Controversy over Tradition & Defilement #3

Introduction: The Call to Meditate with Awe

0:02 We have sung together that upon the precepts and ways of God, our hearts would meditate with awe. That when the precepts of God are read and expounded, the ways of God explained, we've confessed that we will apply our hearts, that is the entirety of our inner being, to understand, to perceive, to obey, to believe all of God's precepts and His ways. And then having heard with the heart engagement we've confessed, we've also acknowledged we are determined to assimilate what we have heard by meditation in a spirit of reverence before the living God. You sang a mouthful. I sang a mouthful. Let us pray that God will give us grace to do that very thing.

1:14 Let us pray.

1:19 O our Father, we would this morning meditate upon your precepts and your ways with awe and with reverence. We remember your word through the prophet Isaiah, declaring to this man will I look, even to him who is of poor. and contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. Lord, left to ourselves, we are a mass of irreverence, carelessness, and indifference to your voice.

2:00 And we therefore pray that by the Holy Spirit, we will become an assembly of men and women and boys and girls who will indeed tremble with holy awe before you. And your voice speaking in the Holy Scriptures. Send the Spirit to attend that word with power, that it may be said of the preaching of that word in this place this morning, that it came not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. We earnestly plead these mercies from your hand through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Reading and Context of Mark 7:14-23

2:45 Amen. Will you turn with me please to the 7th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, as we continue our consecutive expositions of this portion of God's holy and infallible word, Mark chapter 7, and follow please as I read verses 14 through 23. And he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear me, I say unto you, hear me, all of you, understand that it is nothing from without the man that going into him can defile him. But the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.

3:48 When he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Are you so without understanding? Also, do you not perceive that whatsoever from without goes into the man cannot defile him? Because it does not go into his heart, but into his digestive system, and goes out in the processes of bodily elimination.

4:23 This he said, making all needs clean. And he said, That which proceeds. out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, adulteries, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness.

4:59 All these evil things proceed from within. in and defile the man. What ought to regulate our religious beliefs and practices? The traditions of men or the pure word of God? What ought to be the chief focus of our concern in religious matters? External rituals or the state of our hearts? Well, these are the two burning issues addressed by our Lord in Mark 7, verses 1 through 23. They're addressed in the context and setting of our Lord's controversy with the scribes and Pharisees who came up from Jerusalem and took exception to the practice of our Lord's disciples who ignored the tradition of the elders with reference to certain aspects of ceremonial discipline.

The Crucial Importance of Jesus' Saying

6:06 In our two previous studies of this passage, I've attempted to give you a broad overview of the passage, to isolate the central concerns of the passage, and then to focus on the first major concern as it is addressed in verses 1 through 13. And the issue there, as we discovered together, is the issue of man. Man made traditions in conflict with the word of God in the realm of religious doctrine and practice. And in the kind providence of God in the previous hour in your adult Sunday school class, you had set before you this same issue from another perspective, the great issue of what is called the regulative principle, namely, that our consciences are to be bound to God. Bound by nothing in the worship of God but that which is mandated by God. Now today, in this our third and final examination of this section of scripture, we'll concentrate on verses 14 through 23, the section in which our Lord moves from the framework of the controversy

7:31 with the Jews, namely, tradition as opposed to the word of God. To that fundamental issue which lay at the root of the controversy, namely, the question, what renders a man defiled or common before God? Now as we attempt to think our way through the passage, note with me, first of all, the crucial importance of this saying of our Lord. The crucial importance of this saying of our lord.

8:04 The crucial importance of this saying of our Lord. The crucial importance of this saying of our Lord. The crucial importance of this saying of our Lord. This saying of our Lord, verse 14, And he called to him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear me, all of you, stand.

