WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.220 Remember, there's two truths at stake in these 23 verses. 00:00:03.940 --> 00:00:10.160 The main thing that we're focusing here is that the Phariseeism, the legalism of these men, 00:00:10.740 --> 00:00:18.559 did two things. It denied the authority of the Bible, and it preached a false gospel 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:24.539 that cannot actually save you. That's always the danger of legalism. 00:00:24.539 --> 00:00:32.420 It's not that it limits our freedoms. It's not that it keeps us from doing the things that we want to do. 00:00:32.519 --> 00:00:37.659 That's not the danger of legalism. The danger in legalism is that it says that the Bible is not enough, 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:45.239 and it tells me that I'm acceptable to God based on what I do, not based on who He is or on what He has done for us. 00:00:45.500 --> 00:00:48.659 That's the danger. That's the battle of this passage, okay? 00:00:48.659 --> 00:00:53.359 So we've got to keep our focus on that. It's not just about these rules. It's not about them telling us what to do. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:00.119 It's about the denial of the authority of the Bible and about a false gospel that was leading the people astray. 00:01:00.979 --> 00:01:05.480 Every verse in all four gospels is absolutely necessary. It's essential to us. 00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:14.319 But when we get to Mark's gospel, there is a sense of heightened focus as we read his book, as we read his gospel. 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:21.539 Here's why. Of the four gospels, it's by far the shortest, and relative to the others, 00:01:21.540 --> 00:01:24.640 it has very little of Jesus' teaching in it. 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:30.840 Now, that's not because Mark was unaware of what Jesus said. It's not that he was unaware of the sermons. 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:36.500 Of course he was. He might have even been there in some circumstances as we understand his life, 00:01:36.500 --> 00:01:41.440 and we know that most of what he's writing is from the eyewitness account of Peter. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:50.099 So he knew what Jesus taught. But through the inspiration of God, what Mark is giving us here is what he felt was absolutely necessary 00:01:50.099 --> 00:01:53.879 for his readers to understand when it came to the teaching of Jesus. 00:01:54.060 --> 00:01:59.180 So when we get to a passage like this, and we see in Mark's gospel, Jesus teaching something, 00:01:59.340 --> 00:02:03.219 we really need to slow down and listen carefully, because it's important. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:04.599 It's all important. 00:02:04.599 --> 00:02:10.180 But we need to come to this with a particular heightened focus as we look at it, and here's why. 00:02:11.019 --> 00:02:18.219 What Jesus said in these verses is crucial to our understanding of the gospel. 00:02:19.579 --> 00:02:22.459 Verses 14 to 23. It's crucial. 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:28.139 If you don't grasp the message that Jesus is preaching here, 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:36.839 it will be impossible for you to appropriately understand the wonder of his grace in the gospel. 00:02:37.099 --> 00:02:40.039 You can't understand it without grasping this. 00:02:40.179 --> 00:02:41.059 So we need to listen. 00:02:41.659 --> 00:02:44.379 That's exactly what Jesus actually says to do in this passage. 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:45.379 Listen. 00:02:46.679 --> 00:02:48.599 Understand what I'm saying. 00:02:49.399 --> 00:02:53.879 I've found it helpful to break this up into three sections, and so we'll do that as we go. 00:02:54.099 --> 00:02:57.000 If that's helpful to you, I'll make note of it, and you can write it down, okay? 00:02:57.000 --> 00:02:58.800 My first section of my notes is this. 00:02:59.099 --> 00:03:00.680 We see an urgent proclamation. 00:03:01.539 --> 00:03:02.979 An urgent proclamation. 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:05.759 We see this in verses 14 to 16. 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:08.060 Look with me at verse 14. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:11.300 He called the people to him again and said to them, 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:14.659 Hear me, all of you, and understand. 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:21.960 Now, verse 1 suggests that the Pharisees and scribes had encircled Jesus, 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:28.600 perhaps, to create some kind of separation between him and the people that were with him in that moment. 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:30.140 In fact, look back with me at verse number 1. 00:03:30.140 --> 00:03:35.879 Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him, they have encircled him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem. 00:03:36.040 --> 00:03:40.379 There's this picture that's beginning to be painted here that this group has come. 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:42.000 It's perhaps great in number. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.180 However, they have stood in front. 00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:48.439 They have created separation between Jesus and the people that he was teaching. 00:03:48.819 --> 00:03:51.680 And I don't know if that was their intention necessarily to do, 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:54.840 or if they were just engaging in a way that the people weren't. 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:57.539 But no matter what the case is, 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:04.979 there certainly is a picture here of how religion stands in the way of the gospel. 00:04:04.979 --> 00:04:07.659 Do you see that picture being made? 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:13.139 These Pharisees and scribes have stood in between Jesus and the people. 00:04:13.259 --> 00:04:14.739 Jesus is here to preach the truth. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:16.560 The Pharisees are getting in the way of that. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:18.379 And it's a great picture of what religion does. 00:04:18.459 --> 00:04:19.839 That's exactly what they were doing. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.360 They were actually getting in the way of the truth. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:25.699 And at the same time, they were saying, 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:27.480 No, we have the truth. 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:31.860 They were making these promises of eternal life and acceptance with God 00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:34.740 based on what they did and based on their own religion. 00:04:34.819 --> 00:04:38.420 And what they ended up doing was actually being an obstacle, 00:04:39.080 --> 00:04:42.420 an obstacle to the truth of the gospel. 00:04:42.620 --> 00:04:44.460 And that's what religion always does. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:48.560 Mere religion stands as an obstacle to truth. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:53.580 It doesn't actually deliver on the claims that it makes. 00:04:54.580 --> 00:04:57.680 And after exposing this hypocrisy of the Pharisees, 00:04:57.980 --> 00:04:59.379 look what Jesus does then. 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:00.560 Verse 14. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:03.339 He calls the people to him. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.420 And again, I think there's some powerful imagery here. 00:05:08.220 --> 00:05:11.000 While religion stands in the way of truth, 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:16.160 Jesus, on the other hand, is calling us to the truth. 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:19.920 So there's this whole conversation that he's having with these men, 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:21.300 and they're going back and forth. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:23.519 And it really was a one-sided conversation. 00:05:23.699 --> 00:05:25.879 Eventually, Jesus was exposing who they were. 00:05:26.060 --> 00:05:29.180 And when Jesus felt like he was done dealing with these men, 00:05:29.180 --> 00:05:31.680 he turns and he calls all the people to come to him, 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:33.319 calling all the people to come to him. 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:35.120 That's what Jesus does. 00:05:35.660 --> 00:05:38.420 Religion makes great promises that it can't deliver on. 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.019 It actually stands as an obstacle to the truth. 00:05:41.019 --> 00:05:44.560 But all at the same time, Jesus is calling us to that truth. 00:05:45.300 --> 00:05:49.220 Through his word, by the Spirit, he calls us to that truth. 00:05:49.300 --> 00:05:51.340 And after all, that's exactly why he came. 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:53.620 That was the whole purpose of him coming to earth. 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:57.000 Remember in chapter 1, he said, 00:05:57.160 --> 00:06:00.399 let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also. 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:00.980 Why? 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:04.379 For that is why I came, he said. 00:06:04.860 --> 00:06:06.420 Well, what was his preaching all about? 00:06:07.819 --> 00:06:09.280 Repent and believe the good news. 00:06:09.379 --> 00:06:10.680 The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:11.860 What's he doing in that message? 00:06:12.180 --> 00:06:14.660 He's not condemning people in that message. 