The Pharisee — John Rhys Watkins

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Jesus Condemns the Scribes and Pharisees

Matthew chapter 23 beginning at verse 1 and it says this. Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, and naughties speaking to his disciples, saying, Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

And therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their works, for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, 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 for to be seen of men. They make broad defilectories, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at the feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplace, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

But be ye not called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ, and all your brethren. Call no man your Father upon the earth, for one is your Father, which is heaven. Neither be ye called Masters, for one is your Master, even Christ.

But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. He that shall humble himself shall be exalted. But woe unto you, scribe and Pharisee hypocrites!

For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that enter in to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer.

Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribe and Pharisee hypocrites! For you compass sea and land to make one proselyte. When he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than you yourselves.

Woe unto you, you blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing. But whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. You fools and blind! For whether it is the greater, the gold or the temple, that sanctifies the gold.

And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing. But whoso sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. You fools and blind! For whether it is greater, the gift or the altar, that sanctifies the gift.

Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, swear by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, swear by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall swear by him, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

Woe unto you, scribe and Pharisee hypocrite! For you pay tithe and mint and anise and come in, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. These ought you to done, and not leave the other undone.

You blind guides, which strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribe and Pharisee hypocrite! For you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within are full of exhortions in excess.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites! And for you will like unto whitewashed sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within, and full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness.

Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye were full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribe and Pharisee hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Wherefore, ye be witness unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which kill the prophets. Fill ye up, then, the measure of your fathers, you serpents, you generation of vipers. How can you escape the damnation of hell?

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men, scribes, and some of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them you shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city, that upon you may come all the righteous bloodshed unto the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barakas, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.

Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but you would not.

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, for I say unto you, you shall see me henceforth until you learn to say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Amen. Very difficult message tonight.

The Pharisees as Enemies of Christ

The Pharisee. It's not a message that the church wants to hear, but I'm going to preach it anyway. I said I'm going to preach it anyway. The Pharisee. Listen tonight now. The Pharisees as a religious body, these were the greatest opponents of Christ.

Make no bones about it. These opponents. If we read the Gospels correctly, we see that this group of religious people were bent on destroying the ministry of Jesus Christ. Think about it today. The same mind, the same spirit, will try and seek to destroy that ministry of Christ today.

They moved almost as one man to trip up, to capture the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ knew this, but still he sought for one thing amongst them. He sought for their repentance. He sought for the repentance of these men.

He said how he would gather them, as an hen gathered her chicks, but they were not willing. They were not willing, he said. Therefore, he says, your house is left unto you desolate. You see, there's something intrinsically wrong with these men that caused the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ to react in such an unconstrained way.

The Fury and Mercy of Christ

Note the passion of Christ as he unleashes the full fury of his earthly ministry. You see, many people today within the churches, they have great difficulty in understanding that the Christ of Matthew 23 is the same gentle Jesus, meek and mild, found in the other Gospels.

It's the same Christ. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. This is the same Christ of Matthew 23. You see, there is no need for us to excuse the ferocity of Christ to these men, or to any other men of this day.

This is Christ. This is the Son of Man, in but a foreshadowing of his coming day of wrath. You see, he came as a lamb, but pretty soon when he comes again, he's not coming as a lamb, he's coming as a lion, as the lion of Judah.

He's showing us, just foreshadowing in this chapter, the wrath that will come upon the Pharisee, the hypocrite. Christ is ferociously showing hostility to the Pharisee. Not for their sakes, we just read it.

Not for their sakes, but for the sake of his disciples, for those who have been so utterly abused. You see, this awesome display of wisdom, an absolute authority, captures the very hearts of those who have been tyrannized and repressed by the man who will play games with religion.

He's setting his disciples free. The masses around, he's setting them free. You see, Christ is never a hero to the religious. He's never a strong deliverer to such men, but to the men that fall prey to the wolves of divinity, Christ is and always will be the rock that shatters the mountain.

