God has given us a wonderful gift in music has he not? What a profound way to express the doxologies of our heart. And we certainly thank you musicians for leading us with such excellence and faithfulness, and humility.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark seven? We will be looking at verses 14 through 23. Mark seven, verses 14 through 23. I've entitled my discourse to you this morning the source of moral corruption. Follow along as I read the gospel record beginning in verse 14. "After Jesus called with a crowd to him again, he began saying to them, 'Listen to me, all of you and understand, there is nothing outside the man which can defile him, if it goes into him. But the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.' When he had left the crowd, and entered the house, his disciples questioned him about the parable. And he said to them, 'Are you so lacking in understanding also, do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated.' Thus he declared all foods clean. And he was saying, 'That which proceeds out of the man that is what defiles the man for from within, out of the heart of men, precede the evil thoughts for fornications, thefts, murder, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.'"

There is a long standing debate, those of you that have been in philosophy classes in college will remember this, and that is his man inherently good or evil. Of course, the secularists believe that man is inherently good, but can do bad things. And that of course, is because of the effects of his or her environment. For the secularist man is deprived, not depraved. And if you give him the proper love, the proper modeling, the proper socialization, the proper education, giving the right environment and his true goodness is going to show. Of course, that has never happened, but at least that's what they are pursuing. Of course, the question is, how do you define good? I did a little bit of research this week. And to summarize it, the secularists basically define good as being intuitively kind, by nature. We are cooperative, selfless towards our fellow man. But when man acts these ways towards his fellow man, is that really an accurate measure of his nature? What happens when the other guy doesn't reciprocate? What are the real motives behind being kind and cooperative? And selfless? Could those actions be selfish, perhaps? And then another question comes up. Do those good things honor God? Oh, we can't talk about that because we don't know if there is a God. I mean, now you're moving into another whole realm of understanding human nature, we can't talk about that. Now you're introducing theology and anthropologie based upon some understanding of God, whoever he or she might be if he or she even exists. We don't know if there is a God. So we don't know how to honor God. There is no such thing is an absolute standard of right or wrong. So it's intuitive. It's fluid according to societal norms. So if that's true, man is the one that decides what is good and what is evil. That's how people view it today. Of course, the question is which man? Right? Which man decides which group of people? Moreover, I would submit to those people, that if there is no God, if there is absolutely no moral standard, no authority, no standard of righteousness, and if we are nothing more than sophisticated germs, that have evolved out of some primordial gas and crawled out of some swamp, and we've randomly come together to be what we are to today, what difference does it even make? What is good or what is not good? Why should we even care? After all, we're just a mass of randomly selected meaningless cells. Some societies sacrifice human infants in a fire to appease their deity, is that good? There are other societies that enslave other people, other human beings, they torture them. They even eat them, is that good? Some people would say it is. Our society kills unborn, inconvenient babies. Our society claims that gender has nothing to do with biology. Is that good? Who says there are many people that wouldn't agree with that? So how do you define what is good? And then you have to ask the question. Are we as human beings made in the image of God, and all of a sudden, the secularists will begin to snicker and shake their head? Can't believe you would even ask such a stupid question. Well, let me go a bit further. Let's just say that we are. If so, are we not therefore responsible to our Creator? To honor him? Well, now the laughter begins to turn to mocking, right? Has he not revealed himself in creation, and even in our conscience, and even in His Word, the Bible and in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, now the laughter turns to absolute scorn. There is a crescendo of rage, as you begin to logically trace this whole debate. Yet man is basically good. What standard do we use to define good and evil man standard, or God's standard? Who is our moral authority? Is it man? Or is it God? If it's man, it's fluid, it's ever changing. Kind of like whoever wins the next election that becomes the next standard?

Well, of course, as believers because of God's grace, we understand that God exists, that we are responsible to him, and that He has revealed Himself in His Word, and he is the standard of righteousness. Jesus said in Matthew 19, verse 17, "There is only One who is good." referring to God. Now, Isaiah 64, verse six, "For all of us, have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment."Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." And we're told in Romans chapter five and verse 12, that through one man, "Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." Jesus described the ultimate standard of goodness. Here it is in Matthew 22, beginning in verse 37, Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, this is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets," referring to the Old Testament scriptures.

