From Stained to Spotless - Mark 7:1-23

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, a ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone

Church in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan

Merrick and it's our prayer that this message

strengthens your faith and draws you closer to

Christ. Let's dive in. You can be seated. If

you would go ahead and turn with me to Mark chapter

seven. And I'm going to go ahead and give you

a heads up. I'm going to read Zechariah chapter

three, which is in the Old Testament as a minor

prophet. And I'm telling you that now, so it's

your finger is already there. Oh, yeah, sorry,

I forgot to. They're coming around to pick up

your comedian cups. Thank you guys for remembering

that. My sermon this morning is titled stained

to spotless. Inside out transformation. We're

going to be unpacking Mark chapter seven, verses

one through 23. If you do not have a Bible, we

have them in the back for you and feel free to

take that with you. It's our gift to you. If

this is your first time here, my name is Pastor

Logan, and I am so glad that you're here. The

big idea, Eli, if you want to put this up there,

you're taking notes. By the way, I have a little

fill in the blank on there this week. But the

big idea, if you wanna write it down, is true

purity is an inside out job. Christ doesn't just

clean up our behavior, he transforms our hearts.

Now this sermon this morning should be convicting

to all of us because it's something that we're

all guilty of. But before I get really rolling,

if you would allow me the chance to quote, a

famous modern day philosopher. Ready? It's me.

Hi. I'm the problem. It's me. At tea time, everybody

agrees. I'll stare directly at the sun, but never

in the mirror. It must be exhausting always rooting

for the antihero. What did I just quote? Taytay!

I got big Swifties in here, I know that. I'm

looking at you, Terry. Taylor Swift. Jule Swanson.

Yeah, Taylor Swift. It's the... I don't listen

to Taylor Swift, but for whatever reason, when

I was putting this together, and I would admit

if I listen to Taylor Swift, but I'm just not

a fan. But for whatever reason, as I was putting

this on together, all I could hear was that chorus.

If you don't know the song, it's OK. But it's

me. Hi, I'm the problem. It's me. That's all

I kept hearing. And so the reason why I quoted

is because we have a problem. Not just in our

culture, in the church. How many of you guys

would agree that accountability is something

we don't like? Two people, great, great, awesome.

Got another two in the back, anybody else? Anybody

else? All right. No, we don't like accountability.

We don't like being the one that's the issue.

It's not fun to be like, you know what? If I

look at the common denominator of my life, Hmm.

There's one constant. Yes. Um, I've known people

that have had five or six marriages and every

time they get married again, they think that

this is going to be the one that's going to change

things. And then when I'm, I begin to talk to

them. It's everybody else. It's always the other

spouse. And I'm like, Hey, you know, there's

a common denominator here. And chew. Down. And

it's getting real quiet. It's really quiet in

here. I know it's hot, by the way. I got the

fans up as high as they'll go, and I dropped

the AC down as much as I could. But when I sit

down with people for counseling, whether it's

marriage counseling, personal struggles, family

conflict, or church issues, the first instinct

is almost always to point outward. Kind of like

that Spider -Man meme where they're all looking

at each other. You know, it's my parents' problem.

It's my spouse. It's my kids. It's my boss. It's

my finances. It's the church I grew up in. It's

the town I grew up in. It's the friends I have.

It's always somebody else. It's never us. And

certainly there are real churchers. I will tell

you that. There are real, there is real trauma.

