Matthew 15:10-20

The choir comes down and Junior Church is dismissed.

If you have your Bibles, if you would join me

in opening the Gospel of Matthew, as we make

our way through this study of this precious Gospel.

We'll hold as our text this morning, verses 10

down through verse 20. When he, that is Jesus,

called the multitude to himself, he said to them,

Hear and understand. Pay attention, guys, is

what he's saying there. Now what goes into the

mouth, it's not what goes into the mouth that

defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth,

this defiles a man. Then his disciples came and

said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees were

offended when they heard this saying? But he

answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly

Father has not planted, Will be uprooted. It's

going to be pulled up. Leave them alone. They

are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind

leads the blind. Both will fall into a ditch.

Then Peter answered and said to him. Explain

this parable to us. Explain what you just said.

So Jesus said. Are you also still without understanding?

Do you not yet understand that whatever enters

the mouth. goes into the stomach and is eliminated.

But those things which proceed out of the mouth,

they come from the heart, and they defile man.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,

adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,

blasphemies. These are the things which defile

man. But to eat with unwashed hands, does not

defile man. This is the word of God this morning.

Would you join me as we ask God's help and understanding?

Father, we thank you for your precious word.

God, we ask for the spirit of God to illumine

the text to us, Lord. Feed us from manna on high.

Feed us with Christ, Lord. God, this is your

word. It is rich. It is profitable. Lord, I pray

that, Lord, you would make it effective in the

lives of your people this morning by means of

your spirit. Lord, help me to be a vessel that

will be used for your glory and honor. Lord,

I pray that you would set a guard over my mouth

this morning, Lord. I am prone, Lord, to speak

too many words. God, would you help me, Lord,

not to speak one word more than is needed and

to keep me back from speaking one word that might

be unprofitable. God, would you help me in this,

I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, if we're going

to understand this passage this morning, you

have to understand the immediate context. which

really is verses 1 through 9, which is what we

looked at last week. But even if you weren't

here, we can still understand the text. See,

at this point in his ministry, the Lord Jesus

is wildly popular. And his popularity has grown

because he's done these mighty acts. He's healing

the sick. On occasion, he's raised the dead.

On two occasions, he's fed a hungry multitude.

So if you have anyone sick in your family, let's

get them to Jesus. And so he's really, his fame

has taken off at this point. And it's spread

everywhere, even down to Jerusalem, to the capital

city. But not only has word of his miracles,

but word of his teaching has spread. His miracles

gave credibility to what he taught. But there

was something different about Jesus. He was popular,

but he was different. He was different in that

he would not toe the party line. He refused to

follow the scribes and Pharisees' devotion to

ancient tradition. All the leaders at that time,

they followed tradition. The Mishnah, the oral

tradition of the law. But Jesus didn't. He refused

to do so. So therefore, we find in verses 1 through

9, particularly verse 2, a group of scribes and

Pharisees had been sent to Galilee in the north,

and they're going to challenge Jesus on this

particular point. They wanted to know. Why don't

your disciples follow tradition of the elders?

It's ancient. And we see that in verse 2. Why

do your disciples transgress the tradition of

the elders? How are they doing that? Well, on

this occasion, because they don't wash their

hands before they eat bread. Now, this concern,

we said last week, has nothing to do with hygiene.

It has everything to do with ritual purity in

the law of Moses. The scribes and Pharisees,

they both believed that if you ate without first

ceremonially washing your hands, then that defiled

you. You become unclean. Ritual defilement in

the eyes of the law. But there's one problem.

That belief was not based on God's word. Rather,

it was based on a tradition that had developed

through the ages. And the Pharisees' eyes, in

particular, if you broke with tradition, in their

eyes, That was tantamount to breaking God's law.

That's where the rub really came in. But Jesus

said, not only is that untrue, he called it hypocrisy.

The Pharisees he called a group of hypocrites,

and we saw that last week. The Pharisees were

fastidious in the way they sought to obey tradition.

