Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday,
June 23, 2019
One of the most powerful enemies that our Lord and His apostles had to face continually was the power of religion that came from the Scribes, the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
- They used people for their own benefit.
2. They coveted money for self-promotion and power.
3. They all turned against our Lord.
Verse 2 – What was it that caused the Jews to become very religious and self-righteous and in bondage?
It was what we call religion or tradition; Mar 7:2.
To these self-righteous leaders and rulers in Israel, something so petty as washing their hands before they eat was more real and important to them then their relationship with our Lord.
The Pharisees and all the Jews did not eat unless they carefully washed their hands and also observed the traditions of the elders rather than the doctrines in the Torah or the Word of God.
They were not interested in the words that our Lord spoke or even for the new doctrines that were getting ready to be taught as the mystery doctrines of the Church-age.
Being ignorant of the New doctrines of the Church-age, they rejected the doctrines found in the New Testament as well as the New Covenant.
MAR 1:27 = A new type of teaching; “And they were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
In MAR 2:22, the word “new” refers to the “new wine of God the Holy Spirit,” with new wine [the new ministry of the Spirit] into fresh wineskins [New Creature].”
In LUK 22:20, we have the New Covenant in His blood; “And in the same way {He took} the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”
What exactly does the New Covenant mean?
The New Covenant is based upon the principle of sins being judged and God forgetting our sins.
1JO 2:8, = a new commandment;
MAR 1:27, a new teaching with authority;
ROM 6:4, The newness of life;
In 2CO 5:17, Thenew things that have come.
Our Lord also had to deal with the ancestors of these Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees way back in the Old Testament.
As a Theophany = ISA 29:13; “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.
Rote refers to information that one learns through repetition and meditation which is used to trap others into guilt and condemnation.
In a negative realm, Rote was used to trap others into making decisions based upon human viewpoint and feelings.
This is when a believer is forced into believing certain things because they are in bondage to religion and moral degeneracy.
Moral Degeneracy is found in MAT 6:23 when our Lord said; “How great is the darkness when you think you are in the light;”
Moral Degeneracy also means that those involved in it are involved with Satan and his kingdom of darkness.
Moral degeneracy is found in the believer or the unbeliever who lives in a Religious Rote that speaks of mechanical or habitual repetition of something to be learned without having to concentrate.
Rote also speaks to us mechanically and automatically at times without thinking what one is trying to say.
Theophany = “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned {by rote,}”
Don’t forget, the teachings that our Lord taught dealt with the religious leaders who were judgmental and critical toward others while they themselves were guilty of the very same thing they judged others for.
He gave us one of the most important lessons to learn about religion which is the fact that religion is the devil’s ace trump, especially against our Lord and then His people.
The devil’s Ace Trump is religion; tradition; works; guilt; condemnation; self-righteousness; fear; worry; doubt; legalism, etc.
Anything that can take you away from your relationship with our Lord and cause you to be in bondage to a system of religion is classified in your life as the Devil’s Ace Trump.
MAT 23:3 = these false religious leaders tell you what to do and observe, but “they do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them.”
Our Lord is literally saying, “You won’t go wrong in following their teachings but be careful about following them.”
When I say, “one way or another,” I mean guilt will either plague us within or condemnation will cause us to use guilt in our relationships with others.
MAT 23:4 = They tie up heavy loads of guilt and condemnation and they lay them on men’s shoulders; but they are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.
“Instead of giving you God’s truth that you can bank upon, they package it in bundles of rules and regulations as they load you down like pack animals.”
ECC 8:11, Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.
The New Testament application of this principle is found in GAL 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
PRO 24:16 For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in {time of} calamity.
PRO 24:17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
PRO 24:18 Lest the Lord see {it} and be displeased, And He turn away His anger from him.
PRO 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.
1PE 4:8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
They would put a burden on others though they would not do it themselves.
In MAT 23:5, = They do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
In MAT 23:6, They love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in in the synagogues.
In MAT 23:7, they demand respectful greetings to them in the marketplaces, and lobe being called by title such as Rabbi!
In MAT 23:13, The Lord said that they were hypocrites and they shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; and do not enter in themselves.
In MAT 23:15, hypocrites who travel thousands of miles by sea to make one proselyte or one individual to be just like them and when they do, they become l twice as much a son of hell as themselves.
In MAT 23:25, they are Pharisees and hypocrites who clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self‑indulgence.
