I'm going to be going to Florida
tomorrow to be with Lynn and Aubrey and I'll be there week
and looking forward to it. Aaron is going to preach Sunday
and Frank Tate. Let's read verses 20 through
23 once again. As I read this passage of scripture,
let me give the title of this message. Am I really that bad? Now, see if this is your heart
as the Lord describes this. Verse 20, and he said, that which
cometh out of the man That defileth a 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,
foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and they defile the man. Am I really that bad? Short answer,
yes. Yes. This describes my heart. This describes your heart. This
describes the heart of every natural man. We're born into
this world with hearts just like this. Now, the Lord Jesus had
been criticized for the Pharisees for not following the tradition
of the elders and eating with unwashing hands. You see, they
were trying to keep bad things from getting in them. That's
the reasoning. We need to keep this bad stuff
out of us, and that is what will make us holy. This was not just
about hygiene. This was about their ideas of
holiness. We need to keep these things
from entering in to us. Now, the Lord exposed their hypocrisy. We considered that last week. But then he says, after dealing
with these people, and when he had called all the people unto
him, he said unto them, hearken unto me, every one of you, and
understand. Powerful statement, isn't it?
I hope the Lord says that to me. Hearken to me. Listen to
what I'm saying and understand. He didn't want the people to
be swallowed up by this error of the Pharisees. And then he
says in verse 15, there is nothing from within
or from without a man that entering into him can defile him. But
the things which come out of him, those are the things that
defile a man. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear." Now this is a complete negation of what the Pharisees
believed. They had a touch not, taste not,
handle not religion. Turn to Colossians 2 for a moment. Colossians chapter 2 verse 20. Wherefore, if you be dead with
Christ from the rudiments, the principles, the ABCs of the world,
why as though living in this world are you subject to ordinances,
religious rules, touch not, taste not, handle not. And don't miss
this next statement, which all are to perish with the using. If that's my religion, I'm going
to perish with that. That's how serious this thing
is. after the commandments and doctrines
of men. And remember, that's what the
Lord was charging these Pharisees at this time, following the commandments
and doctrines of men. We saw that last week. Which
things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship, your
power over your own will, your humility, a voluntary humility,
neglecting of the body, asceticism, but not any honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. Now, it's not what goes in that
defiles a man. Now, if you feel that you're
better off physically by not, say, touching tobacco or not
touching alcohol, good. Good. There's nothing wrong with
that if that's what you feel like you should do. But don't
dare think that that makes God pleased with you. It doesn't
make God pleased with you at all. This whole idea of touch
not, taste not, handle not is the religion of the natural man.
And then he makes this statement in verse 16 of Mark chapter seven. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. And you know what my response
to that is? Lord, give me ears to hear. I can't hear unless you give
me ears to hear. You know, not everybody has ears
to hear. As a matter of fact, most people don't have ears to
hear. They can't discern. They can't tell the difference.
They can't see. If any man has ears to hear, faith cometh by
hearing. And, you know, I fear this thing
of being dull in hearing. That's what the writer to the
Hebrews said to the Hebrews. You become dull of hearing. I
fear that. I don't want to be dull of hearing.
I want to be swift to hear. slow to speak, slow to wrath,
slow to pop off in an objection to what is being said from the
word of God. Let every man be swift to hear.
