6.4.25 – Mark 7

SPEAKER 01 : 0:09

Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.

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Mark chapter 7.

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Now when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands? And he said to them, 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. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. you leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. And he said to them, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. For Moses said, honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, if a man tells his father or his mother, whatever you would have gained from me is Corban, that is given to God. Then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and many such things you do. And he called the people to him again and said to them, Hear me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came down and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs. But she answered him, Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs. And he said to her, For this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter. And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, F Fatha, that is, be opened. And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, he has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

SPEAKER 03 : 4:30

In 1986, in my personal Bible reading journal concerning Mark 7, I wrote, Religiosity rather than Christianity. The doctrines of men rather than the commandments of God. Then I also wrote, He has done all things well. I’ve been journaling my Bible reading for over 30 some years. Journaling your Bible reading will change the way you read the Bible. I encourage journaling. When you write something down, you pay more attention to what you’re reading. And we provide Bible reading journals at the Ezra Project. Visit EzraProject.net, look at the resource page, and order yourself a Bible reading journal today. Let’s go on to 1996. I wrote, Lord, forgive my hypocrisy. Help me not just give lip service, but true worship from my heart. Let me not trade commandments of God for traditions of men. Tradition also may make the word void. We see that a lot today. People are out of touch with God’s word. And then I referred to verse 24, for he could not be hidden. And I closed my journal entry with verse 37. They were astonished beyond measure. They proclaimed him widely. We don’t talk about him. In 2006, I wrote, Jesus focuses on God’s principles while the religious leaders focus on man-made rituals. Help me stay focused on a biblical life, not a religious life. I finished my 2006 journal entry with this statement. It’s not what we eat that makes us unclean. It’s what proceeds from our hearts. Let’s take a look at a few commandments of God versus traditions of men. For example, the Word of God says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. In other words, go to church. But to traditions of men, or our heart’s desire is, it doesn’t matter where I go to worship God. I don’t need to go to church to worship God. The Bible says, Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your spirit. Men say, I can love myself. I can love others. By doing that, I love God. The Bible says, when you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do so in remembrance of me. How can you celebrate communion if you’re not assembling yourselves together? Oh yeah, maybe some take communion at home, but is that really what the Lord had in mind when he said that? The Bible tells us to honor our fathers and mothers. The traditions of men say that kids do what they want, without regard or respect for their parents. An example here may be spanking or disciplining children. Doing that in today’s society can put someone in jail. The Bible says, leave your father and your mother, and the two shall become one flesh. The traditions of men say divorce for irreconcilable differences, whatever those are. Those are just a few examples. I’m sure we can think of many, many more where Jesus warns us, you leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. A practical application of Mark 7 may be to list what you think biblical commandments are and what you think traditions of men are. Or in the same way, you might evaluate some of your own behaviors, your own habits, and decide, are these based on commandments from the Lord? Are they based on the traditions of men? The commandments of God are not popular. Jesus said to them and to us in this chapter, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. Holy Spirit, bubble up in us your commandments. Help us understand what you want us to do in this life. Holy Spirit, give me discernment so I can separate the commandments of God from the traditions of men. And Holy Spirit, give me the boldness to live according to the commandments of God and reject the traditions of men. I may need spiritual power to do these things. So I invite you, Holy Spirit, to empower me so that I can live according to the commandments of God and not the traditions of men. Help me, Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, our Savior, we ask it. Amen. Thank you for listening to AdBible. Though the Bible can be read at the speed I’m speaking in about 78 hours, surveys show we don’t read it. How many of you have ever read the Bible cover to cover? How many have tried and failed? I want to encourage you to try it again. I want to share with you what I call the Triple I Doctrine and some powerful reasons to stay in your Bible daily. I begin with a verse from 2 Peter 1.21. But holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. That’s how we got the Bible. The Holy Spirit moved holy men of God to write it, all of it. Because he did, we can now look at the Triple I Doctrine, the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. But what do these terms mean? Inspired means God-breathed. 2 Timothy 3.16 says, What does infallible mean? It means no potential or ability to err. Totally reliable. It cannot contradict itself. And Hebrews 6.18 says, And the last one is inerrant. What does that mean? It means it’s technically correct. It’s free from falsehood and deceit. Wholly true. It’s doctrine. It’s history. It’s science. It’s geography. And Matthew 5.18 says, For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. And Revelation 22, 18 and 19 say, For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. So the Triple I Doctrine is reason enough to be in God’s Word each day. But in case you need more encouragement, here are three more thoughts. First, improve your spiritual maturity. According to Barna Research, of the seven dimensions in which Americans were asked to rate their faith maturity, Bible knowledge ranked dead last. So if you want to improve your spiritual maturity, stay in God’s Word daily. Number two is develop a dynamic relationship with God. Dr. Woodrow Kroll, former president of Back to the Bible, wrote a book called Taking Back the Good Book. He said, When people tire of reading the Bible, it’s because they read it for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way. They read the Bible to gain knowledge, store facts, or pick up a few principles to live by. When you see the Bible as a means to a dynamic relationship with God, you can’t get enough of it because you can’t get enough of Him. And the third thought is to be transformed. Don’t read the Bible to be informed. Read it to be transformed. And I’m going to share a fun little story with you about being transformed by the Word of God. It’s about an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early, sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible. His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could. One day the grandson asked, Papa, I try to read the Bible, just like you, but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do? The grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water. The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, you’ll have to move a little faster next time and send him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, I don’t want a bucket of water. I want a basket of water. You can do this. You’re just not trying hard enough. And he went out the door to watch the boy try again. At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather, the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, See, Papa, it’s useless. So you think it’s useless, the old man said. Look at the basket. The boy looked at the basket, and for the first time, he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was clean. Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, But when you read it, it will change you from the inside out. So read the Bible so you can improve your spiritual maturity, develop a dynamic relationship with God, and be transformed, not informed.