Controversy over Tradition & Defilement #2

Introduction: The Framework of Controversy

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, November 17th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to the seventh chapter of Mark's Gospel, the Gospel according to Mark. And will you follow, please, as I read the first thirteen verses, Mark 7, verses 1 through 13. And there are gathered together unto him the Pharisees and certain of their scribes who had come from Jerusalem, and had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with defiled, that is, unwashed hands. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, do not eat, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, except they bathe themselves, they do not eat. And many other things there are which they have received to hold, washing of cups and pots and brazen vessels.

1:18 And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with defiled hands? And he said unto them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

1:56 And he said unto them, Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, Honor your father in your mind. Honor your mother, and he that speaks evil of father or mother, let him die the death. But you say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, That wherewith you might have been profited by me is Corban, that is to say, given, or given to God, you no longer suffer him to do anything for his father or his mother, making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have delivered, and many such like things you do. Now let us again seek God's face, that God by the Spirit will write upon our hearts this most vital word that in many ways will be but an amplification and an underscoring of some of the issues set before us in the previous hour in the adult class. And because these things are so vital to our soul's salvation, I urge you with all of your heart to cry to God as I seek to be your mouthpiece as together we draw near to him. Let us pray.

3:22 Our Father, you know that many of us fear that our Lord would say to us, You draw near to me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. We would not dishonor you with hypocritical lip religion, devoid of the exercise of our inner being, devoid of that sincerity of the inner man. And therefore, our Father, as we bow before you, it is no form or ritual that drives us to seek your face, but it is the recognition that if men who were in the immediate presence of Jesus and could hear his very words from his very lips, and yet not understand, Oh your own faces, let them come to you, let them hear your voice. You know that already, and we can share the popularity and appreciation of your voice, but we are so concerned about some of these comments, our purposes of these messages, and we want to try and keep away from these words. But what we truly need to do is understand your spirit. Let us pray.

4:23 O God, how vulnerable we are to spiritual dullness, darkness, and ignorance! And it is the acknowledgment of that vulnerability that moves us to cry. Open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of your law. O God, speak with clarity, speak with power, speak with inescapable pointedness, that no man, woman, boy, or girl shall leave this place and wonder what the preaching was all about.

4:48 But may each one leave knowing that he has heard in the chamber of his own heart your very voice. O Lord, hear our cry and speak, we plead, for the sake of your beloved Son and for the good of our souls. Amen. Now those of you who are in the least bit familiar with the Gospel records, that is, with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are aware that no little part of the ministry of our Lord Jesus was a ministry of confrontation and controversy. Whole chapters, particularly in the Gospel of John, are given over to record the details of the controversy that was going on in the Gospel of John. and confrontational situations of our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, with but few exceptions, these confrontations and controversies took place with the recognized religious leaders in Israel in the day of our Lord.

6:06 Now the verses in Mark that I've read in your hearing and which we read last Lord's Day constitute Mark's... Mark's record of one of these incidents of confrontation and controversy between Jesus and the religious leaders of Israel.

6:25 Last Lord's Day, I attempted to do but two things. I attempted to impart a broad overview of the passage, including the entire section through verse 23, and then to bring into focus the central issues of the passage. And we noted in the broad overview of the passage that there are two divisions in the passage, verses 1 through 13, in which we have what I call the framework for the controversy. And that framework was the incident noticed or incidents noticed by the scribes and Pharisees who came up from Jerusalem with reference to Jesus' disciples violating their traditional ceremonial laws about cleansing. And it was that incident that formed the framework for Jesus' controversy between the whole issue of religion regulated by tradition and religion regulated by the Word of God. And then in the latter part of the section, verses 14 and following, our Lord goes to the foundational issue. There are two central issues involved in the controversy, namely the true nature of defilement.

7:49 Does it come from without in foods that we may eat, or does it come from within in terms of the effusions of the human heart? And then after the broad overview, we then looked at the two central issues of the passage, and I stated them in the form of two questions. Issue number one, what ought to regulate, what ought to regulate our religious thinking and practice, man-made traditions and doctrines, or the authoritative Word of God? And then the second issue, what ought to be the focus of our religious concern, external rituals or the condition of our hearts?

