The War Against Sin. Revised.

THE WAR AGAINST SIN.

Matthew 15:10-20.

MATTHEW 15:10-11. Jesus turned away from the Pharisees and summoned the crowd to Himself. “Hear and understand,” He taught. Despite what the Pharisees might teach, “it is NOT that which goes into the mouth which defiles a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, THIS defiles a man.”

MATTHEW 15:12-13. The disciples informed Jesus that the Pharisees were offended at this saying, but Jesus answered with timeless teaching concerning the root of evil. We show no mercy to the weeds in our garden, and likewise we must recognise that the Lord will ultimately uproot all false teachers.

MATTHEW 15:14. “Let them alone,” He continued. Such “blind leaders of the blind” will fall into the ditch of their own error, taking their victims with them!

MATTHEW 15:15-16. Peter, no doubt speaking on behalf of all the disciples, asked for further clarification of what Jesus was teaching. It remained “a parable” to them. Jesus scolded their lack of understanding.

MATTHEW 15:17-20. The answer is that sin does not consist in that which we put in our mouths (cf. Matthew 15:11). Sin begins in the heart, and from thence proceeds out of the mouth, thus defiling the man.

‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked’ (cf. Jeremiah 17:9). We speak the wickedness within into existence without. Words are powerful!

Jesus taught elsewhere that adultery begins in the heart when a man looks lustfully on a woman. The sin is entertained in the heart long before it gives expression in the deed (cf. Matthew 5:28). There is a clarion call to engage the enemy of our souls in the war against sin (cf. Hebrews 12:4).

Since sin begins in the heart, we must place the remedy there. That remedy is the Word of God (cf. Psalm 119:11). We renew our minds as we meditate upon the revealed will of God (cf. Romans 12:2).

And the ultimate cure for all evil is found in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Cross of Calvary. And His subsequent resurrection.