All right, turn with me back
to Mark chapter 4. I'm sorry, Mark chapter 7. Mark chapter 7. I want to begin this by telling
you something that is absolute truth. Absolute truth. But very few people know and
understand this. Very few people do. And the reason
I want to begin with this statement is because this is what our Lord
is telling us in these verses, the verses we just heard read.
This is what He's saying. Here's the statement. I am not a sinner. because I
sin. I sin because I'm a sinner. Does that make sense? I'm not a sinner because I sin. I sin because I'm a sinner. I came forth from my mother's
womb speaking lies. That's what the scripture says
about me and I know me and the scripture's right. But do you know there was a,
after I came forth from my mother's womb, there was a period of time,
a long period of time where I couldn't speak. Right. I came forth speaking lies, but
there was some period of time there that I couldn't speak.
And I don't know how long that was. I'm not sure. But even though I could not speak
for whatever that period of time was, I was not sinless during that
period of time. I was not sinless. And when I
finally did speak, the reason I told lies, and really and truly, if I asked
for a show of hands, I wouldn't see one, how many parents taught
their children how to lie? Now, honey, listen, and make
sure you keep a straight face. You got to keep a straight face
while you do it. How many parents taught their children how to
lie? What are they learning in school?
How to lie right now. The reason I lied was because
I was a sinner. The reason a dog barks is because
it's a dog. You don't hear a dog meow. Sin is not just what I do. Sin is what I am. And very few people know and
understand that. Very few people. It's what I
am. When Adam fell in the garden, he became sin. That's what he
was made to be, sin. And then when Adam had a child,
Adam and Eve had a child. That child is the parents. I
mean, it is the parents. Adam had Cain. And Cain was sin. We know what Cain did. And then
when he had a child, that child was sin. And then when he had
a child, that child was sin. And it has continued all the
way down to me. And now I have children. I was conceived in sin. And now
I have children, you know what that makes them? Sin. It's the reality of what we are.
It's not pleasant, but it's the reality of what we are. In Adam,
all die. That's what the scripture says.
You know, everybody dies. Everything dies. In Adam, all
die. And the reason is because the
wages of sin is death. That's what the scripture says.
The whole reason the flowers die is because of man's sin. It is all a result of man's sin. When Adam sinned, the Lord said,
okay, Adam, cursed is the ground for thy sake. Thorns and thistles
are not going to grow and everything's going to die. From dust you came
and it's all going to go right back to dust. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's what the scripture says.
When it comes to sin, it is the nature of a man and a woman to
point the finger at everyone and everything but himself and
herself. That's what we do. That's what
I do. Men naturally put the blame everywhere
but where it belongs. That's just what we do. Matter
of fact, whenever God said, Adam, what have you been doing? Adam said, the woman you gave
me, she brought me the fruit. Then he turned to the woman and
he said, what are you doing? She said, the serpent beguiled me.
We always put the blame everywhere but where it belongs. Now look
with me here at Mark 7, verse 14 says, And when he, that's our Lord,
when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them,
hearken unto me every one of you and understand, there is
nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile
him. Why is that? It's because he's
already defiled. That's why he's already defiled. There is nothing from without
a man, no thing, nothing that I could with these two hands
lay hold of and put into my mouth that would defile me. 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.
That's what defiles him. Things and people and places,
that's not the problem. That's not the problem. I'm the
problem. I am the problem. Verse 16 says,
If any man have ears to hear, if God has opened a sinner's
ears, and giving him ears to hear the truth of the matter.
The truth is not being told. It's just not being told. It's
like a carpenter coming to your house, and you really have termites,
but he's like, I think all we need is just paint the wood,
and it'll be fine. It'll look pretty. Problem is,
your house is about to fall down, and the truth is not being told. And if God has opened a sinner's
ears to hear the truth of the matter, he says, let him hear.
Let him hear. Verse 17, and when he was entered
into the house from the people, he came away from the people,
his disciples asked him concerning the parable, concerning what
he just said. And he saith unto them, Are you so without understanding
also? Do you not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him? Because it entereth not into
his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draft,
purging all meats. And he said, That which cometh
out of the man, That's what defiles the man. That's what comes right
out of the man. That's what defiles him. Religion
tells men and women, you'd better not smoke that cigarette.
