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Post by tlsitd on Jul 16, 2018 8:46:32 GMT -5
Some reflections on the ministry of John the Baptist.
Who was John the Baptist sent to? Was it the wicked, Godless nations who were worshiping idols? No. He was sent to God's own people---to the people who had the laws and the worship of the one true God.
And what sort of prophet was he? In whose spirit and power did he come? Elijah's.
Why would God send a prophet like Elijah---a prophet He raised up during a time of idolatry in Israel, when the people of Israel had killed the prophets of God and torn down His altars, and were worshiping Baal---to the Jewish people who were so apparently different from their Baal-worshiping forefathers? They had the temple---more beautiful than ever; they were very religious, and claimed to be worshiping God, and were zealous for His Law (or at least for their teachers' interpretation of it).
But God did not send John to commend them, to praise them for their piety and tell them that God was pleased with them and was going to bless them. He sent them a prophet like Elijah to:
"...Turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God...to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared." (Luke 1:16,17)
Isn't this a peculiar thing for God to do and say? Why would He send a prophet like Elijah to His own people to turn them to the wisdom of the righteous and to prepare them for a Savior---to turn the hearts of their fathers to them? Shouldn't they have already been righteous? Shouldn't they have already been prepared to receive their Messiah, as religious and zealous for their religion as they were?
They were the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; yet they did not have the heart of their fathers.
As Jesus said: "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you seek to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did." (John 8:39,40)
No; they did not have the hearts of the patriarchs. But they did have the hearts of their wicked, Baal-worshiping fathers:
"...The people of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." (1 Kings 19:10)
(The martyr Stephen later testified similarly that the apparently religious, "God"-worshiping Jews always resisted the Holy Spirit and were uncircumcised in heart and no better than their idol-worshiping fathers who had killed and persecuted the prophets. And they proved it by stoning him to death.)
God did not see what people saw. Men look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Men saw the religious appearances, the apparent zeal for God and His law, the beautiful temple with its various rituals and ceremonies, the teachers of the law in their flowing robes. If any people knew and loved God and were righteous in His sight, surely it was the Jewish people---anyone looking on from the outside must have thought (and so the Jews themselves believed and prided themselves on, as the religious Jews do to this day).
John the Baptist threw a wet blanket on their zeal. He told them that they needed to repent in truth, and that their outward appearance of righteousness, and their natural descent, were nothing in God's eyes, and would not save them from His judgment. The people whom God had chosen came to John and were water baptized by him as an outward sign and declaration of their true repentance---an appeal to God for a good conscience toward Him. They were not trusting on their righteousness from the law, or their relation to Abraham; they knew they were sinners and needed a Savior and the mercy of God, and they received John's message, and later received the Lamb of God who John pointed to.
And all the people that heard him (Jesus), and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. (Luke 7:29,30)
God knew exactly what He was doing sending a prophet like Elijah to His people, because He was not looking at the outward appearance, but at the heart, and He was concerned with the truth. And most of the people of Israel were not worshiping Him in spirit and in truth, but according to their own imagination and the teachings of their elders, and they were disobedient, and uncircumcised in heart. Despite all of the outward appearances, they needed to repent. They did not have the heart of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and they needed it.
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." (Malachi 4:5,6)
If the Jews did not repent and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, to be justified by God by faith, as their fathers had been, and obey God and do His will, as their fathers had done, they were going to fare the same as the Godless nations they prided themselves on being more righteous than.
"Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Luke 3:8,9)
Now think on this, brothers and sisters. The same thing that was true of the people of God in the time of John the Baptist is true now. Every branch that does not bear good fruit is broken off and withers, and will be gathered up and burned (John 15:4-6). It does not matter how many big and magnificent church buildings there are in the land. It does not matter how many "great works" are being done "for Jesus". It does not matter what we sing. It does not matter if we wear conservative clothing (not that that we shouldn't dress modestly but modest clothing isn't going to conceal an impure heart from the eyes of God.) We have all the things that the Jews had in John's time; and the things that John warned them of, and Jesus after him, are applicable to Christianity at this hour as they were to Judaism then: Just substitute the doctrine of the New Testament for the law of Moses.
Can't you hear the people of God today saying, "We have God as our Father." And what do you think John would say to them?
In light of the example of the Jews in the time of John and Jesus, and in light of the appalling apostasy of "Christianity" today, which has followed the example of Judaism---from the time of Moses to the time of John the Baptist---maintaining a form of Godliness while denying the power thereof---if God were going to send prophets to His people at this hour, do you think they would be proclaiming blessings? Or would they be preaching: "Repent! The axe is laid to the root of the trees! If God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you! To obey is better than sacrifice!"