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. What a blessing
it is to have ears to hear. Now let's look for a moment in
Matthew's account, Matthew 15 of this same thing. Verse 10, then he called the
multitudes and said unto them, hear and understand, not that
which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh
out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples
and said unto him, knowest thou not that the Pharisees were offended
after they heard that saying? I suppose they were. And I suppose
the Lord meant for them to be offended. But he answered and
said, every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall
be rooted up. Let them alone. Lord, don't leave me alone. When
I read passages like that, and I was thinking of the Lord saying
that, leave them alone. Lord, don't leave me alone. Have
mercy on me. Let them alone. They be blind,
leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both
shall fall into the ditch. Now that's what our Lord said
with regard to these people. Verse 15, then answered Peter
and said, declare unto us this parable. Now let's go back to
Mark. Verse 17, and when he was entered
into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning
this parable. Matthew tells us Peter did. I
think Peter was acting as a spokesman for all the disciples. And here
we see the dullness of the disciples. What are you talking about? We
don't understand that. Explain that parable to us. We don't
have a clue as to what you meant. Disciples can be dull. Mark points that out more than
the other writers. Look at verse 18. And he saith unto
them, Are you so without understanding also? Do you not perceive that
whatsoever things from without entereth into the man, it cannot
defile him? Because it enters not into his
heart, but into his belly. And it goes out in the sewer,
purging all meats. It's not what goes in you that
defiles you, it's what comes out. What goes in you cannot
possibly defile you. Now look back in Mark 6, chapter
51. And he went up unto them into the
ship, and the wind ceased, and they were sore amazed in themselves
beyond measure, and wondered, For they considered not the miracle
of the loaves, for their heart was heartened. Look in chapter 8, verse 1. In those days, the multitude,
being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples
unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude,
because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing
to eat. And if I send them away fasting to their own house, they'll
faint by the way, for divers of them have come from far. And
his disciples answered him. Now remember, they had already
witnessed the feeding of the 5,000 just a few days before. And his disciples, we're talking
about Peter and John, James and Andrew, his disciples answered
him, from whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in
the wilderness? They had actually forgotten that that took place. You say, how could that be? It
can be. How many times have you forgot
the gospel? Look in verse 14 of this same chapter. Now his disciples had forgotten
to take bread, neither had they any in the ship with them more
than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, take heed, beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And
they reasoned among themselves, saying, well, it's because we
brought no bread. And when Jesus knew it, he saith
unto them, why reason ye, because you have no bread? Perceive ye
not, neither understand, have your hearts yet hardened? Having
eyes, see you not? Having ears, hear you not? Do
you not remember? When I break the five loaves
among you, among 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments took
ye up? And they said unto him, 12. And when the seven among
4,000, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? And
they said, seven. And he said, how is it that you do not understand? And I wonder how much he would
say that to me. How is it? verses 31 of this
same chapter. And he began to teach them that
the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the
elders of the chief priests and the scribes and be killed after
three days rise again. And he spake that saying openly
and Peter took him and began to rebuke him. And when he turned about and
looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter saying, get thee behind
me. Satan. For thou savors not the
things that be of God, but the things of men. Look in chapter
nine, verse 18. The man comes Verse 17, and one of the multitude
answered and said, Master, I brought unto thee my son, which hath
a dumb spirit. And whethersoever he taketh him,
he teareth him, and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth and
pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answered
him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me. Isn't that almost
shocking how unbelieving and hard-hearted the disciples could
become? So like I said, I hope the Lord
always gives me ears to hear. Now let's go back to our text
in Mark chapter seven. Verse 18, and he saith unto them,
are you so without understanding? Do you not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into the man, it can't defile him,
because it enters not into his heart, but into the belly. It goes out in the sewer, purging
all meats. And he said, that which comes
out of the man, that defileth the man. Now, here's a very important
principle for me and you to understand. If something from without could
defile me, that means I'm not defiled. And I got defiled. And that's a complete denial
of human sinfulness and a wicked heart. If something coming out
that I take into my body defiles me, that means I wasn't defiled
in the first place and became defiled because of that. And
that's a complete denial and misunderstanding of what sin
is in the first place. Now verse 20, and he said, that
which cometh out of the man, that defiles the man for from
within, out of the heart of men. Proceed. Flows out of is what the word
means. Flows out of. or from within, out of the heart
of men proceed. And then he goes on to name these
13 different sins. Now here is the problem. It's
not what goes in me that defiles me. It's what comes out of me. What comes from my heart. Now you can put a man in an environment
that has nothing by way of temptation. The only book he has to read
is the Bible. He's around no evil influences. He's in perfect circumstances. And you know how much good that'll
do him? None. Absolutely none. He'll be just
as bad, just as evil, just as defiled, with nothing but perfect circumstances. Those will not fix his problems.
His problems come from within. Now, the greatest problem you
and I have is our heart. What is meant by the heart? We
hear things like trust your heart, follow your heart, do what your
heart tells you to do. I've heard things like that all
my life. Well, Proverbs 28, 26 says he that trusts his heart
is a fool. What is the heart? Well, the
heart is who you really are. That's the best way I know how
to describe it. It's who you really are. I love what Henry
Mahan once said. He said, we're all three different
people. We're the people others think we are, we're the people
we think we are, and we're the people God knows we are. The
heart is who I really am. am. It's my mind, my intellect. These things can't be separated.
