Tradition and God's Word (Matthew 15:1-20)

[Music] [Music] [Music] returning your Bibles to Matthew chapter 15 would continue to course our study of the Gospel of Matthew if maybe you haven't been here before we go through the Bible verse by verse passes by passes so we've been in Matthew for a while and then we're in Matthew chapter 15 matthew presents Jesus as the king of the Jews and we're at a turning point in the in his life and ministry the rejection has begun the rejection by the religious leaders even his hometown and now Jewish people as a whole the people they don't want to see Jesus as the Messiah and the Savior they want to see him as someone who maybe can remove the Romans and so as Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem in his death and resurrection he encounters conflict in opposition this morning we see subscribes and some Pharisees come and they're going to get onto Jesus and they say that his disciples transgress their tradition so we're going to look at two things this morning as we go through this one is we're going to look at tradition and the contrast between tradition and the Word of God and then we're going to look at sin where does it come from because the religious leader said sin is what is outside it's what you do like if you don't wash your hands right you know that's sin and Jesus is gonna say no no it's not that way sin comes from within and we'll see it as we go through it so there's a lot there traditions are good when we say traditions you know there are different responses there some of you have fond memories of things that you did I mean there's a book by Shirley Dobson and Linda Dillo which is which declared traditions for families and that was a good thing and a lot of you have traditions I remember in our family opened Christmas on Christmas Eve we always open our presents and my dad had this red vest that he would put on every year and then I would I would have to be the one he would call out a name and I would get to take the present that's that's what we did most of you have traditions like that our church has traditions if you think about it at the start of the school year we always have a fellowship supper and some games and food and baptisms things like that and then we have a gigantic Thanksgiving meal which is coming up which I can hardly wait and then on basically on Christmas Eve we always have a Christmas Eve service and when you know it started with the first time we did it we thought well we don't know how many people will come it was full and it's been that way ever since so we love traditions but traditions are great but sometimes they can play to take the place of truth and you hear things like sometimes people say we've always done it this way which sometimes usually leaves no room for correction or change this morning the religious leaders come to Jesus and they declare that his disciples are breaking their traditions traditions of hand washing I'll explain it to you because you think what do you mean hand washing they didn't they didn't wash before they ate what is this talking about well we're gonna see what he says to him and Jesus really really not only tells him that but he he calls them hypocrites and then he talks about where sin really comes from well the rejection has begun and I bet he can tell if you're just studying through the Bible we're thinking that it's about a year before Jesus actually goes to Jerusalem and to die for the sins of mankind but he's already beginning to change because of to this point he's been declared that he was the king of Israel to the Jewish people but we noticed that just recently he's now disciple just just his men and he's not proclaiming that anymore he's actually starting to say that I'm going to Jerusalem I'll be put to death three days later I'll rise again we're gonna find in the Gospel of Matthew five times he's gonna say he's going to die and rise again as we look at this passage this morning the religious leaders come to him they come a long way to come to him he's in a northern part of Israel they're in Jerusalem we'll see what happens let me break down the passage for you we're gonna see the religious leaders challenged Jesus and then we're gonna see that Jesus challenges the religious leaders I love it when you see those kind of things and then in verses 10 through 20 we're gonna see Jesus talks about sin that will help all of us as we think through this so I want you to look at that we're gonna see that Jesus is in the northern part of it let me let me remind you of where he is Jesus headquarters this is Capernaum now you go way back over here it's not on the map that's where he grew up in Nazareth and then he came to Capernaum and that's the headquarters we know he's going to Knesset he goes to the city oh we think the Sermon on the Mount was right there he's gone all the way down here to the place called Gadara or the gadarenes that's where those pigs went running the water he's gone to Magdala where Mary Magdalene was from he so he's been all over this whole part every now and then he goes to Jerusalem because all Jewish men three times a year had to go to Jerusalem for the feast and since he kept them all perfectly he would do that well we're gonna see that the religious leaders are going to come in fact this we're gonna see religious leaders challenged Jesus look at chapter 15 look at a verse verse 1 it says then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said why don't your disciples break the tradition of the elders but they did not wash their hands when they eat bread know that that sounds like what are you talking about you mean they don't wash their hands what are we talking about religious leaders of course you know the Pharisees were religious leaders they started out good the word Pharisee actually means to separate it was supposed