8:22 In the preceding context, it's evident that a vast multitude had been milling around our Lord in the consciousness of his healing virtue and power, as summarized by Mark in the last paragraph of chapter 6. However, it appears that when these big shots came up from Jerusalem, some of the outstanding scribes and Pharisees, the crowd moved, as it were, back a bit from our Lord, allowing these Pharisees and scribes to address him, directly with reference to the practice of our Lord's disciples. Then apparently, during our Lord's direct interaction with these scribes and Pharisees over the conflict of the word of God and human tradition, the crowd is somewhat at a distance listening in on the details of that controversy. But no sooner, are the objectors sent away by the withering exposure of their hypocrisy by the Lord Jesus,

9:42 but that our Lord consciously and deliberately calls the multitude back into close proximity to himself again. Notice how carefully Mark words this in verse 14. And he called to him. That is, he called to him.

10:02 Himself. Into close proximity to his person, the multitude again. He is very concerned that the multitude hear the pronouncement he is about to make, which takes its clue from the previous dialogue with these hypocrites, these scribes and Pharisees, who had come up from Jerusalem. And once he has called, the multitude to himself, the first thing they hear issuing from his mouth is a universal call to two things.

10:46 Notice the language.

10:48 Hear me understand.

10:56 There are two universal imperatives which issue from the mouth of the Lord Jesus. Listen to me.

11:10 That perhaps their minds were still turning, over some of his withering, scathing denunciation of the scribes and the Pharisees, their revered religious leaders, whose practice they had followed. And no doubt some were still stunned with Jesus' directness, calling them hypocrites, whose worship is utterly vain, who draw near with their lips, but whose hearts are far from the living God. Perhaps they are still breathless, by the incisive manner in which Jesus laid bare the rottenness of their sophistry, by which they cleverly sought to evade the pressure of the law of God, by their clever little human traditions. But whatever was filling their mind, whether some of the details of the previous discourse, the manner in which our Lord spoke, perhaps watching these hot-shot religious leaders, who strutted up to Jesus like peacocks with their tails in full plume, and now wither away like cur dogs with their tails between their legs. But whatever was filling their minds, Jesus is now saying to them, push it from your mind,

12:33 and listen to what I'm about to say to you. All of you, listen to me. Give me undivided attention, I have something to say to you, the multitude that is of singular importance. Furthermore, speaking in an imperative, he then goes on to say, not only all of you listen to me, but all of you understand me.

13:04 He commands them to rest short of nothing less than an intelligent perception of what he says to them. What he is about to say. Again, look at the language. Hear me, all of you, and having heard, gain insight into, understand what I am saying.

13:31 In other words, the first thing the Lord does in this section is to make it very evident that he's about to speak something of crucial importance. Perhaps, he's assuming that much of what he has previously said to the multitudes, having spoken in parables with which both unveiled and veiled the truth, he's saying, in essence, whatever of my previous discourses you may have missed, whatever may be misty and foggy in your perception, now he says to the multitude, do not rest short of a clear perception of what I'm about to say. If you fail to grasp this that I'm about to say, all is lost. Now, before we pass on, let me say by way of application, God's great and final prophet is present here this morning by his word and his spirit, and in gracious but supreme and regal authority, he commands each one of us to listen and to understand. You see, a biblical view of preaching is one in which we regard the accurate exposition of the word

14:59 of God as nothing less than Jesus Christ himself speaking to his gathered people. And from Acts chapter 3, verses 22 and 23, we learn a very sobering thing about this matter of listening to God's final prophet, the Lord Jesus. Moses indeed said, a prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren like unto me, to him shall you hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. You see what he's saying? That you have no choice but to listen when Jesus speaks. He says, listen to me, all of you, and furthermore you have no choice with reference to a applying your mind in dependence upon God, that you might understand His voice.

The Central Concern: The True Nature and Source of Defilement

16:25 And so we have, first of all, in the text, the crucial importance of this saying of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then note, secondly, the central concern of this saying of our Lord in verse 15. The central concern of this saying of our Lord. The central concern obviously focused on the great issue of the true nature and source of defilement.

17:00 Notice, the language of verse 15 concentrates upon this issue of defilement. There is nothing from without the man that goings. Going into him can defile him. Things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.

