Tradition

Morning. Welcome to Calvary Chapel, all of you here in Arc City and those of you online with us. We welcome you this morning. Would you all stand with me? With us? Would you bow your heads and join me in prayer, please? Father, we thank you for this opportunity that you've given us together this morning to worship you in song and to study your word. Father, we come to you as we are this

morning knowing that you are in control. We can trust you in every area of our life. Lord, you know what we have on our hearts right now. You know the things that can distract us. You know the things that can encourage us, Lord. I would ask that you advise Satan and his demons from hassling us this morning, Lord, as we desire to worship you. Express your worthiness, Lord,

as we worship in song. Bless our time, Lord. We pray.

We've had those whispers in the night when you've been a little distressed knowing he's there with you. Amen. We've had those times. We know. Father, we know that whatever we're going through, you're always there. We know that those times that we decide to try it on our own, we get discouraged and we know we can't without you or nothing, Lord. I've been held. Oh, yeah. In darkest nights, you are close like no

other. Oh, yes. I've known you as a part of the goodness. May we remember you love us. It's a divine love. It's an in spite of love. Amen. You know us for who we really are, and yet you love us, and we thank you for that. And we all have those times when we need to run to you, Lord. We need that fresh feeling, Lord. Come before you right now, Lord. Come to the fountain of life. Let the pain and the sorrow in the waves of his mercy.

Through the fountain, let the pain and the sorrow in the waves of his mercy.

We look to you this morning, Lord, as we're worshiping in song, Lord. We see you as our good, good father who loves us. We see your goodness, Lord, in all that we do, working in us day to day, your will. And when we're thirsty, we know we must come to you. Dip our hearts in the streams of life, Lord. Thank you for your mercy, Lord. And it's because of what you did on that cross

that we can come to you this way, Lord. Lord, I'm forgiven. It's my joy to honor you, Jesus, you. Would you stand? Being amazing love.

It's our desire, Lord, to all that we just lift each to you this morning. We come to you just again as we are. We praise you, Lord. How awesome it is, Lord, when you bring a group of people together to worship you in song. Having had different weeks, all coming from different backgrounds, all facing different things. But we have that bond in you, our Savior.

We're brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen? We're His. We belong to Him. And then I want to mention, if there be any among us that might not know our Lord Jesus, He loves you this morning. Don't be afraid. He hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. He wants the best for you in your heart. Ask Him in. And forgive your sin, as we all miss the mark.

Just make it.

Praise you, Lord. We thank you. We don't have to be inhibited. We can let it go and praise you. No matter what the world thinks, Lord. They certainly do all they want to do and expect us to like it. Lord, we love you. We don't have to be afraid. We can let it go. We praise you, Lord. I'm going to add one little thing here. A cappella.

Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him.

Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Amen. Amen. The Lord bless you. Father, just bless now our time in your word. Anoint Brian by the power of your Holy Spirit to bring it forth. And oh, bless that children's church down there and those teachers and those youngsters and

the nursery and the workers. Oh, just bless. We thank you in Jesus' name.

Good morning.

If you could begin to locate your seats, grab a bulletin, and we'll get ready to go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary. Chapel, I'm glad that you're here this morning. Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin, take note of the things that are going on. Everything's happening this week that's listed over there, times and studies. If you have any questions, you can come talk to me afterwards.

Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a few things to pay attention to. First of all, we have the Prophecy Conference coming up June 9th through 11th at Calvary of Emporia. That will be, it'll begin Thursday evening, I think around 5 or 6, and end sometime at midday Saturday. And then on June the 4th is the Servant Conference in Wellington, Kansas. So that is an all-day thing, and lunch is provided, a free event, so come join us for

that. And then also, don't forget, Vacation Bible School is coming up very soon, July 6th through the 8th, which will be here before you realize it. And so for a little bit more information about how you can get involved, my lovely wife is going to come up and talk to us. Good morning. As Ryan said, VBS is coming up. It'll be July 6th, 7th, and 8th, which is a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this year.

Registration will be ready in a week or two, so just keep that in mind, and in a couple weeks we'll start getting kids registered. It's for kids four years through fifth grade. We have some volunteer opportunities, if you would like to get involved. We're having a work day. June 5th from 2 to 5, which is a Sunday, so two weeks from now, it's to start getting

decorations ready and things like that. So if that's your gig, you can just show up. You don't have to sign up. June 5th, 2 to 5. Another opportunity will be June 12th after church, so the next week right after church. We will do a neighborhood blitz like we've done before. More we take information to just the surrounding area here, and probably candy and things like

that for the kids. We've been really successful with that in the past. In fact, we have kids coming here now from the neighborhood because of that, so that's something we want to continue. And then if you want to help with kids during VBS, I have a sign-up sheet. Some of you have already contacted me, so I'll get you signed up. We do it where we have... The age groups of kids separate it out, and then we try to get some teenagers or adults

to hook up with a couple of kids and kind of be their buddy as they go through the stations. And so that's what I'm looking for with the sign-up sheet. So if you are interested in that, you can come see me after church. I'm only going to be here a very short time because Nora has a dance recital. So if you don't catch me this week, catch me next. And I think that's it.

You can hand this off to Nick.

To announce, Nick is going to come up and talk to us about Kids Camp. Hey, I'm getting really excited. We're getting close to our Kids Camp, which is going to be happening June 22nd through 25th at Prairie View. So it's right here in Arc City, super close, which we're excited. This will be grades 2nd through 5th. So if you are interested and want to sign up your kiddos, go to Prairie View Christian Camp's website,

sign them up, and it's going to be an amazing time. They have a great theme made for the moment. I highly recommend it. My kids are going, so we're going to have a blast. I hope you guys join us.