That's the devil's smoke. No, that's just a tobacco leaf
that God made, mixed with a little fire that God made. That's all
that is. Well, I will tell you this now,
you better not let a drop of alcohol touch your lips. That's
the devil's drink. No, wrong again. Turn with me
over to John chapter 2. I'm going to show you a few scriptures
and I'm going to get to a point. So go with me first over to John
2. John 2 verse 1 says the third
day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee and the mother of
Jesus was there and both Jesus was called and his disciples
to the marriage and when they wanted wine the mother of Jesus
saith unto him they have no wine they ran out of wine at this
wedding. Verse 6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone
after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or
three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the
waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the
brim. and he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the
governor of the feast, and they bear it. When the ruler of the
feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence
it was, but the servants which drew the water knew, the governor
of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man
at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have
well drunk, then that which is worse. But thou hast kept the
good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did
Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and
his disciples believed on him." If that was the devil's drink,
God Almighty would have never made it. He would have never
made it. Now turn back a few pages with
me to Matthew 26. Matthew 26, look at verse 27. And he, that's our Lord, took
the cup, he had a cup of wine in his hand, and gave thanks
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this
is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. Our Lord is
going to serve wine in his kingdom. And if it was the devil's drink,
he would never serve it. He would not serve it. All right,
now see if you can find 1 Timothy chapter 5. First Timothy 5, this is the
Apostle Paul speaking to Timothy. First Timothy 5 verse 23, he
said, Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy
stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. If that was the
devil's drink, the Apostle would have never written that. He would
have never written that. Now. Okay? Now. Turn back a page or two to 1
Timothy chapter 3. Verse 1 says, this is a true
saying. If a man desire the office of
a bishop, a pastor, a preacher, he desires a good work. A bishop
then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober,
of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine." Not given to wine. Verse 8 says,
likewise must the deacons. We have a lot of deacons in this
church. We have more deacons in this
church than any church I've ever seen in my life. A deacon is
somebody who handles things when something, when the building
needs to be worked on and the yard needs to be taken care of
and people need things. Deacons take care of that stuff.
And we don't have a plaque in the foyer with people's names
on it, but we have a lot of deacons in this church. All right, verse
8 says, likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued,
not given too much wine. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
don't keep company with a drunkard. Don't get drunk and don't hang
out with a drunk. That's God's word. Now, I just showed us all that
so we could see the sin is not in the wine. The sin is in me. The sin is in me. My lust for
it. My excess with it. I'm the problem. We see that? I'm the problem. I mean, if we get honest about
these things, it hits me. Oh, I'm the problem. I'm the
problem. Now go with me back to the text
in Mark 7. Verse 14, when he had called all the people unto
him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me, every one of you, and
understand, 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. If any man have ears
to hear, let him hear. And when he was entered into
the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning
the parable. And he said unto them, Are you
so without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him?
Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly,
and goes out into the draught, purging all meats. And he said,
That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. And he's about to expose what
comes out of a man. That's what he's about to tell
every one of us. And I believe every soul in this
room is going to have to acknowledge that's the truth. I believe we're
all going to have to acknowledge that is the truth. Our God has
exposed the truth about man. Verse 21 says, For from within,
out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts. Now in my notes, I wrote Selah
right there. Just think about that for a minute. That's the truth. That is the
truth. Look within the heart of your
own mind. And it's not talking about this
organ that goes boom, boom, boom. It's talking about the heart
of a man, the soul, the being of a man. You look within the
heart of your own mind, honestly. It's just time to get honest.
It's time to get honest. Look inside the heart of your
own mind. What do you find in there? Our Lord said there's none good
but God. Isn't that what He said? Nothing
is good but God. So what are evil thoughts? It's
any thought that is not on God. Well, then I have a lot of evil
thoughts. I do. And here's the thing about it,
it only takes one. Galatians 4 says, you that desire
to be under the law, you want to obey the law so God will be
happy with you so you can go to heaven. He said, you that
desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Don't you
hear what it's saying? Galatians 3 says, if we break
it in one point, we've broken the whole thing. I could have
one little crack right there in this glass and it's dripping
water every time I pick it up, dripping all over everything.
That's a broken glass. Yeah, but the rim is fine. Stem
is fine. It's a broken glass and it's
a broken law. It only takes one evil thought
that's not on God Almighty to put a man in hell for all eternity
who then can be saved. Let me show you something in
Psalm 94. Turn with me over to Psalm 94. Psalm 94. Look with me at verse 11. This is something right here.
Psalm 94 verse 11 says, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that
they are vanity. God sees my thoughts. God sees my thoughts. God sees my thoughts. And a sinner thinks a cigarette
is his biggest problem. There was a woman who used to
preach on the radio when we were in Rocky Mount. She came on before
the broadcast there at Central. And that's all she kept saying.
