We continue to make our way verse by verse through Mark's gospel. So, if you will take your Bibles and turn to Mark, chapter 12, we're going to be examining verses 38 through 44. And I've entitled my discourse to you, "Beware of Religious Phonies". That is certainly the theme of this text. And it is the goal of this exposition, to give you the discernment that you need to do exactly what the Lord Jesus tells us to do here in this text.

By way of brief context, Jesus is now less than two days from his crucifixion. He's been teaching and preaching in the temple court, and there's been many, many people listening; he has thoroughly embarrassed and humiliated those who have tried to embarrass him and humiliate him; namely, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and so forth. They have been trying to trick him. They, of course, were the religiously elite and they were trying to demonstrate in front of all of the people what a fraud Jesus was, because ultimately, they wanted to kill him. And now I want you to get the picture in your mind. You're in the court of the Gentiles, there's maybe as many as 1000 people around and you've got the scribes and the Pharisees right up front for everybody can see them standing before him. And we read this in Mark 12: 38, "In His teaching He was saying: 'Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.' And He sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put into small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, 'Truly, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.'"

I have a bit of a lengthy introduction that I think is important to help frame this passage. And so if you will bear with me, and then we will get exactly to these particular words. I've been in Christian ministry for about 40 years. And I've had to battle two formidable enemies. One within me and one outside of me. I've had to battle my own flesh, and I've had to battle Satan and his deceptions in the world. And only by the grace of God have I been able to gain any measure of victory in my life. And I think all of you can identify with this. And as a seasoned pastor, over the years, I have developed a very keen eye for spiritual danger that might destroy me personally, that might destroy my family, and certainly might destroy the sheep of the pasture that God has given me to shepherd. And every faithful pastor that has been called My God, not my man, especially older pastors, can attest to the profound danger of wolves in sheep's clothing of those that would preach and teach doctrinal error of those, that in very subtle and ingenious ways, do the bidding of Satan in his diabolical schemes. We see it in the culture, and we see it in many churches. And frankly, Satan does his greatest work not by doing something from the outside to the church but joining the church and destroying it from within.

But I would say that Satan's most diabolical, his most dangerous strategy, and his most effective strategy to thwart the purposes of God, is through the use of religious phonies. And that's what Jesus dealt with throughout his entire ministry with the scribes, the Pharisees the Sadducees. But they have always existed in various forms. We can go into the Old Testament, for example, and see examples of many heretics, false prophets, false teachers; I think of what Paul reminds us of in terms of the early heretics in Second Timothy three verses eight and nine, he spoke of Jannes and Jambres, who "opposed Moses," remember that? Men that oppose the truth, men of a depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. We can go to numbers 22 through 25 and read about the false prophet Balaam. Earlier in our scripture reading, we read out of Jeremiah 23. For example, verse 16, says, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the LORD.'" We go on to read beginning in verse 31, "'Behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the LORD, 'who use their tongues and declare "The LORD declares," Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,' declares the LORD and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods, and reckless boasting; yet I did not send to them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,' declares the LORD."

Indeed, these were men that were self-appointed; they were not God ordained. Men that would twist the scripture in order to promote themselves, promote their own agenda. You can go into the New Testament; you see examples of this with the Judaizers. Remember in Acts 15 they're trying to mix law with grace, insisting the Gentile, for example, must be circumcised in order to obey the law of Moses and to be saved. In Galatians chapter one, verse six and following we read how they were teaching, quote, "a different distorted gospel." One that was contrary to what the apostles preached, and they were to be accursed. In Second Thessalonians, you read about false teachers that had confused the people thoroughly about the Lord's return. And then Colossae, Jewish legalists, that also embraced pagan mysticism and rigid asceticism, were polluting the church. It's what is commonly known as the Colossian Heresy. And Paul warned about this in Colossians, two and verse eight. He says, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."

