Fighting With Religious Spirits 3

Introduction

Summary: One of the greatest hindrances you will encounter in your Christian walk is that of the religious spirit. Religious spirits endeavor to interfere with the free flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

One of the greatest hindrances you will encounter in your Christian walk is that of the religious spirit. Religious spirits endeavor to interfere with the free flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives. They can be hard to discern simply because they are religious; they are pious, even hyper-spiritual. Their influence can spread through every aspect a person’s life and church like yeast in a lump of dough. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 16:6

Matthew 16:6 ESV

Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

The religious spirit is a demonic spirit that influences a person, or group of people, to replace a genuine relationship with God with works and traditions. When people operate out of a religious spirit they attempt to earn salvation by adopting nonbiblical beliefs, traditions and customs.

At the early part of Jesus’ ministry, He gives seven blessings on the righteous. Matthew 5:3-10 we find the portion of the Sermon on the Mount which is the Beatitudes. It is the first of the Five Discourses of Matthew and takes place shortly after Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist, finished his fasting and spiritual battle with Satan in the desert. In this message Jesus says to the righteous “Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, they shall be comforted, shall inherit the earth, shall be filled, shall obtain mercy, shall see God, and shall be called the sons of God”.

Near the end of His ministry, He declares eight woes on the unrighteous or self-righteous Pharisees Matthew 23 13–31 because WATCH THIS: - They shut up heaven, took advantage of widows, misled men to eternal destruction, were covetous of worldly things, refused to show compassion, were inwardly corrupt and afflicted the righteous.

Shut Up The Kingdom of God

Religious Spirits Put On A Show

False Disciples And Spiritual Sons

SCRIPTURE: - Matthew 23:1-31 focus verses 13 -31.

THE FOURTH WOE:

BLIND GUIDES AND FOOLS

The 4th woe extends from verse 16 to verse 22.

Matthew 23:16–22 ESV

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

Here Jesus focuses in on the Pharisees inability to lead the righteous. He labels them as blind guides and fools that have no spiritual understanding of the Word of God.

UNDERSTAND: - A religious spirit can never lead people into a greater walk with Jesus because one cannot take someone to a place that one has not already been.

The Pharisees were teaching that if you swore by the temple or by the altar, then you were not bound to keep your word. But if you swore by the gold of the temple or by the gift on the altar, then your word was binding. Isn’t it just amazing how the love of money corrupted their decisions? They were legalistically splitting hairs, and they were placing the emphasis on material things rather than upon the spiritual purpose.

WATCH THIS: - I came across in my studies - If a Pharisee says, I swear to you by the temple that this is so and so, that oath is not binding. If he says, I swear to you by the altar in the temple of God, that oath is not binding either. But if he says, I swear to you by the gold of the temple, that oath is binding. This sounds like they had things backwards, but it is deeper than you understand. According to the Mishnah, the Jewish book of law, there is a section that deals with the technicalities of oaths. It is explained like this, if a Pharisee says to his friend, I swear by the Torah that I will give you $5000, he does not have to give him a cent. It is only when he swears by the content of the Torah that he is bound to keep his oath. So, if the friend was not aware of that, he will never get the $5000. And yet, the Pharisee thinks that he is right because in his mind, it is the other person's responsibility to know that an oath by the Torah is not binding. If you do not know enough of the Pharisaic teaching, it is your problem. It is too bad for you. In other words, they would manipulate and twist the word (LAW) to benefit them.

Have you ever manipulated or had the word of God manipulated to benefit you or someone else purposes?

Deceiving people for the purpose of acquiring something or having someone do something is a wrong thing to do. God Himself does not manipulate us into doing His will, so why should we?

That said, there are some Christians who manipulate the unsuspecting and the naïve. There are some Christians, on the other hand, who didn't want to manipulate people, but their actions and words still are deceitful and manipulative. Either way, we should be careful with them.

Jesus called them “blind guides” because of their self-righteous obsession, they were unable to see their own shortcomings. Modern day Pharisees are the same. They are often the busiest in church activities, the most spiritually sanctimonious, and the quickest to see the fault in others; however, they often have heinous pride and secret sin hiding behind their masks. Make sure you are not ensnared by the spirit of the Pharisee. Be humble and strive to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth John 4:24. Find your righteousness in Christ, not in your religious performance.