Very good. So lots going on, lots coming up this summer. I'm getting pretty excited. So those are the things that are going on. If you'd make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 142. Psalm 142. We'll be looking at the New American Standard. If you need a copy of that, there should be one in your row.

And if you don't have a Bible, take that with you so that you can be in the Word for yourself. But as you're turning to Psalm 142, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word,

I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Allen, and the even verses. Psalm 142, Maskell of David, when he was in the cave, a prayer. I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord. I make supplication with my voice to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before Him. I declare my trouble before Him. When my spirit was overwhelmed, within me, you knew my path.

In the way where I walk, they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see, for there is no one who regards me. There is no escape for me. No one cares for my soul. I cried out to you, O Lord. I said, you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong

for me. And read verse 7 with me. Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me. And Father, we do thank you for being our refuge and our stronghold, Lord. The one that we can find our hope and faith in. And so Lord, I just pray that as we spend time in your word this morning, that you would move

by the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, we need to hear from you this morning. And so, I pray that you would speak to our hearts as you see fit. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 15.

Matthew chapter 15.

As we get into our section of Scripture today, there's one theme that stuck out in the first 20 verses of this chapter. And the theme that stuck out in the first 20 verses of this chapter is the theme, Tradition. And so that's what I titled the sermon today. Tradition. And for those of you that have seen Fiddler on the Roof, the song is going through your head right now.

You're welcome. For those of you that haven't seen Fiddler on the Roof, it's time to expand your horizons. But that's exactly what Jesus deals with today, because he's dealing with the religious leaders and their traditions. Their traditions that they had begun to put in a place where really only God's word should be. And yet, they had found themselves here. And so, as we

come to chapter 15 in the first 20 verses, we're going to find that it breaks down really into three different encounters, or three different conversations. The first conversation that's had is the conversation between Jesus and the religious leaders. The second conversation that's had is between Jesus and the crowds. And the third conversation is between Jesus and his disciples. And so we pick up

in verse 1 of chapter 15 with his conversation with the Pharisees. It says,

And he answered and said to them, Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, Honor your father and mother. He who speaks evil of a father or mother is to be put to death. But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever I would have that would help you has been given to God. He is not to honor his father or his mother.

And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Now the first thing that I take note of as Jesus has this conversation with the Pharisees

is that a delegation had been sent from Jerusalem. Remember by this point in time, starting in chapter 14, Jesus had sort of been withdrawing himself from the area of Jerusalem because that's where all of the religious leaders were. And that's where the seat of government was. And because of pressure from the religious leaders as well as pressure from Herod, he had decided to withdraw himself.

Chapter 14, for the next handful of chapters, he'll be mainly with his disciples because he's preparing them for when he's going to be gone so that they're ready for that. So that they're ready to carry on the work of the ministry. But the religious leaders wanted to continue to examine Jesus because they wanted to find some way that they could accuse him. Some way that they could prove that he was a false teacher of some sort. And so they had sent

this delegation of Pharisees and scribes to examine everything that was going on in the ministry of Jesus. And so as they're examining everything that's going on in the ministry of Jesus, they find one thing that they can complain about, one issue that they have. It says, Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.

Now, what is being dealt with here is not what you and I think of when we think of washing hands, right? We've just finished up. We're still in the midst of we'll never not be in this process of COVID, right? And so we know that over the last two years, hand washing has become incredibly important. I've probably washed my hands more in the last two years than I did in the previous 40.

And so it's become a really important thing to have that kind of good hygiene to wash your hands. And I've sung the ABCs every single time that I do it. That's right. I do it the right way. But that's not the kind of hand washing that's being spoken of here. The kind of hand washing that's being spoken of here is the kind of hand washing that is very ceremonial

in nature. Now, if we look at the ceremony of cleansing or washing, the Old Testament prescribes several different ways that people were supposed to be ceremonially cleansed. For instance, according to the Old Covenant, according to the Old Testament, if you came in contact with a dead body, then you then had to go and be cleansed of that. There was a waiting period that you had to stay away from the camp, and then you would go and offer a sacrifice, and there would be a ceremonial cleansing that would take place. The same

as if you touched someone that had been defiled in any sort of way. If you were ceremonially considered unclean, then there was a process that you went through that included some sort of a washing. And if you were a priest, those ceremonial washings were more frequent and more important for you to take part in. But you see, as oftentimes happens with us as humans, the religious leaders decided that if a little bit is good, then a lot is better. And so they

began to establish other forms of hand washing that they had to do that were to be performed before every meal. They said that some of these hand washing ceremonies, and really lots of other traditions, had been orally handed down by the elders over the year. As a matter of fact, traditionally speaking, they said that after God gave the written law to Moses, which is what's given to us in both Exodus and Leviticus, after God gave that written law, Moses then began to orally give certain ceremonial laws to the people. And those ceremonial laws that he gave in an oral sort of fashion continued to be passed down over the years by the elders. These are what we

call traditions. And these traditions were so important to them that they actually began to say that the traditions of the elders that were orally handed down carried even more weight to them than the law itself did. Now, that's called getting things a little bit out of order. That's called getting things a little bit out of context. And so, they had to decide, what are we going to do with some of these

traditions? Well, it's kind of interesting when we think about traditions, something that's handed down, because I grew up a part of the Calvary Chapel movement, right? And in the Calvary Chapel movement, we can't even spell tradition, let alone have very many of them ourselves, right? I remember the first time somebody asked me after Bible college to give the invocation at some sort of an event. And here I am,

