Evaluating Jesus - part 2

Apr 26, 2026 • Rory Mosley

035 Evaluating Jesus – part 2

Mark 7:1-23 (14-18)

April 26, 2026

As you know, we are in a segment in Mark’s gospel in which no one seems to rightly understand who Jesus is.

· They think He is John the Baptist risen from the dead.

· They think He is Elijah.

· They think He is one of the prophets.

· Even the disciples seemed to have difficulty fully recognizing Him.

To be sure they knew He had power.

They just had difficulty knowing who He actually was.

To solve the problem the leaders of Galilee

Have summoned Pharisees from Jerusalem

To come and evaluate Jesus and expose who He really is.

And that is what we began to look at last Sunday night.

#1 THE EVALUATION

Mark 7:1-4

We saw that these religious leaders “gathered around Him”

And began to watch His every move.

It didn’t take long until they found a flaw which they thought would clearly discredit and expose Him.

(2) “had seen some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed.”

Mark revealed to us how Pharisees never do this.

It was clearly spelled out in the Rabbinic tradition teachings

That washing your hands was a means of avoiding defilement before God.

If you ate dirt, or even ate a demon, or some other contaminate, then your body would be unclean and defiled and you would not be acceptable to God.

It was sort of a primitive thought, but it makes sense.

A person becomes defiled by putting defiled things in his body.

If you eat dirt then your insides get dirty.

Some Rabbis even linked this to being a salvation issue,

Stating that only Jews with proper dietary practices

Could be assured of eternal life.

So the Pharisees were sticklers for hand-washing.

And they spotted some of Jesus’ disciples not doing it.

#2 THE CHALLENGE

Mark7:5

(5) “The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?”

As we said Sunday night, this was NOT a polite word of encouragement,

This was a public exposure.

They were publicly calling out the perceived corruption of Jesus.

He disregarded the traditions of the elders,

Thus He could not be a man of God.

In their minds they just condemned Jesus.

#3 THE RESPONSE

Mark 7:6-13

Jesus never answered their accusation.

· He didn’t have to, the Law said nothing about washing your hands before you ate.

He instead pointed out that Isaiah was totally right about them.

These men were hypocrites.

Their words and their heart don’t match.

Scripture repeatedly teaches that the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart, so if a man speaks good things it should indicate a good heart.

That was what made the Pharisees such a mystery.

They spoke words of praise but their hearts were evil,

And Jesus, who could see the heart knew that.

He knew they were phonies, frauds, actors…hypocrites.

Jesus called them HYPOCRITES IN WORSHIP

· Nothing they did was acceptable to God.

· It looked good to men, but God is not fooled.

Quoting Isaiah He said, “In vain do they worship Me”.

Their worship was unacceptable.

And then Jesus called them EXPERTS IN HERESY

(9) “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.”

Jesus said they teach and hold to and keep the traditions of men,

But they neglect, set aside and invalidate the commands of God.

And then Jesus gave an example of how they totally ignore the straightforward commands of God.

Despite the fact that the Law of God is clear

That you are to honor your father and mother…

· You tell people not to honor their father and mother,

· That they should instead declare their money as being “devoted to God”

· And then they don’t have to give it to their parents in need.

It’s quite honestly one of the dumbest things you’ve ever heard.

So the Pharisees have come to expose and condemn Jesus,

But Jesus flipped the script.

They are the ones who are unacceptable to God, not Him.

They accused Him of having impure hands.

He exposed that they in fact had impure hearts.

And before we jump back into this text this morning

Can we just make this one observation?

That any time any man seeks to judge or evaluate Jesus,

All they are really doing is judging or evaluating themselves.

· Jesus is truth incarnate.

· Jesus is the righteous plumbline.

· Jesus is the foundation stone.

· He has no flaws or shortcomings.

THAT IS UNDENIABLE AND UNCHANGEABLE

What then you do with Him will in fact reveal your heart.

Take Pilate who actually administrated the trial over Jesus.

· Jesus wasn’t exposed, but Pilate’s heart was

Nothing reveals a man more accurately than what he does with Jesus.

Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Jesus is the incarnate word and He exposes the hearts of men.

Those who believe Him reveal their faith to be genuine,

Their love for God to be real, and their salvation secure.

1 John 5:9-10 “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.”

But those who examine Him and find some supposed flaw in Him

Reveal only the deception of their own hearts.

When you reject Jesus, you reveal an evil heart that hates truth.

John 5:37-38 “And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. “You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.”

John 3:20-21 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

The Pharisees came to condemn Jesus

And only ended up condemning themselves.

It’s a reminder to all of us.