Now I don't know what you're going through tonight, but you may be facing contending with something. But you see, if you give everything to Christ, he will crush those mountains. He will bring to nothing everything that opposes you, because he is that rock.

Whether it be spirits, whether it be something of the world, the devil himself, if you give yourself to Christ, he will deliver. He's a strong deliverer, but not to the religious, not to the Pharisee, not to the hypocrite.

Bible tells us we must fear him that is righteous, that is holy, and that is true. Christ said in Luke's gospel, I come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled? This is what he comes to do, send a fire upon the earth, and the greatest challenge to the child of God will always be a Pharisee, a hypocrite.

The Gospel as Fire and Judgment

You see, the fire today is the perpetual gospel of redemption. For us, for the redeemed, it brings warmth, it brings light to the new creation. But to those who would imprison others, to those who are religious hypocrites, it's going to burn them, it's going to torment them, it's going to scar and score deep within their souls.

They hate the gospel of Christ, because he sends a fire. Gospel is a fire, it's a living flame today. You see, there is a side and a nature of Christ that not even grace can hold back. We can preach grace, we can talk about grace, but grace will not hold back his fury.

The wrath of the Lamb, seldom spoken of in a church today, because this nature, this one truth will collide with every thought, with every accusation that has come from the lips of the church. This message has many applications, but first and foremost, it must be for the believing church.

He's preaching it to his disciples. You see, already, your shadowy soul tonight will have brought to your attention images of those you consider to be Pharisees, religious reprobates, wolves in sheep's clothing.

But what your soul will not do is allow your spirit to rise up and question the darkness and clouds our own judgments tonight, our own discernments and our own understanding. But Christ is preaching to his disciples.

Matthew 23 as a Portrait of Religious Hypocrisy

In this chapter, we have what I would call the divine portrait of religious hypocrisy. Foremost audience of Christ, the multitude and his disciples. He's using this other man as just an instrument to point to.

Please understand the significance of these words. These are the last words of Christ spoken within the temple. He's not going to say anything else after this. This is his last words in the church, in the confines of the temple.

They are spoken that we might learn something of Christ and his true nature and something of the nature that does not belong to him, nor does it belong to his body. You see him standing there with eyes of flame and fire and accusing pointed finger.

His words are soberly applicable to us tonight. If we consider ourselves numbered with those who follow him, he's dividing, he's separating within that church, within that temple, the Pharisee and those who are his disciples and the masses for their sakes.

So astounding in the unrepentant arrogance of the Pharisees that Christ pronounces eight woes upon them. Eight times he cries, woe is you. Woe to the Pharisee. Seven times he calls them hypocrites. Four times he tells them that they are blind.

Be sure that the word woe is an exclamation of grief. There's pain in the heart of Christ. There is no joy for him in denouncing these men in this world or the world to come. But he must be against the church for the church.

He has to be against that temple for the temple. Numerically, eight teaches us about the resurrection. Resurrection of life or the resurrection of death. Teaching is plain and it is final. There is no room in the kingdom of God for the nature that we will describe tonight.

Hypocrisy and the Failure to Practice the Word

Please note that the Pharisee is outwardly good, moral and upright. The accusation is against the heart and not against the outward appearance. Cardinal crime of the Pharisee. You see, for Christ, for God, it is the most detestable committed in any age past or present.

Hypocrisy is the scourge of all religion. Job tells us the hypocrite's hope shall perish. The hypocrite's hope, it shall perish. Christ begins his sad denunciation with these words. For they say and do not.

You see, at the beginning, he said they sit in Moses' seat. Give them honor, he said. It's right that they be there and what they bid you to do, do it because they expound the law. But don't do what they do because they do not.

They preach one thing and they live another. Like the modern pietist today, those who claim to love God, they stand firm upon ancient creeds but bow to every other wind of doctrine that would attack that temple.

