Parkland First Baptist Church
February 14, 2021

      • Exodus 7–9ESV

      • Exodus 10–12ESV

      • Exodus 13–15ESV

      • Exodus 16–18ESV

      • Exodus 19–21ESV

  • We are in a series going through Mark getting a glimpse of who Jesus is?
    Mark was written primarily to a Gentile audience.
    That’s you and me
    He is showing Jesus as the Suffering Servant who is the Son of God, the Christ - Messiah
    Do you know what a legalist is?
    One who follows a strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code.
    Do you know anyone that is a legalist?
    Have you been a member of a church that was legalistic in the practice?
    As I was growing up we had some implied legalistic rules
    No dancing, no cussing, no drinking alcohol, no tobacco, no working on Sunday.
    To this day, I still get a guilty feeling is I have to sit in the bar section of restaurant when there is a long waiting line.
    My grandmother was bad at times.
    Once she told me that our school dances were bad and I shouldn’t go.
    My dad laughed and asked what was different from what I was going to versus her square dancing.
    The root issue has to do with what one considers proper or pure, which becomes one’s sacred tradition verses what’s improper or pure.
    Jonathan Swift satirized this pettiness in the Lilliputians’ war over whether an egg should be cracked at the big end or at the little end.
    Another way to look at from a church perspective
    Let’s look at a hypothetical church member.
    He will attend every service, including special events.
    He will go on mission trips with a passion to convert the heathen.
    He will tithe, sing in the choir, read his Bible daily, and memorize Scripture.
    He will be happy to pray in corporate worship.
    He is thoroughly orthodox in his theology.
    He is an inerrantist and believes in heaven and hell.
    He never gets drunk, is not addicted to porn, never uses profanity, is a family man, loves his country fervently, weeps on July 4, and votes the right way.
    His reputation in the community is stellar.
    If any man ever earned the right to go to heaven, it is this man.
    His religion is certainly something to admire.
    Sadly this is a man headed for hell.
    I have just introduced you to a twenty-first-century Pharisee!
    A Pharisee in the first century was not scorned as a legalist.
    No, he was looked up to as a model citizen and a person of piety and religion.
    Unfortunately Pharisees had, as Paul says, a “zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom 10: 2).
    Amazingly we can have a passion for God yet not know God.
    We can be deceived, captured, and enslaved by the deadly lure of legalism.
    So what does Jesus have to say about this?
    Let’s read Mark 7:1-23
    Mark 7:1–23 CSB
    1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him. 2 They observed that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, keeping the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they have washed. And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ceremonially unclean hands?” 6 He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands. 8 Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.” 9 He also said to them, “You have a fine way of invalidating God’s command in order to set up your tradition! 10 For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death. 11 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is corban’ ” (that is, an offering devoted to God), 12 “you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.” 14 Summoning the crowd again, he told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 When he went into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him? 19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated” (thus he declared all foods clean). 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

    The Problem of Legalism Verses 1-5

    As the Pharisees watched Jesus and His men, they noticed that the disciples were eating without washing their hands.
    Like you Mom, they found fault in this.
    They asked Jesus since He was the teacher of the disciples and thus responsible for their actions.
    Now they weren’t really eating with dirty hands, they were eating with “unclean” hands.
    Mark explains in verses 3-4 that all good religious Jews would not eat unless they washed their hands in a certain way.
    This was especially true when they returned from the marketplace.
    They could have brushed their shoulders with a Gentile and been defiled.
    For Jews and the religious people everything revolves around ritual.
    This washing had nothing to do with cleaning the hands.
    It was a ceremonial cleansing.
    John MacArthur describes it this way. “This washing had nothing to do with cleaning dirty hands but with a ceremonial rinsing. The ceremony involved someone pouring water out of a jar onto another’s hands, whose fingers must be pointing up. As long as the water dripped off at the wrist, the person could proceed to the next step. He then had water poured over both hands with the fingers pointing down. Then each hand was to be rubbed with the fist of the other hand.”
    Mark also points out that they had rituals not only for hands, but also for pots, pans, plates, etc.
    The problem with these rules is that they were not from God, the were the “traditions of the elders.”
    Over they years the Jews added restrictions that went beyond the letter of the law.
    They felt these restrictions helped them keep the law, but in reality they became more important the law of Moses given to him by God.
    For instance, the rabbis “debate about a man with a wooden leg: if his home caught on fire, could he carry his wooden leg out of the house on the Sabbath? One could spit on the Sabbath, but you had to be careful where. If it landed on the dirt and you scuffed it with your sandal, you would be cultivating the soil and thus performing work.”
    It’s easy to see how foolish such man made rules become more important than God’s rules.
    We still have the Pharisees with us today.
    There are plenty of people who would try to force you to live by their rules.
    They want to tell you how you can dress; where you can go; what you can do etc.
    You can’t wear a tie chain because it is worldly.
    You can’t wear open toed shoes because they are worldly.
    You can’t go to the beach because it’s worldly. Your hair is too long. Your hair is too short.
    You can’t eat here, etc. Silly rules by silly Pharisees is all they are!
    The problem with man’s rules is just that.
    They are man’s rules and not the Lord’s.
    When God’s Word says something is wrong, then it is wrong without question.
    When the Bible is silent on an issue, you have liberty in the Lord.

