"Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees"

So when Jesus sent out his disciples, remember he sent them out as sheep amongst the wolves.

That's what he said to them. So that applies to us as well as the sheep.

It's good to know that the sheep have a shepherd. It's good to know that we have a shepherd who's looking out for us.

So let's turn to Matthew chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23 in this section is titled,

Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees. Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees.

So this is the passage where Jesus is rebuking very harshly. He's rebuking the religious leaders of Israel.

So Jesus is the good shepherd. And the good shepherd is sparring with the bad shepherd.

So Jesus, the good shepherd, confronting the bad shepherds. Why is he doing that? Well, not only were they teaching a false doctrine, they were really taking advantage of people.

The scribes, the Pharisees, the religious leaders. In a very real way, they were scamming the elderly.

They were targeting widows. So they were really perpetuating this form of what

I would call spiritual abuse. So they're doing that. They're teaching the wrong thing.

They're leading people away from God when it was their job to lead people to God. So when people are vulnerable and need an advocate, they need someone to stick up for them.

And that's what Jesus is doing here in Matthew chapter 23. So before we read,

I think I said this last week or the last couple weeks. In chapter 22, remember, Jesus had been receiving a series of questions.

His enemies were trying to trap him in his words. And now

Jesus has something to say to them. And it's pretty harsh.

So we'll read the first 14 verses. I'll go through this. And towards the end, we'll talk about how this might apply today.

Because if anyone, anyone who's paying attention, you know this same type of spiritual abuse.

Leaders teaching error, not just that, but people really scamming people in Jesus name.

Spiritual abuse, taking advantage of people in the name of God. This was a problem back then.

It's still a problem today. We'll look at that. But let's read Matthew 23, starting in verse 1.

It says, Jesus, then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat.

Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe that observe and do, but do not do according to their works for they say and do not do.

For they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders.

But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men.

They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men,

Rabbi, Rabbi. But you do not be called Rabbi.

For one is your teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.

And do not call anyone on earth your father. For one is your father, he who is in heaven.

And do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

And whoever exalts himself will be humbled. And he who humbles himself will be exalted.

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers.

Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. But we'll stop here. Jesus goes on.

We'll cover that, Lord willing, next week. A lot of stuff to get to, but it's important after reading that and seeing really the harsh words that Jesus is saying, it's important to know why he's saying it.

Keep in mind, Jesus isn't just losing his temper here. What's he doing?

He's speaking truth to power. He's fighting for what's right. He's defending the little guy.

He's defending people who are being taken advantage of. And isn't this what you want from a leader?

You want the leader to stick up for you all while standing up for God's truth.

So the problem with this passage, why some churches won't preach on it, some people choke on this passage.

Why? Because Jesus calls people what? Sons of hell. He calls people fools.

He calls them snakes. A brood of vipers in whitewashed tombs.

I think if I just did one of those things, I called someone a son of hell, people might get upset about that.

But here's the thing. People think, well, this is out of character for Jesus. Jesus wouldn't act this way.

So some people think that the more progressive churches would say, well, this was added to the scripture later on.

Our Jesus never said anything like this. I think we know that's not the case. But why is

Jesus doing this? This is exactly what he should be doing.

He's correcting their error, and he's speaking truth about evil men.

I mean, if somebody is like a con man, and they're scamming the poor, the sick, and the elderly, if somebody has some hard words to say about a person like that, they deserve it, don't they?

Yeah, and that's how you need to view this. Jesus is rebuking people who are taking advantage of widows, for example.

But a lot of people have this idea of Jesus that he should be like Mr. Rogers or something. Who knows

Mr. Rogers? Most of you do. Jesus would never say a bad word about anyone.

In their mind, that's how a Christian should be. That's how Jesus was. He wasn't that way.

I mean, at best, that's one side of the story, not even. So when Jesus saw error and corruption, deep corruption, when he saw injustice, he was going to pretty much tell it like it was.

So this is how Jesus operated. To the average person, the average guy on the street, the person

Jesus encountered, he was very patient. Jesus could be very kind and gentle.

To the sinner who is just, you know, they were sorry. They wanted to know the truth.

Jesus, yes, he was kind and gracious. But to people, especially the leaders, who should have known better, who were corrupting the faith, yes,

Jesus had some very harsh things to say. That's a totally different story. So if we keep that in mind, that to one group, to most people,

Jesus was patient and gracious. But to the evil man, taking advantage of people, he was going to tell it like it was.

