Our Heart Problem

[0:00] The rest of you, if you would turn in your Bible to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7, and this morning we are resuming our sermon series in the Gospel of Mark.

[0:15] Looking at details, we notice that the title of the sermon projected is different from what you have printed in your bulletin, and that's because I changed the title to a heart problem.

[0:46] So please follow along as I read. I'm reading from the English Standard Version, Mark, chapter 7, starting in verse 14. And he called the people to him again and said to them, Hear me, all of you, and understand, there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him.

[1:12] But the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

[1:28] He said to them, Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart, but his stomach, and is expelled?

[1:48] Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, All these evil things come from within.

[2:35] And they defile a person. Let's pray together. Father, we are grateful that we can sit now under the preaching of your word.

[2:46] And Lord, we pray that your word will have its intended effect on all of our lives. We ask that you would speak to us, as only you can.

[2:59] Help us to hear and to heed your word. Father, I ask once again for your hand to be upon me, that you would grant me the grace that I need to be faithful, to proclaim the truth of your word, for the good of your people, and for the glory of your great name.

[3:24] And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. One of life's most frequently asked questions is this. What must I do to be right with God?

[3:39] Or simply put, how can I be right with God? I think most people have lived long enough, and they have enough experience with themselves and with others, to know that something is wrong with our world.

[3:52] And they know that something is wrong with them and with others. And so this question, this ongoing question that is asked by different people at different times and in different ways comes down to this particular question.

[4:13] How can I be made right with God? A little later in Mark's gospel, Mark records a man who comes to Jesus, a rich man, and he's an interesting man because when Jesus talks to him, this man says that he, from a child, endeavored to keep all the commandments.

[4:37] And yet this man comes to Jesus and he asks the question, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And what it showed is that this man knew that even though he was keeping the commandments, meticulously from a young age, he still recognized something was missing, and he recognized that it was eternal life that he didn't have, and he wanted to have it.

[5:09] In John's gospel, John gives us a similar account. Where a religious leader by the name of Nicodemus comes to Jesus, a ruler of the Jews, a man who would have been the person to point to if you were to ask in that day, who was a righteous man, who was a good man?

[5:27] Nicodemus would have been one of the persons. And Nicodemus comes to Jesus who is, by the standards of the Pharisees, who is a no-name, a nobody.

[5:40] And he sneaks up to Jesus at night, and he asks Jesus questions. He began to talk to Jesus. And Nicodemus did not frame his question in this particular way, but Jesus knew what he was asking.

[5:54] And Jesus got to the heart of the question that Nicodemus was asking. Nicodemus was really saying to Jesus, the same thing the young man was saying.

[6:06] I've kept these commandments. I have followed the way of the Pharisees, and I know something is missing. And so, I'm coming to you, that you may try to help me to see what is missing.

[6:26] The passage that we have come to this morning, we find Jesus coming at this same question, but he comes at it in a slightly different way. That's the heart of what Jesus is addressing here, because if you were here a few weeks back, you probably remember that we covered the first part of Mark chapter 7, and what we saw is that the Pharisees believed that they became clean by all the rituals that they performed, the washing of their hands and their bodies and their utensils and their couches.

[7:04] And they thought that these things made them clean. These things made them right in the sight of God. They exercised great care in terms of what they touched, because they didn't want to be defiled.

[7:21] And they knew that if they touched food with defiled hands, and for them, defiled was interacting with Gentiles. So they were going to the marketplace, and they didn't know where Gentiles touched, or they may have come into contact with the Gentiles.

[7:38] And so they were careful to wash their hands, and wash their bodies, and wash their utensils, and wash their couches, because they felt that if they were unclean, and they touched their food, made it unclean, and then they ate it, then they themselves became unclean.

[7:59] And so Jesus addressed this belief about uncleanness by the Pharisees and the scribes. And here's the point that he made to them, and really it's a point that we need to see as well.

[8:12] And it is this. It is the sin in our heart, not the food in our stomach, that defiles us. That's the point that Jesus was making in this passage, when he called the people to himself, in contrast to what the Pharisees were doing.

[8:34] Essentially Jesus was saying, listen, what they're doing is a waste of time. Because it's not the food in our stomachs that defile us. It is a sin in our heart.

[8:47] That is what defiles us. In other words, Jesus was saying that the Pharisees had their attention in the wrong place.

[8:57] They were concerned about the wrong thing. Defilement comes from our heart, not from our stomach. So in our remaining time, I want to consider more closely these words of Jesus.

