Matthew pt. 55 - You Can't Eat Righteousness

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 15,

Matthew 15 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 15. Last week we covered verses one

Matthew 15 · chapter mention

through 9. Today we're doing verses 10

through 20. But when we read it, we're going

to read the whole thing because we truly cut Jesus off mid

sentence, which is always a bad thing to do.

He wasn't mid sentence, but he was in the in the middle of this

whole scenario. So we're going to read the whole

thing. So you've got the full picture

of what's happening. Again, we're picking up chapter

15 and verse one. Then Pharisees and scribes came

to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, why do your disciples

break the tradition of the elders?

For they do not wash their hands when they eat?

He answered them and why do you break the commandment of God for

the sake of your tradition? For God commanded honour your

father and mother, and whoever reviles father and mother must

surely die. But you say, if anyone tells his

father and mother, what you would have gained from me is

given to God, then he need not honour his father.

So for the sake of your tradition you've made void the

word of God, you hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophecy of you

when he said this People honours me with their lips, but their

heart is far from me. In vain do they worship Me,

teaching his doctrines, the commandments of men.

And he called all the people unto Him, and said to them, Hear

and understand, It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles

a person, but what comes out of the mouth.

This defiles a person. Then the disciples came to him.

Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard

the saying? He answered, Every plant that my

heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

Let them alone. They're blind guides.

And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

But Peter said to him, explain the parable to us.

And he said, are you still without understanding?

Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into

the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth

proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery,

sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander, these are what

defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands

does not defile anyone. God we thank you so much for

your word. It is so liberating, it is so

powerful. It is sharper than any 2 edged

sword. Lord, open us up today and do

exactly what's needed. Bring the strength, bring the

healing, bring the hope, bring the correction, bring the

wisdom, bring the life, bring the love.

You're, you're the doctor, you're the physician who can see

every case perfectly and you love your patience dearly.

So we surrender and we submit to you again.

Help us to understand you more, to know you better, because we

do know Jesus, that all the treasures of wisdom and

godliness, everything is hidden in you.

Open up the eyes of our heart, Lord, that we would see and most

importantly God today as as conviction comes, we commit

right now to obedience, not only to say that was good or that was

true, but this is now how I will live in light of it.

Or we humble ourselves right now.

It is a vulnerable place to be, but it is a safe place to be

because we know our God, we know our Father and his nature and

his character and we know that your ways are best.

So that's what we choose. That's what we pursue and that's

what we love. In Jesus name we thank you,

Amen. So remember, fancy pants

Pharisees and scribes have come from Jerusalem, not just any

Pharisees and scribes, but from Jerusalem, the city of all

cities, the most religious city on earth.

They've come from there and they and now the people of Genesar it

Did I get that right? Genesar it Matt pointed out last

week. He goes, Hey, man, am I am I

reading something wrong? You I keep hearing you say

Cassiner it. I'm like, no, always trust your

Bible over me, no matter what. That's always a good practice.

So Ganester, it is the way it's said or the way we're

pronouncing it anyway. But they've come to this, this

local area to rebuke Jesus, to call him out in front of

everybody. Go, why don't your disciples

wash their hands, bro, you came 90 miles to to gloat.

You came 90 miles to say I'm superior to you.

Look at our disciples. Look how they dress, look how

they behave. So proper.

And Jesus says you're all filthy and disgusting.

Actually you look good on the outside.

So if that's all you're going for, congratulations and well

done. But you've received your full

reward, the applause of these people, these ignorant people,

That's all you're getting. But you'll, you'll see me on the

day of judgement and it'll be very different from this

exchange. He gives them a taste, but it's

not the full. They're not doomed yet because

of course anyone could still repent, but they come, he calls

them out, he's rebuking them. This is a big deal.

The people of Ganester it would be shocked and blown away at the

way Jesus is talking to these guys.

This is socially unacceptable. I'm struggling to come up with

modern examples that would help you to feel the amount of the

amount of cringe, the amount of Yikes that people would feel in

a social scenario like this where Jesus takes the elite of

the elite and then just makes them low, the mountaintop men

and Jesus turns them into a valley in front of everybody.

And again, when we by the time we get to chapter 23 and all

this is happening in Jerusalem, I'll be at a loss for words to

I've I've over, I've overstated my case too often, I guess I say

he's going nuclear, He's going nuclear.

I don't know what comes after nuclear, but that's what he's

going to be doing. And he's just continuing to just

annihilate everyone and rebuke them.

Why? Because he has all authority.

All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to him, so he

speaks as the one who has all that authority.

Was he made low? Was he humbled?

Yeah, he He humbled himself and came down in a Manger.

And still he's glorified. He's always king.

There's never been a moment where Jesus wasn't king in the

Manger, on the cross, at the resurrection and in the future.

Jesus is king. He knows this.

So he speaks appropriately. So he finishes rebuking them.

You hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophecy of you

when he said this People honors me with their lips, but their

heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me,

teaching his doctrines, the commandments of men.

Whoa, massive stuff. But now it's it's almost as

though he turns from them. So he's talking to the blind

guides and now he turns to talk to the blind people.

Everybody's there watching this going what on earth is

happening? And he called the people unto

him and said, hear and understand.

Or you see these guys, you hear all that.

Let me explain to you what's going on here.

It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles a person.

It's what comes out of your mouth that defiles a person.

And now separately. So that's all he gives to the

crowd. Why we talked before about why

does he speak in parables? Why does he speak in what seems

like Riddle? Because the humble will lean in

and go, Lord, bring me light, bring me revelation.

The prideful will go, whatever, then move on.

And it's working. God's plan is working.

Does God want all to come to repentance?

Yep, the Scripture tells us so. And yet it's also part of His

plan that His judgment is actively working against you

when you are in pride. It's fascinating and terrifying

when you're prideful. The judgement of God could just

be to go have it your way. The judgement of God is not

always the fire and brimstone. The judgement of God is also you

can have it. Is that what you want?

