Matthew 2024

Now we've come to a part of our service where we are gonna hear the voice of the living god.

And that's an amazing thing, isn't it? Jesus rose from the dead, and he is gonna speak to us now, as his word is read and his word is preached. So if you wanna turn in your bibles to Matthew chapter 15, Sarah and Scarlet are gonna come and read for us the first 20 verses. Then some pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat.

Jesus replied, And why do you break the command of god for the sake of your tradition? For god said, honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. But you say that if anyone declares what might have been used to help their father or mother is devoted to god. They are not to honor their father or mother with it. Thus, you nullify the word of god for the sake of your tradition.

You hypocrites Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules. Jesus called the crowd to him and said, listen and understand.

What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them. Then the disciples came to him and asked, Do you know that the pharisees were offended when they heard this? He replied, every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them. They are blind guides.

If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. Peter said, explain the parable to us. Are you still so dull? Jesus asked them. Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?

But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, ****** immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them. Well, good evening, everybody. I'm Rory.

I'm 1 of the members of staff here. And it's been a couple of weeks since we were last in Matthew. So we're picking up, from last time where Tom, preached through the feeding of the 5000, and Jesus walking on water, and we get to pick it up. Here, in chapter 15. So let's pray as we begin, and then we'll we'll get stuck in.

Let's pray. Father. We thank you, for this book of Matthew, and we thank you, as, as was said, that, this is the word of of yourself. And so we pray that as we come to it, you will help us to understand it, and that you'll, convict us where we need convicting, and that you will encourage us to see the glory of the lord Jesus Christ. More than we have before as a result of it.

And so he prayed these things in his name, our men. You may be familiar or you may, have asked the question how far would you be willing to go to, and then dot dot and you can finish that sentence. How long would you be be willing to travel in order to go to work? Or how long would you be willing to travel to to see a friend? Or how long would you be willing to travel?

I don't know, for a holiday? How how what is the furthest that you would travel in order to and you can finish that sentence? What is the furthest that you have walked and what was the purpose for? I mean, we we know that many in this church congregation decided to go on a very long walk just last week, for, the the Beatrice po Beatrice project. Got Beatrice POC.

That's very different, isn't it? So some of you did 5 k. So if you did 10, somebody did 25 k, just to, you know, raise money for that, that project. And, I think we sort of see something similar going on, maybe not for charity, but we see a long walk to start off with. You you would have noticed if you just cast your eyes back to chapter 14 and verse 34, Jesus has, decided to go to a place called Gennesaret.

And then we come to, chapter 15 and verse, what, verse 1, and we're introduced to the pharisees and the teachers of the law. And they've decided to come from Jerusalem to Ganasirate. And I can tell you now that's a fair hike. Some of you did 25 kilometers. This is a hundred and 25 kilometers of walking to Ganassarate from Jerusalem.

They've decided to go on a pretty hefty trek to see the lord Jesus. And who are these people? Well, these are the pharisees and the teachers of the law. In society, these are the the the big thinkers. These are the intelligent people.

These are the cultural gatekeepers. Everyone looks up to these guys, but not only are they, that, but they're from Jerusalem. So these are like the the creme de la creme. These are the the real big cheeses. So when these are walking into ganassarate, people would have said, oh, quickly tidy up.

Can I put that away? Make sure we're on our best behavior here. And so they've decided the journey all this way just to see Jesus. Why? Well, you'll see in verse 1 that they've come to ask.

Now if you're gonna travel a long way to see an individual, you wanna make it a good question, don't you? You you wanna make it worth your while. And there's so many good questions that you could ask Jesus. Right? He he he's preached like the mega sermon in Matthew 5 to 7.

Sermon on the mount. Wow. Tell us a little bit more about that Jesus. What did you mean by by chapter 5, I don't I don't know what's in chapter 5, but that's where I'm in chapter 5, the the beatitudes. Or or what about those miracles Jesus?