If we keep that in mind, I think we'll understand what's happening here. All right, let's go through the verses and then try to explain what each verse means and then end with an application.

Matthew 23, verses 1 and 2. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

Okay, what does it mean that they sit in the seat of Moses? Well, Moses had, in other words,

Moses had a seat of authority. You remember when Israel was first formed back in the book of Exodus.

You know, they came out of Egypt and they were established as a nation at Mount Sinai. God ordained

Moses. Moses was God's man and he ruled the nation, right? If you've ever read that story, that's the way it was.

Moses ruled in the place of God. And if you remember,

Moses got overloaded because he is one man and he is governing the entire nation, maybe up to 2 million

Israelites. He got overloaded, so his father -in -law Jethro then recommended, he said, this is not good.

You need some help. So, long story short, 70 elders were appointed to help

Moses govern the children of Israel. Well, that model of Moses and the 70 elders, over time, that developed into what later became known as the

Jewish Sanhedrin. So, the Jewish council, which contains some of the scribes and Pharisees, there was a legitimate authority there.

I mean, every nation needs to have a government, needs to have a leadership. So, there was a sense where there was a legitimate authority.

The priests and the Levites, they were appointed by God. But over time, you know how it is, things had become corrupt.

And now you have these men, in this case, scribes and Pharisees, they're no longer teaching the truth.

They're not like Moses. Moses was a meek man. Moses cared about, he got frustrated at times, but he really did care about the people, didn't he?

Well, over time, these leaders, they're not caring about the people, they're caring about themselves.

Instead of ruling to help them, we're going to manipulate them to help ourselves.

So, things had become corrupt. They're no longer teaching God's word. The scribes and Pharisees are now teaching the doctrines of men, their own religious ideas.

Now, not everything they said was false. Look at verse three. So, therefore, because they sit in this position of authority,

Jesus says, therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do.

So, you should listen to them, to a degree, but Jesus says, do not do according to their works.

For what? They say, and they do not do. What's the word? We talked about this last week.

What's the word for this? Yeah, hypocrite. You say one thing, and you do another.

So, the scribes and Pharisees would give lip service. Oh, we believe in God, and we believe in the

Ten Commandments. They would never flat out reject the Torah, or say the

Ten Commandments weren't true. They would never do that. But, this is the problem, they would take the truth, and they would mix it together with their error, or they would find ways to get around the truth, while claiming they affirmed the truth.

Just to give you a quick example of how they did that, and how they would nullify

God's word, who's familiar with the Korban rule? There is a Jewish tradition, you could say, that developed, where a person would take a vow to God, and they would declare all of their goods were

Korban. The Korban rule, so all of my goods I give to God. So, when it came time, when mom and dad got older, and you are to provide and support your parents, well,

I can't afford it, because I've dedicated all my goods to God. So, I can't honor my father and mother, because I've given everything to God.

Now, that seemed like a holy thing to do, a right thing to do, to give everything to God, but in the process, that doctrine of men was nullifying the fifth commandment to honor father and mother.

So, they would do things like that. Another example, back in chapter 19, we covered this, when

Jesus spoke about their views concerning marriage and divorce. Bible was pretty clear, the

Old Testament was pretty clear, but because they didn't like it, or because they wanted to find ways around it, they came up with loopholes to basically end up with what we would call today, no -fault divorce.

So, in other words, in ancient Israel, God was clear in His word, He did not support divorce, except in maybe one or two specific circumstances, but they found a loophole to basically, you could divorce your spouse for any reason.

So, in Jewish culture, you know, this is, they didn't have toasters back then, but this is what people often say, if the wife burned the toast, you know, if she burned dinner, you could divorce her.

She could do any little thing you didn't like, and a man could divorce his spouse, and that was all kosher based on the

Jewish law. I mean, it wasn't based on God's law, but the scribes and Pharisees, yeah, they had ways of getting around things, right?

Obviously, it's not what God wanted, but it's what the people wanted, and I know you've noticed this, if you find someone who's clever, and they want to take a verse or two out of context, you can basically make the

Bible say whatever you want. Take it out of context with a clever argument, well, that's the type of thing the scribes and Pharisees were doing, and they themselves were personally corrupt, again, teaching people, you need to obey, and they were kind of doing whatever they wanted, and then manipulating people and taking advantage of people.