And that same warning goes to each of us today. You will remember in Revelation two, you had the warning against the Nicolaitans, in the church of Pergamum. And then in the church of Thyatira, you have, quote, "the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bondservants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols." Paul warned of this in First Timothy four beginning in verse one, "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron." And then we are warned in Second Timothy chapter two beginning in verse 16, "But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some." And then that familiar passage in Second Timothy, chapter three beginning in verse one, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revelers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Peter warned of this as well. We read about it, for example, in Second Peter two beginning in verse one through verse two, in particular. He speaks of false teachers, and how they will "secretly introduce destructive heresies". He goes on to say that "many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned." Beginning in verse 12, he speaks of them as "unreasoning animals...reviling in their deceptions" (v. 13) ...having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed (v.14). He went on to say, "These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escaped from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." In other words, these false teachers are motivated primarily by sexual lust, that is immorality, by greed and by power. So, Titus says, or Paul said to Titus, I should say in chapter one, verse 16, "They profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed."

I would submit to you that there are at least three general categories of false teachers that we need to be aware of. There's the heretic, the hypocrite, and the incompetent. And there's much overlap with these. When I think of the heretic, and I speak of that, I'm talking about apostates that speak things that are contrary to Scripture. These are typically self-appointed men, a lot of times women, they are predators in pulpits. They often have huge followings, and they're primarily entrepreneurs.

Jude gives a great summary of them. I won't read all of the passages--I'll just give you the designations. They are ungodly, morally perverted; they deny and distort the person work of Christ; defile the flesh. They're rebellious, they revile holy angels. They're dreamers, ignorant self-destructive, grumblers, fault finders, self-seeking, arrogant speakers. flatterers, mockers cause the division, their worldly-minded and without the Spirit. And he even says something that is especially important for us to remember, is that they creep into the church quote, "unnoticed". They creep into the church, unnoticed, they join our fellowship; seem like great people--smart, charismatic type people, they know the word. And then they begin to introduce these deceptions, satanic counterfeiters. Now, in that day, it was primarily referring to itinerant preachers that would do this stuff, but today, it's everywhere, especially with the internet, man-centered people, not God-centered. They preach a man-centered rather than a God-centered gospel. They speak a lot about man and his needs, not God and his glory. And you will see this for example, in the prosperity gospel, the social justice gospel, the LGBTQ gospel, the seeker sensitive gospel, the whole Ecumenical Movement, and so forth.

But not only do you have the heretic, but you also have the hypocrite. Of course, this would include all heretics, but it would also include those that teach sound doctrine. There are hypocrites that teach sound doctrine. Now all of us are sinners, but here I'm referring to that man who has a secret life that is dominated by sin. And his secret life does not match his public message. This man is ruled by life-dominating sin rather than the indwelling Spirit. This is what was going on with the scribes and Pharisees. They were not only heretics, but they were hypocrites. Not too long ago, a world-renowned evangelical minister and Christian apologist, a man by the name of Ravi Zacharias was exposed for his secret immorality; soon after that he died. So, you have the heretic and you have the hypocrite.

And the third one, maybe as dangerous as the two former ones, and that is the incompetent. This is typically the self-appointed, not the God-ordained or God-gifted man. This is the type of man that has a superficial grasp of theology, a superficial grasp of the word. The content of his sermons are as shallow is icing on a doughnut. And equally as malnourishing. Many times, when you listen to them preach, they just kind of ramble around, they have conversations with the people, you can tell they don't really know much about what they're talking about. And they tend to make the obvious, even more obvious. I've seen this so many times. These are men that are typically irreverent, they're undignified, they're overly casual and they’re as boring as watching paint dry. Many of them are entrepreneurs, entertainers, ear ticklers; they certainly don't meet the qualifications of an elder in First Timothy three and Titus one. For example, in Titus one, they're unable to meet this most important qualification, "holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict." May I remind you that God has given the church, pastor teachers. According to Ephesians, four beginning in verse 12, we read that these pastors and teachers are for the "equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; so that we all attain to the unity of the faith"--referring to doctrinal unity--"and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful, scheming." And whenever you see a church that is easily carried away by every wind of doctrine, that falls into the trickery of men, the craftiness, the deceitful, scheming, you know that they don't have a pastor teacher. And you can quickly see the level of incompetence in these type of men by what they preach, how they preach. Typically, again, rambling, superficial, man-centered topical sermons. And unfortunately, many churches today are little more than religious social clubs, rather than the pillar in the support of the truth. This is so dangerous because what happens is congregations are banished to an island of spiritual infancy; they just don't grow. They don't develop any discernment. Therefore, they're vulnerable to the schemes of the devil. We're constantly warning our kids about things that are out there, what to look for, and how to combat that. Sadly, many churches don't get that from the pulpit. And often the problem is not even so much of in what they teach, but what they leave out. This is why so many evangelicals today have capitulated to the progressive ideologies that celebrate sexual perversions, transgenderism, critical race theory, abortion, all these types of things.

