Year 2 Day 312
Pray (ACts) Read - Mark 7:20-23 Message - Alan Burke Have you ever seen the film “What Women Want” (2000) staring Mel Gibson, if you haven’t, don’t bother. I bring it up because I remember going to see it in the cinema back when it came out. It was awful, but maybe you’re really inquisitive now and want to watch and judge for yourself. If that’s so, then it’s on amazon Prime Video but trust me, just do something worth while instead like counting how many baked beans are in the tin in your cupboard. The premise is that the character played by Mel can hear what women want. In it there are some laughs, some awkward stuff but I remember watching it thinking how truly awful it would be, not because he could hear what women thought but hearing what anyone though would be awful. Like really, how awful to know what anyone and everyone was thinking. Would you really, I mean really want to know what someone or anyone was thinking all the time? Or would you want anyone else to know what you were thinking all the time? Of course not! We would be mortified and the reason of course is because even though we might make a good show, our hearts are unclean. Here Jesus makes that point, for out of a man (women or child included) is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of a men’s hearts comes evil thoughts. The list that is given does not pertain to actions, no for the the actions are a result of first the evil thoughts. So have you ever had evil thoughts? Thoughts of sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. We could go through them all, and all these things come from inside, they begin with us, they don’t come about because we didn’t was our hands, because we ate something, because we came in contact with someone, no these are all things that spring from the heart. They are things that are common to all of us to a greater or lesser extent, they are things which every human heart experiences for our hearts, by our nature are sinners, we are unclean. Because of this we are unable to come before a holy God, we are unclean, we are defiled, we are unable to come before him because how our hearts are evil, we cannot hope of coming into the presence or dwelling with the living God because of our nature. What we need to know and understand, each and everyone of us, is that we have by our nature a problem, and the problem is a heart problem. There is nothing that we can do to make our hearts clean, it’s one of those things that if we are honest we know, no matter how moral we think we are, no matter how hard we try we have failed to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed. The good news about the gospel is that it doesn’t matter how dirty the world says you are, how filth stained you believe yourself to be, it doesn’t matter if people cross the other side of the street than you for what ever reason, the good news of the gospel is that Christ died to make us clean. If we recognises our sin for what it is, if we repent of it and believe in Christ Jesus the sinless saviour, then you will be forgiven. Then we are made clean, not by efforts but through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that we can become a new creation, where the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17), what we need is the power of God to work in us by the Holy Spirit, it is the gospel that we need, unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God (Jn 3:3). Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q70 Which is the seventh commandment? The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Exod. 20:14)
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Alan
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