Father, we invite you, we give you permission, and we don't have any qualifications to this.
We don't have any conditions.
Father, just stand before you today, and we invite and give you permission to have your word enter deep into our heart,
that you would speak, your word would speak and rule in the very center of who we are.
Father, on one hand, part of our flesh wants to add conditions or maybe is a bit worried,
but, Father, at the end of the day, as we gather here, we know that Jesus loves us so much that he died for us on the cross.
And so, Father, trusting in Jesus, may your word come into us.
May your words speak and rule in our hearts.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
How is it that all of a sudden it's perfectly socially acceptable to be prejudiced against Russians in Canada?
Why is it that very few people seem to be troubled by the fact?
I mean, I don't know.
There's so many different news sources in Canada that it's hard.
Maybe you're all reading or listening to news sources which are trying to address this issue.
But from what I can see, like the principal news outlets in Ottawa,
they don't seem to actually say,
by the way, why are we prejudiced against Russian people who live in Canada?
It seems to be fine to put them down.
It doesn't seem as if people complain if they're deplatformed, if they're cancelled,
if their assets are frozen.
Like, didn't something similar happen in the Second World War in the States with Japanese people?
And now don't we look upon that as being a terrible evil that the American government did
against people of Japanese descent living in Canada?
Why is it all right right now and why is it that very few people talk about it?
The scripture text that we looked at, on one hand, from the sound of it,
it looked like one of those really boring sort of weird texts that Christians sort of talk about
and Jewish people talk about defiled and unclean and all of that.
And it seems to have nothing to do with our modern life and our modern experience.
But the text that we just look at has a very, very profound insight about our human nature.
And with that, why it is that there can be great prejudice by a wide segment of the elite
and of opinion makers, prejudice against Russians, actions against Russians,
which are probably immoral and unjust, and with very, very few people commenting on it.
The Bible actually has what looks like a weird talk about rituals, actually has a profound insight into it.
And so what we're going to do, we're going to look at it, but we're going to do something else,
which is a bit to help you to understand both the point and to go back and after we've sort of...
What I'm going to do is this.
You know, one of the things you can pray about is if I ever have a sabbatical,
one of the things I'm going to do on a sabbatical is I'm going to prepare a sermon series on the book of Job.
I've never preached a sermon series on Job.
It's a hard book to preach on, and it's long.
It's 42 chapters.
You don't want to do a 42-week sermon series, maybe eight.
But one of the things I think I'd have to do if I ever preach a sermon series on Job,
I'd need a sabbatical to sort of do almost like all the sermons done,
and then I could just do them one after another.
But those of you who are unfamiliar with the story of Job,
God allows, in a sense, the devil to do a whole pile of terrible things to Job.
And then you get a big, big part of the book is Job sort of complaining and meditating upon what's happened.
And you get his three friends all basically dump, you know, saying different things.
And then at the end of the book, you find out that all of Job's friends are wrong, and Job is right.
So if you ever preach to the book of Job, you sort of have to tell everybody at the beginning what the ending is.
Otherwise, you can't understand any of the texts you're going to.
Like, if you don't understand, okay, we're reading this, it's going to sound really weird,
because Job is saying all these things.
But remember what God says at the end, that's our clue.
So what we're going to do by looking at 7, 1 to 23, is we're going to begin with the end.
So if you have your Bibles, it would be really great if you turn to Mark chapter 7, verse 20.
Remember we read verses 1 to 23.
I'm going to go back and look at the part, but it's the ending.
Knowing the ending helps you to understand what's going on with this seemingly to us irrelevant discussion
about what you wash and what you don't wash and how to interpret Isaiah and how to interpret Moses.
And it just looks like yada, yada, yada, yada, yada.
Nothing important there for me.
So we're going to start at verse 20, and here's what Jesus says towards the end of this sort of chunk,
this story within the larger story of the gospel.
And Jesus said, what comes out of a person, what comes out of a person is what defiles him.
For from within, out of the heart of man.
Now, just before we go anything further, what you need to understand here about the word heart,
heart, we use the word heart and we think of emotions.
But the Bible sort of sees it in the center of what sort of makes you you,
at the center of that, of what makes you you.
Sometimes it's called the heart, sometimes it's called the soul.
But out of that one, in a sense, out of that one heart,
out of the heart comes your thinking, out of the heart comes imagination,
out of the heart comes your will, out of the heart comes your emotions,
out of the heart comes your longings, out of the heart comes your desires,
out of the heart comes your affections, out of the heart comes your memory,
out of the heart comes your creativity.