Impossibility #1: Divided Allegiance to Tradition and God's Word

8:34 Now today we come back to the first of these two central issues in the passage, and we come back to them with a view, focusing upon the principles contained in this section, and making what I trust will be very obvious and necessary applications of those principles. And I shall do so in the form of three statements of impossibility. According to the teaching found in Mark 7, verses 1 through 13, there are three impossibilities underscored, in the passage and by the words of our Lord. First of all, it is impossible to share ultimate allegiance to human traditions and doctrines and to the Word of God. It is impossible to share ultimate allegiance to human traditions and doctrines and to the Word of God. Now remember, remember who these, these men were and how they regarded their relationship to these two things. These were the people who professed the highest reverence for the Word of God.

9:56 The scribes were not only the official students of the Word of God, they were the official transcribers, the copyists of the Word of God. Here were men who ostensibly spent their lives preoccupied with the Word of God. Furthermore, they regarded themselves as the great guardians of Scripture and of its standards of conduct. They looked upon the rules and regulations which they made as a fence around God's holy law by which to protect it from any possible violations through carelessness or through lack of... of careful definition and application.

10:48 So they regarded themselves as men who were holding tenaciously to the inspiration, the sacredness, and the authority of the Word of God, while at the same time protecting and advancing and buttressing the truth of the Word of God by the tradition of the elders. Now that was their position in their own minds. In their own minds, they held a position in which they thought that they had an ultimate allegiance to the Word of God and a secondary or supportive allegiance to the tradition of the elders. But our Lord indicates that they were utterly and totally self-deceived in thinking that that was their true position. He articulates their true position in verse 8, 9, and 13. And notice how clearly He does it. We read in verse 8, Jesus speaks and says, You leave the commandment as He does not say.

12:13 ...degree of tenacity, the commandment of God, but with an equal or greater tenacity, the tradition of men.

12:21 He says, No. Your grasp upon the tradition of men as having ultimate authority of necessity means you have left the Word of God as of any authority. You see it? You see it in His words.

12:37 You leave the tradition of men. Verse 9, And He said unto them, So now He has not only left something to hold another, you have rejected something to keep. And guards something else. And what does He say they have rejected?

13:15 The commandment of God is the law that has embodied the Decalogue. That is a check back in Exodus 24, 12. You have left the pure tradition. Then He goes even further in verse 13 and He says, In the implementation of the tradition of the elders, this is what you do.

13:48 You make void the word of God. You negate the press of the word of God upon the...

14:01 Now if ever the words of Jesus were true, they are true here. No man can serve two masters. Either he will love the one and hate the other, or hold to the one and despise the other. Now when Jesus spoke those words in the context of Matthew 6, He is speaking about the very thing that Jesus addressed with the rich young ruler.

14:33 You cannot serve God. You cannot serve God and money. But in this passage, it is equally true. No man can serve the word of God.

14:46 Jesus makes it abundantly clear that in the case of these official religious teachers, they were yielding allegiance to human tradition, and in so doing, they had allegiance to the word of God while professing to have the highest allegiance to it. But you see, our true state is not to be measured by what we think is...

15:13 by our condition, but by what the word of God judges our condition to be.

Application to Roman Catholicism and Evangelicalism

15:22 And in the case of these scribes and Pharisees, our Lord gives an accurate assessment of them, and in so doing, He underscores this principle that it is impossible to share a bit of allegiance to human traditions and doctrines and at the same time to the word of God. Now, by way of application, let me say the following. The classic and most monumental example of this principle is obviously found in the Roman Catholic Church. Now, there may be some of you here today who by birth and breeding and upbringing and present association are members of the Roman Catholic Church. Will you listen to me carefully? Please do not assume that I am, quote, quote, attacking Roman Catholics in their persons.

16:23 What I am doing is Roman Catholicism as a system that claims to be not only an expression of the Christian religion, but the only true and valid expression of the Christian religion.

16:42 And the official position of the Roman Catholic Church is that when we would know what is true and what is not true, what is right and what is wrong, that we have two courts of authority. We have of the Church in a catechism written by Jesuit John Hardin as the Nihil Obstat, that is, the official seal catechism that represents the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Here is a statement found in John Hardin's catechism. Sacred tradition is the unwritten word of God. The apostles of the Roman Catholic Church and the angels and prophets received through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and under His guidance, the Church has handed on to the Christian world. Both sacred and sacred tradition are the inspired. Both are forms of divine revelation.