[9:13] And I have two simple points this morning for those of you who are taking notes. I've organized my thoughts under two headings. The first one, our heart's condition.

[9:24] Our heart's condition. Notice that in verses 14 and 15, what Jesus tells is a parable.

[9:36] I'll read it again. And he called the people to him again and said to them, hear me, all of you, and understand there's nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him.

[9:52] But the things that come out of a person are what defile him. Now just a side note, some of you who have the ESV would notice that it jumps from verse 15 to verse 17.

[10:05] And there's a footnote to the bottom that says that some manuscripts have a verse 16. And basically, what it simply says is, if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

[10:18] So some manuscripts have that, some don't. And the ESV doesn't. But the point is that Jesus is telling a parable.

[10:32] He's telling a parable. And we know that because in verse 17, we are told when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

[10:49] What does it mean? Now, there are some people who take what Jesus said to me, very similar to what Troy was saying.

[11:01] Look, it doesn't matter what you put in your body. Some use this as a basis to use narcotics and other things.

[11:12] It doesn't matter what you put in your body. It can't defile you. But that's not what Jesus is saying. First of all, he's telling a parable.

[11:26] And second, we know that's not what he was saying because the disciples didn't understand and they asked him to explain it to us. They knew that what Jesus was telling them was not the very words he told them.

[11:37] He was telling them a parable. And a parable is a story that is told to teach a moral or spiritual lesson. So the disciples understood that Jesus was trying to teach them something else.

[11:52] And what we see is Jesus explains what he's saying in verses 18 and 19. And what Jesus explains is that the defilement that he's talking about is not food.

[12:05] food. He's not talking about food. Again, look at verses 18 and 19. And he said to them, Then are you also without understanding?

[12:19] Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled.

[12:35] So basically Jesus is saying to them that what goes into our bodies in terms of food does not defile us because it goes into our stomach and it is passed out in the form of waste.

[12:52] So the point that Jesus was making was not about food. He's making a larger point. Troy mentioned earlier about the Gnostics and whether we have modern day Gnostics today.

[13:11] And he said yes and certainly we could ask the same about the Pharisees. Do we have people who believe that what they eat defiles them?

[13:22] And the answer to that is yes. And as the large group an example of this would be the Seventh Adventists who would believe that there are certain foods that you can eat that would defile you.

[13:37] It's sinful to eat certain foods. It's sinful to eat foods like pork and shellfish like kunk or fish that don't have scales like grouper.

[13:50] It would say that if you eat those things they will defile you. But Jesus makes the point that food does not defile us. It doesn't defile us because it enters our stomach and it is passed out.

[14:06] Interestingly, and this is more of a side point, Mark in parentheses in verse 19 says, thus he declared all foods clean.

[14:18] Meaning, we can eat those foods that in the Old Testament for example that you may see forbidden and certainly foods that the Seventh Adventist would tell us are forbidden.

[14:33] One of the things, I've talked to the Seventh Adventist about this and they would go into all kinds of things and that means that you could eat a roach, you could eat, and I said, no, it doesn't mean that because a roach is not food.

[14:44] but whatever food that people eat, if you want to eat it, well, you can eat it. Now, let me be quick to say what Jesus is not saying.

[14:58] Jesus is not, Mark does not write, and thus he declared all foods healthy. Mark doesn't say that. Mark says, and thus he declared all foods clean.

[15:11] You can eat what you want, not going to send you to hell, not going to keep you out of heaven, it may get you to heaven sooner, but it won't get you, it won't keep you out of heaven.

[15:27] But the reality is that there are foods that have more benefit and less benefit to our bodies. There's some foods, for example, that will give us high cholesterol and give us all kinds of heart disease and other kinds of digestive issues.

[15:43] So we need to be aware of those things. But I would still add a caution to that, that we're talking as humans right now because all our days are in God's hands.

[15:56] And we should never believe for a moment that by eating in a healthy manner guarantees that we will live longer. Not necessarily. I can almost guarantee you with the number of funerals that we would have had yesterday on the island, that if you were to go there and know the details of the person who died, you'd probably see many instances where unhealthy people were carrying the coffins as pallbearers, or seated mourning the person who died, and that person ate in a healthier manner.

[16:31] So all I'm saying is we still need to be wise about these things, but we should never conclude that by doing something, we put our days in our hands and we can determine how long we live.

