Jesus replied, "You hypocrites! Isaiah was prophesying about you when he said, These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. Their worship is a farce, for they replace God's commands with their own man-made teachings.' For you ignore God's specific laws and substitute (hold) your own traditions." (Mark 7:6-8) nlt
Let us evaluate ourselves to see if we are hypocrites. Let us look at these three thoughts about hypocrites:
1) Honor Me With Lips
2) Hearts are Far from Me
3) Hold Manmade Doctrines/Traditions
Could Jesus be talking about the 21 st century church of America? This passage comes Isaiah 29:13. Regardless of your answer, please read the following comments.
I. Honor Me With Your Lips
"Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as `Lord,' but they still won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven." (Mt 7:21 nlt)
In the King James version the Bible states not he who calls me Lord, Lord, but he that does God’s will (keep commandments).
Isaiah 1:1-3 states, “Even the animals-the donkey and the ox-know their owner and appreciate his care, but not my people Israel. No matter what I do for them, they still do not understand. Oh, what a sinful nation they are! They are loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil and corrupt children who have turned away from the L ord . They have despised the Holy One of Israel, cutting themselves off from his help." nlt
Are we only honoring the Lord with our lips?
II. Hearts Are Far From Me
Jesus says we cannot serve two masters, we will love the one and hate the other. He says we are to store up treasures in heaven and not on earth. The parable of the Sower (Mt 13) says this about the thorny soil, “ The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life and the lure of wealth, so no crop is produced." (Mt 13:22 nlt)
Are we allowing God and His Word to be crowed out with the cares of this world?
III. Holding Fast to Doctrines of Men
There are a number of misunderstandings about the relevance of the word of God to the modern church. Much of this can easily be seen in the issues of our day, especially the issue of homosexuality. The Bible declares this to be an abominable sin, yet many churches are bowing to the modern culture and declaring it to be acceptable (doctrine of men).
The issue of law (works) versus grace is another issue misunderstood. Yes, we are under grace, if we are a believer because all have sinned. But God says through Paul in Romans 6, “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? “ (Rom 6:1-2 nlt)
Paul goes on to say, “Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives." (Rom 6:3-4 nlt)
He goes on to say we are to know (understand) with our minds, reckon in our hearts (decide) and to yield with our actions (will) to the Lordship of Christ (Rom 6:6,11, & 13) . It is not I that lives but Christ that live sin me (Gal 2;20)
Is this our desire? If so let us ask God for the power to do so.
We have been set free from sin and its penalty, but not free to sin, In John 8, Jesus tells the Pharisees that we do the work of our father, either Satan (darkness) or God (light). We are to walk in the light (Spirit), we will not do the works of the flesh (darkness). (Gal 5)
Whose work are we doing?
God is still giving the American church and our nation some time to repent. In Revelation 3, Jesus tells the church of Laodicea, “ Be diligent and turn from your indifference. Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends". (nlt)
In Isaiah God says, "Come now, let us argue this out," says the L ord . "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool." (Isaiah 1:20 nlt) He goes on to say if we will repent He will heal our land, but if we do not “But if you keep turning away and refusing to listen, you will be destroyed by your enemies. I, the L ord , have spoken!" (Isaiah 1:20 nlt)
What will it be America, the blessing or the curse?
The Word of God is consistent, both the Old and New testament. I will close with a warning from both Isaiah and Romans.
"Destruction is certain for those who try to hide their plans from the L ord , who try to keep him in the dark concerning what they do! "The L ord can't see us," you say to yourselves. "He doesn't know what is going on!" How stupid can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you. You are only the jars he makes! Should the thing that was created say to the one who made it, "He didn't make us"? Does a jar ever say, "The potter who made me is stupid"? (Isaiah 29:15-16 nlt)
In Romans 1, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.* For the truth about God is known to them instinctively.* God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused." (Romans 1:18-21 nlt)
Is your mind, dark and confused, Repent! Turn to the light. Jesus says, “ I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)
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