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Please stand for reading of God's Word. I'll be reading from Psalm 15 this morning. And while you're getting ready for that, I wanted to announce to you some of the things that are going on with the sermon, so I won't have to take time during sermon time to explain it.

But I am going through part of the heart series, and some of this information you will have seen before, but putting together a heart series for pretty much the rest of this summer that will deal with matters and the issues of the heart and really how to counsel your own heart, how to counsel others, and really looking at the core issues of sin and the nature of salvation, which is where I'm going to spend most of our time today, looking at Mark 7.

This morning, looking at a defiled heart and understanding the importance of what defiles you, because out of that comes your understanding of salvation. Our understanding of salvation comes out of that which we understand is defiling or what is wrong with the world. So I hope you'll come back tonight.

This morning we'll be looking at a defiled heart. This evening we'll be looking at a pure heart. And more to come on that. Psalm 15, verse 1, O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? He who walks with integrity and works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart.

He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does take up a reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord. He swears to his own hurt and does not change. He does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, indeed, that is why we've gathered this morning, is you have spoken truth to our hearts, and we have believed that you indeed are God and there is no other God, that you have sent your Son, Jesus Christ, into this world, that we may have a right relationship with you, that our sins be removed, that a right spirit be put in us, a new heart, new spirit, that is inclined to your ways and inclined to walk with you.

So, Father, we thank you for the work of Christ. We thank you for the truth that you have given. And, Father, we ask this morning that your truth be more and more installed in our hearts, that your truth more and more become our delight and the means by which we walk with you in this world until at last we shall stand in your presence.

Thank you, Father, for all of these wonderful things. And, Father, may you be exalted this morning in our service. In Christ's name, amen. Well, thank you. Praise team. Well, like last week, I showed you a video introducing the concept of a heart transplant. Of course, we were talking in terms of a physical heart transplant.

Today, I want to show a similar video, but from the standpoint of somebody who needed a spiritual heart transplant, which is really all of us. And so that's what you're about to see. Well, hello, friends. Here we are again. Today, I want to interview another member from Emmanuel Baptist Church.

Last week, I interviewed a member, Larry, who had actually had a physical heart transplant. And today, I want to interview Kevin, who has undergone a spiritual heart transplant from above. And I want to ask him some of the very same questions that I asked Larry, but I want to ask it from a Spiritual standpoint.

So, Kevin, tell us about your growing awareness that something was wrong with your heart. When I first realized I had a problem, it was probably as a child. I can remember back at a young age, six or eight or ten years old, just knowing that something wasn't complete, something wasn't right.

My awareness grew because of sin in my life. In the heat of the moment, that's not what I called it. And a lot of that was brought on by physical consequences. So, starting with trouble in the relationship with my parents, getting in trouble in school, getting in trouble with the law, broken relationships, deteriorating of relationships over my life, and then as an adult, as a husband and father, it got to the point where I was scaring my wife and children.

It got to the point where Joelle left me. Joelle took the kids and left the house, contacted the elders. I didn't like it at the time, but looking back, I'm very grateful that she took that step and that the church wrapped their arms around myself and my family.

There was no sense at all of casting out. It was quite the reverse. Any time along that journey, knowing that there's something wrong, maybe misdiagnosing this situation in your heart, or maybe denying problems in the heart, anything you want to comment on that? I guess I led a lot.

From starting from about eight years old on, of being treated by psychologists, and what they were doing is just putting band-aids on things from a worldly perspective of do this, and that will make that better. I've spent time as a young adult in inpatient treatment facilities and outpatient treatment facilities, and it was the same kind of thing.

It was a worldly band-aid that was put on a heart problem that didn't have any lasting effect. And then, one of the big diagnosis that sticks out in my mind, I had an old pastor at a different church that we were attending at the time years ago, and I remember going in his office, being on my knees, and telling him, Pastor, I can't stop drinking.

I want to. I can't. Here's all the consequences that are laid out. This is on the heels of being arrested and the police breaking my leg. And his solution was to send me to a psychologist. But what struck me is he never mentioned sin and never confronted me on my sin.

