WWUTT 2177 What Goes Into a Man (Mark 7:18-19)

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In Mark 7, 19, we have this unusual statement here that Jesus declared all foods clean.

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So you can go out and eat whatever you want, right? There's something more significant to it than that.

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When we understand the text. This is when we understand the text studying

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God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Find all our videos online at www .wutt

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.com, as well as links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Here's your teacher,

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Mark, we are in chapter 7.

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And I want to pick up where we left off yesterday, or rather, we're going to revisit some of the things we looked at on Monday.

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But let me go ahead and read the entire section again, just to keep it all in context. This is

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Mark 7, verses 14 to 23 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the

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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.

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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.

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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 goes not into his heart, but into his stomach and goes into the sewer?

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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.

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Now that's the section that you're probably looking forward to hearing about today, right? I want to hear about the evil thoughts and the murders and the sexual immoralities and the slander and the pride and the foolishness.

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That's the happy section that I want to reflect upon today. But you're going to have to wait for that happy section until tomorrow.

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Because as I was coming back to this, I thought, you know, I think we need to spend a little more time on this statement that Jesus makes, especially in verses 18 and 19, where he says, are you lacking understanding in this?

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Yes, we lack understanding. So let's come back to it again, that we may understand it more deeply.

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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?

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Thus he declared all foods clean. Now I rushed through that on Monday, I went through that a little quickly and didn't reflect more upon this statement of Jesus declaring all foods clean.

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This has some significance to us today, doesn't it? Especially if you're on social media, because you'll no doubt encounter some sort of an atheist who's criticizing

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Christians. Maybe you've seen this as a meme. Maybe someone has said something to you directly, but you will, you will see these statements that are like you

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Christians always pick and choose whatever you like and don't like in the Bible. So you'll tell us that homosexuality is wrong, but in the meantime, you're eating shrimp when the

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Bible says, don't eat shrimp, or you'll have a bacon cheeseburger when you're not supposed to eat pork.

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So you don't really follow everything that the Bible says. You're just picking and choosing the stuff that you like.

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Well, the irony of that criticism is the person who makes that criticism is himself picking and choosing, right?

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As I've heard Votie Bauckham say, everybody picks and chooses, everyone picks and chooses what they like and don't like in the

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Bible. Or just the fact today that I'm going to preach on a certain passage, I'm picking something out of the

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Bible that I'm going to preach on. And there's plenty of other parts of the Bible that aren't going to get discussed today when it comes to preaching the word.

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So we all pick and choose. The matter is picking and choosing correctly, that you still consider those things in context and you have a right understanding of the passage that you are choosing or quoting.

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So we want to come back to verses 18 and 19 today, and I want to give you some better understanding of it, maybe help to equip you for when somebody asks, or maybe you've asked this question, maybe you've wondered about it.

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Why are there dietary laws in Leviticus 11 that we don't have to follow anymore? Why does

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Jesus declare all foods clean? And then him just saying that means poof, it's done. No more dietary laws.

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Now we can just eat whatever it is that we want. Of course, he is God. He is the one who gave the law, so he can add to it, change it, whatever else.

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God can do whatever he wants. He sits in the heavens and he does all that he pleases.

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I know here Jesus is with his disciples, but anyway, you get what I mean. So just because Jesus says it is enough, however, we want to come to a better understanding.

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Let's get a good, deep biblical understanding of what's going on with the dietary laws in the first place and what this means for Jesus to declare all foods clean.

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So once again, I'm going to look at verse 19. Jesus says that what goes into a person does not go into his heart, but it goes into his stomach and then goes to the sewer.

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So one of the things that I mentioned on Monday was that going into the heart means the moral center of a person.

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So the Pharisees were teaching that if you ate this food with defiled hands, then it would make you morally unclean.

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Their requirement to wash your hands before eating had nothing to do with hygiene.

