This morning is taken from Mark
chapter 7 verses 14 through 23. As this
chapter began, Christ was called into question as being a a true Jew, a Jew in fellowship
with other Jews. And he was being called in question
as a minister and as an example to the people. And he was called
into question about having a right relationship with God. Now this shows you something
of the depravity of man who's looking at the Son of God, this
is God manifest in the flesh, and accuse him of not being in
fellowship with God. And all of this because some
of the disciples had eaten with unwashing hands. And then our Lord proceeded after
their accusations to expose them or the hypocrites that they were. False prophets. And as men who
wrested the scriptures to their own, to suit their own ideas
and their own concepts and to their own damnation. And so that begins now with verse
14. This all took place in these
first several verses. And when he 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. When they'd entered into the
house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning that parable. Now that parable's pretty clear. That parable is pretty precise. I mean, a child can understand
that. It's nothing from without a man that entering into him
can defile him, but that which is in him, that's what defiles
him. But they still didn't understand. And this is where all natural
men make the mistake. They try to make the things that
they read in the Word of God fit their old traditional ideas
and concepts of God. And they're never gonna fit.
They're never gonna fit. Instead of just looking at the
Word of God and taking God at His Word, they don't do that.
They take what they hear and what they read and they try to
make it fit what they think they know. And our Lord said to them in
verse 18, Mark 7, verse 18, Are you so without understanding
also? Do you not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into a man, it cannot defile him?
You don't understand those things? Because it entereth not into
his heart, but into his belly, and it goeth out into the draught,
purging all meats. And he said, that which cometh
out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out
of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. Now listen, all, all, A-double-L,
all these things come from within and defile the man. I titled the lesson this morning
Outside In, and inside out, because that's what he's talking about
here. Everything believed, taught, and practiced in false religion
operates on the assumption that man is not totally depraved. He still has a spark in him. If you can blow on it, you can
get the fire going. He still has a little bit of a little bit of life in him.
He's fixable. He's fixable. All false religion operates on
that. They operate on that. Now they might vary in their
beliefs of the percentage of his sinfulness, but they all believe that whatever's
wrong with him can be fixed. It can be fixed. Years ago, there
was a challenge made to debate some foundation principles that
were being taught, and these things had come to a head between
these two groups or two denominations, and it never really came to pass.
The debate never really came to pass because they couldn't
get the one side to agree to agree to use the word of God
only as the basis of their arguments. So the opposing side never would
come to the debate. But in the process, the side
which I'll call true believers came up with five basic principles
that sum up the faith of God's elect. And the first of these
principles is total depravity. Total depravity. Man is by nature, the scripture
said, a child of wrath, even as others. Now this is the believer
that he's talking about here, that he quickened. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Well, he goes on to explain what
that death in sin is. You walked according to the course
of this world. You walked according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit who now worketh in the
children of disobedience. Everything you did, you did out
of the lust of this heart. Everything you did was polluted
by this heart. And you were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. That's man's condition, he's
depraved. But false religion won't bow
to the testimony of God, but it looks elsewhere for its answers.
It looks within. It looks about. He looks around
him and he sees some men who seem to be good parents, good people in the community,
outstanding people, good workers, good businessmen, and then he
sees some who are religious and they live
very moral lives, very clean lives. They don't steal, they
don't frequent the bars. And then he sees others who lie
and cheat and blaspheme God, who are just obviously wicked. He sees man as being exposed
to sin, and sometimes drawn into sin, but he don't see man as
sin. We're the polluter. Nothing out here is polluting.
It's in here. This is the pollution. This is
where sin lives. This is where sin reigns. Natural men see Man is born in
innocence and then later defiled by the world and things of the
work. I remember watching some movies
about prohibition and all the battles that took place and the
more popular of the preachers in that day would use the term
demon alcohol. Demon alcohol there are no demons
and alcohol the demons in here That's where it is it's in here.
We walk according to the Spirit who now worketh in the children
of disobedience here's where sin reigns in here We'll ruin
everything we'll pollute everything with alcohol if it's used properly
is a good thing But we pollute it Drugs is a good thing when
used properly. But what happened to drugs? The
polluter got a hold of them. That's exactly right. Religion's
a good thing, but not when an old polluter gets a hold of it.
