True Religion & The Value of People | Matthew 12:9-14

Scripture

• Matthew 12:9–14

About this sermon

Introduction: A right reading of Scripture requires a knowledge of its author. ESV 1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. “spiritually discerned” Requiring something in the spiritual realm that the natural man does not have. Requiring the Spirit of God, whom the natural man does not possess. Requiring a circumcision of the heart, which the natural man has not experienced. That inability with Scripture is especially true when it comes to the APPLICATION of Scripture. There is one sense in which the accurate interpretation of God’s Word comes down to the application of laws of language. But to understand what you have read— in its relationship to God, and men, and yourself, — you must be regenerate. Without God: There is no true understanding of it. There is no appetite for what it teaches. I think we can illustrate it by the way that we understand friends or family members in ways that others cannot. We hear the same words, but the person who knows the SPEAKER of those words, has a better grasp on what was MEANT by those words. The words mean what they say. The words are accurate. But how they are used and to what end they are used is more easily discerned by those who know the speaker. The scribes and Pharisees didn’t know the author of Scripture. They spent their lives in the study of God’s Word. They taught people. They sought to govern people with Scripture. But they did not possess a true knowledge of Scripture. They lacked that knowledge because they were not spiritual men. They didn’t know God. Satan was their father. As a result, they were blind guides. ESV Matthew 23:16 "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' ESV Matthew 23:17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ESV Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! IN THAT KIND OF BLINDNESS THERE IS ALSO A HARDNESS. One unmistakable trait when you look at the religious leaders of the Jews is that they were men who were hateful and harmful to others. They were like their father, who was a murderer from the beginning. ESV John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Legalism is compassionless. Judgmentalism — in its pride, its confidence of superiority — is COLD and swift to condemn. What our Lord taught about the spiritual ignorance of the Pharisees, in verses 1-8, is now illustrated on a Sabbath day in a synagogue. • THE HEARTLESS WHO USE MEN (vs.9) Jesus enters a synagogue. Luke tells us that it was on another day. ESV Luke 6:5 And he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." 6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. A few things stand out as you look at the 9th verse. • THE LOCATION FOR THE TEST (vs.9) A place for worship. The synagogue. A place for spiritual instruction. A place for the people of God. And yet, IT ISN’T. Instead, for some who claim to be SPIRITUAL LEADERS it is a place for schemes and strategies designed to entrap the Son of God. It is a place for the display of wickedness instead of worship. How sad it is when places of worship become places of dishonor to God. How sad it is when places that should be full of the love of God, become places of hatred for everything that truly comes from God. There are churches where Christ is not welcome, where His Word is not welcome, where faithful servants are not welcome. What is RIGHT is RESISTED. • THE FOCUS FOR THE TEST (vs.10) A man is present who has a withered hand. This man becomes a tool, an instrument, for something the Pharisees wish to accomplish. THEY ARE NOT TRULY CONCERNED FOR THE MAN. THEY SIMPLY WANT TO MAKE USE OF THE MAN. When they SEE the man they do not see A NEED, they see A WICKED OPPORTUNITY.

Topics

• Christian Living