SUNDAY - DECEMBER 28, 2025 "New Year, New Heart" (David Burgess)

Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 a.m.

You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.

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God bless.

Again, good morning.

We are going to be in the Gospel of Mark today, chapter 7.

In your bulletins, it says that we're going to start in 14, but we're going to rewind that a little bit.

We're going to start in verse 1.

Okay, so we're going to go Mark chapter 7, starting in verse 1, and we'll wrap it up in verse 23.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

And so as you're turning there, I want to start our conversation this morning with goals.

Okay?

We all have goals for this new year, right?

We're approaching new year.

Christmas is over.

We're approaching the new year.

And so several of us, including myself, have already started, you know, what kind of resolution am I going to set for this coming year?

Okay?

And don't ask me two weeks into January how I'm doing, okay?

Because I can tell you it's probably not going to be good.

Like going back to, you know, my past experiences, I always let my resolutions fall, typically.

Alright, so I end up doing like a half version of this resolution and whatever.

It does some good.

But we all have goals.

We all we all set these resolutions and we want uh we've a new year's coming, so hey, this is our chance for a new year, new me, right?

Everybody's heard new year, new you, new year, new me.

Uh we've heard that slogan, um, and it's uh we we say it to ourselves even in joke in a joking manner every year.

Hey, new year, new you, right?

Well, uh I looked up the the top five New Year's resolutions for 2026, and I guarantee you you could blindly rattle them out.

Each of us could.

Right?

Number five, spend more time with family and friends.

That's a good one, right?

Spend more time with family and friends, build your community.

Uh uh number four, improve your mental health.

Yeah, that's important.

Uh number four, okay, that's number four.

Number three, which is more important than family and improving mental health, is eat healthier, right?

Eat healthier.

Let's go back to our diet.

Number two, more than uh physical health is financial health.

It says, hey, let's save more money, let's be more healthy uh in our finances.

And number one is to exercise more.

And let me tell you, I go to the gym pretty often, and then January 1st, it'll be booming, right?

It'll be full, new people be there, and that's okay.

People are trying, and I don't fault people for failing.

I don't fault because that's what we do.

Like, hey, let's take it easy on ourselves, all right?

Let's not let's not work in guilt.

Let's not let's not work in shame of who we are.

Let's just find some rest.

You know, I don't blame people for failing, because that's what we do as sinners.

We fall short.

We fall short of God's rules, we're certainly going to fall short of our rules too.

And so as we approach New Year's, I wanted to get to the root this morning of why we do what we do, what motivates us, what what is at the central uh point in our in our being?

And I think if we get there, then we can start making healthy changes.

And changes that matter, and changes like that that have a spiritual impact on ourselves and the people around us.

I definitely want to be healthier.

Okay, I've I've I definitely want to be physically healthier than I am.

But guess what?

I'm not gonna I'm not gonna beat myself with guilt and shame for for for failing.

I'm gonna do it.

But I want to get to the heart of our deepest issues this morning.

And so today we're gonna be in Mark chapter 7, and we're gonna talk about the Pharisees.

Mark 7 · chapter mention

There's a group of guys called the Pharisees, and they uh they're very religious.

Okay, they as best they can, what you'll find out, we're gonna find out, is that they try to follow the rule of the law every step of the way.

They try.

But guess what?

They fail.

And they they're not okay with just failing.

All right?

The Pharisees were a group of people that were legalists.

Okay?

They were legalists, they held themselves to a standard that they could not uphold.

They held everybody else to a standard that they could not uphold.

And so they were legalists.

They did the ceremonies and everything in hopes that their good works and their deeds and their ceremonies would make them acceptable to God.

That's what a legalist does, is you try and try and try and hope for the best.

But not only, this wasn't just good enough for the Pharisees, see, they in their in their rulemaking, they expounded and expanded God's law.

They made, and they even went to the point where they made provisions for themselves for when they failed.

So when they failed, and they did, um, there's uh in the in the tradition, we're gonna talk about the tradition of the elders and the Pharisees.

In their traditions, they stuck to their traditions and they elevated their traditions above scripture.

And in this passage of Scripture, we're gonna see that Jesus has a big, big problem with that.

When our traditions get elevated, when we elevate our traditions above Scripture, you have big problems.

And that's why Jesus was so upset with the Pharisees, is because oftentimes they put the pressure of the people to fulfill the law, knowing they couldn't, and knowing themselves they couldn't, but they made provisions for themselves.

So they made the the over time they made the law of intention.

Okay, we all have good intentions, right?

Everybody has good intentions, but where did that lead us?

Like if like good intentions don't always aren't always good, right?

