- araratchurch
- Jun 7, 2023
- 3 min read
“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Psalms 19:12-14 NLT
Jesus wrecked the world of the Jewish religious leaders of His day by presenting a righteousness far exceeding their way of being and doing.
““You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever murders shall be guilty before the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice against him shall be guilty before the court; and whoever speaks [contemptuously and insultingly] to his brother, ‘Raca (You empty-headed idiot)!’ shall be guilty before the supreme court (Sanhedrin); and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of the fiery hell. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who [so much as] looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28 AMP
Yesterday we discussed the fact that Jesus called the religious leaders hypocrites because their righteousness was only superficial: They “pretended” to be righteous when their hearts and minds were full of evil intent.
Clearly, Jesus takes the concept of righteousness to the level of intent, to the level of thoughts, affections, and emotions. Indeed, the inner world of the person (thoughts, affections and emotions), will be judged along with how the person presents themselves outwardly.
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.”
Colossians 3:1-6 NLT
In these words to the Colossians the apostle Paul references the importance of the aligning of the inner person with the Person of Jesus Christ. Indeed, all “lurking” (hidden) sin must be put to death!
But now we face the question: How can I do that very thing?How can I ever be aligned with the Lord’s measure of perfection by putting to death all my sinful ways? How can I kill my lurking sin?
In our opening scripture we see David presenting this question to the Lord: “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?” He then appeals to the Lord to cleanse him of these things.
Happily, God through Jesus Christ had a plan to reach man’s inner depths, a plan to bring the help man needed to truly be aligned with the Lord in every aspect of his being!
We’ll talk more about God’s solution for man’s “lurking” sins tomorrow.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Jun 1, 2023
- 3 min read
“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.”
Matthew 23:1-5 NLT
After having begun the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, the Lord turned to reminding the people that they are to be salt and light to the world: salt to the world by demonstrating God’s way of being and doing (righteousness), and light by proclaiming and living according to His truth.
Jesus then explained to the people that He had not come to undo the Law, but to fulfill it (accomplish its purpose). Then he said this:
““But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
Matthew 5:20 NLT
So, this proclamation from the Lord begs the question: What was the righteousness of the Pharisees? And, what kind of righteousness would exceed their righteousness?
Let’s begin by answering the question concerning what the religious leaders counted as righteousness.
In Matthew 15 we see that the scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus and challenged Him as to why His disciples did not do ceremonial washing before they ate. Rather than answering that question, Jesus asked His own question concerning their hypocrisy in terms of not honoring their father and mother by refusing to supply their needs. Apparently, they did this by saying that their money was holy, set apart for the temple.
You see, they used something in their traditions to keep from having to fulfill their obligation to their parents. And, we can take the Lord’s reaction to this practice as indicating that they were NOT contributing those funds to the temple, but spending it on what they wanted, rather than helping their parents.
Then the Lord quotes a passage from Isaiah:
“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ ””
Matthew 15:7-9 NLT
In this exchange with the religious leaders (concerning the fact that His disciples did not do ceremonial washing before eating), the Lord points out their hypocrisy: They made a big deal of something that did not really matter (hand washing), while ignoring the actual purpose of the Law: doing what was right. Indeed, the Lord put their practices this way:
“Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!”
Matthew 23:24 NLT
In our opening scripture we see Jesus bottom-lining what was wrong with the righteousness of the religious leaders with this statement: “Everything they do is for show.”
Knowing the hearts of the religious leaders, Jesus gave this commentary on their spiritual condition:
““What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Matthew 23:25-28 NLT
Remember, people can be fooled by outward appearances (and often are fooled), but the Lord—Who sees our hearts—will always know when it’s just for show.
Tomorrow we will begin looking at the kind of righteousness that DOES exceed that of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- May 31, 2023
- 3 min read
“And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark! “The Lord can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on!””
Isaiah 29:13, 15 NLT
God’s people were always going astray. Although He had clearly given them His guidelines for their living, they always seemed to slip into some sort of idolatry and sin.
It was in this context that the Lord promised a day when things would be very different.
“”But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Jeremiah 31:33 NLT
The Lord spoke of a time when His way of being and doing—rather than being written on stone—would be written on human hearts. Yes, His people would serve Him from their hearts!
So the question comes to mind, what was wrong with the human heart?
The Lord, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, offers this commentary concerning the condition of man’s heart:
““The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.””
Jeremiah 17:9-10 NLT
Looking at the first part of this scripture in another translation we see the condition of man’s heart put like this:
“Crooked [is] the heart above all things, And it [is] incurable — who doth know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9 YLT98
Sadly, fallen man had an incurable, indeed, terminal, heart condition.
When man originally broke from God’s instruction, he became not only a dead-man-walking, but also now had a heart that was hardened—or closed—to the Spirit of God. And as such, the heart had become terminally sin-sick.
In the Old Testament we see instances of people being moved on by the Spirit of God, people who loved the Lord, but in whom the Holy Spirit of God did not, could not, continually and permanently abide.
When Jesus’ disciples misunderstood His warning to them about the leaven of the Pharisees, He asked them this question:
“But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?”
Mark 8:17-18 NKJV
Jesus saw firsthand from a human perspective the heart problem even His closest disciples had.
As well, we know that Jesus knew that the heart of man could not be trusted:
“Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.”
John 2:23-25 NLT
In our opening scripture we see the Lord saying that in terms of the worship and obedience of His people, they talked a good game, but their hearts were looking somewhere else.
Jesus actually quoted part of this scripture in His commentary on the religious leaders of His day. We will talk more about that tomorrow.
Peace to you. Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!