WWUTT 2178 What Comes Out of a Man (Mark 7:20-23)

It is a really easy lie to fall into believing that people are naturally good, but we're not.

Even Jesus said, what flows out of a person is evil, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Mark, we've been in chapter 7, and today we're going to look at the section where Jesus explains that what defiles a person is what comes out of him, not what goes into him.

Let's look at the section in context, verses 14 to 23 out of the Legacy Standard Bible, hear the word of the

Lord. And after he called the 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.

And when he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples were asking him about the parable, and he said to them,

Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? 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 goes into the sewer?

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, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.

There was a news story earlier this week of a woman who had killed a three -year -old in a parking lot in Cleveland.

This didn't happen this week. This actually happened some time ago. Her sentence was this week, and there's no understanding of what her motive was.

She went and bought a knife, and then she came out and she stabbed the child and the child's mother.

The mother survived with injuries. The child died. The woman received her sentencing this week, and during the sentencing, as it was being declared, what was going to become of the woman?

What was her judgment because of this evil, heinous crime that she committed in cold blood in a public place, with no motive to do it whatsoever other than the vileness of her heart?

As her sentence was being read, she smiled the entire time.

She would even ham it up for the camera and look at the cameras in the courtroom, and she would smile.

No remorse in her heart whatsoever for murdering this child, and nobody even understands why she did it in the first place, except that from her heart flowed these evil things as Jesus is describing them here.

Now, as there were pictures that were on social media, as some of the video clips of her smirking for the cameras were floating around, even among friends of mine, there were people that were calling her a demon.

She's clearly demon possessed. She is obviously under the influence of some sort of evil spirit.

Now, I don't doubt that there are evil forces at work here. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6, 12, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

And as I had taught to my own congregation recently, as we were in 2 Timothy 2, there are those who are caught in a snare of Satan to do his will.

But though it's true that there are spiritual forces at work that certainly would have been influential upon this woman, she was not being powered by some kind of evil spirit as though it dwelled within her to cause her to do this evil act.

She wasn't demon possessed. For Jeremiah 17, 9 says, the heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick.

Who can understand it? The evils that the human heart is capable of are so dark and depraved that sometimes we have difficulty grasping just how evil people can be.

I remember listening to a sermon from Votie Bauckham one time in which he said, you know, there's that common excuse out there.

The devil made me do it. Hate to break it to you, but the devil probably doesn't even care who you are. He's not even messing with you today.

He's got bigger fish to fry. The devil's not making you do anything. You have enough to worry about with regards to the depraved state of your own heart.

You're bad enough in your sinful nature that you have inherited from your father,

Adam, that the devil doesn't have to really make you do much. You can be rotten enough on your own.

And every single one of us are capable of incredibly depraved evils. It is by the grace and mercy of God that he doesn't let us fall into the evils that our heart would entertain.

And so here Jesus describes the very evils that come from inside a person. And one of the things that we notice about this is that none of this stuff comes from the outside.

Jesus never says murder gets into a person. Like sexually immoral stuff from outside gets into the heart of that person and causes him to do sexually immoral things.

It was somebody else that caused that man to be prideful. You don't see a description like that anywhere in this.

It is not that we have been contaminated by sin that came from the outside. Sin originates from inside the human heart because we are all fallen.

As Romans 3 .23 says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

It is in our nature to behave in this way, to rebel against God. And that's what

Jesus explains here in this particular passage. Now up in verse 15, as Jesus is teaching the crowd, he says, 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. And then what we're reading here today in verses 20 to 23 expound upon that statement.

That's what the disciples are coming to Jesus and asking about. Explain this to us. How is it that nothing can go from outside the man into him that would defile him?

And Jesus rebukes them, really, how do you not have understanding in this? Why don't you get this? And as we considered yesterday with the food laws, the dietary laws in Leviticus chapter 11, the whole purpose of those laws, of the dietary restrictions had nothing to do with these foods are unclean.

And so if you eat them, it's therefore going to make you unclean. It had to do with holiness being set apart and separated from the pagans and the things that they ate, that God's people was not, they were not to be like them, but they were to be holy just as God is holy.

A command that we have comes up in Leviticus and Peter even repeats it for the church in first Peter chapter one, we must be holy as God is holy.

That was the purpose of the dietary laws. Christ fulfills that he reconciles

Jew and Gentile together. So now the dietary restrictions are no longer needed and it is not by anything unclean outside that we are made unclean inside.

A person is already unclean inside and it is Christ who makes us clean.

So let's consider as we fathom here, the depravity of the human heart as Jesus describes it in Mark chapter seven.

And we'll consider this along with other passages. I'm going to go to Romans three as well. But here in verse 10, in verse 20,

Jesus was saying that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.

It originates from inside the human heart. Now it's certainly true that we could be tempted by things outside of us.

