PT-1 "False Leaders Lack Sympathy" (Matt. 23:4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2023 8:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  PT-1 “False Leaders Lack Sympathy”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 23:4

 

            Message of the verses:  “And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”

 

            We begin today by looking at the third aspect of false leaders which is false religious leaders are characterized by lack of sympathy.  They not only are usurpers and hypocrites but are loveless and uncaring.  As one looks at these three descriptions of these false leaders one may ask the question “why are they like this?”  I think that there are several reasons why they are like this and the first reason is that, like all others they were born spiritually dead.  Remember what I said my friend said “I was born wrong.”  I think the next reason why they are like this is because they think that they are better than other people.  After going to the schools that they went to, which by the way taught them to be like they were, that is when they begin to think that they were better than others.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The picture Jesus gives here reflects the common custom of that day, and of people in many underdeveloped countries today, of loading up a donkey, camel, or other beast of burden to the point where it can hardly move.  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’s feelings or welfare.”

 

            Now as we look at the first part of this verse we see that this description MacArthur gives here in the quote above, is exactly what the scribes and Pharisees treated their fellow Jews as they piled up heavy loads of religious regulations, rules, and rituals on men’s shoulders until they were unbearable and impossible to carry.  MacArthur then adds “And when the people failed to keep all of the requirements, as they were doomed to do, they were chided and rebuked by the leaders, who thereby added the burden of guilt to those of weariness and frustration.”

 

            In a lot of religious systems today the people are taught that Jesus did die for their sins, but then that was just the first step as there were things that they had to do in order to really become children of God.  Now I want to quote one of my favorites verses and then try to explain how I understand the meaning of them.  “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10).  Notice the first highlighted part of verse eight and you will see that Paul is writing that this salvation that happened to his readers was past tense, it had already happened “by grace…through faith.”  He then goes on to say “not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” We see here that it was God who gave the gift of salvation, and so all one has to do is to accept it.  Then Paul goes on to say in verse nine, “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  He is saying that a person does not work for their salvation as it is a free gift from God.  Ok now that a person has been saved as seen in verses eight and nine they will then do work for the cause of Christ as seen in verse ten:  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”  Paul does not stop there but goes on to say, and this is very important to understand, “which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”   Now the way that I understand this is that in eternity past that God has chosen believers work for them to do for the cause of Christ as He prepared beforehand what these works were to be done by each believer.  Once more understand that the works that believers do for the cause of Christ are not done in order to save them, but are done after their salvation to bring glory to the Lord.  Now there is one more thing that I want to say and that is that one has to be open to learn what the Lord has planned for a believer to do, and that can be done by reading and studying the Bible along with listening to sermons and then do those things He has planned for you to do for the cause of Christ.  As we look at the different descriptions of these false leaders it is pretty much the opposite of what we can see in these three verses in Ephesians chapter two.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire to understand the gifts that God has given me to do for the cause of Christ, and this can be done by carefully studying the Word of God and then asking the Lord to show me what I am to do for the cause of Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to do the things that the Lord has called me to do for Him.

 

9/30/2023 9:06 AM

PT-2 "False Leaders Lack Integrity" (Matt. 23:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2023 8:36 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “False Leaders Lack Integrity”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 23:3

 

            Message of the verse:  “therefore all that they tell you, d and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them.”

 

            The rest of this section from John MacArthur’s commentary is what his thoughts are about this subject, and there is no way that I, myself can do a better job than what he has done and so I will take the next couple of days and quote from his commentary.

