Introduction: I was reading Mark 7 from the New Testament recently and was again struck with how often Jesus the Christ teaches on reality vs. appearance. In short, God hates hypocrisy and posing. God wants righteousness that issues from a gospel-transformed nature. The standard of righteousness is God’s holiness; it is never human vainglory. Nothing is quite so despicable as a man who thinks he is quite something. My precious but now-deceased grandmother might have said, “Rooster, that fella’s too big for his britches.”

Here’s the text from Mark 7:

Traditions and Commandments

7 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me;
⁷ in vain do they worship me,
    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” (Mk 7:1-8, ESV)

Teaching: The Pharisees and scribes were guilty of what, according to Jesus? External righteousness and internal rottenness of soul. Their hearts were cold and hard. But they appeared righteous to the undiscerning.

But whose standard is supreme? The Pharisess’ standards? The scribes’ standards? The standards of Thursday afternoon? Or Tuesday morning’s standards? How about Saturday’s standard? Whose standard is supreme? The question answers itself, if one is faithful to Scripture.

Secular sinful standards fluctuate based upon nothing more than the druthers of the sinners issuing them.

Takeaway: The Lord Jesus told these hypocrites to their faces that they honored Him with their lips but that their hearts (their true natures) were far from Him. In other words, they were rejected by the Holy One, because they loved the applause of man rather than the commendation of God. Let the reader understand. (Nothing quite teaches like authenticity.)

Introduction: This Sunday I am slated to teach on Matthew 24. It is known in church history as one of the most difficult of New Testament passages to teach upon due to its references to timelines (or lack thereof) regarding cataclysmic events. The allusions to Jesus’ return, to the abomination of desolation, etc. have been interpreted in sundry ways. Some view them via a postmillennial framework, others from a premillennial framework, and others from an amillennial framework. And yes, there are other positions, too. Indeed, it’s a packed chapter. Oftentimes when some people reference it, they generate more heat than light. I think if I hear one more joke about being a panmillennialist, where things just “pan out,” I may vomit.

Rather than stirring the waters of controversy this Sunday, I hope to shed light on the major historical views regarding the passage. What’s more, I hope to focus our attention upon one theme in particular: endurance.

Why do that? Well, that’s what Christ did in the passage. Here are Jesus’ words:

⁹ Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. ¹² And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9-14, ESV).

Endurance. It’s key in the passage for several reasons.

First, many people will miss the point of the passage and be consumed by what I term calendar theology. Dates, signs, etc. That stuff gets crazy quickly. Just in my lifetime, I’ve heard Bill and Hillary Clinton termed the antichrist, Obama as the antichrist, Musk as the antichrist, the various popes as the antichrist, America as Babylon. And I’ve heard Dispensationalists put dates on raptures and second comings, etc. It’s absolutely zany the lengths to which some will go in their speculations wherein Scofield and Darby are authoritative but the text of Scripture isn’t. Um, no thanks.

Second, the main issue in the passage is to endure, not to check off dates on a theological calendar. Why do I say that? Again, because “many false prophets will arise and lead many astray” (Matthew 24:11, ESV).

Verse 12 teaches us that “the love of many will grow cold.” That seems so obvious to me. We’ve gotten to where it’s common to hear folks say they trust no one. At the gym the other day when I was working out, the guy beside me had on a t-shirt with this emblazoned: Trust No One. How’s that for clarity? That’s just one more piece of evidence of love having grown cold. There’s a trust deficit. Postmodernist skepticism has reached all the way to the levels of t-shirt sloganeering.

Third, Jesus ends his teaching in Matthew 24 by reminding His hearers to endure. He says, “be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44, ESV).

In short, endure. Christian pilgrim, endure. Take the long view, I think that’s what Jesus is teaching. Be faithful, fight the good fight of the faith once for all delivered to the saints, leave the results to God, and just be a faithful enduring soldier for Jesus Christ.

Bottom line up front: There are things that God hates, too. That’s in Scripture, too. So, let us forgo cherrypicking.

Questions: Have you ever heard people spout, “God is love”? Sure, we all have. Does that phrase occur in Scripture? Of course. It’s part of 1 John 4:8–which is part of a sentence, which is part of a paragraph, which is part of a letter, which is part of the New Testament, which is part of the Scriptures.

But is it possible that, if taken out of context, or not read in light of all of Scripture, those three words can be grossly misunderstood? Yes, indeed. Hence the raison d’etre for this piece.

Segue to Scripture: I love the writing of Solomon and the Wisdom Literature. In Proverbs, e.g., we read ths:

12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
    and I find knowledge and discretion.
¹³ The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
    and perverted speech I hate.

Those sentences are Proverbs 8:12-23, ESV.

Teaching: Wonder why we don’t hear folks spout those words about hatred of evil being an indicator of being a believer?

Wonder why we don’t hear that Scripture also records that God hates–let that sink in–hates “[p]ride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech”?

What you do hear is love, love, love–divorced from biblical moorings and context.

There are many other times God is said to hate in Scripture. We might look at the following as just a sampling: Proverbs 6:16-25 is one passage of things God hates. Psalm 11:5 says that God “hates the wicked.” Psalm 5:5 says God hates “all evildoers.” And verse 6 of that psalm says God abhors the “deceitful man.” The list is long in Scripture of those whom God hates and the evils that God hates.

Takeaway: Wisdom entails knowing and accepting all of God’s revelation in Scripture rather than cherrypicking parts of phrases to fit our own sinful desires. Does God love? Of course. But God also hates.

One cannot be holy who does not detest evil and lies. Discern the big picture of who God has revealed Himself to be. Anything less is lazy and dishonest.

Introduction: Recently I was on another flight. My eyes were burning from reading, and so I chose to listen for a while in order to give my eyes a rest. Joe Rogan’s podcast with Chadd Wright appeared on my iPhone’s recommendations on YouTube, and so I listened. I was captivated. Why? Well, for several reasons.

First, Rogan is perhaps being gripped by God. He’s still very much questioning and seeking answers to ultimate matters. That is evident to any honest listener to the conversation here.

Second, Wright is a veteran, a former Navy S.E.A.L., very much a man’s man, who was brought from spiritual death to a state of regeneration by the triune God, and he’s now an ambassador for Christ.

Third, millions upon millions of people have now been exposed to the Gospel via the largest and most listened to podcaster in the world, Joe Rogan.

Fourth, and this is what I wish to emphasize in this short post, is that Wright rightly explains that salvation is 100% of the Lord; it is God’s sovereign effectual grace, not a man-made machination/effort/accomplishment.

I’ve heard countless Gospel presentations in my life, but Wright’s here is so clear, so biblical, so humbling, that I do not know how one might improve upon it. It is genuine, clear, humble, biblical, and altogether pride-crushing. (And that is the key issue.)

Connection: In Mark 2, there is a perfect example from Scripture of what Chadd explains to Joe. Here it is:

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2, 15-17, ESV)

Question: Did you catch it? Did you see what God taught there? The spiritual dead men (scribes and Pharisees) hated Jesus. Why? Well, Jesus came for sinners, for those who know they’re broken, helpless, and dead in trespasses and sins.

But that’s the opposite of how scribes and Pharisses saw themselves. They viewed themselves as the righteous ones, the ones who had it all together, the ones that those dirty sinners should have aimed to emulate.

Takeaway: What unfolds in this passage from Mark 2 is precisely what Chadd Wright explained so well to Joe Rogan. It’s all of grace, if and when God saves a person. It’s not something the spiritually dead sinner accomplishes via his/her merit or effort.

If a person is born again, he/she is born from above (John 3:3, ESV). It is possible that Joe Rogan is not far from the kingdom of God. Can you imagine the impact that his conversion might have? I thank God for Chadd Wright’s faithfulness and courage when he was on Rogan’s podcast. Indeed it is so: “Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” May God grant us the accuracy and wisdom to admit we’re in the second category.

Introduction: Hebrews is a New Testament letter. We do not know who the human author was. Maybe it was Paul, but we do not know for certain. But the letter was written to do several things. One of those things was to encourage Christians whose faith was being tested, whose faith sometimes waned.

Questions: Do those issues perhaps apply to any of us today? That is, do any believers today battle spiritual defeatism? Do any believers seem to throw up their hands and siliently preach, “Just forget it. The secularists were right. We’re just cosmic accidents. And the goal of life is entertainment and scrolling on Instagram”?

That would never happen, of course. Folks are much too refined for that. Right? Um, okay.

No; the results speak for themselves. I’ve read books where the statistics reveal that people are spending up to 16 hours each day on screens. They are on screens at work, at screens at home, then at screens at leisure. It’s nearly endless. Their face is in a screen. And all is documented. Scores are being kept. The more time folks are scrolling and clicking, the better for the purveyors of products for sale. For example, newer screens. And the world grows dumber still.

Say what you will, but screen time is endlessly entertaining. I jumped on YouTube recently to listen to one of my favorite bands; the next thing I knew, two hours had elapsed, and all I had to show for it was listening to Dickey Betts’ masterful guitar skills–yet again. But those hours were gone. And what had I to show for them?

But What about Timothy? Hebrews ends (not quite the last sentence, but close) with this: “You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon” (Hb 13:23, ESV). Scholars understandably suggest, given the history of 1st c. Christianity under the Roman Empire’s paganism, that the writer is referring to Timothy’s release from prison. No one thinks Timothy was checking out of Rome Regional Hospital, in other words. The Roman government bureaucracy hated Timothy for his Christian witness and they were set upon his death.

Encouragement/takeaway: Have you ever viewed your sufferings as God’s gift? That is, have you seen that suffering as a Christian does at least a couple of things? One thing it does is that it reveals the genuineness (or lack thereof) of your faith in Christ and in the truth claims of Scripture. A second thing it does is bear witness to those who are teachable.

Be encouraged, Christian pilgrim. God has His sheep; they will hear His voice (Jn 10:27-28).