They don't always work out.

We have good intentions, but man, I just want to be lazy.

I have good intentions to give to stay on this diet, but man, I love a good double cheeseburger.

You know what I'm saying?

Well, here's the problem with the Pharisees.

They took that application, the double cheeseburger application, and applied it to their spiritual life.

And so they made this law that would cover them just because their intentions were there.

They intended they would wake up, they intended to fulfill the law that day.

They intended not to break the law.

And so that was their attitude when they woke up, and that was their provision, even when they broke the law.

That is what you call hypocrisy.

You demand perfection from people, but you make provisions for yourself.

You make provisions for yourself to sin, to live how you want.

You give yourself license to go against God.

And that's what the Pharisees were doing.

That's how they lived.

But here's the deal: we've got to get to the root.

We've got to get to the human heart.

The Bible talks about our hearts as being our innermost beings, the place in which our will, our mind, our emotions, everything we do flows from our heart, our innermost being.

And you know what God's word says about the human heart?

It doesn't have a lot of good things to say about it.

Here's a here, just to name a couple of things.

Jeremiah 17 9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.

Who can understand it?

Genesis 6 5 says, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Genesis 8 21.

The intentions of man's heart is evil from his youth.

Romans 3 10 through 12.

None is righteous, no not one.

No one understands, no one understands, no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside.

So it seems like we need a change.

Not just a resolution.

We need something that's going to get to our hearts, something that is going to get to our hearts and change our hearts.

Not just change our hearts, but give us a new heart.

Our hearts are broken.

And when we try to dress up our hearts with our traditions, we try to dress up our worship, our false and vain worship with uh with our intentions or with our good works, what like what's truly in the heart is ultimately what's going to come out.

I don't care how you dress it up.

The intentions of our heart are going to come out.

And so that's why the gospel is so important.

Is because Jesus came, he stood in our place, he was willingly became the sacrifice for our sins so that our hearts could be changed from the inside out.

That's where we need to be.

And so let's look at this passage and we're going to talk about the dangers of legalism.

That's how we're going to start this morning.

So if you're have your Bibles open up to Mark 7, starting in verse 1, let's read together.

Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him, him being Jesus, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of the disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders.

That's key.

Verse 4.

And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.

And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked the scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?

And he said to them, Well, well did Isaiah prophesy, you hypocrites, prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.

And he said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition.

For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.

But you say, if a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever would have whatever would have gained from me is Corbin, that is given to God.

Then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.

And many such things you do.

Verse 14.

And he called the people to him again, and said to them, Hear me, all of you, and understand.

There is nothing outside a person that going that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.

And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable, and he said to them, Then are you also without understanding?

Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart, but his stomach, and is expelled?

Thus he declared all foods clean, and he said, What comes out of a person is what defiles him, for from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

Let's pray together.

Father, as we uh look at your word this morning, give us understanding.

Holy Spirit, guide this discussion, this sermon.

Lord, may it uh expose in our hearts areas that we are holding on to tradition, may expose areas in our hearts that we are holding on uh to our legalistic uh ideas about our faith.

Lord, expose those to us and may God you give us repentance in the process.

Lord, we love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right, verse 1 through 13 talk about the dangers of legalism.

Let's define legalism real quick.

There is a uh a theologian professor by the name of Thomas Schraner, and this is how he defined legalism.

Legalism is uh legalism exists when people attempt to secure righteousness in God's sight by good works.

Legalists believe that they can earn or merit God's approval by performing the requirements of the law.

And clearly, in the passage that we just read, the Pharisees did that.

But not just then, throughout Scripture, the Pharisees, this is how they lived.

They tried to execute every law perfectly, but when they failed, it's whatever.

They made provisions for it, and then they held other people to that holy, that standard that they couldn't even achieve themselves.

You know what they were doing?

And man, I do this a lot, okay, especially when it comes to like eating healthy and having intentions, like they lie to themselves.

They lie to themselves to make their sin better.

They might feel bad about their sin, they might feel break about, they might feel like breaking a law, they might break a law, and then they make themselves feel better with a lie.

We could lie to ourselves all day.

But here's what the truth of Scripture is is confronting us with that we need to confront our sin.

Humanity needs to be confronted with our sin.

We don't need to make provision, we don't need to make excuses, we need to be confronted with the truth of what our sin does to our hearts.

It's evil and it's inside of us.

It comes from within, as the scripture tells us.

And so this is what the this is what the legalist Pharisees were doing.

This mindset is what happens when you believe that you can fulfill the law in your own power.

Guess what?

We are lawbreakers by our sinful nature.

