God Loves… Himself

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 23:2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

In some denominations evangelism is considered to be a sign of salvation and the greatest work that a person can do. People who are not trained and have no theology at all are sent out to evangelize. Others will stand on the streets preaching through various instruments which project their voices calling people to say a prayer and make a choice. It seems to matter little whether a person believes in a confession or a creed or not, evangelism is thought to be what spiritual people do. It would appear from the text above that the scribes and Pharisees thought much the same thing as well.

When we look at the matter of evangelism, there are but a few approaches that can be taken. In fact, there are only two approaches (broadly speaking) that can be taken. There is the approach that teaches men that they can do something and then there is the approach that teaches men that God must do something. While there are similarities between the two in many ways, the reality of the matter is that they are vastly, vastly different. The approach that focuses on man and teaches man that he must do something essentially leaves man in his own power and ability. The approach that focuses on teaching men that they are in the hands of God and that He must do something attempts to show men that they are in the hands of God at all points and in all ways.

Those who go to great efforts at missions and evangelism and yet leave men in their own hands are going to have a lot of false results and will actually be doing just what the scribes and Pharisees did. They will make men twice the sons of hell as they are. The devil is proud and self-sufficient, so he is always working that in his children whether they are religious or not. The devil wants his destiny to be in his own hands and so he works that in his own children. The devil wants to do things his own way and make his own choices, so he works that in his own children. This is precisely what those forms of evangelism did in the days of the scribes and Pharisees and that is precisely what that form of evangelism does today. It leaves all the power and ability in men and tells them that they are sufficient to do what God wants them to do. In other words, it leaves men with the same fallen nature that they had and simply tries to make them religious. A man can be the most religious person in the world and yet apart from a new heart that person is as vile as anyone on the planet if not more so.

True evangelism does not look to have great numbers and does not look for particular results that can be seen by men. True evangelism teaches men that God must change their hearts if they are to be converted. As Jesus taught Nicodemus in John 3, a person must be born from above (again) if that person is going to see or enter the kingdom. Who can cause this new birth? It is God alone by His Spirit who can do this. Who alone can work a new work of creation and make men new creatures in Christ? It is God and God alone. True evangelism points men to God who alone can give them new hearts and make them new creatures. False evangelism points men to their own choices and wills and so men are left to their fallen natures to become religious according to those fallen natures. This is to say that men become more and more like the devil as they become more and more reliant upon self and pride to be religious. False evangelism makes men like the scribes and Pharisees in that they persuade men to trust in themselves and their own religion rather than look to the Sovereign God to save them by grace alone.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 23:2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

What we must see from verses 13-15 is that the way we evangelize, whether from the pulpit or from other methods and ways, matters. It is not that we can throw theology out of the window when we evangelize, for if we are wrong in our theology and our Gospel we can shut off the kingdom of heaven from people and be part of making people twice the son of hell as we are (if we are hypocrites). If we are hypocrites, whether we are orthodox or not, then woe to us. If we are hypocrites, whether we have the right creed or not, then woe to us. If we are hypocrites and evangelize in a way that makes people twice the sons of hell as we are, then more woe to us.

Evangelism is a very serious issue and it does not make one a Christian and it does not prove one to be a Christian. In fact, when reading the text above evangelism is a dangerous issue for both those doing the evangelism and those being evangelized. Evangelism, rather than proving that we are Christians, can be demonstrative evidence (for those with eyes to see) that we are not Christians. It seems from the text above that false evangelism can be instrumental in making people twice the sons of hell as those who wrongly evangelize. For the sake of emphasis, it needs to be repeated that we must understand that evangelism is a very serious business.

The Gospel is not an easy message as it requires balance. If one goes off on one side, one is a legalist. If one goes off on the other side, one teaches easy believism. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed a Gospel of grace alone, but it is also a Gospel that requires true repentance and a change of heart. However, it must be clearly stated that it is grace that grants the repentance and it is grace that changes the heart. When evangelism leads to false professions of faith, it will produce either legalists, moralists, or easy believism of some sort. When evangelism is practiced in a false way, it will encourage people to do what God requires in their own strength rather than look to grace alone to do the work.

