Form or Faith?

Q: What does the Bible say about hypocrites in religion?

The Bible warns against hypocritical practices among religious leaders who prioritize outward appearances over true faith. In Matthew 23, Jesus rebukes the religious leaders of His day, calling them hypocrites who focus on external rituals and legalism rather than the weightier matters of judgment, mercy, and faith. He emphasizes that they say one thing but do another, binding heavy burdens on others while not living up to the standards they preach. This theme of hypocrisy serves as a serious warning to modern Christians to evaluate their own lives and practices, ensuring they align with genuine faith.

Q: How do we know true faith is important for Christians?

True faith is essential for Christians as it involves understanding God's character and recognizing our need for His grace through Christ. True faith is not merely about ritualistic practices or outward appearances but stems from a right understanding of God as revealed in Scripture and our fallen condition as sinners. Jesus teaches that genuine faith leads to a transformed heart and a life that seeks to glorify God. As believers, we are called to establish our faith on the truth of the Gospel, which emphasizes what God has done for us through Christ. This foundational understanding is crucial, as true faith shapes our relationship with God and our interaction with others, guiding us toward mercy, judgment, and Christ-like conduct.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand their identity in Christ?

Understanding our identity in Christ is vital for spiritual growth and helps us live in accordance with God's will. Knowing our identity in Christ allows Christians to grasp our position as redeemed sinners and heirs of eternal life. The Scriptures teach that we are new creations in Christ, which fundamentally alters how we view ourselves and how we interact with others. By understanding that we are justified through faith and not by works, believers can find assurance and motivation to pursue holiness and live out their faith authentically. This understanding propels us to worship, serve others, and develop a genuine relationship with God based on love and obedience, ultimately glorifying Him in our lives.

Q: How do we define true faith according to the Bible?

True faith is defined by a genuine belief in God’s promises and the transformative work of Christ in our lives. True faith, as presented in Scripture, is an understanding and acceptance of the Gospel, recognizing our need for God's mercy and grace through Christ. It is not a mere intellectual assent but involves a heart that trusts in God's character and His redemptive plan. True faith produces love and obedience, leading to a life that reflects God's holiness. The Apostle Paul emphasizes that faith must be a living, active trust that results in a commitment to follow Christ, embodying principles of love and surrender to His Lordship. This definition aligns with the historic Reformed understanding of faith as rooted in the sovereignty of God and the finished work of Christ.

