The life of the Heart
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they 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, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And 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?” 6 And 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;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But 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)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
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, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Mk 7:1-23
intro
(At the beginning of this message I bring a plant in and show it. It is obviously not healthy. Where did I put it? Did it thrive? Was it designed to be there?)
What does this passage have to do with this plant?
Out of touch with our hearts
I want you to take one lesson from this passage- These guys had no idea where there hearts were. They thought they were with God. Near God. And yet they were totally wrong. How could they be so wrong? They thought they loved God more than any others, they thought they knew their hearts where closest to God, and yet they were so out of touch with where their hearts were that they actually were farthest away from God. They had it completely wrong! How can this be?
See, this is what I want you to see- very, very often humans do not know their own hearts. They are unfamiliar with them.
Do you know where your heart is?
What do I mean your “heart.” I do not mean just your feelings or your love. I mean that innermost part of you where your desires live, where your decisions are made, where your love resides, that very central part of yourself that defines you, your will, your all. The center of all you are. I am talking about that place in your core where all your wants are, all your longings. That part of you that wants to be loved. The real you, that is what I am talking about. The inner true self, the inner true you.
This inner self, this true you, the inner part that desires and longs, it is this part that I think you have neglected. I wonder how many of you right now really know your heart? I mean really know it- you know what it wants, you know where it has been, you know right now what it longs for. This very central part of us, this thing that really defines us, we so often are out of touch with. We get our hearts wrong.
Why?
We tend to ignore our hearts. We get so distracted with so many things that we hardly ever stop to think about the inner life of our heart. We do not stop to examine ourselves too often. We do not try and understand what we want, and why we want it. Just like these Pharisees, we have neglected to think about our hearts, and why we do what we do and want what we want.
We are so out of touch with our hearts and what they really need that we spend a good deal of time being very careless with them. We are told in the Word to guard our hearts. To be careful with them, to give them the right things, but we don’t. we ignore them.
How are we careless with our hearts?
We are careless with our hearts when we put it close to things that it was never designed to be close to. You see, what this text tonight tells us is that our hearts where designed to be near God. That is what Jesus is saying. The problem with the Pharisees is that their heart was not near Him, as it was designed to be. Jesus says this is so important that even if you make a million rules and keep them, even if you sing the greatest songs of praise, and tell all your friends about Jesus, and prayer the greatest prayers, and give the best sermons, and speak the greatest truths- even if your lips praise Him like this- if your heart is far from Him, all that you have done is in vain- it is worth nothing. Because God does not want lips that say the right things, He wants hearts that love Him, that are close to Him. That beat for Him. Is that your heart?
Have you been careless with your heart?
Really, the only thing most people know about their hearts is that they are not content. They are not ok with what they have, there is something missing that they want. (How dangerous it is, actually, when we don’t feel this way, when we feel completely satisfied with what is here!)
Tozer said this- "thirsty hearts are those whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God within them.” This feeling in our heart is a gift, and it drives us to put our heart close to things. We are driven to find something that will make it better.
What have you let your heart get close to? Where has it been?
What do I mean? Let me give you some examples-
· Some people have let their hearts get close to popularity. They want just to be admired and be thought much of. They wanted to see if their heart would grow and thrive in that light, and it certainly seems like it will, it feels right. And so under that light it goes, and we take our heart and we give it to the crowds. Imagine that- the crowds! And they trample upon it, and use it, and mold it into what will best suit and entertain them. This trampling of our heart leaves it dirty, and hurting.
· Some people have let their hearts get close to a certain person. They want the love not just of crowds, but of a certain one. You know, Impact has a position on dating for this reason. Dating is not a sin. Understand, there have been people in Impact that have dated with Impact’s blessing- two of them leaders now- Ben and Mark. But, the American idea of dating is one we encourage students to stay away from. Why? Because it is a giving of your heart over and over to different people. We try it here, and there, and before you know it again our hearts have been all over the place, dirtied, and tired.
· All of the things that we might find here to put our hearts close to will harm our hearts, because if our hearts are close to and tied to the things here, our hearts will share their fate. – look-
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.1 Jn 2:15-17
We are told not to love the things here- that is, tie our hearts to them- because if we do, we tie our hearts to something that is dying, passing away, and our hearts will share the fate of what we tie them too. Do you want an argument for not dating an unbeliever- here it is- do not tie your heart to something that is passing away, dying. All unbelievers fit that definition, and to fall in love with and date an unbeliever is to tie your heart to one who is perishing, and so your heart will share their fate. This is why being in a relationship with a believer is different- they are not passing away!
So we have put our hearts close to so many things. Like the plant I showed you, our hearts have been close to things that can not give life, and the result is that they are dying, and sick, and hurting.
The saddest situation is when someone has done that for a long time, and then gives up. Then they try and just ignore the ache in their hearts.
The way we try and fix our hearts
But for some of you, you can not ignore it. And you don’t want to. Maybe you are sitting here now thinking “yes, I have done this. I have placed my heart close to so many things, given it a bit too much to things I should never have given it.”
We realize that we have let our heart get a bit dirtied. It has been too close to things it should never be close to. Our hearts have longed and ached for things, and we thought they could get what they need if we just let our hearts get close to some of the things in the world. Yet we still ache, and in the end our heart is dirtier than before. What will we do?
Our first reaction, and maybe your reaction right now, is to say something like this to ourselves- “ok, that’s all, I am going to start to do good. I will make myself do better. I wont be a bad person anymore, I wont run after those other things, I wont dirty my heart ever again that way.”
