Jesus was revealing the source of evil

JESUS WAS REVEALING THE SOURCE OF EVIL
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Mark 7:20-2320He went on: "Whatcomes out of a
person is what defiles them. 21Forit is from within,
out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come-sexual
immorality, theft, murder, 22adultery, greed, malice,
deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arroganceand folly.
23All these evils come from insideand defile a
person."
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The RealAnd The Imaginary Defilement
Mark 7:14-23
R. Green
The question of "the Pharisees,and certain of the scribes which had come
from Jerusalem," yetremains to be answered, Jesushaving turned aside to
weakenthe force of "the tradition of men." The answeris given in the ears of
"the multitude." It is simple. "There is nothing from without the man that can
defile him:" defilement is of that which proceeds "from within out of the heart
of man." The man's heart is the fountain of evil; it is his heart, not his hands,
that needs washing. No wonder that "the Pharisees were offended, whenthey
heard this saying." Then, having "enteredinto the house from the multitude,"

the disciples "askedof him" what is to them as yet "the parable;" for so are
they "without understanding also." In few words he distinguishes the true
nature and source of defilement from the untrue, leaving for all time these
lessons hidden in his words -
I. ALL POLLUTION IS MORAL POLLUTION. From this all mere
ceremonialdefilement must be distinguished. Such uncleanness is not moral
impurity, nor is ceremonialcorrectness to be regardedas the testimony of
moral purity. The stainless externalistmay harbour "within all evil things."
The perversion of a wise teaching on the necessityforpersonal cleanliness and
of instructive ceremonials had led to the foolish supposition that a touch of the
dead, or the diseased, orthe decaying matter, conveyedmoral impurity. This
is once for all contradicted. Whatsoeveris "without the man" conveys not the
defilement. It is a moral condition. The heart can defile all things. As that
which is from without the man cannot defile, so let it be known"there is
nothing from without the man that going into him can" cleanse "him."
II. THE SOURCE OF ALL IMPURITY IS NOT IN GOD'S WORKS, BUT
IN MAN'S HEART. "All these evil things proceedfrom within." Thus Jesus,
with his just judgment, traces evil to its hidden source. The heart, not the
flesh, is the seatof defilement. This is the fountain which can corrupt God's
goodand pure gifts. How marked a contrastdoes he make betweena possible
ceremonialuncleanness - a very trifle at most (as to moral uncleanness it is
nil) - and the greatness,the multiplicity, and the foulness of the "evil things
which proceedfrom within"! Materialthings cannot in themselves convey
moral impurity. Even the excess in the use of the food, which destroys life,
comes from within. That the goodthings of God may be turned into occasions
of evil all know, but it is only the heart that canso turn them. Whatsoeveris
"without the man cannotdefile him, because it goethmerely into his body, not
into his heart; "and the heart, not the body, is "the man," the true man, the
very man.
III. FROM THE THRALDOM OF A FALSE CEREMONIALISM CHRIST
REDEEMSHIS DISCIPLES, "MAKING ALL MEATS CLEAN." How
needful not only to saywhat is sin, but to say also what is not sin! From many
a yoke which the fathers were not able to bear Christ sets his people free!

From child's play to serious work he calls them. From a mere adjustment of
articles of dress and of furniture; from punctilios of ritual observance having
in themselves no moral significance, andliable to withdraw men from great
works and greattruths, he turns them aside. He exposes the true evilness in
the long catalogue of"evil things" of which the heart, not the flesh, is capable;
and be, without many words of exhortation, directs men to seek the cleansing
of their unholy hearts, that their lives, their whole man, may be cleanalso. -
G.
Biblical Illustrator
Do ye not perceive, that whatsoeverthing from without entereth into the man.
Mark 7:17-23
The true source ofdefilement
Expository Discourses.

Having rebuked the scribes and Pharisees,our Lord addressedthe people,
and laid down a greatgeneralprinciple (ver. 15), which His disciples asked
Him to explain more fully. We are taught —
I. THAT MERE EXTERNALOBSERVANCESDO NOT AFFECT OR
CHANGE THE MORAL STATE AND CHARACTER OF MAN.
1. The statement that nothing from without defileth a man, must be takenin
connectionwith what goes before, and then it becomes a principle, of which
the Jews hadmuch need to be told. All require to be told.
2. That mere outward observancescannotaffectthe moral nature, seems a
very simple truth. Reasonteachesit. The body may be affectedby them, but
not the soul; to influence the heart, means of a right class must be selected.
Experience teaches it. Observation confirms it.
3. This principle requires in our day to be loudly proclaimed.
4. The more nearly the soul cancome to God, irrespective of outward things,
the better.
II. THAT THE MORAL STATE AND CHARACTER OF A MAN, IS
AFFECTED BYTHAT WHICH COMETHOUT OF HIS HEART.
1. The fountainhead of all that enters into human history and character, is the
heart. Hence, the characterofthe moral law, the order of the Spirit's work,
the importance of the inspired precept, "Keepthine heart," etc.
2. That which naturally proceeds from the heart proves that it is wholly
depraved.
3. By these things, which proceedfrom the heart, is man defiled. Christ's
blood and spirit, alone can cleanse.
(Expository Discourses.)
Spiritual defilement
Expository Outlines.

I. THE CEREMONIALISM OF THE PHARISEES DENOUNCED.
1. The undue importance they attachedto outward observances.
2. The additions they made to the requirements of the law of Moses.
3. The Saviour's discourse on this occasionwas evidently intended to prepare
the minds of the people for the total abolition of all ceremonialrites.
II. THE IGNORANCE OF THE DISCIPLES REPROVED."And He saith
unto them, Are ye so without understanding also?"
1. To us their dulness of apprehensionappears strange and unaccountable.
2. In their ignorance we see the effect, not merely of inattention, but of
prejudice and bigotry.
III. THE DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE EXHIBITED. We are shown
—
1. The source of evil. It is in the heart.
2. The diversified streams of evil. "Adulteries, fornications, thefts, murders,
covetousness," etc.
3. The contaminating influence of evil. These are the things by which men are
defiled.
(Expository Outlines.)
Things from within
Spencer.
It is well known that rotten woodand glowworms make a glorious show in the
night, and seemto be some excellent things; but when the day appears, they
show what they are indeed — poor, despicable, and base creatures. Such is the
vanity and sinfulness of all haughty, proud, high-minded persons, who,
though now shining in the darkness of this world, through the greatness of
their power, place, and height of their honour, when the Sun of Righteousness

shall appear and manifest the secrets ofall hearts, then they will be seenin
their own proper colours.
(Spencer.)
Out of the heart
The heart determines the life
Swinnock.
The bowl runs as the bias inclines it; the ship moves as the rudder steers it;
and the mind thinks according to the predominancy of vice or virtue in it. The
heart of man is like the spring of the clock, whichcauses the wheels to move
right or wrong, wellor ill. If the heart once set forward for God, all the
members will follow after; all the parts, like dutiful handmaids, in their
places, will wait on their mistress. The heart is the greatworkhouse where all
sin is wrought before it is exposedto open view. It is the mint where evil
thoughts are coined, before they are current in our words or actions. It is the
forge where all our evil works as well as words are hammered out. There is no
sin but is dressedin the withdrawing room of the heart, before it appears on
the stage oflife. It is vain to go about an holy life till the heart be made holy.
The pulse of the hand beats well or ill, according to the state of the heart. If
the chinks of the ship are unstopped, it will be to no purpose to labour at the
pump. When the wateris foul at the bottom, no wonder that scum and filth
appear at the top. There is no wayto stop the issue of sin, but by drying up the
matter that feeds it.
(Swinnock.)
Natural corruption of the heart
Goodwin.
That which AEsop said to his master, when he came into his garden and saw
so many weeds in it, is applicable to the heart, His master askedhim what was

the reasonthat the weeds grew up so fastand the herbs thrived not? He
answered, "The ground is natural mother to the weeds, but a stepmother to
the herbs." So the heart of man is natural mother to sin and cor. ruption, but
a stepmother to grace and goodness;and further than it is wateredfrom
heaven, and followedwith a greatdeal of care and pains, it grows not.
(Goodwin.)
The heart a storehouse ofevil
C. H. Spurgeon.
Here is a piece of iron laid upon the anvil. The hammers are plied upon it
lustily. A thousand sparks are scatteredonevery side. Suppose it possible to
count eachspark as it falls from the anvil; yet, who could guess the number of
the unborn sparks that still lie latent and hidden in the mass of iron? Now,
your sinful nature may be compared to that heatedbar of iron. Temptations
are the hammers; your sins are the sparks. If you could count them (which
you cannotdo), yet who could tell the multitude of unborn iniquities — eggs of
sin that lie slumbering in your soul? You must know this before you can know
the sinfulness of your nature. Our open sins are like the farmer's little sample
which he brings to market. There are granaries full at home. The iniquities
that we see are like the weeds upon the surface soil, but I have been told, and
indeed have seenthe truth of it, that if you dig six feet into the earth and turn
up fresh soil, there will be found in that soilsix feetdeep the seeds ofthe
weeds indigenous to the land. And so we are not to think merely of the sins
that grow on the surface, but if we could turn our heart up to its core and
centre, we should find it is fully permeated with sin as every piece of putridity
is with worms and rottenness.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
An evil heart
Baptist Messenger.

A certain little boy in Kansas, only eleven years old, strove hard to be a
Christian. Once he stoodwatching Maggie paring the potatoes for dinner.
Soonshe pared an extra large one, which was very white and very nice on the
outside, but when cut into pieces it showeditself to be hollow and black inside
with dry rot. Instantly Willie exclaimed, "Why, Maggie, thatpotato isn't a
Christian." "What do you mean?" askedMaggie."Don'tyou see it has a bad
heart?" was the child's reply. This little Kansas boy had learned enoughof the
religion of Jesus to know that howeverfair the outside may be, the natural
heart is corrupt.
(Baptist Messenger.)
Evil passions whenrestrained only by custom
C. H. Spurgeon.
If men were shut up in cells, so that they could not commit that which their
nature instigatedthem to do, yet, as before the Lord, seeing they would have
been such sinners outwardly if they could have been, their hearts are judged
to be no better than the hearts of those who found opportunity to sin and used
it. A vicious horse is none the better tempered because the kicking straps
prevent his dashing the carriage to atoms; and so a man is none the better
really because the restraints of custom and Providence may prevent his
carrying out that which he would prefer. Poorfallen human nature behind the
bars of laws, and in the cage of fearof punishment, is none the less a fearful
creature;should its master unlock the door we should soonsee what it would
be and do.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
No heart free from sin
Baily.
Well-tempered spades turn up ill savoury soils even in vineyards.