He turns it into false religion. These things, drugs and alcohol,
these things are chemicals and they'll make you sick, they might
even kill you. But they can't defile you. You're
already defiled. You know, certain religions abstain
from eating certain meats, certain drinks, But the same thing's
true, they don't defile you. They make you sick, they make
you miserable. Actually, they can ruin your
life, but they can't defile you, because they don't enter into
your heart. Everything you put into your
mouth goes into your stomach and is cast out into the draw. I want you to hear the word of
God again. There is nothing, nothing from without a man that
entering into him can defile him. These are the words of Christ.
This is what Christ is telling these Pharisees. Nothing. Why? Because it don't enter into
his heart. It don't enter into his heart. In Romans 5.12, it says, as by
one man, sin entered into the world and death, physical death was some of the effects of that,
but that's not the death that he's talking about here. He's
talking about spiritual death, spiritual death. Sin entered
into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. Man's defilement comes forth
from within. Not from the outside in, but
from the inside out. Verse 21 of our text says, for
from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts.
Where do they come from? Come from in here. and adulteries, fornications,
all these evil things come forth from within and defile the man. Now, don't you listen to me for
a minute. If this is true, and there can
be no doubt that it is, these are the words of Christ himself. If this is true, then there's
nothing you can do to save yourself. Absolutely nothing you can do
to save yourself. Or change this evil heart. Nothing you can do. Nothing you
can do. Paul said in Romans 7, he describes
this very condition and he said, the things that I would, I do
not. The things that I would not,
that's what I do. So that when I would do good,
here's the law, evil is present in me. Wickedness is present
in me. I can't do what I wanna do. Why? Because of this defiled heart. It won't let me. There's nothing
you can do to save yourself or undefile yourself or change your
nature. We're born sinners and we die
sinners. unless God in his sovereign grace
is pleased to intervene. Only God can do something about
this heart. Only he can. You can't. In Jeremiah
13 and verse 23, the question is asked, can an Ethiopian change
the color of his skin? Can a leopard change his spots? Can he just Make up his mind
one day, why? I don't want to be spotted anymore.
So he just gets rid of his spot. No. No, he's born with it. Same thing with the Ethiopian
and the color of his skin. He can't change it. Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. Can you just suddenly make up
your mind, I'm not going to sin anymore, and not sin? No. Why? because it's your nature.
It's your nature. And this is what the Lord's telling
them. And I honestly believe this. I've thought about this
a lot. Satan gets the blame for all
kinds of things that he has nothing to do with. It's not Satan that
causes men to commit adultery. But that's what religion says,
isn't it? It's not Satan that arouses his
wicked thoughts. It's not Satan that causes men
to covet, nor to make him proud or foolish. All these things
our Lord said come from out of the heart of man, and that's
what defiles him. So where does Satan fit into
all this? He knows how to take that wicked
nature and twist it and turn it and deceive you into believing
that you can save yourself. And that's exactly what he does. What Satan does is to use man's
depravity to deceive him. He causes men to commit spiritual
adultery, to manifest spiritual foolishness. He takes men's obvious shortcomings
and he deceives them into believing he can fix what's broken. He
can clean up what's been polluted. He can undo what's already been
done. But you can't fix a depraved
nature. A depraved nature will follow you to your grave. He
said, the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that
you cannot do the things that you would. That is, perfectly. I would love God with all my
heart, soul, mind, and strength, but my nature won't allow it.
It won't allow it. I'd walk a perfect walk. My nature
won't let me. I think nothing but pure thoughts,
but my nature won't let me. And there's a battle in a believer. There's a battle that goes on
back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Finally in Romans 7, having set
this nature apart in a light that we could all see it, Paul
cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
this body of death? And he said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, that is
the mind of faith that looks to Christ, the mind of Christ,
he said, I serve the law of God. I look at that law and I see
it perfectly honored and exalted in Christ. And it was done for me. I didn't do a thing. He did it
all. But when I see that law, I see
myself in Christ having honored that law, satisfied that law,
and exalted that law as high as it could be exalted. Now I can walk that way, I can
walk with the mind of Christ seeing these things already done.
