in Mark's Gospel, chapter 6. And we've arrived at the very end of the chapter. We take up the reading at verse 53. When they had crossed over, they came to the land at Genesareth and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick to the place they heard He was. And wherever He entered, villages or cities or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces. and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak. And as many as touched it were being cured. We'll make a few comments on these four verses and then we'll move on. But here they are arriving at Genesareth. And Jesus is so recognizable that the crowds see Him, and another crowd is gathered with another day of intense ministry. Now, you remember kind of the flow of events. When we go back several weeks in our preaching through this Gospel, the disciples were sent out two by two on a trial mission. They came back, reported to Jesus all the things they had done, and He said, you guys need a rest. Let's go away to a secluded place and rest. And so they got in the boat. They headed to a secluded place, but the crowd followed them along shore. and arrived at the spot before the disciples did, and there was no rest. It was another day of ministry. And that was the occasion where Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes, and 5,000 plus people were fed, and the disciples had crowd control. They had to seat the crowd, hundreds here, fifties there, collect more fragments left over, twelve baskets full. It was a full day of ministry. At the end of that, in the evening, Jesus said, get in the boat and go over to the other side of the shore. I'll send the crowds away and meet you there. And so they got in the boat, and that was last Sunday's sermon. What happened? There was a storm that came and headwinds, and they rowed and rowed and rowed. They got in the boat in the evening, and we're told it was the fourth watch of the night. That is, the hours between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., and they were still rowing. and Jesus came walking to them on the water. Well, as soon as He got in the boat, the wind calmed down, the sea quit all of its rage against them, and they immediately arrived at the shore, and that's right here. They crossed over, arrived at Genesareth. And what happens? Immediately, The crowd recognizes Jesus and another full day of ministry. Where did the rest come? It never did. And here they're gathering people and bringing them far and wide. That tells me there's grace, there's got to be grace for weary disciples. These guys had to be worn out by now. Well, if we were to look at this with the flavor of evangelism, here's what we would see. Jesus is always recognized by some. And that few that recognize Him go and tell others about Him. And the word spreads. So here's evangelism, and then opportunity is knocking. I mean, that's the gospel message. Come one, come all. You've got an opportunity now as long as you're alive. And efforts were made. Here's desperate people taking desperate measures. They started bringing their sick people, carrying them from whatever village here and there. It's hard to carry someone for very far. Efforts were being made evangelistically. Make efforts to get where Jesus is. So they were carried here or there to the place where they heard He was. And then think of the privilege. Wherever Jesus was found. Every location. City, village, marketplace. What a privileged people to have Him there. Isn't it that way with us today? What a privileged people we are. Privileged this very morning. The Lord Jesus is here with us. And if you're unconverted, if you're not a believer up to this very point, this is a day of opportunity for you. This is a privilege. And we're speaking of Him. We're telling, just like these others, make the effort to come to the Lord Jesus. And it was then an intentional touch of faith. They were begging Him. They might just touch the fringe of His cloak. and as many as touched it were being cured. Universal healing. The Lord doesn't turn any away. So then, in view of all of this, there's a privilege and it's passing. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Don't let it go by. Put yourself in Jesus' way. They were bringing people and setting them down in the marketplace where they knew He was coming so that He might heal them. And they might touch Him. Reach out personally and touch Him. You won't be disappointed. All that do are healed. Well, in view of all of this, how inexcusable are the unbelieving. Well, let's continue on in chapter 7. The Pharisees had some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. And then verse 3 and 4 are parentheses explaining why it mattered to the Pharisees at all. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves. And there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands? And he said to them, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men, neglecting the commandment of God you hold to the tradition of men. And he was also saying to them, you're experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, honor your father and mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death. But you say, if a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you as Corban, that is to say, given to God, you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother, thus invalidating. the Word of God by your tradition which you've handed down, and you do many things such as that." Well, here are these Pharisees and these scribes, the opposers. We've seen them before. In Mark, it's not anything new. And to the extent that we're like them, we need to be careful. They were higher critics of the Bible. and the commandments. They were religious. And the higher critics, the religious, the intellectual, the nominal, combined together, are often the greatest opposers