Let's ask the Lord to be with
us. Dear Father, we pray that you would open your word to us
in our heart this morning. And not only this morning, but
all of our life, that we would be united to you in your thoughts,
and your purposes, and your will. And we would so love you according
to the love you've revealed to us in the gospel of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Be with us, be with our children.
Magnify yourself. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Matthew chapter 15. I've entitled this message, Matters
of the Heart. And we're going to read from
verse 1 through verse 20. Here it says that, "...then came to
Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why
do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?" So
they're asking Jesus this question in an accusative way. Why do
your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? "...for
they wash not their hands when they eat bread." But he answered
and said to them, Why do you 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. And he called the multitude,
and he said to 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,
To him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after
they heard this saying? But he answered and said, every
plant which my 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
to him, declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are
you also yet without understanding? Do not you yet understand that
whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and
is cast out into 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." If you look at this, In a summary fashion,
what you see here is first that the Pharisees, the scribes and
Pharisees, come to Jesus and they accuse Him because His disciples
didn't follow a tradition they had of washing hands. And then
Jesus turns about the issue on them that they raise, and He
exposes them as transgressors of God's commandment by taking
their traditions and putting them over in importance of God's
commandment. And then once He's done that,
once He's exposed their transgression and their hypocrisy, then He
turns to the people and He says, This matter of washing hands
was for them claiming to keep us from taking into ourselves
something that would defile us, as if we as men are not defiled,
but what we take in would make us defiled, would corrupt us.
But he says that problem is not what you take in, it's what comes
out of you that defiles you. So if you see that as a summary
overview, then it'll help you follow what's being said here. There are several principles
that we learn from this section of scripture. The first one is
that false religion, people who hold to false religion are concerned
with outward conformance to rules with no concern for the truth
of God. The Pharisees didn't complain
that the disciples had done something against God's law. They didn't
find anything about them that they could actually point to,
perhaps that they had committed some gross sin. But what they did bring up was
something that was insignificant. Not only was it insignificant,
it was positively wrong. because the Pharisees were concerned
about washing hands. It was a tradition that they
had, this whole matter of washing. They washed pots and tables and
cups and hands and everything else ceremonially to, under the
guise, under the pretense that by washing... It didn't. But the Pharisees
believed that. They held to it. Because their
whole focus was on outward conformity to rules. They had no interest
really in the inward conformity. They weren't concerned about
what went on in a man's heart. And so they weren't dealing with
heart matters. They were dealing with outward
principles. And that's always the way it is. They taught a
doctrine that was actually evil. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4. Here it shows something that
happens in our day even. What we're reading about here
in Matthew 15 is not unique to the time when Jesus was there.
It's been around throughout history. In 1 Timothy chapter 4 it says,
"...now the Spirit, the Spirit of God, speaketh expressly, very
plainly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith."
How will they depart from the faith? "...by giving heed to
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." And here we have
the Pharisees exposed. "...speaking lies and hypocrisy."
having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to
marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created
to be received with thanksgiving of those which believe and know
the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to
be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is
sanctified by the word of God in prayer." This came up even
in Paul's day. A rule, let's forbid marriage. If you're really holy, you won't
get married. Or, don't eat certain kinds of meats, or don't eat
them on certain days. This is external religion. Has
nothing to do with anything that God has commanded. In fact, it
adds to the Word of God. And whenever we add to the Word
of God, we always also take away from the Word of God. And Revelation
22, 19 warns all of us not to add or take away from the Word
of God, because God will add from us, add to us, the plagues
that are written in the book and take away from us all the
blessings that are in it. So the Pharisees added to the
Word of God, and their addition to the Word of God, actually
put their tradition over in importance to what God had said. By adding
to God's Word about washing their hands, and pots, and cups, and
tables, what they did was, they covered over the more important
issue of cleansing the man. Cleansing his heart. And there's
nothing that can cleanse a man but the blood of Christ. In 1
John 1.7 it says, "...the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth
us from all sin." And so Jesus exposes this there in Matthew
15. And the other thing that, the
reason this is, and you see in 1 Timothy 4 here that it's not
a neutral thing. It's not a point of indifference.
what they did. It's actually called in 1 Timothy
4, doctrines of devils and lies with hypocrisy and having their
conscience seared. This is what men do. They add, it's easier to add
man-made rules and to try to keep them and enforce them than
it is to just simply declare what God has said. The Pharisees
were noted, they liked to be noted for their knowledge of
God's Word, so they would find things they said God was teaching
and bring them up as if they had discovered something new.
But it's never good to discover something new. It's always best
to just, it's always right and only right to declare what God
has said and hold to that. So, let the Word of God be our
only our only faith and our only God in life. That's the important
thing here. But not only was it wrong because
it added to the Word of God and took away from the Word of God,
but it set up the Pharisees as lawgivers. Whenever you add to
the Word of God, you're saying, here's a rule you need to follow. And they invented it. And so,
it was as if they had the Word of God. And they were giving
it. They became lawgivers. And they were also judges. Now,
they were the ones who held men's consciences under their for their analysis so that people
would feel like they had to adhere to whatever they were saying.