Like you look at the first sin on this list, other than evil thoughts, proceed evil thoughts, and then the next one, sexual immoralities.

So it's kind of like everything else comes under that umbrella of evil thoughts. But sexual immoralities, you can be tempted outside of yourself, right?

You see something that makes you lust, that even makes you want to entertain it.

Or maybe you start looking up stuff on your phone or on your computer. Maybe it affects the conversations you have with other people and you say things that are kind of perverse because of this temptation that has happened that is outside of you.

That's certainly true. You can have those external temptations, but the reason why you give into those temptations, the reason why you entertain them and eventually do them is because that was the condition of your heart.

And so it's out of your very heart that you're acting upon the temptation happens.

If you didn't have the desire for it, you wouldn't have even done it in the first place. The temptation may awaken that thing that exists within you, but it's because of what was already there that you acted upon it.

The temptation didn't make you do anything. In 1 John 2, 15 to 16,

John says this, do not love the world nor the things in the world. For anyone, if anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.

So this is describing things that are outside, right? But then listen to where John goes next, verse 16, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the father, but is from the world.

Now, lust doesn't come from outside. Lust comes from inside. But if you lust for that, which is outside, you are being worldly.

So it's not just that the sins that we do don't come from the outside in, they go from the inside out.

There are certainly things that are outside of us, but the reason why we entertain and go after those things, that we yearn for those things, or lust is the word that John uses here.

The reason that we go for that is because that's what our heart wants. It's what our flesh wants. It's what our eyes go after.

It's what we pridefully desire and think that I know better than God. This is better for me than what

God has for me. Not being satisfied in God, we go after these other things, and this demonstrates the defiling nature that exists within our own hearts.

Now, as God put this in Romans 1, of course, through the apostle

Paul in Romans 1, but the way that this is explained about all the unrighteousness of men, verse 21 says, although they knew

God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever.

Amen. Now that is showing there that there was no appreciation, no thankfulness for God.

And so, because they were not thankful to God, they went after the sinful desires of their flesh.

And that is sin for every one of us. We're not satisfied with God. So we go after other things in the world to satisfy us and are therefore defiled because we go after the desires of our wicked hearts rather than the desires of God.

Let's consider these vices that are listed here as we come back to this list that Jesus gives to the disciples about those things which defile a person, that which comes out of a man.

Verse 20, that which proceeds out of the man is what defiles the man. Verse 21, for from within out of the heart of men proceed the evil thoughts.

Like I said, that one is listed first and everything else comes under it. Everything else is evil.

Consider the progression that James gives in James 1, 14.

Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

So that's what's going on in the heart of every one of us. We have the lust, the desire for it first, and then we go after the sin.

And then the wages of sin, Romans 6, 23, is death. So it begins with evil thoughts.

Everything proceeds from evil thoughts. You know, one of the things about this, before I continue on, notice that Jesus doesn't ever say, he never says anywhere, not here or anywhere else, that what proceeds out of a person is love, is goodness, is kindness, is gentleness.

You know, the fruit of the spirit that we have in Galatians 5, he never says anything that is reflective of that, charity toward other people, helping old ladies across the street.

That's what comes out of a person. Jesus never says anything like that. Because what comes out of a person, what originates from a person is evil.

If we're going to be loving and kind, that gets put into us. That is when the

Holy Spirit comes in, ransacks the place, clears out all of the idols and filth and everything else that exists within our hearts, and transforms us and makes us a new creation.

That is therefore able to demonstrate the fruit of the spirit, Galatians 5. And we have the fruit of the spirit contrasted with the works of the flesh there in Galatians 5.

The works of the flesh, that's what naturally comes out of us. The fruit of the spirit, that is supernatural.

It is put in there by the Holy Spirit of God, that we would desire to do these things and reflect these characteristics of God from within our own hearts.

So Jesus is talking plainly here about the natural state of a person. This is what naturally comes out of a person.

People are not by their nature good people, for from within proceed evil thoughts.

And then the next one, sexual immoralities. A lot of the vice lists in the New Testament, sexual immorality is at the top of that list.

Evil thoughts is at the top of this list because everything else flows out of that. The first sin after evil thoughts that's mentioned is sexual immoralities.

So it's amazing how many times that tends to top the list. That is like the true expression of the evil heart, to go after sexually immoral things.

Because you desire physical gratification for that lust that is coming from your heart.

It is true selfishness, a true desire to feed your own flesh and neglect anything else, except for this one thing that you just have to have.

It's kind of like it's emblematic of any other kind of lust or desire that a person would have, sexual immorality.

Remember that Colossians 3, 5, and 6 says that against such things, the wrath of God is coming.

It's not even that you go out and commit the sexual immorality, even the very lust that you have within your heart,

God's wrath is coming against. So put these things to death and ask God for a renewed mind and a renewed heart.

Don't go after the passions of your flesh, seize them and submit them to Christ.