17:28 The subject of crucial concern is the subject of defilement. And you will know from your previous studies with us that this was the subject introduced by the scribes and Pharisees when they saw the defilement. The disciples of Jesus bypassing the tradition of the elders with reference to certain ceremonial washings and purifications. Now you must understand that for a Jew, defilement was not a matter of personal hygiene.

18:06 It was a matter of one's religious standing before God. If you were common or unclean or defiled, you were unfit. For communion with God in the place of his appointment and by means of the rituals of his appointment. An unclean person could not go up to the temple and there offer his sacrifice.

18:33 Whether it was a sacrifice for sin or a sacrifice of praise, he had to go through a ritual of cleansing. So in the minds of these scribes and Pharisees and the Jews to whom our Lord says, this matter of defilement was a matter of the whole issue of communion with God, of admission into and participation in the specific activities of divine worship and communion with the covenant God. Now in this setting, our Lord issues a central concern. And as I labored to state it in the simplest terms, possible I came across a phrase in one of the commentators who was quoting an ancient commentator. And this is the central concern. It is not your imports which defile you, but your exports. It was a matter of imports and exports, not in terms of the economy, but in terms of one's acceptance and suitability before God.

19:49 And in the original, this becomes very vivid because there is a root verb that simply has a different prefix. One prefix is a preposition which means into, and the other is a prefix which is a preposition which means out of. And you'll notice how our Lord emphasizes this. There is nothing from without the man that going into him can defile him.

20:19 No. No. No. No.

20:20 No. No. No. No.

20:20 No. No. No. No.

20:21 No. can defile. That which proceeds of the man exports.

20:33 Those are the things which defile the man. Now in this context, this statement of our Lord Jesus was nothing less than radical and revolutionary. Because he was speaking in a setting in which the whole mindset was conditioned to think, if I touch anything, that is unclean or defiled out there that defilement works its way from without to that which is within and my person is rendered defiled by the exports that I have imbibed or touched or from which I have failed to cleanse myself by ceremonial ablutions and washings. But Jesus now cuts right through all of that and says no, nothing coming from without and in the context he means in terms of contact with physical objects particularly with foods coming into the mouth your imports cannot defile you but only your exports that which comes out of what you are as a man, as a woman, as a boy, as a girl.

Explanation and Amplification of Jesus' Saying

22:02 Having looked at the crucial importance of our Lord's words underscored by his own imperatives the central concern of the saying of our Lord the import-export issue now then thirdly the explanation and amplification of this saying by our Lord, verses 17 to 23 the explanation and amplification of this saying by our Lord, verse 17 when he was entered into the house from the multitude apparently graciously excusing himself and the multitude withdrawing from them his disciples and according to Matthew Peter as often he was was their spokesman his disciples asked of him the parable they regarded the simple statement of verse 15 as a cryptic condensed rather enigmatic statement he raises their expectations that they're going to hear something profoundly important hear me all of you and understand and then he says these simple words nothing from without defiles that which comes from within defiles

23:30 and so they get alone with the Lord Jesus and they say explain to us your import-export statement Lord we don't understand they asked of him the parable and after expressing a sanctified measure of disappointment and may I say it reverently a measure of sanctified irritation at their slowness at their slowness he said unto them are you so without understanding also don't you perceive that our Lord begins to explain in the simplest way what he meant by those words and in these verses we have basically three principles articulated by our Lord in his explanation and amplification of his own saying in verse 15 and the first is this the source of defilement is the heart and not the mouth verses 18 and 19 perceive you not that whatsoever from without that is by means of the mouth goes into the man it cannot defile him why? because it does not go into his heart

24:58 but into his belly the Greek word is the one from which we get our English word colon koila it goes into the digestive system the entirety of it and when all of the processes of digestion of the food extraction of the nutrients has occurred then the waste matters go out in the normal processes of bodily elimination Jesus gave them a brief summary of what we would call the obvious non-technical non-medically described process of digestion and elimination that's what he did in a very blunt straightforward but not coarse or indiscreet manner he says you don't perceive my saying alright let's just review what happens when you eat a piece of food you take the food in your hand oh yes you may not have cleansed your hands according to the ritual dictated by the fathers by the elders by the tradition of the great ones but I want to show you how impossible it is that that so-called unclean food can really defile you because you take the food into your mouth you masticate it you swallow it it goes into the digestive system

