We're reading from the book of Isaiah, the 29th chapter, verses 13 and 14. If you care to follow along in your Bible in the pew, it's page 750 in the hardcover or page 501 in the soft. Isaiah 29, verses 13 and 14. Hear now the word of the Lord. And the Lord said, Because this people draw near with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder, and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden. May God bless the reading of his word. You may be seated. And follow along as I read Matthew 15 verses 1-20. Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat. He answered them, And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles a father or mother must surely die. But you say, if anyone tells his father or his mother, what you would have gained from me is given to God. He need not honor his father. So, for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. And he called the people to him and said to them, Hear and understand. It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth. This defiles a person. Then the disciples came to him and said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? He answered, Every plant that my Heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone. They are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. But Peter said to him, Explain the parable to us. And he said, Are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands, does not defile anyone. May God add his blessing to the reading of his word. Please be seated. I bring you greetings from Rehoboth Baptist Church. It is a joy to be down here, to be with you. I'm currently an elder at Rehoboth Baptist Church and I've been teaching Sunday School for many, many years. We'll just go with that. And before we start, I just do want to pray on the message and on the lesson time. Heavenly Father, we come before you with your word open before us. Teach us, Holy Spirit, through your word, how to change our lives to honor and to glorify our Father in heaven, that you would be exalted and glorified with what is spoken. Not because of what I speak, but because of what you have written and what you will lay on our hearts, Lord. I ask now in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Today I want to take us all on a journey of self-discovery. Let me get settled here. This journey where we will actually discover that what we do externally What is visible to other people is actually a reflection of what we are like internally, what is really on the inside. In other words, what is visible to others is the evidence of the true condition of our heart. There is a passage in Mark 7, if you want to put a finger there or Marker there will be referring to that from time to time. It is a parallel passage, as recorded by Mark, of the same instance. The passage today breaks down to about three different sections. Verses 1-2, for those that are taking notes, is a question to Jesus. Verses 3-9 is Jesus replying. And then 10-20 is where Jesus teaches. And he teaches to the people in verses 10-11 and 12-20 he teaches his disciples specifically. The context for Jesus' reply and teaching is set by a question to Jesus from the Pharisees found in verses 1 and 2. And they asked, why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders and they do not wash their hands when they eat? One comment is that it's noted here and also in the Mark passage that the Pharisees and the scribes in question were not those that were already in the area of the Galilee. These ones had come down from Jerusalem. And we know through the rest of Scripture that it was not uncommon for the religious leaders to follow Jesus around, questioning Him, testing Him to see whether He was a threat to their authority. Let's turn over to Mark 7, because Mark gives us a little bit more detail about the setting. Verses 1 through 5. Then when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked again here, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands? Okay. What we see from here is this was a setting of a mealtime. that Jesus and his disciples shared with others as well as the Pharisees and the scribes. The question about the washing of hands is referring to the washing of hands to assure ceremonial cleanliness, not to remove dirt. You could have had, because we're talking about the Galilee, you could have had Hands that you'd already washed off, you'd washed off the dirt or the grime if you're a farmer, or the fish guts if you're in the fishing industry, if you were a fisherman. But this is talking more. This is talking about a particular methodology of washing your hands to assure ceremonial cleanliness. It was according to the scribes and the Pharisees that they were to do this. The Pharisees were compelled by their way of thinking to do things that would make them right before God. In other words, by doing this particular type of washing, they would be right before God before they ate. Mark goes on to describe the extent to which this preparation included not only the washing of hands, But everything associated with eating, the pots, the cups, the cooking vessels, the tables, even the couches they reclined upon. So they were very particular about this. So the traditions were not only precise, but very extensive and comprehensive in what they had to clean. So the conflict arose over the disciples not following the Pharisees' strict guidelines for ceremonial cleanliness. Whatever the precise method was is not as important as the fact that they had a method. They had this prescription for making sure that they were ceremonially clean so that they would not break the tradition of the elders. The Pharisees conviction about the ceremonial washing was so strong that they were accusing the disciples of sinning. If we go back to the Matthew passage where they said, why do they break the tradition of the elders? It's also in some translations used the word transgress, and the Greek tends to back this up. It is a breaking of or violating a command is the sense that they are using in choosing this word. So here's the setting. We've seen that the Pharisees and the scribes