It may be that some of you, like
the folks at our church, are looking for good, simple Bible
study material. Well, I recognized this need
at home several years ago, and I began at Romans chapter 1,
verse 1. And using the great commentaries,
Dr. Gill, Matthew Poole, Matthew
Henry, Haldane, Arthur Pink, all of these writers, I put together
some Bible study material going verse by verse, verse by verse,
each verse. And this was what I had in mind,
to find out what that verse is saying, what it means, and to
put it in everyday language, simple one, two, and three-syllable
words, so that the average person could understand, at least in
their head. And I wrote these Bible-class
commentaries. There's six volumes here, each
book in the New Testament, each epistle, Romans, 1st and 2nd
Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, on down
to the book of Jude. The revelation is not here. Romans,
3rd Jude. And it's verse-by-verse study.
And these commentaries are literally all over the world now. They're
in four languages and are now being translated in Russian And
10,000 sets of these commentaries will be printed in the next few
months in Moscow and distributed to the churches there. Because
people all over the world have recognized the need of simple
Bible-class commentaries, verse-by-verse, in the language of the people.
If you want this set of commentaries, send $10. That's what it cost
us to... We order them from England. That's
where they're printed. And we'll mail them to you. Also, I have
the Book of John. Verse by verse, this is $3. Order
the Gospel of John, verse by verse, for $3, or the Bible class
commentaries, and we'll mail them to you. And I believe they'll
be a blessing to you. My reason for doing this years ago, I did
not write these commentaries intending to publish them at
all. They were just written for our church, for our people, for
our Bible classes. And the people in England got
the manuscripts and asked for the permission to publish them.
And they've been published now in Portuguese and French and
Spanish and English and now in Russian. And they're literally
all over the world. The Philippines, Brazil, Australia,
France, Africa. They're all over the world. Several
schools are using them. In Mexico and in Africa, preacher
schools are using this material because it's so that in language
they can understand. I want to speak to you on the
subject form or faith. Now remember that title, form.
Ceremony, ritualism, form. Or faith. Which? I'm reading
from Matthew 23, verse 12. Our Lord said, Whosoever shall
exalt himself shall be abased. And he that shall humble himself
shall be exalted. Now, my message today is going
to begin on a negative note. I don't like that. I don't like
negative preaching. I know you don't care for it,
and I'm sorry, but it just must begin that way. It must begin
on a negative note, and I'll tell you why. If you'll notice,
if you'll read the 23rd chapter of Matthew, that whole chapter,
the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew is given to one thing, our Lord
rebuking Rebuking the religious leaders. He calls them hypocrites
All kind of things he says about them through this whole chapter
the religious leaders of that day Whose entire religious lives
were made up of form? Ceremony legalism and self-righteousness
and through this whole chapter Our Lord literally cuts these
men to ribbons All these verses, 30 or 40 verses, he just deals
with these religious hypocrites. And I'll tell you what he says
about them. He says about seven things, seven distinct charges
he brings against these religious leaders. Now, you listen to what
he said to them, and you see if it doesn't fit most situations
in this day, most religious situations. These charges brought against
these Pharisees Sadducees he called them hypocrites religious
leaders It'll fit today in verse in verse Two and three our Lord
says this about him. He says they say But they don't
do it They bind grievous burdens about the necks of their heroes
But they themselves don't do these things they preach one
thing and do something else they preach to you sacrifice, but
they don't sacrifice and They preach to you give, but they
don't give. They preach to you faithfulness,
but they're not faithful. They preach faith, and they live
in the flesh. He said, they say, but they don't
do it. That's the first charge brought
against them. And then secondly, in verse 5, he says this about
them. He says, they do their works
to be seen of men. They love the praise and glory
of the chief seats. They want to sit on the chief
seats. And then he says, they love to be called impressive
names. They like to be called master.
They like to be called rabbi. They like to be called reverend.
They like to be called doctor. They love these impressive names. They'll even go to school so
they can earn certain degrees to be called by that name. And
they pray and they fast and they give to be seen of men. They
do their praying on the street corner and publicly. They do
very little privately. They do practically nothing privately. They do everything to be seen
of men. And then verse 14, listen. And they devour widows' houses,
and for a pretense they make long prayers. Widows' houses. They devour widows' houses. Widows' savings. Widows' storehouses. They devour these things. Someone
told me recently that most of the support for these religious
hucksters and telethons and religious con men on television, most of
their support, you know where it comes from? It comes from
older women. One woman had sent her entire
estate, her husband left her to live on after his death, to
a religious organization, and she was on welfare. There's social
security checks they send to these preachers. And these preachers
