Mark 7

Jesus addressed the danger of allowing human traditions to become more important than their purpose to God.

In Mark 7:8, he says, and in the King James Version, "For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the traditions of men, as the washing of pots and cups, and many others such like things ye do." Now, in Southeast Missouri Jesus terms, it means you ignore God's rules, and you follow the human rules, like putting stuff in the dishwasher and many of the other things that you do that is not pleasing to God.

That's basically what it's saying if Jesus was in Southeast Missouri nowadays.

Now, Jesus wasn't saying every tradition was bad.

And that is what Jesus came to take care of.

In Mark 7, verses 20 through 23, Jesus says the evil that defiles a man does not fundamentally come from outside of him.

You remember that? Out of the heart, the mouth speaks, Jesus says.

You can tell a lot about a person by the things he says.

Look at Colossians 2.

Get Colossians 2 and Mark 7.

Colossians 2.

And Mark 7.

I am thankful to be part of the Bible Baptist Church.

I am thankful for the amazing privilege God has allowed me to be part of what he's doing here, and to, as of this month, 19 years as one of your pastors.

Mark chapter 7, last passage.

Even Dominic's getting tired.

So Jesus quoting the minor prophets, which would've been a body of work within the, uh, the Tanakh, that, uh, you know, the, and him quoting it as authoritative and from God means that all of these guys are in play.

And he quoted Isaiah in Mark 7, so Jesus affirms the veracity of, of Isaiah.

And what does, um, what does Isaiah 17:8 say? "The land is full of idols.

They bow down to the work of their hands, to that which their fingers have made, to the Ishirim, and, uh, Asherim, and the carved images." [chuckles] Right? Okay, and this is not talking in a positive way.

That knowledge was to act as an interpretive grid regarding and superseding other evidence, that is, eyewitnesses, scriptures, extant evidence, etc., order to do this they would often appeal to private visions compare with colossians to eighteen or an esoteric secret tradition that was allegedly given by jesus and slash or his apostles but for which there is no extant evidence thus having denied the historical basis of the gospel the gnostics seek to reinterpret it in alien terms with the aid of a spurious tradition Similar argumentation is recorded in the dispute between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees over rabbinic traditions that were supposedly traced back to Moses.

Matthew 15, 1-9, Mark 7, 1-13, compare with Exodus 24-4 and Joshua 8-35.

A fallacious claim could be made, and has been many times since, that because we do not possess an exhaustive account of everything Jesus said and did, which is true , it means someone can claim positive evidence concerning Jesus, even contrary to existing evidence.

Whether one believes in Jesus or not, the fallacious nature of the argumentation ought to be obvious.

He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me.

All this saith he, Matthew 10, and Mark 7.

He saith, Whosoever is ashamed of me or my words among this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with his holy angels.

And Luke 9 also, None that layeth his hand to the plough and looketh back is meet for the kingdom of heaven.

But then you might say, "But what about our good deeds? Don't we do some righteous things?" Here is what Isaiah 64 verse 6 says, "We have all become like one who is unclean." And when you are unclean, you are f- unfit to come into the presence of God.

Isaiah says, "All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." Jesus himself says in Mark 7, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him.

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." Brothers and sisters, the heart of our problem is the problem of our heart.