Here was a person that I thought might be giving me biblical truth, but he left a big, big chunk of truth out, very important, crucial part of truth out of his counsel to me. There was another point in time soon after that, that I had a psychologist tell Joelle and I that there had been a lot of research done on veterans drinking in moderation was actually better.

Than veterans not drinking at all. More shocking for her, it was more of a hooray for me at the time. And then I had people around me, various people, also telling me that, hey, just you need to get your anger out, you need to express your anger. The goal is to be slow to anger, not express it on inanimate objects.

I had family as well as other individuals within my life stressing behavior modification. There were some extended times where I was successful at modifying my behavior, sometimes even years, but my heart was still broken. I used to tell myself and others that I can stop drinking anytime, I can control my anger, I can control my sin.

There is no controlling sin. I really believed that my heart could be fixed without giving up my sins. I wanted to hang on to those things that I enjoyed: the drinking, the anger. Another big one was just being offended. I wanted to hang on to my right to be offended.

I believed I could fix it. I believed that someone within this world could fix it. I didn't like the idea of letting go of it to let God fix my heart. So, what brought you to the point of knowing that you needed a new heart? I think it kind of began with the imminent threat.

Of losing the thing that I loved the most on this earth, and that was my wife and children, my family. I remember distinctly sitting in your office, Tom, and you told me the truth. You leaned across the table at me and stuck your finger in my chest and said, Kevin, you're living in sin, it will lead to death, and you're dragging your family with you.

There was a night of crisis during all this when I called Russell McGee. We got a few minutes into the conversation, and he asked me, He goes, Kevin, have you been drinking? I said, Yes, sir. And he said, This conversation's over. And he hung up the phone on me.

But it was a realization to me that sin affects people and affects the body of Christ in more ways than I understood at the time. That same evening, Russell and Matthew came over to my house, just the three of us, sat down on my kitchen table. Matthew Gentry preached Proverbs 28, 13 to me.

He stressed that there's two parts of that confession and forsaking, that I was leaving out the forsaking part. I looked up forsake in the dictionary, and it means to abandon. And my understanding of the word abandon means to cast something aside and never return to it. That was kind of the icing on the cake to get me to realize unless I abandon this sin and turn to God, I'm going to die and die an eternal death.

And my family and my children are following me. I also realized that it was impossible for me to abandon any of that, much less all of it. If I had all the resources of the world at my fingertips, it's still something I could not, no man can accomplish themselves.

Tell us about the moment you believe God gave you a new heart. I believe it was March 23rd, 2020. I gathered up all my stashed-away beers, went out to our farm. We didn't live out there at the time. I lived in town, but we went out to the farm and took the whole family.

And I sat down at a little plastic picnic table that we had for the kids, set all the kids down. Joelle was there. And I knelt down and prayed with my family. In front of my family, I wanted them to witness it. I confessed my sin and repented to the Lord.

And it was a very powerful moment for me and the family. And then we lined up my beer cans and shot them all. And everybody in the family took a turn behind the 22 and shot beer cans. Joelle could not wait for her turn. She was very enthusiastic about.

Shooting my beer cans. I didn't plan it as such, but looking back on it, it was kind of a ceremonial way of cutting off the arm that was causing me to sin. Let's talk post-surgery. Tell us about the life of the new heart that God has placed in you.

Life is awesome. My life, my family's life, is filled with joy all the time. Even in trials, our life is filled with joy. You know, Larry mentioned a Ferrari engine. He got a Ferrari engine for a heart. And so I had to think of an engine analogy for myself.

And I'm not that passive a sprinter. But I feel more like a diesel locomotive engine. What I mean by that is just the analogy of a train. You know, once you get a train up to speed, it's extremely difficult to stop. It takes a long time to get it to speed.

But once it gets up to speed, difficult to stop. I guess I can equate that kind of with my love for the Lord and the faith that He's placed in me. And the trials that come along now, I'm not going to say they don't knock me off balance a little bit sometimes, but they don't knock me off track.

Not at all. God removed my desire for alcohol completely from the moment of saying that prayer and repenting of my. Sin and turning from them, I have had zero desire for alcohol. God started teaching me how to think, how to act, and how to respond. How to think of him, how to think of myself, how to think of others, what sin is and what is not sin.

