Matthew chapter 5 and then Titus
chapter 1. I want to read these two Scriptures. Matthew
chapter 5 and look in verse 8. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 8.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed
are the pure in heart. Now over in Titus chapter 1 and
verse 14. Titus chapter 1 and verse 14. Not giving heed to Jewish fables
and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Unto the
pure all things are pure. But unto them that are defiled
and unbelieving is nothing pure. but even their mind and conscience
is defiled. They profess that they know God,
but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and
unto every good work reprobate." Now, you'll need your Bibles
tonight, so I hope you can turn to some passages quickly with
me. Here in verse 15, Paul is referring back to verse 14, not
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils that
turn from the truth. Commandments of men, fables that turn from the truth.
And the Jews, as we looked at last week, had all kinds of fables.
Had all kinds of silly sayings and tales that they really turned
into the truth. Tried to turn them into a truth.
And all kinds of traditions and carnal commandments. And they
put a lot of stock in these things. Put a lot of stock in them. And
they thought through their obedience to these commandments that they
could purify themselves. Now I want you to turn to two
or three places with me. I want you to look in Mark chapter
7. I want you to look there because last week we looked at the parallel
passage to this in Matthew 15. And I want you to look in Mark chapter
7. beginning in verse 1. I want you to look at the stock. How much confidence that they
put in ceremonialism. The types of food they eat and
abstain from eating. Washing of pots and pans and
washing of their hands. And look how they confronted
the Lord Jesus and His apostles. Let's just read this together.
Let's begin here in verse 1. There came together unto Him
Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his
disciples eat with defiled, that is to say with unwashing hands,
they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the
Jews, except they washed 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,
and brazen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and the scribes
asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of
the elders, but eat bread with unwashing hands? Isn't that amazing? That's amazing, isn't it? And
the reason they didn't eat with dirty hands was because they
said it defiled us. It defiled us. In verse 6, And he answered
them and said, Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you, hypocrites,
as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship
me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying
aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men,
as the washing of pots and cups, and many other such things ye
do. And he said unto them, Full well
ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own
tradition. For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother,
and whoever curses father and mother, let him die to death.
But ye say, If a man shall say to his father and mother, It
is Corban that is a gift, but whatsoever thou mispropheted
by me, he shall be free. And ye suffer him no longer to
do aught for his father or his mother, making the word of God
of none effect through your traditions, which ye have delivered, and
many such things do ye. And when he had called all the
people together, he said unto them, Hearken unto me, every
one of you, and understand, there is nothing from without a man,
that entereth unto him that can defile him. But the things which
come out of him, those are they that defile him. If any man have
ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was entered into
the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning
this parable. And he said unto them, Are you
also without understanding? Do you not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth unto a man, it cannot defile him? because it entereth not into
his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the droth,
purging all meats. And he said, That which cometh
out of a man, that defileth a man. For from within, out of the heart,
proceedeth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and an evil eye,
and blasphemy, and pride, and foolishness, All these evils
come from within and defile the man. Now, we said something about
this last week that there is nothing wrong with not eating
certain foods. It's healthy. Nothing wrong with
washing your hands. We're living in a day when they
tell us to wash your hands often. We've got so many of these viruses
going around. But what the Lord Jesus is telling
them here, none of these things that you can do, washing outward
and the food that goes in your mouth, none of these things can
purify you inwardly. Things from without cannot purify,
and listen, things from without cannot defile. It doesn't help
or it doesn't hurt, does it? And that's what he's saying to
us. You know, it would be wonderful if everybody understood this,
but I tell you, the Apostle Peter, he was a Christian for some time
before he understood this. And this was during that transitional
period from the Old to the New Testament, where they were ready
to set the ceremonial law aside. Do you remember in Acts chapter
10 when Peter was in a trance and that sheep came down and
was full of all kinds of four-footed beasts and fowls of the air and
creeping things? And the Lord said, Peter, rise
and slay and eat. Do you remember what He said?
He said, Not so, Lord. Nothing common or unclean has
never entered my mouth. I have never tasted a pork chop.
And I'm not about to eat something like that. And the Lord said,
Peter, don't call what I've cleansed common or unclean. Now, I know
He was talking about the conversion of the Gentiles, but it can be
applied this way too. Nothing from without can defile
us. It cannot defile us. Look here
at another place. Look in 1 Timothy chapter 4. We read this also last week,
but look at it again. Let's read just a little bit
further tonight. 1 Timothy chapter 4, and look
in verse 3. Paul was telling Timothy here
what they would forbid in the last days, and terrible times
would come. And he said, "...forbid him to
marry, and commanding to abstain from meats." Why would they do
that? They said, they'll defile you. These things will defile
you. But look at this, "...which God
hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them 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, it's set
apart by the Word of God in prayer." If the Word of God says you can
eat it, you can eat it, can't you? If you don't forbid it,
then you're at liberty to eat it. The Word of God tells us
that. And it's sanctified by prayer.