 

            “The unbelieving religious leaders did not have the ability to keep God’s law even had they genuinely wanted to, because they possessed no spiritual resources to make such obedience possible.  Being unredeemed, they lived only in the flesh and b the flesh’s power, and the flesh is not capable of fulfilling God’s law (Rom. 3:20).  It has no power either to restrain evil or to do good.  It can develop impressive and sophisticated systems of external morality and ethical codes of conduct, but it cannot empower men to live up to them.  It may talk more about God’s love and about His will for man to live in love, but it cannot produce love in a sinful heart.  It may talk much about serving the poor and living in peace, but it cannot produce genuine love for the poor or genuine peace in the heart, much less in the world.  Many religions, sects, and cults have high moral standards, promote close family ties, and advocate generosity, neighborliness, and good citizenship.  But because all such systems are man-made, they work entirely in the power of the flesh, which can only produce the works of the flesh.  Only the new person in Christ can ‘joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man’ (Rom. 7:22), and only the redeemed life, the life ‘created in Christ Jesus for good works’ (Eph. 2:10) is able to do good works.

 

            “Later in this diatribe against the scribes and Pharisees the Lord speaks of their carefully tithing mint and dill and cummin’ but neglecting ‘the weightier provisions of the law; justice and mercy and faithfulness’ (Matt 23:23). Mint, dill, and cummin were not farm crops grown for profit but were garden spices used in cooking, and a tithe of herbs was therefore worth very little.  But whereas those leaders were meticulous in giving every tenth herb seed to the synagogue or Temple, they were totally unconcerned about fulfilling the moral demands of God’s law, represented by justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  They were adroit at making good appearances of right living, of cleaning the outside of the cup.  But inside, Jesus declared they were nothing but self0indulgent thieves, the decaying carcasses of spiritually dead men.  You ‘outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness’ (vv. 25-28).

 

            “The false religious leader tries, often unsuccessfully, to put a cap on his wicked behavior to keep it out of view, but in so doing he merely traps it underneath the surface, where it festers, putrefies, and becomes still more corrupt.  Paul speaks of such hypocrites as being ‘seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron’ (1 Tim. 4:2).  They have sinned so long and so willfully that their consciences have lost all sensitivity to truth and holiness, just as scar tissue loses sensitivity to pain.

            “Peter vividly portrays the nature of false prophets and teachers, about whom he solemnly warns believers.  They ‘secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them,’ and he said, ‘bringing swift destruction upon themselves.’  They ‘follow their sensuality and because of them the way of the truth [is] maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words’ (2 Pet. 2:1-3).  He further describes them as

 

Those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.  Daring, self-willed,…unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge,…stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,…having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children,…springs without water, and mists driven by a storm,…speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption. (vv. 10, 12-14, 17-19)

 

            “As noted earlier, Jude refers to them in similar terms, calling them dreamers of wicked dreams, defilers of the flesh, rejecters of authority, and revilers of angelic majesties, un reasoning animals, hidden reefs, clouds without water, ‘trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever” (Jude 8, 10, 12-13).

 

            “In the unregenerate heart, vice cannot be restrained and virtue cannot be produced.  That is why even the best man-made system, even one that espouses many standards that Scripture itself espouses, cannot keep its followers from doing wrong or empower them to do what is truly right—for the simple reason that it cannot change their hearts.  That is also why every system that gives man the duty to make himself right before God is doomed to hypocrisy and sham, because the best it can produce is outward righteousness, outward good works, outward love, outward peace, while the depraved inner person remains unchanged.”

 

            I did not think that I would get through this all today, but I am happy that I did.

 

9/29/2023 9:16 AM

PT-1 "False Leaders Lack Integrity" (Matt. 23:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/28/2023 9:26 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “False Leaders Lack Integrity”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 23:3

 

            Message of the verse: “therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them.”

 

            We are now looking at the second characteristic of false leaders, as they lack integrity; they are hypocritically demanding of others many things that they never do themselves. 