And it's continuing to teach me how to respond to other people. And of course, that is with love. I needed a lot of help. I still need a lot of help and counsel on that subject. It was the biblical counseling, along with sitting under sound biblical teaching here at the church for about two years prior to that, in my mind, is what cultivated the good soil for the gospel to stick and flourish in me.

Well, prior to that change in 2020, you would have called yourself a Christian and did call yourself a Christian and thought you were a Christian. And now what we're hearing you say is that you weren't. How would you counsel somebody who may be in that same situation right now that they believe they're a Christian and yet they really don't have that new heart that now you have seen, touched, felt that there is a significant difference.

When a heart is put in you that wants to please God and is no longer looking for excuses not to and ways around blame, defending. How do you counsel somebody like that? The first place my mind goes would be search the scriptures for an answer. And I did believe I was a Christian prior to four years ago.

I would categorize myself back then as a false convert. I mean, the scriptures is what got me there. You know, Matthew chapter 13, the parable of the soils, was big and getting me to realize the truth of the matter. The book of James and 1 John talking about fruits as evidence of one's salvation.

My starting point would just be search the scriptures for the truth. That's the truth. It's not what I say or you say. It's search the scripture for the truth. They'll reveal it. Holy Spirit will reveal it. Well, any last thing you would like to say or in closing?

I know you talked about, or Larry talked about having to take anti-rejection medications. My big thing is I had to die to self every day. That's what it requires. I mean, coming to the realization that God gave me to my family, not the other way around. Not about me.

God put me in this church body as a member of this body for his work, not my own work. It's not about me. God adopted me as his child. He brought me to him by the works of Jesus and commanded me to follow Jesus and disciple others to then do the same.

And again, it's not about me. That's been a really big adjustment. And my relationships are a whole lot different. Every relationship is a whole lot different now. Well, please open your Bibles to Mark chapter 7. Mark chapter 7. Be talking about the nature of defilement this morning. Defiled heart.

Thank you for that testimony, Kevin. And Larry, thank you for yours. Mark chapter 17, I'm going to begin reading in verse 14. After he called the crowd to himself, he began saying to them, Listen to me, all of you, and understand. There 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. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples questioned him about the parable. And he said to them, Are you so lacking in understanding also?

Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from the outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated? Thus he declared all foods clean. And he was saying, That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All of these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. Well, what I want to talk to you about today is potty water.

Potty water. See what happens when I'm not in a regular systematic way going through the book. I revert to junior high and want to talk about potty water. But think for a moment: if you wanted to prepare this magnificent. Feast, maybe a celebration for Christmas or a celebration for wedding, like we have been doing this year, the Baber household.

Suppose you wanted to do this wonderful, elaborate feast and celebrate with my friends, and I've get it all in order, and then the last touch, I serve potty water to drink. That I use potty water to make the tea, potty water to make the punch. What do you think that would do to the whole event?

Well, it would certainly defile the whole event and certainly sicken our guests. I think that's silly. You would never want to pollute someone's body in that way, especially those you love. And yet, there is something that you and I routinely do that is even worse. I'm not talking about pouring out literal potty water into someone's cup.

I'm talking about pouring out that spiritual potty water into your life and the relationships around you. And what I'm talking about is that self-absorbed heart that is so focused on itself that pollutes itself and the whole life and everybody it comes in contact with. You see, broken relationships are a result of sin.

Broken relationships, the strain that you are having in many of your relationships right now is the result of potty water that is flowing out of your heart and perhaps someone else's. You see, last week we looked at God's definition of a good heart. What is a good heart?

It's one that's devoted to loving God completely. And that love for God then affects the whole person, the whole course of life, and it affects every relationship that you engage in. And loving God is connected to obeying His Word. This is what walking with God is about in this life.

And it starts by meditating upon His words. And that's what a good heart does. A good heart meditates upon God's word and so blesses the entire person with the Holy Spirit's influence in all the courses and strength and ways of that person. Well, today we want to look at the opposite extreme and look at a defiled heart.

