Pure Faith, Pure Heart - Revision

Bible Passage: Matthew 15

Good evening, everyone! I am grateful to be joining you tonight to study God’s Word. Before we start, join me in prayer over our time in God’s Word.

[Pray]

Tonight, please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 15. When we read this chapter, we see Jesus doing what he does throughout the gospel narratives: he pushes past external religion and goes straight for the heart. He is not primarily concerned with man‑made rules and regulations, but with the true state of our hearts before God. Anyone can look clean on the outside, but God looks at the heart.

As I pored over this passage, reading and re-reading it, asking the Lord to bring understanding, the word that kept reverberating in my mind was this: heart. Heart. Heart.

We will be combing through the whole chapter, but I was us to hone in on Matthew 15:18.

Matthew 15:18 NASB95

“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

So, my goal tonight is to expose what God is telling us in this text, which is this:

Key Thought: A pure faith produces a pure heart, and a pure heart produces clean hands.

We will walk through the chapter and see this take place in four movements:

Jesus challenges vain tradition.

Jesus exposes the heart as the source of defilement.

Jesus delights in pure faith.

Jesus displays the fruit of a pure heart.

1. Jesus challenges the vain traditions of the Pharisees. - v.1-14

Matthew 15:1–2 NASB95

1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

A delegation of Pharisees from Jerusalem comes to Jesus, yet again, to air their complaints with his ministry. They call out his disciples for not following the religious rules that the Rabbinical authorities established. Jesus’ disciples do not wash their hands before they eat. Mark 7 goes into a bit more detail on what exactly they mean; a tradition of extra-biblical purification rituals was developed that goes beyond what the Torah required of the Jewish people. This included specific ways hands were to be washed, and how utensils and cookware like knives, pots, and pans were to be prepared before use. The implication is that the disciples are unclean, and thus defile themselves by handling food with unclean hands.

Notice, the Pharisees do not accuse the disciples of breaking God’s law, but of breaking “the tradition of the elders.” Their issue is not Torah but the extra purification rituals that had grown up around it (hand‑washing, vessels, etc.; see Mark 7). These traditions were being treated as equal to, or even above, the commandments of God.

Now, tradition in and of itself is not inherently a bad thing. It also is not inherently a good thing. It’s just a thing. It’s another tool. Tools can be helpful, but only insofar as they are appropriately wielded.

We all have traditions, on the individual level, the church level, the denominational level. Many of them can be helpful to us as we seek to follow Christ. But the moment we begin to elevate the traditions (and, for the record, substitute any word there that applies: religious expectation, extrabiblical standard, human legal requirement)… whenever we elevate that stuff to the same plane of authority as Scripture, we have lost sight of the purpose behind the tradition. We have gone blind. This is exactly what the Pharisees are doing.

But Jesus is quick to call them out, as always. Matthew 15:3-9

Matthew 15:3–9 NASB95

And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? “For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ ”

The Pharisees accuse the disciples of breaking tradition, but Jesus turns the charge right back on them: “Why do you break God’s law?”

He gives a specific example: the Fifth Commandment. “Honor your Father and Mother.” The consequence of not doing so: death. The only things punishable by death in the Torah are these things that we would consider horrible, atrocious offenses. Rape, murder, blasphemy, idolatry. And… this. He who speaks evil against his parents. He who strikes his parents. He who fails to appropriately honor and care for his parents. That should help us see the gravity of what the Pharisees were permitting.

Children typically had to care for their parents in their old age. We know that God cares deeply about the weak, about the infirm, those who are unable to care for themselves. Hence, the commandment to honor your father and mother. Honor inherently includes ensuring they are cared for in some capacity.

The Pharisees, though, have established what is called the Corban Tradition, the loophole that Jesus is condemning here. If the money or resources you would use to help care for your parents was instead given to the temple as an oath-gift (that’s what Corban means) (ostensibly given to God), then you no longer have an obligation to honor your parents by supporting them with that money or resources.

Jesus condemns this behavior! “You have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.” They have traded the obedience to God’s word for their traditions that ensure more income to the temple.

To obey is better than sacrifice, says 1 Samuel 22. It would be better for the Pharisees to lead in obedience than it is to obtain more sacrificial gifts to the temple. They become vain offerings from a vain tradition.

The implication Jesus is making here is that the Pharisees are demonstrating that their own hands are not clean. On the outside, they look clean, for they are leading people to give to God! But on the inside, their hearts are far from God, for they violate the very word God gave to them.

Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13, where the Lord condemns a people who “honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” In Isaiah’s day, this heart‑distance led to judgment and exile; Jesus says the Pharisees are in the same spiritual condition. They are headed for death, being cast out from the presence of God.

Jesus is declaring that the Pharisees are no better than those that were led into exile. This struck a nerve with the Pharisees, because they know that text, and they understand exactly what Jesus is saying.

Matthew 15:10–14 NASB95

After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. “It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Jesus offers a swift rebuke of the Pharisee’s attempted condemnation of his disciples.

The Pharisees are offended.

Jesus declares their traditions to be vain, and their hearts to be unclean. The disciples are not the ones defiled. It is the Pharisees, men with supposedly clean hands but impure hearts.

When the disciples report that the Pharisees were offended, Jesus says, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted…they are blind guides of the blind.” Their teaching looks pious, but it bears no real fruit; it leads both them and their followers into the pit.

These are men who are meant to be spiritual leaders, who are meant to teach the people about following God, yet they themselves have no clue how to follow God. They do not love God. They do not care about the needy. They only care about themselves. They are the blind leading the blind. Jesus is saying that the Pharisees, and those who follow their teachings, will be condemned and judged for their sin. They follow their traditions, but they fail to abide in the word of God, resulting in their condemnation come Judgment Day.

The Pharisees do not approach Jesus with wonder and awe. They do not see or hear his miracles and ask, “Teacher, how are you doing these great things?” They don’t look at the blind that can now see, or the cripple that can now walk, or the demon-possessed that is now free, and think, “This man is doing great things in the name of God. Maybe we should check him out.”

They think, “This man is challenging our authority. Our livelihoods are on the line, for the people will go to him instead of us. He violates our traditions. We must do something about this.”

Jesus challenges the vain traditions of the Pharisees, and they hate that. But, ever the teacher, he uses that to expose that the heart is the true source of defilement.

2. Jesus exposes the heart as the source of defilement. - v.15-20

Matthew 15:15–20 NASB95

Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

What goes in, must come out. Jesus says that these supposedly “unclean” things that go into a man’s mouth are simply passed out the other end. It is waste. It does not remain in him and thus does not make him unclean. Mark 7 says it clearly, that Jesus, in saying this, declares all foods to be clean!

It isn’t problematic for the disciples to eat food with unwashed hands. The food, and their hands, are not ceremonially unclean, and so the disciples are not being defiled by what they eat. Instead, Jesus flips the script, saying it is not what goes in that defiles, but that which comes out.

The thing that comes out was already present within the person in the first place. What does he identify? Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. Each of these are moral violations of the Ten Commandments. More than that, they are things that begin not with the actions themselves, but with the internal attitude. In the Sermon on the Mount, what does Jesus say if we have harbored anger against a brother? We have already murdered him in our hearts!

The Pharisees taught that failing to perform the right rituals defiles you. Jesus says the real issue is not unwashed hands but an unrepentant heart. God is not fooled by clean hands and dirty hearts.

Proverbs 4:23 NASB95

23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

1 Samuel 16:7 NASB95

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

So often, we seek to prove ourselves to God. We seek to do all the right things, serve often and faithfully, give more and more of ourselves in order to garner favor with God. But God doesn’t want your favor. God doesn’t even primarily want your good works. He wants your heart. How do we know that? Because we see that demonstrated in the next set of verses.

3. Jesus delights in a heart of pure faith. - v.21-28

Matthew 15:21–28 NASB95

21 Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” 23 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” 24 But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

Jesus has finished his exchange with the Pharisees and his explanation to the disciples, so he heads to land the of the Gentiles. Even here, in a place far from Jerusalem, far from the Jewish people, Jesus is known.

This woman, a Canaanite, someone despised by Jews, considered less than human, recognizes Jesus. She sees recognizes his identity and authority when the Pharisees could not. She cries out to him, declares him Son of David and Lord. She is so desperate for his help.

At first, Jesus is silent. The disciples want her sent away. Jesus says His mission is “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Yet she persists, bows before Him in a posture of worship, and prays a simple, desperate prayer: “Lord, help me!”

Jesus uses a household picture: the children’s bread is not thrown to the dogs. From Israel’s vantage point, Gentiles were “dogs.”

Jesus doesn’t mean dog in a derogatory way. This imagery clearly depicts the absurdity he is trying to communicate. Jesus came for Israel, so save his lost people, his sheep. Matthew is writing primarily to a Jewish audience, and they would’ve understood exactly what Jesus is saying. She is not a Jew. He did not come for her first. He came for Israel.