17:52 Sacred Scripture is divinely inspired. It is the unwritten word of God.

18:03 The Roman Catholic teacher, it puts him precisely in the position of the ancient scribes, the scribes and Pharisees. He decided it as an authority, the tradition of the Church, so that you have tradition equally. What has Roman system done? It has done precisely what the scribes and Pharisees did.

18:41 It has left the commandment of God, for example, that in religious worship no physical objects of any representation of anything upon heaven and earth are to be made. How does the Roman Church get around it while saying we believe that that commandment is the word of God? See what the scribes and Pharisees do. They take Latin words with fine distinctions and say there is worship and then there is worship. There is one kind of worship that is mere veneration. There is another kind of worship that is the bowing of the heart and the affections, and we are not worshiping the statues, and we are not violating the second commandment. They do exactly what the scribes and Pharisees did by waving the wands, waving the wands of a little rationalization and clever shifting of words.

19:56 They think they can get around God's holy law. God makes it plain there is one Savior and one way of salvation. By faith alone, crucified, buried and risen Son of God. The church tradition in the Roman Catholic strain tells us, no, the way of salvation is through Christ, but also to be found in the grace of Christ that comes from God.

20:25 It comes to us through the conduit of the sacraments and of obedience to the law. You have a way of salvation that is clogged up with all other issues instead of the simple issue of the sinner in the nakedness of his need, embracing the Savior in the plenitude of His grace by faith, faith alone. A simple supper of remembrance has been turned into a bloodless but real sacrifice. Ministers of the Word have been turned into priests who offer sacrifice.

21:02 Prayers that should be through Christ by the Spirit to Mary. And we could go on and on. What's the issue of this passage? That we and traditions of men to the Word of God, we've got to make our choice.

21:33 We must make our choice. And this is why most of those who have left the Roman Catholic system will testify that they began to have their eye, and they started studying their Bible, and instead of seeing that the one true Church of Christ was represented in the Roman Catholic Church, after dogma and practice after practice, it only was not found in the Word of God. It was directly counted in the claimants of the Word of God. The application of this principle does not stop with Romanism as a system.

22:17 It comes even closer to home. There is much in current evangelicalism which is nothing more or less than a leaving of the commandment of God to hold fast to human traditions, a rejecting of the commandment of God, man-made traditions, a making void the Word of God tradition. Let me illustrate a few, and I take no delight in this. But you see, if I recoil from the controversy of this issue, then I'm unlike my Savior, for He did not.

22:55 It is likeness to Christ. It is willingness to engage in religious controversy for the sake of the souls of men. Take the terminology of conversion. In an effort to make it plain that the Bible teaches that an individual must personally have dealings with God through Christ if he is to be saved, he cannot be carried along by family dealings with God or institutional dealings.

23:27 Some years ago, a little phrase began to be used. Accepting Christ, or taking Christ, as one's personal Savior. And there was a good intention in the floating of that terminology. The emphasis fell upon the word personal.

23:45 Christ was not received. The Savior was not embraced in some vague institutional manner. There had to be individual faith in the heart, individual repentance in the heart. And so the terminology accepting or receiving Christ as personal Savior, it's a man-made phrase.

24:07 It's not found in Scripture. But what has happened? That which may have been an innocent way to underscore a Biblical truth has been petrified into a theological concept. A biblical church is full of Savior.

24:33 And what they mean is, I've nodded my head to the fact that Jesus died on the cross and therefore I'm all fixed up forever. When in reality, the Bible, it is merely the Saviorhood of Christ that is the object of faith. It is Christ, Him, the emphasis of Scripture, as many as really of all. John 1, 12. Colossians 2, 6. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, I've accepted Christ as my personal Lord. But you don't hear that.

25:33 I've accepted Him as my personal prophet, my personal Lord, my personal Savior, my personal life and salvation. He is the integrity of all, and all that He's come to do for sinners. And I am ready to obey Him. I am ready to label me as a heretic, particularly when I used to be in evangelistic ministry full time, when I would dare to admit that you don't find in the Bible any terminology.