A recent article from The Gospel Coalition actually juxtaposes the lyrics of Taylor Swift with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I read in one article a few months ago, The Gospel Coalition published an article and then deleted it (it's still available at archive.org) that warrants nothing but mockery and scorn, the piece titled "Seven Things Christians Can Learn from Taylor Swift's Eras Tour," and aims to reveal how the pro LGBTQ anti-Christian secular pop icon, Taylor Swift's music tour is apparently fertile ground for Christian education." Folks, this is the kind of venom that comes straight from the fangs of the serpent. This is what heretics teach, what hypocrites teach, and many times what incompetent ignoramuses will allow in the church. It's devastating. And bear in mind that incompetent preachers are unqualified preachers. And by preaching, I mean, a clear and compelling exposition, explanation, application of the Word of God that is so convicting, that is so edifying, that is so encouraging, that all the listeners will know that they have been in the presence of the Most High God, and they will be forever changed because of what they heard.

In the Puritan era, pastors were considered physicians of the soul. Therefore, they needed to be what we would call board certified. A physician of the body today needs to be board certified, right? You don't want to go to a doctor that just decided one day, he wants to be a doctor; he's got to go through rigorous training. Well, that's the way it was in those days. In fact, it was illegal for a man to, what they would say ascend the sacred desk, which would mean come into a pulpit, without having first met the highest standards of his theological acumen, his grasp of the Word of God, his character. Where those that were great, and godly theologians could vet him and see that he was clearly gifted by God to preach with unusual clarity and conviction and what they called unction, which was Spirit empowered preaching that moves people to be able to understand and apply the Word of God and bring them face to face with God in his preaching. Well, today if you can fog a mirror you can preach, and that's about it.

Remember, when Paul went into Corinth, wicked, wicked, unbelievably wicked city. First Corinthians two we read, beginning of verse two, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." Dear friends, the character, and the message of this kind of man will be validated by his likeness to Christ. And I like to call this a godly presence. I think I've included this, or they've included this even in your bulletin--as I have written elsewhere. "A gospel preacher with a "godly presence" is a man with a noticeable aura of godliness about him, both in and out of the pulpit--a man like Jesus; a man who possesses a palpable sense of humility and love that draws you into His presence; a man who exudes spiritual strength, confidence, boldness, wisdom, and a noticeable fervency that marks him as a man of God, and a man on a mission; a man so lost in the wonder of the majesty of God, so filled with the Divine presence, that nothing in this world causes him to despair or tempts him to distraction."

"This is that rare man whose authority enters a room with him, and commands respect without ever asking for it. I am speaking of that extraordinary man who is quote, 'full of the Spirit and of wisdom (Acts 6:3) ...This is that exceptional man who has such a great likeness to Jesus, that he actually emanates his power in ways that are mysteriously transcendent and profoundly influential. His godly presence comes only from the unrestricted rule of the Spirit of God in his heart...this is the kind of men that you want on your side when you go into battle." And I add that, "It is very rare to encounter a man who can simply open up the Word of God with divine authority and disappear behind quote, "the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6), and with convicting power bring men and women, young and old, into the presence of the Most High God."