What are you trying to what are you trying to show about yourself by by doing these miracles Jesus? And are are you are you the messiah? They're the sort of questions you would you would expect wouldn't you? I mean, these they've traveled a hundred and 25 kilometers. They've walked that way, a hundred and 25 kilometers.

That's like no. I can't do the math. What is that? 5 times. Thank you.

Works with children. Hold on. Yeah. 5 times the amount. Of travel to see Jesus.

And what do they ask? What are they gonna ask? It's gonna be a good question, right? Verse 2. Why?

Do your disciples break the traditions of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat. What? Of all the questions you could ask? That's the question you've gone for.

You thought I, this will be a good 1. Why don't they wash the rooms? They they've gone. Let's go down a sanitary question. Are they just some sort of health and safety freaks?

What's going on here? The thing is I think a lot of people are like this. Of all the questions that they might might ask about god and about Christianity and about Jesus. They always go down these these little alley with these little roots of very minute details that seem to have nothing to do with Jesus. It's, you know, you you you you know, what about dinosaurs or did Adam have a belly button?

And you're thinking what are you on about, say? But is that really the most important question about who Jesus is? Did Adam have a belly button? What's going on here? Well, I think and I've I've I've I've listened to your cell on this.

I've taken somebody's structure here, but I think the first thing that we see is true authority? Is it humans or gods? True authority verse 1 to 6? What are they asking by asking this question? Well, look, the first part of it is your disciples are breaking the traditions of the elders.

What is he what is he on about? Well, he's saying that there was a, that here we have the word of god, and to try and interpret the word of god and make sure that we keep the word of god, a load of Jewish rabbis, a load of Jewish elders, used to come up with all sorts of traditions and and rules that will be passed down and order that we may do are utmost to to keep the rules of god. In fact, this this, there's this book full of this oral tradition called the Mishnah. Loads and loads of rules, but the Mishnah, it wasn't enough. They also needed a commentary on the Mishnah called the Gamara.

So here you have a a massive book. I think it's like 6, like, 6 episodes long called the Mishnah, and then because it might change the context of things. We've got the Gamara. So we've got a whole heap of of laws. It's a it's a huge mountain of rules, and these are rules in order for you to follow rules.

You know, you might know people like this, or you might be this type of person. There's a rule that you're given a rule. And then on top of that, so it decides we need another rule to keep that rule. Samantha, you're you're nodding as if that you do this. You know, you you might have a, a rule.

Do not play ball games on the grass. Then you get some self righteous saying, you're not allowed on the grass. And you think, well, that doesn't say that. It just says I can't play ball games on the grass. They they invent rules on top of rules and then rules and rules.

And you need that rule there and a rule here. And so that is what the pharisees and the teachers of the law do. They keep they are giving rules to keep rules. And that is what they're addressing here, that their their rules, to keep the rules, is not being followed. And so here they come, and they said they the law disciples don't wash their hands before they eat.

Now this isn't just about hygiene. It's not like, you know, when you were grown up and, Your mom and dad used to say to you before you got to the table to eat, go have you washed your hands? She said, no. Don't wash your hands, and you would go and you would run the tap, and then you'd turn it off and you'd go and you hadn't washed your hands. But you're meant to wash your hands.

It's not about hygiene. No. It's about ceremonial. It's about ritualistically. It's about religious washing.

See, in the old testament, there was a whole load of of laws to show how we are meant to be clean before we could go into the presence of god. I mean, there's a whole chapter in leviticus 11 that talks about what you can and what you can't eat so that make sure that you are you are clean to enter into the presence of god. And and the pharisees are just so concerned with with, trying to make sure that they are somehow clean for guards that they they say we need some more rules. And we need some rules to to introduce a whole level of washing that wasn't prescribed to the people of god. In fact, the the the type of washing that they prescribe, it was almost priest like that this is like what the high priest would have to do before they would enter into the temple.