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:16.879 He's calling people to him in that message. 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:19.120 He's calling people to the truth. 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:24.240 We get to chapter 2 in this whole exchange with the Pharisees 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:27.259 over the fact that he had had dinner with Matthew 00:06:27.259 --> 00:06:30.480 and the other tax collectors and sinners. 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:33.780 Jesus says, I did not come to call the righteous. 00:06:34.579 --> 00:06:35.680 Why did I come? 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:37.740 I came to call sinners. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:38.840 What's he doing? 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:40.720 He's calling people to truth. 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:44.060 That was his purpose, calling them to the gospel. 00:06:45.300 --> 00:06:46.740 What does Luke tell us? 00:06:46.740 --> 00:06:54.259 Jesus said, the son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost. 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:58.660 What was Jesus' whole purpose in coming? 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:00.920 To call people to the truth. 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:03.939 And we see this fantastic picture 00:07:03.939 --> 00:07:09.000 that as religion is standing in the way as an obstacle to that truth, 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:10.740 Jesus calls us to it. 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:12.620 And he says, come here. 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:16.160 And there's an urgency in what he's saying. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:22.180 It's like a parent who hits that tone. 00:07:22.700 --> 00:07:23.420 You know what I mean? 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:24.780 You know that tone? 00:07:25.320 --> 00:07:28.540 Even if you're not a parent, if you're a child, you know the tone, right? 00:07:29.240 --> 00:07:31.360 Like I can tell Ashlyn and Harper something 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:34.600 and know that in the way that I said it, 00:07:34.620 --> 00:07:35.660 in the way that I went about it, 00:07:35.700 --> 00:07:37.140 they're not going to hear anything that I'm saying. 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:38.020 They hear me. 00:07:38.080 --> 00:07:38.540 They don't listen. 00:07:38.760 --> 00:07:39.040 Whatever. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.000 But when I really want them to get it, 00:07:42.520 --> 00:07:43.140 what do I do? 00:07:43.860 --> 00:07:44.540 Look at me. 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:46.120 Look at me. 00:07:46.819 --> 00:07:48.220 Listen to me. 00:07:48.740 --> 00:07:49.540 Listen to me. 00:07:50.460 --> 00:07:51.400 And we go on from there. 00:07:51.780 --> 00:07:53.200 That's what Jesus is doing here. 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:56.100 There's seriousness about what he's saying. 00:07:56.300 --> 00:07:57.560 And he's turning away from the Pharisees 00:07:57.560 --> 00:07:58.939 and he's calling the people and he's saying, 00:07:59.180 --> 00:08:00.200 listen to me. 00:08:00.340 --> 00:08:01.420 All of you, he says. 00:08:01.460 --> 00:08:02.240 He clarifies it. 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:04.939 Nobody needs to be doing something else right now. 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:06.180 Get off your phones. 00:08:06.420 --> 00:08:07.540 Stop talking to your neighbor. 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:08.400 Whatever it is you're doing, 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:11.379 stop and listen to me right now. 00:08:11.460 --> 00:08:12.060 All of you. 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:13.000 Everyone listen. 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:13.879 There's urgency. 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:14.600 Why? 00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:17.780 Because the gospel was at stake 00:08:17.780 --> 00:08:19.400 in what was happening in this conversation. 00:08:20.300 --> 00:08:25.520 This wasn't a matter of just simple doctrinal disagreement. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:29.500 They weren't fussing over interpretations. 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:31.060 That's not what's happening here. 00:08:31.280 --> 00:08:33.039 This was a battle over the gospel. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:34.480 And it was urgent. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:35.460 Look at verse 15. 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:36.820 Once they gathered, here's what he said. 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:40.099 There is nothing outside a person 00:08:40.099 --> 00:08:42.679 that by going into him can defile him. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.599 But the things that come out of a person 00:08:45.599 --> 00:08:48.299 are what defile him. 00:08:49.860 --> 00:08:51.699 This is a shocking statement. 00:08:53.199 --> 00:08:55.000 Now think about what has prompted it. 00:08:55.659 --> 00:08:57.339 The Pharisees have come and they've said, 00:08:57.439 --> 00:08:58.959 we can't believe that you would allow 00:08:58.959 --> 00:09:01.159 your disciples to have a meal 00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:02.740 with defiled hands. 00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:03.899 That defiles them. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:06.079 That makes them unacceptable to God. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:07.700 That was their perspective. 00:09:08.139 --> 00:09:10.420 And Jesus essentially responds with this. 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:13.680 If you think that's a problem, 00:09:14.100 --> 00:09:16.700 what are you going to do about the filthiness of your heart? 00:09:16.700 --> 00:09:24.280 Your greatest problem 00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:27.540 is not what is outside of you. 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:33.259 It's what's inside of you, Jesus is. 00:09:34.420 --> 00:09:36.620 And how are you going to cleanse your heart? 00:09:37.300 --> 00:09:38.160 That's his point. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:42.620 And so it'll probably be helpful here for just a quick moment. 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:43.799 I don't want to go too far into this 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:48.500 to explain what this terminology of defiled and undefiled 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:49.659 or clean and unclean is. 00:09:49.899 --> 00:09:51.339 So let's just talk about that for a second. 00:09:52.100 --> 00:09:55.719 The Old Testament especially often uses this 00:09:55.719 --> 00:09:59.980 category of clean and unclean 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:05.279 in regards to ceremonial or ritual purity. 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:08.420 That's really what the Pharisees were on about here. 00:10:08.899 --> 00:10:10.539 They weren't talking about spiritual purity. 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:12.840 They're talking about ceremonial purity. 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.460 And so someone who was ceremonially unclean 00:10:16.460 --> 00:10:17.379 in the Old Testament, 00:10:17.379 --> 00:10:19.700 they could not go to the temple for worship. 00:10:19.700 --> 00:10:23.039 They were excluded from the community of God's people. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:27.159 And to be declared ceremonially clean 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:29.339 and to have those prohibitions lifted, 00:10:29.980 --> 00:10:31.379 a number of things had to happen. 00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:34.699 A prescribed amount of time would be given 00:10:34.699 --> 00:10:35.959 based on whatever it was 00:10:35.959 --> 00:10:37.679 that had actually made them unclean. 00:10:37.959 --> 00:10:39.339 They had to wait a certain amount of time. 00:10:39.459 --> 00:10:41.000 It may just be waiting till the evening. 00:10:41.139 --> 00:10:41.740 It could be a week. 00:10:41.779 --> 00:10:42.639 It could be 40 days. 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:45.079 It could be a number of time depending on what it is. 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:46.379 So they had to wait a little bit. 00:10:46.539 --> 00:10:48.399 Then they had to cleanse themselves. 00:10:49.079 --> 00:10:51.139 They had to take a bath essentially. 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:53.580 And then they had to make a sacrifice. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:55.240 And that's what's interesting 00:10:55.240 --> 00:10:57.340 about this whole dynamic of clean and unclean. 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:02.419 What makes you clean is not merely taking a bath. 00:11:02.419 --> 00:11:03.860 It's making a sacrifice. 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:05.919 That's significant as we understand the gospel, isn't it? 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:07.639 And we're looking at the Bible as a whole. 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:10.500 But these clean and unclean categories 00:11:10.500 --> 00:11:13.460 is what the Pharisees are dealing with here. 00:11:14.139 --> 00:11:16.259 And so there were a lot of things 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:17.980 that could put you in an unclean category. 00:11:18.319 --> 00:11:20.259 And it wasn't always related to sin. 00:11:21.139 --> 00:11:24.480 If you touched a dead body, you were considered unclean. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:27.340 And you had to go through a ritualistic cleansing 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:28.179 and sacrifice. 00:11:29.019 --> 00:11:31.639 If you contracted a certain disease, 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:35.580 you had to go through a series of deals 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:37.120 in order to be clean again. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.279 If you gave birth, you were unclean. 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:41.100 There were things that went along with that. 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:42.639 So it wasn't always related to sin. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:44.259 But there were lots of these things 00:11:44.259 --> 00:11:46.379 that God had given the people of Israel 00:11:46.379 --> 00:11:50.620 that signified their ceremonial uncleanness, 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:52.000 which meant they couldn't go to the temple 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:53.519 and they couldn't participate 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:54.779 in some of the community things. 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:55.639 Okay, that was the purpose. 00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:58.019 Now, the reason God gave them all of this 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:00.840 was to remind them of his own holiness. 00:12:03.299 --> 00:12:05.720 As they constantly were thinking about 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:08.000 how undefiled or unclean they were, 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:09.539 it forced them to think about 00:12:09.539 --> 00:12:12.460 how clean and holy God is 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:13.860 because this is his standard. 00:12:13.860 --> 00:12:15.500 They're being held to his standard. 00:12:16.460 --> 00:12:17.580 And so he gave it to them 00:12:17.580 --> 00:12:19.100 in order that they may see his holiness 00:12:19.100 --> 00:12:22.139 and in order that they may constantly be reminded 00:12:22.139 --> 00:12:24.639 of an inward defilement, 00:12:25.139 --> 00:12:27.019 of an inward sin, 00:12:27.139 --> 00:12:28.240 of their condition 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.019 that desperately needed God's mercy. 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.259 That was the purpose of all of those things. 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:35.220 That's why God had given it. 00:12:35.899 --> 00:12:38.720 Now, the Pharisees completely ignored 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:41.940 their need for spiritual cleansing from sin 00:12:41.940 --> 00:12:44.220 and they focused entirely 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:47.220 on this external moralism. 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:49.640 So they believed that everything 00:12:49.640 --> 00:12:51.660 that defiled them was external. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:54.420 And so long as they obeyed the rules 00:12:54.420 --> 00:12:55.600 and they did the things, 00:12:55.980 --> 00:12:57.060 they were okay. 00:12:57.800 --> 00:12:59.380 As long as they washed their hands 00:12:59.380 --> 00:13:00.420 and as long as they went through 00:13:00.420 --> 00:13:01.680 all the stuff that they had said, 00:13:01.820 --> 00:13:03.740 they would be accepted by God. 00:13:04.620 --> 00:13:06.640 So they saw themselves as clean 00:13:06.640 --> 00:13:09.340 on the basis of their obedience to the law. 00:13:09.340 --> 00:13:12.820 And when Jesus spoke of being defiled, 00:13:13.560 --> 00:13:16.720 he wasn't speaking of a ceremonial defilement, 00:13:17.040 --> 00:13:19.639 but spiritual, okay? 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:23.560 So they're starting from two different places. 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:25.680 Pharisees are only concerned 00:13:25.680 --> 00:13:26.879 about this ritual cleanness. 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:29.280 Jesus isn't concerned about ritual cleanness. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:31.220 He's talking about the heart, 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:32.899 this spiritual impurity. 00:13:33.259 --> 00:13:36.060 So that while touching an unclean animal 00:13:36.060 --> 00:13:38.840 would make a person ceremonially unclean, 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:42.440 it is not what made them spiritually unclean. 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:45.500 And the Pharisees had basically ignored 00:13:45.500 --> 00:13:46.680 the deeper problem. 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:48.639 MacArthur explained it this way. 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:49.540 I think this is helpful. 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:52.320 The Lord's point was that external things 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:55.440 like meals eaten with unwashed hands 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.700 are not the source of spiritual impurity. 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:02.460 Rather, the defilement that offends God 00:14:02.460 --> 00:14:06.580 is internal, spiritual in its reality 00:14:06.580 --> 00:14:09.620 that has a corresponding internal source. 00:14:10.660 --> 00:14:14.500 Sinful pollution does not come from the outside, 00:14:14.920 --> 00:14:18.320 but it lies within the sinner, he says. 00:14:18.420 --> 00:14:20.200 That's a great way to explain this. 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:22.860 And Jesus made this clearly 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:24.040 with the Pharisees all the time. 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:26.120 In fact, why don't you turn with me to Matthew 23? 00:14:26.120 --> 00:14:27.500 We may do a little bit of turning today. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:29.259 Matthew 23, would you do that? 00:14:30.980 --> 00:14:34.100 This entire chapter, or at least the bulk of it, 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.840 is a series of woes that Jesus is pronouncing 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:41.820 against this group of men, these Pharisees and scribes. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:43.879 There's seven of them listed here. 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:45.560 I wanna read three of them to you 00:14:45.560 --> 00:14:48.500 so that you can see how Jesus was even defining this, okay? 00:14:49.299 --> 00:14:51.940 Matthew 23, look at verse 23. 00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:54.060 He says, 00:14:54.260 --> 00:14:57.100 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 00:14:58.300 --> 00:15:02.960 For you tithe, you tithe mint and dill and cumin 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:06.240 and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:09.060 which is justice and mercy and faithfulness. 00:15:09.740 --> 00:15:11.300 These you ought to have done 00:15:11.300 --> 00:15:13.020 without neglecting the others. 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:16.760 You blind guides straining out a gnat 00:15:16.760 --> 00:15:18.680 and swallowing a camel. 00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:20.460 What an image that is. 00:15:20.460 --> 00:15:24.759 This is the speck in the eye versus the beam 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:26.460 sticking out of somebody's head. 00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:27.920 This is the same kind of thing. 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:28.820 Jesus is saying, 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:29.879 Woe to you, 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:34.160 woe to you because you give all your money to the church, 00:15:34.420 --> 00:15:37.540 but you're a filthy, rotten sinner on the inside. 00:15:38.420 --> 00:15:40.040 Look at the next one, verse 25. 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:42.560 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 00:15:42.780 --> 00:15:45.660 For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:50.860 but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:53.159 You blind Pharisee, 00:15:53.259 --> 00:15:56.719 you first clean the inside of the cup and the plate 00:15:56.719 --> 00:15:59.299 that the outside also may be clean. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:01.120 They had had it backwards, Jesus is saying. 00:16:01.339 --> 00:16:03.240 You think that you'll be clean on the outside 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:04.459 because you do all the stuff. 00:16:04.539 --> 00:16:05.879 No, you do all the stuff 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:07.899 because God makes you clean on the inside. 00:16:08.079 --> 00:16:09.219 That's what he's getting at here. 00:16:10.179 --> 00:16:10.879 Verse 27. 00:16:11.959 --> 00:16:14.439 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.340 For you are like whitewashed tombs, 00:16:17.540 --> 00:16:19.960 which outwardly appear beautiful, 00:16:20.680 --> 00:16:23.860 but within are full of dead people's bones 00:16:23.860 --> 00:16:26.240 and all uncleanness. 00:16:26.920 --> 00:16:30.080 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, 00:16:30.180 --> 00:16:33.920 but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 00:16:34.400 --> 00:16:36.300 And let's get down to verse 33. 00:16:37.160 --> 00:16:40.320 You serpents, you brood of vipers, 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:45.300 how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 00:16:47.460 --> 00:16:49.080 It's a rhetorical question. 00:16:52.160 --> 00:16:53.660 How are you gonna avoid hell? 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:56.360 It's not because your hands are clean. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.240 It's not because you didn't eat unclean animals. 00:17:02.760 --> 00:17:04.100 This was their problem. 00:17:04.099 --> 00:17:07.980 They thought that their salvation came from mere religion, 00:17:08.199 --> 00:17:09.719 but it doesn't. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:13.059 Salvation doesn't come from what you do. 00:17:14.419 --> 00:17:15.740 And then you may notice here, 00:17:15.819 --> 00:17:16.959 as we go back to Mark 7, 00:17:17.740 --> 00:17:19.000 you may notice, 00:17:19.159 --> 00:17:20.899 depending on what translation you have with you today, 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:22.539 that verse 16 is missing. 00:17:22.659 --> 00:17:24.579 It just goes from verse 15 to verse 17. 00:17:25.199 --> 00:17:26.639 It may be in brackets in your Bible, 00:17:26.679 --> 00:17:29.179 or maybe it's listed as a footnote as it is in mine. 00:17:29.180 --> 00:17:32.019 And the reason for that is that this particular verse, 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:35.240 it didn't appear in any manuscript tradition 00:17:35.240 --> 00:17:39.860 until 500 years after Mark had actually written this gospel book. 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:44.100 And so we can understand with quite a bit of certainty 00:17:44.100 --> 00:17:45.920 that Mark didn't actually write this phrase. 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:48.060 Now that doesn't mean that Jesus didn't say it. 00:17:48.080 --> 00:17:49.820 It just means that Mark didn't write it. 00:17:50.180 --> 00:17:52.880 And probably like we noted in chapter six 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.860 with that whole issue in the story of John the Baptist, 00:17:55.859 --> 00:17:59.279 probably what happened was this was a marginal note 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:03.459 or a commentary that a scribe had written. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.479 And just over time of hand copying manuscript 00:18:06.479 --> 00:18:08.059 after manuscript after manuscript, 00:18:08.539 --> 00:18:11.339 eventually this verse seems to have found its way 00:18:11.339 --> 00:18:15.159 in a manuscript tradition around the fifth or sixth century. 00:18:15.339 --> 00:18:18.699 So that's why it's noted the way that it is in your Bible. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:21.039 But here's what it says that Jesus said. 00:18:22.159 --> 00:18:24.819 He that has ears to hear, let him hear. 00:18:24.819 --> 00:18:27.240 And we know Jesus said this a lot. 00:18:27.539 --> 00:18:29.139 We've talked about it already in Mark's gospel. 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:30.859 And what was the whole point of that? 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:33.819 It underscores the urgency 00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:37.039 with which Jesus delivered this message to the people. 00:18:38.399 --> 00:18:42.079 Now, he wasn't just asking for them to hear him, 00:18:42.159 --> 00:18:43.079 to listen to him. 00:18:43.220 --> 00:18:44.579 He wasn't asking for their attention. 00:18:44.859 --> 00:18:47.200 He was asking for their faith, their belief. 00:18:48.339 --> 00:18:51.279 When Jesus says, he that has ears to hear, let him hear. 00:18:51.339 --> 00:18:52.919 He's not saying, listen to me. 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:56.220 He's saying, believe me, believe me. 00:18:56.300 --> 00:18:58.240 And what is he encouraging these people 00:18:58.240 --> 00:18:59.740 so urgently to believe? 00:18:59.860 --> 00:19:02.279 That it's not the things on the outside that matter. 00:19:02.360 --> 00:19:04.480 It's your heart that is the problem. 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:06.600 It's not your hands that need to be clean. 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:09.120 It's your heart that needs to be cleaned. 00:19:10.580 --> 00:19:13.480 So we see this urgent proclamation quickly. 00:19:13.800 --> 00:19:14.920 We see a useful explanation, 00:19:15.779 --> 00:19:17.080 or at least as far as I've broken it down, 00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:22.599 a useful explanation, verses 17 through 19. 00:19:23.139 --> 00:19:25.480 And when he had entered the house and left the people, 00:19:25.879 --> 00:19:28.299 his disciples asked him about the parable. 00:19:29.399 --> 00:19:31.460 And so as was often the case, we've seen this already, 00:19:31.579 --> 00:19:34.399 that after Jesus's public teaching, 00:19:35.399 --> 00:19:38.399 often it would be followed by a time of private teaching 00:19:39.299 --> 00:19:40.980 or interpretation with his disciples. 00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:45.120 Matthew's account actually adds a note here 00:19:45.120 --> 00:19:46.740 that I think helps us understand 00:19:46.740 --> 00:19:49.279 why the disciples were looking for clarity. 00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:50.940 In fact, why don't you turn to Matthew 15? 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:52.559 It's just a few pages to the left. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:53.759 Matthew 15. 00:19:54.059 --> 00:19:57.059 In fact, if you're keeping notes in those scripture journals, 00:19:57.319 --> 00:19:59.319 you may just want to write Matthew 15 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:00.860 at the top of your page somewhere 00:20:00.860 --> 00:20:05.079 because this entire section of scripture is paralleled there. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:07.099 Matthew chapter 15. 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:09.880 And look with me at verse 12. 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:11.660 Matthew says, 00:20:11.740 --> 00:20:13.620 Then the disciples came and said to him, 00:20:14.020 --> 00:20:16.200 Do you know that the Pharisees were offended 00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:17.340 when they heard this saying? 00:20:17.940 --> 00:20:18.620 He answered, 00:20:19.700 --> 00:20:22.720 Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:24.660 will be rooted up. 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:26.800 Leave them alone. 00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:29.180 They are blind guides. 00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:32.080 And if the blind lead the blind, 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:34.640 both will fall into a pit. 00:20:34.860 --> 00:20:36.980 And it's at this point that Matthew says 00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:38.200 it was Peter that said, 00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:40.160 Well, please explain this to us. 00:20:40.259 --> 00:20:41.680 Please explain this parable to us. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:44.940 Jesus in Matthew 13 had told this parable. 00:20:45.160 --> 00:20:46.380 You are probably familiar with it 00:20:46.380 --> 00:20:47.420 about the wheat and the tares 00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:48.519 or the wheat and the weeds. 00:20:49.620 --> 00:20:51.240 And basically in the story, 00:20:51.340 --> 00:20:53.120 there was the farmer who went 00:20:53.120 --> 00:20:54.900 and he planted his seed 00:20:54.900 --> 00:20:55.860 and it was good seed. 00:20:55.980 --> 00:20:58.120 And then his enemy came in the middle of the night 00:20:58.120 --> 00:21:01.539 and he planted weeds or tares. 00:21:01.539 --> 00:21:03.379 And for a while, 00:21:03.899 --> 00:21:07.000 the tares looked exactly like they were supposed to look, 00:21:07.099 --> 00:21:09.059 but inside they were full of poison. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:11.079 And over time, 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:12.819 they were exposed for what they really were. 00:21:13.019 --> 00:21:15.119 And when they were exposed for what they really were, 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:17.079 the harvesters come, 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.139 they bundle up all the weeds, 00:21:19.480 --> 00:21:21.039 and then they burn them in the fire. 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:22.920 And Jesus is saying, 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:24.980 here in Matthew 15, 00:21:25.399 --> 00:21:27.500 he's bringing this imagery back to the disciples. 00:21:27.740 --> 00:21:29.599 He's saying these Pharisees are the tares. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:30.480 They're the weeds. 00:21:31.919 --> 00:21:34.639 They look like they've got it together on the outside. 00:21:34.839 --> 00:21:37.559 Inside they're full of error and poison 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:40.759 and devastatingly false gospel. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:46.079 And eventually they're gonna be bundled up 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:48.279 and cast into the fire. 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:50.359 And not only them, 00:21:50.619 --> 00:21:52.559 but everyone who follows them 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.419 and believes what they believe. 00:21:54.779 --> 00:21:56.539 He says they're blind leading the blind. 00:21:56.699 --> 00:21:58.159 And therefore both the blind 00:21:58.159 --> 00:21:59.399 and the ones that they're leading 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:01.720 are going to find an eventual destruction. 00:22:01.940 --> 00:22:03.120 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:22:03.280 --> 00:22:04.560 Now let's go back to Mark 7 00:22:04.560 --> 00:22:05.680 and think about this question 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:07.740 that the disciples are asking. 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:11.180 It's at that point that they're thinking, 00:22:11.580 --> 00:22:13.740 I don't wanna be blind. 00:22:14.420 --> 00:22:16.960 I certainly don't wanna head for that same destruction. 