Whenever you think that someone else is watching you, what do
you do? Well, you try to please them, or you're afraid of them,
or you're constantly thinking about what they think. That's
what the Pharisees wanted. They liked that. Lawgivers become
judges, and judges put men on the defense, trying to earn reward
and favor, or to avoid their frown. And that is just exactly
the opposite of what God wants men to do. To never think about
what a man thinks, but only think about what God thinks. We're
to have a conscience towards God alone, not a conscience toward
men. The fear of man is a snare, it's
a trap. And we should never do what we
do to please men, but to please God. If we do please God, then
we will be the servants of God and the servants of men. So the
Pharisees did that. They made themselves law givers.
They wanted the allegiance of men to themselves just like the
devil. Remember what the devil did to
Eve? He tempted her to listen to his
word rather than God's word. That's exactly what the Pharisees
were doing here. If the Pharisees could remove
from the minds of the people the importance of, put themselves
in the minds of the people in a place of importance, then they
removed from them other things, and they became God in the minds
of the people. The disciples themselves were
even intimidated by the Pharisees. To the disciples and the people
of that day, the Pharisees were the wisest, and the best that
all of the religion had to offer. And these, it says in verse 1,
they came from Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the heart of the
nation of Israel. They came from Jerusalem. These
were the premier theologians, the premier men. I mean, when
you saw them, you probably, you didn't want them to look at you
because it just made you feel uncomfortable. Anytime a man
makes you feel uncomfortable because he gives a sense of his
greater spirituality, you know that that man is a hypocrite.
So never let that be an intimidating thing. Although we should be
intimidated by our own sin, but not before men, before God. So
that's the first thing we learn here. And then, notice what Jesus
says in verse 3. He says, "...but He answered
them." Now these men came accusing Jesus. They came accusing Him
for how He was allowing His disciples to behave. And in doing that,
they were really accusing Christ, weren't they? But they were attacking
His disciples. And what Jesus does is He comes
to the defense of His people here. He pleads their cause against
their attackers. And how does he do that? The
way he always defends his people. Our only defense is what? The
Word of God. Remember how Jesus responded
to the devil and his temptations? He always said, it is written,
it is written, it is written. He never deviated from that.
He is the Word of God. He is the source of it, and He's
the one who understands it, and explains it, and He fulfills
it, and He personifies it. He's the Word of God. And so,
for men to come to Christ, or to accuse His people, which is
the same, to accuse Christ. If you accuse His people, you're
accusing Him. For them to come to Him and do that, It's the
worst possible tactic. What it means is that you're
coming against the law, the one who is the word of God, the one
who is the judge of all, and you are attacking him and accusing
him of being unjust according to his own rules, his own law.
And so, he completely destroys the Pharisees in their attempt. By saying this, why do you transgress
the commandment of God by your tradition? What's important is
not whether they keep your tradition, but your tradition actually supersedes,
you try to supersede God's commandment. In verse 4 he says, he uses an
example. This is the example he's giving,
"...for God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother,
and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death."
So what does that mean there? It means that honoring your father
and mother is extremely important, isn't it? He that curseth his
father or mother, let him die the death. I remember when I was reading
this last week, I couldn't help but feel so sad and sorrowful
for the way that I, as a younger person, related to my mom and
dad. My mom and dad would make me
do work. They would discipline me when
I did wrong. They did all kinds of things.
They also provided everything for me. They taught me how to
work. They taught me how to behave.
They did a lot of things. But you know what happens as
a child? You think of yourself as a victim. Oh, they're being
so hard and so rigorous and things like this. And so you begin to
accuse them in your mind and even to others. That's cursing
your father and mother. God says that it is so important
that we honor our father and mother that to not do that is
to be worthy of death. Look at Leviticus. I think it's
actually, I probably have got the wrong reference here, so
let me just see if I can find this. I think it's Leviticus
19. Yes, it's Leviticus 19. Look at this. He says, And I'll
read the first two verses while you're turning there. And the
Lord spake to Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation
of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy,
for I, the Lord your God, am holy. In verse 3 it says, You
shall fear every man, his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbath,
for I, I am the Lord your God. Fear your father and mother,
it says here. And Jesus explains it here in
Matthew 15.4. He says, honor your father and
mother. So the word fear in Leviticus
19.3 is equivalent to showing reverence and respect to your
father and mother. We're to show reverence and respect.