 

            Jesus exhorts His followers, “all that they tell you, do and observe,” so we can then realize that Jesus was obviously not speaking comprehensively of the lies and errors they taught but only on their instructions that conformed to Scripture.  Here is what Jesus said in Matthew 5:20 “"For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  I remember a very long time ago when I was listening to Hal Lindsey on one of the tapes that I had that he was talking about when he was being convicted to become a believer and was talking about this verse in Matthew five, and he said that he thought that these scribes and Pharisees were living a pretty good live.  I guess he was wondering how it was that his righteousness could surpass theirs.  Well I know that he knew the answer to that dilemma when he was speaking about it, and the answer to it is that first of all no one can surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees on their own.  So how can we do what the Lord is telling us we must do in order to enter the kingdom of heaven?  The answer is that we have to have the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us, and that can only happen if we realize that we were born sinners, and that we, on our own can do nothing to remedy that situation on our own, but have to first of all confess to the Lord that we are sinners, and we sin because we are sinners, and then ask the Lord to save us from our sins.  Invite the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart and then He will save you and impute His righteousness to you.

 

            Now back to the false leaders lack of integrity as I quote from John MacArthur’s commentary:  “In His following comments He also made clear that their countless man-made traditions, many of which actually contradicted God’s law were absolutely worthless and led people away from God rather than to Him.  They were wrong about murder, fornication, divorce, adultery, swearing, praying, worship, and virtually every other area of living (see 5:21-48).  They “invalidated the word of God for the sake of [their] traditions’ (15:6).”

 

            In looking at Matthew 5:21-48, which we did a fairly long time ago there is much in that section that talks about things from the Old Testament that Jesus discusses, as this section is a part of His Sermon on the Mount. 

 

            Now this following quote from MacArthur’s commentary is important for us to understand.  “Jesus was not giving blanket approval for following the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees but was rather warning against throwing the baby out with the dirty bath water.  In other words, if they speak God’s truth, you should do and observe it, Jesus was saying.  The Word of God is still the Word of God, even in the mouth of a false teacher.  Insofar as the scribes and Pharisees accurately taught the law and the prophets, their teaching was to be heeded.

 

            “The verb poieo (do) is and aorist imperative and demands an immediate response.  Tereo (observe) is a present imperative and carries the idea of continuing actions.  Jesus was therefore saying, ‘Immediately obey and keep on obeying whatever the scribes and Pharisees teach if it follows God’s Word.’

 

            But do not do according to their deeds.  When the scribes and Pharisees did occasionally teach God’s truth, they did not obey it themselves.  ‘They say things, and do not do them,’ Jesus declared.  They were religious phonies, consummate hypocrites who did not practice what they preached.” 

 

            I guess in conclusion to what MacArthur was saying could be summed up in saying that once in a while the scribes and the Pharisees were teaching the truth, kind of like a clock that is not running is right two times a day.

 

            Lord willing we will continue to look at this subject in our next SD.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I write on my Spiritual Diaries, or teach in our Sunday school class it is always my goal to teach the truth from God’s Word.  Sometimes the truth of God’s Word can bring differences of opinion and I realize that and that is why I try and do what the title of my blogs is:  “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15).I pray that I am successful in doing this.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  That the Lord will continue to watch over me, to bring revival to my heart so that I can serve Him in a way that will bring glory to Him.

 

9/28/2023 10:10 AM

PT-2 "False Leaders Lack Authority" (Matt. 23:2b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/27/2023 9:04 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                     Focus: PT-2 “False Leaders Lack Authority”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 23:2b

 

            Message of the verse: “[they] have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;

 

            I mentioned at the end of our last SD that we would look at what God told Isaiah, as we ended up looking at what God told Jeremiah at the end of the last SD.  God told Isaiah that many of the people would not listen to his words in Isaiah 30:8-10 “8 Now go, write it on a tablet before them And inscribe it on a scroll, That it may serve in the time to come As a witness forever. 9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; 10 Who say to the seers, "You must not see visions";And to the prophets, "You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions.”  John MacArthur writes “Sinful people resist God’s truth because it is a rebuke to them, and they just as naturally turn to false religions and philosophies because those systems in one way or another approve and indulge their wicked inclinations and desires.  They are therefore easy prey for false teachers who appeal to their base natures.”  I totally agree with this statement from John MacArthur, and I believe that the reason it is true is because of the lostness of those who do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and their Lord.  I mentioned in earlier Spiritual Diaries that there are only two kinds of people living in this world, the lost, and their lost because everyone is born lost, and the saved because only the saved have been born again from above, through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as He died on the cross to save sinners. 

