Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew 15. Matthew 15. Our text today, we'll pick up
with verse 10. But let's begin reading in verse
one and we'll read down to it. Matthew 15 verse one, it says,
then came to Jesus, scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem
saying, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the
elders? For they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto
them, why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition? For God commanded, saying, honor
thy father and mother, and he that curseth father or mother,
let him die the death. But you say, whosoever shall
say to his father or his mother, it is a gift, by whatsoever thou
mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father or his mother,
he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment
of God of none effect by your tradition. You hypocrites, well
did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, this people draweth nigh unto
me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but their
heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Verse 10, and he called
the multitude and said unto them, Hear and understand, not that
which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh
out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples
and said unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended
after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Let them alone. They be blind
leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and said
unto him, declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, are
you also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that
whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and
is cast out in the draft? But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the
man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man. Now last week we looked at the
fact that man's tradition has no place being mixed with God's
commandments. Man's tradition has no place
being mixed with God's commandment. If a man tries to add his tradition,
and men do it all the time, they do it all the time. But if a
man tries to add his tradition to what God commands for salvation
and for righteousness and for acceptance with Him, that man
is only sealing his condemnation. That's what he's doing. If a
man believes that God's Word and God's way is not enough,
when men and women add to what God says, what they're saying
is, that's not enough. I know it says that, yeah, but
now you have to, all right, they're adding to. And when we do that,
we are rejecting God. And we are rejecting God's Christ,
and we're sealing our own condemnation. In verse 14, the Lord said, let
them alone, just leave them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. In verse 13, he said, he answered
and said, every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted
shall be rooted up. Every plant which my father hath
not planted. God has a particular chosen planted
people. God has an elect people and all
of those people bow to his word alone. Alone. They bow to Christ alone. They bow to the finished work
of Christ alone and they don't try to add anything to it or
take anything from it. If you want to know where God's
people stand. And by grace, we stand. It's His Word alone, His
work alone. We don't add anything to it.
We don't take anything from it, period. We don't even try to add our
will or decision to it. Well, there it is, if you will.
We don't add anything to it. Man's tradition has no part with
God's Word, and God's people just leave it right there. So
that's basically a summary of what we looked at last week,
all right? No tradition, God's Word alone.
For today, verse 10, he called the multitude and said unto them,
hear and understand, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth
a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth
a man. This came from the Pharisees
saying, your disciples are eating with dirty hands. This whole
thing started with them saying they didn't wash their hands.
Filth is going into them. And the Lord said, this was his
reply to them. He said, that couldn't defile
them any more than they already are. That's what he said. It is not what goes in that defiles
a man or a woman, it is what comes out. We know that so. Oh, what comes out. Verse 12,
then came his disciples and said unto him, knowest thou that the
Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? They
were so offended. But he answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind. And if
the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then
answered Peter and said unto him, declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, are you also
yet without understanding? And if we are, I pray God would
teach us. May the Lord teach me and teach
us. Verse 17, Do not ye yet understand
that whatsoever entereth at the mouth, goeth into the belly,
and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart. That means they originate
in the heart. There's a point of origination. Maybe let's try to remember that,
okay? And it's in the heart. And he said, verse 18, those
things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart
and they defile the man for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. Murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, lies, blasphemies, these are the things which defile a
man. But to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man. Now what I want us to understand
and get from this Bible study is Sin is not what we do. We get so torn up over the things
we do. Why am I doing this? Why do I,
if I could just stop doing that. Sin is not just in what we do. Sin is what we are. It is what we are. People naturally
think, and whether they realize this or not, this is what men
and women think. They think that we start out
in this world, holy, pure, innocent, sinless little babies. They look
at a brand spanking new baby and they say, oh, the innocence.