(Baily.)
The heart its own laboratory
George Dana Boardman, D. D.
We hear a greatdeal saidin our day about the doctrine of environment.
"Circumstances," we are told, "make the man;" "Life is a modification of
matter;" "Thinking is matter in motion;" "The brain secretesthoughtas the
liver secretesbile;" "The difference betweena goodman and a bad man is
mainly a difference in molecular organization;" "The affections are of an
eminently glandular nature;" "Notas a man thinketh in his heart, but as he
eateth, so is he;" "Characteris the aggregate ofsurroundings, the sum total of
parents, nurse, place, time, air, light, food, etc." Now this doctrine of
environment is in a certainsense entirely true. The mind does not more
certainly act on the body than the body on the mind. But the doctrine of
environment means, or at leasttends to mean, more than this. It tends to teach
that sin is not so much a crime as a misfortune, not so much guilt as disease.
Not so did the GalileanMasterteach. "Hearkento Me, all of you, and
understand: Nothing that goethinto a man from without can defile him; but
the things that come out of him are what defile a man." Here He is in direct
issue with the materialism of the day. For man is something more than matter,
or an organizedgroup of molecules. Behind the visible of him there is the
invisible. The heart is its own laboratory. Friend, overtakenin a sin, do not
judge yourself too charitably. Don't ascribe too much to outward
circumstances. Recallthe first Adam: he was in a garden, where every
outward circumstance was for him; yet he fell. Recallthe secondAdam: He
was in a desert, where every outward circumstance was againstHim; yet He
remained erect: the Devil failed to conquer Him, not because He was Divine,
but because He was sinless. Don'texcuse yourself then too much by your
"environment." Man is not altogetheranimbecile. True, "circumstancesdo
make the man." But they make him only in the sense and degree that he
permits them to make him. You will find the most stingy of men in the
mansions of the rich, and the most generous of men in the cabins of the poor;

the humblest of Christians in the palace, and the proudest of Phariseesin the
cottage;saints in the dungeon, and villains in the Church. It is not so much the
outward that tinges the inward as the inward that tinges the outward. It is for
the man himself to saywhether his own heart shall be a temple or a kennel.
The greatproblem then is this: How shall a man use his "circumstances"?For
just what he does with them — just what he does with his strength and time,
and skill, and money, and imagination, and reason, and affections, just what
the heart does with its opportunities — just this is the test of him. Do these
opportunities, after passing through the laboratoryof his heart, issue as
blessings on the world? Then his heart is pure, Do they issue in moral blights?
Then his heart is defiled. Not that these bad issues do of themselves defile the
heart; but the heart being itself defiled, and sending forth issues of evil
thoughts and deeds, these issues take on the impurities of the source from
which they spring, marking its defilement, and aggravating its pollution by
the very act of outflowing. These are the unclean things, which, coming out
from within, defile the man. Keep thy heart, then, with all diligence, for out of
it are the issues of life and of death. Friend, are you disheartenedby my
Master's doctrine? Don't seek to remedy your case by merely altering your
circumstances, orreforming your habits. You can't purify a fountain by
purifying its streams. Jesus Christis the most radicalof reformers. He does
not say, "Change your circumstances, andyou will change your character;"
but He does say, "Change your heart, and you will be likely to change your
circumstances."
(George Dana Boardman, D. D.)
Evil Thoughts
Source of evil thoughts
M. F. Sadler, M. A.
Notice how evil thoughts are by the Saviour said to be the first of the evil
things which coming out of the heart defile. We should not, I think, have put
evil thoughts amongstthe things which come out of the heart, because we

suppose them to be in the heart. But is not what the Saviour says true of that
which He alone knows — the very nature and substance of the soul? In its
very centre, or close to its centre, the evil has its root or fountain. The evil
suggestionarises, andthen the will or affectiontakes notice of it. If the will is
right with God, it immediately puts out the evil thing as if it were a loathsome
reptile, but if the will be not right with God, it harbours the first suggestionof
evil, it cogitates it, thinks it over and over, dwells upon it in imagination,
chews the food of the evil fancy, desires to do the evil deed, resolves to do it,
and so has already done it in the heart. So that out of the heart, out of the
unseen and unthinkable depths within, proceedthe evil thoughts which
become evil acts within before they are incarnated, as it were, in some evil
deed without.
(M. F. Sadler, M. A.)
Sinfulness of evil thoughts
Swinnock.
Some please themselves in thoughts of sinful sports, or cheats, orunclean acts,
and sit brooding on such cockatrice eggs withgreat delight. It is their meat
and drink to roll these sugarplums under their tongues. Thoughthey cannot
sin outwardly, for want of strength of body or a fit opportunity, yet they act
sin inwardly with greatlove and complacency. As players in a comedy, they
act their parts in private, in order to a more exactperformance of them in
public.
(Swinnock.)
Thoughts usually indicate character
J. Owes.
Our thoughts are like the blossoms on a tree in the spring. You may see a tree
in the spring all coveredwith blossoms, so that nothing else ofit appears.

Multitudes of them fall off and come to nothing. Ofttimes where there are
most blossoms there is leastfruit. But yet there is no fruit, be it of what sortit
will, goodor bad, but it comes in and from some of those blossoms. The mind
of man is coveredwith thoughts as a tree with blossoms. Mostof them fall off,
vanish, and come to nothing, end in vanity; and sometimes where the mind
does most abound with them there is the leastfruit, the sap of the mind is
wastedand consumed in them. Howbeit there is no fruit which actually we
bring forth, be it good or bad, but it proceeds from some of these thoughts.
Wherefore, ordinarily, these give the best and surestmeasure of the frame of
men's minds. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." In case of strong and
violent temptations, the real frame of a man's heart is not to be judged by the
multiplicity of thoughts about any object, for whether they are from Satan's
suggestions, orfrom inward darkness, trouble, and horror, they will impose
such a continual sense of themselves on the mind as shall engage allits
thoughts about them; as when a man is in a storm at sea, the current of his
thoughts runs quite another way than when he is in safetyabout his occasions.
But ordinarily voluntary thoughts are the best measure and indication of the
frame of our minds. As the nature of the soilis judged by the grass which it
brings forth, so may the disposition of the heart by the predominancy of
voluntary thoughts; they are the original acting of the soul, the way whereby
the heart puts forth and empties the treasure that is in it, the waters that first
rise and flow from that fountain.
(J. Owes.)
Petrifying influence of evil thoughts
American National Preacher.
Anyone who has visited limestone eaves has noticed the stalactite pillars,
sometimes large and massive, by which they were adorned and supported.
They are nature's masonry of solid rock, formed by her own slow, silent,
mysterious process. The little drop of water percolates throughthe roof of the
cave, and deposits its sediment, and another follows it, till the icicle of stone is
formed: and finally reaching to the rock beneath, it becomes a solid pillar, a

marble monument, which canonly be rent down by the most powerful forces.
But is there not going forward oftentimes in the caverns of the human heart a
process as silentand effective, yet infinitely more momentous? There in the
darkness that shrouds all from the view of the outward observer, eachthought
and feeling, as light and inconsiderate, perhaps, as the little drop of water,
sinks downward into the soul, and deposits — yet in a form almost
imperceptible — what we may call its sediment. And then another and
another follows, till the traces of all combined become more manifest, and at
length, if these thoughts and feelings are chargedwith the sediment of
worldliness and worldly passion, they have reared within the spirit permanent
and perhaps everlasting monuments of their effects. All around the walls of
this spiritual cave stand in massive proportions the pillars of sinful
inclinations and the props of iniquity, and only a convulsion like that which
rends the solid globe can rend them from their place and shake their hold.
Thus stealthily is the work done; mere fancies and desires and lusts
unsuspiciously entertained, contribute silently but surely to the result. The
heart is changedinto an impregnable fortress of sin. The roof of its iniquity is
sustainedby marble pillars, and all the weight of reasonand conscience and
the Divine threatenings are powerless to lay it low in the dust of humility.
Such is the powerof those light fancies and imaginations and desires which
enter the soul unobserved, and are slighted for their insignificance. They
attract no notice. They utter no note of alarm. We might suppose that if left to
themselves they would be absorbed in oblivion, and leave no trace behind. But
they form the pillars of character. Theysustain the soul under the pressure of
all those solemnappeals to which it ought to yield. How impressive, then, the
admonition, "Keepthy heart with all diligence"!Things which seem
powerless andharmless may prove noxious beyond expression. The powerof
inveterate sin is from the silent flow of thought. Your habitual desires or
fancies are shaping your eternal destiny.
(American NationalPreacher.)
Evil thoughts not to be harboured