00:22:18.300 --> 00:22:20.340 Jesus, please help us understand this. 00:22:21.040 --> 00:22:22.519 Please help us understand this. 00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:26.000 It wasn't that they didn't understand the story. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:28.480 Of course, they understood the story, 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:29.799 the illustration. 00:22:30.859 --> 00:22:34.680 What they didn't get was the truth that was behind it. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.379 They had difficulty grasping that. 00:22:36.740 --> 00:22:38.379 Now, before we give them a hard time, 00:22:39.220 --> 00:22:42.960 remember, these men lived their entire lives 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.079 immersed in Pharisaical Judaism. 00:22:46.919 --> 00:22:48.000 It's all they knew. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:49.899 It's all they knew. 00:22:51.699 --> 00:22:53.159 And now Jesus is coming. 00:22:53.259 --> 00:22:54.500 And it's not that they don't believe him. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:56.199 They believe him, but they don't understand. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:58.119 They're trying to understand it better. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.579 They're trying to understand it more clearly 00:23:00.579 --> 00:23:02.879 because they didn't want to head 00:23:02.879 --> 00:23:05.419 for the same destruction that the Pharisees were. 00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:07.740 So here's the explanation, verse 18. 00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:09.179 And he said to them, 00:23:09.180 --> 00:23:11.500 Are you also without understanding? 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:15.039 Do you not see that whatever goes into a person 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:17.039 from outside cannot defile him 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.039 since it enters not his heart, 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:21.740 but his stomach and is expelled? 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:24.340 So the story is simple enough to understand. 00:23:25.060 --> 00:23:27.700 Whatever we eat cannot spiritually defile us 00:23:27.700 --> 00:23:30.920 because it goes through the regular process of digestion 00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:32.299 and is expelled. 00:23:32.779 --> 00:23:33.980 It's as simple as that. 00:23:34.840 --> 00:23:35.900 Expelled here, literally, 00:23:36.120 --> 00:23:38.420 the literal translation is latrine or sewer. 00:23:39.180 --> 00:23:40.539 So Jesus is saying, 00:23:40.620 --> 00:23:41.160 What comes outside? 00:23:41.340 --> 00:23:42.380 That can't defile you. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:43.660 It's just food. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.440 So the emphasis on his explanation then 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:48.660 is on this other phrase. 00:23:49.320 --> 00:23:51.380 It enters not his heart. 00:23:51.779 --> 00:23:53.720 That's where the explanation is. 00:23:54.019 --> 00:23:55.120 It enters not his heart. 00:23:55.720 --> 00:23:58.180 So that the issue of spiritual impurity, 00:23:58.360 --> 00:24:00.420 what makes you unclean before God, 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:04.340 is not a matter of external action or circumstance. 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:08.519 It's an issue of your heart. 00:24:09.180 --> 00:24:11.140 And of course, 00:24:11.340 --> 00:24:14.860 Jesus wasn't referring to a biological organ. 00:24:16.140 --> 00:24:18.120 He's talking about the inner man, 00:24:18.340 --> 00:24:20.100 who you really are. 00:24:20.099 --> 00:24:23.639 That's what's defiled. 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:26.959 That's what needs to be made clean. 00:24:28.699 --> 00:24:30.579 There's an important doctrine behind this, 00:24:30.639 --> 00:24:31.959 and I don't want to go too far into it, 00:24:32.019 --> 00:24:34.199 but R.C. Sproul, 00:24:34.299 --> 00:24:35.259 the late R.C. Sproul, 00:24:35.399 --> 00:24:36.379 used to say it this way. 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:37.480 I'm sure you've heard this. 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:40.980 We are not sinners because we sin. 00:24:40.980 --> 00:24:45.380 We sin because we're sinners. 00:24:47.539 --> 00:24:49.839 We are not sinners because we sin. 00:24:50.940 --> 00:24:52.839 We sin because we're sinners. 00:24:53.980 --> 00:24:55.140 This is why David, 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.660 in this great psalm of confession, 00:24:56.819 --> 00:24:57.500 in Psalm 51, 00:24:58.200 --> 00:24:58.819 he says, 00:24:58.819 --> 00:25:01.619 in sin did my mother conceive me. 00:25:02.659 --> 00:25:04.619 He wasn't talking about an act of adultery. 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:06.659 His mother and his father were chaste people. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:07.659 That's not what he meant. 00:25:08.139 --> 00:25:11.460 He meant from the moment of conception, 00:25:11.980 --> 00:25:15.359 I was in need of a savior 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:18.059 because who I am, 00:25:18.439 --> 00:25:19.659 in my heart, 00:25:20.179 --> 00:25:21.439 I am unclean. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:25.580 It's what Paul was getting on about in Romans 5. 00:25:26.539 --> 00:25:27.180 He says, 00:25:27.539 --> 00:25:28.380 in verse 18, 00:25:28.840 --> 00:25:33.900 one trespass led to condemnation for all men. 00:25:34.539 --> 00:25:36.259 What one trespass? 00:25:36.580 --> 00:25:37.720 The sin of Adam. 00:25:38.840 --> 00:25:39.620 In other words, 00:25:40.279 --> 00:25:42.320 we are not born innocent 00:25:42.320 --> 00:25:46.080 and then corrupted by sinful behavior. 00:25:46.600 --> 00:25:47.980 We're not born innocent 00:25:47.980 --> 00:25:50.320 and then corrupted by sinful behavior. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:52.460 We are actually born sinful 00:25:52.460 --> 00:25:54.399 and that is revealed 00:25:54.399 --> 00:25:56.759 in the sins that we live out 00:25:56.759 --> 00:25:58.099 in our day-to-day life. 00:25:59.539 --> 00:26:01.759 That's what Jesus is getting on about here. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:04.740 Your problem is you 00:26:04.740 --> 00:26:08.299 and my problem is me. 00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:12.299 And from the moment the Lord gave us life, 00:26:12.899 --> 00:26:14.960 because of Adam's sin, 00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:17.200 we were in need of redemption. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:20.220 The Pharisees were fixated 00:26:20.220 --> 00:26:21.620 on this ceremonial cleansing 00:26:21.620 --> 00:26:23.180 because they wrongly believed 00:26:23.180 --> 00:26:25.680 that it was obedience to the law 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:27.000 that could make them righteous. 00:26:28.380 --> 00:26:29.880 And there are plenty of people today 00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:31.080 that are just as deceived. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:36.259 They think that as long as they follow all the rules, 00:26:36.680 --> 00:26:38.140 they go to church, 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:39.819 they say their prayers, 00:26:40.380 --> 00:26:41.860 they do good for people, 00:26:42.420 --> 00:26:44.580 they give to the church or to charities 00:26:44.579 --> 00:26:46.339 or whatever it is that they're involved with. 00:26:46.399 --> 00:26:47.939 They think as long as they do those things 00:26:47.939 --> 00:26:49.779 that God will give them a pass, 00:26:49.859 --> 00:26:51.220 that they're pretty good people. 00:26:51.819 --> 00:26:53.799 And surely a good God 00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:55.480 doesn't send people to hell 00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:56.399 that are doing their best 00:26:56.399 --> 00:26:57.240 and trying their hardest. 00:26:57.439 --> 00:26:58.439 And they've missed the point. 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:03.099 I watched a documentary this week 00:27:03.099 --> 00:27:05.199 on the Battle of the Bulge 00:27:05.199 --> 00:27:06.460 from World War II. 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:09.359 There was a soldier 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.299 who was interviewed in the process of this. 00:27:11.299 --> 00:27:13.680 And if you understand that history, 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:15.579 for a little bit more than a month, 00:27:16.339 --> 00:27:17.839 the U.S. Army infantry 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:19.139 was in the Ardennes Forest 00:27:19.139 --> 00:27:20.919 and they were just getting hammered 00:27:20.919 --> 00:27:22.539 by German artillery. 00:27:23.339 --> 00:27:24.599 I mean, just they're in these foxholes 00:27:24.599 --> 00:27:25.799 and they don't have clothes 00:27:25.799 --> 00:27:26.980 and they don't have ammunition. 00:27:27.139 --> 00:27:28.099 They're just getting shelled 00:27:28.099 --> 00:27:29.259 over and over and over. 00:27:29.319 --> 00:27:30.079 A lot of people died. 00:27:30.220 --> 00:27:30.919 Thousands died. 00:27:31.879 --> 00:27:33.359 One of these soldiers that actually survived 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:34.539 was interviewed on this documentary. 00:27:34.539 --> 00:27:35.940 And he said at one point 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:39.680 in a particularly hard shelling of artillery, 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:42.340 in my foxhole, 00:27:42.840 --> 00:27:45.320 because he was a good Roman Catholic, 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:45.840 he said, 00:27:46.519 --> 00:27:48.700 he said his act of contrition. 