So, when Jesus calls them, you know, a brood of vipers, it's probably not harsh enough.

So, look at verse four. Jesus says about the scribes and Pharisees, for they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

A different translation puts it this way, they crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

You know, I could talk about sermons that I've heard where the guy behind the pulpit,

I mean, this sounds like one big guilt trip. Like, he is saying things, he's trying to make it out to, like, you need to do this, and if you're not doing all these things, you're just not a good

Christian. Is he really doing all of those things? Probably not, but it doesn't matter.

But that's the way it was. Now, keep in mind, these burdens or demands, even though they would lay them on other people's shoulders, they themselves wouldn't necessarily follow the rule.

So, again, this goes back to they would say one thing and do another. Just to help illustrate this,

I talked about this a couple years ago, but it's just a perfect example, so forgive me for bringing this up again.

I often go back to 2020 for many examples, and this is just the perfect example.

Remember how the ruling class, because the scribes and Pharisees were not just religious leaders, they were also the political leaders.

Church and state are together, so they're both. But in 2020, remember the ruling class, the elites, if you want to call them that, the politicians, they were telling you, and some of you might have seen the virtue in some of this, and that's up to you.

But they would say, you know, you need to wear a mask, social distance, shelter in place month after month.

Remember this, shelter in place, don't leave your house, don't travel, don't get together with family.

I think they canceled Christmas one year, right? Don't get together with family. But during that time, every once in a while, a news story would leak, and these governors, these senators, guess what?

They're going on vacation, they're flying here, going there, they're going out to restaurants, no social distancing, no nothing.

So, you know, you little people, you need to follow all these strict rules, which really nobody could follow them perfectly.

But they themselves, they were just doing whatever they wanted. I think there was one specific case, when the cameras were on, they were following the rules, you know, the mask, social distancing, everything.

And usually after they walk away from the podium, you know, they expect the camera to go off.

Well, one time the camera didn't go off. One news agency left the camera going, so they're up there doing their thing, and then they walk away, and then the mask comes off, they're shaking hands, and they think no one's watching, but you get the idea.

So, rules for thee, but not for me. You know, you little people do what

I say, but I'm going to skirt the rules. Well, that's the scribes and Pharisees, only they're doing it in a religious context.

And when people do that in a context of faith or a context of religion, what is that called?

It's called spiritual abuse and manipulation. And it made

Jesus angry. So these people, they were also in it for themselves.

Look at verse five. Jesus says about them, but all their works they do to please

God. See, now, if I said this, you might say, well, pastor, you can't read someone's mind, you can't read someone's heart.

And that's true, but Jesus could. And Jesus said, all of their works they do to be seen by men.

So ministry to them was just a big show. And this is actually where the term hypocrite comes from.

The Greek word refers to someone who was an actor. They would play a role. Back in ancient times, they would have a mask.

They would put the mask over their face and they would play one character, and then they would remove the mask and put on a different mask and they'd play a different character.

And they would just take off the mask and act one way and then act a different way. Well, that's where the term hypocrite comes from.

It's all a big show. It's all a big act. This is not who they were. So they presented themselves as the most godly, holy people in Jewish society.

And actually they were, according to Jesus, they were children of the devil.

Remember when Jesus calls them that? In John chapter eight. And Jesus would know.

So let's continue reading. He says, they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

Do you have broad phylacteries, anybody? Who knows what a phylactery is? Yeah, I admit

I had to look this up online and it showed pictures of these Jewish men with like this strap wrapped around their arm and there's connected to it this little box leather box.

And in the box is this tiny little scroll with the Torah, words from the Torah written on it.

So they would hang these leather boxes, you know, from their, I don't know, from their head or around their arm and all sorts of different things.

And it made them look very religious, very holy.

So they would make their phylacteries broad for what purpose? To stand out, right? It's for other people to see and say, wow, he's really holy, look at him.

And they would enlarge the borders of their garments. Again, all of this is meant to stand out so that they appeared extra holy.

Okay, so this practice is based on probably an overly literal reading of the

Torah. And this is really the odd thing about the scribes and Pharisees. They could be real sticklers with some things.

Like they would take the Bible ultra literal, like way more literal than you and I ever would.