Humanity is lawbreakers by our sin nature.

Our nature has to change.

We will fail.

We're failures when it comes to the law, when it comes to God's commands, we are failures.

We break them.

Guess what?

We can't change that about ourselves.

But it needs to change.

It needs to change.

And thank God that He did not leave us without a truth, without a way.

See, it's because of Jesus.

Jesus came and he fulfilled the law for us.

And so the Pharisees, they didn't believe in Jesus, so they're looking at Jesus saying, Oh, he's doing everything wrong.

He's not doing what we tell him to do.

And that's and they hated him for it.

So legalism, uh, legal we talked about legalism and its definition.

Um now uh the danger of legalism gives us a false sense of moral superiority.

When we jump through hoops in our lives and and in hopes that the root of our doing good deeds, if if the root of our deeds and our motivation behind our good deeds and our works, if we're just trying to make it and please God and and and hopes that God is not mad at us, like that's legalism.

And not only is that legalism, it if if you find yourself doing the law and and doing a pretty decent good job about it, like it's gonna, it there's danger to give you a moral, a sense of moral superiority.

And that's what happens with the Pharisees.

The Pharisees, you see, they it says that they came from Jerusalem.

They sent scribes from Jerusalem.

Because the scribes in Jerusalem, they knew how to handle Jesus.

They were gonna come in and shake Jesus up.

They were gonna come in and and and find fault in Jesus.

You know where that's from?

Their sense of moral superiority.

Instead of listening to Jesus, instead of understanding Jesus, and instead of knowing Jesus was sticking to the truth of the word of God and not adding to it by his traditions, they would have seen and understood the truth.

But Jesus broke their traditions, and it didn't matter that he upheld Scripture, but what he did was broke their traditions, and they hated him for it.

And so they had a sense of moral superiority even over Jesus, the one who did nothing wrong, the one who was holy and good, who who fed thousands, who healed the blind, who made the lame walk.

They didn't care about all that stuff that Jesus did.

They didn't care the miracle of God was working and doing awesome works in front of them.

They cared about their tradition.

They said that's great and all that God that Jesus is raising people from people from the dead.

But what makes me mad is that he's stepping on my toes.

We hate that.

Because of our moral superiority.

The religious leaders, again, they sent a group to spy and they found nothing.

And so the only thing that they reached for was this little law about washing your hands.

And it wasn't a law, it was it was a law in the Old Testament that talks about clean cleanliness, about hygiene.

It was addressing hygiene.

In Leviticus, it was addressing like, hey, if you touch anybody that has uh bodily fluids coming out of them, that's gross.

Like, wash those things off so you don't get sick.

Hello, Jesus was a great biologist.

He he he knew the level of germs without a microscope.

That's why he told his people to wash his hands so they would not be sick.

Now, what the Pharisees are doing, they are pushing, they are pushing ceremonial laws meant for just them onto the people.

Okay, so when the Pharisees, this law, they would, before they went into the temple, they had to go to the bronze basin, they had to wash their hands, wash their feet.

It was a ceremony to make them ceremonially clean.

And you know why ceremonies were needed back then?

It was to remind them that even their priests needed to be washed.

Even their priests were riddled with the disease of sin.

Even their priests.

But the priests were like, well, if it's good for us, it's good for everybody.

We're just gonna hold everybody to that.

We're gonna make everybody wash their hands, and when they don't, we're gonna call them out and call them sinners and they're hellbound.

That's what the Pharisees did.

Washing hands.

They used Jesus' disciples not washing their hands after visiting the marketplace.

Think about it.

The marketplace, like if you're if if we have any germaphobes in here, hello.

People walk in this marketplace, you know, in uh ancient times, it's dirty.

And the Pharisees are like, oh, that's gross.

But they're trying to clean their hearts with water.

They think that's going to make them clean before God.

And they're holding everybody to that standard.

And see, that's what they do.

The dangers of legalism, again, it elevates the traditions of men.

And when what men get a hold of something, when humanity gets a hold of something, we twist it to fit our agenda, and that's what the Pharisees did.

The traditions of the elders, that word, the traditions was code word for, you know, God's word says this, but I'm going to add a couple of steps to the process.

That's what the traditions of the Pharisees and the elders did.

They, instead of people sit being set free in the love and grace that God freely gives, instead of people finding freedom, they found slavery.

They found slavery to not just sin, but they found slavery to the thing that was really supposed to set them free in the first place.

It just got twisted and perverted by mankind.

And so that's the real problem.

That's the real problem in our culture.

That's the real problem in even churches today is that we elevate our traditions and it weighs people down.

