MARK 7:1-23 WATCH OUT FOR MAN MADE COMMANDS2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Mark 7:1-23 Watch Out For Man Made Commands

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. We continue to work our way through the Bible in three years now in the Gospel of Mark, which was written by a young man named John Mark, who was not a direct disciple of Jesus, not one of the 12, but was around during the life and ministry of Jesus, and it appears that he

spent a lot of time with Peter and is actually retelling or recounting for us the gospel account that Peter would give to Mark and those around him as he went forth to do the ministry that God had called him to do. And so we have this record here of John Mark and he recounts mostly action stuff, not as much teaching as Matthew or Luke and not a lot of detail. He's really focused on addressing those who are Gentiles.

not so much speaking to the Jewish context and those who would be familiar of the Old Testament and those kinds of things. And so John Mark introduces some concepts that are and explains them in a way that

that helps us understand the people that are being addressed in the passage and what is going on. And we see that really clearly here in Mark chapter 7 as there arises an issue about cleanliness, about the washing of hands and the proper usage of that in their meetings. This morning as we look at Mark chapter 7, I've titled the message, Watch Out for Man-Made Commands.

It's really a word of warning that Jesus gives. It's a strong exhortation to be alert and pay attention that we need to be on guard against man-made commands. There are commands that God gives to us, and then there are commands that are not directly from God, even if they are well-intentioned, even if they started out, you know, meaning well, that there are commands that

Can be very dangerous for us. And even if they sound wise or look good. Can lead us away from God. Instead of deeper into a relationship with God. And so I would ask you to consider this morning. Do you follow any man-made commands? Are there man-made commands that are a part of your life. That you adhere to. And that you walk in.

in. Now, I'm not talking about the speed limit. Okay, that's a different kind of man-made command, but we're talking about your spiritual life and in your relationship with God, in your walk with Christ.

Do you follow any man-made commands? There's man-made commands in a variety of areas, and we're not going to try to reveal all of them or address all of them this morning, but just to kind of get your mind going, there's some man-made commands that you might consider in regard to your devotional life.

Sometimes there can be some strong instructions, some commands that are given that mean, well, here's how you should read the Bible. And here's what your prayer time should be like. And here is how you should have, you know, this much time devoted to God in every day. And there can be these commands that maybe we invent ourselves, but

or that Russell makes up and imposes upon you, or that somebody else, you know, lays upon you, that there is this instruction that is given, this command that is adhered to. Sometimes commands are invented, created, in regards to diet. Well, if you really want to have a close relationship with God and walk with God, here's the way that you should eat, here's the timing in which you should eat, here's the contents of the things that you should eat.

There's man-made commands in regards to habits, you know, different types of things that you should be partaking in consistently. There's man-made commands regarding politics. There's man-made commands regarding superstitions. And it comes across in a variety of ways. But here's, you know, what pastors must do. And there are sometimes expectations that

that are placed upon me or Dion as a pastor, that we are expected to do something that God never actually called us to do, but there is these man-made commands or expectations placed on us.

Christians must, and there is sometimes that taught, sometimes that feeling within us that we think all Christians must, and fill in the blank, there's something that Christians must do. And men must do this and behave this way, and women must do that and behave that way, and parents must, you know, raise their kids in this way and do these things, and Americans must. There's a lot of man-made commands that we might be engaged in, and we need to be very careful about that.

They're very different than what God commands. And so we're going to consider that this morning. There's five reasons to watch out for man-made commands as we work our way through the passage here in Mark chapter 7. The first reason to consider is found in verses 1 through 4. Man-made commands lead to fault-finding in others. One of the reasons why we need to watch out for this is because of the heart that it develops. It develops a critical spirit, a critical heart of fault-finding, looking for faults in

You might term it as sin sniffing in others. Check out verse 1 and 2. It says, Here we're seeing the religious leaders come up from Jerusalem.

Jesus at this point in his ministry is in the northern area of Israel. He's ministering around the Sea of Galilee. And as his fame becomes more and more known, the religious leaders down in Jerusalem keep sending delegations to go investigate and check out this new rabbi that has sprung up and the teachings that he's bringing and the ministry that he's accomplishing.

