Sin is a violation of God’s law.  Crime is a violation of man’s law.  Man’s laws are based on God’s laws.”

                    –Dan Arnold  (Bear Creek)

 

       “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

                    –Matthew 23:28(NKJV)   

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If you have or are watching “The Chosen,” one of the things that stand out are the Pharisees.  An interesting group to say the least.  If you have followed much you see that there are several subgroups all “bickering” for their right to be heard and that their cause was just.  In my studies I have found that there are three groups of Pharisees, though they would not label it as such.  First, in my mind, are those who would have trouble not drowning during a hard rain because of their nose stuck in the air.  These are the “holier than thou” who didn’t have much time for the common Jewish person.  Second, there were those who had a heart for the truth of the law.  Those who sought truth and tried to live truth.  And the last group are those who began to seek earnestly the Messiah.  

     Not all Pharisees were bad, but the writers of the Gospels lump them together and then throw in the Sadducees, Herodians, and scribes.  The work of the Pharisees can be traced back to Ezra.  If you remember, the Persians were releasing groups of Jews to go back to their homeland after being held in captivity by the Chaldeans.  What was there in Jerusalem, but a destroyed temple, a city in ruins, and a wall that was a crumpled mess.  The people had been without the Law for over seventy years.  Ezra found the Law in the ruins of the Temple and read it aloud to the people.  From there, a group was started that would keep the Law, that it would not be lost again.  The term “Pharisee,” however did not come into existence until the rule of John Hyrcanus somewhere between 135-105 B.C.  The word meant, “separated ones,” and there were around 6,000 in the time of Jesus.

     The Pharisees were to be the keepers of the Law, but the problem became when they began to add tradition to the Law.  Many of the Pharisees, believed that the cause of the Exile to Babylon was caused by Israel’s failure to keep the Torah.  “The Torah was not merely ‘law’ but also ‘instruction’, it consisted not merely of fixed commandments but was adaptable to changing conditions, and from it could be inferred God’s will for situations not expressly mentioned.  This adaptation or inference was the task of those who had made a special study of the Torah, and a majority decision was binding on all.” (New Bible Dictionary)  It was determined that the Torah contained 613 commandments, 248 positive and 365 negative.  Then comes the bickering.  Notice the usage of the above quotation “inferred”.  Who determines what was inferred?  How was it all to be interpreted?

     An example of this bickering and arguing and debating is seen in Matthew 22.  “But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, as Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?'” (22:34-36, NKJV)  Can you imagine sitting around, a group of scholars and debating which of the Commandments was the greatest?  They were missing the point, the context of the commandments.  “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.” (22:37-38, NKJV)

     In Luke (18:18-23) and Matthew (19:16-22) we see a rich young ruler (probably not a Pharisee, but the condition fits) comes to Jesus saying he had kept all the commandments, Jesus then tells him to “sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (18:22, NKJV)  This was the same situation of the Pharisees, not seeing the truth of the Law, the whole picture.

     John calls them a “brood of vipers!” (Matthew 3:7)  Jesus uses the same term, when they are accusing Him of being “Beelzebub.”  Jesus calls them out, “Brood of vipers!  How can you, being evil, speak good things?  For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34, NKJV)  He uses the same term in Matthew 23:33, “Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” (NKJV).   In fact, in Matthew 23, we see the thoughts of Jesus towards the Pharisees.  Jesus had been and continues to warn “the people of the Pharisees’ legalism, their tendency to value their own rules and regulations over the Scriptures.” (NKJV Study Bible)  

     The term here is “legalism,” and I do not want to get in a discussion over that here.  One of the problems of the Pharisees was that they were equating the traditions of the elders with that of God’s Word.  An example of that was thrown in my face as I was watching an old western.  The law in Abilene prohibited guns to be worn, however, a man was set to kill the marshal, when a citizen shot the man.  The marshal proceeded to take the man to stand before the judge.  The judge questioned the marshal, “You are going to arrest a man on a misdemeanor charge when he saved your life from a felon?”  This is the idea of what Jesus was referring to when He said, “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:24, NKJV)

     I will say this, be careful of legalism and how that term is slung around.  Speaking the truth is not legalism.  Keeping the commandments is not legalism.  Saying that Jesus is the only way to heaven and salvation is through Him only is not legalism.  But also, be careful of having a Pharisaic attitude.  Justice, humility, mercy should be at the forefront of your thinking.