 

            Now back to our subject about false leaders lacking authority.  Jesus had warned about these false teachers earlier in His ministry.  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).’”  These false teachers do not represent God or speak in His name or in His authority, but they are deceivers, usurpers, and destroyers of God’s Word, God’s work, and God’s people.

 

            These false leaders are a marked contrast to those who are genuinely sent by the Lord as true ministers of His gospel, which He committed to them as seen in Gal. 1:15-16 “15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood.”  Paul says similar things to his son in the faith, Timothy “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.”  In John 20:22 we read that Jesus breathed on His disciples telling them “Receive the Holy Spirit” and to whom He later said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples and of all the nations” (Matt. 28:18-19).

 

            It is on the other hand that false leaders lack divine authority in what they say and do.  They are self-appointed ministers of human ideas and traditions, and as they promote their false notions they obscure God’s truth and prevent God’s righteousness for their own selfish purposes.

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing:  “As in the prophets’ times and in Jesus’ time, the world still abounds with teachers who claim to speak in God’s name and power but do not.  They usurp the place of the Lord’s true shepherds with lies, fake promises, delusions, dreams, visions, and usually are guilty of immoral living.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It was because the Lord called me to be His own on the 26^th of January, 1974 that I serve Him, and write these Spiritual Diaries for the cause of Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  “Continue to do the things that God has called me to do through the power of His Holy Spirit as He uses His Word to instruct me.

 

9/27/2023 9:37 AM

 

PT-1 "False Leaders Lack Authority" (Matt. 23:2b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/26/2023 8:39 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-1 “False Leaders Lack Authority”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matthew 23:2b

 

            Message of the verse:  “[they] have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;”

 

            Jesus is saying here that these false leaders do not have the authority that they think they have, for He his saying that they seated themselves.  “They were not appointed by God to sit in the chair of Moses.  They had simply arrogated to themselves that position of authority, which was therefore counterfeit. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “Chair if from kathedra, the Greek term for which we get cathedral, which originally referred to a place, or seat, of ecclesiastical authority.  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.  When the pope of the Roman Catholic church speaks of his full ecclesiastical authority, he is said to be speaking ex cathedra.”

 

            It is true that for Jews, Moses was the supreme law giver, the supreme spokesman for God.  With that said to sit in the chair of Moses was practically the same as to being
God’s authoritative spokesman.  They were claiming that many of the scribes and Pharisees made it for themselves.  Jesus is saying this was all made up by them, and there was actually no physical chair of Moses at all.

 

            Now it was for that reason that they were envious of Jesus and so determined to undermine Him.  If one thinks about this, that is that God had determined in eternity past to have His Son come to earth in order to die for the sins of the people then this was the way that this was going to happen, that is having the Jewish leaders so envious of Him that they had to get Him out of the way, and so they determined to kill Him.  With that said as we look at the story of how Jesus was crucified we know that it was Jesus who was in charge of it happening, and this was because it was the Father’s will, and He came to earth to do the Father’s will.

 

            John MacArthur writes about how the Jewish leaders were envious of Jesus, and says “They were infuriated because the people discerned that Jesus taught with an authority that seemed genuine (Matt. 7:29).  Even to the uneducated masses, something about the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees did not ring true, whereas Jesus’ teaching did.  Jesus was therefore a threat to those leaders and to their heretofore unchallenged religious authority.”

 

            It was in Jeremiah’s day that he also was confronted by false prophets, prophets the Lord repeatedly said were not sent by Him and were not preaching His word.  “Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.”  When one looks at the beginning of Jeremiah’s book you will find out that the Lord had told him right from the beginning that the people would not listen to him, and this was so upsetting to Jeremiah that he is known as the crying prophet.

 

            In our next SD I want to begin it by talking about Isaiah’s words that he spoke.