In a very interesting and important work from years past, it was pointed out that when men are deceived about salvation and come to a form of assurance of their salvation in their deceived state, it is rare for them to come out of that deception. This deception is incredibly dangerous. “Picture to yourself the deceived professor on his death-bed. He fears no evil—even to the last he retains his confidence and remains calm. He dies. It may be, exulting in hope—but where is he? Instead of finding himself in heaven, he is in hell! Instead of mingling with the spirits of the blessed, he is associated with the lost!” (Self-Deception: Its Nature, Evils, and Remedy).

The book from the previous paragraph goes on to show us that we are prone to self-deception because of the state of our own hearts. By nature we are children of wrath and are given to self-reliance and a trust in our fallen nature. While we are dead in sins and trespasses, we are so prone to judge ourselves by those around us rather than the truth of God. In our pride who choose self instead of God and love self rather than God. We want to hear a message where we can retain our sufficiency and control, so we are so prone to deception. But a false gospel that gives false hope can never truly convert souls. Instead of converting souls, false gospels leave sinners in the death and darkness of their own hearts. Those who are in that condition now have religious pride to keep them chained in the dungeon of death and darkness. False evangelism, which builds on the pride and self, is a deadly delusion and it is found in so much religion today.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 23:2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

The words of Jesus in the Scriptures are so clear that pride is such a danger in the religious realm that one would think that all who read the Bible would grasp the great danger of it. The scribes and the Pharisees did not, though they did not have the New Testament Scriptures, but they did have the Old Testament Scriptures which are crystal clear on the subject as well. For example, Proverbs 8:13 gives us the mind of God on this issue: “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.” Jesus spoke directly to the scribes and Pharisees and told them that they were shutting off the kingdom from others and that they were not entering in either. How politically incorrect and intolerant would that be thought of in our day?

Just after Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that they were not entering the kingdom and keeping others out, He revealed the real issue with their evangelistic practices. He started off by telling the scribes and Pharisees that they were hypocrites. He said “woe” to them because they were hypocrites and because of what they were doing. These men who were proud of their religion would travel across land and sea to make one convert. But when the person became a convert, Jesus said that they made that person twice the son of hell that they (scribes & Pharisees) were. These were and are harsh words (in any day) except that they were spoken by love incarnate. Those men needed to have an arrow pierce their hearts and reveal the truth of all their proud works. These men needed to see just what their evangelism produced. Their evangelism (so to speak) did not produce lovers of God and true converts to God, but instead their evangelism simply made men worse in terms of growing in their being sons of hell.

Here we see what the pride of the heart of man does when it is not broken and changed by God when it is granted a position as a leader and/or what it does in evangelism. A proud man cannot preach the true grace of God and a proud man cannot tell other men how the heart must be humbled and broken because God only gives the humble true grace. Oh how this should teach us that men must have some true humility and not a false humility of pride when they become teachers and leaders in the professing Church. A false or pseudo-humility is nothing more than a proud heart covering its pride in a false and deceptive humility. Jesus, who was perfectly humble, was thought to be proud by the proud religious leaders. We must beware and seek the Lord so that we can see the true differences between these things. The world and the flesh twists and changes these things and when worldly and fleshly thinking controls in the professing Church, those things are twisted there as well.

Imagine what would happen to a professing church when its evangelism would produce nothing but false converts and make them twice the children of hell as they were before. Think of the horrors of pride that would lead men to increase their own damnation by their evangelism and blind others and contribute to their damnation as well. Oh, we think today, anyone can evangelize. That is true, but can just anyone evangelize in ways that point people toward the true Christ in true ways? When even the most religious men in the days of Jesus were hypocrites who practices a false way of evangelism, do we really think we can escape that as well? Are men less proud today? Has external religion lost its ability (so to speak) to make the proud heart even prouder, though perhaps the real question is whether the human heart has lost its ability or not to use religion to grow and increase its pride. Can it be denied by any true seeker of Christ that the evangelism of our day has made men stronger in their being children of hell? Can we really deny that the modern practice of evangelism has blinded proud hearts to the truth and many have been hardened to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ? We must be concerned about true evangelism and not just because it gets people in the door of the professing churches and so they can give money, but because false evangelism contributes to the damnation of all concerned. It is that serious.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 23:2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

