We Need a New Heart | Mark 7:14-23 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Well, if you came today, and we're going to continue with Catholicism or other traditions. We won't be. And one reason is because, there's so much to say, and eventually we're going to have to stop at some point. Right? We can talk about the papacy.

We can talk about veneration of icons. We can talk about indulgences. We can talk about different shades of traditions. All really you can do from this point on, though we may revisit such a subject in the future, is to be moved enough to not take things at face value. To not just assume what people have to say about what they believe, but to go deeper and to look deeper and to study and realize where people stand.

What differences do people truly have? Scripture tells us that my people perish, right, for a lack of knowledge. We're a faith that prizes knowledge. We're not just running here out of sentiment and emotions. Everything about what we believe is based on truth, on facts.

And our arguments, our defense, our gospel, our presentation, everything that you and I experience is based on what has been revealed. And so be inspired moving from this place, moving on from where we were left off in Mark chapter seven to to grow in your knowledge of the word of God, of what you believe. And from there, from what others believe, and then to compare, And hopefully, the Lord will use you as you are equipped to touch other people. I trust that he will. One of the things that blessed me from people in the past few weeks was I feel equipped.

And that's the point. I wanted you to feel more familiar with your gospel, with our truth, and also where other people stand so that you would be more bold and courageous and willing to touch other people's lives with the truth. With all that being said, we're still in Mark chapter seven. And so I need you to turn with me in your bibles to this place in verse 14. This will be more preaching than teaching.

There's a lot of quoting and reading past few weeks, but I'm excited to have my head up more this afternoon. Mark chapter seven verse 14. 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, then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not in his heart, but his stomach and is expelled? Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. For 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. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, and may our hearts and our ears also be acceptable in your sight. You promised that when the Holy Spirit would come, there would be power. Power to testify of the truth. We appeal to that power.

We depend on that power. We relinquish all eloquence, all craft, all even personality, and we submit ourselves to the sovereign work of God who bestows upon his servants the ability to deliver and communicate your truth. So do so in this moment for your name's sake and your name's sake alone. In Jesus name, amen. I'm sure that if you've been in any lengthy discussion, whether it was evangelistic, philosophical, or theological, that it did not take much time for the problem of evil to arise in that conversation.

Apart from the diseases and all the natural disasters that occur on a daily basis, the polluting immorality that plagues over humanity is very difficult to ignore, and for the most part is easily discerned. Now it is true that the Bible reveals that our discernment concerning moral evil and moral good can be skewed, can be dulled, can be warped. But you have to understand that there is a general understanding of morality among us. Most religions can say, yes, there is categories of good and bad. There is right and wrong.

And even the staunch atheist unknowingly perhaps appeals to morality when he chooses to accuse and condemn a God that he doesn't even believe in. And you can imagine and you are fully aware that it's no surprise that many many minds over the years and many schools of thought have arose on this subject. Countless people over the centuries have tried to make sense of this mystery called evil. But with all the opinions that have been passed down and that are continuing to be passed down in our institutions of learning, and with all the great minds over the different civilizations and cultures that have stuffed our literature in our libraries, There is absolutely nothing more robust or accurate concerning the subject in the of evil than the word of God itself. Nothing.

One theologian said very cleverly that none can deny the fact that men are not what they ought to be. None can deny. There is something that we intrinsically sense about ourselves that not everything is right. There is something foundationally wrong. None can deny that we are not what we ought to be.

And yet, no human wisdom can give us answers to why. But if you are looking for answers, if you are looking for clarity, then look no further than what you have in your hands. Because God's word provides insight concerning the origins of evil. The identity of evil. The activity of evil.

The punishment for evil. The presence of evil. The consequences of evil. And yes, even the future fate of evil. It's there from cover to cover.

And what you and I just read in this text here this afternoon shows us something about the Lord Jesus and his insight concerning evil. A staggering insight, a humbling insight about morality namely wickedness, iniquity, rebellion, and how all of that relates to you and I as human beings. And my aim today is to provide at least three simple thoughts. Three simple thoughts that the Lord is conveying here concerning that very topic. And here's my desire.

