Admonition Podcast

Good evening.

Greetings to you are sent to you from the Philippines and from Cambodia and from uh India
and from a few other places in the world where I met some people uh from just this last

week uh And actually even met a gentleman by the name of Mark whose father used to preach
here back in the 70s and he worked with the congregation here back in

the 80s when he was going to uh the graduate school, uh Harding Graduate School.

So ah he knows a few of you here.

He remembered the Shaffers and remembered Joe and Suzanne.

ah But anyway, greetings have been sent from brethren abroad to you and much appreciation
on letting me come.

We are in Mark chapter seven.

And as was mentioned in the class uh on Wednesday, that we're going to cover some material
from the book of Isaiah, which is the background behind this passage.

So we'll do that in a moment, but let's begin with a word of prayer.

our gracious God and Father of mankind.

We pray and thank you for your wonderful blessings.

We thank you for the gifts that you give us each and every day in the world and the
universe around us that declare your glory and your majesty.

The assurance that we have in the fact that the things that you create behave exactly the
way you created for them to behave.

Lord, we are grateful for your tender love and your compassion.

We're also grateful for your long suffering and your willingness and desire that none
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

We're thankful for your Son who died on the cross for our sins and not for ours only, but
for the sins of all those throughout the entire world.

We pray that we might be diligent in heart and in spirit, that we might be ready each and
every day to

teach the lost to proclaim the gospel, to reach those who are searching for the truth.

And Lord, we pray and ask that you will forgive us of our sins when we fail and fall short
of your glory.

We pray that we might strive diligently to be a comfort to those who are struggling, to
those who are in uh difficult situations and always ready to give as we have been given

to.

All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Somebody tell me who Jesus is interacting with here in Mark chapter 7.

the Pharisees.

Where are these Pharisees from?

Jerusalem, where is Jesus when this event occurs?

Alright, near the Sea of Galilee.

So these Pharisees from Jerusalem aren't in Jerusalem anymore.

Okay?

Now when they're observing Jesus and the disciples, what are they looking for?

fault.

They're looking to find something to find fault with.

What does the text give us an indication of as to why they're looking to find fault with
Jesus and his disciples?

What had they been observing?

What had been going on as Jesus was traveling from village to village?

Alright.

Everywhere Jesus went, the crowds followed.

Every time Jesus would enter into a city, the multitudes were there.

And so the Pharisees arrive from Jerusalem and recognize what is going on, and they're
trying to find a reason for the crowds to stop following Jesus.

So when they accuse His disciples of this action of not washing their hands before they
eat,

Do they accuse the disciples of violating the law?

Did they accuse them of violating the law or something else?

All right.

They didn't accurately, I'll give them credit for at least this one thing, accurately they
didn't accuse them of violating the law.

They accused them of violating the traditions of the elders.

Now, for a Jew in the first century, that was equal to or greater than the law in their
mind.

Okay?

Much like the Catholic Church will hold that church traditions are on equal plane with the
Gospel and with the revelation of God found in Scripture, so the Jews, which is just a

side note, by the way, if you really want to understand Catholicism, go understand the
first century Jewish culture and you'll see where Catholicism comes from.

It's the same mindset as the Jews.

on almost everything.

But when you look at it, they were looking at the traditions of the elders as
authoritative in their lives, and they accused Jesus' disciples of not keeping the

traditions of the elders.

Now, when Jesus receives this accusation against his disciples,

He answered and said to them, verse 6, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites.

As it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." Now, when
Jesus responds to this accusation,

First and foremost, did he initially respond to the direct accusation of the Pharisees?

No.

He turned it around on them and accused them in return.

Now have you ever been told that a good way to start an argument is for one person to
excuse one person and the other person to accuse them right back?

Yeah.

Well, Jesus wasn't looking for an argument, but Jesus also was going to establish that
they were guilty of what they were accusing His disciples of doing.

As a matter of fact, not only were they guilty of what they were accusing His disciples of
doing, they were guilty of a greater crime, because this crime was against God.