Now look what it says in verse 6, "...if thou put the brethren
in remembrance of these things, Thou shalt be a good minister
of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of
good doctrine, were it not that thou hast also attained." Why
does Paul remind Timothy of this? Because the Jews were saying,
there are things from without that can make your heart impure.
And if you eat these things, they are going to defile you.
Don't you imagine as these Jews came to the knowledge, came to
understand this and believe this, don't you imagine they were just
liberated? I mean, they were as happy as
they could be. All of their lives they had been bound by this ceremonial
law. If you come back from the market,
you've got to wash your hands. You've got to wash your hands
often. You've got to wash these pots and pans with certain types
of detergent. It was just a burdensome thing.
And here Paul said, all of these creatures of God are good and
nothing to be rejected. Receive them with thanksgiving
and thank God for it. He said, put the brethren in
mind of these things. I imagine those Jews sat down,
some of them, when the Lord saved them. Eat a big old pork chop,
don't you? I bet they did. And I bet when
Peter went down to Cornelius' house and preached to them, it
said he stayed with them certain days. And I bet you he didn't
eat just kosher food. I bet you they had all kinds
of duck and pork chops. And Peter sat down and thanked
God for it because he knew that what was without doesn't defile
a man. Now listen to this. Defilement
doesn't originate from without. Defilement of the heart doesn't
originate from without, but from within. That's what our Lord
just told us, didn't He? You know drunkenness doesn't
come from a bottle full of whiskey. You look at a bottle full of
whiskey and you say, oh, drunkenness, drunkenness. No, it doesn't come
from that bottle. You know where drunkenness comes
from? The heart. Adultery doesn't come from sexually
laying with somebody. Adultery comes from within the
heart. Within the heart. From the heart
proceeds all of these evil things. And that's what defiles the man.
And this whole Jewish nation hadn't missed this. They hadn't
missed this. If we don't eat these things,
then we're better. But if we do, we're worse. And
the Lord said, there's nothing to it. Here's what He told the
Pharisees. Boy, you talk about strong language. Listen to this.
Thou blind Pharisee. You blind Pharisee. I don't know
if I'd say that to anybody. Do you? But boy, He did. Here's
what He said to them. Cleanse first that which is within
the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean
also. The heart. The heart. That's
what he's talking about. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God. And this is what Paul is saying
in our text. Unto the pure in heart, all these
things are pure. If God doesn't forbid the doing
of certain things, then it's not a sin to do it. And doing
it won't defile you. It would be good if every believer
understood this, wouldn't it? But we all don't understand that.
Look at another passage. Look at two more passages. Look
back in Romans. Look back in Romans chapter 14. You and I
probably can't relate to this as they were relating to it in
the New Testament times, but they were having a terrible time
with what they could eat and what they couldn't eat. Look
what he says in Romans chapter 14. Look here in verse 1. All of them didn't have the same
understanding, and we don't today either, and I'll give you a good
example of that in just a minute. Romans 14, verse 1, "...him that
is weak in the faith..." He's not a lost man, but he's just
weak. "...and receive him..." Don't reject him, receive him.
"...but not to doubtful disputation..." Don't doubt whether he's a true
child of God or not. "...for one believeth that he
may eat all things." Another who is weak, he eats herbs. Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not. And let not him which eateth
not judge him that eateth. Now what's he saying? Let not him that eateth despise
him that eateth not. You know what they're apt to
say? If you can't eat this meat, you're just a self-righteous
needless. That's all you are. And then if you could eat it,
what they would say, you're just an antinomian. So they were judging
each other like this. And he said, Don't judge one
another, for God hath received him. Verse 4, Who art thou that
judgeth another man's servant? To his own master he stands or
falls. Yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above
another, Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth
it to the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth
not regard it. He that eateth, he eats to the
Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not, to the
Lord he eateth not, and he giveth God thanks. For none of us live
to himself, and no man dies to himself. Whether we live, we
live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether therefore we live or die, we are the Lord's. Look
at what he said down in verse 13. Let us therefore not judge
one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put
a stumbling block on an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing
unclean of itself. But to him that esteemeth anything
to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved
with your food, how walkest thou uncharitable? Destroy not him
with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good
be evil spoken of. For the kingdom of God is not
in food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable
to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after
the things which make for peace, and wherewith one may edify another.
