Blogs
Tradition Neutralizes
Mark 7:13, 'Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.'
MARK 7:1-13
Deuteronomy 4:2 clearly states 'Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it . . . .' This same thought is repeated in the New Testament in Revelation 22:18-19 with very stiff penalties. Religious man is very swift to observe the part about not diminishing any of God's commandments, but there seems to be an unwritten law that adding to them is okay. Every denomination has its own set of 'do's and don'ts' which aren't found in scripture, and like those of the hypocritical Pharisees, their unwritten laws usually have to do...
BIBLE OR CELL, WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU?
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Taking Off The Masks
Mark 7:6, 'He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.'
MARK 7:6-9
This is the biblical definition of a hypocrite, 'someone whose words and heart (actions) don't agree.' A hypocrite may act the part of a Christian or he may talk like Christ, but he won't do both. When both confession and action from the heart are consistent with God's Word, there is salvation (Rom. 10:9-10).
The word 'hypocrite' comes from the Greek word 'hupokrites,' meaning 'the playing of a part on the stage; an actor.' It was a custom for Greek and Roman actors to use large masks, when acting, to disguise...
THE LAW
The Law Is Not Of Faith
Mark 7:2, 'And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.'
MARK 7:1-7
Man looks on the outward appearance (this is what the scribes and Pharisees were concerned with), but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). Jesus looked on men's hearts. The Old Testament laws concerning washing served a secondary purpose of hygiene, but as stated in Colossians 2:16-17 and Hebrews 9:1,9-10, their real purpose was to shadow or illustrate spiritual truth.
Defiled food may hurt our bodies, but it cannot reach our spirits (Jn. 3:6).
The scribes and Pharisees missed the principle of spiritual purity taught by the Old Testament ordinances...
The Spirit And The Word Are One
John 6:63, 'It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.'
JOHN 6:40-71; 7:1
Jesus is stating that our spirit, not our flesh, is where our life comes from. These people were so dominated by their physical lives that they were missing all the spiritual significance of His words. Although God's Word does benefit our physical man, the Word is spiritual and must be understood through the spirit. God's Word is spirit and it takes our spirit to illuminate its truths to our minds.
The Word of God is not paper and ink. Jesus is the Word, and He existed in spiritual form long before any words were inspired to be...
Separating The Tares From The Wheat
John 6:61, 'When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?'
JOHN 6:60-69
This scripture, as well as Matthew 15:12, reveals that people will be offended by the Gospel. As much as possible, however, we should make sure that it is not ourselves that are offensive. But we cannot labor under the deception that everyone will receive the Gospel, even if the truth was presented properly. We know that Jesus represented His Father perfectly and yet most people rejected His message.
In these two instances, when Jesus realized He had offended the listeners, He didn't apologize and try to make concessions to gain their acceptance. Instead, He got...