Yes, that's what I want. It's yours that's devastating.

That's remember you're that's you driving down the freeway.

Jesus is the last thing between you and the Cliff and that Jesus

going, you sure you want to go that way?

After you run into him a few times, He goes, You sure you

want to go that way? And you go, yes, and he goes.

It was unnecessary. You've destroyed your life and

you've deserved all that's coming.

But he's the only thing. If you trample Christ, there's

nothing else. There's nothing else, there's

nobody else, there's no Plan B, there's only Jesus.

But Jesus doesn't bother with the Pharisees anymore.

Remember He told us back in the Sermon on the Mount what the

Kingdom is like. He was showing us what the

Kingdom was like. He was healing people, He was

blessing people, He was preaching, but we really didn't

know what He was preaching until we got to Matthew 5.

And then we found out what is this Kingdom really like?

But that's where Jesus told us blessed are the pure in part,

for they shall see God. And today that's what we're

going to see. We're going to see an

application of the pure in heart.

The people are thinking about purity of hands, purity of

ritual, cleansing, purity of foods that we eat.

And Jesus is saying blessed are the pure in heart.

They are the ones who will see God.

So he's not going to bother with the Pharisees anymore.

In this moment. He rebukes them plainly and

clearly. And now he actually wants to

help the humble. He's drawing this crowd in.

He's making this scene and he's going, look, these guys came

publicly to expose him and now he's publicly exposing them.

It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but

it's what comes out of the mouth this defiles a person.

So we should have the question, you good Bible readers, you

should have this question. Wait a second.

I thought we could be defiled by woman in our mouth.

Under the old covenant. In Leviticus, God says there

were certain things that they could not eat.

He plainly said that you cannot eat this, you cannot eat that,

you cannot eat this. But now Jesus is fully revealing

the point of those earlier commands.

That's what's happening. And in this moment, Jesus saying

it's not what goes in the mouth that makes you unclean, but it's

what comes out. He is also in this moment, not

only later in Acts when Peter gets the vision, but in this

moment, he declares all foods clean.

How can you say that, pastor? Because Mark, Mark says so.

Mark Chapter 7. So it says it gives us the same

Mark 7 · chapter mention

account of the same scenario. Hey, here's what happened that

day. And the Holy Spirit adds through

Mark, he goes and in saying this, Jesus declared all food

clean. So sometimes we look at Acts and

we say that's the moment that all foods became clean.

Actually, this was the moment that the King spoke and said all

foods from this point forward are clean.

Did they have full revelation clarity on that yet?

I don't know. I can't speak to all that.

I just know that Mark tells us that in this moment Jesus is

saying all foods are clean from this point forward.

Well then why were they? Well, there was a number of

reasons. Sure, you could argue about the

the health advantages or disadvantages of the different

foods that the Lord told the Jews that they could and could

not partake in. But the most important piece was

that Jesus is revealing the point of these commands, these

certain laws that God intended, that God gave.

They were intended to be a picture of a greater reality.

That was the point. A lot of the Old Testament law

was that it was a moral application.

But many things were also preaching a greater sermon and

some people got stuck on the surface.

The Pharisees kept things shallow and they kept focused on

the outward presentation and pursued a self righteousness.

So certain laws that God gave, they were intended to be a

picture of a greater reality. That's that's the whole Bible.

That's the Psalm that we read this morning.

Well, is that about the Jews in Egypt?

Yep. And it's about Joe Michael and

his stupidity and sin as well and his deliverance that the

Lord brought in, in the deliverance of the Lord.

So the whole Bible is about Jesus, the whole Bible is about

redemption. The whole Bible is about God's

plan for people. But the light gets brighter the

further you go through the Scriptures.

Everything in Genesis, good doctrine, you see it in Genesis,

but it's in seed form. Is that an, is that an oak tree?

Well, it's going to be. That's the oak, Oak, oak seed.

Would that be an acorn? Thank you.

That's an oak seed. I'm not a smart man, but I know

what acorns are. So that's an it's an acorn.

What's it going to be? Well, in Genesis you just see

the acorn. In Revelation, what do you see?

The mighty oak. And you know, you see the tree

of life fully blossomed and fully bloomed.

So the the light gets brighter throughout time.

The Lord continues to bring light in Revelation, but the

Pharisees kept things focused on the shallow instruction and

pursued a self righteousness with it.

They weren't after a purification of heart, they were

after a righteous presentation. Only Jesus is showing that there

is a greater uncleanness in men and no amount of soap can take

care of this issue. Remember I told you the

Pharisees? They had their tradition that

they invented. Here's how you must wash, and

here's how you must wash, and here's how you must dry.

Oh what a holy man. That kind of stuff impresses

people. It doesn't impress God.

You and I get distracted and impressed with people.

Wow, look at this. Wow, look at that.

I've seen many ministers, I've seen many preachers.

And in my years and my day, I've seen many people present

themselves as though they are someone, as though they are

something instead of I love God and I love his people.

And sure, do I understand my office?

Absolutely do. Should I walk in an appropriate

authority? Also yes.

But there's also pomp and circumstance then added on to

it. That's disgusting to God.

It's filthy and it's gross. It can be impressive to you and

I Oh my goodness, look, they have an entourage.

Oh my goodness, look, they, they pulled up in this vehicle,

right? That's what celebrities do,

right? They walk out of the red carpet

and we kind of like, Oh my goodness, I like that person.

He's my favorite actor. That's my favorite basketball

player. That's exciting.

And I don't condemn every application of, of celebrity

status. I don't think all I don't think

enjoying a celebrity is always equal to idolatry, although it

certainly could be. But when it comes to the body of

Christ, there's just no room for any of that.

Everything should be pointed directly to Jesus with

deliberate effort to say he's king.

Well, you did a great job. Well, thank you, thank you.

I hope you would love me as your pastor.