As religious and zealous as the people of God in John's day were, they were not a people prepared for the Lord; they were a stiff-necked people who resisted the Holy Spirit. And He rejected most of them. Likewise today, most of the Christians who think that they are prepared for the Lord's return are not prepared, and will be rejected by Him when He comes. Jesus Christ is coming back for a pure Bride, not a whitewashed one.
"And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap." (Malachi 3:1,2)
And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. (1 John 2:28)
For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. (2 Corinthians 5:2,3)
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge His people."
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26-31)
Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. (James 4:8-10)
"But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34-36)
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Post by 2fw8212a on Jul 16, 2018 9:13:39 GMT -5
tlsitd Exactly, many people who are despisers of good... Claiming to love Him but do not care at all about pleasing Him in their hearts.
And exhortation and encouragement to actually walk in truth and worship Him, and to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and do what is pleasing in the Lord's sight are evil in their eyes.
They do not want to know about this, they love their lust and passions too much... Many honor the Lord, but in mouth only.
As a result, they give much more honor to men who talk things they want to hear... Justifying their unrepentant wickedness."But you profane it, In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’" - Malachi 1:12
"You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the Lord of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the Lord." - Malachi 1:13
"But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished— For I am a great King,” Says the Lord of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations." - Malachi 1:14God bless you in Jesus' name!
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Post by tlsitd on Jul 16, 2018 9:44:31 GMT -5
tlsitd Exactly, many people who are despisers of good... Claiming to love Him but do not care at all about pleasing Him in their hearts.
And exhortation and encouragement to actually walk in truth and worship Him, and to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and do what is pleasing in the Lord's sight are evil in their eyes.
They do not want to know about this, they love their lust and passions too much... Many honor the Lord, but in mouth only.
As a result, they give much more honor to men who talk things they want to hear... Justifying their unrepentant wickedness."But you profane it, In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’" - Malachi 1:12
"You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the Lord of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the Lord." - Malachi 1:13
"But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished— For I am a great King,” Says the Lord of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations." - Malachi 1:14God bless you in Jesus' name! Yes, there is much wisdom and warning in Malachi and the other prophets for the people of God today. Generally God raises up prophets in times of apostasy---because His own people are not listening to Him or obeying Him---so true prophets are generally not very well liked. As in the time of Malachi, God's people are robbing Him---but not by withholding their money---by withholding themselves! That is the sacrifice that God wants, and He wants the whole sacrifice, and an unblemished one. The Christian who offers Him other than this is robbing Him of what He purchased and what is His due and desire. If we think of how we live as our sacrifice to God, we can judge for ourselves, by the light of God's word, whether we are robbing Him. Partial obedience to what we know God wants and commands us to do is just disobedience in God's sight; and giving Him money, and doing various works for God, is no substitute for obedience to His word and will. (Remember King Saul.) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1) ...He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:15) Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us (or The Spirit which He has made to dwell in us yearns with envy) ?" But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. (James 4:5-7) God is a jealous God, and He does not accept leftovers, or divided, adulterous hearts, or sacrifices from impure hearts and unclean hands.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 9:34:39 GMT -5
I believe scriptures show that hypocrisy was more how the Lord saw the Pharisees and religious leaders of the nation, rather than the common people.
This is the spiritual condition of the people at the time and the attitude/approach of Jesus towards them, on the whole:
Mat 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Both His and John's approach towards the religious leaders and Pharisees was more severe...because they were held more responsible for the spiritual condition of the nation, having led the people astray.
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Post by tlsitd on Jul 17, 2018 15:42:13 GMT -5
I believe scriptures show that hypocrisy was more how the Lord saw the Pharisees and religious leaders of the nation, rather than the common people. This is the spiritual condition of the people at the time and the attitude/approach of Jesus towards them, on the whole: Mat 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Both His and John's approach towards the religious leaders and Pharisees was more severe...because they were held more responsible for the spiritual condition of the nation, having led the people astray. To be sure, both John and the Lord had more severe words for the leaders of the people who were leading them astray, probably because of their authority and their influence over the people. But it would be wrong to assume that just because Jesus had compassion on the crowds because they were deceived and ignorant and being led astray, and because He loved them (as God, because of His nature and His will, chooses to love evil people who don't love Him or deserve His love), that the majority of them were not like their leaders in heart.
John the Baptist's ministry, like Jesus' after him, was to the Jewish nation, not just their leaders. And this was the purpose of it:
"...He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared." (Luke 1:16,17)
It was the ordinary people, not just their leaders, who drove Jesus out of the synagogue and tried to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:28-30).