    Jesus Confronts Legalism Verses 6-14

    Beginning in verse 6 Jesus condemns their legalism.
    He accuses them of being hypocrites and uses Isaiah 29:13 to prove His point.
    A hypocrite is someone whose worship is merely outward and not from the heart.
    Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that true purity and worship is a matter of inward love and a right attitude and just outward actions.
    True defilement, then, takes place in the heart priors to the actions.
    Jesus quoted Isaiah because the prophet’s words of condemnation of religious leaders of his day fitted those of Jesus’ day, although the circumstances were different.
    The religious leaders’ outward appearance of piety was a lie.
    It was not accompanied by a lifestyle of true “heart” commitment to God.
    True worship must come from the heart.
    It must be directed by God’s truth, not a set of ideas.
    These “traditions” were supposed to help the people keep God’s law, but they actually usurped God’s law and drove people from God.
    The Mishna, a collection of Jewish traditions in the Talmud, records, “It is a greater offense to teach anything contrary to the voice of the Rabbis than to contradict Scripture itself.”
    This is a clear example of how the “traditions of the elders” had become more important than the law—God’s Word.
    Not only does Jesus show their legalism but also the liberties they were taking with the Law.
    Jesus then illustrated how the fifth commandment was broken by the Pharisees in observing the “traditions of the elders.”
    Part of honoring one’s mother and father in the Jewish family was to take care of their needs when they got older.
    Yet, one of the ingenious ways to get around this command was to pronounce something as Corban.
    The word Corban literally means “an offering or gift dedicated to God.”
    Here is how it worked.
    According to this tradition, if a person pronounced over any property or money the word Corban, it could not be given to any other person—even your parents.
    But here was the real kicker.
    The money or property dedicated to God could still be used by its owner for personal gain and gratification.
    Therefore, by keeping the traditions of the elders a person was breaking one of the Ten Commandments—God’s law.
    Even if people who claimed Corban had a change of heart and wanted to help their parents, they could not.
    We still have this attitude still today!
    People have their rules, but they don’t live by them totally.
    When the rules become an inconvenience, they find a way around them.
    That is called hypocrisy!
    Another problem with the “rule makers” is that they are the most mean-spirited people in the world!
    They try to keep all the rules, but they condemn those who don’t keep their rules.
    They are busy crossing their T’s and dotting their I’s, but they are not too busy to pass judgment on those who don’t keep the same rules.
    That’s why there is often more compassion, sympathy and acceptance at the local pool hall than there is at the local church!
    This is called hypocrisy!

    Jesus Clarifies The Problem of Legalism Verses 14-23

    Beginning in verse 14, Jesus sheds more light on this subject.
    He tells the crowds, that it is not what comes into the body, like eating with unwashed hands, that causes spiritual defilement.
    It is those things that arise from within the heart of a person that defiles them.
    The disciples being confused ask Jesus about what He means.
    I like how He gives them a lesson in anatomy and digestion.
    Whatever that enters the body through the mouth comes out the other end.
    It does not affect the heart or inner man.
    It may cause sickness of the body, but does not affect the heart of the inner being.
    Beginning in verse 20, He reveals that spiritual defilement is always the result of a defiled heart.
    Every sin we commit, whether it is a sin of the body or of the mind, has its birth in the heart.
    We do the things we do because of defilement from within.
    Keeping external rules will not change the heart.
    It can only be changed by Jesus and the new birth we have in Him.
    He can take all of the defilement in our lives and wash them in His blood and makes us a New Creation.
    Then Jesus listed a catalog of twelve “evil intentions” that come from the heart.
    Six are evil individual actions; six are evil attitudes or principles.
    Notice that the evil attitudes, whether acted upon or not, are still considered sin.
    The following list is
    Sexual immorality—Various kinds of extramarital sexual activity
    Theft—Taking something that belongs to another
    Murder—Taking the God-given life of another person
    Adultery—A married person having sex with someone other than his or her spouse
    Greed—Relentless urge to get more for oneself
    Evil Actions or Malice—Doing evil despite the good that has been received
    Deceit—To trick or mislead by lying designed to ensnare someone for on’e personal advantage.
    Self-indulgence or Lewdness—Immoral behavior that is neither restrained nor concealed
    Envy—Desire for something possessed by another when they are prosperous.
    Slander—To destroy another’s good reputation
    Pride or Arrogance—Making claims of superior intelligence or importance; boasting, exalting ones self.
    Foolishness—Inability to discern between immorality and morality
    All of these actions and attitudes begin in a person’s heart.
    It is those evil actions and attitudes that cause defilement.
    Many of those words used by Jesus could have described the Pharisees.

    Is Your Heart Clean?

    The cure?
    The good news of the gospels offers the only cure for our natural defilement.
    Cleansing can only come by the blood of Jesus Christ offered on our behalf.
    Only then can we become “pure” before God.
    Not following a bunch of rules put on us by people or churches.
    An evil action begins with a single thought.
    Allowing our mind to dwell on lust, envy, hatred, or revenge will lead to sin.
    Don’t defile yourself by focusing on evil.
    Instead, follow Paul’s advice in Philippians 4:8, “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.”
    Let’s pray!
    ​

      • Mark 7:1–23CSB

Parkland First Baptist Church
office@parklandfirst.com
253-531-0121
http://www.parklandfirst.com
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