26:26 it goes through the normal processes of being broken down assimilated and then the waste matters are thrown off and he says in that whole process not one thousandth of a gram of that food enters into the heart and there he does not mean of course the heart is the physical organ which pulses the blood through the system but the heart as the moral seat of our being the heart as the very sanctuary of thought and motive and desire and will the center of our being out of the heart are the issues of life so our Lord says the source of defilement is the heart and not the mouth whatever bypasses the heart cannot defile the man so the source of defilement cannot be defiled so the source of defilement can never be the mouth but it is the heart and then the second principle he articulates is the essence of defilement is moral and not physical physical objects such as food can only enter the physical system and make a physical exit how can they defile the spiritual

27:55 and the moral essence of defilement is moral it has to do with a man's heart relationship to God and to his holy law and to his ways the third principle he articulates is this the specific manifestations of defilement are manifold and not simple the specific manifestations of defilement are manifold and not simple notice his language for from within out of the heart of men evil thoughts proceed and then there are listed by Mark six plurals fornications thefts murders adulteries covetings wickednesses six singulars deceit lasciviousness an evil eye railing pride foolishness all these evil things proceed from within and defile the man now in Matthew's account it's interesting you have only the evil thoughts at the beginning then you have six things listed one of which is not included in the list in Mark

29:23 so it's fruitless to look for some kind of logical expression and connection between these things I've read over many of the commentators some make an effort but the more judicious say one can no more expect to find a logical connection with these things than one can expect sin and moral defilement to be logical sin is moral madness and so what our Lord is doing is underscoring not only that the source of defilement is the heart and not the mouth that the essence of defilement is moral and not physical but that the manifestations of defilement are manifold and not simple now what shall we do with this list and I wrestled before God with reference to it and I've made a judgment that it would not be unto edification to give a detailed word study of each of these words let me very quickly pass over by way of quoting from two men who give us a very very helpful summary of what our Lord is saying in these words Spurgeon starts with the words in his sermon on this passage for from within out of the heart of men

30:52 evil thoughts proceed and in the structure in the original that phrase is set off as the general phrase evil thoughts proceed and all the others as it were manifest manifestations of the actings of the evil dialoguing of the human heart Spurgeon commenting on that phrase says our Lord begins with things that are lightly regarded among men evil thoughts we shall not be hanged for our thoughts cries one I wish that such idle talkers would remember that they may be damned for their thoughts and that they and that instead of evil thoughts being less sinful than evil acts it may sometimes happen that in the thought the man may be worse than in the deed he may not be able to carry out all the mischief that lurks within his designs and yet in forming the design he may incur all the guilt thoughts are the eggs of words and actions and within the thoughts lie compacted and condensed all the thoughts all the villainy of actual transgressions if men did much more much more carefully watch their thoughts they would not

32:21 so readily fall into evil habits but men first indulge the thought of evil and then the imagination of evil nor does the process stay there picturing it before their mind's eye they excite their own desires after it these grow into a thirst and tend to grow into a passion then the deed is speedily forthcoming it was long in the hatching but in a moment it comes forth to curse a whole lifetime for from within out of the heart proceed evil thoughts and those evil thoughts then give birth to other sins of the heart and of the mind and of the affections and of the deeds and what are they they are then listed first of all fornications thefts murders adulteries the plurals indicate successive acts of these different evils as well known in the tragic history of fallen mankind they are placed first as they set forth the worst offenses against morality and justice fornications is a broad term used to cover every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse but it is distinguished here from adulteries