And you better quit your smoking. And you better quit your... I
think a cigarette's my problem. When God sees my thoughts. Go with me to Genesis 6. Genesis 6, look at verse 5. And God saw, this is what God
saw, that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Only evil continually. Verse
7 says, And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping
thing, and the fowls of the air. For it repenteth me that I have
made them, But Noah found grace. Don't you love that? How sweet
the sound. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. We're going to get to that, I
promise you, in just a second. Go with me back to the text. Mark 7. Verse 21 says, For from within,
out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries. Adultery is breaking the covenant
of marriage to go after another. Now knowing what God has ordained
marriage to represent spiritually, we know the whole reason He ordained
marriage is to show the relationship of Christ and His bride. and
knowing what it means for us eternally that God has given
us to be the bride of Christ. You know what that means for
us eternally? Knowing that, how wicked is adultery? Unfortunately though, it's something
every single one of us in this room is guilty of. Leaving our
first love of Christ the one who made us, the one who owns
us, leaving him. We've turned our faces from him.
That's what Isaiah 53 says. And gone after another. Anything
else? That's adultery, spiritual adultery. Verse 21 says, For
from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications. Fornication is a man and a woman
coming together outside of the covenant of marriage. and it's
wickedness in God's eyes. It's spitting in the face of
the Lord Jesus Christ in God's eyes. And here's the reason.
It's because no sinner can be joined with Christ outside of
His covenant. That's why. Everything physically
that we have here on this earth represents something spiritually.
And to deny His covenant, the covenant of His blood, to deny
that is to deny Him. And that's wicked, isn't it?
And it kills me to tell you this, but every single one of us in
this room are guilty of it. Every single one of us. Our Lord
said, physically speaking, all you have to do is lust in the
heart and you've committed fornication. Every single one of us. Lord,
keep us from these things. Lay your hand on us. Teach us. Draw us to yourself. Verse 21
says murders. The last word is murders. How
wicked is murder? Oh, it's not wicked at all. You
see, I'm free from the law. Isn't that what it is? I'm free from the law so I can
murder whoever I want to. I could go on a murdering spree
right out there. No, God forbid. Isn't that what
Paul kept saying? God forbid. We don't excuse our
sin. I tell you that on that one because
that's an obvious one. We don't, I don't excuse my evil
thoughts. I saved by grace. I don't excuse
the fact that I've left my first love and gone after another.
We don't excuse fornication. We don't excuse any sin at all. God forbid. And he said, if you
get angry with somebody in this heart without a cause, you've
murdered them. That's what he said. And we're all guilty of
that. Verse 22, Thebes, I've never stolen anything. Well,
if we exaggerate our taxes, it's coming up quick. Well, it's time
to get honest. If we exaggerate those taxes
we're stealing from the government. They don't deserve it. It doesn't
matter. The law is the law. If I'm lazy at work and take
a little extra long break and all that kind of good stuff and
I'm getting paid for it, I'm stealing from the company. And if I try
to take any of the credit for salvation, I'm stealing God's
glory. We're just thieves. Verse 22 says covetous. Have
you ever wanted something that somebody else had? Verse 22 says
wickedness. That pretty much covers it all,
doesn't it? That's what comes out of this
heart right here. Verse 22 says deceit. That's lies. That's what
comes out of this heart right here. Verse 22 says lasciviousness. That means unrestrained excess. Verse 22 says an evil eye. That's not looking to Christ,
and that's something we don't do. Not by nature. Verse 22 says
blasphemy. True blasphemy is not believing
God and His Word. Here we are. True blasphemy says,
I don't believe that. Unbelief verse 22 says pride. I don't believe I'm very prideful
Get in an argument with somebody See how ready you are to be the
first one to give in and say I'm sorry you were right I was
wrong You know why we'd rather burn the house down and say that
pride The Lord said that's the first thing he hates is pride.
Verse 22 says foolishness. That word means senseless recklessness. The concordance actually said
mindless, stupid ignorance. That's the exact opposite of
wisdom, grave temperance. Verse 23 says all these evil
things come from within and defile the man. Our God right here has
stripped us to the core. There's not a soul in here that
has not been stripped to the core. He has exposed the raw
evil of our sin, who we really are. And we know it's true, don't
we? We know it's true. Seeing how
defiled we really are on the inside, how could anything on
the outside defile us? Anything. And because of the
wicked sinfulness of our heart, all we deserve is death and hell. Can we see that? If God killed
us right now, he would be just, he would be right, and he would
be holy in doing so. But thank God, that's not what
he did. If that's what he did right now,
he would be right. But thank God Almighty, that's
not what he did. You know why we spend, and I
watch the clock, I can't help it. I try to get to the good
news as fast as possible. There was a whole bunch of honesty
in this text. And it took a little longer to
get to it. But do you know why we dwell so much on the truth
about our sin? It's because it gives so much
more glory to Christ. when we hear what he did for
sinners. I'm not talking about people
who told a white lie and they're sorry for it and they got their
slap on the wrist and they said they won't do it again. I'm talking
about people who daily, hourly, minutely, secondly, in this heart,
wickedly commit sin. If God killed us right now, he
would be right, he would be just. But thank God that's not what
he did. That's not what he purposed to
do. I want you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5. 2nd Corinthians 5 This is the
greatest news I've ever heard in my life 2nd Corinthians 5 look at verse
21 It says for he that's God the
Father Hath made him That's Jesus Christ,
His Son, to be sin. All that stuff we just talked
about. That doesn't even seem right saying that, does it? Sin. He made Him to be what we are. what we are. Where did our Lord
get that sin? He never had any. He never committed
any sin. It says in verse 21, For he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. He knew no sin. For thirty-three and a half years
our Lord walked this earth And every thought that entered his
mind was perfectly pure. And we cannot enter into that.
