January 23

and honoureth me with their lips: they owned him to be their creator and preserver; they made their boast of him, and of their knowledge of him, as the one only living, and true God, and as the God of Israel; they brought their sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, even the fruit of their lips, unto him, for their many peculiar mercies, privileges, and favours, as a nation, church, and people, and with much seeming sincerity and affection.

But their heart is far from me; they had no true love to God, nor faith in him, nor fear of him; they were not at all concerned for his presence with them, or for communion with him, or for his honour and glory; their hearts were in the world, and after their covetousness; they made religion a tool to their secular purposes, supposing gain to be godliness; sought the applause of men, and contented themselves with bodily exercise; having no regard to internal religion, powerful godliness, or where their hearts were, so be it, their bodies were presented to God in public worship; and what they did it was to be seen and approved of men, not caring what the searcher of hearts knew concerning them, or what he required of them.

~ MacArthur Bible Commentary

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; ~ Matthew 15:8

Genesis 46:1-47:31
Matthew 15:1-28
Psalm 19:1-14
Proverbs 4:14-19

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New Testament: Matthew 15:1-28

“You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ‘AND IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.’” ~ Matthew 15:7-9

Summary:
Traditions and Commandments
What Defiles a Person
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” ~ Matthew 15:17-20

Overview: Matthew 14-28 – Click Here

Grace to You

Confusing Man’s Traditions with God’s Commandments, Part 2

Matthew 15:10–20

The point of all of this is just to give you a very quick perspective on the fact that God calls for an undefiled life. God has called His people to be clean, He has called them to be pure, He has called them to be holy, He has called them to be undefiled, to be spotless, to be unpolluted. Now, if that is the case, if we are to be undefiled and unpolluted, then we must understand what pollutes us and how to deal with that. The apostle Paul says that God wants to present to Himself a chaste virgin, a pure church. He told the Ephesians that the Lord wanted His church to be spotless, without blemish, blameless.

And so if God calls us to an unpolluted, undefiled and pure and holy life, then we must know what it is that pollutes so that we can deal with it.