Welcome back. We're
exploring Matthew Chapter 14,
00:00:01.01\00:00:03.63
in the book of
the Bible series here.
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Ranko, we've talked
about Jesus' compassion
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for the multitudes, but He
also cared about individuals.
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Yes. Actually we already
mentioned before the disciples
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was very
strange bunch of people.
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They all had
different issues and problems.
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Their main
interest was who will be
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the first in the
kingdom of God, et cetera,
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and what the kind of patience,
Jesus show towards them.
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And it is
actually the love of Jesus
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that transformed their
lives and these bunch of people,
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I mean...It's--
they are actually
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the core of the
Christian church,
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the foundation of
the Christian church.
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They are a lot like us
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with their
problems and their issues.
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And we have the story of Peter,
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who--a very familiar
story who is drowning
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and he cries out Lord save me.
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Ranko, does God ever
ignore that cry, Lord saved me?
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Oh, I can say
about my personal life,
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how many times I was sinking.
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And it was by my fault.
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And when I cried to
God, the Lord helped me, boy,
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he's always, he's always there.
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He hears the
prayers of God's people.
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And I would like
to tell the viewers,
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whatever your
problem in life is,
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that whatever that
sinking means for you,
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when you turn to God-- Yes.
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And you ask for help,
believe me your prayer
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will not be left
unanswered. Amen.
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That's the God we serve.
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Let's go on to
Chapter 15, Ranko.
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Let's explore a
little bit the central issue
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seems to be issues of tradition,
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defilement, and so forth.
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Help us understand that.
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Actually it is
interesting what just happened
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just prior to that is
Jesus feeds 5,000 people
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with few loaves of
bread and little fish.
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If I'm there, I
would really say,
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this is demonstration
of God's power. Yeah.
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But you remember we were
talking about the Pharisees.
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They were
breaking their relationship
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with the Holy Spirit.
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They were sinking deeper
and deeper in their unbelief.
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They're not looking
about miracle of Jesus
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as demonstration
of that divine power.
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They try to find something else.
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So I would like you learn,
if you can read from verse 1
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as long as you can, then
we will talk about that. Okay.
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Its evidence that every
part of God's revelation
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through Jesus they're resistant.
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They're resistant, yes.
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Matthew Chapter 15 verse 1.
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"Then the scribes and Pharisees,
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who were from
Jerusalem, came to Jesus saying,
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why do your disciples transgress
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the tradition of the elders?
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For they do not wash their
hands when they eat bread."
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Glenn, can I
interrupt you here for a while.
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I don't know is the
simply speculations,
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but their belief is
based on the reality.
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When did the
Pharisees see that disciples
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eating with unwashed bread?
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I believe it
was a death miracle.
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You remember that
Jesus broke the bread,
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gave to the disciples they
had to distribute to people
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and they were
eating there, I believe,
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I believe that
this is a reflection,
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maybe I'm wrong but I
see strong connection here.
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They don't look
what Jesus was doing,
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what God was
doing for those people.
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They were
interested in something else,
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and this is very,
very sad situation.
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You've got a strong point.
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There's always someone
to criticize your miracle.
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Of course, of course. All right.
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He said to them, "Why
do you also transgress
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the commandments of God,
because of your tradition.
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For God commanded, saying,
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Honor your
father and your mother,
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and He who curseth
his father and mother,
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let him be put to death.
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But you say, whoever
says to his mother or father,
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whatever profit
you might have received
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from me is a gift to God.
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Then he need not
honor his father and mother.
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Thus you have made
the commandment of God
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of no effect by your tradition."
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Until verse-- Hypocrites.
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Well did Isaiah
prophesy about you saying,
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"These people draw
near to me with their mouth,
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and honor me with their lips,
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but their heart is far from
me and in vain they worship me,
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teaching as doctrines
the commandments of men."
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When he had called
the multitude to Himself,
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he said to them,
"hear and understand,
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not what goes into
the mouth defiles a man,
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but what comes out of the mouth,
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and this defiles a man."
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Then His disciples
came and said to Him,
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"Do You know that the
Pharisees were offended
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when they heard these sayings?"
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But He answered and said,
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"Every plant which my Father
has planted will be uprooted--
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has not planted
will be uprooted.
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Let them alone. They are
blind leaders of the blind.
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And if the blind leads the blind
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both will fall into
the ditch." Until verse 20.
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Then Peter
answered and said to Him,
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"Explain this miracle to us."
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Excuse me this parable,
back to the parables again.
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So Jesus said, "Are you also
still without understanding?
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Do you not yet understand
that whatever enters the mouth
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goes into the
stomach and is eliminated,
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but those things
which come out of the mouth
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and come from the
heart, they defile a man.
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For out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts,
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murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts,
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false witness, and blasphemies.
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These are the
things which defile a man,
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but to eat with unwashed
hands does not defile a man."
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Okay, we have here
very interesting episode
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from the life of Jesus.
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And
unfortunately many Christians
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are taking these episodes
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they're joining
these with very similar
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from Mark Chapter 7,
and Mark has one sentence
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that he added that his
own interpretation there,
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they put it together to
show how the coming of Jesus.