to be a group of men that after they came back from the captivity and they came back to Israel and they rebuilt the wall they rebuilt the temple they did everything right they said we're gonna cetera set ourselves apart and be holy men and that sounded real good except they made up a whole bunch of rules instead of just following the Bible they came up with all kind of laws and all kind of rules and everything with their relationship with God in fact there was a thing called the oral teaching which later was written down became known as the Mishnah now they would say you're not supposed to do this then later it was written down called Mishnah and they would take the Mishnah and they would say well the Mishnah says this and the Bible says this that's the same the Mishnah is just as good as the Bible in fact we find in some places they would actually say the oral teachings which were later written down the Mishna is just as important or more important than the Bible that's what they thought sometimes and so there were many rules and many commands and describes that by the way it says Pharisees and scribes scribes were the people that originally copied the Bible they became known as the scholars and so if you had a Bible question you might not necessarily go to a Pharisee because you might not like them but if you had a Bible question you might go to a scribe and ask them questions about the Torah or the Bible and they would tell you now it says some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem if you remember their headquarters the Capitals in Jerusalem if you look at the map this is where Jesus is way up here is Capernaum and Magdala and Tiberius and vasilia and that of course is Nazareth and Cana but the religious leaders live way down here in Jerusalem and there's of course Bethlehem and where the Herodium was and they made a trip listen Jesus is causing so much issues that the religious leaders have decided there they go confront Jesus about all the things that he's doing so they left Jerusalem and they've gone all the way up most likely to Capernaum we're not sure exactly where it is but it's most likely Capernaum and they've come with a reason and they've come to trap him woods leader trying to trap Jesus or to trick him so they can discredit his ministry and they're going to start off by saying your disciples are not doing right there for you obviously aren't doing right and that's what they want to do they want to get him and they're trying to trap him so look at verse 2 why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders but they don't wash their hands they do not want the hands when they eat bread well what in the world are they talking about he says they've overstepped they've transgressed they broken the traditions of the elders now the traditions were transmitted information he says your disciples overlooked the traditions and then they said they don't wash their hands when they eat well what are they talking about well I want you to understand that a normal Jewish person at that time they didn't like Gentiles and so when they would go out into the community when they go out into the market when they go out to work when they go out to whatever they do they sometimes came in contact with Gentiles and so they would say that when you get back before you can eat you have to wash your hands too because you've been contaminated by Gentile people that's how they thought especially the religious leaders and so they had rules and rituals and by the way I just want you to understand that they didn't come in and say anybody got some water here okay I'm ready they had a way according to alfred Edda shine and some others who know jewish culture very well they would come in and they had to it had to be exactly the right amount four ounces they had to put it in the palm of their hands they had to take their fist they could do it this way do it this way the water had to come down at least pass the rest and then sometimes I had to come to the elbow it's just it's Gordon how religious you were and so they did all this if you didn't wash your hands that exact way you had broken the tradition of the of the elders as they called it and so obviously Jesus and his his disciples weren't doing that all the time and though the word has spread that they don't wash when they come from the Gentiles they there were two famous rabbis at the time of Jesus one was named Khalil and another one was named Shama and Shem I was more conservative Hallel was a little bit more on the liberal side they had a thing that as they beside this Mishnah they had a thing called the Talmud and sometimes the Talmud was put above the scripture as well and so you remember the Gospel of John where Jesus went to a wedding and remember they they change hangs the water to one there were these big water pots that he changed the water to when that water in those water pots was where they would come in and make sure they wash their hands just right because they might have touched a Gentile and so they look at Jesus and they say what are your disciples break the tradition of the elders but they don't wash their hands when they eat bread and so the religious leaders were actually saying that Jesus Christ and His disciples were violating the traditions now you have to be really careful in traditions because sometimes traditions just they get in the way I read a story of about a guy that took over a church it became a pastor the church had been there for years and years and years and every time they had the Lord's Supper they would line up to come to the pastor and he sat down there and they had this ritual that before he would give somebody the drink he would touch the radiator and Minette went on every time and people said what what does this come in for and and the pastors I don't know they just told me