Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Cake decorating (Sweet on the outside, dry on the inside)

Cake decorating party—the cake was crumbling and I was getting chocolate crumbs on the outside.

But, as I layered on more and more buttercream, it started to look a lot better and eventually looked pretty good.

But, when I went to eat it later, it was like 1/2 frosting and the cake inside was still dry and crumbly—the same old cake.

Explain story (brief)

Scribes and Pharisees questioned Jesus because His disciples were eating food without doing a special ceremonial washing—law of the Pharisees not a law of God in the Bible.

In common form, Jesus didn’t answer their question, but instead quoted the prophet Isaiah.

Their problem was that they ignored God’s actual law and enforced man-made laws in God’s name, that God didn’t even command.

That’s why Jesus said:

Then Jesus taught the crowds who gathered saying,

Implications:

The scribes and Pharisees wanted to believe that they were basically good people and deserving of God’s favor—they looked good enough on the outside.

We do this too — i.e. funerals, politicians, actors & musicians, etc.

Make the point that we are sinful by nature, from conception.

Theologically, we are born without the faculty to do truly righteous deeds with no other motive than to honor God.

— not wired that way

Neuroscience, in a sense, affirms this reality.

A baby cries, it gets fed.

That forms very real cognitive correlations in the new human being.

— physical changes occur in the brain.

We call this a habit.

As parents we have no choice, but to reinforce the habit.

We call it nurturing.

We reinforce the habit until the kid starts to speak and inevitably one of their first words are always, ‘mine.’

On a neuroscientific level, the child who demands, ‘MINE!’ of another child’s toy is no different than the adult who robs a gas station to get a few dollars to have fun for the weekend, or the promiscuous college student who is just trying to have a little fun while they are young, or the addict who just wants to take one more hit.

It’s just that , at every stage of life, everyone gets their kicks a little different…

…and for the scribes and Pharisees, they got their kicks by showing everyone around them how well they could keep the law.

Instead of ‘MINE!’ it’s, “I’m better than you.”

But, Jesus says, no.

You’re no better than anyone else.

They were sweet on the outside, but dry and impure on the inside.

There is a problem in the heart of all people.

Body

We value people because of their accomplishments.

Body

So, let’s talk about…

Fixing the Heart

We are willing to overlook flaws if someone has an accomplishment in order to sufficiently shadow over the flaws.

(addicts who we say are good people; good actors who do immoral things; politicians who have made great accomplishments in spite of moral failures).

…because something has to be done to fix the heart if there is going to be anything in us that can actually come out as true, unadulterated righteousness.

Intro key passage: “things that come out”

Connect Mark to Matthew re: heart.

(CSB)

17 “Don’t you realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?

18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.

19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.

What is the heart (and mind)?

— get some terminology strait

CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY (Conscious vs. Subconscious mind)

Conscious

Voluntary actions

Reason and analysis (thoughts)

“The gate keeper” of belief — you have to decide to believe something before it can penetrate to the subconscious.

Subconscious

Involuntary actions

Emotions

Personality

Beliefs

Habits and Beliefs

ANCIENT PSYCHOLOGY

Conscious Thought

Voluntary actions

Reason and analysis (thoughts)

“The gate keeper” of belief

Subconscious

Gut

Involuntary actions

Emotions

personality

Heart

Heart

Personality

Habits and Beliefs

Voluntary actions

Reason and analysis (thoughts)

“The gate keeper” of belief

Ancient psychology took the subconscious functions of the mind and attributed them to other body parts for purpose of analogy.

Pathway of belief is through the reasoning of the mind, into the patterned belief of the heart.

PROBLEM: You are not defiled by what goes into your body (i.e.

what traditions you keep—what you eat and so forth), but from what the heart produces; that is, your personality, habits, and beliefs are what defile you.

That’s a hard pill to swallow, because, even when people come to believe in Jesus, they are usually not interested in a change of personality, they are perfectly content with most of their habits and rhythms.

And where people will add Jesus to their existing beliefs, rarely are people interested in giving up false beliefs to adopt the full scope of Christian dogma.

A new heart, new creation, etc. Doctrine of regeneration.

(i.e.

Hindu gods in India).

WHAT WE NEED: A new heart (), to be a new creation ().

This is called the Doctrine of regeneration.

The late pastor R.C. Sproul said that explaining the doctrine of regeneration is like trying to explain a rainbow to a blind man.

If you haven’t experienced regeneration, it’s hard to grasp exactly what it is.

() Synopsize story of Nicodemus

Born again -> happen again -> generated again -> regenerated

Just like the wind blows where it wants and we have no explanation for it, when we are regenerated, born again, we begin to have new desires.

We don’t have any explanation for where the new desires come from, because they are coming from the heart, just like our desires always have, but now these are new, redeemed desires.

But, it’s not as though your heart, being made new, is no longer your own heart (part of the mystery).

It is still infected with many false beliefs, habits, and even personality traits that are sinful, defiling, and damaging to you as a person and damaging to your relationship with God.

So, you must be regenerated, born again, but then the heart must also be trained.

Training the Heart

The heart wars with the flesh.

Significance of mind for training the heart: If you are conscious to control your mouth with your mind, your subconscious will be retrained and will produce the righteousness you seek with your mind.