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4/7/02
FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - www.faithbiblechurch.net RAY RUSS - PASTOR-TEACHER MATTHEW: THE KING HAS COME, WEEK 155 TITLE: HYPOCRISY VERSUS HUMILITY TEXT: MATTHEW 23:1-12 INTRODUCTION: (1) THE STORY IS TOLD OF AN EASTERN ASCETIC, A PIOUS HOLY MAN WHO USED TO SIT AT A PROMINENT CORNER OF THE CITY, COVERED WITH DUST AND ASHES. * OBVIOUSLY THIS SHOWED HIS GODLINESS AND HUMILITY ** A PASSING TOURIST ASKED THIS HOLY MAN FOR HIS PERMISSION TO TAKE HIS PHOTOGRAPH, TO WHICH HE REPLIED, *** “JUST A MOMENT, PLEASE. LET ME ARRANGE MY ASHES.” **** NOW THIS SUPPOSED HOLY MAN REARRANGED HIS ASHES TO GIVE THE BEST IMAGE OF HIS DESTITUION AND HUMILITY. (2) BUT THE REALITY OF THE MATTER IS, THIS MAN WAS NOT A HOLY MAN, BUT A HYPOCRITE, DOING HIS WORK OR DEEDS TO BE SEEN OF MEN. * AND A GREAT DEAL OF RELIGION TODAY AMOUNTS TO NOTHING MORE THAN REARRANGING RELIGIOUS “ASHES” TO IMPRESS THE WORLD WITH ONE’S SUPPOSED HUMILITY AND DEVOTION. ** AND THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE HUMILITY IS A SHAM, AND THE DEVOTION IS TO SELF, NOT TO GOD. *** AND BELOVED, SUCH RELIGION IS NOTHING MORE THAN A GAME OF PRETENSE, A GAME AT WHICH MANY OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES OF JESUS’ DAY WERE MASTERS. *** FOR YOU SEE MANY, NOT ALL OF THEM WERE HYPOCRITES. (3) AND THE GREEK WORD FOR HYPOCRITE USED IN CLASSICAL GREEK AND KOINE OR COMMON GREEK WAS USED TO REFER TO AN ACTOR ON A STAGE WHO MASKS HIS REAL IDENTITY AND ASSUMES A ROLE. * HE PLAYS A PART THAT ISN’T THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS LIFE. HE IS NOT GENUINE. ** HE IS A PRETENDER, ONE WHO PRETENDS TO BE SOMETHING HE IS NOT, PUTTING ON AN EXHIBITION. *** WELL, MANY OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WERE ACTORS, AND IN MATTHEW 23 JESUS WILL USE THIS WORD HYPOCRITES 7 TIMES TO DESCRIBE THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES. **** AND SPECIFICALLY IN OUR TEXT TODAY, JESUS WILL WARN THE MULTITUDES AND THE DISCIPLES ABOUT THE HYPOCRISY OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES. (4) JESUS WILL DENOUNCE SOME OF THEIR PRACTICES AND REMIND HIS FOLLOWERS THAT PRETENSE AND PRIDE GO HAND IN HAND, THAT PRETENSE AND PRIDE GO TOGETHER. * AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I’VE TITLED OUR MESSAGE “HYPOCRISY VERSUS HUMILITY”. ** FOR YOU SEE HYPOCRISY IS AGAINST HUMILITY, THEY ARE OPPONENTS, THEY DO NOT GO TOGETHER. *** FOR HYPOCRISY IS A FORM OF DECEIT, AND IT’S ROOT IS PRIDE, AND PRIDE IS THE ANTITHESIS, THE DIRECT OPPOSITE OF HUMILITY. **** AND IT IS NO ACCIDENT THAT JESUS BEGINS THIS PARAGRAPH IN TALKING ABOUT HYPOCRISY AND CLOSES IT BY TALKING ABOUT HUMILITY, AND THEN CONTINUES ON