Swinnock.
The best Christian's heart here is like Solomon's ships, which brought home
not only goldand silver, but also apes and peacocks;it has not only spiritual
and heavenly, but also vain and foolishthoughts. But these latter are there as
a disease orpoison in the body, the objectof his grief and abhorrence, not of
his love and complacency. Thoughwe cannotkeepvain thoughts from
knocking at the door of our hearts, nor from entering in sometimes, yet we
may forbear bidding them welcome, orgiving them entertainment. "How long
shall vain thoughts lodge within thee?" It is bad to let them sit down with us,
though but for an hour, but it is worse to let them lie or lodge with us. It is
better to receive the greatestthieves into our houses than vain thoughts into
our hearts. John Huss, seeking to reclaim a very profane wretch, was told by
him, that his giving way to wicked, wanton thoughts was the original of all
those hideous births of impiety which he was guilty of in his life. Huss
answeredhim, that although he could not keepevil thoughts from courting
him, yet he might keepthem Item marrying him; "as," he added, "though I
cannot keepthe birds from flying over my head, yet I can keepthem from
building their nests in my hair."
(Swinnock.)
Importance of keeping the mind well employed
Scriver.
Man's heart is like a millstone: pour in corn, and round it goes, bruising and
grinding, and converting it into flour; whereas give it no corn, and then
indeed the stone goes round, but only grinds itself away, and becomes ever
thinner and smallerand narrower. Even as the heart of man requires to have
always something to do; and happy is he who continually occupies it with good
and holy thoughts, otherwise it may soonconsume and waste itselfby useless
anxieties or wickedand carnalsuggestions.Whenthe millstones are not nicely
adjusted, grain may indeed be poured in, but comes away only half ground or
not ground at all. The same often happens with our heart when our devotion

is not sufficiently earnest. On such occasionswe readthe finest texts without
knowing what we have read, and pray without hearing our own prayers. The
eye flits over the sacredpage, the mouth pours forth the words, and clappers
like a mill, but the heart meanwhile turns from one strange thought to
another; and such reading and such prayer are more a useless form than a
devotion acceptable to God.
(Scriver.)
Goodthoughts strangers
Dr. John Owen.
The thoughts of spiritual things are with many as guests that come into an inn
and not like children that dwell in the house.
(Dr. John Owen.)
Cure for evil thoughts
Dr. John Owen.
As the streams of a mighty river running into the ocean, so are the thoughts of
a natural man, and through self they run into hell. It is a fond thing to set a
dam before such a river to curb its streams. Fora little space there may be a
stop made, but it will quickly break down all obstacles,oroverflow all its
bounds. There is no way to divert its course, but only by providing other
channels for its waters, and turning them there into. The mighty stream of the
evil thoughts of men will admit of no bounds or dams to pug a stop unto them.
There are but two ways of relief from them; the one respecting their moral
evil, the other their natural abundance. The first by throwing salt into the
spring, as Elisha cured the waters of Jericho;that is, to get the heart and mind
seasonedwith grace;for the tree must be made goodbefore the fruit will be
so;the other is, to turn their streams into new channels, putting new aims and

ends upon them, fixing them on new objects;so shall we abound in spiritual
thoughts; for abound in thought we shall, whether we will or no.
(Dr. John Owen.)
Evil thoughts not trifles
C. H. Spurgeon.
Notice this evil catalogue,this horrible list of words. It begins with what is
very lightly regarded among men — evil thoughts. Instead of evil thoughts
being less simple than evil acts, it may sometimes happen that in the thought
the man may be worse than in the act. Thoughts are the heads of words and
actions, and within the thoughts lie condensedall the villany and iniquity that
can be seenin the words or in the acts. If men did more carefully watchtheir
thoughts, they would not so readily fall into evil ways. Insteadof fancying that
evil thoughts are mere trifles, let us imitate the Saviour, and put them first in
the catalogueofthings to be condemned. Let us make a conscienceofour
thoughts. In the words of the text the first point mentioned is evil thoughts,
but the last is foolishness. This is the way of sin, to begin with a proud conceit
of our own thoughts, ending with folly and stupidity. What a range there is
betweenthese two points, what a variety of sin thus enumerated! Sin is a
contradictory thing: it takes men this way and that, but never in the right
way. Virtue is one, as truth is one; holiness is one, but sin is ten thousand
things conglomeratedinto a dread confusion. When we look upon any man
and only regardhim with malignity, we sin in all that — it is the sin of envy.
There stands pride. One would have thought that a man who commits these
sins would not have been proud. When a man is filled with a proud conceitof
himself he is justifying his own iniquity.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Human depravity seenin the thoughts of man
H. Bushnell, D. D.

Considerthe wild mixtures of thought displayed both in the waking life and
the dreams of mankind. How grand! how mean! how sudden the leap from
one to the other! how inscrutable the succession!how defiant of orderly
control! It is as if the soul were a thinking ruin, which it very likely is. The
angeland the demon life appearto be contending in it. The imagination revels
in beauty exceeding all the beauty of things, wails in images dire and
monstrous, wallows in murderous and base suggestionsthat shame our
inward dignity.
(H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Covetousness
Covetousness -- its spirit
DeanRamsay.
The spirit of covetousnesswhichleads to an over value and over love of
money, is independent of amount. A poor man may make an idol of his little,
just as much as the rich man makes an idol of his much. We know our Lord
showedhow the poorestperson may exceedin charity and liberality the
richest — by giving more than the wealthy in proportion to the whole amount
of his possessions. So in like manner, a poor man may be more covetous than a
wealthy man, because he may keepback from the treasury of God more in
proper. tion to his all than the rich man keeps back from his all. If the
Christian characteris debased, and heaven is lost by such indulgence of
covetousness as to make a man an idolater of mammon, it is of little
consequence whetherthe heart be set on an idol of gold, or an idol of clay.
(DeanRamsay.)
Covetousnessexchangestrue riches for the false
T. Adams.

As the dog in AEsop's fable lost the real flesh for the shadow of it, so the
covetous man casts awaythe true riches for the love of the shadowy.
(T. Adams.)
Covetousnesspines in plenty
T. Adams.
The covetous man pines in plenty, like Tantalus up to the chin in water, and
yet thirsty.
(T. Adams.)
Degradationofthe covetous
Dr. Jeffers.
A young man once pickedup a sovereignlying in the road. Ever afterwards,
in walking along, he kept his eye fixed steadily upon the ground in the hope of
finding another. And in the course of a long life he did pick up a goodmany
gold and silver coins at different times. But all these years, while he was
looking for them, he saw not that the heavens were bright above him, and
nature beautiful around. He never once allowedhis eyes to look up from the
mud and filth in which he soughthis treasure;and when he died — a rich old
man — he only knew this fair earth as a dirty road to pick up money as you
walk along.
(Dr. Jeffers.)
Delusionof the covetous
Anon.
Some of us may remember a fable of a covetous man, who chancedto find his
way one moonlight night into a fairy's palace. There he saw bars, apparently

of solid gold, strewedon every side; and he was permitted to take awayas
many as he could carry. In the morning, when the sun rose on his imaginary
treasure, borne home with so much toil, behold! there was only a bundle of
sticks, and invisible beings filled the air around him with scornful laughter.
Such will be the confusionof many a man who died in this world with his
thousands, and woke up in the next world not only miserable, and poor, and
naked, but in presence ofa heap of fuel stored up againstthe greatDay of
burning.
(Anon.)
Covetousnessmentalgluttony
Chamfort.
Covetousnessis a sortof mental gluttony, not confined to money, but craving
honour and feeding on selfishness.
(Chamfort.)
Covetousnessmanifestedin insufficient expenditure
George Herbert.
Whosoever, whena just occasioncalls, eitherspends not at all, or not in some
proportion to God's blessing upon him, is covetous. The reasonof the ground
is manifest, because wealthis given to that end to supply our occasions.Now,
if I do not give everything its end, I abuse the creature;I am false to my
reason, which should guide me; I offend the Supreme Judge, in perverting
that order which He hath setboth to those things and to reason. The
application of the ground would be infinite. But, in brief, a poor man is an
occasion;nay friend is an occasion;my country; my table; my apparel. If in
all these, and those more which concernme, I either do nothing, or pinch and
scrape and squeeze blood, indecently to the stationwherein God hath placed
me, I am covetous. More particularly, and to give one instance of all: if God

have given me servants, and I either provide too little for them, or that which
is unwholesome, and so not competent nourishment, I am covetous. Men
usually think that servants for their money are as other things that they buy,
even as a piece of wood, which they may cut, or hack, or throw into the fire;
and so that they pay them their wages, allis well. Nay, to descendyet more
particularly: if a man hath wherewithal to buy a spade, and yet he chooseth
rather to use his neighbour's, and wearout that, he is covetous. Nevertheless,
few bring covetousness thus low or considerit so narrowly, which yet ought to
be done, since there is a justice in the leastthings, and for the leastthere shall
be a judgment.
(George Herbert.)
Pride.
Pride
Diogenes being at Olympia, saw at the celebratedfestival some young men of
Rhodes, arrayedmost magnificently. Smiling scornfully, he exclaimed, "This
is pride." Afterwards, meeting with some Lacedaemonians in a mean and
sordid dress, he said, "This is also pride." Pride is found at the same opposite
extremes of dress at the present day.
The folly of pride
W. Gurnall.
Of all sins, pride is such a one as we may well wonder how it should grow, for
it hath no other root to sustainit, than what is found in man's dreaming fancy.
It grows, as sometimes we see a mushroom, or moss among stones, where
there is little soil or none for its root to take hold of.
(W. Gurnall.)

The testof purity
A gentleman was once extolling loudly the virtue of honesty, saying what a
dignity it imparted to our nature, and how it recommended us to the favour of
God. "Sir," replied his friend, "howeverexcellentthe virtue of honestymay
be, I fear there are very few men in the world who really possessit." "You
surprise me," saida stranger. "Ignorant as I am of your character," wasthe
reply, "I fancy it would be no difficult matter to prove even you to be a
dishonestman." "I defy you." "Will you give me leave, then, to ask you a
question or two, and promise not to be offended?" "Certainly." "Have you
never met with an opportunity of getting gain by unfair means? I don't say,
have you takenadvantage of it; but, have you ever met with such an
opportunity? I, for my part, have; and I believe every. body else has." "Very
probably I may." "How did you feel your mind affectedon such an occasion?
Had you no secretdesire, not the leastinclination, to seize the advantage
which offered? Tell me without any evasion, and consistentlywith the
characteryou admire." "I must acknowledge, Ihave not always been
absolutely free from every irregular inclination; but — ." "Hold! sir, none of
your salvos;you have confessedenough. If you had the desire, though you
never proceededto the act, you were dishonestin heart. This is what the
Scriptures callconcupiscence. It defiles the soul; it is a breach of that law
which requireth truth in the inward parts, and, unless you are pardoned
through the Bloodof Christ, it will be a just ground for your condemnation,
when God shall judge the secrets ofmen
STUDYLIGHTRESOURCES
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
And he said, that which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the
man.

