Mark 12:38  And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
39  And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:
40  Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.

The scribes were supposed to be learned in the Mosaic law. They were to be able to understand God’s law and also teach that law to the common people. They were supposed to be trustworthy. However, we find that they were not at all trustworthy at the time of Jesus. He had to warn the people to beware of the scribes. He could not recommend them to the people. Notice that this warning was part of Jesus’ doctrine.
A faithful servant of the Lord will teach all the doctrine of God. Part of that doctrine is warning people about false teachers. The true servant of the Lord cares about the souls of men. The scribes loved attention. They put themselves out there for people to notice. There are people today who want to be known for their smooth talking or for their “inside connection” to God that gives them the “power” to heal and do other “amazing” things.
Jesus warned that the scribes loved to be noticed in the marketplaces. It is good to be known in a good way. Jesus was warning here, because the scribes were looking to take the glory away from God. Jesus Christ is the Messiah. God directed the angels to announce His coming. God appointed a star to guide the wisemen to where He was as a young child. Jesus did many miracles and He taught with authority. He made it very clear that He was and is the prophesied and long awaited Messiah.
It was not up to the scribes to concern themselves with making themselves known. True scribes would have wanted to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ. These men were not interested in that. Jesus cared about the souls of men and that is why He was warning the people about these imposters.
A man told me recently that he believes that all religions lead to the true God. He said there is only one true God and it did not matter which road a person took to get to God. We talked about a few different doctrines and he had to admit that different religions had different doctrines and he did not agree with them all. Yet he insisted that all religions have the same God.
He obviously either never thought this thing through very well, or he was just a liar. His bottom line was that he was not about to submit to any body of absolute truth. He is a typical lost person. He wants options and he wants the power to determine what is truth and what is not truth. His truth will be based on his opinions, not on the Word of God. If he continues on his current path, he will be shocked to find out that he has believed a lie all his life. His end will be in hell, not in heaven.
God’s Word is Truth. We must submit to the Truth if we want to know God’s forgiveness and salvation.
The scribes not only wanted to be noticed out in public, but they also wanted the chief places in the religious world. They wanted the recognition as the best teachers around. They wanted to be consulted on spiritual matters.
There are numerous colleges and seminaries that are happy to take gullible people’s money and after a few years of study, they will give them a diploma or a degree. Then those gullible people find a religious setting where they can be called “reverend” or “doctor” or some other fancy title. They love to gather people around them and they love to smooth talk their way into the hearts of other gullible people.
Jesus warned that the real intent of the scribes was to devour widows’ houses. They were looking for ways to steal from vulnerable people. Widows need help with many things. Godly men do not take advantage of those who need help. They seek to be a blessing to others.
These scribes also loved to perform for the people. They loved to look spiritual by giving long prayers. They assumed the longer the prayer, the more spiritual they must be. That was the philosophy they lived by. Long prayers do not mean anything if they are not received by God. They are just a lot of noise if God is not interested in them. Jesus has already stated that the scribes were not in tune with God. They had no connection with Him. They were just in it for their own gain.
Jesus warned that these scribes were being judged by God and found wanting. It is important that we take the Bible as our authority.
Your soul is the most important part of you. Don’t entrust the health of your soul to some person’s opinion. Genesis 1:1 declares that God was there in the beginning. There has never been a time when God was not. It is extremely unwise to place your hope and confidence in someone or something that is not eternal. We need to trust religious leaders. The only ones that are worth trusting are the ones who will demonstrate their submission to the true Word of God. You do not need a spin doctor. You need someone who will be a true friend and point you to the Truth. We cannot know the Truth unless we accept God’s sure Word as Truth.
Jesus warned that the scribes were not interested in Truth. They were interested in image building. They wanted to leave their mark upon society. They loved the praise of men.
You notice here that Jesus did not let the people off the hook for receiving bad teaching. He simply stated that the scribes would receive the greater damnation. Every person is accountable for what they subject themselves to. God wants each person to consider carefully where their “teacher” is getting their guidance from.
We have often spoken of the importance of the Word of God. It is extremely careless to assume that all Bibles are the Word of God. It is not only careless, but it is absurd. They do not agree with each other. How can they all come from the mouth of God? It is extremely careless to assume that God did not know what to say and so He said many things that contradict each other. It is extremely foolish to think that God left it up to fallible people to determine what truth is.
The fact is that God is Truth. He has given us His Word and He preserved His Word for every generation. His Word never changes. He chose some forty different “holy men” to write down His Word. He spread this writing of His Word over a time period of about sixteen hundred years. In that time frame He directed these men to record all that is needed for mankind to know the truth. During that time period, no one was left in the dark regarding what is needed to be forgiven and saved.
Adam knew what he needed to do in order to be free from sin. Adam chose not to believe God and he became a sinner. All of Adam’s descendants have been given all that is needed to know what we need to do in order to be forgiven and saved. We have been told what will happen if we reject the truth. We need to be aware of the fact that there are many false teachers today. There were many scribes in Jesus’ day. There was one Jesus. He was the Truth then and He is the Truth now. Not everyone that names His name is a true servant of God. We need to check a person out according to God’s Word. If you will not accept the fact that God has inspired and preserved His Word for this current generation and every generation, then you are going the wrong way. God is good. He wants you to know the Truth today. He has provided the Truth for you and I. We need to be sure we are receiving the Truth and not just the opinions of men.
Pastor Bartel