Dave Harrell

I've only met a few men like that, and I would long to be one. But I want you to see this as a contrast to the type of heretics and hypocrites and incompetent pastors that we have today. And certainly, those three appellations describe this, the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And for this reason, and now we come to the text in verse 38, Jesus is teaching, and he says, "'Beware of the scribes." "Beware"-- it means be vigilant, be on the lookout, proceed with attention; watch them carefully. I love the picture in my mind here. I mean, they're standing right in front of him, right? There are hundreds of onlookers. Notice he didn't say beware of false teachers. No, that would be too ambiguous. Beware of the scribe. It doesn't say this, but I would imagine he pointed at them. You know, on the news, when they say that a criminal has escaped from prison, and we need to be aware of them. What do they do? They show you their picture, right? Give them your name. They don't say "Hey, folks, you know, there's a criminal out there, it's really dangerous." You know, you'd be out for look out for him. "Yeah, we don't want to use his name or show his picture. We don't want to offend him, you know, but just beware."

Now don't you know, the atmosphere was electric here. And frankly, Jesus is throwing gas on a fire that's already raging. They want to kill him. You know, he made this warning before, Mark eight, verse 15. He says, "'Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,'"-- leaven being that which influences; beware of the damming and deadly influence of the Pharisees that will permeate your mind and your life and bring you to destruction. Matthew records this in Matthew 16, verse six, he says, "'Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" In verse 12, we read, "Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" This again, reminds me what Paul said about the false teachers Hymenaeus and Philetus in Second Timothy two, verse 16. And following, that their message, their talk will "spread like gangrene." It's deadly stuff. It's contagious. The incompetent, heretical, hypocrite speaks words that are toxic. They teach things that are contagious, your kids hear these things, they repeat these things, and on and on it goes. And sadly, every church is going to reflect its pastor ultimately as did the people of Israel reflect their leaders.

Now, the scribes and the Pharisees again, Jesus makes it so clear, you can't miss them. He goes on to say, "They walk around in long robes.'" In other words, they have some kind of ostentatious attire. Some even say that historically, they wore white silk. I can't verify that for sure. But the point is, whatever they wore, it set them apart. So, people knew, well there's a scribe and a Pharisee; no mistaking them. They also wore a shawl. They would all wear a shawl during prayer time and other religious acts in the synagogues, but evidently some of them even wore them in public to attract attention. And clearly this was a uniform that would set them apart. Those of you that have graduated from college or whatever, you know, how we have these cap and gowns, you got these ornate gowns, and you know, mine's kind of a little, it's not a cap, it's more of a beret type of thing. Imagine if I wore that around all the time--you know, I go to the grocery "o, there he is." I mean, that's what was going on. Religious phonies are always desperate to be noticed. And he says they "like respectful greetings in the marketplace." And course the respectful greeting was "Rabbi" and that's what they would do; they would kind of bow. Oh, they love to hear that, they thrived on recognition.

Jesus doesn't stop there, in verse 39, that they love "the chief seats in the synagogues." Now these would be the front seats in the synagogues where the rulers would sit. They would face the synagogue where they would be able to answer questions from the people and so forth. So, this was a place of prominence. Now, we're aware of this, I mean, we see this for example, at wedding receptions or ceremonies of state where the most important people, that are there at that particular event, will have a seat of prominence. Well, that's where these guys wanted to sit.

By the way, as a footnote, out of this came, what's called the "cathedra", a cathedra was a raised seat or a throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. And we also hear about it like, you know, the chair of a department, you know, that's the most prominent person in academia in a particular department. And we know, for example, the Pope, who supposedly infallible, often speaks "ex cathedra". That's Latin for "out of the chair." In other words, he speaks with the authority and the supposed rank of that particular office. And so, we see this when the Pope makes papal announcements on matters of faith and doctrine and morals and so forth. He supposedly has the final authority on those things, which is blasphemous beyond words. I was reading where Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same sex couples. So much what the Scripture says, which is a radical shift in policy that aimed at making the church more inclusive, while maintaining its strict ban on gay marriage. Well, you get the idea.