[16:43] That's the side point. Let's get back to the point, the point that Jesus is making. The point that Jesus is making, the main point that Jesus is making is found in verses 20 through 23.

[17:00] And he said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. for from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

[17:24] All these evil things come from within and they defile a person. I think we all know that Jesus was not saying this is all that comes out of our hearts.

[17:36] this is a list that is representative. It's 13 sins, but we all know that there are many other sins. And Jesus was not trying to be exhausted.

[17:48] He was simply in essence really saying to us that spiritual defilement runs deeper than our ability to do something to address it.

[18:01] Having the Pharisees in view, what he's really saying is, come on, the issue of defilement is much more than the washing that you undergo, the washing that you are committed to carrying out in a meticulous way.

[18:22] Spiritual defilement runs much deeper than that. Now, we look at what Jesus said, we may be thinking, okay, so then what happens is sin enters us, and then sin comes out of us.

[18:43] But Jesus doesn't say that. There's nowhere in this passage where you will find that Jesus says the reason sin comes out of us is that sin entered us.

[18:58] and this, brothers and sisters, is the heart of the issue. It's the heart of the issue that Jesus is getting at. It's the heart of the issue for the Pharisees.

[19:10] Jesus only speaks about sin coming out of us. He doesn't speak about sin entering us.

[19:24] And here's why. Jesus does not speak about sin entering us because every one of us, our heart, is a sin factory. Our heart produces sin.

[19:43] It's almost as if we have like our own assembly line or whatever the sin is. It can be assembled in our own heart and then it can be churned out.

[19:54] It can be produced. Jesus never gives the hint that the sin comes in us and then comes out of us.

[20:07] those of you who are in my age group would probably remember Flip Wilson, the African American comedian.

[20:20] And if you do remember Flip Wilson, I am almost sure that what comes to your mind is this famous line. And what's this famous line, Lyndon? Does anybody know Flip Wilson's famous line?

[20:34] The devil made me do it. The devil made me do it. So he would, in his comedy act, he would do different things and when he did something bad he said, the devil made me do it.

[20:51] The devil made me do it. Of course we know that was not original with Flip Wilson. The first person who gave that excuse was Eve. He said, the devil made me do it.

[21:04] And since Eve used it, many of us have used it. How many times have you said to someone that don't make me sin?

[21:17] Or you made me sin. You said that and that's why I did that. But Jesus doesn't know. Jesus says, the sin that comes out of us is not because of anything external to us.

[21:38] And the reason is our heart is a sin factory. We possess the ability to manufacture sin because it's in our DNA.

[21:54] we inherited it from our forefather Adam, who in his rebellion against God plunged his entire race into rebellion against God.

[22:08] Just as the Apostle Paul says it in Romans 5 verse 12, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

[22:27] All of us. And all means all. All means babies. Have you ever considered how you don't have to teach babies what is wrong?

[22:42] You don't have to teach babies to be selfish. You have two little children children and you give one a cookie and you tell them to share. He knows how to get the biggest piece.

[22:54] Because we are able to do that. We have to teach children to be thankful. They're unthankful.

[23:08] The smallest baby in a crib knows how to manipulate his mother or father. And he has no need in cry a certain way. He can carry on in different ways. It's part of our DNA.

[23:24] All of us are born with this thin factory in us. Which is the human heart. But the scribes and the Pharisees thought that they could address this.

[23:36] They thought they could address this defilement by washing, by the cleansing that they did. And Jesus said that view is wrong because the problem of defilement runs deeper than that.

[23:51] It's more than skin deep. It's heart deep. It's deep within the core of our being.

[24:02] And here's what's interesting when we think about this. In a sense, you think about our stomachs. Our stomachs don't identify us as a whole person the way our heart does.

[24:13] When the Bible speaks about us as a whole, it speaks about our heart. And so our heart is the center of us.

[24:25] It's the core of who we are. And Jesus says that's where the issue of defilement is. Now, here's what's interesting, at least interesting for me as I read the words of Jesus and as I really pondered because I must tell you that prior to studying this text for this message, I used to think about what Jesus said in a way that Jesus didn't say it.

[24:53] I used to think that the reason we sinned was because of external factors, things that we saw and things that we allowed to come in our hearts.

[25:04] But again, Jesus didn't say that. And so as I looked at this again and saw that Jesus was really saying, look, you just have the inner ability, you have this sin factory, which is your heart, and you can churn out sins without external support.

