This morning's message comes
from some comments that our Lord made in Matthew chapter 23. I've entitled it, The Hallmarks
of Phony Religion. Now there's a difference between
phony religion and false religion. See, false religion is simply
that. It's false. A person may be very
sincere in a false religion, but it's still a false religion.
He may be true to his religion, but it's still a false religion.
For a false religion is a religion that worships a false god or
worships the true god in a false way. But a phony religion, a
phony religion is an insincere religion. What I'm speaking of
here, and what our Lord was talking about here, is the worship of
the true God according to orthodox doctrine and forms, but it's
not from the heart. It is insincere, hypocritical,
designed to promote the glory of the worshipper, and not the
glory of the God who is worshipped. Now today we're going to be talking
about phony religion and showing the hallmarks of it. Such a message
is most needful for an area such as you and I live in, an area
that is so very religious. There is hardly anyone in northwest
Iowa that would not confess to being a Christian. And in particular
in the few counties surrounding us here in Sioux County, There
are many who are, outwardly speaking, seem to be very devoted to their
religion. And seeing that the Reformed
faith dominates the area, it comes with good creeds. It comes
with sound doctrine. Consequently, we're not talking
so much about false religion as phony religion. And so it's
good for us to examine ourselves to see whether we be of this
phony sort of religion that has the right doctrine, that has
the right forms and practices, but there's nothing of heart
in it. You see, Satan is a great deceiver. When one form of deception
does not work, he merely moves to a different form of deception.
If he's unable to deceive a person into false religion, he will
lead them in to phony religion. That is, if he can't make you
worship a false god, then he'll get you to worship God insincerely,
not from the heart. And the most difficult part of
this is that the phony religionist can go to the Bible to support
much of what he does. When our Lord here in Matthew
23 warned His disciples of these phony religionists, nearly everyone
thought that these religionists were the real deal. The Pharisees,
the experts in the law, why they were the conservatives of their
day. They were the ones who were holding carefully to the traditions
of the Scriptures and of the Fathers. So it's hard to identify
these people because they can say, well the Bible says thus
and so. So the Lord gives us the side
effects of such phony religion. The things that will let us know
that no matter what a person is saying, there's nothing real
on the inside. Now why would the Lord take the
time to point out to us the errors of other people? Normally the
Lord's words were very pointed and directed right at the people
to whom he was talking. But in this case, he's talking
to one class of people, the disciples and the crowd that was following
him around, and he was talking to them about another group,
the Pharisees and the scribes. Why would he do that? Well, so
that these wolves in sheep's clothing would be unmasked, shown
for what they really are, and would no longer be able to be
ministers of righteousness when they were actually ministers
of Satan. Secondly, He did it so that we
who claim to follow Him will not be taken in by these people,
will not be deceived by them. Also, He did this so that we
will not be infected with their hypocrisy. When we see someone
putting on a show of religion and are impressed by it, we're
tempted to do the same thing. And the Lord warns us away from
that. We can examine ourselves. and
maybe discover how much of us is phony for you see there's
none of us who are perfectly sincere. And so let us note these
hallmarks of a phony religionist in order we may protect ourselves
from these phonies but even more importantly that we may be certain
that we're not one of them. Now the first thing the Lord
mentions as a hallmark of the phonies is a love and abuse of
authority. Listen to what the Lord says
in the first few verses. The teachers of the law and the
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, so you must obey them and do
everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for
they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads
and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing
to lift a finger to move them. Now, if you read that, it may
sound like the Lord is saying, these Pharisees and scribes,
they sit in a rightful place on Moses' seat. So you've got
to do what they say. No, that's not what the Lord
is saying. I don't believe it is anyway. Rather, He is saying
to them, These Pharisees and these experts in the law have
usurped Moses' seat. That is, they sat in a seat to
which they had no right. They claim to be the disciples
of Moses, but Moses wrote of Christ, and they won't acknowledge
Christ. They usurped Moses' seat, claiming
his authority, and telling you that you must do what they say. In other words, it's as though
they said, we sit in Moses' seat, so you must do what we say. Well,
the fact is they didn't sit in Moses' seat. Only Moses sat in
Moses' seat. He was the one by whom God gave
the law, and no one has the right to claim that kind of authority.
anymore. It is written in scriptures for
us. God has put no one over us in that same capacity. Oh how
men love authority. They love to rule others. I've
heard people say things like men have within their heart the
desire to be free. That's not the total truth. What
men want is a desire to be king. They want to control everything.
And one of the ways that is easy to control people is through
religion. And so, men who love authority,
who want to grasp power, one of their avenues of grasping
power is to become religious authorities. How many of you
get nervous around the preacher? How many live in anxiety over
some scheduled visit by the elders? You're worried about what they
might find out about you. You're worried about what they
might see in your house. Now why is that? You know, no
child of God should ever be afraid of any of the ministers of God.
For the ministers of God have been sent with this task, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people." The Lord never sends his ministers
to terrorize his people, to put them under the bondage of fear.
