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
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