that whenever I do it I have to touch the radiator they finally traced it all the way back that in the early days that when people would come down there they would be static electricity and if he touches them to give them the cup it would shock them so they said we'll touch something and then you can give it out and that became such a tradition that even the the pastor and the people for a long time didn't know why don't you do it so sometimes traditions are good and sometimes traditions are bad and you got to be real careful when you have a tradition or something you think is good and you make that on par with the Bible and some people say you can't do this you can't wear those clothes you can't go do this because we say that's right or wrong but that's a tradition or that's something that you made up and you got to be real careful when you make your traditions equal with the Bible so what does Jesus going to say about all this well Jesus is going to challenge the religious leaders and what does he say watch and he answered and said to them verse three why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition that that is a strong statement he just looked at and said you violate the Bible with your traditions the word transgress their means to overstep and he's he's saying you transgress the Word of God and he says because of your traditions your traditions cause you to break the Word of God and he would you could say well wait a minute how about how about washing your hands if you're doing that he's not talking about that there's another tradition he's about to name and if when I read it to you earlier you may have said what is he talking about in this passage look at verse 4 he said let me remind you he said why do you translate dress the commands of God for your sake of tradition what were they doing he says for God says I'm your father and your mother and he who speaks over the father and mother he'll be put to death well we know that the Bible said in Exodus 20 verse 12 to honor your mother and father and extras 2117 don't speak a living to your mother and father he's basically saying you're supposed to honor your mother and father and he says so whoever says to his mother and father and I watched is where the problem came in but you say the Bible says honor your mother and father but you say whoever says to his father or mother whatever I have that would would help you has been given to God now what in the world is he talking about okay in that day and time you know the culture is very similar even to agriculture when people get older mamas and daddies get older sometimes we're there to help them in fact the Bible actually says you're to help your family and it talks about if there are widows or widowers and Di's the family is to help the family and even in that day and time when a when a mama and a daddy got really older and they couldn't take care of themselves the family was supposed to take care of them but there was the thing that the religious leaders did they would say when their father or mother said we need some help they would say oh I really like to help you but what I could give to you I've already given to God it's called a Corbin which means a gift and they would say instead of me being able to give to my mother and father and take care of them I've already promised this to God now that didn't mean they gave it to God that means they promised it to God and they still used it then and sometimes used it up before they ever gave it away but they used it to say I'm sorry mom and dad I don't have anything to give you because I already promised this to God that's called a Corbin Jesus is challenging them that he says but you say whoever says to your father or mother or whatever I have that would help you has been given to God they didn't help they they won't they didn't want to get to help so they claimed it a Corbin that was a gift in Chapter Mark chapter seven let me just read this to you I don't want you to have to turn there but of course you know mark Matthew Mark mark is right after Matthew but let me read to you from Matthew chapter settlers from mark chapter 7 it says this but you say if a man says to his father or mother whatever I have that would have helped you is now a Corbin that is given to God you no longer do anything for your mother and father and thus in validate the Word of God by your tradition so Jesus calls him on it they say y'all not washing your hands right and he says you're violating the scripture to honor your mother and father because what you're supposed to give to your mother and father you say it's a gift to God and you don't give it to your mother and father and you use it for yourself that's really what they do and he goes on and says in verse six he is not to honor his father and his mother and by this you invalidate the Word of God for your sake of traditions he says the Corbin that was the gift of God the gift is promised to God so they're not able to help their parents and thus man's tradition supplant God's Word that's what was happening now we don't see that kind of thing today I mean not these kind of rules but we don't have the handwashing thing but sometimes people put traditions or things they want above the Word of God and we got to be really careful when our rules and our thing is that we make up don't fit I remember Fiddler on the Roof I think Fiddler Rousset coming back out again and I love the movie because it's really a powerful thing and this Tevye is at the beginning the movie and the very first song of the movie is called tradition and he goes tradition you know I'm not gonna sing that one and but at the song he sings it over and over tradition tradition tradition and then he goes and why do we do it I don't know that's what he says in the song I don't know and there's so many traditions that people have that