Full Text. - Mark 7: 1- 23

1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem,

2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders,

4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

#Point 1: Our traditions do not bring us closer to God... They rather keep us further from God!

6 “And he 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;

7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

#Point 2: Our prayers, our songs, and our words... Mean nothing if our hearts are not right with God!

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’

11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—

12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother,

13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand:

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.”

17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,

19 since it enters not his heart but his

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,

22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

#Point 3: The heart of the matter... Is the matter of the heart!

Titus 3:5 “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”

#Jesus Saves!

• Jesus Christ died for my sin!

• My sin is washed away!

• Jesus changed my heart... On the inside... Which leads me to change
on the outside!

• Because of what Jesus did for me... I get to spend eternity in Heaven with Him forever!

There is no other answer and no other way!