There are real things that happen to you and

there are times when you are sinned against because

of someone else's sin. I agree, those things

do hurt us. But for the most part, what I'm talking

about, 75 % of the time when I'm counseling,

it is always the person that's sitting in front

of me and when they begin to say the things out

loud, they begin to hear it. So the biggest problem

isn't out there, the biggest problem is in here,

right? So I want you to write this down. The

Bible teaches that our greatest issue is not

our environment, our circumstances, or even other

people. Our greatest issue is the sinful heart

we carry around everywhere we go. This morning

we're gonna look at the Pharisees and the teachers

of the law. They come to Jesus and they're trying

to get him tripped up because they're really

upset with how the disciples are handling some

tradition. And instead of catching Jesus in this

Catch -22, he turns it on them, which Jesus is

really good at. So he turns this conversation

upside down and he exposes not the disciples

dirty hands, as we're going to look at in just

a second, but he exposes dirty hearts. Instead

of focusing on external stains, he reveals the

internal source of our defilement. And in doing

so, he teaches us the truth, the truth that every

one of us needs to hear. The stains on our lives

don't originate from the outside. They flow from

the inside. So let's go ahead and let's read

Mark chapter seven together. Now when the Pharisees

gathered to him with some of the scribes who

had come from Jerusalem, they saw some of the

disciples ate with their hands that were defiled.

That is they were unwashed. For the Pharisees

and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash

their hands properly. holding to the tradition

of the elders. And when they came 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 him, why do your disciples not

walk according to the tradition of the elders,

but eat with the filed hands? And he said to

them, well, Did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites

as it is written? This people honors me with

their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines,

the commandments of men. You leave the commandment

of God and hold 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 mother. And whoever reviles the father or

mother must surely die. But you say, if a man

tells his father or his mother, whatever you

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.

And he called the people to him again and said

to them, hear me. all and understand. There is

nothing outside of a person that is going into

him that 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, what does that say? Yeah

within and They defile a person this is the Word

of God if you're taking notes The first point

I have for you is the problem outside in cleansing

Now here's what I mean by outside in cleansing

Politics are outside in cleansing if we just

change from capitalism to socialism, then everyone

would be equal and everyone would be nice and

we would all get along. No. If we just had a

different president, well, we change pretty much

one every four to eight years and nothing changes.

We still have crime rampant, right? We still

have not enough money at the end of the month.

And so we tend to think that these outside things

will change The problem. Now, should we vote?

Yes. Should we vote with our convictions? Yes.

But what I'm saying is, it's not out there that's

the issue. It starts here. And that's Jesus'

point. And so, the problem with religious people,

and I know because I am one, is that we love

boundaries. We like rules and we like checklists.

We like knowing where the line is. We like measurable

obedience. We like being able to point to something

and say, see, I did that. You understand what

I mean? Like, if you know exactly what the line

is, then you go, I can go all the way up to that

line. And as long as I don't cross that line,

I'm not sending. Okay. Does that make sense?

Because what's happening here is it's not about

the God that we serve and honoring him, it's

about how close can I get before I'm actually

breaking the rules or sinning. And so the Pharisees

were masters of this. Throughout the Old Testament,

Israel knew God's law. They could recite it,

they could teach it, they could tell you what

was clean, what was unclean, what was right and

what was wrong. Yet one accusation keeps showing

up again and again. And again, what do you think

that accusation is? Jesus just said it. He quoted

it from Isaiah. What did he say? These people

honor me with their lips, but their what? Their

hearts are far from me. And this is the issue.

Everybody all right back there? OK, man. I don't

usually that just sounded like somebody died.

Their problem wasn't a lack of information. Their

problem wasn't a lack of religious activity and

their problem was a heart problem. And if we're

honest, we're not much different. We can convince

ourselves that God will surely be pleased with

us because we don't watch filthy movies or we

don't listen to Taylor Swift. Skip church, cuss,

chew, hang out with those who do. That's what

my mom always said. We don't cuss, chew and hang

out with those who do. Do things that generally

Do those things generally look good? Absolutely.

I would say that is a good thing to do. Don't

watch crappy movies because that's only going

to taint you. Don't listen to crappy music who

has bad philosophy. Anyway, do those things make

me happy as your pastor if you're saying I don't

cuss, I don't chew, and I don't hang out with

those who do? Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. But

do I think that those things save you? No, not

at all. So the Pharisees are upset because the

disciples didn't perform a ceremonial hand washing

before eating. Now, does Jesus condemn good hygiene?