This truth appeared dramatic enough on the occasion when Jesus
uttered it, but it was not a new thing at all, having been
emphatically taught in the Old Testament. The "heart" is
mentioned no less than 74 times in the Book of Proverbs alone
where it is set forth as the fountain source of all that comes out of
life. "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of
life" (Proverbs 4:23). The Pharisaical shift of emphasis from the
heart to externalism resulted from their evil nature and not from
God's sacred law. In such a perversion, they were not innocent but
guilty.
Copyright Statement
James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of
Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other
rights reserved.
Bibliography
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Mark 7:20". "Coffman
Commentaries on the Old and New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/mark-7.html.
Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
return to 'Jump List'
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And he said,.... Continued to say in his discourse; though this is left
but in the Syriac version;
that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man; meaning,
not his excrements, which were unclean by the law, Deuteronomy

23:13 but what comes out of his heart, by his mouth; or is expressed
in action, as appears by what follows; See Gill on Matthew 15:18.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and
adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All
Rightes Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist
Standard Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on Mark 7:20". "The New John Gill
Exposition of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/mark-7.html.
1999.
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
EVIL FROM WITHIN
‘And He said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the
man.… All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.’
Mark 7:20; Mark 7:23
It is a notable characteristic of our Lord’s teaching that He fixes our
attention not on outward results, but on inward motives.

I. The nature of the evil.—What are the evil thoughts which we must
guard against? Out of the terrible list which our Lord gives us in
our text we may select three types.
(a) Pride, foolishness. How easy it is, especially in our leisure
moments, to dwell with self-complacency on our own excellencies. At
the worst the ‘pride and foolishness’ which proceed from the heart
may so exalt the miserable idol of self as to expel God from His
rightful throne; in any case they destroy the most characteristic
virtue of the Christian heart—humility.
(b) Thoughts of bitterness, ill-temper, and jealousy. The gossip of
some idle tongue is accepted and believed; suspicion passes into ill-
tempered resentment, and resentment turns into dislike verging
upon hatred. There is no end to the mischief which arises from bad-
tempered thoughts and perverse imaginations. ‘Out of the heart
proceed murders.’
(c) Lasciviousness. It is not always easy for a man to keep his mind
clean. But you can hardly exaggerate the disaster of a habit of
unclean thinking, and a pure heart is worth any effort to those who
remember what is promised to its possessor.
II. The remedy for the evil.—What is the remedy for the evil?
(a) It is necessary to recognise the mischief, and to call things by
their right names. There is still a great deal of unconscious
Pharisaism in the world; not, indeed, the Pharisaism which makes a
show of religious profession (that is no longer the fashion), but the
Pharisaism which is almost blatantly satisfied with a miserably poor
moral standard.

(b) Let us learn the necessity of a disciplined will, and recognise that
it is possible, by vigilant determination, to keep the rein on our
thoughts and imaginations. After all, we are members of Christ, and
the Spirit of God dwells within us.
(c) Let us remember that in the spiritual as well as the material
world, nature abhors a vacuum. The best way to keep out what is
evil and unwholesome is to occupy the mind with good and
wholesome subjects. A man who gives a few minutes every morning
to meditation on some feature of the character of our Lord, or some
incident in that wonderful life, is not likely to be a victim of bitter,
or self-conceited, or gross imaginations.
III. The conclusion of the whole matter.—Happy is that man who by
consistent watchfulness against the first beginnings of evil, and
willingness to dwell on what is best and healthiest, prepares
himself—or lets Christ prepare him—to be a worthy temple of the
Holy Ghost. There is no limit to the possibilities of Christian
character, and of lasting usefulness for those whose minds are free
to hear God’s call.
—Rev. Canon Kempthorne.
Illustration
‘There was an outbreak of typhoid fever in a country village. The
inhabitants, in their panic, made every sort of effort to arrest the
mischief. They examined their drains, they scrutinised their supplies
of food and drink, they deluged their houses and yards with
disinfectants. The fever still went on. At last they called in an expert,
who commended the efforts that they had made, but asked some
questions which were new to them. Where did their water come
from? Was it polluted somewhere up stream? Had they traced it to

the source! He answered these questions for himself, and found the
cause of pollution near the source of the stream which supplied the
village. The mischief was removed, and health returned. When our
moral health is suffering, let us look to the source of the mischief.’
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Nisbet, James. "Commentary on Mark 7:20". Church Pulpit
Commentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cpc/mark-7.html.
1876.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the
man.
Ver. 20. That defileth the man] Far worse than any out-house. Sin is
the devil’s excrement.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on Mark 7:20". John Trapp Complete
Commentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/mark-7.html.
1865-1868.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible
See Poole on "Mark 1:19"
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentary on Mark 7:20". Matthew Poole's
English Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/mark-7.html.
1685.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges
20. ἔλεγεν δέ. The Lord’s words are resumed after the interjected
remark of the Evangelist.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
"Commentary on Mark 7:20". "Cambridge Greek Testament for
Schools and Colleges".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/mark-7.html.
1896.
Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
‘And he said, “That which comes out from a man, that defiles the
man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil
thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings,
wickednesses, deceit, debauchery, an evil eye, blasphemies, pride,
foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the
man.” ’
Jesus then expanded on His words. What He was speaking of were
the sins that came from men’s hearts and ruined their lives. These
were what came ‘out of the man’, revealing him to be sinful. And He
emphasised that central to all are evil thoughts. As a man thinks in
his heart, that is what he is like (Proverbs 23:7). We may not all be

adulterers and murderers, He is pointing out, but we have all
considered it at one time or another. This argument is expanded on
in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). ‘Evil thoughts’ is
distinguished in the Greek, denoting that it includes all that follows.
Examples are then listed covering a wide range of human sin. Many
are referring directly to the ten commandments, but expanded to
include thoughts as well as acts (although ‘you shall not covet’ had
already done that). Sexual misbehaviour, theft, murder, coveting
(wrongly desiring what others have), deceit (or guile) all refer to
direct commandments. ‘Wickednesses’ cover any evil behaviour
that causes harm - the Devil is ‘the wicked’ one. Debauchery refers
to uncontrolled living, especially drunkenness and its consequences,
but ranges wider. Such a person shows little restraint. The ‘evil eye’
in a Jewish context means an eye that sees sinfully (see Luke 11:34;
Matthew 20:15), and thus is envious, or full of hate, or mean and
miserly. Blasphemies and slanders (the carelessness and wickedness
of the tongue especially with regard to God), pride (‘showing oneself
above others’) and foolishness (especially religious insensibility - it is
the fool who says in his heart, ‘there is no God’ and shows it by how
he lives- Psalms 14:1; Psalms 53:1) are all sins regularly condemned
in Scripture. But note that even the thought of these is sin (‘evil
thoughts’ - compare Jesus teaching in Matthew 5:28). All the words
but one are found in the LXX demonstrating that the list is typically
from a Jewish background.
Mark drops the matter there because the main point has been made,
and we are left to ponder the main point that Jesus was making. But
the emphasis of the whole chapter is on the need to see all things
from a new point of view that gets to the heart of what sin really is,

and that that is what the preaching on the new Kingly Rule of God
had to do.
Excursus On The Impact of Jesus Which Would Replace
Unnecessary Ritual.
There can be no doubt that Jesus’ argument here went further than
just what was being determined in the context. It went to the root of
the whole question of ritual law. It makes us rightly ask what the
intention of ritual is and when it can be seen as irrelevant and
superseded. And it contributed to releasing the Christian church
from certain aspects of the Law which had gradually become
superseded.
Humanly speaking this was the genius of Jesus. Time and again He
brushes aside extraneous matters and gets to the heart of questions
which have puzzled men in all ages. It is not a question of whether
anyone had ever had such ideas before, it is the sheer breadth of His
coverage and the depth of His understanding that amazes us. And
His teachings are full of examples of this very thing. By a simple
story He dealt with racial and religious prejudice at a stroke leaving
no excuse for anyone to be racist (Luke 10:25-37). He defined moral
goodness in terms of doing to others what we would that they would
do to us (Matthew 7:12), something which simply brings home
moral truth to everyone without having to go into greater detail. We
all know what in our inner hearts we want for ourselves. He
summarised true religious attitude in a simple prayer (Matthew 6:9-
13). He told stories which left men in no doubt of the direction in
which they should go. And here He deals with the question of how
ritual is to be seen at a stroke. And in every case we have to agree
with Him. We have no choice. He knew what all men wish to know.

And these are but a few examples of His genius. He gave out a moral
teaching that has been acknowledged in all ages as being supreme,
both with regard to its coverage and with regard to what He
omitted. Those who doubt it do but make fools of themselves. If we
calculated its extent we would discover how little we have of it, but
when we study it we are amazed at the vastness of the ground He
covered.
Some foolish men have tried to deny that He ever existed. But how
then to explain this incredible range of moral teaching given in so
small a scope which suddenly arrived in the 1st century AD and has
changed the history of the world? To suggest that it came from the
early church is ridiculous. Had they not remembered it word for
word they would soon have destroyed it. To suggest that the Gospel
writers invented it is to produce four geniuses instead of one. For the
truth is that none had the ability or the understanding. In truth if
we refuse to acknowledge the existence of Jesus, we must postulate
an unknown genius who lived in Palestine at the same time and did
exactly what Jesus did. And then acknowledge that He was called
Jesus.
That Jesus was a Jew comes out clearly in all His teaching. His deep
knowledge of the Old Testament and of Judaism comes out in
almost every word He uttered. But His importance morally speaking
is that He transcended both. While He lived faithfully as a Jew, here
was someone Who was unique in history, and could see through the
failures of Judaism. And once He had existed nothing could ever be
the same again. But the great problem that He posed for mankind
was that He would not stop there. Had He done so He would have
been buried and finally have been revered by all good men as an
outstanding Jew, and as easily ignored. But unlike other moral

geniuses such as Confucius, Buddha, Marcus Aurelius and so on He
did not leave it like that, He put right at the heart of His teaching
claims about Himself that revealed His claim to be that He was more
than a man.
There is no trace of madness or megalomania in His words, but He
clearly believed and taught that He had a unique relationship with
God that was like that of an only Son with His Father, and that by
their response to Him all men will be judged. Without any
arrogance He pointed all men to Himself and His unique status. In
all humility He constantly set Himself above the most revered names
of history (e.g. Matthew 5:21-22 and following; Mark 11:11; Mark
12:38-42; John 8:56-58). With an ordinary man this could have been
dismissed as eccentricity, but with a man of the stature of Jesus it
could not be dismissed at all. And then He made clear that He had
come in order to die. We cannot avoid the idea. It lies imbedded in
His teaching. And He made clear that His death, unlike the deaths of
other men, was not to be His end, but would in some way change the
world. All this is really indisputable to anyone who fairly considers
what He taught, even if they make certain exclusions. For nothing of
this can be eradicated from His teaching without almost eradicating
all.
Furthermore the reason that the message about Him did reach out
to the world was certainly because of belief in His resurrection. It
was because they believed that Jesus had risen again and was
carrying on His kingly rule. And they did not do so on the basis of
some mindless ‘faith’, they did so because they believed in an empty
tomb which had been witnessed by others, and the testimony of
trustworthy people Who had seen Him alive, and not singly but in
groups, one of which was over five hundred strong (1 Corinthians