a graduate of a Bible college that has, I think, a fairly decent handle on what God's Word has to say. And I said, sure, what's an invocation? Because I'd never done that before, because that's a traditional thing, right? An invocation is like an opening prayer, by the way, for those of you that are giving me that look right now. And so, we're not used to having a lot of traditions

around here in Calvary Chapel, and yet, even within Calvary Chapels, we still have traditions, right? One of the traditions that we have is that there's always music at the beginning of the service, right? We always have our worship time at the beginning of the service. Do you know that nowhere in the Bible does it say that worship has to take place before the teaching of the Word? That's just

a tradition that we follow. It's not bad, but it is a tradition that we follow. Matter of fact, can you imagine if you showed up at church today, and I started off with teaching the Word? Matter of fact, some of you might have missed the first two points that I made. Anyway, if I started off by teaching the Word, and then the music started after that, not only

would you miss the first two points that I made, but I bet some of you wouldn't come back next week, because you're like, that church is weird, right? Because we're used to our traditions. Well, the elders at this point in time were the same way. They said, we need to follow our tradition. Well, to understand this hand-washing tradition just a little bit better, I think it's really good

for us to look over at the book of Mark, chapter 7. And on the board, I wrote verses 3 and 4, but I think we're best to gain some context by starting in verse 1, because Mark actually gives a little bit of commentary on this. So go to one book to the right of Matthew, chapter 7. If you can't get there in time, no problem, just write it down. It says,

Now it's the commentary portion that's important for us to pay attention to. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions 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 the washing of cups, pitchers, and copper pots. So these traditions

were really important to them. And it brings up, first of all for me, a question. What do we do with this as New Testament believers? Well, we have to gain an understanding, first of all, that just because something is a tradition doesn't mean that it's right. And just because something is a tradition doesn't mean that it's wrong. I think sometimes we can go

too far one direction or the other. So how do we decide what should and should not be traditions that are a part of our church? Well, I think that there's three questions that we should begin to answer with all of the things that we do, traditionally speaking. Number one, is this tradition anti-biblical? In other words, does it go against what God's Word has to say? I would like to say that there

is no church doing things that are anti- biblical today. Unfortunately, I know better than that. I know that there are lots of churches that have traditions within their churches that are actually anti-biblical in the way that they handle things. What was going on here was not an anti-biblical thing. It wasn't opposed to God's Word. But we have to pay attention to that. So we have to ask ourselves, is what we're doing

anti-biblical? The second question that we have to answer is, is this tradition extra-biblical? In other words, it doesn't go against God's Word, but it's not necessarily in God's Word, right? That would be what this tradition would be considered, this tradition of hand-washing. I don't think there's anything wrong with what they're doing. I don't think Jesus thinks there's anything wrong

with what they're doing. You just shouldn't hold other people accountable to it because it's an extra-biblical tradition. And then, of course, the third question that we have to answer with dealing with any kind of tradition within the church or in our own lives is, has it taken precedence over God's Word? In other words, is it something that I put above God's Word?

If someone were to come to me and say, actually, I think this is a violation of what Scripture has to say, what I have to say, but it's the most dangerous statement you ever make in a church, what we've always done. But it's what we've always done, and we can't violate tradition. All of the people will leave if we put it above God's Word. So, the thing I love about Jesus is Jesus did not mind rocking the boat. Jesus did not mind

breaking traditions. And I love that about Him because Jesus looked and said, why are we doing that? God's Word doesn't say that. So, why are you holding it at such a high standard? I started watching a documentary for the second time around. It tells you it's a good documentary, or at least one that I found enjoyable the other day. And if you have a chance to

watch it, it's pretty fascinating. It's called The Jesus Music. It's for sure on the free version of Hulu, or on the lowest level of Hulu. But it's a fascinating documentary. It takes you through all of contemporary Christian music. I really don't like the phrase contemporary Christian music because that definitely makes me sound like I'm 45. But it takes you from the beginning of what we call

modern Christian music to today. And in the beginning of modern Christian music, which ironically got its start in Calvary Chapel, it was amazing how much difficulty people faced. Because all of these kids were showing up and they didn't look like the traditional church person. They didn't dress like the traditional church person. And they didn't play the kind of music that the traditional church person

liked. And they talked about all of the things that they faced. Because when they showed up they didn't play the organ. They played guitars and drums. And drums are not traditionally allowed in churches. When they showed up they had really long hair. And for men to have really long hair was not traditional amongst most of the churches. When they showed up they were wearing jeans and t-shirts,

which was not traditional amongst all of the churches. And the songs that they were singing were not out of hymnals, which was not traditional for most of the churches. And they found themselves in a really great difficulty of trying to prove that just because it's not what we've always done, doesn't mean that our heart isn't right. And that's exactly what Jesus is willing to do with these religious leaders right now.

He's saying, just because it's what you've always done, doesn't mean that your heart is right. So Jesus does what only he can do in such a masterful way. He answers their question with a question. Verse 3 it says, And he answered and said to them, Why do you yourselves transgress the covenant of God, or the commandment of God, for the sake of your tradition? For God said to honor

your father and mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death. But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, whatever I have that would help you has been given to God. He's not able to honor his father or mother. And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. I love the way Jesus opens this up. Because did you

pay attention to the way that they worded the question to Jesus? Why do you break the tradition of the elders? God's word isn't mentioned once there. And did you notice how Jesus responded to them? Why do you violate the commandment of God? You would think that one phrase alone would cause someone to step back and go, you know what? We should probably think about

this because this isn't God's commandment. However, Jesus continues on. He says, why do you violate the commandment of God? And he of course brings up the fifth commandment that you're to honor your father and your mother. Which they would have agreed with. They're like, okay, same page so far. We absolutely agree that we should honor our father and mother.