tell them, it takes a lot of money to support our program.
It takes a lot of money to keep us in our great homes and driving
our automobiles. And so we take from these poor
little widows and we're going to pray for them. You send your
money and we'll pray for you. Or we'll pray for you when you
get sick and pray for your problems and pray for your trials. But
you've got to send some money. You've got to buy a healing cloth
or buy something, and we'll send it to you, and we'll pray for
you. They devour widows' houses. And for pretense, they make long
prayers. I'm telling you this. I mention
these commentaries. They've been put in print, and
they're now being published and translated to Russian. The money
was raised for that translation without asking anybody for a
dime. And I've told you this for 19
years on this television program. Don't ask for money. Don't beg
for money. God's not a beggar. God's a king. And if he's in something, he'll
support it. We have missionaries on the field. I go to the mission
fields, all these things. This program is paid for, and
we don't ask for a dime, and we don't beg for a nickel. I
tell you, God will supply the needs and the means if the Lord
is in something. And when men stand and beg and
plead and cry for you to send money, don't do it. They devour
widows' houses. And for a pretense, they make
long prayers. Well, I told you it'd be negative,
but it needs to be said. Our Lord said it. And then verse
15, He said, they compass sea and land to make converts, to
make proselytes, And when they have made them, they're twofold
more the child of hell than they are themselves. You see, the
goal of these fellows, it was not to glorify God. Their goal
was not to declare the Word of God. Their goal was not to honor
and glorify Christ. It was to make converts. You
see, they want to report great numbers. They want to report
what they've done, what they've accomplished. And they want to
build huge followings, and huge churches, and huge organizations. So they get a great crowd of
people, and have them raise their hand, and make professions, and
come down to the front, and they'll say, now you repeat after me.
Say this prayer. And then you say, they can't
save people. These people can't save themselves.
The church can't save them. Salvation's of the Lord. Isn't
that right? It's God that saves sinners.
But these people make converts because they want to report numbers
and success and build great followings and great churches. And then
they say, now you've made your profession, you're saved, you
write us and send us your name and your address and we'll keep
flooding you with material and we'll tell you how to live and
how to give and how to be faithful to our program and how to support
us. And look at verse 23, the fifth
charge. Our Lord says they pay tithes.
Not just on the big things, on anise, cumin, herbs, the little
things. They pay tithe. They're so particular
to pay tithes on everything, to pay their tithes and keep
their religious duties and days and ceremonies. But watch this.
They neglect the weightier matters of God's Word, like judgment
and mercy and faith. They spend their time talking
about tithes. They spend their time talking
about healings. They spend their time talking
about Armageddon. They spend their time talking
about ceremonies and laws. And they've neglected to deal
with the matters of the heart, like judgment. How can God be
just and justify the ungodly? What about judgment? It's appointed
unto me and wants to die, and after that, the judgment. How
am I going to fare in the judgment? How can my sins be pardoned?
How can my sins be put away? How can I prepare for the judgment?
What about mercy? The people in the days when our
Lord walked this earth, they came to Him seeking mercy. Can
mercy and truth meet together? Will God be merciful to me? Can
I find mercy in the eyes of God? Mercy, I need mercy. The miserable
need mercy. The guilty need grace. Sinners
need salvation. Let's talk about mercy. And then
faith. What about faith? Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. Abraham believed God, which counted
him for righteousness. When the Son of Man comes, will
he find faith on this earth? Faith. Oh, I tell you, after
you've raised your hand and the preachers raised enough money
and you've raised your attendance records, when are we going to
talk about these weightier matters? Weightier matters. Our Lord said
of these hypocrites in His day, they pay their tithes, they follow
their programs, they have all these things just set in the
right places, and they've neglected to deal with things, matters
of the heart, weightier matters. Heavy matters of the Word of
God, judgment, mercy, faith. Listen to verse 25, the sixth
charge against them. He said, they make clean the
outside of the cup and the platter, but within they're full of extortion
and excess. You see this? They make clean,
they're like whited tombstones. They appear beautiful on the
outside, but on the inside they're full of dead men's bones. They're
like the flowers on a grave. They appear beautiful to men,
but they're full of extortion and excess. All these religious
folks, they're against dancing, and they're against worldliness,
and they're against drinking, and they're against smoking,
and they're against adultery, and they're against abortion,
and they're against sports, and they're against all these outward
things, you know. And there's things wrong with
these outward things, but that's not man's problem. These outward
things are the results of an inward problem. It's heart problem. It's soul problems. And I'll
tell you about these folks that put all their emphasis on the
outward. Our Lord says that they make clean the outside of the