They dotted their I's and crossed their T's.

But Jesus said, you can be as fastidious as you

want. You can be as zealous as you want. But

all of that is in vain. It's all for nothing.

These were man -made, self -imposed regulations,

and they were of no value at all in God's eyes.

See, the truth is the Pharisees were concerned

about hands, and Jesus was concerned about the

heart. And that's what we find here this morning.

Now, the Lord had been in large clouds. They

were standing there. And the crowds saw that

interaction between him and the Pharisees, and

he did not want the crowds to be influenced by

the Pharisees' teachings, so he called them over

to himself, and he's going to instruct them.

And by the way, the scribes and Pharisees, the

religious officials, they're standing right there.

Verse 10. So when he called the multitude to

himself, he said to them, Listen up, guys. I

want you to hear something. Understand. It is

not what goes into your mouth that defiles you,

but what comes out of your mouth. That's what

defiles you. So you see, Christ is a good shepherd.

He's warning and protecting the people about

false teaching. But what was so insidious and

dangerous was this false teaching came from official

religious teachers, scribes and Pharisees. Their

teaching's not neutral. It was harmful. It was

false. And verse 11 is the key to this whole

passage. He said, it's not what goes into your

mouth that defiles you. It's rather what comes

out that is defiling. Now, to say that nothing

that goes into the mouth, that nothing that you

eat would be defiling, would have been a radical

and a revolutionary statement for the Jewish

people to hear at that time. What do you mean

nothing we eat is defiling? And Jesus said, no,

it's not what goes in, but what comes out. That's

what's important. Well, if that be the case,

why then were all those dietary laws and restrictions

in place? Why did they have the kosher laws?

If food is not defiling, how is one defiled?

Now, friends, how you answer that today is very

important. Where do you see the source of the

problem? See, the Pharisees saw defilement coming

from the outside in. They believed that you became

unclean when you had contact with the wrong people,

Gentiles, wrong food, non -kosher, wrong places.

Then you were defiled. So when you had contact

with something unclean, then you became unclean.

And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, disagreed.

And he said, no, true defilement originates from

within. It starts in your heart. Your heart,

and in this case the inner man, the operating

system, it is already defiled, by the way, which

is what leads to corrupt thoughts, which leads

to corrupt words, which leads to corrupt actions.

See, your problem is not outside of you. Your

most serious problem lies inside. But the Pharisees,

they saw the problem as everything around them.

And that blinded them to the true problem that

was within them. So again, think how they thought.

You're clean until you touch something unclean.

And particularly in this case, let's say your

hands are now defiled, which then touches your

food. Then you, with your hands, put the food

in your mouth. The food goes down in, and then

you become defiled all over. That's what they

believed. But Jesus... flatly and strongly contradict

their teaching. He says, you have it backwards.

Completely backwards. And by the way, the law

of God, the Torah, that which God gave to Moses,

agreed with Jesus. Remember, Pharisees' teaching

is based on tradition. Jesus is following the

law of God. How do we know that? Jeremiah 17

.9. Jeremiah writing, he said, the heart is deceitful

above all things and desperately wicked. Who

can know it? In Proverbs 4, the author says,

keep your heart with all diligence. Why? Why

be so concerned about the heart? And we're not

talking about the physical organ pumping blood,

obviously. He said because it's out of the heart

springs the issues of life. Your heart is the

operating system of your life. If it's defiled,

your life is defiled. And that's what the Pharisees

couldn't see. See, if the problem is just outside

of us, then all we need to really do is obey

rules. Keep away from the contaminant. In this

case, food. So you have a bunch of rules. Don't

touch that. Don't taste that. Don't do that.

Then you're holy. But if the problem is inside

of you, well, you have a much bigger problem.

If the heart is the problem, well, what's the

solution? It can't be rules. You need a new heart.

Not do you just need a new heart. You need a

new birth. And that's what Jesus told Nicodemus

in John chapter 3. Now keep in mind, who is Nicodemus?