And it's kind of you have to wash here and you have to let the water drip down your hand because if you let it drip down this way, the filth is getting back onto you. So you have to let it come down here and let it drop off. And some of them would even have the these ritualistic baths like most days just so that they were they were making sure that they were they were clean before god. And and to these guys, they've heard they've heard that the disciples of Jesus are not following these ceremonial traditions. And so they come to Jesus and they challenge him because they're saying If your disciples aren't doing this, what does that say to you say about you as a teacher?

You're not teaching them to follow our traditions, and maybe you're breaking them yourselves. You're disobeying the authority of our traditions. Now how would Jesus respond to this? Well, it is a classic Jesus response. I 1 of the reasons I love reading the gospels is that when you see Jesus question by people, he often responds with a question.

And I don't know if you know those types of people that when they ask a question, it really just penetrate and you're exposed. You think, oh my goodness. They know who I am. They know all my faults. Well, Jesus is the master of a penetrating, exposing question, and that's what he does here.

Look at verse 3. Jesus replied, And why do you break the command of god for the sake of your tradition? And so he's saying, what you're doing, pharisees, and teaches the law, what you're doing is you're you're elevating your tradition over the word of god. You're actually saying, I'm gonna add on to the word of god, some of my own rules, but when you add on your own rules to god's word, they become the central thing that everybody has to follow. They supersede the word of god.

They become more important than the word of god. And he knows that, and he proves it by 1 of their other traditions, look at verse 4. He says, you are breaking god's word by your tradition. Look at what he says verse 4, and I love how he starts this. Did you notice how he starts it in verse 4?

For god said, here you are with your human tradition, but god says what? Honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses their father and mother is to be put to death. Here's the fifth commandment. God is so concerned with the honor of parents that to not honor the parents is worthy of death. I want you to honor the parents that I have put in charge of you, and that is the law of god itself.

And so what do the firacies and the teachers of the law teach? Well, they find a legal loophole. Everybody loves loopholes, don't they? Everybody loves loopholes. 1 of my favorite comedians, is a is a comedian called James Acaster, and he starts 1 of his his sketches or his routine, sorry, on his knees.

And the reason why he's doing that is because he's talking about Tourvel and Dean. Everyone remember Torvel and Dean, the ice skaters. They started their performance on their knees because their time doesn't start until their ice skates touch the ice. And so by starting on their knees, they could start their routine, and it didn't count, but they were able to do the whole routine. We love loopholes.

We love loopholes. You've done something. You you you you've heard a rule and you think, how can I get around this rule to break this rule without breaking this rule? We love loopholes, and they found a loophole. Look at what it says.

In verse 5 to 6. But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father, a mother is devoted to god, they are not to honor their father or mother with it. So here's what they're saying. Look, you're meant to honor your mother and father. There they are that that they've got to their old age, they're in need, they're sort of not able to walk around as much.

They need help to to have maybe an operation. You're meant to look after them, but if you don't wanna give part with your money and give it to your parents, all you need to say is devoted to god. So here I am, Rory Klayered, all my stuff, my house, my Volkswagen, with a dodgy indicator, almost that anyway, slowly falling apart, my, my, my log cabin, my, all of my stuff, all my money in my bank. And my mom and dad come and they say, oh, I need an operation. I've got a dodgy hip.

Yeah? Because my dad has got a dodgy hip, but he won't get it fixed. And I say, well, actually, I can't part with my money dad. Be because it's devoted to god. It's all god's now.

And that's what they used to do. They used to go take take those stuff and say, it's devoted to god's temple. It's devoted to god. So I don't have to use it to help other people. Now the funny thing with that is that it wouldn't immediately go to guard and go to the temple, so they could actually keep hold of it as devoted to guard and let make some more money on it.

And so they found a legal loophole that means that they don't have to part with their money to help with their parents. And got and Jesus is saying, actually, by doing that, by following that tradition, you are breaking the word of god. Not only are you breaking the word of god, but you cause others to do so. And even worse than that, did you notice what he says at the end of verse 6 thus you nullify the word of god for the sake of your tradition. Knowify it.

You you make it void. You make god's word empty. You make god's word meaningless. So that you can uphold your traditions so that you can do whatever you want and have your money and have your possessions so that you don't have to help anybody else. This is what self righteousness does.

It it it it says I'm gonna do what I decide actually is right under the guise that I'm trying to keep god's words. And all I actually end up doing is corrupt and distort god's word rather than follow it. And so where is your authority? Is your authority in tradition or in god's word? Is your authority coming from the teachings and the rules of this world, or is it coming for the from the very word of god and his commandments?

You know, you just look into this world, and they have many traditions, what you should wear, how you should speak, what you can say, what you can't say. And these things can bleed into the church that you that you have to prioritize certain things over god's word or or under the guise of me trying to please god, I end up doing things that I want to do. Now some traditions are good, aren't they? You know, we we all said this morning and this evening, although we said it poorly apparently, you know, crisis risen. And what is our answer?

Oh, say it with more commitment, please. I'm not boring. Yeah. We said crisis risen. That's a pure tradition, isn't it?

Hallelujah? Only 2 of you. Some traditions are neutral. I mean, in, you know, in some, in some denominations, they they decide to wear robes to preach. And I'm supposed that is neutral.

Not all of them have to do it in in closer to home. Some people believe that you should preach in a suit. So neutral doesn't really matter. But some traditions, and they cannot be good, and they could have been neutral, can become bad because they supersede the word of god. And what we end up doing is that we listen to other teachings and other traditions under the guys that were listening to god's words.

And what does that show us about worship then? Well, this is my point. True worship, is it lip service or is it hearts? Lips or heart. True worship.

Verse 7. Look at how he starts verse 7. You, Hippocrits. You, Hippocrits. You Hippocrits.

What a word that is For those who don't know what a hypocrite is, a hypocrite is a pretender. It's an actor. In fact, the word hypocrite in the original comes from the theater. It's, you know, you know, when people used to wear a mask for different characters, That's what a hypocrite is. It's someone pretending to be someone that they're not.

It's someone that is, it it's, you know, you turn on your television, you turn on your, on, on, or whatever film that you're watching, and you see, you know, you know, it's always Jason Statham pretending he can, like, shoot people up and and do incredible things. He can't actually do those things. Although he can do a lit he was a a diver, anyway. They're they're not really that person. And so, and so what Jesus is saying is you're hypocrites, you're you're pretending that that you are someone who li loves god and lives for god, but really you're you're so far off.

Look what he says in in verse from verse 79, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules. You're just like when Isaiah prophesied.

See, when Isaiah looked around his world, he saw people that were just paying lip service, but their hearts were miles off. And that's what he's saying about these guys. Your hands, although you wash and wash and wash your lips, though you say honorable things, maybe. You may stand up and say holy, holy, holy is the lord god almighty. Yet your hearts just look at them.

So yes, you may say honorable things, but you will not honor the parents to which I gave you to, to which I commanded you to honor, You do not honor. And so thus, you dishonor me. Verse 6 says, you nullify the word of god. In other words, it was empty. And say verse 9, they worship me in vain.

Just as you treat god's word as empty and meaningless, your worship becomes empty and meaningless. Their teachings are merely human rules. This is a human self righteous lip service without any heart behind it. The hearts are way off. Externally they might do the right things.

Yet their heart is nowhere near them. Jesus said, tells an amazing story in a few chapters on in chapter 21. Of 2 sons. You can look at it if you want. And the father comes to the first son, and he says, will you come and help me in my field?

And the first son says, not on your nelly. I'm off. That's a paraphrase in case you're wondering. Yeah. The first 1 comes back and helps.

The second son, he comes to and says, will you help? He says, yeah, I'll help, and he is nowhere to be seen. Lip service without heart. See, true worship, true worship of a living god is 1 that listens to and a base god. True worship is 1 that says actually not gonna try and find legal loopholes to try and find out what I can get away with.

It's 1 that says, I I'm so taken up with god and how much he's loved me. And I know that his law is for my good, and so it delights me to try and follow him. And so Jesus then circles back in verse 10 to 11, and that what he says, Jesus called the crowd to him, and he backed he said, I've had a go at the pharisees. I'm going public now. Causes a crowd to him and says, listen and understand what goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth.

That is what defiles them. See, he's saying, look. Just by you washing outwardly and care trying to conceal the things that has no use on a spiritual level. And what he's doing here is he's questioning the pharisees and the teacher of the law. He's questioning the leaders of that time.

He's questioning if they're fit for purpose. Are they really the leaders of god's people? And so that leads me to my third point. True leadership. Is it human appointed or god appointed?

True leadership verse 12 to 14. Look at verse 12, then the disciples came to him and asked, Do you know that the Faracies were offended when they heard this? I think Jesus probably did, man. Of course, they're offended. That's what religious people are.

That's what self righteous people are. If you tell a religious person that they're wrong and the whole belief system is wrong, they will be upset. If you tell a religious person that all their prayers and all their reading and all their efforts to get right with god is futile. They will be offended. But I think this shows us all up See, if you're sitting here tonight and going, those, like, the classic varices, isn't that not all of us?

Have you never been told that you're doing something wrong? I've been really upset by it? Of course, we have because we're all self righteous. I remember having a conversation, and and and I remember having a conversation with 1 of my friends. And he wouldn't be you wouldn't consider him as 1 of the self rights people.

He he'd done a few things that he shouldn't have done when he was growing up. Yeah. When I had a conversation about him, to him, about those who can come to the come to heaven, that they no matter how many good things that they have done, no matter all the perfect things, if they haven't trusted in Jesus, they cannot come into heaven. He was furious with me. He was offended.

So offended was he? He didn't start on me, but he went to bed. You stormed out because this is our hearts. We're self righteous people. We don't like to be told we're wrong.

We're offended. When we're told we're wrong. I said, what would Jesus do? Will he go, 0, 0, 0, Farah, sorry lads. I know I was a bit harsh there.

I know it's true, but I take it back. You just crack on with your little washing. No. I love this about Jesus. He doubles down.

But what he says in verse 13 to 14, he replied, every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them. They are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. In other words, he's saying that these are not appointed by god.

These are not the father's people. They're not the father's leaders. The father hasn't planted them for them to grow and come into his kingdom. They're just little weeds. Horrible little weeds chaff that will be pulled up and done away with.

And so what is he saying? He's saying, be careful. Be careful to follow these people because they're not my fathers. They're not in my kingdom. And in fact, not only do we have to be careful because because we have to be careful because they're so dangerous.

What does he call them? Because blind guides, leading blind people here. They are. They're blinded by their self righteous. They're blinded by the fact that they think that they can do some sort of ceremonial washing to get right with god.

They're blinded by all the good works that they do. And if you follow those blind people, you will fall. It's it's it's amazing that the word offended in the original actually means it means scandalized, but it also means that they can be trapped. And so Jesus has trapped them in their their self righteousness. Yes.

If you follow these people, blindly, you will fall and you'll be trapped in a much more serious situation. These are blind guides. If you follow them, you're blindly you're in you're in real trouble. Many of you may remember, a few years ago, when, some of us were much younger, we embarked on the 3 peaks challenge. And, for those who don't know, that's, the 3 highest peaks in Scotland, England, and Wales.

So you've got Ben Nevis, and Snowden. But the middle 1 is Scarfell Pike. And, when Our team got to Scarfeld Pike. I think it must have been pretty late on at night, midnight sort of time. And, there was a right commotion.

And, 1 of our groups who, I would say, remains nameless, but his name's Rob Newman, for those who remember Rob knew him, didn't have a clue where where he was going. And I can tell you that this was what was going on. I'm not saying he's a a pharisee bullet years, though. No. He's not.

He blindly I think he was fed up with a lot of commotion going on, but that's not going to that. He blindly just legged it on and told us all to come with him. We blindly followed. In the dark, I was at the back, and we ended up on a great, it must have been a cliff edge, I think. If we've gone further, we may have blindly fallen to our deaths, but anyway, we're all on this this cliff and I thought this is the blind leading the blind.