God has revealed his standard of righteousness and His law. And he has written that in his word, the law of God is sometimes referred to as the mosaic code. And that was the codification of God's holiness, the divine standard of righteousness. And if we look at God's law, we see that the features of his law includes a two fold summarization of his law that I've just read, that we are to love God with all of our being and love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. And then there's a 10 fold summarization of that law. It's called the Decalogue of the 10 commandments, also referred to as the tablets of stone, the Mosaic law given to Moses at Mount Sinai read about it in Exodus 19, through 20. It's also called the Old Covenant. And there we read that if you keep the covenant, you're blessed, if you violate it, you're cursed. The first three, speak of how we are to love God perfectly, it speaks of polytheism, graven images and swearing. And then you have the Sabbath. And then you have the last six tell us how to love our neighbor, it speaks of obedience to parents. It talks about how we should not commit murder, adultery, theft, bear, false witness, coveting, and so forth. And so you have a two fold summarization of the law, a 10 fold summarization of the law. And then there is also a manifold summarization of the law. It's called the words of the covenant. You read about that, and Exodus 24, verse seven, and that, frankly, the entire Book of Leviticus is an expansion, a detailed expansion of the law. Now, all of that was written down for a purpose, and we know that it was to be placed in a receptacle beside the Ark of the Covenant with the tablets of stone inside. And according to Deuteronomy 31, verse 26. Here was God's intention. "Take this book of the law and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there, catch this now, as a witness against you."

You see, folks, the purpose of God's holy, perfect, righteous standard is to expose our sin. To be a witness against us in any breach, any violation means that you broke the whole law. The consequence was death. So the law was extremely oppressive. It shows God's standard of what is good, which is radically different from man standard. Now, it is true that God prescribed certain rituals and regulations and the Mosaic Law prescribed them for Israel, there were regulations with respect to certain foods you could and couldn't eat and certain conditions that could be considered defiling, like there would be certain medical issues that would be defiling like leprosy. Menstruation would render a woman ceremonially unclean during that period, touching a dead body, etc. And God's covenant people were expected to obey the law as best they could. But they were required to do so out of a heart that sincerely loved the Lord. And that's where they failed miserably. They became preoccupied with external symbols that ignored internal purity of the heart. Take, for example, circumcision. God gave that as a law to the men of Israel. And it was the seal of God's covenant with Abraham. It was a reminder of God's covenant promises that was placed on his body and the bodies of all of the male descendants. You read about that in Genesis 17, for example. And while the cutting away of the flesh that could hold disease in its folds and be passed on to wives was important. In those days where they didn't have the hygiene that we do. Now, circumcision also indicated that God's people were in desperate need of cleansing grace, cleansing grace. You can read about this in Leviticus 12. For example, the first three verses, it was a symbol of the need for the heart to be cleansed from a deadly disease, one that would be passed on through reproduction from generation to generation. For example, in Deuteronomy 10. The context there was when the Israelites were encamped on the banks of Jordan, ready to enter into the promised land, the Lord spoke to Moses and spoke through him and gave the people five basic requirements that he expected of his people, beginning in verse 12, of Deuteronomy 10. "Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you." By the way, here's the definition of goodness, right? Here's what He requires "to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commandments and his statutes which I am commanding you today for your good." And later on, he goes on to say so circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. Jeremiah four and verse four, "Circumcise yourself to the Lord, and remove the foreskin of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds." The apostle Paul spoke of this as well in Romans chapter two beginning in verse 28, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. And his praise is not from men, but from God." Now, the point with these examples is simply this. All of the stipulations, all of the regulations, prohibitions in the Mosaic Law, were merely symbols that illustrated man's sinful condition, and his need for spiritual cleansing, ultimately, to point people to Christ. And if someone was ceremonially defiled, they couldn't even participate in public worship until they underwent an external cleansing. And that would be a graphic picture of man's sinful need, their sinful heart and his need for forgiveness for internal cleansing, before he could ever come into the presence of a holy God. So all of this was symbolic.