have come down, have accused Jesus' disciples of breaking the traditions of the fathers, not the law of the command of God. Jesus replies, Jesus does not answer the Pharisees and scribes' question, he rolls over their question. but he does respond by using the same language that they had used regarding the breaking or violating or transgressing as it applies to God's command instead of violating God's commandment instead of the tradition of men keeping their traditions Jesus declares how they laid aside rejected, nullified the commands of God in favor of their traditions, citing a primary command of God to honor your father and mother and how their traditions had circumvented it. Their actions demonstrated the true nature of their hearts. The commandment of God that he's referring to here is Exodus 20 and verse 12. honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." And in the very next breath, he declares the judgment of God upon the one who curses their parents. Exodus 21.17 says, whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. The proximity of these two quotes seems to be intended to connect the two passages as being opposite of one another. To not honor your father and your mother is the same as cursing them. This declaration that he uses here, or repeats back to them, what you would have gained from me is given to God. This portion of this passage, this first half, could be an entire sermon on itself, but I'm needing to go through it to set the stage for the second section. But I want you to understand that this declaration, what you would have gained from me is given to God, needs to be understood as an incredible offense against God and His commands. as was used in the days of Jesus. This giving or devoting something to God was a very appropriate thing to do, but it was being abused to the level that it was being used to circumvent using items, wealth, to keep those things from those in need, and particularly parents. in this day and age, or in that day and age, and it was usually for selfish reasons. If you could devote something to the Lord and you worked in the temple, you would still have access to it in some manner. So it was a very selfish, very self-centered, very man-centered way around the commandments, which again is a reflection of their hearts. Jesus uses the quote from Isaiah as a stinging rebuke to the Pharisees and scribes, thereby declaring, and rightly so, that the Pharisees and scribes' hearts, though they were close to the traditions of men, were incredibly far from God. That is a very dangerous place to be, to have your heart far from God. He also likens the Pharisees and scribes to the people of Isaiah, that Isaiah was speaking to in his day. Their worship, their service, their obedience to God was on their terms, on man's terms, not on God's terms, not according to God's commandments. In quoting Isaiah, Jesus focuses on the source of the Pharisees, scribes, and problems, and that is their hearts. It is their hearts. that are at issue here. And as a side note, Mark also records Jesus as saying, and many such things you do. So this is what he picked out of a barrel. One of many things he could have shown them to be where they were at fault. Moving on to Jesus' teaching, he directs the first couple passages to the people that were there. And Mark talks about how they had moved outside of the home, and they were outside the house where they had the meal, and he was calling the people to him. At this point, the text does not say whether all of the Pharisees and scribes were still present or not. Although some evidently had to be because of verse 12 in the Matthew passage, where it says, Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? So that would be referring to what he's teaching to the people, not to what Jesus had spoken before. So Jesus says to the people, hear and understand, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a person. So Jesus counters the teaching of the scribes and the Pharisees directly. Now he's really answering their question, why do your disciples eat with unwashed hands? We're going to take a wild guess here. But when he talks about what comes out of the mouth, he's not talking about the stomach flu or food poisoning. We're not talking about what literally comes out of the mouth, but the passage from Isaiah addresses what it is that can really defile a person. Isaiah spoke of, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Isaiah was referring to what the people say, their speech and their words. These are the things that can defile a person. In the parable passage in Mark, Jesus is recorded as saying, there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. So Jesus uses an absolute term, nothing that goes into the mouth can defile a person. It's not what you take in, it's not eating with unwashed hands, either literally or ceremonially, that will defile you. I want to make sure we're all on the same page regarding what the word defile means. I think we probably all have a pretty good idea. I usually refer to Webster's 1828 Dictionary. You can get a hard copy or it's online readily available for you. I tend to use this because it's not as influenced by modern culture and society. Defile, to make unclean, to render foul or dirty in a general sense. And then further down, one of the definitions is to pollute or to make ceremonially unclean. But it's the idea of polluted. You are unclean literally, physically, spiritually if you're defiled. And that's what Jesus is talking about, the spiritual defilement. The passage in Mark tells us that Jesus entered the house so he could teach his disciples privately in verse 17 of Mark 7. And when he entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. So he, as was his tradition, he would pull us, after he had given a parable to the people, he would pull aside and teach his disciples privately. in detail about what he had just spoken on. In the Matthew passage, in verses 12 to 14, Jesus and his disciples have a conversation about the Pharisees, where he declares them to be blind guides, and the blind will lead the