33:50 which denotes the unlawful sexual relations of the married persons covetings wickedness coveting is the inner craving for more of that to which one has no rightful claim the plural covetings indicates the various ways in which this spirit expresses itself in acts of selfish grasping for self gratification since the word is often associated with other terms denoting sexual sins it may perhaps here denote deeds of lust wickedness is the last in the series of plurals denotes the various ways in which the spirit of maliciousness or evil mindedness expresses itself in action deceit lasciviousness an evil eye railing pride foolishness these six singular nouns denote moral evils deceit containing the underlying thought of a lure or bait signifies trickery cunning guile it thus denotes that vice which cunningly devises varied means of entrapping others for personal advantage lasciviousness is unrestrained licentiousness which unblushingly plunges into moral debauchery in open defiance of public opinion it is a wantonness that shocks public decency

35:18 the evil eye is a Hebrew expression denoting a jealous or grudging attitude railing means injurious speech which may be against God or man pride a common Greek word found only here in the New Testament has the root meaning to show oneself above others and picture an individual who has a swollen opinion of himself exalting himself above others whom he regards with scornful contempt foolishness denotes not an intellectual but a moral quality and may be translated folly it is that moral senselessness which lacks ethical perception and ignores religious responsibilities it includes all forms of moral senselessness in thought word or deed standing at the end of the list it pictures the character of the fool one who does not know God and has no desire to serve him all these evil things proceed from within summarizing all the moral viciousness that has its origin within man's evil nature and what's the result look at the text and defile the man again asserted asserted the true source of defilement man is

Application 1: Accurate Assessment of Your Own Heart by Nature

36:46 the fountain of his own uncleanness Jesus released his followers from the fear of defilement from things coming to them from without but he uncovered a vastly more serious defilement springing out of man's own nature so our Lord underscores for his disciples in the privacy of that home that the manifestations of defilement are not simple but manifold now having sought to open up the passage what does all of this say to us well I have if time permits five very pointed words of application that I wish to make this morning the application of this saying of our Lord to us here in this building this morning and may I remind you as we come to the application that Jesus speaks to you and to me saying hear me all of you and understand my saying understand this pithy statement it's not your imports that defile but your exports by his tender concern for your well-being by his grace that would instruct you by his authority which demands obedience to his word by the

38:15 sobriety of the coming judgment he says hear and understand now what are we to understand in the light of this saying of our Lord well first of all this is what we're to understand you must acquire by spiritual illumination an accurate assessment of the state of your own heart by nature you must acquire by spiritual illumination an accurate accurate assessment of the state of your own heart by nature. Now what must a man do to have a heart which is a veritable cesspool turned into an artesian well of filth? What must he do to have a heart that produces all these things? For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders. What must a man do? What must a woman do? What must you boys

39:28 and girls do? What must I do to have a heart that is this veritable cesspool that has become a pressured artesian well of filth? What must we do? You know what the answer of the Bible is? You need only be conceived and born and nothing more. That's all. You need only be conceived in your mother's womb to have a heart like this. You remember David's words? When in the midst of the trauma and shame and spiritual agony of self-discovery, as a man in his later years, he was able to have a heart like this. He was able to have a heart like this. He was able to have a heart like this. He was able to have a heart like this.

40:12 He was able to have a heart like this. He was able to have a heart like this. He was able to have a heart like this. In his late and middle years, he looks back some months upon his sins of adultery and murder by proxy and hypocrisy lived out before the nation over a lengthy period of time. And in the agony of true confession and repentance, he cries out, Behold, look upon me, O God. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin. Did my mother conceive me? Where did my adultery come from? As a man in his mid-fifties, where did my murders come from?

40:55 They came from the heart with which I was conceived in my mother's womb. And you see, it's only by spiritual illumination that any man, woman, boy or girl acquires an accurate assessment of the state of his own heart by nature and until you acquire such an assessment, you will never have the first mark of the sons and daughters of the kingdom of God. And you know what that first mark is? Poverty of spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

41:39 And what is poverty of spirit but the reflex response to the recognition that I was conceived and born with a heart? And you know what that first mark is? Poverty of spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

41:49 And you know what that first mark is? Poverty of spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. I need do nothing to produce the whole list produced in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 and 10, Revelation 21, 8.