God help us. Here's my desire. That if you're in this if you're in this place and you're a person who can identify through the revelation that is presented to you today that you need a new heart, that you would be moved by this truth enough to come before the presence of the king and say, God, give me a new heart. And if you're a person in this place who has been born again, you can genuinely say, I have been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. That you also would be Jesus Christ.

That you also would be moved, not to appeal for a new heart, but perhaps for a a new joy. A new joy, a new praise, a new song, because you in this place are enjoying the miracle of the new birth because of his grace. And so the sinner in this place this afternoon can glorify God through the repentance. And the person who has experienced this amazing gospel, you would also be able to glorify God by rejoicing afresh in his goodness over your life. And so I have three thoughts for you today.

And as I told you, it will be preached to you. It will be preached to you. If it feels evangelistic, then so be it. But let your heart be moved because even Christians need to hear the gospel. Didn't that Paul say in Romans?

That it is through the preaching of Jesus Christ that we know strength. It is through this gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, not the world, but the saints tap into a supernatural strength. We need to hear the gospel. We need to explore deeper truths of the gospel. And here's Christ giving us an insight concerning the gospel.

But before we get to that truth, here's point number one. Point number one, the source of evil is from within. What do we see here in verse 20? And he said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. Three staggering words in verse 21.

For from within. For from within. And now Jesus before he displays this catalog of filth that populates every person's inner being, he prepares his listeners. He gets them ready. How's he get them ready?

Well, we're told here in verse 14. Hear me all of you and understand. Hey, pay attention. Pay attention and humble yourself to be willing to accept what I'm about to say. And then from there, he says something quite strange perhaps to us.

There's 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. What what is Jesus speaking about? Well, remember the wider context. Remember before we went into that mini series on tradition where it all started from. The Pharisees came to Jesus and said, why do your disciples not wash their hands before they eat?

They weren't concerned about their hygiene. They were concerned about the fact of their disregard of the ceremonial and ritual cleansings that were preached and taught and passed down to the masses. And that kind of tradition that had binding conviction on others is what Jesus challenged because it was based like a lot of tradition today. It was based on skewed theology. Let me say this.

Tradition is neutral. It can be used to highlight and honor a truth or it can be used to eclipse a truth. And in this case, this idea of ceremonial cleansing eclipsed the truth. More than just eclipse the truth, it diverted people from the truth and put their focus on an external morality instead of true inner holiness. And so Jesus challenges that thought and he provides clarity about it.

And he says, listen, it's not about the externals because what they were what they were teaching was what you do with your body is what determines your standing in the presence of God. What you eat, what you touch, how you protect your hands, how you protect your feet. All of that is ultimately going to determine you experiencing God's favor. And Christ comes on the scene again and he exposes all of that. What Christ is essentially saying is, listen, the primary polluting factor that blemishes souls and corrupts behavior is not external.

It's in you. It's in you. In other words, the primary thing that you and I should be concerned about is not what's outside but what's inside. And this concept may be familiar to us. Right?

We've heard it all our lives, most of us in this place, at least I assume. But because of the desperate lack of true teaching in Jesus's day, even the disciples prove that this is very difficult to grasp. You've been trained and you've heard all your life that it's about don't do this, don't do that, and here now Christ comes and he's not presenting something new. He's presenting what the heart of God was even in the old covenant. It's your heart.

It's what occupies within. And I suppose that some people today have trouble acknowledging this truth as well since it is a humiliating declaration of the condition of man and so contrary to modern psychologists and philosophers pacify our generation with. It's generally understood that the wrong we commit is what? The wrong that we commit is what makes us sinners. It's deeper than that.

It's not the wrong that you commit that makes you a sinner. We are not merely sinners because we sin, we sin because we're sinners. What you do that doesn't necessarily determine who you are, though there is a facet of truth to that, but it's much more complex. You do what you do because of who you are. That's the essence of what Christ is saying.

For from within, out of the heart of man, the heart of man. What is the heart of man? It is the essential part of your personality. It is the very thing that defines your affections, your ambitions, your convictions, your attitudes, the inner seat that inspires your thoughts, your words, your decisions. It is that core element that makes you you.

And what Christ is saying is that thing that makes you you is a fountain of wickedness, and it is desperately fractured. The human heart is broken. The human heart is deceptive. It is perverted. It is selfish.