to the cause of Christ. Hinderers to the cause of Christ. That's what they were. These Pharisees were running interference. For the enemies, they were deceiving the hearts of the unsuspecting. They were causing, like Jesus said in another place, these little ones to stumble. And in that case, Jesus said, he pronounced these words, it'd be better for that person to have a millstone tied around their neck and cast into the sea, than to do something that causes one of the little ones of Christ to stumble. And so it was, these intellectuals, these higher critics, these opposers, came and were opposing Jesus. And where did they come from? They came from Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is the headquarters, the epicenter for Jewish orthodoxy. And the commentators tell me it's about 90 miles from Jerusalem to Capernaum. So if in that day you were going to make that trip, you had to be pretty motivated to do it. So here they are, highly motivated. And they make the trip 90 miles from Jerusalem to Capernaum. And what was the whole reason they came there? It was to find incriminating evidence and to be hostile to the cause of Christ. And how did they accomplish that purpose? The King James says they found fault. They were fault finders. And you know, if you're looking for fault, you're going to find it sooner or later. They were fault finders. They were looking to catch Him in some violation of their standard. And so, what is the supposed fault that they find? Well, it's a big one. His disciples are eating and they're not washing their hands first. These disciples that have been pouring out their lives, In the cause of Christ, helping Him, going here and there, risking their lives in storms and the sea and all of that, they don't wash their hands before they eat. Now that's a big one. And as we see when we read through here, it's not personal hygiene that's their issue. And none of us have problems with that. I mean, mothers make Johnny come up and show him their hands before he sits down to eat. No, go wash. We're about personal hygiene even in this day and age of viruses and resistant bacteria and all of that. We're all about hygiene, but that's not what this was. This was not personal hygiene. It was external religion. It was ceremonial hand-washing. Now, it does us well maybe to stop and take a look here at what this is that they're talking about because it's not a Western practice. There's a document, a Jewish document called the Mishnah, and it's a collection of oral traditions. And as I understand it, it's still in effect. But it's almost unbelievable that in this doctrine there are over 35 pages devoted to washing. 35 pages worth. And it goes something like this. It was laid down that the hands were first to be washed clean. The tips of the ten fingers were then joined and lifted up so that the water ran down to the elbows and then turned down so that it might run off to the ground. Fresh water was poured on them as they were lifted up and twice again as they hung down. The washing itself was to be done by rubbing the fist of one hand with the hollow of the other, and the vessel used must be held first in the right and then in the left, and the water was to be poured first on the right, then on the left, and at every third time the words repeated, Blessed art thou who has given us the command to wash our hands." That's ceremonial hand washing. And lest we think that they didn't stick to that all the time, There's the account of a rabbi, I have every reason to believe that it's accurate, who in his dungeon took the little bit of drinking water that was given to him and used it for ceremonial washing. And he preferred dying of thirst rather than neglecting that ceremony. And his other rabbis admired him for it. So these ceremonies. Now, the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee. He says in Galatians 1 and verse 14, he was exceedingly zealous for the traditions of his ancestors. This kind of thing. That was Paul before he was converted. And so we've got these Pharisees today in our text that were jealous guardsmen. Not of the Scriptures, but of ancestral traditions. But it needs to be pointed out, even Jesus Himself didn't ceremonially wash His hands like this. In fact, Luke in chapter 11 gives us an account where He was invited to a Pharisee's house for lunch, and He came in, went right in, and reclined at the table. And when the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that he had not first ceremonially washed before the meal. That's our Lord Jesus. So here we have in the text man-made rules and traditions. Practices that rest not on the authority of the Scripture, but rather the authority of man. Human authority. And these Pharisees had abandoned the Scriptures and held to their traditions passed down from generation to generation. Now, there's a lesson here. We little realize what we lose when we ignore the Bible and the Scriptures. The Scriptures, we're told, in one place are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That's the Scriptures. And the Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice in matters of conscience. The Bible. Not men's rules. Religion is not a matter of forms or ceremonies or liturgies or ordinances or anything merely outside. What is it? It's a matter of the heart. Jesus quoted Isaiah there. Their heart is far from me. And there's a biblical definition. of hypocrisy here. Jesus called them hypocrites. You know what a hypocrite was? In the original, it meant one who was an actor. It meant one who wore a mask like actors did. And who assumed a character that was not his own. That was a hypocrite. They act a part that's unreal. And so here these Pharisees and their legalism allowed them to live in hypocrisy, but still appear to be very religious. Because they kept these things to this degree that we just read about. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. in verse 6, and then in verse 7, "...in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." Well, that's a quote from Isaiah 29 and verse 13, and it's not that. I mean, Jesus said, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, It's not that when Isaiah prophesied 700 years before, that he had in mind these Pharisees of Jesus' day. It wasn't that. He was prophesying about his own people and his own generation. But because the Bible is so applicable and timeless, Jesus said He was talking the same principles are yours. And then if we fast forward even beyond that, two thousand plus years after the time of Jesus, these things apply to us today. They're timeless, and appropriate, and applicable, and relevant. Don't let anyone say that the Bible is not relevant today. Well, what a frightening statement it is. Their heart is far away from God. How near is your heart to God? Is your heart far away from Him? If you pass away from this world with a heart that's far away from God, you've just sealed your doom. Well, they were acting the part of true worshipers, but they weren't so in reality. They were wearing a mask of profession, which they put on that concealed their real character. They pretended to be honoring God, but the honor that they gave Him did not proceed from a heart. It was only for external appearances. And this isn't the only time Jesus confronted the Pharisees. He said in another place, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. They laid aside the big things of Christianity, and they focused on the little things. But Jesus said, these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. And He called them blind guides who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. You've heard that phrase? There's a lot of gnat straining that happens. And a lot of camel swallowing at the same time. That one Pharisee that stood in the temple praying, what did he say? I fast twice a week. And I pay tithes on all that I get. I had a Christian man tell me one time, I pay tithes on my gross before taxes. And what was implied in that was, if you're spiritual, this is what you do, and you ought to follow me in that. So we've got this idea of legalism and external religion. Things that don't come from the heart, but things that are readily observed by others. There's a man, David Guzik, he says, would God say something similar to us? They attend church, but their heart is far from me. They read the Bible, but their heart is far from me. They contribute money, but their heart's far from me. They do ministry, but their heart is far from me." You get the picture. These things apply to us today. The words that are penned in Proverbs 23 and verse 26 apply to us. Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways. That's so much different than do this and don't do that. A heart that loves God. J.C. Ryle, I really appreciate him and I use him as I study through Mark. He had this to say, and I'll quote it to you. He said, let us remember this in the public congregation. It must not content us to take our bodies to church if we leave our hearts at home. The eye of man may detect no flaw in our service. Our minister may look at us with approval. Our neighbors may think us patterns of what a Christian ought to be. Our voice may be heard foremost in the singing and prayer. But it's all worse than nothing in God's sight if our hearts are far away. It's only wood, hay, and stubble before Him who discerns thoughts and reads the secrets of the inward man." So we see it's possible to be, in a sense, strictly religious and yet, in a deeper sense, out of harmony with God altogether. And this kind of thing is a temptation that at times it affects us all. to substitute external for internal, that which can readily be seen for what God requires, invisible things like faith and love and purity and loyalty of the heart. God requires heart worship, but some give Him an outward performance of duties. He wants their heart, their thoughts, their minds, and what do they give Him? Lip service. These people serve Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Well, pride is gratified by the observance of distinguishing rules. I do this, you don't. I'm proud. There's an air of superiority and self-righteousness. You remember John G. Payton, that Scottish missionary that went to the cannibals in the South Sea islands, several different islands there? He recounts, you know, the different islands had tribes of cannibals, and they hated each other. They fought. They warred against each other. Well, he was on one of the islands talking to one tribe of cannibals, and those cannibals had enemies from another island, the island of Tanna. And here's what those cannibals said. They said, ah, we are not Tanna men. We don't eat the bones. So you see what they're saying? We're better than these other guys. And these are cannibals. And why are we better than these other guys? We don't do what they do. We bury the bones. We at least bury the bones. So there's always this air of superiority. A guy by the name of Brian Bill, he draws some conclusions from this confrontation of Jesus and the deadly effects of the traditions of men, legalism. He says, a legalist is one who believes that performance is the way to gain favor with God. Legalism is the human attempt to prove our spirituality by outward conformity to a list of religious do's and don'ts. And we tend to judge others by our own standards of what is acceptable and what isn't. That's legalism. And as you can imagine, legalism is divisive in a congregation, in a church, We find it because the legalists insist that everyone live up to the standard that they have adopted. In other words, everyone needs to be like me. But there's something about legalism. It kills joy and enthusiasm. And