Now, this brings us to our text. The scribes and the Pharisees refused to see any of this. Because you see, they believe that spiritual corruption could be removed through physical, external and ceremonial practices. If you do certain external things, then you're good to go. And of course, nothing could be further from the truth. May I remind you, the writer of Hebrews comments on the symbolic nature of the Old Testament rituals in Hebrews eight and verse five. There we read, "they served as a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things." Hebrews 10 And verse one "For the law, since it was only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very form of things can never, by the same sacrifices, which they offer continually, year by year, make perfect those who draw near." You see, dear friends obedience to the law was never meant to save anyone, because it was absolutely impossible to obey the law. That's why again, it was called a witness against you. Deuteronomy 31:26, but rather it pointed people to the need, their need, for a Savior. And that's because "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," Romans three and verse 23. Remember man has an innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God, he is a sinner by nature. And Jeremiah chapter 17, verse six says that the "heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick, who can understand it?" We must understand that the material and immaterial parts of man have been corrupted by sin. And the consequence of that is physical death and eternal death, unless we trust in Christ to save us, since corruption, in the spiritual part of Man, has defiled, has corrupted, has polluted his thinking, his reason, his desires, his affections, his motives. And Titus one in verse 15, Paul said, "to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled." Ephesians four and verse 18, "they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the their hardness of heart." And in Romans chapter one and verse 21, we see that that sinful mankind is, quote, "futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." So his man inherently good, or depraved. Of course, man is hopelessly biased in his own favor. And he would say, Oh, we're basically good. Just give us all the good things that we need, and we'll show you how good we are. And God says something very, very different. Unless you understand this, you will never see your need for a Savior, and you will perish in your sins. Romans three beginning of verse 10. We read the apostle Paul, indicting man's character, his conversation, his conduct, and he quotes several Old Testament passages There we read, "There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside together, they have become useless. There is no one who does good there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave with their tongues, they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths and the path of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes." That's God's answer, dear friends. You see man is an active hater of God. Romans eight seven will tell you that, and on his own apart from regenerating grace, he has no capacity to understand and embrace spiritual truth. First Corinthians 2:14.

Now, while the secularists have always mocked all of this, mocked God's standard of goodness, you must understand that many in apostate Judaism have done the same thing. And this is what Jesus had to deal with. They believed that spiritual defilement or evil worked its way inside of a person from the outside. Now this is why going back to our text, in Mark seven, the scribes and Pharisees confront Jesus and in verse five, they say, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?" Don't you realize you can't do that you're gonna get defiled. And as a result, Jesus confronts their stupidity, their hypocrisy. And he exposes their elaborate system of external rituals and ceremonies that they believed would impress God and make them righteous in his eyes. And now here in verses 14 through 23, he explains to his disciples and to the crowd, the true source of moral corruption. This moral corruption does not originate from outside of us, it originates from within us, which is a chilling reality that should give us all pause. Man's very nature is corrupt, and he is utterly helpless to change it. Only the regenerating work of the Spirit of God can raise us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Because you must understand, beloved, that man's will is in bondage to his depraved nature. He has absolutely no desire to choose saving faith apart from Divine initiative. That's why Jesus told the great teacher of Israel, Nicodemus, a fastidious keeper of the law, in John three told him that you must be born again. Something has to happen to you that you can't do to yourself. You must be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, by the power of the Spirit of God, that will give you the gift of repentant faith in the Lord Jesus. So salvation is, is not a matter of avoiding contamination from external sources. It's not a matter of keeping manmade rules and regulations, not even keeping the law. Because again, obedience to the law was never a means of salvation. Assuming anybody could keep it safe, the God man, Christ Jesus, Romans three in verse 20, the apostle Paul says, "by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin." It's an incredible statement. I mean, think about this, Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, right? I mean, he was top dog in his day, the most elite of the elite, another fastidious keeper of the law, and a killer of Christians. But when he examined his life against the law, by the power of the Spirit that had transformed him, he died, he says, Romans seven, verse nine, "sin became alive and I died," he went on to say it proved to result in death for me. Why, what's he saying? Well, what the law did was expose the depths of his sinfulness. And it underscored the heights of God's standard of righteousness. And in light of that disparity, he knew instantly, that he was guilty. And he was helpless. dependent solely upon God's grace, as we all are, all his righteous accomplishments, and pride were reduced to ashes. And I might add that the same will be true of everyone that sees their sin for what it is, and sees Christ for who he is. Because our only hope is faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