So Jesus exposed and condemned the Pharisees,

To some it might just sound like a petty disagreement regarding whether or not a person has to wash their hands.

Some might even think that out of concern for a brother it’s the type of thing that should be overlooked or even compromised for the sake of our brother’s conscience.

You know, sort of like a Romans 14 issue.

Romans 14:1-4 “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”

Clearly it’s not a sin to eat with unwashed hands, the Scriptures never condemn it, but it’s also not a sin to wash your hands first.

And some might think that for the sake of unity and harmony Jesus should have just given in to the Pharisees, told the disciple to wash his hands, and moved on.

But the issue here is much bigger than just hand washing.

THE ISSUE HERE IS REGARDING DEFILEMENT.

What it is, how it happens, and even how it’s fixed.

This is not a matter of harmony, this a matter of orthodoxy.

This is a matter of truth and even the gospel.

And Jesus would not give an inch on such issues.

So He now turns to the crowd

To make sure we understand the truth that had been distorted.

The Evaluation, The Challenge, The Response

#4 THE SERMON

Mark 7:14-16

This is a sermon after the sermon.

· Jesus had preached,

· Then the Pharisees had confronted,

· Jesus had exposed them,

· And then (14) “After He called the crowed to Him again…”

After that little debate,

Jesus went into the parking lot and told everyone to come back inside.

Something needed to be addressed.

This is a truth issue.

“After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:”

This is serious.

· This is not the type of thing that can be left up in the air.

· This is not the type of issue where confusion can be tolerated.

AND HERE IS HIS CLARIFYING SERMON:

(15) “there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.”

It’s a simple sermon, but it is vitally important

To our understanding of sin, purity, and ultimately salvation.

The issue at hand is clear.

It is DEFILEMENT

· The Pharisees showed up and accused Jesus’ disciples of being defiled because they ate with unwashed hands.

· Consequently they accused Jesus of teaching a lifestyle which defiles and thus sought to condemn Him.

So this is the issue which must be addressed.

First of all, let’s just discuss the topic for a moment.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE DEFILED?

Well obviously we are speaking in a Jewish context,

And they were of course referencing the restrictions of the Law.

In the Old Testament it was the Hebrew word (ta-MAY)

It meant “to become unclean”

It could refer to

Sexual uncleanness, Religious uncleanness, or Ceremonial uncleanness.

According to the Law

There were a lot of things that would render a person unclean.

A scab, a discharge, having a baby, being near a dead body,

Or even eating unclean food.

And being unclean meant you had to go outside the camp

Until your period of uncleanness was complete.

This indicates what a big deal it was to be unclean.

You were not welcome near the presence of God.

Perhaps to better understand the word (ta-MAY)

We think of other ways it is translated.

It is often translated “unclean”, but it is also translated as “defiled”.

For example:

When the daughter of Jacob was raped.

Genesis 34:27 “Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister.”

Or maybe you remember Leviticus 18 which describes all the forbidden sexual relationships. Like incest, homosexuality, bestiality, etc.

All of those are described as making a person unclean or defiled.

We also see it in regard to fortune tellers:

Leviticus 19:31 “‘Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.”

When you see it like that the word takes on a more direct meaning.

To be (ta-MAY) was to be defiled.

It was to be polluted or spoiled or impure or not up to standard.

And such a person had to go outside the camp

Until they were washed and cleansed of their impurity and thus welcome.

So to speak of someone being defiled,

We are talking about someone being unacceptable to God.

Now, when we come to the New Testament

And the Pharisees begin to discuss it with Jesus we see a different word.

The Greek word for “defile” is (koy-NA-o)

It means “to render unhallowed” or “profane”

In contemporary Greek literature it meant “to make common”

And that is a very interesting definition.

What was the command God had for His people?

You know it. “be holy, for I am holy”

· We might say, “be set apart, for I am set apart”

· We might say, “be hallowed, for I am hallowed”

· We might say, “don’t be common, for I am not common”

It was God’s reminder that there was no god like Him,

And thus they should not be like any other people.

They were not to be common.

They were not to be like other people.

NOW, THEY KNEW THAT,

THEY KNEW the Law was given to cause them to be different.

Do you remember that arrogant prayer of the Pharisee in the temple?

Luke 18:11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”

That’s what he was saying.

· I’m different.

· I’m set apart.

· I’m hallowed.

· I’m not common.

Now, he of course was common, he just didn’t know it.

BUT THE POINT of these commands was

For Israel to be different from the world and thus acceptable to God.

And there were lots of commands like that.

· Things like not mix breeding your cattle.

· Things like growing the hair long on your temple.

But also things like dietary restrictions.

· God’s people were not supposed to eat what the rest of the world ate.