I know you do like if you're hanging around me, I know you

got to love me because I know I'm obnoxious and I know I'm

extra and I know there's I know I got a lot of flaws and

problems. So for you to be in this church,

I'm like, I know. I know.

You really do love me. So for pastors, for religious

leaders, I've told you many times, does God hate religious

leaders as people often claim? No, but God hates pride.

He hates pomp and circumstance and presentation and gloss.

What he loves is humility. That's what he expects is

humility. Out of everybody, no one's more

humble than the God who comes down to become a man.

So when God lowers himself from his throne and comes down to

earth and walks in the dirt with us, and then we go, hey, did you

know I'm kind of a big deal? He goes, stop.

That's so dumb. That's so dumb.

You don't know who I am or where I've come from, right?

Remember Undercover Boss? You ever seen that show?

I love that show. So much fun.

The boss walks in and you got this employee, the hotshot

employees, Like, look, here's the deal around here.

Let me tell you what's what. Let me tell you, just like you

don't know who you're talking to.

You don't know who's standing in front of you.

It's the CEO. He started this thing 45 years

ago. He owns everything.

You can see everything. The light touches.

That's his He owns. It's his name on your paycheck

on Friday. And you're talking to him like

you know something you don't. You should be humble.

You should be low. Well, if I knew who it was.

Well, that's the thing about humility.

Humility is always the right posture regardless.

Well, if I had known then I would have.

So now we've got Jesus, the undercover boss.

The undercover king comes down, he goes, let me let me tell you

how it is. People go, Oh, we, we actually

have a way to do it. We have a way that we run things

here. So Jesus is not impressed with

their hand cleansing ceremony that they've come up with.

Why? Because the purpose if you want

to wash your hands, wash your hands.

Jesus didn't have a problem with them doing that.

He only puts them on blast when they condemn him for not.

That's what Pharisees do. Matt's got a conviction about

something. He goes, hey, pastor, I feel

like I ought to do this. And I say, all right, brother,

let's talk through that. Let me encourage you in that.

And and he says, this seems like the right thing for me.

And I say, yeah, man, I want to encourage you in it, to walk in

obedience to it. It's not a specific command

necessarily, but the fact that you want to serve the Lord in

that way, I commend it. But that's different when Matt

comes to me and says, and also Joe Michael, you are now

required to follow my new conviction.

Hey brother, your conviction's fine.

There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not, you can't put your

conviction on everyone else. Well, isn't there wisdom?

Yep, there's wisdom and and there's many ways that believers

can encourage one another. So there are many things that

people have put around fences in their lives.

To say, you know what, this is wise for me to do this.

It's out of my love for God that I do want to put a fence around

something. It's not to be a Pharisee.

It's not to get credit to go look how holy I am.

Everyone see God's law, I put a fence around it.

That's not the motive. So that's why the heart is so

tricky. The heart is so slippery because

in one moment I could be doing it the right way.

And I put this fence around something just for myself, for

my wisdom, for my own lack of self-control or discipline or or

love or whatever it may be. But now whenever I start to

present it to you as law, this is the way.

You must do it this way. Then you have to say, hang on a

second. That might be a wise

application, that might be useful, but let me make sure I'm

walking in obedience to God's law.

We talked about that last week, going too far or not going far

enough, but we're tempted to put all the emphasis on the outward,

but Jesus focuses on the inward. Remember he said, you've heard

it said this, but I say, and then he fully reveals the whole

standard. You've heard it said, thou shalt

not murder. And everybody's like, Yep, never

murdered. Easy day, he said.

But I say if you have any hatred in your heart, then you've

already murdered. And you go, whoa, that's a

different level. I'm not allowed to hate

somebody. I thought it just meant I

couldn't stab him 87 times. But you're saying I'm not

allowed to hate them. And he goes, yeah, that's that

was the point, because murder comes out of hatred.

That's the that's the pathway. So he says, I'm after your

heart. I'm not just after like, I've

never killed anyone. I've never technically committed

adultery. I've never all these things.

He's going, I'm after your heart.

I say, if you even lust, then you've already committed

adultery in your heart. Go whoa, that changes things.

That makes me a murderous, adulterous, lying.

I mean, you name it. You go through all 10

commandments. I've broken all of them.

I'm I'm not speaking hyperbole now.

I'm speaking literally for me personally.

And you have too, by the way. So we put the emphasis on the

outward, but Jesus focuses on the inward.

You've heard it said, But I say, and then he fully reveals the

standard. We'll keep going here.

Then the disciples came to him. Do you know that the Pharisees

were offended when they heard this saying?

I don't know if the guys are feeling that social pressure.

I would suspect so. Hey, Jesus, I don't know, maybe

you're still new here, but on earth, we don't rebuke the

Pharisees like that in front of everybody.

We don't say you hypocrites. Isaiah prophesied about you.

He did? Yeah.

He said you're full of it. Like we don't do that to the

Pharisees in, like, public settings.

Did you know that you actually offended them?

What do you think Jesus said? Oh, my goodness.

Are you Are you sure? Tell them I did not mean to

offend them. That was the last thing I ever

wanted to do. Right.

Didn't he have the bracelet? What would Jesus do?

Be nice, Jesus. Jesus is good, Jesus is not

nice. Jesus does the right thing at

the right time, and Jesus puts pride on blast.

Of course he knows he offended them.

He meant to offend them. That was the point.

That was the mercy to them. That was the grace to them to

offend, to try and breakthrough. Nothing gentle was getting

through. So come through with clarity,

with precision, with the sword that slices deep and they go.

It's no wonder that they want to murder him.

By the time we come later into Matthew as as we're in the last

week of his life, you're going to be understanding like, of

course they want to murder him. I get it.

Like they're losing everything. They're losing all power.

The whole world is going away to follow him and they feel it and

they see it. He is gutting them of all their

false authority. He's calling out all their

hypocrisy. The eyes of the people are being

open. They're starting to believe

possibly could this be the Messiah?

