The Persistent Servant
Book of Mark Chapter 7
We could say our lesson today is about true holiness. It seems that not much is said about holiness today.
I know my Pastor mentions holiness often but it is not mentioned much anywhere else.
What does God say about holiness?
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
The basic meaning of holiness is "to be set apart" or "separation".
Holiness is the greatest attribute of God because it is consistent with everything that He does!
Many people say that God is a God of love, which He is.
They say a God of love would never allow anyone to go to Hell and we would certainly not see His wrath.
God is a God of love, but above that He is Holy and we are to be holy.
It is God's holiness that dictates His actions toward the unholy not His love!
This being true, then how could we ever think that we should not also be looked upon as holy.
We cannot even worship the Lord properly without being able to raise holy hands!
1Ti_2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
It is holiness that keeps God distinct from all His creation.
It is holiness that says God is exalted above all His creation in infinite majesty!
Our Holy God is separate from all moral evil and sin!
Holiness points to the Lord's majestical purity!
It is because Jehovah is morally pure, that He cannot condone evil or have any relationship with it!
God's holiness has nothing to do with His love for us!
I love all my family but I cannot make them accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and without this they will never see Heaven.
Psa 11:4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
Psa 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
Psa 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
The Lord's deity is that He is holy, entirely set apart and separated from sin and sinners.
The most common name for God's Spirit is the "Holy Spirit" because He is certainly Holy!
This indicates to us that "holiness" is the primary attribute to the Holy Trinity, the Triune God!
How could we ever think we could stand before such a Holy God? There is only one way!
Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
As we grow in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must cleanse ourselves of all the filthiness of this world and we cannot do that without the Holy Spirit.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Our lesson today shows how important it was for the Lord Jesus to teach the disciples about holiness and how important it is for us to practice holiness today.
*****Mar 7:14 And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
The Lord Jesus had just finished teaching the Pharisees the wrong in their traditions.
Mar 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Traditions make the Word of God have no effect!
Many people are satisfied that they are right before God, when they put ceremonies and confessions in the place of the righteousness of the heart and a life walking with Jesus Christ.
Ritualism is disastrous to holiness!
People have to reject the Word of God to keep their religious traditions, and God will never be pleased with those who teach these things and those who do these things.
So, the Lord Jesus says listen and understand what He is about to teach.
We must understand that all impurities within us come from the heart and unless the heart is cleansed from the inside, there is no amount of cleansing from the outside that can cleanse our soul and make it holy enough to be in the family of God!
We are not defiled by what enters into our bodies!
We are defiled by what comes out of our hearts!
What is in our hearts will make it into our minds and we will react to it!
*****Mar 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mar 7:16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
Notice how the Lord Jesus emphasizes how important it is for us to realize this.
We must hear what our Lord has to say and then we must understand it!
Just like many are today the disciples were spiritually dull.
They were slow to learn what these things meant in their service to the Lord Jesus Christ!
Things that enter by the mouth, which should be food and nourishment, do not defile us.
To defile is to make unclean.
To defile is to make impure.
To defile is to pollute.
To defile is to corrupt.
What we eat or drink does not defile us!
Therefore eating with unwashed hands cannot defile us, at least not spiritually.
There is no connection to what we eat and our spirituality!
This does not mean that eating certain foods or drinking certain drinks are sometimes wrong.
Surely, we are to be conscious of the things we eat or drink as they relate to our good health.
It is a sin to eat till we are obese!
But there is no morality or virtue in the food we eat!
The Lord says, it is what we do with things, what our heart does, that makes us either good or bad, spiritual, or carnal!
1Co 8:8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
We must understand that the traditions of men make the Word of God of no effect!
Ceremonialism substitutes washing with water for the purity of the heart!
It substitutes the traditions of the elders for the commands of God!
So many today look at the Word of God as suggestions to live by when what God says are God's commands.
We need a clean heart to serve God and this cannot be done without the intervention of the Holy Spirit who brings with Him the mind of God!
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Unless we understand what, the Lord Jesus is saying, we may never understand the whole plan of Gospel salvation.
This is the reason, upon our confession of "faith" and our "repentance" led by the Holy Spirit comes to each child of God, at the first, rather than at the last so, we can understand the Gospel Message and grab onto our salvation.
Since the Holy Spirit will never leave us nor forsake us, then we can never lose our salvation!
The Holy Spirit will never live inside a wicked soul!
No tradition and no ceremonial offering can make these same promises!
It took a while for the disciples who followed the Lord daily to realize what the Lord was saying, and it takes a while for disciples today, and many remain babes in Christ because it is almost too simple to believe.
*****Mar 7:17 And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
Mar 7:18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
Mar 7:19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
Sometimes we need a little more explanation on the things of God and it is the Lord Jesus Christ we need to go to for those answers.
We will come to realize that there are no unimportant questions that we can ask the Lord!
We must understand that the Lord Jesus is talking about our moral state and not necessarily our physical state.
