Danger of Hypocrisy PT. II
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Intro:
Intro:
- Last week we started looking at Jesus’ interaction with the religious leaders on His last week on Earth. You remember that the religious leaders were threatened by Jesus.
- Threatened by who He claimed to be and what HE taught. Jesus’ claims of being the Son of God, of being the Messiah and of speaking for God, was a direct assault on the way of thinking and way of living for these religious leaders.
- Remember that these religious leaders of the time sought to gain a right standing with God based on them keeping laws and rituals. There were over 600 laws at the time that the Jewish person was to follow. So a person could feel good about themselves if they were keeping certain rules.
- This made its way into a person trying to appear holy and Godly. If a person dressed a certain way, or if a person gave certain appearances then people would assume that they pleased God.
- Jesus addressed this heart these people had, who focused on making themselves look like they were holy but were not, and while they looked religious on the outside, their hearts were far from God.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Transition
- So the big question is......
HOW DO WE PLEASE GOD?
- the religious leader thought that with their many works they were pleasing God. Yet God is not pleased with just our works but HE is pleased with a heart that is broken and surrendered to Him
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
- God wants a heart that is in love with Him and puts Him as the priority in their lives and as a result…. They do good works from a thankful heart…. This is the reason we serve people in church, it is not because we want to please God, or because we want people to think we are spiritual, but we serve God because we are thankful for what HE has done for us. He has saved us and rescued us and given us grace, the least we can do is to give our lives to Him and serve Him.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
-Transition
- The lives these Religious leaders were living was a lie, a double life… their outward lives looked like something , but their hearts were something completely different. Jesus addressed this and called them “HYPOCRITES”.
- Jesus would be asked 3 different questions with the attempt to trap Him. Remember that the attempt was to shut Jesus up, to get rid of Him because He was a danger to their way of living.
- And we started looking at what a hypocrite is and the danger of becoming a hypocrite. We looked at a few things that were evident in these religious leaders that created a life that was a lie.
1. The fear of man creates Hypocrisy
2. The failure to know the word of God and the power of God creates Hypocrisy
- today we will look at the 3rd question these religious leaders had to trap Jesus and we will continue to look at what can create a life of Hypocrisy, the result of Hypocrisy and the opposite of Hypocrisy
WHAT CAN CAUSE HYPOCRISY?
I. FAILURE TO KNOW GOD CAUSED HYPOCRISY(V.28-34)
A. The man Asking the question (v.28)
- now there have been different groups involved in questioning Jesus. We have seen the Pharisees who were the more conservative leaders, we had the Herodians and the Sadducees who were the liberal leaders, more flexible with the word of God and the interpretation of it.
- Here we see that a man was listening to the questions being asked and after he came to Jesus to ask a question.
- this man was a scribe.
- We read in the Bible that scribes were the official scholars of the oral and written law and the instructors and interpreters of it (Mark 1:22). They preserved the Scriptures by copying it carefully and meticulously.
- he was as close to God’s word as you could be. And as he sat and listened to Jesus answer the trap questions that these religious leaders posed, it tells us that “he perceived that He answered them well”.
- in others words, what Jesus spoke was accurate according to the law of God. And so with this in mind….. this scribe comes and asks Jesus what law is the best out of all the 613 different laws that were practiced during this time.
B. Jesus Answers the question (v.29-31)
- Jesus responds by quoting what is called the “SEHMA” . This was a command found in Duet. 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
- this was such an important command that the verse would go on to say that they are to ….
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
- the command was to love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. The implication was to love God with every part of you. That He would be your priority in life, that you would live for Him. This is what God longed for His people , this is what God longs for us now.
- that we would love God with all of our hearts, with every part of who we are. That we would speak about Him , that we would live by His words….
- no where in this verse does it say that God desired for the people to go out and keep rituals , and to pretend to be holy….. God wanted the hearts of the people to be in love with Him.