Really a heart that defiles the whole life of the person and spilling over into All the relationships of that person. It makes sense. You think about a heart that loves God and pumps truth and pumps God's spirit into all aspects of it. It's going to be a very different life than one who pumps self into all aspects and pursues self with all heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Very different world. That's what a defiled heart does. Instead of pulsating God's truth into the whole person, it pumps a worldly spirit throughout the life of a person. You want to know what really messes you up? Potty water. Spiritual potty water. This is what defiles you. You want to know what really messes up your relationships?

This defilement that comes from the inside. You know what's wrong with the world? The potty water flowing out of human hearts. Defiledness going into the world. Just look at the headlines, look around, you see it everywhere. Well, Mark 7 is a key passage about the nature of defilement.

It answers some of the basic questions of life. How does one become defiled? How do I defile myself? How do I defile? Relationships with people. And it's very important that you understand the nature of defilement. That's what we want to look at this morning. Tonight, we'll look at the nature of salvation because your understanding of salvation is going to be directly related to your understanding of what is wrong, what is wrong with you, and what is wrong with the world.

The Bible knows. So I invite you back tonight. But this morning, I want you to think about and understand the nature of defilement so you're not going to defile yourself and pollute yourself and in your self-absorbed ways and so impact your life around you. So the nature of defilement.

I want to look at this. First of all, what does defilement mean? You need to have an understanding of what defilement even means. Well, it's simply the word for defilement is the word translated in this passage in 7:2 as unwashed, impure, carries the idea of contamination. What contaminates a person?

It's the opposite of pure. It's contaminated. And this is the thought that the Pharisees have in mind. Spiritual contamination, that which spiritually contaminates a person before God. And the issue in their mind is unwashed hands. Unwashed hands leads to spiritual alienation from God. And so the disciples in this, I mean, scribes and Pharisees come to Jesus and they are accusing really him, saying, Look, your disciples are eating with unwashed hands.

They're impure. And why are you allowing this? See, they believed that in order to eat, you had to go through a ceremonial washing. This isn't just about hygiene, a ceremonial washing before they ate, otherwise, they would offend God. And so their standard was their own tradition. And because the disciples were eating with unwashed hands, they were excluded from public worship.

And anybody who did this were excluded from public worship, social involvement, and the favor of God. And the only way to be restored to God and restored to society was to go through this purification process that had been manufactured by the Pharisees and the elders. And this is how they maintained a religious grip over the minds and hearts of the people.

Well, in verse 6, Jesus responds to this. This is just a little background. Verse 6, and he said to them, Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.

So Jesus unmasks their false religion, calls them hypocrites, says your hearts are not with God at all, but far from God, and all your worship is vain. Rather, stinging exposure. But then next, Jesus goes on to get to the source of the problem. Verse 8, neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.

He was also saying to them, you are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. Again, in verse 13, he says, you invalidate the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down, and you do many things such as that.

So Jesus elevates God's truth above their tradition. Well, that's his interchange with the Pharisees. And that's all he says of them. Their involvement is out of the picture. But there is a lingering question in the people's minds. What does defile? What does contaminate? A person. And that's the answer that Jesus is going to give in the following verses.

So that's what defilement means. Something that spiritually contaminates a person before God. Then Jesus goes on in verses 14 to 19 to explain what does not defile, what does not defile. And in these verses, he's going to do three things. First, he's going to address the crowd in a parable.

Second, he's going to explain the parable to his disciples. And then Mark is going to insert his commentary for his readers. So first the crowd, then the disciples, and then the readers. Notice in verse 14, Jesus begins to address the crowd with a parable. Look at verse 14.

After he called the crowd to him again, he began saying to them, Listen to me, all of you, and understand. There 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.

Look at these terms. Listen to what he says. Verse 15. Nothing, there is nothing outside, nothing on the outside, nothing external to the being of a person. Nothing outside the man can Can defile him. There is nothing outside that is holding the power to defile a person. That is, to spiritually pollute a person before God.

Nothing outside holds the power to spiritually pollute a person. You see, defilement is not of a physical nature, and Jesus is making that very explicit here. Next thing Jesus does is he explains this parable to the disciples. Now the crowd is gone. And now he's going to explain this parable to his disciples.