The the Pharisees have everything at stake now, Of

course, they could just humble themselves and repent and go.

We're nothing. Strip themselves of all their,

of all their falseness of the mask.

Remember the mask of the hypocrite.

The hypocrite wears the mask, plays the part.

Do you know they were offended? Yeah, He knew they were offended

because they've bet all their money on the outward image.

And he's now emphasizing something that they have that

they have lost everything on. He's emphasizing the inward life

that only God sees. They don't like that.

The hypocrite doesn't like that. Don't emphasize the N word.

Emphasize the outward. No, no, no, it's, it's the

outward that matters. That's where I want to put all

my money in that bank because that's the thing I can control.

I can manage my image. When you change the standard to

make about my heart, now I get nervous.

Now it gets really slippery. That's going to take some deep

work. That's going to take some real

repentance. That's going to take some real

prayer. That's going to take some real

humility. I don't like that standard.

No, no, no outward presentation. And I'll use the Bible to prove

my points on my outward presentation.

Jesus going, uh, you can try, but the Bible is going to crush

you. The Bible is going to lead you

to a dependency on grace and humility.

A hypocrite will always be offended at the truth.

The hypocrite wears the mask and is concealing the truth.

So of course they respond with offense.

Jesus doesn't care. Keep going.

Verse 13 and he answered, Every plant my heavenly Father has not

planted will be rooted up. Let them alone.

They are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind,

both will fall into a pit. Remember what we learned in

Matthew chapter 13. Jesus told us the parable about

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

the wheat and the tares and he said that they planted, they

planted good wheat seed in a field and then it started to

grow up and they're going, oh, this is going to be an awesome

harvest. Look at everything out there.

But then when they started to develop the head on them, they

found out there's a bunch of tears in here.

So we found out that that was a, a weed, but it looks just like

wheat and its whole growth process.

So you're just rejoicing going look at this awesome harvest.

And then when the heads start to develop, you go, oh, no, there's

tears. Who's done this?

He says an enemy has done this. Should we pull them up, Master?

He goes, no, leave them, leave them to the harvest.

They're going to grow together. They're going to be together

until the end. And at the harvest we will

separate them. This is what he's saying.

Every plant he's referencing back to that parable, My father

didn't plant every plant. So if my father hasn't planted

them, leave them alone. They're going to grow alongside

the false with the pure that we're all going to grow up

alongside together. And they will be dealt with at

the judgement. Sometimes God's judgement is to

let people have, like we said, what they're running after a

life without him. Blind guides.

He's also saying blind guides and their ignorant followers

will both go into the pit, literally hell, the blind guide

and all these ignorant followers.

Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

Oh, wow. Well, the poor people, Well,

yeah, Jesus loved them. He had compassion on them.

And also they should have obeyed God and not obeyed man.

But that's the temptation is to be impressed with man.

Look how impressive he is. Look how impressive she is.

Instead of saying look what the Lord has done and glorifying

their Creator, you worship the creation.

That's idolatry. It's what it is.

Taking the created thing and elevating it.

I don't know, keep it, keep it down here and appreciate it.

Yes, He's incredible at what he does.

Rejoice in it and say God is good.

Let everything you see draw you vertically to worship.

You see something good in somebody, you can let him know.

I see what the Lord is doing in your life.

I see that as a gifting that He's given you.

You can honor them both. I can see that the Lord has

blessed you in that way and I and I commend your faithfulness.

Give everybody, give God glory and give people praise and

encouragement. I don't think anybody's over

encouraged anybody in here. He's just like, I'm sick of all

this encouragement. Like I get it everywhere I turn,

somebody's encouraging me and blessing me.

It's overwhelming. No, OK, me either.

So we know we can do better with one another on that until

somebody's finally sick of it and we're all right.

We can turn it down on that person.

So they're all growing alongside together.

That's what he's doing. He says we're going to let it

all grow together, and then at the harvest, we're going to deal

with it. But the blind guides, they're

ignorant followers are going to hell.

Jesus is merciful, He's patient, He's blessing people.

He expects them to walk in obedience on their own, as they

should. So how can we be protected from

this blindness? What can protect us from false

teachers? What can protect us from

celebrity? What can protect us from false

teaching? What can protect us from our own

hearts? Just the honesty, the

willingness to think sometimes just to assess things, to not be

so quick, to just slow yourself down.

Take the scriptures and get in the habit of making direct

application, assuming and knowing that what you just read

the Lord intended for you on that Monday morning, on that

Tuesday afternoon, on that Wednesday night, whenever it may

be. Don't just read to consume

knowledge and go, I now know more stuff.

Careful because knowledge can puff up, but love will build up.

So when we love God, we will be built up by God.

But you want to get in the habit of making direct application

with the scriptures to your life.

Another thing is simply don't have itching ears for something

new when you haven't obeyed something old.

Man, I really want this. I need something on the top

shelf. You know, this seems like ABC

123 kind of stuff and I need, well, are you walking in full

obedience to that? Alright, you just answered my

question. So Master ABC123 and we'll keep

building from there. But don't be, don't be so

excited to just pursue the new thing.

Man, I heard something so good the other day.

It was really interesting. It's going to take me down this

deep rabbit hole that isn't going to change my life.

It's not going to make me better at work.

It's not going to make me a better husband.

It's not going to make me a better brother or sister in

Christ. It's not going to make me a

better pastor. It's not going to do any of

those things. But it's just interesting and

it'll build me up with knowledge.

Don't get distracted by things that aren't going to be actually

edifying to you. Don't be impressed by men.

Just remember, they're people, they have flaws, they have sin.

If you spend a lot more time with them, you'd be a lot less

impressed with them. It's one of the reasons you

should spend time with your pastor.