No, Jesus wouldn't disagree with washing your

hands. I think we would all agree that washing

your hands before you eat is a good thing. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. Theo, you gave me a smirk. Like you

don't do that. I think we would all agree that

it's pretty generally wise not to touch dead

things. So think of it like this. Why is that

a thing? Why is washing your hands before eating,

not touching dead things, why was that a big

deal? Especially, I mean, it is now, why was

it especially then? Yeah, yeah. The rest of all

of the other pagans and the other peoples didn't

wash their hands. They're dying of sickness and

disease. And Jesus, the Father, before we ever

knew anything about microorganisms, He's telling

them, wash your hands, don't touch dead things.

Like all this was meant to keep them, not just

from defilement, from a sinful perspective, but

just defilement as a person and ultimately die.

But what's the other thing about that? Is it

just about keeping them alive or is it about

obedience as well? What do you think? Being alive

is a good thing, but also about obedience to

wanting to just follow what the Lord said, right?

So again, it's a heart thing. Jesus isn't saying

don't wash your hands. He's like, wash your hands,

but let's deal with the heart. So think of it

like this, Doug, The first time you ever took

Sue out on a date, before you took her out on

a date, what did you do before that? Yeah, you

did. You showered. Yes, you showered and wore

clean clothes, hopefully, right? You brushed

your teeth, hopefully, so you see your breast

milk, good, right? And so, we typically want

to, before we go out on a first date or we go

meet somebody new or we go to a job interview,

Right? We shower, we wear clean clothes, we do

these things. Why? Is it about us or is it about

the person that we're about to meet? Yeah, for

who? Exactly. So the first time I ever took Tracy

out on a date, I did exactly what Doug did. I

took his notes. I made sure that I took a shower

because in the end, I wanted her to be into me.

Right. It was about her. And this is the same

idea. The following of the ritual was about who

God is. And our love for him and our obedience

to him. And so what had happened was is that

that love was completely disconnected and they

just did it because it was well, this is a rule.

We do this because. Does that make sense? So.

The issue again is about dirty hearts, not dirty

hands. They were super good and they were super

experts at external religion while remaining

strangers to internal transformation. And the

modern world hates the idea that we ourselves

are the problem. We want to blame our circumstances,

our upbringing, our environment, politicians,

parents, spouses, as I've said, or our culture.

But Jesus says the real problem runs deeper than

that, and it is us. The stain isn't merely around

us, the stain is within us, which leads us to

Jesus' next point. It has to be the answer, inside

out cleansing. Inside out cleansing. We modern

people like to think we've moved beyond all the

talk of purity, defilement, sin, and judgment.

The modern person often looks at the ancient

world and says, those people invented gods that

needed to be appeased because they didn't understand

droughts and they didn't understand all these

things. And so they thought up these gods. When

people died, they needed, they thought, or crops

died or whatever. Well, it's these ancient gods

that have to be appeased. And so now we know

all this stuff and so we don't need to appease

gods because this is, well, an ancient folklore.

And then we pat ourselves on the back and say,

thankfully we have moved beyond this idea of

appeasing gods, but have we? We tell ourselves

that morality is relative. Nobody can really

know right from wrong. Nobody can be certain

whether God exists or doesn't exist. Every person

must determine their own truth, define their

own identity, and establish their own standards.

We don't like words like unclean, defiled, or

sinful. We want to believe that human beings

are basically good at their core, but here's

the funny thing. If that's true, if there is

no God to satisfy a wrath against, then why do

we all struggle with the sense of guilt and shame

constantly? Why are so many people terrified

of being exposed? Why are so many people desperate

for other people's approval? Why do we constantly

compare ourselves to others? Why do we spend

so much energy trying to convince everyone, including

ourselves, that we're enough? There's a novelist,

his name is Franz Kafka. Franz Kafka was not

a Christian, but he had a very interesting book

called The Trial. Really strange book, okay?

But The Trial is about this guy who gets arrested

And he gets getting passed from police officer

to police officer to jail to jail, from judge

to judge. And the entire time he's asking the

question, what have I done? And nobody will tell

him. Nobody gives him a chance. And so as he

keeps getting passed from jail to jail, jail

cell to jail cell, person to person, every time

he sits and he thinks to himself, What have I

done? That I have been arrested for, so he starts

thinking through his life as all of us would,

right? If we were if we were arrested, no, not

told why didn't we start going through our life

going? What have I done? I must be guilty of

something, right? So that's what's happening.