Look at verse 17. When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples questioned him about the parable. And he said to them, Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him? So the disciples ask the question.

And it's important to understand that, obviously, the disciples themselves are dull. They don't understand. They need it to be explained. But it's important to understand the difference between the crowds and the disciples. The difference isn't that the disciples just automatically, intuitively, dial into spiritual truth. That's not the difference.

They struggle with understanding it as well. The difference is that they. They are privileged to receive special instruction from Jesus. That's what distinguishes a disciple from the masses. Not that there's an innate ability in a disciple to grasp more, but that a special privilege of having Jesus explain the truth to them.

That's what distinguished them. You see, the reason why outside matter cannot, outside matter from the body, cannot defile a person is given in verse 19. Look back. Because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated. See, the kind of pollution that God is concerned about can only happen in the heart of man, doesn't happen in his stomach.

Think about food and dirt from unwashed hands. Jesus is saying that goes into the stomach, and then it goes out into the really literal translation, latrine. Modern literal would be, it goes into the toilet. If you have a King James Version, it reads what? Drought. The NASB and some of the modern translations are trying to be discreet.

King James gets right into it. Let me give you the text, what it says. The draught. It's the latrine. And that's what Jesus is saying. It doesn't go into his heart. It goes into his stomach and it goes into the latrine. You see, dirt has no power to spiritually pollute a person because it does not touch that part of a person that is really important, the heart.

It's the heart that really matters. It's the heart that refers to this core part of a person, the seat of his intellectual, emotional, and volitional aspects, what he thinks, how he feels, and what he will do or what she will do. That's who you really are. Who you are in your heart is who you really are, your individuality.

You see, things that go into the stomach only take up temporary residence. That which goes into the heart takes up a permanent residence and then begins affecting the way you live and everything, the whole course of life. And it's with the heart that a person relates to God.

The heart is where the throne room chamber is. Your heart, who sits on your heart. Yourself or God? And what a different things flow out of you, depending on who is sitting upon your heart. And Jesus declared that the heart is absolutely unaffected by what comes into the body from the outside.

Specifically, speaking about food, it's merely nutritional, it has no power in and of itself on a person's relationship with God. Now, look at Mark's commentary, verse 19, the end of it. Thus he declared all foods clean. Mark hardly ever inserts himself into his gospel, so when he does, it's very important that you're paying attention.

This is Mark, parenthetical thought. Jesus declares all foods clean. You see, Mark is making a connection with the readers and instructing his readers. He understands that Jesus, by implication of what he is saying here, is declaring all foods clean. Now, you think about when Mark wrote his gospel, questions about kosher foods and dietary regulations were a very high.

Hot topic in the minds of the converts to Christianity. And so, this thought that all foods clean would have been a revolutionary thought to the Jews who spent a lifetime avoiding this kind of defilement that comes from the physical world or by taking in certain things into your body, certainly as the elders taught it.

But here's Mark's point in saying this: Defilement is not that which merely comes in contact with the body. That's not the source, whether that is internally or externally, whether it's dirt or food ingested, defilement is not that which merely touches the physical body. You can even go a step further with this by implication.

Defilement is not a matter of what others do to the body. A person doesn't have the power to defile another person by mere external acts to the body. And certainly, this has applications to those who have been sexually abused, somehow think that because they've been wronged in a certain way, that somehow they are defiled.

It doesn't work that way. Unless you let that come into your heart and then let that start. Making you question God's goodness and all that kind of stuff, or sovereignty or whatever, but in and of itself, a person does not have the power to defile another person by mere external acts to the body.

And that's why in Matthew 10:28, Jesus is like, Don't fear those who can only kill the body. They can't corrupt, they can't kill the soul, but fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Okay, so looked at what defilement means, and then we've looked at what does not defile.

Now I want to look at what does defile. Jesus makes it very clear that that which defiles a person is within the person. What defiles the person? Verse 20, and he was saying, That which defiles, or that which proceeds out of the man is what defiles the man.

That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. So it is not of a physical nature, it is of a spiritual nature. It is what is coming out of man that is defiling him. Verse 21, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts.

