Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

THE SIXTH WOE:

FULL OF EXTORTION AND EXCESS

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

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?