15:3-8; Matthew 28:9-20; Mark 16:9-20; Luke 24:13-53;John 20:11
to John 21:22). And a large number of these were eventually put to
death because of their testimony, rejoicing because they knew that it
was so.
And this teaching on religious ritual was an example of what we are
talking about. For good reason Old Testament law had required
certain ritual behaviour in order to teach a new born nation how to
live and what to believe, to lift it from the morass in which it found
itself, and from unwholesome living. This ritual was provided and
laid a solid foundation for the future which resulted in this nation
becoming a moral example to the world, not so much by its general
behaviour but because of its holy books and their general
conformation with their teaching. The laws of cleanliness pointed in
the direction of what was wholesome and good. There is no question
but that they contributed to good hygiene, but even more important
than that was the fact that (until they were given undue emphasis)
they had a wholesome influence on life, which made men almost
unconsciously aim at a higher good. They helped to keep men from
the degradations of life, and to fix their minds on God and His ways.
But by the time of Jesus that influence had been marred by over
application. The ritual no longer lifted men up, it burdened them
down. And it had been given a prominence that excluded more
important matters. Nothing was more clear to Jesus than this fact.
He had grown up with it, and He had submitted to it, and He had
watched its impact all around Him. And now He had begun His
mission which would among other things free men from the chains
with which ovdr-zealousness had bound them.
Thus His teaching here concerning what really mattered in men’s
lives was the beginning of a move which would lift these restrictions

from men while continuing to stress the need for true
wholesomeness. To the end of His life He would observe the
requirements of the Pharisees, for none knew better than He that
replacement of them by something better was important before they
were removed. It was not something to be achieved at a stroke. To
lose them would have left many not knowing where to look. But by
gently shaking their foundations He ensured that one day it would
be so. It could, however, only be achieved when there were those
who had a strong willingness to follow after wholesomeness even
when the ritual was removed.
Thus when the early church became largely Gentile, although
retaining a large Jewish base, it became recognised that they need
no longer be bound by this ritual, firstly because they were
unacquainted with its significance, secondly because it had been
replaced by something better, and thirdly because it was now
unnecessary to distinguish a certain nation from all others. It could
thus be laid aside without destroying their moral roots. For what it
pointed to was now far better exemplified in Jesus Christ, Who had
indeed largely fulfilled the significance of Old Testament rituals.
The new had come and therefore the old could be replaced.
This process outwardly began here, and it was given a great forward
impulse when Peter had his vision from God before preaching to
Cornelius and his men (Acts 10:9-16). There he learned that what
was approved of by God could not be described as unclean. And it
finally resulted in the decision of the Jewish-Christian Council that
Gentile Christians were to look to Christ and not be restricted by
Old Testament ritual (Acts 15:13-21). And it was confirmed by Paul
in his letters where he specifically links it with the Kingly Rule of
God (Romans 14, see the whole but especially Mark 7:17). Under the

Kingly Rule of God lesser restrictions were unnecessary. But its
logic lay in what Jesus had taught here. This is why, although we
should be careful what we eat, we are not restricted by the
restrictions found in Leviticus, although doing well to take heed to
their principles (see our commentary on Leviticus). And that is
because it is not the outward which can defile us, but what lies deep
within our hearts.
And it should be noted that such a view of much of this ritual of the
Pharisees is not only acknowledged by Christians, but by the vast
majority of Jews as well, for they no longer consider it necessary to
follow these regulations of the Pharisees.
End of Excursus.

Hideous Discovery BY SPURGEON
“And He said, That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man.
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceedevil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, anevil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:all
these evil things come from within and defile the man.”
Mark 7:20-23
How wearythe Savior must have been of the idle prattle of the scribes and
Pharisees!They are forever talking about washing hands before meals and
washing pots and cups–andHe is all the while occupiedwith the greatgriefs
and sins of men and how He can save them from the wrath to come. He must
have felt as some true physician feels who looks upon a patient, marks the
serious nature of the sicknessand plans a remedy–while some quack is
boasting his nostrums or performing ridiculous signs and passes overthe
dying man. To serious compassion, imposture is provoking and sincere
truthfulness is grieved by the mockeries ofpretense. The dear Savior,
knowing the Truth about the whole thing and solemnly concernedabout it, is
pained with the talk of these pretenders of learning and religion who, knowing
nothing at all about the real mischief, professedto purge awaydefilement by
the washing of waterand outward ceremonies!Truly, I think every spiritual
man must have a feeling of disgust, every now and then, as in these days he
reads dissertations upon the cut of a priestly garment or the positioning of an
altar!
Have you ever read what is to be done if a little wine is spilt upon the cloth of
the holy table, or how the cup used in the “mass” is to be rinsed again and
again, and carefully drained by the personministering? Have you everheard
of arguments concerning the fate of a mouse which was so irreverent as to eat
the holy wafer? What trifling it all seems–this seriousdiscussionofgarments
and vessels withstrange names, this exactdirectory as to when to bow and
when to kneel, when to put on a robe and when to take it off! What a waste of
time, of learning and of thought! What exaltation of trifles and forgetfulness
of serious realities!Men are diseasedto the heart with sin and ready to die
and pass before the Judgment Seatto receive the condemnationwhich must
lie upon those who continue in sin–and meantime, the teachers ofthe people
are either busy with vain ceremonies ordreaming over equally vain
philosophies!
Behold, a pretender to profound thought informs us that Moseswas in error
and Paul scarcelyknew whathe wrote about! These philosophic amenders of

the Gospelare as arrant triflers as the superstitious posture makers at whom
they sneer!The Savior makes shortwork of human traditions and authorities!
Your meats and your drinks, your fasting thrice in the week, your paying of
the tithe of mint, anise and cummin, your broad phylacteries and fringes–He
waves them all awaywith one motion of His hand–and He comes straight to
the realpoint. He deals with the heart and with the sins which come out of it!
He draws up a diagnosis of the disease withfearless truthfulness and declares
that meats do not defile men! He states that true religion is not a matter of
observationor non-observation of washing and outward rites, but that the
whole matter is spiritual and has to do with man’s inmost self, with the
understanding, the will, the emotions, the conscience andall else which makes
up the heart of man. He tells us that defilement is causedby that which comes
out of the man, not by that which goes into him! Defilement is of the heart–not
of the hands!
To this teaching our Savior calls particular attention. Observe that He spoke
it to the whole of the people and not to the scribes and Pharisees, only. It is
necessaryfor every man to know this Truth of God and to lay it to heart.
When He spoke, He added these words–“Hearkenunto Me, every one of you,
and understand.” And then He said more–“Ifany man has ears to hear, let
him hear.” If a man fails to understand more deep and mysterious Truths, yet
let him understand this–for an error here is an error upon a vital point and
may lead to most serious damage, if not to eternal ruin! We are, all of us,
calledupon, therefore, to hear and to understand this day what the Savior
says in the words of the text! Let me read them again, that they may sink into
your minds. “And He said, That which comes out of the man, that defiles the
man. Forfrom within, out of the heart of men, proceedevil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, anevil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:all these evil things
come from within, and defile the man.”
1. First, this morning, think, dear Brothers and Sisters, with deep self-
abasement, of THE SWARM OF SINS. I seem to have broken open a
wasp’s nestand the stinging creatures fly out in number, numberless!
Here are 13 words, eachone of them teeming with all manner of evils.
Matthew, when he condenses the Savior’s utterances, mentions sevenof
these horrible things, one of which is omitted here, but Mark is more
full in this instance and mentions 13 items of abomination. I am struck
with the legionof foul spirits which are here set free, as if the door of the
Bottomless Pithad been opened! As armies of locusts, or as swarms of
the flies of Egypt, so are sins! As the wilderness was full of fiery serpents

and scorpions, so is this world full of iniquities. The very names of them
are a pain to the ears!Let us bow our heads in sorrow as we read the
muster-roll of this legionof terror–“Evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, deceit,
lasciviousness, anevil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.”
Now, notice first, that this awful catalog, this horrible list of the unclean birds
that find a cage within the human heart, begins with things that are lightly
regardedamong men–“evilthoughts.” “We shall not be hangedfor our
thoughts,” cries one! I wish that such idle talkers would remember that they
will be damned for their thoughts and that instead of evil thoughts being less
sinful than evil acts, it may sometimes happen that in the thought, the man
may be worse than in the deed! He may not be able to carry out all the
mischief that lurks within his designs and yet, in forming the design, he may
incur all the guilt! Thoughts are the eggs ofwords and actions–andwithin the
thoughts lie compactedand condensedall the villainy of actualtransgressions.
If men did but more carefully watchtheir thoughts, they would not so readily
fall into evil habits! Men first indulge the thought of evil and then the
imagination of evil–but the process does notstop there. Picturing it before
their mind’s eye, they excite their own desires after it–these grow into a thirst
and kindle into a passion. Then the deed is speedily forthcoming–it was long
in the hatching, but in a moment it comes forth to curse a whole lifetime!
Instead of fancying that evil thoughts are mere trifles, let us regard them as
the rootof bitterness, the still in which the poisonous spirit is manufactured.
Our Saviorhere puts evil thoughts first in the catalog ofevil things and He
knew well their true nature. If we would be lost, we have only to indulge
these–ifwe would be savedwe must conquer these!Let us be very aware of
our thoughts. He that does not, will not long be very aware ofhis words or
deeds. Let us pray God to purge us in the inward parts, lest haply, by
entertaining vain thoughts as lodgers within our hearts, they take up their
residence, become masters ofour lives and drive us onward to the outward
sins which shall utterly pollute and defile us in the eyes of our fellow men.
Since this indictment begins with evil thoughts, who among us canplead
guiltless? Since evil thoughts are the first of sins, we had better meet the
charge with immediate repentance and an instant faith in the only Savior.
These thoughts come into our minds in the House of God! They intrude into
our prayers, they defile our Psalms!They disturb our meditations. Is there a
sacredhill so high, is there a quiet valley so deep that in it we may be quite
clearfrom these “evil thoughts”? Who can deliver us from this plague but the

