Mark 7:1-13

1Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2they 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,a holding to the tradition of the elders, 4and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.b And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.c) 5And 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?” 6And 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; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11But 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)d— 12then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

 

Read Mark 7:1-5

1. Did Jesus not care about the law?  Do they have a point?

• • His disciples were not breaking the mosaic law, but the traditional law which was based on the mosaic law
  • Lets first look at the relationship of Jesus and the Law

• Galatians 3:10-11, 23-26

• • 10-11 10For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
  • 23Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 

 

• The law was a temporary solution until Christ was to come
• It could never bring righteousness, because no one could possibly keep the law and we are made righteous by faith
• Jesus’ coming replaced and abolished the law, now justification is through faith in Him

John 1:14-17 14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.e 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

• • Jesus has brought us grace!  
  • We are no longer a slave to the law, but we are justified, made holy, made righteous, made acceptable by God through grace through faith!

• Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

• As we dive in, we understand that Jesus, the promised Messiah, the bringer of grace and freer of the law, didn’t need to make His disciples follow the law
  • Their justification, their righteousness was through believing on Him
  • Jesus offered the pharisees and religious leaders the same thing, but their hearts were hard and they didn’t believe
  • Instead, what we will see is that the law was being used as a way for them to glory in themselves
  • It was also being used with bad intentions to justify them finding reasons to condemn Jesus and ultimately kill Him
  • Back to text

 

1. The Pharisees came looking for a pointing finger and a reason to condemn

Mark 7:1-2 1Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.

• Come from Jerusalem, they saw

• • • When you come with the intention of finding fault, you will find something to condemn
    • Mark 3:6 The pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy Him
    • Luke 11:53-54 53As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
  • So it was the intention of the Pharisees to follow Him, not to hear the gospel of the kingdom, but to trap Him and condemn Him
    • In this instance, they have found an opportunity to judge and condemn His disciples
  • Let’s look at their actions of judging and condemning and learn from them
    • What does the bible say judging and condemning

• Matthew 7:1-5

• Revelation 12 describes Satan as the “accuser of our brothers””who accuses them day and night before our God.”

• • • To be an accuser, a judger, a condmener is to do the work of Satan
    • We as believers want to be like Jesus who is at the right hand of the father making intercession for us, obtaining grace and mercy for us
    • Instead of condemning, we should be building one another up, helping one another, and encouraging one another
• Do we do this today in the body?  Do we judge, accuse, and condemn?
  • Maybe it looks like scrolling on the facebook or social media of other christians so that we can smh?
  • Maybe it looks like judging those in the family from afar, absent of relationship
    • Thinking the worse instead of finding grace
  • Maybe it looks like judging other believers based on their church, or their denomination
  • Let us examine ourselves
• It was in the spirit of judging and condemnation that they brought the woman caught in adultery before Jesus
  • She was caught
  • She was in sin
  • She deserved judgement and punishment
  • Lets turn to John 8:1-11
    • They came for judgement, instead they got a soft heart, and she got mercy!
    • Praise God that He doesn’t condemn, but offers grace!  If we would just fall into His grace!

1. They had a man made religion, but they didn’t have God

Read verses 5-8

 5And 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?” 

6And 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;

7in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

 

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

• Notice, Jesus doesn’t even respond to their question, instead He cuts straight to the heart of the matter
• How silly must it have been for them to try to trap Jesus up, lol
  • He was their maker
  • He knew their thoughts
  • They were less than embryos in their thinking compared to the pre-existent one who is immortal, who was in the beginning of mankind and before the beginning
• Here is the condemnation:
  • Lets read verse 6 again
  • “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

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

• Lips-worship, alms, sacrifice, tithes, all for nothing, they sang halelujah, but their heart was not with God

• Heart-heart isn’t His, they don’t know or love Him, they only think they do

• Vain-all of their devotion is for nothing

• Commandments of men, not God-they were worshipping themselves, not God

 

• • They were as Paul would say they, “worshipping the creature instead of the creator”
  • Timothy would say, “they had an appearance or form of godliness”
  • Jesus calls them hypocrites
  • What was the root of their sin? Man made religion 
    • Verse 8 8You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
    • Verse 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
      • Such a powerful error
      • Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
        • This word is made void, useless when we put it in a box of man-made traditions
        • This looks like the many strands of Christianity that teach a false gospel with a bible in their hand
  • Does this happen in Christendom today?  Is it possible that we or some that claim Christ, have religion, but not a saving relationship?
    • That some worship God in vain? That they talk about the goodness of God, but their heart is far from Him?
    • The answer is yes.  Matthew 7 says that “many” will be told, depart from Me, I never knew you
    • This is why understanding what the gospel is and isn’t is so important

• What is the Gospel?

• • • We all have sin.
      • Breaking God’s laws
    • The punishment of sin is death
      • Thats spiritual death of separation from God in this life
      • And eternal death in Hell and torment 
    • God, because of His love for us made a way for us to be restored to Him
      • It was by the atoning death of Jesus
      • Meaning, He died a gruesome painful death that we should of had in our place
      • That death paid the price for our sins so that we could be restored to fellowship with God and escape the punishment of sin
    • Jesus not only died, but He then by the power of God, rose from the grave and delivered this victory for mankind
      • Now, if we repent for our sins and believe on Jesus and follow Him, we are saved
    • This doesn’t mean we no longer sin, it doesn’t mean we become perfect, what it means is that instead of looking at our sin, God looks at Jesus’ perfection because we are now in Him
    • Thats the gospel, a free gift of salvation that we didn’t earn and an eternal relationship with the God who made us, all we have to do is believe in Him
• Lets look at what the gospel is not, with an emphasis on the fallacy of man-made religion
  • Its not following a set of rules
  • Its not dressing a certain way
  • Its not being moral or good
  • Its not a doctrinal position
  • Its not a denomination
  • Its not an ethnic or civic pride
  • It is a gift received by faith and a life committed to following Christ and being changed by Him
• This grave sin described in verse 7 as teaching as doctrines the commandments of men often looks like a putting of God in a box
  • When we hear the commandments of God, we run to the box and make sure it fits there
    • Maybe its a denominational box
      • My denomination believes this so I believe
    • Pastors box
      • Topbalm story
    • Our own preference box
      • Something we don’t like or makes us uncomfortable
  • We must examine ourselves  and ask what is the authority in my life, God or me?
  • Do I have God in a box?

 

Invitation

• You’ve heard a lot about the Gospel today.
• The gospel is the crux of our faith.
• For as long as we live we are to repent and believe.
• Repent, believe for He is a holy and awesome and righteous God!

Sermon Notes on Mark 7:13