This crime was against the law.

and not against the traditions of the elders.

So what I want us to do though, to really get framed in our mind, what is this that Jesus
is saying to them?

Why is Jesus quoting Isaiah?

What is going on in Isaiah that makes Jesus say that Isaiah was prophesying about the
Pharisees?

Okay?

So the first thing that we need to appreciate is that when you go back to Isaiah chapter
29, you can go ahead and go back there because we'll be back there in a minute.

When you get to Isaiah chapter 29, the Pharisees aren't mentioned.

that the text is not in a discussion of a future time, 800 years in the future, when the
Pharisees would live.

And yet Jesus says this is about the Pharisees.

So there's some things that we can and need to learn about Old Testament prophecy as we
observe this passage and what Jesus is doing with it.

Well, we'll get into that some more as we go through the text.

But when we get back to Isaiah chapter 29 and in verse 13, we find the text says this,
Therefore the Lord said, Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths,

and honor me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear
toward me is taught by the commandment of men.

Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work, a marvelous work and wonder, and a
wonder for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their

prudent men shall be hidden." Okay?

Here in verse 13,

you have a statement that begins with the word therefore.

What have we said that we're supposed to do when we find the word therefore?

figure out what it's there for.

Because it's a conclusionary statement.

It's not the beginning of a discussion, it is a conclusion of what's been stated.

Now as a matter of fact, this text is dead center in the middle of five woes against
Israel.

It is the third of five woes.

against Israel, which means that there's a greater context that we need if we're gonna
understand why Jesus came to this passage and pulled it forward into His day.

Okay?

So that's what we're going to do.

So I want you to begin in chapter 28.

Now the five woes begin in chapter 28.

They go all the way through into, I believe the last one is found in chapter 31.

We're not gonna read all three chapters, but we're going to grab some context from each
one of these woes so we get a picture of what is going on in Israel in Isaiah's day,

because that's who this is given to.

It's given to Israel

in 800 BC, in a time frame when Israel, northern and southern kingdom, are departing from
God, are being prophesied to because of their departures, and are being told judgment is

coming.

So chapter 29, verse one, woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt.

We don't really know any city by the name Ariel, but what was the city where David dwelt?

Jerusalem, okay?

That's who is being discussed.

It says, woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt.

Add year to year, let feast come around, yet I will distress Ariel, there shall be
heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be to me as Ariel.

I will encamp against you all around.

will lay siege against you with a mound.

will raise siege works against you.

You shall be brought down.

You shall speak out of the ground, your speech shall be low out of the dust, your voice
shall be like a medium's out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Moreover, the multitude of your foes shall be like fine dust, and the multitude of
terrible ones like chaff that passes away.

Yes, it shall be in an instant suddenly.

You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with great thunder and earthquakes and a great
noise with storm and tempest and flame of devouring fire.

of all the nations who fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her
fortress and distress her shall be as a dream of a night vision.

It shall be even as when a hungry man dreams and look he eats but he is awake and his soul
is empty or when a thirsty man dreams and look he drinks but he's awakes and indeed he is

faint and his soul shall his soul still craves so the multitude of all the nations shall
be who fight

against Mount Zion.

So the first woe comes forth from Isaiah, coming, delivering obviously from the Lord.

And the Lord says, I'm sending the nations against Jerusalem.

And when they arrive, they are going to be like the dust of the earth.

If you go travel to a very dry place and the wind starts blowing,

you appreciate that statement because it's dust everywhere.

And God is saying that these people, these nations are going to come against Jerusalem and
He is the one sending them.

And further he says, when they arrive, when they begin to lay their siege works against
Jerusalem and bring Jerusalem down, he says they not going to be satiated.

They are going to be like a hungry man when he dreams and he looks and in his dream he
eats, but when he wakes up he is what?

He still hungry.

He says they're going to come and they're going to consume and consume and consume and
when they think they're full they're going to get hungry again and they're going to keep

going.