 

             9/26/2023 9:10 AM

PT-2 "The Description of False Spiritual Leaders" (Matt. 23:1-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2023 11:00 AM

 

My Worship Time                                Focus:  PT-2 “The Description of False Spiritual Leaders”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 23:1-7

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2  saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3  therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. 4 "And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. 5 "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 “And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi.”

 

            We have been talking about how the Pharisees came into existence, but the truth is that the precise origin of the Pharisees is unknown as they appeared sometime before the middle of the 2^nd century B. C.  During the time of Christ on the earth there numbers were as many as six thousand, as many of them were also scribes, who were suppose to be authorities in Jewish law; but scriptural and traditional.  As we have been studying the book of Matthew for almost four years there have been times when we saw that the Pharisees were by far the dominant religious group in Israel during the time of Christ, as they were most popular to the people of that day.  Now as far as the Sadducees, they were largely in charge of the Temple, however their driving concern was not for religion but for money and power.  Now we move to the Herodians who were a political party who were loyal to the Herod family.  The one we don’t hear of much are the Essenes, and the reason we don’t hear about them much is because they are not mentioned in Scripture.  “The Essenes, which are not mentioned in Scripture were a reclusive sect who devoted much of their efforts to copying the Scriptures, and the Zealots were radical nationalists who sought to overthrow Rome militarily.  Like the Sadducees, the Herodians’ and Zealots’ interest in religion was motivated primarily by desire for personal and political gain.  Consequently, it was to the scribes and the Pharisees that the people looked for religious guidance and authority, a role those leaders greatly cherished” writes MacArthur.

 

            MacArthur then speaks of William Barclay, “who devoted many years to biblical research in Palestine, reports that the Talmud (Sotah, 22b) speaks of seven kinds of Pharisees.”

 

            I will not go to John MacArthur’s sermon on these verses and quote what he says about these seven kinds of Pharisees.

 

            “First, there was the shoulder Pharisee, so called because he wore his good deeds on his shoulder. He paraded the good that he did. When he prayed, he would put something - ashes on his head and he would look sad so everyone would know how pious and spiritual he was. He was the shoulder Pharisee.

            “And then there was the wait-a-little Pharisee. This was the Pharisee who could always come up with a spiritual reason to put off doing something good. He always had excuses, but they sounded very pious. And then there was the bruised-and-bleeding Pharisee who thought it was a sin to look at a woman, and so whenever women were around, he bent over and closed his eyes, and he kept running into walls. And according to the Pharisees, the more bruises you had from walls, the more holy you were.

            “And then there was the humpback-tumbling Pharisee, and the humpback-tumbling Pharisee was called that because he wanted to demonstrate his humility, so he slouched way over and bent his back and walked around all day in that humble position and thought it was wrong to lift his feet, so he shuffled his feet, and he kept tripping on things and tumbling, and he was called the humpback-tumbling Pharisee.

            “Then there was the ever-reckoning Pharisee. He was the Pharisee who kept count of all of his good deeds so he’s know what God owed him in terms of blessing. And then there was the fearing Pharisee who did all that stuff because he was scared to death of going to hell. And then William Barclay suggested there was the God-fearing Pharisee who did what he did because he thought it was right to do it, and he had integrity to some extent. He was the one out of the seven who was a really good guy. And that’s the group to whom our Lord speaks in this chapter and of whom he warns.”

            I hope you enjoyed reading about this group of seven types of Pharisees.

9/25/2023 11:35 AM

 

 

PT-1 "The Description of False Spiritual Leaders" (Matt. 23:1-7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIRY FOR 9/24/2023 7:48 AM

 

My Worship Time                                Focus:  PT-1 “The Description of False Spiritual Leaders”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 23:1- 7

 

            Message of the verses:  “1Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2  saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3  therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. 4 "And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. 5 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 “And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi.”

 

            It is plain to see who Jesus was speaking to as verse one tells us that Jesus was “speaking o the multitudes and to His disciples.”  The religious leaders were also listening to Jesus and in particular the scribes and the Pharisees.”  They were in earshot of what Jesus was telling the crowd.