Transition
- now Jesus also gives a second law here…. He tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Within these two commands, to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourselves …. The whole law would be fulfilled.
- we have all heard the 10 commandments right. Well when you break these out,
the first 4 commandments deal with our relationship with God.
1. Thou shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images. (Exodus 20:4-6)
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. (Exodus 20:7)
4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)
Last 6 commandments deal with our relationship with people
1. Honor your father and mother. (Exodus 20:12)
2. Thou shalt not murder. (Exodus 20:13)
3. Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
4. Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15)
5. Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)
6. Thou shall not covet your neighbor. (Exodus 20:17)
- Jesus was literally saying that in if you Love God with all your heart and if you love people as yourselves…. You will fulfill the 10 commandments which was God’s law to His people
C. The Response of the Scribe (v. 32-34)
- The scribe listened to what Jesu said and he agreed with Him. HE tells Jesus “ you have spoken truth”.
- but I want us to see what Jesus said to him. “You are not far from the kingdom of God”.
- think about what Jesus is saying to him. This man is someone who knows the word of God. He studies it, he writes it, he memorizes it , if there was anyone who people would think knew God , it would be this man….. and yet Jesus tells us that this man is not is not far from the kingdom.
- in other words Jesus is saying this man is close to knowing who God is but he is not there yet.
- as we look at how a person becomes a hypocrite…. We see that not knowing God causes a person to be a hypocrite.
- it is possible to be so close to God and still be so far and not know Him. And this is a danger to us as Christians, this is a danger to you as you have grown up in the church. You have grown up listening to the bible, you have gone to church your whole life…..
- you can say you are so close to God….. and yet you can be so close and still be so far from having a personal relationship with God and actually knowing Him.
- as we see here, it is not how much you know that makes a difference , it is who you know…..
- this is what these religious leaders did not understand. They knew the law, they kept the law, but did not know the God of the law. And because of this , they lived a life that was a lie.
- you and I can deceive ourselves because we have grown up in the church to think that we know God. You and I can only know God when we give our lives over to Him and enter into a relationship with Him. Ask God into your hearts.
Transition
- In 2 Chron. 25 we see a King by the name of Amaziah. We are told that he became king and did what was right in the sight of God, but not with a loyal heart. Or his heart was not faithful or loyal.
. 2 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart.
- how does a person do what God has called him to do and still have a heart that is not loyal to God? This can happen when a person begins to focus on just doing things that he feels will please God , doing things that he is supposed to do, but never gives his heart to God, never surrenders his heart to God.
- Just like coming to church, reading our bible, going on retreats….. we can do all these things that we think will please God….. and still have a heart that is not surrendered to God, we can be close to God and still not know God.
II. FAILURE TO HEAR GOD CAUSES HYPOCRISY (V. 35-37)
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool” ’?
If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.
Gives us a bit more insight into what is happening. We see that as these religious leaders were gathered , Jesus now asks them a question. “WHO is the Messiah”
- the leaders would answer “the son of David”
-now you have to understand that the religious leaders all thought that the Messiah would be a man who would come to deliver them from the Roman empire. They did not think that the Messiah would be devine or God , or that the Messiah would be God.
- So Jesus is asking them a good question which is trapping them now. All these religious leaders agreed that the Messiah would be from the line of king David. This is what the different prophecies said.
- So Jesus knowing this is turning this around and saying … if the messiah is the son of David, or just a man….. how then did David write in PS. 110:1 which is about the Messiah…. Saying “the Lord said to my Lord”….
- in other words, God is speaking to the Messiah as an equal or as God.
- in Matt. 22:46
46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
- these men could not say anything in return. But , we are told here in verse 37. ...... that the common people heard Him gladly.
Transition
- I thought it was interesting that the word common was used here. There is a contrast in the two groups of people were are looking at .
