Thank you, Nathan. Thank you, girls. Please open your Bibles to the Book of Mark. Sunday morning, we're going verse by verse through the Book of Mark. Matthew presents the Lord Jesus as the King of kings. Mark presents him as the servant. Luke presents him as the perfect man. And John presents him as God, the son, the son of God. We're in Mark chapter seven. Last Sunday morning, we looked at a criticism from the Pharisees to the Lord Jesus's disciples because they were not ceremonially washing their hands before eating bread. The context was very simple. This was something that was a Levitical law laid down, and Jesus was now moving beyond the externalism to the internal love for Jehovah, love for his father. The concern the elders had was in verse five. Jesus challenged them in verse six and charged them in verse seven. Said, you break commandments in verses 9 through 12. And finally, we concluded with verse 13. You make the Word of God to no effect. And so it was a very tense moment. Today, we begin really with verse 14. And as we come to this text, he's going to deal primarily with eating a non-kosher food. Now, you and I, as Gentiles, don't relate well to that at all. To the Jewish people, this was very, very important. The Greeks conquered the world through Alexander the Great about 300 years before Christ. Antiochus Epiphanes was responsible for what we call the Syrian area, including Israel. He set out with a great desire to destroy the faith of the Jews. To do so, he said, if I can get them to eat pork, if I can get them to eat bacon, Portuguese sausage, ham and eggs, we will be able to break their faith. Because he saw that dietary rules and regulations was very important to the Jewish people. There was a widow lady with seven sons. And so when it came to that area of their area of Jerusalem, they would not eat pork. So in a very, very cruel manner, he cut off their ears. Next, he cut off out their tongue and then he cut off their hands and then he cut off their feet. and their widowed mother stood alongside her sons as they died and encouraged them to continue to die rather than change their diet. This is how strong of a setting we find this story here in our text. Now, verse 14, Jesus calls his disciples calls them and some people together. And as he calls them together, he's just had a very difficult confrontation with the religious rulers. And so he calls them together and says, Pay attention. Listen carefully. Don't miss this. This is very important. In fact, one of the commentators said that this was the most revolutionary thought that Jesus gave in all of his life, a Jewish commentator. And in verse 15, he says, there's nothing, there's absolutely nothing that's defiling you from the outside, like not washing your hands ceremonially or eating something that was not in the Leviticus rules to not to eat. I'm going to use the word kosher kitchen. And so he said there's nothing from without a man that enters into him that can defile him. He says, but what really is defiling is what comes from the inside out. Here's how it's the scripture says it for the scripture says Whatsoever a man thinketh, that he is. And so, Lord Jesus is warning them, it's not externalism, but it's internalism that really matters. And so, join me, please, as you look at your text. Look at verse 17. If you can understand this, he says, listen very, very carefully. This is very, very important. And so externalism was the measure of spirituality rather than an internal relationship and love for the Lord. Ceremonial washing or keeping of dietary rules and regulations. Externalism, what you could see, what was on the outside. You know, I really believe that that is a struggle that we especially if we've been saved a while, have when we see someone else that maybe externally does not match up to our perception of what we think Christianity should be. But God looketh upon the heart, not in the outside of man. And so that is the emphasis here in this text. So if you can listen carefully and grasp this principle, Jesus says it's very, very important. Notice verse 17, when he, the Lord Jesus, entered into a house. We're in the area of the northern side of the Sea of Galilee, probably in the town of Capernaum. The main house that they gathered together was where Peter lived. And if you go with us to Israel in November, it will be our privilege to walk along there and through the streets of Capernaum, and then go up and stand in the synagogue where the Lord Jesus taught. Look down and to our left a little bit, and that would have been right along the northern side of the Sea of Galilee, where the Lord Jesus was, and He entered into a house. He did so to get away from the multitude, or the mass of people. so that he could explain to his disciples a little bit more of his heart concerning this principle. So his disciples then ask him, would you explain this better? Would you explain this more? I want to remind you how difficult it was for them to grasp this, to get a handle. Because they