blind. They will both fall into a pit. While this is a very important statement of Jesus about the Pharisees, it is like a sidebar. parenthetical conversation. So I'm going to move past this for the sake of time and to move on to the rest of the passage and the application because it's very crucial here we grasp the whole picture here. Then Peter asks about the parable. Jesus then repeats that nothing that enters a person can defile him And here he adds, because it enters the stomach and is expelled. In the Mark passage it says, it enters the stomach and it does not enter the heart. It is just a physiological process of digesting food and it's taken care of. That is not what makes a person unclean or defiles a person, or spiritually. He continues, it is what comes from within a person, out of their heart, that will defile them. And in the Old Testament passages that refer to the heart, it usually indicates, the heart is usually used to describe the inner man, the mind or will, or the core of who you are. It is who you are when nobody else is around. It is who you are when you think no one is looking. And the New Testament carries that same sense of the heart. In Matthew 15-19, he goes on to describe the list of things that can make you defiled, that can proceed out of the heart and make you spiritually unclean. He says evil thoughts, Murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, and false witness and slander. Evil thoughts are invisible to men, but they're not invisible to God. God sees the thoughts and attempts of your heart. Murder, adultery, sexual immorality, and theft are actions that can be committed against other people. and thereby be visible, or if you think, as in many of the passages that Jesus confronted people about, well, have you kept the law? Well, yeah, I haven't murdered or committed adultery. Jesus counters that in Matthew 5, in the Sermon on the Mount, and talks about if you have been angry with someone without reason, you are guilty of murder. If you have lusted after a woman, You are guilty of adultery without saying it. And we know that while people don't steal things many times, we can be very much covetous. And that's what was Paul's undoing as far as scripture was concerned. The scripture told him that to covet was wrong. While he didn't go and steal something, he coveted it. So these things can be visible, sometimes not visible to other people. Those would fall under evil thoughts again. But the last two, the last two are never invisible to people. That is slander and false witness. People see this. People hear your words. For these are the words that come from our lips. It is the words that come from our lips that can present evidence of the true nature of our heart that I want to spend the rest of our time together on. Proverbs has much to speak about the tongue, the lips, our words. Two passages and also the heart. There's two passages in particular I've selected. There were many I could have selected. Proverbs 10.20 says, The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. If we have a righteous heart, the things that come out will reflect that heart, will be choice silver. If our heart is wicked, the things that come out will be of little worth. Proverbs 15.28 says, The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil, or evil things. So again, the righteous heart takes time to consider what to speak. Evil heart, or the wicked heart, pours out evil things. In a slightly different setting, Jesus addresses the source of what comes out of the mouth reflects the nature of the heart. In Luke 6.45 he says, The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart His mouth speaks. So he's addressing the same thing. It is out of our nature, out of who we are, what we're about at that time, that our words reflect who we are. James has often been called the New Testament Proverbs. One, because he is very practical. But two, because he also speaks a lot about the tongue. and our words. James 3 verses 1 and 2, he says, Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness, for we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If you can discipline your tongue, which means you're disciplining your heart, then the rest of your body will follow along. He then goes on to describe the force of the tongue, and many of you are probably familiar with this passage from James. This is verses 3 through 12. If we put bits in the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, They are guided by a very small rudder, wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life. And set on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell, for every kind of beast and bird, reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. from the same mouth come blessings and cursings? My brothers, these things ought not to be. Does a spring pour forth from it, from the same opening, both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water." James gives us so many different contrasts there of What the tongue can do, it can bring blessings or it can bring cursings. It should not be out of the same mouth that you hear cursings and blessings. Definitely. Definitely. They're good or evil. As Jesus said, and I'm going to go back to Luke 6.45, but I'm going to read 43 through 45 because it reflects the similar sense. For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For pigs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person, out of the good measure of his heart, produces good, and the evil person, out of the evil measure of his heart, produces evil. For out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks." So we're seeing here what we say reflects or is evidence of our heart. Does your tongue bring forth blessings, gentle words, gracious words that are like sweet, that are sweet like the honeycomb? Is that the nature of our words? Or does your tongue bring forth cursings, harsh words, rash words that are like sword thrusts? Do your words tear up, tear down, or build up? I want to address what James says in verse 8 there. No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. That is so very true that no man and no woman can tame their own tongue. For Jeremiah says in 17.9 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked or sick. depending on your translation, who can understand it? The tongue takes its cue from the heart, so until the heart is tamed, you will not be able to tame your tongue. For you who know Christ, this is possible, but only as you truly yield yourself fully to the Lord. Our hearts reflect who we are. what our heart, the condition of our heart. Yes, we can be saved before God, but our heart sometimes, because we are still in the flesh, can say hurtful things. I know this from my own life. I could easily hurt others, and especially my family, with a flick of my tongue. And sometimes, and if you've ever looked at communication, so much of what we communicate, what comes out of our heart, is not the actual words we choose, but how we deliver them. How the body language we deliver it with, the tone, the inflection, sarcasm. can be very cutting and hurtful. I'm blessed to have a wife who was able to show me, from my own words, how I was hurting others with what I said and how I spoke. And by the grace of God, as I surrendered areas of my life and my heart to Him. Sanctification is a ongoing process. It is not a done deal. Amen. Praise God He doesn't leave us where He saves us. He continues to build us and shape us and mold us into the image of His Son. One of the most important things though is in understanding that is the Word of God For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." It can discern our thoughts and the intentions of our heart, not just our actual deeds or what we've done, but our intentions, those hidden thoughts. They can discern those intentions, and unlike us, where we can be self-deceived about the true nature of our hearts at times, we can think we're doing good, but the word will show us otherwise. This journey, if you embark upon it, will be a process. If you commit to taming your tongue, which means taming your heart, surrendering your heart fully and completely. I will speak to men at this point. It's not in my notes here. Men, we have a knack for anger that sometimes women don't have, although I won't exclude women from this. It is a very terrible thing and that will come out in the way we speak to people, the way we speak to our loved ones, the way we speak to those that we meet, that we work with, that we worship with. If you embark upon a journey of taming that anger, of taming the tongue, of taming the heart, the rewards will be great. And we felt by all. That's for the Christian. I never make an assumption we have only Christians in our midst. For those that do not know the Lord, you ask, well, what does it mean to not know the Lord? What do you mean to... If somebody asks you, have you been saved? And you would ask, saved from what? Hebrews has a very, the writer of Hebrews has a very succinct statement to make, and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Know this, that the list we have just looked at in Matthew 15, 19, amongst other lists in the scriptures, will be what God will judge a person on. other offenses, and other offenses based on the Ten Commandments. The standards for getting into God's heaven is not whether we're a good person, but it is God's commandments. It is God's standards that one has to meet in order to get into heaven. If you think yourself a good person, consider several of the commandments. If you've ever taken something without permission and not returned it, it doesn't matter the value, then you have stolen and you are a thief. Have you ever said something that was not true? Then you have lied and been a false witness. Jesus says to be angry with someone is the same as murder. Have you ever just snapped out at somebody in anger? You're guilty of murder. That's only three of the commandments. Scriptures are clear that we feel God is a holy God. He is a perfect God. To break one of his commandments is to incur the wrath of God as if you have broken every single commandment that he has made. If you've broken one of God's laws, where do you think you will head up and spend eternity? Heaven or hell? Paul wrote in Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death. I know there's more to it. Our due payment for our sin is an eternal punishment in hell. There's no sugarcoating it. It is the truth. But there is really, really incredibly good news in the rest of that verse. He starts off with the wages of sin is death. But, and I love that word in scripture so much, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. free. It means we bring nothing to the table. It is all of God and nothing of us. So there is hope. Salvation, redemption, salvation from eternity in hell is available to those who turn to God, turn away from their lives and turn towards God and place their complete trust in Jesus as the only means of salvation. Amen. The scriptures warn us very clearly that our lives are but a vapor. We do not know for certain what tomorrow may bring. In James it says, a person may say, I'm going to go and do such and so in a town And James warns, you do not know what tomorrow will bring. It is only now, it is only in this life we can receive God's grace and mercy and salvation. And there is no other opportunity. Let this be the day of your salvation. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you, humble, broken, sinful men, women, children. We stand before an almighty and holy God upon whom we thrust ourselves for mercy and grace and love. Father, that you would redeem the unredeemed today, that you would indeed continue what you have begun in the lives of those that are here. Continue it until the day of perfection, Lord. Help us to see that our hearts are wicked and deceitful beyond measure. that we need to tame our tongues by taming our hearts, surrendering and submitting our hearts fully to you, that you could then be glorified, exalted, and lifted up. Until that glorious day of your return, we pray now in Jesus' precious and victorious name. Amen. And if you stand and sing and open to hymn number 262 on your hymnal.