 

            Here is an important quote from John MacArthur:  “When the Jews returned to Palestine after the seventy years of captivity in Babylon, the Scriptures for a while regained their central place in Israel’s life and worship, humanly speaking due largely to revival under the godly leaders Nehemiah and Ezra (see Neh. 8:1-8).  Ezra was one of the first Jewish scribes in the sense in which the title was used in Jesus’ day.

 

            “An ancient Jewish saying held that God gave the law to angels, angels have it to Moses, Moses gave it to Joshua, Joshua gave it to the elders, the elders gave it to the prophets, and the prophets gave it to the men of the synagogue who were later called scribes.  Over the course of the years, those synagogue scribes became responsible no only for copying and preserving but also for teaching and interpreting God’s law.  There were no more prophets after the Exile, and the scribes inherited the primary role of spiritual leadership in Israel.  In Jesus’ day scribes were found among both the Pharisees and Sadducees but were more commonly associated with the Pharisees.”

 

            The story gets very interesting, as I listened to the sermon that goes along this section in MacArthur’s commentary.  Lord will we will continue to look at and try to complete this interesting story in our next SD.

 

9/24/2023 8:08 AM

 

           

PT-2 "Intro to Matt. 23:1-12"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/23/2023 8:53 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Matthew 23:1-12”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 23:1-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, 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 to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 “They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 “greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 “And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

            I want to begin by stating that Jesus referred to counterfeit religious leaders as “false Christs and false prophets [who] will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible even the elect” (Matt. 24:24).  In Galatians 1:8 we see that Paul called them preachers of a perverted gospel, and purveyors of the doctrines of demons in 1 Timothy 4:1.  Then Peter spoke of them as those who “secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who brought them” (2 Peter 2:1).  In 1 John 2:18, and 22 we see that John called them antichrists who deny that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ.  Let us look at Jude 8 to see what Jude calls them “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.”  When Paul had his last encounter with the Ephesians elders on the beach as seen in Acts 20:29 he tells them that these people are “savage wolves” telling them that they will come in and disrupt the Ephesian church, which they did as seen in Revelation chapter two.

 

            MacArthur writes “The religious pages of major newspapers in our day are filled with advertisements for every kind of sect and false religion, including deviant forms of Christianity as well as cults and the occult.  Many of those groups masquerade as forms for Christianity and claim to teach a new and better gospel.  But while purporting to offer spiritual life and help, they instead teach the way of spiritual death and damnation.  While claiming to lead people to heaven, they usher them directly into hell.”  On my way into the grocery store yesterday I was approached by two young ladies from the Mormon “cult” who wanted to talk to me about their cult, although they certainly did not call it a cult.  Once I saw their sign I told them I go to a church and left.

 

            I have thought that we are certainly getting much closer to the return of Christ in what is called the rapture, and one of the signs of His second coming is that counterfeiters of the gospel will proliferate and ammas to themselves great followings  and immense influence.  This can be seen in 2 Thess. 2:3-4; 1 Tim. 4:3; 2 Tim. 3:1-9; 2 Pet. 2:1-3.  MacArthur then adds “The only time in history equal to what that future demon-inspired age will be like was the time of our Lord’s ministry on earth.  At that time all hell garnered its forces in a three-year assault against the Son of God in a desperate effort to contradict what He taught and to counteract what He did.  It is against the human instruments of that satanic attack that Jesus addresses this last public and permanently instructive message, given near the end of a long and grueling day of teaching and confrontation in the Temple.”

 

            We learned that the dialogue that was between Jesus and the Temple authorities had ended as seen in Matthew 22:46 where we read “no one was able to answer [Jesus] a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.”  What we see in this 23^rd chapter of Matthew was not really uncommon as Jesus had spoken against the Pharisees and other rulers in His ministry earlier.  Here is one example from John 8:44 where Jesus said “"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  In this 23^rd chapter Jesus certainly felt it necessary to go after these false teachers one last time, and in His preaching to them if they would have truly listened then they could have seen that the true message He was giving them could have made a great deal of difference in their eternal existence for if they did not listen, and it certainly looks like they did not listen they then would have gone to hell.

