(Matthew 23:23-39)
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may also become clean.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 and you say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
34 “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you will fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
As we can see with all of the woes - no one can work their way to heaven. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. And we certainly cannot clean our own hearts and souls. I'm pretty sure we've all tried making promises, like, "From now on, I'm going to do better!" or "I would NEVER do THAT..." yet, off we go, in our own strength, making a mess of things. No one is "good enough". But also understand that no one is beyond saving!
Consider the Apostle Paul, who had been a Pharisee. Paul was not there when the Pharisees had Jesus crucified, but he zealously joined the ranks to pursue and persecute Christians, and have them stoned to death... UNTIL he met Jesus in a vision, and was repentive with great remorse, Jesus changed his heart!
Paul went on to be used by God in a mighty way, and even with that, as Paul writes in Romans 7, we are blessed to have God's grace, guidance and help, because until we get to heaven, we will all still struggle with our sinful nature. To continue in God's blessings, any time we mess up and sin, we just have to confess and continue running back to the Lord and His open and loving arms.
We can see how loving and caring God is! Being love itself, God will never force anyone to love Him back, and will never force anyone to be obedient. This is a personal choice that everyone must make. Understand that God doesn't want to send anyone away to be punished. He desires to gather us all together, to nurture and eternally protect us. But the Lord Jesus is holy and cannot have a relationship with sin. And Jesus cannot just take one's sins away without our permission, because that would be stealing. We have to willingly give Him our sins in exchange for His gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
This is why we need the Lord to save us. And this is why we continuously need the Lord to help us, guide us, strengthen and care for us... We just need to go to Him AS WE ARE to humbly repent, and the Lord forgives all our sins. It is then that the Lord changes us from the inside out, and gives us His indwelling Holy Spirit. So, it starts with, and it is all about having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, who wants us to steadfastly remain under His wings of protection, guidance and blessings.
No comments:
Post a Comment