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It had everything to do with spiritual cleanliness. So that they were imposing these legalistic rules on people and saying that if you eat with defiled hands, you might even condemn yourself because something goes into the moral center of you since you ate this contaminated food and has made you unclean before God.

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Jesus rebukes them for that. That's what we had considered last week in the first part of chapter seven and then leads the people in an understanding that what goes into you from outside cannot be what defiles you.

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So that said, what would have happened then if someone had broken the dietary laws?

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If someone had eaten those foods, which Leviticus 11 says you're not allowed to eat, wouldn't that mean that something from outside goes into the person and defiles him?

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So how could it be then that Jesus says here, what goes into you can't be what defiles you.

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What comes out of you defiles you, not what goes into you. Well, let's understand first of all, the meaning and the purpose of the dietary laws.

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So we have Leviticus, which is one of the books of the law. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

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Those first five books also called the Pentateuch, Penta meaning five. Those are the books of Moses or the books of the law.

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And usually when you see the book or the law or something like that expressed singularly, whether it's

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Old Testament or New, it was probably referring to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy as a name means second law.

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So it's taking all of those laws that were given in the first four books, even Genesis, and repeating them again to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy before they're about to go into the promised land.

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So it's, it's re giving them the law. In other words, that's why Deuteronomy means second law,

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Deutero meaning second and Nomo meaning law. Leviticus is the book that deals more with the, the requirements of the priests, ceremonial cleanliness.

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And those are a lot of the laws that you find in the book of Leviticus. There's some narrative in there too. In fact, that's significant because in Leviticus 10, we read about Nadab and Abihu.

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You remember who they are, right? Those were Aaron's sons who chose to worship

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God in a way that God did not sanction. That was not okay for God to be worshiped like this.

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They offered strange fire, as it said in the scriptures on the altar of God. And for this, because they had offered fire that God did not allow, he had not called for, it went against the laws that he had given, especially to the priests.

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The priests had to be more committed to cleanliness than even the rest of the people. And so because they had done this,

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God struck them down and they died. That's in Leviticus 10, Leviticus 11, we get to the list of clean and unclean animals.

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These things you can eat, these things you cannot eat. How is that significant in the context?

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Well, this is demonstrating to Israel that God is holy. And if you are going to be holy as God is holy, then you must be set apart, which is really what holiness means.

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It means to set apart. God was about to send them into the promised land, the land of Canaan, which was full of pagans and God meant to consecrate his people, set them apart, sanctify them so that they would not be intermingled with the pagans that God intended to destroy.

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Remember the reason why they were going into that land was not just because God was fulfilling a promise that he made to Abraham that his descendants would inherit that land, but it was also because the people that lived in that land had become so exceedingly wicked that God meant to destroy them.

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Even when God made this covenant promise with Abraham, he said that the sins of this people had not yet reached its fulfillment.

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So at the time that he sends Abraham's descendants into that land, those people have become so horribly wicked that it's time to purge the land of them.

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Even in Deuteronomy, God says to his people, don't think that you're going to inherit this land because you've done anything great.

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I deserve it because look at how great I am. No, you're a stiff neck, stubborn people. They are getting expelled because of how exceedingly wicked they have become.

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And the land is being taken from them and it is being given to you. God was going to use the

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Israelites to punish this people for all their wickedness. But as they're going into that land, even though they are going to be purging the land of them, they will, they'll still be inhabiting the same land that is filled with pagans.

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So for God to separate out his people from them, that they would not be part of them.

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The dietary laws were among those laws that separated out

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God's people as holy. There were certain foods that the children of Israel could not eat.

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Now, some of the things on that list, when we look at them in Leviticus 11, some of the things really are, we don't eat them today.

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They're not clean animals. So it makes sense why some of those things on that list are there the way that they are there.

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The way that this gets sectioned out versus 3 through 8 of Leviticus 11 have to do with the beasts of the field versus 9 through 12 fish versus 13 to 19 are birds.