IN THE REST OF MOST OF THE CHAPTER WITH A BLISTERING REBUKE OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES. (5) SO TODAY WE WILL LOOK AT HYPOCRISY VERSUS HUMILITY. * AND UNDER THAT THEME AND TITLE, WE’LL LOOK AT 4 POINTS. NO. 1 THE PROBLEM OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, VV. 1-3; NO. 2 THE PRACTICES OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, VV. 4-7; NO. 3 THE PROHIBITION OF THE PRACTICES OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, VV. 8-10; AND NO. 4 THE PRINCIPLE OF SERVANTHOOD, HUMILITY, WHICH IS IN OPPOSITION TO HYPOCRISY. ** AND WITH THOSE 4 POINTS TO HANG YOUR THOUGHTS ON, LOOK AT V. 1 WHERE WE’LL START TO SEE OUR FIRST POINT TODAY, THE PROBLEM. LOOK AT V. 1 OF MATTHEW 23 PLEASE. I. THE PROBLEM, (READ V.1) A. NOW AT THIS TIME JESUS SPOKE DIRECTLY TO THE MULTITUDES AND TO HIS DISCIPLES. * AND MATTHEW BEGINS IN V. 1 BY USING THE WORD THEN, AN ADVERB IN THE GREEK SUGGESTING A CHRONOLOGICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THESE SAYINGS AND WHAT PRECEDED. ** AND IF YOU RECALL WHAT PRECEDED OUR TEXT WAS A SILENCING OF HIS ENEMIES AT THE END OF MATTHEW 22. *** SO THEN CAN MEAN, AT THAT TIME OR FROM THAT TIME. **** AND HAVING SILENCED HIS ENEMIES IN MATTHEW 22, HE NOW AT THAT TIME MOVES TO WARN PEOPLE ABOUT HIS ENEMIES. 1. JESUS NOW TURNS HIS ATTENTION TO THOSE WHO HAD BEEN STANDING NEAR AND LISTENING TO THE QUESTION OF THE PHARISEES AND THE SADDUCEES IN MATTHEW 22, AND HOW JESUS ANSWERED THEM AND SILENCED THEM, AND NOW PROCEEDS TO WARN THEM ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE THIS, PROBABLY STILL IN THE TEMPLE AREA. * NOW THE WARNING WAS TO THOSE WHO CONSIDERED THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES AS TEACHERS OF THE LAW AND ALSO HIS DISCIPLES WHO WOULD BECOME THE PRIMARY TEACHERS OF HIS CHURCH THAT WOULD START IN ABOUT 2 MONTHS. ** AND LET ME ADD, MOST LIKELY THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WERE WITHIN EARSHOT NEARBY, FOR IN V. 13 JESUS WILL START TO ADDRESS THEM DIRECTLY. *** BUT JESUS STARTS OUT IN V. 1 IN ADDRESSING THE MULTITUDES DIRECTLY IN V. 1, AND HE WILL START TO TALK ABOUT THE PROBLEM IN V. 2. (LOOK AT V. 2 PLEASE). B. READ V. 2. NOW THE PROBLEM WAS THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES SEATED THEMSELVES IN THE CHAIR OF MOSES. * AND NOTICE IN V. 2 THAT THE PROBLEM STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT THESE INDIVIDUALS “SEATED THEMSELVES”. ** THEY WERE NOT APPOINTED BY GOD TO SIT IN THE CHAIR OF MOSES. THEY HAD SIMPLY PUT THEMSELVES IN THAT POSITION, THEY ASSUMED THAT POSITION. THEY WERE SELF-APPOINTED! *** NOW THE QUESTION COMES UP AT THIS POINT, WHAT WAS THE CHAIR OF MOSES? **** WELL, THE GREEK WORD FOR CHAIR IS KATHEDRA WHICH YOU CAN SEE ON THE SCREEN. 