We can't even imagine that. We are so impure, we can't even
understand what that would be like. Every thought that entered
his mind was perfect, it was good, and it was holy. Every
thought. For 33 and a half years, his
heart's desire as he walked this earth was for his bride only. His bride only. He was absolutely
faithful in heart, mind, deed to his bride only. For 33 and
a half years, not only did he not murder anyone, everywhere
he went he was raising the dead. And to go deeper than that, not
one time was his heart ever angry without a cause. Now listen to
this. As he hung on that cross and they were railing on him
and cursing him and spitting on him and mocking him, you know
how he responded? He said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Did
he? Same people, 43 days later, 45
days later, were at a place called Pentecost. God sent a man with
the message of truth, and he said, You, by wicked hands, have
crucified and slain the Lord of glory. And they all fell to their knees
and cried, Men and brethren, what shall we do? He said, You
repent. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. You confess him to be your only hope of salvation. For 33 and a half years, not
one time did our Lord ever take or covet something that God his
Father didn't provide for him. He could have said the word and
had all the riches of heaven. He did not have a place to lay
his head. He didn't have a home. There was no wickedness. There
was no deceit. There was no excess. There was
no pride. He had nothing but absolute faith
in God his Father. He was spotless. He was perfect
and the scripture says he was undefiled. Undefiled. Then how was he made to be sin?
Where did he get that sin? He took it off of you and me and laid it on Himself. All those
thoughts, He laid them right there. And He felt them. All that hate and all that murder,
He laid it right there. And He felt them. All that wickedness,
He laid it on Himself. And everything we are is everything
He became. He redeemed us and He set us
free. Run, run, this law demands. Do this and live. Run, run, the
law demands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. I can't. The gospel bids me sweeter things. It bids me fly and it gives me
wings. He became us. That's what Hebrews 7 says. He
became us. He was made to be us. Well, if He became us, what did
we become? Right here in 2 Corinthians 5
verse 21 says, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God, the
goodness, the holiness, the pureness the sinlessness, the undefiled
perfection of God in Him, in Christ. God Almighty absolutely traded
places with us. That's what He did. Gabe Stoniker
died on the cross that day. Gabe Stoniker's record, everything
I've done, every thought I've had, every everything I've done
we just sang about it was nailed to the cross and I bear it no
more praise the Lord praise the Lord oh my soul that's what it
means when it says Noah found grace God's grace wonderful grace
of Jesus reaching the most defiled by its transforming power, making
him God's dear child, purchasing peace in heaven for all eternity. And the wonderful grace of Jesus
reaches even me. That song goes on to say, wonderful
the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling
sea, higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain, all
sufficient grace for even me. broader than the scope of my
transgression. Where my sin went, grace went
way farther than that. Greater far than all my sin and
shame, O magnify the precious name of Jesus. Praise His name. Praise His name. Our Lord said
in Isaiah 1, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
white as snow. How? I'm going to gather up every
single one of them and I'm going to wash them in the blood of
the Lamb. Forgive them in the blood of
the Lamb. Pay for them in the blood of the Lamb. Put them away.
I mean gone away in the blood of the Lamb. Any defiled sinner,
if there is one with me here this morning, Any defiled sinner
who needs to know where salvation is found, turn with me over to
Isaiah 45 and we'll close with this. This is where salvation is found.
If a person finds himself or herself in the cesspool of sin
and you cannot get out, this is where salvation is found.
Isaiah 45, the Lord Jesus Christ says in verse 22, look unto me. I mean, look unto me with this
heart right here. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. That's true. Here I am, here
I stand, a sinner before God Almighty, and my only hope is
that by looking to Him and saying, Lord, You're my only hope, If
you don't lay hold of my sin and wash him in that blood, I'm
going to hell. I'm going to hell. He said, you
look unto me, you'll be saved. And he said, the reason you're
going to be saved is because I'm God. And there is none else. If you from sin are longing to
be free, you look to the Lamb of God, for He alone is able
to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Let's
all stand together.