In the passage in Matthew 23 we see the very heart of the scribes and Pharisees as Jesus takes them to task for their false and proud religion. He exposes it for what it is and exposes them for what they were. The truth of the matter is that He also exposes every human heart as well. Each human being has something in it that is like the scribes and Pharisees. How proud the human heart is by nature, though that natural pride is often hidden underneath civility and niceness. How proud the human heart is of its intellect, its morality, its religiosity, and of any other thing that it thinks can distinguish it from others. The proud heart thinks that it has done what it has done and does what it does by its own strength, smarts, morality, and endeavors.

In verses 2-3 we see the great dangers of those who trust in church leaders and false theology. Those who trust in church leaders can be seen by millions who trust in popes, cardinals, and priests to tell them what the Bible says and to give them grace in the sacraments. While it is true that God has given the Church leaders, He has not given it rulers who are to be trusted in. He has given it teachers and leaders who are to point to Christ. This is why leaders must be humble rather than proud. A proud leader will use the position to point to himself and will exalt in the power and attention. A proud leader will use his position to obtain money and seek more authority. A proud leader will seek self in all he does and use the name of God to do so. The proud leader takes the set of Moses (teacher and leader) and think of himself and his position as a way to exalt his wisdom and learning. The proud leader, on the other hand, may be blinded by pride to his pride and even deceive himself into thinking that he is humble. When the proud person takes pride in his humility, oh how dangerous that man is.

What the proud leader does not care to notice, however, is that Moses was the most humble man on earth (Numbers 12:3). A man who takes the chair of Moses should be more like Moses in humility than the devil in pride. The humble leader recognizes who he really is and so he seeks the Lord in prayer for wisdom and more humility. The humble leader recognizes the pride in his heart and labors against it. The humble leader seeks the Lord for understanding of the Scriptures because there is no one else who can give it to him. The humble leader seeks the true good of the flock as opposed to his own exaltation. The humble leader seeks the humble Christ to live in him and manifest His glory through him.

A huge problem with proud leaders is that in their pride there is blindness and in that blindness of pride they will twist the Scriptures and give the people false ways of salvation and/or how to please God. This is exactly what the scribes and Pharisees did. They were blinded by their pride and so set out ways of salvation and of seeking God for themselves and were ways to exalt their pride rather than ways to save them. Those ways were set out for the people as well and as such those ways kept the people from seeking the Lord in truth. It is true that proud men deceive themselves, but proud men deceive others as to the Gospel of grace alone as well. God opposes the proud, most certainly, and one way He does that is by blinding the proud to the Gospel and of grace. Apart from grace alone there is no Gospel and the proud are blinded to that. As the scribes and Pharisees were blinded to the true Gospel of grace alone in their day, so are so many blinded to the Gospel of grace alone in our day. Yes, there are many who manage to bring a work or works into the Gospel, but there are also those who cry up free grace and have no clue as to what the grace of God really is and how it works. There is great danger in pride for all on the earth, but pride in the professing Church is so wicked and dangerous. Oh how men should seek the Lord to show them their pride that they may be delivered from deception themselves and then from deceiving others.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus applied this verse to prayer, giving to the poor, and then to fasting. In reality, though, we can be sure that Jesus meant this to apply to the whole of the Christian life. Whether it is the most religious thing we think we are doing or something we consider small, we are not to do any act of righteousness before men with the intent to be noticed by them. We are to live unto the Lord and to do all out of love for Him and His glory. Whether we eat, drink, or whatever we do we are to do all to the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). Doing this to the glory of God means we have to watch our hearts to be sure that we are not doing them in order to get the attention, approval, and honor of men.