1. AND IT LIT. MEANS A CHAIR, OR A SEAT THAT IS USED OF AN EXALTED SEAT OCCUPIED BY MEN OF EMINENT RANK OR INFLUENCE, AS TEACHERS AND JUDGES. * AND FROM THE WORD KATHEDRA, WE GET OUR ENGLISH WORD CATHEDRAL, WHICH ORIGINALLY REFERRED TO A PLACE, OR SEAT, OF ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY. ** AND THE SAME IDEA IS FOUND TODAY IN SUCH EXPRESSIONS AS “CHAIR OF PHILOSOPHY” OR “CHAIR OF HISTORY”, WHICH REFER TO THE MOST ESTEEMED PROFESSORSHIPS IN A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT HEADS. *** BEYOND THAT, WHEN THE POPE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SPEAKS IN HIS FULL ECCESIASTICAL AUTHORITY, HE IS SAID TO SPEAK, “EX CATHEDRA” FROM THE CHAIR OF AUTHORITY, FROM THE CHAIR OF HIS OFFICE. (OF COURSE NO ONE HAS THAT KIND OF AUTHORITY TODAY, BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE OF THE WORD). **** WELL, WITH THAT MEANING IN MIND, WHEN YOU TAKE THE WORD CHAIR AND CONNECT IT TO MOSES, YOU GET THE IDEA OF GOD’S SPOKESMAN. 2. FOR TO THE JEWS, MOSES WAS THE SUPREME LAW GIVER, THE SUPREME SPOKESMAN FOR GOD. * THEREFORE TO SIT IN THE CHAIR OF MOSES WAS SYNONOMOUS TO BEING GOD’S AUTHORITATIVE SPOKESMAN, AND IT WAS THAT VERY CLAIM THAT MANY OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES MADE FOR THEMSELVES. ** THEY CLAIMED TO BE THE SPOKESPEOPLE FOR GOD, AND IT WAS SELF-APPOINTED, A CHAIR THEY ASSUMED TO HAVE, BUT THEY WERE NOT THE SUCCESSORS TO MOSES. *** AND THE PROBLEM WAS, THEY WERE NOT SPEAKING FOR GOD, AND GOD HAD NOT APPOINTED THEM TO THAT POSITION, FOR LOOK AT V. 3. C. READ V. 3. NOW THE SCIRBES AND PHARISEES HYPOCRISY STARTS TO BECOME EVIDENT IN V. 3, WHICH WILL SHOW THEIR POSITION WAS NOT GOD APPOINTED. * AND IT APPEARS TO ME CONTEXTUALLY THAT JESUS’ WORDS IN THE BEGINNING OF V. 3 ARE SARCASTIC. ** FOR THERE IS NO WAY THAT JESUS WOULD TELL HIS DISCIPLES AND THE MULTITUDES TO OBSERVE ALL THEY TELL YOU TO DO. *** THEY ADDED SO MANY TRADITIONS AND MAN MADE LAWS TO THE WORD OF GOD IT WAS HARD TO TELL THEM APART. **** THEY HAD ADDED SO MANY BURDENS AND WEIGHTS TO THE LAW OF GOD THAT PEOPLE WERE CRUMBLING UNDER THE LOAD, WHICH JESUS CAME TO FREE PEOPLE OF. 1. AND THAT’S WHY JESUS SAID IN MATTHEW 11:28-30 (READ IT). * AND BELOVED JESUS CAME TO FREE PEOPLE FROM THE HEAVY BURDEN OF SIN AND THE BONDAGE OF TRUE LEGALISM, TRYING TO KEEP LAWS TO JUSTIFY ONESELF. ** SO I SEE IRONY, EVEN SARCASM IN JESUS’ WORDS, “DO WHATEVER THEY TEACH YOU”, FOR JESUS HAD ALREADY SAID IN MATTHEW 15:3 THAT THE PHARISEES AND SCRIBES “TRANSGRESS THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR TRADITION.” *** AND IN MATTHEW 15:9 THAT THESE INDIVIDUALS “TEACH AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.” **** AND TO ME THE KEY HERE IN INTERPRETING MATTHEW 23:3 PROPHECY IS CONTEXT. FOR NOTICE WHAT FOLLOWS IN V. 3. 