Mark 7. I have this titled, The Problem
with Religious Inventions. The Problem with Religious Inventions. And we're religious, or we're
a church, so this does apply to us. Be on the guard. Have the Lord keep us on guard.
Matthew 7. I'm going to read the first 13
verses, and I think you'll see what I mean. Mark chapter 7 and
the first 13 verses. Then came together unto Christ
the Pharisees and certain of the scribes which came from Jerusalem.
And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled,
that is to say, with unworshipped hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the
Jews, except they wash their hands often, eat not, holding
the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market,
except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be
which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups and pots,
brazen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes
asked Christ specifically, why walk not your disciples according
to the tradition of the elders and eat bread with unworshipped
hands? Christ answered and said unto
them, well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites. As it is written,
this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is
far from me. How be it in vain do they worship
Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men? For laying
aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men,
as the washing of pots and cups, and many other such like things
ye do." And He said unto them, Full well you reject the commandment
of God, that you may keep your own tradition. For Moses said,
Honor thy father and thy mother, and whosoever curses father or
mother, let him die the death. But you say, If a man shall say
to his father or mother, It is Corbin, That is, I've already
designated what I was going to give to my mom and dad in honoring
them according to the commandment. I'd already made a vow and promised
that to the treasury. Now, doesn't that sound sweet?
Doesn't that sound nice? And so they, for their vow, could
disannul the commandment of God. It is Corbin. That is to say,
it is a gift. whatsoever thou mightest be profited
by Me, he shall be free. And you suffer him no more to
do aught for his father or his mother, making the word of God
of none effect through your tradition which you have delivered, and
many such things like things you do." Now here in the seventh
chapter of Mark, it shows us as a a place of gathering in
the name of Christ, religion, that we should beware of man's
interjections, interjections, that's what they are, into the
truth of God. It doesn't matter what creed,
or what denomination, or what statements of faith, if it originates
with man, it is tainted and will guarantee it will lead us away
from God. These articles, the articles
of faith, doctrinal statements, they have their place, but it's
a very, very small place. And I say that as, I think, the
1689 Confession of Faith. It has a lot of scriptures. And
so for scriptural references, if you want to see anything on
the depravity of man or particular redemption, I think it's good
for that. This is basically a study tool. But to take that and use
those, I don't care what articles of faith, I don't care what denominational
creeds or statements or synods, to displace the Word of God is
not what we are to do. This is the church of the living
God, the ground and pillar of the truth. And three different
times in our passage that we read here in Mark 7, three different
times our Lord levels charges. against the Pharisees and the
scribes. Three different times. And I ask us that we would take
heed thereof and truly ask for grace and protection to avoid
any of these three. These three charges that he levels
at them. The first one is in verse 8.
Laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition
of men. Verse 9. fully reject the commandment
of God that you may keep your own traditions, and verse 13,
making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition.
So here's three charges. It's kind of like in the Scriptures,
the progression of sin. You know, you open your eyes
like David. You open his eyes. He spied that woman. It enters
in. and lusts and everything. These
three things, these three charges, we can look at them as steps.
The first step of religion or pharisaical religion was to add
traditions to the Word of God. Just add them as useful appendices
or postscripts. You know, when you have an article,
and you're reading an article, and it's documentation, they
have a note, and you look down and see where they got it. That's
the first deception of false religion, or a farsaical religion,
is they add their traditions as useful. God's Word is okay,
but adding good deeds or extra niceties, there's no harm done. Everybody wants to be nice. This
is what the Baptists do, this is what the Presbyterians do,
the Methodists, on and on. They all say we have our own
synods, and we have our own church structure, our own church mandates. Personally, years ago, this is
why I wanted to take the word Baptist out of the church's name. Because even Baptist, there's
how many Baptist in there? I don't know if there's any Baptist
anymore. Primitive Baptist. General Baptist, First Baptist,
Second, Third, I've even seen Fourth Baptist, Presbyterian,
Methodist, Wesleyan Methodist, Regular Methodist, New Methodist.