So we tend to think of, there's your mind, there's your emotions,
you know, there's your creativity, and there's sort of all these separate things.
but the Bible has this singular word and says it's out of this one, in a sense, organ
that the imagination, the will, the emotions, the thinking, the rational bit,
all that comes from, in a sense, this one organ.
And what we'd also now say that in some ways it's your heart that's your you.
Don't want to go too far about that because your bodies are important.
My body is very important and, you know, you don't have just a heart without a body and all that.
But in some ways your heart is your you.
That's how we'd sort of, in the same way that when you meet a man or a woman who has dementia
and they no longer recognize them, you, in a sense, feel a little bit like they've gone.
They've become lost. They've vanished.
Their you has gone.
So I'm going to read verse 20 again.
And he said to them, what comes out of a person is what defiles him.
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts.
Now, I thought about this a little bit.
I'm going to take a sort of a few seconds with several of these just so you understand it.
And I know it's going to be a bit of an offensive shock
to some people maybe who are watching this online to hear this.
One of the things I heard very, very many times is that Jesus never spoke about LGBTQ plus issues,
that he never spoke about it.
But that's not true.
It's absolutely, absolutely not true.
He speaks about it right here.
And because the first thing that he mentioned, I mean, evil thoughts,
and the very next thing he mentioned, sexual immorality, that's in the Greek, the word porneia.
And the porneia word, what sexual immorality says,
what Jesus means right here,
is that any sexual knowing or sexual stimulation
outside of the marriage of a biological male to a biological female is porneia.
That's what the word means.
Any sexual knowing or sexual stimulation
outside of the marriage of a biological male to a biological female is porneia.
And I'm not going to talk about that particularly.
I just want to let you know.
It's a bit of a shock.
But by the way, if you understand the expression here,
you understand that this is speaking.
Remember, what Jesus is saying here is he's not saying,
oh, there's these nasty gay people over there,
and there's all these self-righteous heterosexuals here.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
He's saying that what, in a sense, makes us not right is coming out of us.
And this way of describing what comes out of us sexually describes every human being.
This text isn't an us versus them text.
This is a shocking description.
You know, this is us.
This is us.
Not an us versus them.
This is us.
Actually, and I know there's some homeschoolers here.
So this isn't a put down of homeschoolers.
But what you need to understand here, what he's saying is,
you could have the most godly parents,
and you could homeschool your kids,
and you could make sure that nothing bad from the internet or popular culture
comes into their lives.
And you know what?
They're still going to be sinners.
They're still going to do bad things.
And in fact, they might do absolutely horrendous things.
They might become a murderer.
Or a racist.
Because it's not that evil comes from outside.
Evil doesn't come because you have your social...
I mean, social structures can be evil.
They can be evil.
And social structures have consequences.
They can break down human beings
and encourage human beings to do terrible evil.
So the Bible isn't just saying that social structures don't matter.
But what the Bible is saying is that human beings create social structures.
And because there's things which are evil that come out of human beings,
there are all social structures.
You're going to have something about them that just aren't right
and that encourage things that just aren't right.
But even if you could somehow or another protect your kids,
your little precious baby, from all social influences,
the fact of the matter is,
is you actually don't get away from the problem
because things which are wrong emerge from within people.
And I'm going to say a bit more of it in a moment.
But so this very, very first thing,
and this isn't an us versus them text.
It's really lamentable that things in our culture have come
so that there can be wars on this in our culture.
And it's lamentable.
Because what we really need is to have a humbling of ourselves
and say, how shall we then live,
given that these are human problems,
rather than saying it's all black people
or all white people or all Asian people
or all rich people or all educated people
or all uneducated working class truckers.
We're all columnists.
We're all people who like the New York Times.
No.
What comes out of a person is what defiles them.
For when out of the heart of man come evil thoughts,
sexual immorality, theft, that's stealing, murder,
taking of innocent human life, adultery.
That is specific.
A husband cheating on his wife
or a wife cheating on her husband.
Coveting.
Coveting is another word for greed.
And it probably is a better word.
For just being greed.
Greed.
Always wanting more.
Always wanting more and more and more and more.
Where was I on my list of things?
Greed or coveting.
Wickedness.
Another way of understanding wickedness here,
maybe a better word would be malice.
Malice.
And what that means is you look at people
from a perspective of wanting to harm them
or see bad things happen to them.
