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"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!"

 

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(← Click to see full-size) This is a familiar expression not only to Christians but also to the secularists who decry the hypocrisy of some who call themselves Christians. If someone tells me he won't believe in Christ because there are hypocrites in the Church, I reply – "There's always room for one more!" You see, to some extent we are all hypocrites, even Christians.

The Lord Jesus Christ repeats the phrase "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" seven times in Matthew 23:13-29 – it's called "the seven-fold woes." Also as this picture illustrates, when the Scribes and Pharisees brought to the Lord a woman caught in adultery, he put them in their place by saying – "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone" (see John 8:1-11).

There are two kinds of hypocrites: those who sincerely believe that they're doing God a favor by their strict hyper-religiosity and those who are consciously aware that they are trying to deceive people by their hyper-religious acting. What lies behind these texts is that we so often identify with the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees, pointing our finger at "the lowlife scum, the alcoholics, drug addicts, fornicators, homos, and social parasites" ...as all the while there are three of our fingers pointing back at us.

If the Lord meant these words to be directed only to the Scribes and Pharisees, there would be no need to record them in the Gospels. No, these words are recorded for us too, that's why they're in the Gospels. What is the remedy for this malady of the soul? See Luke 18:10-14 –

"Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: 'God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortioners, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The only cure for the sins of pride, deceit, and hypocrisy is humility – "God, be merciful to me, a sinner! Lord, have mercy!"

(Get this as a separate article on our ARC-News blog at blogspot.com.)

 

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The Sheep and the Goats

 

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The Lord Jesus, in Matthew ch. 25, gave us the parable of the sheep and the goats: the sheep go to heaven but the goats go to hell. Some believe we are predestined to one fate or the other, there's nothing you can do about it, no way to change your fate, you're "born that way." But is this always true?

Last week, we read about Eusygnius the Martyr of Antioch in our online "Morning Prayers and Readings." Eusygnius was martyred for his confession of faith to the Emperor Julian "the Apostate." Julian had been raised as a Christian, he studied the faith with Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian and was even tonsured a reader in the Church. But later, Julian apostacized, he denied the faith and attempted to return his whole empire to paganism.

So it is possible for someone to confess Christ and later to deny Him like Judas did, to apostacize. Some will say – "Well, he never really believed in Christ to begin with!" But history is replete with stories of people who really thought they were believers and had eternal security, a guaranteed ticket to heaven, so they fell into sin – like pastors absconding with the church secretary and millions of dollars from their church – and thus denying Christ. Like Julian the Apostate, a "sheep" can become a "goat."

On the other hand, in a small number of cases "goats" can turn into "sheep" – read "Switching Sides: The Elusive ‘Russian Legion’ Fighting With Ukraine" about Russian soldiers and civilians who have joined the top-secret Russian Legion because they could not with a good conscience fight against Ukraine or stand idly by. Such conversions among adults are quite rare: for example, the most fruitful fields for evangelism are among teens and young adults – deathbed confessions of faith occur very seldom because as people grow older, they become more and more set in their ways. But they can happen!

In Matthew 10:14-15 we read – "Whoever doesn't receive you, nor hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust from your feet. Most assuredly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city." As the Lord Jesus was sending out His 12 apostles to evangelize, He told them there would be many who would reject the Gospel and the consequences would be more severe for these "religious" people who were stuck in their mistaken beliefs than for the homosexual perverts in Sodom and Gomorrah who tried to rape God's angelic messengers.

Some pro-LGBTQ folks twist this Scripture text to say the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah refers to not offering hospitality to strangers. But a straightforward reading of this text and other related texts contradict this notion, for example Ezekiel 16:49-50 – "Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. They were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw fit." Instead of offering hospitality, the homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah committed abomination before God.

As we see in the article "IT'S "NOT MORAL" TO REQUEST ABSTINENCE TO STOP MONKEYPOX: LGBT ACTIVIST," there are some LGBTQ people who will insist that their lifestyle is moral and anyone who doesn't condone it is immoral and a "hater." Their value system is turned upside-down. But the point here is not chiefly about homosexuality. The context is evangelism and about people's refusing to accept the Good News: that is a worse sin than homosexual behavior.

It may be difficult and rare for hardened people to convert, but once in a while a "goat" can be converted and become a "sheep"! As Romans 12:1-2 states – "Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

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