THE THINGS WHICH DEFILE A MAN
Matt. 15:1-20
Prayer
Jesus was teaching in Galilee.
A committee of scribes and Pharisees was present from Jerusalem.
This committee was listening to what Jesus and His disciples were saying.
And watching what they were doing.
Suddenly a member of the committee asked a question.
ìWhy do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?î
Then, he identified the tradition of the elders he thought the disciples were ÝÝÝÝ
breaking.
He said, ìThey wash not their hands when they eat bread.î
The elders had a tradition of washing their hands at least three times when ÝÝÝÝ
they ate.
They washed their hands the first time before they ate.
They washed their hands the second time in the middle of their meal.
And they washed their hands the third time at the end of their meal.
Originally, they washed only once.
They ate with their fingers.
They got food all over their fingers.
So they needed to wash.
Later, they decided it would be a good sanitation practice to wash before they ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
ate.
After all, they were going to eat with their fingers.
Still later, they added a third hand washing.
In order to be extra clean, they washed during the middle of the meal.
Thus, they established a tradition of three hand washings.
And this committee of scribes and Pharisees was asking, ìWhy do thy ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?î
ìWhy do they defile themselves?î
ìWhy don't they wash their hands three times when they eat?î
Instead of answering their question, Jesus asked one of His own.
ìWhy do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?î
Then, He identified the commandment of God they were breaking.
ìGod commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother;î
ìAnd he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.î
ìBut ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is a gift, by ÝÝÝ
whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;î
ìAnd honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.î
Jesus was saying, ìGod [God Almighty] told you to honor your father and ÝÝ
mother.î
ìHe even said, If you don't honor your father and mother you should be put to ÝÝÝÝÝÝ
death.î
ìBut look at what youíve done.î
ìWhen your father and mother needs financial help,î
ìYou tell them that you intend to give your money to God.î
ìYou say its okay to ignore what God said as long as you intend to give your ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
money to God.î
ìThus have ye made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.î
Notice, that we are talking about two traditions here.
The scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus, ìWhy are your disciples breaking the ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
hand washing traditions of the elders?î
And Jesus asked, ìWhy are your elders establishing traditions that break the
commandments of God?î
Jesus turned to the crowd.
He said, ìIts not what goes into your mouth that defiles you.î
ìIts what comes out of your mouth that defiles you.î
ìIts not food on your fingers that defiles you.î
ìIts what comes through your lips that defiles you.î
This confused His disciples.
They asked Him to explain it.
In essence, He said, ìIts not what you eat that makes you a sinner.î
ìSin comes from inside you.î
You cannot wash your hands and be clean before God.
You have to do something about what's on the inside.
Its not enough for the outer man to look good.
Something has to be done to clean up the inner man.
ìFor out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
thefts, false witness, blasphemies.î
ìThese are the things which defile a man.î
ìBut to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man.î
Sin is in your heart;
Not on your hands.
Pontius Pilate could not wash his hands and cleanse himself from his part in Ý
the death of Jesus.
What is sin?
The Bible gives at least six definitions.
First, sin is the transgression of the Law.
John said, ìWhosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law;î
ìFor sin is the transgression of the lawî (I in. 3:4).
The law refers to the Commandments of God.
They are holy;
Guidelines for us to live by.
God wants us to keep them. We are sinning when we break.
Its important to see this.
There is a lot of pressure on people today to be Politically Correct.
Christians are often criticized for disagreeing with society's standards.
But society's standards are not God's standards.
Society's standards change.
But God's standards are changeless.
Society's standards are always being lowered.
But God's standards are never lowered.
Society accepts many things today it would not accept fifty years ago.
Society even accepts many things today that the Word of God says is an ÝÝÝÝÝ
abomination unto God.
Many of today's traditions are the traditions of unsaved men;
Not the traditions of the Bible.
And regardless of what liberal preachers and theologians say;
And regardless of what the world says;
We are sinning if we do not keep the Commandments of God.
This is the very issue that Jesus was addressing.
ìWhy are your elders establishing traditions that break the Commandments of ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
God?î
I think He was saying, ìDon't let the moral decay of your society pull you ÝÝÝÝ
away from God.î
ìIf the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch.î
If we follow blind leaders who ignore the Commandments of God, we will ÝÝÝ
please those blind leaders.
But we will not please God.
And when those blind leaders fall,
We will fall with them.
Then, Jesus may ask, ìWhy did you accept a way of life that violates the ÝÝÝÝÝ
Word of God?î
ìWhy did you make the Word of God of no effect by your lifestyle?î
ìWhy did you take the Commandments of God off the walls of your Ý
courthouse?î
ìWhy did you take the Commandments of God out of the rooms of your ÝÝÝÝ
schools?î
Write this down.
Its better to please God than men.
Second, knowing to do good, but not doing it is sin.
James said, ìTo him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is ÝÝ
sinî (James 4:17).
We Christians often equate our calling with respectability instead of ÝÝÝÝ
responsibility.
We rightly adhere to that part about living a respectable life.
But we wrongly overlook that part about ìtaking up a cross.î
We dare not kill or steal.
But we are lukewarm about some of our other Christian responsibilities.
Some refuse to witness.
Some refuse to go the second mile.
We know that we should turn the other cheek,
But we don't.
We know that we should do good to our enemies,
But we put them down.
We know that we should pray regularly.
But we are too busy.
We know that we should study our Bible.
But we don't.
These are sins of omission.
And everyone in here is guilty.
There's not a person in this room who is not sinning.
Third, anything that is not of faith is sin.
Paul said, ìWhatever is not of faith is sinî (Rom. 14:23).