This is what everybody does. I know for a fact that the Methodist,
at least the pastor that I had when I was growing up, they were
part of the Synod, And they would get their messages from the home
office. This is what you preach. Okay. The second level charged by our
Lord Jesus Christ, the second charge against false religion
is to now place all these additions on the same level with God's
Word, Law or Gospel. Put them on the same level. Before
they just kind of added them. Now they're on the same level.
But I say, personally, no man can serve two masters. You'll
bow to one and despise the other, is what the Scripture says. And
that's what we're looking at. This action or command sounds
good to me, and it's really not causing any trouble. We're bringing
the Baptist statement of faith up with the Word of God. It sounds
okay. But I say, in reality, it's two
different masters. But the third one, and here's
what always happens, you've got them starting out, postscripts,
footnotes, and then they become elevated, and then lastly, the
worst charge of false, corrupt religion. Now, they will honor
their ceremonies and traditions above, above the Scriptures,
and thereby degrading the Word of God. I can tell you churches
that I've been to that didn't preach the Gospel, people would
never bring their Bible. They would just have in the book,
in the hymn book, they'd have responsive readings, and nobody
brought a Bible. Why? Because their traditions
and their ceremonies, they're saying the same thing, and actually
we prefer to. Who wants to look religious and
bring a Bible. So we get all sorts of covers
and Bible carriers and different things so nobody can really tell
where we're going. This is the way of all false
religion and this is the effect of false teachers and teaching
in most of today's religion. This is how our Lord found the
place where religion was king in the whole world, Jerusalem.
This is how He found religion in His day. That's exactly how
I found it in Jerusalem. Traditions, creeds, bylaws are
everything and God's Word is relegated to the background if
it is ever even declared at all. These supposed good and proper
teachings of men actually make the Word of God ineffective,
blunting the very edge of gospel truth. Perhaps they thought No
evil or no error or no harm would come, but come it does, no matter
how much zeal they show forth. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Well,
they're zealous over there in that church, so they've got to
be doing something right. You can't question their motives. You can't question their zeal.
Well, Paul did. In Romans chapter 10, let's start
in verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. So what
is he saying? That they might be saved. They
are not saved. They don't know the truth. Why? I bear them record. And he can bear record because
he came out of that stuff. As you can bear record that you
came out of that stuff for the most part. I can. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. They got the Holy Spirit. Not
according to knowledge. Why? For they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and what is one of the first things, or
what is one of the things of the Gospel? It establishes the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. For they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, here's what they do, they go on about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. So these ceremonies, they think
they have a righteousness, but it's not a righteousness of God.
Not at all. Not at all. Eventually, these
zealots will defend their creeds and traditions over and against
the very truth of Scripture. And if you don't think this is
true, you go to a legalistic reform or whatever, they may
have some truth. But if you don't do, if you don't
wear what they say, and they may not say it, but it's implied,
next thing you know, their tradition becomes law. And if you don't
think like they think, if you don't talk like they talk, if
you don't act like they act, it becomes law. And that's tradition. It's tradition. Mr. J.C. Ryle said, traditions first
are called useful then they become necessary. Necessary. And all I have to do is tell
you, if you know anything about church history, look back at
church history, and you see this. It's everywhere. So, I'm looking
at this, and there's more here. Why does this happen? Why does
this go on? Well, we answered it this morning
in Bible class. But why does this happen? Why
this creeps into the church? And I ask that we must petition
our great God for continued help against this disease. Why? Well, humanly speaking,
the answer is in the Scriptures. The answer is in verse 6. But
humanly speaking, when a degree in theology is more important
than a calling, Education. When form is accepted before
conversion. Here's the problem, verse 6.