And then other times they're totally disregarding the Bible. So it was a weird thing. So it was all based on whatever they thought, whatever the rabbis taught.

And they were very inconsistent. Jesus says in verse six, they loved the best places at feasts and the best seats in the synagogue, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, rabbi, rabbi.

And of course, remember the leaders in Israel, the religious leaders were also the civil rulers.

They were also the politicians, if you were. So they could live the high life.

Just like our leaders today, they're all wealthy. And it was the same back then. Scribes and Pharisees were very well off.

And it's common for people who do well to rise the ranks. And I guess that's fine.

But these people, they were doing it off the backs of the people. That's where they got their money.

So they thrived on all of that. They thrived on being important, self -important.

And along with that came the lofty titles. So what were some of the titles?

Depending on your translation, rabbi, father, and teacher or master.

So they would actually have people calling them. Now rabbi doesn't seem all that odd because there's people today who call others rabbi.

But to call someone master, or to call someone father, who isn't your father, does that strike you as odd?

Like we know it happens. But yeah, Jesus is actually speaking against the use of lofty religious titles.

So what's the purpose of this? It's to exalt yourself. It's to exalt self. So Jesus says, look at verse 8, but you do not be called what?

Rabbi. So Jesus doesn't want his disciples and the new church to do what the scribes and Pharisees did.

But over the course of history in Christianity, have we, I say we as in Christians in general, have

Christians used lofty religious titles to exalt men? Yeah.

Can I give you a few examples? My favorite is when you read in the newspaper about the reverend doctor so -and -so.

When you see reverend doctor before someone's name, typically not a good sign.

So that's sort of how we've done it. Or the term archbishop. That's a common one.

Now here's the thing. The term bishop, that's a biblical term. I mean there are bishops, just like there are pastors, there are deacons.

But archbishop? What's an archbishop? Is that in the Bible? No, that's a lofty religious title.

Okay, he's not just a bishop. He's an archbishop. What are you saying? He's not just like a pastor.

He's a super pastor. He's a super duper pastor. While studying this,

I came across a new title. I didn't even know this existed. Who's ever heard of an archdeacon?

Archdeacon. Yeah, I didn't even know that was a thing. Here at Morris Corner, we have regular deacons.

Good guys, but I don't know what you got to do to become an archdeacon. Imagine if I went around calling myself the archpastor.

What is going on? I like how the King James renders this, though. Three titles, master, rabbi, and father.

Now, I've got some pushback online. People say, well, you know, you call yourself pastor, and you shouldn't use that as a religious title.

I mean, I think that's fair. If I demanded that, this actually happened.

I went to a pastor's meeting one time, and a guy came in, and I said, I won't mention his name, but I said, hey, so -and -so,

I used his first name, hey, Bob, his name wasn't Bob, but I said, hey, Bob, how you doing?

He's like, it's pastor so -and -so to you, he said. I'm like, whoa. Some of you call me

Mike, because guess what? That's my name, and that's OK. See, here's the thing. We're all brethren.

I'm not up here in your down, and I know I'm up on a platform, but you know why they have platforms in churches?

So you can hear me. It's not because the person up here is above you. If I was laying on the floor talking, you wouldn't be able to hear me as well.

So that's why churches do it this way. But yeah, I mean, if somebody demanded to be called by this title, if I say, you have to call me pastor or else, that would be a problem.

But pastor, bishop, deacon, these are biblical terms. But Jesus is saying, look at verses 8 and 9, but you do not be called.

There's three terms he specifically says are off limits. Do not be called rabbi.

Why? For one is your teacher, one is your rabbi, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father, he who is in heaven.

Now, it's interesting that Jesus says do not be called father, because as you know, I mean,

I can't avoid this, folks. It's just what everyone's thinking at the moment. So we know that in the

Catholic Church, the priest is regarded as father, right?

You are required to call the priest father. And then you have the pope, who is what?

The holy father. Okay, well, according to Jesus, that title, especially holy father, but even that title father, that belongs to who?

According to Jesus, it belongs to God. God is now your father.

See, the Jews didn't refer to God as their father. That was not something that was done up until the time of Jesus.

So Jesus is saying from now on, the only person who has the title of father is

God. This is a new thing. I think we need to be careful about this.

Some well -meaning people, I think, throughout time have maybe misunderstood this verse.

I heard about one person. They would not call their own father father because of this verse.

