HOFC Sermon Archive: Gospel of Mark Part 38: The Source of True Defilement

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SERMON TIMELINE

1. Introduction

2. John the Baptist

3. The Baptism of Jesus

4. Temptation of Jesus

5. The Preaching Ministry of Jesus I

6. The Preaching Ministry of Jesus II

7. The First Disciples

8. A Teacher with Authority

9. At the Home of Simon and Andrew

10. Jesus Cleanses the Leper

11. Jesus Heals the Paralytic

12. Jesus and the Tax Collector

13. Jesus Questioned About Fasting

14. Of Wine and Wineskins

15. Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath & Resurrection Sunday 2025

16. Hard Hearts and Hard Thoughts

17. Three Responses to Jesus

18. Jesus Appoints the Apostles

19. The Family of Jesus

20. The Unforgivable Sin

21. The True Family of Jesus

22. Parable of the Four Soils

23. How Well Do You Listen

24. Parable of the Growing Seed

25. Parable of the Mustard Seed

26. Benefits of Private Teaching

27. Jesus Calms the Storm

28. Who is Afraid of Jesus?

29. The Touch of Jesus

30. When Familiarity Breeds Contempt

31. Principles of Evangelism

32. Weakness in the Seat of Power

33. The Need for Rest

34. Feeding 5000

35. Jesus Walks on Water

36. Healings at Gennesaret

37. The Danger of Traditions

38. The Source of True Defilement

Today is Sunday. October 12^th, 2025

October 31, 1517 – Reformation Day

The Augustinian monk Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses in Wittenberg, protesting the church's selling forgiveness of sins, praying to idols, etc., and called the church to repent and return to the authority of scripture alone and the Sufficiency of Christ’s atonement, Grace Alone through Faith Alone to the Glory of God Alone.

He then translated the Bible into German for the common man to read, and renewed attention to preaching, sacraments, and pastoral care, giving us the protestant movement.

October 6, 1536 – 19 years after Martin Luther

The English priest, linguist, and English New Testament Bible Translator from Oxford, William Tyndale, was betrayed by an informant for translating the Bible into English, and was tied to a stake, strangled to death, and his body burned, his last words were “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

Three years later, King Henry VIII authorized the translations he had killed Tyndale for and The Great Bible of 1539 was created.

October 16, 1555 – 16 years after The Great Bible

Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, also from Oxford, were burned at the stake by Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary, who ordered the Marion persecution of non-Catholic protestants) who refused to accept the Catholic tradition that the bread and wine magically turn into the literal body and blood of Jesus, and for rejecting the pope and his apostolic succession authority equal to, and sometimes more powerful than the Bible itself.

Many have died to bring you the very word of God in your language. The book taken for granted by so many. The book left unopened on nightstands, end tables, bookshelves, collecting dust. The Living Word of God entombed in unopened leather bound covers. Bread of life and sustenance for our souls, of which represent Jesus Himself, the Word made flesh for our salvation.

Thank God for those who gave their lives to bring this book to you which holds the key to forgiveness, salvation, and the promise of live everlasting.

That’s what I think of every October since I became a Christian.

INTRODUCTION

When the Pharisees and scribes confronted Jesus because He and His disciples ate with unwashed hands, we noted that some traditions are dangerous. Scripture alone holds authority, and the custom of ceremonial washing before meals was a human tradition, not a biblical command.

Jesus said that following traditions can make our worship in vain, and the commands of God void and meaningless.

Now Jesus is going to take a moment to correct them with the teaching of where true defilement comes from. First to the multitude around them (Mark 7:14-16) and the privately to the disciples (Mark 7:17-23).

We are blessed to have both His public as well as His private teaching on this, and many matters in scripture.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE

Mark 7:14-23
“And after He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.

¹⁶~~[And if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]~~

¹⁷And when He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples were asking Him about the parable. ¹⁸And He *said to them, “Are you lacking understanding in this way as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and goes to the sewer?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) ²⁰And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride [arrogance], and foolishness. ²³All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

I. ITS NOT THE FOOD

a. Dietary Restrictions in the Past

i. From Creation, man (and animals) appear to have been vegetarian

1. Genesis 1:29-30

ii. We read after the flood (Genesis 9:3-4) God told us we could eat animals as food, but not their blood.

iii. With the Law of Moses, Israelites were restricted in their diet (Leviticus 11:1-47)

1. In the Old Testament, Israel’s food laws created a daily, tangible lesson in holiness. Distinguishing clean from unclean taught the people that God is holy and that His covenant people must be set apart. The categories were not about nutrition alone but about learning to make distinctions as God commands. “You shall be holy to Me, for I Yahweh am holy, and I have separated you from the peoples to be Mine.” Leviticus 20:26. By living within these clean and unclean boundaries, Israel rehearsed the truth that only what God declares clean is truly clean.

In the Old Testament God had some stringent dietary guidelines.

b. Dietary Freedoms in the Present

i. Sorry Seventh-Day Adventists, Worldwide Church of God, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholics who teach fasting seasons aimed at repentance and self-denial.

ii. Jesus has declared all foods clean! (Mark 7:17-19)

1. So, in the Old Testament, Israel’s food laws created clean and unclean boundaries. Israel rehearsed the truth that only what God declares clean is truly clean.