How do we do that? Why did he talk to the Pharisees
about honoring your father and your mother? They weren't children
anymore. You don't have to worry about
it when you grow up, right? wrong. Because he says here, what you
do by your tradition is that you set up this rule that says,
if you say, in verse 5, 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 and his mother, you
shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment
of God of none effect by your tradition." What he's saying
here is that the Pharisees had a tradition. And their tradition
was this. You can designate a gift to the
temple. And if you do that, then whatever,
obviously you had to give up something to do that. So by giving
to the temple, you've really done a greater thing than taking
care of your parents. So you're free from taking care
of your parents because this is more important. Why would
they be motivated to do that? To free a man from caring for
his parents? Well, because... They worked
in the temple. They received the benefit of
the temple. So it was all greed. It was an underhanded way to
get people to donate so that they would have more to profit
themselves, and they were willing to do this at the expense of
others caring for their own parents when they got older. And there's
a general principle here. And sadly, in the nation in which
we live today, and in probably every nation of the world, not
every nation necessarily, but most of them, not in every culture,
but most of them, the government has stepped in and tried to replace
God-given individual responsibilities with government. And that's had
a very negative effect on our society. A very negative effect
on our society. One of the things that they do
is they provide aid to people as they get old. In fact, there
was a law instituted in the 30s called Social Security. And what
it does is it requires people to give the government money,
and then when they get old, supposedly, the government will take care
of them. Sounds good. But it's not good. Because what
it did here is that God had meant for children to take care of
their parents as they got old if they needed their help. Now,
it didn't mean that parents were to live their lives and then
say, okay kids, I'm 48 and a half, it's time for you to start kicking
in. No, it doesn't mean that at all. It just meant that if
they did get old, then the children were supposed to help them. In
other words, it's a general principle that you and I are meant by God
to work, actually work, in order that we should give to someone
else. This is a principle that's totally foreign in our culture,
that we would be responsible for ourselves, let alone someone
else. I mean, I should go to work for
myself, right? Enrich myself, acquire things,
and at the end of my life, I die with all my toys. And I'm happy. I've got something now I can
give because I don't need it anymore. But that's not the way
God meant it to be. Parents lay down their lives
for their children. And this is right. God wants
a man to work. I mean really work and labor
and give himself and grow old and wrinkled and tired because
he gave his life for his children. And then, as children are growing
up, God expects them to honor and respect their parents because
they provide and nurture and care for them and lay down their
lives for them. Isn't this the way God has done
for us? God provides everything for us. And this system, if you
want to call it a system, God's way of doing things, is meant
for us to spend our lives with faith towards God in giving ourselves
for others. It's a fundamental principle.
But the Pharisees didn't like that. They wanted to accumulate.
And so they laid aside God's commandment to honor your father
and mother so that they could enrich themselves. Look at a
few scriptures with me. First of all, look at 2 Thessalonians. I don't normally focus on these
more practical issues, but these things have a way of... they
need to be emphasized. They're in the Bible. 2 Thessalonians. I think it is. Chapter 3. Paul said that he made himself
an example. Verse 7. For yourselves know
how you ought to follow us. Following us means being a disciple
of what we do. Do what we do. For we behave
not ourselves disorderly among you, neither did we eat any man's
bread for nothing. That means we didn't eat it without
paying for it. But we wrought, we worked, with
labor and travail, night and day, that we might not be chargeable
to any of you. He didn't want to be a burden
on the churches, so he himself worked. And he was an apostle.
And he was beaten and shipwrecked and left hungry and in prison.
Amazing, amazing what God did with this man. Verse 9. Not because we have not power,
We have the authority and the right to collect something from
you as God's laborers, but to make ourselves an example to
you, to follow us. For even when we were with you,
this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should
he eat." And so he links eating and working. If you're not willing
to work, well, you don't want to eat. So, if you want to eat,
go work. exactly the opposite of our system
of government. You get a handout because you're
needy, but if you go to work, they take it away. So there's
no encouragement there. It's actually a disincentive
to go to work. It's more profitable to have
a city for the government, and the government's upside-down
way of thinking, it's more profitable to have a city of people who
do nothing and receive compensation for doing nothing than it is
to deal with the hard matter of working. We don't work just
to get. We work because of faith toward
God. We work to honor God in our heart. Do all that you do to the glory
of God. Do it from the heart towards
God. And when you do it, don't do it with eye service as to
men, but to God. 1 Peter 2 talks about that. Look at 1 Peter 2. Just take
you to a few practical scriptures here to underscore some practical
matters. So we can see this. He says in
1 Peter 2, Verse 13, submit yourselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. It's always the
theme, for the Lord's sake, for the Lord's sake, for the Lord's
sake, whether it be to the king, or as supreme, or to governors,
or unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers
and for the praise of them that do well. There right there in
verse 14 is the guideline for government. Punish evildoers,
reward those who do well. Verse 15, for so is the will
of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men. Not with other means. Not by balloting, or picketing,
or protesting, or other things. But by well-doing. Verse 16,
"...as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness."