42:30 I need to come by spiritual illumination to this discovery that is not merely the parroting of a theological concept. My heart, unrestrained by common grace or untransformed by special grace,

42:57 I find me utterly abundant to any and every sin listed in this category. And I want to ask you a very simple question sitting here this morning. Do you believe that that's true of you?

43:17 Let me ask you teenagers, balking at mom and dad's rules and regulations, grousing under your breath, sometimes cursing them when you shut your bedroom door. Do you believe if God didn't restrain you, you could kill your mom and dad? That hatred is so real? Ha, you say never.

43:34 Oh, my dear teenager, listen to me. That feeling of irritation and resentment is the very seed of murder. You'd rise up and kill your mother and father to have your own cotton-picking way.

43:50 You'd kill them.

43:54 When you look at that young woman in your grades who's developing a little more than the other, and you snicker with the other guys and make remarks about her body, and make lewd remarks and have lewd looks, do you know what you'd do if you could in the right circumstance? You'd rape her! Oh, no, I guess you wouldn't! You who may sit right in the congregation, and I see at times when I'm trying to preach to your eyeballs, I see men whose eyes are on other women right in this congregation.

44:25 You think that thought of lust, if you could, you'd commit adultery with that woman. That's what's in your heart. Murder, adultery, thefts, an evil eye, railing, pride, folly of every kind. You see, once God's given you a sight by the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, of what your heart is by nature, all of the strut of the Pharisee of Luke 18 is swept away.

45:01 You never come strutting into God's presence and preen your feathers and say, Oh, God, I thank you I'm not like other men. You bow humbly and say, Oh, God, the worst man or woman I've ever seen, the most debauched, the most besotten by the most ugly, gross sins, would be me, as a matter of religious conviction. Now, I ask you sitting here this morning, have you ever been given a spiritual perception of the true state of your heart by nature? Jesus said, Hear! Hear! And understand! Don't miss the point!

45:52 All the defilement that bars a man from the presence of God is already within the heart. You must acquire spiritual illumination and accurate assessment of the state of your own heart by nature. If you don't, Christ will always be but a luxury, and the Holy Ghost a luxury, and regeneration in the indwelling of the Holy Ghost a luxury. You dear children, you sit here this morning and say, Pastor Martin, I would never do those things.

46:35 I wouldn't even steal a paper clip from my teacher's desk. I wouldn't go chase after someone. Listen, you dear children, you carry with you a heart that is capable of the most vile and foul sins that have ever been committed. You carry that potential within you.

46:56 And your great safety is not in denying that reality, but by crying to God that by the Spirit and the Word He'd show you that that's what your heart is. That you might early flee to Him who alone can change the heart and give you grace to be a holy man and a holy woman. But I hasten to the second point of application. It's this.

Application 2: Realistic Assessment of Other Men's Hearts by Nature

47:23 You must acquire by biblical conviction a realistic assessment of the state of other men's hearts by nature. You must not only acquire by spiritual illumination an accurate assessment of your own heart, but you must acquire by biblical conviction a realistic assessment of the state of other men's hearts by nature. You see, as long as these poor deluded Pharisees thought that pollution was only a matter of externals, they went on promoting their system of external religion. Because of their false assessment of their own hearts, they projected that to the hearts of others. And that's why Jesus said, when they compassed land and sea to make a proselyte and got one, they made him twofold more of a child of hell than themselves. Whatever restraints God may exercise by common grace to cap that artesian well, that artesian cesspool, and thank God for common grace that does cap it, whatever he may do to dam up the river in common grace by the law rubbing the conscience, by parental standards,

48:48 by the standards of society, and by a host of other things, and thank God he does dam up the river, but whatever he may do to cap the well and dam up the river, the bottom line is this, how do you assess the state of the hearts of your fellow men? Biblically, or according to modern psychology, or liberal theology? Though we pleaded with God for God's blessing upon the recent summit, and though we cried to God that God would cause us to avoid the horrors and the ravages of warfare of any kind, nuclear or conventional, why do we have so little hope? Why are we not disciplined? Why are we disappointed like the poor commentators who expected to bring in the millennium by Geneva's summit meeting? Why? Because we know what the Bible says about the heart!