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And his
instructions the commandment
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that Jesus gave
actually Christians
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are allowed to eat everything
and that the dietary laws
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of the Old Testament
were abolished by Jesus.
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Unfortunately
such an interpretation
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is not supported by the texts.
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So in order to understand
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what is going there in the text,
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we have to analyze the parable,
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what was the problem?
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The Pharisees were
watching the disciples,
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how they were eating,
so there was a food there,
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they would come from
outside, they are in the room.
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They would grab
the food and eat it.
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Keep in mind.
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According to the
Jewish practice and their law,
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Pharisaic Law, the
disciples were supposed
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first to wash their hands.
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And let's clarify
this is not an issue
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about cleanliness here.
This is about religious defile.
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And we know that before we eat,
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we have to wash our hands.
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For sanitation
but not for holiness.
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But it is not about that.
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It's very
important to understand
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what is washing meant?
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You know, according
to the Pharisaic rule,
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you would put
just in small container
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just small like
this, you would put water,
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this we are talking about.
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And then you would
take it, you would put,
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your hands like this
and pour out the water
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just a little bit, just
a small amount of water,
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it's not about washing.
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You have to get these,
so that water will go down
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and that's spiritual uncleanness
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would be washed from
your hands going down.
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And then you are ritually
clean to eat, that water.
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We are not
dealing here with hygiene.
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We are not dealing
here about something
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that today are, you know,
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parents are
teaching their children.
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We are dealing with
ritual that people established
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and now the
Pharisees are criticizing Jesus
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that his disciples were eating
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with those
ritually unclean hands.
00:07:31.87\00:07:34.82
But there is
something interesting
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that Jesus points here, He says,
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"You are
criticizing My disciples
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they are breaking the tradition,
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at the same time you
are breaking the law of God,
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because of your tradition."
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And Jesus is using here
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a practical
example of what they did.
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The person would make--
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had the duty to
support his parents,
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he would take that
money, bring to the church.
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He would not support the parents
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but because of the
tradition that was not,
00:08:06.97\00:08:09.12
you know,
against the law of God.
00:08:09.13\00:08:10.85
Yeah, let's catch that point.
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Out of hardheadedness,
they would pretend
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they're giving to God
what they should have done
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to care for their parents. Yes.
00:08:17.16\00:08:19.29
So what was Jesus response is?
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It does not defile the
person what goes into our body,
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what comes out of the body,
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it's not there, it's here is.
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Here Jesus is not talking
about clean or unclean food.
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The text makes
very clear in verse 20,
00:08:38.11\00:08:41.07
the--verse 19 and 20,
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"For out of the
heart come evil thoughts,
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murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts,
00:08:46.13\00:08:49.92
false witness,
slanders, these are the things
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which defile the man,"
00:08:52.97\00:08:54.34
but to eat with unwashed hands,
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Jesus is not talking
here about the dietary laws.
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He's talking about
the Jewish tradition
00:09:00.66\00:09:03.22
eating with unwashed hands.
00:09:03.23\00:09:05.81
Okay, if Jesus says
this does not defile
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the human beings, so
this text cannot be taken,
00:09:08.58\00:09:11.39
you know, in
support of any abolishment
00:09:11.40\00:09:14.11
of those dietary laws
00:09:14.12\00:09:15.73
that are so clearly specified
there in the Old Testament.
00:09:15.74\00:09:19.74
So when Matthew
quotes Isaiah and says,
00:09:19.75\00:09:23.89
"And in vain they worship me,"
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teaching his commandments,
00:09:25.70\00:09:28.10
teaching his doctrines
and commandments of men,
00:09:28.11\00:09:30.12
he's really showing
that their traditions,
00:09:30.13\00:09:32.60
their layers of rules
were taking people away
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from really following God.
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Actually verse 18,
what you are saying here,
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Jesus says, where is
that every plant--yeah,
00:09:41.20\00:09:47.27
verse 13, Jesus said,
00:09:47.28\00:09:50.26
"Every plant
which My heavenly Father
00:09:50.27\00:09:54.17
did not plant
shall be uprooted."
00:09:54.18\00:09:55.93
What is the plant
that any tradition
00:09:55.94\00:09:58.14
that people established that
is contrary to the law of God?
00:09:58.15\00:10:03.23
It did not come from God
00:10:03.24\00:10:05.09
and God will probably
by the passing of the time,
00:10:05.10\00:10:07.99
God will make it obsolete
and take away from people.
00:10:08.00\00:10:12.76
Glenn, can I ask
you one question?
00:10:12.77\00:10:15.00
If we really here
with the tradition,
00:10:15.01\00:10:16.96
is tradition important or not?
00:10:16.97\00:10:19.09
All of us have
tradition, in fact,
00:10:19.10\00:10:21.08
good traditions are
a blessing in our life.
00:10:21.09\00:10:23.07
Should the church
have tradition? Sure.