I'll be very honest.
When I was a young man,
I was very, very radical left wing.
And I hated Nixon.
I hated those guys.
And I was really happy
when bad things happened to him.
Like I was happy.
I was a Christian.
And I wasn't praying for his conversion
or his repentance
or his amendment of life.
I was glad that he was getting
bad things happening to him.
That's malice.
That was in my heart.
Deceit.
That means just deceiving people.
Saying to a person,
gosh, you really are well-dressed
and sniggering
and then telling everybody
about how gauche they are
and they don't know how to put clothes together.
That's deceit.
Yes, boss, you're a great boss.
Then you go around
and you badmoth your boss.
And the next sin is sensuality.
That's the sin
where basically you sexualize.
It's where you
increasingly sexualize
all relationships
and more and more of reality.
In fact, that's a very, very, very big problem right now.
Our schools,
I mean, one of the arguments
for Christians and others
to get out of the school system
is that, in fact,
the popular movement of our thought
is to sexualize children
in terrible ways.
They're terribly sexualizing everything
about relationships in schools
and very, very young kids.
And it's not good.
And there's very few people in Canada
seeming to speak out against it.
But that's what's happening.
Everything is being sexualized
and that's sensuality.
Envy is looking up at another person
and envy is a really dangerous sin.
And I think it's in Matthew
and maybe in Luke
where it explains that the reason
that the Jewish leaders
wanted Jesus to be crucified,
it says it was out of envy
that they wanted him crucified.
See, envy is looking up at somebody
who has something that you,
some higher position
or some virtue that you don't have
and you feel inferior to them
and you resent it
and you want to bring them down.
You want to bring them down.
You want to see them fall.
It fits very easily with malice.
Slander is another way of,
I mean, deceit is deceiving people.
Slander is attacking their character.
Slander is another way of sharing
sharing pieces of gossip or information
in such a way that will make
the other person look really bad.
In churches, it can often happen
in the form of sharing prayer requests.
You share a prayer request
for another person
and really what you're doing
is slandering them.
Now everybody knows how bad they are.
All in the guise of praying for them.
In fact, it's part of the evil of the heart
that you can feel virtuous
for slandering somebody
because you're a person of prayer.
I'm a person of prayer.
I pray for this person.
Do you know what they did?
This is why we need to pray for them.
Pride.
Feeling you're better
than everybody else.
Believing that.
One of the ways that we know
we're proud
is the more that
the pride of somebody else
bothers us,
the more it's probably a sign
that we are proud.
If another person's
very obvious pride
just sort of bounces off us
like water off a duck's back,
then that's not our particular sin.
If it deeply offends you,
it probably is an indicator
that you have a problem with pride.
I think it was C.S. Lewis
who said,
you cannot look up to God
if you're looking down your nose
at other people.
Foolishness,
or is folly,
it's
sort of an Old Testament
type of word.
It's the opposite of being wise
or being prudent
or being careful
is foolishness.
Now,
just remember how it began.
We spent some time on it,
but you know what's important?
Often in sinless,
we just rush over it
and then we think,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yada, yada, yada, yada,
yeah, got that,
all those things are bad.
But what we really do
is we're not really thinking
about it as being us.
You know?
And by the way,
don't you see how this all fits
with our current problem
of why is it
that they're so easy
for people to jump
on the bandwagon
of cancelling innocent Russians
who've left Russia
and live somewhere else
like in Canada,
United States?
Don't you see
how easy it would be
if I'm envious of somebody,
let's say a pianist
or a business person,
to now all of a sudden
to mask my envy
or to feed my envy.
I'm both masking my envy
and feeding my envy
by thinking that
that person should be cancelled.
Don't you see how easy it is
for me to in a sense
be slandering them
to say,
well, you're Russian,
therefore if you're Russian
you must support Putin
and you must support
what's going on with that.
There's something defective
about you Russians,
isn't there?
And all of a sudden
you see a whole pile
of other type of stuff.
You see lies
and all this other stuff
which is going there
and it comes effortlessly
out of human beings.
It comes effortlessly
out of human beings.
It comes effortlessly
out of the woke,
out of the anti-woke.
It comes effortlessly
out of conservatives.
It comes effortlessly
out of liberals.
It comes effortlessly
out of Christians
and Buddhists
and Muslims
and Hindus.
The well-educated
and the uneducated.
There's just these things
which just come effortlessly
out of us.
All these evil things,
verse 23,
come up from within
and they defile a person.