                    –Kenneth Pratt  (The Wolves of Windsor Ridge)

       “Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.  Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.”

                    –Isaiah 61:7 (NKJV)
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               “For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”  And they began to be merry.
                         –Luke 15:24 (NKJV)

I mentioned last week that this famous parable could be called, the Lost Son, or the Wayward Son, but today I want to give it a different name.  Instead of focusing on the waywardness of the son, we should focus on the “Loving Father.”  
     To go back, the son had to come to his senses.  As Gary Inrig said, “There is an insanity to sin.”  Think on that.  To sin is to break fellowship with God, to live in disharmony with the Father.  Oh, that we could talk with Adam about his loss of fellowship and the harmony that was no longer there with the Father because of sin.  We live in a time when counselors and psychologists say that there should not be shame and that guilt is abnormal.  It’s only human to sin, therefore there should be no guilt or shame in it.  Nonsense!  “Shame is to the moral health of a society what pain is to the body.” (Ravi Zacharias)  It lets society and the individual know that there is something wrong.  “To remove shame is to perpetuate evil.” (Zacharias)  It was hunger that motivated the boy, but it was shame and guilt that drove him back to his father for we see his repentance as he came to his senses.
     “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” (Luke 15:21, NKJV)  Look at this more closely, while the boy was along way off the father saw him.  Perhaps he looked for him every day, or most likely his view was down that long stretch of road continually.  Whenever the road came before him, he would look to see if his son would return.  He was waiting with anxious anticipation.  Another thing, while the boy was a great way off, the father recognized who he was.  This is the Father’s love:  He treats us as of we had never been away.  Shame drove the young man back to his father, but now, as Greg Lanes writes, “If/when you return to the Father’s House He will receive you back with open arms and will remove your feelings of unworthiness.”  Shame and guilt are removed, the boy is part of the Father’s family again.  This is a picture of grace.  The father (God) runs, rejoices, and embraces the returning son.  “If you return to the Father He will restore your broken fellowship with Him, even though others may disapprove of the restoration.” (Lane)
     Notice who it was who disapproved.  A member of the family (Pharisee?)  The older brother is symbolic of “a goodness that is not good and a righteousness that is not right.” (Gary Inrig)  Luke writes that, “he was angry and would not go in.  Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.” (15:28, NKJV)  The older son refused to see his brother and join in the festive activities.  In fact, he does not call him brother but refers to him as “this son of yours” (15:30).  This is a direct insult to the father.  Publicly he has shown disapproval of his father’s actions.  Inrig says, “This son would rather not have fellowship with his father than to accept his father’s treatment of his brother.”  
     Look at the words of the older brother, “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time…” (15:29)  Yes, he served the father, but was it out of grim duty or was it from loving service.  Remember, Jesus said, if you love me you will keep my commandments.  Is this grim, harsh duty or is it done out of genuine love?  This discontent did not happen overnight.  It must have been seething and growing inside him for quite a spell.  
     Think of this, they were both the father’s sons.  One came back remorseful and repentant and was accepted.  One never left, but there was resentment in his heart.  The question that rises before me, did the older son ever enter?  Did he ever accept his brother again?  We are not told, nor is it even alluded to.  We do know he added something to the narrative that the younger son spent his inheritance of harlots, but that is not mentioned in the words of Jesus, it could have been true, but it shows the hardness of the elder brother’s heart.  It is important, as William Barclay relates, “The love of God can defeat the foolishness of man, the seduction of the tempting voices, and even the deliberate rebellion of the heart.”