On a final note, in order to refute, this arrogant hypocrisy that surrounded this whole issue of the chief seats, and then later on the cathedra, that came out of that historically, we see that in the Protestant Reformation, pastors would come out from the congregation, in order to ascend the sacred desk; in order to come to preach, rather than being seated in some big chair up front, as if he's something important. And the reason for this is to demonstrate that the pastor is merely one of everybody else. He has a unique calling, but he's just like all of you. And the message is coming from the church, through this man, through the Word, and so forth, and certainly a practice that we observe here. And this wasn't the case with the religious phonies, they wanted the chief seats, they wanted to sit up here with the robes on so that you can all see them and "oh, wow, there they are." They love the "chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets." The banquet was the "deipnon" in the original language; an evening meal where guests would be invited. And it's interesting, that if you study it, the most important person would always be seated to the far left of these couches that they would reside upon and recline on. And that was because when you're at the far left, you could easily see the entire table without turning your head, you could just turn like this, you wouldn't have to be looking all around. And so, the most prominent place would be to the far left of the couch arrangement. That's what they wanted. They'd be reserved for the scribes and the Pharisees.

Verse 40, they also "devour widows' houses." Now this must have really rang a bell with the people because they were notorious for this. Let me give you some background, the scribes were the official administrators for widows' estates when their husbands died; to help them administer the inheritance. I mean, that's all that they had. And of course, your inheritance was very important to you. I mean, even as it is today for us, you know, you ladies if your husband passes away, you've got, you know, what the two of you had together, you have your inheritance. And the widows and the orphans and the Levites would have no inheritance apart from the provisions that God made for them. And so, we read, for example, in Deuteronomy 24, beginning of verse 19. God's provision for them you will remember this, "When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you will go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan and for the widow." "When you beat," later on, he says, "When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow." So, this was a way of caring for people, very important, in God's economy. In Deuteronomy 24 verse 17, God condemns the leader, he says "You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan nor take a widow's garment in pledge." In other words, the administration of the law must be carried out equally among all of the people, including the most helpless in society.

D

Now, a little more background. Widows would therefore entrust their estate to the scribes to help them administer all of the transactions. But what the scribes were notorious for doing, was swindling them; getting them to set it up legally so that a portion of their inheritance would be allocated to them. This is what Jesus is referring to when he says that you "devour widows' houses." See, they had the legal knowledge to know where the loopholes were, how to set things up, just like our attorneys, you know, you go and talk to an attorney and they speak a different language, and you just have to trust them. But imagine if your attorney did this, and they set it all up legally, and then later on, you find out that much of what you had belongs to them. We read about the wickedness of this, for example, in Isaiah one, verse 23, "Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and chase after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, nor does the widow's plea come before them." Don't you know that those who were guilty of this heinous crime, standing there in front of Jesus and all those people, were squirming in their robes? They were exposed once again. And probably some of the people were looking on them with disdain, because they knew that that's exactly what had happened; some of their loved ones.

Jesus goes on and he says, "And for appearances sake, they offer long prayers." You see their prayers were nothing more than a pretense to impress people with their spirituality, and with their theological acumen, so that you will trust me when it comes time for me to deal with your estate, et cetera, et cetera. Hypocrites are always looking for a platform on which to perform; always looking for the spotlight so that they can run in it, run underneath it, and take a bow. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew six, beginning of verse five. He says, "'When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have the reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.'"

Jesus has so many scathing rebukes concerning these false teachers. In Matthew 23, verse 15, it says, "'Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much as son of hell as yourselves.'" Boy, Jesus didn't mince any words, did he? Verse 23, and following, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin 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. You blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 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. You blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also, 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. So, you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy, and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them, and shedding the blood of the prophets.' So, you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?'" And what's sad, is repeatedly in Scripture, we see that these men knew the truth on so many error areas of doctrine matters, especially pertaining to Jesus, and yet they rejected that. Instead, they taught heresy. And because of their hypocrisy at the end of verse 40, we read what Jesus says, "'these will receive greater condemnation.'" I mean, folks, it's one thing to reject the truth with full knowledge, but it is all together something else to lead other people into deception. That is a heinous wickedness. Therefore, there is a greater condemnation. And sadly, we see this all the time. You see it in the word faith movement, in the prosperity gospel, the woke, LGBTQ, social justice gospels, these are all satanic schemes. These are all demonic conspiracies designed to malign the gospel; to eradicate Biblical Christianity from the planet, and to thwart the purposes of God and redemption. And for this reason, there's a "greater condemnation." "Condemnation"--"krima" in the original language. It speaks of a guilty verdict in a criminal case where the punishment is well understood, its execution. This is the terrifying fate of an apostate.