it stifles spirituality. Believers become burdened by a bunch of man-made rules. And they lose their joy. It's rules and regulations. And what did Jesus say? He used these phrases in this very text. In verse 8, neglecting the commandment of God. in verse 9, setting aside the commandment of God. In verse 13, invalidating the Word of God. What a thing that is. That's what legalism does. And in a practical way, we err, we fall into that when we begin to assign morality to things that are amoral. We begin to say, God approves you if you do this or you don't do this, and the thing in question is something that's totally amoral. There's no morality assigned to it at all. Wayne Grudem, I was reading his marvelous book on Christian ethics, and under the heading, The Dangers of Legalism, He talks about different aspects of legalism. And he has sub-headings. And then he describes it. And I'll read some of these to you. One of the aspects of legalism, it's found this way. Adding to the commands of Scripture. That seemed to be what the Pharisees were doing. Grudem says this, we should not smugly think that the tendency to add to the rules of Scripture disappeared with earlier generations, even today in various churches. The expectations of behavior tend to become legalistic regarding such things as... And then he begins to list different things. The first one, clothing. It's amoral. The Bible says modest dress for the ladies. What does that mean? Well, it means not too short, not too low, not too tight, not too much skin. Modest. But it doesn't mean that you have to forsake and throw away all fashion and style. It doesn't mean that you have to have a skirt that goes all the way to the floor Plain pastel color. No pattern. You see, those kinds of things are believed by some groups nowadays. And heaven forbid that you have braided hair. I don't care if you braid your hair. What is that? It's amoral. Or if you want to wear a gold necklace or jewelry or something like that, that doesn't bother me. If you want to put on makeup, even Paul Washer said every old barn needs a coat of paint now and then. I don't have a problem with that. And if you want to paint your nails or your toes or whatever as a lady, that's not what that portion in 1 Timothy is talking about. It's talking about extravagance. There were ladies that would come into meetings. They had costly apparel on. They had a bunch of jewelry. And having their hair braided meant something, society-wise. So, Wayne Grudem says, clothing. Then he says, shaving styles. Some places, you've got to grow a beard. Music preferences. In the meeting, music preference. Or whether or not you listen to secular music. Rules are set up that way and are implied. Babies. Wayne Grudem points out babies. How many? When? Babies. I mean, you're really spiritual if you let God decide the size of your family. And you don't do anything about that. We can begin to look down on others who don't think the same way that we do. How much money you should earn, save, or give away. That guy said, I tithe on the gross. The car and house you have. You don't want it to be too flashy or too nice. Your school choice for your kids. Public, Christian, homeschool. In some circles, it's more spiritual if you homeschool. But there are ladies who are not cut out to be homeschoolers. They're just overwhelmed with it. And to them, my counsel as a pastor is put your kids in a public school. But we have these ideas. We imply that it's better. We're more spiritual in some way. Holiday celebrations. You know, I don't have a problem if your niece or nephew shows up on Halloween dressed like Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, and you give them some candy. That doesn't bother me. Personally, Jenny and I shut off the lights or we go visit Zach and Liz or something and get out of town because our neighborhood gets swarmed with trick-or-treaters and you can't even drive down the street and it would probably cost $100 in the way of candy and I don't want to get up off the sofa that often. But it's easy to say, oh, they celebrate Halloween. They can't be spiritual. Or Christmas. There was a day in the history of this church when some people who are not here now got up and walked out because a Christmas hymn was called. Or a Christmas cantata played on the piano. Those kinds of things are divisive, you see. Legalism is divisive. I don't have a problem with Christmas at all. We've got a Christmas tree. Brandon's here. We're going to decorate it. It's a fun family time. Yeah, I know the Christmas tree might have some kind of dubious history back in the past, but I don't care about that. And yes, I know Jesus wasn't born on December 25th. But why does that have to affect when I celebrate His birth? We celebrate our anniversary oftentimes in May, even though we got married all the way back in the cold of January. Because who wants to go away on your anniversary when you're sitting around shivering, and it's so cold outside you can't go anywhere and do anything. So my point is, okay, so he wasn't born on December 25. I'm still going to worship him and rejoice. So holiday celebrations, you know, these kinds of things happen. when we start going down the road of legalism. Well, that was under adding to the commands of Scripture. Legalism in attitudes. And this is maybe more close to home, at least for me. People can become legalistic in their attitudes toward one another, says Wayne Grudem. This would include having a critical, judgmental attitude toward others rather than a gracious and forgiving attitude. Such critical people will rarely give affirmations, genuine words of encouragement, or compliments to others because so few people meet their high standards. People with such a critical spirit will often move from church to church, never being able to find a congregation that quite