See, this is a very profound
teaching of Jesus.
Jesus.
And it's a very unique
teaching of Jesus.
You know, Paul will put it,
for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God
and he's capturing
what Jesus is just teaching
and making very,
very, very clear
that Jesus isn't saying
that your heart
is purely evil.
evil.
But he's also not saying
that your heart
is perfect.
He's saying it's fallen.
He's not saying
that every single thing
you do is thoroughly evil.
That would just be ridiculous,
wouldn't it?
But what he is saying
is that evil comes from within.
It's not coming
from social structures.
It isn't coming from
because you have
a certain color of skin.
It isn't because you have
a certain type of parents
or lineage.
It isn't from all
of the normal way.
And it isn't just because
you haven't learned
the right things.
And it isn't just because
you haven't mastered
certain types of willpower things.
You see,
because the fact of the matter
is,
is that we,
and all of the different
philosophies
and all of the different
ideologies
and all of the different
religions are very,
very clever at coming up
with different types
of things.
It's because of your lineage.
Oh, it's because your mom
didn't nurse you.
Oh, it's because your mom
did nurse you.
Oh, it's because your dad
was distant.
Oh, it's because your dad
spent too much time with you.
Oh, it's because of your education.
Oh, it's because of your skin color.
Oh, it's because of your social class.
Oh, it's your lack of social.
It's very,
we put all of these types
of things and Jesus says,
no, no,
it comes from within.
It comes from within.
There is something
in every human being.
We,
we are fallen.
We are finite.
We are creatures.
We don't want to acknowledge
that we're finite.
We don't want to accept
that we're creatures.
And,
and,
and we always seem to be
like a,
a drunk person trying,
a very,
very,
very drunk person
trying to,
to sit in a chair
and,
and one,
one hand they fall off
on one side
and they,
or on the other hand
they fall off
on the other side.
They're either,
we,
we keep falling,
oh,
okay,
because I'm not perfect,
I must be completely
and utterly,
everything about me
is evil.
And,
and then the next thing
you get on the chair
for a brief second,
you fall off,
and oh,
no,
I'm actually perfect
and it's all their fault.
Right?
Isn't that,
that cup?
After years of therapy
I finally realized
that all of my problems,
that all of my faults
are somebody else's,
what,
all of my problems
are,
all the things I do wrong
are somebody else's fault.
Something like that,
right?
After years of therapy
it's a great cup.
And,
and Jesus is saying
something very,
very profound.
Your heart is not evil
or perfect
but it is fallen.
That you are a fallen
finite creature.
that the heart
is consistently
has a bent
towards different types
of sin
and that all of us
are broken.
And if you just think
of all of those
different things
that it mentioned here
it affects our sexuality,
it affects our imagination,
it affects our will,
affects our speech,
affects our thinking,
it's not like just,
okay,
my thinking's perfect
but everything else
is broken
or my will is perfect
but everything else
is just a bit off of whack
or my sexuality
is perfect
but everything,
no, no, no, no, no, no,
you listen to Jesus
it comes out of us.
There's something about us.
It's in light of that
that Jesus is going to
come at this
and by the way
this is something
that, you know,
it's a very unpopular doctrine
but it's one
that we all
on a deep level
it's funny
because we read
we read things
like critical theory
which deny this
and accept it
where we read
power of positive
thinking things
which deny this
and we like it
and we read
we, you know,
we read other types
of political philosophies
and which we like
which deny this
because there's this
we have this addiction
to thinking
that there's going to be
some type of philosophy
that human beings
have developed
or some religious practice
that human beings
have developed
that somehow
it gets over this problem
or it has supplant
just doesn't deal with it
and it presents
a different picture
and we have this
continual desire
for it
but at the same time
I mean,
a very simple
thought experiment
if tomorrow
we woke up
and every single
social media platform
and every legacy
newspaper
and media platform
all said
nothing bad
happened in the world
today
we'd all know