00:27:49.620 --> 00:27:51.900 It's a formatted prayer of confession, 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:52.720 basically what it is. 00:27:52.740 --> 00:27:53.060 And he said, 00:27:53.259 --> 00:27:54.640 I said my act of contrition 00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:56.039 because I just assumed 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:56.740 that I was going to die 00:27:56.740 --> 00:27:57.900 and I just wanted to make sure I was good. 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:01.060 What he failed to understand 00:28:01.060 --> 00:28:02.220 is that there's no prayer. 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:04.920 There's no ritual. 00:28:06.500 --> 00:28:08.440 There's no thing you can do 00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:11.360 that will make you good 00:28:11.360 --> 00:28:14.980 because who you are 00:28:14.980 --> 00:28:16.960 is bad. 00:28:19.080 --> 00:28:20.460 And no amount of goodness 00:28:20.460 --> 00:28:21.320 that you do now 00:28:21.320 --> 00:28:23.140 can atone for any kind of evil 00:28:23.140 --> 00:28:24.500 that you've ever done in the past. 00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:27.299 When Jesus redeems us, 00:28:27.360 --> 00:28:29.100 it's not just that he redeems our behavior, 00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:30.320 he redeems our nature. 00:28:30.320 --> 00:28:32.200 He redeems us as people. 00:28:36.299 --> 00:28:37.180 Obedience to the law 00:28:37.180 --> 00:28:38.980 can never provide eternal salvation. 00:28:39.700 --> 00:28:41.660 All it can do is reveal your sin 00:28:41.660 --> 00:28:44.860 and your need for Jesus. 00:28:45.700 --> 00:28:46.560 Romans 3. 00:28:47.660 --> 00:28:48.720 By the works of the law, 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.500 no human being will be justified in his sight. 00:28:52.600 --> 00:28:53.580 That's pretty clear. 00:28:55.480 --> 00:28:57.680 Since through the law comes the knowledge of sin, 00:28:57.759 --> 00:28:58.299 that's his purpose. 00:28:58.380 --> 00:28:59.580 It just shows you you're sinful. 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:00.640 It doesn't make you righteous. 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:02.279 Then he says, 00:29:02.279 --> 00:29:04.399 but the righteousness of God is this, 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:06.960 faith in Jesus Christ 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:09.019 for all who believe. 00:29:10.819 --> 00:29:12.399 And then we get to verse 19 00:29:12.399 --> 00:29:15.039 and Mark adds in this parenthetical statement. 00:29:15.859 --> 00:29:19.000 Thus he declared all foods clean. 00:29:19.379 --> 00:29:20.920 Now why did Mark have to say this? 00:29:20.920 --> 00:29:23.960 It's a parenthetical in your Bibles 00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:25.539 because Jesus didn't say it. 00:29:25.600 --> 00:29:27.500 This was a note that Mark was making. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:29.279 It's original to the text, 00:29:29.360 --> 00:29:30.960 but it's a note that Mark was making 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:33.660 of application about what Jesus was saying. 00:29:34.060 --> 00:29:35.400 And think about why he did this. 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:38.800 This issue of dietary laws and circumcision 00:29:38.800 --> 00:29:42.140 was a contentious topic in the early church 00:29:42.140 --> 00:29:44.600 because there were Jews who were saved 00:29:44.600 --> 00:29:46.300 that were believing Christ 00:29:46.300 --> 00:29:48.180 that had a hard time letting go of their Judaism. 00:29:48.180 --> 00:29:50.400 And there were a lot of Gentiles 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:51.660 that they were now worshiping with 00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:52.799 and they were trying to figure out, 00:29:53.120 --> 00:29:55.220 do these Gentiles need to be circumcised 00:29:55.220 --> 00:29:56.940 and follow dietary laws 00:29:56.940 --> 00:29:58.860 in order to truly be right with God? 00:29:59.299 --> 00:30:01.060 And so this was a contentious debate. 00:30:01.360 --> 00:30:02.840 Mark is settling the debate 00:30:02.840 --> 00:30:04.080 and he's saying, 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:05.259 look at what Jesus said. 00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:06.759 He declared foods are clean. 00:30:06.840 --> 00:30:07.860 It's not about what you eat. 00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:08.920 It's not about what you do. 00:30:08.980 --> 00:30:09.900 It's about who you are. 00:30:10.259 --> 00:30:11.880 Jesus has fulfilled the law. 00:30:12.299 --> 00:30:13.539 Therefore, by faith in him, 00:30:13.580 --> 00:30:15.100 we receive the righteousness of God. 00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:16.500 That's the point of verse 19. 00:30:16.580 --> 00:30:17.320 Okay, let's move on. 00:30:17.320 --> 00:30:17.860 We're almost done. 00:30:18.180 --> 00:30:19.980 We see a universal application. 00:30:20.340 --> 00:30:21.960 So we've seen an urgent proclamation. 00:30:22.500 --> 00:30:26.720 We've seen a useful explanation. 00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:30.060 And now finally, we see a universal application. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:31.500 Look at verse 20. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:34.799 He said, 00:30:34.799 --> 00:31:00.919 It's just not uncommon today to hear someone say, 00:31:00.920 --> 00:31:02.920 in a way of counsel, 00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:04.720 you just need to follow your heart. 00:31:05.340 --> 00:31:08.920 And of course, as believers, we know that's foolish. 00:31:10.060 --> 00:31:11.620 Do not follow your heart. 00:31:12.460 --> 00:31:13.820 Because Jeremiah said, 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:15.940 the heart is deceitful above all things. 00:31:15.940 --> 00:31:16.940 It's desperately sick. 00:31:16.940 --> 00:31:17.799 It's desperately sick. 00:31:18.740 --> 00:31:20.039 Who can know it? 00:31:21.160 --> 00:31:22.059 And then he says, 00:31:22.140 --> 00:31:24.880 I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind 00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:27.500 to give every man according to his ways, 00:31:27.559 --> 00:31:28.799 according to the fruit of his deeds. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:30.860 Do you know what God was saying there in Jeremiah? 00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:33.320 You may look great on the outside, 00:31:33.460 --> 00:31:34.380 but I see your heart, 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:35.340 and that's what I care about. 00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:37.559 So when you stand before judgment, 00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:38.180 before God, 00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:40.200 he's not going to ask you how many times you went to church. 00:31:40.320 --> 00:31:41.460 He's going to look at your heart, 00:31:41.460 --> 00:31:43.360 and he's going to see the vileness that's there 00:31:43.360 --> 00:31:44.519 because it's in all of us. 00:31:45.180 --> 00:31:46.360 Don't follow your heart. 00:31:46.900 --> 00:31:48.120 It will lead you astray. 00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:50.299 Solomon knew this. 00:31:51.059 --> 00:31:52.120 He wrote in Proverbs 4, 00:31:52.259 --> 00:31:53.880 Keep your heart with all vigilance, 00:31:53.940 --> 00:31:55.860 for from it flows the springs of life. 00:31:57.120 --> 00:31:58.620 Be mindful of your heart, 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:02.519 because who you are is what you do. 00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:05.480 Luke 6, 00:32:05.480 --> 00:32:06.180 Jesus said, 00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:08.200 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart 00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:08.960 produces good, 00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:11.880 and the evil person out of the evil treasure of his heart 00:32:11.880 --> 00:32:12.680 produces evil. 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:15.160 For out of the abundance of the heart, 00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:18.259 the mouth speaks, he says. 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:22.620 Jesus is essentially saying this. 00:32:24.200 --> 00:32:27.059 If washing your hands makes them clean, 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:31.039 what's going to make your heart clean? 00:32:31.980 --> 00:32:33.779 Because that's really your problem. 00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:37.440 You can't give your heart a bath. 00:32:40.500 --> 00:32:43.740 Which meant that they couldn't make it clean. 00:32:44.500 --> 00:32:47.660 Nothing they did could make them clean. 00:32:49.740 --> 00:32:51.319 And he gives this illustration. 00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:51.799 He says, 00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:55.360 Let me show you how undefiled you actually are. 00:32:55.860 --> 00:32:57.839 And he gives this whole list of sins. 00:32:58.799 --> 00:32:59.920 There's 13 of them. 00:32:59.980 --> 00:33:00.720 There's two sections. 00:33:00.819 --> 00:33:01.500 The first section, 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:03.319 they're all given in Greek in the plural, 00:33:03.319 --> 00:33:05.120 and they refer to actions. 00:33:05.660 --> 00:33:09.019 And then the last six are all given in Greek in singular form, 00:33:09.019 --> 00:33:10.740 and they refer to attitudes. 00:33:11.079 --> 00:33:12.299 And we're not going to spend a lot of time on this, 00:33:12.360 --> 00:33:13.680 but I at least want to define them, okay? 00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:14.880 The first one is this, 00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:15.980 evil thoughts. 