26:10 Trust Christ as personal Savior. Some got angry enough to search in their Bibles and then they found that it's not found there. It may be an innocent phrase, but when it becomes a tradition, that petrified concept that negates the word, the concept, and if necessary, the terminology as well, look at the methodology of evangelism, the calling for public decisions, the ritual of the counseling room, asking a few questions, praying a prayer, and then giving what I call Protestant absolution, pronouncing the individual who's thus prayed the prayer put in his mouth by the personal worker saved. Is there any warrant for such practice out of the Word of God? Do we find any warrant for this out of the Scriptures? We take what was alluded to in the previous hour, the checklist morality system. If you do this and don't do that, that's a sign of holiness, and holiness becomes a matter of our relationship to things and practices and places.

27:19 That's the very end. He describes a system of interpretation that chops up the Word of God and says, well, that's only for the Jews and that's not for us, and this is for some other age and not for us, so that though Paul's testament all profitable for teaching, you dare not extract teaching from wholesome. It's not profitable to teach us anything, except what the Jews are going to believe in the millennium. Profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

27:59 And what are all of them? Upon its own traditions. Now there is much helpful material in the Schofield notes, but there was a whole generation of Christians that read them as though they were equal in authority to the Word of God, and out of it has come a tradition of the elders that negates the Word of God. People grasp the principle, and hold it in a death grip.

28:29 It's impossible to share all human traditions and doctrines, and at the same time hold such allegiance to the Word of God. Your attitude must rather, excuse me, be the attitude of the psalmist, expressed in Psalm 119, verses 104 and 128. Through thy precepts I get understanding. They're false.

29:11 If you can only say the first part of the text. His traditions, not men's, spout the word, of mine, conscience, withstanding, says in 2nd Thessalonians,

Impossibility #2: Neutrality When Tradition Confronts God's Word

30:01 that they all, whether it's the doctrine of how with the Word of God, it may have like the tradition of the elders, but you can is him, and to the Word of God. But then secondly, the passage teaches us in a very vivid way, that it is impossible to be neutral, when our human, traditions and doctrines, are confronted with the pure Word of God. It is impossible to be neutral,

31:26 are confronted with the pure Word of God. Look at the passage in Mark 7 again. There is a confrontation between the pure Word of God, human traditions and doctrines, and then in terms of, first of all, the disciples, that was perfectly consistent with God. There was nothing that the disciples were doing, that violate Levitical prescription, in the Mosaic law. These were not up, disciples violating, delivered to Moses. No, that it was their, upon the law of Moses. So the moment that, as part of that nation, to whom that law was given, they saw someone, living according to that law,

32:54 but not keeping their traditions, and it immediately provoked them, to come to the Lord Jesus, verse 5, and raise the question, why do your disciples, not walk according, to the tradition, of the elders? They felt uncomfortable, in the presence, of the Christian liberty, of the disciples. They aren't keeping our rules. The way you, now didn't God send in again, to the covenant nation, be holy for I am holy.

33:27 You got to keep holy. They were walking, they were not, verse 12, after Jesus said, they think they love the Word, they really reject the Word, and they love as their own traditions. How do you think that went down? Verse 12, disciples and said unto him, Lord, when you told, that they relate, and violate commandment. You see there was a double upset. The jab, was the practice of the disciples, and then the right to the chin, was the words of Jesus. And therefore we see in the passage, that it's impossible to be neutral, when our dearly doctrines, are confronted, by the pure Word of God.

34:52 Let me give you the answer, in two verses of scripture. John 3, and verse 19. And then Romans, 8 and verse 7. John 3, and verse 19.

35:07 Why were they so? Light has come into the world, and man loathed them the light, for their works were evil. In the presence of their own, the darkness of their own, was exposed. And then Romans, 8 and verse 7.

35:50 He against God, the condition of these, unconverted scribes, and Pharisees. They had a committee against God, it was not at all, subject to the law of God, unless it was transformed, by regenerating grace. But what had they done? Thinking they not only loved God, but loved His law.

36:26 And what had Jesus just done? He had stripped those against the law, who take a sin, like honor your father, and find such a clever, in disobedience, face for what they really, those who hated God, self as the great lover of God, and the great lover of His law, and somebody strips you naked, and says you hate God, and hate His law, is that going to upset you? You bet your boots it will upset you. No wonder they were upset.