that it wasn't true
we'd all wonder
if the Russians
or the Chinese
or Fox News
or something
had hacked us
and if somebody
if one of your
if your sister
or your best friend
said they joined
a commune
or a community
somewhere out in the bush
and I love this community
it's perfect
there's no
like everybody there
just loves each other
all of the time
nothing bad
ever happens
it's completely
and utterly
perfect
bing bing bing bing
all these red flags
and alarm bells
are going off
in your mind
and you're saying
whoa whoa whoa whoa
brainwashing
cult
great evil
right
that's what you'd think
and that's what you'd think
if you're a secular person too
you'd go
no no no no no no
this there's something
that just
whoa
the smell test
whoa
it's just not passing
the smell test
why
because we know
that that's not true
we know that
Jesus is true
like that's a shock
Jesus is true
so we'll go back
and very quickly
I I've spent a long time
on this
and but
maybe I won't do
all of the the verses
that lead up to it
because I want to get
to our pre primary points
if we now go back
and look at it
at verse one
mindful of this is
where Jesus is going
to lead them
right
in a sense
to try to get us
modern Canadians
to understand the problem
I began with prejudice
against Russians
in Canada
because we don't have
a big issue
about how to wash
a couch
by and large
okay
so
but Jesus has to get
them there
in their context
but it still has
something important
to say to us
let's look at very briefly
in verse one
now when the Pharisees
gathered to him
with some of the scribes
who had come from Jerusalem
and by saying scribes
or intellectuals
from Jerusalem
it's like saying
a group of intellectuals
who all either went
to Oxford
Harvard
or Stanford
right
these are elite
who've come
in verse two
they saw that
some of his disciples
ate with hands
that were defiled
that is unwashed
so it's not talking
about what we would
it's not talking
about hygiene
it's talking about ritual
okay
how you make yourself
acceptable to God
verse three
for the Pharisee
and all the Jews
not eat
unless they wash
their hands properly
holding to the tradition
of the elders
and when they come
from the marketplace
they do not eat
unless they wash
and there are many
other traditions
that they observe
such as the washing
of cups
and pots
and copper
and vessels
and dining couches
okay
just sorry
I have to do this
I'm really
I don't know
if I have to say
confession after this
or not
if you look at
verse four again
and there are many
other traditions
that they observe
such as the washing
of cups
sorry just above that
and when they come
from the marketplace
they do not eat
unless they wash
you know what the word
wash actually is
literally
baptize
I'm sorry
it's possible
to be baptized
biblically
without full immersion
otherwise you're saying
that every time
they come in
from the market
they get completely
baptized
I'm sorry
a bit of an aside
just for those
of you watching
maybe there's
something about
Anglican
and other practice
of just pouring
over it
just saying
that's the word
baptize
but here's
here's the thing
which is going on
you know
very very briefly
in the text
that
Jesus isn't
being a Canadian
because Canadians
don't like the
tradition of the
elders
it's sort of
we're of two minds
if you have a person
from one of our
First Nations
come and very
reverently tell you
all about how they
obey the traditions
of their elders
people will all nod
okay
but if you have
another person
come and say
you know
listen
my great grandfather
told me to live
this way
and my grandfather
told me to live
this way
and my dad
told me to live
this way
so therefore
I'm going to
live this way
and we'd all
wonder if there
was something
wrong with them
right
because Canadians
say I gotta be
me
doesn't matter
what my
great grandfather
my grandfather
and my dad
said
they don't know
me
right
so Jesus
isn't being
a Canadian
here
what he's
just saying
is this
that what's
happened
is
that they've
added
a suggestion
about how
you know
the Bible
will tell you
let's say
the Bible
tells you
don't commit
adultery
and so
I may give
you a couple
of suggestions
as to how
to protect
yourself from
that
if you're
married
and then
somebody else
takes my
suggestion
and they make
a suggestion
on top
of my
suggestion
and then
somebody else
adds a
suggestion
to your
suggestion
to my
suggestion
and then
somebody else
comes and
adds another