Leviticus 11:41-45 “‘Now every swarming thing that swarms on the earth is detestable, not to be eaten. ‘Whatever crawls on its belly, and whatever walks on all fours, whatever has many feet, in respect to every swarming thing that swarms on the earth, you shall not eat them, for they are detestable. ‘Do not render yourselves detestable through any of the swarming things that swarm; and you shall not make yourselves unclean with them so that you become unclean. ‘For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. ‘For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

That’s just the end of the list there, but you get the idea.

This is why Jesus said the Pharisees would “strain out a gnat”.

They were meticulously careful to follow some aspects of the Law.

Of course Jesus said they would also “swallow a camel”

Which was also unclean and thus made the point that they didn’t get it.

But you understand where such phrases are coming from.

· It was all about not being defiled.

· It was all about being hallowed.

· It was all about not being common like the rest of the world.

Looking different - Talking different - Acting different - Eating different

But what the Pharisees, nor the Jews of Jesus day understood

Is that all of those commands were nothing more than a symbol.

We studied that on Easter.

Hebrews 9:8-10 “The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.”

In other words, you can do all of those things.

· You can do all the washings

· You can keep all the dietary restrictions

· You can abstain from every detail

BUT…you still couldn’t get to God.

YOU WERE STILL DEFILED

All of those commands and ordinances

Were merely meant to teach the simple point

That God is not like the world and if we are to be acceptable to Him,

We must not be like the world either.

And just like the sacrifices they offered couldn’t really wash away sin,

Abstaining from certain foods also couldn’t make you clean.

But that is what the Pharisees had taught the people.

They had taught the people that if they eat right and abstain right

Then they will be acceptable to God.

I read you a clip from John MacArthur Sunday night, let me read it again.

“The Pharisees and scribes took their traditions very seriously, including hand-washing. Some rabbis suggested that a demon named Shibtah sat on people’s hands while they were sleeping. If the demon was not removed by ceremonial washing before eating, he would be transferred to the mouth and could enter the body. Other rabbis turned hand-washing into a salvation issue. As the Jerusalem Talmud asserts, “Whoever is firmly implanted in the land of Israel, who speaks the holy language, who eats his food in purity [as required by hand-washing rituals], and recites the Shema morning and evening, is assured of life in the world to come” (Shabbat 1:3)”

(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Mark 1-8; Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL, 2015] pg. 343)

If you will live in Israel, speak the holy language, keep the dietary restrictions, and recite the Shema every morning and evening, then you’ll go to heaven.

YOU WILL BE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.

That is why the Pharisees came confronting Jesus

About His disciples not washing their hands.

According to their tradition the disciples of Jesus

Were making themselves detestable to God

Because they were putting defiled or unclean food in their mouths.

So their teaching was purely external and ritualistic.

If you do right with your works you go to heaven,

If you do wrong then you don’t.

AND JESUS WILL NOT PUT UP WITH SUCH TEACHING.

The Pharisees clearly had no idea what makes a man defiled before God.

I’ll give you a hint, it’s not bacon.

Look at what Jesus says:

“there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him…”

THAT IS A SIMPLE POINT.

Defilement does not occur from the outside in.

If you are a righteous man or a holy woman,

And someone tricks you into eating something dirty or detestable

Or fermented or sacrificed to a demon or whatever else,

It will not make you unrighteous.

You don’t become defiled by what you put in your mouth.

“there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him”

“nothing”

Oh, I know, people can ask,

“What about beer?” “What about drugs?” “What about meatloaf?”

And the answer is “NO”

Those things cannot defile you just by going into your mouth.

They can certainly produce adverse effects and altered behavior which is not acceptable to God, but defilement does not occur from the outside in.

“but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.”

Defilement does not occur from the outside in,

It occurs from the inside out.

You WILL NOT be defiled because of things you put in your mouth,

You WILL BE defiled because of the things that come out of your mouth.

1. So Jesus humiliates the Pharisees

2. And then calls the crowd back together

To tell them that if they want to not be defiled

They need to worry less about what they put in their mouth

And worry more about what comes out of their mouth.

THAT’S THE SERMON.

You probably notice that verse 16 is in italics, or it may be in brackets in your bible, or even as a footnote at the bottom of the page.

That’s because older manuscripts did not contain the verse and it is obvious that as the gospel of Mark was copied over the years someone added that phrase to it.

It’s not an unbiblical statement as Jesus said it often, He just probably didn’t say it here.

But you get the sermon.

#5 THE EXPLANATION

Mark 7:17-23

Here we see Mark’s theme emerge again.

The disciples again reveal that despite their time with Jesus,

Even they STILL DON’T GET IT.