In MAT 23:27, these hypocrites are said to be like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
In MAT 23:28, they outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly they are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
They smile in your face;
And all the time they want to take your place;
The back stabbers.
Although they are not worthy of our attention, because of 1Pe 3:15, we must always be ready to defend our faith and use our faith to bring glory to our Lord.
Smiling Faces sometimes pretend to be your friend.
Smiling faces — show no traces of the evil that lurks within.
Smiling faces, sometimes they don’t tell the truth.
Smiling faces, tell lies and I got proof.
The truth is in the eye because the eyes don’t lie, Amen.
Remember, a smile is just a frown turned upside down my friend.
Smiling Faces, sometimes they don’t tell the truth.
Smiling Faces tell lies and I got proof.
Beware of the handshake that hides the snake.
Beware of the pat on the back it just might hold you back.
As David said Your enemy won’t do you no harm, because you’ll know where he’s coming from.
Don’t let the handshake and the smile fool you.
Take my advice I’m only trying to school you.
They seem to be loving, when in reality the only love they have is truly love for themselves.
2TI 3:1-2b But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant,
We begin in Joh 15:1, when our Lord and His disciples were learning together the doctrine of the Vine and the Branches as they were all walking together to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Here is the beginning of one of the most important doctrines that our Lord taught His disciples and that is the doctrine of the Vine and the Branches as it relates to the Doctrine of the Baptism of the Spirit.
We start with the function of the vinedresser metaphor because it reveals and refers to God the Father as the author of the Plan of God for every Dispensation.
All Three members of the Trinity have a part in human history and because of the attributes of God, especially His justice and righteousness, we can only assume that the same policy is also for eternity.
God the Father = The Author of the plan
God the Son = The Executor of the plan
God the Holy Spirit = The Revealer of the plan
The True Vine metaphor refers to the humanity of Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
Fruit through the branch is a metaphor for the Church-age believer bearing the fruit of the Spirit in the midst of the devil’s playground in the cosmic system.
No fruit or production can be any better than the vine which produces it.
Because of positional sanctification, when we are placed in union with Christ, plus the grace provision of the three spiritual skills, it is possible for the believer to manufacture productive righteousness.
Positional Sanctification = reveals the positional truth of the believers in the Church-age.
The grace provision of the three spiritual skills are exactly the Word, the power, and the plan.
The Three Spiritual skills:
1. The Word (Heb 4:12)
2. The Power (Act 1:8; Eph 5:18; Gal 5:16)
The Plan (PPOG for the Church-age)
The grace provision of the three spiritual skills – reveals the Word, the power, and the plan.
This is what produces the righteousness that we call productive righteousness.
Productive righteousness reveals the good works that believers can produce through the righteousness of God and the filling of the Spirit.
Although these are three vital doctrines, we also need to have the humility to perceive, metabolize and apply those doctrines.
The vine metaphor emphasizes the fact that all precedence and all productive righteousness in the Church-age comes from the vine – our Lord Jesus Christ.
Joh 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.”
Modified Version: Joh 15:2 “Every branch [believer] in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away [that is He disciplines]; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes [suffering for blessing], that it may bear more fruit.”
The branch is a metaphor for the Church-age believer.
In Joh 15:2 “Every branch [believer] in Me” is a reference to the believer in union with Christ.
The disciples are being taught the doctrine of the Baptism of the Spirit just as we all have been taught that we are also the branches in union with the vine, Jesus Christ.
Two Categories of Branches
1. Dead branches representing dead works, or production skills minus spiritual skills;
2. Live branches representing productive righteousness, or spiritual skills as the basis for production skills.
As a believer are classified as either a live branch or a dead branch in Christ that does not bear fruit and refers to the believer who does not reveal productive righteousness.
Dead works is not fruit-bearing and is punishable.
What you are saying to the Lord is “I will do what I want to, not what you tell me to do, Lord!”
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
It does matter how strait the gate is because MAT 7:13 says; “Enter by the strait and narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.”
MAT 7:14 “For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.
- The Last Adam and the New Creation; 2Co 5:17, Gal 6:15.
2. The Head and the Body; - The Shepherd and the Sheep;
4. The Vine and the Branches;
5. The Cornerstone and the building; - The High Priest and the Royal Priesthood;
7. The Groom and the Bride analogy; - The King of kings and the Royal Family of God; 1Pe 2:5; 2:9; Rev 1:6.
1JO 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and {such} we are. For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
1JO 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.
1JO 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.