suggestion
to that
suggestion
to that
suggestion
to that
suggestion
by the time
you get
to 20
suggestions
down
nobody
even
remembers
what the
Bible
text is
anymore
you've
completely
lost
the
Bible
you've
completely
lost
God's
word
and that's
going to be
important
when we
get to
I'll explain
why that's
very important
at the end
so verse
six
and the
Pharisees
and the
scribes
asked him
why do
you
disciples
not walk
according
to the
tradition
of the
elders
but eat
with
defiled
hands
they're not
divine
doing anything
that's wrong
from the
Bible
but they're
breaking their
traditions
and so
therefore
they're
sort of
unacceptable
you know
in
I have
a person
in my
congregation
who always
asks me
why I
often use
American
examples
rather than
Canadian
and I
said to
him
I think
if I
use
Canadian
examples
I'm
going to
get in
trouble
so I'm
going to
risk
getting in
trouble
how's
the
secular
equivalent
of this
pronouns
you don't
use the
right
pronouns
hell
hath
no
fury
in
much
of
elite
culture
the
fact
that
I
did
not
begin
this
talk
by
acknowledging
or
claiming
to
acknowledge
that
I'm
on
certain
ancestral
lands
I'm
defiled
those
are the
secular
equivalents
things
it's a
human
thing
to
create
insiders
and
outsiders
and
Jesus
is
getting
rid
of
it
all
in
this
human
lust
to
create
insiders
and
outsiders
based
on
external
things
and
the
culmination
of
this
whole
text
is
saying
that
there's
a
human
problem
and
it's
not
to
do
with
these
rules
and
it's
not
to
do
with
these
external
things
that
there's
a
human
problem
of
the
heart
and
all
it
could
be
those
who
wear
MAGA
hats
and
those
who
don't
like
you
know
if
you're
in
maybe
certain
parts
of
Alabama
or
the
states
and
everybody's
coming to
church
wearing
MAGA
hats
you know
and
if
you
don't
wear
a
MAGA
hat
oh
you're
unclean
right
or
if
you're
going
to
another
part
of
the
United
States
and
you
are
wearing
a
MAGA
hat
oh
you're
unclean
right
it's
a
human
problem
it's
a
contemporary
problem
Jesus
going
right
after
it
verse
six
and
he
said
to
them
well
did
Isaiah
prophesy
of you
hypocrites
as it
is
written
and
he
quotes
Isaiah
the
people
honor
me
with
their
lips
but
their
heart
is
far
from
me
in
vain
do
they
worship
me
teaching
as
doctrines
the
commandments
of
men
you
leave
the
commandments
of
God
and
hold
to
the
tradition
of
men
and
the
word
vain
here
has
this
double
sense
that
it
is
both
at
the
end
of
the
day
the
rules
are
self
exalting
and
also
that
they're
futile
so
the
MAGA
hat
in
the
right
content
is
self
exalting
creates
self
righteousness
and
proper
pronoun
usage
or
making
claims
about
native
lands
fills
you
with
pride
and
self
righteousness
and
looking
down
your
nose
at
others
and
creating
us
versus
them
in
division
so
it's
vain
because
it
makes
you
go
like
this
and
it's
futile
because
it's
not
dealing
with
your
heart
here's
I think
if you
could
if you
could
just
actually
we'll
read a
little bit
further
notice by
the way
what
Jesus
says
here
in
verse
eight
you
leave
the
commandment
of
God
and
hold
to
the
tradition
of
men
and
he's
just
quoting
what's
in
Isaiah
and
then
in
verse
nine
he
said
to
them
you
have
a
fine
way
of
rejecting
the
commandment
of
God
in
order
to
establish
your
tradition
for
Moses
said
honor
your
father
and
your
mother
and
whoever
reviles
father
or
mother
must
surely
die
so
notice
the
commandment
of
God
is
Isaiah
and
the
commandment
of
God
is
now
Exodus
I think
in
Leviticus
but
you
say
if a
man
tells
his
father
or
his
mother
whatever
you
would
have
gained
from
me
as
Corban
that
is
given
to
God
then
you
no
longer
permit
him
to
do
anything
for
his
father
or
mother
thus
making
void
notice
what
he
says
the
word
of
God
by
your
tradition
that
you
have
handed
down
and
many
such
things
you
do
so
that
it's
a
bit
of
a
technical
thing
that
he's
doing
here
would
be
and
the
purpose
of
the
foundation
is
to
avoid
paying
taxes
and
to
allow
you
to
keep
a
lot
of
your
own
money
under
your
own
control
for
your
own
pleasure
your
own
ego
and
your
own
vanity
and
it
creates
this
double
thing
it
means
poor
working
stiffs
like
truckers
or
just
a
wage
slave
for
you
know
some
company
you
poor
people
you
got to
pay
all
your
taxes
but
there's
a
way
with
clever
lawyers
to
get
a
foundation
where
I
don't
pay
the
taxes
and
I
get
to
be
virtuous
because
I've
created
a
foundation
and
that's
what
Corban
is
roughly
going
on
it
would
be
like
a
thing
at
the
time
that
was
roughly
the
same
which
I
understand
is
possible