When did God ever give to any man the right to hold others
in such bondage? How often have I had people see
me approaching them and say, uh-oh, I better straighten up.
Here's the preacher. What do you mean? I'm no more
than any other man. I have been given a job by God
to open the Scriptures and to preach from them. But God has
not made me an authority over anyone. I don't sit in Moses'
seat. I certainly don't sit in the
Lord's seat. I'm a preacher, and that's as far as it goes.
and no one should ever feel uneasy around me as though I am some
kind of authority over them and have power to make their lives
good or bad. That I have power to condemn
or to justify them. Have nothing to do with these
religious people who attempt to control your life by fear
and intimidation. Fear and intimidation have no
part Did you hear that? No part in the gospel. This is
something you will discover about these people. They are never
as good as they expect you to be. That's why the Lord says
they don't practice what they preach. They are always about
burdening, but never about helping. The Lord says they tie burdens
on the people. And the picture there is the
way they would load a beast of burden. They would take small
packages and one by one set them on the beast and tie them together
to hold them there. And so each burden that was laid
on that beast was easy enough to bear, but by the time you
had loaded several of them on there and tied them together,
it was a horrible burden. And these religious people, they'll
say, well, it's not so bad if we tell you that You can't do
this on such and such a day, or you must do this on..." These
are light burdens. Well, each one of them may be
a light burden, but by the time they're done adding them all
together, you are born down beyond your ability to bear them. And
you know something? They won't keep them. They will
find loopholes for themselves. They'll say, you must be generous.
and you must give a certain percentage of your money to the church,
but they themselves will find ways around giving that much. They say you must be humble,
but they will carry themselves in pride. Faithful gospel preachers
will burden you with the full weight of God's law, but when
they're done, that is, when they're done burdening you like that,
they will show you how you can be relieved of that burden through
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the doing and dying of the Savior.
We don't tie together burdens, we merely take that one great
burden of the law. And we point out to sinners that
they are under the burden and curse of that law, unless and
until they call upon the name of the Lord. And through the
blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that burden rolls away. And here's another hallmark,
then, of these phonies. Their works are for other people
to see. In verse 5 we read this, "...everything they do is done
for men to see. They make their phylacteries
wide and the tassels on their garments long. They love the
place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in synagogues.
They love to be greeted in the marketplace and to have men call
them rabbi." The general rule is this, the more you can see
of a man's religion on the outside, the less likely there is on the
inside. And I'm talking about overt demonstrations
of their religions. They wear clothes that identify
them as especially religious. They'll carry the biggest Bible
they can find and make sure you see them reading it. They'll
always be sure to make a big show of their prayers at the
restaurant when they give God thanks for their food. And don't
get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with giving God thanks
for food in a restaurant, but if you make a big display of
it, that's abominable. Such people, these phony religionists,
they love to be recognized at the top of the religious pile.
They wear easily identifiable robes and collars and large crosses. They talk with a specific tone
or accent that's supposed to mark them out as someone who
is especially pious and devoted and spiritual. To love titles
like reverend or doctor, your grace, his holiness, that sort
of thing. They love that and it's horrible. Our Lord said don't take titles.
I don't even like to be called pastor to be honest with you.
I don't make a big deal about it. But the word pastor means
shepherd and the Bible says the Lord is your shepherd. I have
a job to do. I've been given a task. And that
is to operate as an under-shepherd of God's people, under that great
shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have nothing to
do with those who parade their devotion for God and make big
displays of just how religious they are. Not even our Lord stood
out among the crowd. If you saw a crowd of people,
you wouldn't have been able to figure out which one was the Lord. So
much that he looked like everyone else, that when they were going
to arrest him, they had to hire a traitor to point him out. He
wasn't wearing special clothes. He evidently had only one set
of clothes. He didn't have one set of clothes for traveling
and another for preaching. He didn't get especially dressed
up when he went to temple. Why? It wasn't necessary. He
wasn't putting on that kind of show. These phony religionists
shut up the kingdom of heaven and will not themselves go in.
They refuse the gospel of grace and give no one else freedom
to enter by that grace. They set every obstacle that
they can in the way of simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They'll tell you, well, yes, salvation is by grace and through
faith, but you've got to have this experience. You've got to
go through a certain time of mourning over your sin, or you
have to also involve yourself in this ceremony of the church,
or that ceremony of the church, or do some good works. These
people don't know what grace is, therefore they themselves
cannot enter by grace, and they will oppose you if you say something
like, I simply believe the gospel. and believe that I've been saved
by it. There are more hallmarks of phony religion that our Lord
gives in this passage, but we're out of time. Examine yourselves. Do you love authority over others? And the ones you're following,
do they intimidate you? Do they rule you by intimidation
and fear? If so, you need to go somewhere
else, because that's phony religion. Are you one who loves to display
your religion and let everybody know that you're a Christian?
You need to quit that. You need to quit making big displays. Simply worship God. Will God
give us all grace to worship Him in spirit, that is, from
our hearts, and in truth, that is, sincerity? The grace of the
Lord be with you.