have been taught, if you do this, If you don't do this, you are spiritual. And he is saying, no, it's the heart that really matters. It's your love for Jehovah. It's your love for God that really matters. And so notice with me in your text, verse 18. And he said unto them, the disciples, as they gathered inside this house, he said, I'm really heartbroken I am grieved. I sorrow that you do not understand this. You've been with me for two and a half years. Why hasn't you grasped this? Why haven't you gotten a handle on this? He says it really is difficult for me. He says here it is again. Number two, the second time whatsoever things that are that are without, that enters into us like food that under the Levitical law you were not to eat. That's not what defiles the man. They were looking at externalism, and the Lord Jesus was looking at the internalism. There's no way, I so struggle with this passage of scripture because we just don't identify with it, the impact. Their whole religious experience was basically what they would do or what they didn't do and they had no relationship with God. Do you relate to that a little bit? So many people put all the do's and don'ts as a mark or a measure of spirituality. And the Lord Jesus is saying, that's not where it is. It's a love for God that really, really is the measure of your spirituality. There was a rabbi who had a law that became known and written down as the law of intention. And if you as a Jewish person got up in the morning and you were very busy and didn't have time for all of the do's that you were to do, ceremonially wash your hands, maybe even eat something that you're not supposed to eat, you could say in the morning, OK, my intention is pure. Now I don't have to do anything else. It was called the law of intention. And the law of attention then was an excuse for not doing anything right. And the law of intention was really wrong because its purpose was to evade doing right. And this was very common in that day. He's going to state it again here in verse 19. He says the reason is because, for instance, on dietary things, what you eat enters into your mouth, not into your heart, not into your thoughts. It enters into your esophagus. It goes into your stomach. It goes through your digestive tract. And then it goes out. And the Greek word that's used here, out, is the word for the latrine. I mean, it just goes through you. And so he says, you need to realize it's not what you do and don't that's a measure of spirituality. It's not the fact that you do or don't eat certain foods that make you spiritual. Because the food does not go into your thoughts, into your heart. The food just goes in your mouth, down your throat, down your intestinal, and away it goes. He says, don't you understand this, as he speaks to his disciples? Now, this little bracket, really, or this little piece on the impurging of all meats, was added by Mark to explain when this was written, after the Lord Jesus had said it, that it had already become common in the church, when Mark wrote, this text, it was already commonly understood this principle. And so he says, purging all meats. In other words, today we understand, Mark said, that all meat is okay for us to eat. Folks, do any of you remember how Peter struggled with this and that God had to let down a sheep from heaven? Do you remember that story in the book of Acts? It was very difficult for God's people, the Jewish people, to grasp that they could eat lobster. That's not been difficult for me. It's not been difficult for me to eat ham and eggs. It's not been difficult for me to eat sausage and sauerkraut. You know, that's not been difficult. For the Jewish people, it was very, very difficult. And so he adds this little purging all meats. In other words, it's okay to eat the things in the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus said you shouldn't eat, it's okay to eat it now. God, listen to the words, it's in Acts chapter 10 verse 15, that God has made all food clean. Please, don't go and eat something poisonous and say God's made all clean, it's okay for me to do it. Don't do that. And don't go and eat, excuse me, don't go and overeat. I have difficulty with that when my Josefina makes tacos at the house. You know, I've got to draw the line somewhere and not overeat because I just love tacos. Somewhere around 12 or 13, I start saying maybe I should stop something along those lines. But obesity is wrong. You know, we are not to overeat. Gluttony is sin. And so we're not talking about that, but the Old Testament rules and regulations about dietary, keeping a kosher kitchen, when Jesus died on the cross that ended that. Do you understand that, beloved? Let's go to the next verse. So he says, and again, you know what the best rule for learning? Jesus is teaching it right here. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Four times in this text, he says the same thing the same way. Four times. He says, it's that which cometh out of the man that defileth the man. As a man thinketh in his heart, what? So is he. Absolutely. So Jesus says it's a heart problem that you need to deal with, not a dietary rules and regulations that make things messed up in your life. What comes out the third time he does this principle, says this principle again, that defiles the man. Now, he says, let me tell you some of the things that's wrong. Number one. Adultery. You see, in the heart, when you begin to think about immorality comes from the heart out, that is wrong. It's not wrong to have bacon and eggs, and it's not wrong to have a cheese and ham sandwich, but adultery is wrong. The word adultery here. Adultery. By the way, evil thoughts is the first one that's listed. You'll notice it right here. Proceedeth evil thoughts. Evil thoughts is where each one of these that are going to come, come from the thought life. The evil thoughts. That is, to scheme, or let me say, a planning and preparing to purpose to do wrong. I saw something that I want. I don't have the money for it. But there's no camera in that area of the store. And the next time I'm in there, I am going to grab it and get out of here. Evil thoughts, thinking ahead of time. Evil thoughts, premeditated planning to do wrong. Adultery is the first one that he lists. Adultery is found 68 times in the scriptures in our English. It's number 7 of the big 10 in Exodus chapter 20. And it was so important to the family structure that under the law of the Old Testament, it was punishable by death. God places a high premium upon purity in the marriage. A high premium on purity of marriage. And in this context of evil thoughts, the Lord Jesus steps it up one more notch. And the Lord Jesus says, if a man even thinketh in his heart, in the context of adultery, he commits it in his heart. And so Jesus ratchets it up. even to another notch. Notice another one. Here is the word fornication in our English text is primarily thought of physical relations between a couple before marriage. Physical intimacy before marriage. It happens to be pornea. It is the word that we get pornography from the Greek word. The greatest gift any young man or young lady will ever give in their life is to be able to give purity to their mate in the marriage relationship. God raises so high the view of marriage that from the time a child is born, it's his desire and his delight for physical purity and to be able to have that wonderful relationship of a husband and wife consummated for the first time. And so adultery, fornication, the next one, murder. Plural murderers. We know that, of course, that is also in the Big Ten, number six of the Ten Commandments. And it is the taking of life without justifiable cause. It is the Greek word p h o n o i. And if you're fairly new with us, we sometimes look at the Greek word to remind us of the word that was originally used when it was written, before it was translated into the English. It is taking of life without purposeful, justifiable cause. I'll just say the Lord Jesus stepped this one up a notch too. The Bible tells us that if we have hatred in our heart, for another, especially brother. But if we have hatred in our heart for another, we commit murder in our heart. And so we are not to have hatred for one another. Why is murder a big deal? Because God is the one who gives life and he is the only one who has the authority to take life. Do you follow me? He is the one who gives life and the only one who has the authority to to take life. We happen to believe very strongly that life begins at conception from the scriptures, not just medically, but we believe that from the scriptures, the life begins at conception. Taking of life from the moment of conception on typically is called what? Murder. And so murder. Let's look at the next one. The next word is to be a thief. Now, there are two Greek words for stealing in the Scriptures. The first one is Kakos. K-A-K-O-S. Kakos. And the word Kakos literally means that it is inerrant or intrinsically bad, the object or the person. This Greek word that is used here is a word that describes something that is actively evil, action, active, evil. It's even used in relationship to the evil one. That is the Greek word that's used there. And of course, that is Satan. And so it is the doing of what we know is wrong. And to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, it is what? It is sin, wicked. The next one. The next one is covetousness. To covet. When you look at the Big Ten in Exodus 20, it ends, Thou shalt not covet. By the way, this is plural in the original language. And it literally, it literally is two words. It is the words to have more or to have more possessions, if you put them in together. Compound, two words, compound words. So it is an uncontrollable desire to have more and more and more. You know the difficulty with covetousness? When we die, it's all left behind. No U-Hauls behind hearses. None. Covetousness. Sometimes we use the word greed. It's an uncontrollable desire to have. You heard of Plato, the Greek