Some of the Pharisees were offended by what the Lord Jesus was saying and this bothered some of the disciples.
We need to understand that the truths of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be compared to the religion of traditionalist!
Christianity cannot be compared to religion at all! They are two different things!
It was Peter who asked the question and then the Lord's response.
Mat 15:15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
Mat 15:16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
Mat 15:17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mat 15:20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Mark was Peter's disciple and very close to him, and would never try to make Peter look bad.
Mark usually went straight to the point without adding much of his own thoughts.
We should understand that the Sermon on the Mount had already taken place at this time, and the Lord Jesus had not left anything out about purity and impurity.
As far as nourishment for the body, it is that part that goes out in the draught that purifies what remains.
The body had separated the needed part from the unneeded part, so the part that nourishes the bodily system is already moving through the bodily system doing what God designed the body to do to sustain life.
It is by this process that our life preserving blood is formed!
What the blood does not need passes away by the draught.
Jesus teaches us that no food, of whatever kind, when received with thanksgiving, can make us spiritually unclean making any meat that is consumed clean.
The Jews would not eat pork and many other things but even pork received in thanksgiving would not make them spiritually unclean but they have never understood these things.
This was a new thought to the disciples, but also easily understood even though maybe not well received.
These things eaten entered into the belly and passed out of the bodily system.
In truth: Act 10:15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
It is the things that enter into the heart not the stomach that makes us unclean!
*****Mar 7:20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mar 7:22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
As we read the Scriptures, we will see that references to the heart can mean the major organ of our body and also to the most important part of each person, man's most innermost being.
Our heart can be said to be the center of our life!
The heart is our inward life and contains the inner man or some would say the real man.
1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
We see that once Peter understood all these things, he was no longer the old fisherman, but He became the leader of men who would turn this world upside down.
Of course this includes women and most of us realize that the inner most life of women seems to be more tender than that of a man.
It is the heart that determines what we do whether good or bad!
The heart is the source of our reasoning.
Mar 2:6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
The heart is the source of our understanding.
Mat 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
The heart is the source of our thinking.
Mat 9:4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
The heart is the source of our desires.
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
The heart can also be the source of our spiritual being!
Our conscience: Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Our will: Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Our faith: Mar 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
But also of evil: Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
What is the progress of sin within us?
1) Sin begins with our human nature, within, but out of the heart.
2) Sin develops in our minds in evil thoughts. We all have evil thoughts that we do not know where they came from, but from our sin nature.
3) Sin is expressed in the things we do that go against the Word of God!
Evil thoughts are things that should not guide us because they are wrong, they are wicked, and they are immoral.
These are things we see in the world around us and our mind just cannot shake them all off because they are carnal.
They must be replaced with thoughts that are uplifting and edifying and we get these from the study of the Bible, preaching of the truth, and open prayer with the Lord as our guide along with the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Our thoughts can be sin against the commandments of God!
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
**Adultery is unfaithfulness. We think of a man and his wife when we hear of adultery.
Adultery includes lusting after someone else other than our spouse, even if the act of adultery never takes place.
Adultery includes lusting after someone even in a picture this is why porn leads to sin.
We commit spiritual adultery when we forsake the Lord Jesus Christ and lust for the ways of this world!
**Fornication includes all forms of immoral and sexual acts!
It is the will of God that we abstain from fornication!
1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
Going against the will of God is sin!
**Murder is taking the life of another person.
Murder is sin!
The Bible says that whosoever hates his brother is the sin of murder. So hatred then is sin and the same as murder.(1 John 3:15)
God says, "thou shall not kill".
**Thefts.
To cheat someone is stealing from them.
To cheat someone is stealing whether we do it according to the law or against the law.
**Covetousness.
We have seen this word a lot in the last couple of weeks.
Covetousness is the lust for more.
It is like a starving appetite for something that we do not have or we cannot have.
It includes not only possessions, but also power, pleasure, and fame.
Covetousness is a lust and craving so deep that a person finds his happiness in things, rather than in the God of the Bible.
This is what makes covetousness idolatry and such a terrible sin!
Again, we see that these are things that come from the heart so, it is these things from the heart that defile us and not the things we eat or drink.
A polluted heart is our greatest enemy!
We are not unclean because of the things we have; we are unclean because of what we do with those things.
Our hearts will lead us to sin against God unless the Holy Spirit can regenerate our heart.
Tit_3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Regeneration is making something anew!
The source of evil within us before we met the Lord Jesus Christ was our heart!
Evil comes from our heart and it is the heart that dictates what is on our mind and then how we use our bodies!
If we multiply this evil by a number of about eight billion, which is close to the number of people in this world, we can see that we live in an evil world.
Only a small portion of these 8.1 billion people have a new heart regenerated by the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit!
Today, our judges can only judge the acts of the body not the sinfulness of the heart.
In today's world, a person who has never broken the law is seen as a perfect person but this is not how God sees us.
Society fails to see that somehow a man's heart needs to be reborn.
Only God can see these things!
This is the problem that is solved by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen
