Rules For Thee but Not for Me (Pharasical Behavior)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23, and the title of this message is The Real Pharisees.

The Real Pharisees and the Charge of Disobedience

The Real Pharisees. Somebody asked me if I would do a sermon on the subject of disobedience. So it's kind of a broad subject. I could approach that many ways, I suppose. But I decided to do this and preach about disobedience in the Pharisees because the Pharisees were the people in the New Testament that Jesus rebuked for disobedience.

You see, sometimes people have the idea that the Pharisees were just a little too rigid in their law keeping. That's actually not true because Jesus calls the Pharisees lawless. So the Pharisees are the example of disobedient men in the New Testament scriptures.

And what was the problem with the Pharisees? Well, the Pharisees, out of anybody, they should have known better because they have the word of God. And yet they did not keep the words of God. So ironically today, and this is something that I've noticed and I've seen people get called Pharisees and some pastors will call other pastors Pharisees because they're just a little more whatever, however they perceive them.

This guy's more strict than I am, so he must be a Pharisee. And this is really just kind of devolved into name calling amongst Christians. You know, in the world, if you want to really get somebody or smear somebody, what's the thing today in our culture to call them?

Racist, right? So if somebody disagrees with somebody and they really don't have an argument, they just smear them as a racist. Well, this is kind of the Christian version of it. So if we don't like what somebody says or what they're doing, even though we really can't back it up, we're just going to smear them as a Pharisee or a legalist.

And what is that?

It's Christians calling each other names that 99 of the time it's not true. So I want to do this message from scripture to show and demonstrate that the Pharisees, the problem wasn't that they kept the law of Moses.

No, the problem was that they were not keeping the law. They were law less. They were disobedient. Look at Matthew chapter 23 verses 27 through 28. Jesus says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men. But was that true? No, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and what? Lawlessness. You are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. So let's start out. Who were the Pharisees?

If you've been in a church for any length of time, you've heard of the Pharisees. Well, the Pharisees were an influential religious sect within Judaism around the time of Christ. And they were known for their emphasis on personal piety.

And they did look good on the surface. But as Jesus said, they were lawless, filled with iniquity. They were disobedient. So you notice that Jesus, what does Jesus call them?

Lawless. Right?

You see that. So I'm not just making this up. No, the Pharisees were lawless. This is why you need to come to church with an open Bible and check everything that I'm saying. So the Pharisees, it says, Matthew 23, verse 28, they were lawless.

I get an amen.

You see that.

Okay.

Jesus also says that they are hypocritical. So to the undiscerning eye, the Pharisees appeared to do the right thing. You know, they talked a good game. But while they said one thing, they did another.

Some people have the idea that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they held to the law of Moses just a little too well or something like that. Now, of course, that's not true. But based on the way some people talk, you would get that idea.

And they had the idea that when Jesus came, Jesus came just to loosen everything up. Because you have this restrictive law of Moses, and that's bad. So Jesus came to just free everybody to where now there's no more rules and commandments.

You know, people actually think this way. Did Jesus do that? Is that what he came to do? To destroy the law? No, Jesus said, I came to fulfill it. Do you realize there was a man who kept the law of Moses perfectly?

And it was Jesus. I think, I honestly believe if Jesus were here today and just preached the truth to people. I think there are Christians who would even call Jesus a Pharisee. I can't prove that, but I do believe that.

So the Pharisees, they talked a good game. But they said one thing. They did another. They were lawless. All right, let's go back to Matthew 23, verse 1. Matthew 23, verse 1 says,. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do. So does it sound like that Jesus has an issue with the Pharisees' authority? No, he really doesn't. He said they do sit in Moses' seat.

Whatever they tell you, you should obey. So Jesus really, for the most part, didn't have an issue with what the Pharisees were teaching. They have this place of authority in the nation. They were the teachers of the religion.

So they carried out what Moses did in teaching the commandments. And they would expound on the commandments. That is what they were doing right. Now, what they were doing wrong is they had their own opinions and man-made tradition.

And they often put that above the scripture. But what they said about the scriptures usually was right. And the proof is Jesus said, hey, whatever they teach you, tell you to do, do it. But he says, but do not do according to their works.

For they say and do not do. So they were saying the right things, but they were not doing the right things. So the issue clearly wasn't that they were keeping God's law. No, it's the exact opposite. They were disobedient.

They taught other people. This is the thing. The Pharisees taught other people that, you know, you need to obey. But they themselves would look for ways to kind of skirt the rules. The Pharisees found ways to circumvent the law of God to get around it for themselves.

In other words, and you're familiar with this term, rules for thee, but not for me. Where have you heard this before? Rules for thee, but not for me. Let me just give an example of maybe Pharisaical type behavior.

Who remembers back in 2020, well, all the virus restrictions were in place. You say, well, I'm trying to forget that. I don't want to think about it.