John 3 · chapter mention

A leading Pharisee. Let's look at that conversation

in John 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This is an important

figure, by the way. This is not some come -by

-night guy. This man, I say it's not some come

-by -night guy, and look at verse 2. This came

to Jesus by night, but you understand what I

meant. And he said to him, Rabbi, teacher. We

know that you're a teacher come from God. You

have to be because look at all the works. No

one can do these signs that you do unless God

is with them. So Nicodemus is an honorable guy.

He's a pious guy. He's like, there's no way you

can be false. Look at all these miracles. Jesus

is not impressed by flattery. Jesus answered

and said to him, most assuredly I say to you,

unless one is born again, born from above, he

cannot see the kingdom of God. Flatly. You don't

see it. Nicodemus said to him, well, he's thinking

very concretely. How can a man be born when he's

old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's

womb and be born? It's a ridiculous statement.

Of course not. No. Jesus said, he didn't clarify

though, did he? Most assuredly, I say to you,

unless one is born of water and the spirit, he

cannot enter the kingdom of God. What's the point?

Man's inner corruption, mankind's inner corruption,

it's so pervasive, so all -encompassing, that

he must have a new birth if he's going to enter

into God's kingdom. He needs the Spirit of God

to give him a new heart. We need new operating

centers. Now, I think, keep in mind, to whom

is the Lord speaking? To Nicodemus. The leading,

a leading religious figure, a leading Pharisee,

a teacher of people. This man's life, Nicodemus

would have lived an exemplary life. He was righteous.

He was God -fearing. He looked pious. And Jesus

told him, even you need to be born again. This

has implications for us. And let me just talk

to parents for a moment. This has implications

for the way we parent as well. If you have a

wrong view of man's ultimate problem, you will

give your kids the wrong solution. If you believe

the primary problem is outside us, it's just

the world and evil people. And by the way, the

world is evil and people are evil. But if that's

the primary problem, then you're going to shelter

your kids, you're going to protect them. How?

With rules. And you'll neglect where the real

problem lies in your child's heart. The problem's

not the enemy without, it's the enemy within.

And sadly, sadly, sadly, many parents have done

this. They have reared their children to be good,

moral people and not Christians. And you see

it. How? Because they focus more on behavior

than heart. Too many parents, in the name of

Jesus, are only concerned with how their children

look and behave. As long as their children grow

up to be honest, financially independent and

hardworking, well, then that's all that parent

can ask for, right? Then all must be well. But

Christianity is not and has never been about

looking good. It's about loving God. You can

be hardworking, honest, industrious, and not

love God at all. Many people, many children have

been reared in Christian homes, and they've grown

up to lead clean, moral lives that are indifferent

to God. and that is not Christianity. See, genuine

Christianity is a work that is done in the inner

man, which can only be accomplished by the Holy

Spirit of God. You and I can't do it. And it's

easy to parent like a Pharisee. And we all find

ourselves falling into that trap. My wife and

I can fall into that trap. And how do you do

that? When you merely focus on behavior, but

you ignore the heart that lies behind the behavior.

You just want them to... Toe the line, if you

will. And so many of us will assume if they're

respectful and mannerly, well then our job as

a parent is done. Friends, that's moralism. And

that will damn your child. I'm not saying, hear

me correctly, I'm not saying behavior doesn't

matter. Of course it does. I'm not saying there

aren't ever any rules. Of course there must be.

But behavior that does not come from a heart

that has been changed by God and loves God is

not pleasing to God. If your heart, or what you

do, doesn't flow from a heart that has been changed

that loves God, it's not pleasing to Him. See,

what Jesus said was at odds with the religious

figures of His day, but I fear many times it's

at odds with the religious figures of our day.

Verse 12. His disciples came and said, Hey, What

you just said, do you know it was offensive to

the Pharisees? They heard you. Now, why would

they say this? Because Jesus' disciples were

like the rest of Israel. They held the Pharisees

in high regard because they were deeply respected

in society. They would have been the upper crust.