It is stubborn. It is a theater that endlessly plays evils 10,000 times 10 thousands. It is a tireless idle manufacturer. It is a cesspool of corruption. Happy Father's Day.

Right? To which some might say, excuse me, preacher. Yeah. You with the the suit. You're being a little extreme, aren't you?

I would say that I'm a good person. I'm a good dad. I provide for my family. I'm not like other fathers who run away from their wives and their responsibilities. I pay the bills.

I take my family on vacation. I sacrifice my own sleep, my own, hobbies to serve my own. I'm a good mother. Do you know what I have to do on a day to day basis to train my children, raise up my children? I'm not like other twenties.

I'm not like millennials there. I'm not like Gen Z who have wasted their lives in their youth and debauchery and shame. I've preserved myself. I've kept myself. I pay my taxes.

I'm good to my neighbors. I obey the laws of the land. How dare you ascribe to me such horrific descriptions? And my answer to you is twofold if those thoughts have traveled through your mind as I preach in this microphone. And here's the first thought, to what measure, what standard of goodness are you comparing your goodness?

Do you see what Jesus mentioned first in this list of sins in verse 21? For from within out of the heart of man come, here's the first thing, evil thoughts. Evil thoughts. Now most of us, if not all of us outside of Christ, would never entertain the idea that evil thoughts would be an offense. Why?

It's intangible. Their imagination is within the boundaries of my imagination. They're just they're just ideas. They're not harming anybody. They're not defiling.

They're not hurting. They're just being rehearsed from within. And yet, it's a very first thing that Jesus underscores as a violation. Why? Because what we consider innocent is actually and primarily offensive to the one who inhabits heaven and knows the heart of all men.

You see, sin is not measured by how harmful it is to others. What our words or actions do to our companions, our family members, or our friends, or even our enemies. There is a vertical reality to our morality that we often ignore in our self assessment. Pay attention to this. Our personal scorecards of holiness would look a lot different if God was the one grading them.

Our personal scorecards of how good we are would have a different grade if God was the one who determined whether you pass or fail. And Jesus mentions evil thoughts because that's where everything is birthed from. Right? It starts with the imagination before it becomes manifestation. And so there's even insight here concerning the order of things.

Evil thoughts. Evil thoughts. But evil thoughts, I mean, what's the big deal? Well, it's a big deal to God. Secondly, here's my second objection to your objection.

Are you, please, if you're a good person then you have to be honest. Are you honest enough to look at human history and admit that our books, that our documentaries testify that our potential to do evil is so great as men and women. So great. I know your immediate temptation is to distance yourself from ancient civilizations and barbaric societies and ideologies. But do you doubt that under certain circumstances and desperate situations, if the temperature is right, if the government permits it and the culture accepts it, that you too can become a beast if you're unhinged?

If what you have in your heart is merely a seed, and if that seed is watered just right, it can become a bed of weeds and morph you and transform you into something that you yourself would never be able to recognize. You don't even have to look too far. The twentieth century has been declared the bloodiest and most destructive century of all of human history. The twentieth. Not the first, not the second, not the eighteenth, the twentieth.

Just a few generations ago, we have slaughtered more people than at any time since the inception of this very world. So much for progressive. Right? So much for men developing. Right?

So much with all our chores, and all our discoveries, and all our inventions. Those things don't prove anything. If anything, they just give us more instrument and more ways to be evil. And amazingly, the Bible itself has been authored by God to be what? A history book.

God didn't give us a book of systematic theology where you go to a concordance or you go to some index and you say, okay, what does justification mean? And you come and you see a list of the definitions of justification. No. There is some truth to that. There is some element of that, but you have a history book in your hands.

And I believe there's one specific purpose among many for that. Turn with me to Galatians four four in your Bibles. I want you to see something with me. Maybe something that you've never thought about. Galatians four four.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. Glory be to God. Look at those first few words. But when the fullness of time had come, the Holy Spirit through Paul indicates that at the appropriate time, at the perfect time, the son of God became man. He became man to become our substitute.