                    –Lou Bradshaw  (Crazy Jack Daggett)

       “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

                    –1 Peter 1:15 (NKJV)
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               “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?  FOR YOU ALONE ARE HOLY.  For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested.”
                         –Revelation 15:4 (NKJV, cap letters are mine)

     We have been looking for several weeks at some of God’s natural attributes.  Those are characteristics that only God possesses.  This morning I want to begin to look at some of His moral attributes.  These are characteristics of God that man can share and try to obtain.  The one for today is “holy” or “holiness.”  In my way of thinking it is perhaps a bridge between the natural and moral.  For only God is holy!  Yet…we are told to be holy (1 Peter 1:16).  If only God is holy, why, how, in what manner, can we be holy?
     Holiness is the very excellency of His Divine nature.  He is the Holy One.  I would venture to say that His holiness precedes all of His other attributes.  His omnipotence is a holy power.  His supremacy is a holy supremacy.  His love is a holy love.  His joy is a holy joy.  His wrath is a holy wrath.  Get the picture?  Arthur Pink writes this of His holiness, “He is so [holy] because the sum of all moral excellency is found in Him.  He is absolute Purity, unsullied even by the shadow of sin.”  Stephen Charnock adds, “Holiness is His beauty.”  In all that He does, and is, His holiness is seen.
     It is this attribute of holiness that is celebrated before the throne.  “And one cried to another and said:  ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!'” (Isaiah 6:3, NKJV)  “Holiness is the glory of the Godhead!” (Charnock)  The scene is far too wonderful for us to begin to imagine.  Those awesome and terrible angelic beings–the seraphim–around the throne declaring the holiness of God.  John Howe says that this is “a transcendental attribute, that, as it were, runs through the rest, and casts lustre upon them.  It is an attribute of attributes.”  Now, let me clarify the term.  It is not transcendentalism in the form of New Age thinking, it is thinking and a realm far above that only exists with God.
     Scripture has declared that the holiness of God is manifested in His works.  The psalmist said, “The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” (Psalm 145:17, KJV).  It is the rule of all His actions.  That is why it will be a terrible day when all stand before the Lord for we shall see Him in His majesty, glory, and holiness, and we shall all tremble.  We see also that holiness is manifested in His laws.  “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” (Romans 7:12, NKJV).  Did you get that?  The law is not done away with, Jesus fulfilled it and said that we should love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.  That is the law and it is holy.  When we stand before the holy God, we shall see if we truly loved Him the way He told us to.   Pink says, “That law forbids sin in all its modifications:  in its most refined as well as its grossest forms, the intent of the mind as well as the pollution of the body, the secret desire as well as the overt act.”  Holiness will reveal this.
     Perhaps the holiness of God is most clearly seen at the Cross.  “Never did Divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time of our Savior’s death; His countenance was most marred in the midst of His dying groans.” (Charnock)  Because God is holy He hates all sin.  We read in Proverbs, “For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord…” (3:32, NKJV) and again, “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord…” (15:26, NKJV)  Yes, God forgives sinners, but He never forgives sin.  Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of creature-doings is utterly impossible.  It had to be taken care of on the cross.  There, the holy God, poured out His holy wrath, upon His holy Son, to show His holy love.
     In our flippant age, including much of what goes on in the church that is called worship, we must be careful to always show our reverence.  He is holy.  To take the things of God, including worship in a way that could be called mockery is to face the challenge of His holiness.  Therefore our approach to Him must always be one of reverence.  Yes, He is our “Abba, Father,” our Daddy-Father, but never forget the authority of the Father figure.  “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him.” (Psalm 89:7, NKJV)   As Pink exhorts, “The more our hearts are awed by His ineffable holiness, the more acceptable will be our approaches unto Him.”  Because God is holy we should desire to be conformed to Him.  “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) is not a suggestion, it is a command.  How can this be?  Go back to the Cross and then to the day that you accepted Him into your heart.  You are not the temple of the Holy Spirit–the representation of God and He lives in you.  Dare you not keep the body, the soul, and the spirit holy?  Dare you not conform to His image?

 

               “Holy, Holy, Holy!

               Tho’ the darkness hide Thee, 

               Tho’ the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,

               Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee

               Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.”

                         –Reginald Heber