And here this group of religious leaders, these Pharisees and these scribes, they come and they're inspecting his work. They're inspecting his ministry. And what they see disturbs them. They find the disciples engaging in a meal. They're eating bread with unwashed hands. Now the concerning part for them was not

regarding hygiene. They weren't concerned about their cleanliness. They weren't saying, you know, hey, there was a little bit of dirt or, you know, you shook hands with somebody and then grabbed hold of the bread and that's not very sanitary. They weren't concerned with it in that regard. But for them, unwashed hands was a ceremonial issue. It was not about whether or not there was dirt or grime or germs on their hands. It

but it was about whether or not they performed the appropriate ritual before they took part of the bread. Mark goes on to explain that in verses 3 and 4. He says the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. And so they had this whole routine that they would go, and they would pour water on their hands in a particular way, in a particular amount, and it would go down their hands. Actually, this way first. They would go down their hands this way, they would wash their hands, and then they would

put their hands down and then they would pour the water down and it would go down their hands to wash away the uncleanliness and there was this ritual that they had. This ritual is nowhere found in the scriptures. It's not commanded, it's not described, it's not prescribed, it's not something that God had declared, but it is what they practiced. It's what the religious leaders practiced. It's what all the Jewish people who practiced Judaism, it's what they did before they would eat.

And so now it's part of their culture. It's part of their heritage. It's part of their tradition. And in their mind, it's part of their relationship to God. It's part of whether or not they are righteous before God or not. And here the religious leaders find the disciples in what they consider to be an unrighteous manner. They're eating bread with unwashed hands. And so it tells us in verse two that they found fault. They found fault.

They have come to the conclusion the disciples are out of line. They're out of relationship with God. They are unrighteous. They are unholy. They are ungodly because they are eating and they did not first do the ceremonial washing of their hands. This is one of the great dangers of man-made commands is it imposes upon us a self-righteousness that we begin to esteem ourselves very highly when we are faithful to these commands and

And it brings with it a despising of those who do not keep those same commands. A harsh and critical attitude in spirit towards those who practice something different. And it's not consistent with the nature of God, with the character of God. Man-made commands lead to fault-finding in others.

This is something that the Apostle Paul addresses as well because it's a common side effect of legalism or the adhering to these traditions or commands that are not actually from God. He goes through great detail in Romans chapter 14. We're not going to dive into all of the elements of it, but just a couple of verses here from Romans chapter 14. Paul says, "...one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables."

Paul, in talking to people who are wrestling over whether or not it's okay to eat meat and

Whether or not it's okay to eat meat sacrificed to idols, whether or not Christians should only eat vegetables, should all Christians be vegetarians, there were some in the church who strongly believed that, and there were these battles between them within the church. And Paul addressing that says, look, we need to learn how to relate to one another in a way that's not despising or judging.

Who are you to judge another servant? God hasn't given a clear command that is universal to all believers one way or the other for eating meat or being vegetarian. And so there's room for personal convictions. There's room for personal decisions. It's not a universal truth for all believers. And we need to learn how to not judge one another because that's not our job. God's job is to do the judging. And each one will stand before God.

And God's able to make him stand. If that person's heart is right with God, God's able to get them through any misconception or a bad idea or any of that. He's able to work that out. That's not up to us. But to correct our hearts and to protect us from this critical nature, he says, we need to be careful not to despise those who see it a little bit differently.

Man-made commands lead us to fault finding in others. Remember the illustration that Jesus gave about trying to remove the speck from your brother's eye? Meanwhile, there's a beam in your eye. This is what we're dealing with. The reality is if I'm despising and judging and critical of some speck in your eye, I actually have something bigger going on within me that needs to be addressed first. Man-made commands, even if they start out

well-intentioned, even if they mean well, even if they sound good, they end up bringing this division, this fighting, this bickering, this devouring of one another. Well, going on to verse 5 through 7, we get the second reason to watch out for man-made commands, and that is they leave the heart far from God. The reality is even though all of these commands that the religious leaders would adhere to started out

for, you know, reasons of wanting to draw near to God and be close to God, the reality is it left them far from God. In verse 5, it says, Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and said to them, Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites? As it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

As the religious leaders bring this issue to the attention of Jesus, Jesus responds back with a quotation from Isaiah chapter 29. And he says, you know, God was right on when he spoke through the prophet Isaiah.

that this is a people who honors me with their lips. There's an external honoring of God, an external walking with God. But the reality is what it's hiding is internally their hearts are far from God. He calls it hypocrisy because that's what it is. There's a pretending to be close to God. There's a pretending to know God and walk with God.