And there is much debate and speculation about God's choice of the timing in human history for the incarnation of Christ. And it would be a whole message in itself to consider the heart stirring reasons why Jesus came when he came. Why Jesus came when he came, because according to God, he came at the perfect time, at the bull's eye mark. And there's an element of God's choosing of that time that is sovereign and hidden and veiled from our understanding that makes God God and you and I creatures. Oh, but from time to time he gives us a glimpse into his wisdom so that we can have more outbursts of joy concerning his glory.

At the fullness of time, I believe one of the reasons why Christ came when he came is because it has to do with the patient development of Israel's history as a testimony to the world about our desperate condition and need for a savior. Did you catch that? After so many manifestations, after so many miracles, after God had raised up so many men throughout the generations to visit this covenant people, after establishing a very unique relationship with this one people group and giving them a very powerful law, a law not just to be kept to themselves, but to shine in the world with its warnings and with its blessings. After all of that, showering of sovereign mercy, you have a nation who over and over again rebelled, disobeyed, turned their backs, worshiped other gods. And in God's great wisdom, when you pick up this book and read through it, before you would come and meet with Christ in the gospel of Matthew, you would have already been confronted and convinced of how deplorable and twisted we really are.

Is that the sense you get when you read the old testament? When you go through the book of Judges and you see after all these saviors and all these supernaturally empowered men and even women, we still go back to our sin. We still go back to our abomin. Okay. Fine.

No judges. Here are some kings and then you read who after one king following the next. Very very little were able to be consistent. And even in their consistency, they still fail because they're a man. And then you come to the prophets, major prophets, minor prophets, and you see even in these prophets, though they were sanctified vessels, they were vessels still.

And the people still did not respond to the pleas of these men who are passionate for the glory of God. And so you're overwhelmed by that. And you look at Israel and you're tempted to condemn Israel, because we think to ourselves, well, if I was at Mount Sinai and I saw the glory of God come down like that, I would serve God my whole life, all my days, every second. Oh, really? And we convince ourselves in that when that's not the intention of why it's there in your bible, is to show you this is you.

This is you. And it would be a testament to future generations, yes, even in 2023, that if you dare to care for your soul enough to read this bible, you would read it and you again be confronted with your depravity and mine. When the fullness of time had come, Christ comes with the backdrop of a nation who fractured and shattered any possibility of standing in right with God. And interestingly, when you read the bible, you also see that it's not just about a past reality, but it even testifies of a future reality. What do I mean by that?

You have some who say who would be very upset with this message, very upset. We're inherently good. We're inherently good. And this is what you hear in modern messages. You're a good person.

You're just a victim of your environment. Right? And this is what we're preaching in our culture. This is what our government is flirting with. If we just abolish poverty altogether, and if we give equal opportunity to all, then we will know utopia.

We will know a great, if not a total decrease in crime. We will know harmony. We will know peace. We will know true joy and happiness. And the bible knowing our foolish thinking doesn't just help us by looking to the past, it points us to the future because do you know that the Bible predicts and tells us and prophesies that there is a day to come in this world, not heaven, in this day where Christ will come, establish his rule and reign, and because of his government that will be headquartered there in Jerusalem, there will be a peace and a prosperity in this world like this world has never known.

Never known. It will be an edenic kind of revival. You will have an atmosphere and you will have a from corner to corner, across the globe, a renewing of what was lost there in Genesis one and two. And that excites us. We say amen to that.

We look forward to that. But despite that holy atmosphere, the Bible reminds us yet again of how deeply rooted your sin and mine is as sons and daughters of Adam. Let me prove it to you. Go to Zechariah chapter 14. Zechariah 14 is one of the most descriptive text that details what it will be like when Christ comes to this world.

Again, maybe you don't know this. Christ is coming back not to take us to heaven and keep us there. There is going to be a period of one thousand years where he has to fulfill some promises that he made first, namely to Israel and namely to a person named David. In Zechariah fourteen seventeen to 18, now this is just one puzzle to a grand puzzle of what that millennial reign will look like, and most of it is glorious. It's exciting.

I mean, the lion lying down with the lamb. Right? Children being able to play with serpents. You have the geographical, You have the animal kingdom. You have politics and governments.