they don't know why they do them if you ask the Jewish people why in the world would you have a Corbin which means what I have I promise to God so I can't help my family why would you do that well they did that so they wouldn't have to give their money away that's what they were thinking look what he says to them in verse 7 he says you hypocrites rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you he called some a hypocrite we know what a hypocrite is it means to be under the mask it means to pretend to be something or not they pretended to be religious they pretended to be loving God they pretend to be loving their family but when it came right down to it they said I'm not giving my money to my mom and daddy I'll just pretend it's promise to God and then I'll get to keep it and look what he says to him this is Isaiah and this is Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13 he says the people honors me the people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me but in vain they worship Me teaching as doctrines the precepts of men they said they honor me they but there with their lips they say all the good things about God but deep down they're far away because they do one thing and I they say one thing and they do another and that's that's what you get they worshipped their response they responded in vain that's what says they worship in vain because there's nothing they teach the precepts of the commandments of people gotta be really careful when we put anything above the Word of God it is so easy to make the Christian life a set of rules so be careful when you make the Christian life a set of rules listen I want to give you two things number one is for anytime we put a man may rule above God's Word we sin I've told this story before so but I know it so I'm not losing my mind I know I told this story but I want you to remember I went to his church in Missouri I went to visit some people in Missouri one time and they were my friends and they said JB you would not believe this little church that is right up from our house you got to see it we got in the car we drove up it was on a Saturday nobody was there Church was open in those days we opened the door and there was a little bitty foyer and then there were two doors that went into what they've cooked the auditorium and above those two doors was a sign that said all of those who are in this fellowship agree that we will not do the following things smoke to go to movies play cards get they have like 30 things listed there and see in their minds this is spirituality tell all the rules and things we're not going to do well you got to be really careful when you put man-made rules above the Word of God and then the second thing is be careful not to do that's what the religious leaders did that's why they came up with the Mishnah the Gomorrah the Talmud all of those things were all started out as well this is a good idea you know I've told y'all the story you know it about on a Sabbath day they had the rules that if you've got mud on you since you since you couldn't work on the Sabbath day you had to let it dry and then you could hit three times that's all if you if you hit more than three times you were working so they had those stupid rules that invalidated the Word of God and so we got to be really careful so Jesus challenges leaders let me tell you what he just did right in front of everybody he calls them hypocrites and he says they invalidate the Bible for their traditions look what happens then after Jesus called the crowd to him he called the people and he said listen he said to them here to understand it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles the man it's meeting with unwashed hands that mess you up but what proceeds out of the mouth that defiles the man and he basically saying be really careful because what Jesus is gonna do is he gonna teach about seeing them where it comes from and realize that sin comes from within it's the heart not from the outside and so he calls the crowd and says be careful it's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you people say some can't eat that you can't eat that Jesus said it's not what goes in and that causes the problem it's what comes out that causes the problem and Mark Twain said you know we're all like the moon we have a dark side and let me show you something about what we're like this is an unbeliever unbeliever has a body has a soul which is the part that relates to the world and has a mind emotion and will has a conscience the Bible tells us that the conscious has the Word of God written on our hearts even unbelievers know right from wrong and then we have a flesh which is the part sometimes called the old man in the Bible is sometimes called the bent to sin it's called the flesh it's a natural bent to sin every one of us in this room have that natural bent to sit now when we become a believer we have a human spirit that we're born again we're a new creation in Christ and the Holy Spirit comes to live in us but you notice we still have the bent to sin and where sin comes from is from within it doesn't come from without now we may be tempted from without and things like that but actual sin comes from inside of us in the flesh Paul writes in Romans chapter 6 in chapter 7 that in his flesh no good thing dwell nothing dwells good within the flesh so we see that and so bottom line said that whatever enters in the men it's not from the mouth if I was him but proceeds out so the bottom line is whatever you eat or drink or wear it's not sin that sin is from the inner man and from the flesh so he goes on then the disciples came to him and look what happened they said don't you know the Pharisees were offended when you said this of course they're offended because they're religious leaders who believe in the wrong thing and Jesus never beats