So they refer to their father as papa, which means the same thing in a different language.

So I don't really think that's the point. Here's my point. Do I call my father my father?

Yes. Why? Because he is my father. I'm not gonna call some other guy, some priest, father, because he's not my father.

It's really that simple. So yes, you can call your own father father, but to adopt that as a religious title.

Again, if I went around and I made you call me father, it's weird.

It's unbiblical. Jesus says don't do it. But again,

I'm not looking to single out the Catholic Church, but this is a clear example of men who go around in long robes, and they have their own traditions, and their traditions are contradicting the

Bible. Well, same thing for the scribes and Pharisees. So these terms, teacher, rabbi, father, rabbi, that uniquely belongs to Jesus at this point, from this point on.

The only man in Christianity who is to be exalted is the God -man,

Jesus Christ. We are all brethren. Jesus says in verse 12, whoever, along those same lines, whoever exalts himself will be what?

Humbled. And he who humbles himself will be exalted.

And of course, Jesus really set the example. Here is a man who deserved to be exalted in every way, and yet he came in the form of a humble servant.

And that's what he wants from his followers. Okay, now for the sake of time, we need to start figuring out how to apply this, but let's just read verse 13.

He says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

What's Jesus saying? The false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees was so wrong.

Their error was so serious, it was actually leading people away from God.

So they themselves were not on the way to heaven, and the people who followed them, they were leading them down the road to perdition as well.

And they were getting rich in the process, which is probably one of their major motivations.

False teachers are always motivated by three things, power, prestige, and prosperity.

You know, they're in it for the money. Look at verse 14. He says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.

Therefore, you will receive the greater condemnation. Now, you look at a man who stands, he can just pray and pray.

You think, well, that man, he must be in tune with God. Well, not necessarily. Remember, they were actors.

They were putting on a show. So today, we would call someone who does this, in particular, devouring widows' houses, what's he saying?

He's getting all the widows' money. He's taking advantage of her. He's getting all her stuff.

Today, we would call that man what? Well, we would call them, one term, we would call them a con man, people who pray on, you know, people who are either sick, vulnerable, elderly, a con man.

Something else I learned this way, I didn't know this is where the term originated, but con man, I guess it comes from, con refers to confidence.

So they were so confident in what they said, you know, people who are like this can go into sales and, you know, they can sell ice to an

Eskimo, as people say. Like, they can just, you just believe them. I mean, they're just so convincing.

They're such great speakers. They put on such a great show. You just believe everything that they say. Well, this is what the scribes and Pharisees were.

They were essentially religious con men. So in getting to the application, are there religious con men today?

Yeah. I mean, these people were not, it's not that they were sincere. They were just a little off base.

No, it was a show and they were in it, mainly for the money. So they would target defenseless people to pray upon them in order to get their money.

And widows were the perfect target. That's why Jesus says this, because they had no family.

I mean, back then a widow meant like there was no family. So a widow had no one to leave the estate to.

There's nobody really looking out for them. So moving into the application of how this applies today, nothing new under the sun.

There are still religious con men who pray upon widows, upon the sick, the desperate, the elderly.

And the best example is you see these people on television. You could go on any of the major Christian television networks.

And if you watch it for the rest of the day, within minutes, certainly hours before midnight, you would see this same type of activity.

So the scribes and Pharisees were the false teachers of Judaism. And now we have false teachers who do this same thing.

For example, I turned on one of these Christian television networks a while ago.

One of these televangelists were on with the Armani suit, the $3 ,000 suit.

He claimed, this man claimed, that God was speaking directly to him and that God told him there was a widow watching.

He actually used the term widow. There's a widow watching on TV right now, he said.

He said, you only have a little money left. He says, I know you're desperate. I know you feel hopeless.

And then he twisted the story from 1 King 17. Who knows the widow at Zarephath, that story?

Well, in this new rendition of the story, the widow has only a little bit of food left and she feeds the prophet

Elijah, the man of God. Well, in this new rendition of the story, guess who's Elijah?

The televangelist, and instead of having the widow give him something to eat, what does he want?

He wants your money. So he said, whatever you have left, take out your checkbook, get your credit card.

Whatever you have left, you have $300 left on your credit card, whatever it is, send it in to my ministry.

Sow your seed of faith. If you do that, God will bless you with abundance.