This is exactly what the Pharisees did, and I have news for you – it doesn’t work.
Look-
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they 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, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And 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?”
The Jews had all these rules and regulations about what they could touch and how to wash and what to do to be clean. They wanted to do what you want to do- have a clean heart, make things right. But this does not work. Listen, I have good news for you- for those of you in here with dirty hearts that have been too close to the world, I have good news. You can not do anything to fix the problem. Now, that doesn’t sound like good news, but it is. It means that you can scrap all your plans to try and just be good and protect your heart. You cant do it. You will fail.
Why do I say this?
Because Jesus makes this clear in the rest of this passage. In the midst of all this stuff about hearts being near or far from God, and being clean or dirty, Jesus says
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.”
The problem, Jesus says, is not with what you do, not with what you put your heart close to, but with your heart itself. He explains-
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, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
The problem, Jesus is saying, is not that you put your heart close to the wrong things, but that it wants to be close to the wrong things, the problem is with your heart. It is dirty through and through. It will always chase after the things that will kill it. It is like a plant that only wants to be in the dark. You can try your best to keep putting it in the light, but it is always wanting to go back in the dark. It is broken. The bible makes this point so clear about our hearts-
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
Je 17:9
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Ge 6:5
Our heart will continue to return to the same things that will dirty it again. The problem is our hearts need to be close to God, but don’t like being close to God. Our hearts are broken, they like the wrong things. They like what kills them, what dirties them.
Maybe, after all, there is no hope for your heart. In fact, i think this is the case. our hearts are hopeless. They will never want what is right, they will never love God over evil, they will never live, they are dying. What hope do we have?
Jesus’ way of fixing our hearts
There is only one hope for our hearts.
Death.
We must hand this heart, and all it’s wicked desires, over to God. We must ask Him to kill it, and give us a new heart.
A new heart! This is our hope, this is what we need.
We are orphans until this takes place. we become His children when He gives us new hearts.
But how can this be? How can you have your heart be put to death?
Understand, every one of you- your heart, your heart that has longed for such evil and sinful things, that has been so close to what it should never have been close to, it will die. It must die. God’s wrath is upon your heart, for your heart has not honored God. It has been far from Him, it runs from Him. This is the heart you were born with. This is what we call sin.
And if our hearts die, we die with them. We are connected to them. We can not just have it taken out and put to death, we can not say “Lord, punish my heart, but spare me.” We are one with our heart. And yet our heart must taste death, it must be destroyed. And so we must be destroyed.
But God is so filled with love, so good, and so caring, that even though our hearts run from Him, even though we have not wanted him, while we hated him, he did a wonderful thing. Jesus Christ came and he took the punishment that you deserve because of your wicked heart and sin. He took your place on the Cross, he was punished as a substitute for all who will believe.
So now you can go to him this night and say this- “Lord, I am sick of my heart and how it runs to be close to what will never satisfy it. I am sick of how it does not want you the way it should. I know there is nothing I can do to make up for that, there is nothing I can do to fix it. And I know that I deserve to never be close to you because of it. Please, let Christ’s death be the punishment for me. Let Him be punished in my place, and give me a new heart, one that loves you and wants what is right. Make me a new creation.”
Friends, your heart must be made new. God promises he will do this!
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And 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. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. Ezekiel 36:25-29
Our hearts are broken, and evil, and ever wandering, ever going their own way. And the Maker of the stars, he hears the cry of your broken heart tonight, he knows the ache in you, and he comes to set you free from it. This is the love and mercy of God- that He would love you so much that He would make a way for you to be near Him. He has made a way for our hearts to be close to Him. He has taken away His wrath, His wrath at us, by spending it on His son. Now, he will give you a new heart, a heart that is close to Him.
What should you do?
Where is your heart tonight? Is it His? Is it new? If it is not, run to Him, He is waiting to make it new! And if it is new, protect it, and keep it close to Him, and rejoice that He has done such a wonderful thing for you, and that forever your heart will get closer and closer to Him. What should you do? Well, if you are not sure if you are His child-
Realize that your heart has been far from Him, and that it can not be fixed by anything you have done. Understand that the fact that since you have been so resistant to loving Him as He should be loved mean that His anger burns against you, your heart is cut off from Him forever, it is not close, nor can it be, nor will it ever want to be. It is like a plant in the dark, it will die.
Tell Him that you need help. That you want to be close to Him. You want His wrath to be removed, and you want a new heart, a heart that does not love sin and evil anymore, but that loves Him.
Tell Him that you want Jesus’ death on the cross to count for you, and that you want Christ’s goodness to count for you too. Tell Him you want Christ to be your substitute, so that all of God’s anger at you can be poured out on the Son.
Realize that this is the case- God’s anger at you is poured out on Jesus. And realize that when God looks at you now, he sees Jesus’ righteousness and good works, they now count for you, and you are clean in God’s sight!
And rejoice that God is at work in you- let the world know it!
If you are His child-
Examine what you have been doing with your heart, and what it has been close to.
Examine where you have led others- have you led them to put their hearts close to you, or to God? To what will give life, or what will take life?
Turn from anything in your life that is trying to win your heart away from God.
Get your heart close to God so that it will thrive and not die.
Live in such a way that the world knows that He owns your heart, and that you want to be close to Him. The world you are in always is giving their hearts to the things around them. Don’t join them, live differently, let that be seen!
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