PURE HEARTS, Part 2

Gospel of Mark #23

Pastor Dennis Clanton

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

(Mark 7:1-13, NLT) “One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”

“The question, then, is not whether we have traditions, but whether our traditions conflict with the only absolute standard on these matters: Holy Scripture.”

-J. I.  Packer

1. Congruence is heart and lifestyle in life giving

(Exodus 30:19–20, NLT) “Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there. They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the Lord and when they approach the altar to burn up their special gifts to the Lord—or they will die!”

2. Ritualized rites will never substitute for grace.

(Isaiah 29:13, NLT) “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.”

3. Those who justify themselves by legalism will modify it to rationalize their life.

(Mark 7:9, NLT) “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.”

(Mark 7:14-23, NLT) “Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.” Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.) And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

4. A pure heart is essential to life.

(Mark 7:15, NLT) “It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”

5. God gives us a new heart when we are born again and by His grace we grow in godliness.

(John 3:3, NLT) “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

(Ezekiel 36:26, NLT) “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”

(Romans 6:3–4, NLT) “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

(2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT) “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

GROWTHWORK

1. HONOR THE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE.

2. HONOR THE PURPOSE OF THE BIBLE.

…their hearts are far from me… (vs 6)

3. LOVE GOD WHOLEHEARTEDLY, HE IS THE CENTER OF THE BIBLE.

4. FOCUS ON HEART ISSUES.

5. ESTABLISH HOLY HABITS.