Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris
Greetings, Jeff. Greetings, Chris. It is great to be in our abnormal podcast studio, which is at this place. Yeah, we’re we’re sort of defaulting to the church auditorium.

Jeff
That’s right. Because we couldn’t get into the studio today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but that’s okay. So all of our people, we want to commend all of our listeners. They’re just geniuses. Yes. Leaning into this incredible podcast today. Oh, geez. Aren’t they? They’re so smart geniuses. And yeah. So we are going to be talking about hypocrisy.

Chris
Yeah. Hypocrisy. It’s a it’s a heavy one.

Jeff
Today I’m going to let you take the lead on that one by the way. So but here we are. Here we are. But so he’s Chris and I’m Jeff and we’re the Bible guys. Hey guys. This is the most amazing podcast ever. And we know that. You know that. And so here’s what we want you to do. Like it. Give us a thumbs up. Leave comments about how amazing Chris is. And you’re going to let everybody else know that the Bible guys is worth paying attention to, and then make sure you share it with all your friends. So, Chris, we have this thing. Law or flawed. You remember we did that before?

Chris
Yeah, yeah. You read or in this case, you’re going to read to me. Yeah. And I get to decide whether it’s an actual law in the United States, because there’s a lot of funny laws. That’s correct.

Jeff
And crazy.

Chris
Laws just rhymes with law, which is why.

Jeff
Lobbying is not really.

Chris
A law. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
So it turns out that one of the ones that we had the last time. Yes. Turned out, I guess Snopes said it was a flaw, but we called it a law. Ooh, the one about remember we talked about carrying ice cream in your back pocket or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Apparently Snopes says it’s not real. Okay, so we only we look to the real sources to find out what’s true and what’s not. Yeah.

Chris
So the best of us can be fooled.

Jeff
Yeah. That’s right. So here we go. I got one for you here. Are you ready? Yep. So you have to decide law or flaw. Here we go. In Indiana, it’s illegal to ride a horse above ten miles per hour in Indiana.

Chris
Oh, jeeze. I wouldn’t imagine that is an incredibly heavy horse state. Well, Kentucky. Kentucky. Kentucky. Derby. Yeah, yeah, Indiana. That’s close, but it’s not Kentucky. I’m going to say flaw.

Jeff
It’s a law, really. It’s a law. They don’t want you zipping around on your horses in Indiana.

Chris
No zipping.

Jeff
Nice leisurely walk. Stroll. Yes, a trot, but not a run.

Chris
Yeah. I was thinking when I said Kentucky Derby, I was thinking Indianapolis 500. Those are not horses. Those are not.

Jeff
Horses. Although they have thousands of horses. Yeah. Those cars. Right. Yeah.

Chris
Okay. I knew it was famous for something, but.

Jeff
If it has a tail and a mane not more than ten miles per hour. Son of a gun. In Utah, it’s illegal to send a surprise flowers to a loved one.

Chris
I would definitely say law. And here’s the reason why. Because I’ve been to Utah, especially Salt Lake City, and that is one different place. And they.

Jeff
Don’t like surprises, is.

Chris
What you’re saying? I was just saying, let’s just ban surprises. I’m just going to leave it at that. It’s just very different.

Jeff
It’s a flaw. Oh, that’s it’s not it’s not a law.

Chris
It would not have surprised me. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. You’re oh for dude.

Chris
I know, yeah.

Jeff
Know. You need to up your game. You only got three more.

Chris
Hey, man, to my credit, these could be either one.

Jeff
In Kentucky, a woman cannot marry the same man four times.

Chris
I’m going to say law.

Jeff
That’s a law. Yeah, yeah, that seems reasonable. Listen, if you can’t get it right the first three times, the same person seems reasonable. You know, we’re just going to save. We’re going to save court time. We’re going to.

Chris
Put cap on four. Yeah. Three is the limit.

Jeff
Three is the limit. Because I mean you just wasting time in court now.

Chris
That’s so funny.

Jeff
And besides that, you can only split a person’s wealth so many times in half. Right, right, right. So anyways, we’re going to just leave it at that. Number four, it is illegal to wear a fake mustache in a church in Alabama that causes laughter.

Chris
Oh, no. You know, Alabama’s pretty Bible Bible belt centered. Yeah. And it’s a crazy rule, but I’m going to say law.

Jeff
It is a law. Man, you’re twofer right there. Yeah, yeah. Good job. Yeah. I’m not sure under what circumstances the, the geniuses leading that state needed that make that a state law. But apparently there.