2. “BUT DO NOT ACCORDING TO THEIR DEEDS; FOR THEY SAY THINGS AND DO NOT DO THEM.” * AND JESUS DECLARED THEY WERE RELIGIOUS PHONIES, CONSUMMATE HYPOCRITES WHO DID NOT PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACHED. ** BELOVED, THEIR FALSE TEACHING LED TO FALSE LIVING, THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE RIGHT SO THEY DIDN’T LIVE RIGHT. THEIR LIVES SHOULD NOT BE IMITATED. *** AND JESUS WILL START TO BE SPECIFIC IN VV. 4-7 AND TALK ABOUT THEIR WRONG HYPOCRITICAL PRACTICES, SO LOOK AT V. 4 WHERE WE’LL START TO SEE OUR 2’D POINT TODAY, THE PRACTICES. II. THE PRACTICES, (READ V. 4) A. NOW THE PICTURE THAT JESUS STARTS TO PAINT IN V. 4 REFLECTS A COMMON CUSTOM OF THAT DAY OF LOADING UP A DONKEY, A CAMEL, OR ANOTHER ANIMAL TO THE POINT WHERE IT CAN HARDLY MOVE. * AND AS THEY TRAVELED DOWN THE ROAD, THE OWNER WOULD WALK ALONGSIDE, CARRYING NOTHING HIMSELF, BERATING AND BEATING THE ANIMAL IF IT HAPPENED TO STUMBLE OR BALK, WITH NO CONCERN FOR THE ANIMAL. ** WELL THAT, JESUS SAID, IS EXACTLY THE WAY THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES TREATED THEIR FELLOW JEWS. *** THEY PILED UP HEAVY LOADS OF RELIGIOUS REGULATIONS, RULES AND RITUALS ON MEN’S SHOULDERS UNTIL THEY WERE UNBEARABLE AND IMPOSSIBLE TO CARRY. **** AND WHEN THE PEOPLE FAILED TO KEEP ALL OF THE REQUIREMENTS, AS THEY WERE DOOMED TO DO, THEY WERE PUT DOWN AND REBUKED BY THE LEADERS, WHO THEREBY ADDED THE BURDEN OF GUILT TO THOSE OF WEARINESS AND FRUSTRATION. 1. AND TO ME THIS GIVES FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT IN V. 3, JESUS IS USING IRONY AND SARCASM IN TELLING THE DISCIPLES AND THE MULTITUDES TO OBSERVE ALL THAT THEY TELL YOU TO DO. * FOR TO DO THAT WOULD CRUSH PEOPLE UNDER THE LOAD OF TRYING TO WORK THEIR WAY INTO HEAVEN, LEGALISM LEADS TO PRIDE AND ON TO DEPRESSION. YOU CAN’T KEEP THE WHOLE LAW OR THE THINGS ADDED TO IT, IT WAS A YOKE OF SLAVERY. ** AS PAUL SAID IN GALATIANS 5:1: “IT WAS FOR FREEDOM THAT CHRIST SET US FREE; THEREFORE KEEP STANDING FIRM AND DO NOT BE SUBJECT AGAIN TO A YOKE OF SLAVERY.” *** READ GALATIANS 2:21 AND ROMANS 3:28. **** AND TRYING TO JUSTIFY YOURSELF LEADS TO A YOKE OF SLAVERY AND BONDAGE. AND THAT’S WHAT THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES TAUGHT, BUT THEY COULDN’T LIVE IT AND WOULD NOT TRY TO HELP ANYONE ELSE LIVE IT. ***** FOR LOOK AT THE LAST PART OF V. 4, “THEY THEMSELVES ARE UNWILLING TO MOVE THEM WITH SO MUCH AS A FINGER.” 