Every aspect of our universe will be influenced by Christ's physical presence here in glory. And yet with all of that, it almost it almost feels like heaven when you read about it. It's not heaven entirely. Because despite the king's presence and his perfect leadership, there will be a population who have not yet been renewed and resurrected. And here's a glimpse of that.

Verse 17. This is about the millennial reign. This is not today. This is the millennial reign. It's to come.

And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain. There shall be a plague. The plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. We look at that and we say, oh, that's interesting.

No. No. It's theological. So understand that what will what will populate the world, who will populate the world, in part will be the resurrected saints. But it's not just gonna be the resurrected saints.

You're gonna have those who have been preserved from judgment, even the final judgment to come in this world, that will also populate this world and they have not been regenerate. And they will reproduce. And even again under this amazing government, you will still have people who will resist the king. Because the king will demand for global acknowledgment of who he is and there will be pilgrimages to Jerusalem where kings and people from nations will come not to hear a preacher talk about Jesus, but to see Jesus himself. And yet, there will be families of the earth who don't go up.

We're not going up to worship him. We're not going up to acknowledge him. We're not going up to honor his command. We're staying right here. I mean, look how powerful his government is.

No government can do this. Fine. You don't wanna come? No rain on you guys. No rain.

Supernatural authority over nature itself. And you know what I find even more fascinating? Revelation 20, you don't have to turn there, it gives us another insight about what will it be like during that time, and we're told that Satan himself would be subdued for a thousand years. He will be chained and placed in an abyss, and he will not be able to freely roam around like he confessed in Job chapter one to deceive and to tempt. His influence will be relinquished.

And yet, though Satan's presence and his minions are put in a place where they cannot have what they've had for so long in our world, you still have people who will resist the king. You still have people who say, I don't want to worship him. I don't wanna come near him. Why? How?

Because of the human heart. JC Ryle said, we need no bad company to teach us and no devil to tempt us in order to run into sin. We have within us the beginning of every sin under heaven. So go away with that idea of environment. Can environment influence us?

Yes. Can people arouse us? Yes. Can demons cause us to do things? Yes.

But the source, the fountain head, the mouth of where it all comes from is in your heart. Yeah. Even behind that pretty little blouse and a nice tailored suit. The source of evil is from within. Point number two.

The problem of evil is universal. Jesus is very specific in what he said here in Mark chapter seven, for from within out of the heart of man. Not amen, not some men, not a people group, not a specific race, not criminals only, but mankind as a whole is infected with this poison. So whether your society your status in society is high or low, whether your bank account is full or empty, whether you're educated or poor poorly read, whether you are famous or unknown, whether you have accomplished much or little, all men according to Jesus are inclined to do that which God says do not do. There is not one part of this world you can run to where this isn't true.

There is not one culture or ethnicity where they are not infected with this disease. Wherever you go, you will find this problem. Whoever you meet, they have the same diagnosis. I want you to think about that. You can't escape from it.

You can't run from it. There's not one part of this world that is untouched. And have you ever stepped back and asked why? Have have you ever just paused and looked at the universality of sin and said, how is this true? Why is this?

Why are we all the same? Only a fool would deny that there is not something wrong with us in our wiring. And this observation is yet another point that defends the veracity of the word of God. Because it's in the word of God where we get the answer that tells us why it is all of us are the way we are, and why sin itself encompasses all men and all women. You know this verse?

You can turn there if you'd like. But in Romans five twelve, Paul says, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned through one man. Now notice Paul's being very specific. He's saying just as sin came into the world. Paul is describing the sin in our world.

He's not talking about the origins of sin because John tells us about the origins of sin. In first John three eight, he tells us about the devil who was sinning from the beginning, even before the world was created. And that's a mystery in itself. Right? How did Satan sin?

I get it, but we're not here to answer that. What Paul's here addressing is sin in our world, and it happened through one man. One man. One man brought sin universally. One man brought about death universally.

That's why we all die. I've wondered this. I you might make fun of this kind of thing, but I thought to myself, how is it that we we all die? Why is it that some don't die? If this is just all happenstance and we're the product of goo in a collision, why is it that we all have the same fate?

And there's something unnatural about death. Something doesn't feel right about it. There's something in all of us that resists it. That if you're still sane, you you you protect yourself from danger, anything that would threaten you. The very reflexes of your body attest to that.