Lord our God? We need to humble ourselves atthe first reading of this list
and cry unto the Lord for mercy!
Carefully notice the range which this catalog takes. Itis a very singular one,
for it begins with thoughts and then it runs on until it lands us in utter lack of
thought, or foolishness. Matthew Henry says, “Ill-thinking is put first and
unthinking is put last.” Sin begins with “evil thoughts,” but ends in
foolishness. The wordrendered, “evil thoughts,” may be translatedevil
disputes, evil dialog. Now, this is thought, by some, to be almost a virtue,
certainly a manly exercise!To be able to dispute, to be a questioner, a
quibbler, a perpetual and professionaldoubter, that, I say, is highly esteemed
among men! What is modern thought but evil thought? David says, “I hate
vain thoughts” and all thoughts which run counter to the Revelationof God
are vain. In this instance I may quote the Psalmist–“TheLord knows the
thoughts of men, that they are vanity.” Thoughts which are devout and
reverent towards the sacredoraclesare to be cultivated, but the thoughts
which quibble at the revealedTruth of God and would improve upon the
Infallible declarations of Jehovahare evil and vain thoughts. All manner of
mischief may come out of thinking in opposition to God! Therefore it is said,
“Let the wickedforsakehis ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts.”
Thinking contrary to God’s mind and disputing with the clearstatements of
God’s own Word may be the first step in a descentwhich shall end in
everlasting destruction!
Rising in evil thought, sin flows through a black country full of varying
immoralities until it falls into the DeadSea of “foolishness.”How often have I
heard it said of a vicious life, when it has ripened into horror–“The man must
have been mad! He was not only wicked, but what a fool he must have been!
The devil himself seems to have forsakenhim. He acted craftily enough at one
time, but afterwards he went againsthis own interests and insured his own
destruction!” Yes, men begin with the thought that they know better than
their Makerand, at last, they reachutter thoughtlessness, stolidity of
conscienceandstupidity of mind! In the end they refuse to think at all and
nothing can save them from recklessdefiance ofcommon prudence. They are
given over to judicial senselessness. ThoughGodHimself should speak, they
have no ears for Him–their sin has brought on them the punishment of utter
hardness of heart! They have made themselves to be as the adder which will
not hear the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so wisely. This is the wayof
sin–to begin with fanciedwisdom and end with foolishness!The man who
thought himself more than a man, at lastends as a brute beastdevoid of
reason!What a range, my Brothers and Sisters, there is betweenthese two

points! Readthe words, again, and see what a terrible zigzag path lies between
wrong thought and no thought at all.
In this list you have an amazing variety of sins. The list is not complete and
was not intended to be. It would be very difficult in words to compose a full
roll, though it were written within and without, which would comprise all
kinds of evils. But you have here, “deceit,” whichseems to dread the judgment
of men and, therefore, would delude it. And then you have, “pride,” which
defies all mortal condemnation and lifts itself above its fellows. You have here
different forms of the lust which seeks afterpleasure at any expense, in the
form of “fornications” and “adulteries.” And then you have the
“covetousness”whichclings to its gold and will consentto no outlay which it
can avoid. Sin is a contradictory thing which blows hot and cold. It hurries
men, like fitful winds, this way and that, yet never in the right direction. “We
have turned, everyone, to his own way,” but all to the wrong way. Virtue is
one, as truth is one, and holiness is one, but vice is abnormal and monstrous.
Sin is 10,000evils conglomeratedin dread confusion. God keepus from ever
navigating the dangerous sea of iniquity where currents run one wayand
undercurrents another–andwhere, oftentimes, sensualdesires developinto
whirlpools of abominable passions which suck men down into the depths of
infamy and perdition!
In this list you will notice certain sins which may be regardedas somewhat
singular. It is remarkable that, “evil thoughts” should be placed so near to
atrocious acts ofcrime. It is singular, also, to find “an evil eye” mentioned just
in this connection. What canit mean? May the very use of the eye become a
sin worthy to be ranked with theft and murder? Yes, when that evil eye means
envy, it proceeds to a high degree of wickednessand borders upon the worst
of wrongs!When we look upon another man and regardhim with malignity.
When his prosperity makes us grieve. When in his very sorrows we take an
inhuman delight and gloatover his misery, his sin, his degradation–wethen
sin most heinously and are prepared for any horror. This sin of envy and that
other of blasphemy would appearto be a wanton superfluity of evil,
ministering no appearance of benefit to men. Some sins have a winning
witchery with them, but there are old hags of sins which ought to attractno
man in his senses–andyet they hold men enslaved. Among these sins I rank
envy, blasphemy and pride. This last I mention because it reads like a grim
sarcasm, that sinners should be proud! What have such creatures to be proud
of? What? Adulteries, murders, thefts and yet pride? One would have said
that such sins would have forbidden pride. What a misalliance!A being
infamous and yet puffed up! Alas, the worse a man becomes, the more is he

filled with a sort of vainglory by the force of which he justifies his own
iniquities and refuses to see his own vileness!This enables men to set darkness
for light and light for darkness–bitterfor sweetand sweetforbitter. What an
assemblageofbanditti of every nationality range themselves under the banner
of evil! Lord, save us from them!
Note, also, that of sins there are many of eachsort. Especiallyin the original,
it is observable that the first sevenof these evil things are all in the plural. It is
not, “evil thought,” but, “evil thoughts.” Not, “adultery,” but, “adulteries,”
fornications, murders, thefts–the translation should also be plural of
covetousness andwickedness–theseare all in the plural for in any one sin
there lurks a multitude of sins! One crime is built up of many–in any one form
of sin there is a tangle and conglomerate ofmany evils. There are myriads of
evil thoughts. In the crime of uncleanness there are stages–the thought, the
word, the deed–allthese are varieties of the same species, but they are all sins
and they are, eachone, worthy of the generic name though they do not take
the same form.
If the varieties of eachsin are so many and if all sins must be spokenof as a
plurality under eachvariety, how innumerable must be the sins of men! O
Lord, You alone know our iniquities! Who could setthem in order before us
but Your own Omniscient Self? What must they appear to Your perfect
vision! Brothers and Sisters, if we were once to see sin in its true colors and
were then to see it in its innumerable hosts, we would sink into despair if any
sort of conscienceremainedin us. “Who canunderstand his errors? Cleanse
You me from secretfaults.” “All these evil things,” said our Lord, as He
summed them up in that one solemn phrase. As we read that word it sounds
the knell of all human glorying! I hear it yet again. “All these evil things.”
How like the Old Testamentdeclaration–“The Lord lookeddownfrom
Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. Theyare all gone aside; they are all togetherbecome filthy:
there is none that does good;no, not one!”
How evil, my Brethren, eachone of these sins may be, it is not possible for us
to know, but there is, not one of them, that is defensible. They are, eachone of
them, vile before God and some of them are mischievous towards men. Evil
thoughts mainly blackenthe man’s own mind, but when he expressesthem in
disputations, they destroy the love of the Truth of God in others. Adulteries,
as violations of the marriage vow, shake the very foundations of family life.
Fornications, whichtoday are winked at as though they were scarcely
offenses, defile two persons at once in body and in soul! Actual murders follow
frequently upon unbridled passion, but forgetnot that the command, “You

shall not kill,” may be brokenby anger, hate, malice and the desire for
revenge. Many a murderer in heart may be among us this day, being angry at
his brother without a cause. He that conceivesand hides malice in his soul is a
murderer before God! This form of evil breeds all manner of harm to society.
Thefts in all their shapes are also injurious to the commonwealth. By this we
mean not only robberies, but all taking from others unjustly, such as the
oppressionof the poor in their wages,the taking of undue advantage in
trading, the incurring of debts without hope of being able to pay and the like–
these are varied forms of dishonesty and are full of injury to others.
Covetousness–the greedto get and the greedto keep;the adding field to field
until the man seems eagerto be left alone on the earth; the grasping of
excessive riches andthe creationof poverty in others by crushing their
humbler enterprises–allthis is evil, though some applaud it as business
sharpness.
NeedI mention the evils which come of wickedness,deceitand lasciviousness?
These are poisons in the air deadly to all who breathe them. I sickenas I think
how man has plagued his fellow men by his sins. But I will not go through the
list, nor need I–the devil has preachedupon this text this week and few have
been able to escape the horrible exposition! A foul exhalation has entered into
every house in this greatcity, polluting the very atmosphere and spreading
moral infection. Oh for a hurricane to sweepawaythe pestilent vapor! Within
a narrow space, a multitude of iniquities have gatheredlike vultures upon a
mass of carrion! What a collectionofsins may meet in a single story! How
soondoes one transgressioncallto its fellows till, “a little one has become a
thousand and a small one a strong nation!” Alas, alas for the multitudes of
sins!
II. Now, secondly, I want to indicate THE NEST FROM WHICH THEY
COME. Now that we have seenthese evil beasts, we will go and look at their
den. Let us make a journey there. No, you need not feel for your money to pay
your fare–Iam not going to take you very far. I do not ask you to quit your
homes, or even your pews. There is not even need for you to stretchout your
hand to feel for this foul nest of unclean birds–you cankeepyour hand upon
your bosom and it will not be far off from the lair wherein these evil things
are lurking, ready to leapforth wheneveroccasionoffers. Our Lord Jesus
Christ says, “All these evil things come from within.” “Forfrom within, out of
the heart of men, proceedevil thoughts.” The source from which these rivers
of pollution proceedis the natural heart of man! Sin is not a splashof mud
upon man’s exterior, it is a filth generatedwithin himself!