49:46 For from within, out of the heart, individually and hearts collectively, murders and thefts proceed. And as long as there's a totalitarian system that is committed in every way to conquest, whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not out of your own lusts? Says the Word of God.

50:14 But I'm not so much concerned that we have a Biblical conviction concerning the state of other men's hearts out in the world, but I'm concerned about you parents. Do you assess the state of your child's heart by the Bible or by modern psychology? You nursing mothers, do you look down at times and weep as you see that little one taking nourishment from your breast and say inside that child is a heart that if left to itself allow that child someday to rise up and kill me, become a harlot, a lecher, a blasphemer, a railer, a prophet, a monument of the defilement of the human heart? Does that mother ask you, do you that when the little one is dandled on your breast to cry out, oh my God, give my little boy and my little girl

51:38 what I cannot give them, give them a new heart? Oh, give them a new heart! And help me to use every means that your word says may be instrumental to give them a new heart. Instruction, the rod of correction, godly example, and educational frameworks are fused with the fear of God which is the chief part of knowledge.

52:10 Oh, my parent, will God have to uncap the artesian well to prove to you that this passage is true of your little darling? Yes, that sweet little boy, that curly-haired little girl that's the darling of your heart, how do you assess your children? Biblically or psychologically? Jesus said, hear me and understand defilement doesn't come from without, it comes from within.

Application 3: Radical Cleansing for Heaven

52:48 Thirdly, you must experience a radical cleansing of your heart if you would be fit for heaven. You must experience a radical cleansing of your heart if you would be fit for heaven. You must experience a radical cleansing of your heart if you would be fit for heaven. The word unclean used in Mark is found over in the book of the Revelation, chapter 21 and verse 27, describing the glory of the new heavens and the new earth, the city of God.

53:23 John says, There shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean. It's the same word. Nothing unclean shall enter it. But what am I to do?

53:39 By nature, from my conception, because of my connection in Adam, I am conceived and brought forth with an unclean heart and nothing unclean shall enter heaven. What do I need? I need a radical cleansing of my heart if I would be fit for heaven. And how does that cleansing come?

54:02 Turn to the book of Acts for a very simple and clear answer. You remember the incident of the preaching of the gospel in the household of Cornelius? Peter is preaching about Christ and his salvation. And he says in Acts 10.43, this is a quote of Peter's sermon, Acts 10.43, To him bear all the prophets witness that through his name everyone that believes on him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Spirit fell on them that heard the word. And then they said, well, if they've received the Spirit, when can we forbid the water?

54:53 Now notice the emphasis. Peter is saying, all who believe on Christ shall receive remission of sins. While he's preaching, the Holy Ghost falls. Looking back upon it, on that event, how is it interpreted by these apostles?

55:11 Acts 15.7-11 And when there had been much questioning, Peter rose up and said unto them, Brethren, you know that a good while ago God made choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. While he was preaching and telling them all who believe are forgiven, they were brought to faith. And God who knows the heart bore them witness, that is, bore witness to the fact they believed the gospel, doing what?

55:46 Giving them the Holy Spirit even as he did unto us. And he made no distinction between us and them, notice, cleansing their hearts by faith. When they believed on the Lord Jesus unto the forgiveness of sins, at the same time their hearts were cleansed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. And hear me carefully, in the biblical gospel the objective work of Christ that is unto the forgiveness of sins is never separated from the personal subjective work of the Spirit that is unto a new heart and unto a cleansed heart. And once those two are severed in our thinking, we open the door either to a fanatical, self-centered, subjective religion, if it's all the Holy Ghost cleansing the heart, or if it's simply the work of Christ providing forgiveness with no knowledge of or acquaintance with heart cleansing through the gift of the Spirit, then you have people who claim to be justified, who've gone through the motions of faith and profess faith, but who give no evidence that the dominion of sin has ever been broken in their hearts.

