Defiled Inside Out

Mark 7:14-16 And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Mark 7:17-18 And when He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples were asking Him about the parable. And He said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from the outside cannot defile him,

Mark 7:19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)

Mark 7:20-22 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

Mark 7:23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

Mark 7:14-23 (LSB)

Thesis: Sin works its way from the inside out.

Intro:

Three different times in our text Jesus explains Himself. He wants to be very clear about this message, He wants His disciples to understand this concept.

Sin does not come from the outside of a person, it is buried deep within them.

People say, “But I thought people were naturally good.” That’s not true, and if you believe that, I’d suggest you turn off the Disney channel and go outside and meet some real people.

People are wicked, people are evil - what do you base that on Pastor? Well, human history, for one.

I once heard a pastor say how much a small child wanted his shiny watch. The little boy would cry if he took the watch out of his grasp, and kick and throw a fit.

The pastor said, “Now give that boy the strength of a full-grown, 18 year old man, with the same desires and childish temperament as that baby, and he would beat me if not kill me for that watch.” (Paul Washer)

People have wickedness, rebellion, SIN within their hearts. It comes from the inside out, not the other way around.

So Jesus clarifies this three separate times within our passage.

(Recap Last Week, Pharisees would wash to keep themselves clean, upset about Jesus’ disciples not washing)

Jesus makes one thing very clear - it’s not what a person puts into their body that is sinful, it’s what a person does with their body, with the fruit that comes out of them.

Sin works its way from the inside of a person, from the inside out.

And Jesus calls us to face our sin, in order for us to understand our sin, so He can cure our sin.

Face Our Sin

Mark 7:14 And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:

Notice Jesus is talking to more than just the Pharisees and Scribes.

Last week, Jesus had a sparring match with them, and it was one on one, but now Jesus is calling all the people in close. He wants them to hear this, He wants to make sure they know the truth.

If you remember, the Pharisees were using oral traditions, fences around the law, to keep the people in nice little boxes or cages, and last week Jesus kicked in the door to that cage.

Here, He turns to the whole crowd and says, “Everybody listen up!”

He’s about to teach. This is why He came, if you remember. When the crowds wanted a healer, and they couldn’t find Him, and the disciples went looking for Him, Jesus said,

Mark 1:38 And He said to them, “Let us go elsewhere, to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came out for.”

Mark will consistently, and has consistently shown us that the two reasons he wants us to focus on Christ’s coming is to teach the people, to teach us, and to destroy the kingdom of Satan, and here He does both.

You see, whether they realized it or not, the Pharisees were serving someone else entirely. They’d convinced themselves they were serving the Lord, but in fact were serving themselves, their traditions, and ultimately the devil.

The traditions of men - Jesus said they’d left the commandment of God in order to keep their traditions, the traditions of men (back in Mark 7:8-9)

And in John’s Gospel He exposes who they’re truly serving, because they’re building their case to kill Him, He calls them children of the devil!

John 8:44 ““You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

So Jesus, in a sense, says, “Okay Pharisees, I’m done with you. I’m moving on from you. I am going to teach the people and finish destroying the cages you’ve built for them.”

And He turns to the people, He calls the crowd to Himself once again, and He says “Listen to me, all of you, and understand...”

Jesus wants the people to know the truth, not the tradition.

Jesus wants the people to know the reality, not the ritual.

Jesus wants the people to know cleansing, not conformity.

He says to the crowd...

Mark 7:15 There is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.

Now, this is the first time Jesus says this, but it won’t be the last.

Nothing that is outside of a man defiles him, even if it goes into him, but what comes out of a man is what makes him defiled.

That word, defiled, by the way appears 5 times in our text today, about 14 times total in all the New Testament.

It comes from the Greek word Koin-ah-oh [κοινόω (koinoō)] and it means to profane, to make impure, to be dirty or polluted.

This is the opposite of what the Law had taught them.

God had declared that exposure to certain things rendered a person ceremonially unclean, a condition that had to be remedied by time and by washing before a person could interact with their community again, or enter into the temple for worship and sacrifice.

The Law determined that some behaviors even required specific rituals to restore someone’s status as ceremonially pure, because they’d been made unclean.