It's one of the reasons why you actually need to know your

pastor. Cause the more we're around each

other, the more we're at men's breakfast or discipleship group

or at men's round table or hanging out of my living room or

dinner at your house or whatever, you're like, OK, I see

the whole picture. He's not Jesus, He loves Jesus,

he's sincere and he's real. And he's still very much my

pastor. None of those things have

changed and yet he's a man. He's a man that's helpful to

you, that's a blessing to you, that's a protection for you so

that Jesus stays the hero. Jesus stays the point and we go,

we can trust the Lord and I can follow and should follow my

pastor as he follows Christ. There's still plenty to be said

there. Pay attention to those who lead

you and feed you in the scriptures and emulate their

lives. Those are commands to you.

So there's oh, what's true? Both, both and but also they're,

they're just men. They're just people.

So don't be impressed by them. What else can we do to protect

ourselves from this blindness? Be jealous for Jesus and be

fiercely loyal to him in his word.

I see Christians who just are not jealous enough for Jesus.

They're just not eager. And when I say jealous for him,

I mean they're not, they're not greedy enough for him to get

more glory. They're not, they're not loyal,

frankly, is another way to put it.

They're not, they're not eager. They, they're, they're OK with

him being blasphemed. They're OK with him being

belittled. Like even Muslims do this well

with their false wicked Prophet Muhammad.

Like you talk bad about Muhammad.

You know what happens, right? Muslims get serious real quick.

And this is all demonic, of course.

So they're murder. They have murder in their hearts

and and their prophet was a murderer.

So like, it all makes sense. So fair enough.

I'm not advocating we behave as though Muslims do because we

love our enemies. That's why we love Muslims and

we want them to repent and come to the saving faith of the

gospel of Jesus Christ and actually receive the fullness of

his forgiveness. That they would become brothers

and sisters. But they they have a loyalty and

I go, well, that's a good trait. A devotion, that's a good trait.

It's the same thing. You should be jealous for your

spouse. I'm eager to protect Natalie.

I'm eager to have Natalie all for myself.

Same thing when it comes to Christ.

I'm eager to protect his name. Not that I could literally

protect Jesus in any way, but to be jealous for his truth and to

be bold for it to be able to say no, no, no, no, that's, that's

not right. That's not what Jesus said.

And do not fear all the questions that you don't have

answers to, but instead to stand firm on the things that you do

know. I was talking with a brother the

other morning and he was just sharing part of his testimony

right after he had gotten saved. And he was talking about how,

how just wonderful it was what the Lord had pulled him, pulled

him out of, and how thankful he was to love and follow Jesus.

And he was, and he had gone back to his family and friends and it

was, you know, just supposed to be another big shindig of

drinking and drugging and, and they're like, hey, it's time to

do things. He's like, hey, I'm not going to

do it anymore. Like what?

Why not? He's like, man, you don't

believe this. Jesus changed my life like last

week and and I'm a new man and I'm a different person.

And this man's brother proceeded to just curse him and go off on

him and hit him with all kinds of questions and overwhelm with

all kinds of things he couldn't answer.

And I was and I was my heart was going out to him because I know

what happens to most Christians with tender hearts in that

moment is they think that they have to answer all of the

foolishness and accusation and hard heartedness that's coming

at them. And he goes, I don't know the

answer to anything you just asked.

I just know I love Jesus now. And I said, praise God, that's

enough. That is so sweet and that is

enough, and the Lord will bless it, and the Lord has blessed

that man, and the Lord will continue to bless that.

I don't, I don't know about all this.

I don't know about all this. I'm sorry you feel that way, but

I don't. I love Jesus and I'm just going

to follow Him and walk with Him. Oh, what a safety, what a

freedom, what a sheep in his pasture.

The shepherd will get involved in a situation like that instead

of me taking on all these burdens like I've got wolves and

snakes and pigs asking me questions.

But they're not sincere, they're not real, they're not humble.

They actually don't want help. It's just a trap.

Hey, teacher, we just have a quick question.

Fair question, every. No, no, no, no, no.

We're totally reasonable. Totally reasonable question.

Totally reasonable question. Why don't your disciples do the

hand washing? Just just wanted to clarify.

I don't know if everyone knew Jesus disciples don't do the

hand washing. We were just asking him why we

just because we're just reasonable.

We just want to know reasonable, fair, right, no nonsense, lies,

false. You don't have to play alone.

Hey, I don't know, I don't have the answer to your question.

But anyway, back to my testimony.

I don't have the answer to your question, but here's what God

did in my life. Nobody can argue with your

testimony. Nobody can argue with it.

Here's what Jesus did for me. Well, I know one time my aunt

said I saw a ghost in the woods one day.

What about dinosaurs? All the nonsense that will come

at you and you just go, here's what Jesus did in my life.

And they're like, yeah, but what about you?

I don't know anything about that.

I don't know. I don't know.

You want to talk? You want to talk more about it?

Maybe. I got some Christians in my

church. They've been walking with the

Lord a lot longer. They might have some answers for

you. That would be a good move.

By the way, I'm sure my pastor would love to talk with you.

He might have some answer to those things.

He might not. But anyway, back to what I was

saying. Jesus saved me from my sin.

I was dead in my trespasses and sins and he made me alive.

And now I'm walking with him, and now I know him, and now I

have peace and a joy and a love and I'm saved.

And I want you to have that too. That's you can't argue with what

He's done for me. You can argue about a lot of

other things. And I got a lot of other

questions too, but they don't undo the grace of God and the

redemption and the miracle of the new birth.

Thank God for that. Keep going here.

Verse 16 after Peter said, you know, explain or sorry, verse

15, Peter said to him, explain the parable to us.

Quick application here. Ask the Lord to teach you his

word. Saints, when you're reading your

Bible and you don't understand something, God, would you please

show this to me? Lord, I don't understand this.

What's going on here? Lord, help me to apply this.

This is confusing to me. Can you please teach me?

Maybe he'll rebuke you like you did Peter.

But he's going to teach you. He's going to help you.

He's going to love you. He's not going to condemn you.

It's interesting, right? Jesus?