Psalm 146, verse nine, we read, "The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, but He thwarts the way of the wicked." Let me camp for a moment on another passage that gives further light into this issue of condemnation. It's in Hebrews 10, verse 29. There the writer says, "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God." And that's what these men were doing. And what many people do today. "To trample something underfoot," it was an expression that describes the most extreme form of disdain and disrespect. It was as if you're saying, "you were so worthless and so filthy, you're like the dust under my superior feet." That's what they were doing to Jesus, as many people do today. I mean, what impudence to know what God has provided through His Son, and to know what the Son endured on behalf of sinners, and then to reject it, that's what the writer of Hebrews is speaking to. They would continually return to the sacrificial system of the old covenant that pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. This was just an inconceivable act of defiance, because the law of Moses was a shadow of the coming Redeemer, the one that fulfilled the law. And so, to see that, to understand that, and then turn your back on that-- I mean, how much severer punishments must that kind of blasphemy deserve? Not only do they trample underfoot the Son of God, but it says, and they have "regarded"--or you could translate that considered--"as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified." By the way he here is not referring to the apostate. This is how many people will interpret this passage who want to argue that a man can lose his salvation; that is an errant position, and it cannot be defended in this passage, rather the closest antecedent is the "Son of God." So, the "He" refers to Jesus and apostate has never been sanctified I'd proven by the fact that he regards the blood of the covenant as unclean so the "he" refers to Christ. In fact, in his high priestly prayer, John 17:19, you will remember that Jesus prays to the Father, saying, and "For their sake, I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth." In other words, he totally set himself apart to do the Father's will, by securing our salvation that we might be set apart unto God through faith in Him. And the point with all of this passage is this, it is utterly unfathomable to consider the Son of God as worthless, as filthy. And that's what they were doing. The one who poured out his blood, and became sin on our behalf, that we might have his righteousness--to come along and to hear these magnificent truths, and to hear Jesus speak of them, and to count it all is worthless. So, God views the apostate with the utmost disdain. If I can pause for a moment, I hope you are not among these people.

Not only did they trample underfoot the Son of God, and regard as unclean the blood of the covenant, but he says, they have "insulted the Spirit of grace." The Spirit of God has come into the world to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. He has given us His Word; he's put the glory of Christ on display. He's revealed to us the truth of the gospel, and you're going to insult him by rejecting all of this. Verse 30, and 31, "For we know Him, who said, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY. 'And again, 'THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.' It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I think back in Hebrews six and you don't have this text. But many of the people that were standing before Jesus had heard all of these things and Hebrews six verses four and following speaks about how they had "once been enlightened." In other words, they had once been informed, they had once been instructed about the gospel. This passage is not speaking to believers, it's speaking to unbelievers. They've "once been enlightened," it says that they've "tasted of the heavenly gift." In other words, they had basically enjoyed some measure of the gift of God through common grace. They had gotten a little flavor of the new life, of kingdom blessings. I mean, they had tasted it. They had sampled it, but they had never drank it in; they'd never been changed by it. They had never ingested him fully. It even says that you've been "made partakers of the Holy Spirit." In other words, these unbelieving Jews had shared in a common association of the Holy Spirit. They were exposed to the works of God; they were exposed to the Word of God. Some of them had may even been healed by His power. Some of them have may have eaten of the five loaves and fishes; they had experienced all these things, but they did not possess him. They were never truly born again. But the point is, to experience all of this, these people are hearing Jesus, the scribes are right here, the Pharisees are right here; to hear and to know and experience all of this, and then walk away from it? This is incomprehensibly offensive to our triune God. Oh, dear friends, the consequences of hypocrisy and apostasy.