37:06 No wonder they were upset. Why? Because, it is impossible to be neutral, when dearly, and doctrines, are confronted, with the word of God. There is an urging, there is an irritation, there is an offense, and eventually, this is the very crowd, that plots the Son of God.

The Mark of a True Child of God: Submission to Scripture

37:28 Is it with you, as a professed, in His word, sins of love, to cause it for what it is? What is your reaction? Or is it one of, that says, Oh God, thank you, for asking my deception, thank you for pulling away, the veneer of the Lord, for showing me, that in that area, I was not thinking biblically, and acting scripturally, according to a tradition, either handed down, from another, or one that was spun, out of the chambers, of my own heart. You see the mark, of a true child, that is given by Jesus, in John 10, 27. He said, I know these sheep, I'm sorry, my sheep hear my voice, follow me, hear my voice, and they follow me. And when in the reading, of the word of God,

38:55 when in the preaching, of the word, when in our action, in the fellowship, of the saints of God, human traditions, and doctrines, confronted with the pure action, they are the true sheep of Christ, though there may be, through remaining sin, a momentary, even a period, and resistance, ultimately the voice, of our shepherd wins us, because we know his voice, his voice speaking, in the scriptures, and hearing his voice, it is our delight, follow him. I remember so vividly, though it was many years ago, a Bible school in this area, to visit one of our members, and in that Bible school, was someone who had heard, that we believed, and preached some strange things, that were not in his religious tradition, that in preaching through, say the book of 1st Thessalonians, when we came to chapter 1, in verse 4, where it says, knowing brethren beloved of God, your election, we had the temerity to preach, that there is an election of grace, and when preaching through, the book of Ephesians, or the first two chapters, and we came to verse 3, it blessed us with all spiritual blessings, in the heavenlies in Christ, even as he chose us in him,

40:21 we preached the plain sense of the words, that God has made a free, sovereign loving choice, of a great multitude of sinners, for no foreseen faith, or good works in them, but according to his mere good pleasure, so he had heard some strange things, that we believed, and preached some strange doctrines, and I went to visit this particular, church member, or someone who attended, I don't recall precisely, what their relationship was, and when I went into the, dormitory room, a friend of the church, introduced me to his roommate, and said, Pastor Martin, this is so and so, stuck my hand out, good to see you, he said, oh, you're from that church, that believes thus and thus, and preaches thus, and he began, he hang lit it, and I got him quieted down, and I don't know, if I called him son, and I probably was not old enough, to get away with that, but I probably put my hand, on his shoulder, and said, now young man, just simmer down a minute, and just, let me say a few words, I said, you believe the Bible, don't you? He said, of course I do, I'm in a Bible school, you be my teacher, will you? Will you turn to the, Gospel of John, turn to chapter six, he turned to chapter six, I said, now will you read verse 37, he started to read, all read verse 37 for me,

41:51 will you please, that me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out, I said, fine, now, will you expound, the first phrase to me please, all that the Father giveth me, yeah, I said, no, no, no, no, I'm asking you to be my teacher, will you be my teacher, tell me what these words mean, all that the Father, do you know what happened? He got in a huff, closed his Bible, and walked off, what was his problem? Well, I don't know if that was a temporary outcropping, of remaining sin, it could well have been, it was the settled disposition of his heart, that said, I don't care if there's a hundred verses in the Bible, I don't believe, I've only seen that attitude, I've heard it with my own ears, among people who say, I believe, the Bible from cover to cover, and even the cover that says Holy Bible, there are preachers, who make that claim, who have gone on record in print, saying that the doctrine of election, is from the pit of hell, and that means Jesus taught hellish doctrine, and Paul taught hellish doctrine, and Peter taught hellish doctrine, and the prophets taught hellish doctrine, you see the great principle, when human tradition comes, whatever tradition may be,

43:19 no matter the terms of its demands, of religious ritual, it is always the mind of man in control, and the will of man unchallenged, by the authority of God, you got it, you're not a Christian, the conjugation of his will, the word of God, subject to God, so that your culture in any, it may have, in which you were raised, you're prepared to take those perspectives, and practices, that are mere traditions, and to cause them, before the authority of the word of God, now what do you do in this place,