But it's hiding the reality that their hearts are actually far from God. They don't know God. That's why they're not accepting Jesus and recognizing who he is. They don't know God because, well, they've been caught up in all of their man-made commands. And no matter how good the command is, and no matter who it is that makes the command, man-made commands never measure up to the commands of God. And we need to be careful to understand that there are commands of God.

And God says, here's what to do and here's what not to do. God has very clear commands for us recorded in his scriptures. And those are commands that we are to follow. Those are commands we are to walk in and we are to understand and know. But any command that you make or that I make, any command that some, you know, highly esteemed person makes doesn't come close to

to measuring up to God's commands. They're not as good as God's commands. They're not as true as God's commands. They are not to be followed as God's commands. Jesus highlights the issue. They're teaching as doctrine. They're teaching as if it was God's command, but really it's the traditions of men. And it has them stuck in the external only. There's a veil so that the people around them see the ceremony and they think that there is spirituality. But Jesus says it's hypocrisy.

It's fake. They don't really have their hearts connected to God. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, people who revere man-made traditions above the word of God eventually lose the power of God's word in their lives. No matter how devout they may appear, their hearts are far from God. The religious leaders appeared devout. They looked holy. They looked righteous. They looked like they were men of God. But because they esteemed the truth,

commands of men and the traditions of men higher than the word of God, the reality was they did not know God at all. Their hearts were far from God. It's important to recognize because you and I, we can easily slip into some man-made commands, some things that we think are for our good, that we think are good for us. But then the end result of it is it takes us in the exact opposite direction of where we wanted to go when we started that.

There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it leads to death, the Proverbs tell us. And we need to be very careful and be discerning and invite the Lord to speak to us about what we're doing and why we're doing it. Whether or not the things that we do, the things that we practice are from God. Because if we get swept up into some commands of other people, commands of men, it's going to lead us away.

Well, moving on to verses 8 through 13, we get the third reason to watch out for man-made commands, and that is that they cause neglect of God's commands. They cause us to neglect the actual commands that God has given. Check out verses 8 through 13. It says, for laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.

He said to them,

making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down and many such things you do. Here is Jesus continues to address these religious leaders. He corrects them in regards to their practices that really keep them from practicing the actual word of God. And he gives one example here, this example, this issue of Corban.

But he points out at the beginning and at the end, and many other such things you do. So this isn't, you know, the one and only issue, just fix this and you'll be fine. But this is an example of the pattern that exists in your life, he says to the religious leaders. You have all these ceremonies for washing pitchers and cups and couches and all of those things. You have these ceremonies for...

What's Korban and what that means? And in following all of these things, you're actually neglecting the command of God. So what is this whole issue of Korban? Well, just to touch on it briefly, again, it's not the main point of what Jesus is saying. It's just an example. But Korban was the idea of something that is dedicated to God. And

Well, the religious leaders were very wealthy, but they were also very stingy, and they didn't want their family to partake of what they had. And so they had this practice where they would pronounce something Korban. So you walk out to your car, you say, this is Korban. It's dedicated to God.

Now, in our mind, in our culture, like you dedicate something to God that way, or you, you know, give something to the Lord, you might think of it in the context of like, okay, I give it to a church, or I give it to a missionary, or, you know, that would be maybe our method of trying to give something to the Lord, right? But for them to dedicate something to the Lord meant, well, that means I get to use it myself still, right?

That means I get to, you know, do what I want. If I dedicate my car to the Lord, I can go where I want in it. I can, you know, park it wherever I want. I can drive wherever I want. I can leave it wherever I want. I can do whatever I want with it. But what it also meant was nobody else can use my car because it's dedicated to the Lord. So you don't have access to it. Hey, mom and dad, this is what Jesus is highlighting here. Mom and dad, you're in need. Oh man, that's such a bummer. So unfortunate. I just dedicated my bank account to the Lord.

I'm sorry, I can't give it to you. That would be breaking God's law. And so I can't give to you the need that you have. And Jesus says, look, you've allowed this. You've fostered this. You've passed this on and taught this. And you've put people in a position where it makes them look spiritual because they're dedicating this stuff to the Lord. So they feel good about themselves. They have this appearance of religion and righteousness.