2. NOW THIS STATEMENT REVEALS THEIR HARD-HEARTEDNESS, THEIR LACK OF SYMPATHY, THEY WERE LOVELESS AND UNCARING. * BELOVED THESE FALSE TEACHERS LIVED IN THEIR IVORY TOWERS TEACHING THEIR TRADITIONS AND MAN MADE LAW, BUT DIDN’T HELP ANYBODY IN THE PROCESS TO LIVE THEM, BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T THEMSELVES. ** THEY WERE HYPOCRITES! AND THEIR HYPOCRITICAL PRACTICES CONTINUE TO BE EXPOSED, LOOK AT V. 5. B. READ V. 5. NOW THE MOTIVE FOR THE DEEDS OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES THAT JESUS IS SPEAKING ABOUT IS TO BE “NOTICED BY MEN”. * EVERYTHING THAT WAS DONE WAS FOR OUTWARD SHOW RATHER THAN FROM THE HEART, FOR FLESHLY GRATIFICATION OF EGO RATHER THAN SELFLESS SERVICE TO GOD AND TO OTHERS IN HIS NAME. ** THEIR PURPOSE IS TO GLORIFY THEMSELVES, NOT GOD. AND TO FLAUNT THEIR RELIGION, SPECIFICALLY THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WOULD BROADEN PHYLACTERIES AND LENGTHEN THE TASSELS OF THEIR GARMENTS. *** NOW PHYLACTERIES WERE SMALL SQUARE BOXES MADE OF LEATHER FROM A CEREMONIALLY CLEAN ANIMAL. **** AFTER BEING DYED BLACK, THE LEATHER WAS SEWN INTO A BOX USING 12 STITCHES, EACH STITCH REPRESENTING ONE OF THE 12 TRIBES OF ISRAEL. 1. THEN PLACED INTO THE PHYLACTERY WERE COPIES OF EXODUS 13:1-10 AND 13:11-16 AND OF DEUT. 6:4-9 AND 11:13-21. * NOW THESE PHYLACTERIES WERE ON THE HEAD AND THE LEFT HAND. ** THE ONE WORN ON THE HEAD HAD 4 COMPARTMENTS, EACH CONTAINING ONE OF THE TEXTS ON A SMALL PIECE OF PARCHMENT. *** NOW THE PHYLACTRY WORN ON THE HAND CONTAINED A SINGLE PIECE OF PARCHMENT ON WHICH ALL 4 TEXTS WERE WRITTEN. **** AND LONG LEATHER STRAPS WERE USED TO BIND ONE BOX TO THE FOREHEAD AND THE OTHER TO THE ARM AND LEFT HAND WRAPPED 7 TIMES, AND IT WAS PUT ON THE LEFT SIDE BECAUSE THE LEFT SIDE WAS CONSIDERED CLOSER TO THE HEART. 2. NOW JEWISH MEN WOULD WEAR THESE PHYLACTERIES AT PRAYER TIMES. BUT THE PHARISEES WORE THEM CONTINUALLY AS A SIGN OF SUPERIOR SPIRITUALITY. * AND THEY WOULD ALSO BROADEN THEIR PHYLACTERIES, MAKING THEM LARGER THAN NORMAL TO SIGNIFY SUPPOSED GREATER DEVOTION TO GOD. ** AND THEN IN A SIMILAR WAY AND FOR THE SAME PURPOSE, THEY WOULD LENGTHEN THE TASSELS OF THEIR GARMENTS. *** AND THOSE MEN WOULD WEAR TASSELS ON PRAYER SHAWLS OR OTHER OUTER GARMENTS TO REMIND THEM TO OBEY THE LORD’S COMMANDMENTS. **** BUT AGAIN THEY PERVERTED THE PURPOSE AS A WAY TO DRAW ATTENTION TO SELF AND SHOW HOW SPIRITUAL THEY WERE. - THESE WERE HYPOCRITICAL PRACTES BUT THE PRACTICES GO ON, LOOK AT V. 6 PLEASE. C. READ V. 6. NOW THE HYPOCRISY OF THESE MEN IS SEEN HERE IN THEIR COMPETITION TO BE RECOGNIZED AT BANQUETS AND AT THE SYNAGOGUE. * THEY WANTED THE BEST SEATS, THE UP-FRONT SEATS, SITTING AT THE PLACE OF HONOR AT BANQUETS, NEXT TO THE HOST OF THE BANQUET, OR NEAR HIM TO BE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION. ** AND THE CHIEF SEATS IN THE SYNAGOGUES WERE BENCHES LOCATED AT THE FRONT, CLOSEST TO THE SCROLLS AND IN FULL VIEW OF ANYONE ENTERING THE ASSEMBLY. *** THEY