in
American
law
and
I'm
not
going
to
name
any
particular
corporations
that
probably
describe
that
so
it's
a
point
of
Jesus
point
is
the
Bible
is
very
clear
honoring
your
mother
and
father
means
you
have
to
be
doing
something
and
you
can't
just
say
oh
no
I
you
know
working
class
stiffs
they
have
going
on
so
let's
just
wrap
it
all
up
if
we
begin
to
grasp
the
problem
of
the
fact
that
the
human
heart
is
the
source
of
these
different
types
of
sins
that
affect
the
imagination
that
affect
social
relations
that
affect
our
that
are
touching
our
creativity
our
religious
sentiments
our
emotions
the
way
our
mind
works
and
can
analyze
things
if
we
understand
that
there's
something
in the
very
center
of
that
generates
these
problems
being
out of
whack
then
the
first
point
only
the
triune
only
the
triune
God
could
act
to
bring
you
to
himself
you
need
you
need
God
to
do
it
sorry
I
don't
hope
this
doesn't
offend
because
you're
screwed
modern
language
if you
grasp
this
you
just
realize
there's
nothing
you
can
do
like
if
there's
no
God
then
that's
just
really
depressing
but
if
there is
a
God
and
we
believe
as
Christians
that
Jesus
has
revealed
that
the
triune
God
really
existed
unless
he
does
something
you
can't
do
anything
you
can't
leave
yourself
to
save
yourself
and
it
doesn't
even
matter
if
we
say
maybe
my
little
bentness
if
I
combine
my
bentness
with
Matt's
bentness
with
Chris's
bentness
with
Diane's
bentness
with
Lisa's
bentness
well
maybe
you know
we'll
all
sort of
straighten
me
no
you
multiply
those
ten
I'm
sorry
if
I've
picked
on
some
of
you
we're
only
going
to
we
haven't
fixed
the
problem
nothing
personal
multiplied
the
problem
might
not
be
balanced
it
might
be
adding
to
imbalance
and
so
we're
completely
and utterly
up
we're
completely
and utterly
need
you see
that's
the thing
that the
religious
people
don't
get
is
they
think
they
can
keep
just
if
they
just
get
this
right
they
just
get
this
right
they
just
get
this
right
and
then
they
have
this
basic
sense
when
they
see
other
people
doing
something
wrong
that's
going
to
affect
them
not
getting
it
right
so
you
can
even
have
more
justifiable
anger
at
people
who
don't
just
get
it
right
because
you
gotta
get
it
no
only
the
triune
God
could
act
to
bring
you
to
himself
and
here
if you
put up
the
second
point
you
need
the
triune
God
to
tell
you
what
he
has
done
for
you
how
to
receive
what
he
has
done
for
you
and
the
Bible
being
inerrant
come
from
comes
from
Jesus
the
commandments
that you
read
when you're
reading
Exodus
and
Leviticus
and
Genesis
and Isaiah
they're
gods
and
when you're
reading
that
you're
reading
you're
hearing
God
speak
that's
what
the
text
that's
what
Jesus
is
telling
you
that's
why
I
believe
it
I
believe
it
because
Jesus
he
died
on a
cross
and he
rose
again
and the
grave
is
empty
and they
never
found
the
body
and his
resurrection
he predicted
that he was
going to do
it it
comes in
the context
of
scriptures
from
1400
years
earlier
and earlier
promising
that something
like this
was going
to happen
and all
these
scriptures
get
fulfilled
you read
Psalm
22
and it
describes
crucifixion
when crucifixion
hadn't even
been invented
and Jesus
fulfills
these
prophecies
and he
fulfills
these
texts
of profound
wisdom
and insight
about the
human
heart
profound
insight
there is
no better
remedy
to racism
and prejudice
and the
oppression
of other
classes
than that
God has
made every
single human
being in
his image
there is
no better
remedy
to our
mistreating
other human
beings
or treating
people as
second class
citizens
and that
very simple
profound
statement
in Genesis
chapter 1
every human
being is
made in
the image
of God
every human
being is
made in
the image
of God
the down
syndrome
child
and the
Olympic
athlete
the richest
the most
brilliant
and the
most foolish
and the
ones with
the lowest
IQ
all made
in the
image of
God
and hence
having a
dignity
and value
and worth
and integrity
that comes
from God
not from
the state
in which
the state
if it is
wise
and if it
is just
and is
moral
will recognize
the state
doesn't bestow
this
the state
when it's
wise
recognizes
what God
has done
when he
made human
beings
but you
see
understand
now
when
as Jesus
describing
the problem
of the
human
heart
you start
to understand
what's
happening
when Jesus
he's proven
that he's
God
with his
walking
on water
with his
fiend of
the 5000
with his
raising the
dead
which we're
going to
come to
which we've
