But the false teachers like the Pharisees before them do not stop at harming themselves. They also insist on shutting the kingdom of heaven in the faces of those who genuinely seek after God. Those who may indeed want to enter in are denied access by the false teacher. They are led to believe that the three sentences they repeated but did not understand guarantees them heaven. They are taught that their darkness is light. They are taught that involvement in the church is akin to a walk with Christ. This is how so many will stand before Him on the last day and say, "Lord Lord" only to discover He never new them. The kingdom of heaven was shut in their faces and they did not even know it. As we continue in the key verses however, we come to the concept of zeal:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Based upon these verses there is little doubt that the Pharisees were zealous. But as Paul lamented in the verses from the Book of Romans, their zeal was not based on knowledge. It was not based upon sound doctrine. They would travel across the sea and land, without a Learjet, to make a single convert. Is this not the same zeal we hear from the cacophony of false teachers today? When asked about the obvious compromises of the Bible we are met with the "reach as many for Jesus" mantra. Why do you poll the unbelievers and model church for them when they think the things of God are foolishness? We have to reach as many as we can for Jesus. Why do you do carnal, secular songs during worship? We have to reach as many as we can for Jesus. Why do you dumb down salvation to nine words and a cloud of dust? We have to reach as many as we can for Jesus. The problem? They are not reaching them with Jesus. By insisting on skewered doctrine their zeal for the lost is as misguided as Judas' zeal for the deliverance of the Jews from Roman oppression. The real Messiah walked right in his midst and he could not even see Him. In fact, he betrayed Him. That is what the false teachers of today do when they insist that their zeal for the lost means they can do anything to the Gospel. It is a betrayal of Jesus Christ. They need a zeal for the Gospel and correct doctrine and let God's Word draw the lost. Because they do not the result is tragic. According to our key verses their proselytes becomes twice the son of hell as they are. Why twice as bad? Because the average false teacher can realize his errors where as the convert has started from a place of utter deception. It is hard enough to come to Christ for salvation and deny this world but to think you have done it and discovered you were lied to? How deep is that darkness beloved. Take a long serious look at what theologian Matthew Henry had to say about this series of Scriptures involving the "woes."
The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and the good of souls, but that they might have the credit and advantage of making converts. Gain being their godliness, by a thousand devices they made religion give way to their worldly interests. They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose in weightier matters"- Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
Those who preach falsely, regardless of their sincerity or zeal are enemies to the Gospel of Christ beloved. They are not brothers and sisters in Christ. They are enemies to the Gospel. By being such, they are actually enemies to the souls of men! It is bad enough to decide to keep themselves from the glorious salvation found in Jesus Christ but to make your living denying others the chance to experience this glorious salvation and eternal life? To live to provide a false Christ, a false salvation, and a false hope? Yet this is no new thing beloved. To create a form and show of godliness and use it as a cloak to disguise the enormity of your falseness. Oh, there is nothing new under the sun.
At least we have the assurance that their dissembled piety will be reckoned with double iniquity. Using God to work against God at the expense of others will be doubly charged against the offenders. I love the relevance of the next part of Henry's comments. That they seek to make converts for their own credit and not for the glory of God or the good of souls. I think of the mega church pastors bragging about how may "accepted Christ" or the self-serving counts in the thousands of "spontaneous baptisms" and see this correlation so starkly. Oh beloved! By a thousand devices, schemes, and church growth models have they made religion give way to their worldly interests! Very prescient words from Matthew Henry into what we see play out every Sunday today.
The presence of zeal simply means one is zealous. It does not mean one is right. One can always be sincere and sincerely wrong. Do not fall for the error that promotes zeal as proof of righteousness. The only thing that matters is the true Gospel. The New Testament constantly warns against false gospels. Only the real Gospel is the power of God unto the salvation of men. You may have the best public speaker as a pastor. You may have the best trained musicians and singers. You may have the smoke machines, light shows and stagecraft of the highest grossing rock band but none of it matters without correct doctrine. You may desire to reach as many as you can. You may travel the land and sea to make one proselyte. Without sound doctrine you do not reach them with the real Christ. You do not reach them with the real Gospel. You only serve to make them twice the son of hell that you cannot see you are according to your preaching. Oh that those who would seek to bring the Gospel would have a genuine zeal for the Gospel itself. A zeal for doctrine is a zeal for Christ. A zeal for the lost without Christ is simply an error. For those who would fall prey to it; it is an eternal error.
Reverend Anthony Wade - December 26, 2015