WATCH THIS: - Sometimes people manipulate like this – by using the name of God to make people believe what you say. There are some who use God's name to convince people to believe them, or simply listen to them. When a person keeps saying God said or thus says the Lord every time, they start explaining something, be careful. The Lord Jesus Himself said that many will come in His name, but they are fakes. They don't deserve our ears.

Always quoting the Bible to back one's claim - Another way some Christians manipulate others is by using God's word to back their claim.

They twist the word to fit them which leads to their destruction.

2 Peter 3:16 ESV

as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Greedy ministers are also another example. They keep talking about tithes and offerings using Malachi 3:10 in order to get more money. They say things like you sow little you get little when it comes to money like you are buy God’s grace.

Acting religious to make people think you are God’s best friend. They act religious to hide their struggles and failures. When they commit sin, for example, they start talking about grace and God's forgiveness. But when someone else falls, they suddenly focus on holiness and God's judgment. These people are operating under a religious spirit.

THE FIFTH WOE:

LEGALISTIC HYPOCRITES

Matthew 23:23–24 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

They Pharisees have a meticulous concern for detail but leave out the most important biblical principles. Tithing, like the swearing of oaths, is a matter covered by the Jewish law. It was used to keep up the temple and to provide for the priests. According to Leviticus 27:30, 32 and Deuteronomy 14:22-23, explains how tithes were to be paid on the produce of the land (corn, oil, wine and fruits) and on cattle. The Pharisees expanded the tithe to all crops, including garden plants such as mint, dill and cummin. These types of plants were grown only in small patches for a family's use. The Pharisees would extend the tithe to even encompass these small plants. Jesus did not object to that practice as such. What He condemns is the unbalanced religiosity which gives great attention to the relatively insignificant rules but misses out the things that really matter. The Pharisees are being criticized for not devoting the same level of care to working out the most important matters of the law as they do in their tithing of herbs.

What are those more important matters in Jesus' mind? Justice, mercy, faith. Justice, mercy, faith. These are the things that the Pharisees should have given priority to. Jesus' statement is very close to Micah 6:8 where the prophet makes true religion as consisting of three elements.

Micah 6:8 ESV

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Having the right sense of spiritual proportion is necessary in making possible the righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees Matthew 5:20

Matthew 5:20 ESV

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

THE SIXTH WOE:

FULL OF EXTORTION AND EXCESS

In woe six Jesus exposes the religious sin of extortion and excess.

Matthew 23:25–26 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

This woe deals with another weakness of the Pharisees: their exaggerate concern for outward cleanness. The Pharisees were quite obsessed about the cleanness of utensils in matters of ceremonial purification. At first, it seems that the woe is addressing the strict ritual cleanness practiced by the Pharisees in their use of various cups, vessels and containers. But when we read that the inside is said to be filled with extortion and self-indulgence, it becomes clear that the cleanliness of objects is an example for moral cleanliness and that the inside and outside of the vessel deals with inside and outside of the person.

When you look at him, from the outside, he seems to be a particularly good person. He is very presentable. He looks very spiritual. He wears these phylacteries on his forehead and on his arm. And he has very long tassels dangling at the corners of his garment. We are impressed by his appearance. But what about the heart of that person? Well, it is not good at all. Jesus said that inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. The Greek word for extortion is harpage. It is also translated by the words, greed or robbery, and refers to the act of seizing something with force.

The outside is clean; the inside is dirty. It is possible to appear righteous outwardly while in fact that appearance hides an inward uncleanness. It was the outside that concerned the Pharisees, for it was the outside that was seen. So, they were careful to wash the outside very well. The inside is not seen by men. There was no incentive for them to pay attention to it. They left the inside dirty. They were full of extortion and self-indulgence. As with the tithing, they put the emphasis in the wrong place.

Jesus was condemning them for appearing clean on the outside while the heart that we should pay attention to is corrupt. It is the inside that should be cleaned. Once the inside is clean, then the outside will be clean. Verse 26: First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. A clean heart will lead to a clean life. This principle is the same that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 15:11

Matthew 15:11 ESV

it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

It is the inside of a man that determines his behavior. It is the heart that determines what a man does.

The cup represents one’s life. Don’t misunderstand Jesus. He is not saying that the outside of the cup should not be clean. However, the emphasis should never be on the outside of the cup only while we neglect the inside (the heart).

