Examining Our Hearts

Raul Ries: The only way that I can understand my Bible, and hear people on the radio, watch people on TV, is because of the holy Spirit. And guess what? When I watch a television or hear the radio or hear somebody witness to me do it, I get addicted. Cuz that's what the holy Spirit does again. And what does he do? Deals with my heart. My heart is wicked. Desperately wicked. Who can know it? Either the Lord know that.
Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Thanks for joining us as we continue our series focused on living out a tangible love for God through our attitudes and actions. Today, Raul will challenge us to reflect on our own hearts and determine whether the Lord is truly our first love. You'll see that if God is central to your life, daily time in his word and a lifestyle of prayer will naturally flow from it. We invite you to join us in Mark chapter 7 as Raul examines what your actions say about your relationship with the Lord. Here is Raul Ries with the message Examining Our Hearts.
Raul Ries: It's a pretty intense lesson this morning. The reason I say that is because God's going to deal with the heart, our hearts. And I it's always kind of amazing when God begins to deal with your heart because you think your heart is okay. But then he shows you that your heart, number one, is far away from him. And number two, in your heart, there's a lot of things that need to be taken care of. Cuz Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Who could know it? I, the Lord, know your heart. I made your heart. I created you. Can you imagine how he felt knowing that for 3 years he went cruising here in the Galilee, ministering to people, constantly touching them, being around him, didn't want them to get any rest. And Jesus came to those times like you and I where you say, you know what, enough is enough. I need time alone. And he took time alone. And when he took time alone, it's not because he hated people. It's because he needed the father to fill his life. He needed to be spiritually strengthened. And as we take time for Jesus and for the father, you will find a different type of life in your own personal life. Totally different. Because I spend time with Jesus, I spend time with people, spend time with my family. And then you spend time by yourself so that God can speak to you and deal with you personally through his word. And the first thing he'll deal with is your heart. That's the first thing he'll deal with you. That's what deals with me, my heart. But when you go to the cross, the cross brings you into a true relationship with Christ, fellowship with him. But at the same time, Jesus is turning not to the issue of a true source of defilement. And what's a defilement? The heart. Religion. Not really sticking to the word of God. They'd being more worried about what I eat and how it's going to affect me instead of worrying what's going to come out of my heart. And that's a real issue. But as believers, we do trip, we do fall cuz of my heart. And when I trip and I fall because notice here, you have the holy Spirit. And I have the holy Spirit. Guess what? You can't get away with sin. That's the problem. Man, I wish I could get away with sin. Well, you should have never come to Christ. You should stay as a heathen and end up in hell. But God gave you that opportunity. Well, somebody told me about Christ. Yes, somebody told you or maybe a television program or radio program, whatever it is. But somehow the holy Spirit at his perfect time touched your hearts. Touched your hearts. He brought you to conviction, to conviction. And Jesus sharing with the crowd and these Pharisees coming and Sadducees coming or scribes coming to condemn him. They didn't have that relationship with God. They thought they had a relationship with God, but it wasn't a relationship. It was religion. And God has a way of smashing your heart in love to see if you're going to surrender or not. Because he wants to cleanse you. He wants to wash you. He wants to give you a new mind, new ears, new eyes, new hands, new feet. Because Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, therefore if any man is in Christ Jesus, all things are passed away. All things become brand new. Read Ezekiel chapter 37 where God is going to take and give Israel a new heart and a new spirit. And that's what God signed with you and me. We've had a renewed heart and we have a new spirit, the holy Spirit of God. And that's why I can't get away with anything in my life. Because I was dead and blind, but now I can see and I can hear because of what he's done in my life. And I think that when you look at these Pharisees and scribes, they were not living the kind of life that Jesus was asking them to live. Let's look at verses 14 through 16 chapter 7. And the first thing we want to see here is the call to hear the message. The call to hear the message. That's a real problem, too. Verse 14. And when he had called all the multitude to himself, he said to them, hear me everyone and understand. Notice the first two things he says to them. He said to them, hear