He says he's going to be like a thirsty man that dreams and wakes up and he realizes he's
still faint.

They're not going to stop until they've concluded.

Now you remember in Jeremiah's day, right?

Jeremiah was prophesying saying that Babylon was going to defeat Jerusalem and that
Babylon was going to carry them away into captivity and what did the false prophets of

Jerusalem say?

What was their prophecy?

Peace, peace.

And Jeremiah's reply was, peace, peace, but there is no peace.

They're saying, no, Jerusalem can't be destroyed.

We've got the temple, we've got the Lord's house, there's no way, the temple's never been
destroyed since the day it was laid.

And Jeremiah is going to make clear, no.

Not only are they going to come, but they're going to destroy every single piece of it.

Now God, through Isaiah, is going to deliver this first woe.

And then the message, verse 9, pause and wonder.

Blind yourselves and be blind.

They are drunk, so now the accusations begin to come.

Now the reason why the woe is coming, because the first pronouncement of woe is, I'm
sending a nation and the nations against you, and they are going to lay siege words, and

they are going to destroy you.

And when you think they will be satiated, they never will.

But now he begins to say why.

He says pause and wonder, blind yourselves and be blind.

They are drunk but not with wine.

They stagger but not with intoxicating drink.

For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes,
namely the prophets.

He has covered your heads, namely the seers.

The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed.

God accuses Israel, specifically Jerusalem in this context, at this moment, of being those
who are blind intentionally.

They are blind because they have become intoxicated with their own wisdom.

They have been intoxicated with their false teachers.

uh

They have become drunk on the message of the false prophets and the false seers.

But then notice what he says.

He says, whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men
deliver to one who is literate, saying, read this, please.

And he says, I cannot, for it is sealed.

Now here's the picture.

You have a scroll, okay?

Back in those days, a book wouldn't have been something with flaps.

It would have been on a scroll.

And when a scroll came from someone in authority, it had a seal on it.

That wax seal would have been something that would have closed it, said, you've got to
have the authority.

to open this.

So God paints the picture for them.

He says, I'm sending you my word.

It's coming to the people.

The people are running it to someone who's literate, someone who can read.

Not everybody could in that day.

Bringing it to someone who could read and they hand it and say, read this to me.

And the person says, sorry I can't.

It's sealed.

Can't open it.

Can't read it to you.

So notice what else happens.

He says, I cannot, it is sealed.

Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, read this, please.

And he says, I'm not literate.

So the person goes searching for someone who can read, but the guy uh says, can't open it.

So he takes it to someone else, he says, well, I can't read.

Therefore, the Lord said, inasmuch as these people draw near to me with their mouths,

and honor me with their lips, but have removed...

lost my spot, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is
taught by the commandment of men.

Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work
and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their

prudent men shall be hidden.

Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord." m

and their works are in the dark, they say, who sees us and who knows us?

So the accusation here in the second woe as we step back is these people say, oh I can't
tell you what the word of the Lord is.

I can't read it.

I'm not allowed to open

Sorry.

So the Lord sends His message to them and those who can understand it refuse to convey it
to those who can't.

That's the second.

Well, step back one more.

This one to chapter 28.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim.

whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys.

To those who are overcome with wine, behold, the Lord has a mighty and a strong one, like
a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who

will bring them down to the earth with His hand."

crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot.

And the glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valley,
like the first fruit before the summer which an observer sees.

He eats it up while it is still in his hand."

In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the
remnant of his people, for the spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment and for

strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate."

but they have also erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way.

The priests and the prophets have erred through intoxicating drink.

They are swallowed up by wine.

They are out of the way through intoxicating drink.

They err in vision.

They stumble in judgment.

For all tables are full of vomit and filth, no place is clean." Now,

As you step back to this first one, the first woe is about Ephraim.

Why Ephraim?

First of all, which tribe was Ephraim?

Okay?

So Ephraim will become the largest and the greatest, most powerful tribe in the northern
kingdom of Israel.