But this woman, she is so desperate. She has no hope. She has no help. All she knows is that Jesus, the Son of David, Lord, has the power to heal. She has heard that he has authority to cast out demons. He is her only hope. He is her only help.

So, she doesn’t get angry. She doesn’t scoff in her pride about how he should not be talking to her that way. She she humbly agrees with Jesus and replies, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” She does not argue her worth; she pleads His mercy. Even a dog is given what the children discard. Even a dog is blessed with that which the children have rejected in their lack of care.

This woman is no Jew. She belongs not to the people of Israel. But still, she believes. She exhibits great faith. She has absolutely nothing to offer Jesus, but she humbly comes to him for aid. She may be an unclean Gentile, but she has a pure faith. And that pure faith gives her a heart of submission and humility before Jesus.

Yes, Jesus came first for Israel. And he offered himself to Israel. But we just watched how the religious authorities rejected him! And when he enters a place far from their influence, there he finds a woman eager to receive what he can offer.

So, Jesus lauds her faith. He restores her daughter. He saw in this woman the exact opposite of that which he saw in the Pharisees. This woman did not follow the traditions, probably did not follow the Mosaic law, but she came in faith to God. Everyone would have looked at her as unclean, but Jesus saw to the depths of her heart. He saw a heart that was desperate for help, a heart that had faith that the Lord Jesus alone could heal her daughter.

This entire exchange highlights the stark contrast between the haughty people of Israel and those who genuinely follow after God. The Pharisees were defiled by what came out of their mouths. They had clean hands and impure hearts. This woman was a Gentile, for all intents and purpose an unclean woman. But she was proven pure by what came out of her mouth. Not her actions, but her heart submitted to Jesus, seeking help in faith.

Even in this, we see Jesus bringing near Gentiles that demonstrate true faith. He came first for Israel, but ultimately for all.

Finally, as we close out this chapter, we see how Jesus demonstrates the fruit that is produced by a pure heart. The Pharisees had it all backwards. They thought that clean hands kept your heart clean, that the religious performance would bring transformation. But Jesus upends that. He proves that a clean heart, a pure heart, is what will bear good fruit, what will produce clean hands in us.

4. Jesus displays the fruit produced by a pure heart. - v.29-39

Matthew 15:29–39 NASB95

29 Departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. 30 And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. 31 So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. 32 And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” 33 The disciples said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” 34 And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” 35 And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; 36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

Back by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus goes up on the mountain and heals the lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others. The crowd sees the mute speaking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorify the God of Israel.

In Isaiah 29, which Jesus previously quoted in this chapter, Isaiah is prophesying to those who are about to be carried off into Babylonian exile. This exile is meant as a discipline for the rebellious people of Judah. But Isaiah gives them hope. Just a few chapters later:

Isaiah 35:3–6 NASB95

Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

Jesus is the one who has come to restore Israel, to lead her back to God. This is Isaiah’s hope realized. Jesus brings physical healing, but more importantly, he grants spiritual transformation. He saves.

And he does this with great love and compassion. He has the people with him for three days, and he is serving them the entire time. They have very little food to distribute, but he gives thanks for it, blesses it, and his disciples distribute it to all. Jesus miraculously multiplies the food so that all are satisfied.

Four thousand men, plus women and children. Probably close to ten thousand people, Jesus ministered to for three days and fed from a measly seven loaves and few small fish.

And what is the result of Jesus’ work? Verse 31: The crowd marveled, and they glorified the God of Israel. Jesus is living out his teachings, he is demonstrating what a pure heart does: serves others. A pure heart sacrifices time and effort to bear fruit of provision for others. A pure heart brings glory to God through the fruit that it produces.

The Pharisees, they were not seeking to serve people. They sought only to serve themselves. The merely had the appearance of being clean, when inside, they were being defiled by what was truly in their hearts. Selfish greed.

Jesus, and his disciples, on the other hand, demonstrate the opposite. They may have done things in an unconventional manner. But their hands were clean. They produced good fruit, good works. Love and mercy poured out to bless others. They had pure hearts, because they had a pure faith. Everything else flowed forth from that.

Application

Jesus challenges the vain traditions of the Pharisees.

He exposes the heart to be the source of defilement.

He delights in a heart of pure faith.

He displays the fruit that is borne from a pure heart.

