Home For the Holidays Is Your House Ready? Mark 7:1-23 Pastor Daniel Bracken – December 3, 2023

Introduction
We are in a series “Home for the Holidays”
Getting our house ready for guests and family.
The question God is asking today is, is your house ready in the eyes of God?
A look at the text.
The Pharisees and some teachers of the law, or scribes, had come from Jerusalem to find fault with Jesus.
They saw the disciples eating food without _____________________ washing their hands and asked Jesus about it.

The only commandment in scripture about washing your hands is Exodus 30:19 and Exodus 40:12.
The _____________________ tradition began to supersede God’s _____________________, thus shifting the _____________________ from God to man.

Jesus calls them _____________________.

Isaiah 29:13.
He lets them know they have _____________________ God’s commands and are now following the _____________________ of men.

Jesus gives an illustration of what they were doing.
God said in Exodus 20:12, and Deuteronomy 5:16, the ten commandments, one is to _____________________ their father and mother
They used Numbers 30:2 the making of a vow, to justify this action.

They were canceling or nullifying God’s _____________________ by their tradition. Mark 7:13

Jesus then says in vs 15 It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.[h]”
In the Judaism of Jesus’ day, the focus was on the _____________________.

Jesus is saying all their laws point to a deeper reality.
The house is the place of _____________________ for his disciples and they ask him about his radical statement.

Uncleanness or defilement is a state of the _____________________ and what is in one’s heart comes out by what one says and does.
Jesus lists what is in our hearts, our _____________________.

What is God saying to us.
We need a new _____________________.

The Old Testament prophesies that there will come a time when God will provide a way for us to have a new heart.
Jeremiah 31:33-34, Ezekiel 36:25-27
Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophesies.
The gospel preached cuts to the heart. Acts 2:37
Salvation comes through confessing Jesus as Lord with your mouth and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
Galatians 4:6,Ephesians 3:16-18
We must guard our hearts. Proverbs 4:23
Check out your _____________________.

Have you been _____________________ to evil?

Get rid of the _____________________ things

Put your mind on _____________________. Philippians 4:8

_____________________ defilement from you and others.

Renew your _____________________ with the _____________________. Romans 12:1

Conclusion