me everyone and do what? Understand me. So first of all, what he does is his command is for us to open our ear. Now you guys, he says, listen to me what I'm going to tell you. And the disciples were standing there. You guys, listen to me. The multitude stand around. But it's something that when he uses the word to understand here, just literally it means get straight. Get straight. If you're going to understand, then walk straight. You can't walk crookedly anymore. And Jesus here is speaking to the disciples and the multitude here. The first thing, the command that he gives here, hear me. The word hear means to listen carefully. It 's a command that he's giving. Hear me everyone. So he's not saying Peter, listen to me. Everyone that means everybody. But I mean when you look at yourself and you're thinking of not only hearing and understanding, when God speaks in our hearts, do we really sit back and say, okay, this is God speaking to me. Am I going to do what he says? This is a question that he's raising to the Pharisees and the scribes, too. Hey you guys, are you listening? I am going to speak and I want you to understand what I'm going to tell you. Now check this out what he says here, really important. Because when you go to the scriptures, okay, and the scripture here to be a hearer of the word of God, to be a hearer of the word is this, one who gains knowledge by listening, by hearing attentively. Attentively. Do we listen attentively? And the element necessary to understand what God is saying is not only hearing, but sitting and obeying what he says. Obeying what he says. Because when Jesus came, he came to reveal himself to the disciples and not only to them that as they would obey the word of God, they would be sent out as we see in the book of Acts. The reason the baptism of the holy Spirit came because Jesus promised it. He prophesied it. And he told them when he departed after 40 days he left, he says the next 10 days you guys wait because the holy Spirit is going to be sent. And when the holy Spirit comes, listen carefully, he's going to baptize you. And surely I need power in my life. And when they were baptized with the holy Spirit, they were completely different. 30 nations standing there in Jerusalem saying, man, what is that that we hear? We hear our own dialect as they speak. They heard their own dialect. And what did they hear? They heard them worshiping the Lord, magnifying him in their language. But you see that happens when your heart is right with God. Their heart was right with God. When they sat down and they waited upon the Lord and he came upon them 10 days later and baptized them on the day of Pentecost, which is called the 50th day, then we go through the scriptures. And I didn't go through the whole scriptures. I just went to the book of Revelation to show you something. In the book of Revelation, 7 times he says, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear. In Matthew we have it, in Mark we have it, in Luke we have it. He says this in chapter 2:7 speaking to the church of Ephesus. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. The holy spirit speaks. But do we listen? Again, Revelation 2:11. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Chapter 2 is the church of Smyrna, which was a suffering church. Suffering church. God had nothing against them. They had suffered tremendously. But he says to them, he who has an ear, let him hear what the holy spirit is saying to the church. Then again, chapter 2:17. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the holy spirit is saying to the churches. How about chapter 2:29? He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. You think that Jesus want them to get the message? Is your heart right with God? Because watch what he says in verse 15, the declaration that comes. He's going to give them a parable. They don't get it yet, but he's going to give them a parable. In verse 15, he says there is nothing that enters a man from outside who can defile him. So now he's going to tell them what he wants to say to them so they can understand he's talking about the spiritual leaders. But the thing which came out of him, those are the things that defile a man. Where do they come from? From the heart. Those are the things that defile a person. So the source of defilement comes out from where? The heart. And then they were not only hung up on their religion, but notice what he says here. He says there is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him. Why? Because he eats it and he lets it out. You're clean. But the heart from the inside comes out. And that's a sharp edged sword, man. It cuts people fully, completely through this little member called the tongue. So I think that we're getting the message this morning. Our hearts.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for a wide array of resources to enrich your faith walk and draw you closer to God. If you'd like to share your prayer request and Bible questions with Raul, you can email him anytime at pastorraul at somebodylovesyou.com. Now back to more of today's study.