He doesn't go. All right, Peter, I'll explain.

He goes. How are you still without

understanding? You've been walking with me.

How do you not get this? Jesus?

Did you have to say that part? Wouldn't it have been better,

Lord, if you just gave him the answer?

Are you going to say that to Jesus?

Because I'm not. I'm not going to.

I'm not going to. I'm not going to.

You don't correct the Master. You learn from the Master.

So even in that question you can go.

Lord, why did you speak to Peter that way?

That's a good question. I know it was right.

But can you teach me, Lord? Can you help me understand?

Can you give me the wisdom, Lord?

Can you bring me more wisdom to know how to handle each

situation, to not apply, to not apply a blanket script for

everything that I face in life, but help me to walk in the

wisdom of God to know what's needed.

Jesus loves Peter more than you love Peter, and he's taking good

care of him and giving him what he needs.

But when you need something, when you need to learn

something, we need to see something.

Ask the Lord to teach you His word.

Ask him for light and ask him for revelation.

Verse 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth

passes into the stomach and is expelled?

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and

this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil

thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual morality, theft, false

witness, slander, these are what defile a person.

But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.

The heart that Jesus is talking about.

To be clear here, since we're talking about body, bodily

organs and functions, when he's talking about the stomach, he's

talking about the stomach. But when he's talking about the

heart, he's not talking about the beating organ that pumps

blood. The reference here, when he's

saying out of the heart, obviously he's talking about the

seat of yourself. This application refers to the

real you and includes your thinking or your understanding.

So what's he saying? You aren't unclean because of

your diet. That's what he's teaching it,

the people and his disciples. Your food is used by your body

and it's absorbed, and what isn't absorbed is is passed out

of the body. But what comes out of your mouth

came from your heart first. For better or worse, you

believed it in your heart, and then you said it with your

mouth, and that defiled you. That made you unclean.

Jeremiah 17, nine, says the heart is deceitful.

That means sly, insidious, slippery.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.

Who can understand it? I think everybody is good in

their heart. No, they're not.

Don't say that anymore. It's not true.

God says differently, I think. But I really think in the heart

of stop, God says differently. You're disagreeing with him.

I think everybody's good in their heart, but we're not.

We were born in sin, in sin, the Scripture says in sin.

Did my mother conceive me? Well, I was born and raised in a

Christian home. Well, praise God for that.

And still you were born as a Sinner because of your father

Adam. So regardless of your mom and

dad who birthed you, your father Adam set you up for failure and

you are sinful and you have sinned and you are crushed and

you are weighted and you are overwhelmed and your heart will

deceive you. The heart is deceitful above all

things and desperately sick. It means incurable is what the

translation really means. There.

Oftentimes it's translated desperately wicked, but the a

better translation, more accurate is desperately sick or

incurable. You have an incurable heart.

Well, that's the problem, isn't it?

That's difficult. And he says, who can understand

it because we can even deceive ourselves in our own heart.

It gets crazy, it gets complicated, becomes this tied

up knot. Verse 10 brings the relief.

I, the Lord search the heart and test the mind to give every man

according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

So he says, who can understand it?

And then the Lord answers, I can, I can understand your

heart. I already do understand your

heart, and I'm going to search your heart.

I'm going to test your mind. And I'm going to give to every

man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his

deeds. Which is it?

Is it? It is according to the heart or

according to the deeds. The heart led to the deeds.

The heart led to the deeds. So that's why Jesus is going to

judge us according to our deeds. Yeah.

Why? Well, because your deeds came

out of your heart. You can wear a mask temporarily,

but not permanently. And you can never wear a mask

with God. So you can deceive people.

Well, I did a good thing. Yeah, but you're not a good

person. I did a good thing, but I'm.

It doesn't make me a good person.

How many good things do I have to do to become a good person?

There is. There's no number you can ever

hit. Jesus makes you a good person.

What can save me? What can rescue me?

How can I be rescued or helped or freed?

It's nothing I can do. It's nothing but the blood of

Jesus. Our pride doesn't like this

truth about the heart because it is a measurement that we cannot

fake. I can fake outward presentation.

I can play the hypocrite. I can be the mask wearer.

But King Jesus is revealing the truth, revealing a truth that

the Pharisees have missed. You can put supposedly clean

things in your mouth for food and still have filth come out of

your mouth because of your heart.

I experienced this on a regular basis.

In my work, in the family captain, whenever I come across

it, past couple years I've been coming across more other husband

coaches in the same kind of arena of the work that I'm

doing. And whenever I come across

something new, immediately, immediately it comes up and I

go, what's this guy talking about?

Immediately I've got this cynicism.

Immediately. I feel competitive immediately.

What is that pride? Who's this guy?

I'm the guy. I'm the guy As I try and make

myself taller, I'm the I'm the guy.

No, no, no, no, no, I'm the guy. And I'm like, let me, let me

listen to this guy. And thankfully in each case, the

Lord in his grace to my stupid self has said, hey stupid, this

is a blessing. We need a million more of these.

We need a million more. May the Lord raise up a million

more. And then I go, what is wrong

with me? Where did that come from?

That's the next thing to where did that come from 'cause I know

it couldn't have come from my sweet self.

It must have been the devil. The devil must have done that to

me. No, I can tell you where it came

from, Joe Michael, It came from right in there.

Oh, oh, what's going on? Who's this?

Who does he think he is? Who do you think you are, little

man? What is that?

That's your deceitful heart. It's sly, it's insidious, it's

slippery. So then what do you do?

Well, then I comment on this brother's stuff, typically on

different guys. I'm like, keep up the great

work. Good word.

Encourage somebody who's like, why put the flesh down?

Put the flesh down. Why?

Because I'm scared. I'm scared of God.

I'm scared of the potential of my flesh.

Unbridled. Letting the weed grow, letting

it become the tree. And you go on.

How'd this tree get here? All the grass is dead and the

tree is giving us nothing but poison, Poisonous fruit.