Out of the heart of man, Proceed the evil thoughts. This is where defilement is. It's the heart of man. It's what's happening in there. The heart is where God should reign. And it's the place where God does reign in His people. And that is why the constant appeal to Scripture: come and be one of his people.

Receive a new heart by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Be revolted of your own ways and seek God and His solution, pardon, cleansing, and a new way of living. You see, what happens is when God doesn't reign in the human heart, when self reigns as the one to be ultimately pleased, and you follow your own ways with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, then you can be sure that you are going to defile yourself and those around.

That is the nature of pollution. When a person doesn't meditate on the words of God in his or her heart, a different spirit flows through his or her whole being. Where are you today? Who is on your heart? Are you pursuing God? You have a good heart, one that wants to please God in everything.

And so spills over into everything, heart, soul, mind, and strength, touching the whole person. Or are you about going after what you want, you desire with all of your intensity, strength, mind? But look at what Jesus is making clear, verse 20: that which proceeds out of man, that is what defiles a man and flows out of a person.

That which defiles a person is within a person and flows out of a person. What is it? Evil thoughts. Evil thoughts. What are these evil thoughts? Literally, evil dialogues, schemes. That's the word. Evil dialoguings within the man. That is what defiles you. Your evil dialoguings. We talk a lot to ourselves, don't we?

The heart and soul is constantly reflecting upon itself. We're constantly in this self-evaluation, self-conversation, and when you get older, it just becomes audible and you start talking to yourself. That's what it sounds like. But we're constantly meditating and carrying on these internal debates and discussions. But it's these, out of these evil dialoguings.

Within yourself, depending on how they go, is where evil comes from. You remember Eve in the garden? She had these debates, internal and external debates, questioning the goodness of God and justifying the evil. That's where the evil dialogues take place. That's what defiles you and your life, your course.

It's these internal dialoguings that have an evil bent, that question God's truth, God's sovereignty, God's goodness, God's place of authority, and all of that. That's the headwaters of spiritual pollution. They're not found in the physical realm, but are found within the human hearts. If you look back at beginning in verse 21, Jesus gives 12 examples of such evil thoughts, evil dialoguings.

And these are these evil dialoguings that defile the person, first the mind, the emotions, the will. But it all comes out of this desire. What is the desire of your heart? And it navigates all these thoughts. Well, you can see them right there. Look at verse 21. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, and here.

They are. Fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. There's two sets of six. The first deal with deeds or acts, and the second deal with more like a disposition or an attitude. So the first six are in the plural: fornications.

This is porn, we get the word pornea or pornography from. It deals with any kind of unlawful sexual relationships, any kind of sexual relationship outside of God's design. This is where the whole pornographic industry comes from. This is what has polluted our world. You can imagine what an evil dialoguing would sound like.

I can justify partaking in this. No one will know. And you think about how the dialogue then starts. And this would include this fornication idea carries, it would include telling or enjoying hearing off-color and perverse jokes. And anything that is of a sexual, sexually immoral nature. You see, the difference between pornography and dirty jokes really isn't about degree, or it's one of degree.

It's not about intent. Both come from the same source. The intent toward dirty jokes is the same as overt porn, or you just go on down the line. Second, he puts on the list thefts. Thefts. This obviously involves everything that, every form of thieving, taking something that doesn't belong to you, whether it's loafing on the job, cheating on time sheets, whatever, taxes, squandering somebody else's money, or withholding tithes, or something that is due to God, or poor stewardship of resources, and failing to render to God the things due to him, such as gratitude, glory, honor, love.

You might hear a dialogue. Well, my husband should do this, or if my wife would only become like this, or if my friend, or if this person, or if my boss, maybe we should start with being thankful for God, thankful for what God has given. Instead of going around with a next in the list, he gives murder.

It's interesting that what murder basically boils down is cutting a person off. But it's interesting that right after the fornications and the thefts, he speaks about murder because. Death frequently accompanies thefts and murder, don't they? Just look at the headlines. If you talk about someone being killed, it's usually in, there's oftentimes a context of theft and sexual sin.

But it's cutting people out of your life. Adulteries, adulteries, the violation of the marriage bond in all forms. Jesus included lustful looks. Remember, there was an interview with Larry King, the prominent talk show host who had seven ex-wives. He had no problem with that, but he said unkosher food made him sick.