What we ought to say is, oh, the sin. That's how they think
we start out, just pure and spotless. And people, very wrongly, but
naturally believe that this is the goal of life. Keep it that
way. We start out sinless and spotless
and holy and pure and here's the goal in life. Keep it that
way. Keep ourselves from sin. Some
people go to great measures to separate themselves from the
world around them. and to separate themselves from
substances. Never touched my lips. Substances,
things, pleasures, people, in an effort to keep sin out. That's
what they're trying to do. We're gonna keep sin out. We're
gonna do everything we can do to keep sin out. But here's what
man doesn't realize. Man thinks, we'll just keep sin
over there. If we could just keep all that
sin over there. Here's what man does not realize. We can't keep
sin over there. We can't keep sin out. Sin is
already in. All the fullness of sin dwelleth
in this body right here. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in Christ. All the fullness of sin. dwells
right inside here. It is already in. Every soul in this room, every
soul on this earth was conceived in sin, the fullness of sin. We all came forth from our mother's
womb spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, speaking lies, Crying out in anger. That little
precious innocent baby is hungry and that baby is mad! Crying out in anger. Hitting. Hitting. Taking. I want that. Mine. Now. Disobeying. And then as we grow
up, nothing changes. Nothing changes. We speak lies.
We lash out in anger. We hit. We take. We disobey. Nothing changes. We cannot escape
sin. We cannot shut sin out. When am I going to get away from
this sin? It's not going to happen. It's just not gonna happen. Sin
is in every one of our hearts. Sin is mixed with everything
that we do. I cannot preach without sinning
in every way, shape, and form. I am a sinner. And all we have to do is give
it enough time and it'll be proven to us. It'll show itself. We
can try to run from it all we want to, We can try to disassociate
ourselves with it all we want to, but eventually it is going
to be revealed to us. We are the very sin we're trying
so hard to separate ourselves from. We are. The story is told
of a woman whose kids got in trouble at school. And this is
a true story. And so the woman went and met
with the principal and said to the principal, I'm afraid that
my kids have gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. And the
principal said, ma'am, your kids are the wrong crowd. The problem
is not without. The problem is within. The problem
is right here. It's right here. The problem
is within. Men and women try so hard to
touch not, taste not, handle not, so that in their mind they
can remain spotless. We all think that, well, you
know, I didn't do that, therefore I'm holier today than I was yesterday.
Less sinful today than I was yesterday. Hopefully I'm not more sinful
tomorrow than I am today. Men and women try so hard, you
know, don't smoke, drink, cuss, chew, or run with women that
do. That's the motto. Just stay away. You know what our Lord says about
this matter? Man's tradition, touch not, taste
not, handle not, don't smoke, drink, cuss, chew, all that,
that's man's tradition. That is man's tradition. And
that's been passed down through false religion, just passed down
through false religion. You know what our Lord actually
says about all that? He says, cigarette smoke cannot
defile you. Alcohol does not defile you. Meats don't defile you, even
if they have been offered to idols. Nothing that goes into the mouth
can defile you. Isn't that what our Lord said?
Nothing that goes into the mouth can defile you. The defiledness
And I'm almost positive that's not a word, but I want to use
it anyway. The defiledness is already in
the man or woman. It's just already in here. You
have a little wine for your stomach's sake, okay? You read it, you
have a little wine for your stomach's sake, that's good. You go around
telling everybody it's strictly medicinal. You know, and that's
good. That's just natural healing right
there. That's what that is. That's just,
you know, natural healing. Your stomach gets a little too
upset, you end up drinking a little too much, and you get drunk.
Well, that's evil. Now, that's wicked. There's wickedness in that bottle.
That's the devil's drink. You drink the devil's drink?
Well, here's my question. How does the wine have anything
to do with it? Whether it's a little for your
stomach's sake or too much to excess, how does the wine have
anything to do with it? That's on you and me. Scripture
clearly says don't get drunk, but that's on you and me. It's
not in the substance that our Lord made. That's on you and
me. All right, you have an injury,
so you go down to the doctor and he writes you a prescription
for some pain medication. That's good. Oh, we're so thankful
for that. Now, make sure you take your
medication, okay? Just make sure you take your
medication. You need it, make sure you take it. You wind up
liking the feeling of it just a little too much, and you get
hooked on it, and now you're addicted to it. Well, that's
evil. That's wicked. That's saint to
sinner. That's what that is. Saint to
sinner. She's on drugs now. She takes drugs now. Did the pills really change from
good to evil? Really? Did the pills really cause the
addiction? That's on us. That's on us, that's
on me and you. The problem is not in the thing. The problem is in my heart's
desire concerning the thing. That's the problem. The sin is
in here. We don't sin because we do what
we do. We do what we do because of our
sin. Sin is what we are. And we cannot
separate ourselves from being sin any more than we can separate
ourselves from being human. Try to do that. Try to do that. Being human is not what we do. That's what we are. And if I
call you a human or if you call me a human, we shouldn't be offended
by that. That's what we are. You're a
human. If our Lord calls us sinners,
we shouldn't be offended by that because that's what we are. We only become offended when
someone calls us something that we don't believe we are. Here's
another example. Like a dog. You're a dog. You're a filthy pig. You are
a snake in the grass. You're offended. Don't call me
that. That's not what I am. How could a dog be offended by
being called a dog? How could a pig be offended by
being called a pig? How could a sinner be offended
by being called a sinner? How? When we know that's what we are.