LOVED PUBLIC ATTENTION, TO BE SEEN OF MEN, THEY WANTED TO EXALT THEMSELVES, TO BE PRE-EMINENT. **** NOW BEYOND THAT THEY LOVED RESPECTFUL GREETINGS, LOOK AT V. 7 PLEASE. D. READ V. 7. NOW THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES LOVED TO HAVE RESPECTFUL GREETINGS AS THEY TRAVELED THROUGH THEIR TOWNS AND THE GATHERING PLACES FOR BUSINESS. * AND THEY ESPECIALLY LOVED THE FORMAL AND RESPECTFUL TITLE RABBI, WHICH WAS USED IN THAT DAY MUCH AS DOCTOR IS TODAY. ** THE TITLE RABBI EXALTED THEM TO AN ELITE POSITION, NOT JUST A TEACHER, BUT ONE THAT WAS WISE AND SUPERIOR. THEY WERE THE REVERED ONES, THE SUPREME ONE, EXCELLENCY, THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE ONE, THE GREAT ONE. *** THIS WAS AN EXALTED TITLE AND YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW PUFFED UP THEY WOULD GET WHEN SOMEONE WOULD CALL THEM THAT. **** SO THEY LOVED SPECIAL HONOR. BUT BEGINNING IN V. 8, JESUS WILL SAY, MOST LIKELY TO HIS DISCIPLES, DO NOT BE CALLED BY THESE TITLES. 1. DO NOT EXALT YOURSELF. AND JESUS WILL GIVE THREE SPECIFIC PROHIBITIONS BY SAYING “DO NOT” 3 TIMES. AND THE FIRST PROHIBITION IS FOUND IN V. 8, LOOK AT V. 8 PLEASE. III. THE PROHIBITIONS, (READ V. 8) A. NOW GODLY SPIRITUAL LEADERS ARE TO SHUN LOFTY, PRESTIGIOUS, PRETENTIOUS TITLES SUCH AS RABBI. * WHY? FOR JESUS WAS THE SUPREME AND ONLY SOURCE OF DIVINE TRUTH, FOR WHICH HUMAN TEACHERS ARE BUT CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION. ** AND JESUS WAS THEIR DIVINE TEACHER AND THEY WERE BROTHERS. AND HUMAN TEACHERS, INCLUDING THE APOSTLES WHOM JESUS ADDRESSED ON THIS OCCASION, ARE ALL BROTHERS, FAMILY, WITH EVERY OTHER BELIEVER. *** AND NO MAN’S CALLING, HOWEVER UNIQUE, JUSTIFIES HIS BEING GIVEN A TITLE INTENDED TO PORTRAY HIM AS BEING SPIRITUALLY SUPERIOR. **** WE ARE EQUAL AS FAMILY MEMBERS OF CHRIST’S BODY, WITH NO SUPERIORS IN THE SENSE OF BEING EXALTED ONES, REVERENDS, MOST REVERENDS OR BISHOP SO AND SO. WE ARE NOT TO EXALT POSITIONS AS PEOPLE BEING SUPERIOR OVER THE LOWLY LAITY. 1. BUT JESUS GOES ON. LOOK AT V. 9 PLEASE. B. READ V. 9. NOW HERE IN V. 9 JESUS WAS USING THE SENSE OF “SPIRITUAL FATHER”, INDICATING A SUPERIOR SPIRITUAL POSITION AND EVEN SUGGESTING ONE’S BEING A SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. * NOW THIS DOESN’T MEAN THAT WE CANNOT USE THE WORD FATHER FOR A PARENT, YOUR DAD. ** IT IS TALKING ABOUT A SPIRITUAL EXALTED TITLE, USING IT FOR A SPIRITUAL LEADER, FOR THAT SPIRITUAL LEADER IS NOT THE SOURCE OF YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE, ONLY GOD THE FATHER IS THE SOURCE OF ALL SPIRITUAL LIFE AND BLESSING. *** AND TO CALL A SUPPOSED SPIRITUAL LEADER OR PRIEST BY THAT NAME IS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF SCRIPTURE. **** AND