Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What’s Really in Your Heart? | The Gospels | Mark 7:1–23

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

What makes someone clean or unclean? Can religious activity hide a heart that's far from God? What does your own life reveal about what you believe? In today’s episode, Jensen shares how Mark 7:1–23 shows Jesus confronting religious hypocrisy and revealing a new way of salvation, one that transforms the heart. Read the Bible with us in 2026! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Mark 7:1–23

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Every year around Christmas time, my family loves to watch our favorite Christmas movie, Elf. It's one of our favorites because of how much my dad loves the movie. The joy that he gets from watching that movie is just contagious. And one of my favorite scenes is when Buddy the Elf confronts the man in costume dressed as Santa. Now, Buddy knows the real Santa, so when he sees this imposter, he goes a little crazy, and he delivers one of the best lines of the movie. Staring right into fake Santa's eyes, he says, you sit on a throne of lies.

Delivered in a comedic movie, it becomes a famous one-liner. It's sent around the world in GIF form every year. But in reality, that's a hefty claim to sit on a throne of lies. lies. This man, promising children gifts that he cannot deliver as he isn't the real Santa. This man has built his empire of shopping mall meet and greets on deception, fraud, trickery. In elf, it's comedy. But what if there really was someone who sat on a throne of lies? What if there really was someone who built his whole dominion on deception, fraud, trickery? And as goal wasn't to bring small children joy in a department store, but to steal joy, to steal life,

to murder. In the Gospel of John chapter 8, Jesus tells us that there is someone who sits on a throne of lies and that someone is the devil. Speaking of Satan, he says, he was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native tongue. for he is a liar and the father of lies. You see, Satan, often called the deceiver, began his crusade of death against humanity with a lie. He questions God's goodness when talking to Eve. Did God really say you couldn't eat from the trees in the garden?

Well, no, of course not, says Eve. We just can't eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. You must not touch it or you will die. And the devil tricks her. He switches to deception. No, no, you won't die. God knows you'll actually become like him if you eat from it. See, Satan plants a seed of mistrust, a questioning. And it's easy to miss, but in the midst of all of this, Eve not only believes the lie, but she actually participates in it. She adds to the instructions of God. You see, God didn't say that Eve couldn't touch the fruit, only that she couldn't eat the fruit. But the devil sits on a throne of lies. He's the father of lies from the very beginning. He pulls the hearts of humans away from companionship and trust in God towards lies, misunderstanding, and ultimately seeking out their own gain apart from God.

It's the same story, the same pattern, the same game plan the devil uses throughout scripture on the human heart. And in today's passage in Mark 7, we see Jesus confront the Pharisees on another issue. an issue where it appears that Satan has been winning in his schemes of deception. Our passage opens with the Pharisees observing Jesus' disciples eating with unclean hands, which went against the tradition of the elders. They're actively looking for a way to trap Jesus, so they ask him, why do your disciples defy the tradition of the elders? And Jesus responds with this.

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. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions. Okay, so Jesus is clearly stating that the Pharisees have in some way added to the laws and commands of God. They, like Eve, have misunderstood the heart of the matter and have twisted the words of God. Though they may sound innocent as though they honor God, their heart seeks something other than God. They worship in vain. They follow their own set of deceptive rules. And he follows this declaration with proof. You have a fine way of

setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions. For Moses said, honor your father and mother. And anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. But you say that if anyone declares what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corbyn, is devoted to God, then you no longer let them do anything for their father and mother. Thus, you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and you do many things like that. Okay, so the Pharisees and Jesus know that God has commanded them to honor their father and their mother. But instead of using everything at their disposal to care for the needs of their father and mother, the Pharisees have kind of created this workaround, a rule that allows men to declare portions

of their wealth or property as Corbyn, meaning that it's dedicated to God, therefore it cannot be used to help their parents. Essentially, they're saying, I'd love to help my parents, but my hands are tied. This is for the Lord. It's a lie.

It's wrapped in the cloak of religion, wrapped in the trickery of worship of God, packaged as holiness, but full of selfish greed, seeking their own gain. Their hearts are far from the heart of God. found in the law. They disregard the laws call to love, serve, live sacrificial, and instead rely on fraudulent rules that allow them to seek their own gain, their own good. Now, having made

his point, Jesus returns to the original question at hand of defilement. Again, Jesus called the crowd to him and said, listen to me everyone and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them. After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. Are you so dull, he asked. Don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn't go into their heart, but into their stomach and then out of the body. Now, in saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. Okay, this is a clear example of Jesus ushering in a new way of salvation. Where once the people of God had to rely on strict observance of the law

and sacrificial offerings when they inevitably failed, soon the people of God would find cleansing from the blood of the true lamb, Jesus. But Jesus isn't saying here the law doesn't matter, that God maybe was wrong before. No, the law was always teaching, always pointing people to the heart of God. All foods are clean now, but the heart of the law, the desire to keep your body clean to remain pure still stands. Its focus, though, is not on what one eats to keep one clean, but on what flows out from the mouth, from the heart. See, the purity of God's people comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit living within them, sanctifying them, empowering them to live lives of holiness. In Galatians 5, we read about the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

These are the things that flow from the hearts and minds and mouths of those who are pure, cleansed, indwelling with the Holy Spirit, truly close to God. But those who are defiled? Well, Jesus says in verse 20 back in our passage, what comes out of a person is what defiles them, for it is from within. in, 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. Now, there's a stark difference between that list and the fruit

of the spirit, of what can come out of a person. Those indwelling with a spirit become an outpouring of life, flourishing joy. Those deceived by the father of lies bleed out more deception, fraud, death. Those indwelling with a spirit become an outpouring that blesses those around them. The deceived follow in the footsteps of their father, deceiving, taking from others, seeking their own gain. This passage is confronting us. It's challenging us. It's asking us a serious question, picking up a mirror and putting it right in front of our faces. So you can say you love Jesus. You can attend church. You can lead a small group. You can vote in the right way. Fight the right cultural battles. Follow the right rules. Spend your time with the right people. You can seem to honor God with your

lips while your heart is far from him. You worship him in vain because you have bought into the lies of the one who has been deceiving from the very beginning. What flows from your heart? from your mouth? Does it bring unity? Peace, joy, love? Do you bring blessing to the people around you? Do you seek to live a life guided by the fruit of the spirit or the political or social dogma of the day? See, Satan didn't come to Eve declaring himself to be the father of lies. He came as a serpent, someone she had no reason to distrust. He was tricky. He was sneaky. He sounded like he wanted to help. What flows out of you? Because Jesus says that what flows out of our mouths reveals whether our hearts have been defiled by the Father of Lies or indwelt with the Spirit. God, would you give us the eyes to see

the state of our hearts? God, give us the humility to recognize where we are believing lies instead of living in step with the Spirit. God, fill us with your spirit. Cleanse our hearts. Draw us near to you and grow in us the fruit of the Spirit, that we would be a blessing to the watching world, to those in our circles, in our families. Don't let us be deceived by human rules and standards. God, open our eyes to the ways we have believed a twisted version of your truth. Holy Spirit, guide our actions, show us the truth, lead us on the path of peace. We love you, Jesus. Thank you for providing a pathway to cleansing, to flourishing, to life. Amen.