In other words, God will give you money in return. You give me your money, God will give you money tenfold.

And God will heal you of your diseases. You just need to have, what?

Faith. Well, that sounds biblical, right? Except that when she doesn't get the money or the miracle, and I'm not saying that God never heals anyone.

I'm just saying most of the time, when there's someone on TV saying stuff like that, all the time, that is, it's a scam.

And when the woman doesn't get the healing, when she doesn't get the money, guess what?

If she were to go back to the televangelist, which you have no access to these people. These people live in gated communities and mansions.

You can't get anywhere near them most of the time. But if she did go back and find the guy, what would he say? Well, sorry, man, you must not have had enough faith.

That is the worst type of spiritual abuse. And I believe the hottest hell is reserved for such religious con men.

Based on what? Based on what Jesus is saying to the scribes and Pharisees who devour widows' houses.

And it's really sad, though, that people get sucked into this. And I realize there's people that are desperate. And they are, in their heart, they're turning to God, but instead of finding a shepherd who will lead them in the paths of righteousness, not in his own righteousness, but pointing people to Christ and the righteousness that is in Christ, pointing people to the gospel.

Instead, this man leads them on a different path. He takes advantage of them.

And again, it made Jesus angry. And Jesus, right here, what's he doing? He's sticking up for the widows.

Again, that's what you want. You want someone to stick up for the widows, stick up for the sick, the poor, and the elderly who are taken advantage of.

So, I don't know about you, but when I see this stuff, this just makes my blood boil.

I hope it makes you upset. This is what we see from Jesus in Matthew 23.

It's righteous indignation. Is Jesus angry? You better believe he's angry.

He's not flying off the handle. He's not losing his temper. It's righteous indignation against the leaders of Israel.

Why? Because they are bad shepherds. Remember, we're almost done. Going back to the beginning,

Jesus is who? God's people are the flock, the sheep.

Jesus is the good shepherd. Right here, he is confronting the bad shepherds.

I believe we need to warn people today, just as Jesus stuck up for people back then. We need to stick up for people.

We need to warn people. We need to try to help people. If we see them getting sucked into this error, the prosperity preachers and everything on TV, we need to try to help people and say, please do not go down this road.

Send them in a different direction, where the emphasis is on the gospel, not on health and wealth and getting money and all of these material things.

So maybe you don't consider yourself weak or vulnerable, but we're all in need, aren't we?

We're all needy in some way or form, certainly spiritually needy.

And Jesus came not only to seek out the lost sheep, to seek out the needy. He gave to us what we needed.

He gave to us the gospel, eternal life, salvation. This is how we can come into a right relationship with God through faith in the gospel.

You have the religious leaders of Israel looking out for themselves, enriching themselves. And then you had

Jesus who laid down his life, died on the cross, was willing to do that for God's people.

So if there's someone here this morning, maybe someone watching online, I think the members of this church pretty much know what to look out for, for these sort of religious con men on television.

Well, there's just millions and millions of people on the internet, people all across the country who sort of buy into this.

And we need to, I would say, rescue them, pull them out of the fire, point them in the right direction to Christ and the gospel.

So if you see anyone being taken advantage of, talk to them. But we need to defend the widows.

We need to defend the weak. That's what Jesus did. That's what we need to do as well.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the example of Jesus, Lord.

He told it, told it like it was. And Father, he cared for the people.

And Lord, we believe he cares for each one of us. Father, if there's someone here maybe who's been led into error and false teaching,

I pray that this message would help open their eyes to the fact that there are evil people, evil people who would even use the name

God and Jesus to manipulate others, to scam others, to enrich themselves.

Father, help us to look to your word, to look to the Good Shepherd, to look at the

Bible in context, in the proper context, to rightly divide the word of truth.

And Lord, if there's someone here who has never believed on Jesus as their

Lord and Savior, we just ask that today would be the day that they recognize that the humble

Messiah who came into this world 2 ,000 years ago, lived a sinless life, died an atoning death.

He is, as he said in John 14, 6, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And if someone would place their faith in him, he would give them the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

We thank you for that gift. And Lord, we ask that you would help protect people from evil men and imposters who have crept into churches looking to fleece the flock.

Lord, use us as you see fit to try to warn people, to help them so that they wouldn't be taken advantage of.

We thank you for your truth. We thank you for this time together. And we pray it all in Jesus' name, amen.