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The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19,20).
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January 24, 2010
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Contents:
1) Hypocrisy of the Pharisees (H.E. Phillips)
2) News & Notes
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-1-
Hypocrisy of the Pharisees
by H.E. Phillips
Jesus pulled no punches when he addressed the duplicity of the scribes
and Pharisees. The scribes were those who copied, studied and handled
the law of Moses. The law of Moses had been divided into
thousands of rules and regulations and strictly enforced by the scribes
and Pharisees. The law required a man to keep the Sabbath day which
would not permit him to work on that day. The scribes and Pharisees
labored to define that commandment to detail exactly what works one
could not do, how far a man could walk on the Sabbath, how many sticks
he could carry, etc. They made sure that no good deeds may be done on
that day. Such scrutinizing and interpretation of the law produced
thousands of prohibitions, requirements, and totally perverted the law
and its purpose as given by Moses.
The name "Pharisee" means "The Separated Ones." The Pharisees
composed a strict party of Judaism that was dedicated to keeping every
tiny detail of the law and every rule and regulation as defined by the
scribes. The Pharisees were dedicated legalists: they determined to
secure their salvation by complete obedience to the Law and all of the
interpretations of the scribes. Synonyms for the term "Pharisee" are
"fraud," "hypocrite," "phony" and "tartuffe." Jesus forthrightly
labeled them "hypocrites" (actors, pretenders) and the reasons were
clearly revealed. If anyone has an idea that he can please Christ while
preaching one thing and practicing another, let him read carefully
Matthew 23.
The denunciation of the Lord came because of the perverted and corrupt
religious practice they had developed. Their sins produced a religion
that
Says But Does Not Do
The scribes and Pharisees occupied a position of authority in teaching
the law and leading in obedience to God. Instead of doing as the law
requires, they commanded others, and then would not even move one of
their fingers to obey the law. The emphasis upon DOING the will of God
is found in many places in the New Testament. Being doers of the word
and not hearers only is the point made by James in 1:22-25. Only the
man who looks into the law of liberty and does the work is blessed in
his deed. Not those who call upon the Lord will be saved, but those who
do the will of the Father in heaven (Matt. 7:21). The wise man who
built his house upon the rock versus the foolish man who built his
house upon the sand, is the difference between just hearing the word,
and hearing it and doing what it teaches (Matt. 7:24-27).
They had built a religion based upon thousands of impossible rules and
hardships which they rigorously imposed upon the people, but they
shrank from doing all these things. Many people today impose such rules
and restrictions upon others and try to bind burdens upon them, but
they personally will not do what is required. They want, however,
credit for their claim to righteousness while doing nothing, thus they
become hypocrites.
All that the scribes and Pharisees did was for the glory of men. They
appeared to be righteous, and dressed for the salutation and approval
of men. They sought the dignified titles and the high places at every
gathering which exalted them above others. They were bloated with pride
and hardened with the arrogance that forged them into the hypocrites
that Jesus condemned. Ostentatious hypocrites occupy conspicuous places
in churches of Christ across the land today. Many of them very closely
resemble the scribes and Pharisees condemned here by the Lord. Mostly
their fault is saying and not doing. Some will preach long and loud
about how we ought to be out converting the world to Christ, but they
spend very little time doing it. Some will talk about how much we ought
to give to the Lord, but they rob God every Lord's day. Others teach
that we must live moral and holy lives, but they are among those who
are guilty of adultery, theft, lying and greed.
The indispensable virtue of humility was totally lacking in the scribes
and Pharisees. Jesus said just before this address to the scribes and
Pharisees, "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he
that shall humble himself shall be exalted" (vs. 12). They sought the
love for worldly acclaim, the applause of men, the disgusting show of
empty piety, and intolerable dispositions. They were morally bankrupt.
They were shamefully deceitful. Little wonder that Jesus proceeded to
pronounce a series of "woes" upon them. "Woe" is a word of solemn
denunciation, of punishment, of divine justice. Their religion
Closed The Entrance Into The Kingdom Of Heaven
The scribes and Pharisees stood in the way and kept people out of the
kingdom of heaven. Their hate, envy, pride and arrogance toward Christ
and his teaching compelled them to resist him with all their might. One
must do the will of Christ to be in the kingdom; he must be "born
again" (John 3:3,5). The kingdom and the church refer to the same body
of people in the same relationship to Christ. They did not accept Jesus
Christ as the Son of God, and therefore rejected the kingdom of heaven.
They used their cunning influence to turn men to themselves and away
from Jesus Christ.