And ask Jesus to give you a heart and a mind that desires the things of God instead of the things of your flesh.

After sexual immoralities, we have thefts. So coveting stuff, it's like we jumped to the last of the 10 commandments, coveting thefts.

You're coveting other people and the things that they have that you would even steal them.

It began with the desire in your heart for somebody else's stuff. Murders, the contempt that you have for other people.

Adulteries goes with sexual immoralities. Of course, anything that is sex outside of marriage is going to be sexually immoral.

That includes looking at porn. It includes sexy conversations with somebody that is not your spouse that you should not be having.

And then, of course, it includes hopping into somebody else's bed who is not your spouse. Adultery is specifically sleeping with somebody else's spouse.

So that would be the distinction between sexual immorality and adultery, although adultery would also be included under sexual immorality.

Verse 22, coveting, we have that mentioned again, desiring other people's stuff.

Wickedness, all manner of filth and profane speech that would come from a person.

A contempt that you have for other people and a desire to only want to gratify yourself.

You have no compassion or charity for other people, but just wanting to see them hurt or suffer.

That's wicked. Deceit, lying to people, leading them astray, getting what it is that you want.

You might even flatter people. That's deceitful, just flattering you and making you think something so that you will like me and I will,

I'll experience the gratification that I want, but you're never going to get the thing that I promised. Sensuality, again, we're still talking about lust there, going after the desires of the flesh and the mind.

Envy, which would be distinct from coveting in that envy would be like to actually want to be that other person or get their opportunities and have their position and their status and think

I could do it better than that person does. And it would even put yourself over those people.

So all these people down here, they are under me. And that all kind of goes with envy.

There's slander, speaking negatively about other people, again, desiring to tear them down with your words.

Pride, thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Even having an attitude of like, nothing's going to come against me for this.

I'm above all of that. Everything else must bend to my rule. I don't have to bend to anybody else's rule.

Then foolishness, just the fact that you would not pursue the wisdom and knowledge of God. Remember that Proverbs 1, 7, which kind of sets the tone for the entire book of Proverbs, says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.

So to not have the fear of God, to entertain all of these evil thoughts is truly about the most foolish thing that a person can have.

No judgment will ever come against me. God doesn't see what it is that I do. And this rebuke came to the people of Israel in Malachi 2, 17.

You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, how have we wearied him?

By saying, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.

In other words, you would go after these evil things and then think to yourself, but yeah, but God loves me.

He's going to forgive me. Or even God is approving of this thing that it is that I do. It's not really evil.

That is foolishness. That is prideful. It is for that the judgment of God will come upon such a wicked person.

Jesus says in verse 23, all of these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.

And so how is it that we have a new heart that doesn't go after these things, but goes after, as I said before, the fruit of the spirit, or demonstrates the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

How do we have those qualities? You need Christ. You need to ask

God to forgive you of your sins and to give you a new heart and a new mind. As David prayed for and asked for in Psalm 51, created me a clean heart,

O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Romans 3, verse 11, or verse 10 beginning rather, says none is righteous.

No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside.

Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.

And yet even the most faithful biblical expositor can fool themselves into thinking that people are basically good.

It's a really easy lie for us to believe that people are basically good, just flat out denying and ignoring what scripture says about the depravity of the human heart.

People are not by their nature good. People are by their nature evil.

And what we all deserve, every single one of us deserves the judgment and the wrath of God.

But Jesus died on the cross for our sins, taking God's wrath upon himself so that all who believe in him will not perish under the judgment of God, but will have everlasting life and receive new hearts and new minds being shaped after the image of our creator.

As said in Colossians 3, we are new creations. The old is gone.

The new has come. As Paul had said with the Corinthians and with the

Galatians, we are to take off the old. We are to put on the new. We are to walk in newness of life that we have been raised unto in the baptism of Jesus Christ.

And so put off the sins and the evil practices and the wickedness that the rest of this world is walking in, that you may have been walking in before you came to Christ.

You were walking in them. Even if you weren't committing heinous evils for which you would get arrested and be thrown in jail, you were breaking the law of God.

You were by your nature a lawbreaker. And for that, you deserve judgment. There are still sins that need to be put to death today.

You know there are. And so commit your ways unto the Lord that he would give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 20, verse 4, may he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel.

And he'll fulfill your heart's desire. He'll give you your every heart's desire. If what you desire is what

God desires. Psalm 37, 4, delight yourself in Yahweh and he will give you the desires of your heart.

In that what you desire is God. And he will change your heart to desire the things that God loves.

Let's finish here with prayer. Heavenly Father, create in me a clean heart.

Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence. Take not your

Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of your salvation.

And renew a right spirit within me. Teach us to walk in your ways, to keep your statutes.

Thank you for your patience with me. Give me life everlasting in Christ.

New life to walk in in these days. Until we walk through heaven's gates in glory.