But in reality, they are disregarding the word of God and not providing for their own families who are in need and giving the honor that is due. Dedicating it to the Lord, it means that only I get to use it. Now, just think about that for a minute. The logical connection is I'm God. This is dedicated to God. That means only I get to use it, right? Like, yeah, there's a really distorted perspective in this practice, right?

but it was one that they believed. It was one that they held to. How does that happen? How do they get to this point where they have this obviously, you know, full of issues type of practice that they would hold to and that they would teach and yet pretend to be walking with God? You know, it's really not that difficult to understand. You just got to hang around the church for a little bit. Hang around other Christians for a while, and you'll notice we tend to

build up our own traditions and commands. It usually doesn't start out in a negative way. It doesn't start out in a way that's like, we're going to rebel against God and work out a system where we can ignore what God says. There are those as well. But a lot of times these things start out as, I want to follow God. I want to walk with God. The Jewish people called their traditions the fence of the law.

That is this fence that was set up around the law. So, hey, we want to be very careful not to break the law. And so we set up a boundary a little bit further out. And that boundary a little bit further out, even if I break that man-made law, at least I didn't break the law of God, right? And so that was kind of their perspective on it. But what that ends up doing is putting layers of commands and laws and traditions and practices between you and the heart of God, right?

It separates you from the commands of God and leads to a neglect of the word of God. Let me just walk through a little example. It's maybe not a super great example, but it's one that kind of gets your mind going. Here's this command that's given in Hebrews 10, verse 25, where God says that we are not to be forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another so much the more as you see the day approaching.

Now, as a Christian, if you encounter someone who says that they're a Christian, but that they don't attend church, we have this reference memorized. Hebrews 10.25, we take them here. Okay, look it. The scripture says, not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. You need to be in church. That's the exhortation that we perhaps would give. And so I can follow that. Okay, I want to be close to God. I want to walk with God. And so here's what I need to do. I need to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. So, okay, let's,

I'll go to church. I'll gather together with other believers. But then I begin to wonder, but what does it mean to forsake the assembling of ourselves together? I mean, if I'm sick one Sunday and I miss, does that mean I've forsaken the assembling of ourselves together? And we begin to wrestle with that. Well, what if I miss one Sunday because...

you know, my favorite teams play and I have tickets and is that forsaking the assembling of it? What if I have to work on Sunday? Is that forsaking? How many Sundays can I miss and not be forsaking the assembling? Like if I go to one service a year, does that qualify for not forsaking the assembling? And I began to try to figure out and come up with some kind of definition. And perhaps I come up with a command. Maybe the command is,

Yeah, I need to be at church on every Sunday. That's, I mean, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves. I have to be at church every Sunday. I should not miss, except for emergency, but I should not miss. And so I'm telling you this, you know, hey, you need to be at church and this is what God says and not forsaking. You need to be at church every Sunday and you're looking at the verse with me and you say, well, what about the exhorting one another part?

I mean, you talked about the forsaking, not forsaking, but it also says exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. And I say, you know, yeah, you're right. Like, I don't want to just go to church and sit in the pew. I don't want to just be a pew warmer. I need to go and exhort somebody. And so now my command is every Sunday, go to church and exhort someone, encourage somebody every Sunday. That's the rule. And so I'm sharing that with you. And you're thinking it through with me. And you say, well,

What about the other one another commands? All throughout the New Testament, there's this instruction that's given to one another and relationships that we're to have and ways that we're to behave to one another. And I realized, oh yeah, that's true. It's not just the exhorting one another. It's all these other, okay, so new command. Every Sunday, go to church, exhort at least one person, and then look at these other commands and see if I can fulfill any of those as we gather together as well.

And then you say, well, but what about the spiritual gifts? Oh yeah, that's right. Okay, so new command. So every Sunday, go to church, exhort somebody. You get the point, right? Finally, someone says, so midweek service isn't important? Okay, yeah, new command. Sundays, Wednesdays, be at church and there can be this development. Now it started out with, hey, I don't want to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

But in seeking to define that and try to like not break that and making of more commands, it adds these layers and layers and layers that God never intended and are not actually helpful. I like the way that G. Campbell Morgan explains it. He says this, "...there had grown up a great body of traditions, traditions which in the first place were intended to be interpretations of the law and applications of the law to local circumstances."