The same class of people were told that they had "taken away the key of
knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in
ye hindered" (Luke 11:52). By keeping people from the knowledge of the
truth, they are kept from the kingdom of heaven. Theirs was a
religion of
Greed and Deceit
The King James Version has verse 14 which gives a woe for devouring
widows' houses. It is found in footnote in the American Standard
Version. This is in harmony with the things Jesus is saying in this
chapter, and I want to include it here. They devoured widows' houses
and tried to cover it with long prayers. Their greed and avarice made
them insensitive to the poor and helpless. Their hypocrisy
produced long prayers, no doubt to be seen of men (Matt. 6:5,7-8), in
an effort to cover their sins. Oh how empty and foolish was their farce
at worshiping and serving God! (End of Part One)
(Part Two)
In a previous article the chicanery of the scribes and Pharisees was
described in some measure. We continue a brief review of Jesus'
exposition of the hypocritical religion of these religious zealots in
Matthew 23.
Their religion was a
Blind Evangelistic Zeal
They compassed land and sea to make a proselyte to their own
traditions, and when they had done so they made him twice as much a
child of hell as they were. A child of hell, of course, means a child
of the Devil, a child destined for hell. Jesus told the Pharisees in
John 8:44 that they were "of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do." A proselyte is a new convert to some religion
or religious sect, or to some particular opinion, system, or party. It
was used in this passage to indicate the conversion of a Gentile to the
religion of the Jews. In the case of the scribes and Pharisees they
were making the proselyte twice as bad as they were by making him
extremely zealous of their foolish perversions of the law of Moses, and
in so doing caused them to despise and reject Jesus Christ and his
doctrine.
Jesus did not condemn the evangelistic activity that leads to the
obedience to the gospel of Christ, but he condemned converting one into
a blind, legalistic, bigoted, ritualistic, hypocritical Pharisee: a
devotee to the blind fanaticism of the scribes and Pharisees.
The burning zeal of some preachers and churches today remind one of the
proselyte of the Pharisees. Such radical operations as Crossroads in
Gainesville, the Boston Church and others of the same color are very
zealous to recruit hundreds of proselytes, who are made more ardent for
the cultists cause than their teachers. In fact, that partly explains
why the system continues to grow in number and financial power. Instead
of making the convert a child of God, he is made a servant and a
supporter of his teacher. It is done in the name of religion. They held
a religion that had
Foolish And Blind Reasoning
The Pharisees gave great detail to ridiculous pettiness of their own
traditions and were fools and blind; they debated that by which they
should swear in a most illogical fashion. They were trying to
distinguish between oaths that were not binding and oaths that were
binding. Matthew 5:33-37 gives the teaching of Jesus on this subject.
They were elevating the gold of the temple above the temple, not
understanding and accepting the greatness and significance of God who
sanctified it. They were portraying their stupidity and absurdity by
saying that the temple did not amount to anything in an oath, but an
oath by the gold of the temple makes one obligated to fulfill that
oath. Such reasoning leads many to believe that unless they make an
oath, they may say anything without charge of lying.
Their Religion Evaded Responsibility
They separated some details of the law, which they should do, but
ignored some important things and left them undone. Their sin was in
stressing the tithe of insignificant plants and neglecting the
condition of the heart. They were charged with paying tithe of small
aromatic garden herbs, "mint, anise, cummin," and neglecting the more
significant things of the law: "judgment, mercy, and faith."
Jesus said they strained out the gnat, and swallowed the camel. They
stressed outward appearance and purity of tiny detail, and were corrupt
and sordid inside. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit,
neither can a vile and evil heart bring forth righteousness. The
Pharisees with all their glamour and outward piety were blind
spiritually and walked from an unbalanced bias of grace, law and
righteousness.
