Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Hated Me Without A Cause (LS53)

           'Last Sermon of Jesus'

John 15:25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'
    Our Lord Jesus continually reminded the Jews that He was sent by the Father to do everything according to His instructions and commands, yet the religious leaders hated Him without a cause.

Mat 23:1-7 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do... But all their works they do to be seen by men.   (Please read Mat 23).
    These religious leaders no longer served Yahweh, but themselves.
John the Baptist, a prophet of God, was sent before our Lord to prepare the way. Many Jews repented, but not the religious leaders who were blinded by wealth, power and their high positions.

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me."
    Although the religious leaders knew that our Lord Jesus was the Messiah, they refused to accept Him, for they feared that He and His disciples would take over all their religious functions and abolished the priesthood, leaving them jobless and in disgrace. The fear of losing everything blinded them, leading to their evil scheme. The fear of the Lord no longer existed in them, nor were they fearful of the displeasure and wrath of the Father.
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

Jude 1:5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
    Similarly, many pastors and church leaders no longer believe Him and His words. They have corrupted the word of God to justify their greed for power, position and money. They can be likened to the Pharisees in the days of our Lord Jesus, serving themselves in the name of God!
Luke 16:14-15 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
  Are these still the words of God?

  Why are God's money hoarded up?
Mat 6:19a,21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

   Why are churches in business?
Mat 21:22 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer', but you have made it a 'den of thieves'."

   Authority over men?
1Tim 2:12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

    Why are pastors sodomites?
1Cor 6:9b-10 Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Brethren, do not hate nor persecute Christians who go by the book without a cause. They are conforming to the pure Word of God.