1. Religious leaders make CONVERT as Child of HELL
The passion of religious leaders is to make more Christian converts. To do this they spread a message of the so-called ‘glory of the cross.’ They call people to glory in nothing but the cross of Jesus. But as each convert is made, is the new convert made a child of Heaven, or is the convert made a child of Hell? Jesus said religious evangelism was creating converts who were children of Hell. In Matthew 23:15 Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Pharisees and scribes were respected religious leaders during Jesus’s time. They taught and studied the Word of God in the house of God—they are equivalent to present day church pastors and Bible scholars. To make proselytes or converts, they were willing to put in great time and effort, even travel far distances. Yet Jesus said to them the converts they made were "twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." That is to say, the religious leaders themselves are condemned to Hell, and their converted followers are double-fold condemned to Hell.
2. Religious leaders pervert with HYPOCRISY
Why is this? Why are religious leaders spiritually dead and Hell-bound? And how are they corrupting their new converts? These leaders are full of hypocrisy, and they pervert new followers with this hypocrisy. In Matthew 23:13 Jesus said, "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." Religious leaders will not go to Heaven, and they stop others from entering Heaven. Hypocrisy is the subtle but deadly sin that marks who they truly are. Please notice, in the same verse Jesus accused them of making converts into children of Hell, He labeled these evangelizing leaders as ‘hypocrites.’ In Matthew 23:15 Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." To hammer this point home, in the chapter of Matthew 23 alone Jesus calls highly esteemed religious leaders as ‘hypocrites’ seven times. Nowadays pastors insist it is wrong and divisive to criticize church leaders, but true servants of God follow Jesus’s ministry to warn against preachers who lead you to Hellfire.
3. Hypocrisy is Spiritually DEADLY
Hypocrisy is spiritually deadly, and Jesus warns that religious leaders are guilty of having and spreading it. In Luke 12:1 He said, "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." Leaven is a substance such as yeast that causes dough to rise. When a small amount of leaven is mixed into dough it is completely hidden, but it penetrates and transforms the whole lump. Hypocrisy is like leaven. From the outside it may not be obvious that it is present. It is hidden within the heart, but infiltrates and transforms the person’s entire nature. Hypocrites put on an outward act to appear godly, but their inner heart’s intentions are evil and wicked. They pretend to do everything for the glory of God, but in reality, they live for the glory of their own flesh and the glory of the world.
In Matthew 23:25-28 Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." Religious leaders put on an outward act to appear righteous in front of other people. Pharisees zealously followed temple ceremonies and tradition. Church pastors do the same by zealously following church ceremonies and traditions –they put on a great show of church attendance, long prayers, fasting, emotional singing and so on. Yet Jesus said their insides are "full of extortion and excess." Their inner intention is maximizing pleasure of their own flesh and worldly gain through filthy sin. ‘Excess’ indicates they go outside the bounds of what God’s commands permit His people to enjoy. ‘Extortion’ indicates they will unfairly coerce and take what others earn. This is evident as pastors frequently live in luxury, are involved in sex and money scandals, all the while using God’s name to pressure people to give them more. Jesus said these hypocrites are ‘whited sepulchres’—which are beautiful graves–they appear godly to church people but God sees they are spiritually dead.
4. Religiosity promotes HYPOCRISY in ‘Glory of the Cross’
A prime example of religiosity promoting hypocrisy is in their message of the ‘glory of the cross.’ They twist the following scriptures to push their deception. Galatians 6:14 which says, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…" And 1 Corinthian 1:18 which says, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." Deceiving pastors call people to glory in nothing but the saving power of Jesus’s cross. They explain this to mean that salvation and heaven do not come from any effort or good work on your part, rather only through declaring and relying on Jesus’s death on the cross. To demonstrate glorying in nothing but the cross, converts put on the same outward show of their hypocritical leaders—perhaps wearing a cross around their neck, decorating their home with crucifixes, or passionately singing and talking about Jesus’s death on the cross. Their testimony is since accepting Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and becoming Christian, they now have God’s blessing in their life—the evidence they share is gaining a good education or job, getting a good spouse or children, good home or other riches and so on. Is this truly glorying in the cross of Lord Jesus Christ?
5. Cross means DENY one’s self
Let’s see what Jesus preached about the cross. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." In Mark 8:34 Jesus said, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." In Luke 9:23 Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus saying the meaning of the cross for his people is to deny one’s self and follow Him. All of heaven is not the same level of glory, each soul will be rewarded according to their level of diligence and sacrifice in obeying Christ Jesus in this present world. Every believer is not called to lay down their physical life and be killed on a crucifix for God’s sake. However, all believers all called to be born of the holy spirit and put to death their sinful flesh nature. Select disciples may receive a higher calling for greater heavenly reward to go further and allow their physical body be persecuted and even martyred. A believer who denies self and takes up their cross will not claim to serve Lord Jesus while continuing in sin. Romans 6:6 says "…our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Galatians 5:24 says, "…they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." If you enjoy the sinful pleasures of the flesh, you do not serve Lord Jesus, rather you serve sin and you serve your flesh self.
The will of God is to put to death the old sinful flesh man by walking in the new spirit to do righteous and holy works. Galatians 5:16-21 says, "…Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other…Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Scripture details the sinful works of flesh; it includes sexual relations outside the boundary of marriage, excess partying, desiring other’s belonging for yourself, doing harm to others, and so on. Yet converts are two-fold the children of Hell as they follow the example of their hypocritical religious leaders rather than following the example of Jesus. They cry, sing and dance during Sunday praise time, yet commit sexual immorality throughout the week. They zealously attend church activities but are lazy and evil in the home and work life; they do not sincerely take care of their responsibilities but instead take advantage of others.
6. ‘Glory in Cross’ is to receive POWER of God & CRUCIFY SIN nature
Converts think Jesus’s death on the cross gives them salvation without changing their unrighteous, unholy living. They accept deceptive preaching of the cross from hypocritical servants of Satan. God’s Word says the true preaching of the cross for salvation is receiving power from God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "…the preaching of the cross is…unto us which are saved it is the power of God." To receive power is to receive strength or ability to do something. What does this power enable us do? God’s power allows us to crucify our lusts of flesh and world. True servants preaching of the cross guides us to receive this power, so we may be saved from continuing in sin. When born again, we receive the holy spirit and are immature spiritual babies. If we receive Jesus as Lord to obey His commandments, He gives our baby spirit the power to grow into mature sons of God. John 1:12 says, "…as many as received him, to them gave he [Jesus] power to become the sons of God…" Romans 8:13-14 says, "…but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Receiving Christ Jesus and being led of the Spirit of God is not evidenced by maximizing your worldly gain of power, glamour, money and status.
Yet increasing in worldly blessings is the testimony of converts who follow hypocrites rather than follow Jesus. 1 Peter 2:21-24 says, "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin…Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:..." Scripture says because Jesus was crucified, we ought to follow his example of living without doing sin. We ought to take up our cross, die to sin and live unto righteousness. Galatians 6:14 says, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." True testimony of glorying in nothing but the cross of Lord Jesus Christ is sharing putting to death your prior love of worldly glory through God’s power. Beware the hypocrisy of religious leaders, lest you become two-hold a child of Hell. Instead, glory in the cross by receiving God’s power to put to death your sinful nature and become a son of God. May God bless you.