Title: WHAT DEFILES a PERSON Mark 7:14-23 1. The Location of Defilement. 2. The Explanation of Defilement. 3. The Cause of Defilement. He called the people to him again and said to them,Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them,Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?¯ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said,What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.¯ Mark 7:14-23 Who is Jesus? What does it mean to be his Disciple? Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.¯ traditions of defilement made little sense when Jesus could make unclean people clean.¯ - Ronald J. Kernaghan 3. The Cause of Defilement. And he said,What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander,  pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.¯ Mark 7:20-22 Application 1. Acknowledge Your Heart Condition. 2. Turn to the Renewer of Hearts. Son your sins are forgiven.¯ (2:5) But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins he said to the paralytic I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.¯ 1 Peter 2:24