It is important for men to carefully look to the Scriptures and look to what they actually say and imply rather than twist the Scriptures to make them controllable and understandable to the fallen mind. Whenever a person reads or studies the Scriptures, that person will either twist the Scriptures to fit his or her understanding and loves or that person will repent and seek grace to become like the truth of God in Christ who shines forth in the teachings of Scripture as the Spirit gives light. Theology and practice should not be separated, though indeed they can be distinguished. The scribes and Pharisees twisted the Scriptures to fit what they wanted and that meant that both their theology and practice were wrong. Today, the same thing is true. Men want God to be cool and to be relevant and so they twist the teachings of Scripture to fit what they have in mind. Heresies abound, false gods abound, and sin abounds in and out of the professing churches. But heresies are not seen, false gods are thought to be the true God, and sin is not understood to be sin as long as the Scriptures are twisted.

Preaching can be seen as a way of practicing righteousness as well. When preachers are not lovers of the true God and the manifestation of Himself in Christ, they become men who twist the Scriptures. They can deceive themselves into believing that because they preach and use the Scriptures in preaching that their preaching is an act of righteousness. However, as long as they preach for self and is an attempt to gain the attention and honor of men, they are not preaching out of love for God. Preaching in a way that is an attempt to get men to notice or to gain honor from men is nothing less than idolatry. Preaching is the way God has ordained for His glory to be declared, not a way for men to exalt themselves. Preaching should be a way of exalting and boasting in the cross of Christ and not a way of men to boast and exalt of themselves.

All that a person does is either for God or for self. All that a person does in religious things is either for God or for self. When a person does acts of mercies, those acts are either done out of love for God or out of love for self. But, it is argued, those acts are done for the person receiving mercy. The person receiving mercy does have some benefit, that is true, but the person doing them has an ultimate intent and motive. It may be that the person feels pity in some way for the person, but if the person shows mercy simply because of the feeling that person’s actions are done in an effort to make self feel better. It is also true that if the act of mercy shown is not done out of love for God primarily, then it is still done out of love for self.

Pride and self are such pernicious things in the soul of man. They turn man to live and do for self and yet blind men to the fact that they are doing all for self. Pride will move us to do an act of righteousness (so-called), yet pride will also blind us to the fact that we are seeking the attention and honor of men in doing what we are doing. Pride also deceives us into thinking and believing that if we have done something good, then we are good. Pride will blind us to our motives in the external acts of good and then convince us that we must love God because we are doing these things. Our pride will convince us that if we love God by doing what we do, then assuredly God loves us as well. While it certainly appears that many are deceived by that chain or proud-hearted reasoning, it is deadly to the eternal welfare of souls. Pride leads us to doing acts of righteousness and thinking we are converted because of them. The scribes and the Pharisees were deceived by that, and it appears that many are today as well.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

In the Lord’s Prayer we are taught by Jesus in the first petition to pray for God’s name to be hallowed and glorified. That is a vital part of prayer and is the first order or priority of prayer, but the Pharisees were more concerned to pray (see previous post) for their own glory. This is to say that they prayed in a way to get the attention and honor of men rather than to seek God. Their prayers was a seeking of self and to hold self up in a way to get honor from men rather than pray for the honor and glory of God.

The scribes and the Pharisees basically had a religion that used God to gain things for themselves. True enough they had the Old Testament Scriptures, but they did not understand the spiritual meaning in the slightest. The same thing is true regarding fasting as well. A fast was meant to be an aid in seeking God. Over and over we are told in the Scriptures that we are to fast and pray. The Psalmist prayed “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.” The scribes and the Pharisees fasted and prayed, at least by the intent of their hearts and actions, “unto me O LORD give glory, but to Your name may it be ignored in reality while I get all the glory.”

What we see, then, is the turning of true Christianity which is to do all out of love for God and do all for His glory into a system of self-love which was to do all for the glory of self. The scribes and Pharisees, though indeed they did many outward actions that were in line with the external commands of Scripture, had turned everything backwards into a religion of self and pride. How arrogant and proud a person must be to do all for his own glory while pretending to do all for the glory of God. Fasting is a means of humbling a soul that it may pray, but the scribes and Pharisees used that as something to be proud of and to build their pride. The very heart of Christianity is the humility of man and the glory of the grace of God, but the scribes and Pharisees were caught up in using the things of God for their own pride and selfish ends.