They would have been the people everyone looked

up to. So they were thinking, Jesus, you need

to be careful. You're making some powerful enemies

and you're offending them. By the way, you could

get in some hot water, Jesus. Wouldn't it be

better if you acted in a more conciliatory manner?

Be a little more cordial, you know? Of course,

Jesus was offending them. He knew he was offending

them. He contradicted their view of holiness,

and he refused, flat out refused, to follow their

traditions. So how did he respond to their concern?

Was he like, oh, okay, yeah, I better soften

the language. Verse 13. He said, Every plant

that my Heavenly Father has not planted will

be uprooted, and just leave them alone. Leave

the Pharisees alone. They are blind leaders of

blind people. Earlier he called them hypocrites.

If the blind leads the blind, both are going

to fall into a ditch. Every plant which the Heavenly

Father did not plant will be uprooted. Jesus

was not at all concerned that these men were

offended. In fact, he doubled down, and here's

what he said. He said, they don't belong to God.

These were the official teachers of Israel, but

they were not of God. And since they did not

belong to God, he said, they will be eventually

uprooted. That means this is the language of

judgment. They're going to be judged one day.

They're going to be judged by God Almighty for

how they misled his people. What God does not

plant will not survive. They will be plucked

up as if they are a weed. That's what he's saying

here. And in verse 14, he says, leave them alone.

Yes, others in society may regard them as eminent

teachers of the law. But don't you. Because they're

not. Instead, he said, the Pharisees, the people

you're talking about, they are blind. And this

is the irony here. The Pharisees were experts

at discerning clean from unclean, but they could

not even discern their own lack of sight. They

were blind, but they didn't know it. They believed

it was their job as Pharisees to guide Israel

into truth. And Jesus said, leave them alone.

They're blind guides leading blind people, and

both of them are going to fall straight into

a ditch. If you follow them and their ways, it

ends in destruction. And we see that over in

Matthew 23, verse 15. Woe to you, scribes and

Matthew 23:15

Pharisees, you hypocrites. For you travel land

and sea to win one proselyte. And when he has

won, you make him twice as much a son of hell

as yourselves. These men diligently studied the

law of God, but they failed to understand it.

Why? They were blinded by their own tradition.

Now, verse 15, Peter then speaks, as normally

he's the spokesman for the group, and he said,

explain what you mean to us, Jesus. So now it

appears that the crowd is no longer with Jesus.

It looks like you have the 12 there, all right?

Peter, the spokesman of the 12, he's asking Jesus,

explain what you just said. What do you mean

they are uprooted plants and blind guides? How

are the Pharisees blind guides? I mean, they're

the most devout, serious students of the law.

Verse 16. Jesus said, and do you still not understand?

Do you still not get it? The language here is

actually a little bit like Jesus seemed surprised,

almost shocked. Really, Peter? You don't get

what I'm saying? And Peter didn't quite understand

yet. How were the Pharisees wrong? Why wouldn't

you wash your hands before you eat? But understand

this, what Jesus was teaching was radical at

that time. Dietary laws had always, and I mean

always, been an important part of their daily

life. You go back to the Torah, go back to the

law, Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14, they find

a list of animals prescribed that differentiated

between clean you could eat and unclean you couldn't.

So dietary laws, kosher laws, were part and parcel

of being a Jew. It's a part of your identity.

This is why Peter was, he's like, what do you

mean? Now, Jesus wasn't contradicting the law.

Remember, the Pharisees said you had to wash,

ceremony, wash your hands before you ate. The

law never said that. But we come to Acts chapter

Acts 10 · chapter mention

10. This is after Christ has risen from the dead,

sent out his church. Peter is still not quite

sure what all this means. In fact, when the Gentiles

are going to be brought into salvation, Peter

sees a vision in Acts 10, and it concerns these

dietary laws. The next day, as they went on their

journey, they drew near the city. Peter went

up on the housetop to pray about the six hours,

noon, hot part of the day. He became very hungry.