[25:26] God. And so it puzzled me that what Jesus said ends in verse 23. It's almost like Jesus left us hanging, or to put it a different way, Mark left us hanging, because remember what Mark is doing is Mark is putting together his gospel because he wants to make a point.

[25:51] Mark wants people to see that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is the only Savior. He is our only hope. Mark is trying to communicate that. And really, when you consider the way Mark puts this, I think on the face of it, although it seems like we are left hanging, instead, the way it ends, it begs the question.

[26:21] It begs the question. And the question really must be this now, how then do we deal with the source of our sins? How do we deal with this sin factory?

[26:35] How do we deal with our heart? Now, this is an external thing, and we could set about to do all kinds of things. But Jesus says, no, this is within you.

[26:49] And again, it's to beg the question, okay, then, we know right away, I can't change my heart. We all know that. I think all of us, if not at this point this morning, all of us have come to the place in our lives where we've experienced that there are ways about us, ways about us we know are wrong, ways about us we're not happy with.

[27:18] And we try to change, but we can't change. And so it begs the question, how do we deal with the source of our sins?

[27:31] How do we deal with our sin factories? And this brings me to my second and final point, which is our heart solution. First is our heart's condition, second, our heart's solution.

[27:46] What is the solution for your heart and my heart that are sin factories? Or to put it another way, what is the solution for our heart problem?

[27:58] We have a heart problem. For the defilement that comes from our hearts and defiles us before God.

[28:15] you know one lesson that we should learn from the scribes and the Pharisees? One lesson we should learn from them is this.

[28:25] It's a waste of time trying to deal with your heart by keeping rules, keeping regulations as the Pharisees did.

[28:38] That's just one of the lessons we should learn from the Pharisees and we should not even attempt that. That's why it's amazing to me that people still attempt that because clearly it can't address our heart issue.

[28:51] Listen to how the Apostle Paul puts it in Colossians chapter 2 verses 20 through 23. He writes, If it was Christ, you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations, do not handle, do not touch, sorry, do not taste, do not touch?

[29:19] Referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings. Notice what he says. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

[29:46] You know why? Because the heart just churns out sin. And Paul says, you adopt all of these rules and these regulations, don't touch, don't handle, don't taste.

[30:05] He says, they have an appearance of, you know, that's a good thing to do. You do that, you're going to be holy, you're going to be righteous. He says, but they can't help you. They can't stop the indulgence of the flesh.

[30:20] They are addressing or seeking to address what we would call the fruit of our problem, but not the root of our problem. The root of our problem is not the sins we commit, but it's the heart from which those sins emanate.

[30:43] And there are many people today who, it may not be exactly the way the Pharisees did it, but they actually think that by doing particular things, they can get a handle on these sins in their lives, so they may start going to church, volunteering in the church, doing all sorts of other things.

[31:08] But Paul says they have no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. so what is the solution to this heart problem that we have?

[31:27] And let me say this, this is a very important truth to remember. Sometimes I would say this is one of the most important things I'll say to you, I'll say that again this morning, this is one of the most important things for you to understand.

[31:39] understanding this makes a distinction between what the Christian life really is and what the Christian life is not.

[31:53] If you were to do a poll, I believe you would find even in the Bahamas, the majority of people in this country believe that the Christian life is defined by the things that a person does or doesn't do.

[32:08] So if you do these good things that Christians should do, like attend church, read their Bibles, pray, true Christians should do those things.

[32:20] And people would say, well, if you do those things, then you are a Christian. But those things don't make us a Christian. Those things don't address this core issue that we have.

[32:33] And the solution for this hard problem that we have is the heart of the Christian life. It is the essence of the Christian life. And that solution is a new heart.

[32:46] This is why we need a new heart. We need a new heart because this heart that we have is desperately sick and desperately sinful and we cannot change it.

[32:57] No amount of activity that we engage in that is good. Nothing can change our hearts.

[33:11] The solution is a new heart. One scripture that I really encourage you to commit to heart, not necessarily all the words, but commit to memory where this is found.

[33:28] The scriptures Ezekiel 36 22-27. This is an important scripture because what it does is this scripture is God's promise in the Old Testament to deal with our heart issue.

[33:42] To deal with this issue that we are all plagued with and that we cannot do anything about. And that has only one solution and that is a new heart.

[33:57] One way we can begin to think about the Christian life this morning is the Christian life is God giving us a new heart. And so Ezekiel 36 verses 22-27 we have this promise from God that we have Ezekiel declaring.