Hebrews 10, verse 27, it's a "terrifying expectation of judgment, AND THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES." Now, think about this, the horrors of the Roman invasions a few years later, would come upon these people. And yet, all of that pales in comparison to the eternal terror of hell.

Well, finally, in closing back to Mark 12, we read that Jesus "sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, 'Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus; but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.'" Now, many use the story as an example of sacrificial giving; that she gave everything she had. But obviously, that is not what God expects. That's not what is taught and in Scripture. And frankly, such an interpretation is completely foreign to the narrative. Remember here, the context is that of warning, of judgment upon the corrupt religious leaders, who were deceiving people, especially widows, with the false promises of Jewish legalism. And basically, they were saying, like the prosperity teachers do today, "the more you give, the more you're going to get." And there's no indication here in this story, that this woman loved Christ, that she was a believer. There's no mention of the attitude of her heart. There's no commendation for the amount that she gave. There is no mention of any principle of giving in the whole story. Beloved, what this is, is an example of another person, a victim, that's been duped by the greedy religionists that God condemned with the harshest warnings. This poor lady. These were religious predators, and we have them today. Greedy phonies, that took her last cent. So don't use the story of the widow's mite as a lesson on stewardship.

By the way, biblically, God honoring giving is never determined by the amount, but by the attitude. It should be a joyful privilege, not an obligation, an act of worship in love, devotion to Christ. As we look at the New Testament, giving...I mean, a lot of people want to say, "well, you need to tithe." Tithing is not in the New Testament folks, that might be a nice principle for you to use, but you don't have to give 10%. Some people will argue, "yeah, you do, you got to give 10% of gross." Others will say "no, you got to give 10% of net." All of that is ridiculous. All of that comes out of the Old Testament. In the New Testament the principles could simply be described as we need to be sacrificial. We need to give generously, we need to give proportionately to our ability to give, we need to give voluntarily and regularly. We are commanded, for example, to put aside and save as we may prosper, First Corinthians 16 two. Second Corinthians eight three give "according to your ability and beyond your ability, they gave of their own accord." Second Corinthians nine seven, "Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart." That's how we give.

Folks, in closing, beware of religious phonies, heretics, hypocrites, and incompetent pastors and elders, church leaders that are self-appointed, they're unqualified. And one final note. Never attend a church that tries to be attractive and relevant to the culture. That is a very dangerous church. Those churches that are constantly trying to reinvent themselves; churches that adjust the gospel message, they have a commitment to be less dogmatic, more therapeutic, more tolerant, more entertaining. Never attend a church that focuses on taking up social issues. That is always a sure mark of defection. As I say, Jesus and the apostles didn't march around with the "Jews Lives Matter" banner. It was all about the gospel. Look for a church that will not conform to the culture but will lovingly confront it.

Look for a church whose pastor and whose elders are, and I've given you seven things that come out of one of the books that I've written. And I'll use this in closing--look for the pastor who is number one: consumed with God's glory. Number two: content with his suffering. Convinced of his calling, controlled by one message--which is the gospel Christ and Him crucified--confident with one method. And that is the in-depth systematic, expositional doctrinal preaching of the Word and committed to one end, which is presenting every man completed Christ. And confirmed by one power, namely the power of The Holy Spirit. All of this will be the opposite of the false teacher, of the religious phony. May God help us guard our hearts that he might be honored in us and through us and because of us, Amen.

Father, thank you for the truths of your word. Help us to grasp them, not only intellectually, but to embrace them with our heart that we might live consistently with them. We long for your blessing, We long to be salt and light. And for those that may not know you as Savior, O Lord, won't you please bring such overwhelming conviction to them even this hour, that they will run to the cross, and cry out in repentance and place their faith in the living Christ. By your power and for your glory, for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.