- We have the religious leaders who do not consider themselves common, but consider themselves holy and Godly and better than everyone else because of the things they do and don’t do….. yet they would not hear Gods word spoken to them
- and we have the common people who were looked down upon and yet these are the ones that heard God’s voice gladly.
- what causes us to become hypocrites … is not hearing the words of God.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
- tells us that the bible is the very word of God , He spoke the words that inspired the writers.. These words were written so that we would believe in God, so that we could receive His Son in faith, so we could see who God is and so we could know how to live.
- The bible is God speaking to you and i. This is why it is important to read the bible daily in your lives. God wants to reveal Himself to you more and more daily and to speak to you . But we have to be willing to spend time with Him in His word and to listen and obey His words.
- a Christian who is living a double life, is a person who has refused to hear and to obey the words of God found in the bible.
III. Warning Against Hypocrites (v. 38-40)
- Jesus now gives a warning about becoming like these religious leaders. And gives us insight into what they are like or how we can notice them
- want to look religious
- love to be noticed
- want to be at the center of attention
- take advantage of people
- like to make themselves look Godly but are not
- this is what motivates these people. They may try to appear like they are Godly people, but there are selfish intentions in the thing they do…. They are motivated by self, and making themselves look good to others thinking it may get them a better position, or title, etc….. they don’t really care about others.
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 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. 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. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.
- Jesus tells us not to follow the thing these people do. Not to be self focused , or self motivated….. or to try to appear to be something that we are not. God doesn’t care about the outward appearances and works, He cares about our hearts.
Transition
- but Jesus not only warns us not to follow these people, but He warns us as to why….. because they will receive greater judgement.
- we don’t have time to get into the judgements of God. But in a nutshell there are two different judgements that all [people will face when they die.
- the Great white throne judgement- which is where those who have not placed there faith in Jesus will have to answer to God. Judgement will be given and they will be cast into hell. Revelation 20:11-15.
- the Bema seat judgement is where believers you and I will stand before God and everything we have done will be cast into the fire to judged. Only the things that were done for God and with the right motive will be the things that will last.
2 Cor. 5:10, 1 Cor. 3:11-15
- either way we will all have to stand before God. And either we will not have a relationship with God and pretend we do and we will face judgement or we do have a relationship with Him yet we did things for the wrong motives or didn’t have the right heart and will miss out on rewards… we will have to answer to God.
- I would hate to stand before God and while everyone at church thought I was a godly person, for God to look at me and say … it was all fake….. your heart was never with me, that would be devastating. So these are warnings Jesus gives us that are serious and we should listen.
IV THE HEART OF THE SURRENDERED (V.41-44)
- Here we see the complete contrast. We see a woman who the world would look like as being nothing …. Yet in God’s eyes she was everything because she gave everything she had to God.
- she literally gave all that she had.. which shows the level of love she had for God , a love that surpassed her own pyshical needs.
- this reminds me of a love a parent has for a child, where they sacrifice all of themselves because of the love they have for this child.
- that is what you see in this woman. A surrendered heart in complete love for her God who gave all she had.
Remember the story in John 12, where the day before the Jesus would enter into the City of Jerusalem riding a donkey, He was at the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. And we see that Mary took this very expensive oil and broke it and poured it out on the feet of Jesus and would wipe it with her hair.
- this was a picture of true worship. And this worship done right with the right motive has a way of influencing others, we are told that the fragrance of the oil filled the room.
- so while these religious leaders were trying to have people notice them , and were living a double life and were fake…… both Mary and this woman were noticed by God and their sacrifice had a way of truly influencing others and of pleasing God.
SO the Question we need to answer is …
HOW DO I PLEASE GOD?
BY SURRENDING MY HEART TO GOD, ASKING HIM INTO MY LIFE, READING AND OBEY HIS WORD, LISTENING TO HIS VOICE, AND PRAYING TO HIM……
IF WE CAN DO THESE THINGS, WE WILL PLEASE GOD AND INFLUENCE THE WORLD AROUND US.