I can see the law of God being satisfied as to the judgment
of my sin because I died with Him, was buried with Him. And then God justified me when
He raised Him from the dead and seated us both at His right hand. That's what it says in Ephesians
2. So nature never changes. I've
heard people talk about a progressive sanctification. I don't know
what in the world they're talking about. My own nature hasn't got
a bit better, not one whit better. It never changes, it never gives
in, it never lies silent, it just continues on and on and
on to lust and covet and pollute till we die. But when God intervenes,
he gives the sinner a new nature. What do you mean a new nature?
Well, we're born of God. We're born of God. We're no longer
shut up to that depraved heart and mind. He gives us a new heart. A new heart. We're born of God. The gospel seed has been planted
within and a new creature's been born. This new man is spirit. He can't
be seen, he can't be touched, but the evidence that he's there
is clearly manifested in that man who's been born of God. Paul
describes it over in 1 Thessalonians 1.5 as the gospel coming in power
and in the Holy Ghost. This man believes what nobody
else in this world believes. Why? How can he believe these
things when everybody else, you can't even get a sentence out
before they're turning thumbs down on you. Can't even get a
sentence out. They got no basis for their argument,
but they just shut you down. So why does this guy believe
what nobody else will? Because he's born of God. Isn't that what our Lord told
those folks? He said, he that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. He told his disciples on another
occasion, talking about the same subject, he said, blessed are
your ears, for they hear, and your eyes, for they see. And that's really the greatest
evidence of the new birth is faith in Christ. That's it. We're looking to speak in tongues.
We're looking for this and looking for that. That's not how it's
evidenced. The evidence of the new birth
is faith in Christ. You see Him. You see His glory.
You bow to Him. You submit to Him. You love Him.
You rest in Him. You worship him. Natural man
can't do any of those things. He said in Ephesians 2, by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, and these good works is faith,
repentance, love, joy, peace. These are the good works. He gives us a new nature and
we are born of God. It says in John 1, he came unto
his own and his own received him not. He came unto the world
and the world was made by him and the world wouldn't have it. But some did. Some did. And here's what he says about
the some, even to them who believe on his name. Here's what he says
about the some who were born. Oh, that's why. That's why they
received him. They were born. Not of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Of God. He hears and it's not just words. Not just words. All of a sudden he becomes active
in his service to God. He moves them. Moves them from
their old idolatry to serve the true and living God. That man
who's born of God actually hears the gospel and understands what
it says. He perceives the mysteries hidden
from the world and rests in Christ. And I honestly believe the new
birth is one of the most misunderstood of all the doctrines in the Word
of God. The new birth. And I don't have any simple explanation
for it except to say that it functions a whole lot like the
old nature except in reverse. It's as natural for you to lie,
huh, isn't it? I'm telling you, you get put
on the spot, you just lie. It just comes out. I'm gonna have to fudge on that
or else I'm gonna have to pay taxes. Just as natural as anything,
isn't it? Well, same thing for the believer.
It's just as natural for him to believe just as natural for
him to love? Why? Because he has a new nature. That's right. It's actually logical for him
to believe. Now, all of a sudden, there was
a time when he said, well, that can't be right. That don't seem
right. Now, all of a sudden, he's saying,
this is right and that ain't. He understands what he hears. Oh me. The most marked evidence
of the new birth is Christ in you. Christ, he just keeps cutting
off everything. I told you this, I'm out of time,
but I told you this illustration, something that Brother Barnard
used to tell all the time. He said he was traveling up in
West Virginia one time and he pulled in for some gas and while
the guy was filling up his tank, he went inside and they had these
old wooden carved things sitting around on the shelf everywhere.
And up here was a hound dog. I mean, it was an old blood hound.
And that thing was the exact image of a hound dog. And when the guy pumped the gas
and come back in, he said, can I ask you, he said, who carved
that? Oh, yeah, he said, old Slim out
there on the front porch. You seen him out there waiting?
He carved that. And he said, I want it. So he
bought it, and he took it out there. And he said, Slim, and
introduced himself, he said, how in the world can you take
that piece of wood and come up with this? And old Slim thought
about it a minute, and he said, I just cut off everything that's
not a hound dog. Now that's what is going on in
the believer. He cuts off everything that's
not Christ. Everything that's not Christ,
he takes it away, takes it away, takes it away. Until finally
we can say Christ is all and Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. All right, thank you.