Sermon Tone Analysis

I. External Religious Challenge (1-2)

Matthew 15:1-20

Rabbi Yehuda pulled the whole pile together and committed it to wiring, which must have been an absolutely monumental job, and it is called the Mishnah, which is from the Hebrew verb 'to repeat.'

Then, not only did they have the Mishnah, but beyond that, they needed commentaries on the Mishnah, because the Mishnah, which was trying to explain the law of God, needed to be explained.

So they then had the Gemara, and that is a series of commentaries on the Mishnah.

Some rabbinical schools got together and decided to put all of this together, and in Jerusalem they put the Gemara and the Mishnah together, and it became known as the Talmud.

Now this wasn't enough either, so they added to this the Midrash, which are the commentaries on various books of the Bible.

So there is the Midrash, the Gemara, the Mishnah

Any Religion that comes and challenges you with the traditions of men are to be countered with the Word of God.

the Talmud says, "The words of the scribes are more lovely than the words of the law.

It is a greater crime to transgress the words of the school of Rabbi Hillel than the words of Scripture.

My son, attend to the words of the scribes more than the words of the law."

R

They believed, because it taught in all this material, that you had to go through ceremonial washings of your hands for two reasons.

Reason number one was that if you had touched a Gentile that day, you had been defiled, and there was a prescribed ceremony to detoxify your Gentile touch.

Secondly, the rabbis taught that there was a demon by the name of Shibtah, and he dwelt on people's hands while they slept.

So if they did not go through the ceremonial washings that eliminated him, they would pass him to their food and into their bodies.

This became so important to them that Rabbi Ta'anith taught, "Whosoever has his abode in the land of Israel and eats his common food with rinsed hands may rest assured that he shall obtain eternal life."

They believed that you received eternal life by going through the ceremonial rinsing of your hands.

Edersheim, the great Jewish scholar, writes, "Water jars were kept ready to be used before every meal.

The minimum amount of water to be used was a quarter of a log, which is defined as enough to fill one and a half eggshells.

The water was first poured on both hands, held with the fingers pointed upward.

It must run down the arm as far as the wrist and drop off from the wrist, for the water itself was now unclean having touched the unclean hands.

If it ran down the fingers again, it would render them unclean.

The process was repeated with the hands held in the downward direction, the fingers pointing down, and finally, each hand was cleansed with being rubbed with the fist of the other, and a strict Jew would do this before every meal and between every course in every meal."

a story is told of the very famous Rabbi Achabah, who was put into prison.

His water ration was reduced, and he took what little water he was given to wash his hands before eating rather than to drink it, saying that he would rather die than transgress the tradition of the elders.

Another rabbi said, "It is better to go four miles to get water than to incur guilt by neglecting hand rinsing before you eat."

Catholics - traditions of the church = to the Bible

Mormons - Book of Mormon.

“The Doctrine and Covenants is a collection of divine revelations and inspired declarations given for the establishment and regulation of the kingdom of God on the earth in the last days”

Jehovah’s Witnesses - Awake and the Watchtower publications.

no celebrations for birthdays, Christmas, Easter, etc.

Even evangelicalism has its traditions.

Any Religion that comes and challenges you with the traditions of men are to be countered with the Word of God.

II.

II.

The King’s Internal Challenge (3-11)

Vs. 7, is Jesus being unloving by calling them hypocrites?

No!

Why then were the externals required in the OT?

Exodus 20

Hebrews

H

,

Vs. 7, is Jesus being unloving by calling them hypocrites?

No!

Application: Are we just going through the motions?

Are we just honoring the Lord with our lips only?

Is it all just a show without our hearts engaged?

We must have a genuine love for the person of Jesus from our hearts.

III.

The Internal Explanation (12-20)

Matthew 15:

Matthew

That is the reason Jesus was crucified, because the ceremonialists couldn't tolerate the religion of the heart, because their hearts were black and sinful.

They were filled with the darkness and night of sin.

3124 κοινόω (koinoō): vb.; ≡ Str 2840; TDNT 3.809—1.

LN 53.33 defile, make unclean or impure

Think of a couple being dressed in a wedding gown and tuxedo only to have a manure truck pass by an spray them from head to foot with manure.

What is in your heart?

Do you have evil thoughts?

Do you murder people in your heart with hatred or contempt?

Do you think constantly about sex and nurture lust in your heart?

Are you jealous of what other people have and never satisfied with what God has given you?

If only I had…better car, nicer home, newer cell phone, better behaved children…this is the heart of theft.

Do you lie? Do you put other people down and like to talk about people behind their backs?

These all come from our hearts and they defile us.

We are all defiled!

What is in your heart?

Do you have evil thoughts?

Do you murder people in your heart with hatred or contempt?

Do you think constantly about sex and nurture lust in your heart?

Are you jealous of what other people have and never satisfied with what God has given you?

If only I had…better car, nicer home, newer cell phone, better behaved children…this is the heart of theft.

Do you lie? Do you put other people down and like to talk about people behind their backs?

These all come from our hearts and they defile us.

3124 κοινόω (koinoō): vb.; ≡ Str 2840; TDNT 3.809—1.

LN 53.33 defile, make unclean or impure

What do we do then?

Call out to God for mercy and grace!