Chris
Needs to be mustaches. There needs to be a law.

Jeff
Some guy campaigning on it.

Chris
There’s an outrage. This is going on all over the state.

Jeff’
If you elect me, I’m going to ban fake mustaches in church. That caused.

Chris
Laughter. But not the ones that don’t. Cause.

Jeff
Yeah, if it’s a lame mustache, you can wear it. Yeah, but it’s just the funny ones.

Chris
That’s really funny.

Jeff
Okay, here we go. Last one. Yeah. In Vermont, it is illegal to paint a turtle.

Chris
Oh, I’m going to say law too, because that should be a law.

Jeff
Yeah, it’s a law that’s not true.

Chris
That it should be a law. Well, leave the turtles alone, man.

Jeff
Leave the turtles alone. All right, so is that going to show up in the what Made Chris Mad This Week segment? You know, it.

Jeff’
Makes me mad when people paint turtles. No.

Chris
I’ve never even heard of that. I just I’ve just been introduced with the concept just a moment ago. Okay. Now, if I heard that a bunch of people paint a bunch of turtles.

Jeff
You’d be mad about it.

Chris
I’d be.

Jeff
Mad. You’d be irate. Yeah. All right, well, thank you. Thank you for advocating for turtles around the world.

Chris
Well, someone needs to.

Jeff
Okay, well, we’re sorry we subjected you to that segment, people. Thank you for listening today. Yeah. So we are in Luke chapter 12. Yeah. And verses one through 12, Jesus is talking to the disciples and I’m saying every 2 or 3 verses is significant.

Chris
Yeah. It’s like being in a boxing match with Mike Tyson. And keep in mind, because we’re doing a series of the harmony of the Gospels, that just means that this writing by Jesus and by the way, most of these are letters and read spoken by Jesus. Right? So it’s only recorded in the book of Luke. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
So here we go. It’s the Bible says in Luke chapter 12, verse one. Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, their hypocrisy. The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you’ve said in the dark will be heard in the light. What you’ve whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear. Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body. They cannot do any more to you after that. But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear. What is the price of five sparrows? Two copper coins. Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid. You’re more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man, will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels. But anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God’s angels. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at the time what needs to be said.

Jeff’
Dum dum dum. Wow. Yeah yeah yeah.

Jeff
So encouraging. Scary. Encouraging. Scary, right? Right. That’s what he does.

Chris
Well, one of the first things he says is he says, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, the hypocrisy for the time it’s coming that everything that was that is covered up will be revealed and it will be known to all. And then it sort of shifts and it says, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, whatever you have whispered behind closed doors. And so you wonder, is he is he talking to the Pharisees there? Or is he actually turning those principles toward me and to you?

Jeff’
Yeah.

Jeff
I think he’s I think he’s directing it at us, warning us about them.

Jeff’
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so about that attitude.

Jeff
I think what he’s trying to say is the yeast of the Pharisees. If you let hypocrisy become a part of your life, it’ll totally infect you. And then these are the consequences.

Chris
Yeah. Because there’s no usually in the scriptures, usually so many times when he’s talking to Pharisees, it says that’s who he’s talking to, right, right, right. And so and so think about it. He’s saying, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which means he’s not talking to Pharisees, he’s talking to someone else about them. Yeah.

Jeff
It says Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, yeah.

Jeff’
Yeah, yeah.

Chris
But you know it does, right? Big crowds or whatever.

Jeff
Talk to them first, and then he’s really talking to the Pharisees.

Chris
I don’t think so. No, I.

Jeff
Think he’s just talking to them specifically.

Jeff’
Yeah.

Chris
Which, by the way, is a pretty insightful thing for for him to number one point out the yeast of the Pharisees, meaning the leaven or, you know, or the you know, which, by the way, we’ve said this at least once or twice during the podcast, but it’s the reason why we use unleavened bread for communion, right? Because that’s what they ate in those times. Unleavened bread and the leaven or the yeast of the bread was symbolized as the sin part. Right, right. And so and so, you know, just a little yeast in the, in the bread will make it rise. And just a little bit of sin, you know, causes x, Y and z and all these kind of things. So, so anyway, when he says the yeast of the Pharisees, he’s referring to their hypocrisy and their sins and their and their, you know, wicked hearts and all those things that he points out. And then then he directs it toward us and he says, hey, if you try to conceal, eventually it’s going to be revealed, right, right, right. And that’s a great lesson for us because when we try to live double lives, you may try to get away with it for a time. But the Bible also says elsewhere that whatever is hidden will eventually come out in the light.