When Jesus fed the 5,000

We said that they failed to understand how “set apart” or “holy” He was.

Well here we learn

That they don’t really even understand what it is that makes a man “set apart” or “holy”.

And those two truths build upon another.

The disciples had difficulty recognizing the holiness of Jesus

Because they didn’t have a clear understanding

Of what it meant to be holy.

They had been infected by the works-based doctrines of the Pharisees.

All their lives they had been told that defilement comes from the outside.

· When you eat something unclean

· When you visit someone unclean

· When you touch something unclean

Then you make your otherwise pure life impure before God.

So when they get Jesus alone, they ask.

(17-18a) “When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also?”

We certainly commend the disciples

For wanting to understand what they did not understand.

This is one of the things that has routinely set them apart from the crowd.

Whereas the crowd was content in confusion the disciples wanted the truth.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT ALSO REVEALS

That though they had heard Jesus preach countless times

They still did not have a proper understanding of sin and defilement.

They imagined themselves to be pure or clean,

And only defiled when something from the outside defiled them.

You’d be surprised how many people today believe the exact same thing.

· “I’m a good person”

· “I’ve got a good heart”

· “I just got caught up in that bad thing”

Or we hear mothers defend their children.

“He’s a good boy, it’s that bad boy that influenced him…”

And we seem to think that if we can insulate ourselves

From every unclean or defiled thing around them

Then they will grow up to be clean and pure and righteous people.

· If we can keep our kids away from those bad kids.

· If we can keep them from those evil influences.

· If we can just keep them in the bubble they’ll be fine.

I’ve got some bad news for you momma,

The most evil thing your child will ever encounter

Is already present, in fact they were born with it.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

The most evil thing you will ever encounter is the evil heart within you.

It is the most deceitful thing you’ll deal with.

It is the most sick or defiled thing you’ll come in contact with.

Back in 2020 everyone wore a mask to tried to stay 6 feet away from everyone else for fear they might catch COVID,

But the sickest thing they’ll ever encounter was already within them.

I want you to consider for a moment the apostle Paul in that famous Romans 7 account.

Romans 7:7-12 “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

First he says, “I wouldn’t even have known what sin was were it not for the Law.”

· “for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

So the Law identifies what sin is.

Ok, that’s good.

But Paul goes on. He says that once sin was identified to him then something really bizarre happened.

· He said, “But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind”

That’s strange.

The second I learned that coveting was a sin,

I started coveting everything.

And then he says

· “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me.”

What does he mean by that?

Was he really alive before the commandment came?

No, he was dead, but he didn’t know it.

He was caught in the throws of coveting and wickedness

He had just been unaware of it.

And we learn then that what the Law did for Paul

Was show him that he was defiled even though he didn’t know it.

WHY?

He had an evil heart.

Later on:

Romans 7:18-21 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.”

WHAT HAS HE LEARNED?

There is sin in me!

And sin is calling the shots!

Paul has spent his life as a Pharisee of Pharisees.

He had spent his life avoiding everything that he thought might defile him.

What he had failed to realize is that he was already defiled.

Even if he had spent his life avoiding every leper, every dead body,

Every unclean food, it would not have kept him from being defiled.

He was already defiled by reason of the evil heart within him.

LISTEN, YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS.

This is such an important point regarding our understanding of sin.

We are NOT victims of our circumstances.

We are NOT victims of our social circle.

We are victims of our own inner corruption

Which we inherited from our forefather Adam.

Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”

While no one would argue against the defiling nature of the world.

· Certainly the world is evil.

· Certainly the world seeks to corrupt you.

· Certainly temptation abounds.

But the reason we succumb to it is because of the evil heart within us.

Do you remember James?

James 1:13-15 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

Do you see where the power of temptation resides?

· In your own heart.

· “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust”

It’s the fallen inclination of your heart that gets you.

It’s NOT your environment.

The book of Genesis should prove this exceptionally well.

Our forefather Adam fell into sin and wrecked our entire race.

But where was he when he fell?

· Was he not in a perfect environment?

· Was he not in a divine circle?

And why did he fall into sin?

· Because he wanted to.

We know about Satan tempting Eve,

But do you remember what Scripture says about why she finally ate?

Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

Eve ate because she wanted to.

And Adam ate for the same reason.

MY SIMPLE POINT this morning is that we are not neutral in this thing.

We are not good until we get defiled from the outside.

You could take a newborn infant,

And immediately lock him away in a secluded atmosphere

Where he will only ever encounter good things and righteous influences.

And that infant will still fall into sin.

· That infant will still be selfish.

· That infant will still be manipulative.

· That infant will still be rebellious.

It’s not the environment, it’s the fallen heart he was born with.