poet? Plato, philosopher Plato said, that this Greek word, we get covetous from, he says, it's like a sieve. It's like an implement or a vessel with holes in it. And he says, the more you try to put things in, the more frustrated you get because you just can't put enough into it. You understand that? Holes in the vessel. You pour all you want into it, and there's always a desire for more. A pierced vessel which, when one tries, but can never fill. Covetousness. Next, wickedness. The word wickedness. An interesting word. The doing of wrong. Continual action. Do you remember the story of Troy and the wooden horse? Do you remember that story? Was it Greece? It was Greece that attacked Troy. When we went to Turkey and around that area of Asia Minor, we went to Troy. There was a picture of this recreation of the large horse. The city gates were strong. The way that you go in made it difficult. We tried and tried to destroy Troy and they were not they were not able to do so. So what did they do? They built a wooden horse. And of course, they put their army inside the wooden horse. Remember the story? And so they came and they brought it up to the gates of Troy and said, we have a present for you. The people of Troy brought the wooden horse inside. But what's inside the wooden horse? The armies, the Greek army. And so after they got it inside, a knife fell. They opened the bottom of the horse. The soldiers came out. They opened the gate. And that was the final destruction of Troy. That is the Greek word that is used, the story that's used to illustrate the Greek word for deceit. Deceit. And so the Lord Jesus says, it's not your diet, it's deceit. That is so wrong. D-O-L-O-S is the Greek word. By the way, it is used for the bait in a trap. And the deceitful one sets a trap for us and baits it. We need to be very, very careful. Crafty, cunning, cleverness. Next great big word is lasciviousness. Please don't use that word today, lasciviousness. The original word behind lascivious is lustful desires. It is to have no restraint, no shame, no guilt, no decency, no standards of morality, no guidelines, lasciviousness. The next one. Evil eye. If you've been to Turkey, they give out a piece of glass. In it, it has an eye. And there is a story behind that. The word evil eye is a Greek word. that means to have an eye of envy where you're jealous of anyone or anything else than what you have. Jealousy would be a good word, or envy would be a good word. It carried with it the context of an evil eye of envy, and that if you could, you would put a curse on the person who had something that you would like to have And so do we rejoice when someone gets a raise? Do we rejoice when someone gets a new car? Do we rejoice when someone gets a house? Or are we envious? And almost wish they wouldn't have it, but we did. An evil eye. Blasphemy. Most of these words are translated from the original Greek into English. Blasphemy is not a translation. It is a transliteration. Say that, please. That means that they took the original Greek word and made it into an English sounding word. In fact, blasphemia is the Greek word, and it is translated when speaking about another person as slander. When it's speaking about God, It's what we call blasphemy, slander. No wonder James says it's really hard to tame the tongue. The next one, pride. Interesting word that is used here. Many words in the original language for pride. This is an amazing one. It is the word that would mean To lift above. So no matter who you meet, you lift yourself above them. See yourself better than everyone that you would meet. Anyone that you would meet. Pride. The letter there is I. The letter of sin is I. The difficulty is I. Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, not I live, but Christ lives in me. Pride. Thirteenth and the last one. It's kind of a summary as the first one with evil thoughts. Foolishness. Now, this is not playing tricks. This isn't joking around and having fun with one another. The word for foolishness or the word folly is lack of moral judgment or moral foolishness. It's found 20 times in our English text, but it's only found here in one other place in the Greek. Fool. Just remember it in this context. A fool has said in his heart, there is no God. It's living a life that there was no God or no life after death. Lover, do you follow me? That is foolishness. Ralph Bond was sitting over here this morning. He went like this to me after the service, and he said the difficulty with the fool is that they lack the two O's. Obedience. an obscenes to bow down before Almighty God because a fool has said in his heart there is no God. Now we've looked at a total. If you use the first of the last 13 things, you know the moral man, the moral teacher or the moralist says that man is basically good. Is that what you found in God's Word today? Out of our heart comes all of these things. God's Word says that man is basically bad, basically a sinner, and in need of a Savior. It amazes me at the end of this, in verse 