For meat doesn't destroy the work of God. All things indeed
are pure, but it is evil for that man which eateth with offense.
For it is good neither to eat flesh, nor drink wine, nor anything
whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. So see, they were having this
problem back in the New Testament times, weren't they? Some could
eat certain things, some couldn't. Some could drink certain things,
and some couldn't. Now they were having it in Corinthians too.
Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 8. One of the same problems in
1 Corinthians chapter 8. And what was happening in Corinthians,
and I imagine a lot of these people were poor, They maybe
not had the food that we had. Today, you and I have got money
if we are out traveling while we can stop at a McDonald's or
Cracker Barrel. But they could not do that back
in this day. And if you were in some place
in Corinth, and you had not eaten maybe all day and maybe two days,
and you were hungry, and you were going by this idol's temple
where they were worshipping idols, And man, you knew in there they
had roast beef. They had potatoes and gravy on
top and rolls and green beans and you were hungry. What would
you do? They had meat, but they were
eating in an idol's temple. What would you do? What if you
saw a brother in there that was hungry and he went there to get
something to eat? This was happening. And Paul was going to write to
them and straighten this out. And look what he says here in
verse 1. Look in verse 4, all the way
down in verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8,
verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8,
verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8,
verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8,
verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4.
1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8,
verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4.
1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians
8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse
4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8,
verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 4.
1 There is but one God, the Father of all, whom are all things,
and we in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,
and we by Him. Howbeit, there is not in every
man that knowledge. For some, with conscience of
the idle unto this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto idols,
and their conscience being weak, is defiled. But meat commendeth
us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither
if we eat not are we the worse. But take heed, lest by any means
this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that
are weak. For if any man see thee which hath knowledge set
at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him
which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered
to idols? And through your knowledge shall
the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died. But when you
sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience,
you sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother
to offend, I will eat no flesh, while the world standeth." Now, how would you have handled this?
How would you have done this? I'll tell you what I could do.
I know it. I know what I could do. I have
the understanding. I have the knowledge from God's
Word. I think the Lord has given me faith to do this. If I was
hungry and I went into an idol's temple where they were eating,
I would fill my plate up. I would sit down and I would
point up to that idol and say, that's nothing in this world.
All that is is stones and sticks and stumps. Nothing in this world.
Lord, I thank You that You've blessed this food and give it
to me. And I could eat it and get up and go on my way with
peace in my conscience. Why? There ain't but one God. There ain't but one Lord Jesus
Christ. And when you eat to Him, you
can give Him thanks and it doesn't defile you. Nothing from without
defiles you. Now here's what you'd have to
be careful of. Some brother or sister seeing you. That's what
you have to be careful of, isn't it? Because all of us don't have
the same understanding. A fellow told me one time he
didn't care what people thought of him. He said, I don't care.
I don't care to offend people. They're self-righteous anyway.
Isn't that awful? What about a man's conscience?
God has given us a conscience and sometimes the conscience
is weak. And you can't do things. And
if you see other people doing them, it may offend you. And
if you get offended, it weakens your conscience, doesn't it?
So there are things we can do, but we don't do them because,
Paul said, it makes my brother weak. It makes his conscience
weak. But I could have eaten it and
went right on as far as I'm concerned. Think of this. Think of this. As far as health-wise is concerned,
as far as health is concerned, wouldn't it be better, and you
know medical science has proved this, and you'll have to look
this up and do some research yourself, but it's better to
sit down at your table and drink a beer with your meal or a glass
of wine than it is to sit and eat your supper drinking a huge
Diet Coke or a Mountain Dew or a Monster Now that's true. But you look
at me and you say, Bruce, I'm not going to do that. What is it? A lack of understanding,
isn't it? It's a lack of understanding. We all don't see these things
alike. Somebody says, well, I don't
think we should drink any of them. Well, that's alright. That's
fine, isn't it? As long as we have this understanding,
by drinking these things, our hearts are not defiled, And by
abstaining from these things, our hearts aren't made pure.
Nothing from without defiles us or makes us pure. It don't
have that capacity. You say, what if a man drinks
till he gets drunk? You know where drunkenness comes
from? Not from that bottle. It comes from the heart. It comes
from the heart. That's our problem, isn't it?