So many times, people are more worried about the outward appearance they do not take time to worry about the soul. I grew up in the church and so many times I remember people cared more about what a person wore instead of the way the treated people.

Have you ever been the victim of the letter of the law? Has anyone ever manipulated you with Scripture? Have you ever attended a church that was beautiful on the outside but inside there was no spiritual life? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you have seen the operations of the religious spirit.

THE SEVENTH WOE:

PRETTY TOMBS

In woe seven we learn that the religious spirit is nothing more than a pretty tomb.

Matthew 23:27–28 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

It was commonly believed that if anyone could get into heaven, if anyone were righteous, surely it would have to be the Pharisees. Why? Because people were looking at their supposed pious and religious works. But Jesus called them dead, full of hypocrisy and iniquity. He then went on to say that they were full of uncleanness, which means they were full of impure motives and lust. One can only imagine the impact of such statements that Jesus made. No wonder they wanted to kill him.

If you are ever in graveyard and see all the different grave markers and tomb stones. Some are covered with beautiful carved granite, some have deeply sentimental remarks, along with the date of birth and death of the person. There are other graves that are enclosed by marble structures that look like they should have an armed guard standing outside of it because it looks like something from Fort Knox. Although they are visually impressive structures on the outside inside, they are all filled with dead bones.

A whited sepulcher is just a pretty tomb. It looks nice but it is nothing more than a house for the dead. Jesus compared the whited sepulcher to the religious spirit that outwardly appears righteous but inside is full of hypocrisy, iniquity and spiritual death. We see beautiful multi-million-dollar buildings, some that could even compare to the great Sistine Chapel but, sad to say, inside they are full of dead bones.

A story my father has told and I even have used in my preaching down through the years. A man went to a church, he didn’t have a nice suit, no shoes on his feet, he hadn’t bathed in a while, and he was just dirty. He walked in and found a seat in the front row. The pastor looked at him in disgust and motioned for the deacon to take care of him. The people of the church all starred at him and mumbled in disgust. The deacon made him sit in the last row of the church but people could still smell his body odor and were offended by it so the deacon escorted him out of the church and told him not to return until he cleaned himself up and had some nice clothes and shoes. As the church door shut the man sat on the steps crying because the place he needed for comfort and understanding rejected him. While he was sitting on the steps crying Jesus came and sat down beside the man, put His arms around him and said “Don’t worry about it my friend they won’t let me in there either”.

Have you met the person that respects the great revivalist of history but disrespects those who have the same revivalist spirit today? Do you know people who have embraced Christian philosophy but not Jesus, the founder of Christianity?

THE EIGHTH WOE:

A MURDERING SPIRIT

Finally, woe number eight reveals to us the shocking murderous heart of a religious spirit. This is Jesus’ final and most stern declaration.

Matthew 23:29–34 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,

Jesus taught us there is a murderous motive in the heart of the religious spirit. The religious talk about how they love our forefathers great men of God, preachers, evangelists, and missionaries that were denounced and ridiculed while they were alive, but today are often honored yet these same religious spirits are the very hindrances to contemporary revival. These same religious leaders that were honoring the prophets of the past were soon to crucify the very Son of God who was speaking to them.

Have you ever or are you operating under a murderous religious spirit that will not let go of traditions and the rudiments of men, that murder the desire in people to move to the next level in God, that desire a closer walk with God, that just want to be used by God. Then you have been affected by a religious spirit.

CLOSING: - The Pharisees Spirit operates by a check-list mentality. They are addicted to rules, ritual, and religious regulations. The problem is not that they do religious things, but the problem was that they did religious things without a right heart relationship to the Lord. As they checked boxes and completed meticulous and elaborate lists of religious requirements, they missed the true meaning of the law. Their task-oriented religion inoculated them to truth. The same thing has seriously infected many today. There are many professing Christians that seem to be dominated by a busy, performance and elaborate entertainment religion, that offers sugar coated story telling pomp and deprives people of knowing what it means to abide in Jesus and He in you John 15:4-5.

John 15:4–5 ESV

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

If you find yourself affected by ones that know what to say, but do not do what they say. They preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, so hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They practice their faith to be seen by others. They keep people from Jesus and his grace. They add their convictions and traditions to the word of God. They lack love for people in need.

I have literally one piece of advice - Come out from the rulership of religious spirits and make sure you have a real relationship with God.