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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Trying To Catch Jesus In His Own Words

# 630 - Today's Living Word comes from: Mr 12:12,13 “And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away. Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words.”

They knew that Jesus had spoken this parable against them and what did they do? Did they even stop and consider the truth of His words? Did they ever consider the possibility that they were traveling on the wrong course? What if Jesus was right about them and their fate? No one was going to tell them what to do and off they go to hatch a very clever plot with the Herodian camp.

This plot would be an attempt to catch or ensnare Jesus in His own words. Are we really all that different? When faced with the nitty gritty of living according to God's will, how often do we look for loopholes in Scripture to justify our sinful actions?

In matters like giving to the church, giving to the poor, sexual sin, marrying an unbeliever, the permanence of marriage, divorce, remarriage after a divorce, and so on, we often find ourselves asking the question, “But what about this situation or what about that situation,” and we fall into the trap of a religion based on situational ethics rather than the unchanging truth of God's Word.

When we get into these kind of arguments with ourselves, we are in effect trying to trap Jesus in His own words, so we can live as we please! Sadly, in most cases, it boils down to, my mind is made up and no one , not even Jesus is going to tell me what to do.

The Psalmist understood this struggle and prayed in, Ps 19:12, “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. 13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Thankfully, there is forgiveness in Jesus, even for our presumptuous sins, when we are willing to confess them and receive His forgiveness.

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