57:14 You must experience a radical cleansing of your heart if you would be fit for heaven. And how does that cleansing come? It comes in the word and promise and provisions of the gospel. It comes when you go to the Lord Jesus, the only one by whom your record in heaven can be changed, and the one who imparts his Spirit to give us a new heart.

57:44 You see, these poor, deluded Pharisees and the religion they spawn thought that external rituals were sufficient to fit a man for heaven, and Jesus says, No! Rituals come from without. The pollution is within. The cleansing must be as deep as the fountain of pollution.

Application 4 & 5: Proof of Cleansing and Guarding the Heart

58:05 My friend, if you're a stranger to the new birth, if you do not know what it is to have the dominion of sin, this artesian well, as it were, capped by special saving grace and purged away by the power of the Spirit, then you are not fit for heaven. The fourth point of application I make, and I touch on it just briefly, if your heart has been radically cleansed, your thoughts, your attitudes, your words, and your actions will prove it. If your heart has been radically cleansed, your thoughts, your attitudes, your words, and action will prove it. For from within, out of the heart, proceed all these evils. When there is a new heart, out of that renewed heart, proceed love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, and control. God has said that a new heart is not something you quote, take by faith. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, is what Jesus says.

59:19 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. The evil man out of his evil heart brings forth that which is evil. My friend, if your lifestyle and your thoughts and attitudes, words, and actions do not reflect an affinity for and a love of the standards of God's word, you have no biblical grounds to say your heart has ever been cleansed. Then my final point is a vital one.

59:53 Although the radical cleansing comes in every true conversion, remaining sin demands that you guard your heart with all diligence. Because though these things can never have their unrestrained expression in the heart of a regenerate man, remaining sin can so operate as to cause any believer to fall before any one of these sins. That's why Proverbs 28, 26 says, Whoso trusts in his own heart is a fool. The minute you look at a list like this and say, oh no, I could never be guilty of fornication, theft, murder, adultery, covet, oh, my friend, when you think you are most insulated, you are most vulnerable. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. Our safety is in the absence of self-confidence and in the posture of humility that says, oh God, keep me from myself. Keep me from myself.

Concluding Prayer

61:15 Jesus began this section by saying, hear me all of you and understand your great concern contrary to the teaching of your religious leaders must not be what comes from without and goes within, but it must be with that which is within and comes out. Oh, may we hear and may we understand the word of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Our Father, it is no pleasant exercise to look down into that dark hole of the human heart, there to behold, as it were, all of the ugly, seething pollution that is native to each one of us. We pray for men and women, boys and girls, sitting here today, who've never once seen their hearts for what they really are. Will you not, oh God, by the illuminating ministry of the Spirit with the word, give them such a sight of their hearts as will horrify them and drive them

62:43 to cry to you for a new and a cleansed heart. And we pray that in mercy you would deliver anyone who is of the Pharisaic spirit in this place this morning, who inwardly delights that he or she is not as other men, other women, other boys, other girls. Lord, have mercy upon Christian parents, that they will not delude themselves that their children are basically good, have a few wrinkles here or there in their ethical and moral fabric, but are basically good. Lord, help them, help them, we pray, have all of the horrible, wretched thinking of modern psychology swept from their minds that they may view their children biblically as creatures made in your image and therefore with great dignity but fallen in Adam with a fountain of pollution that can break forth in every form of uncleanness. We pray that you'd have mercy upon men and women and boys and girls who know not nothing of that radical cleansing of heart through the power of the Gospel and the gift of the Spirit. O Lord, come this morning and grant that cleansing of heart by faith in your beloved Son.

64:10 And then we plead with you that you would help us who know that you have come and changed our hearts. Oh, that we may ever be watchful. May none of us be vulnerable and fall before remaining sin through carelessness and spiritual sluggishness. Write your word upon our hearts and continue to cause that word to work in us all of your holy purposes.

64:42 We ask these mercies through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.