44:44 when the word of God exposes you, shows you that as a husband, your notion of authority, was carnal and not biblical, you thought authority, was the hard, narrow, macho, big shotism, that you maybe saw in your own father, and you've heard from this pulpit, that you're to exercise, loving, gracious, assertive servanthood, as the head of your household, you're to have, you are to reflect in your relationship, to your wife, the love of Christ, to his church, and though you've not been brought up, with that tradition, and though you've not perhaps, seen much of that tradition, you say that's the word of God, and I'm prepared, all notions about, what a husband is to be, and follow the word of God, what do you do when you hear, wives or husbands in every, I would be very surprised, if there aren't some women, in this congregation, who if they could have their choice, would scrub that out of their Bibles, if you had your choice, now you don't, and therefore you bite your lip, and admit it's there, but you've never known for a day, the liberty, of embracing that from the heart, you've never known for a day, the embracing of that from the heart, when the scripture says, don't let this world, squeeze you into its mold, don't be a secularist, in your approach, to values,

46:11 and standards, and goals, for yourself, for your children, what do you do with those things, or you dig your heels in, and say I'm not going to be, just one of those, innocuous Trinity people, all cast into the same mold, I'm going to maintain my individuality, my friend listen, don't you hide under the guise, of maintaining your individuality, when what you're trying to do, is spare your carnality, we're not a bunch of cookie cutters, around here, just look around, see the way people are dressed, and the diversity of personality, and the diversity of lifestyles, know your controversies, not with quote, a Trinity lifestyle, it's with a biblical lifestyle, and that's what irritates you, when the word of God, comes close to the conscience, that's what rubs, my friend you know what you need, you need a new heart, you need a new heart, a heart that, traditions and doctrines, that that law might have its way, in your life, but then I must quickly, come to the third impossibility, that we see in the text, and it's this, it's impossible, to be spiritually and mentally lazy, and still make a biblical religion, in doctrine,

Impossibility #3: Spiritual Laziness and Biblical Religion

47:39 and practice, it is impossible, to be spiritually and mentally lazy, and still maintain, biblical religion, in doctrine and practice, look again at the passage, verse two, this is the thing, that has haunted me, as I've studied the passage, among other things, Mark tells, he's inscribed, that some of his disciples, ate their bread, with defiled, that is unwashed in hand, for the Pharisees, and all, sometime, in the gospel, of John, the phrase, the Jews, refer, to the religious leaders, but here the leaders, have already been pointed out, so he's speaking, of the rank and file, of the Jews, the more devout Jews, who took seriously, the teaching of their leaders, all, that they wash their hands, diligently eat not, and when they come, from the marketplaces, not just the Pharisees, but all, that they had subject, and mental, they didn't have, the printing press, then, they didn't have a Bible, in every home, and in every, nightstand, but in every synagogue, in every town, they had the scriptures, and the scriptures, were publicly read, and studied,

49:07 and any man, possessed, to those scrolls, of the appointed, God, these man, not maintained, in doctrine, and in practice, now let me show you, how it works, of Israel, in the legislation, that was to regulate, religious, and civil life, you have a principle, of law, and sit, simple, in the presence of God, say now, who are the Lord, sovereign of Israel, I am one of your subjects, now this is your law, the situation, which is not explicit, in the whole, purpose of your law, spirit, and the intention,

50:35 of this particular prize, in this general area, Lord, I want to please you, and when that, specifically, about a specific situation, with all my heart, I run, in the way, of your commandment, but here's a circumstance, that is not specifically, addressed, oh, God, give me, in this set, of circumstances, grant me, the spirit, the wisdom, to discern, and having discerned, grant me the grace, to obey, now you see, what happens, in that framework, the mind, and the soul, are in constant, contact, with God, and his authoritative word, in a context, of meditation, dependence, and reflection, you see that, you see that, get over, into the New Testament, and see, how much more, it's true, the details, of life, regulated, as God did, in that period, that he calls, the period, of infancy, we are now, full, we have many precepts, in the New Testament, touching, many facets, of life, we don't have, anything, that even approaches, the detailed, rubric, of conduct, given, to an Israelite, take just, the dietary laws, all, but not, be eaten, what kind, of bird,

