Mark 7:14-23

Mark 7:14-23 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’” After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”) He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”

"She/he made me do it." "The temptation was too much." "If she/he wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have done what I did." "The devil made me do it." Mankind finds many excuses for the darkness in our hearts. Jesus said, "For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly." These kind of actions, attitudes, originate from within, not from without. They are endemic in fallen man. Jesus was saying that nothing from the outside, even food, can contaminate the heart. No man, no woman can make you do malevolent things. People make excuses for their evil thoughts, actions, and deeds, but God pronounces them inexcusable regardless of our reasons. We are not only pronounced guilty if we do them, we are pronounced guilty if we even think of doing them. God judges the heart thoroughly. He knows every nanosecond of our thought life. Alas, we might cry how can I be redeemed? How can I escape the judgment of such a righteous God. John says, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." (1 John 1:8-10)

Some of you might be saying right now, I am not a sinner. I don't do horrific things, neither do I think negative thoughts. Well then, are you always a man/woman of faith? That which isn't of faith is sin. Do you walk the second mile with your enemy? That is a commandment. Do you treat those who misuse you and hurt you with kindness and gentleness? Do you love the unlovely or the rude? Are your reactions always godlike? No, most of us know we are not like God. It is terribly hard for us to love our enemies, to do good to those who hurt us, to be patient when our loved ones don't please us and so on. Many religiously righteous people get divorces, hurt their children, and isolate themselves from their loved ones. Many judge others harshly and criticize those who dare oppose them. Jesus knows the deepest recesses of our hearts, even areas we can't know or touch. He knows if we dislike someone, whether we have lewdness in our heart, whether we are envious and resentful, and whether we are proud and arrogant because of our lifestyle or possessions. He knows whether our hearts possess love for the alien, the forgotten, the hurting, the rude, the unlovely. We may try to hide our true nature from others, but we cannot hide from God. He knows us. He knows our hearts when we are spiritually on top of the world, and He knows our hearts when we are in the back alleys of life. Once I had a minister exclaim proudly from the pulpit that he hadn't sinned in the last week. I suspected that he hadn't really analyzed his heart the way God does. God knows every sin of commission and omission. Starting with Cliff, I don't think we truly know ourselves. Sometimes I don't think we really want to take inventory of our lives. We just don't remember clearly all of our negative, faithless, and fearful thoughts. We quickly erase them from our minds. We remember the pinnacles of our spiritual lives, but we don't want to remember or to consider the deep darkness of our lives and innermost beings. But God knows all.

Now what do we do with the complete man or woman we are. We clothe ourselves with Jesus, and we put to death the deeds of sin. Otherwise, we consider sin not to have a hold on us by accepting Christ's finished work at the cross. And if sin pretends to have a hold, we say, "Satan, this problem has been dealt with at the cross. I have now put on Christ; He is now my righteousness. I am no longer judged in the flesh. I am judged by his righteousness." Does this cause us to sin more because now we claim Jesus' righteousness and not our own? NO, we fall under his authority with love, and we are terribly sad when we misstep. We quickly get in line again because we love him and we OWE SO MUCH TO HIM. So out of the hearts of men comes evil, but we are contiually cleansed by the blood of Jesus as long as we are clothed in him. And because of his great love for us, He will make us righteous, and our lives will reflect his righteousness and LOVE for us.