Jeff’
Yeah.

Jeff
The note for the Life Application Study Bible, which we always recommend, we think is great, um, says what are the signs of hypocrisy? One hypocrisy is knowing the truth, but not being obedient to his word, right? Um. Secondly, hypocrisy is living a self-serving life. People might desire leadership only because they love position and control, not because they really want to serve others. Three hypocrisy reduces faith to rigid rules. People can end up worshiping their own rules and regulations about what they think God wants. Instead of worshiping God himself. For hypocrisy is outward conformity. Without inner reality, people can obey the details but still be disobedient in general behavior. For example, Jesus used this illustration when he talked about how a person may carefully tithe his income but be rude and obnoxious to his co-workers. Yeah, and so then it says many non-Christians use the supposed or real hypocrisy of Christians as an excuse to stay away from God in the church. Look carefully at our own lives, right? We’re not perfect, and so we should be honest and open about that. I think that’s what Jesus is talking about. The things you try to hide and you’re not willing to be honest about your weaknesses. Those are the things that will always be exposed. But if we’re honest and open and say, hey, I’m not perfect, I’ve got my own issues and you know, that kind of thing, then you know, God doesn’t have a need to expose it because you’re admitting it, right? It’s just when you try to hide it. So those four issues there, I think are really legit ways of looking at what he’s talking about with regard to the leaven of the Pharisees, the hypocrisy.

Jeff’
Yeah.

Chris
And by the way, I am I am probably, you know, I was going to say I’m certain, but but then I was going to change it to say I’m probably certain, which doesn’t make any sense, but I am almost. How about this? I am almost certain that there are people listening to the podcast who are very interested in God, and they’re very interested in their spiritual development and what God’s Word has to say, which is possibly why they’re listening. Sure, but probably don’t go to church. Sure. And they don’t they don’t have any formal church involvement or any type of, you know, quote unquote, religion involvement, because there’s a lot of people out there who would say, hey, I’m very spiritual. I’m just not very religious. You know, I don’t I don’t go to church necessarily. I have my own personal faith. Right, right. And and I would have to believe that a lot of people would say it’s because they’re discouraged, either by hypocrisy of religious leaders, but not just leaders, hypocrisy of Christians in general, just discouragement and everything like that. And I would just say this, listen, take it from a guy who’s had to battle hypocrisy from a lot of different people in churches. It’s worth staying in the church, because the benefits of staying connected to to those Christians who are real and authentic and not perfect, right? Because nobody’s perfect, but those who try their best and try to repent and apologize and encourage and pray and you know and help and assist and give and serve. I just think it’s worth it. And you’re going to have those moments where Christians are hypocrites because they’re imperfect people. But you have to look beyond that. And it doesn’t mean you should abandon the church body just because of hypocrisy.

Jeff
I hypocrites are everywhere. Yeah, hypocrites are everywhere at the grocery store. Whatever. I can remember the first time my dad worked at Chevy V8 Plant in Flint, Michigan, and he helped build V8 engines for like Corvettes and Camaros and stuff like that.

Jeff’
Sounds great.

Jeff
So I remember the first time I got to go visit with him a guy. Pulled in next to my dad in a brand new, brand spanking new Lincoln Continental.

Jeff’
Nice.

Jeff
I remember thinking, that’s a little weird. He works for Chevy and he’s driving a Lincoln, right? Right. A little bit. That’s hypocritical. A little bit. You’re willing to take the money. You’re willing to let them spend billions of dollars advertising. But you want to go drive something else? Why wouldn’t you drive a Cadillac?

Chris
And I will say this. My father, who retired from General Motors in Lordstown, Ohio, would definitely agree with you.

Jeff’
So so hypocrite.

Jeff
So so the thought being, it seems like, you know, if you’ve got Cadillac and Lincoln sitting side by side and you’re getting paid by GM, maybe you should go buy a GM, right? What I’m saying is I was shocked by that. Like, I just assumed the whole parking lot would be full of Chevy’s and Buicks and Cadillacs, right? And instead, people are driving Toyotas and other things. They’re so hypocrites exist everywhere. I think the issue is a lot of times we expect the church to be a parade of perfect people. That’s what we expect. And sometimes Christians act that way. Yeah, right. Instead of realizing Jesus said that the church is a hospital for spiritually sick people. And so if we can all realize that we all need spiritual healing from Jesus, then we don’t seem so uptight. And so, you know, looking down on other people. So sometimes people on the outside of the church can think it’s supposed to be a parade of perfect people. And sometimes some Christians can send off that, that vibe. But Jesus said, that’s not what it is. And so if we can just be honest about who we are, no perfect people allowed. That’s the yeah, it’s awesome.