What does that mean? I'm free so I can think and act
in a way that's evil towards others, because I'm free. His
cloak of maliciousness. I'm hiding under my liberty in
order to actually lash out in my mind and with subversive words.
No, don't do that. But be as the servants of God.
Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King. Very simple words. Servants, be subject to your
masters with all fear. Not only to the good and gentle,
He always addresses that. But what about to this guy? Yeah,
him too. But also to the frogger. For
this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure
grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if when
you are buffeted, for your faults you shall take it patiently?
You deserve that. But if when you do well, you
suffer for it, and you take it patiently, that's acceptable
to God. Man, I wish I could have gone
back and lived my life in that way. so many things that I did
wrong." And that's what, these things both correct us, they
make us sober, and they show us what we've done wrong. Don't
they? They humble us before God. Then He says, "...for even hereunto
were you called." Were you called? Do you see that? God is calling
us to this. to do what you do for the Lord's
sake, submitting yourselves unto God, under God-given government,
and God-given authority in the home and in the family, and to
operate in that way with faith toward God. Look at 1 Timothy. And then, I didn't read it, but
you can read on in 1 Peter 2, and he gives Christ as the example. Look at 1 Timothy. A couple of
verses there, showing you these things. In chapter five, he says, I rebuke not an elder, in verse
one, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren.
And treat men with respect. The older, treat them as fathers.
The younger, treat them as brethren. The elder women, treat as mothers.
The younger, as sisters with all purity. Honor widows that
are widows indeed. To honor them means to take care
of them. But he's going to correct him. Now okay, I've got a mom
and she's a widow and I really don't want to have to take care
of her. So I'm going to put that burden on the church. No, he corrects
that. But if any widow have children
or nephews... Let them learn first to show
piety at home and to requite their parents, for that is good
and acceptable before God. In other words, if you have younger
relatives who are able to take care of you, they're supposed
to do that. If you're a widow, you can't take care of yourself.
Look at verse 8. But if any provide not for his
own, and specially for those of his own house, he has denied
the faith, and is worse than an infidel. It's pretty clear,
isn't it? Look at verse 16. If any man
or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them,
and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that
are widows indeed. Some are widows and have no children,
have no family. God gives a definition of a true
widow. Someone who's above the age of
60, who's raised children, who has... serve God's saints in various
things, and if they have no children, then the church is to bear the
burden of taking care of them. It's not a burden to take care
of people. It's a burden in one sense. You have to work. But
it's actually a good thing to give yourself in order to fulfill
God's purpose and will. That is a good thing. We should
never think of it as a burden. as a, oh, it's an oppressive
burden. No! This is doing something for the
glory of God. Do you see that? Very plain words
that talk about what honor your father and mother mean to us
in our daily life. We should honor. I just wanted
to go back and tell my mom and dad I'm sorry for not painting
the house or for not doing so many things I could have done
to help them. For not Lifting them up in prayer and not thinking
evil towards them in my heart. So many things. Sorry. I'm sorry to God. But look at
this. So the Pharisees relieved men from this important life
responsibility. Verse 7, he calls them, you hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you.
This people draws nigh to me with their mouth and honors me
with their lips, but their heart is far from me. So, this is a
very simple thing, isn't it? He doesn't mince words. The Lord
Jesus was direct. And he was clear and he was not
intimidated by the Pharisees. I use those kind of a forceful
way of speaking because that's the way I believe the Lord Jesus
did it. He did not mince words. He didn't
wait a while. I'm going to correct him after
I think about this a while and nobody's around. No, he was not
polite. I mean, he was not respective
of men's feelings when they were wrong against the gospel. He
struck right where it needed to be hit. Right on the head.
He said, you nullify God's Word by your traditions. And you're
hypocrites because you do not keep what God has said to do.
And you claim to do it. And so you, not only are you
hypocrites, but your doctrine is false. And you're transgressors. And he said this publicly. All
these people, you can imagine the feeling that must have come
over them. You just called that preacher a false prophet right in front
of everybody? That makes me feel uneasy. It's
exactly what needs to be done. Jesus did it. And he didn't mince
any words, because he came to the defense of his people with
God's word. They attacked his word, they
attacked his people, and now our Redeemer is mighty and he
pleads our cause against our enemies. But wait a minute. The disciples weren't like people
who had done everything right. Shouldn't he have also included
them in his rebuke? Well, let's go on. Verse 9. Jesus is talking to them. He's talking about them. And
He says, He's going on in verse 9, quoting from Isaiah. He says,
this is what Isaiah says. In vain, in vain, they do worship
Me. In vain. You know what it is
to do something in vain? You might as well not done it.
It's empty. It's without any benefit. It's profitless. In fact, it's
negative benefit. In vain they worship me because
they do what they do on the outside. There's nothing going on in the
heart. And that's the matter of worship.
