WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:02.000 Good morning, church. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.000 Hear now the word of the true and living God, Mark seven, starting in verse fourteen. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:19.920 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 by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:27.760 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? 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:36.240 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? 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:38.479 Thus he declared all foods clean. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.600 And he said, What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:54.159 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. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:58.399 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:00:59.840 Thus is the word of the Lord. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:00.960 Please be seated. 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:05.280 So James isn't here. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.519 There's going to be a sermon still. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:08.640 It's not me. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:10.799 David, if you want to come up. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:12.719 This is David Rapp. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:17.680 David is a pastor within the PCA, the Presbyterian Church of America. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:23.760 He's in Denver as of like three months ago and is aiming to plant a church out in Golden. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:30.239 But James and Megan being out of town this weekend, we wanted to bring somebody in who would be from the place where we're headed. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:33.760 So if you guys would welcome David, he's going to be preaching today. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:36.239 Well, that's sweet. 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:40.079 Well, thanks so much for having me. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:42.959 It's really fun to be here with you all. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:45.519 As Zach mentioned, my name is David Rapp. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:52.719 I've got a wife and three children, ages 14 through turning 19 next week. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:57.280 And as he said, we just moved here to Denver three months ago. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:01.120 I was actually born in Denver, so you don't have to hate me that much. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:08.800 But then lived here through third grade and then moved to Texas, unfortunately. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:22.240 But as Zach mentioned, I am a pastor in the PCA or Presbyterian Church in America, a denomination that I understand you all are moving towards affiliating with, which I'm really excited about. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:34.479 And so kind of our background, after seminary, my wife and I moved to Eugene, Oregon, where we helped start a new chapter of our denomination's campus ministry called Reformed University Fellowship, or RUF. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:35.840 So we were there for three years. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:37.280 Our kids were born there. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:03:05.680 And then in 2008, we moved to Central Texas, where I planted a church called Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Temple, Texas, and pastored that for 14 years until uh three months ago when we moved here to start working with uh Deer Creek Church, which is in Littleton, where I'm on staff, and the Western Church Planting Network towards uh uh establishing a new church uh in the Golden Area, kind of in Golden and uh even Western Arvada. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:11.120 So I'd love to talk to any of you all and hear your thoughts about the Golden Area, learn from you. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:16.159 If you've got friends or family who live in that area, I'd love to connect with them. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:22.960 Um, whether they're people that might be interested in being a part of a new church or people who have absolutely no interest at all in any church. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:26.639 Um, I'm just interested in getting to know people and getting to know the place. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.719 So, anyway, it's great to be here with you all. 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:45.680 And um we have the privilege this morning of looking at God's Word, and uh you all are making your way through the New Testament book of Mark, I believe chapters 7 through 9, and so I'm picking up where James left off last week. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:57.039 And uh the question I want to pose as we enter into this is uh do you think that if if we had enough rules, we could keep our lives in order? 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:04.879 Is it possible to manage our lives in such a way that we can keep ourselves pure? 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:13.439 Can we be careful enough and disciplined enough that we can always feel good about ourselves? 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:20.160 Well, we're looking this morning at Mark chapter 7, a book in the New Testament towards the end. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:25.439 Um, and we're looking specifically at verses 14 through 23, which we just heard read. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:32.959 But the larger context of this passage actually begins with the passage that James preached on last week. 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:37.279 Um, and so I'm gonna refer to that a little bit and remind us of our context. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:46.240 If you are if you're new to Redemption Church or if you missed last week, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to the sermon from last week on the podcast. 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:47.360 I did, it was great. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:53.360 James also provided a really helpful introduction or reintroduction to the book of Mark. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:55.600 Um, but you can go back and look at that. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:58.639 But I am going to uh to pray for us. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:10.240 God, we thank you that you are a God who has not remained silent, who's not hidden, who doesn't stay far off, but you're a God who has revealed yourself. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:17.839 And you've revealed yourself to us in your word, which we can hold in our hands and which we can read today. 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:39.759 And so, Holy Spirit, I pray that you would shine your light on your word and shine your light into our hearts, that you would do as the psalmist said, search us and know our hearts, that you would try us and know our thoughts and see if there is any grievous way in us and lead us in the way everlasting. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:49.120 I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts would be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:06:18.480 And Spirit, I pray that we would all see Jesus more clearly this morning, and that our friends who are here who are exploring who Jesus is, who are maybe wondering if he really can be trusted, if he really is who the Bible says he is, I pray that you would show him to us as both beautiful and believable, that we would want to entrust ourselves to his care. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:20.399 We pray this in his name. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:21.360 Amen. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:27.920 Sometimes when I'm driving, I will notice that there is a police officer behind me. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:33.839 And I don't know if you have this reaction or experience, but I tend to become on high alert. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:36.639 I become much more aware of everything that I'm doing. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:46.399 And sometimes, if you take an exit or a turn and the police officer does the same thing, you know, immediately I start to think, is he following me? 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:47.600 Is she following me? 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:54.399 And my mind starts already anticipating a conversation if I get pulled over, and they say, Do you know why I pulled you over? 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:58.000 And I'm thinking, well, I must have done something wrong. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:01.120 Um, maybe I didn't come to a complete stop. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:04.800 Maybe that light was a little bit orange that I just went through. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.759 Maybe I was going a little too fast. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.519 As I mentioned, we've got three kids and they're all grown up now. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:19.680 But when they were little, they had these shoes that would light up every time they took a step or they clinked together. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:22.480 Um, it was cute, but really a bad invention. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.079 I hope they don't have those anymore. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:39.759 But anyway, numerous times we would be driving home late at night, and the kids would be in the back seat in their car seats, presumably asleep, and I'd be driving, and all of a sudden I would see blue lights flashing in my rearview mirror. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:49.439 And I would, I would tense up, I would grab the steering wheel, I would start muttering anxious thoughts, and then finally I'd realize, oh, it's just the kids' shoes. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:58.720 But my wife, in watching my reaction and how I responded to the thought that I might be about to be pulled over, would think, you know, what have you done? 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:00.560 You know, what are you running from? 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:04.319 What is it uh that makes you so anxious? 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:09.600 I was acting like I must have some kind of warrant out for some kind of criminal activity. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:15.920 And I think the reality is that we all live like we are on the run. 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:26.879 We all have things in our lives, things about us that if we thought we were about to be pulled over, if we thought we were going to be exposed, our hearts would start to race. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:29.920 What are those things in your own life? 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:35.440 Things that you know are there, but you really hope that nobody else finds out about it. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:40.639 Things that you don't want people to see, things that make you feel unclean. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:46.559 Something maybe that you did, maybe long ago, but it nags at your conscience. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:54.960 Or for some of you, maybe something terrible that was done to you that makes you feel dirty or defiled. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:09:04.879 We all have scars, we have wounds, and for some of us, those things still shape the way that we tend to think about ourselves. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.759 Maybe you're just afraid of disappointing people. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:13.279 I admit I don't like disappointing people. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:27.519 And if you find yourself in a position where you have to make decisions, whether as a parent or in your business or in any type of leadership, you soon come to realize that you can't make everybody happy. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:31.919 In fact, oftentimes you can't make anybody happy. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:39.519 I came to that realization very quickly in trying to lead a church through uh the beginnings of the COVID shutdown. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:48.080 And very quickly it became apparent that not only can you not make everybody happy, you could almost never make anybody happy. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:52.879 One of our other elders gave me a hat that said you can't please them all. 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:58.080 And the reality is that someone is always going to be disappointed with you. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:00.320 So can you live with that? 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:02.399 How do you deal with that? 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.559 I've got a difficult time dealing with that. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.320 I've realized that about myself because I don't like to feel inadequate. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:12.799 Like I'm not performing well enough for people. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:19.919 It makes me feel yucky, it makes me feel unacceptable, almost dirty. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:25.039 What is it that makes you feel unclean? 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.440 And what do you do when you feel unclean? 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:41.519 Most of us go to work scrubbing ourselves, trying to make ourselves feel clean, trying to cover up things so that people won't see that about us. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:44.960 There's a movie that many of you may have seen. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:47.200 It came out in 2000 called American Beauty. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:52.399 So long enough that the Statute of Limitations for quoting it is over, but I won't ruin the whole thing. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:11:05.840 But this movie kind of recounts um the attempts of Americans, particularly in suburbia, to have well-manicured lives that look like we've got it all together. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:22.080 And so it tells the story of Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey and his wife Annette Benning, and they live in this beautiful home, and Lester's wife is always out manicuring their perfect roses, wearing her designer gardening clogs. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:25.120 And from the outside, everything looks great. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:36.960 But the reality is that despite the outward, uh, the outward appearance, there's all kinds of junk behind their doors, behind the plastic smiles. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:44.879 Suburban Utopia is unable to deal with the messes that creep into every household. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:50.159 Right next door, there is a colonel who runs his family like it's the military. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:59.679 And there's incredible discipline, and he does regular inspections of his son's bedroom, and yet no matter what he does or institutes, he still can't keep his son from smoking pot. 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:01.919 And it drives him crazy. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:10.399 He's so furious that his attempts to structure his family's life can't prevent uncleanness and messiness. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:14.080 Because his system doesn't account for the human heart. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:18.399 In fact, he's trying to live in a system that doesn't even account for his own heart. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:33.200 You know, at the end of the mo at the end of the movie, it becomes apparent that this man who has spouted all kinds of hatred against people who deal with a particular type of sexual brokenness, he actually has those same desires himself that he can't suppress. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:36.240 And his life finally unravels. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:49.279 The reality is that when we try to create a performance-based system to crush anything that might defile us, we end up being crushed by that system. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:54.799 The problem is that we can't make ourselves clean. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:02.399 So this whole larger passage deals with the issue of moral purity. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:09.039 It addresses the question of how we could be clean, how we can avoid defilement. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:17.600 And the passage shows us that sometimes we think we can manage our health, our spiritual health, better than God can Himself. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:19.279 So here's the context. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:21.360 And you guys looked at this last week. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:26.240 Some Pharisees and scribes, these supposed religious doctors, come to Jesus. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.519 They show up on the scene in order to challenge him, to trap him. 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:36.559 And they bring this charge against Jesus that his disciples, his followers are eating with unwashed hands. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:38.480 They're not washing their hands before they eat. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.559 And I get it, I'm a hand washer. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:45.519 I love going to restrooms that have a door pole, a foot door pole. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:46.399 You know, it's great. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:47.759 That's my love language. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:50.720 But these guys aren't really concerned with hygiene. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:52.799 They're feeling threatened. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:14:01.200 Israel had this elaborate set of clean laws or purity laws, and they weren't given by the Center for Disease Control. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:12.799 They were actually given by God, and they had a very specific function in order to train God's people to teach them that in order to come into God's presence, you have to be pure. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.799 You have to be holy in order to come near God. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:24.320 And so they had all of these purity laws that dealt with various things, particularly foods that were clean and unclean. 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:34.320 But a crucial thing for us to see that James highlighted last week is the difference between what God actually commanded and what man added. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:43.120 So what God commanded in the Old Testament, there were lots of laws about what made a person clean or unclean for worship. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:47.120 And washing hands was not one of those things. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:52.480 Washing your hands before eating wasn't one of the things that you had to do in order to be clean. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:15:00.080 In fact, the only laws about washing hands in the Old Testament were related to the priests washing their hands before they offered sacrifices. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:06.080 And so men, these religious leaders, actually added to God's law. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:18.480 And you can kind of see and understand why they were inclined to do this as God's people, the Jews, began to have more interaction with the Gentile culture around them. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:25.200 The elders of the people began to elaborate on God's laws in order to maintain purity. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.639 So they added things like washing hands before eating. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:34.480 And this was an example of how they used to put a fence around the law. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:41.759 So if here's God's law, let's put some extra laws a little further out to make sure nobody comes close to that garden. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:46.000 Make sure nobody comes close to trampling on the flowers. 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:52.639 And this could seem like a good idea because it seems like it's born out of a desire to keep God's law. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:59.600 But what it actually does is it actually ends up undermining God's law. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:06.159 It actually makes God's law seem manageable, as if we could keep it. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:15.360 It puts all the focus on avoiding certain things or doing certain things rather than the heart that's behind all of our actions. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:25.039 So it takes our focus off of broad principles that God gives us, like loving Him and loving neighbors, and it makes us focus on specifics. 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:30.159 And we think that if we can keep this list of rules, then we'll be okay. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:39.039 The reality is that we're all usually at work trying to make ourselves feel okay, trying to make ourselves feel clean. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:46.559 You know, people who struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder oftentimes wash their hands all the time, regularly. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:57.279 And most of us are always at work with our spiritual OCD, trying to wash ourselves, clean ourselves up, make ourselves feel okay. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:10.079 And so we create lists, lists of things that are acceptable about entertainment or movies or dress or music. 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:21.839 And certainly there are things that should be avoided, but oftentimes we come up with extra rules that we expect that everybody should follow. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:37.759 Like the Christian approach to educating your children, or the Christian plan for how to date and get married, or the Christian position on exactly how certain biblical principles should be applied in politics or economics. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:46.160 We like to have rules for every possible situation so that we can check that box and feel like we are okay. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:50.960 And so we create our own treatment plan to deal with our uncleanness. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:52.640 But how does that work? 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:59.920 And what we see is that our self-prescribed treatment actually undermines God's word. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:09.200 Last week James dealt with Jesus' accusation of the Pharisees, where Jesus told them, you leave the commandments of God and hold to the tradition of men. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:20.480 And so, one example that Jesus gives is how there was this principle called Corbon, whereby you could dedicate some of your possessions to the Lord as holy, as set apart. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:26.720 But what people were doing was using that as an excuse not to take care of their aging parents. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:39.920 And so rather than giving this money to their parents and keeping the fifth commandment to honor your father and mother, they were setting it apart and saying, nope, um you can't use that. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:42.960 And Jesus condemns them for that. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:53.200 Say, you know, the Bible says some things very clearly, um, but there's other things where we're just given broad principles to apply. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:19:01.519 So the sum of the law, Jesus says, is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as yourself. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:21.359 And so one area where we're forced to think about what it actually means to love our neighbor is um people who aren't yet married, but they're in a relationship, and they want to know, you know, they ask this question that I've asked plenty of times in the past, you know, how far can I go? 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:22.799 What is okay? 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:23.839 Where's the line? 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:25.920 And why do we ask that kind of question? 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:34.319 It's because we want to know exactly where the line is so that we can get all the way up to it and hang our toes over the edge of the diving board without falling in. 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:40.720 So that we can serve ourselves and get everything we want and still feel okay about ourselves. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:47.359 But if we think in broad principle, simply about loving God and loving our neighbor, then we have to ask, well, who is my neighbor? 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:52.160 And the reality is, if you're in a relationship, your neighbor is that girl who you're dating. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:56.400 And your neighbor is that girl's future husband and her father. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:02.480 So, what does it look like to love your neighbor in those relationships? 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:13.599 That puts the focus back on our hearts and our motivations rather than just rules about our hands or our lips that we might be able to check off. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:33.359 We should be radically committed to God's word and following everything that it says, but we should also be radically committed to not adding anything to God's word, not adding extra rules, man-made rules, as a standard of righteousness. 