52:02 cows, what kind, of animal, all of that, is done away, and what do we have, in its place, we still have, the embodiment, of God's, moral, men, growing up, we have the specifics, particularly, of those, hortatory, passages, in the epistles, we have, whole segments, in the words, of Jesus, such as, in the sermon, and the mount, but there are, many particulars, in our lives, that are not, particularly, and explicitly, addressed, what are we to do, we are to sit, down, before God, and say, oh God, I want, to please, you, I want, to do, your will, now, in the light, of this principle, and this precept, Lord, give me, wisdom, help me, to know, how it applies, in this situation, and then, in prayerful, dependence, we set out, upon a course, looking to God, for grace, to do, his will, looking for, mid-course, correction, if necessary, but you see, the whole, complex, is one, of heart, submission, to, and communion, in the context, of his, authoritative, word, now, you see, you can't, do that, if you're, mentally, and spiritually, lazy, you know, what you're, flesh, wants, it wants, an index, where you can, look up, every situation, and get a rule, isn't that, what it wants, that's why, all of us, at heart, as a Roman Catholic, we want to know, all the approved,

53:31 books, just look in the index, oh, yes, I can take that one, out of the library, that's an approved, book, that's an approved, film, that's an approved, this, approved, that, approved, the other, at heart, we, we want, an authority, whereas, the scripture, describes, the blessed, man, how, he, meditates, in the law, of God, day, and, night, he, praised, him, in revelation, in the knowledge, of himself, that, we, may, be, filled, with, the knowledge, of his, will, Colossians, one, in all, wisdom, and, spiritual, understanding, and, here's, where, I want, to, address, a closing, word, particularly, to, you, dear, children, you, young, people, the, next, generation, of, Trinity, Church, you, as, much, as, you, would, avoid, anything, that, would, turn, you, into, a, drunkard, into, a, lecherous, person, foul, and, unclean, in, mouth, and, thought, and, deeds, dear, young, people, and, children, avoid, the, tendency, to, spiritual, laziness, and, indifference, to, earnest, study, of, the, word, of, God, you, know, why, if, that, you, will, simply, imbibe, practices, that, mom, and, dad, do, out,

Exhortation to Young People: Understand the 'Why'

55:01 of, intelligence, and, for, you, they, will, simply, be, a, tradition, and, because, they, haven't, come, to, you, as, a, conviction, rooted, in, the, word, of, God, into, tyranny, or, to, relinquish, those, traditions, under, the, first, pressure, that, makes, it, convenient,

55:32 ministry, then, there's, got, to, be, a, generation, who, see, those, principles, with, their, own, until, those, principles, become, the, conviction, of, their, own, hearts, by, an, intelligent, process, of, spiritual, assimilation, let, me, show, you, an, example, of, this, from, the, old, testament, in, the, book, of, exodus, chapter, twelve, you, remember, God, of, their, deliverance, out, of, Egypt, and, notice, how, God, is, seeking, to, secure, for, another, generation, that, that, meal, will, be, kept, not, as, an, empty, tradition, but, as, a, bird, rooted, in, first, standing, of, God, and, of, his, ways, exodus, twelve, verses, twenty-four, and, following, and, you, shall, observe, the, Passover, pass, when, you, are, come, to, the, land, which, the, Lord, will, give, you, you, see, that, anticipates, the, dying, of, at, least, one, generation, in, the, wilderness, so, he, says, when, you,

57:01 come, into, the, land, that, looks, forward, to, at, least, forty, years, later, according, as, he, has, promised, you, shall, keep, this, just, take, it, out, of, our, money, dad, why, are, we, participating, in, this, particular, meal, in, this, special, way, why, has, money, been, running, around, the, house, for, seven, days, purging, out, all, the, every, year, you, shall, then, tell, your, children, it, is, the, sacrifice, of, the, Lord's, Passover, who, passed, over, the,

57:54 children, of, Israel, went, and, did, so, as, the, Lord, had, commanded, Moses, and, Aaron, so, did, they, and, you, find, the, same, instruction, with, regard, to, the, matter, of, the, offering, of, the, first, born, in, Exodus, 13, there, was, a, practice, of, consecrating, the, first, born, of, everything, to, the, Lord, and, when, the, child, would, begin, to, discern, this, verse, 14, it, shall, be, when, your, son, asked, you, in, time, to, come, saying, what, is, this, that, you, shall, say, unto, him, by, strength, of, hand, the, Lord, brought, us, out, of, Egypt, from, the, house, of, bondage, and, then, you're, to, recount, the, history, of,