And then in the end, you get to the very end

of the book and I'm thinking to myself, surely

this is going to be like some like. Amazing.

Whoa, didn't see that coming. You want to know

how it ends? It ends with the warden, him asking

the warden of one of the many jails. What have

I done? And the warden answers him by stabbing

him to death. And the book is over. He never

you never get told why he was arrested, but.

I was like, I can't deal with this. I can't read

a book like this and then not know what is the

purpose of this. And so I went out and I dug

around and Franz Kafka, again, not a Christian,

he wrote in a journal before he died the explanation

of what the reason or the thesis essentially

of this. And this is what he said. The state

in which we find ourselves today is sinful, quite

independent of guilt. If you don't know what

he means, this is what it means. Write this down.

In other words, modern people may reject the

language of sin, judgment and guilt, but we cannot

escape the feeling that something is wrong. That

was the whole point of the book. He never escaped

the feeling of what did I do? I'm not sure but

I had to have done something So deep down we

know we're not What we should be we carry this

nagging fear that if people really knew us if

they knew every thought every motive every secret

We would be rejected We wonder if we're lovable.

We wonder if we're acceptable. We wonder if we're

enough And Jesus tells us exactly why that is.

Because the problem isn't merely what we've done,

the problem is what we are. And the source of

pollution is the human heart. And so I want you

to listen again to the words of Jesus. He says,

for from within, out of people's hearts come

evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,

adulteries, greed. evil actions, deceit, self

-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

Notice what Jesus doesn't say. He doesn't say

these things come from bad food, they don't come

from dirty hands, and they don't come from a

lack of religious rituals. They come from within.

So here's something else, okay? In Mark chapter

nine, you guys are going to know this passage,

okay? This is in multiple parts of the gospel,

but in Mark chapter nine, he says, if your hand

causes you to sin, do what? If your eye causes

you to sin, do what? Bounce it out. If your foot

causes you to sin, cut it out. What's Jesus's

point? Thinking with this context, Right here

if it was all about external things What do you

think his point is Yeah, if you could if you

could really stop the sin issues by just cutting

off your hand or gouging out your eye It'd be

better for you to go through life maimed and

amputated But guess what you can't Because the

problem is within. And that's his point. You

need a heart transplant. You don't need gangrene

cut off of your leg. Does that make sense? If

sin were merely an external problem, then removing

the external source would solve it. But your

hand, your eye, your foot, that's not the problem.

The problem is your heart. Wherever your heart

goes, the problem goes with it. So again, I quote

Taylor Swift. Hi, it's me. I'm the problem. Write

this down. This is why behavior modification

alone can never save us. What do I mean by that?

Let me put it, let me put it to you like this.

Whenever we do something, We want to when we

do something wrong And it's something that has

caused us to sin over and over and over again

What do we do we seek forgiveness and then we

do this right we hit ourselves on the hand and

go don't do that again Don't do it again Right

Does it work? Nope Should you try Behavior modification.

Yes, sure But all you're going to do is frustrate

yourself. And so what you must do is understand

what Christ has done and that it's a heart problem.

So then you got to dig deeper. You can't try

harder. You can't do better. You'll never clean

yourself up. You will never get your act together.

You'll never stop messing up. These things won't

work. So Pastor Logan, are you saying don't try

to sin? No, I'm saying definitely do all the

things you can, but don't think that it's the

behavior modification that proves you're acceptable

to Jesus. Absolutely don't watch the dirty movie.

Absolutely don't steal. Don't, you know, don't

do these things. Don't do them. But at the end

of the day, it's not you doing those things that

saved you. Jesus still loves you to say. I used

to tell you kids this all the time. Did Christ

die for your past, present or future sake? All

of us. Now, don't get it twisted either and go,

well, Pastor Logan said we can just continue

to sin. Jesus will love us all the same. No,

because Paul makes it very clear. Do we go on

to sin because of grace? No, absolutely not.