He wanted to eat. It's lunchtime. But while they

made ready, he fell into a trance. He starts

to see a vision. And he saw heaven opened and

an object like a great sheet bound at the four

corners descending to him let down to the earth.

What was in that sheet? In it were all kinds

of four -footed animals of the earth. wild beasts,

creeping things, birds of the air. And a voice

from heaven says, Rise, Peter. Kill them and

eat them. Peter said, No, not so, Lord. I have

never eaten anything common or unclean. Peter's

a good Jew. He's keeping kosher. Leviticus 11,

Deuteronomy 14. And a voice spoke to him again

a second time. Peter, what God has cleansed you

must not call common. What God calls clean, no

longer call unclean. What God is cleaning, Now

he's referring to Gentile people. Don't call

common. Don't call unclean. They're coming in.

Now this was done three times, and then the object

was taken back up into heaven. Peter's there

on the rooftop, very hungry, and he says he wondered

within himself what this vision meant. He had

to think, I'm hearing God's voice wrong. This

vision can't be of God. Are you telling me Leviticus

11, Deuteronomy 14 are no longer binding? Is

that what you're saying? Get this, church. In

Christ, the dietary restrictions were fulfilled.

They are no longer binding, but they could not

understand that at the time. Understand the issue.

Even when God gave Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy

14, when God gave those dietary laws, it was

never about food. Those laws were given to show

Israel they had been set apart. That's God's

holy people. They were clean. So the laws between

clean and unclean were given to point to the

need of cleansing. They were given to show something.

They were shown a distinction here. But now,

in Christ, these restrictions were fulfilled

how? By Jesus' life, death, and resurrection,

because that's what achieved the ultimate cleansing

and purity. which is what the food law symbolized.

They've never made you clean, folks, ever, never,

never, never. They're pointing to something greater.

The greater came. The lesser is no longer needed.

In Jesus, we are clean. We are made pure. But

at this time, the disciples still don't get it.

They're still dull, and we understand that. So

Jesus had to explain what he meant. Look at verse

17. Don't you get it, guys? Don't you yet understand?

Whatever you eat, it just goes in the stomach,

it's digested, it's eliminated. It can't defile

you. Food cannot defile you because why? It can't

touch your heart. It doesn't go into the deepest

recesses of your soul. On the contrary, what

you eat goes into the stomach and begins to be

digested. So your body is going to extract the

minerals and nutrients that it can, and then

everything else, all the waste product is going

to be excreted, and nothing that is defiling

remains in the body. That's digestion. Okay.

But, on the other hand, verse 18. But the things

which come out of the mouth, they come from the

heart. And they do defile man. What comes out

is what defiles. That is a Copernican revolution

in Jewish thinking. What are you saying, Jesus?

It is not unclean people. It is not unclean places,

nor is it unclean food that defile you. Your

unclean hearts make you unacceptable to God.

This is the way it's always been. True defilement

does not come from outside. It originates within

us. So you say, what is wrong with the world?

I am. You are. G .K. Chesterton, I think, that

was one of the major newspapers that submitted

a contest said, asking people what's wrong with

the world, and he submitted a two -word response,

I am. What's the problem? Us. We are the problem.

How? Our hearts are not clean before God. Look

at verses 19 and 20. For out of the heart proceed

evil thoughts and murders and adulteries and

fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies.

Jesus starts a list of myriad of things that

flow from unclean hearts, but he begins with

evil thoughts. Why? Because evil thoughts give

rise to evil actions. Earlier, in verses 1 through

9, what we looked at last week, do you remember

what he accused the Pharisees of breaking? He

said, you broke the fifth commandment, which

requires you to honor your parents. You violated

that. But now he shows how the other commandments

are being broken as well by unclean hearts. Now

stay with me here. Out of the heart comes first

evil thoughts. Now, really, to have evil thoughts

is a violation of the Tenth Commandment. What

is the Tenth Commandment? You shall not covet.