[34:19] So I want us to turn there and want us to look at this. We looked at this a couple weeks ago but this is again as I said a very important scripture for us to understand to know how it connects to us because if you're born again if you belong to Christ this is the basis upon which that happened.

[34:43] Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 22 therefore say to the house of Israel that says the Lord God it is not for your sake O house of Israel that I am about to act but for the sake of my holy name which you have profaned among the nations to which you came and I will vindicate the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations and which you have profaned among them and the nations will know that I am the Lord declares the Lord when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from your idols and I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit

[35:54] I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules brothers and sisters this is the only way that this thin factory that we are all born with can be addressed we have to be given a new heart this is something God does the Christian life is not oh go and start doing these things and do the other things no the Christian life is come and I will give you a new heart I will take away the heart of flesh of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh I will put my spirit in you I will cause you to walk in my statutes God says I will do these things brothers this is a radical transformation from the inside that God does he takes away that heart of sin that heart that produces sin on its own like a factory and he gives us a heart of flesh this is a critical and most important scripture for you to remember because anyone who has not experienced this has not come into a relationship with God and what you see right away is this is something that God must do it's not something we can do this is something God must do and this is why if you hear this morning and you would recognize that like the rich young ruler like

[37:55] Nicodemus I know I'm not right with God you now see how you're made right with God God is to give you a new heart say God would you give me a new heart would you take my sinful heart of stone my dead heart and give me one of flesh would you put your spirit within me only God can do this only God can transform us the Pharisees were washing where they could never wash away but what the Lord says he says I will wash you I will cleanse you and I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and you will be clean and I will give you a new heart another term for what Ezekiel prophesies that God is going to do under the new covenant is the new birth it's the language that John uses in John chapter 3 concerning the encounter with Nicodemus actually the language that

[38:57] Jesus used as he conversed with Nicodemus he said Nicodemus what you need is something so radical it is a new birth and the same way we know this morning that none of us could and did give ourselves physical birth we can't give ourselves spiritual birth only God can do that he is the one who closes our sin factories down and the way he does it is he takes away that heart that churned out sin on its assembly line and he gives us a new heart now I know some of you are probably wondering about that right because you're thinking about yeah I believe that God has given me a new heart but I still sin and you're right we still sin but I think if God has given you a new heart you would also be aware that even though you sin it's not the kind of sin that you used to produce from your heart in terms of having a factory and here's the way I would like to think about it you can think of a factory that's what it does it's for that purpose and it churns out whatever it churns out that it was supposed to be churning out whatever you create the factory for and God comes into our lives when he takes away that sinful heart and he gives us a new heart yes because we are in this fallen world we are in these fallen bodies and because we have an archenemy of our souls yes we will still sin by the grace of

[40:52] God all of us who have come to Christ this morning can testify and say we don't sin the way we used to sin it's no longer a factory it's no longer churning out the way it used to at least now sin grieves us I remember as a young Christian one particular summer I was home from college and I was struggling with sin that summer struggling and I remember talking with a friend of mine and in those days we actually wrote letters so I sent him a letter and he it got here before the summer was over and I remember reading his letter and what he said to me still stays in my mind he said to me I was sharing with him how I was struggling with sin and he said to me he said but it's a good thing that now you're struggling with sin there was a time when you didn't struggle with sin you yielded to sin and so I'm not saying this morning that when

[42:06] God gives us a new heart and he deals with this hard issue that we have that we see sinning because I know that's not the reality for anyone this morning and I don't want anyone to think oh because I still sin well I must have my old sin factory heart no we all sin and that's why the scripture we're learning this month is so helpful to us if we confess our sins the first if we say we have no sins we lie the truth is not in us but if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that's the promise that we have and this process that we are called to once God gives us this new heart and though we are in these sinful bodies and in this sinful world and we have this arch and of our souls and we will still sin the process to which we have now been called to is this process of sanctification and what sanctification is is that over time we become less sinful and more

[43:16] Christlike over time less sinful more Christlike and sanctification will never be finished on this side of eternity until the day that Jesus comes there will be need for all of us to be sanctified even more and so it is a journey it is a process but if we are halfway sober and aware and we're thinking we can testify if we've come to Christ no I don't sin the way I used to sin one of the one of the evidences that we have come to Christ is that sin grieves us we don't we don't love sin if we love sin that's an evidence that we have not experienced this heart change we've not experienced this new birth that

