He rescued my heart

Intro-argument from this morning

My response came from the heart, it was going to be out of the treasure of a good heart or the depths of an evil one
- Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Mark 7:14-23

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 stomach, and is expelled? (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

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, wickness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

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

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.

Defile

- Define
- To make unclean, unholy
nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him
- Continuation of Jesus’s roasting of the Pharisees that were accusing His disciples of eating with unwashed hands
- Last week we talked about how one isn’t made clean by following the law, but by faith, by a heart that believes

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 stomach, and is expelled? (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

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, wickness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

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

Out of the heart

- So what we see is that this issue of defilement is not a physical issue, but a heart issue
- Out of the thoughts and actions of the heart comes defilement or uncleanness or unholiness
  - Iow, out of our heart comes sin
  - Luke 11:37-41 37While Jesuse was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

*p1 As we look at what comes from the heart, Lets understand that God knows and personally examines each one of our hearts*

Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Deceitful above all things

- - Our unredeemed, un regenerate hearts are deceiful
    - Without the truth
    - Is is dishonest and not to be trusted

desperately sick

- Sin sick, dead and needing to be brought to life

The Lord searches the heart
- The lord is searching our hearts, He knows the condition of it
Ain’t no hiding

Proverbs 21:2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.

We can justify our thoughts and actions, but God sees and inspects the heart

1 chronicles 28:9b

for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought.

Back to the text

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

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

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

Evil thoughts-sinful thoughts, thoughts that displease God, fantasies, Jesus says adultery even.
- I believe that this is at the top of the list because the thought pre-cedes the action
- The thought precedes the sin
- Before you rob, your evil thoughts approve of it
- Before you lie, your evil thought approves it
- Before you tell someone off or say something your evil thoughts approve it
- Before you look at porn or have sex outside of marriage, your evil thoughts approve it
- Before you do anything on the forthcoming list, your evil thoughts approve it
- Again, Jeremiah 17, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Sexual immorality -any type of sexual action outside the boundary of marriage between a man and a woman
Theft

Murder
Adultery-cheating on your spouse
Coveting-greed,

Wickedness
Deceit
Sensuality-out there

Envy
Slander-using an evil tongue
Pride

Foolishness
All of these thoughts, attitudes and actions come from the heart and make us unclean
- This list should have found everyone out in the room..
  - Psalms 53 tells us no one is righteous, god looked down and there wasn’t even one
This list of sins that come from the heart have to be more than a conceptual thing, sin is serious!
- this defilement is the reason Jesus had to die for us
- Isaiah 53:5-6 5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

**p2 What are we to do about this evil, sinful heart which defiles us?**

The answer to this is nothing!!!!
there is a better question. That question is what does God do about our evil, sinful, defiling heart?

1. He reveals Jesus to us
  1. 2 Corinthians 4:6 6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2. He exchanges our old heart for a new one
  1. Ezekiel 36:26-27 26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
    1. What does this look like?
    2. It looks like the gospel
      1. The gospel says that Christ exchanged the glory of being in heaven with the father to rescue us from our sins

Philippians 2:5-9

1. 1. 1. What does this new heart look like?
      1. A heart that loves the lord with their whole heart, mind, soul, strength
      2. A heart that beats for him, his glory, that loves people

Cause you to walk

1. 1. 1. Cause good things to come out of your heart
He will establish your new heart
1. 1 thessalonians 3:12-13 12and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
  1. Blameless in holiness-opposite of defiled

Back to the text

Read vs 21-23 again

*p3Now that God has revealed Jesus to our hearts, exchanged our hearts and established our hearts, and made our hearts blameless in holiness, does this text still apply to us?*

Lets turn to galatians 5:16-24 (worship team)
The struggle