So there you go. This is what happens. But this is what Jesus is saying about the pharisees. They're blind leaders They think they know the way to god, but they don't know the way to god because they've decided the route themselves, and there's only 1 route to god. And if you follow them, then you will both fall into a trap And so the warning is if you're a blind guide trusting in yourself, righteousness, stop doing that.

And the and the warning to blind followers is open your eyes. See, it's interesting. The pharisees have come to Jesus because they think that they're safeguarding through Israel. But really, they're just walls to destroying them, taking them away from following god truly. They're corrupting themselves, and they're corrupting their nation.

And so that leads me to the fourth point, true morality. Is it external, or is it internal, true morality? We pick up the story in verse 15, and comes up to Jesus and says, listen Jesus, can you explain the parable to us? And don't you just love Jesus' response? It's really cutting, isn't it?

Look at him what he says in verse 16. Are you still so dull? Oh, poor Peter. It's gonna be there where your head just sort of drops. Yeah.

Apparently. Apparently, I am. And so he goes on to say in verse 17, don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? See, the the thought in these days were, you know, you you're in a in a nation surrounded by gentiles, non Jewish people. And if you could possibly touch them, your hands become unclean, And if you touch food, the food becomes unclean, and then you eat that food, you know, food goes into the stomach, and you're unclean spiritually.

But Jesus is saying the physical cannot affect the spiritual. In fact, he says it is he's a much stronger than what we get in our Bible. He's basically saying, you know, you eat your food, and then what happens? You go and discharge it somewhere. It's what he's saying.

It's not the fit the external that makes us unclean. No. It's out of the mouth that that that that comes from the heart verse 18. The things that come out of a person's mouth came from the heart, and these defile, and that's what make people unclean. See, it's not the external that makes you spiritually distant from god.

If that was the case, just this week, I would be in much trouble. For I have eaten, and I confess now, pork last night, it was gorgeous, prongs the other other day, and much more probably. But this is a saying, no. It's not the external. It's a sinful heart that produces sinful thoughts.

All manner of sinful thoughts and simple words, and simple deeds. Look at that list in verse 19. For out of the heart, come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, ****** immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Have you just looked down at those that list? And you think about the pharisees?

I'm counting at least 3 that they are guilty of. In the way that they condemn the lord Jesus, murder, false testimony, and slander. All the external washing that these guys did and they cannot purify their hearts. And we can't purify ours. There's no use concentrating and and scrubbing and washing on the outside, you can do as much bathing as you want.

You can do as much showering as you want. You can do much scouring as you want. You cannot clean yourself because your heart condition is desperate. Jeremyiah says this. I think I put it on the on the screen.

Jeremiah 17 verse 9 says the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Beyond cure. It's so unclean. I remember, I I think it was a Philip Jensen, as a pastor in in Australia.

Philip Jensen, his grandson, a lad called Nathan had a a particular type of cancer before he died, and he had a a cancer in his heart. And in conversation with the 2 the 2, grandfather and grandson, Philip said to Nathan, because Nathan's a Christian. Your heart is a great picture of our spiritual hearts. For Nathan's heart was a a cancerous heart that used to produce more and more cancerous tumors. Philip Jensen said, that's what our hearts are like.

They're so sinful and they just produce more and more sin and more and more sin and more and more sin. And all all they try to do on Nathan, they try to to heal him off his his cancer, but they couldn't because it just kept on producing more and more cancer. And that's our heart. It just produces more and more sin. And as much things that we try and do externally to try and clean ourselves up, we cannot we can't clean our hearts ourselves.

It's a sin making factory. And so what are we to do? What are we are are we to do by the fact that we have not listened to god's words? What are we to do with the fact that our our lips, yes, may have honored god, but our hearts haven't honored god? What are we to do with the fact that we are a followed lead is that are not god appointed?

