By: Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Read: Matthew 23:1-36; Matthew 6:1-18; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47
Remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees during the time of the Lord Jesus? They were considered the religious leaders ( "scribes" ) of Israel. They love to parade themselves and questioned the Lord Jesus' teachings and claim as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of mankind from their sins. The Scriptures, however, tell us how the Lord Jesus rebuked these hypocrites and their so called "religion" (all false religions that leave out or add to what Christ did; deny who He is and what He did on the Cross), even until this present generation. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, and hypocrites! ... These will receive greater condemnation.", saith the Lord.
In this journal penned by Charles Spurgeon presents a unique illustration of how the hypocrite's religion is likened to a spider's web. What a tremendous blessing indeed to have read and meditated on this article as I desire to serve the Lord and live my life—unveiled of hypocrisy; and should be also for anybody who professes to be a Saved Christian. May this journal becomes a vessel of God's blessing in your life.
Read: Matthew 23:1-36; Matthew 6:1-18; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47
Remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees during the time of the Lord Jesus? They were considered the religious leaders ( "scribes" ) of Israel. They love to parade themselves and questioned the Lord Jesus' teachings and claim as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of mankind from their sins. The Scriptures, however, tell us how the Lord Jesus rebuked these hypocrites and their so called "religion" (all false religions that leave out or add to what Christ did; deny who He is and what He did on the Cross), even until this present generation. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, and hypocrites! ... These will receive greater condemnation.", saith the Lord.
In this journal penned by Charles Spurgeon presents a unique illustration of how the hypocrite's religion is likened to a spider's web. What a tremendous blessing indeed to have read and meditated on this article as I desire to serve the Lord and live my life—unveiled of hypocrisy; and should be also for anybody who professes to be a Saved Christian. May this journal becomes a vessel of God's blessing in your life.
"They weave the spider's web." -Isaiah 59:5Look at the spider's web, and consider it to be a very good picture of the hypocrite's religion. First of all, a spider's web is meant to catch his prey. The spider fattens himself on flies, just as Pharisees take the flies of custom, reputation, praise, and advancement into their nets.A spider's web is a marvelous work of skill, and isn't a hypocrite's religion equally amazing? How does he make a boldfaced lie appear to be the truth? How can he make his "tinsel lifestyle" appear to have the value of gold?A spider's web comes from within the spider's very core. The bee gathers her wax from flowers, but the spider produces what he needs from within. Even so hypocrites find their trust and hope within themselves; their anchor was forged on their own anvil, and they laid the foundation for their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the sovereign grace of God.But … a spider's web is very frail. It is curiously manufactured, but not enduringly strong. It's no match for the servant's broom, or the traveler’s staff. It doesn't take much force to blow the hypocrite's hope to pieces; a mere puff of wind will do it. Hypocritical cobwebs will come down quickly when the cleaning of judgment begins.Which reminds us of one more thought, and that is that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord's house: He will see to it that they, and those who spin them, are destroyed forever. O my soul, rest on something better than a spider's web; make the Lord Jesus your eternal hiding-place.
Thus, saith the Lord:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:27-28).
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:27-28).