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:41.039 Our extra rules might make God's law seem like it's manageable, but the problem is they don't change our hearts. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:42.960 They can't cleanse our hearts. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:48.720 So often we have a wrong diagnosis and an ineffective cure. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:50.720 But Jesus helps us with that. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:21:03.200 And so here's where we dive into our pat our verses this morning, verses 14 through 23, where Jesus addresses the question of what is our real problem and what is real uncleanness. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.279 So if you have a Bible, let me draw your attention to those verses. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:14.799 Um the religious leaders they think Jesus isn't taking his law, God's law, seriously enough. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:20.160 But Jesus shows that he takes it far more seriously than they do. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:28.160 They're dealing with only what's on the surface, with with externals, and Jesus says our problem is so much deeper than that. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:35.279 He says uncleanness is not an outside problem that we could deal with through self-improvement or controlling our environment. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:47.359 He says in verse 15, there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:53.839 And then when Jesus is alone with his disciples, with his followers, he has to give them a little further explanation. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:05.519 He says in verses 18 and 19, 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. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:16.160 He's saying, Look, food comes into you from the outside and it goes straight out into the toilet, into the latrine, without ever touching your heart. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:25.359 But in verses 20 through 23, he talks about what defiles us as what comes out of the heart. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:29.039 He says, What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:47.279 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. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.359 And they defile a person. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:23:00.559 So uncleanness is actually an inside problem that can't be dealt with by more rules, but only by grace. 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:12.000 Some of us readily see the evil that is out there in the world, wherever it may be, and we try to avoid it. 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:16.799 Maybe by isolating ourselves or insulating ourselves and our family. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:23.200 And what we need to see is that this can actually be a self-salvation strategy. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:27.759 It can actually be a way that we try to rescue ourselves. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:38.799 We think, if I can just control my environment, if I can manage my family, my work environment, my social circles, my education, my entertainment, then I can be pure. 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:47.279 But Jesus is saying impurity doesn't actually come to us from the environment outside of us. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:54.640 And so we can try our hardest to insulate ourselves, insulate our families from any corrupting influence. 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:58.480 But this could actually be a way to avoid Jesus. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.039 And that might sound completely counterintuitive. 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:07.359 And of course, our reaction would be to say, no, Jesus, I'm doing these things in order to serve you, not avoid you. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:25.440 But it's possible for us to slip into fixating so much on keeping a particular set of rules, man-made rules, that we actually, and this can happen subtly, but we actually start feeling and living like we don't really need Jesus. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:29.440 Because we're pretty much able to take care of ourselves. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:31.759 So let me ask you this. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:42.240 If you are a parent, or if you have children in your lives, what is it that you are most afraid of them getting into? 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:47.599 What is the thing that you are most worried that they will do wrong or that they will pursue? 00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:52.160 What is it that would most devastate you? 00:24:53.920 --> 00:25:10.640 And then realize that Jesus is saying right here in his word that the seeds of all of those devastating weeds, what the Bible calls sin, those seeds aren't just floating around in the air, they're actually already present in every human heart. 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:16.160 The seeds of every type of sin are already present in every heart. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:26.880 When we focus all of our energy on elaborate structures and man-made rules, it might work for a time to accomplish what we're hoping for. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:44.240 Until our child rebels, until they commit a public sin that we can't cover up, that shatters our world, and then this protective nest that we've created, that we've been trusting in actually starts to crumble and it falls to the ground. 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:52.640 And it's then that we come face to face with the truth that we really can't keep ourselves clean or our children clean. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:54.960 We can't be our own savior. 00:25:55.680 --> 00:25:57.200 We need Jesus. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:12.960 So maybe our maybe our greatest concern should be that we not raise children who think that they don't need Jesus because they believe that they really can keep all of the rules. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:16.319 Maybe that should be our greatest concern. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:26.960 Man-made rules don't really diagnose the problem, and they offer a cure that doesn't work because our problem's not external, it's internal, it's in the heart. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:30.880 And man-made rules don't deal with our hearts. 