Church full of hypocrites that have no scriptural basis in the ministry. Like the Pharisee of old, these men are so concerned with pleasing their own little fraternities that they've been blinded into the needs of the flock.

The very unreal reason today that the churches offer training courses is because we have no true shepherds that can rightly divide the word of God. The church is sick. It's emaciated because the sheep in these pastures in this land, in these pastures, they've not been fed spiritual food.

There is no manna from heaven for the sheep today. Training courses, alpha courses, counselling, leaders courses, courses to enable you to become a prophet for God's sake. Courses to become an apostle.

Courses for evangelism. Courses for backsliding. Courses for worshipping. Courses for singing. Courses for courses. Courses because we do not have the word of God. This is what we have. We do not have the word of God.

The Pharisees were such men. They did not have the word of God. Outwardly they could preach and tell you what the word said. But they could not give the living manna. If you take a course in the hope of becoming a prophet, the only prophet that you will become is a false prophet.

Make no bones about it. These are the gifts of calling of God. They're gifts. Does the church not know that these things, they are gifts. You cannot train someone to be a prophet. It's the calling of God upon a man or upon a woman.

Do we know that these ministries are sacred? They're hallowed. They're not to be tinkered with. They're given by God Almighty as He sees fit. You see, what are we doing when we replace discipleship with a quick course?

What are we really doing in the church? We're entertaining. We're entertaining people. We're trying desperately to keep people occupied because they're bored with church. That's all it's about. They're bored with church.

They're sick with church. All of these things added to the church. Nothing more than ministerial opium for the masses to attend this course and it'll lift you higher. This is what they say. It'll raise your status.

Do this course, you'll be a prophet. Doesn't matter that you live like a madman. Doesn't matter that you're a hypocrite. If you pass the course, you'll be a prophet or an apostle or an evangelist or a teacher.

We play games with the things of God. Woe to the hypocrites who claim to be shepherds but have nothing to offer the sheep but madness, spiritual BSE full of it in the church today. Mad cows syndrome flying through the church of Christ today because we fed them polluted things.

Do you know what BSE is? How it came about? We fed cows sheep's head. We give them something that's not natural for them. Something that would not nourish them and if you give sheep in the church something that is not natural, something that is not good, wholesome and spiritual, you'll drive them off their heads.

Mad cows. The cause of the first world encapsulates all the rage of Christ. Now listen to me tonight. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.

For you neither go in yourselves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Hear him rightly. This is no lily-livered pastor convening a mother's meeting over tea and biscuits. This is the unbridled fury of a man of God.

They would not allow those men to enter the kingdom of God. How could Christ keep quiet when these spurious doctrines and godless practices were leading men to hell? How could he be quiet? Should he keep quiet?

Of course not. He loved men. He was a man that loved God. Christ himself is a man of God. He had to stand up. They shut up the kingdom of heaven. They would not allow men to go in. They closed those doors.

Can you feel the pain in God's heart? Can you feel the anguish in the heart of Christ? If Christ had been swayed by that section of the church today that piously says oh please don't be too critical. Most of his early converts, his early disciples would have gone to hell.

They'd have gone to hell if he'd not been critical. Hypocrisy would close the door of heaven not only for the hypocrite but those who are and have become their prey. The Lord Jesus did not come to lecture the word of God.

He came to demonstrate the power thereof. He was and still is the word of God. We do not need another hireling to organize a course or lecture us on the word of God. Isaiah tells us his watchmen are blind.

They're ignorant. They're all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Oh I tell you something. I believe Isaiah saw our day. I believe he seen the church in the 21st century.

We need a people that are totally consumed with the same spirit that consumed Christ on that day in the temple, in his temple. Total consumption of his being. It is said of him after he drove out the money preachers from the temple zeal for thine house has eaten me up.

Zeal has consumed him he said. Men can change the meaning of this book but he will never change. His nature cannot change. He is immutable. He cannot change. And men cannot change the meaning of the book.