It was the ordinary people that Jesus told they were sons of their father the devil, and who tried to stone Him when He told them that before Abraham was He is (John 8:31-59).
It was the majority that crucified Jesus---albeit instigated by their leaders (Acts 2:23,36; 3:12-17).
It was the nation, and not just its leaders, that Stephen later rebuked, and the ordinary people who stoned him (Acts 7:51-58).
It was the Jewish people in general that Paul wrote censoriously about in his epistles, not just their leaders. (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 for example.)
There was a reason that the people were following the Pharisees, and it wasn't just because they were deceived. They liked what the Pharisees were and aspired to be like them---just like so many Christians and professing Christians today aspire to be like those men and women on the covers of books in the Christian bookstore, or to appear righteous in the eyes of people by their religion.
People acquire teachers to suit their desires. If the people had hated what the Pharisees were and all of their man-made rules so much, they would have eagerly fled to Jesus. But most of them didn't. The Pharisees had something to offer them that appealed to them: Self-righteousness and human esteem; personal glory (John 5:44; John 12:42,43)---the very things Paul himself said he came to count as rubbish after his conversion, and said that if he had still been trying to please men and have their approval, as he was doing when he was an unsaved Jew, he would not be a slave of Christ (Philippians 3:1-9; Galatians 1:10).
It was not the glory of God that the Jewish people in general desired, but their own, and the praise and approval of people, rather than God's. And so they do today---as do many Christians---whether it be the praise and approval of the world or the praise and approval of other Christians---whether for being worldly, or for being religious.
And like the Jews of old, they prefer the teachings of men over the commands of God and doing His will, because the commands of God, and doing His will, requires a daily death to self that they're not willing to die. They can have a form of Godliness and still do what they want to do and indulge the desires of the sinful nature in their hearts under a veneer of righteousness, and have the praise and approval of people.
The "Hebrew Roots" movement is a form of modern-day Pharisaism, and Christians are eating it up. That sort of thing appeals to the nature of man, but it doesn't produce the fruits of the Spirit. Only obeying what God actually gave to Christians, by His grace, does---not adding anything to it, or taking anything away from it (which produces bad fruit and self-righteousness).
(The people and movements that rise to the top and become popular in times of apostasy merely represent the desires of the hearts of the people. The same hearts of their forefathers who had rejected God for Baal in the time of Elijah, were in their children, who rejected God for the religion they had remade for themselves according to their teachers' teachings, and also were not keeping in truth---which religion was supposedly for Him, but was really for themselves.)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2018 17:18:22 GMT -5
I agree that the people were not angels and that they bear their own responsibility for their own sins and unbelief. However the spiritual leaders bore more responsibility...they are judged more strictly as scripture says. The basis of the post here is that the nation as a whole was hypocritical (appearances are deceiving), when as far as I can see, actually scripture only points to the Pharisees and spiritual leaders as being so. The people were many things, they were lost, they were apostate and lukewarm, they were scattered....but I do not see in the bible that they were hypocritical. That basis strikes me as incorrect.
Mat 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
They were fainting because of a famine of the word and presence of God....and as the nation was under judgment and oppressed - they were scattered with no shepherds because they couldn't accept the form of religion and kind of spirit that the spiritual leaders were presenting, and so didn't follow them in heart, yet didn't know how to find their way back to the true faith of their fathers...until John and Jesus came to try and lead them back. They had lost the plot. We are in similar times now I believe, that way. A time of the 10 virgins all falling asleep waiting for the Bridegroom to come....the Lord was just not acting or moving and they didn't really know what to do with themselves during that season, because apart from Him they could do nothing....since that parable was first for Israel at that time (the door closed for the Jewish nation as a whole in 70 AD).
It was into those conditions John the Baptist was sent to lead the people back to the Lord through repentance......it's a picture of a nation where many of the Jews had become secular or only nominally religious, with a scattered remnant....and having lost the plot of their spiritual call. The nation was in a lukewarm apostate condition much like we see in the western world today….so much so that the Lord was judging them through Roman (Babylon-worldliness) conquest and occupation...the nation was captive to Rome/Babylon, like the west is today. The King of the nation was licentious Herod....no hypocrisy there, just unabashed sin. So it was mainly the Pharisees who both John and Jesus had a problem with regarding hypocrisy, not the people. From the scriptures we see that God's approach to the people was more gentle than towards the Pharisees and religious leaders....who He held responsible for their part in the spiritual condition of the people. (Even when Jesus was crucified it was the leaders who misled the people and stirred them up to call for the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus...as the shepherds go, so go the people.)