Certain diseases, bodily discharges, things people could help, things people couldn’t all had the potential to make someone unclean.

And the Pharisees had weaponized this law against the people, using it to manipulate them, to enslave them, in a sense like we saw last week - people couldn’t even eat without performing ceremonial rinsing of their hands (Mark 7:3-4).

What Jesus is saying is flying in the face of - not only religious tradition - but it appears to fly in the face of God’s Word.

One author (Dr. Vincent Taylor, The Gospel According to St. Mark) says, In laying down the principle that uncleanness comes from within, and not from without, Jesus’ pronouncement stated a truth, uncommon in contemporary Judaism, which was destined to free Christianity from the bondage of legalism.”

William Barclay called this passage, “well-nigh the most revolutionary passage in the New Testament.”

This is a radical concept in its day!

It does not fit into the legalism the Pharisees insisted upon the people.

Now, until the Jews were carried into exile by the Babylonians in 586 BC, they seemed to understand that becoming “unclean” didn’t automatically make you “sinful” or immoral.

They certainly would not have elevated themselves above others after having to have themselves washed and restored to the “clean” status the Law required.

The confusion came during the exile - and if you remember last week’s message - the “fencing” of the Law came after the exile, so this makes sense, this tracks.

A good example is when Daniel decides to reject King Nebuchadnezzar’s food.

Daniel 1:8 “But Daniel set in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.”

Daniel was concerned he would be eating meat that had been offered to idols - and that’s a horrible thought to any Jewish person, especially one in exile because his people had been serving idols - so Daniel and his friends rely on the Law.

They lean on the Law of Moses in order to establish and cling to their identity as Hebrew men.

And this loyalty to the Law becomes the root of this loyalty not only to their God but to their country - if they follow the law perfectly, there’s a chance God will do for them what He did for Daniel, what He did for those who were freed from bondage of exile.

God may rise up and overthrow Rome if they can just. follow. the. rules.

Then Christ comes in and says, “You guys can eat whatever you want, that’s not the problem. Your heart is the problem!”

And the idea is so ingrained in their minds, that even though he’s standing right there, next to Jesus, years later - even after Pentecost, Peter will be told in Acts 10 to eat foods that are unclean, what’s his response?

Acts 10:14 “But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean.””

“No way, God, I’m a good Jewish boy, I follow the rules.”

I love God’s reply to that: (Acts 10:15) “Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider defiled.””

What God has cleansed, it’s no longer unclean.

The rules can’t save you, but He can.

Then we come to verse 16, and it may or may not be in your Bible. This is truly one of those passages some of the earliest manuscripts don’t include but here it is:

Mark 7:16 “And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Now, Jesus said this plenty of other times, but in this case, it really does appear to be something a Scribe had written in the margins and it somehow got into the main text.

But it doesn’t add or take away from the meaning - it’s basically Jesus’s way of saying “If you hear this, act on it.”

If you’re listening, if you’re paying attention, do something what this information.

Face the ugly truth of your sin - it’s not someone else’s fault, it’s not because you grew up in a rough home or got bullied at school, that’s a child’s excuse.

Jesus makes this clear: sin is our very nature, we must face that if we’re to become mature in Christ.

Remember last week, we’re called to be mature in Christ, we’re to present ourselves as one mature. Yes, we must be child-like in our faith, but not childish in our actions or our relationship with Christ.

Colossians 1:28 “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (ESV)

We must face our own, individual sins, they’re our sin - acknowledge past sins, stop giving in to our desires for more sins.

When you are ready to accept the reality of our own sinful nature - that it comes from within our own hearts - then, and only then, are we ready to accept the cure for it.

My struggle with my sins are futile without the strength offered to me through the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s true of any of us.

We must face that, if we’re to keep our sins from rotting us from the inside out.

Understand Our Sin

Mark 7:17 And when He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples were asking Him about the parable.

Notice, the crowd doesn’t leave, Jesus leaves. The Pharisees are still standing there, mouths open, likely trying to get words out of their mouth, some sort of reply, and by the time they can mutter, “Did He just say what I think He said?”

Jesus had said it and was on His way home. It was likely His home, or perhaps Peter’s if Jesus was still staying with him and his family. We’re not really told.