What is covetousness? It's a strong desire to

have what someone else has. And when you covet

too much, it leads to things. When you really

want what someone else has, you're going to try

to take it. Okay, so it leads to things like

murder. That's a violation of the Sixth Commandment.

It leads to adultery. You want your neighbor's

wife or fornication. You want that woman or that

man. That's a violation of the seventh commandment.

It leads to theft. It's a violation of the eighth

commandment. It leads to false witness. That's

a violation of the ninth commandment. It leads

to blasphemies against God and against our fellow

man, speaking evil of them. It's a violation

of the third commandment. Now do you see the

progression? From evil hearts, come evil thoughts,

which lead to evil actions, and then leads to

evil speech. The problem is pervasive. All of

it is disordered. Do you see the problem? It's

the heart. If you fix your heart, then these

actions will also be fixed. Now this list is

not exhaustive. It's not as though if you avoid

these sins, well now you're in the clear, because

that was the mistakes the Pharisees made. Don't

murder? Okay, well technically I'm not taking

a life. Don't commit adultery? Technically I'm

not sleeping with her. They believed in holiness

by rule keeping. But the Ten Commandments were

not given for that purpose. The Decalogue, the

Ten Commandments were given to show how corrupt

our hearts really are. We have broken them. Jesus

talked about that in the Sermon on the Mount.

Okay, you've not committed adultery. Have you

ever lusted in your heart ever? You violate it.

Okay, you've not committed murder. Have you ever

been really angry? Okay, you violated the intention.

So it shows us how we've broken the law and it

also shows the resulting guilt we have before

God. There's God's standard, yes. But they're

given to show how we've transgressed that standard.

The first one, thou shalt have no other gods

before me. Has there ever been a time in your

life where you wanted something above God? Can

you say that you have loved God with all your

heart, mind, soul, body, and strength at all

times, perfectly, in every way, every second

of your entire life? Of course not. Then you're

an idolater. You've broken God's law. See, we

sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners

because we sin. You were born a sinner. So what

is going to come from the sinner? Sin. We are

not made sinners because we sin. I hope that

you understand the distinction there. Jesus said

we are corrupt from within. We don't go corrupt,

grow corrupt from without. Which is why, where

do we really need to be cleansed? In the inner

man. With what? With what? The gift of new life.

Verse 20, if you look at it again. These are

the things which defile man, but to eat with

unwashed hands does not defile. This is the essence

of his complaint. against the Pharisees. They're

ignoring what's really important. But there's

one question as we close that we have not yet

addressed. How did we get those unclean hearts

in the first place? We were born. We were born

in Adam's line. And we inherited his guilt and

his corruption. Romans 5 talks about this. Through

one man, that is Adam, sin entered the world.

and death through sin, thus death spread to all

men because all sinned. All sinned in Adam. The

old New England prayer, remember, in Adam's fall,

we sinned all. We all sinned in Adam. We got

his guilt and his corruption. Therefore, through

one man's offense, Adam's judgment came to all

men, resulting in condemnation. What Paul in

Romans 5 is saying, you and I were born depraved,

separated from God, and in need of new life.

That cute little baby you gave birth to is cute,

but it is corrupt. Jody Bauckham used to call

them vipers and diapers. And it's a true statement.

Adam's sin affected all of humanity, except one.

The one who was born through the virgin's womb.

See, the answer to our deepest problem is found

with a virgin -born son of God. Jesus gives a

clear diagnosis of what is wrong in Matthew 15.

Our corruption, pollution, defilement, however

you want to say it, it's not external. It's not

outside of us. It is internal. Which means the

problem that is fundamental is not with the culture.

The culture is depraved, but that's not your

primary problem. Or with your circumstances,

but with us. So if the problem were external,

then just clean up your behavior would work.