THEN THE THIRD PROHIBITION IS GIVEN IN V. 10, A THIRD DO NOT, LOOK AT V. 10 PLEASE. C. READ V. 10. NOW AS WITH THE OTHER TITLES, THIS ONE IS FORBIDDEN WHEN USED IN THE FORMAL EXALTED SENSE THAT WAS COMMON IN ANCIENT JUDAISM. * FOR WHEN WRONGLY USED, SUCH TITLES CAN PLACE BARRIERS BETWEEN THOSE IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AND OTHERS IN THE CHURCH, BUT, EVEN WORSE, THEY CLAIM, THEY SEIZE, THEY TAKE THE HONOR AND GLORY THAT BELONG TO CHRIST WHO IS OUR LEADER, THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH. ** AND YES THERE ARE BIBLICAL TITLES FOR LEADERS IN THE CHURCH AND QUALIFICATIONS FOR THEM, AND THEY ARE TO BE RESPECTED BUT NOT REVERED OR EXALTED TO A PLACE THAT TAKES GLORY AWAY FROM THE GLORIOUS ONE CHRIST, ISA. 42:8 (READ IT). *** AND BELOVED, THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WERE EXALTING THEMSELVES AND LIFTING UP THEMSELVES, AND THEY WANTED THE PRAISE OF MAN OVER THE PRAISE OF GOD, AND THE REASON FOR THAT WAS THEIR HEARTS WERE NOT RIGHT WITH GOD. **** WHICH LEADS US TO OUR FINAL POINT TODAY, A PRINCIPLE TO BE FOLLOWED, LOOK AT V. 11 PLEASE. IV. THE PRINCIPLE, (READ V. 11) A. NOW THE PRINCIPLE COMMUNICATED IN VV. 11&12 IS SERVANTHOOD, FOR THE GREATEST PERSON IS THE ONE WHO IS A WILLING SERVANT. * AND JESUS IS JUST REITERATING WHAT HE SAID EARLIER IN MATTHEW TO HIS DISCIPLES IN MATTHEW 20:26-28 WHERE HE SAID: (READ THEM). ** AND BELOVED, JESUS WAS THE PERFECT SERVANT, AS HE MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION AND TOOK UPON HIMSELF THE FORM OF A SERVANT AND BECAME MAN. *** AND PHIL. 2:8 SAYS: (READ IT). **** AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THE SOVEREIGN BECAME A SERVANT. DEITY TOOK ON HUMANITY, GOD BECAME MAN TO SAVE MAN. AND THAT’S THE GREATEST ACT OF SERVANTHOOD AND HUMILITY OF ALL TIME. 1. AND SO AS JESUS DID, THE GREATEST PEOPLE AMONG US BECOME SERVANTS. * FOR THE GREATEST PERSON IN GOD’S SIGHT IS NOT THE ONE WITH THE MOST TITLES, AWARDS OR DEGREES, BUT THE ONE WHO SERVES IN GENUINE HUMILITY AS A SELFLESS SERVANT. ** AND JESUS SUMS UP THAT TRUTH IN V. 12. LOOK AT V. 12 PLEASE. B. READ V. 12. NOW THE PRINCIPLE COMMUNICATED IN V. 12 BY JESUS IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE WORLD’S STANDARD FOR EXALTATION. * THE WORLD TEACHES THAT IT IS THE ONE WHO EXALTS HIMSELF WHO GETS AHEAD, AND THE ONE WHO HUMBLES HIMSELF LOSES OUT AND GETS PUSHED ASIDE. ** LOOKING OUT FOR NO. 1 IS THE ACCEPTED PRINCIPLE FOR SUCCESS AND WHEN YOU SUCCEED, BLOW YOUR OWN HORN, FLAUNT IT. *** BUT IN HIS SOVEREIGNTY, GOD HAS DECREED OTHERWISE AND SELF-EXALTATION HAS NO PLACE IN THOSE WHO REPRESENT CHRIST. **** THE WAY UP IS DOWN AND THE WAY DOWN IS UP. 1. AND THIS IS A REPEATED PRINCIPLE IN SCRIPTURE, READ PROV. 11:2, PROV. 