But this confirms Jesus is back in Capernaum, He is home.

And His disciples have followed after Him, asking Jesus about what just took place.

Now, Mark calls this a parable, but it’s not a parable in the sense we’ve seen so far - it’s more or less Jesus just speaking in metaphor for the sake of comparison.

Sin does not enter your body through things you touch or eat, but it comes out of your very being. So why does Mark write that it’s a parable?

Matthew adds a little interaction to the story - the disciples ask Jesus if He knows that He’s offended the Pharisees by what He just said, and I love Jesus’ answer.

Matthew 15:14 ““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, you know you kind of upset those guys.”

And in a sense He says, “Eh, leave’em alone. They’ll get what’s coming to them.”

Then Matthew says Peter asks Jesus to explain it all to them (Matthew 15:15).

To be clear, the disciples aren’t a bunch of dummies here. They’re just ignorant, they have just witnessed a huge culture shift.

Jesus seems to be making the Law - specifically the dietary Law - null and void.

To the 1st Century Jewish man or woman, the Dietary Law and the Moral Law were one and the same.

Surely, they must have thought, surely the Messiah would not void the Law, would He?

He doesn’t void the Law, He fulfills the Law, He explains its true purpose (- and don’t call Him Shirley).

This teaching is very difficult for the Hebrew mind to wrap around - remember Peter had it so ingrained in him that years later, even, he’d have a hard time wanting to eat an unclean animal.

Their minds are struggling to receive this. And we can understand why, Leviticus is full of lists that include things people can touch or eat that’ll make them unclean, certain religious practices that had to be fulfilled to keep the Jewish man or woman undefiled.

It’s deeply imbedded in their minds as well as their culture and now, it’s almost as though Jesus is coming along and say “Meh, forget all that.”

Which may prompt us to say “Then why have the Law at all? Why have all those things?”

Why did God institute these things at all if He knew the Jewish people would ultimately take it to the point of Legalism? If Jesus was just going to come along and tear it down, why was it there to begin with?

Because the Hebrew people needed symbols, they needed types, representations of a spiritual reality. Ceremonies, rituals, prescriptions were simply representative of the fact God wanted a heart cleansing within His people.

Circumcision - for example - had its purpose. Historically, Jewish women had less cases of cervical cancer than other nations.

That’s attributed to circumcision in their husbands - but by the time Paul writes to the Galatians he’s pleading with them to stop doing that to their bodies and circumcise their hearts.

He tells them, (Galatians 5:2) “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.”

Why? Because Christ has come we no longer need the symbolism, the ritual, the ceremony.

The law of Moses was fulfilled in Christ.

The writer of Hebrews tells us (Hebrews 8:5) that the law is a shadow of the heavenly things, they’re meant to point us to Christ, not be a substitution for Christ.

The writer goes on to say (Hebrews 8:13) “When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”

But the disciples are struggling to understand this - and we can’t be too hard on them for that, their history, their culture just got flipped upside down...

So Jesus begins spelling it out for them...

Mark 7:18 And He said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,

The Pharisees had the law so they could “feel close to God,” but the disciples actually wanted to BE close to God.

Jesus understands this and even though He seems to be rebuking them, when He asks them a rhetorical question, I believe He is doing this tenderly, lovingly, “Oh, you are still struggling with this?” Okay, let me break it down for you again...

It’s not what you eat or touch that makes you sinful, it’s what you do, how you talk, how you think, the actions you make as you move forward in life.

I like how Chuck Swindoll says it, “To touch a dead carcass was one matter, to commit murder was another. Deeds done from a corrupt heart are what makes a person unrighteous, not what one eats, drinks, or touches.”

For the Pharisees, pride fueled their position, but the disciples come and say “Teach me more.”

I said this last week, we must be careful not to become the Pharisee in our judgment of them. Pride comes to church and says, “I know this already,” but the heart of a disciple is “What else can I gain from the word of God, today?”

That’s what the disciples are doing. Jesus, teach us, we’re having a hard time with this. We don’t understand!

Jesus knows if they’re going to face the sin within them, they have to understand where its roots are, where it’s coming from. Not just the disciples, all of us.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

We are all born with sin within us. “Oh, but I’m a good person!” No you are not.