But if it's internal, cleaning up behavior and

adding rules fails to address the problem. So

you can incorporate better habits. You can add

more religious rules to your life, but they're

not going to matter. We need to be cleansed from

the inside out. We need to be changed. The Pharisees

said, well, you can be holy, just don't eat certain

foods. You need to wash your hands a certain

way, and you need to follow these certain purification

rites. But Jesus said, no, you need more than

ceremonial washings. You need more than that.

You need to have a new heart, a new birth. And

that's why Jesus came. The promise of the new

covenant was given in the old covenant. In Ezekiel

36, we read these words, God speaking, I will

give you a new heart and put a new spirit within

you. and I will take the heart of stone out of

your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my spirit within you, and I will cause

you to walk in my statutes. And you will, because

God did it, you will keep my judgments and do

them. Jesus did not come to give us a new set

of ethics, a new set of rules. Instead, he came

to give us new life. It's a life we never had

before, a life we could never have on our own.

See, Jesus was the only one who ever had a completely

clean heart. He was pure, completely. He loved

the Lord God rightly. Nothing sinful ever was

found in him or came out of him because nothing

sinful was ever in him. Ever. Peter called him

a lamb without blemish and without spot. He's

perfect in every way. Internally, he loved the

Lord as God, and externally, he kept all the

commandments of God. And this pure, spotless

lamb. He goes to a cruel cross, a rugged tree,

where he died for sinful people with sinful hearts

like you and me. On that cross, the sinless one

bore the judgment that you and I absolutely deserve.

We were corrupt, but he took our corruption and

he started to make us clean. Listen to the words

of Peter again. Speaking of Jesus, that last

slide, guys. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit

found in his mouth. Oh, when he's reviled, he

did not revile in return. When he suffered, and

he suffered. He didn't threaten. He committed

himself to him who judges righteously. Who himself

bore our sins in his own body on the tree that

is the cross. That we, having died to sins, because

now we've been made new, might live for righteousness

by whose stripes you were healed. The stripes

of Jesus, the suffering of Jesus, that cleansed

you. That's what heals you. He died on the cross.

He rose again the third day. And he offers cleansing

and new life. To everyone who will trust in him.

J .C. Ryle said, the right heart is a heart that

is sprinkled with the blood of Christ that has

been renewed by the Holy Spirit and it is purified

by faith. My admonition, my plea to you is come

to Christ and be cleansed. Come to Christ and

find new life. We're getting ready to come to

the table. We call it the table of the Lord,

communion. Do you know what communion represents?

Listen carefully. God comes to us in our mess.

Our messes. This past week, I suspect you, like

I, have failed again, right? We didn't live quite

up to even our own standards. And Jesus is not

embarrassed by that. He offers himself to us.

Come receive his grace. Receive his forgiveness.

Come to Jesus, his broken body, his shed blood

that was given for you. Commune with Christ.

He's not ashamed of you. You may be thinking

here, Pastor, my life's a mess. I believe it.

I think all of us have that at times. But Jesus

loves and takes delight in cleaning up messy

lives. Come to him. There is no other solution.

There is no other name, there is no other Savior

than the one that was born from the virgin who

gave his life and rose again the third day. Let's

praise God and let's come to the table, friends,

as believers rejoicing in his forgiveness through

his body and through his blood. Let's pray. Heavenly

Father, we thank you so very much, Lord, for

your word this morning. Lord, it is rich, it's

beautiful. Lord, it gives us sustenance. God,

it ministers to us, Lord, as we just see Christ

and the beauty of his person and the beauty of

his grace. God, would you do a work in the lives

of your people? Lord, there may be some, and

there probably are, Lord, who are assembled here

this morning amongst this group, Lord, whose

hearts still are cold and stony. Lord God, I

pray that you would remove the heart of stone

and give them a heart of flesh, help them to

see their sin. Help them see the beauty of the

Savior and the grace that's in him. Lord God,

bring them into the kingdom and may they celebrate

forgiveness and cleansing that's offered through

Christ. Lord, we love you. Thank you, Lord, for

this time. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.