Worship is in the heart. Everything we do to God means
nothing if it doesn't come from our heart. And we're going to
talk about that in a minute here. Well, in fact, I'll talk about
it right now. Have you ever noticed that in your relationship to
people that true friends are friends you have at a heart level.
It doesn't do any good to have people that you just greet and
say hi and how are you doing to if there's no communication
at a heart level. Husbands and wives, our communication
should be at a deep level. And our friends and our children,
we should talk about things at a deep level. Because it's what's
going on in our heart. But that's not really what's
being discussed here. What's really being discussed
here, what's being taught here, is how we come to God in our
heart. Now, throughout Scripture, if
there's anything that's clear, as you're growing up, you see
things like in 1 Samuel 16, 7, where God saw David, remember? And, I mean, Samuel, the prophet,
was looking at all of Jesse's sons, and he says, it's not this
one, he looks so tall and handsome and strong, it must be, nope,
nope, nope, nope, all the way down the line to David, and God
says to Samuel, God looks at the heart. Man looks at the outward
appearance. And God found David because he
said, David is a man after my own heart. It's a matter of the
heart. Throughout scripture, this is
the way it is. What is the one thing that we must bring to God? What's the one sacrifice that
God will not despise? It's a broken and a contrite
heart. Psalm 51, 17. What is it that
is true circumcision? What does God circumcise when
it's true circumcision? It's a circumcision of our heart. And what is it that we have to
have from God? What did David pray? Lord, create
in me a clean heart, oh God. And what is it that God promises
in the New Covenant in Ezekiel 36? He says, "...a new heart
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." Where
does our Lord Jesus Christ dwell? In our hearts. It says in Ephesians
3.17, "...that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And
what is it, we were just in Proverbs 23, but in verse 7 of Proverbs
23 it says, As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. What is
it that determines what we truly are? It's what's going on in
our heart. It's not what we talk about on
the outside. That does eventually reveal what
we are on the inside. It's not what we do so much,
but it's what's going on in our heart. God says, give me your
heart, my son, give me your heart. And so we see that what's important
in worship is the heart. Remember what Jesus told the
woman of Samaria at the well? She said, where do we worship?
It's not here or there. It's in the heart. It's in the
spirit. It's not where. It's not where
and location. It's in your heart. It's in the
hidden recesses of what you are. It says in Philippians 3.3 that
we are the true circumcision. Which, in fact, let me just turn
to that and make sure I quote it correctly. Philippians 3.3.
Some of these verses we refer to so often that I can just give
you the reference and you go, oh yeah, I know what you're talking
about. Philippians 3.3. We are the circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit, that's the same thing as the
heart, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. And I could refer you to many
others, but I'll just give you a sense of it. Remember Romans
14, 17. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. It has to do with what's on the inside. So it's a heart
worship. And he says here in Matthew 15
that they call upon Him in vain and worship Him in vain because
their heart is far from me. And so that's the issue. Heart
worship is the thing. A life that we live, we have
to live in faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ in our heart. And
I'll talk about this more in a minute. But look at verse,
in Matthew 15, back to there. He says in verse 9, I'm sorry,
verse 10. Now Jesus has corrected the Pharisees
openly before his disciples. And they raised this issue. They
attacked him and his disciples about cleaning hands. And he
rebuked them and exposed them as transgressors because their
commandments set aside God's law regarding honoring father
and mother. And he exposed them as hypocrites
because they only worship God in lip and not in heart. And
he made that clear, that their doctrine was wrong, and they
were wrong. Their heart was wrong. But here
in verse 10, he opens it up and he deliberately offends the Pharisees
before the people. This is not what you would call
what men would do today. You know, we've got an issue
in the church with doctrine, and we don't want it to offend
anybody, so we're going to do it very politely. We're going
to get a council together behind closed doors and discuss this.