23, that the Lord Jesus says, for the fourth time, fourth time in these few verses, It's not the do's and don'ts of religion, but it is the heart that really matters. What comes out of your thoughts? Four times here in our text, the Lord Jesus says this. And so this morning, I couldn't help but think of this thought in the Scriptures. Guard your heart, beloved. Guard your heart. I love the way the Apostle Paul says it so simply when he wrote to the church at Philippi and he said, Whatsoever things are true, think on these things. Whatsoever things are honest, think on these things. Whatsoever things are just, think on these things. Whatsoever things are pure, think on these things. Whatsoever things are lovely, think on these things. The things that are of a good report, think on these things. Whatsoever things are virtuous, think on these things. Whatsoever things are worthy of praise, think on these things. Guard our hearts, because as Proverbs says, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." It's a wonderful hymn that says, cleanse me, O God, and know my heart today. See if there's any wicked way in me. We covered 11, nearly 13 with the beginning and the ending of things. And so, our Heavenly Father is more concerned Way more concerned than going through the routine and the ritual of religion. More concerned about our heart. What we think about. Because out of that heart is going to come the wickedness that are listed here in this text. I couldn't help but think when I look through this text and to rejoice that we have a Savior. I love 1 Corinthians. The gospel, the good news is very simple. That is, that Christ died according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and that He rose again for our sins. Romans 10, 9 and 10 says, that if thou should confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." And so, we have a sin problem. It comes from inside of us. David said it very simply. He said that even when I was conceived, at that moment on, he said, I began to have a sinful nature. But Jesus Christ came as God the Son, the Son of God, and lived a spotless, sinless life and went to the cross of Calvary and died for our sins. Aren't you glad? He died for our sins. Now we need to ask him to forgive us, believe and confess him as Savior and Lord. Let me just review that those last three things with you, please. Let me remind you that we need to admit that we are sinners. You'll never have your sins forgiven unless you start with the fact that they need to be, that you have them and they need to be forgiven. You need to admit. All have sinned and come short to the glory of God. How many? B. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The only way to have those sins forgiven is to believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Believe. See, you need to confess Him as Savior and Lord. Forgive me for my sins. Come into my life. I accept you as my Savior and my Lord. Shall we bow our heads, please? This morning, if you're here. And you're not sure that you have a personal relationship with God. It isn't the ritual of religion. Jesus says. It's a right relationship with God that comes to believing in the Lord Jesus. Your heads bowed, every eye closed. If you would die today, are you sure you'd go to heaven? Jesus came to this earth and lived a spotless, sinless life and went to the cross of Calvary and paid for our sins. Admit your need. I am a sinner. Believe that He died on the cross for your sins. Lord, today I believe. And confess Him as Savior and Lord. I believe and I receive you today as my savior from my sins. As Lord of Lords in my life. Would you make that transaction? Would you make this the hour of decision asking forgiveness for your sin? Acknowledging Jesus as your only Savior and accepting him today into your heart and your life. Thank you, Lord, for your provision. The problem. The person of your son, thank you for that from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Would you look up here one more time, please? Many of these things that are listed, the 13 beginning with evil thoughts, dealing, posing with covetousness, these these 13 things. Many of us struggle with some of them. As believers. Do you agree with me? We do. I want to close with this first, John 1 9. Listen carefully. We confess our sin. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to what? Cleanse us from any and all of those 13 plus. Isn't that wonderful? 1 John 1 and verse 9. And so we can go away without a heavy heart, but a very thankful heart, for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for without the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness for our sin. Let's bow one more time. Let's just individually from our heart to heaven as a believer, just thank the Lord. Thank you, Father, for forgiving me of my sins. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. In your precious son's name, we thank you. Amen. All right, we are going to be dismissed. Why don't you stand for a moment?