cup, but the inside they've neglected. The inside. Most of these people
that are so pure and wholesome and holy on the outside are mean
on the inside. They have a bad attitude and
a bad spirit. They're full of envy and jealousy
and lust and hatred. They can't even have a business
meeting in the church without having a fight. But they don't
believe in drinking. They don't believe in smoking.
They don't believe in going to a ball game on Sunday. They got
all these outward things all fixed up and cleaned up. But
on the inside, they're full of shame and hypocrisy. and envy, and hatred, and malice. That's what our Lord says. Oh,
listen to me, He said, clean up the inside that the outside
might be clean. Straighten up the heart. Out
of the heart the mouth speaks. It's not what a man puts in his
mouth that defiles him. It's what comes out of his heart.
Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
all these things. They come out of the heart. And
I'll tell you, you can whitewash a sinner on the outside, get
him to quit. Ever known vice. Get him to quit everything. If
God doesn't give him a new heart and a new spirit and a new nature,
he'll be the most wicked man in your town, because he's got
an evil spirit. A right spirit will produce a
right attitude, a right life, and a right walk. All right,
here's the seventh charge, down in verse 29. He said these These
hypocrites, these false prophets, they build and garnish the tombs
of prophets, but they kill the preachers God sends to them.
What's that talking about? Well, I'll tell you what it's
saying. It's saying they brag on dead preachers and kill living
preachers. They brag on these great men
of the past, but the men who are preaching today what those
men preached back then, they won't listen to them. They say,
If we'd have been in the days of our fathers, we'd have never
persecuted the prophets. And yet they were at that very
moment rejecting Jesus Christ and his apostles, God's true
prophet and God's apostles. You see, this has always been
the case. This is man all the way down
through the years. The Jews hated Moses. You know
they did. They said, you brought us out
here in the wilderness to starve. Why didn't you leave us in Egypt
where we were happy? They hated Moses, but they bragged
on Abraham. Abraham was dead. And then when
Moses died, they bragged on Moses and killed Elisha and Isaiah
and the prophets that lived in those times. And then after the
Lord Jesus and his apostles came along, they hated the apostles
and bragged on Elijah and Elisha and Isaiah. And then the apostles
all were put to death and the reformers came along Martin Luther,
John Calvin, Zwingli, all of these great preachers, and they
hated them, and bragged on the apostles. And nowadays, they're
bragging on the reformers again. They brag on John Calvin. They
brag on Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, John Bunyan, Martin
Luther. Oh, these are great men. We keep
their birthdays and visit their tombs, and yet I'm preaching
the same thing they preach. I preach what Jonathan Edwards
preached. I preach what William Carey preached, Judson, Spurgeon,
Bunyan, Edwards, Luther. I preach what these men preach.
Folks kill living preachers and brag on dead preachers. And the
longer he's been dead, the more popular he is. You know Jonathan
Edwards? You young people studied his
sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, in high school.
He was fired from his church. They dismissed him as pastor
when he was alive. He left his church and went over
and was president of Princeton University. But the religious
people hated him. Charles Spurgeon, that everybody's
bragging on today, he made this statement. Not a preacher in
London of any reputation will have anything to do with me.
John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, everybody brags on Bunyan. Bunyan
spent most of his time in the town of Bedford in jail. I visited
the place where he was a young man, where he spent 12 years
in prison. For what? For what he preached.
For what he preached. But now he's popular. And the
men who preached what he preached, they hated. Martin Luther? Martin
Luther's famous today, but people had to hide him in the woodshed
to keep the church from killing him when he was alive 500 years
ago. Well, thank God we have his Word. Thank God we can listen and learn
from these examples here, what our Lord said about these people
here. Seven charges brought against these false religious people
who had their religion in form only, in ceremony, in duties
and deeds, and they avoided true faith, true worship. Let me give
you, in bringing this message to a close, seven marks of true
faith. Like our Lord has given seven
charges against these religionists, let me give you seven marks of
true faith. Now, here's the first one. You
listen carefully to me. You might get the tape and study
it later. But true faith, true worship of the living God arises
out of a right knowledge of God. A right knowledge of God as He's
revealed in the Scriptures. Now, my friends, God's not who
you think He is. And God's not who men say that
He is. And God is not what the religious
people and the churches claim He is. God is who He is. God is who He says He is. God reveals Himself in creation. The heavens declare the glory
of God. He reveals Himself in the heavens. God reveals Himself
in His Word. God reveals His holiness in His
law. And God reveals Himself in Christ
Jesus. The Lord Jesus said, No man knoweth
the Father, but the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal him.
The Son declares Him. He said, I and my Father are
one. God, who at sundry times and in different manners spake
to our fathers, but the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
to us by His Son. Now, do you want to know who