Well, the problem really isn't the bacon in his belly as much as it is the faithlessness and the perversion in his heart. That's what's really defiling his world. And there's deeds of coveting. That's the deeds associated with desiring what somebody else has. Every form of greed. The opposite of this would be benevolence, deeds of benevolence.

There's deeds of coveting, deeds that you're trying to take something, but then the opposite is deeds of benevolence, giving. Then there's deeds of wickedness. What are the deeds of wickedness? Well, these are the things that happen when you decide to take what you have coveted. And you start scheming and dialoguing within yourself, figuring out how to get what you have coveted.

Well, that's the first six. There's another six. That really deal with attitudes. And this is in the singular. These are just not so much deeds, but intentions. The first he mentions there is deceit, or it's number seven in the list, deceit. And that is purposely misguiding somebody else.

Deceit. Maybe the dialogue internally, you know, I'm justified in telling this lie in this situation. No, that's what really fouls up your relationships. That's what fouls you up when you start walking in a way of deceit and justifying it in your internal dialoguings. This is what corrupts you, this is what defiles you before God.

Sensuality. This is that term stresses the lack of self-control that characterizes a person who just gives free play to his impulses, perverse impulses. Envy. Envy, the idea there is that evil eye looking at what somebody else has and wanting it. The little difference between coveting and jealousy, or jealousy and envy.

Jealousy is really the fear of losing what one has. Envy is about the displeasure of seeing somebody else have something that you want. You see the difference? Jealousy is. Fear of losing something that you have. Envy is the displeasure of seeing somebody else have something that you want.

Maybe that internal dialoguing might be like, she's prettier than I am. Or he's got it more together. Or he was recognized when I should have been recognized, etc. Envy is one of the most soul-destroying vices. It was envy that caused Cain to murder Abel. Envy that threw Joseph into the pit.

It was envy that caused Korah, Dathan, to rebel against Moses and Aaron. It was envy that caused Saul to pursue David. It was envy that ultimately led to Christ's crucifixion. Slander. Slander, the word is blasphemy. And the idea of slander is to set people against somebody else by defaming their character.

That is what pollutes. Then there's pride. And these are those self-exalting impulses that elevate you and your thoughts above God and/or above others. I am better. I am abler. I am greater. I am higher. More holy, more deserving, whatever it may be. And the last in the list is foolishness.

Foolishness. That's a lack of moral sense. And you know what that comes from? When you reject God's Word. This is where rejection of God's Word takes a person into foolishness. When you reject the Word of the One who created you, who knows you, who cares about you, and when you reject that, I mean, who are you to think you understand this universe better?

It's foolishness. But what Jesus is saying in all of this is that sin is our pollution problem. Look back at Mark 7:23. All these things proceed from within and defile the man. That's what your heart is going after. That's what's pulsating a spirit, an influence, and a direction in your life.

It's not the carbon emissions that defile the land, but the human heart emissions that have defiled our planet. And this is what we should be most concerned about: the emissions of an evil heart. And we need to begin with ourselves. What way have you defiled your own self by using your mind, will, and motions to go after that which exalts you or your desires?

So, how does one become defiled? By entertaining these sinful dialogues. The evil dialoguings of the heart. That's what has corrupted our world. This is what corrupts you. And this is what corrupts all of your relationships. And the problem is, sometimes we don't even know what's happening. It's like being at a wedding feast where potty water is mixed into the punch.

You can't really taste it, but something's off. Wow, is it off? And yet, many people are just interacting with us and they have no idea what's going on. And somehow this relationship is polluted and they don't even know what's going on. And sometimes it's just foul emissions coming from someone's heart.

You see, a misdiagnosis of this problem will cost you your life. The problems in the heart. And those evil dialoguings that are constantly taking place where you are sitting in judgment upon God's goodness or upon his word instead of coming under it. That is where the evil comes from.

And what pollutes you and pollutes your relationship. Sin. Listen, sin leaves a string of broken relationships in its wake. Look over the history of your life. What does the relationships tell you? Is there a history of broken relationships? Well, that can change our being by receiving a new heart.

