THE DEFILEMENT WITHIN

Introduction:

A. Must Be Careful.

1. Can become too lenient, allowing too much.

2. Can become too strict, disallowing too much.

B. The Pharisees.

1. Were actually both.

2. Some allowed too much.

3. Others were too strict.

4. All were cursed by making tradition into law.

Body: Mark 7: 1 - 23

I. Unwashed Hands.

A. Pharisees confront Jesus about His disciples.

B. The tradition specified a seven step washing process.

C. It was not just going and washing your hands, it was washing them the "right" way.

D. Upset because Jesus disciples were not doing things their way.

II. Rejecting God’s Law.

A. Hypocrites = actors, would wear masks, change to show different character.

B. Claim to follow God, but inside was godless.

C. Set aside God’s law for a "convenient" law.

D. Food and dirt do not defile a man.

E. Defile = to make ritually unclean, to desecrate, to profane, or render unhallowed.

III. True Defilement.

A. Nothing from outside can render us unclean before God.

1. Our family.

2. Our clothing.

3. Our position within society.

B. Those things which come out of us.

C. Our fruit is a result of our heart.

Conclusion:

A. The Way of the Pharisees.

1. Your birth heritage saves you (cf. predestination).

2. Act the right way and you are accepted.

3. The soul/spirit within does not make a difference.

B. The Way of Jesus.

1. Love

2. Teach truth.