Have you ever lied? Well, that makes you a liar.

Ever stole anything in your entire life? That makes you a thief.

Ever hated someone in your heart? I got news for you, the Bible says you’re as good as a murderer.

1 John 3:15 “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

Ever experienced lust? According to Scripture, you’re an adulterer.

Matthew 5:28 “but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

This all doesn’t come from the food you eat, or the way someone treated you, it comes from your own sinful nature. It rises up within each of us.

We can’t blame it on food.

Mark 7:19 because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.)

Your body gets rid of food. I wish mine got rid of food faster - of course. We store calories, we store fat, but the point Jesus is making isn’t a biological one or a metabolic one so much as a spiritual point.

Now, Mark adds something specific, those words in the parenthesis, “Thus He declared all foods clean”.

Mark has been careful to explain these things to his non-Jewish readers. And he does so here to make sure they understand that they - as Christians - are not bound to the old dietary restrictions of Jewish Law.

In Christ, the Mosaic Law no longer applies as a rule of life to regulate society as it had for the nation of Israel - and the apostle Paul explains that for us in Romans 10

Romans 10:4 “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Elsewhere Paul tells us, “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:19-20)

Understand your sin has nothing to do with anyone else but you.

You may believe you had a rough childhood, you may have had a good childhood, you may have been the bully, you may have been bullied. But your bully will not stand before you when you answer to God for your sin.

Your parents will not answer for your sins. You will.

Your teachers, your coworkers, your boss, your neighbors, the president, they’ll face their own judgments, but what comes out of you - what comes from your heart? That’s what you’ll answer for one day.

We must face our sin and understand that sin, if we are to trust Christ to cure our sin, and keep us from being defiled inside and out.

Christ Cures Our Sin

Mark 7:20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.

What proceeds out of your life is not only what defines you, it may very well be what defiles you.

What fruit does your life produce? What evidence does your life give as to where your priorities are? If someone were examining your life, what conclusion would they come to?

A friend of mine once told me, “I like following you on Twitter because it’s basically the same as hanging out with you - you go from Theology to Star Wars to Lord of the Rings and back to a Bible verse. Same stuff as if we were in a room together.”

What does your social media presence say about your life? I only bring that up because that’s the snapshot, photo album of our society now. That’s where we paint he best picture of ourselves - what we want to broadcast to the world.

We don’t show all the blurry, bad pictures. We don’t post about the days where our kid makes a mess in our new car, we lose our cool, yell at the dog and kick the trash can.

We compare ourselves to everyone else’s Instagram, not the deleted Photos folder.

So what image is that portraying? What does the way you talk to your spouse say about you?

DL Moody once said, ““If I wanted to find out whether a man was a Christian, I wouldn’t go to his minister. I would go and ask his wife. We need more Christian life at home. If a man doesn’t treat his wife right, I don’t want to hear him talk about Christianity.”

Jesus says as much when he tells His disciples, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.” (Mark 15:3-4)

In other words, if you’re undefiled, you’re going to act like it, but we can’t be undefiled unless we are in Christ and Christ is in us.

When a sinful man or woman gives their heart to God and submits to Him, begins to live for Him, the Holy Spirit dwells in that person’s life and begins to change them.

Prior to living for Christ we live according to our flesh, our defiled selves, but once we are in Christ that begins to change - we begin to be cured.

Romans 8:9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

That’s the fruit of the Spirit, but our Savior paints an ugly picture for us in our text, doesn’t He?

The fruit of the flesh, the fruit of the mind not set on Christ, the fruit of the uncured, flesh centered man, He says

Mark 7:21-22 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, coveting wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

The apostle Paul gives us similar lists elsewhere in the New Testament, but let’s break down what Jesus gives us here:

Evil Thoughts - Gr. “dialogismos kakos” literally means to fantasize about or plan wickedness (διαλογισμοι οι κακοι)

Sexual Immorality - Gr. “porneia” is any sexual activity involving someone other than your spouse (πορνειαι)

Thefts - Gr. “klo-pee” taking someone’s possessions against the rightful owner’s will (κλοπαι)

Murder - Gr. “phonos” You deliberately end someone else’s life (φονοι)