Traditions which in second place became interpretations of traditions and applications of traditions. And the traditions in the third place which were interpretations of interpretations of interpretations of traditions. You see the becomes more and more removed. Don't forsake the assembling of the saints. Okay, what does that mean? And then here's the, okay, now what does that mean? And then what does that mean? And what does that mean? And what does that mean? And there was all of these traditions that the Jewish people were expected to keep in mind and practice. And it removed them.

from the actual commands that God had given. This can happen to any one of us. Watch out for man-made commands. It causes us to neglect the actual commands that God has given. Well, moving on to verses 14 through 19, we get the fourth reason to watch out for man-made commands, and that is they make spiritual issues out of things that are not spiritual. This is an important one to consider. Verse 14 says,

Notice as Jesus is having this exchange between the religious leaders and himself about his disciples, now he finds it necessary to say, listen, everybody, the whole multitude, this isn't just a conversation between them now. Hey, everybody, gather around. Come on in. Come on in. Hey, we need to talk about this. This is something that Jesus wants everyone to understand. Verse 15 says,

There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him. But the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. Jesus here is presenting radical truth for as far as they're concerned. This is new information to them.

Because they've been trained their whole lives and taught that if they eat with unwashed hands, they defile themselves. They're not right with God. They, you know, are out of favor with God. If they eat the wrong thing, they defile themselves. If they behave, you know, the wrong way or go the wrong place or don't shake off the dust off their feet after they went through Gentile territory, then they're defiled. They can't have access to God. And this was what they were familiar with and trained to believe and to think. And here Jesus introduces a radical new thought.

there is nothing that enters a man from the outside which can defile him. Eating with unwashed hands is not a spiritual issue, Jesus says. Even if it wasn't just ceremonial washing, even if there was dirt on the disciples' hands, it's not a spiritual issue. That's not going to disconnect you from God. It's not going to change your status before the Lord. And so he announces this to the crowd.

This is something he wants everyone to know, but it was hard for them to understand. And we see that in verse 17. It says, when he had entered a house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. They still don't get it. Even though he announced it to the crowd, it's something he wants everybody to know. This is like such hard information for them to process. They can't wrap their minds around. What do you mean by this? It's so different than all that they've known.

The commentator William Barclay says, although it may not seem so now, this passage, when it was first spoken, was well nigh the most revolutionary passage in the New Testament. This is radical new information. What do you mean the stuff outside cannot defile us? That is different than what we've ever known. Verse 18, so he said to them, are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him?

Because it does not enter his heart, but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods. Jesus says, you can't understand this. Whatever you eat, it doesn't go into your heart. Now, your cardiologist might tell you something different, right? But that's the physical realm. Jesus is addressing spirituality. He's addressing relationship with God. And what you eat doesn't go into your heart in a spiritual sense. It goes into your stomach.

and then it's eliminated, right? That's the process. So what you eat, it may not be healthy for you, right? It may not be advisable. Doctors may not like it. Friends and family might be disgusted by it or might encourage it, right? But what you eat is not a spiritual issue. Now, there are spiritual things that do

connect to these things and that's a kind of a further down subject that we're not going to get into because that'll really well I don't know you guys want to stick around for another hour and kind of explore this okay no maybe not maybe we'll talk about it over lunch and go eat something that doesn't defile us all right so there are spiritual things that could impact this but but the the food itself it doesn't matter it's not significant it's not important and so it really becomes now a matter of personal choice right

Personal conscience. Pastor David Guzik says, not everything in the Christian life is a matter of right and wrong. Many things are simply matters of personal conscience before God. If you want to do it, then fine. Do it unto the Lord and without a sense of spiritual superiority. If you don't want to do it, that's fine also. Don't do it unto the Lord and don't look down upon those whose conscience compels them to do it.

Again, the Apostle Paul addressed this. There needs to be this carefulness that, hey, you feel like you should only eat vegetables? You feel like that's what God wants from you? That's fine. You can make that choice. That's no problem. You make that choice. But don't then try to make that a universal command. All believers are supposed to eat the way that you eat. That's not a universal command.