already seen
with Jairus'
daughter
and he's
proven that
he's God
and so we
understand
that when
Jesus dies
on the
cross
it's God
dying
on the
cross
it's God
doing
something
for human
beings
that human
beings
can't do
for themselves
and we
can't really
understand it
all
and so we
are completely
and utterly
dependent upon
God
revealing
through his
word
what it is
that he
has done
so that we
can be
reconciled
to him
that we
can belong
to him
and that we
can start
to keep
and live
in step
with him
we're
completely
dependent
upon God
to tell us
what he
has done
and that
leads us
to the
final point
you could
put it
up
you and
I
need to
be
reformed
transformed
and renewed
by God's
word
written
you need
to be
reformed
transformed
and renewed
by God's
word
written
you see
my mind
is going
to keep
getting
things
wrong
I'm going
to keep
and I'm
sure
I'm going
to get
things wrong
in my
heart
and my
mind
and my
affections
my
imagination
are going
to keep
getting
wrong
and that
that's
why I
need to
constantly
be reading
God's
word
and I
need to
be in
things like
discipling
and friendship
relationships
centered around
God's word
or small
groups centered
around God's
word
where I
need to
come to
church on
a Sunday
where God's
word is
opened in
the context
of celebrating
Holy Communion
so we remember
that Jesus
died for us
we remember
the gospel
we remember
that he's
coming again
we hear the
word in
light of
the gospel
and we
hear the
gospel in
light of
the word
and we
need to
come again
and again
to God's
word
to have
God's word
speak to
us so that
our sin
is revealed
so that we
recognize our
prejudice
our racism
our envy
our deceit
our proneness
to slander
our proneness
to sexual
sins
that it
comes to
us and
that we're
confronted
by God's
word
because God's
word is a
means of
grace for
us to
hear again
and again
so that
as we
give our
lives to
Jesus
as we
trust his
word
that Jesus
is God's
great provision
for your
great need
to make you
at one
with God
there is
no other
means
that God
has done
this profound
act of love
and sacrifice
and service
in the person
of his son
he's done
it for you
he didn't
have to do
it for himself
he's done
it for you
he loves
you and his
word communicates
that to you
and his
word says
given that
you are
now with
that you
now are
at one
with me
through what
Christ has
done for
you you
still have
sinful
tendencies
you need
to come
again
and again
to God's
word
to be
reformed
by his
word
transformed
by his
word
renewed
by his
word
so that
we are
transformed
and those
things in
our heart
that are
prone to
slander
or put
to death
and by
being
nurtured
by God's
word
our love
of the
truth
and our
hatred
of lies
that that
might grow
and that we
might learn
to repent
of lies
and repent
of idols
and to love
the truth
and love
true affections
and love
the beauty
of the
gospel
and the
beauty
of the
world
and we
need
to constantly
come together
in the
presence
of other
redeemed
sinners
to come
under God's
word
heart
and have
it come
into our
hearts
and our
minds
brothers and
sisters
I need
that
I need
this
please
stand
let's bow
our heads
in prayer
father we
thank and
praise you
that you
see the
heart of
every single
one of
us here
you see
father the
precise
particular
history
of virtue
and vice
of everyone
who is
here
and still
you love
us
and still
your son
died on
the cross
for us
and we
give you
thanks and
praise that
he didn't
just die
in general
for humanity
in general
because we
don't live
in general
I am me
and each
one here
is a me
and we
give you
thanks and
praise that
Jesus died
for each
me
each I
in our
particularity
in our
tragic
sinfulness
goodness
and in
our
bright
potential
for glory
when we
reflect
your glory
and your
goodness
and your
love
and we
thank and
praise you
that you
died for
each of
us as
individuals
that you
did what
we could
not do
for ourselves
and we
give you
thanks and
praise that
you did
this and
you tell
us about
it
that your
word is
this public
open
truth
and we
ask Lord
that you
would make
us disciples
of Jesus
gripped by
the gospel
learning to
come daily
to your
word
father
to be
transformed
to be
reformed
to be
renewed
to be
revived
as we
read your
word
in the
power
of the
Holy
Spirit
father
we ask
that your
word
would do
that
ongoing
wonderful
work of
grace
in our
hearts
and our
minds
and our
lives
we ask
all of
this
in the
precious
name
of
Jesus
your
son
and our
savior
amen