The scribes and Pharisees would fast and look gloomy and have a disheveled appearance in order that men could tell that they were fasting. Jesus says to take care of your appearance so that men will not notice that you are fasting and the fasting in secret (before men) will be seen by God. This is very instructive for the modern day as well. There are many forms of fasts that churches do and all of these become common knowledge, but those are not what is called for in Scripture. It is true that in the Old Testament there were days of fasting when a judgment was coming upon them, but those were not common. But once again, the important issue is the heart. Even if there is a public fast called for that does not mean that a person has to go around looking like s/he is fasting. It is to be done unto the Lord and Him alone. There are times of fasting called for in our day and then there is a mean supplied for those who have fasted at the end of it. When people go to that meal, it is a public declaration that they have been fasting.

The pride of the human heart is enormous and it is consistent. Men love to distinguish themselves and they love to get the attention of others for about anything, but for some reason this appears even greater in the things of religion. Jesus tells us very clearly that fasting is to be done in secret (hidden from men) and that is the kind of fasting that pleases God. However, it is clear that if all we are doing is seeking self rather than God secret fasting is not what is called for. The proud heart will take and twist the things we are given as means to seek God and use them as means to seek honor for self or simply seek God to give things to self. Pride deceives the heart.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

The scribes and Pharisees were proud men and in that they had become proud of their religion and of their holiness. When an unconverted heart achieves a level of holiness that it thinks most others cannot attain to, it will be proud and insufferably proud at that. Thus, as with alms, the prayers of these men became a way for them to gain the attention and honor of men.

II Chronicles 7:14 gives us the proper order of prayer. 1. A person must be a child of God in order to truly pray. 2. A person must humble self in order to pray. 3. True prayer is a seeking of God’s presence (face). 4. True prayer is a humble person seeking the face of God and is also a person turning from his or her wicked ways. But the scribes and Pharisees were the exact opposite of this. 1. They were not children of God, but instead they were children of the devil. 2. They did not humble themselves to pray, but instead they were filled with pride as they “prayed.” 3. They did not seek the face of God in prayer, but instead they sought the attention and honor of men. 4. Instead of turning from their wicked ways, they were encouraged in them by their hypocritical “prayers.”

What is so clear from this is that the prayers of the scribes and Pharisees were nothing but acts of pride and self in seeking themselves. They were not praying to God, but instead they prayed to themselves: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get’” (Luke 18:10-12). The prayer that Jesus described in the text above (Matthew 6) is precisely that of men praying to themselves instead of God.

But surely that type of prayer has been exposed and no one is guilty of that today. Or perhaps it is more common today than in that day. We can pray wanting others to notice our theological acumen, our fervor, our knowledge of spiritual things, our humility, and our heart for God. When we “pray” and we are not seeking the face of God for the glory of God, we are seeking ourselves in prayer. When we pray, even for apparently spiritual things, we can simply want others to see how spiritual we are. We can pray wanting others to notice us for many reasons, but if we want the attention of others we are not seeking the face of God.

But our wicked hearts are so deceitful that we must be careful when we go into our closets. We can desire to go into our closets to pray and yet do so in an effort to be able to tell men about what we have done. We can go into our closets out of a secret pride and in an effort to show our self-righteousness to self and God. Since men are men, though that seems obvious, we can try to impress ourselves by our prayers rather than God. We might even be foolish enough to think that we can impress God with our prayers.

The heart of man is so deceitful and no one but God can show man the depths of his own heart. We should seek the Lord in poverty of spirit and a good sense of our inability and helplessness in prayer and ask Him for grace in order to pray. The natural heart cannot pray this way and neither can the regenerate heart truly pray apart from Christ and apart from Christ. We have no sufficiency of our own to pray or do any spiritual activity in the slightest. We must have grace to do any spiritual activity as we can only do what we do from the flesh or from the strength of grace. True prayer must be moved by grace and out of love for God. True love for God can only come from God.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

In this passage the point is that men should not do their acts of righteousness or practice of righteousness in the presence of men in order to be noticed by them. The text goes on to specifically point out that when giving to the poor one should not sound a trumpet, whether in the synagogues or in the streets, in order that men would honor them. While it is not exactly clear that the scribes and the Pharisees would indeed sound literal trumpets when they were about to give to the poor, the point is that they did what they could do to gain the attention of men so that they would be honored in what they did. While the Pharisees may have sounded trumpets to gain attention, the main point is that men can give to the poor in a way that is an effort to gain honor for what they are doing.