Of course, all of these gospel truths were horribly offensive to the Pharisees and scribes. They're trying to kill him. And so as we look at the text, I want to do so under two headings that will help us grasp these very simple truths. First of all, we're going to look at the source of moral corruption. And then secondly, examples of moral corruption. Now, let me give you the more immediate context here, Jesus has just had a confrontive conversation with the scribes and Pharisees, I call them the hit squad that was sent by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. And apparently, the delegation now has departed after Jesus rebuts their ridiculous accusations. And so they leave and now Jesus is going to call the crowds that had probably moved back a little bit, because whenever these guys would come around, with all of their, their robes and everything, everybody else would back away because these are the holy men. So, scribes and Pharisees have gone, crowds around, they've kind of overheard some of this and they're wondering what's going to happen next. And Jesus called them in closer to him. So first, we're going to see what Jesus has to say with respect respect to number one, the source of moral corruption.

Notice verse 14. "After he called the crowd to him again, he began saying to them, 'Listen to me, all of you and understand.'" Now I want you to notice the authority that he exerts in his statement, and this is a clear contrast between him and the authority of the scribes and Pharisees. Their used to listening to them. And he is now saying, I want you to listen to me, not them. In fact, the verb listen is used nine times in Mark and it's always in the context of a solemn pronouncement. A solemn pronouncement, he goes on in verse 15, "there is nothing outside the man which can defile him, if it goes into him with the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man." Now folks you must understand, this is absolutely shocking to these people. What Jesus is saying is turning their world upside down. They've never heard anything like this. I mean, they've been doing all of these things, are trying to, and the law and then all the manmade stuff, the ridiculous stuff that the scribes and Pharisees have added down through the years. And he's basically saying that none of this is really defiling. But there's something inside that is defiling. Verse 16, says, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." I might add that this is a phrase not found in the earliest and some of the most reliable manuscripts. And so even if we were not sure that it needs to be here, however, Jesus did, say this in other settings. So what happens here is Jesus is using kind of a short parable, basically, a riddle. And we see that in verse 17, In other words, his statement is a rather enigmatic, kind of a mysterious saying, that has wide application, and it will cause people to pensively reflect upon its meaning. An easy statement, but one that you got to think about a bit, especially when you've never heard anything like that. So you're not only going to think about it, but apply it to your life. And so Jesus is literally reversing the guiding principle of their religious system. He's saying that nothing outside of a man can enter into him and make him unclean. Rather, the defilement already exists within. And it is therefore what is in him that is going to come out of him that makes him unclean.