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20 to 23 are insects. There are some bugs they can eat, but some they can't. 24 to 28 were animals with four paws you cannot eat.

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So that would eliminate cats and dogs can eat cats and dogs. A dog was an unclean animal.

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Oftentimes a and oftentimes a pagan would be referred to as a dog, a heathen, a

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Gentile. They get called dogs. Keep that in mind, by the way, that's relevant because here in Mark seven, where Jesus says or where Jesus declares all foods clean, rather.

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So we have that that we're looking at here between today and tomorrow. And we'll finish up that section next week when we come back to this on Monday in verse twenty four.

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There's the Gentile woman that asked Jesus to cure her child, and we read this in Matthew, we come to it again in Mark and Jesus refers to the

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Gentiles there as dogs. And that's in context with this account of Jesus teaching his disciples and therefore declaring all foods clean.

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There's relevance there. There's a reason why these two sections go back to back like this. So I'll make that connection again next week.

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But just to tell you, keep that in mind of the reference to Gentiles being dogs, dogs were considered an unclean animal.

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And then there were also swarming things that they couldn't eat, which included animals like rodents and reptiles.

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Those were swarming creatures. And so this is the list of animals that the people were not to eat.

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Some of them made sense. And others, you know, as the animals are listed, you're probably it's making your mouth water and you're thinking, why can't

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I eat a pig? What's wrong with that? Why can't I have my shrimp? Alfredo, I can't eat my my shrimp

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Creole anymore because of these dietary laws. Well, again, this was so the people of God, the

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Israelites would not be in fellowship with the pagans. People who ate such foods were considered to be unclean.

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And so this would keep the Israelites even from sitting at the tables of the pagans, because a lot of times those pagans were eating food that had been sacrificed to false gods or their tables might even be located in their pagan temples.

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So to keep God's people separated from them, these dietary laws were in place to separate

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Jews from Gentiles. The primary purpose was holiness. It was so the people would see that God is holy.

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He is other than he is set apart. There is no one like him. He is unique in in the entire universe.

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God is God. That's the main purpose. And in fact, Leviticus is all about holiness because it's even from Leviticus that we hear you shall be holy for God is holy.

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So Leviticus pointing the people to holiness. So that's the main focus. But then it's also so that God's people would be holy and they would be set apart from the

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Gentiles. Now, when Jesus, therefore, declares all foods clean, he is the one who has come.

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To reconcile people to himself, Jews and Gentiles, he will not only reconcile them to himself, he will also reconcile them to one another.

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So whereas Jews and Gentiles were previously divided in Christ Jesus, they are going to be reconciled to one another and to God.

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And this is really what is meant when we read John 3, 16 in context. This is what this means.

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For God so loved the world, in other words, Jews and Gentiles, that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

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So anybody, Jew or Gentile, can now come to God and even be made holy in the presence of God because of what

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Christ has done for us. Again, reconciling us to God, but even to one another, since this is what

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Jesus is going to accomplish by his life and his death and his resurrection. Therefore, it is for him to say to his disciples in the context of this instruction that he is giving about clean and unclean, he says to them, what goes into a person does not make him unclean because it does not go into his heart.

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It goes into his stomach and then it goes into the sewer. So the food that people were not allowed to eat, that the

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Jews were not allowed to eat, never had anything to do with these foods are defiled. And if you therefore eat them, it will make you wicked.

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That had nothing to do with it. It had to do with holiness. It had to do with being set apart.

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But now Jesus means for his people to not be apart from one another anymore. It's not going to be

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Jews eating over here and Gentiles eating over there. But we are all going to be brought together through Christ.

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And so that's what you see in Acts chapter 10 with Peter being summoned to go to Cornelius's house and preach to the

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Gentiles. Because up to that point in the book of Acts, the apostles had not gone to Gentile homes to preach the gospel to them.

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Here, Peter was being sent to the house of Cornelius, who was who was a Roman soldier and he was going to be preaching to his entire household.