You can deceive people but the meaning will not change. Woe unto you scribe and Pharisee hypocrites. You devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive a greater damnation.

The Prosperity Preacher and Exploitation of the Poor

How those Pharisees, those ministers like to be seen as a gentle caring soul with the sick, the infirm and the lonely. What Christian is unable to see through the religious charade of today's money preachers?

Those that preach and pray only for filthy lucre. Which Christian cannot see through that? These are Jude's men. The men that Jude spoke of. He said for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained unto this condemnation.

Ungodly men he said. Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny Him with their pernicious ways. You see today the old time charlatan he'd blush at the greed of these prosperity preachers today.

I've heard them boast of their diamond rings and watches. Seen their egos inflated as they compensate for lack of spiritual desire. It looks like hedonism. Smells like epicureanism. And it is and always will be self-gratification on display on the TV.

Their lifestyles betray the God they claim to preach. Hear me now. Their lifestyles, they betray Him. Millionaire's mansions. Private jets. Rolls Royce automobiles. Designer clothes. Plastic surgery. And an entourage of yes-men that were no more than bit-part actors from the Muppet Show.

The Prince of Persia would wince himself today at their self-indulgence. These preachers, the ministers, were hitting at the top tonight. I said we've taken a swipe at the nose. We're in defiance today of the church that calls itself our leaders, our shepherds.

Isaiah goes on to say, yea, they're greedy dogs which can never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way. Every one for his own gain and for his own quarter.

He saw a day. I said he saw the church in this century. Where do these Pharisees get their money? From the poor. From those who can ill afford it. The bulk of it comes from the poor. They ask for money in return for prayer.

If anyone is fool enough to send a prayer request to these ministries, let me tell you what will happen to your envelope. It's going to be ripped open by someone trained to spot a bank check or cash. Going to rip it open savagely.

They'll carefully place the check or the money on a silver tray. Going to deliver it to Pastor Balaam in person whilst your urgent prayer request will be quickly put through a shredder. Bundled with millions of other prayer requests and sold to the local paper mill.

That's what's going to happen to your request. These men, spiritual vampires, Pharisees, sucking away the life of the church. They don't need excuses. They need a stake of truth driven firmly through their wicked blackened hearts.

They have to hear this message. Woe unto you scribe and Pharisee hypocrites for you encompass sea and land to make one proselyte. And when he is made you make him two-fold more the child of hell than you yourselves.

Partisan Religion and the Making of Converts

The true makeup of the Pharisee is revealed in his partisan mentality. There is no real love of God. His perfect and true objective is to convert men into his own party. To his own denomination. To his own ministry.

This is his God. They're not interested in the thorough ongoing work of God. Their desire is a show of hands in an half-baked appeal. In an half-baked church. There is no real interest in discipleship.

This is why they insist that as long as you raise a hand repeat a prayer you'll go to heaven. They have to insist and install that message into their ministry. The master plan of the devil is unveiled in this sort of action.

Deceiving and being deceived. Look at the overall fruit of the ministry. Look at the stock that it produces. What do you see worshipping in the church? What is he worshipping in that church? Is it a man of God?

Or is it a child of hell? The fruit will give you the answer. There are always going to be a few exceptions. Such is the mercy of God. You see since I was a young boy I remember telling my mother give up smoking those cigarettes.

They're going to kill you. They're going to destroy your body. They're going to give you cancer. But she always pointed to the exception. Always pointed to Uncle Albert. He lived till he was 120. Smoked 40 cigarettes a day.

Drunk half a bottle of whiskey then got run over by a bus on his way to meet his lover. Always going to be an exception to everything. One of the elish conditions of the Pharisee is blindness. Woe unto you, you blind guides which say whosoever shall swear by the temple it is nothing.

But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple he is a debtor. The sadness and the personal grief for Christ in denouncing this persuasion is in the fact that though we will show them quite candidly their own contemptible condition they themselves they're unable to see it.