00:10:23.08\00:10:25.60
So when we come to the church
00:10:25.61\00:10:28.01
and we begin
first with singing hymns
00:10:28.02\00:10:32.05
and after that we
kneel down and we pray,
00:10:32.06\00:10:35.29
that's, it's not in the
Bible, we don't have such order,
00:10:35.30\00:10:38.28
is that
important? Of course it is.
00:10:38.29\00:10:40.34
In most of our
western part of the world,
00:10:40.35\00:10:42.59
we go to church 11 o'clock
service, we call it. Sure.
00:10:42.60\00:10:45.27
Who decided 11 o'clock?
00:10:45.28\00:10:46.51
There's no scripture about that.
00:10:46.52\00:10:48.72
See, Glenn,
tradition is important. Mm-hmm.
00:10:48.73\00:10:52.78
It comes from human experience
00:10:52.79\00:10:54.27
but the problem is
when tradition becomes
00:10:54.28\00:10:58.05
the law of God and
goes beyond the scriptures.
00:10:58.06\00:11:02.80
We know that many
Christians in this world today,
00:11:02.81\00:11:05.72
they don't go to the Bible.
00:11:05.73\00:11:07.33
They simply try to find
the answer to the question.
00:11:07.34\00:11:10.52
What we have been
doing for centuries
00:11:10.53\00:11:12.86
and doing and we are
breaking the law of God
00:11:12.87\00:11:15.98
because of our tradition is.
00:11:15.99\00:11:18.63
Jesus tried to tell us here,
00:11:18.64\00:11:20.71
the tradition will not save us,
00:11:20.72\00:11:23.07
it's only we
stick to the law of God
00:11:23.08\00:11:25.12
and if we take what God
said as the most important,
00:11:25.13\00:11:28.01
what the God
says, the word of God
00:11:28.02\00:11:29.66
is the measure of everything
00:11:29.67\00:11:30.74
which we are doing in our lives.
00:11:30.75\00:11:32.27
By the way, we
have the next text
00:11:32.28\00:11:33.56
that actually here follows.
00:11:33.57\00:11:34.91
The next story is
such an amazing story.
00:11:34.92\00:11:37.64
It's especially close to me.
00:11:37.65\00:11:39.29
I grew up in the
country of Lebanon,
00:11:39.30\00:11:40.95
which is where it takes place.
00:11:40.96\00:11:42.79
Uh, "Then Jesus
went out from there
00:11:42.80\00:11:44.63
and departed to the
region of Tyre and Sidon.
00:11:44.64\00:11:46.69
And He meets a
woman a Canaanite."
00:11:46.70\00:11:49.09
The Jews have been rejecting,
00:11:49.10\00:11:50.38
resisting many of
the people of the Jews.
00:11:50.39\00:11:52.57
"But now a Canaanite woman comes
00:11:52.58\00:11:54.38
from the region
says have mercy on me,
00:11:54.39\00:11:56.86
O Lord, Son of David."
00:11:56.87\00:11:58.27
What a sweet sound that
must have been in His ears
00:11:58.28\00:12:00.65
to have someone
who's recognizing Him.
00:12:00.66\00:12:02.71
"My daughter is
severely demon-possessed."
00:12:02.72\00:12:04.86
But His response of shocking,
tell us about it, Ranko.
00:12:04.87\00:12:07.67
Yes. Uh, it's so
interesting is here
00:12:07.68\00:12:12.96
that this woman comes to Jesus,
00:12:12.97\00:12:15.30
she wants to have, you
know, healing for her daughter,
00:12:15.31\00:12:18.13
but Jesus said, "I'm sent just
for the lost sheep of Israel."
00:12:18.14\00:12:22.32
Evidently it was here the
test of the faith of this woman
00:12:22.33\00:12:27.05
but what kind of
faith she manifested here,
00:12:27.06\00:12:30.00
that actually it
is through her faith
00:12:30.01\00:12:32.61
that she received the
answer that Jesus gave to her
00:12:32.62\00:12:36.51
and what she was looking for,
00:12:36.52\00:12:38.67
finally she
found the Jesus Christ.
00:12:38.68\00:12:39.92
The shock of her surprise
when he responds this way.
00:12:39.93\00:12:43.73
There must have been
something in His eyes,
00:12:43.74\00:12:45.32
something in His voice
that gave her some hope.
00:12:45.33\00:12:47.85
That He is saying
these prejudice things
00:12:47.86\00:12:50.11
that His disciples believe,
00:12:50.12\00:12:51.65
but there's something
else that gave her hope.
00:12:51.66\00:12:53.55
She was put on by
people as unclean,
00:12:53.56\00:12:57.04
she was an
outcast. She was rejected.
00:12:57.05\00:13:00.06
But Jesus Christ
never rejects anybody.
00:13:00.07\00:13:03.72
I would like to
say to the viewers,
00:13:03.73\00:13:06.26
I don't know what and
the way people look up on you
00:13:06.27\00:13:10.76
but praise God we
have a wonderful savior
00:13:10.77\00:13:13.30
and we always find a
great friend and savior in Him.
00:13:13.31\00:13:16.95