You remember.

And listen, I'm not getting into the weeds on this. But you do remember this, how many politicians, media personalities, scientists, they would go on TV and they would lecture the public about you need to wear a mask and you need to social distance.

You need to stay at home. But as soon as the camera turned off, off came the mask. And they just did whatever they wanted to do. You know, you need to stay in shelter in place. But when their vacation time came around, they would fly to other states.

And they just did what they wanted. But you need to obey.

You remember that?

Was I hallucinating all this? No, of course that happened. And then if you complained about it, or if an average person pointed it out, all of a sudden they became the bad guy. So this is how the Pharisees operated.

They were hypocrites. They said one thing, and you can, was it right or wrong, but they would say one thing and do another. But you better do the right thing or else. So that's the way they were. They oppressed the common man while they were doing whatever they wanted, living the high life.

Jesus said how the Pharisees, they would devour widows' households. They would find ways to take their money. The Pharisees were accused of loving the VIP seats. Scripture doesn't put it that way, but that's what it was, the VIP seats in the synagogues.

And all of their good deeds were done for what reason? To be seen by men. In other words, they were putting on a big show. It wasn't genuine. The Pharisees, according to Christ, and he knew he could read their hearts, Jesus said they were utterly corrupt.

They were disobedient. So one of the things that we know about the Pharisees, because Jesus calls them this, he calls them hypocrites. So what is hypocrisy? Hypocrisy is defined as the failure to follow one's own expressed moral rules and principle.

Basically, everybody at times plays the hypocrite. I don't think there's a man or woman on earth who has never once, you know, I know the right thing to do and then they don't do it, and people can act hypocritically.

But this was just a way of life for the Pharisees. It reached a whole other level. Now, one of the biggest issues regarding Jesus and the Pharisees, what was the thing they often sparred about? This issue concerning what?

Who knows what I'm thinking? The issue of the Sabbath day. This was one of the big points of contention. Jesus, his issue with the Pharisees is not that they kept the Sabbath. Again, people have this idea that the Pharisees were really strict on keeping the Sabbath, and Jesus and his disciples were kind of breaking the Sabbath.

And that was not the issue. The Pharisees, their problem is they distorted the Sabbath day. Do you realize Jesus kept the Sabbath perfectly? What day was the Jewish Sabbath?

Saturday.

You could make the argument, Jesus being crucified on Friday, he kept the Sabbath even when he was dead. So, Jesus did not break the Sabbath. The Pharisees were the ones breaking the Sabbath because they just corrupted the whole thing.

Verse 4, look at verse 4. So, they made all these rules that the average person had to follow, but, you know, they were the leaders, so they were important. They could do what they wanted. Look at verse 4.

For they bind heavy burdens on people, hard to bear. They lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Again, rules for you, but not for us. So, the Jews, what was the Sabbath about?

Jews had a day off on the Sabbath. It was a day of rest, and like the Lord's Day for us, it was a day where they assembled for worship. That wasn't the problem. That was good. They were doing the right thing.

The problem is the rabbis added all of these man-made traditions to God's law. God's law says keep the Sabbath day holy. That was right. The Pharisees had all these extra biblical teachings that they added to it, and they turned the Sabbath into a massive burden.

It was meant to be a blessing, but they turned it into a burden, and that made Jesus upset. But again, a lot of people have the idea that Jesus was the one who kind of came, and Jesus kind of freed us from all these rules.

You know, we have the Sabbath, but Jesus came, and you can kind of ease up on some of this stuff. Is that true? Jesus never broke the Sabbath. How do I know that? Because the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, and you're going to have a hard time convincing me that Jesus broke the Ten Commandments.

There was that one time where Jesus and his disciples were walking through a field, and they were picking grain, just a few heads of grain, and eating it, and they were accused of breaking the Sabbath.

Well, that wasn't breaking the Sabbath. So anyways, the point is the Lord is not going to violate his own commandments, but the Pharisees, they did violate the commandments. Okay, so people have the idea, just the misconception about the Pharisees.

Some people think that the Pharisees, they just kept the law a little too good, and that's really not the case. It's the exact opposite. Jesus is the only one who kept the law perfectly. All right, are you with me up until now?

So we need to be aware of how the devil works because there's all these misconceptions about who the Pharisees were, and I've seen it many, many times. If somebody loves God, and they care about obeying God, and they want to see certain standards upheld, they will usually get slapped with this label, well, this guy, he's just being a Pharisee.

So it's the complete opposite. This is how the devil works. The devil turns everything on its head. Are you living in the same country that I'm living in? Well, then you've noticed this, that the devil, what does he do?

He calls evil good and good evil. He takes the truth, the devil does, he twists the truth, presents it with a half-truth and a clever argument, and before you know it, up is down, and down is up.

Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, moorescornickchurch .com.

We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.