Faithless Piety

Faithless Piety

Luke 11:20-44

Have you noticed that there are many people who picture the Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry as one of performing good deeds and miracles, while gently teaching love and peace and being surrounded by women and children? Well, you know, that’s only part of the picture we see recorded in the Bible. Jesus did graciously proclaim the truth, but He also very strongly confronted those who twisted and perverted the truth. He pulled no punches when correcting those who intentionally used the word of God toward their own ends.

It is also true that He promised an eternity in heaven for all those who received Him, but those who didn’t receive Him were severely warned that everlasting torment in hell was in their future. Jesus, the incarnate word of God was the living personification of the law of God, and therefore could not avoid conflict with sin and error, for to do so would dilute the truth of God and elevate sin and error in the sight of men.

In one way or another, all people affirm the importance of truth. Day in and day out, everyday dealings in temporal life depends on people telling the truth, and without a general guiding principle of truth to live by, life would disintegrate and become chaotic. This is why we tend to distance ourselves from liars, and at times we even hold them legally accountable for the things they say and the lies they spread. Temporal truth is usually held in high regard among reasonable people, but spiritual truth is infinitely more important because there is nothing more important to mankind than knowing the truth about the salvation that God offers everyone who has faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

There are those though, who don’t think this way. Some, rather many, would conform truth to fit their own narrative. We see this in politics all the time. Truth gets bent and molded into something that fills a perceived need or a certain result that a person desires. It’s a tactic often used by politicians and their handlers, but its origin is Satan himself. The Son of God told us that the devil is a liar and the father of lies who opposes truth, and especially spiritual truth.

Ever since the dawn of time, Satan’s kingdom of darkness has spawned an endless stream of religious liars and spiritual deceivers who lead people astray from God’s truth. And in our modern age, with the widespread use of the media, truth has taken a back seat to a new “truth” called tolerance and diversity, which has given us a generation of people who are unwilling or unable to distinguish between what is truth and what is a lie. Even people who say they are Christians today would tolerate false teachers in the name of love and tolerance rather than acknowledging the reality that they are deceivers and liars, who are Mat 7:15 …false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

For example, have you ever had someone say, “You’re not supposed to judge” when you speak of a teacher or preacher, usually a popular one like Joel Osteen, Kenneth Hagan, Benny Hinn, and the like, and say that they are in error and a false teacher teaching a false gospel? Instead of combating error among Christians and in the Church, they’d rather allow them to continue in the name of unity, love, and tolerance. But isn’t this mentality the reason why the UMC is a failing Church and the reason why so many are leaving and joining something else, like the GMC?

The Jesus of the Bible was and is loving and merciful, but rather than turning aside and allowing liars to prevail in the church, He aimed His most severe warnings and judgments against those who outwardly seemed to be faithful and deeply religious, but inwardly were shallow, vain, and hypocritical.

Such were the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, along with the Scribes and Sadduccees as well. Now, this doesn’t apply to the few among those groups who were sincere seekers of truth and lovers of God, but the majority were not that way. Friends, being religious is not a virtue, and false religion is not man ascending upward toward God but descending downward toward blasphemy and depravity.

False prophets and false teachers are hypocrites who create the illusion of being something they are not. Their outward display of piety in reality is a faithless piety with no spiritual power. Regardless of how many followers they may have or how popular they are on TV, radio, or the internet, they cannot save, and they are to be avoided at all costs.

In our text today, Jesus had just taught the disciples to pray, healed a deaf mute of a demon, been accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, He then corrected that false and slanderous accusation, warning the Pharisees against judgment to come because of their shallow, empty, and judgmental religion. He told them that the most evil and wicked empires throughout history will be judged less harshly than they themselves would be because those evil empires didn’t have the advantage of having the One who was greater than Solomon and greater than Jonah among them like the Pharisees had.