Their Religion Concealed Its Filth And Impurity
They cleansed the outside of the cup and platter, but left the inside
full of extortion and excess. Again the Pharisees emphasized the
external or ceremonial deeds of the law, as interpreted by their
traditions, and ignored the real sense of the law upon the heart. It is
clear that Jesus is talking about washing the dishes as a ceremonial
duty, but filling them with moral and spiritual rot and filth. The food
on the inside of the cup and platter was pictured as having been
obtained by extortion and excess; stealing from widows and orphans,
defrauding all with whom they had dealings, filled with moral
corruption, and imbibing of their loot with excess. That was the real
filth on the inside of their cup and platter. The conversion of
the heart to honesty, truth, purity and righteousness would clean the
inside of the cup and platter, and thus make the outside of the dishes
clean in doing those things of ceremonial nature. Jesus orders them to
"first cleanse that which is within the cup and platter, that the
outside of them may be clean also." Their religion was
Dead and Rancid
With the next woe Jesus pictures the scribes and Pharisees as they
really are in character. They are described as whitewashed tombs that
appear beautiful and clean on the outside, but inwardly they are filled
with dead men's bones and rotting flesh, a loathsome scene. Jesus
plainly said this meant that they outwardly appeared righteous to men
(that is what they really sought 6:1-6), but inwardly they were full of
hypocrisy and iniquity: deceit and lawlessness. The veneer of their
material glamour and glitter, with the beautiful deeds of their legal
tradition, covered hard hearts of unbelief, void of love and compassion
for any but themselves. Their religion was
Built Upon Murder And Deception
The last woe concerns their hypocrisy toward the prophets and the truth
to which they prophesied. Before the scribes and Pharisees, his
disciples and all the people, Jesus used the most scathing denunciation
and judgment against this zealous and outspoken religious sect of the
Jewish religion ever recorded in the word of God. They were building
beautiful and elaborate tombs for the dead prophets, which their
fathers had murdered, and disclaiming their fathers for the evil
deeds. They said if they had lived in the days of their fathers,
they would not have been partakers with them in the blood of these
prophets. At the time this was being said, they were plotting the death
of Jesus. As Judas was told to do what he had planned to do, and Balaam
was told to "Go with the men," Jesus told these despicable men to "Fill
ye up then the measure of your fathers." They were soon to deliver him
up to Pilate to have him put to death. Jesus used the strongest
metaphors to describe the evil and danger of the scribes and Pharisees:
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation
of hell?" They were guilty of the murder and severe punishment of the
prophets, and were then planning the murder of Jesus. It is impossible
for men to sink to a lower level than that of these religious
hypocrites. We must take heed lest we fall into the same condemnation
as these men. If we become like them and do their deeds, we will be
under the same sentence as they were. The Lord of glory will say unto
these, depart from me ye workers of iniquity into the lake of fire
prepared for the devil and his angels.
-- Searching the Scriptures (Part 1: Aug 1988, vol. 29, no. 8; Part 2:
Sept. 1988, vol. 29, no. 9)
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-2-
News & Notes
Let those of us who are Christians be praying for the family and
friends of Betty Whiteman
(Bill Crews' sister of Clarksville, Texas) who passed January 20.
She had been born in Big Spring, Texas, December 24, 1930, and had been
a member of the church of Christ.
Let us also keep in prayer Eloise
Craver (who is undergoing therapy for hip surgery), Shiela Watts (who has been having
back trouble), Ed St. Clair (who
is also having back trouble), Janice
Ragsdale (who was not able to be with us recently due to
sickness), and Marian Edwards
(my mother who has been receiving hospice care for almost 3 months).
It was reported last week (in the News & Notes) of Angel Lombrage's family in Haiti,
who had all lost their homes. One uncle had been killed and
another left in critical condition. Angel's youngest sister (age
25) was also killed. His wife's brother is a student in
Port-au-Prince, but there has been no word from him. Here is an
update from R.J. Evans (received 1/27/10):
Dear Friends,
I spoke with Angel Lombrage this afternoon concerning his family in
Haiti. He talked with one of his brothers last night. He
has one brother who is missing, and two of his nieces are in critical
condition. His brother reported that his mother is not doing well
-- due to her grief over the loss of her children.
Angel is so appreciative of all of you who have sent assistance and
notes with words of encouragement. Each time I speak with him he
expresses his deep gratitude for his brothers and sisters in
Christ. Angel is a very gracious, humble young man.
Also, please continue to remember Angel and Jasmine's daughter,
Gabrielle, in your prayers. She has been in the hospital over
seven months now. Jackie and I saw her a few days ago. She
is in ICU in the Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge. She weighs
eleven pounds. She has to have oxygen up to 95% -- the normal
number is 40%. She has had two eye surgeries with over 1,200 laser
hits. She has had heart surgery to repair a valve. She will
need a procedure much like an angiogram in the near future. Due
to having taken so many drugs, she has developed hyper-tension.
There is still no definite date for when she will ever be able to go
home.
So as you can see -- Angel's "plate is full." Your prayers for
this family are greatly appreciated.
Yours in Him,
R.J. Evans
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The Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation
1) Hear the gospel,
for that is how faith comes (Rom. 10:17; John 20:30,31).
2) Believe in the
deity of Christ (John 8:24; John 3:18).
3) Repent of sins
(Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in Christ
(Rom. 10:9,10; Acts 8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water
for the remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4;
Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet. 3:21).
6) Continue in the faith;
for,
if
not,
salvation
can
be
lost
(Heb.
10:36-39;
Rev.
2:10;
2
Pet.
2:20-22).
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CHURCH OF CHRIST
201 Rushing Road (at the Hampton Inn), Denham Springs, Louisiana
70726
Sunday services: 9:15 AM (Bible class); 10 AM & 4 PM (worship)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520
tedwards1109@gmail.com
http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go
Directions:
Take the Denham Springs exit (exit 10) off of I-12. At the end of
the exit ramp, turn north. Go about a stone's throw to Rushing
Road. (You'll see a Starbucks, Circle K, and two other gas
stations; with each on each corner.) Turn left on Rushing Road,
and go less then 0.3 of a mile. Hampton Inn will be on the
right. We assemble in its meeting room, which is very close to
the reception counter.
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