That's a sermon for another time. Well, the reason

why I'm saying this is because we get trapped

in our minds that God will love us more and will

accept us more if we just would be better. And

that's a lie from the enemy. Maybe we'd finally

accept ourselves if we just read our Bible a

little bit more and we prayed a little bit more

and we did all these things and we abided by

the Bible perfectly. If I do all the right things

and look the part, then Jesus will accept me

and I'll be able to accept myself. Brothers and

sisters, you're missing exactly what Jesus is

saying. It's not an outside in. If your heart

is right, it will naturally walk itself out,

not the other way around. So this raises a question.

Who can possibly clean my heart? This is where

the gospel takes us. If you would turn with me

to Zechariah chapter three. If you're taking

notes, You can write down the gospel, the great

exchange. I'm trying to figure out how I want

to do this, if I want to read this first. Let

me give you the context first, and then we'll

read it. I'm probably going to get off of my

notes, so just bear with me. So here's the context

of what's about to happen, what we're about to

read. In Zechariah chapter three, Zechariah gets

a prophetic vision from God. And he is standing

in this vision in the Holy of Holies. So in the

tabernacle, you had the outer court, the inner

court, Holy of Holies. The outer court, where

Gentiles had to stay. The inner court, Jews could

come in. Then outside of that, the Holy of Holies,

it was the priest alone. So there was a lot of

preparation. I'll take you through that in just

a second. But as he's standing there, as Zechariah

is seeing in this vision, he sees Joshua. the

high priest, and he is standing in the Holy of

Holies. And to his side is Satan, the accuser.

To the other side is the angel of the Lord. Who

is the angel of the Lord? Jesus. So who can go

into the Holy of Holies? Only one person. That

was the priest that was selected. Before the

priest could go in, he literally spent a month

alone. He would be taken from his home, from

his wife and from his kids, and he would be just

supposed to set himself apart, and food that

was clean would be brought to him. And then the

week leading up to... He would really begin to

prepare himself all the more. And then the night

before, he is not to sleep. He's to pray and

read the Bible, read the Old Testament. That's

all he is to do. And the whole thing is he is

preparing himself to go into the presence of

God. In the Holy of Holies, you have the Ark

of the Covenant. And on top of that, you guys

know what that's called? The Mercy Seat. the

mercy seat. They would wear bells. You guys know

that? Why do they wear bells? That's right. You

didn't hear what Doug said. When the bells stopped

ring -a -ling -a -linging, they knew he was dead

and they drug him out because they put a rope

around his waist. Which tells you what? He did

not prepare himself properly. Before walking

in so this is a serious thing and it would make

me nervous as all get out to have to walk in

because then you're going Did I read enough?

Did I memorize enough? Did I take care of it?

Did I do that? Would anybody else be doing that

before you like walked in knowing you probably

could be dying? So What would happen because

again, I'm trying to set this up before we read

it he would go in The priest would go in, he

would bathe, oh sorry, before he goes in, he

would bathe head to toe. They would put oils

all over him and then they would put very clean

white linens over him. He would go in, he would

make a sacrifice for himself. He would come out,

they would undress him. He would bathe again,

head to toe. They would put white linens on him

again. He would go back in he would make another

sacrifice For the priest this time all of the

priest then he would go back out And he would

bathe again Head to toe oils all the stuff white

clothing then he would go back in this time.

He's making the sacrifice for who? The people

of Israel and did you know that the people of

Israel are what is like the Super Bowl? They're

watching through a thin screen. And why do you

think they're watching? Not to see some dude

naked. Why do you think they're watching? Who

does he represent? He represents them. Why do

you think we get so frustrated when the Huskers

lose? Because we feel like it represents all

the state of Nebraska, right? No, okay, whatever.

But he represents them. They wanna know, is he

doing all the things properly? So, with all of

that context in mind, let's read Zechariah chapter

three. Then he showed me Joshua the high priest

standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan

standing at his right hand. to accuse him. And

the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you,

O Satan, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke

you. Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?

Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed

with filthy garments. And the angel said to those

who were standing before him, remove the filthy

garments from him. And to him he said, behold,

I have taken your iniquity, what does it say?

Away from you. And I will what? Clothe you with

what? Pure vestments. And I said, let them put

a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean

turban on his head and clothed him with garments.

And the angel of the Lord was standing by. And

the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua,

thus says the Lord of hosts, If you will walk

in my ways and keep my charge, then you will

rule my house and have charge of my courts. And

I will give you the right of access among those

who are standing here. Hear me, O Joshua, the

high priest, you and your friends who sit before

you, for they are men who are assigned. Behold,

I will bring my servant the what? The branch.

For behold, on the stone that I have set before

Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I

will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord

of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this

land in a single day. In that day, declares the

Lord of Hosts, every one of you will invite his

neighbor to come under his vine and under his

fig tree. So what is going on in this moment?

Zechariah sees Joshua. And what does it say he's

dressed like? Filthy. The actual word is excrement.

He is covered in excrement. And what do you think

Zechariah seeing this, do you think that he begins

to maybe hyperventilate a little bit? He probably

begins to weep. Because here is Joshua the high

priest. standing in front and being the representative

of the nation and he is filthy. And what is Satan

there to do? Accusing. He's unworthy. And what

does the angel of the Lord say? Shut your mouth.

You don't casually approach a holy God. That's

one of the parts I have in here. But what does

this have to do with outside in all of that stuff

because it's the gospel because what does it

ultimately mean What does it mean a great exchange

There would be one There would be another Joshua

that's Jesus by the way that If you don't know,

Jesus's name is Yeshua, which is Joshua. So it's

not by just like literal chance that it was Joshua,

the high priest that he sees. He sees Joshua

and he's saying, there's going to come a time

where the garments be traded. I'm going to take

those from you and I'm going to give you new

ones. And then when Satan, the accuser stands,

to call you out and to remind you of all your

sins and how you cannot add up when he says things

like, look at them, look at what they've done,

look at all the thoughts that they have and how

much they fail, look at their hypocrisy. And

the terrifying truth is is that Satan's correct.

That's what's terrifying. He's actually telling

the truth. Every accusation should stick, but

it doesn't, why? Because Jesus shuts the mouth

of a liar because he says, no, no, no, no, no.

What you're seeing is not them. And he looks

at his father and he says, they're mine. We've

exchanged. Jesus tells those around remove the

filthy garments. And then he says, I have taken

away your iniquity. Did Joshua contribute anything

in this story? Did he? No, he stood there, dirty

and filthy. God does all of it. God removes the

filth. God puts on the clean garments, the guilty

one is declared clean, and then the prophecy

points forward to someone greater. It speaks

of a branch, a coming redeemer, a high priest,

a greater Joshua, Jeshua, Jesus Christ. And unlike

Joshua, Jesus didn't enter God's presence wearing

filthy garments. He was perfectly righteous,

perfectly obedient. perfectly clean, yet at the

cross he took our filth upon himself. And remember

when I told you that the high priest would bathe,

he'd be bathed? Jesus would be bathed too and

spit. The one who knew no sin became sin for

us. The spotless one was treated as stained.

The righteous one was treated as guilty. The

clean one was condemned so the unclean could

be welcomed. And so Joshua stood before God,

clothed in filth and received clean garments.

And Jesus stood before men, clothed in righteousness

and was stripped, mocked, beaten, spit upon and

crucified. Why? So that sinners like us could

be clothed in righteousness, in His righteousness.

And that is the gospel. That's the great exchange.

our sin for his righteousness, our guilt for

his grace, our filth for his spotless road. And

this is why Christianity is not ultimately about

behavior modification. It's not about trying

harder. It's not about cleaning up the outside.

It's about receiving a new heart and a new standing

before God through Christ. Because when Christ

changes the heart, the life begins to follow.

The stain is removed, the heart is made new,

and the sinner stands spotless before God. Let's

pray.