Right? You blink and you flinch. Why? Why? Why is it that there's no academy in our world?

Why is it that there's no school or university or pre kindergarten or kindergarten class that teaches you to do evil? Come and learn how to lie. Come learn how to steal. Come learn how to be selfish because it's in you. You don't need to be taught.

You know exactly how to do it. Because of one man, he explains that our first parents, namely Adam, was granted a unique responsibility, ones that's not to be repeated apart from Christ, but a unique responsibility. And his responsibility is to govern or was to govern and nurture the world, and he assumed the role of man's representative. And the decisions he made would have consequences for the rest of us in the natural world that he was called to take care of. And one preacher put it this way, Adam did not sin as a man.

Adam sinned as man. Big difference because the implications of that are massive. And here is one of them. As long as there are humans, there will be sin. As long as there are humans, there will be sin.

Take a dozen people, six men, six women, train them and develop the technology to be able to colonize another planet. Stuff them in a rocket, blow it up into the atmosphere, let them land on Mars, and create a new world. Let's start fresh. Right? If this is really about our environment, if this is about all these other tricks and ideas, then let's just get a blank canvas.

Maybe that's the real solution. We just need a fresh start. Surely, we have learned after thousands of years of scars upon our land and upon our people, we've learned enough to say, if we got it if we get a new chance at it, we can do it right. And what would you have if we took over another planet and try to do it all over again? You would have earth 2.2 or two point o.

That's what you would have. Because it's not about how you do things, what you learn, what programs you develop, it's about the heart. And here's the funny thing, we actually tried that and it didn't work. We tried going to Mars? No, I'm not talking about that.

We tried restarting in this world and failed. Remember the flood? That that's what it was all about. Again, it's a history book to show you that that kind of idea itself is not even worthy to be entertained. God takes one family, puts him on an ark, encloses him and protects him, and he washes this world squeaky clean.

He takes just a remnant of the animals of every kind, puts him in that boat as well, and he scrubs this place from east to west, north to south. That ark lands and this family exits that ark. God makes a covenant with this family that feared God during a generation that had absolutely no regard for God. And what do you have? In the very opening chapter of that new start in history, Noah following in the footsteps of Adam.

Adam sinned with a fruit. Noah sinned with a fruit. Different fruit, but same heart. He gets drunk before we can even enjoy our new world. And his sons, at least one of them, shames him and embarrasses him, and it just all goes downhill from there.

So what's the solution? It's not to put man in a new environment. It's not to get a reset button. It's to give man a new heart. And how is that to be done exactly?

Let me give you a couple of verses before we close. In Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 31, Ezekiel eighteen thirty one, the Lord says, cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, oh house of Israel? That looks like good news. Right?

That looks hopeful. Yeah, it is. God doesn't want you to die in your sin. But is it really hopeful? Did what I just read to you excite you?

If you read it carefully, it should plunge you into deeper despair. Hypothetically, you come into my office and I'm a doctor. And you sense something strange in your body, so you go through a series of tests and we do those tests and we discover that in your body is a burning cancer that is soon to eat away at your flesh. It is lethal and you will die. No cure, no answer, no remedy.

Your fate is sealed. And you, because you cherish your life, because you have enough awareness of your own life and realize that there is something wrong with you, you are willing to accept that news. And you feel that that pit in your stomach and there's a cold sweat that covers your brow. But there's a sense in which you are also grateful because you discovered this. Right?

Some would some would describe what this message was up to this point as harsh. But do you do that with your doctor when he tells you honestly what's wrong with your body? Or do you thank him? Can you come to the proper prescription before an honest diagnosis? That is exactly why Jesus says what he says.

That's exactly why this is being preached. And so there's a sense of relief. Right? Okay. This is what I have.

This is what I'm struggling with. But doctor, you're a doctor. Surely you have something. And the doctor looks at you and he says, here are some tools. Go back to your house and get the cancer out yourself.

How would you feel? How would you feel? Here are some instruments. Good luck. You know you have this cancer.

Try to deal with it yourself. What you're supposed to feel is an even deeper pit in your stomach and a fresh showering of that cold sweat over your brow to realize I can't. I can't. You're asking me to do something that is impossible. I can't perform surgery on myself.