God is? And you quit trying to fashion your God out of your
imagination. or have the imagination of some
eloquent preacher. And you go to the Word of God
and find out who God is. God's sovereign, God's almighty,
God's holy, God's just, God's gracious, God's merciful, God
is love, God is God. Let God be God and every man
a liar. Find out who He is. Because you're
not going to get a right faith till you get a right God. That's
just so. Secondly, true faith arises out
of a right knowledge of myself. as I'm described in scripture.
See, God made man in his own image, made him holy and upright,
but man rebelled, sought out many inventions, and fell. By one man, sin entered this
world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. And as a
result of that one man, Adam's sin, Adam, the word means man,
red earth, came from the earth, God made him from the dirt. And
every man was made in him. We came from his loins. And being
born of that fallen Adam, that fallen man, we're born fallen
men. That's right. In sin, my mother
conceived me. I was shapen in iniquity and
brought forth speaking lies. The wicked are strained from
the womb. As soon as they're born, speaking lies. Paul describes
us in Romans 3. There's none righteous. There's
none good. There's none that seeketh after
God. There's none that understands. There's no difference. All of
sin comes short of the glory of God. There isn't, listen to
me, there isn't a just man on the earth who doeth good and
sin is not. That's what scripture says. Now,
we better quit bragging on this flesh, praising this flesh, and
thinking God's going to show mercy and favor to this flesh
like it is. Flesh and blood are not going
to inherit the kingdom of God. We got to be made new creatures.
And that brings me to the third thing. True faith is an understanding
of the great things that God has done for us in Christ. Now,
that's true faith. Not what I've done for God, what
God's done for me in Christ. That's true faith. Before man
failed, God provided a Redeemer. He was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. God set forth Christ in promise.
He said the woman's seed's gonna bruise the serpent's head. God
set forth Christ in picture in the Old Testament, the Ark. That's
Christ lifting his people above the flood of judgment, the Passover
lamb, the serpent, cities of refuge. Those are all pictures
of Christ. God sent him into the world in
the flesh, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem us who
were born under the law. He said, this is my son. Hear
him. God accepted his perfect life
as our righteousness. God accepted his death as our
atonement. God raised him from the dead
as our justifier. God seated him and enthroned
him in his right hand as our mediator and intercessor, and
he'll return again and receive us to himself. True faith is
an understanding of the great things God has done for us in
our substitute, Christ Jesus. That's plain as I can make it.
Fourthly, true faith is believing the gospel. Believe in the gospel,
and by faith in Christ, having a good hope. What did Abraham
find? Romans 4 said he found righteousness.
Where did he find it? By what he did? No, by whom he
believed. How? By faith or works? By faith
alone. When was he justified? When he
believed. Well, this wasn't written for
his sake, but for us, to whom this righteousness shall be given,
if we can believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. True faith produces a principle
of love, love for Christ, and a full surrender to His Lordship.
Now listen to me. You listen to what I'm saying.
The whole religious world is talking about you accepting Jesus
as your personal Savior. You won't find that in God's
Word. You can do that 1,000 times and it won't change your relationship
with God, accepting Jesus as your personal Savior. The issue
between you and God today is not who is your personal Savior. The issue is who is your Lord,
who owns you, who runs your life, who ruled you. God will be Lord
or He won't be your Savior. That's right. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says, With the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth his confession
is made unto salvation. By whom? Those who believe that
Jesus Christ is Lord. God exalted him and gave him
a name above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess that he's what? Their
personal Savior? No. Lord. Lord. True faith makes the goodness
and love of God, to me, the model of my behavior toward others.
And last, true faith presses on us three goals. Three goals. Total commitment to Christ. Total
communion with Christ. and one day, total conformity
to Christ Jesus. That's true faith. It's a hard
work, and it's forever, and it's by the power of God, through
the work of Christ, for the glory of God. Now, if you want this
message on tape, form or faith, you write for it. Send $2, we'll
mail it to you. Also, if you'd like to have the
books, remember the book of John, you can have for $3, and the
commentaries for $10. right for them. Until next week,
may God bless you.

Form or Faith?

What does the Bible say about hypocrites in religion?

How do we know true faith is important for Christians?

Why is it important for Christians to understand their identity in Christ?

How do we define true faith according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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Form or Faith?

What does the Bible say about hypocrites in religion?

How do we know true faith is important for Christians?

Why is it important for Christians to understand their identity in Christ?

How do we define true faith according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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