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- Why did the great crowd follow Jesus?
-Because they wanted to see more of the miraculous signs that Jesus had performed on the sick.
- When Jesus started to feed the people, how many loaves of bread and how many fish did He have?
-Five loaves of bread and two fish.
- How many people did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?
-Over five thousand people.
- How was Jesus able to feed over five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish?
-Because Jesus is God.
-Because Jesus can do anything.
- Why did the people want to make Jesus king?
-Because the people wanted Jesus to give them food all of the time.
- Why did Jesus not want to be the king of the people?
-Because Jesus knew that the hearts of the people were evil.
-Because Jesus knew that the people only wanted Him to give them food.
- How is Jesus like the manna which God gave to the Israelites in the desert?
-Just like the manna came from heaven, so Jesus also came from Heaven.
-Just like the manna was given only by God, so Jesus also was given only by God.
-Just like the Israelites would have died without manna, so people too will die without Jesus.
-One day, some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came to visit Jesus.
Let’s read Mark 7:1-5
1-The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and
2-saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean,” that is, unwashed.
3-(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.
4-When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)
5-So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”
-Why were the Pharisees and the teachers of the law angry with Jesus’ disciples?
-Because Jesus’ disciples did not keep the traditions of the elders.
-What were the traditions of the elders?
-They were laws that the Pharisees had made which they said the people must keep in order to be accepted by God.
-Does God accept us according to the traditions we keep?
-No.
-Because the Pharisees kept all of the traditions that they made, they believed that God approved of them.
-Although the Pharisees kept all of the traditions, their hearts were evil.
-Will keeping traditions make our hearts clean?
-No.
-Although the Pharisees were keeping all of the traditions on the outside, their hearts were very evil on the inside.
-If your cooking pot has chicken manure on the inside, will it help to clean the outside of the pot?
-No.
-What did Jesus say to the Pharisees?
Let’s read Mark 7:6
6-Jesus replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’”
-Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites.
-What is a hypocrite?
-A hypocrite is someone whose words and deeds are not the same, but totally different.
-Jesus also said that what was written about them in God’s Bible by the prophet Isaiah was true.
-What did the prophet Isaiah say about these people?
-The prophet Isaiah said that these people say with their lips that they believe in God, but that their hearts are far from God.
-The prophet Isaiah said that they believe God with their words, but not with their hearts.
-Does God accept those who believe in Him only with their words?
-No.
-What else did Jesus say to the Pharisees?
Let’s read Mark 7:7-9
7-Jesus said, “‘They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’
8-You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”
9-And he said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”
-Jesus said that the Pharisees worshipped God in vain.
-How did the Pharisees worship God in vain?
-Because God would not accept their worship.
-Why would God not accept the worship of the Pharisees?
-Because their worship was only from their lips, and not from their hearts.
-Because their worship was only from their flesh, and not from their hearts.
-What were the Pharisees doing by making their traditions?
-The Pharisees were breaking God’s commandments.
-Does God want people to add their traditions to His Bible?
-No.
-We must never add to or take anything away from what God has said in the Bible.
-After Jesus said this to the Pharisees, Jesus called the crowd to Him.
Let’s read Mark 7:14-15 & 17-19
14-Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
15-Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”
17-After Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
18-“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’?
19-For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)
-What did Jesus say to the crowd?
-Jesus said that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean.’
-What did Jesus mean?
-Jesus meant that people are not made unclean by unclean hands or by unclean food.
-Why are people not made unclean by unclean hands or by unclean food?
-Because unclean hands and unclean food do not touch the heart.
-Jesus said that the uncleanliness of hands and unclean food enter the stomach, and go out of the body, but do not touch the heart.
-Does what we eat make us acceptable to God?
-No.
-Does what we do not eat make us acceptable to God?
-No.
-Does what we wear make us acceptable to God?
-No.
-Does what we do not wear make us acceptable to God?
-No.
-What else did Jesus say?
Let’s read Mark 7:20-23
20-Jesus went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’
21-For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
22-greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.
23-All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”
-What did Jesus say makes a man unclean?
-Jesus said that what is on the inside is that which makes a man unclean.
-What is on the inside that makes a man unclean?
-His heart.
-Because Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their hearts became unclean.
-Cain and Abel were born with unclean hearts.
-Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all born with unclean hearts.
-The Israelites were all born with unclean hearts.
-All people are born with unclean hearts.
-Because all people are born with unclean hearts, uncleanness comes out of our hearts.
-Does God see the wickedness that is in our hearts?
-Yes.
-God sees that all of our hearts are full of evil.
-What are the evils that are inside of every one of our hearts?
-Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.
-Then, Jesus told the people a parable.
Let’s read Luke 18:9-12
9-To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
10-“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11-The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector.
12-I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”
-In the parable that Jesus told, who were the two people who went to the temple to pray?
-One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
-What did the Pharisee think about himself?
-The Pharisee thought that his heart was clean.
-Why did the Pharisee think that his heart was clean?
-Because he kept the traditions of the elders.
-Because he fasted twice a week.
-Because he gave a tenth of all his earnings to the temple.
-The Pharisee was very proud.
-He thought that he was a good man.
-He thought that all what he did was good.
-He thought that he was better than other people.
-The Pharisee did not believe that he needed the Savior.
-What about the tax collector?
Let’s read Luke 18:13
13-Jesus said, “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”
-What did the tax collector think about himself?
-The tax collector knew that his heart was unclean.
-How did the tax collector know that his heart was unclean?
-Because he knew that his evil thoughts had come from his unclean heart.
-The tax collector knew that he was a sinner, and that he had sinned against God.
-He knew that he was not able to change his unclean heart.
-He knew that his sin must be punished with death.
-The tax collector called on God to save him.
-What did Jesus then say?
Let’s read Luke 18:14
14-Jesus said, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
-Did God accept the Pharisee?
-No.
-Why did God reject the Pharisee?
-Because the Pharisee did not believe that he had an unclean heart.
-Because the Pharisee did not believe that he had sinned against God.
-Did God accept the tax collector?
-Yes.
-Why did God accept the tax collector?
-Because the tax collector knew that he had an unclean heart.
-Because the tax collector knew that he had sinned against God.
-Because the tax collector called on God to save him.
-What did Jesus say at the end of the parable?
-Jesus said that whoever humbles himself before God, God will lift him up.
-But whoever exalts himself before God, God will humble him.