I don't know the deepest parts of I'm not familiar with my anatomy to dig deep in there and remove that lump. There is just no way. And that's exactly the aim of this charge in Ezekiel eighteen thirty one. It's not to inspire you to try to work your way out of your depraved condition. It's to bring you to a point where you say, create in myself a new heart?

Make a new spirit in my own strength? I can't. You're asking something that's impossible of me. I'm finished. I'm undone.

Let me put my house in order. Let me eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow I die. But Ezekiel doesn't finish with his revelation because you keep reading in that prophet's writings and you come to chapter 36 verse 26. And the Lord says through him, and I will give you a new heart. I, not you, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to be obey my rules. How many times does he have to say, I I I I you can't. Right? I can't.

You can't get the cancer out of you. Right? I can't get the cancer out of me. Then I'll do it. Come to the foot of the cross.

Come filthy, broken, and lay there in humility and repent in faith. Submit to my righteousness and allow me to perform in you what you or nobody else can do. This is point number three. Yes. Point number one is that the source of evil is within.

Point number two is that the problem of evil is universal. And point number three is this, that the remedy of your sin is not within, but outside. It's not within, it's in him. I will do it. That is our gospel appeal.

It's to raise up the mirror of God's word in front of you and to show you God's standard and to press you and to help you see just how depraved and lost and deplorable you really are. Not in light of your neighbor, not in light of society, not in light of the crazies that are dominating social media. No. No. No.

In light of a holy God. And for you to say, well that's me. And then you feel the temptation of your hand reaching for a knife, reaching for your own works, reaching for your own efforts, reaching for your own ideas, reaching for what you even see the commands in this word and to apply them to yourselves and to bleed that sin out of you and to bruise yourself into righteousness. And to be molded into the very image that God requires of you in order to be accepted by him. And that is not where God wants you to go.

Before you reach out your hand, he halts it and he grabs your wrist. And he gets your attention with the gospel of Jesus Christ and he says, not with your hands but with my pierced hands. Not where you go with your feet, but where my feet have gone. Not where you do with your mind, but with what this crown of thorns have done to this face. It's me.

It's what I have done. It's what I will do for you. And when he does this, something supernatural happens. Amen. I will give you a new heart.

How do I know if I'm born again, preacher? Well, how do you know if you actually had physical heart surgery? Would you know? You would know. Even if everybody else in this whole world told you that you didn't get it, you have a scar to prove it.

Is it any different with spiritual surgery? Some would say yes. Some would say that you can come into contact with this gospel and not be changed because it's just this idea. It's just a mere confession. No.

It's a supernatural transformation. The means is faith. The supply is grace, but the result is powerful. It's tangible. It's observable.

First in you and then in others. And I I wanna just give you one glimpse and I'm finished here. I'm gonna give you one glimpse of just a description of why it is that this is supernatural. First Corinthians six verse 17. It's not really a text referred to to give some kind of color to the transformation that occurs with this new heart transplant.

But let me give you this one to consider. First Corinthians six seventeen, but he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Paul says this at the heels of describing what happens when a man and a woman come together in sexual union, they become one flesh. And he describes the the profound bond that that really is And then he goes from there to give us a more deeper bond.

Yeah. You become one flesh with another human being, but when you come to Christ and are joined to him, you become one spirit. The innermost part of who you are is joined to the Lord? Now, hold on. Join to the Lord and you didn't change.

Union with the spirit of God and you don't have any desire to obey his commands. You have no inclination to adore him. You have no part of you that wants to worship him and love him. How? How?

Please tell me how. Please. I'm lost. Tell me how. How?

Join with the Lord in the spirit. Unphased, unchanged, the same? Someone's not telling the truth here. But I go with what the Bible says. And we must present a gospel that doesn't cheapen the gospel, but provides man the only solution.

What is the solution? Christ. Is that too simple for you? Does that offend you? You know, going through ministry even for this short amount of time, I've realized that all these ideas and all these new found studies and all these tricks and all these programs, they're powerless.