Now this is a very different story from that which we sometimes hearfrom
thoughtless people. “Oh, yes, he used to swear. He was unkind to his wife and
family–no doubt he took too much drink–but he was a good-heartedfellow!”
What an awful lie! His heart could have been no better than that which came
out of it. Yet how common it is to say, when a man dies, “Well, poor man, he is
gone!There was no fear of God or man about him. He was a passionate,
drunken man and so full of vice that no one was safe nearhim, but he was
goodat bottom.” A likely story, is it not? The waterwhich came up in the
bucket was black and putrid, but, no doubt, at the bottom of the well it is clear
as crystal! Do you believe it? If men bring to market baskets offruit which
upon the top are rotten, they will not be believed if they saythat they are,
“goodat bottom.” If the goods in the window are worthless, the stock in the
warehouse is not much better. You canonly judge of a tree by its fruits–and if
I gathersour crabapples from a tree, I shall not believe that it is a golden
pippin! If grapes, whenfully ripe, are sour, we cannotbelieve that the vine
which bears them is a sweetone!Our Saviormakes short work of the lie that
the life may be impure and yet the heart is good!
Another fine theory of modern times is disproved by our text. According to
this evolution doctrine, as applied to theology, the new birth is a development
of that which is naturally within the heart. I hope we may be sparedsuch
births and evolutions! According to this theory we have had some fine
specimens of regenerate people oflate, for we have heard of evolutions or
developments which have brought out from within evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications and wickednesses ofmore than average proportions!God save us
from all development of the sin which dwells in man! Philosophicallythe
dogma of evolution is a dream, a theory without a vestige of proof! Within 50
years, children in schoolwill read of extraordinary popular delusions and this
will be mentioned as one of the most absurd of them! Many a merry jestwill
be uttered bearing upon the follies of science in the 19 th Century. In its
bearing upon religion, this vain notion is, however, no theme for mirth, for it
is not only deceptive, but it threatens to be mischievous in a high degree.
There is not a hair of truth upon this dog from its head to its tail, but it rends
and tears the simple ones. In all its bearings upon Scriptural Truth, the
evolution theory is in direct oppositionto it! If God’s Word is true, evolution
is a lie! I will not mince the matter–this is not the time for softspeaking.
Regenerationis much more than reformation, or the development of natural
goodness.It is described in Scripture as a new creationand as a resurrection
from the dead. It is not the cleansing ofthe carnalmind, but the implantation
of a spiritual nature. It is not a shaping, feeding, washing and purging of what

is already in fallen man–it is a putting into us a life which was never there
before. It is a supernatural work of God, the Holy Spirit–it is a miracle of
Grace, a work of God! Out of the heart, if the volcano is permitted to pour
forth its lava, proceedevil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, and such like.
The Saviorcompels us to see how bad the natural heart must be in itself, since
that which comes out of it is so vile. Who could bring such unclean things out
of a cleanheart? The source must be foul if the streams are so filthy. These
evils must be within, or else they could not come from within.
Our Savioris not speaking of a single man, or a certain setof men, but of
man, generally, of man as a race!We are all very much alike by nature. “As in
water, face answers to face, so the heart of man to man.” Friend, you are of
the same race as those whose sins you censure. Thoughout of your heart there
may never proceedactual fornications and adulteries–Godgrant they may
not!–yet the seeds ofsuch evils are there and you will be foolish if you think
that they cannever grow into acts. If any man says that no such evil lurks in
his heart, I lay to his charge the two last sins in the list, namely, pride and
foolishness!No man should dare to think that he is incapable of a sin into
which another man has fallen! We may never have suffered from fever, or
cholera, or diphtheria–but we may not, therefore, conclude that we are not
liable to such diseases.Normay an unregenerate man, howeverexcellentor
moral he may be, conclude that he is invulnerable to the arrows of moral
disease. Putthe man in certaincircumstances, tempt him in certain ways and
there is a terrible possibility that he will fall into those very actions which he
now so righteously denounces in others! I am a man and, therefore, liable to
all the faults of human nature. Self-righteousness mayinduce us to say with
Hazael, “Is your servant a dog, that he should do this thing?” But we shall be
wise to forego so proud a question, for we may rest assuredthat we are dog
enough for anything if the Grace of God is withdrawn from us! It is certainly
true that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperatelywicked:who
can know it?” “Out of the heart proceedevil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders” and so forth.
But what is meant here, do you think, by, “the heart?” Is it not intended to
indicate the man himself–the man’s most real self? Sin is sin, for the most
part, because it is of the heart and the will. If the man’s heart had nothing to
do with it, I do not see how it would be sin. If a man had no will in the matter,
where would his responsibility be? It is because we willingly do evil that we
sin. The essenceofthe sin lies in the will to do it and the full consentof the
heart in it. The heart is the centerof life, the core of being, the place where
manhood maintains its throne and what a terrible statementthis is, that out of

the very center of life there proceedfrom man “evil thoughts, wickedness,
blasphemy” and the like!
The heart is the spring of action–the heart suggests,resolves, designs andsets
the whole train of life in motion. The heart gives the impulse and the force and
yet, out of the heart, thus initiating and working, proceeds all this mischief of
sin. By the heart is meant mainly the affections, but it often includes the
understanding and the will. It is, in fact, the man’s vital self. Sin is not a thing
extra that comes to us and afflicts us like robbers breaking into our house at
night, but it is a tenant of the soul, dwelling within us as in its own house. This
evil worm has penetratedinto the kernelof our being and there it abides. Sin
has intertwisted itself with the warp and woofof our nature and none can
remove it but the Lord God Himself! As long as the heart remains unchanged,
out of it will proceedthat which is sinful. “Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart is only evil continually.”
If it is so, that the nest in which sin is born and nurtured is the heart, itself, we
always carry about with us, by nature, that which will surely be the cause of
sin unless we look well to it and cry daily for Grace to conquer it. This evil
nature of ours is an always present danger–itis a powder magazine which at
any moment may explode. Oh for Grace to keepour hearts with all diligence!
How clearly sin comes from within and not from outside! How truly it is born
in the heart! Oftentimes we see men commit sins againstconscience–they
know they are doing wrong, for they will lie and even swearhard in order to
concealtheir folly. A man must know that he does wrong, for he labors to
deny it when it is chargedagainsthim. Now, if a man sins againstlight and
conscience, itshows that his heart must be radically bad.
Sin must be within us naturally since the best training does not prevent it.
Children secludedfrom the sight or hearing of evil–kept, as it were, within a
glass case–yetrun to it when the restraint is removed! As the young duck
which has been reared in a dry place yet takes to the wateras soonas it sees a
pond, so do many hastento evil at the first opportunity. How often it happens
that those young persons who have been most shut out from the world have
become the readiestvictims of temptation when the time has come for them to
quit the parental roof! It must be in them, or it could not thus come out of
them. In many cases, evilcannotbe the result of mistakeneducation nor of ill
example–and yet there it is–the seedis in the soil and needs no sowing.
Again, we frequently find men falling into sins towards which they would
seemto have had no temptation. A man is rich and yet covetous. He has
enough to content him if his heart were not evil. Men who have the enjoyment

of almost every desirable pleasure too often crave after indulgences altogether
unnatural. Does not this show how evil the heart is? Is not this specially
striking when you see how men invent new sins, of which ordinary people
would never have dreamed?
Moreover, put a man where you may and seclude him as you please, sin will
still break out from him and, therefore, the sin must be somewhere within,
hidden away. Do we not know this? When we are in associations ofthe best
kind we find evil thoughts and imaginations springing up within our minds.
Shut yourself up in a narrow cell, but there will be room in it for troops of
sins! Hasten awayand dwell alone as a hermit where rumor of pollution and
iniquity can never reachyou from abroad and still you will find the cauldron
within boiling and bubbling up with evil! A door must be well sealedif it is to
shut out temptation. No, shut the door and hermetically sealit and sin has
already entered with yourself, for it is within you! Until you are delivered
from that evil man, yourself, you are not delivered from tendencies to
wickedness. The heart of man is the seedplot of iniquity and the nursery of
transgression. As the multitudes streamedforth from the hundred gates of
Thebes, so do sins proceedfrom the heart! O Lord, have mercy upon us and
give us new hearts and right spirits!
III. Thirdly, and briefly, let us notice for a minute THE DEFILEMENT
WHICH IS CAUSED BY THE COMING OUT OF THESE EVIL THINGS.
While they lie asleepwithin us, they are bad enough, but when at last they
pour forth into our lives and buzz abroad in our acts, then they cause grievous
defilement and make us unclean. In some cases theycause a defilement which
our fellow men see and, seeing, beginto cry out againstus and even to banish
us from their society. Where that is not the case, sinalways causes defilement
to the man himself. He goes from bad to worse, from worse to worst. Sin is
like a ladder. Few reachthe height of iniquity at once–the mostof men climb
from one evil to another–andthen to a third and a fourth. Sin hardens men to
further sin. He who is a moral monster was not always such. By sinning much,
he learned to sin more. The door of his heart was at first a little ajar, but
outgoing sins opened it to its full width. A man is not capable, at first, of the
sins which afterwards are habitual to him. Step by step, men descendinto the
abyss of infamy if their feet are not hindered by restraint, or stopped by
Almighty Grace. Every sin produces a fresh degree of callousness in the heart.
Even if sin is speedily repented of, its damage is not readily repaired–if its
writing is erased, you can see where it used to be. Even the passage ofa
momentary thought over the mind will leave a stain. See, then, the defiling
powerof sin.