And he says, but there's a custom that you all have. A custom that we don't understand here, but they did at that point in time. You see, at that point in time, when parents began to become elderly, they would move in with the kids and they would, the kids would then take care of them with all of their financial means. However, some of the wealthier people, particularly the wealthy religious people, wanted to find a way around that. Because they thought,

I'm going to use all of my wealth caring for my aged parents, and I don't want to have to do that. And so they devised a little bit of a scheme to religiously deal with this and still make themselves seem pretty spiritual. They said, I know. We'll just say everything that we own is dedicated to God, and it will be willed to the work of God upon my death. Therefore, I can't give this

to anybody else right now, because it belongs to God. And after all, I don't want to rob from God, right? He says, you have this ridiculous greedy, selfish, unloving commandment that everything that you own is given to God. Therefore, you can't care for your parents. And in so doing, you invalidate God's word because you are not honoring your mother and father.

In so doing, you make God's word powerless in your life. May I say, when we put any kind of tradition or commandments of men ahead of God's word, that is exactly what it does. It completely strips God's word of its power in my life. And I invalidate what God's word has to say. And if that wasn't enough, Jesus hits them with another one. He says, you hypocrites.

Man, nobody likes the word hypocrite, do they? There's nothing about that that sounds nice. The word hypocrite literally means an actor on a stage. As a matter of fact, at this point in time in Roman culture, a hypocrite was an individual who literally was an actor. When you played a part on a stage, you might play two, maybe even three parts because they didn't have

enough people to be acting. And so, what they would do is they would carry two or three different masks around with them. And when they needed to play a different part, they would switch it out and they would put on a different mask. So that everybody would go, oh, now he's so-and-so. And when they were done playing that part, they would put on this mask. That's exactly what Jesus

calls these religious leaders. Why? Because through their traditions, they were putting on the mask of being holy. But when they took off that mask of being holy, they were just as selfish, greedy, and unloving as the most unrighteous person they could imagine. They were a bunch of hypocrites. Now, I want to speak a word about this for just a moment. I want to speak, first of all,

a word of conviction, and then hopefully a word of comfort. All of us as human beings have the tendency towards hypocrisy. As a matter of fact, it is deeply ingrained in us. It's deeply ingrained in us ever since the Garden. Because do you know who the first two hypocrites ever to walk planet Earth are? Adam and Eve. You know why? Because what happened when they sinned?

They tried to hide it. They first of all tried to cover it with the worst leaves known to man, and then they tried to hide from God. They, if you will, tried to wear the mask of holiness and were not transparent before God about their sin. And do you know what continues to be an issue in the church today? Hypocrisy. Why? Because it's deeply ingrained in who we

are. People that show up to church know all of the right things to say, but when they leave the church, they act like a completely different person. My friend, I need to tell you something. If that's you this morning, if you're here this morning and putting on the face of a Christian, meanwhile you're going to walk out the door and completely act the opposite, stop calling yourself a Christian.

Because it's just hurting the rest of us. If you're going to walk through these doors and call yourself a Christian and call yourself somebody who is loving and then walk out the door and be condemning and judgmental and harsh towards the people around you, don't call yourself a Christian. Because it just hurts the rest of us. Our hearts should be moved by the fact that we are to be who we are no matter who is around.

We are to be honest and transparent before God and as honest and transparent as is appropriate. With each other. Because hypocrisy will destroy a church. Now I want to speak a little bit of a word of comfort to all of us. There is not one single person sitting in this church today as transparent as you want to be that does not still struggle with hypocrisy.

As a matter of fact, we really are just a group of recovering hypocrites. Because the moment that we came to Jesus, the moment that we came to Him and said, I am a sinner and I am in desperate need of a Savior was the first time that we began to be even partially transparent with the Lord. And now we are in the process of getting rid of all of the hypocrisy, stripping out all of the masks, all of the secrets, all of the lies and being as transparent as we can possibly be before the Lord. So you will always struggle with being a hypocrite as long as you walk on planet Earth. But it doesn't mean that you have

to live in that. It doesn't mean that you have to continue to be that person. I used to have kids come to me all the time when I was leading youth and they'd say, I always try to talk to my friends about Jesus and coming to church and stuff, but they're like, I don't want to go to church because it's full of hypocrites. And I told them, I said, next time you need to say, of course it is. We're all

recovering hypocrites, right? We're a club. We should be like, hypocrites anonymous. We call ourselves HA. Right? Where are you going to? I'm going, HA. Hypocrites anonymous. Because that's all who we are, right? We're just trying to get past this aspect of hypocrisy. But that was the problem that these religious leaders had. They were hiding what was really on the

inside behind a mask of tradition, behind a mask of, that's what we always do, behind a mask of, I don't care what happens at home, I'm going to church. I don't care what, how I live on Saturday night, I'm going to be at church on Sunday because after all, that's my image that I have to portray. And Jesus is like, lay aside your image and be who you really are. Be transparent before me and transparent with each other.

He says, you hypocrites. He says, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Oh my gosh. What a terrible thing to have said about you, that you say all of the right things, but you don't say it with the right heart. That your heart is still really far. Have you ever been there where you're singing the songs

and you're singing the worship songs, but your heart's somewhere else, your mind's somewhere else, you're only doing it because you know everybody else is looking at you. And you don't want them to think that there's something wrong with you. I feel like I came up with the absolute best picture of what it's like to honor something with your lips, but have your heart be far from you. Okay?