The people were dealt with somewhat more gently, and many responded and were repenting:
Mat 3:1-6 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him from Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
But see here how the tone changes when John addressed the Pharisees: Mat 3:7-12 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Here again we see where those who are spiritual leaders, guides and teachers of the people are judged more strictly and have to account for the condition of their flocks: Jer 23:1-3 Woe be unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
Eze 34:2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Mat 23:29-32 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous; And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. (Instead of recognizing and repenting of the fact that they were just like those forefathers.) Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
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Post by tlsitd on Jul 17, 2018 19:53:04 GMT -5
I agree that the people were not angels and that they bear their own responsibility for their own sins and unbelief. However the spiritual leaders bore more responsibility...they are judged more strictly as scripture says. The basis of the post here is that the nation as a whole was hypocritical (appearances are deceiving), when as far as I can see, actually scripture only points to the Pharisees and spiritual leaders as being so. The people were many things, they were lost, they were apostate and lukewarm, they were scattered....but I do not see in the bible that they were hypocritical. That basis strikes me as incorrect. Mat 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. They were fainting because of a famine of the word and presence of God....and as the nation was under judgment and oppressed - they were scattered with no shepherds because they couldn't accept the form of religion and kind of spirit that the spiritual leaders were presenting, and so didn't follow them in heart, yet didn't know how to find their way back to the true faith of their fathers...until John and Jesus came to try and lead them back. They had lost the plot. We are in similar times now I believe, that way. A time of the 10 virgins all falling asleep waiting for the Bridegroom to come....the Lord was just not acting or moving and they didn't really know what to do with themselves during that season, because apart from Him they could do nothing....since that parable was first for Israel at that time (the door closed for the Jewish nation as a whole in 70 AD). It was into those conditions John the Baptist was sent to lead the people back to the Lord through repentance......it's a picture of a nation where many of the Jews had become secular or only nominally religious, with a scattered remnant....and having lost the plot of their spiritual call. The nation was in a lukewarm apostate condition much like we see in the western world today….so much so that the Lord was judging them through Roman (Babylon-worldliness) conquest and occupation...the nation was captive to Rome/Babylon, like the west is today. The King of the nation was licentious Herod....no hypocrisy there, just unabashed sin. So it was mainly the Pharisees who both John and Jesus had a problem with regarding hypocrisy, not the people. From the scriptures we see that God's approach to the people was more gentle than towards the Pharisees and religious leaders....who He held responsible for their part in the spiritual condition of the people. (Even when Jesus was crucified it was the leaders who misled the people and stirred them up to call for the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus...as the shepherds go, so go the people.) The people were dealt with somewhat more gently, and many responded and were repenting: Mat 3:1-6 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him from Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But see here how the tone changes when John addressed the Pharisees: Mat 3:7-12 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Here again we see where those who are spiritual leaders, guides and teachers of the people are judged more strictly and have to account for the condition of their flocks: Jer 23:1-3 Woe be unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. Eze 34:2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Mat 23:29-32 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous; And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. (Instead of recognizing and repenting of the fact that they were just like those forefathers.) Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. The point of the OP is that just because people appear to be zealous for God or seeking God or are religious in this way or that way does not mean that they are actually serving Him or that they actually love Him, or that God is pleased with them. God sends prophets to His people according to the reality of His people's spiritual condition and their actual need, according to what He knows and sees, not according to people's perceptions.
He sent the Jewish people a prophet like Elijah because the spiritual condition of the people of Israel at that time warranted sending them a prophet like Elijah, because it was like it had been in the time of Elijah, appearances regardless. (As it says in Malachi 4:6, if their hearts would not turn to the hearts of their fathers, God was going to strike the land of His people with a decree of total destruction. Paul says similarly in Romans 9:29.)
That was the kind of messenger they needed---to turn their hearts back to God, as Elijah had done for their forefathers by contending with the prophets of Baal.
"Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back." (1 Kings 18:37)
John contended with the leaders of the people as Elijah had contended with the prophets of Baal, to point them back to God through Jesus Christ, as Elijah had pointed their fathers back to God. And just as the people in Elijah's time were serving Baal because they were evil in their hearts and wanted to, so the people in John's time were keeping their own form of Judaism, given them by their leaders, not because they were actually zealous for God, but for themselves: Their very religion was an idol, because they were evil in their hearts and resisted the Holy Spirit---as they do to this day, even though their religion is burdensome in its Pharisaically orthodox forms. (Talmudic Judaism is not even Biblical Judaism, which would be burdensome enough if it were even possible to practice it. Orthodox Jews practice Talmudic Judaism---the interpretation of Judaism by their rabbis and scholars, just as the Jews in Jesus' time were doing.)