It's not anything that's without is our problem. Our whole problem
is from within. Blessed are the pure in heart. And boy, when the heart's pure,
I've noticed everything else begins to take its place. Everything
else becomes in order when the heart is pure. As far as the purity of the heart
is concerned, we're no better if we abstain, and no worse if
we're partakers. The Kingdom of God is not in
meat and it's not in drink. It's in righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. The Bible doesn't teach abstinence
from what God gives liberty to partake of. But it does teach
access to be a sin. And that's where we get in trouble,
isn't it? Access. Be not drunk with wine. Why? That's access. But be ye filled
with the Spirit. You know, we can have access
in just about everything. Just all around us, we've got
access if we're not careful. You know, overeating? Is that
not access? Solomon talked about if you're
sitting at a ruler's table and you're given to an appetite,
you're a man of appetite, you better put a knife to your throat.
That means be temperate. What about sleeping? Can't we
sleep excessively? Awake, old slugger! A sleeper
comes to poverty, doesn't he? You think we could sleep too
much? Oh, we thank the Lord for a good night of rest, but what
about sleeping half the day? And all night. That's excessive. Fun? I have nothing wrong with
some of the games we play. I love to watch kids play ball.
I enjoy that immensely. There are some games that I love
to play, but don't you think we can get an access? That's
our whole problem is trying to balance everything out, temperance.
I had two little games on my computer out in my garage, and
I couldn't quit playing them. You play against these other
three guys. I had them named and everything. I'd get stirred up playing these
guys. I named them every time. You know, we played by points.
You get so many points. I still remember their names.
One of them's name was Stinky. One of them's name was Bottom
Feeder. And one of them's name was Dirtbag. And I played these
guys. And I'd go out there and start
playing. You'd laugh, but I'd go out there and I'd start playing
these guys. And I thought, you know, 15 minutes. And before
I knew it, it was an hour. And then when I went back to
my studies, I thought, man, I want to play that game again. And
here's how weak I am. I finally had to delete those
things. I had to delete them. Why? Access. Access. That's our problem, isn't it?
It's access. Right quickly, right quickly,
I'll do this right quick. I want to give you six things
that purifies the heart. Turn back over to our text right
quickly. Right quickly. Just take me a second. Six things
that purifies the heart. And you won't find anything from
without that purifies the heart. Because there's nothing without
that can purify the heart. There's nothing you can drink,
nothing you can eat, that will purify the heart. And there's
nothing you can abstain from that will purify the heart. Purification
doesn't come from without a man. That's what I'm saying. Six things
right quickly. First of all, regeneration will
purify the heart. Nothing but regeneration. Look
what he says in chapter 3 of our book. Titus chapter 3. And
look here in verse 5. Titus chapter 3 verse 5. Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Lord. In the Old Testament, regeneration
is spoken of as water. I will sprinkle clean water upon
you, and you shall be clean. And from all your filthiness
and all your idols will I cleanse you. When the Lord calls us,
our hearts are filthy, and He washes us. He washes us in regeneration. That's the first thing. If a
man is not born again, brothers and sisters, everything he thinks,
everything he does, everything he says is filthy. It's defiled. Secondly is this, the blood of
Jesus Christ will purify the heart. Revelation 1.5, He loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. I mean to tell
you the blood of Jesus Christ reaches deeper than all the stain
of sin has gone. It washes all the pollution away.
In that day there shall be a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. And what does it do? It washes,
doesn't it? There is not one sin that can
stand before the blood, before the flood of Jesus Christ's blood.
It purges. It washes away. If the blood
of bulls and goats sanctified to the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? Thirdly, the Word
of God purifies. Blessed are the pure in heart.
How can the heart be made pure? God's Word will make it pure.
Listen to this. Every Word of God is pure. And when it reaches the heart,
it purifies the heart. The Lord says, You are clean
through the Word which I have spoken unto you. Father, sanctify
them through Your truth. Thy Word is truth. Believe in
the truth. Hear in the truth. practice in
the truth, that purifies the heart. Wherewithal shall a young
man cleanse his way? Remy, how can you cleanse your
way? By taking heed to thy Word. His Word cleanses you. Fourthly,
faith purifies the heart. Listen to what Peter said in
that first Sovereign Grace Conference they had in Acts 15. He said,
God put no difference between us and the Gentiles purifying
their hearts by faith. Faith in God, brothers and sisters,
faith in the Son of God, faith in the Gospel, faith in the promises
of God will purify your heart. Do you remember Abel? By faith he offered him to God
and that sacrifice was accepted. Remember Enoch? He walked by
faith and God took him. By faith, Noah prepared an ark.