The only reason people become offended is because they don't
believe that's what they are. But that's what we are. Look
at verse 19. Is this not us? Verse 19. Out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts. Is that not us? Murders. That's hatreds and angers and
adulteries. fornications, thefts in the heart. I want what you have. If that
actually comes out, it's only because it started in the heart.
False witness, lies, blasphemies. We know that that is what is
in our heart. We hate it, but we know it's
there. And that is proof to us that we are indeed the very sinners
that God has exposed us to be. Now, with all of that bad news,
truth, and that is truth, all that's bad news, truth concerning
what we are in our flesh. Here's my question before we
end this. Is there any good news? Is there any good news for a
senator like you and me? Here's the answer. Yes, there
is. Yes, there is. I believe this
is the greatest news a senator could ever hear. Turn with me,
if you would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Everything that has just been
declared is the truth concerning us in ourselves, in our flesh,
in us, right inside here. But we began this by saying that
God has a particular people that he chose to put all of those
people in Christ. He chose to put them in Christ. And for every person who is in
Christ, there's a truth there too. When we talk about in us,
there's a truth there. But in Christ, there's also a
truth. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. It says, If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Isn't that wonderful? Man tries
so hard to wipe his slate clean. He just wants to start over again
and start fresh. With man, it's impossible, but
not with God. Not with God. In Christ, the
slate is totally wiped clean. I guess a better word would be
washed clean. In Christ, we get a new mind. We get His mind. We try to reform
this mind. It's not gonna happen. It's ruined
by sin. We need a new mind. In Christ,
we get a new heart. This one is dead, stony, SINFUL, WICKED, DESPERATELY WICKED,
DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS. THAT'S WHAT THIS ONE IS. IN CHRIST
WE GET A NEW HEART. HIS HEART. IN CHRIST WE GET NEW
HANDS. HIS SPOTLESS CLEAN HANDS. THANK
GOD IN CHRIST, AND LISTEN TO THIS CAREFULLY. IN CHRIST WE
HAVE NO HANDS BUT HIS HANDS. False religion has gotten that
wrong and told everybody, God has no hands but your hands. Thank God that's just not true.
In Christ, we have no hands but His hands. By His Spirit, in His Spirit,
a new creation is created in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came
and by His accomplishment, He said, that's it. I have made
all things new. In Christ, there is no sin. Why is there no sin? It's because
verse 18 says, God reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. Verse 19 says, God did not impute
our trespasses to us. He imputed them to Christ. What
does that mean? Verse 21 says that means, Christ was made to be our substitute.
He made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. In him as he is,
so are we. In us, it's all bad news. In
us, there's nothing but bad news. In Christ, it's all good news. That good news is about to continue,
Lord willing, in the message. We'll continue that. But let's
close here with Romans 8. Turn with me to Romans 8. After hearing all the bad news
in us, here's the good news in Christ. Romans 8 verse 1 says,
There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHICH ARE IN CHRIST JESUS,
WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT. FOR THE
LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS HATH MADE ME FREE
FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. FOR WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO,
IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH, GOD SENDING HIS OWN SON
IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, AND FOR SIN, THAT TRANSLATES
BY A SACRIFICE FOR SIN, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH. that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit." All of that righteousness. He
did all that so all of that righteousness could be fulfilled in us. Verse 5 says, For they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are
after the spirit, the things of the spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. What is walking after the spirit?
Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. Walking after
the flesh is everything that we're trying to do. Walking after
the Spirit is everything He has already done. Looking to Him
and hoping in Him. Not what's in me, but what's
in Him. In me is conviction and damnation
of sin. In Christ is no condemnation.
All that sin is gone. That's the only place that a
defiled sinner can find hope. It's in the perfection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's where all the perfection
is. That's the only place that we
can stand and be undefiled, truly undefiled. May the Lord keep
us right there. All right, you're dismissed.