That’s great and all, but what does that mean for us? If all we do is read this, learn these things, but our hearts remain the same, we are no better than the Pharisees that Jesus rebuked at the beginning of the chapter.

What fruit do you bear? Does what flows forth from your heart bring glory to God, or does it defile you? I ask that question not to shame or condemn you, for Jesus does not shame or condemn you. But he was clear in Matthew 15:18

Matthew 15:18 NASB95

“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

If what proceeds out of your mouth, or more broadly, if what fruit you bear does not align with the Word of God, it will defile you. What flows out of our hearts reveals who we truly are. So, three things that we must do, pulled from this text we’ve studied this evening.

1. We must have true, pure faith.

2. Our hearts must be pure and transformed.

3. We must seek to bear fruit.

Jesus makes it clear with the Pharisees. They have lost sight of the faith. They have made up a bunch of rules that are useless and empty, and they transgress the law of God with their laws of man. They feign obedience to God, when in reality they are unrepentant legalists. They bear fruit that defiles them.

This cannot be us. We must look beyond the veneer of our pretenses, beyond the weight and pressure of tradition and religious baggage, and we must simply come to Christ.

You may find yourself caught up in a cycle of trying to cleanse yourself before God. You may feel the immense strain of a life of sin that burdens your soul, and you do everything you can to wash your hands so that you will not be defiled.

Guess what. Your sin? Jesus already died for it. Your hands? Jesus desires to cleanse them. All you have to do is go to Jesus. Desperately offer yourself to him. Seek him, beg him. See the example of the Syrophoenician woman, who flung herself at Christ’s feet in faith, begging for his help!

Christ offers his immense grace to you, right now. By grace through faith may you be saved, in the name of Jesus. All you have to do is yield yourself to him. He will grant you the forgiveness you seek, the forgiveness you need. He will grant you a pure heart, and through your pure heart, by his blood, your hands will be cleansed.

Maybe you’ve already yielded your life to Jesus, but you’ve found yourself going through the motions. I’ve been there. Many of us probably have. That’s a real place to be. But that is not a place for you to stay.

Romans 12:2 NASB95

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

You need renewal. You need to return to the simplicity of your faith, and be transformed by the Holy Spirit. You need to see the beauty of the gospel, how Jesus takes care of the work, takes care of the cleansing, and simply says, “Follow Me.”

You never had to prove yourself to God to be saved in the first place. It was merely by his abundant grace and mercy that you can know Jesus!

So, after being saved, that doesn’t suddenly change. You don’t suddenly have to prove yourself to God. Stop being burdened with that. Give yourself to Jesus, ask him to transform you, to renew your heart and your mind, to make you like him.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 says “I will give you a new heart… and put My Spirit within you.”

That is transformation, and everything else will come out of that transformation. He will bear fruit in and through you, whereas you will fail to do that on your own.

What things in your life do not align with a pure heart? Do you like to gossip? Do you judge people for things like the Pharisees did? Do you have a loose tongue that curses others? Do you harbor anger or hatred toward others when they wrong you? Whatever you’re dealing with, whatever impure thoughts or actions flow out of your heart, lay it down before Jesus. let him transform you. Let his purify your heart, even now, to refine you further into his image.

Ask for God to bear fruit in your life where your flesh is unable to do so. Not because it will justify you, but because Christ has already justified you. If you have been saved, you have a pure heart. But sometimes it takes time for the things that proceed forth from our hearts to align. That doesn’t mean that we should not seek to live pure and undefiled lives.

That is the product of our faith. We are a redeemed people who bear fruit to the glory of God. For the name of Jesus, we live and work with clean hands that demonstrate who he is and what he has done.

So, while your works will not save you, nor will they justify you before God, they will necessarily flow out of your heart, if you have a pure faith that has produced a pure heart in you.

Consider where the Lord is burdening you to bear fruit. How are you being burdened to serve your church, your community, your family, your coworkers, the lost people around you, the helpless and needy? When you think of Jesus spending three days with this crowd of thousands, likely being run ragged to exhaustion, and still working to make sure they are all fed, what does that put on your heart? Consider how God is leading you to give yourself to others, so that they may be tended to, so that they may grow to know the love of God, so that they too might turn to glorify the name of the Almighty God in Heaven.

Whatever it is, however you bear fruit, you must. Not to make you clean, but because you have already been made clean.

ALT: A pure faith produces a pure heart, and a pure heart produces clean hands.