meets their high standards. And they aren't aware of their own faults because they're good at justifying to themselves everything they do. Their own sense of superior judgment is so strong that they will never really submit to legitimate authority. I can see that. And then yet another kind of legalistic attitude. Wayne Grudem says, is seen in people who withhold forgiveness and hold grudges. They think that they need to personally guarantee that others suffer for the wrongs that they've done to them, rather than being willing to leave it all to God. Some legalistic people, on a different turn, can turn their legalism on themselves and become excessively self-condemning, always feeling like spiritual failures. always suspecting that they're never doing enough for God. That's a legalistic attitude. There's no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. Who can lay any charge to God's elect? But yet the devil comes and slanders us all the time, and if our attitudes are legalistic, then we slander ourselves. God can't be pleased with me. I mean, after all, I didn't have my devotion this morning. That's legalistic. Well, Jesus goes on. He says, neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men. And He was also saying to them, you're experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. And then He gives an example. so that these Pharisees knew exactly what he was talking about. Moses said, honor your father and your mother. And he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death. Well, I want to hit just a bit here on this commandment, this fifth commandment, honor your father and mother. And that last part, he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death. There were arrangements within the Mosaic Law to stone to death a son who was habitually, continually insubordinate in the home. Now, I'm talking to young people, those of you of very different ages. Some are teenagers, some are this tall right here. There's something here for all of you. Obey, honor your parents. It's taught in the Bible. God takes it very seriously, the attitude toward parents. We don't stone kids because they are disobedient. But nonetheless, we don't dare take the teeth out of that. It matters to God. The chief family duty for children in the eyes of God is right here. All you have to do is honor your parents. Make them happy. Try to please them. I mean, to the wind with this arguing and bad attitudes when they're told to do something. Where's the honor in that? Do what you're told to do with an attitude of respect and cheerfulness. Not with a bad attitude. The verse reads, honor your father and mother if it seems reasonable to you. Is that what it says? There's no disclaimer like that on there. Honor your father and mother If it doesn't seem, even if you think, whether or not you think they deserve it, honor your father and mother. If it doesn't seem reasonable to you, get over it. Do what you're told. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, says in Colossians. Why? Why should you do that? Because this is pleasing to the Lord. So, honor your father and mother, Jesus says. And he who speaks evil of father and mother is to be put to death. There's a proverb that sounds pretty weird to me. The eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out and the young eagles will eat it. What does that mean? I don't know. What it means to me is God takes it serious and He's going to punish that bad attitude toward father and mother. If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother when they chastise him, he will not even then listen to them. That precedes this verse. who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death. So, Matthew Henry says, God takes notice with what eye a children look on their parents. And many who have come to a humiliating and undignified end have owned that the wicked course that brought them to it began in a contempt of their parents' authority. So, from this pulpit this morning, honor your father and mother, kids. So Jesus says, that's what Moses said, but you say if a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban, that is to say given to God, you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother. That's Corban. That's another thing that's not familiar to the western mind. But what is it? The place where these offerings were to be deposited was called the Corbanas, or the sacred treasury. And so to say something, it's Corban, was to say what I have that might help you, my parents, I have previously committed to the work of God. And so I can't give it to you. I can't give you any help. And so the picture is, here are these parents who are destitute and really need help, and here's this guy that's a son that has something that could help them, but the workaround for all of that is, I pledged this already to the work of the Lord, so I can't help you. And they said that as long as he pledged that, he didn't even have to commit it to the work of the Lord, but it was just there like a fund in case He wanted to give. And so you see the workaround in all of that. Jesus said, your tradition is like that. That's what you do. But you dishonor your parents and you disobey the commandments of God. They break the fifth commandment. They invalidate the Word. by handing down their traditions. And he went on to say, and you do many things like this. So this is a sermon on heart worship and a sermon against legalism and rules and regulations and external religion. In Colossians 2, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. That was the things that Paul was condemning in the church. But our hearts need to be His. My Son, give me Your heart. So if you continue in my word, says Jesus, then you're truly disciples of mine. And you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Well, that's all for today.