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Well, Peter thought, I can't do that. I don't go to any Gentile households. They eat foods we're not supposed to eat.

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They're unclean because of the foods that they eat. So that was what the dietary laws symbolized as well.

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God's people were supposed to be clean, but the Gentiles were unclean. So Jews had no dealings with Gentiles.

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They did not go and eat in their homes because the Gentiles ate unclean foods, which therefore made them unclean.

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So Peter had never done this before. He's not going to go eat with the Gentiles. And that's when he gets the vision of all the different animals that are coming down from heaven.

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And they're on that white sheet. And it's all kinds of four footed animals, crawling creatures of the earth and the birds of the sky.

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And notice that four footed animals, crawling creatures, birds of the sky, same kinds of categories that we see of the animals that are listed in Leviticus 11, that which is clean and that which is unclean.

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And Jesus says to Peter, rise up, Peter, slaughter and eat. And Peter says, by no means,

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Lord, for I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean. Again, a voice came to him a second time.

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What God has cleansed, no longer considered defiled. So Jesus declared all foods clean in Mark 7, 19.

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It's being reminded of Peter in Acts 10 and saying God's people are not going to be separated like this anymore.

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You can eat those foods. It's fine. The reason and the purpose for that has been fulfilled.

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And so now rise and eat. Go to the Gentiles. You're not unclean. They're not unclean.

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And God's people are being reconciled together through the preaching of the gospel and faith in Jesus Christ, who died for us.

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Amen. And it was a long explanation to get there. But does that make more sense to you now of why this is so significant that Mark would include this in Mark 7, 19, that by what

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Jesus has taught here to his disciples, he has therefore. And this is his commentary note at the end of verse 19.

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Thus, he declared all foods clean, whether it would be Peter that was saying that to Mark, who was writing down what

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Peter had told Mark to write, or it was Mark on his own, led by the Holy Spirit to write that down.

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Either way, this is a commentary note by the author that at the conclusion of Jesus explaining this to his disciples, he therefore means that foods are clean and you're not going to be made unclean by what it is that you eat.

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The picture that we see in Acts 10 of these animals coming down on this sheet, well, that's supposed to be a representation of us.

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That's seeing how God's people are all going to be united together in Christ and none of us are declared unclean.

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We are all cleansed by Christ, by faith in Jesus. Our sins are forgiven.

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We have been made new and we've been reconciled to God and even to one another because of the person and work of Jesus Christ and all that he accomplished on our behalf.

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That's the beautiful element of the gospel that exists here, even in these couple of verses in Mark 7 verses 18 and 19, even in the story of Peter preaching at Cornelius his house, even in Leviticus chapter 11, we find the significance of a gospel message even through these dietary laws that God had previously imposed upon his people.

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We don't have to follow those things anymore. Those things have been fulfilled so you can respond with confidence whenever you get those weird arguments from atheists or critics, cynics or whoever else skeptics when they say to you, yeah, you pick and choose in the

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Bible. Nope, I read the whole thing and I know that I can eat this now with a clear conscience and Christ has set me free from my sin and I have been cleansed and made new in his sight.

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Wonderful news. That's why it's called the gospel. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read here and I pray that it continues to nourish us, not by the food that we would eat in our mouths, but the food that we consume with our ears.

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The message of your word that has been proclaimed to us, the gospel that we have heard and by faith in the gospel, we've been forgiven our sins and have everlasting life with God.

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And so we rejoice in these good things. We see that there is no cause for division among any of us who are among the people of God, but we are united together in Christ.

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And so let us treat one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord, rejoicing in that our sins have been forgiven because of Christ's death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, ascending into heaven where he is interceding for us at the right hand of God, coming back again to judge the living and the dead.

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And we look forward to that day in your kingdom when we will sit down together at the wedding feast of the lamb.

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Come quickly, Lord Jesus. It's in Jesus name we pray today. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .tt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word, when we understand the text.