Well, I want to close with a potty water problem that was discovered in Pineville, Louisiana. Notice it's the Louisiana's cleanest city. See if you still think that way afterwards. But they had a problem, a contaminated water problem. Take this from CNN, a news report that came out some years back.

Louisiana. Residents did not knowingly drink sewage-contaminated water, but that is what flowed from faucets in hundreds of homes in the central Louisiana town of Pineville for more than two months. What caused it? Well, it was a wrong tap. Listen, officials believed it happened because city work crews making Utility connections to a new building mistakenly attached a sewer line from that building to the water main.

What they did is they took a pressurized sewer line and connected it to a pressurized water line that served hundreds of homes. Well, life went on as usual, and then all of a sudden people started recognizing something wasn't right. Listen to some of the evidences of a bad water source.

This is in the Campbell's home. The filters on the Campbell's washing machine, dishwater, and refrigerator, ice maker, became clogged with a white, stringy substance, which they later learned was used toilet paper. Tap water was the color of mud at Zelma McCoy's home. I had stomach cramps, and a couple of days it put me in the bed to where I just didn't feel like doing anything.

In another home, the water reeked at Christy Chua's house. Whenever we'd take a shower, it really smelled. Officials say. Pulverized threads of toilet paper came out of kitchen faucets and excrement built up in water heaters, but it took weeks for the city to discover the source of the problem.

It's kind of hard to take in, isn't it? Well, that's exactly what one resident said. I get physically ill when I think that I have been bathing, drinking, and washing my clothes and dishes in sewage water. What's interesting is it took months to figure out the problem. I'm sure Louisiana is now the cleanest city.

I'm sure it's the cleanest city, and after this negative publicity, I'm sure they really cleaned up the water. I'm sure they did. So it probably is the cleanest city in Louisiana now. But think about this. What is it that really befouls our world? Well, it's the emissions of a human heart.

It's like an open sewage just flowing into the life of the person and flowing out of that person, polluting every relationship it comes in contact with. You see, it's what Jesus is saying. This is what happens, evil dialoguings of the heart. For from within, out of the heart, Heart of men proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, etc.

That's where they come from. And what happens is, this is what is controlled when the spirit of self controls the self based upon lies. This is what comes out and affects everything. And the trouble is, sometimes we don't even know what's happening. We know something's off in our own hearts, or we may know something's off in our relationship.

And, oh, dad's having a bad day. And now he may come off in a snide remark. Maybe something that should have been said that wasn't said because you're so preoccupied with yourself. But this contaminates relationships on a profound level, and it begins with those evil dialoguings of the heart.

That's the nature of defilement. I mean, there's so many applications to this, I don't have time to go into them, but meditate on these truths, what Jesus is saying here. Evaluate your own life. And I trust the Lord will show you what you need to do and show you what you need to be horrified of.

And listen, why Christ shows us these things. Is so that you will be horrified by these actions and turn away. You heard in Kevin's testimony, what brought him to a new place in life is when he was horrified with where his life was taking him and what his sin was doing.

When he became horrified of that and said, I'm turning away from this, God, help me, have mercy. That's when new things came. So we've looked at what defilement means, what defilement, what does not defile, we've looked at what does defile, and we did so that you can start putting distance between those things, between yourself and those things that defile you.

And what are those things that defile you? Thoughts in the heart. Constantly, when you have evil in your heart, turn away, stop the evil dialoguings, rid yourself of that potty water in your heart. Rid yourself of those evil dialogues and replace them with holy dialoguings based upon God's word.

How do you become pure? First of all, ask for a new heart. And two, get rid of the evil dialoguings in your heart and let your meditations be upon truth. In this way, you will live out the command in Proverbs 4:23 that says, Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we indeed want to watch over our heart. We want a heart, a good heart, and we recognize that that only comes from you. Father, having given us a new heart, help us to be good stewards of that heart by letting your truth be in our hearts.

Father, forgive us where we have been enticed and drawn away, even as believers. Father, to things that are for ourselves instead of for your glory. Help us, Father, to meditate upon your truth, to yield to you in everything. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.