No. When Peter came to Galatia, and
he acted contrary to the gospel, Paul rebuked Peter openly. And Peter and Paul were friends. Paul had been received by the
apostles. And yet when Peter denied the
truth of the gospel, that something you do, Peter, was acting this
out, something we did, circumcision, made a difference between us
and others, it didn't. before God, Paul stood up and
corrected him. And his correction was not light. He laid into him. I want you to read that in your
own time in Galatians chapter 2. And he made a point of it. He concludes the chapter. In
chapter 2 he says, If righteousness come by the law, then Christ
died in vain. That's how serious it was. Remember
what he says in verse 8 and 9 of Galatians 1, that if I, or an
angel from heaven, or an apostle, anybody, teaches another gospel
than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. It
was not a light thing. Because, this is it, this is
the principle. We must honor God, not men. We must honor his word. And when
we do that, then men will bow to His Word. That is always the
case. Paul told Titus, he says, the
elder, the pastor, the bishop, must convince the gainsayers,
those who speak against the gospel. Convince them, and rebuke them
openly, he says. So it's not something... So you
see, that's exactly what Jesus does here. Verse 10. He called
the multitude and he said to them, Hear and understand regarding
this whole thing of washing. Not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth,
this defileth a man. So he's taking... He's taking
from a point of beginning what they claimed, oh this washing
is needed. We've got to make ourselves holy
to God by washing ourselves. And this is important because
if we eat something with unwashed hands, then it's going into us
and it's going to make us impure before God. No, it won't. No, it won't. In fact, what he's
going to do is he's going to build on that error in order
to relate a much greater truth. Which is what he does here. Look
at this in verse... 12, the disciples, when he said that,
not what goes into a man, defiles a man, but what comes out of
him, the disciples came to him and said, don't you know that
the Pharisees were offended after they heard what you said? But
he answered and he said, every plant which my father has not
planted shall be rooted up. He appeals to his father. He
appeals to His Father. Not only did He bring the truth
Himself, but He is actually resting in the fact that His Father is
going to root up and remove those who oppose the Gospel, and oppose
Christ, and oppose His people. My Father is going to root them
up. Every plant which my Heavenly Father has 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." So what is he saying here? He's
saying, leave them. Come out from among them. Don't
stay with them. Don't hear them. They're blind,
leaders of the blind. If you follow them, you're both
going to fall into the ditch. They're going to be uprooted.
So there's three things that you got to see here. First of
all, Open rebuke is better. It's needed. When the gospel
is at stake, open rebuke is required. And Christ does that. He says, leave them, let them
alone. In other words, not only leave
them, but also leave them to God's judgment. Wait on the Lord. He's going to be the one to take
care of every error, and everyone who follows it will be destroyed.
That's what this is saying. They're going to be uprooted.
Leave them alone. They're blind leaders of the
blind. And then in verse 15, Peter said to Him, declare unto
us this parable. The parable of, you know, it's
not what you take in, it's what comes out of your mouth. He didn't
understand it. I'm glad that he asked the question. Every
time Peter asks a question, I think, well man, he should have known
that. I'm glad he asked it anyway, because every time you ask a
question, it always clarifies it, doesn't it? If you go to
school, when I grew up, I went to school later in life. When
I did, I always asked questions to the teacher because I was
older, maybe 4 or 5 years older than the other kids. They were
a little intimidated, most of them were. But hey, I was paying
for this. I wanted to know the answer.
Explain it to me like I'm a golden retriever. I want to know it.
So that's what Peter is doing here for us. Can you explain
this for us? Well, he should have known, but
Jesus said, Are you also yet without understanding? Do not
you yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth
into the belly and is cast out into the draft? But those things,
and here's the truth, 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, and then all these things. The truth
here is that evil comes from our hearts. These men worshipped God with
their lips and their mouth, but their heart was far from Him.
Evil comes from our heart. 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. Religion, true religion, is all
about the heart. And here, when I read through
these 20 verses here, there were three things that drew my attention
in a way of making me feel bad, if you want to put it that way.
One is, I was condemned when he got to this part about honoring
your father and mother, because I didn't. Not like I should have. And secondly, when he says, but
their heart is far from me, I thought, Lord, make my heart near to you. And then the third one was, when
he got down here about what we are, I mean, what we do on the
outside is just an evidence of what we are on the inside. And
those three things added together convinced me that my heart is
bad. And it led me to ask this question.
What can I do? How can I have a heart like God's
heart? And it made me think also, you
know, the Pharisees were hypocrites. We all know that. The word Pharisees
is synonymous with a hypocrite. Somebody who says, but doesn't
do. Or does all that they do to be
seen. That's what a hypocrite and a
Pharisee... And don't you find that tendency in yourself? I
hate it when I see that in myself. And I know it comes from the
heart, so it's just part of that whole lump of corruption that's
inside of me. But know this, that whatever
Jesus did on the outside, what He said and what He did, were
reflective of what was on the inside. He never did anything
or said anything that didn't come from His heart. And that
is a comfort to a sinner. Because when he says, Come unto
me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you
rest. It was a heart. desire of His. He expressed a
truth from His heart. And guess what? His heart is
the same as God's heart. Because not only is He the Son
of God, but His heart beats in unison. His will, His mind, His
heart is a heart of God. So whatever you see Christ doing
and saying, that is the very heart of God. Know that and understand
that. Back to the question, how can
I have a heart? What do I do? What do the disciples
do with this? Everything that he named here
comes from the heart. Evil thoughts, murders. Murder
is not taking a knife or a gun. It's actually hating. Adulteries,
it's thinking about it. It's stealing, taking credit
for what other people have done. False witness, that's just lying,
being deceitful, living a life of deceit. Blasphemies, that's
speaking against God. All these things are natural
to us. And isn't it odd that God has to give us commandments? You would think that if we were
right, He wouldn't have to command us. He would just reveal what
is in His heart, and we would just want to do that. We would
follow Him. But no. Commandments are given,
and the commandments in themselves constitute a revelation that
we are naturally corrupt. We have to be commanded. But
the gospel does something to us, and that's the wonder of
it. It reveals the heart of our Savior,
how He saves His people, how He lays down His life in humiliation
and service, and gives Himself in total. for them and to them. And we see that and it draws
out our heart to Him when God gives us faith. So how can my
heart be like His heart? Well, we know that evil comes
from our heart and it pains us to hear it in some sense, but
there's another part of us that isn't troubled by these words. And look at John chapter 3 in
this regard. John chapter 3. He says in John
3, let me get there. In verse 19. This is the condemnation that
light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather
than light. That's the condemnation. Men
loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. That's just a revelation of our
heart, right? Men love darkness rather than light. "...for everyone
that doeth evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved." That's exactly what Jesus did
in this, in chapter 15 here. He reproved the Pharisees. But
verse 21, "...but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that
his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."