By faith, Abraham left his house and came to the land of promise.
Faith will purify the heart. Believing God will purify the
heart. You'll be no more pure than when
you walk by faith in the sight of God. Just looking daily unto
Him. Faith purifies the heart. Fifthly,
here's something else that would purify the heart, and that's
repentance. Repentance. Thorough heart repentance
will purify the heart. Listen to how James says in James
4, God resisteth the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he
will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will
draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.
Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and He will lift you up." A thorough repentance. A heartbrokenness before God.
Confessing to Him. Turning to Him. That purifies
the heart. Godly sorrow works repentance
unto life, unto salvation. We had a little talk with one
of the granddaughters this week. One fellow had used some filthy
language, and they overheard him say it. And they said, boy,
he felt so bad about it. And my wife said, he should have
felt bad about it. He should have felt bad about it. And they
thought that was something awful. That he should have felt bad
about it. And I said, girls, when we sin against God, we should
feel bad. We should be convicted. Sorrow
works repentance, doesn't it? We should shed tears. We should
humble ourselves. We should turn to the Lord with
all of our heart. That's the way the heart is purged. That's the way it's purified.
Sixthly, this will purify the heart. Watchfulness, carefulness,
soberness, diligence will purify the heart. Listen to what Paul
said to Timothy. Lay hands suddenly on no man.
Neither be partakers of other man's sins, keep thyself pure."
Keep yourself pure. Keep thy heart with all diligence,
he said to him. Be careful, look, pray, watch. Keep your heart pure. For out
of it are the issues of life. And he continued on. Listen to
this. Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse lips put
far from thee. Let your eyes look right on,
and let your eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path
of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Turn not
to the right hand, don't turn to the left. Remove your foot
from evil. Keep your heart. Keep your heart. Keep it pure. Be careful. Can we not do things? that defile
and violate our conscience? Well, sure we can. Paul said
don't be partakers of other men's sins. Keep yourself pure. A lot
of things, brothers and sisters, are going on today. Don't be
partakers of it. Keep your heart pure before God
and before man. Keep your affections pure. Don't
let your affections be caught up with other things. Set your
affections on things above where Christ sits on the right hand
of God. Keep your affection pure. Keep your intellect pure. Listen
to this verse. Keep your intellect pure. Whatsoever
things are true, and honest, and just, and pure, and lovely,
and of a good report, think on these things. I have been threatened
in the last month or so just to quit watching news. Just to
shut it off and quit watching it. It's about all that's left
fit to watch, and it's just so disturbing and so full of corruption
itself, bad news all the time. And a fellow fills his mind,
don't we? We fill our minds with this stuff. Guard our intellect. Don't put these things in our
mind. We won't have to sit and meditate upon these things. Guard
your will. Your will. I love that old saying,
where there's a will, there's a way. Paul said, if there first
be a will in mind, it's accepted. So there you've got your affections,
your intellect, and your will. Guard it. Keep it with all diligence. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Blessed are the pure in conscience. Blessed are the pure in spirit.
But here in our text, he says this, Unto the pure, all things are
pure. See what his meaning is now?
If you are pure in your heart, sit down and give the Lord thanks
for whatever you eat or drink. Give the Lord thanks. And do
it all in moderation. But unto them that are defiled
and unbelieving, there is nothing pure. Nothing is pure to the
lost, is it? Even their mind and their conscience
is defiled. They may be the most religious
people you've ever seen, but if they're not in Christ, if
they don't have the Spirit of God in their heart, if they've
not been regenerated, if they've not been washed in Christ's blood,
if they don't believe in the Lord Jesus, everything they do
is sin. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. Whatsoever is not of faith. It's sin. And Gail, hang on just
a minute. Don't go to sleep on me. I'm
almost finished. Was you yawning? It wasn't you
yawning? I thought I heard somebody yawning.
It must have been Dave. But see what he's saying? See what he's
saying? And he's saying, these Jews, you're being bombarded
with all of these outward things. these commandments of what you
abstain from and what you eat and all this. And he says they're
making this such an issue, you forgot how the heart is pure
and how it's kept pure. But those that are unbelieving
and defiled, and he said there in verse 16, they profess to
know God. Oh, they profess. But in works,
they deny Him. But you know what? We'll look
at this next week. They may have been great workers. They may
have been great givers, but everything they did was abominable. Why? Because their hearts weren't
pure. Cleanse first that which is within, and then everything
else is good. Everything else is accepted.
Alright, it kept you just a little bit long, didn't it? Shout and dismiss us, would you?