Or, no, we can eat meat, so I'm going to throw it in your face and say, look at me, watch me eat meat and offend you and make it, you know, a bigger issue. And I'm going to despise you because you don't understand and you're going to judge me because I'm eating meat. And that's not what God has designed. The Lord is saying, look, these are not spiritual issues. It's not an issue of whether or not you're righteous or whether or not you're right with God. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 8, food does not commend us to God. For neither if we eat are we the better.

nor if we do not eat, are we the worse. But then he says, but beware lest somehow this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak. So there can be spiritual things that are attached to these. We don't want to be a stumbling block. But at the same time, the food itself doesn't commend us to God. We're not better if we eat it. We're not better if we don't.

Now this is in particular here in 1 Corinthians 8 about food sacrificed to idols. And it was a big issue within the church and there was a lot of misunderstanding and hurt feelings and fights between Christians in regards to that. We don't see those same exact situations today, at least here in our society. But there's a variety of things that we could consider. And I would suggest there's probably even more coming. Like specifically, just thinking about our food.

There's a lot of ideas about our food that are good ideas to consider, but we should be careful not to try to make them spiritual issues. Does this have GMOs? Is this genetically modified? Hey, that's a worthy conversation to have. That's something interesting to consider. It's not a spiritual issue. Is this gluten-free? Most of you know my wife is allergic to gluten.

So, most of the time, we're gluten-free. And it leads to some interesting conversations when, you know, we ask about something, okay, is this gluten-free? Is it safe for us? And then, oftentimes, it happens all the time. It's hilarious to me, anyways. It's probably funny to nobody else, but I'm going to tell you anyways, and you're going to laugh because you humor me. So, people say, oh, yeah, gluten, oh, you're gluten-free. Oh, yeah, I really need to start eating healthier, too. And there's this connection to, you know, it's healthier, right? But it's

It's because she's allergic. Other than that, I mean, we would eat double the gluten. Like, we don't care about the gluten. It's not about, it's not a health decision. Other than it's a, hey, we want to be free from pain decision. You know, that's, it's a different thing. It's not a spiritual issue. Are those cage-free potatoes? It's not a spiritual issue. Now, that's the example of food. There's a multitude of other things that we could consider. Are piercings okay? How about tattoos?

voting this way or voting that way, walking this path, walking that path, buying this car, buying that car, having this house, having that house. There's a multitude of issues that really come down to you and the Lord. They're not universal issues that God has issued a command that everybody must follow. And so there's a lot of room for you to connect to the Lord and see what He wants for you. But we need to be careful not to make it a spiritual issue that applies to everybody else.

Hey, if the Jewish leaders want to wash their hands in some ceremonial way every time they eat, there's nothing wrong with that. That's not forbidden. It's a choice. But because God didn't command it, it's not a universal command. I think an interesting case to consider of this is Peter. He was there, right? He's part of the 12 disciples. He was there eating with unwashed hands. But although he heard this teaching and he received this teaching from the Lord, it appears from the scripture that he kept living the kosher lifestyle.

And so we read in Acts chapter 10 when the Lord appeared to Peter and he's preparing him to go bring the gospel to Gentiles. And he gives Peter a vision of this sheet coming down with clean and unclean animals upon it. And the Lord speaks to Peter and says, rise, Peter, kill and eat. And he says, no, I've never eaten anything uncommon or unclean. And the Lord says, but you ate with unwashed hands. No, no, he doesn't say that. He says, don't call common or unclean what I have cleansed. Peter was still practicing this dietary lifestyle that

He had grown up with. Nothing wrong with that, unless God wants to change it. But he could keep following that until the Lord tells him something different. It's a matter of conscience. It's a matter of personal convictions. And so we can think about our diet. We can think about, you know, our behavior. We can think about our lifestyle. We can think about so many things. For me as a pastor, I think about my message prep. And I can think about, hey, there's expectations. Here's how, you know, a pastor should prepare a message.

There's expectations I have of myself. There's expectations others have of me. When I was full-time here at the church, boy, I really loved having, you know, a specific amount of time, a good amount of time, and spend all week preparing and studying. And I was proud of the amount of investment that went into every message. And then as the Lord changed the situation, and then I began to work freelance, you know, my message prep had to change.