The sheep... receive the condemnation of their
heart. When God speaks about our depravity,
we receive it. Because what it does, not because
we're glad to be found out, but because God reveals to us what
we are in order to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And it
gives us reason to go to God for mercy. Until we ate of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of life is
like it wasn't even important to us, was it? In the garden,
Adam and Eve didn't eat of that tree. But until they had the
knowledge, the law gives, of evil and sin, then grace seemed
all important, didn't it? So the law entered that the offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. The
law entered and it made God's grace in Christ seem all the
more attractive and precious. And Christ seemed all lovely
to us. being exposed as totally depraved leaves us totally in
the hands of God's goodness. And that's a good thing. Because
leaving it in our hands is a bad thing. And we're not afraid either to
be exposed that our works, our religious works, are no good
either. They're just filthy rags because we know then that our
righteousness has to come from another, right? It's the Lord
Jesus. So I want to look at two examples
of how God gives us and how we know we have a true heart. The
first one is very In Luke chapter 18, remember the publican and
the Pharisee? The publican, the sinful man,
the man who stayed in the back, who wouldn't lift up his head.
And he stayed way back in the back and bowed his head low because
he didn't want anyone to see him. And in verse 13 Jesus says
that he says, Be merciful to me, the sinner." It says a sinner
in the King James, but the word is actually the definite article. The is there. So, be merciful
to me, the sinner. This man, Jesus said, went down
to his house justified. To be justified means God says
he's righteous. He's kept the law. He's totally
conforming to my law. And he declares him to be righteous.
Why? And that means he must have had
a good heart, didn't it? An honest and good heart. In
Jeremiah 17.9 the Lord says that the heart of man is desperately
wicked. Deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. It's not honest, it's deceitful.
It's not good, it's desperately wicked. But here's a man Jesus
said went down to his house justified. When he said, God be merciful
to me a sinner. Why could God say that about
this man? Because when he said, God be merciful to me a sinner. By saying, I'm a sinner, he was
admitting in honesty what he was. God accused him. I mean,
God's law accused him of being what it says here in Matthew
15. Your heart is evil. Out of your
heart comes all these evil thoughts and adulteries and murders and
things. And he knew he was that. He could think of no one else
worse than himself. And so he says, I'm the sinner. And he was also honest and good
because when he cried to God, he asked God to look upon the
sacrifice and receive from Christ all that he required of Him.
And in so doing, he agreed with God that what God needs is more
important than what I am. Look upon Him, receive from Him
all that you need to be just and merciful to me. And so he
was agreeing with God's way of salvation. That is an honest
and good heart. And there's another example in
Romans chapter 10, I want to take you to. Look at this, Romans
chapter 10, in verse 9 and 10. Very familiar two verses in scripture. He says in Romans 9, that if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. You see that? What does it mean
to confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus? Does that mean simply
say Lord Jesus? I confess Lord Jesus. Well it
can't just mean that because in Matthew 7 Jesus said many
will come to me in that day saying Lord, Lord. They were saying
Lord to Jesus. Have we not? And then they list
all the things they did. And he says they to them. He said I never knew you. They
departed. So it can't just mean simply
saying Lord Jesus. It's not just using your mouth
to say the right words. But He says, "...and shall believe
in your heart that God hath raised Him from the dead." What do these
things mean? Well, if you look at Romans 10,
He really explains it by the context. Look at Romans 9 verse
31, "...Israel followed after the law of righteousness, yet
they have not attained to the law of righteousness." Do you
see that? Romans 9 verse 31, "...Israel which followed after
the law of righteousness has not attained to the law of righteousness."
What is the law of righteousness? Well, it's the righteousness,
it's the obedience required by the law. It's fulfilling the
law in all of its demands for our obedience. They followed
after that. They wanted to attain to a righteousness
that the law required. But God says they haven't attained
it. They haven't attained it. Why? In the next verse. Because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law. In other words, by their own
obedience, they tried to attain to a righteousness God's law
would recognize. But they couldn't do it. And
they failed because they didn't come by faith. They stumbled
at Christ. That's with the next phrase.
