Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Andrew and I do a lot of seasonal work out in the woods. One evening, we were anxious to get home for supper. I was driving back on our three wheeler, probably going a little faster than I should have, because I didn’t notice the small little branch leaning over the narrow trail. It was only a tiny little twig, but as I drove by it, It swatted me right square in the eyeball. Maybe some of you have had this happen to you, but I guarantee you it didn’t feel very good. My eye immediately started to water and weep and I couldn’t even see out of it. That night when I finally went to bed, my eye was swollen and completely bloody and blurred, unable to focus and unable to see.
This reminds me of the Christian life
When you have a small twig hit your eye, you really can’t see where you’re going. The Lord Jesus taught that some of the religious leaders of his day were blind leaders of the blind, because they had a huge log in their own eyes. It was a log of self-righteousness, rather than the righteousness that comes through faith and love for Christ. They only desired to be religious on the exterior, rather than becoming transformed in their own hearts. They were very jealous of Jesus, and only wanted to find some fault with Him, rather than judging themselves.
Matthew 7:1-5 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
The religious leaders of Jesus day were judging Him, because they were hypocritical fault finders. The simple definition of a hypocrite is a two-faced person. They appear one way on the exterior, but on the inside of their heart, they are the complete opposite. There are numerous examples found in the scriptures of people who were filled with religious hypocrisy, who only wanted to find some kind of fault with both the Lord Jesus, and His disciples.
Luke 20:20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
Let’s look at another example.
Matthew 12:1-8 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
When we are baptized by submersion into the Christian life, we begin a new walk as a born again believer. We are in the process of transforming and converting into what God wants us to become. You might make a misstep along the way, but this is why God provided us with forgiveness. We can come boldly to the throne of grace in time of need. The church is filled with imperfect people who are beginning to be perfected by the truth. Remember that the Apostle Peter was chosen by Christ to lead the church, but he made some mistakes along the way too. He felt very penitent about the wrongs that he had committed, but he did go to Christ Jesus and got forgiven and restored. The church is led by sinful people, but there is a difference between a sinner who feels bad about something that they have done, and a hypocrite. A hypocrite does not believe in their heart in scriptural truth, which would lead them to a place of contrition. They may sit in a church pew, and hear the Word of God preached, but they really don’t believe the things that they hear, because of which, there is no inward penitence. Because they don’t believe in God’s Word inwardly, they won’t confess their faults and get forgiven by Christ and others whom they have sinned against. A hypocrite is not sorry for anything.
Luke 18:10-14 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
The proud Pharisee is an example of a hypocrite who had a huge log of self-righteousness In both of his eyes. On the other hand, the Apostle Peter was not a hypocrite. He was a sinner like then rest of us, whos heart was in the right place. He made a mistake in his life that he regretted, but got forgiven for it, and went on to do the thing that Christ called him to. A hypocrite won’t do this, because they don’t believe in the truth enough to repent and be converted inwardly. They want to maintain their religion and the relationships that they’ve developed with others in a church, but on the inside, they could care less about the way that they live. Their hearts simply are not broken enough to feel inward sorrow for the misdeeds that they have committed. They feel no godly sorrow, that would lead them to undergo a heartfelt transformation. Instead, the religious things that they do, are not motivated out of an inward love for God, but out of a love to be seen.
Today, these blind leaders of the blind still exist, filled with prideful religion on the exterior, but refusing to accept the fact of the sinful lives that they continue to live in. Instead of pulling the log out of their own eye, they are blindly focused on someone else, and their….
……… One Little Twig
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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