Chris
And by the way, real quick, I remember one person, one time telling me that a church needs to both be a health club and a hospital. So, so, you know, you go to a health club, people are working on their fitness, they’re getting in shape, they’re building up their endurance. Right. And but the problem is when, when, when one church has an imbalance of either way. Right. Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with the rescue mission where everything is just for the hurting. But at the same time, you should have the purposes of the church lived out, right? Right. So so both strengthening your faith and encouragement and everything else, which is the health club kind of a vibe and then the hospital vibe. But, you know, what’s the worst of those two, in my opinion, is just pure health club. Oh yeah. Right. Just pure health club where everybody’s not worried about, you know, the hurting people of the world. They’re just we’re all fit, fake, beautiful. We’re all fake, beautiful people of the world, you know? It’s like. It’s like the. It’s like the Beverly Hills, California, you know, areas of the of the world. And, and and I do think, I do think that it has to have both for sure.

Jeff
So then, you know, you pivot from there where he says, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. Instead, fear God. Right. That’s pretty significant. And he’s being honest. He’s already been honest with his disciples and his followers, which means he’s being honest with us, too. He said, hey, don’t be surprised when they hate you or when they want to kill you because they hate me and want to kill me too, right? Right. So the fact that we follow Jesus is why? And so he said, don’t, don’t, don’t be afraid of that. Instead, be more have have a more healthy respect and fear of God. And then you say, hey, God’s paying attention to you. God knows every hair on your head, right? Right. So if he cares about birds and he knows the numbers on your head, then, then surely he knows your circumstances, so you don’t have to carry that burden and be afraid. And then he pivots into acknowledging God. And so I think it’s it’s like he’s heading towards the cross and he just keeps giving them a like lists. Don’t forget this. Don’t forget this, don’t forget this. Don’t forget this. You know how when you’re on the way out the door, when your kids were little and you’re like, all right, I don’t want any other guests over. Make sure that you don’t mess with the with the the stove. Right, right. Close the back door. Right. That’s what you do. And I think it feels that’s what Jesus is doing.

Chris
Well, you know, he says, don’t be afraid of anybody. Of those who want to kill your body. They cannot do any more to you after that.

Jeff’
Yeah. At the end of.

Chris
That, instead of fear, God who who can do not just, you know, kill you with your body, he can do things to you beyond after that, he has the power to send you to heaven or hell. But God is the one who you know all of us should fear more than everybody else. That’s really the point of that verse. And he’s talking about just the idea that, you know, compared to fearing somebody on earth, there’s nothing, you know, nothing compared to fearing, fearing God. We should fear God more than anybody else.

Jeff
I think the reason why he’s giving that is because it was natural for the average Jewish person to want to at least pretend to respect the Pharisees and the other religious leaders because they were afraid of being canceled by those leaders. Right. And so he’s like, hey, don’t be afraid of them. Right? Sure. The worst thing they can do is kill you, but there’s worse things than death. That’s what Jesus is trying to say, right? Right. So don’t don’t be afraid of them. Respect God instead. And then he moves into everyone who acknowledges me. I’ll acknowledge and everyone who rejects me, I’ll reject. Right? If you’re if you’re afraid to stand up and announce that you’re a Christian, well, then. And you’re embarrassed to Jesus, Jesus said, I’ll be embarrassed to you. Right? And that’s a really.

Jeff’
Closing statement.

Chris
Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, you know, we’re all going to stand before our Heavenly Father. We don’t really know exactly how that’s going to look. We just know there’s going to be given, you know, there’s going to be an account. And and I think that there’s going to be moments where we’re going to have to answer for the times when we’re ashamed of the gospel.

Jeff
There’s multiple times where Jesus talks about how the at the end the father will say, well done, good and faithful servant, right? So there’s going to be a lot of commendations, right? So in this situation, maybe there’s going to be a dude. You were so embarrassed to me and I’m embarrassed of that situation, right?

Jeff’
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
So I don’t know.

Jeff’
But certainly doesn’t mean.

Chris
That he doesn’t love.

Jeff’
Us.

Jeff
No no no no, it’s right. It’s just ashamed. We’re ashamed. He’ll be ashamed. And so there’s that. But then he talks. This might be theologically the most surprising thing. Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven. But anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Yeah.

Jeff’
What?

