wicked. Not something I want to follow.

The Bible says, there's a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. Be careful. You know what you need to follow? His word. His word won't lead me astray.

My heart not quite so dependable. But God is and the problem is not with the outside. The problem is with the heart. On the inside. The Pharisees were meticulously clean on the outside.

They were separated from defilement through ceremony. But their heart Their heart was in bad shape. Jeremiah seventeen nine quoted this already but it says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. The natural heart of man does not drive people to God, drives people away. The only one who can change our heart is Jesus Christ.

In Psalm 24, three, and four, David wrote this, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a what? And a pure heart. Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully.

David says, it's not enough to have clean hands and he says, clean hands there. I don't think he's actually talking about having washed your hands. He's talking about your actions and how you use your hands. But God is also concerned about our heart and we cannot approach God in worship and be received by him. If our heart has not been washed in the blood of the lamb.

For no matter what activities we do with the outside We must take care of the inside and the only one who can change the inside is God. The external cleansing and rituals do nothing for the true need of man If the heart is not cleansed as well. Too many people today are trying to please God with their outward activities which have no effect on their inward wicked heart or their broken relationship with God. Externals like personal hygiene and exercise and good diet will profit you. But they cannot change your what?

They cannot change your heart. Getting baptized in a baptismal back here. Getting baptized cannot save you. No matter where or how it is administered. Now, I believe that every Christian should be baptized by immersion as it pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as it seemed Christ was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist but you can get dunked 100 times or poured or whatever you want to call it.

But it cannot wash away your sins. Showing up for church and acting all pious may fool others but it doesn't fool who? Doesn't fool God. You may dress up the outside and impress others but God sees through it. You might follow all the rules and everyone think you're an angel.

God knows you're not. The only angel, the only perfect one is Jesus. And I need him because I'm not baptism communion, giving these all are meant to demonstrate faith and trust in God but in themselves, they cannot make us perfect towards God. You might give him the offering but God knows if you've given him your what? Your heart by faith.

Have you? Have you given him your heart? Have you taking him, taking him up on his invitation To become his child by faith. Have you received his gift? Of everlasting life.

Have you repented and trusted in Christ alone? To save you from your sin. Have you given him your heart? Or are you just going through the motions? Going through the motions won't help you.

They cannot make you right with God following the traditions of men and not the commandments of God are not pleasing to him Are you worshiping God from the heart or are you doing what others expect of you? To impress them or fool them. You might. But they are not your judge. How is your heart?

How is my heart? With God. Have we focused so intently on the externals that we have not dealt with the internals? That's what Jesus closes this passage talking about. Sad to say the Jews were all caught up in the externals.

They didn't recognize. They had an inside problem. Problem. Jesus said to his disciples, unless your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. And they must have thought to themselves, how could anybody be more pious than the scribes and the Pharisees?

Well, Jesus wasn't talking about piety. He was talking about having our sins washed away in the blood of the lamb. He was talking about coming to God in repentance and faith. So that God could change our heart. I did that when I was nine years old.

I didn't understand everything. Matter of fact, I still don't. But I knew that I was a sinner and if I died, I knew where I would go. I knew that Jesus died for me and rose again and I knew if I called on him in faith, he'd save me from my sin. And I called on him and he saved me and I became a child of God.

When did you do that? I don't mean the date. I don't remember the date. But I remember doing it. I remember the day that God saved my soul.

Do you? Do you? And is that that faith that you remember? On that day you put that faith in Christ? Does that faith, is it still with you today?

Because if he saved you, it is. It should be a growing faith. If you're here today and you say, pastor, I don't know when I did that. Maybe it's because you haven't but you can. And if we're here today as Christians, we need to be we need to think about and consider.

Are we placing the laws of men and the restrictions of men over that of scripture? Are we conforming our lives to the word of God? Are we conforming God's word to our lives? Which is it? We must contend for the faith and we must spend time building our relationship with God and not just time going through the motions.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord for your word. Forgive us Lord where we might have placed the traditions and precepts of man over the laws of God in our own life. We may have excused ourselves from doing that which you have commanded. Lord, I pray that you would help us to worship you in truth The Lord to stand upon your word and Lord to draw closer to you every day in our relationship that we might walk in the spirit according to your word that you might lead us away from temptation, deliver us from evil, and help us Lord to be the bright and shining lights for Jesus that we need to be.

Lord, help us not to be so quick to judge others but be more quick to judge ourselves and examine our own hearts. How we are before you Lord, I pray that there's one here today that's never trusted in Jesus Christ as savior as we sang a hymn. This morning entitled Just As I Am. I pray that they might come. Lord that we might be able to show them how they might be safe today and know it.

Get this settled once and for all with you. That you might change their heart and give them a home in heaven. That they might not have to fear eternity. But look forward to it. In Jesus name, we do pray.

Amen.