Blog Archives
3. Legal Formalism
By John Thiel, Removing Delusions and Fallacies Series, mp3
Scripture reading: Isaiah 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
1 Corinthians 13:2 And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. Read the rest of this entry
The Pharisees and Hypocrisy
Christ gave his disciples a warning:
Luke 12:1 Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
The leaven of the Pharisee’s. Leaven is like a yeast. You start with a small bit and as you add it to the bread it pervades and causes things to grow. Hypocrisy if it is not dealt with will leaven the entire being until we grow up full of air, full of pride, full of air like a puffy loaf of bread. In order to make a good loaf of bread you have to give it a good punch and knock the air out of it. However, no hypocrisy can be tolerated in heaven therefore He says beware of the leaven of hypocrisy. We often like to examine ourselves and say that was the leaven of the Pharisee and I’m not a Pharisee so therefore I don’t need to beware of the leaven of hypocrisy. Well the Pharisees didn’t realise they were hypocritical. Read the rest of this entry
Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees
By John Thiel, mp3
As a Christian church we want to look at Jesus because that is the reason why we are a church. When we look at Jesus, we look at Him coming to this earth with an object. Remember what He said when He came from the wilderness? He began to preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He came to launch out the kingdom of heaven on earth. He came to launch out a religion which when I look today has been dreadfully contorted. It is expressed in the words of Jesus to Nicodemus.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Read the rest of this entry
The Remedy for Gossip
By John Thiel, mp3
Does your soul become thrilled through and through every time you hear the name of Jesus? The only way in which this can happen is when we discover our wretchedness and His amazing love towards a wretch like me. When we realise this it sends a thrill through our soul because we discover the amazing physician that could heal a sin wrecked being. That is why Jesus spoke about the publican and the Pharisee. The one who went away was the Pharisee. Why didn’t the publican go away? The publican remained with Jesus because he was a sinner and he knew it and he accepted the blessings of God. The Pharisee on the other hand thought he was alright and because he thought he was alright, he could not sense that amazing love that God had for him. Humanity is sin sick. A deadly malady is upon the human race and only those who know this will seek for the remedy, the physician. A description is made of the condition of Gods church and the world. God is speaking to his own people who were under the prophet Isaiah. In verse 4 he mentions our sinful nature – a people laden with iniquity.
Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head [there is] no soundness in it; [but] wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
This is God’s vision of the human family. There needs to be a remedy for this condition. Where can we find such a remedy? Read the rest of this entry
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