{"id":680,"date":"2011-07-13T10:13:08","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T10:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=680"},"modified":"2011-07-13T10:13:08","modified_gmt":"2011-07-13T10:13:08","slug":"human-nature-in-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"Human Nature in religion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark chapter 7
\n<\/strong>Mark 7:1-13<\/a>
\n<\/strong>This passage contains a humbling picture of what human nature is capable of doing in religion. It is one of those Scriptures which ought to be frequently and diligently studied by all who desire the prosperity of the Church of Christ.
\nThe first thing which demands our attention in these verses, is\u00a0the low and degraded condition of Jewish religion, when our Lord was upon earth<\/em>. <\/strong>What can be more deplorable than the statement now before us? We find the principal teachers of the Jewish nation finding fault, \u201cbecause our Lord\u2019s disciples ate bread with unwashed hands!\u201d We are told that they attached great importance to the washing of cups, and pots, and bronze vessels, and tables!\u201d In short, the man who paid most rigid attention to mere external observances of human invention was reckoned the holiest man!
\nThe nation, be it remembered, in which this state of things existed, was the most highly favored in the world. To it, was given the law on Mount Sinai, the service of God, the priesthood, the covenants, and the promises. Moses, and Samuel, and David, and the prophets, lived and died among its people. No nation upon earth ever had so many spiritual privileges. No nation ever misused its privileges so fearfully, and so thoroughly forsook its own mercies. Never did fine gold become so dim! From the religion of the books of Deuteronomy and Psalms, to the religion of washing hands, and pots, and cups\u2013how great was the fall! No wonder that in the time of our Lord\u2019s earthly ministry, He found the people like sheep without a shepherd.\u00a0External observances alone feed no consciences and sanctify no hearts!
\n<\/em>Let the history of the Jewish church be a warning to us never to trifle with false doctrine. If we once tolerate it we never know how far it may go, or into what degraded state of religion we may at last fall. Once leave the King\u2019s highway of truth, and we may end with washing pots and cups, like Pharisees and Scribes. There is nothing too base, trifling, or irrational for a man, if he once turns his back on God\u2019s word. There are branches of the Church of Christ at this day in which the Scriptures are never read, and the Gospel never preached\u2013branches in which the only religion now remaining consists in using a few unmeaning forms and keeping certain man-made fasts and feasts\u2013branches which began well, like the Jewish church, and, like the Jewish church, have now fallen into utter barrenness and decay. We can never be too jealous about false doctrine. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Let us earnestly contend for the whole faith once delivered to the saints.
\nMark 7:14-23<\/a>
\n<\/strong>We see in the beginning of this passage,\u00a0how slow of understanding men are in spiritual things<\/em>.<\/strong> \u201cHearken,\u201d says our Lord to the people, \u201chearken unto me every one of you, and understand.\u201d \u201cAre you so without understanding?\u201d He says to His disciples\u2013\u201dDo you not perceive?\u201d
\nThe corruption of human nature is a universal disease. It affects not only a man\u2019s heart, will, and conscience, but his mind, memory, and understanding. The very same person who is quick and clever in worldly things, will often utterly fail to comprehend the simplest truths of Christianity. He will often be unable to grasp the plainest reasonings of the Gospel. He will see no meaning in the clearest statements of evangelical doctrine. They will sound to him either foolish or mysterious. He will listen to them like one listening to a foreign language, catching a word here and there, but not seeing the drift of the whole. \u201cThe world by wisdom knows not God.\u201d (1 Cor. 1:21<\/a>.) It hears, but does not understand.
\nWe must pray daily for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, if we would make progress in the knowledge of divine things. Without Him, the mightiest intellect and the strongest reasoning powers will carry us but a little way. In reading the Bible and hearing sermons, everything depends on the spirit in which we read and hear. A humble, teachable, child-like frame of mind is the grand secret of success. Happy is he who often says with David, \u201cTeach me Your statutes.\u201d (Psalm 119:64<\/a>.) Such an one will understand as well as hear.
\nWe see, in the second place, from this passage, <\/em>that the heart is the chief source of defilement and impurity in God\u2019s sight<\/strong><\/em>. <\/strong>Moral purity does not depend on washing or not washing\u2013touching things or not touching them\u2013eating things or not eating them, as the Scribes and Pharisees taught. \u201cThere is nothing from outside a man, that entering into him can defile him\u2013but the things which come out of him, these are those who defile the man.\u201d
\nThere is a deep truth in these words which is frequently overlooked. Our original sinfulness and natural inclination to evil are seldom sufficiently considered. The wickedness of men is often attributed to bad examples, bad company, peculiar temptations, or the snares of the devil. It seems forgotten that every man carried within him a fountain of wickedness. We need no bad company to teach us, and no devil to tempt us, in order to run into sin. We have within us the beginning of every sin under heaven.\u00a0\u00a0 J.C.Ryle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark chapter 7 Mark 7:1-13 This passage contains a humbling picture of what human nature is capable of doing in religion. It is one of those Scriptures which ought to be frequently and diligently studied by all who desire the prosperity of the Church of Christ. The first thing which demands our attention in these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-j-c-ryle","category-total-depravity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":681,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}