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:33.200 Jesus is the only one who can do that. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:37.519 Jesus is the only one who can deal with our heart problem. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:40.319 If you're familiar with C.S. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:27:05.599 Lewis's Narnia series, you may have read or seen the movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which recounts how this boy, Eustace Scrub, with an unfortunate name, and he's really an unlikable little kid, is on a voyage with Edmund and Lucy and King Caspian, and they land on this island, and everybody else is doing chores, but but Eustace shirks his responsibilities. 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:08.160 He doesn't care about helping out in the community. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:17.440 And so he goes off and he finds this dragon's treasure, and his greedy little heart is just obsessed with this treasure, and he falls asleep on it. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:22.880 And what ends up happening is that lo and behold, when he wakes up, he himself is turned into a dragon. 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:31.519 And now he's not able to communicate with his friends, and he's ashamed of his hideous appearance, and he can't do anything about it. 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:37.039 And so eventually, Aslan, the lion in the story, comes to restore him. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:43.680 And Aslan takes him up this mountain to a well and he tells Eustace to undress himself. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:50.480 And so Eustace takes his dragon claws and he peels off this dragon skin. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:56.319 But he realizes after he does that that there's another layer. 00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:02.000 And so he goes to work again and he pulls off yet another layer of this dragon's skin. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:04.960 But again, there's just another layer underneath. 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:30.640 And maybe you've had that experience before in your life as you have sought to address some aspect of your dragonness and you've gone to work and you've cleaned up some area of your life, or you feel like you've improved in something, and then you realize that there is just more depth to your brokenness, that you've only dealt with surface issues, and there's still ugliness in your heart. 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:38.160 Well, eventually, Aslan tells Eustace that he himself, he Aslan, has to undress Eustace. 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:45.119 And so he takes his huge lion claws and he tears into the boy's flesh. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:50.000 And Eustace says, it felt like his claws were ripping into my heart. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:57.920 But Aslan is able to go all the way down and pull off all of the knobbly, gross dragon skin. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:03.039 And then he throws Eustace into the water and washes him and cleanses him. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:07.279 Like Eustace, our problem isn't just external. 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:11.279 Our dragonness goes to the heart. 00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:16.799 And none of our attempts to cleanse ourselves will really work because they don't really go deep enough. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:22.480 We need someone who is stronger who can really deal with our heart problem. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:26.400 And the Bible says Jesus is the only one who can do that. 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:31.359 Jesus is really the only one who can cleanse our hearts. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:37.440 And these clean laws ultimately pointed to Jesus. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:46.799 Clean laws demonstrate that people like us have to have purity in order to come before God. 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:53.119 But the question is, whose cleanness allows us to approach God? 00:29:54.640 --> 00:30:00.559 Whose righteousness do we think that we need in order to come before God? 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:13.039 And all of these laws in the Old Testament, all of these clean laws that God gave, were intended to do one thing, to point our hearts and our minds to Jesus. 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:18.559 And now we can approach God because of Jesus' holiness. 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:22.480 And that's why there's no more clean laws. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:25.359 Jesus isn't doing away with God's law. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:28.079 Jesus has fulfilled God's law. 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:30.559 Jesus now is our cleanness. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:41.759 In fact, there's a book in the New Testament called Hebrews that's whole point is how Jesus supersedes and fulfills all of these Old Testament systems. 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:53.440 And so for us to try to make our own clean laws, to set up our own additional rules, is essentially to say, Jesus, your cleanness really isn't enough. 00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:59.759 We feel like there's something more that we need to do to take care of our own mess. 00:31:01.119 --> 00:31:14.400 In the Old Testament book of Zechariah, it's one of the Old Testament prophets, Zechariah, the author, is given a vision of the temple on the Day of Atonement. 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:26.799 And the way that the system worked was once a year, the high priest would go into the center part of the temple, the most holy place, in order to offer sacrifice for his sins and the sins of the people. 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:37.839 And there was this long, week-long preparation period where the high priest would go into isolation so that he wouldn't possibly violate any of these clean laws and become unclean. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:39.599 He'd keep himself totally pure. 00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:48.400 He'd go through all of these ritual washings and then put on a spotless linen garment to go into God's presence. 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:55.119 And what we read in Zechariah chapter 3, verses 1 through 4, is Zechariah getting this vision. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:32:07.519 And it says, 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. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:13.920 And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. 00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:16.079 Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? 00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:17.200 Now listen to this. 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:26.720 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments, literally covered in excrement. 00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:28.799 Can you imagine? 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:34.319 Can you imagine what that would have been like for Zechariah to see this vision? 00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:44.480 Can you imagine people who are aware that the one who is going into God's presence, representing them, who's supposed to be totally pure, is covered in excrement. 00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:53.119 But what God is doing is he's giving us a glimpse of what we actually look like in his sight. 00:32:53.440 --> 00:33:03.519 Isaiah 64, 6 says, We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. 00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:05.279 So what can we do? 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:06.160 Where can we run? 00:33:06.319 --> 00:33:11.839 How can we be clean if that's what we are naturally like in and of ourselves? 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:20.240 Well, Zechariah continues, and the angel said to those who were standing before him, remove the filthy garments from him. 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:28.960 And to him he said, Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments. 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:35.839 Friends, the reality is, according to the Bible, that we are all spiritually covered in excrement. 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:39.279 I know that sounds gross, but that's the truth. 00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:50.559 And the reality is that no amount of scrubbing or cleansing that we could do could ever make us clean or pure because our filth isn't on the surface, it's in our hearts. 00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:54.960 Controlling our environments isn't going to change that fact. 00:33:55.200 --> 00:34:04.079 The reality is that we take our evil hearts with us into every situation, every relationship, every environment that we enter. 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:06.720 So we need someone else to make us clean. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:09.599 And that's what we see in the Bible. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:18.159 Zechariah 3, verses 8 and 9 says, Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are assigned. 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:22.400 Behold, I will bring my servant the branch. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:29.280 And he continues, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:43.920 It says, On that day there shall be a fountain open for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. 00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:46.159 And friends, that day has come. 00:34:46.880 --> 00:34:52.400 That fountain has been opened and it flowed from Jesus' side. 00:34:53.280 --> 00:35:00.400 Jesus, who was pierced and died for unclean people like me and like you. 00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:14.239 And the reality is that the blood of Jesus washes away every stain of sin, no matter how dark, no matter how deep it might be, because Jesus cleanses you from the inside. 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:20.000 We're all aware of bad things that we have done. 00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:23.440 Things that make you feel unclean. 00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:26.400 Some of us feel defined by those things. 00:35:27.199 --> 00:35:29.440 And some of you have been hurt. 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:32.079 Wrong things have been done to you. 00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:36.480 And you have this lingering sense of being unclean. 00:35:37.840 --> 00:35:39.519 Here's the good news. 00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:50.559 If you have trusted in Jesus, or if you are exploring and you were to trust in Jesus, Jesus makes you fully and finally clean. 00:35:50.880 --> 00:36:00.000 Jesus looks at you and says, Because of what I have done on the cross through my death, you are clean. 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:11.280 And it says, What can wash away my sin? 00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:13.840 Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:24.159 For my cleansing, this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus, for my pardon, this my plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus. 00:36:25.039 --> 00:36:40.480 The author of Hebrews in chapter 10 says, Therefore, my brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. 00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:56.719 And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:03.920 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:33.519 So because Jesus is really the only one who can make you clean, in the midst of our sin, in the midst of our awareness of our own yuckiness, when we're tempted to run into ourselves or to run to all kinds of strategies to fix ourselves to make us look better, what we need to do instead is to run to Jesus over and over and over again and to do it together, to encourage one another to run to Jesus. 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:38.000 Because in him is where we get complete cleanness. 00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:40.320 Let me pray for us. 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:53.599 Jesus, we thank you that you, through your death, have opened the way for people like us into God's presence, where we were made to live and to be. 00:37:54.639 --> 00:38:12.960 And you've done that not because of good things that we've done, but because you have taken all of our sin upon yourself, and you've bled and you've died, and we can be washed in your blood so that we can be pronounced clean. 00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:16.960 Would you help us to trust in that reality? 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:33.039 Some of us, maybe for the first time, to find freedom in the cleanness that you purchased, and help us to be people who rather than run to ourselves to try to fix ourselves, run often daily to Jesus. 00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:34.880 We pray this in his name. 00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:36.079 Amen.