He said, ìWithout faith it is impossible to please Godî (Heb. 11:6).
If we want to please God, we have to act in faith.
But how do we act in faith?
We have to do two things:
First, to act in faith, we have to properly train our conscience.
We do that by getting to know the Scriptures.
We need to hear the Scriptures preached and taught.
And we need to study them for ourselves.
Learning the Scriptures trains our conscience.
Second, to act in faith, we have to learn to do what we inwardly believe is ÝÝÝÝ right.
When we know the Scriptures, we know the will of God.
And when we know the will of God our trained conscience will bother us, if Ý
we are doing wrong.
And when we know the will of God our trained conscience will not bother us, ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
if we are doing right.
Whatever is not of faith is sin.
But faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
The Word of God trains our conscience so we can act by faith.
King David said, ìThy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin
against theeî (Psa. 119:11).
He hid the Word of God in his heart because he did not want to sin against ÝÝ
God.
Look at Jesus.
He spent forty days in the wilderness.
Satan tempted Him three times.
And every time he did, Jesus quoted the Scriptures.
The Scriptures reveal the will of God.
Knowing the Scriptures will help us to act in faith.
When we act in faith, we avoid sin.
And we please God.
Fourth, all unrighteousness is sin.
This is what I John 5:17 says: ìAll unrighteousness is sin.î
Isaiah said, ìWe are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
filthy ragsî (Isa. 64:6).
I want to say something here that is difficult for some people to accept.
We are all sinners.
And everything we do is tarnished.
That sounds harsh doesn't it.
We are all sinners.
And everything we do is tarnished.
Consider this example.
We just took up an offering.
This was a good thing.
But it was tarnished.
Why?
Because some could have given more.
Some did not tithe.
Some may have given for the wrong reason.
None of us gave until it hurts.
Our gifts were not a major sacrifice.
We all fell short of the ìwidow's mite.î
This is the point.
No matter how far we go,
We could have gone farther.
We could have done more.
The good part was good.
But the shortfall tarnished what we did.
And all of us hold back to a degree.
Fifth, sin is a disease of the soul.
The Psalmist said, ìHeal my soul, for I have sinned against theeî
(Psalms 41:4).
He was saying, ìI need to be healed.î
ìI am sick.î
ìThere is something wrong inside of me.î
Notice, that Jesus told His disciples, ìThose things which proceed out of the ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.î
We sin because we have a disease in our soul.
We inherited our disease from Adam.
We call it our sin nature.
Paul had something to say about this.
Its so complicated, I want to read it from the Living Bible.
Paul said, ìI know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful ÝÝÝ
nature is concerned.î
ìNo matter which way I turn I can't make myself do right.î
ìI want to, but I can't.î
ìWhen I want to do good, I don't.î
ìAnd when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.î
ìNow if I am doing what I don't want to,î
ìIt is plain where the trouble is:î
ìSin still has me in its evil grasp.î
He was saying, ìI'm not perfect.î
ìI'm sick.î
ìI know I'm sick because I fail to do the good I want to do.î
There are times when we desire to do right.
But our good intentions bomb out.
We say something we didn't intend to say.
We do something we didn't intend to do.
We didn't say something we intended to say.
We didn't do something we intended to do.
What we don't want to do we sometimes do.
And what we want to do we sometimes don't do.
We have a disease in our soul.
That disease is sin.
Weíve got our priorities mixed up.
Sixth, the thought of foolishness is sin.
ìThe thought of foolishness is sinî (Prov. 24:9).
But what is the thought of foolishness?
The thought of foolishness is the idea that we can leave God out of our life.
Its the idea that we can ignore God and get away with it.
Do you remember what Jesus said comes out of the heart?
ìOut of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, etc.î
Sin is the result of foolish thoughts in our heart.
Adultery, blasphemy, lying, stealing, etc. begin as foolish thoughts in our ÝÝÝÝÝÝ
heart.
They begin because we think we can ignore God.
And there will be no consequences.
That's the thought of foolishness.
And the thought of foolishness is sin.
So what are the things which defile a man?
(1) Breaking the commandments of God defiles us.
(2) Knowing we should do things like pray, witness, study our Bibles, etc. but ÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
not doing it defiles us.
(3) Failing to exercise faith in God defiles us.
(4) All unrighteousness defiles us.
(5) Sin in our souls defiles us.
And (6) The foolish thought that we can ignore God and get away with it ÝÝÝÝÝ
defiles us.
What can we do about it?
It takes more than washing our hands three times when we eat.
Jesus said, ìI am the Light of the worldî (Jn. 8:12).
The Psalmist said, ìThy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my ÝÝÝÝ
pathî (Psa. 119:106).
And John said, ìIf we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have ÝÝÝ
fellowship one with another,î
ìAnd the blood of Jesus Christ, His [God's] Son, cleanseth us from all sinî
(I John 1:17).
To walk in the light means to obey God;
To do God's will;
To do what Jesus and the Bible says.
If we will do what God wants us to do, the blood of Jesus [God's Son] will Ý
cleanse any and every sin in our heart.
Water will cleanse us on the outside.
But it takes the blood of Jesus to cleanse us on the inside.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
We have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins
(Col.1:12-14).
ìBeing justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ ÝÝ
Jesus:î
ìWhom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His bloodî ÝÝÝ
(Rom. 3:24-25).
The blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us.
And as long as we walk in the light, it will never stop.
Are you trusting in the blood?
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Heb. 9:22).
If you are not trusting in the blood of Jesus, you will not be forgiven.
Will anyone accept Christ today?
Hymns:
1. Nothing But The Blood
2. Blessed Assurance