Here it is. So, we just finished up another year at the Ark City Christian Academy. And at the Ark City Christian Academy, I teach Bible. And the first thing that happens in the mornings at Ark City Christian Academy when you teach Bible is you have to do the pledges. Right? There's four of them. Did you even know you could have four pledges? I used to have

a joke when I first started teaching there. You know, there used to be that little commercial, there's an app for that. I started that, well, there's a pledge for that. So, first of all, you do the pledge to the American flag, and then you do the pledge to the Christian flag, and then you do the pledge to the Bible, and then you do the pledge to ACCA. We haven't developed an ACCA flag yet,

but I have petitioned for there to be one. Anyway, so we're doing all of these pledges, and you know what happens, though, when I'm doing these pledges, you know I'm not paying attention to? The pledges. That's the answer, the pledges. I'm not paying attention to them. As a matter of fact, one day we were doing the pledges, and in the middle of it somebody started laughing about something, and I got

distracted, and I lost my place, and I was like, we have to start all over again, because if we don't start from the beginning, I don't know what they all say. Right? I can't make it through all of the pledges if we don't start with the American flag pledge. That's the perfect picture of what it's like to honor something with your lips, but have your heart be far from you. And it's one

thing when it's a bunch of pledges to flags and stuff, it's a whole other thing when it's your walk with Jesus Christ. It's a whole other thing when that's your prayer life. It's a whole other thing when that's your spiritual life. It's a whole other thing when that's your worship life. When you live a life where you honor God with your lips, and you're willing to say, oh yeah, I believe in Jesus,

but your heart is far from Him, because nothing about you reflects anything of Jesus. That's a sad state for us to be in. But that's the place that these religious leaders were in. Jesus said, Isaiah said, true things about you. You honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. As a matter of fact, He says, in vain do they worship me, because they teach as doctrine

the precepts of men.

Well, after Jesus deals with these religious leaders, He turns to the crowds to address them, and so now comes the second part of Jesus in the crowd. Notice what it says, after Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, hear and understand. It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth. This defiles the man.

I love this, because Jesus calls the crowd that undoubtedly had gathered near Him, He calls them to Himself, and He looks at them, and the first thing He says is, hear and understand. Why is that the first thing that He says to them? Because Jesus at His heart is a teacher. And Jesus is looking at all of this crowd, and He knows what happens with crowds like these.

What happens with crowds like these is, in that crowd are people that are bound by legalism. In that crowd are people that are bound by their inability to keep all of the traditions. In that crowd are people that find themselves to be failures because of all of the legalistic things that are going on. And so as He looks at them, He says, I want you to be set free from all of the traditions that you can't seem to keep, from all of the law that you can't seem to keep, from all of the failure that seems to always show up in your life because you've had rules laid on you that are not from God.

And I want to set you free from it. And you know, God wants to do the same thing in all of our lives today. It's amazing how long it takes to get set free from legalism. It's amazing how long it takes to get set free from lists of rules that you can't keep. When Jesus sets you free, you say, praise God, now I'm going to try to be a good person. And then you fail, and He's like, you can't do it.

But I want you to know that Jesus is able to set you free, even from that feeling of worthlessness that you have, because you can't do it all right. Because most of those rules that you're holding yourself to aren't even from God. So He looks at the crowds and He says, I want you to hear and I want you to understand. He says, whatever goes into a man's mouth does not defile the man.

Now you and I hear that, and we're from the Western culture. We've never been bound by all of the same things that they were bound by at this point in time. So you and I hear that, and we probably brush right by it, forgetting that what Jesus said right here is literally earth-shattering. Ryan, how's that earth-shattering? Well, because if you've ever studied Leviticus, which

most of you probably haven't, you know that they had all kinds of dietary laws in the book of Leviticus that they had to keep. As a matter of fact, if you want some really fun reading that will put you to sleep, you should go read the dietary laws in the book of Leviticus. Those of you that went through this with me on a Wednesday night, right? A little something extra special for you in heaven.

Because there's all these dietary laws that they were to keep. And so in the minds of all of these Jewish people who had grown up knowing all of the dietary laws, when Jesus said, that which goes into a man's mouth is not what defiles him, they would have gone, what? Now this is earth-shattering. Okay, so go back over to Mark chapter 7, verse 19. This time I only want you to go to verse 19.

Mark 7, 19.

Same story, again, just Mark's encounter of it. It says, If you have a red letter Bible, you'll notice that that part's in black. That means that's a commentary by Mark about what Jesus did here. He declared all foods clean. Now this will really come into play in Acts chapter 15, but this that Jesus said was earth-shattering. Can you imagine? I am so glad that

this happened. You know why? Because now I get to eat bacon, right? This is amazing. We're not praising God enough for this, right? I know somebody's bearing witness with me. Anyway, so okay, back to chapter 15. So Jesus says this. He says, no, it's not what goes into the man, chapter 15, verse 11 of Matthew. It's not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man.