16:18, PROV. 29:23, JAMES 4:10 AND I PETER 5:6. * AND BELOVED LET ME REMIND YOU THAT THESE TRUTHS I’VE JUST READD TO YOU ARE NOT NATURAL LAWS, BUT KINGDOM LAWS. MAY WE FOLLOW GOD’S LAW. AND AS I WRAP UP THIS PASSAGE TODAY: (1) HYPOCRISY AND HUMILITY DO NOT GO TOGETHER, THEY ARE INCOMPATABLE, THEY ARE NOT RELATED, THEY ARE OPPOSITIES. * AND TRUE HUMILITY IS ROOTED FIRST OF ALL IN GOD’S SAVING GRACE. FOR THE OPPOSITE OF GRACE IS MERIT, WORKS, SELF SUFFICIENCY IN THINKING YOU CAN MERIT, WORK OR EARN YOUR WAY TO HEAVEN. ** BUT IT CANNOT BE DONE. FOR ALL OF OUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS ARE AS FILTHY RAGS IN THE SIGHT OF A HOLY GOD, ISAIAH 64:6. *** AND IT IS THE EPITOME OF SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO THINK THAT YOU CAN BE GOOD ENOUGH TO GO TO HEAVEN. THEN WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE? **** FOLKS, PRIDE DAMNS A LOT OF PEOPLE. BUT AS YOU HUMBLE YOURSELF WITH AGREEING WITH GOD THAT YOU ARE A SINNER AND UNRIGHTEOUS AND IN NEED OF A SAVIOR, AND TURN FROM YOUR SIN IN REPENTANCE TO CHRIST, THEN YOU WILL BE SAVED FROM YOUR SINS AND THEN HAVE THE POWER TO BE A SERVANT. (2) FOR ONCE WE KNOW CHRIST, FOCUSING ON THE GRACE OF GOD BRING HUMILITY AND PUTS AWAY THE DECEIT AND PRIDE OF HYPOCRISY. READ I COR. 15:10, JOHN 15:5. * AND BELOVED HUMILITY COMES FROM PROPER PERSPECTIVE, AS SEEING WHAT WE WERE AND WHAT WE ARE WITHOUT THE GRACE OF GOD. ** AND HYPOCRISY AND PRIDE CANNOT CO-EXIST WITH HUMILITY. *** I CLOSE WITH I TIMOTHY 1:12-17 AS A BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATION THAT WE NEED TO APPLY. **** I TIMOTHY 1:12-17 – “I THANK CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD, WHO HAS STRENGTHENED ME, BECAUSE HE CONSIDERED ME FAITHFUL, PUTTING ME INTO SERVICE; EVEN THOUGH I WAS FORMERLY A BLASPHEMER AND A PERSECUTOR AND A VIOLENT AGGRESSOR. AND YET I WAS SHOWN MERCY, BECAUSE I ACTED IGNORANTLY IN UNBELIEF; AND THE GRACE OF OUR LORD WAS MORE THAN ABUNDANT, WITH THE FAITH AND LOVE WHICH ARE FOUND IN CHRIST JESUS. IT IS A TRUSTWORTHY STATEMENT, DESERVING FULL ACCEPTANCE, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS, AMONG WHOM I AM FOREMOST OF ALL. AND YET FOR THIS REASON I FOUND MERCY, IN ORDER THAT IN ME AS THE FOREMOST, JESUS CHRIST MIGHT DEMONSTRATE HIS PERFECT PATIENCE, AS AN EXAMPLE FOR THOSE WHO WOULD BELIEVE IN HIM FOR ETERNAL LIFE. NOW TO THE KING ETERNAL, IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, THE ONLY GOD, BE HONOR AND GLORY FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN.” (3) BELOVED, FOCUSING ON WHAT WE WERE AND ARE WITHOUT GOD’S GRACE AND MERCY LEADS US TO PRAISE AND HUMILITY, AND HUMILITY CRUCIFIES HYPOCRISY. (LET US PRAY).
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