If we have eyes to see it should be crystal clear to us that the scribes and Pharisees were vile and wicked men in their pride because they would rather that men would notice what they were doing than God. The pride of these men is seen in that they did not really wish the well-being of those they were giving money to as much as they wanted to be honored by men for what they were doing. Not only that, but these men were so wretchedly proud that they would give to the poor wishing the attention and honor of men rather than the glory of God. When men will do religious acts in order to get men to honor them rather than honor God, those men hate both man and God and are also making themselves out to be idols. What they are doing is really worship and love of self rather than the love of man and worship of God. What they are really doing is doing all for their own glory rather than the love of God. They are also taking sides with the devil who always does what he does for himself rather than God. The evil in religious actions that are done for self rather than true love for God is beyond the human comprehension.

If we boil the religious actions of the scribes and Pharisees down, what we see are men who are slaves to their own pride and self and as such they try to use the things of God in a way where they are honored as men of God while they serve the lusts of the flesh. Unregenerate man will always do what he perceives is in his best interest and that is always his fleshly interests. It is true that men will go to great lengths to do things that appear to be spiritual, but they are blind and dead to spiritual things so they are in some way serving the flesh in what they do. The pride of these men blinded them to their idol of self and so all that they did was in service of self which is to be at enmity with God rather than being in the service of God.

But what does this have to do with us today? We must get it in the depths of our souls that no religion and no work or works can help us in the slightest as long as we are in the flesh and still in our pride and love of self as our controlling love. The absolute and utter necessity of the new birth where the flesh of man is taken away (as to controlling man as a slave) and man is given a new heart where by the Spirit man can love God and can do a work by the strength of grace out of love for God and man.

We also must learn that our own pride will deceive us just as it deceived the scribes and the Pharisees. It is almost certain that in the modern day there are countless numbers of people deceived as to their real spiritual state. Many of those are attending organizations that think of themselves as liberal churches, but are not churches at all. Others attend professing churches that hold to conservative creeds in doctrine and are also conservative in morality, yet they take pride in those things and are blinded by their pride to their pride. Their pride deceives them and they are a lot like the scribes and the Pharisees, though they would condemn them in words, as they live in the flesh doing religious activities saying they are in the name of God while in fact they still are dead in sins and trespasses.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Matthew 21:10 When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” 12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.” 14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?”

In this passage the pride and self-centeredness of the scribes is obvious. These were men who did all their religious actions to be seen of men, but then Jesus came along and spoke harsh things about them. This same Jesus who condemned them entered Jerusalem and the people cam out in droves to see Him. Not only did the people come out to see Him, but He cast people out of the temple and yet healed the blind and the lame who came to Him at the temple. What we have is a contrast between what was going on at the temple between those that the scribes and the Pharisees supported in making money and Jesus who healed the blind and the lame. We also see that Jesus said that the temple was to be a house of prayer, but instead the traditions of men had turned it into a robber’s den. Then, of all things, when the scribes and the chief priests saw all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing, they also had to endure the children crying out to Jesus “Hosanna to the Son of David.”

This was more than the pride of the scribes could take. They were indignant at all of this and wanted Jesus to shut the children up. In His response to them, however, Jesus was pointed and even acidic. Certainly they were insulted when one that was not schooled as they were asked them if they had never read part of the Scriptures which they had great pride in being experts in. Jesus did not just simply correct them, He went after their pride and self-centeredness. He exposed the hearts of these religious leaders for all to see if they have eyes to see.