 

            MacArthur ends his comments on this section by writing “It seems evident that many hearts were softened to the gospel that day, including the hearts of some of the leaders.  One the day of Pentecost alone some three thousand souls came to the Lord (Acts 2:41), and it may well have been that eight or ten times that number believed within a few more months, as the apostles “filled Jerusalem with [their] teaching’ (Acts 5:28).  We can be certain that many, and perhaps most, of the converts in those early days had seen and heard Jesus personally and been drawn by the Holy Spirit to His truth and grace.  Perhaps for some, this message was the point of initial attraction to Jesus Christ.”  In the last paragraph I was speaking of the Jewish leaders who had not listened to Jesus and not the crowd of common people who heard Him in the temple.

 

9/23/2023 9:31 AM    

PT-1 Intro to Matthew 23:1-12

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/22/2023 8:20 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  “Intro to Matthew 23:1-12”     

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 23:1-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, 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 to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 “They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 “greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 “And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

            I listened to one of the sermons that John MacArthur preached on this series of verses.  I find that most of the time that when he preaches he will take a paragraph to go over, and sometimes, well many times it may take more than one sermon to get through a paragraph.  I have never liked to listen to what is called “airplane preaching” where a preacher only gives a view from the clouds on different sections of the Bible, and that is why I very much enjoy listening to and reading John MacArthur’s preaching and teaching.

 

            What we have in chapter 23 of Matthew is the very last preaching from our Lord in public sermons.  This certainly is not a sermon on salvation, on the resurrection, or on principles for living the kingdom life, but this is rather a vital and sobering message of condemnation against false teachers.  In the first seven verses He warns the people about false religious leaders who were in Israel, and then in verses 8-12 He admonishes the disciples and other true spiritual leaders not to emulate them, those false teachers.  Next He turns His attention directly to the false leaders themselves, epitomized by the scribes and the Pharisees, and gives them His final and most scathing denunciation in verses 13-36, something we will go over at a later date.  In His closing comments found in verses 37-39 Jesus expresses His intense compassion for unbelieving Israel and then gives the assurance that one day, in fulfillment of God’s sovereign promise, His chosen people will turn back to Him in faith.  I know that for the most part of Israel’s history that this has not happened, but in the future millennial kingdom it will happen for those one thousand years.  I believe that we as a church age are about to see the end as the rapture of the church will end this age, and I have to say that ever since I was saved by listening to what was going to happen in the end times, which was coming up on 50 years, that I have been very, very much looking for the rapture in order to leave this sinful world and be with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for all of eternity, and that is an everlasting eternity.

 

            Now one of the things that we can gleam from this section about false teachers is that there have been false teachers for ever since mankind fell into sin through the deeds of what happened in the garden of Eden when both Adam and eve sinned, which meant that all of mankind are born with a sin nature, which as we have learned comes through the man as Adam sinned with his eyes wide open.  These false teachers pretend to represent the Lord but representing only themselves.  False leaders were active in the rebellious scheme to erect the tower of Babel.  Moses came into serious conflict with the religious sorcerers and magicians of Egypt when he demanded the release of God’s people by pharaoh, who probably considered himself to be a god which can be seen in Exodus 7:11-12, 22; 8:7.  Ezekiel faced the false prophets in Israel, whom God called “foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing” (Ezekiel 13:3).”

 

            It looks like we will have to finish this section on the introduction to these verses in our next SD as we continue to talk about false teachers, and make no mistake there are many in our world today as we will discuss as we go through this 23^rd chapter of Matthew.

 

9/22/2023 9:00 AM

 

           

 

 

                                   

"The Inappropriate Response" (Matt. 22:46)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/21/2023 8:38 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  “The Inappropriate Response”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:   Matthew 22:46

 

            Message of the verse:  “And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.”