It wasn't because of the Pharisees that the temple of the Jews was left to them desolate. It was because the people as a whole had rejected Christ as their King---the people who were supposedly worshiping God.
Christians have not rejected Jesus with their mouths (and neither did the Jews reject God with their mouths---they honored and drew near to Him with their mouths, but their hearts were far from Him), they have rejected Him as their King with their hearts, by rejecting His commandments and serving their own sinful nature instead of the Spirit of God, while rejoicing in the religion they have modified (that is, perverted) to suit themselves, which is no better than idolatry in God's sight (Acts 7:39-41). They draw near with their mouths but their hearts are far from Him---the worldly ones and the religious ones alike.
If they are not obeying the word that God gave us, they do not love Him and are not pleasing to Him, even though they are praising Him and profess to love Him and to be 'worshiping' Him---every man according to what is right in his own eyes and the teachings of men and what they feel, rather than what God's word says. Their actions and their attitudes prove that they do not love Him, but they claim to. (What do you call that besides hypocrisy?)
The teachers teach what the people want to hear. So it was with Israel, and so it is with Christians now.
And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel." (Isaiah 30:8-11)
An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; My people LOVE TO HAVE IT SO, but what will you do when the end comes? (Jeremiah 5:30,31)
As Israel was and did, so have we become and are doing.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3,4)
Jesus made a direct connection between the spirit of the people of Israel in the times of Elijah and Elisha and the spirit of the Jewish nation at the time of His ministry, when He spoke to the Jews in the synagogue:
"But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4:25-27)
The Jews knew exactly what Jesus was alluding to when He said this---that they had the same evil hearts as their Baal-worshiping fathers. And that's why they were filled with fury and tried to throw Him off a cliff.
And Stephen went even further, and went all the way back to Moses to testify against the Jewish people as a whole---the same generation Jesus and John had preached to----that they had the same evil hearts as their idolatrous forefathers, who were stiff-necked and resisted the Holy Spirit, and who had killed the prophets, as these Jews had murdered the Lord. And the Jews, proving this testimony to be true, killed Stephen too. And then went right back to their religion, "worshiping" God. (That's not hypocrisy?)
If Jesus Christ Himself, in another form, stood in most any church today and preached, most of His own people would be indignant and would call Him all kinds of things (judgmental, legalistic, misogynistic, unloving, antisemitic, bigoted) and would probably throw Him out---and then go back to "worshiping" God their own way and listening to their teachers' teachings over the word of God, and serving their evil desires in their hearts---just as they have thrown out His written word, or twist and cherry-pick it, so that they might as well throw it out or re-write it---while professing to love God and to be serving Him. What do you call that besides hypocrisy?
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Post by 2fw8212a on Jul 17, 2018 20:12:58 GMT -5
tlsitd God bless you in Jesus' name!while rejoicing in the religion they have modified (that is, perverted) to suit themselves, which is no better than idolatry in God's sight (Acts 7:39-41).
If they are not obeying the word that God gave us, they do not love Him and are not pleasing to Him... Exactly!"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king." - 1 Samuel 15:23...they do not love Him, but they claim to. (What do you call that besides hypocrisy?) Yes, such thing is lying... And many do not know this, because they claim to practice the truth when they do not.
"For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." - John 3:20
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." - 1 John 1:6
"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." - Revelation 21:8
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"But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." - John 3:21
"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1 John 1:7
"Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God." - Matthew 5:9
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2018 6:06:41 GMT -5
I'm by no means saying the people were righteous, but just that we should not ascribe to them a particular sin that neither Jesus nor John did. It's not a light matter to see something in scripture that isn't there because our hearts will follow accordingly. The nation had already been judged/chastised long after those words in Jeremiah and Isaiah were penned. And Jesus came not to judge but to save.
The western nations are coming under judgment soon and we are going to need the same heart attitude and spirit that Jesus had if we want to be prepared to reap in the harvest that "Babylon" is going to give up.
Mat 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
He wasn't lying when He said they were fainting, that they were scattered, and that they were without shepherds.....and that He had compassion on them.
I have the idea because once I saw a crowd and in the Spirit saw that they were sheep without a shepherd and I was moved with compassion. Oh how we need more of that, please Jesus! And believe it or not the mercy and grace that came to earth 2000 + years ago is still here.
Anyway, sister, I know what I discerned, and will leave it at that.
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