Jesus: The Man Who Changed HistorySample

Imagine that all of your thoughts, words and actions were displayed for everyone to see.

Every thought, every motive.

Every Internet website, every phone call, every text, every moment of the night.

Nothing hidden. Nothing escapes.

All that you are. All you have thought. All you have said. All you have done.

There would be much to celebrate and give thanks for.

All of the loving relationships. All of the real achievements. All of the acts of kindness. All of the moments of generosity.

But if all of our lives were on display in this room, it would be a nightmare.

There would be so much for which we’d be so ashamed that many of us wouldn’t be able to stay.

Would you – if you’re honest?

Why are we like this?

When we look at the world and we see all of its problems, we want to point the finger of blame towards others. But Jesus says the problem is much closer to home.

Mark 7:20-23

“What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

The diagnosis that Jesus gives is more than surface deep. The evils that come out of our hearts make us “unclean”. Jesus even condemns the religious leaders. He tells them they are hypocrites! He describes what’s going on inside us. He says each one of us has a heart problem.

If we were to trace all the evil in the world back to its source, the place we’d end up is the human heart. The reason the world is not the way it’s supposed to be is that we are not the way we are supposed to be.