How hard have you tried to scrub off a stain or a spot that simply refuses to relent? No amount of baking soda, vinegar, Resolve, or Oxi-Clean will do the trick. In the same way, Jesus tells us that we have an issue of not just a stained heart, but a defiled one - yet how hard we have tried to fix our filth with attempts that simply come up empty! No amount of education, reformation, or self-help will do the trick. What we need is a new heart. In Mark 7:1-30, Jesus points out the Pharisees and our futile attempts to fix our own problems. Yet, the answer is not found in a "how" but in "who."

Notes:
1) Defiled Hands (vv. 1-5)
2) Defiled Practices (vv. 6-13)
3) Defiled Heart (vv. 14-23)
4) Defiled People (vv. 24-30)