Verse 6, Christ answered and said unto them, Well hath Isaiah
prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people
honours me with their lips, but their heart. That's the problem. Their heart is far from me. That's why Christ said you got
a blind leading the blind, and they're going to go right into
a ditch. And church after church after church, in this community,
in this area, in this state, the people, they're stuck in
a ditch. They're stuck in a ditch. It's like I said, that illustration
that Henry gave. The kitchen's flooded. The sink's wide open and the
drain's clogged. And religion has got people,
preachers and pastors and elders and deacons and ministers of
music and whatever name they can come up with, they got mops
and they're mopping up the kitchen floor. The gospel turns the sink
off and unplugs the drain. Not me, God the Holy Spirit does,
but He uses His truth, not tradition. So that's my concern. The heart is far from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Here then is the issue with false
religion. It's the reason behind strife and deceit and hatred
and malice or whatever ails the human race. The heart, ever since
the fall in the garden, men, women, boys and girls have a
heart problem. which is what we call, what the
scripture says, sin is exceeding sinful. That's the problem. Ruined by the fall. Henry made
a comment, he says, if you don't have it right on the fall, you
don't have it right at all. If you don't see how exceeding
sinful we are. The heart is the principal matter
in all relationships. You think about this. God and
us. We love Him because He first
loved us. Man, husbands, wives, sons, and
daughters. There's no relationship, true
relationship, that doesn't start from the heart. So, look with
me at this book, in this book, We've got seven different areas. And see if the heart is not the
issue here. Christ says that they honor Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me. And we have to ask God to be
gracious to us, to show us that we're just not coming in here
playing games. But we're coming in here to honor, to hear the
hymns of grace of God, to hear the Scriptures read. And the
Scriptures expounded. And may it be according to the
grace of God. First, Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. It's got to start
here. Ezekiel 36. And verse 26. If you want to read up before
this, there's a bunch of I's. I will, I will cause, I will
do this. That I is God the Father, God
the Spirit, and the Son of God. It's I, it's not us. So I's always
starts with Him. Then He says in verse 26, A new
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and will give you a heart of flesh. and I will put My Spirit
within you, and look at this, and cause you to walk in My statutes,
and you shall keep My judgments and do them." We don't need the
Ten Commandments posted up here, and you keep looking at those,
and you go, oh, you guys are messing up the third one. No,
we don't need to do that. Yes, we're sinners. And that's
why we constantly gather together. We gather together because we
enjoy The fellowship, we enjoy hearing the Word, we love our
God, and we hopefully love one another, and it's a family, it's
growing, it's ever-changing, and we're not all the same personalities.
So all these things and side notes aside, the main cause for
us loving and worshiping Him in spirit and truth is because
He's put that new heart. It's the heart. That's kind of
what we're going to dwell on these next verses. The heart.
We must have a new heart first off. And this can be only given
by God through Christ and enabled by the Holy Spirit. Secondly,
we must bring to God the only acceptable sacrifice. Psalms
51. Psalms 51. He said, your heart, you honor
me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. God must have
and will have the heart. Psalms 51 and verse 17, the sacrifices
of God, notice that's of God, are a broken spirit, a broken
and contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not despise. How do you come to God? Ask Him
to humble you. Ask Him to break you and draw
you. So, first off, we have to have
a new heart. Secondly, what's the only acceptable sacrifice? The sacrifices of God, of shows
origin, comes from God. We can't even claim a broken
spirit. We can't even claim a broken contrite heart. He's put the
heart of flesh in and He'll break it and we'll be humbled. So,
of God, by God, because of God, through God or through Christ.
Thirdly, what is true conversion? What is true conversion? Romans
chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. What is the
true conversion? What does that have to deal with?
Romans chapter 2 verse 29. But He is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision that is of the heart, in the Spirit,
and not in the letter, whose praise is of men, is praise not
of men, but of God." That's true conversion. What is true circumcision
or true conversion? It's the heart. Now he says,
you don't have to turn here, but he says the same thing in Deuteronomy
chapter 30. Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse
6, Deuteronomy 30 and verse 6, "...and the Lord thy God will
circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the
Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that we
may live." He does it. He circumcises the heart. How
does He do this? By His truth. Through the preaching
of the Word. Through the speaking of the Word. Through the verbalizing
of the Word. to speak the truth to your neighbor, to your friends,
whatever. That is true circumcision. It's of the heart. Fourthly,
what does God require but genuine obedience? Romans chapter 6.
Just over a couple pages. Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. What does God
require but genuine obedience? Romans 6, verse 17, But God be
thanked that ye were the servants of sin, which you have obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. You
heard it. It was delivered to you. And
that's what Bruce was saying. That's the job or the responsibility
or the labor of the elders of the church. But we're all kings
and priests. God must have the heart. That's
what He requires is genuine obedience. You have obeyed from the heart. Any other obedience is lip service. What is true saving faith? Romans
chapter 10, a few pages over. What is true saving faith? Romans
chapter 10 and verse 9. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I'm
not going to put any conditions on that. I can't read anybody's
heart. I can't see anybody's heart.