What are we to do with the fact that our hearts are deceitful above all and beyond cure. Well, the good news is that there is 1 who can make us clean. John 3 verse 5 to 7. Jesus comes to a pharisee or a pharisee comes to Jesus, nicodemus. And he says very truly, I tell you, no 1 can enter the kingdom of god unless they are born of water and the spirits.

Flash gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again. There is a way in which your heart can be cleaned up. Jesus says you can be born again. And we've seen this if you've been in our morning series in ezekiel.

Look at these words in ezekiel 36. We looked at them the other week, ezekiel 36 says this. I will sprinkle. This is god speaking. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.

I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart. A new heart. And put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone.

Your deceit will hurt your heart beyond cure and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decree. And be careful to keep my laws in verse 29, I will save you from all your uncleanness. There is a way in which our hearts can be made right. We can't do it ourselves with our self righteous acts. We need Jesus.

We need Jesus, the 1 who was pure hearted. Who was totally clean. We need Jesus, the the god appointed, the god anointed man who says I will give you this new heart of flesh. I will clean you from the inside I will wash you. And when I wash you, then you can live a life of true obedience.

Did you see that in verse 27? I will move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You now can live in obedience to the living god. You can live in true worship, not a worship that is empty and meaningless, but 1 that is full and true. See, ever since the fall, we've not been able to do this.

Ever since the fall, we've nullified the word of god, but now that Christ has come a righteousness apart from the law. We don't nullify the word of god. We now uphold it. We live for him. That's what the cross and the resurrection achieved.

That's what we're celebrating this weekend. That's what we that's what we love about Jesus is that Jesus, are we just I mean, you might be singing those songs today and you're thinking, why are we singing about blood all the time? It's a bit weird, isn't it? There's blood that washes us. There's blood.

That, you know, opens up a way. There's blood and blood and blood. It's just gonna make people feel faint because it is the blood of the lord Jesus Christ shed that washes sinners clean Hebrews 13 12 tells or so. The sacrifice of our lord, Jesus Christ, he hangs on the cross, and he sheds his blood. He spills his blood for your filthy heart so that he can replace it for a new heart.

And he re he has risen from the dead, proving that it works, proving that he gives resurrection life, proving that he gives a new heart and a new spirit, and he has cleaned us. And so as we finish, where are you in this? Where are you in this? Maybe you maybe you've realized that you you have a heart that that doesn't wanna follow gods, and it is sinful, and it's beyond cure. And you realize that you have ignored god.

You realize that you've not worshiped god, but you realize that you cannot get right with god. And why not today? Why not today? Look to Jesus on a cross as he shed his blood, cleansing blood, trusting him. Trusting him.

Let him bring you to a true relationship with him. True worship, true joy. And Christians. Well, we need to be careful, don't we? We need to be really careful.

Are we Are we elevating tradition above god's words? What teachings do we listen to over god's word? Are we really worshiping the lord Jesus Christ or is it empty or is it about us? And are we trying to get ourselves right at times rather than trusting in the in the lord Jesus. But also Christian, let's praise him.

Let's praise him. I had no nothing within me that could have got me right with him yet because of his great love for us. Christ died for sinners, and Christ hung on a cross, and bled out for us to give us a new heart, 1 that will be eager to obey him, and 1 that will be eager to worship him truly. So let us praise him for who he is. Let's bow our heads now and do some.

Father, we do we do thank you and praise you, for your words. And we thank you for the lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you that he is 1 who is not afraid to come forward and confront us with our sin. We do ask for your forgiveness for the times where we have trusted in ourselves, where we have elevated other things above you, where our worship has been a pretense, where we have sought to get ourselves right whilst ignoring the blood of Christ. And so we pray father that you will help us to repent of these things.

But we also praise you for Christ. We praise you that he is the true, pure, God appointed 1 who always kept your law and truly worship you in heart and in spirit. And that perfect, glorious spotless lamb went to a cross to shed his blood to clean us from the inside and to give us a new heart. We praise you father for the lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that with our new hearts, you will give us a desire to live for you.

To obey your word because we know it is good and to worship you with our whole lives. And so we pray these things in Jesus 9, amen.