Powerless. I might I might put myself in a position to be accused of being simplistic, but when you realize what Christ can do to the human heart, why look elsewhere? It applies to your marriage. It applies to your habits. It applies to your addiction.

It applies to your trauma. It applies to absolutely everything. You know, over the years, you see what the gospel can do. This is the story that came to mind on my way here, and I thought I would I would share because for whatever reason, the image when reflecting upon the profoundness and the power of this truth, this is the image that came to to me. A few of us early in our walk with the Lord were invited to go to a few Catholic high schools.

And Catholic high schools in Canada are no different than public schools, really. I I went to them. I went to a Catholic elementary school. I went to a Catholic high school. And we were invited to go into these classrooms, these religious classrooms.

I to this day, I have to figure out because I don't understand how it happened, where they invited a group of friends to come into classrooms and to share testimonies and ultimately the gospel, the true gospel. To this day, the group of people that were participating, that participating in that are just we recognize the miraculous element of it. And in one particular school, they put us in their chapel, their Catholic chapel room. And one class after the other, all day just came through. And we had a little system, because there was a group of us, maybe five of us.

Four of them would share their testimonies and powerful testimonies. I mean, testimonies of being delivered from drugs and gangs and violence and perversion, unforgiveness. One of the brothers who was here visiting us, his brother was murdered right in front of his eyes, held his dead body there in the streets after partying in the bar. And he was able, because of Christ, after that saying, what happened to my brother? Where is he?

He found Christ and he found Christ in a real way. When he found Christ in a real way, he was able to look at those murders in that courtroom and forgive them publicly. Those kind of testimonies. And they were profound testimonies. They were moving testimonies, but we made it every single time.

We settled it that the gospel would be presented at the end. And can I tell you something? When the gospel would go forth, I looked at those faces from time to time, and I've never seen them more gripped, more touched, more moved. Despite everything that was said, despite the charisma that was there in that room, despite the drama of those stories when the gospel was presented. It paralyzed those students because there's no other news like it.

It's the only thing that brings a solution. It's the only thing that brings an answer. And in this sheer silence of that place, we didn't know what the results of those meetings were. And one day, we got a box full of these letters from these students. And we opened them one by one and each one of those, what you said gave me hope.

What you said helped me realize I I have another chance. What you said helped me not kill myself. What you said helped me realize that there is a love outside of my abusive father and neglecting mother. What you said what was said? The gospel was said.

For it is the power of God unto salvation. My friend, I end here. I said that ten minutes ago. I mean it this time. Is your heart changed?

Is it changed? Have you experienced what I am speaking of? Have you come to the end of yourself where you realize just how dark your heart is and how deceiving it has been to you? And enough is enough. The pattern of my life has testified that my ideas and my concepts and my convictions have failed me.

Have you come to that point? Now if you have, what is your solution? Because if you're not careful, that same perverted heart that has deceived you with your sin can actually trick you about how you can be free from your sin, and so be careful. I make an appeal to you, a real appeal. My appeal is this, come to Christ today.

Be saved today. Today. Yes, Father's Day. Meet your real heavenly father. Come to him.

Repent of your sin. Trust in him. I even dare you to not leave this place and lay flat on the ground and cry out to him until you're a transformed creature. He'll do it. He will do it.

He will give you a new heart. You can't go anywhere else. You can't do anything for yourself. If you choose not to do so today, which I think is a tragic mistake, never forget those words. Call upon his name and you shall be saved.

Call upon his name and you shall be saved. Lord, we thank you for this word. And we ask God that in this time, we would rejoice in our salvation. Maybe we become dull concerning the gospel. Maybe we have fallen into the trap of thinking that the gospel needs some help.

But thank you for reminding us. You alone can give a new heart. Even if there's one person in here who doesn't have that new heart, we thank you for speaking to them, and we ask that they would be changed. We pray that they would be desperate enough to say, heal me, save me, change me. Lord, I am a poor preacher, weak, stammering.

You have to do it by your spirit. You have to, Lord. And we give you the glory for it. And, Lord, for the saints in the land, we rejoice in this gospel. We give you praise.

We lift our hands. We lift our voices, and we say thank you that we can look back at a moment and say, that was the day my heart was changed. Receive more glory for that. Jesus' name. Amen.