Okay?

So when the kingdoms divided, you had Ephraim that was the most powerful tribe in the
north, you had Judah that was the most powerful tribe in the south.

So it also happened to be where the capital was.

So when God speaks to Ephraim, he's speaking to the leadership.

When God speaks to Jerusalem, he's speaking to the leadership.

Now again, the message is you're drunk.

You're intoxicated.

But the discussion here, though the context and the analogy is God would accuse them of
being physically drunk, but the context isn't physically drunk.

He is accusing them of being drunk with

pride.

They're drunk on false prophets teachings.

They're drunk on the message that didn't come from the Lord.

He goes further in the analogy and he says they have erred through wine, through
intoxicating drink, or out of the way.

The priests and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink.

Everybody's given over to it and he says, not only have you given yourself over to it, as
he takes the analogy to a whole other level, he said you're so drunk that the whole place

is covered in vomit.

And he asks the question, verse 9, whom will he teach knowledge?

And whom will he make to understand the message?

God says, I'm the one among you who is crowned with glory.

I'm the one among you who will represent the glory of the remnant of His people, and I'm
just wondering who it is that I could deliver a message to who hasn't given themselves

wholly over to the intoxication of your people with these false teachers.

and you go forward.

back over into chapter 29.

So, message one, you're intoxicated, Ephraim.

Message two, I'm bringing judgment on you because you are drunk with wine, Jerusalem.

You are staggering about and you are intoxicated to the point you cannot understand the
word of the Lord.

Not because...

You couldn't if you tried, but because you've become so enamored with these false prophets
that you take the message to them and say, the word of the Lord says this, they say,

sorry, I can't understand what that says.

And you take it to somebody else and they say, sorry, I can't read.

Anything to avoid telling the people what the Lord actually says.

So back to verse 15 of chapter 29,

Here's Israel.

And the third woe is, you think I don't know what you're doing?

Woe to you who are of the opinion that I don't see you, that I don't know you and that I
won't act.

He goes on to say,

Verse 17, "'Is it not yet a very little while till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful
field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see
out of obscurity and out of darkness.'"

You remember how many occasions Jesus made it clear that the deaf would hear, the blind
would see, the lame would walk, and yet those who could see in Israel would be blind, and

those could hear would be deaf, and they would refuse the message intentionally.

Comes from Isaiah.

He says, humble, verse 19, also shall increase their joy, the Lord and the poor among them
shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For the terrible one is brought to nothing, the scornful one is consumed, and all who
watch for iniquity are cut off, who make a man an offender by a word, and lay a snare for

him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just by empty words.

God says, only do I see you, I know what you're doing to those who are righteous, to those
who are just, to those who would reprove you and set you back on a correct course.

I know what you're doing to my prophets and to my righteous people.

Therefore, thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob
shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale.

But when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst, they will hallow my name
and hallow the Holy One of Jacob and fear the God of Israel.

These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will
learn doctrine."

And we're gonna get the last two woes before we come back to this, but I want you to
notice that before he's out of that third woe, he's talking about them understanding and

learning his doctrine, and specifically, hallowing or holding him as holy, okay?

Because we need that.

to understand the condemnation back in verse 13.

right, chapter 30, number four.

Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord.

who take counsel but not of me, who devise plans but not of my spirit, that they may add
sin to sin, who walk to go down to Egypt and have not asked my advice, to strengthen

themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt.

Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame and trust in the shadow of Egypt
shall be your humiliation.

For his princes were at Zohan and his ambassadors came to Haines.

They were all

ashamed of a people who could not benefit them or be help or benefit but a shame and also
a reproach.

The burden against the beasts of the south through a of trouble and anguish from which
came the lioness and lion, the viper and the fiery flying serpent.

They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys and their treasures on the
humps of camels to a people who shall not profit, for the Egyptians shall help in vain and

to no purpose.

Therefore I

have called her Rahab Hems Shabbath.

Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it on a scroll, that it may come, or
may be for time to come, forever and ever.

This is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the
Lord, who say to the seers, do not see, and to the prophets, do not prophesy to us, write

things, speak to us, smooth things,

prophesy deceits get out of the way turn aside from the path cause the Holy One of Israel
to cease from before us

Fourth woe.

So the first one was you, be free, are intoxicated.

Second one, you, Jerusalem, are intoxicated.

Third one is you are those who seek to hide your actions from the Lord.

Fourth one is you want advice and the last person you're willing to come to to get it is
the Lord.

You want counsel.

So you go to Egypt, but you won't ask me.

And here's why.

Because they don't want to hear the word of the Lord.

They want people to preach deceits to them.

They want people to preach smooth messages to them.

Not the truth.

They don't want to hear the truth.

And God says, woe to you who take counsel, but not of me.

He tells them they're going to go down to Egypt.

And by the way, when Nebuchadnezzar comes, they will.

They'll go down to Egypt to try and get Egypt to help them.

It's not gonna work.

Egypt's not going to be their savior.

God will point out that they're looking for salvation militarily when the problem is
they're fighting against someone who no nation can stand up against.

And verse 12 we read, "'Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, because you despise
this word and trust in oppression and perversity and rely

Therefore this iniquity shall be like you, like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high
wall whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.

And he shall break it like the vessels of the potter's vessel, which is broken in pieces.

He shall not spare, so there shall not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire
from the hearth or to take water from the cistern.

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest you shall be
saved.

quietness and confidence shall be your strength, but you would not." God says, I could
have provided you some measure of salvation.

I could have provided you some measure of resolve in what's coming, but you refused.

And you will continue to refuse.

Go down to chapter 31.

Chapter 31, fifth woe.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots
because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but who do not look to

the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord.

Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster and will not call back His words, but will
arise against the house of evildoers and against the help of those who work iniquity.

Now the Egyptians are men and are not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit.

When the Lord stretches out His hand, both He who helps will fall and He who has helped
will fall down.

They will all perish together."

God again addresses them and again says, you're going to reach out to Egypt for help.

But what you fail to realize is the battle you have isn't with a physical army.

It is with me.

And their weapons cannot touch me.

And they cannot defeat me.

So as you look at this.

and you look at the woes that come forth from God.

God says you're intoxicated with false doctrine, you're intoxicated with false doctrine,
you're intoxicated with pride, you're drunken on your own wisdom, you refuse to return to

Me, you refuse to hear My words, you refuse to take My counsel, you refuse to seek My
counsel, and you think I can't see you.

Now go back to chapter 29 and the context of that set of woes, now think about the
Pharisees.

Who are the Pharisees as a group of people?

They are religious leaders and teachers in Israel.

They are Jews.

They are the strictest sect of the Jews, as Paul will put it, and he was one, so he ought
to know.

They are those who are continually judging other people.

They are the ones who would walk through the marketplace and see someone not keeping the
law, not keeping the traditions of the elders, and would go berate them for it.

They are the ones who will stand in exerted interest with the chief priests to put Jesus
to death.

They are the group that Jesus, more than any other, will accuse of, as he does in this
passage in Mark, of being hypocrites.

And in Mark 7, as Jesus quotes Isaiah, he finally tells you why he calls them hypocrites.

Go to the original reading.

verse 13 of chapter 29.

I say original reading because there's a context and there's a message in Isaiah in the
Hebrew that doesn't quite translate from the Greek in Mark 7 and in Matthew 15.

Inasmuch as these people draw near me with their mouths and honor me with their lips,

but have removed their hearts far from me.

And," notice this phrase, "'and their fear toward me is taught by the commandment of
men.'"

God accuses Israel and Israel's leaders of making it where the only reason people feared
the Lord

was because they feared the doctrines of these teachers.

Now.

Why, if the people feared the Lord anyway, would that be a problem?

I as long as the people fear the Lord isn't that a good thing?

That's right.