00:33:17.319 --> 00:33:19.579 Now, we usually give ourselves a pass on evil thoughts, 00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:20.019 don't we? 00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:22.140 Because they haven't actually worked their way 00:33:22.140 --> 00:33:23.279 into some type of action, 00:33:23.380 --> 00:33:23.720 but no, 00:33:23.860 --> 00:33:25.819 Jesus says this is a part of your defilement. 00:33:25.819 --> 00:33:27.000 And it's, 00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:27.700 to me, 00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:29.359 as if it were an action. 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:31.460 He cares about your thoughts. 00:33:32.700 --> 00:33:34.559 Because out of the wickedness of our hearts 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:35.960 come those evil thoughts, 00:33:36.279 --> 00:33:39.960 and thus they make us spiritually unclean. 00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:41.119 You say, 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:41.319 well, 00:33:41.399 --> 00:33:44.859 if evil thoughts is what makes a person unclean, 00:33:44.899 --> 00:33:46.099 then every person's unclean. 00:33:47.059 --> 00:33:47.579 Yep. 00:33:47.579 --> 00:33:49.779 Next, 00:33:49.859 --> 00:33:51.399 he says sexual immorality. 00:33:52.659 --> 00:33:52.980 Remember, 00:33:53.099 --> 00:33:54.679 these are in the plural form in Greek. 00:33:54.799 --> 00:33:55.980 That's kind of important here. 00:33:57.059 --> 00:33:58.319 This is the word pornea. 00:33:58.500 --> 00:33:58.720 It's from, 00:33:58.879 --> 00:34:00.939 we get the English word pornography from this. 00:34:00.940 --> 00:34:01.299 And it's, 00:34:01.340 --> 00:34:06.600 it's a reference to not a certain sexual sin. 00:34:06.940 --> 00:34:08.179 If it was in the singular, 00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:11.139 he would be referring to a specific sexual sin, 00:34:11.240 --> 00:34:12.200 but it's in the plural. 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:14.360 He's really means sexual immoralities. 00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:18.920 And he gives this range of wickedness that's in our hearts 00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:20.639 that could range as far as a sexual act, 00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:22.659 all the way to just the things that we watch on TV 00:34:22.659 --> 00:34:24.659 and the way that we entertain ourselves. 00:34:26.760 --> 00:34:29.039 Sexual immorality makes us unclean. 00:34:29.039 --> 00:34:32.259 Theft and murder are self-explanatory, 00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:32.659 aren't they? 00:34:33.099 --> 00:34:34.800 Jesus says they're issues of the heart. 00:34:35.239 --> 00:34:35.639 In fact, 00:34:35.699 --> 00:34:36.980 in Matthew five through seven, 00:34:37.059 --> 00:34:38.019 in the sermon on the Mount, 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:38.820 he said, 00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:41.239 if you just look at another person with hatred in your heart, 00:34:41.320 --> 00:34:41.599 to me, 00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:42.519 you're as good as a murderer. 00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:44.099 There's no difference. 00:34:45.420 --> 00:34:46.340 Makes you unclean. 00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:49.059 Adultery is the next one. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:53.940 Remember plural adulteries is what Jesus means here. 00:34:54.739 --> 00:34:56.019 That's sexual sin, 00:34:56.099 --> 00:34:58.199 specifically in relation to your marriage. 00:34:59.860 --> 00:35:00.980 It's not singular. 00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:04.980 He's not just talking about a single act of adultery. 00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:07.619 He's talking about a range of adulteries 00:35:07.619 --> 00:35:09.739 that may include viewing pornography. 00:35:10.920 --> 00:35:13.840 It could be an affair that you're having with that coworker 00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:15.239 that not in any way is physical, 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:16.840 but it's all emotional right now. 00:35:17.079 --> 00:35:17.860 That fits. 00:35:19.259 --> 00:35:19.779 Unclean. 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:22.420 How are you going to make yourself clean from that? 00:35:24.699 --> 00:35:25.179 Coveting. 00:35:25.699 --> 00:35:27.139 Actions motivated by greed. 00:35:27.139 --> 00:35:30.519 Wickedness is a general term for anything that goes against God's law. 00:35:30.619 --> 00:35:31.879 So basically Jesus says, 00:35:31.960 --> 00:35:34.559 and if you want to be smart about it and say, 00:35:34.619 --> 00:35:35.819 you got all these things taken care of, 00:35:35.859 --> 00:35:39.440 let me just say every evil thing is related to this. 00:35:39.639 --> 00:35:40.799 And then there's the attitudes. 00:35:41.599 --> 00:35:42.319 This gets us too, 00:35:42.379 --> 00:35:42.799 doesn't it? 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:44.319 Deceit. 00:35:45.079 --> 00:35:46.079 Is it any form of lying? 00:35:48.299 --> 00:35:50.819 Sensuality is this unbridled lust of the mind. 00:35:50.820 --> 00:35:54.200 It's having a filthy mind that's constantly thinking of filthy things. 00:35:54.660 --> 00:35:56.480 Envy is interesting because in the Greek, 00:35:56.600 --> 00:35:58.780 it's two words that means evil eye. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:00.120 In other words, 00:36:00.220 --> 00:36:01.860 this is the person whose attitude, 00:36:02.220 --> 00:36:04.780 what they see with their eyes is full of hatred, 00:36:05.340 --> 00:36:05.800 envious, 00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:07.559 jealous at other people. 00:36:08.100 --> 00:36:10.400 Slander is abusive speech toward others. 00:36:11.600 --> 00:36:14.320 Pride is an attitude of arrogance or superiority. 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:17.600 Foolishness here is a general term for folly. 00:36:17.740 --> 00:36:19.360 And in the Bible has a range of meanings. 00:36:19.580 --> 00:36:21.300 It could refer to great wickedness. 00:36:21.480 --> 00:36:24.320 It could just refer to just plain stupidity. 00:36:25.519 --> 00:36:26.260 Jesus says, 00:36:26.500 --> 00:36:27.200 all of these things, 00:36:27.580 --> 00:36:29.300 this is what makes you unclean, 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:31.780 not your unclean hands. 00:36:33.059 --> 00:36:36.420 And no one denies that these evil things exist in the world, 00:36:36.500 --> 00:36:36.740 do they? 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:38.440 We can see them clearly. 00:36:38.640 --> 00:36:41.320 Like it's no surprise to us that these things exist 00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:44.039 because we see it in all of us. 00:36:45.019 --> 00:36:45.840 And if we're honest, 00:36:45.940 --> 00:36:47.360 we understand we can read through that list. 00:36:47.420 --> 00:36:49.780 And probably every one of these applies to us in some way or another. 00:36:52.220 --> 00:36:53.240 We begin to think, 00:36:53.700 --> 00:36:54.260 you know, 00:36:54.300 --> 00:36:54.539 Jesus, 00:36:54.720 --> 00:36:55.680 Jesus is right here. 00:36:55.740 --> 00:36:56.640 I go to church every Sunday, 00:36:56.740 --> 00:36:56.980 but man, 00:36:57.019 --> 00:36:57.559 I'm filthy. 00:36:58.860 --> 00:36:59.500 I'm filthy. 00:37:01.220 --> 00:37:04.400 Some people try to resolve this in the wrong ways. 00:37:05.140 --> 00:37:07.780 They acknowledge the wickedness that is in the world, 00:37:07.780 --> 00:37:11.300 but they've convinced themselves that like the Pharisees, 00:37:11.320 --> 00:37:13.320 that they are inherently good. 00:37:13.980 --> 00:37:21.120 And that the problem is circumstance like education or environment or bad examples. 00:37:21.880 --> 00:37:24.700 And so they think that the problem to cure this evil, 00:37:24.760 --> 00:37:29.100 to make you clean is just to change your environment or to change your examples 00:37:29.100 --> 00:37:30.680 or to change your education. 00:37:30.680 --> 00:37:33.740 But then we look at all of the great places to live 00:37:33.740 --> 00:37:37.000 and all of the wealthy people with really great education, 00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:41.080 all the people that had moms and dads that stayed together their whole life. 00:37:41.079 --> 00:37:41.279 and, 00:37:41.279 --> 00:37:41.699 and, 00:37:41.759 --> 00:37:44.279 and did everything the right way and served as great examples. 00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:46.799 They're just as wicked as everybody else. 00:37:48.699 --> 00:37:51.420 This isn't solved by changing your circumstances. 00:37:51.420 --> 00:37:55.500 God says there's only one solution for the center of our hearts. 00:37:56.380 --> 00:37:57.519 It's a new heart. 00:38:00.220 --> 00:38:02.000 And that's exactly what he promises. 00:38:02.619 --> 00:38:03.460 Ezekiel 36, 00:38:03.880 --> 00:38:05.599 I will give you a new heart, 00:38:06.180 --> 00:38:07.200 a new spirit. 00:38:07.300 --> 00:38:08.280 I will put within you. 00:38:08.519 --> 00:38:12.519 I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 00:38:12.519 --> 00:38:18.500 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 00:38:18.619 --> 00:38:22.460 Not because those rules and your obedience actually gets you the new heart. 00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:25.300 You'll do the rules because you've been given a new heart. 00:38:28.500 --> 00:38:30.000 Second Corinthians five. 00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:31.960 If anyone's in Christ, 00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:33.300 he's a new creation. 