Let me give you another example of this in Matthew 23. Jesus made it a habit of humiliating and excoriating the scribes and the Pharisees on this very issue. Matthew 23, beginning in verse 24, he says, "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self indulgence, you blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup, and of the dish so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside, appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Jesus never understood what we now understand today how important it is to be seeker sensitive. Obviously, that is ridiculous. He just unleashed the truth. This is why the Jews hated him, because he kept exposing them. Not to mention he claimed to be God. I might add that in many parts of the world, nothing has changed. I got a email this week from our friend Wes Tabor, remember Wes Tabor, with life and Messiah. We support them, the evangelistic mission organization that is primarily made up of Jewish people that have come to faith in Christ and they ministered to Jews all over the world. But he emailed me from Hong Kong to remind me of, of a Jewish friend, a former IDF soldier that that I know. In fact, he was here at my father's funeral if when some of you were here, but he was telling me how he was reading my father's book, the one that I wrote, out of the depths some of you have most of you probably have read that if you haven't, I would encourage you to do so. It's an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness and Providence but this soldier former soldier was reading My dad's book in Israel in the home of a rabbi, friend of his, and the rabbi asked him, What are you reading? And he told him and the rabbi looked at it and just went medieval on him. He took a black marker and he started blacking out Jesus everywhere he could. And he finally got in such a rage, he just threw the book away. Folks, that's the kind of hostility that Jesus dealt with, and still does. So nothing has really changed since the first century. Even though by God's grace, there are many Jewish people, including many rabbis coming to faith in Christ. So Jesus didn't seek any common ground, he just unleashed the truth on them. And of course, that was very offensive. It was countercultural. So he's saying again, that the external things like food and unwashed hands are not the source of defilement that offends God. The source is your fallen nature. It's the moral impurities in your heart. It's your your, your desires, your thoughts, your attitudes. That is what defiles the man verse 15. Now let's notice what happened next in verse 17, when he had left the crowd and entered the house, what happened? Now he probably went to Peter's house, he's probably in Capernaum. His disciples questioned him about the parable. So the disciples are saying, you know, we need to talk. I'm not sure I get all of this. Because again, they they've not understood these types of things. Before I tell you, what are we look at what Mark says, Let me see, see, or let's see what Matthew has to say about it. And Matthew 15, beginning in verse 12, here's what happens next. "Then the disciples came and said to him, do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard the statement?" You know, I would imagine Jesus is shaking his head saying, really? Yeah, I kind of knew that that would offend them. Because you see to the Jewish people, you never talk back to these guys. These guys have all the answers. But he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly father did not plant shall be uprooted, let them alone. In other words, because of their willful rejection of their Messiah, in light of full knowledge of who he is, God has abandoned them to the eternal consequences of their iniquities. And by the way, the same can be said of other false teachers that we have today. Just let them alone. God has given them over. He goes on to say they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit. "Peter said to Him, explain the parable to us. Jesus said, Are you still lacking an understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth, passes into the stomach and is eliminated?" In other words, guys, let me give you biology and physiology 101 here. All right, things go in the mouth. They go into the stomach and they are eliminated. They don't somehow get into the heart and cause you to do bad things. Don't you understand that? He says, but the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, slanders, these are the things which defile the man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man. Now, Mark records essentially the same thing. Look at verse 18. "And he said to them, are you so lacking an understanding also, do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and is eliminated?" And then Mark offers kind of an explanatory comment. Here."He said "Thus He declared all foods clean." This was perhaps influenced by by Peter who understood this very well from his experience, you will recall and an Acts 10. He was in Joppa and a sheet filled with all kinds of animals were presented to him in a vision and he was commanded get up Peter kill and eat and then later on, we read what God has cleanse no longer consider unholy. And so there again here's Mark saying "Thus he declared all foods clean." And so a paraphrase of that verse 19. It could be something like this by saying these things, Jesus was ending all distinction between ceremonially clean and unclean foods. By the way, I also find great comfort that God was not a vegan, right? I'm sure the the disciples wore those shirts that says PETA, people enjoying tasty animals, right? So then we have a summary statement there in verse 20, "Jesus was saying that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man."