I'm so tired of that.

There's been times in my life in and out where I've carried the weight of man-made traditions and it's heavy, and it's a burden, and it just makes me tired and stressed.

Nowhere in the gospel did Jesus say, hey, take my yoke for it's heavy.

Take my yoke because it's stressful.

Take my yoke upon you because if you do, you're gonna hate life.

Jesus never said that.

He said, Take my yoke, take my burden.

It is easy, it is light.

Do y'all see the importance of this as the pastor say?

That Jesus wants you to be free.

And he gave his life so that you could be free.

Flee.

Flee from this dangers of legalism.

Flee from it.

And then he called, he uses example to call out the Pharisees' sin.

He goes back to the command, to the fifth command, where he says, honor your father and mother, where the scripture says that.

And so what that honor your father and mother means, it's not just say uh yes, ma'am, no, ma'am.

It's not just give them respect by words.

It's honor them with your life.

It's they take care of you from birth to adulthood.

You take care and meet the needs of your father and mother until end of life.

That's what that means to honor your father and mother is that you turn that.

Everybody's looking at their children in here and be like, you hear what he's saying?

That's from the word.

Take care of me, right?

That's what the word means.

And so the Pharisees of all people, surely they're gonna follow this law.

Well, here's what they do: with their traditions, they take and twist God's truth to fit their agenda.

Hey, guess what?

When your parents are older and they're elderly, hey, it gets expensive.

It gets expensive to take care of your elderly parents.

I mean, funerals, when my mom passed away, I was shocked.

It's expensive.

But guess what?

We're taking care of our parents.

That's what that means.

And here's what they said: this word Corbin, it means devoted to God.

And they made a provision.

The Pharisees and the leaders and the rabbis and the teachers, the elders, they made provision even for that.

They were like, you know, everything I have, because I'm in the ministry, everything I have is not mine anyway.

Like it's all devoted to God.

So I can't take what I've already devoted to God and take care of my parents with.

Do you see the perversion of that sin?

The perversion of the law.

They were in it for financial reasons.

They used and twisted God's word with their tradition, and that's what they do.

That's what the legalist does.

They have to.

They have to do it.

If they're not relying on Jesus and his grace and his provision, they have to rely, a legalist has to rely on their own because they're not good enough.

That's what the legalist does.

So the end result of legalism is outward appearance of holiness, but an unbearable burden.

It's inner death, it's eternal hill.

In Matthew 23, 27, Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs.

He said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you were like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

That's what Jesus said about them.

So let's move.

Let's keep going.

We're going to land this plane in just a second, okay?

So verse 14 through 23 talks about what Jesus addresses what really defiles a person.

It's not what's on the outside.

Remember, he said it's what comes from from within that defiles a person.

So Jesus in verse 14, he makes it very clear.

The scriptures tell us that he's about to say something really serious.

Okay, and it says in verse 14, he called the people to him again and said to them, Listen to what he says, hear me, all of you, and understand.

Okay, so this is like me explaining, the difference of me explaining, hey, to my children, to my six, six, and seven-year-old, the difference of, hey, don't jump on the couch and hey, don't play in the street.

Right?

Like Jesus is like really this is important.

Like, because when I'm telling the kids not to jump on the couch, hey, it's just annoying.

There's no other reason.

You might break, you might, you know, this couch is sturdy these days.

You're not gonna break the couch.

You're just being loud and annoying.

That's why I don't want you to jump on the couch.

But when they're getting ready to cross the street or when they're playing outside, hey, I sit them down and say, look at my eyes, listen with your eyes and your ears.

Do not get in the street.

Because it can be deadly.

It can hurt them.

It can harm them.

It can kill them.

And that's what Jesus is saying.

Listen, not just listen, but understand.

There is nothing that comes that the outside of a man that can defile him, but what defiles a man is what's already there.

Don't listen to what the Pharisees are saying.

There's no amount of cleaning you can do to your soul that can make you right, that can make you holy.

That's the importance of what Jesus said.

That is the core of the message today.

Is that when we go forward in our lives from this moment on, what are the things that you gauge your spiritual health on?

Do you think you're good?

Do we operate in good works and and all this thinking that God's gonna love us more, that he's gonna like us more, that we're gonna earn our salvation?

Again, that's the legalist part of this whole thing.

But here's the deal: the good news is that the gospel comes, and the gospel is what changes our hearts.

The gospel enables us to actually love God truly and love people truly.

The gospel reaches and changes what's on the inside.

So what's on the inside has to change.

Well, the gospel is the answer.