00:38:34.059 --> 00:38:35.699 All the old things are passed away. 00:38:35.820 --> 00:38:36.000 Behold, 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:37.719 everything has become new. 00:38:39.400 --> 00:38:41.400 What can wash away my sin? 00:38:42.679 --> 00:38:44.760 What can make me whole again? 00:38:45.599 --> 00:38:46.119 Nothing. 00:38:47.320 --> 00:38:49.300 But the blood of Jesus. 00:38:50.380 --> 00:38:51.539 That's the point. 00:38:52.199 --> 00:38:52.820 Do you see? 00:38:53.579 --> 00:38:54.539 That's the point. 00:38:57.539 --> 00:38:59.559 Perhaps you're thinking as we close. 00:39:00.659 --> 00:39:01.139 Okay, 00:39:01.219 --> 00:39:01.760 I got it. 00:39:03.780 --> 00:39:05.119 It's not about ritual. 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:07.820 I'm sinful on the inside. 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:08.880 I need a new heart. 00:39:08.980 --> 00:39:10.159 It needs to be made clean. 00:39:10.860 --> 00:39:12.639 So what can I do to fix it? 00:39:14.079 --> 00:39:15.280 That's the problem. 00:39:15.579 --> 00:39:16.420 Are you hearing me? 00:39:17.400 --> 00:39:18.079 Are you hearing me? 00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:18.880 Please listen. 00:39:19.239 --> 00:39:20.039 That's the problem. 00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:21.460 You can't fix it. 00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:25.280 It's unfixable. 00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:27.019 You can't do anything. 00:39:30.139 --> 00:39:32.079 No amount of goodness can clean it. 00:39:33.159 --> 00:39:35.380 You'll just keep doing all the bad things. 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:41.139 No religious observance can make you clean. 00:39:42.820 --> 00:39:44.840 This is why Jesus is so necessary. 00:39:46.059 --> 00:39:47.619 This is why he came. 00:39:49.780 --> 00:39:52.440 If there was a way that we could make ourselves clean, 00:39:52.840 --> 00:39:55.420 there would have been no reason for Jesus to die on the cross 00:39:55.420 --> 00:39:56.780 and be raised three days later. 00:39:57.139 --> 00:39:59.539 All of that would have been pointless if we could figure this out. 00:39:59.539 --> 00:40:02.219 It all comes back to Jesus. 00:40:05.759 --> 00:40:06.699 Without him, 00:40:06.759 --> 00:40:08.059 we are utterly hopeless. 00:40:09.300 --> 00:40:11.820 But because of his death and resurrection, 00:40:12.320 --> 00:40:15.119 because he fulfilled the law perfectly, 00:40:15.759 --> 00:40:18.119 because he took our sin on the cross, 00:40:18.360 --> 00:40:21.619 we now have eternal life through him. 00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:25.299 Which immediately begs the question, 00:40:25.480 --> 00:40:25.679 okay, 00:40:25.819 --> 00:40:25.940 well, 00:40:25.980 --> 00:40:27.400 what am I supposed to do about that? 00:40:27.460 --> 00:40:28.460 If I can't do anything, 00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:30.400 what good does that information do to me? 00:40:30.900 --> 00:40:31.500 Do for me? 00:40:33.279 --> 00:40:34.059 Luke 18. 00:40:34.259 --> 00:40:34.859 Would you turn there? 00:40:35.359 --> 00:40:35.940 Luke 18. 00:40:36.500 --> 00:40:38.279 This would be a good place for us to wrap it up. 00:40:41.279 --> 00:40:42.159 Luke 18. 00:40:42.159 --> 00:40:46.599 Verse 9. 00:40:49.099 --> 00:40:55.440 Jesus tells a story about a Pharisee and a tax collector. 00:40:58.739 --> 00:40:59.619 Luke 18, 00:40:59.719 --> 00:41:00.199 Verse 9. 00:41:01.199 --> 00:41:04.299 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, 00:41:05.299 --> 00:41:06.739 that they were righteous, 00:41:07.779 --> 00:41:09.039 and treated others with contempt. 00:41:10.139 --> 00:41:12.059 Two men went into the temple to pray, 00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:13.579 one a Pharisee, 00:41:13.859 --> 00:41:15.279 and the other a tax collector. 00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:18.599 The Pharisee standing by himself prayed, 00:41:19.339 --> 00:41:19.899 God, 00:41:19.980 --> 00:41:22.239 I thank you that I'm not like other men, 00:41:23.219 --> 00:41:24.239 extortioners, 00:41:25.199 --> 00:41:26.579 unjust adulterers, 00:41:26.619 --> 00:41:28.139 or even like this tax collector. 00:41:28.639 --> 00:41:30.279 I fast twice a week. 00:41:30.699 --> 00:41:32.819 I give tithes of all that I get. 00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:37.699 But the tax collector standing far off 00:41:37.699 --> 00:41:41.279 would not even lift his eyes to heaven, 00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:43.940 but beat his breast, 00:41:44.200 --> 00:41:44.560 saying, 00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:46.480 God, 00:41:46.560 --> 00:41:47.880 be merciful to me, 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:48.420 a sinner. 00:41:50.720 --> 00:41:51.700 I tell you, 00:41:51.740 --> 00:41:52.400 Jesus says, 00:41:52.780 --> 00:41:53.820 this man 00:41:53.820 --> 00:41:55.640 went to his house 00:41:55.640 --> 00:41:56.760 justified 00:41:56.760 --> 00:41:58.700 rather than the other. 00:41:59.700 --> 00:42:01.540 For everyone who exalts himself 00:42:01.540 --> 00:42:02.280 will be humbled. 00:42:03.240 --> 00:42:04.780 The one who humbles himself 00:42:04.780 --> 00:42:05.519 will be exalted. 00:42:05.519 --> 00:42:08.599 It's a simple story. 00:42:08.699 --> 00:42:09.179 You get it. 00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:15.500 You say, 00:42:15.559 --> 00:42:15.820 what? 00:42:16.039 --> 00:42:17.280 What am I supposed to do 00:42:17.280 --> 00:42:18.619 with this information? 00:42:18.980 --> 00:42:20.599 What am I supposed to do about this? 00:42:20.639 --> 00:42:21.360 You can't do anything 00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:22.360 but cry for mercy. 00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:23.360 Lord, 00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:25.980 have mercy on me, 00:42:26.019 --> 00:42:26.340 a sinner. 00:42:28.260 --> 00:42:29.760 And praise be to God 00:42:29.760 --> 00:42:32.160 that he is full of mercy. 00:42:33.480 --> 00:42:34.660 We sing it all the time, 00:42:34.720 --> 00:42:35.039 don't we? 00:42:35.420 --> 00:42:36.099 Our sins, 00:42:36.240 --> 00:42:36.780 they are many. 00:42:37.660 --> 00:42:38.960 His mercy is more. 00:42:41.640 --> 00:42:42.400 Micah 7, 00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:42.900 18. 00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:45.000 Who is a God like you, 00:42:45.800 --> 00:42:46.740 pardoning iniquity 00:42:46.740 --> 00:42:48.300 and passing over transgression 00:42:48.300 --> 00:42:49.720 for the remnant of his inheritance? 00:42:49.719 --> 00:42:52.439 He does not retain his anger forever 00:42:52.439 --> 00:42:55.719 but he delights in mercy, 00:42:57.459 --> 00:42:58.599 steadfast love. 00:42:59.219 --> 00:43:00.299 That's his heart. 00:43:03.099 --> 00:43:04.959 And I think we see it most clearly 00:43:04.959 --> 00:43:06.019 in Matthew 11. 00:43:07.799 --> 00:43:09.059 Jesus says, 00:43:09.899 --> 00:43:11.559 no one can know the Father 00:43:11.559 --> 00:43:15.139 unless the Son reveals him. 00:43:16.519 --> 00:43:17.000 In other words, 00:43:17.259 --> 00:43:18.639 you can't know God, 00:43:18.639 --> 00:43:20.279 you can't be reconciled to God 00:43:20.279 --> 00:43:22.519 without Jesus doing a work in your life. 00:43:22.639 --> 00:43:23.579 And then he immediately 00:43:23.579 --> 00:43:24.759 follows it up with this. 00:43:24.900 --> 00:43:25.679 This is amazing. 00:43:25.900 --> 00:43:27.039 He immediately follows it up with this. 00:43:27.079 --> 00:43:27.420 He says, 00:43:27.699 --> 00:43:28.799 so come to me. 00:43:29.659 --> 00:43:30.679 Come to me. 00:43:31.519 --> 00:43:33.179 And we started this in verse 14. 00:43:33.259 --> 00:43:34.119 What's Jesus doing? 00:43:35.420 --> 00:43:36.219 Gather round. 00:43:36.900 --> 00:43:38.000 Let me tell you something. 00:43:38.759 --> 00:43:39.599 It's important. 00:43:40.539 --> 00:43:41.759 And we get to Matthew 11. 00:43:41.839 --> 00:43:42.339 What's he doing? 00:43:42.539 --> 00:43:43.000 He's saying, 00:43:43.239 --> 00:43:44.739 only I can give you new life. 00:43:45.019 --> 00:43:46.219 Only I can make you clean. 00:43:46.420 --> 00:43:48.000 So come to me. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:49.139 Come to me, 00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:51.940 all you who are weak and heavy laden, 00:43:52.099 --> 00:43:54.019 and I will give you rest. 00:43:54.679 --> 00:43:56.340 What are they burdened by? 00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:57.980 These laws, 00:43:58.159 --> 00:43:58.900 these rules, 00:43:59.079 --> 00:44:02.079 this burden of constantly working for righteousness, 00:44:02.280 --> 00:44:03.900 but never being able to attain it. 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:04.579 He says, 00:44:04.699 --> 00:44:05.599 forget that. 00:44:05.719 --> 00:44:06.679 Come to me, 00:44:06.679 --> 00:44:08.739 because what I will give you is rest. 00:44:09.219 --> 00:44:10.699 Take my yoke upon you, 00:44:10.719 --> 00:44:11.299 he says. 00:44:12.539 --> 00:44:13.759 My yoke is easy. 00:44:13.819 --> 00:44:15.159 My burden is light. 00:44:16.199 --> 00:44:17.139 Come to me 00:44:17.139 --> 00:44:18.960 and find rest 00:44:18.960 --> 00:44:20.819 for your soul, 00:44:21.199 --> 00:44:22.139 Jesus says. 00:44:22.940 --> 00:44:23.519 You say, 00:44:23.579 --> 00:44:24.179 what do I do? 00:44:24.879 --> 00:44:25.579 Come to him. 00:44:26.579 --> 00:44:27.399 Come to him. 00:44:27.400 --> 00:44:31.039 And he will give you rest. 00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:34.440 He calls us to this gospel, 00:44:35.380 --> 00:44:36.920 and he turns no one away 00:44:36.920 --> 00:44:38.240 who comes to him in faith. 00:44:40.099 --> 00:44:40.900 What do you do? 00:44:41.440 --> 00:44:41.780 Nothing. 00:44:43.240 --> 00:44:44.160 Receive his grace. 00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:46.240 Follow him. 00:44:47.320 --> 00:44:48.280 He does the rest. 00:44:48.280 --> 00:45:18.260 He does the rest.