Chris
Yeah. And so then it comes down to what does he mean by that? What is the definition of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Is it more just like I’m going to be sacrilegious, right. And a really strong way like the Holy Spirit, you know, X, Y and Z. And I say something incredibly sacrilegious. Well, apparently that’s something that can’t be forgiven. And then, of course, theologically, that goes against every other verse that we know about salvation and sins being forgiven. Right. So most scholars believe that the only way that this warning can be absolutely consistent, it’s supposed to you. It has to line up theologically with every other truth about sins, forgiveness, and and God’s willingness to forgive. So, so blasphemy. The Holy Spirit, we know the one thing that is not forgiven, and the one thing that’s going to send you to hell and keep you from from heaven is to reject the Holy Spirit, right to to to reject Jesus Christ, to never receive the Holy Spirit in your life, which is a rejection of salvation. And so wouldn’t you say the vast majority of scholars would say that Jesus is talking about rejecting the Holy Spirit in general? Yes.

Jeff’
Right. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
The work of the Holy Spirit, the the Holy Spirit’s job is to bring people to Jesus. Right? That’s one of his main jobs. Convict of sin, bring them to Christ, point to Jesus. So in Matthew 12 and then again in Mark chapter three talks about the unforgivable sin, is claiming that the work of the Holy Spirit is really the work of Satan. And when you really dig into that, what he’s saying is, according to the notes here, it says thus it would be the deliberate and ongoing rejection of the Holy Spirit’s work and even of God himself, that that’s what it’s talking about is saying, nope, it’s all fraudulent. It’s all fake. None of it’s real. Jesus isn’t real. The Holy Spirit’s not real. God’s not real. A person who has committed this sin is far from God and totally unaware of any sin at all. But then here’s the note for our listeners. If you fear you’ve committed this sin, be assured that you’re very concerned shows that you’ve not sinned in this way. Right? The fact that you’re afraid, that you’ve committed that sin means you believe there’s a God, right? The fact that you if you’re afraid that maybe you’ve committed that sin, means that you you believe that Jesus is who he says he is, right? So your fear of committing that sin automatically means you haven’t yet committed that sin, because the person who commits the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has no value, no use, no worry, no fear of sin, no no acknowledgement of sin or a God that they could have sinned against. And so that’s the idea there, right? Is that you’re rejecting Christ ultimately. Now, if you reject Christ all the way to your death, well, then of course there’s no chance. Jeff
After death, you breathe the last breath. There’s no more chance. That’s why that’s why that phrase unforgivable means if you hold on to that until death, that you’ve never repent of your sin, turn to Christ. Well, then you’ve crossed that line, and there’s no coming back from that one.

Jeff’
Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
That’s a great a great way to say that though, right? If you’re afraid you committed it, then that’s proof you have it. Yeah, that’s.

Chris
A great statement. And I know we’re coming up to our time. So I would just say these are a lot of strong statements about hypocrisy. Remember he starts under the umbrella of talking about warning against hypocrisy. And then he goes on and just has a laundry list of of ways to do that. And then we’re going to just continue to move on as he takes one step closer to Jerusalem. Yeah.

Jeff
And we didn’t even get to talk about how the Holy Spirit will teach you. You don’t have to defend yourself. The Holy Spirit will give you just the right words at just the right time. We didn’t even get to talk about that at the end of this.

Jeff’
Yeah, well, I mean.

Chris
In 30s give us give us an elevator speech about that. Yeah.

Jeff
Well, the so a lot of times we get all worked up thinking, man, I’m not a good enough student. I don’t know enough about the Bible. If I start sharing my faith and they ask a question I don’t have an answer to. Oh, and so we don’t do anything. We we fail to act because we feel like we don’t have the answers, but it’s because we think we’re presenting our gospel and our good news. We understand we’re presenting the gospel and the good news of Christ, and that God’s Holy Spirit will give us the right words when we start. So the real thing is, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that. Time. What needs to be said, right? Not ahead of.

Jeff’
Time. Right in the moment, right.

Jeff
In the moment. The Holy Spirit will do supernatural work when you are stepping up to to make pronouncements about Christ.

Jeff’
Yeah.

Chris
And by the way, I’ve experienced that. Oh.

Jeff’
Me too. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. Well, you walk.

Jeff
Away and go, where did.

Jeff’
That come from? Right. I’ve never even.

Jeff
Had that thought.

Jeff’
Before. Yes, yes. The Holy Spirit.

Jeff
Steps in, and that’s when now your job is to give glory to the Holy Spirit for that.

Jeff’
Yeah, right.

Chris
That’s great. Well that’s good. I’m glad we included it. There you go. So we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.