[44:17] God has promised that he would give to people and so this morning let us remember that this is the issue that Jesus is addressing with the Pharisees that no external factor defiles us no it's within and what we need is we need an external action to change that situation one that we can do our washing can do but God's washing can do it and the new heart that he puts in us is able to do that so the solution to our heart's problem is a new heart that God gives us through the new birth I want to encourage you this morning if you know that you have trusted Jesus Christ remember that that is what God has done for you you have a new heart and see what Paul would be saying is Paul would say since this is your lot since this is your portion do not continue in sin in other words don't continue to manufacture sin like you're continuing in sin as if that is what you are all about no we will sin but not as a practice not as a way of life not as a lifestyle because if we do there should be an indication to us that something isn't right and if you're here this morning and you do not know Jesus

[45:58] Christ I want to say to you this morning this is the heart of the Christian message the heart of the Christian message is there's nothing we can do in and of ourselves to make us right with God but it is something that God himself must do he must do a radical work in us taking away our sin factory hearts and giving us hearts that will love him that will seek to serve him and that will seek to live out the works for which he has ordained so let's pray father thank you this morning for the new birth thank you for new hearts that all the ritual and the washing and the rule keeping of the Pharisees could never change God help us to remember that it is only you who can change the human heart

[47:07] I pray that you would help us all Lord who have come to Christ to continue to grow in sanctification through embracing the means of grace that you have given to us through reading your word through gathering as we are gathering this morning through fellowshipping with brothers and sisters through prayer through confession of sin Lord help us to make progress on the road to sanctification and Lord I pray now for any under the sound of my voice who have not experienced the heart transfer that only you can give the changing of the heart Lord I pray that you would help them to see their desperate need for you help them to cry out to you and as they do Lord your word says those who come to you you will in no way turn away and so

[48:09] Father I pray you would do for them what you have done for the rest of us and we ask you to do this we trust you to do this in Jesus name amen I should have alerted you that I would allow for questions but if you have a question that you would like to ask this morning we'll take it we have one right over here all right good morning church Pastor Moss earlier in the message at the very beginning you were speaking about how God describes all food as clean he doesn't necessarily say all food are healthy and you mentioned that for some religious groups they may be against the eating of shellfish but there's a verse in Leviticus

[49:09] I think it is that where Jesus speaks about shellfish being abominable to eat how would you explain what Jesus is trying to say about shellfish in that context because I may not remember the full background sure well the book of Leviticus would give would be the primary place where you'd find the health laws and remember that God gave the law to the nation of Israel this is a very important point to understand think about it this way the children of Israel were in the land of Egypt there were people in the land of Canaan where they were going and God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai in the wilderness the people in Egypt didn't know where they were and what they were doing the people in Canaan didn't know where they were and what they were doing and what the Lord says to them is this he says

[50:20] I'm giving you my law and this is a covenant between me and you not me and you and the Egyptians and the Canaanites and all these other people God gave the Jews the law to distinguish them from all the other nations so the way that the Jews were special was for example they had the law let's say the fourth commandment in particular when the Sabbath came they rested everybody else carried on they didn't get stoned they didn't get in trouble they ate all the foods that the Lord told the nation of Israel not to eat and that was really to distinguish them among the nations but in Christ every single thing in the Old Testament has now been fulfilled in Christ he's fulfilled it all when Jesus said it was finished it was all finished it wasn't I finished some and some still remains he said he finished it so we have a new covenant we don't have a new covenant still some of an old covenant so the spiritual benefit of those laws at that time are no spiritual benefit right now health benefits yes spiritual benefits no use the word abomination and it's kind of interesting that you would share that because this particular week

[51:43] I'm reading through the book of Proverbs as part of my devotional reading and I was stunned again at the number of abominations that you find in the book of Proverbs and here's what I can tell you every single sin is an abomination of God every single sin and so people tend to think oh homosexuality that's an abomination I mean you go to the book of Proverbs and you would see just an incredible number of abominations let me see if I can just quickly there was one chapter in particular that just had so many of them yeah like chapter 20 in Proverbs this is verse 10 unequal weight and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord and he says this twice again over in verse 23 unequal weight an abomination to the

[52:52] Lord there was at least one other that I saw but the short answer Joshua is that there are many things that are an abomination to the Lord they're all sins and those laws only applied to the nation of Israel at the time that they were active they didn't apply to the whole world so even more so today when they're not applicable they're not even applicable for the Jews much less for Gentiles is that helpful okay anyone else no all right let's stand and sing our closing song up