But God knows it's up to God, and I'm thankful. I leave it
there. From, believe in thine heart. and it's going to come out of
your mouth. So that's true saving faith. Where does Christ dwell
among us who believe? Ephesians chapter 3. Where does Christ dwell among
us who believe? Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 17. Paul's prayer to the
Ephesians is that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. that ye be rooted and grounded
in love, that Christ may dwell in your hearts." Not just in
the lips. Not just on Sunday. Not to be
seen of men. That was the problem the Pharisees
had. They were doing things, looking over their shoulder,
make sure Bobby's watching them. See that I'm a good boy. It's
the heart. It's the heart. And lastly, where
does wisdom cry? What does wisdom cry to sinners? Proverbs 23. Wisdom is Christ. We've seen this several Sundays
ago. What does wisdom cry? Proverbs 23 and verse 26. My son, my daughter, my neighbor,
my husband, my wife, my father, my mom, give me thine heart and
let thine eyes observe my ways. That's what wisdom's cry is.
Psalms 23 and 26. Verse 26, give me thine heart. If God, and you know as well
as I do, human nature fairly well, we know it the best we
can through the truth, but you know the heart, the soul, that's
man. That's why Christ said, it's
not what goes in that defiles. Isn't that what he said? He just
comes in and goes out. That's not the issue. The washing
of hands, and Melinda had done some Jewish traditions, reading,
traditional reading in Jewish, all the laws and stuff. And as
I was looking at this, I mean, John Gill goes, he goes way,
way into it. If you didn't wash up to your
elbows, and you had to do it a certain way, and if you didn't
do this, and if you didn't do that, and the cups were the same
way, That's what wisdom cries for,
is the heart. That's it. So public worship,
private worship, private devotions, good works, good deeds, they're
all in vain in God's eyes unless God has our hearts. And you can
hide it from me, I can hide it from you, I can always put my
best foot forward in front of you, but God sees the heart. That's what Samuel found out
when he was trying to find out who the Lord had chosen. He thought
he chose all these strapping young men. No, he's just this
ruddy guy keeping sheep. And God told Samuel, I don't
look on the outward appearance like you do. I look on the heart.
So it's like every time I get up here, and every time I read,
and every time I ask God to give me grace, I'm not even in the
picture. I'm just a vessel speaking. And
it's got to all be of God's grace. Oh, but you should be able...
No. And I'm so thankful that I preach the Word, I sow it,
and I set back. That's what we do. And we ask
God to give the increase. So all these things that we do,
if He doesn't have our heart, it's vain. But He will have a
heart that He has smitten with His love, that He has made contrite
because of our sin, a heart full of joy for His eternal sovereign
grace, a heart that is in holy awe and reverence because God
has chosen and called and redeemed by blood the blood of His only
begotten Son. So I say education, get it, learning,
get it, money, position, maybe, but any of these things, education,
learning, money, position in life, it does not matter in the
eyes of God if you don't know Him, if you don't trust Him,
if you don't bow to Him. The question has always been
and always will be to you and to me, whether you turn to Deuteronomy,
whether you turn to Judges or Numbers, Old or New Testament,
what think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? Do we love Him? Do I love Him? Do we know Him? And again, we're all in different
stages. So for me to expect certain things,
I have to be careful. But I know if God, like us in
Bible class, we commend our souls to Him in well-doing. And we
commend each other's souls. It doesn't mean I can't call
you or you can't call me and see how we're doing, how we get
together and different things like that for time of fellowship.
He is God. I pray He is our God. and that
we love Him with our whole heart. There's nothing else. It really
doesn't matter. I mean, a lot of inventions have
come down the pike that have made our life a lot easier. And
I'm thankful. But in the end, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Do we know
Christ? Has He opened our hearts and
given us a heart of flesh? If He has, it's circumcised,
we'll follow Him, we'll worship Him, we'll adore Him, It will
think, as Tim James says, it's the best thing since sliced bread.
May the Lord honor His Word. Nathan, would you close this
please?