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
No comments:
Post a Comment