The fact that Jesus was perfect, he was sinless, he came to this earth, he did amazing miracles, he lived and walked according to the law every step of the way, he fulfilled the law.

Unlike us, we are lawbreakers.

Jesus was the law fulfiller, and he did that in our place.

He was good for us.

That's the good news of the gospel.

That even in our worst sin, and I'm not even gonna say murder is the worst sin, I'm gonna say self-righteousness is the pit of sin.

When you think that you're good enough on your own without Jesus, that's the sin that takes you far, far away.

That's that is sin at its definition.

Is I'm good, I don't need God.

I can do this on my own.

And see, the problem with the Pharisees, they were worshiping their their worship was directed rightly, but it was practiced wrongly.

They they had the right God, but they had the wrong practice.

What their problem was that they thought they could obtain holiness on their own.

Only Jesus did that.

Only Jesus did that.

So this is why the gospel is so important.

And so understand that Jesus is calling us not to do better.

Rather, Jesus is calling us to repentance in faith.

See, repentance isn't merely just stopping the evil actions that you do.

It's agreeing with God that, man, my heart is the problem.

No matter what good deeds I do, no matter how I dress myself up, my heart is the problem.

It's agreeing with God about what he already knows about us, that we are sinners, that we are broken, and that we need a savior.

That's what repentance is: is that we agree with God and we turn away from those things and we turn to Jesus, the one who saves us.

His work, his goodness, his righteousness is what covers our sinful brokenness.

That's the richness of the gospel.

And so that is what changes broken hearts.

And so if we could get that, if we could start there in our New Year's resolution, like let's just not change pieces of us, let's let Jesus overhaul the whole thing.

He can do it.

He wants to do it.

He wants to change you from the inside out.

So if you find yourself this morning realizing, man, I just need a new heart.

Like, there's no amount of maintenance or therapy or whatever I can do to this heart that's gonna fix it.

I need a new one.

Well, that's what Jesus offers.

Repentance and faith is what Jesus calls you to.

And so today, the beautiful thing about the gospel is that it frees the sinner from the overwhelming, crushing weight of performance.

Even a Pharisee can be saved.

Even I can be saved.

You can work from sunup to sundown every day of your life to please God by your behavior, but it just doesn't work.

The issue is the heart, and only Jesus can do that.

So today, maybe you've been living like a Pharisee.

Maybe you've been weighing your secret sin against your good deeds.

Maybe you've been doing that.

And say, well, my good deeds maybe outweigh my secret sin, though.

Like that's a Pharisee.

Abandon that.

Understand your heart needs overhauling.

My heart needs overhauling.

If you haven't placed your faith in Jesus, why not?

Is it because you're gonna have to let go of the things that promise you happiness and deliver unfulfillment?

Your sin?

Hey, it's worth it.

Letting go of your sin is and embracing Jesus is worth it.

Understand that legalism is sneaky and it will fool us.

Do not be fooled.

Let go and trust Jesus.

So for our invitation this morning, repent.

Believe in the gospel.

Repent from the Far'sake life, if that's what you need, if that's what you need to do, repent from that.

Repent and trust Jesus for salvation the first time.

If you've never trusted Jesus, let today be the day.

And obviously, if you would if you want to join our church, you can do that as well.

I'll be down here to receive you in the front.

Um, whatever burdens you have, come and lay them down and trust and believe in Jesus.

Let's pray.

Lord, we love you.

We thank you for your grace.

Thank you for this time that we've got to spend together in your word.

I pray that you would uh use it to uh to c to expose the junk and the garbage and the sin and the death that's in our hearts.

May we be people who are forever changed by the truth of the gospel and by the work of Christ on the cross.

Lord, as we uh move into this invitation, I pray for our people that you would work and move in all of us, not just others, but me as well, Jesus.

My heart needs freedom from my legalist tendencies.

And so, Lord, um, as we start this invitation, I pray that people would find freedom in you.

We love you.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

If you need to uh make a decision today, I'll be down front uh and we can counsel.

Blessed assurance Jesus is mine.

Oh, what a full taste of glory, era salvation, purchase of God, this is my story, this is my song, I save this is my story, this is my song, please save you all the day long.

Amen.

We are going to uh continue worship this morning through our offering, our time of offering.

Uh so as I pray over that offering, I will ask our gentlemen who are going to take our offering to come forward to do that for us.

Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you for who you are.

Thank you for loving us.

Thank you for your grace.

Uh, I pray that uh we would be people that uh are willing to let go of what we have or what we're holding on to and our good works and righteousness, Lord.

I pray that we'd be people uh that do that.

Lord, we love you.

We thank you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSotoHills.com.