Pride, insecurity, sin. Where'd it come from?

My own heart. Don't look around.

Don't blame the devil. It comes out of your own heart.

Now this isn't a perfect formula.

This is just a really quick side note here.

Jesus just quoted Isaiah. He said you honor me with your

lips, but your hearts are far from me.

Wait a second, I thought, if my heart's far from God, then my

lips will be far from God. So again, the point is that

generally the truth will always come out.

So whatever is in my heart eventually will surface, even

though temporarily I can be false.

So the Lord isn't denying the fact that sometimes your lips

can deceive people in, in spite of what's going on in your

heart. But the the Lord's point is that

the heart will reveal the truth. The heart will always tell the

truth. And the masks are only temporary

coverings. So, and we should also add your

food diet. It does impact your physical

health, right? We know this, but it does not

reveal your righteousness. So you say why I do carnivore

and now you're somebody or I'm I'm vegan.

Oh, are you more righteous? Well, I might be more healthy.

Well, that might be true. Might be better for your

physical body with what you're doing.

I don't know. I mean, I can't imagine that not

eating meat would be awesome. But anyway, I'm just goofing

off. So does my diet increase my

righteousness? No, absolutely not.

But that's what the Pharisees believed.

I am more righteous than you because of what I just chewed on

and swallowed and Jesus going, no, no, you're missing it.

Why? Your heart reveals your

righteousness. And now he goes into these

details. He's actually listing, he's he's

going deeper in listing the 10 command part of the 10

commandments for verse 19. For out of the heart come evil

thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false

witness, slander. These are what defile a person.

But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.

So he says evil thoughts and he says murder, that's the 6th

commandment, adultery, that's the 7th, sexual immorality, and

he says theft, that's the eighth, false witness and

slander, that's the 9th. What's he doing?

He's stacking it up. Stacking it up.

That's what the law does. The law crushes the law birds.

And you go, Oh my goodness, what should I do now?

Now you've reached the point. The Pharisees were walking

around with the law going, We're keeping the whole law.

No, you're not. You're not.

You're not at all. You're ignoring the law.

If you were keeping the law, then you would be perfect.

There's only one who's perfect. There's one who kept the law

perfectly, and that's Jesus. And he did it in the most

difficult way. In his heart.

He never once sinned against the Lord.

Not only did he not murder anybody, like many of us haven't

done that, but more importantly, Jesus never hated.

Even as he's being murdered and as he's laying down his own life

by people who hate him, He prayed, Godfather, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing.

Pleading for mercy for his murderers and saying Father have

mercy on them. They don't, They don't know.

And I would say they do know Jesus because you told them and

you showed them and they had it and Jesus going.

They just, they don't know. If they knew then they wouldn't,

right? And Jesus is just pleading for

mercy for his enemies. Jesus had lots of enemies.

Christians will have enemies. If you don't have any enemies,

you should probably question whether or not you ever stand up

for any truth. So how does the incurable heart

get help? It can't be cured.

You're right, we need a new heart, a brand new heart

entirely. The only thing that can affect

the righteousness of your heart is Jesus.

It's the only thing we needed, a real transformation.

Just like Abraham, he believed God, and that was credited to

him as righteousness. You believe God, Well, I don't

accomplish. I don't do anything not to be

saved. After you're saved, you'll want

to do all kinds of things because you'll have a new heart,

you'll have a new identity, you'll still have the capability

for sin, which is kind of crazy, right?

I have a new heart, but I still have flesh.

So that's why I still have that pride come up.

That's why I still have to keep crucifying it.

That's why I still have the ability to sin.

But, but I am not any longer identified by the Lord as a

Sinner. I am actually like you.

For those of you who are in Christ, actually literally a St.

we're Saints. Yeah, you're the righteousness

of God in Christ, out of Christ, who you don't want to know what

you are, but in Christ you're the righteousness of God.

Food doesn't change a person's heart.

What pollutes a person is what comes from their own heart.

What comes out of the heart can be worse than what goes into the

sewer, is what Jesus is saying here.

And you need a new heart. That's the only way you can be

made clean. And we're closing now.

The body expels things automatically.

So what do I do with my heart? When it comes to your heart, you

have to put in effort to expelling things.

The body is just a natural process.

If things go in the mouth, eventually the body expels those

things. But something comes into your

heart. There is no automatic expelling

system. Humility, hunger for hunger and

thirst for righteousness is the only protection and that does

actually take desire back to Jesus.

Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are those who mourn for

they shall be comforted. Remember we talked about blessed

are those who mourn what over their spiritual state.

This wasn't just an application to I think that was the

secondary application when someone has died.

Now we mourn, but in the context of everything he's teaching

there. Blessed are those who mourn

their spiritual situation. God have mercy on me, a Sinner.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Do you mourn that you send? Are you eager to leave your sin?

Do you hate your sin? Or are you like Lot's wife?

Jesus told us, remember Lot's wife, it's a warning from our

Lord who is Lot's wife. Lot lives beside Sodom and

Gomorrah, 2 wicked filthy cities.

The Lord comes to judge and destroy them.

He had been merciful and he says the time of of judgement for

these places has come. Abraham intercedes and prays.

Lot gets rescued, his family gets rescued.

But the angels that come and rescue them say when we leave

the cities, do not look back. And they're leaving the cities.

And Lot's wife look back. Why does she look back?

Because her heart, she, she was going to miss it.

She was going to miss the shopping.

She was going to miss the social hours.

She was going to miss the wine brunches.

She was going to miss whatever, whatever status she had in this

wicked and filthy culture. She was going, does he have to?

And what did the Lord do? She was commanded to not look

back on the cities, but out of her heart she sinned.

And in that moment in in death, God made her what she always

should have been in life. He turned her into a pillar of

salt. What you should have been salt

in the earth, preserving, protecting and purifying this

wicked place. If we're going to go in here,

we're going to go as missionaries and we're going to

remain faithful and true to the Lord.