It's my understanding. It's my affections. It's what
I love. It's what I desire. It's my will. It's what I want. The heart. Now, the first time the word
heart is mentioned in the scripture, is found in Genesis chapter six,
verse five. And the whole Bible is understood
in some respects through this lens. Listen, you hear me quote
it all the time. Genesis chapter six, verse five.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And that every imagination, every
imagination, of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now that's God's testimony. And
if you don't think that's true about you, it's because your
wicked hearts deceived you. That's the only reason you wouldn't
believe that is your heart's deceived you. We all have an
amazing way of vindicating and justifying ourselves in whatever
we're doing. But this is God's testimony of
the heart. And He's not even talking about
the actions right now. He's just talking about the thoughts that
come out of the heart. They're only evil non-stop. Am I really that bad? Yes. Jeremiah said, in Jeremiah chapter
17, verse nine, the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Let me tell
you one thing you don't know is you don't know your heart.
You know a little bit about it, but not much. Not really. And you don't wanna know. You
don't wanna know. I mean, the only one who really
sees the heart as it is is the Lord himself. Now, am I really that bad? Yes, I am. You know what would
happen to me if God left me to myself? My heart would harden
just like Pharaoh's. I would become utterly hard to
the gospel. I would be utterly hard to all
things. That's all God's got to do, to harden somebody's heart,
to leave them alone. He doesn't have to do anything to you. All
he has to do is withhold his influences from you or me and
we'll become as hard as Pharaoh himself. Now, if you were going to give
a list of the 13 biggest sins, what would you put first? Well,
I know what the Lord puts first, evil thoughts. And every sin comes out of these
evil thoughts. Let's look at this list he gives. For from within, out of the heart
of men, proceed, gush forth evil thoughts, adulteries, No respect for the
marriage covenant, both physically and the covenant of grace. The Lord calls those who don't
believe adulterers and adulteresses quite often in the Old Testament.
And going, breaking the covenant of grace, you know, in what they
were doing. And then he speaks of fornication. All forms of sexual sin, they
come out of the heart. I mean, it just, what's the first
thing that's pointed out about Adam? After he fell, he knew
he was naked. Now he was naked before. They
weren't shamed. They had no issues. But once
the fall takes place, look what takes place. Let's go on reading. Murders. Well, I've never murdered anybody.
Yeah, you have. A whole lot of times. A whole lot of times. Have you ever murdered anyone's
character, even by your silence and innuendo? Sure you have.
I know I have. What a horrible thing. Thefts. I bet there are people
in here who have never shoplifted anything ever. I would say that. But have you robbed God of glory?
Have you tried to take credit to something that you didn't
do? All men are thieves. Covetousness, desiring what God
hadn't given you, wickedness, you know, that has
something to do with evil imaginations, actually planning to commit sin,
the plans, Rolling it over in your mind. Everybody in here
knows what that is. Deceit. Craft, guile, the use of manipulation
to get what you want. An evil eye. Being jealous of somebody. Being
envious, well, when you see that rise up in your heart, it lets
you know how base you really are. To be jealous at the blessing
and prosperity of somebody else, to think it ought to be coming
your way. Lasciviousness, unbridled lust
and sensuality, blasphemy, speaking ill of men and God, pride, arrogance,
haughtiness. Foolishness, recklessness, senselessness,
thoughtlessness, stupidity really is what that is, and in an evil
form, not lack of IQ, just being stupid. All these evil things come from
within. Every one of these things flows
naturally from my heart. If somebody says, I'm not like
that, well, you're just deceived, or
you're lying, one of the two. Now, I repeat, am I that bad? Yes. Yes, I am. This is my heart. All these evil things come from
within. Our heart is like a hornet's
nest. Poke it and see what happens. You know a scripture that really
drives this home is Romans chapter two, verse one, where Paul says,
therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, This is a message to man,
me and you. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For you that judge do
the same things that you're judging other people for. Now that's
the testimony of the Word of God. Am I really that bad? Yes. I cannot judge anybody without
it being grotesque hypocrisy for anything. This tells me my
heart is the problem. It can't be reformed. It can't
be improved. I need a new heart. Don't need a changed heart. I
need a new heart. God said a new heart will I give
you. I need a clean heart. I sure
can't come up with a clean heart. But didn't David say, create
in me a clean heart. Oh God. I love the way he used
create. It's a creative act of God. I need a pure heart. Blessed
are the pure in heart. That's the new heart given in
the new birth. That's the heart that does not
sin. I need a broken heart. Because mine is so proud, David
said, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh, God, thou will not
despise. I need a whole heart because
my heart's so half-hearted in everything. I never feel good
about anything in that sense. Oh, I need a whole heart, the
heart that he gives. I need an upright heart. I need
a perfect heart. I need to be born again is what
that means. I need to be born from above.
I need to be given life by God because all that comes out of
this heart is the stuff I just read. That's it, nothing else.
I can't change that. I can't stop it. I need a new
heart. If I die like that with nothing
but that, I'll go to hell. That's what will happen to me.