Raul Ries: He goes on to say, when he had called all the multitude to himself, he said if anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear. Again, notice what he says, let him hear. The importance again of listening to what he has to say. The issue, defilement. Notice defilement has nothing to do with external materials. Notice that he might what? That he might come in contact with her in his personal body. But it was a religious hypocrisy saying that if you don't wash your hands, you say you will be defiling because you actually ate food without washing your hands. And this is something that it's in the law. Yeah, it's in their law, not God's law. They made their own rules and regulations. Christians do that, too. Churches do that, too. There are people that get up pastors, they get up and they start sharing the gospel, but it's not the gospel. It's their gospel. And they don't want to preach the real gospel because they're afraid if they preach the real gospel, they will lose people in the church. But one day they forget they're going to stand before God. And if they haven't spoke truth, they're going to be in trouble with God. Because we're not the holy Spirit. You're not the holy Spirit. I'm just a messenger from the Lord as you're a messenger to the Lord to to your families, to your friends. We're all the same. The problem is my responsibility is probably a little greater than yours because I'm responsible for so many people. And one day I'm going to have to give an account for that. And so when I look at people, I think wow, their hearts not only are here, but you can see that you love God and that you care for the things of God. And I think that in verse 17 he brings it up pretty clear. Notice what he says. He says when he had entered the house away from the crowd, his disciples ask him concerning the parable. Okay, Lord, what did you mean by that story? And he said to them, are you thus without understanding also, man? There are so many times that the Lord says, don't you understand what I am trying to tell you? The call to hear. Don't you hear what I am saying to you? He says his disciples ask him concerning the parable. And he said, are you guys without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him? Underline that cannot defile him. Because it does not enter his heart. Notice what he says that. It doesn't enter your heart, but in the stomach. And it's eliminated thus purifying all foods. And then he said, what comes out of a man that defiles a man. And he's going to give you a list of those things that defile a man. But first of all, let's look at verse 17. When he had entered the house away from the crowds, his disciples ask him concerning parable. The disciples still want to know the truth. He came back to his headquarters Capernaum. Probably this house he entered into was Peter's house, which many times he'd been there. And whenever he went to Peter's house, you know that all the people came there. In Matthew chapter 8 when he's not only in the house of Peter, remember he's sitting there teaching and these guys come from a long ways, a long ways carrying their friend in a pallet that was paralyzed. And they heard that Jesus was there, so they came. And when they got there, they couldn't get in. There was people on the windows, by the doors, outside. And they brought him such a long distance. They could have said bomber, man, we're going home. But they said no, we brought him here and we're going to be persistent. So what we're going to do is we're going to climb up into the roof, flat roofs. Imagine getting your friend a pallet up to the flat roof. Make sure he has this light on. You guys keep it with be careful with them. And then all of a sudden they get him up to the roof and they're on the roof, but there's nowhere to take him down. So what do they do? They make a hole. A hole big enough to put the pallet in the body through that hole. And as Jesus is sitting there talking to the crowds, guess who's there? The Pharisees watching, watching. And the brief falling from the roof, imagine them just falling down. All of a sudden they look up in this big old hole and here comes that little man all the way down. And Jesus looks at him. And the first thing he deals with it, hear me well. Very carefully. He doesn't say to him, get up and walk. No, he deals with sin first. Sin, the most important thing. And when he repents, he repents. The Lord says, get off your pallet and walk out with your pallet. God had touched him and healed him. And the Pharisees were blown away by that. And they still hated Jesus. Still hated Jesus. There are people that still hate Jesus because they have an evil heart. An evil heart. They don't really want to face the facts that Jesus is real. And he's the only one that can help you. In Matthew 15:12 he says, then his disciples came to Jesus and said to him, do you not know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard the saying? And then he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly father has not planted will be uprooted. Speaking of those that will not be in the kingdom. Let them alone. Let them alone. Speaking of the Pharisees. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, they both will fall into a ditch. You see? Into a ditch. Think of how many people in the world today have fallen into a ditch because they don't really see the light. They don't see Jesus. Here in Matthew's account, it's indicating that this was Peter who was raising the question. Jesus was sitting and Peter was always raising questions, always. You know, always. And the Lord didn't rebuke him. The Lord didn't say Peter, I don't want you anymore as my disciple. But Jesus knew Peter as he knows you individually. He knows your character. He knows your attitudes. He knows your heart. And he knows that our hearts are evil, but at the same time, what did Jesus do? He's touched my heart. He's touched your heart by coming to him. And the Lord answers with a rebuke concerning here the comprehension as we read in verse 18. So he said to them, are you does without understanding also? Don't you guys get it? You've been with me 3 years, you still don't get it? And that's a lot of people in the church today, they don't get it. Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, cannot defile him? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him because it does not enter his heart, but his stomach? And it's eliminated. Thus purifying all food, he says. Now you guys have comprehension, that you understand. And this is where he picks up and Jesus not only responds, are you without understanding? And you know, I don't know how people can come and sit and not understand, especially when the word of God is given in a simplicity. And the reason why I'll tell you why cuz they don't have the holy Spirit of God. That's why. The only way that I can understand my Bible, and hear people on the radio, watch people on TV, is because of the holy Spirit. And guess what? When I watch a television or hear the radio or hear somebody witness to me do it, I get addicted. Cuz that's what the holy Spirit does again. And what does he do? Deals with my heart. My heart is wicked. Desperately wicked. Who could know it? Either the Lord know that. Cuz he said, don't you perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him? So Jesus is pointing out here that the thing coming out of the body from outside never never touches the heart, ever touches the heart. No value. Instead, he says what? All foods brought into the person's body simply go out of the stomach. Not out of the heart, out of the stomach physically, he says. Verse 20. And then he said, what comes out of the mouth defiles a man and from within out of the heart, a man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, notice, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within where? The heart. That defile a man. Now let's see what he says in these sins that he gives us here because of the heart. Number one, fornication. What does he mean by that? English word pornography where we get pornography, okay, derived from. It's a general uh reference to sexual sin. And then the next are expressions thefts, which means to be a kleptomaniac, murders, taking another man's life, adulteries. Now check this out. Sexual sin that violates my marriage covenant. And man, there's a lot of them in the church. Adulteries. Fifthly, deeds of coveting reference to what? Desire and behaviors motivated by greed. Wickedness. A general reference to iniquity that encompasses everything else that violates God's law and holy will. And then deceit, craftiness, lying, deception. Sensuality, a reference to the unbridled lust of a dirty mind, watching pornography, thinking, reading books, having a dirty mind, everything to use dirty. Slander. It's another one. Reference to abusive and injurious speech towards other people, offending, trying to destroy people by slander. Pride, this Christ feelings of superiority, arrogance and self-promotion. And then lastly, check this out. Foolishness encompassing the attitude that he had articulated. Foolishness. Man, just with those things right there, man, I felt conviction when I was reading them the other day. Because we fit in one of them or maybe many of them. And if we do read them and we do have a translation of these things for us to not only see what that sin may be, then are we going to look at our hearts, examine it, and then am I going to repent in my heart before I leave here? Am I going to say Jesus, my heart is filthy dirty? I want to repent, Lord. And you know what he'll do? If you're honest, he'll hear you. And he will forgive you because he loves you.
Guest (Male): It's good to be reminded that God sees more than outward shows of spirituality. He sees what others can't and knows the true state of our hearts. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to hear today's teaching Examining Our Hearts in its unedited form, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of $5 or more. The phone number to call to get a copy is 800-634-9165. As you consider whether you need to repent and start fresh with the Lord, we'd like to tell you about Raul's 10 part series called Chosen and Committed. It's available on both CD and thumb drive. Every lesson in this series will spur you on in pursuing more in your relationship with God while investing your time and talents in eternity. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's 10 message series called Chosen and Committed. We'll send you the CD set for $22 or the flash drive for just 13. The number again is 800-634-9165 or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440 Diamond Bar, California 91765. The Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel provides a wealth of connections to scripture from podcasts to live streamed Bible teaching. And Raul's Straight Talk streams on that channel every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. West Coast Time. This ministry is completely listener supported and we are so grateful for your partnership. Thank you for coming alongside us as we reach more people with the good news of Jesus. Coming up next time, we'll get a motivating word about keeping our feet firmly planted on God's paths of righteousness. The world calls us to stray into sinful detours, but we can stay closely in step with the Lord.
Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.