But instead they just kind of went in.

Are we going in as Kingdom ambassadors or are we just kind

of going in? Well, we're going in and we're

just kind of like hope that the Kingdom influence does something

that's we don't do anything on accident.

We put the gates of hell on defense.

That means we run an offense. But not for Lot's wife.

So do you mourn your sin or do you just mourn the fact that you

don't get to sin? Why is God so strict about

looking back for her? Because it wasn't about

eyeballs. What was so wrong with her eyes

going here? Because you know what controlled

her eyes. Same thing that controls your

eyes. There's something that controls

your eyes. It's something that controls my

eyes. Why did I look at that?

Why was I scrolling and I saw curves and I went back to what I

just saw? Is this too real for a Sunday

morning? That was just for the men.

I gotta get, I gotta get better with the ladies.

Where does where do these things come from?

We know where they come from. Are we allowed to talk that way?

We better, we better get humble before the Lord.

We better be honest. We better be humble before the

Lord. We don't have to tell everything

to every person all the time, but we better be humble and put

ourselves low and go, God, help me, help me to eradicate, to

crush sin out of my heart and out of my life, out of my mind,

purify me, rescue me, protect me.

It's not about eyeballs, it's about heart desires.

Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks out of

the overflow of the heart, the eyes look out of the overflow of

the heart, the hands touch out of the overflow of the heart,

the feet walk. So those things make me go whoo.

So my actions, I'm so tempted to dismiss and and defend myself

and go, well, I only did that because tell the whole truth.

Tell the whole truth. You did that because there was

something ugly inside. What does that mean?

Well, that makes Jesus the hero again.

This is a good moment. Repentance is a good thing.

Husbands, wives, children, parents, mothers, fathers repent

to one another. Well, then they're going to lose

respect for me. They lost respect for you when

you sinned. You'll actually gain respect

through your repentance and more importantly, you get to point to

Jesus in that moment. So when I repent to my sons,

they don't go, Oh my goodness, who is our father?

I thought, I thought we had a decent dad.

That's a moment where they get to, I get to go.

Jesus is king, Jesus is the hero.

Keep following Jesus, Daddy's going to keep doing his best.

But Jesus is the hero in the household.

Jesus is the hero in the workplace.

Apologize to your Co worker. Apologize to that other family

member. Oh, then they're going to think

I was wrong. Yeah, welcome to the point.

Welcome to the full ownership of humility.

And then they're going to think that then they're going to.

You're not, you're not responsible to live their life.

You're responsible to live yours.

Humility is your protection. It will keep you safe.

It will guard your heart, and you'll stay away from hypocrisy

and mask wearing. So pray with sincerity when you

confess sin and wring out your heart like you'd wring out a

washcloth. I remember as a little kid I

would wring out a washcloth and I would get every bit I could

and fold it and every bit I could.

And then I'd hand it to my dad and he would be able to get more

every time. That's a picture.

The Lord will help you. Lord, help me to wring this

stuff out of my heart. And Lord will say, I'll help you

get it all out. I'll help you get it all out.

But to get it all out, we must be filled with something else.

We don't want an emptiness. We want a fullness, which is why

we pray. God fill us with your Holy

Spirit, actually truly, completely fill us to

overflowing so that I'm not just holding back the sin with

desperation And that's all I got.

If sin breaks through the door, then I'm doomed.

But instead, man, it's a lot easier to keep sin out when

there's just a gusher flowing constantly into my life stuff.

This stuff can't survive in the in the rivers of living water.

Why? Because the fruit of the

Spirit's flowing, the fruit of the Spirit's growing.

So we find a thing, we go, it becomes easier to dismiss.

It becomes easier to prune the tree.

It still, it still hurts, but thankfully we have a good

gardener who loves us. And he goes, oh, that didn't

belong. There you go.

Oh yes, Lord, take it, take it. Lord, don't let that thing grow.

Don't let that thing blossom. Don't let that thing bloom.

Don't let that thing multiply. Don't let it hit the ground and

drop more seeds. Nip it in the bud.

Get it now? Why are you crushing us with the

law, Jesus? Why are you crushing us with the

law, Pastor? The law drives you to humility.

The law shows you who you are, man.

You go look at the 10 commandments.

Guilty, guilty, guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,

guilty, guilty, guilty. What's that make you?

Guilty? That's who you were.

And in Christ you can have new life.

But even still in Christ, we walk in humility and say, God,

make me humble, make me faithful, keep me close to you.

Don't let me wear a mask. It's not the same thing as

telling everybody everything all the time.

But there is a humility that keeps you close to the Lord.

There's a protection there that drives you to Jesus into the

cross. Let's go there now.

Lord, we have prayed together through the Lord's Prayer

already as we confessed our sins, and we said that we

forgive those who trespass against us as well.

But even as Your word has been preached, if there has been

anything else brought up among your people, like we said ahead

of time, we commit to obedience. God, please destroy the masks.

Please destroy falseness. Please remove pride, arrogance.

Deliver us from evil. Help us to remember Lot's wife

and not become like her and know that our eyes do what they do

for a reason. Our hands do what they do for a

reason. Our mind thinks what it thinks

for a reason. Our mouths speak what they speak

for a reason. It's just so much better to walk

in holiness. It's just so much safer.

It's so much freer. What a joy, what a relief.

Well, we don't have to pretend anymore.

What a relief. Well, we don't have to be false.

What a relief to walk in freedom.

You have set us free. You have delivered us.

The sun has set us free, so we're free indeed.

I plead the blood of Jesus over your people as they confess sin,

as they wring out their hearts before you.

Help us, Lord, to wring them out fully.

And then God, as you've wrung out the the toxins, fill us with

your spirit, fill us up to overflowing.

In Jesus name we thank you. And now the Lord bless you and

keep you. The Lord make his face Shinedown

upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name, Amen.

We all good here. I didn't stop it.

I hope it didn't stop it so.