around the bush Jesus tells us exactly like it is and look what he says to him he said but he answered and said every plant my which my heavenly father did not plant she'll be uprooted let them alone they are blind guides of the blind and if a blind man guides a blind man they will both fall into the pit he says look their guides the Pharisees and scribes call themselves guides are the people but Jesus calls them blind guides and the truth is this people without the truth will lead others astray when you go away from the truths of the Bible you're gonna lead other people astray always stick with the scripture the Word of God somebody asked me the other day and they said JB how do you make up your sermons I don't make up sermons you didn't come to hear a sermon I don't do sermons I teach the Bible I don't make up anything I mean I get to study during the week a passage of Scripture put it together and then teach you the Word of God and how to make application but I don't sit in my office going I know what I can talk about this week no I don't I don't make up any of it by the grace of God it's there already the hard part studying it putting it together and then teaching it that's what we're supposed to do and so he said leave them alone because if a blind man guides a blind man they're gonna both fall in the pit and so they will lead others astray now then Peter comes and will finish very quickly here Peter said to him explain this parable to us and Jesus said are you still lacking you still don't get it don't you understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated he said goes in and comes out that's not the issue he says but the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and these defile the man for out of the heart comes things like evil thoughts and murderers and adulteries and fornications thefts and false witnesses and slanders these are the things which defile a man but to eat with unwashed hands is not the final I mean listen out of the mouth Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful and wicked that's where it comes coming it comes from the inside and just remember that so he says listen evil thoughts and murders and adultery I don't have to explain all those you know what they are you know what it's false witness and a thief and adulterers and fornication and and evil thoughts and murders you know what that is that comes from within these all come from within a person these are sins from the heart from the inside inside the way it's this is what this is what we are and we as a believer we still have a conscience we still have a soul we have the body we still have the bent the sin we still have the power of the Holy Spirit and we are a new creation in Christ but this is where sin comes from James says where does sin come from it didn't come from without side and they're made there's temptations that come but then it brings the there's there's our flesh then sins and there's death and that's what we have and so bottom line it's not it's not we can't blame our sin on others it comes from inside Jesus Christ says not what goes in but what comes out and he's talking about it's not whether you wash your hands right it's not whether you do this or not it's not worthy what foods you're gonna eat that's gonna defile you because that's what they thought he says what defiles us is what comes from us so the religious leaders confronted Jesus they they said you broke our traditions he goes yeah you're right but you break the Bible with your traditions and they said well we he said you you have a gift to call Corbin which denies your father and mother to be taken care of and Jesus said I understand sin comes from within so let me let me give to give you some applications as realize that sin comes from within side that's where it comes from for us and so here we get some things I want you think that stop blaming others for our sin or even for your saying let's put it that way we live in a culture that everybody is a victim nowadays no matter what happens it's because of this well Trump did this and that's what caused everybody else to do this or somebody else did this and that causes everybody this oh I just can't help it because see I grew up in that neighborhood and I never had a chance or and you know that there's everybody's a victim stop blaming other people for your own personal sins because their own personal sins come from within realize that we are accountable for actions we are accountable for actions and then it's a walk in the spirit do we tell my believers here walk in the spirit will not fulfill the lust of the flesh Galatians 5 he says for the flesh lusts against spirit spirit against the flesh to country one to another therefore walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh so live in the power of the Holy Spirit and that's how you can gain the victory the second thing is let's be faithful to teach the truth traditions are fine but they do not replace our become equal with the Word of God just be sure about that legalism is a product of traditions you gotta be really careful people say we've always done it this way and if we've always done it this way this is the only way and if this is the only way this means it's the right way and so there is no other way and if you do that or don't do that you're wrong and you got to be really careful because legalism comes from traditions that are replacing so what we got to do is take the time to study the Word of God and make application and always obey God's Word rather than traditions it's okay to have traditions but make sure that the Bible is the key that we live on and live through and live for so examine our lives make sure [Music] you

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Length: 28min 32sec (1712 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 01 2019