Scripture: Mark 7:14-23

C.I.: Things that Defile Our Hearts

In Mark chapter 7 Jesus is intensively preparing His disciples (us) to be able to handle difficult situations when they arise. Today Jesus is going to expand upon what He said in v. 6 , “This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far away from me.” So let us listen as Jesus prepares us to deal with things that defile!

•  Two Points re: “things that defile , ” (Mark 7:14-23)

•  Background: “Learning” requires more than just listening, (vs. 14-15)

•  ( v. 14 ), “And after He called the multitude to Him again, He began saying to them, ‘Listen to Me, all of you, and understand….”

•  “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand” = Hear the words & grasp their meaning.

•  If we only do the first part (hear) but not the second (understand) it is worthless, Mt. 7:26

•  So it is important that we hear & understand Jesus. Understanding = Applying to our lives!

•  ( v. 15 ), “… there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; - but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile him.'”

•  Last week: the external issues were more important to the religious than the internal/eternal.

•  In the O.T. - the problems of various foods was NOT in the foods themselves (otherwise if you eat shrimp/lobster today = sin). The reason why it was sin in the O.T. was because their eating was disobedience !

•  So Jesus is not talking about things that are physical defilers but spiritual defilers.

•  Point #1: What Enters the Body Does Not Defile, (vs. 17-19)

•  “And when leaving the multitude, He had entered the house, - His disciples questioned him about the parable. And He said to them, ‘Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from the outside cannot defile him; - because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated?' (Thus He declared all foods clean)”

•  “Heart” = moral/spiritual center of the individual. “Heart” defines who we are as a person!!!

•  Reasoning – ( Mk. 2:6 ), “There were some scribes there, reasoning within their hearts…”

•  Understanding – ( Matt. 13:15 ), “…lest they should understand with their heart & return….”

•  Emotions – ( Jn. 16:22 ), “…I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice .”

•  Conscience – ( Acts 2:36-37 ), “Let all the house … they were pierced to the heart….”

•  Faith – ( Rom. 10:10 ), “If we confess with our mouth … believe in our hearts God raised….”

•  These things show what kind of “heart” we have – sort of like a “spiritual E.K.G.”

•  Remember: the religious were more concerned with externals/appearances, ( cf. v. 6 ).

•  This is not new! How many people today make a spiritual show of their diet: Catholics eat fish on Fridays (or used to), Mormons drink no caffeine, Jews won't eat pork, etc., etc., etc.

•  But if “all foods are clean” we are neither the better/worse for it!

•  ( Rom. 14:17 ), “The kingdom of God is not eating or drinking.”

•  ( I Cor. 8:8 ), “Food will not commend us to God; - we are neither the worse if we do not eat; nor the better if we do eat.”

•  Point #2: What Comes Out of Our Heart Defiles Us, (vs. 20-23)

•  ( v. 20-22 ), “He was saying, ‘That which proceeds out of the heart of man, that is what defiles the man. – For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed…

•  Then Jesus gives a list of things - which “ proceeds from out of the heart”…

•  “Evil thoughts” – ( Gen. 6:5 ), “…every intent of the thought of his heart was on evil….”

•  “Fornications” – ( Jms. 1:14 ), “Each one is tempted when he is enticed and carried away…”

•  “Thefts & Murder” – ( Jms. 4:2 ), “You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. You are envious & cannot obtain, so you fight & quarrel.”

•  “Adulteries” – ( Matt. 5:28 ), “Whoever looks upon a woman for the purpose of lust has….”

•  THUS, THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM – IS THE PROBLEM OF THE HEART!

•  In the O.T., God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah and said, “The heart is more deceitful above all else – and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” ( Jer. 17:9 ).

•  Does this mean - we are no more than mere pawns - to an evil heart?! – Are we stuck?!!

•  Jesus said, ( Matt. 5:8 ), “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

•  So how do we go from a heart that is “defiled” – to one that is “pure” ???!

•  Clearly, God does not want us to be defiled!

•  ( Tit. 2:14 ), “Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own poss.”

•  It all comes down to the choices that we make…

•  But what has God called for us to do – in order to purify our hearts?

•  CLEANSE = ( Acts 15:9; Rom. 10:17 ), “…cleansing their hearts through faith ” … “Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

•  CHANGE (stop doing the things that defile our hearts) = ( Jms. 4:8, 4; 1:8 ), “…purify your hearts you double-minded (this is because we are trying to have a relationship with both God & World) …Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God, and whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself…” – “…a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

•  CONFESS (bring your defiled heart to God) = ( I Jn. 1:9 ), “If we confess our sins, He is faithful & righteous to forgive us our sins.”

•  CHOOSE (start doing the things that please God) = ( Psa. 101:3; Phil. 4:8 ), “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes,” – “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely….”

•  Because of who we now are & our Lord is coming again – we now live a new life - ( I Jn. 3:2-4 ), “Beloved, now we are children of God … And everyone who has this hope
fixed on Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure. – Everyone who practices sin also
lawlessness and sin is lawlessness.”

INVITATION: Yet how does a person whose heart is defiled – purify themselves – so they may see God?!

1. Earlier we heard the conscience/heart of a people – being pierced because of the gospel.

a. ( Acts 2:37-37 ), “Therefore, let all the house of Israel….”

•  What were they told? - ( Acts 2:38 ), “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in….”