Matthew 15:17   Food cannot make a person unholy. Indeed, many things that are thought of as causing defilement really do not. It is more the act of the will that causes defilement. For example, the eating of dirt has, at one time or another, happened to all of us. Whether accidentally or intentionally as a…

Matthew 15:16   Jesus wanted his disciples to understand him. This is so wonderful, and so important. Many will give up their study of God very prematurely thinking they will never understand. What a terrible thing! The Lord wants each of us, individually, to understand him. He does not want us to have to depend upon…

Matthew 15:15   It is important to understand what is being asked here. The disciples were still confused about the whole defilement issue. They were asking what Jesus meant in verse 11 about things going into and coming out of a person. The sad thing here is that it wasn’t really a parable. Jesus had fairly…

Matthew 15:14   When Jesus says here to ‘let them alone,’ he is not saying that their false teaching should not be resisted, but that the disciples should give up trying to reconcile them with Christ. The Greek literally reads, ‘give them up,’ don’t try to follow their logic any longer. The disciples, being Jews themselves,…

Matthew 15:13   By this Jesus means that the empty piety of the Jewish leaders was not from God. Almighty God is the farmer of true religion. His concern is with he fatherless and widows, and purity in heart, word, and deed. He did not institute the false system of Jesus’ day. And, as such, that…

Matthew 15:12   So often we do not expect the next step that the Lord has planned. The disciples surely did not. They knew that Jesus was better than the Pharisees, but they did not understand why he was not concerned about offending them. They would have expected him to try to straighten out the hypocrisy…

Matthew 15:11   Do not be confused by Jesus’ words in this verse. He is speaking of holiness. The eating of food cannot by itself make a person unholy. He is not talking about the spread of germs or disease, but the spread of sin. When it comes to cleanliness and the prevention of disease and…

Matthew 15:10   It is easy to miss the fact that Jesus often urged people to listen more closely to his words. Not only did he know that the religious leaders of the day were not offering the multitudes the Truth, he also knew that the multitudes were not paying attention half the time either. He…

Matthew 15:9   We have in our modern day many who would say doctrine is not so important. They would say that we should focus upon loving each other and leave the doctrine to work itself out. However, we cannot do the one without the other. If we do, we will fall into the danger mentioned…

Matthew 15:8   This quote, which comes from Isaiah 29:13, reminds us of a very important principle. To make statements about our devotion to the Lord with our mouth alone is the very essence of self-righteousness. To love him with our heart is something entirely different. Loving someone, being devoted to them, requires a desire to…