Here is the main point–the man out of whose heart these evil things proceedis
defiled before God. I know that many will not think much of this, but that
indifference only proves the hardening nature of sin. Only think of it–the
sinful man is common and unclean before God! He is not fit to enter the
sanctuary of God, nor to come into His Holy Presence. Sinful man cannot
commune with a holy God! You do not mind that, you say. Ah me, how
alienatedfrom God are your hearts! If it were not so, we would judge that the
most horrible thing in the world is for a man no longer to be able to speak
with his Maker, nor his Makerto look favorably upon him. A breach of
communion betweenthe creature and the Creatoris a kind of Hell, a blight, a
curse, a death! God cannot comfortably commune with us while our hearts
are fountains of defilement from which iniquity proceeds. By this defilement
we become incapable of doing God any service. A defiled priest of old could
not offer sacrifice. He that is defiled in heart and life can do nothing for God.
God does not accepthim and, therefore, He cannotacceptanything at his
hands.
All that a defiled person touches becomes defiledby that very fact–his hymns
are defiled–sing them as sweetlyas he may. His prayers are defiled, though he
may offer them accuratelyas to their words. His very thoughts are defiled!
Byand-by it comes to this, that God cannot bear this defiled one anywhere in
His universe, among holy beings, any more than men can bear lepers in
common society. The just God is driven to find a place where the willfully
unclean may be placed apart–“where theirworm dies not, and their fire is not
quenched.” At last the greatHigh Priest will look upon the defiled one and,
looking at him and seeing his leprosyof sin still upon him, that Priest will say,
“Depart!Depart!” Oh the terror of that final word! I dare not dwell upon this
awful result of choosing sin and refusing mercy! I the more readily cease from
this theme because my lastpoint is that upon which I would dwell as long as
possible.
IV. Hear me, then, while I speak of THE ONLY CURE FOR THIS EVIL. O
Sirs, your hearts must be cured of sin! Notmerely the outcome of your heart,
but the heart, itself, must be purged from defilement, for as long as sin comes
forth from your heart, it shows that the heart is still sinful. The heart must be
changed, or you cannever meet God with acceptance,nor be found among the
glorious throng who behold His face and find a Heaven in the sight! You must
be renewedin the spirit of your minds, or you cannotdwell foreverwith God.
How is this to be done? I answer, it is impossible–impossible with man! All
that we can do towards it must fall short of the mark–

“Madness by nature reigns within,
The passions burn and rage;
Till God’s own Son, with skill Divine,
The inward fire assuage.”
You may take a thistle and waterit carefully, but it will produce no figs–and
you may cultivate a thorn through life, but it will yield no grapes. The leopard
cub takenfrom its mother and tamed will still be a leopard–and the young
serpent will still go upon its belly, teachit as you may. It is beyond and above
all power of mortal man to change his own heart!
How, then, can we be made fit to dwell with God? Must we despair? Must we
die utterly broken-hearted? Listen! For all the defilement that has fallen upon
anyone here, even though all the defilement of my text should have met upon
one single individual, there is cleansing!With God there is plenteous
redemption and measurelessmercy. For adultery, for murder, for blasphemy,
for all manner of sin, there is forgiveness!The Lord rejoices to blot out the
transgressions ofrepenting sinners, for He delights in mercy!
Last Sabbath morning it was my privilege to preach of Him who knew no sin,
but was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness ofGod in
Him. [, Sermon #1910,Volume 32.]The glorious Doctrine of the atoning
Sacrifice offeredupon the Cross ofCalvary is most charming to those who feel
that they are defiled with sin. Upon that blessedTruth of GodI could dilate
without weariness by the month together–andthis terrible theme of this
morning, which sinks my heart into the dust–I have only brought forward
that I may sayafterwards, that the Lord Jesus is able to deliver us from all
iniquity and cleanse us from all sin. Oh, you who are defiled, whoeveryou
may be, come and washand be clean!He that believes in Jesus is justified
from all sin, whateverhis transgressions maybe! The Lord delights in mercy
through the greatSacrifice ofChrist. He is able to say, “Though your sins are
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;though they are red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.” “Allmanner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men.” Oh, that men would seek pardon through Jesus Christ who is
exalted on high to give repentance and remission!
“Yes,” you say, “but pardon is not all we need.” Most true, it is not all we
need. We need to have the inward source of sin takenaway. This is also
provided. Do you not know that in the blessedCovenantof Grace it is written,
“A new heart, also, will I give you, and a right spirit will I put within you. I
will take awaythe heart of stone out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart
of flesh”? Our Divine Savior turns lions into lambs and ravens into doves!
“With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” There also

lives among us One who came down to earth when Jesus wentup to Heaven,
abiding among us evermore. The Holy Spirit is here to set us free from the
bondage of sin! He comes into the heart where evil dwells as a strong armed
man and, being mightier than the evil, He drives out the foul spirit that held
possessionandHe dwells there, Himself, changing the nature and creating
faith and purity!
He makes us love the holiness which before we neglectedand loathe the sin in
which we once indulged. It is possible for us to be born again–Glorybe to God
for that! It is written, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” I do not think
we have ever praised God enough for this possibility. To be washedin the
blood is a precious thing. But, oh, to be cleansedwith the waterwhich flowed
with the blood from that dear piercedside is an equal blessing!To be made
holy is a heavenly gift! To be sanctifiedis as greata favor as to be justified!
Purity of heart is to be had by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ–is not this
goodnews? Those who receive Jesus receive powerto become sons of God and
this means holiness!Those who become children of God are made like the
First-Born and they grow up into Him in all things. Grace reigns in them
through righteousness unto eternallife!
Brothers and Sisters, it may be wellto make laws to restrain fornication, theft
and blasphemy, but the only sure cure for all sin is the Grace of God in the
heart. Are they going to stop dogs from going mad by muzzling them? Dogs
will go mad with their muzzles on and so will men sin despite the restraints of
law! So long as hearts are evil, evils will proceedfrom them. The only
physician for sin is the Lord Jesus and His heavenly surgery lies in the
renewing of the heart by Grace through the Holy Spirit who works by the
Gospel. My Brothers, keepto the old Gospel–keepto the one remedy which
has healedso many! No new theories for us! We acceptthe old and tried
everlasting Gospelof the blessedGod! The Truth of Godwill live and flourish
when all the evil thoughts of men have proven their foolishness and are castto
the moles and to the bats, as images of deception, without life or power!
Pray for a blessing upon this burden of the Lord which, with a heavy heart, I
have delivered to you. Amen.
STUDYLIGHT ON VERSE 23
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

All these evil things come from within,.... All evil thoughts, words, and actions,
take their rise from the inward parts of man; from his heart; which is sadly
corrupted, and is the fountain from whence all these impure streams flow.
And if these come from within, then not from without; they are not by
imitation or are the mere effects of example in others:example may indeed,
and often does, draw out the evil that is within; but it does not produce it
there; if it was not there before, it could not draw it out from thence: and if all
these evils come from within, then the inward part of man must be sinful and
polluted, previous to the commissionof these evil things; and from whence
springs then that inward pollution? It is the fruit of original sin, of Adam's
transgression;the consequence ofwhich is, a corrupt nature, which is derived
to all his posterity: for his nature being corrupted by sinning, and he having
all human nature in him, the individuals of it could not be propagatedby
ordinary generation, without the pollution of sin cleaving to them; "who can
bring a cleanthing out of an unclean? not one", Job14:4. Nor has there ever
been any instance to the contrary, but the man Christ Jesus;whose human
nature was holy, it not descending from Adam by ordinary generation;
otherwise, allmen, as David was, are "shapenin iniquity, and conceivedin
sin", Psalm51:5, and this is the source and spring of all sinful action, internal
and external.
And defile the man; both soul and body; all the powers and faculties of the
soul, and all the members of the body; or "make a man common":these show
him to be one of the common people, a very sinful man; as such were
reckoned, and therefore are calledemphatically, "sinners":and are joined
with "publicans", who were esteemedthe worstof sinners: from all which it
appears, that sin in thought, word, and deed, is the defiling thing, and is what
ought to be carefully avoided; and not meats, and the manner of eating them,
provided moderation is used.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography

Gill, John. "Commentary on Mark 7:23". "The New John Gill Expositionof
the Entire Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/mark-
7.html. 1999.
The Fourfold Gospel
all these evil things proceedfrom within, and defile the man1.
All these evil things proceedfrom within, and defile the man. By thus showing
that legaldefilement was merely symbolic, Jesus classedit with all the other
symbolism which was to be done awaywith when the gospelreality was fully
ushered in Colossians2:16,17.In saying, therefore, that Jesus made all meats
clean, Mark does not mean that Jesus then and there repealedthe law. The
declarationcame later (Acts 10:14,15). He means that he there drew those
distinctions and laid down those principles which supplanted the Mosaic law
when the kingdom of God was ushered in on the day of Pentecost.Here was
the fountain whence Pauldrew all his teaching concerning things cleanand
unclean.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website. These files
were made available by Mr. Ernie Stefanik. First published online in 1996 at
The RestorationMovementPages.
Bibliography
J. W. McGarveyand Philip Y. Pendleton. "Commentaryon Mark 7:23".
"The Fourfold Gospel".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tfg/mark-7.html. Standard
Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 1914.
Abbott's Illustrated New Testament

The whole passageis a very clearand striking exposure of the ignorance, or
the hypocrisy, implied in ascribing spiritual importance and efficacyto
external forms.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Abbott, John S. C. & Abbott, Jacob. "Commentaryon Mark 7:23". "Abbott's
Illustrated New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ain/mark-7.html. 1878.
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
EVIL FROM WITHIN
‘And He said, That which comethout of the man, that defileth the man.… All
these evil things come from within, and defile the man.’
Mark 7:20; Mark 7:23
It is a notable characteristic ofour Lord’s teaching that He fixes our attention
not on outward results, but on inward motives.
I. The nature of the evil.—Whatare the evil thoughts which we must guard
against? Out of the terrible list which our Lord gives us in our text we may
selectthree types.
(a) Pride, foolishness. How easyit is, especiallyin our leisure moments, to
dwell with self-complacencyonour own excellencies. At the worstthe ‘pride
and foolishness’whichproceedfrom the heart may so exalt the miserable idol
of self as to expel Godfrom His rightful throne; in any case they destroythe
most characteristic virtue of the Christian heart—humility.
(b) Thoughts of bitterness, ill-temper, and jealousy. The gossipofsome idle
tongue is acceptedand believed; suspicionpasses into ill-tempered
resentment, and resentment turns into dislike verging upon hatred. There is
no end to the mischief which arises from bad-tempered thoughts and perverse
imaginations. ‘Out of the heart proceedmurders.’
(c) Lasciviousness.It is not always easyfor a man to keephis mind clean. But
you canhardly exaggeratethe disasterof a habit of unclean thinking, and a
pure heart is worth any effort to those who remember what is promised to its
possessor.

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