They stumbled at that stumbling stone. And so then in verse 2
of chapter 10, Paul says, I bear them record that they have a
zeal of God. They're very zealous. They acquire
knowledge, they go about doing all these things, and they strive
to keep the law in order that God will recognize them according
to His law as being righteous. But he says, "...their zeal of
God is not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes." And then, these next verses have always puzzled
me. And they probably have puzzled you if you've read them. Let me just read them. For Moses
describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which
doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart
who shall ascend into heaven. That is to bring Christ down
from above. Or, who shall descend into the deep. That is to bring
up Christ from the dead. But what saith it? The word is
nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of
faith which we preach. And then he says, that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth. You see how the context is here?
But the context here I find to be puzzling and difficult to
understand. What is God saying here? Don't
say in your heart, who shall ascend to heaven. What does it
mean to ascend to heaven? He says it's like saying, that's
to bring Christ down from above. Or who shall descend into the
deep? What does that mean? That means to bring up Christ
again from the dead. Don't say those things. But what do those
things mean? It's still confusing, isn't it?
It means to ascend and descend in this way, it was required
that the God of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is in heaven,
descend from heaven in humiliation, in obedience to the will of God,
to fulfill that will on God's behalf. And to redeem his people
on their behalf, in order that he might, as our mediator, bring
us to God. You see, what these verses are
saying here is that, don't say in your heart, I'll do what's
necessary to be a mediator. I'll do what only a mediator
can do. Don't say that. That's not the
word of faith. What you have to recognize is
that the mediator is required. And what does a mediator do?
A mediator does everything God requires and that pleases God. He takes God's view of things
and he fulfills God's will. And he makes all of God's people
sure to God so that none are lost. And He brings every blessing
God wants to them in His covenant of grace. He gives it to them
by fulfilling all the conditions for them. In other words, He
does all that's in the heart and will of God so that God is
happy. I use that word happy in kind
of a weak way. He means to satisfy, to please,
to delight, to do all the heart and will of God for God's sake,
for His glory. And the mediator also takes the
place of his people. And he does all that his people
need to do to give an answer to God in justice and in righteousness. He takes the part of his people
to bring them to God. And he takes the part of God
in order to secure his people to himself through all the ravages
of evil. Sin and Satan and the world and
the devil and everything. The mediator does that. And only
the mediator can do that. And so he's saying here, don't
say in your heart, I'm going to do these things which only
the mediator can do. But do this, confess, if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. He's the one
who has fulfilled this. He's done it all for his people.
And you're confessing that the Lord of glory has fulfilled the
righteousness God requires. And he by his obedience has brought
me to God. And this is what he's done. And
I confess that. And I believe in my heart that
God has raised him from the dead. Which means that God has accepted
and received him and his people with him in all that he set out
to do. He has accomplished the will
of God as our mediator. Now... This is what we say, and
when we say this by faith, we are agreeing with God. And when
we agree with God, isn't that having a heart like His? We're
thinking God's thoughts about our sin and about our salvation
according to what He's revealed in His Word. And we love it.
We like what He says. We find it the most attractive
thing we've ever heard. It becomes our heart's comfort
and the cleansing of our conscience and the way we come to God. And
everything that God wants, we come to Him through our mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only that, but when we
realize these things by faith, what does it make us do? Two
things. It causes us to bear our hearts before God so that
we're not hiding like Adam or like a hypocrite. We can admit
what we are. Yes, my heart is corrupt, but
God has overcome. In Christ, He has overcome my
sin. Now grace reigns and I can believe the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the second thing it does is it causes us to love the Lord
Jesus Christ out of a true heart. Because He's done everything
for us. Why would we stay away from Him? We can come to Him,
and we can look to Him, and we can rejoice in Him. And even
though He reveals to us that in our nature, our very core
of our being, what we are, we're opposed to God, yet we can say
in His Word, The Lord Jesus Christ has stood in my place and acted
on my behalf and answered God. Everything I need is found in
my mediator and He makes known God to me. And He brings me to
God and fulfills His will and His heart's desire. What a Savior. What a Savior. God looks at His
Son and He's pleased with His Son. And we look at Him and He's
precious to us. And faith does that. And that
work is the work of God in our heart. So yes, we have this warfare
within. And yes, we're corrupt. And yes,
we hate what we do. And we hate what we are in our
corrupt self. But also, God has given us something
else. This new nature that looks to Christ. And we say, Lord,
You're everything to me. You're my precious, ruling, reigning
Savior. And we confess it with our mouth.
Out of the abundance of the heart, our mouth speaks. What a man
thinks in his heart, that's what he is. We think, Christ is everything. And for us, Christ is everything.
Let's pray.