Proud men do not like to see those who oppose them do well. Jesus was doing very well at getting the people to recognize Him and they called Him a prophet. The proud hearts of the scribes did not want Jesus to get the attention and they did not like Him to be called a prophet since they were the experts with the Law of God. Oh how we should look at the proud hearts of the scribes and how they must have fumed inwardly and hated Jesus at times like this. Oh how they wanted to be seen of the people and honored by the people, but here was that unschooled man named Jesus who was being honored by the people instead of them.

The scribes and the Pharisees were later very involved in the murder of Jesus. We can see how events like these would have the hearts of the scribes blinded by that hatred and by His comments to them. We can see how it would be to proud men that the people loved Jesus and not them. It would hurt their pride when the people thought of Jesus as prophet and did not value them as they thought Jesus should. They were blinded toward Jesus because of their pride and self-centeredness and their great blindness enabled them to plan the murder of Jesus and to do so with great relish. But we must not stand in judgment of the scribes without looking to our own hearts. We must bow to the living God and ask Him to deliver us from pride or we will be deceived by our own proud hearts. We must realize that our own hearts may rise in indignation when others get recognition and we don’t. The scribes were deservedly denounced for that they did, but we must turn the mirror to look at our own hearts as well. We are of the same nature as the scribes and we can be blinded by pride too. Pride is a great sin and a sin that blinds us to ourselves and other sin as well. We must seek the Lord for humility that we can see the things pride has blinded us to over and over again.

Jeremiah 8:8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.

Mat 19:3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” 4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, 5 and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH ‘? 6 “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” 7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. 9 “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” 10 The disciples said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.”

The pride of the hearts of the Pharisees can be easily seen in their testing Him and wanting Him to agree with their traditions. But Jesus answered their traditions according to the Scriptures. He also answered them in a way that would prick their pride and point out their ignorance of the Scriptures. He did not just speak to the issue in an objective way, but He pointed to the pride of their hearts and their reliance upon tradition rather than Scripture in His responses to them. This is not something that men do today, but this is how Jesus dealt with the religious leaders (hypocrites) during His time on earth in bodily form. From this we can learn that it is not wrong to point out to men when they go astray, but since Jesus was Love incarnate it was in line with perfect love to do so.

The Pharisees were essentially asking/testing Jesus regarding His views on divorce. The question they asked Him reflected their views which was based on their tradition. They fit in quite well with the modern scene in which divorce was allowed (at least for the men at that time) for about any reason that the man wanted. But Jesus went straight to the nature of marriage and of how the man and the woman were joined and as such they were one flesh. Jesus then pointed out that it was God that joined the two together and made the two one flesh and that what God had joined together no man was to separate.

This was not according to the tradition of the Pharisees and so they pointed to some words of Moses (Deut 24:1-4) where said it was a command of Moses to simply give the woman a certificate of divorce and send her away. Jesus went straight to the point of contention, which was really tradition versus Scripture and the pride and self of man wanting to follow his sinful heart rather than God. The Pharisees said that Moses commanded them, but Jesus said that Moses permitted this because of the hardness of hearts. But Jesus pointed to the hearts of the Pharisees and said it was “because of hardness of your heart.” The difference between the tradition of the Pharisees and the words of Jesus are polar opposites.

Jesus then went on to show the real teaching of the Word of God. While Moses permitted divorce for any reason because of the hardness of the hearts of men, which many say that men in that time were killing their wives so that they could marry another, the foundational teaching is that apart from immorality there is not a biblical reason for divorce. The disciples were astonished and thought it was better not to marry since that was the case.

But what is so obvious in this text, as Jesus explains it, is that proud and selfish hearts in the time of Moses were permitted to divorce their wives and it was not commanded to do so. The scribes and Pharisees had taken something that Moses permitted at one point and twisted it to fit what their wicked hearts wanted. The Word of God, however, was ignored by the scribes and Pharisees in order to live as their selfish heart pleased. The problem is the same today. Proud men are twisting the Word of God to fit their desires and finding commands where there are no commands and permission where there is no permission. When men twist the Scriptures, whether to make it more legal or more libertine, it becomes a tradition built on a proud heart rather than the Word of God.