I'll go to hell. I need him to do something for me. Now, looking
at this state of the heart of every man, woman, boy, and girl
in the world, if this describes you, this is what is called total
Depravity. Now, total depravity, you say,
well, is that term in scriptures? No. No, but neither is sovereignty,
but it's taught constantly. Neither is the word trinity,
but it's taught. Total depravity does not mean
that you obey the impulse of every depraved desire you have.
If everybody did that, we couldn't walk out of our doors without
getting robbed, killed, murdered, whatever. I'm thankful for the
restraining grace of God that keeps that from taking place.
But what it does mean is that every part of you is under the
dominion of sin. Every part of me, by nature,
is under the dominion of sin. You know the idea of free will?
It's ridiculous. It's utterly ridiculous. If you
had a free will, you could quit sinning. Well, I'm gonna choose
to quit sinning. Huh, yeah. The scripture denies
that. Total depravity, total inability. I can't stop this. I can't make
my heart not have these evil thoughts that flow and proceed. I can't stop this. That's an
inability. I have the inability to believe. I have the inability to repent,
to love. I've got to be given this. The
Lord said, no man can come to me except the Father which has
sent me. Draw him. I need him to draw me. I think
that scripture, the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not
subject to the law of God. That's the heart we've been reading
about here in Mark chapter seven. That's the carnal mind. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Am I that bad? Yes. Yes. Now, somebody that is that bad,
let me tell you what they need. First of all, they need God to
freely, sovereignly choose them. Now, if he's got to look for
a reason you to do it, it won't happen. You know that. He's got
to do it simply because he wills to do it. I need God to sovereignly choose
me and determine my salvation. I cannot identify in any way with
somebody who doesn't love election. I love election. I love the God
of election. I love what it says concerning
Him and how He saves. I cannot identify with anybody.
Somebody says, I don't want to hear election. I do. Not only. Do I need God the Father
to choose me and determine my salvation? I need Jesus Christ
the Lord to actually make atonement for my sin and to make it where
there isn't any sin. That's what I need. I need to
be washed completely through to where I have no sin. And that's what the Lord did.
When He said it is finished, all of the sins of all of the
elect were put away. Now once in the end of the world
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And oh, what joy that gives anybody
who's a sinner to think of the Lord actually making atonement,
putting away, purging your sins, making them to not be. I need
that. I need an atonement that atones.
An atonement that is just thrown out there and it's up to you
to accept it or reject it, that won't do anybody any good. There's
no gospel in that. I need an atonement that actually
atones. Whoever the Lord intended to
save, that's who he saved. Somebody that's got a heart like
Mark chapter 7 describes, That horrible heart, all those evil
things just flow naturally out of it. Born that way. I need God the Holy Spirit to
invincibly and irresistibly give me grace that I can't say no
to. that He just gives me life. He
gives me life. He gives me a heart to believe.
He gives me that new heart. A new heart will I give you.
I need grace to be invincible and irresistible that will not
take no for an answer, that conquers me. That's what I need. I mean,
this is not a thing of just arguing for doctrine. This is what I
need. And I know this, I need for Him to preserve me or I will
fall away. I'm sure of that. I'm sure of it, as sure as I'm
standing here. If he doesn't keep me, I'll fall
away. I'll deny I even know him. I'll
go back to the world. There's nothing I wouldn't do
if I'm not preserved and kept by the grace of God. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour,
I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior.
I come to thee. Now, really, The issue is one
of need. Need. David was a very wealthy man
when he said, I'm poor and I'm needy. I don't have anything
to bring to the table. I don't have one thing to recommend
myself to you. I've got nothing. And I have
great needs. I need your grace. I need your
mercy. I need the forgiveness of sins.
I need to be kept. I need to have my sins atoned
for. All of this is need. Need. He healed them that had
need of healing. Now, if you're that bad, Nothing
less than this will do. And you can't hear anything else,
if you're that bad. Now, if you're better than, well, you're not,
I can assure you, but if you think you're better than that
description of the heart, you don't need, you don't need this. I understand, you don't need
this, but man, if this is you, this is what you need. The bottom line is, this is the
only gospel that will save me. Nothing else will do. Matthew
1, 21, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we confess our own sinfulness. We don't even know one-tenth
of it. But Lord, how we thank You for
the revelation of our need of Thy Son, our need of His righteousness,
our need of Him being all in our salvation. What a blessed
thing it is to be poor and needy, to have nowhere to look but Christ.
Lord, shut us up to him by your grace. How we thank you for the salvation
that's in him. In his blessed name we pray,
amen. Drew.