Pride and Hypocrisy ( Matthew Series )

Sunday Sermon Review - May 5,2013
( from my home church I attend regularly )

 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Our sermon today continued on in our Matthew Series. The text was the entire chapter of Matthew 23. See the text at bottom of page.
Pastor Ben was our speaker today.

Here is some of what Pastor Ben said.

Acting - a good actor has everyone believe that he is real and not merely acting.
In the passage today actors are called hypocrites. Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites.
They are pretending to be something that they are not on the inside. Jesus shows the hypocrisy.

This passage is a about pride and humility.
In verse 5 we find the definition of pride -  But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Pride is exalting ourselves, doing what we do to impress people and to be noticed - asking  "What will people think of us??"

Jesus's language is shocking - He exposes the pride of the scribes and Pharisees with shocking language.
Jesus is a Prophet and here He speaks just like one of the prophets of the Old Testament.

We have gotten comfortable with our pride and world view. We downplay sin. This is wicked, evil, from the pit of hell. Jesus wants us to repent.
Pride is doing everything for people to see.

In verse 11 we find the definition of humility -  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Live the life of a servant. A servant will work without seeking recognition or wanting to be noticed. One's only concern is "What will Jesus my Master think?"

Jesus expresses these "woes" eight  times.

We must examine our own hearts.
Let God speak to us.
Let Jesus expose the sin lurking in your heart.

The scribes and Pharisees were trying to discredit Jesus and stop people from following Him.
Verse 13 -  But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

How do you react when someone wants to follow you? Someone suggests you participate in some unholy activity - What do you do? Do you say "I can't do that" ? Do you go along or do you stand strong and risk being teased, people may suggest you think you are more "holy than others".
Our whole life should be filled with honesty and integrity. We need to follow Jesus, not become fixated on minor things without confronting the major issues such as mercy, justice and compassion.

Christians must be filled with God's mercy, and be passionate for justice.
Christians must be faithful.
Good fruit is the result of having become a Christian.
When the heart has been changed by Christ, then the external will be in the right place.

Become consumed with the great things of God.
He who is faithful in that which is least will also be faithful in much.

Become clean inside - in the heart, then the outside will happen.

Allow God to work in your heart and soul.

Jesus ends this passage in grief.
God would hold you close and free you from the sin of pride.
He loves us, and shocks us to repentance.
Jesus's heart is breaking for us.
Repent and renounce the pride in your life!

MATTHEW 23
Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

² Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

³ All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

⁴ For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

⁵ But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

⁶ And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

⁷ And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

⁸ But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

⁹ And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

¹⁰ Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

¹¹ But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

¹² And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

¹³ But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

¹⁴ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

¹⁵ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

¹⁶ Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

¹⁷ Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

¹⁸ And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

¹⁹ Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

²⁰ Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.

²¹ And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

²² And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

²³ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

²⁴ Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

²⁵ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

²⁶ Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

²⁷ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

²⁸ Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

²⁹ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

³⁰ And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

³¹ Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

³² Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

³³ Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

³⁴ Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:

³⁵ That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.

³⁶ Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

³⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

³⁸ Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

³⁹ For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

God's Rainbow Promise and Satan's Gay Deception

Don't you just love seeing a beautiful rainbow in the sky after a rain. I most certainly do. I can sense God's presence in the loud crashing thunder as well as in the calm rainbow that follows the storm. As we read the Bible, we will find that at the end of the story of Noah and the great flood, God makes a promise that He will never again destroy the entire world with a great flood. As a sign of that promise, God creates the rainbow. Now any time, after a rain we look into the sky and see a rainbow, we know that God is remembering His promise that he made thousands of years ago. God will always remember His promise and shows it to us by placing the beautiful rainbow in the sky. Genesis 9: 12-17 records the promise God made to us and reads as follows :
¹² And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
¹³ I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
¹⁴ And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
¹⁵ And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
¹⁶ And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
¹⁷ And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
                                                      

We can be 100% sure that God will keep this promise to us. He is that kind of God - faithful and true to His Word throughout the ages. We can depend on Him.

picture from blogthehumanist .org

It seems though that Satan will so often come and try to take what God has created as precious and true and make it into a counterfeit deal and now again we see satan using the rainbow in a counterfeit way. God destroyed the world in Noah's day due to the wickedness and violence that had swept across the earth. God could find only Noah and his family who were living righteously. In our day today the gay pride movement is moving across the nations. And what does satan use to promote this wicked movement ?? - what else but the rainbow flag. Satan takes the rainbow and uses it for his evil purposes. Satan knows that he has but a short time left here on earth to continue deceiving people and sees the signs of the end of time nearing. I wonder if satan is trying to provoke God Almighty by using the rainbow colors in this evil display called gay pride.  As Christians we know that God will keep moving ahead with His end time plan schedule.God is right on time - never late!  We know that Jesus will return for those of us who love Him and we will be taken up to heaven to be with our Lord forever.  But  we also know that satan and his demons and followers will be cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. and Revelation 20 14-15 : And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

 Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Fear of the LORD....

What does it look like to fear the LORD? I mean we all know that we should fear the LORD, because He does really have the final word in everything. We can say oh I think this is the way and a friend may have a differing opinion but really our opininion of truth is only accurate if it parallels to what the Bible says, -simply because the Bible is the true Word of God and it is alive and active in our lives when surrender to Him.  Proverbs has many verses relating to the fear of the LORD. So in Proverbs 8:13 we get a glimpse of what it looks like to fear the LORD.
Proverbs 8:13 - The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
We need to hate evil as the LORD does, and put it out of our lives. Pride and arrogance have no place in our lives nor the froward mouth. The NASB uses the words "perverted mouth".  
Pride can lead to many destructive ways and pride was what got angel Lucifer thrown out of Heaven to become the devil and satan. So it is one of satan's schemes to use pride and arrogance to bring us down also.
Proverbs 16:18 -Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 10:27 The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.