Oh, but wait. But what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man. We'll go into that in more detail in just a moment, because Peter's going to ask him to explain that. But Jesus wants to set these crowds free from the legalism that they're bound by. So now we see Jesus' encounter with his disciples. Notice what it says, verse 12. Then the disciples came and said to him,

Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement? He answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit. Peter said to him, Explain the parable to us. Jesus said, Are you still lacking understanding

also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and slanders. These are the things which defile the man. But to eat

with unwashed hands, that doesn't defile the man. And so Jesus starts off. He turns to his disciples, and undoubtedly this had been quite the moment, really, with the religious leaders, right? And so the disciples look at Jesus, and they're like, Do you know that you really offended the Pharisees with what you just said? Feels like we're living in 2022 here, right? Did you know

that offended somebody with the way that you said that? I love it because Jesus didn't mind offending people. Shared this with first service. I may as well embarrass myself in this service, too. So with my Bible class, we just finished the book of Genesis, right? The entire book of Genesis in a year. Felt pretty good. Felt pretty accomplished by that. I said, Okay, guys, last week of

school, let's watch a movie. What are we going to watch? And you know what they chose? It was a highly theological movie. It's called Nacho Libre. Oh, man. I am so glad I went back and watched Nacho Libre. It's so funny. But all I could think the whole time I'm watching Nacho Libre is, How has this not been canceled? This is the most offensive movie ever. Anyway, I

offend people a lot with the things that I say. So he goes to the disciples, and they say, Jesus, you offended the Pharisees by this. And of course, Jesus was like, Gosh, I didn't mean to offend them. All I wanted to do was point out the truth. I'm really concerned that I've offended them. No, he doesn't say that. What does he say? Every plant which my father

did not plant shall be uprooted. That's right, friends. Sometimes people need to be offended. Why? Because that that's in them that's not from the Father needs to be uprooted. One commentator that I read said, Really, this could also be translated or be written. Any system that has not been put in place by my heavenly Father, shall be uprooted. What system is it? The system of the traditions of the

elders. All of those things, all of those teachings that are not based and founded in the word of God will always be uprooted. The teaching of the Pharisees is going to be uprooted. And then notice what he goes on to say. He says, Let them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. I love this because Jesus does not now go out on an anti-Pharisee campaign, right?

He doesn't just say, Now we need to go protest against all of the Pharisees and campaign against all of the Pharisees. No, Jesus keeps doing what he's always done. He goes out and teaches the truth. And if it offends them, that's fine because it doesn't matter. He says, Let them alone and do their own thing. People that want the truth will hear the truth. If you will, Jesus

puts into practice here exactly what he said in one of the parables. Does this sound familiar to you? Do you remember the parable of the wheat and the tares? A man went and planted good seed and the good seed began to come up. But while he was asleep, someone had come and sowed tares into the field and they began to come up and revealed themselves. And the workers came and said,

What should we do? Should we begin to uproot? Should we begin to pull out all of the tares? And the farmer said, What? Or the landowner said, What? He said, No. Let them alone until the end of the age. Because at the end of the age, that which is the good grain will be put away into the barns and that which is the tares will be thrown out and burned. Friends, we don't have to necessarily

go around and campaign against everybody that's saying something wrong and everybody that's teaching traditions that we don't agree with. We keep giving out the truth. Will it offend some? Absolutely. Is that okay? Absolutely. We just keep giving out the truth of what God has to say and what God's word has to say. The next thing that happens, though, is that Peter

has a question. Peter said to him, Explain the parable to us. I love Peter because Peter's the guy that's not afraid to ask the question. We've all been in class before, right? For some of us, it's been a little longer than others, but we've all been in class. We all remember that moment in class where the teacher says something and nobody in the class has any clue what

the teacher just said. Or at least you don't understand it. And everybody's kind of looking around at each other and the teacher says, Does everyone understand? Because they know nobody understands, but they want you to admit that. And they're looking around, Does everybody understand what I'm saying? And everybody just kind of goes, Right? I took a chemistry class my

junior year of high school. I did not learn anything in chemistry, okay? There's a reason. It's not just because Jesus called me to be a pastor. It's the only thing I can do. So I took this chemistry class and there was one incredibly smart girl in this class. There were lots of smart people, but one in particular, smartest girl I've ever met in my life, smartest person I've ever met in my life,

Kelsey Kinch, okay? And Kelsey Kinch was in that class, and any time we didn't understand anything, we'd all go, It was like this unspoken code. And she would be like, because the teacher liked her, and she'd be like, and put her hand up and ask the question. I think that's kind of Peter right now. Like, he's the, like, Peter, you say dumb things a lot. He won't think anything's

weird. And Peter's like, Fine, I don't get it either. So we asked Jesus the question, but you know what else I think is funny? Peter calls it a parable. Did that sound like a parable to you? I didn't hear a parable in there. You could just, Peter's like, Explain to us that parable. I don't know what you said. It's a parable. Please explain to us the parable. I don't know why Peter just

became George W. Bush right there, but it just made sense. And so, Oh, see, I have to stop talking now. Okay. I was going to thank other presidents, and then I'm going to get canceled. Anyway, see, it's really hard not to offend people. So, Jesus answers. Now, I love it because there's a real moment here, right? Jesus says, Are you still lacking in understanding?

Also, when Jesus gave all of the parables a few chapters ago, do you remember what he said at the very end? Put your mind back to it. He said, Do you understand all these things? And they looked at him, and they said, Yeah, we do. And I think they really did. I think they really understood what Jesus was talking about in these parables. But now, all of a sudden,

Jesus is laying out some new truth to them, and Peter has to go, Can you explain that to us? And Jesus is like, Are you still lacking in understanding? Are you still lacking in understanding? There's a principle in life that I have found to be absolutely true of myself, and I think you will probably bear witness with this as well. When it comes to our understanding of God's

Word, when it comes to our obeying God's Word, when it comes to our understanding of who God is, we tend to live in a process of three steps forward and two steps back. We'll take these giant leaps forward, and we're like, Yeah, dude, I totally got that. That's amazing. I understand what's going on. And then a few days later, we're like, Huh? Because I've lost some of

what I've known. The important thing is that my forward motion is still going forward. I may be taking two steps back, but I took three steps forward to start with. And that's okay. That forward motion is really important. And do you know how patient Jesus is? Because he says, Are you still lacking in understanding? You're like, That's not patient. Yeah, it is, because at that point

in time, he could have said, Figure it out yourself. But he didn't. He gently reprimands them because he says, You should probably be a little further along than you are right now, which he says to me sometimes, too. And he says to you sometimes, too. You should be a little further along than you are right now. But it doesn't mean I'm not going to explain it to you.

