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Pasture Scott Mitchell
Yokes # 6 – What matters isRegeneration, Not Religion…
Matthew 12: 43 – 45
The party of the Pharisees arosein the 400 years from the rebuilding of the temple under Ezra and Nehemiahuntil Jesus advent. It was a period in which the Lord was silent and did notspeak through prophets or visions. God finally let His voice be heard throughthe angel Gabriel who told Zacharias that he would be the father of a son whowould be known as John the Baptist and would be the forerunner of the longawaited Messiah. (See Luke chapter 1.)
In the verses just preceeding ourfocal passage, it’s evident that these Pharisees would not accept that Jesus’work was in the power of God. They had gotten used to having the last word inthe area of Religion and even the society because in the past silent years,they had added so much to the Law that no one could even move about withoutconsidering one of the precepts that the Pharisees had put forward. They werenot used to being wrong. And they were not used to being showed up which wasjust what Jesus did. He showed the community just what kind of self-centeredhyprocrits these Pharisees were. The Pharisees did’t like it one bit. They wantedto be the voice of God but only served to confuse the people with theirconstant chattering about rules and regulations.
In America today we sometimes treatthe Word of God the same way. We want to look good on the outside but carelittle about the state of the inside. In America we spend $30 Billion oncosmetics and another $15 Billion on diatary supplements. In verse 44 thephrase ‘in order’ is from a word that we also get our term, ‘cosmetics.’
It was the same mountain thatMoses had his first encounter with the fire of God on a bush that would notburn that the children gathered to receive the Law from God Himself. While theywaited at the foot of the mountain, they saw Moses assend in to the cloud anddisappear in to what they perceived as fire.
God is calling the people of NRCCto disappear into the cloud and be immerced in the presence of God Almighty.
Jesus spoke to the Phariseed inverses 43 – 45 about what kind of people they were. They might have seemed tohave orderly lives and to live under the laws that God instituted but werethemselves posessed by demons that denied the very prophesies that spokeclearly about Messiah and thus spoke clearly about the man standing before them– Jesus.
God is speaking to us today. Heis saying that we won’t get away with giving a pretext of religion whiledenying its power. The fruit of our lives give us away.
Life is not just Sunday morning.Life is Christ Jesus all the time! If He’s in us, it’s evident to everyone. Youcan’t hide your true nature.