2. In the fullness of time God used those categories to reveal the inclusion of the Gentiles. Peter saw a vision of clean and unclean animals and heard, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” Acts 10:15. Peter immediately applied the sign to people, saying that God showed him not to call any person common or unclean Acts 10:28. Through Christ, God cleanses hearts by faith Acts 15:9, and our Lord taught that foods do not defile the heart. “Whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him… Thus He declared all foods clean.” Mark 7:18–19.

3. The food laws were a tutor that pointed to this greater reality. God alone makes clean, and in Christ He has brought Jew and Gentile into one new man Ephesians 2:14–16.

4. So, Jesus declared all foods clean, and to the multitudes, hinted at the source of true defilement, but to His disciples, He explains the parable.

5. While the Law of Moses was in force, Jesus observed it in full (Matthew 5:17-18).

6. Therefore, the statement Mark adds in Mark 7:19, “Thus, He declares all foods clean,” is a parenthetical statement intended for disciples living after the cross.

iii. Peter later wrote that all food is acceptable

1. Even stating that to abstain from foods for religious reasons would be a sign of apostasy

1 Timothy 4:1-5 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away [apostatize] from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

²by the hypocrisy of liars, who have been seared in their own conscience, ³who forbid marriage [such as the Catholic Church] and advocate abstaining from foods which God [forementioned above] created to be shared in with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

2. There are only a few exceptions, “known” sacrificial offerings because of how it appears. Though lawful, it’s not profitable. It does not build up when you partake of known evil (1 Corinthians 10:19-23).

3. Things strangled, eating/drinking the blood of animals, (Acts 15:28-29; Acts 21:25) or, when certain foods become a stumbling block to the weak…yes, the bible says weak.

a. Romans 14:14-21

b. 1 Corinthians 8:8-13 “But food will not commend us to God. We neither lack if we do not eat, nor abound if we do eat…”

We have freedom in Christ, and we cannot get closer to God by what we do, or don’t eat. What goes into us, into our stomachs, and then the toilet, as Jesus says in the verse, is not what defiles man. True defilement comes from somewhere else.

II. WHERE IS ONE DEFILED? IN THE HEART

a. Man has a Heart Problem

i. The heart (mind) is a fountain, the spring of life, so we are commanded to guard it with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23)

ii. Our heart is affected by sin, and becomes deceitful and wicked (Ecclesiastes 9:3; Jeremiah 17:9)

iii. Therefore, it is your heart (your mind) that defiles you.

Jesus said in Mark 7:2-23 “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, arrogance/pride, and foolishness. ²³All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

b. EVIL THOUGHTS LEAD TO TRUE DEFILEMENT

i. Evil thoughts

1. Evil thoughts eventually unite with one’s will to produce evil words and actions.

2. However, they were evil in the heart long before they are manifested outwardly.

3. This is why scripture teaches we need to change the way we think, and have a mind like Christ.

Also, 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to “tear down thoughts and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

a. How do we know if something is rising up against the knowledge of God?

i. By reading the word!

ii. Adulteries

1. Come in many forms, and the biblical definition is not merely sexual relationships with someone other than your spouse.

a. Spiritual Adultery, idolatry or covenant betrayal

i. Exodus 34:14-15

ii. Judges 2:17

iii. Jeremiah 3:6-10

iv. Ezekiel 16; Ezekiel 23

v. Hosea 1-3

vi. Malachi 2:11

b. Worldliness (Spiritual Adultery)

i. James 4:4

ii. Matthew 12:39

iii. Matthew 16:4

iv. Mark 8:8

c. Idolatry (Jezebel figure)

i. Revelation 17:1-6

ii. Revelation 2:20-22

d. Pornography, lust, emotional adultery

2. Jesus said, it takes place in the heart.

a. Matthew 5:27-28

iii. Fornication

1. Sexual activities outside of marriage or perversions of biblical relations prompted by lust

a. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

2. Including pre-marital sex, homosexuality, etc.

iv. Murders

1. Life taken with intent and hatred (not to be confused with killing, such as war and self-defense or accident)

2. Again, takes place in the heart 1 John 3:15

v. Greed or envy (idolatry)

1. Ephesians 5:5

2. Colossians 3:5

vi. Deceit, lewdness, immoral behavior, all take place in the heart before they manifest into the world.

All prompted by evil thoughts in the heart.

CONCLUSION

So, when it comes to being defiled, it is not from what we eat.

It is not a sin to change your diet for health reasons. However, we are not bound by restrictions from certain foods because it will bring us closer or further from God.

To truly keep oneself from being defiled, we need to read the Word of God, and let the Holy Spirit fill our hearts, change our thinking to be more like Christ Jesus, and cast down thoughts and vain imaginations that try to exalt themselves against Christ.

By removing things from our ears, and sight, we guard our minds, and by guarding our minds, we in turn make ourselves more capable of obedience to the Word of God, free from defilement.

NEXT WEEK: “Part 39: A Gentile Blessed for Her Faith”

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Friday, October 17, 2025

Gospel of Mark Part 38: The Source of True Defilement

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