Untitled Sermon

Mark 7:1-30

Homiletical Proposition/Application: Examine + Renew Your Heart!

INTRODUCTION

My - Awesome on the outside, terrible on the inside.Image:CC

Like pharisees, we can be deceived into only tending to our lives.Need:external

: How do allow our faith to shape our , not just our actions?Subjecthearts

: In wewitness a between Jesus + the pharisees. Ultimately, Jesus uses this conflict to teach all of us a critical lesson.TextMark 7:1-30, showdown

4. Summary: Righteousness isn’t found in renewed actions - it is found in a renewed heart.

BODY

PROBLEMThe Pharisees Only Valued External Righteousness (7:1-13):

The Pharisees clung to a + set of laws.complexevolving

In fact, their ever-evolving “Oral Law” outreached scripture.

They treated Oral Law with the same authority as scripture.

Washing rituals were an example of such additions.

- a chief example of the sinful hypocrisy of their legalism.Corban

Ironically, the pharisees actually sprang from a heart.external righteousnesssinful

They were self-righteous + prideful.

Their “uprightness” was all about their own image + status.

This is why Jesus constantly took issue with their “piety”.

How did the Pharisees stray so far from the heart of God? Legalism is an enticing, deceptive mindset:

“It may seem almost incredible that men should leave the simple principles of righteousness for a region so barren and burdensome as that of external observances. But the secret is not so difficult to find. 1. External acts can be seen and felt by one’s self, and so can give complacency; 2. They can be seen by others, and thus can gain credit; and 3. They are easier than walking with God. To approach Him needs the courage of purity and penitence; and to take His guidance requires perpetually the self-denial and consecration of faith” - Richard Glover

Trans: Have you trusted in legalism more than the heart of God? If so, Jesus has a liberating + important response:

SOLUTION II. God Looks Upon The Heart (7:14-23):

Our own hearts are the “” of our sin .factories(18-23)

Our sinful state is not inaugurated by what we consume.

Our sinful state is preexistent.

Legalism is a cheap + way of dealing with our sin problem.insufficient

As before, in some ways, it is easier than addressing the state of our own heart.

However, it doesn’t solve our problem.

Jesus came to initiate a Covenant .New(Jer. 31:33-34)

Jesus came to give us a new heart + new life.

We no longer walk by the Law, we walk by the Spirit.

Trans: Jesus’ message still rings true for us today - let’s do some personal diagnostics:

Examine + Renew Your Heart!: APPLICATION

The of your heart isn’t determined by the of quiet times you have a week.state#

What comes out of you tells the true tale.

Here are some questions:diagnostic

How do you treat your wife/kids?

Do you do things with integrity?

Have you obeyed God’s latest command?

Do you esteem others above yourself?

Do you repent of your sin?

If you’re realizing that your heart might be in a worse than you realized, there’s hope:state

Pray Psalm 51 this week: Clean Heart, Right Spirit.

Repent of Legalism - cast aside legalistic practices that amount to nothing.

Focus on your heart ^.