And so now what he does is he shifts from an analogy from the physical to the spiritual. We've seen the source of moral corruption. Now we're going to see number two, examples of moral corruption, these things that occur within the realm of the spiritual the inner man. And here the Lord will provide a representative list of evil actions, there are six of them. And then evil attitudes, six of those as well. So six examples of wicked behaviors followed by six attitudes or drives or states of the heart. And he begins in verse 21, and says, "For from within, out of the heart of men, precede the evil thoughts," Dialogismos, in the original language, you get our word dialogue from that, it's really fascinating. It means deliberations in this case, within the mind, machinations in the mind, reflections, it refers to one's perceptions, one's ideas, one's motives, the content of what a person thinks. That's what he's referring to here with these evil thoughts. "For from within, out of the heart of man, precede the evil thoughts." It could be translated evil schemes or designs, or devising things. Literally, if you translate it from the Greek, those bad dialogue, musings, it's a really ridiculous way of saying it, but that's the idea. And think about I mean, we're constantly carrying out a dialogue in our mind conversation, discussions, and often it's sinful, it's self serving, selfish, no thought of doing even what is good for the glory of God. And what we say in our heart is far more revealing than what we say in public, right? I mean, there are lots of times when I don't want you to know what I'm thinking in my heart, and I'm even ashamed of it. I may be the only one in here that has that problem. But that's reality. Proverbs 23, verse seven, "for As a man thinks within himself, so is he." So think of this, the evil thoughts or the dialogues in the heart of the unregenerate is exceedingly more evil than those of us who have been born again. And then it flows out of the heart and to speech and actions. In fact, the Psalmist says in Psalm 14, verses one through three, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God they are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds, there is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand who seek after God, they have all turned aside together, they have become corrupt, there is no one who does good, not even one." And of course, this is some of what Paul quoted in Romans three. So again, in verse 21, Jesus begins "For from within out of the heart of man, precede the evil thoughts, these evil machinations and the phrase here evil, evil thoughts." Appears to be kind of an overarching caption, kind of an umbrella phrase that introduces the more specific vices to follow. Let's look at the six examples of evil actions. And I might also add that the first four are included in the second half of the 10 commandments, in Exodus 20, verses 13 through 17. And Jesus's disciples would have immediately recognized this, so within their heart, within our heart exists, first of all fornications. Porneia in the original language. You get our word pornography from that. It speaks of sexual sins, immoral sins, illicit sexual behavior of any description, whether it's inside or outside of, of marriage. To make it more practical, this is Spring Break debauchery. This is stuff that's just in people's hearts. This is premarital sexual intercourse. This is viewing pornography. This is telling and listening to off color jokes. This is women who dress seductively in order to entice men to lust this is the the type of thing that progresses to homosexuality and to the whole transgender insanity, you know the whole alphabet people thing you know the the all of the stuff that we just shake our heads at. This is what we see with stand up comics all the time, right? They're always twisting everything to give it some sexual innuendo and everybody snickers This is commercials on television now that promote homosexuality in the transgender perversions, lyrics in most music, political slogans, late night television, you can't even watch it. Filthy game show hosts that like to twist things. Even many political pundits are masters of twisting every word, every phrase, every joke, everything has some double meaning. This is fornications in the heart. This didn't come from eating something.

Than thefts. It's a form of a Greek term klope, we get the verb klepto. We get our word kleptomaniac from that. And it's description is descriptive of anybody that takes things from other people. I mean, this is, I was thinking about our politicians, it's the act of taking from other people of stealing things, cheating on your income tax, shoplifting, loafing on the job, withholding from God and so forth. He goes on and gives another one, murderers. Of course, this is the illicit killing of another human being. We have this all over the place and in our world today I think of abortion, which is the brutal dismemberment of of an unwanted inconvenient infant. Jesus said, By the way, in Matthew five and verse 21, and 22, that just to hate other people, is murder in the heart. Also, he adds adulteries. This would refer to sexual sins that violate the covenant of marriage. And Jesus again taught that a married man even even if he looks at another woman, lustfully has committed adultery in his heart. Matthew 5:28 deeds of coveting verse 22, this speaks of greed. This speaks of avarice, desires, and behaviors. You want what other people have. This fuels all kinds of things in our culture today, this is fueling the whole reparations debate, the insanity of the woke culture. Then he adds wickedness. This is just a kind of a catch all term that describes any malicious acts that violate the word and the will of God, a summary of all that has been mentioned, and many other forms of wickedness. By the way, there are many other lists of these types of sins and other places, especially in the New Testament. I might add that Matthew includes in this list, bearing false witness and slanders.

And then Jesus lists six attitudes or drives or states that exist within the heart. In verse 22, as well as deceit, this speaks of fraud, this speaks of being cunning and treacherous, trying to take advantage of other people. We could we could talk for an hour about all of the ways that we see this being manifested in our culture, people taking advantage of other people. Sensuality, that speaks of lewdness, or use a an old English word licentiousness, debauchery, wantonness, indecency, and has the kind of connotation of open and flagrant excess. Shameless, unrestricted unbridled immorality.This is the type of stunning immodesty that you see at the beach. And sadly, at Walmart. This is gay pride parade. This is drag shows, people that have no self control. They love to flaunt their perverse impulses. That's why Paul said in Romans 124, "therefore, God gave them over in the loss of their hearts." Literally the illicit cravings of their hearts," He gave them over to impurity that their bodies might be dishonored among them."