 

            The Bible does not say what the results as far as salvation to those who were listening to Jesus as He speaks about the divinity of the Messiah, but perhaps there were people who heard this later on became believers.

 

            The following is what Mark reports in Mark 12:37 “the great crowd enjoyed listening to Him.”  That certainly does not necessarily mean salvation for them, but as stated some may have looked back to this time and then the Spirit of God would convict their hearts and give them an effectual call for salvation.  The truth is that in two days many who were in this crowd would be calling for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as seen in Matthew 27:22.

 

            MacArthur writes “The Pharisees and other religious leaders there that day were dumfounded but not convinced, silenced but not convicted, humiliated but not humbled, reluctantly impressed, but still unbelieving.  Doubtlessly they were thinking that they had been intimidated and embarrassed for the last time by the uneducated, unordained, and in their minds unorthodox rabbi from Nazareth.”

 

            The truth is, and mark this truth, “Self-righteous religion has always been and will always be the greatest enemy of the gospel.  Secularism generally is indifferent, whereas human religion invariably is hostile.” (MacArthur’s commentary.)

 

            MacArthur concludes this section, which is the conclusion of the 22^nd chapter which we began on July 24^th of this year.  “The Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well outside Sychar was the first person to whom He directly revealed His messiahship.  After she commented ‘that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ)’, Jesus then ‘said to her, who speak to you am He’ (John 4:25-26).  That woman trusted in Christ herself and immediately went into her village and witnessed to others, many of whom also believed (vv. 39-42).  But most of the Samaritans did not believe and down through the centuries have not believed.  Today they number perhaps fewer than 500, and, like their Jewish counterparts, they are still looking for a Messiah who has already come.  Like so many people, they failed to believe the truth, though the testimony of Scripture is overwhelmingly convincing.”

 

            Some may be reading this SD and have wondered if what I am writing in regards to salvation is true.  Well I suggest the first thing that you do is ask the Lord if it is true.  God through His Holy Spirit will show you whether or not what I am writing in my Spiritual Diaries is true or not, but don’t be afraid or to proud to ask the Lord if what is found in these Spiritual Diaries is true or not.  The truth is that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the One who came to planet earth some 2000 years ago in order to take the place of sinners as He died in their place, but even though salvation is a free gift from God through Jesus Christ, like any other gift you have to accept it.  Take my word that accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is the best decision that you will ever make in your life even though it may cost you things that are earthly, but heaven awaits all who confess that they are sinners and believe that Christ died for you.

 

9/21/2023 9:06 AM  

PT-5 "The Infinite Reality" (Matt. 22:43-45)

 

SPIRITIUAL DIARY FOR 9/20/2023 8:51 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  PT-5 “The Infinite Reality”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 22:43-45

 

            Message of the verses:  “43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying: 44 ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’? 45 “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”

 

            I want to continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary as we finish up this section.  “The New Testament consistently presents Christ as Son of David and Son of God.  The gospel message Paul preached and wrote about was promised by God “beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:2-4).  Paul admonished Timothy to “remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David” (2 Tim. 2:8).

 

            In his letter to believers at Philippi, Paul wrote,

 

‘5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10  so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11  and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (Phil. 2:5-11).

 

            “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,’ John declared, ‘and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Hither, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14).

 

            “In his classic apologetics work Protestant Christian Evidences, Bernard Ramm gives a series of incisive answers to the question he himself propounds:  ‘If God became incarnate, what kind of man would He be?’  In abbreviated form, six of the answers are:  we would expect Him to be sinless; we would expect Him to be holy; we would expect His words to be the greatest words ever spoken; we would expect Him to exert a profound power over human personality; we would expect Him to perform supernatural doings; and we would expect Him to manifest the love of God.  Of all human beings who have ever lived, Jesus Christ also met all of those criteria ([Chicago; Moody 1953], pp. 166-75).”

 

            This SD ends this section we have been looking at for the last five days.  9/20/2023 9:15 AM