He says, Are you still lacking in understanding? And then he begins to explain what he means. He says, Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. Don't you understand that what we're talking about right now is food?

Food goes into the body, it's processed, and then it's eliminated. Several commentators that I read were very shocked that Jesus used language like this. They said, Clearly this was spoken by Jesus because who would have ever put those words in Jesus' mouth? And all I can think is, Jesus didn't mind talking about poop, right? Like, I have not progressed beyond a good poop joke.

And so Jesus is right there with them. They're like, We get that. He says, Do you understand that that's just stuff that doesn't affect your spirit at all? It's just food? He says, No. The things that come out of your mouth, that's what defiles you because those are coming from the depth of who you are. Because notice what he goes on to say, For out of the heart come evil thoughts

and murders and adulteries and fornications, thefts, false witnesses, and slanders. That's what defiles you. Because those are the things that are deep down inside of us. Those are the things that are in there, but tend to come out in our actions. Do you know how you can tell whether or not someone has a good heart? By the things that come out of their mouth.

Or by the actions that come forth from their hands. Or by the attitudes that come forth from their spirit because those are from deep within. It's kind of like, do you know the difference? Do you know how you can tell the difference between being in a kitchen and in a bathroom? They smell different, right? Same thing. The fruit that's produced. Yeah, that's right. A little poop joke for you.

See? It's funny, isn't it?

Those are the true tell of what's going on in our heart. It has nothing to do with whether or not we're ceremonially clean. Because deep down in the heart of every man is the capacity for the greatest of evil. Sarah McLaughlin was not right when she said, we're all born innocent. Because we're not. Each of us has sin bound up in our hearts. And those sins are the most evil that

we can imagine. We can dress ourselves up. We can make ourselves look good. We can start to call sin more savory names. But the fact of the matter is, those things all exist inside of our heart. Some of you are probably like, well, I don't have murder in my heart. Yeah, you do. You've maybe never put it into the trigger of a gun or into the handle of a knife or into the front end

of a car and run someone down. You maybe have never done that. But it's still bound up in your heart through hatred. You say, there's not adultery in my heart. Yeah, there is, because you have two eyes and a mind. Adultery lies within the heart. Fornication lies in the heart. That's what's so bad about pornography, is that pornography plays on that fornication

that takes place in the heart. And it's bound deep down inside of who we are. All of the thefts that come out, they all start in the heart. All of the slander that comes out, it all starts in the heart. And it's bound up in the heart of man. And all of the ceremonies, all of the rituals, all of the traditions, all of the things in the world can never cleanse the heart of

all of those things. There's only one thing that can cleanse the heart of man from all of that stuff. And it's not another law and it's not another regulation. That's why you can make as many anti-gun laws as you want to, and there will still be mass shootings. You can make as many anti-gun laws as you want to, and there will still be murders. Because those things are not bound up in instruments,

they're bound up in the sinful heart of man.

Jesus says those are the things that when they come out, they defile the man. But to eat with unwashed hands, that doesn't defile anyone. It's amazing how Jesus just went from talking about traditions to cutting straight down to the heart of man. See, all of those traditions, they're really great for external things, and they're really great to make us look good, and they're really great because they make great pictures sometimes, but the fact of the matter is, they never get to the heart.

Only God's Word is able to pierce to the heart, and that's exactly what Jesus does here. As we wrap up this morning, I want to ask you a really challenging question that'll have three things that go along with it. The challenging question that I have to ask you is this. How is your heart? I'm at a magical age now, where every time you go to the doctor, they hand you things that say,

hey, you're getting older now, and you need to start paying attention to your heart. And the first thing I say is, gee, thanks. And then I go on to pay attention to what it says I need to be watching about my heart. And every time I go, they check my blood pressure, they check my heart for all the things that need to happen because I'm not getting any younger.

Well, eternity just keeps getting longer, doesn't it? So my question for you is, how's your heart? And there's three questions slash statements that go along with it. Number one, what's coming out of it? What's coming out of your heart on a consistent basis? I don't mean with everybody else around. I mean when nobody else is around. What comes out of your heart?

I mean when you're around your friends that don't attend this church. What comes out of your heart? I mean when you're around the people who they know you and they'll let a little bit more slide. What comes out of your heart? You see, if you find that you're in those places where nobody else is, or you're around the people that aren't holding you accountable, what

comes out of your heart is a really good indication of what's really going on inside of your heart. We'll call this a real heart check. A test that you should give yourself. And you should be examining these things. Because those words that Jesus uses there that are not only actions that take place but are attitudes of our heart, those aren't fun words to read. They're not fun

words to think about. And yet, they're things that we should give ourselves a test against. Are these things coming out of me?