And then he adds envy. a foul most Canaris, we get our word ophthalmologist and so forth. It literally means an evil eye, or a sinister eye. Envy. I love what I read from one commentator by the name of Hendrickson. Quote, "jealousy and envy can be distinguished. Jealousy is the fear of losing what one has envy is the displeasure of seeing someone else have something." And he goes on to say "our English word envy comes from the Latin "invidia", meaning, quote, to look against, that is to look with ill will at another person because of what he has, or is. It was envy, he goes on to say, "that caused the murder of Abel, that through Joseph into a pit that caused Korah, Dathan and Abiram to rebel against Moses and Aaron, that made Saul pursue David, they gave rise to the bitter words which the" quote, "elder brother addressed to his father, in the parable of the prodigal son, and which crucified Christ," and then he closed by saying, "Love, never envies."

Admit it folks, this exists in our hearts right. And even though God has renewed our hearts, given us a new heart, there are still remnants of the flesh that are there. Then he adds, slander, of which is abusive speech, which would include just even the especially the untrue, exaggerated defamation of another person's character, pride, arrogance, haughtiness, insolence, an exaggerated sense of self importance, superiority that leads to habitual self promotion. By the way, this is much of what fuels social media, people are desperate for attention. They're desperate to flaunt themselves. These are the people that dominate conversations. These are the people that are the hero of their of every story and so forth. And the scribes and the Pharisees were the poster children for this. I mean, they were proud peacocks. And they made some of our pro athletes look humble. The disciples struggled with this as well, right? Did they not argue about who's going to be first in the kingdom? We all struggle with this, we have to admit it. He adds "and foolishness," which is just moral folly. In fact, the Old Testament fool is always associated with one who is wicked, who has a wrong attitude toward God. Remember, Jesus told the rich man in his parable in Luke 12, beginning in verse 20, he says, "you fool this very night, your soul is required of you and now who will own what you have prepared. So as the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Paul said in Ephesians, five beginning of verse 17, "So then do not be foolish." In other words, do not be devoid of wisdom and good sense and sound judgment. "Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, do not get drunk with wine for that is dissapation but be filled with the Spirit." And as we look at this list, foolishness is basically a summarizing vice that encompasses the preceding five drives or words that Jesus used.

Then in verse 23, closes, "all these things proceed from within, and defile the man." These things don't happen because we ate something with dirty hands or we ate the wrong food. We're defiled because of what's in our heart. Charles Spurgeon said this, "The heart is the spring of action. The heart suggests, resolves, designs, and sets the whole train of life in motion. The heart gives the impulse and the force and yet out of the heart, thus initiating and working, proceeds all this mischief of sin. By the heart is meant mainly the affections, but it all often includes the understanding and the will. It is in fact, the man's vital self. Sin is not an extra that comes to us and afflicts us like robbers breaking into our house at night. But it is a tenet of the soul, dwelling within us, as in its own house. This evil worm has penetrated into the kernel of our being and there it abides. Sin has intertwisted itself with the warp and woof of our nature, and none can remove it but the Lord God himself. As long as the heart remains unchanged, out of it will precede that which is sinful, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually." And finally, he adds, "If it is so that the nest in which sin is born and nurtured is the heart itself, we always carry about with us by nature, that which will surely be the cause of sin. Unless we look well to it, and cry daily for grace to conquer it. This evil nature of ours is an always present danger. It is a powder magazine, which at any moment may explode oh for grace, to keep our hearts with all diligence."

Beloved, as we close this morning, we can rejoice in the miracle of regeneration. Because of the Spirit's work that he has wrought within us. He has given us a new heart right? He's cleaned our heart no longer are we slaves to our sin. No longer does sin, still reign, but it still remains. And therefore we need to watch over our heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs tells us how do we do that Let me close with this thought. Out of Psalm 119. Beginning in verse nine. "How can a young man keep his way pure?" That's the question. Here's the answer. "By keeping it according to your word, with all my heart I have sought you do not let me wander from your commandments. Your word have I treasured in my heart that I may not sin against You. Blessed, are you oh Lord, teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies. As much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways I shall delight in your statutes I shall not forget your word." Oh dear friends for grace let's pray that our hearts would certainly be guarded by the word. Because that is the source of moral corruption. Yet it is that same heart that Christ has cleansed. What can wash wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow no other found I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Father, we thank you for the blood of Jesus that is cleansed us. We rejoice in your saving grace. Take what we have learned today. Plant them deep within our hearts that they might grow and produce a great harvest to the praise of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.