As you look at this, you need to understand that God doesn't want to be feared because of
what men say.

God doesn't want to be feared because of what men teach.

God doesn't want to be feared because of men's doctrines or men's threatenings.

Because ultimately, then people are simply fearing men.

especially when those men are actively keeping the people from actually hearing the Word
of God.

as Jesus addresses these Pharisees.

He pulls a passage forward and says, well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you?

Because just like the hypocrites of his day, just like the false prophets of his day, just
like the leaders of his day in both Israel and in Judah, you are actively getting in the

way of God's messengers preaching God's message.

and instead of God's message, you're teaching the traditions of your elders and the
doctrines of men and using those to manipulate the people into doing what you want.

So you go back over to Mark chapter 7.

and you read, "'Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people
honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men, for laying aside the commandment of God,
you hold the traditions of men.'"

the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things you do.

He said to them, All too well you rejected the commandments of God, that you may keep your
traditions.

for Moses said, your father and your mother and he who curses father or mother let him be
put to death.

you say if a man says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received
from me as Corbin, that is a gift of God, then you no longer let him do anything for his

father or his mother.

Notice the contrast.

God tells them, you fear me and as a result of you fearing me, you provide for your father
and your mother and if you

don't, you have me to reckon with.

If you curse your father and mother, if you do not provide for them when they are in need
and instead send them out with nothing, then I will destroy you.

And here come these teachers and they tell you, you must fear God, you must dedicate your
things to God.

but you can't take care of your parents because you've dedicated these things to God.

He says, you have rejected the commandment of God so you could substitute your own
traditions.

Then he says,

When he called the multitude to himself, he said to them, Hear me, everyone, and
understand.

There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him.

But the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man."

Jesus says it's not eating something that was from the marketplace where the Gentiles were
that causes you to be defiled before God.

It's not eating something that is meat that is unclean that causes you to be defiled
before God.

It's not what goes in that defiles you.

It's what comes from the heart that defiles you.

And then he says, if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

When he had entered the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the
parable.

All right, so Jesus is there.

The Pharisees put this accusation in front of him, then Jesus answers it, then Jesus turns
from the Pharisees talking directly to them to talking to the crowd, then Jesus departs

from the crowd, goes into the house, and the disciples come in after him.

And they said to him, uh they asked him concerning the parable, and he says, are you thus
without understanding also?

Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him?

Because it does not enter his heart, but his stomach, is eliminated, thus purifying all
foods." And he said, what comes out of a man, that defiles a man.

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, and evil eye, blasphemy,

pride, foolishness.

All these evil things come from within and defile a man." Turn quickly over to the book of
James.

Nobody rang the bell, so I'm going to quit here in just a minute, but if somebody will
ring the bell, please.

James chapter 1.

We read, blessed, verse 12, is the man who endures temptation.

For when he been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised
to those who love him.

Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil,
nor does he himself tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown,
brings forth death." Now, I want you to see something in the text that takes Jesus' point

to a whole other level.

Verse 24.

From there,

He arose and went to the region of Tyre.

Tyre is up near the Mediterranean Sea, up on the coastline north of the border of Israel
in the land of the Gentiles.

And he went to the region of Tyre in Sidon and he entered a house and wanted no one to
know it, but he could not be hidden.

For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him and she came and
fell at his feet.

The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, which means she's what?

A Gentile.

And she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

But Jesus said to her, Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the
children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.

And she answered and said to him, Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat
from the children's crumbs.

Then he said to her, For this saying, your way, the demon has gone out of your daughter.

And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out and her daughter lying on
the bed.

Now the Pharisees would have said, if you had even come in contact with this Gentile woman
and then ate afterwards, you were defiled and you were unclean.

And yet this Gentile woman demonstrated a faith and a willingness to hear God.

so unlike the Pharisees and so many in Israel.

Jesus here makes the point.

It is the heart and the life and the willingness of obedience in the individual that
matters and not who gave birth to them.

All right, thank you for your attention.