What's coming out of it? Number two, an undefiled heart begins with a right heart. An undefiled heart begins with a right heart. So after you've asked yourself the question of, what's coming out of my heart? What's consistently coming out of who I am? And you should start thinking, how can I make that right? Now if you're here this morning and you've never come to a place of a knowledge of Jesus Christ

the way you have to start with a to get yourself right with God, is you have to start with salvation. Because otherwise we are simply trying to renovate an old property that can never be made new. We need to start all over again. We need to scrap that, start over, and that's what Jesus does when he comes into our lives and makes us brand new. I have been reminded

of this recently. I have been reminded recently of the miraculous ability of God to come into someone's heart and completely wash it clean. And make them brand new. And it's been a great reminder for me of what he did for me. If you're here this morning and you're battling with all of this stuff, you say, yes, all of that comes out of me on a consistent basis,

then the first step that you have to take is to get your heart right with Jesus. To confess your sin, to ask him to come into your life, forgive you of your sin, and be your Savior. And I can attest from what I've seen in the last few weeks, he does exactly that. I've been so reminded of it, of just exactly how miraculous it is, what God's able to do in a heart.

If you're here this morning and you've been saved for a really long time, and yet you still find that these things exist in your heart, I want you to know that that does not make you abnormal. That means that you still have a heart that is led away by your flesh. Because as long as we live on this earth, we will always struggle with those things of the flesh. And so how can you be made right?

Same way. Scripture tells us that if we confess our sins, that he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. So as we start looking at our heart, seeing what's coming out, we go, Lord, this is what's wrong. This is where I've gone wrong. This is the evil that's coming out of me, and I need your forgiveness. And you know what he promises to do? That as we walk in the light, as he is in the

light, his blood continually cleanses us from all of our sin. An undefiled heart begins, cleansed with a right heart. And then the third thing is this. An undefiled heart is cleansed by the word. Once that heart is made right with the Lord, it has to be continually cleansed by God's word. Because as you go throughout your day, there are things that come at you, and there is still that stuff

in you, and so it has to be continually cleansed by God's word. If you've never read all the way through Psalm 119, which BTW is the longest chapter in the Bible, then I would encourage you to take this week and read all the way through Psalm 119. It's actually set up where each of the Hebrew, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet starts each section of Psalm 119. So it's a very long psalm, but it's really good.

And the entire psalm is all about the power of God's word and the life of the believer. There's a couple of things in there that are really important. A couple of verses. One of them says, how can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to your word. Your word, O Lord, have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. So what do we do now to keep our

hearts cleansed before the Lord? Well, we have to be washed by God's word in a continual ongoing sort of way. We need to read it and study it and memorize it and meditate on it because God's word has this powerful changing effect in our lives. There's this truth about the way that our brains work. The way that our brains work is this. We form what's called pathways in our brains.

And those neural pathways are formed every time you make a decision. Every time you make a decision, it carves that neural pathway so that the next time that choice comes up, you already have a pathway that that decision making process can follow. It's kind of like when water begins to run down a hillside with no grass on it and it starts carving out the dirt. And so now it's easier for the water to keep flowing into that same spot because now it has a path. That's what you spent

your entire life apart from Christ doing. You spent your entire life apart from Christ forming neural pathways that are sinful. That's why when you came to know Jesus, it took your mouth a little while to get redeemed. That's why it took your sexual drive a little while to get redeemed. That's why it took your addictive side a little while to get redeemed. And perhaps for some

of us here, that's still happening. Now, we can take that and we can say, well, there's nothing I can do now. I formed neural pathways. I always have to make that decision because after all, that's just who I am. Not true. Because now, you are redeemed and born again. And now you have the Word of God. Do you know what the book of Ephesians tells us that the Word

of God is? The Word of God is like water that washes us. So the Word of God is able to flow over those neural pathways and every time we have that natural bent to go that same way, we can say, but God's Word says. And we can begin using God's Word as a way to form new neural pathways, to form new habits, to cleanse our hearts. Brothers and sisters, how is your heart

today? There's some of you that probably need to come to faith for the very first time in your life. And there's some of you that need to own up to the evil that still is in your heart that needs dealt with by your Savior. There's some of us that just need to allow God's Word to continue to wash us clean. Brothers and sisters, He is faithful. To do it. Amen?

Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me.

Lord, it's been a good discussion in your Word this morning. I always love what it has to say to us. And I always love how unafraid you were when you walked on this earth to simply tell the truth. Lord, not only unafraid, but incredibly loving to tell us the truth in every way. And Lord, I want to now begin to pray for the hearts of those that are here today.

Lord, I want to pray for the heart that is scared because they've never come to know you and quite frankly, this all just seems a bit overwhelming and they don't quite know what to do with what's all been said here today, but they know that all of those things listed in that verse are the things that come out of their lives. And they don't want that anymore. Lord, I want to pray for that heart that you would set it free. Lord, that they would simply take the step of faith that they know how to take right now by admitting their sin to you and asking for your forgiveness.

Lord, I want to pray for the heart today that is bound. Bound by legalism, maybe bound by the sins of the flesh, maybe found that their lives have been overtaken in a certain area of sin. And Lord, I want to pray that you would give that heart the grace to in a very bold way, confess those sins to you. And Lord, in a very spiritual way, that your word would begin to wash their hearts and their minds clean of those issues that they're dealing with.

Lord, I want to lift up the heart that just needs to be encouraged that you would do that work as you see fit. And Father, I want to pray that as we go out from this place, that this would not be the last time that we meditate on your word this week, but that it would sink deeply into our hearts and into our souls, fashioning in us the hearts of the men and women of God that you want for us to be. We just praise you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Be blessed. He is able, more than able to accomplish what concerns me today. He is able Yes, Lord, we thank you. He is able and concerns me today. Father, we just thank you that you are the one that's able in all that we face and look to. We trust you, Lord. I thank you for that scripture, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not to your

own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he'll direct your paths. Amen? Amen. The Lord bless you. Have a great week.