And then again, when I accepted a full-time job and had a more structured schedule, my message prep had to change. And then when I started remodeling my kitchen in addition to the full-time job in the church, I had to adjust my message prep as well. And

had to work through feelings every step of the way. Feelings about how I felt about, was this a significant amount of time? Was this enough time? Was this the appropriate time? Is this exactly what God wants? And step by step, as things change, I have to continue to go back to the Lord. And you know what? There's going to be a time in the future where it's going to change again. And the Lord's going to say, okay, you know, you've had a more limited amount of time. Now you're going to need to put a more significant amount of time into the message prep. And that's going to be hard for me then. But each step of the way, I'm going to be able to go back to the Lord.

My job is to connect to the Lord and hear from the Lord and walk with the Lord in regards to my message prep, in regards to my devotional life, in regards to my workplace and work life, in regards to my marriage. These are things that I need to hear from the Lord about and walk with him. We need to be careful not to make spiritual issues out of things that are not spiritual, that God has not commanded. Let's not make our rules and try to enforce them upon the world around us.

Well, finally, verses 20 through 23 gives us the final reason to watch out for man-made commands, and that is that they cannot change the heart. Verse 20 says, and he said, what comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

Jesus goes on to say, look, the thing that enters into you, the food that you eat doesn't go into your heart, so it can't defile you. But what defiles you is the things that are already in your heart. Eating that food didn't put that wickedness in you. That wickedness was already in your heart.

And so out of your heart proceeds all of these things. And some of them are thoughts and attitudes. Some of them are actions. But these are commands of God. These are things that God forbids. These are things that God gives us instruction about. They are real commands. But the problem is we violate these commands from the very beginning because it begins in our own heart. And Jesus here is saying, look, the issue is internal. It's not the external.

That's not the real issue. The real issue is what's happening within. And it's what comes out of you that defiles you. And as he lists these things, these are things that we're all familiar with, that we all encounter, that we all experience. They're things that are in our own hearts. Pastor Charles Spurgeon says, the source from which these rivers of pollution proceed is the natural heart of man. Sin is not a splash of mud upon a man's exterior. It's a filth generated within himself. Here's the real problem with sin.

It's not a splash of mud. Ooh, I got a little sin on me. It's a wealth of sin that's bound up within my heart. It's filth, Spurgeon says, generated within myself. My heart is wicked. My heart is sinful. That's the real issue. And the problem with man-made commands is they address the external, but they mask what's really going on and the real issues of the heart. They don't change what's happening in the heart. And legalism cannot fix that. Man-made commands...

Rules and regulations that we invent, determination to be more disciplined, that can't change the heart. Only God can change our heart. And so we need to go to God and ask him to change our heart. The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Colossians about the tendency towards legalism, he says, look, these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, man-made commands, false humility and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

These things look good. They sound good. They seem impressive. Self-imposed religion. But it actually doesn't help you in your battle against sin. It doesn't actually help you in your relationship with God. Watch out for man-made commands. Don't allow them in your life. Don't allow them to take the place of God's commands. Don't allow them to lead you away from God and distract you from the truth that God has provided. Also be careful.

as you have opportunity to disciple, as you are raising up others to know the Lord, be careful that you don't lay upon them man-made commands that will actually inhibit them. I'm sure you mean well. You intend for great things. You intend for good things. You mean it to help them draw near and to know God, but be careful. Those things will end up keeping us far from God. And so Jesus here gives a warning for us all. Watch out.

for man-made commands. Let's make sure we get back to the Lord, hear from Him, focus on what He actually says and what He wants for us individually, personally. Let's pray. God, we pray for our hearts this morning. I pray, God, that You would give our hearts and our minds great insight and discernment to be able to recognize when we have imposed upon ourselves or others have imposed upon us commands, instruction, rules, regulation, things that

perhaps even look good or well-intentioned, but Lord, end up keeping us from what you desire and the work that you want to do. Help us, God, to recognize these traps, these pitfalls, and to stay away from them. As we head about our way today, God, and the rest of the week, I pray that you would be speaking to us all week long, showing us those areas.

where we need to put up a guard and be careful not to get sucked into following what man says instead of what you say. Help us, God, to hear from you. Give us ears to hear your voice. Even as Jesus said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Lord, would you open our ears by your Holy Spirit. May we hear your voice and respond to you as you speak. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.