Adultery - Gr. “moicheia” violating your marriage vows - goes a little deeper than what was previously mentioned (μοιχειαι)

Coveting - Gr. “pleonexia” wanting to gain more than what you’re due (πλεονεξιαι)

Wickedness - Gr. “poneria” which is simply just a sinful attitude or disposition (πονηριαι)

Deceit - Gr. dolos contriving to betray someone (δολος)

Sensuality - Gr. aselgia which is actually having no self control, from violence to gluttony, to acting upon lustful thoughts (ασελγεια)

Envy - Gr. ophthalmos poneros desiring something despite any moral restrictions against owning it. Literally translated “the evil eye”. (οφθαλμος πονηρος)

Slander - Gr. blasphemia which means reviling, disrespecting, or defaming someone else - it’s where we get the word “blasphemy”. (βλασφημια)

Pride - Gr. hyper-eephania which is just thinking too highly of yourself, or being arrogant. (υπερηφανια)

Foolishness - Gr. aphrosy-nee which is willfully failing to use your ability to reason, willful ignorance. Refusing to hear instruction or teaching. (αφροσυνη)

13 things Jesus lists. Don’t raise your hand, but how many of you might say at least one applies to you even now?

I mean, I found a few of them that pop up now and then. Pastors are people, too.

I don’t know a pastor who hasn’t had some pride issues in their life at some point. I don’t know a pastor who hasn’t enviously compared his church to someone else’s at some point.

The list goes on, but think about yours. Without even praying about it - just off the top of your head I bet you could list a couple things on this list. If not, I bet your spouse could list them for you.

“OH, but I’m not a murderer!” But you ever want something so badly even though you couldn’t have it? Or someone? You just made the list.

Christ said,

Mark 7:23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

So if that’s what defiles us what is the cure? If even Christians may have this defilement within them, how can we be clean?

Who will absolve us of these 13 paths to destruction?

The apostle Paul put the same question to the Roman Christians in Romans 7.

Romans 7:24-25 “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”

And we like to stop there when we read that because that’s the end of the chapter… but those chapters weren’t around when Paul wrote this letter...

He goes on...

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:1-2 LSB)

And on...

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God. (Romans 8:6-8)

And on...

But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:10-11)

That pesky word, “If”.

If is the key to the cure. If Christ is in you… if...

If you are in Christ, we are covered under the cross, and though we may still have sinful fruit at times, the more we are in Christ, the longer we are in Christ, the more we become like Christ.

The mature believer in Christ will sin less, but that person will also feel the weight of their sin more.

He is the cure, His shed blood on the cross is what cures us, what cleanses us. And it is because of the cross, where my sins, your sins, our sins were placed upon Him, that we are able to be free from the sin that defiles us.

Christ alone is the cure.

His resurrection from the dead gives us victory over death, but it is in His death we are given victory over sin.

It is because of that truth, Paul would wrap up that thought by saying, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

It is because of the cross of Christ sin has lost its ability to taint us from the inside out

Conclusion:

I’m going to move to close in just a moment.

But Spiritually, we cannot heal ourselves or anyone else. You can not love someone enough to take away their natural, built in sin.

You can help people learn restraint but we can’t change another person’s nature any more than we can take a pig from out of the mud, scrub it down, wash it, put it in a nice dress shirt, spray cologne on it - as soon as you turn your back that pig will run right back to the mud.

It’s their nature.

People say, “I’m born this way” and they’ll use that to rationalize their sin. That’s why Jesus said you must be born again (John 3:3).

We must face the ugly truth about our sinful natures, seek to understand it, and once we do, we will realize the only cure for our defiled selves is to let Christ in, and let His Spirit grow the good fruit out of us.

There is no sin too great that God can not forgive it. Doesn’t matter what the people around you think, today, if you’re here or you’re watching on-line, don’t let another moment go by where you don’t surrender yourself to Christ.

If you’re here and you want prayer, you’d like someone to pray with you about this very thing, grab someone close to you and step out together - nobody has to do this alone - and find a place to pray.

We’d love to have a member of our prayer team pray with you, talk with you, and get you on the right track.

But at this time I’m going to ask you to stand as we dismiss in prayer.

Again, if you know it’s time to give your life to Christ, now is as good of a time as any.