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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 their...
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 and...
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 written...
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...
Receiving Christ
John 6:56, 'He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.'
JOHN 6:47-59
Many thought that Jesus was speaking of cannibalism, but He was speaking of the spiritual man. Just as the physical man receives life from the food he eats, so the spiritual man receives life as he partakes of Jesus, the life of men (Jn. 1:4; 10:10; 14:6) or the 'Bread of Life.' Just as the life of a root is found in the soil, or a branch in the vine, or a fish in the sea, so the believer's true life is found to be in union with Christ.
The Bible presents salvation as a life-transforming experience. Change is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a true believer. Yet, failure to understand that this...