58:44 over, you, you, see, what, God, is, saying, he, wants, each, successive, generation, to, lay, bare, the, principles, upon, which, the, practice, was, built, you, see, it, he, wanted, them, to, see, with, spirit, intelligence, that, there, were, spirit, practices, he, did, not, want, perpetuation, of, the, practice, however, pure, that, once, the, soul, went, out, of, the, practice, by, intelligence, spiritual, apprehension, of, its, causes, of, its, origins, of, its, roots, it, wouldn't, be, long, before, the, practice, would, be, overlaid, either, with, human, traditions, or, as, happened, in, the, history, of, Israel, for, years, the, practice, was, utterly, abandoned, through, spiritual, indifference, dear, children, dear, children, ask,

59:44 and, read, and, pray, can, you, give, to, your, children, a, convincing, answer, to, that, question, do, you, even, practice, it, enough, that, they'd, ever, raise, the, question, when, they, say, why, do, we, go, to, church, twice, on, Sunday, I, get, so, tired, and, my, legs, hurt, because, they, can't, reach, the, floor, and,

60:19 principles, that, lie, at, the, foundation, of, practice, see, why, we, students, of, your, own, Bibles, as, we, were, reminded, in, the, previous, hour, you, see, the, word, with, readiness, of, mind, but, search, the, scriptures, to, see, if, these, things, be, so, why, do, we, have, our, consecutive, reading, through, sections, in, the, word, of, God, that, are, far, from, scintillating, sins, that, you'll, never, get, goosebumps, when, you, hear, them, read, imagine, if, we, had, and, we, read, through, Exodus, about, not, making, graven, images, how, the, words, would, get, stuck, in, our, throat, head, of, some, statue, after, so, and, so, light, of, that, reading,

61:36 appears, to, be, a, discrepancy, I'm, sure, the, problems, in, my, own, thinking, but, can, you, help, me, out, I've, got, a, problem, questions, of, that, nature, and, there's, not, a, problem, treated, like, question, us, the, authorities, no, and, unto, the, God, of, that, and, the, day, we, truly, amend, it, with, your, lip,

63:02 the, precepts, and, it, is, impossible, impossible, to, be, spiritually, mentally, lazy, and, still, the, great, lessons, of, this, passage, that, it, is, impossible, to, share, ultimate, allegiance, to, traditions, and, to, the, word, of, God, at, the, same, time, it's, impossible, to, be, neutral, when, dearly, held, traditions, are, confronted, with, the, word, and, it, is, impossible, to, be, spiritually, and, mentally, lazy, and, still, maintain, pure, biblical, religion, in, doctrine, and, in, practice, and, what, does, the, father, seek, he, seeks, the, people, to, worship, him, in, spirit, and, in, truth, and, we, can, never, be, such, a, people, or, continue, to, be, such, a, people, unless, we, are, constantly, bringing, every, tradition, of, doctrine, and, of, practice, under, the, rule, of, the, word, of, God, may, God, grant, that, until, Christ, returns, that, will, be, the, kind, of, religion, that, marks, the, people, who, meet, in, this, place, let, us, pray,

64:31 our, father, we, thank, you, for, this, record, of, our, lord's, confrontation, with, these, arrogant, religious, leaders, who, in, their, self, deception, thought, they, were, the, guardians, of, truth, but, were, in, reality, its, enemies, and, its, rejectors, lord, if, there, be, anything, of, their, spirit, in, us, expose, it, and, purge, it, from, our, heart, we, pray, and, grant, that, the, exhortations, and, the, observations, upon, this, passage, will, be, written, upon, our, hearts, by, the, power, of, the, holy, spirit, for, any, who, like, parishes, have, had, their, religion, of, tradition, exposed, and, who, are, angry, and, upset, and, offended, oh, lord, we, pray, subdue, the, pride, of, their, hearts, subdue, the, pride, bring, them, to, the, point, where, they're, ready, to, relinquish, every, thought, that, opposes, itself, against, the, knowledge, of, yourself, until, every, thought, is, brought, captive, to, the, obedience, of, christ, to, this, end, we, would, be, bold, this, word, upon, all, of, our, heart, and, may, it, bear, until, the, day, when, we, look, upon, our, face, to, face, we, ask, in, his, name, amen.