Spiritual Blindness and Religious Ecumenism

There is no internal revelation of Christ the Messiah the Son of God. There is no inward illumination. No unveiling of all that Christ is to these men. How can they be? They're blind. They verbally pledge oaths and allegiance to God but they were blinded to his very presence.

They sway by the temple and Christ is at their right hand. Blind guides men that should have the ability to lead but they do not because they have eyes that cannot they have eyes but they cannot see. They cannot see for themselves.

Everything to the Pharisee is external and it is temporal. It's ideological and theoretical. They seek to lead a people using doctrine as a form of braille. They will never walk beyond the natural. Christianity is something they practice and something they trust in.

Christianity to the blind guide it's just a thing. It's the end. It's not the means to the end. It's a thing. Many of these men void of spiritual sight will bring the church into a state of darkness where everyone and every religion looks the same in the dark and in a truth all religions are the same when they view through eyes that cannot see.

This is why we have ecumenicalism. This is why at the higher echelons men are saying that Christ is the same as Muhammad. This is why they've all joined together because to a blind man they look the same.

In the darkness light is the same. It's all in the darkness. They cannot see it. In Luke Christ warns the church He says Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. The guides of Christianity today smear the truth of the gospel by making all religions acceptable and satisfying to the heart of God.

In this staggering statement they reveal themselves to be blind condemn the heathen to hell and they themselves are lost. Them and their offspring their converts their proselytes will find themselves condemned and lost in the hands of an angry God.

There is one truth and it is Christ. There is one gospel it's Christ. There is one way to heaven it is Christ. There is no other way. No matter what they say from the TV's no matter what they say in their pulpits no matter what they say in their dresses there is only one way it's Christ.

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast into out the darkness there shall be weeping and a gnashing of teeth. Children that were meant for the kingdom cast into out the darkness where there shall be a weeping and a gnashing of teeth.

You see we do not preach hell to frighten people. We preach it because it's real. We preach it because it's real. The single and the most most common condition of those in hell is that of blindness. If you went to hell tonight you'll find them all in a state of blindness and confusion.

For many of these people they knew the truth but the truth they knew was theoretical. It was taught them of men. Many of them will believe the tenets of faith but their faith was in the tenet of not in Christ and in Christ alone.

Woe to you blind guide. They put their hope all of their faith is in doctrine. Let me tell you something tonight. When you're dying when you're lying on your bed you're going to call a man you can call your leader your pastor you're not going to say to him Pastor tell me about the years of tribulation.

Tell me about the millennial kingdom. Is it a male, pre-male, post-male? When you're dying you'll call for him and you'll say Sir bring Jesus with you. Show me Christ tonight and I'll be interested in any other doctrine of this book.

You want Christ. He's the one that will make the difference. The Pharisee's life is centered on a system of do's and don'ts. Thou shalt and thou shalt not. He's deceived into thinking that church attendance and the paying of tithes are the full requirements of God.

These in fact are but the fruits of salvation. Christ never rebuked the religious for paying tithes. He commended them and told them that they ought to pay their tithes. In fact he said that paying the tithes was something that was expected of them as children of the kingdom.

Tithing, Salvation, and the Weightier Matters

We have a pernicious teaching in the church today that tells a man that all he has to do is give a little something. This is not based on the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a doctrine of demons that appeals to the avarice of a man's heart.

If you give your money grudgingly you better keep it in your pocket. Let me tell you this. The only people in the world that will not tithe to the church are tares. Men and women that have never been born again.

If God cannot separate me from my greed he will not separate me from my sin. I will be doomed. The Pharisee on the other hand pays his tithes even to the smallest detail. God was not against this. But there was a giving to religion but no expression of divine nature.

Outward things, they're good but there has to be an expression of God. What is compelling me to preach this unwanted message today tell you what it is. It's the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy and faith.

Do not think that this message is void of hope. There is hope in this message. Speaking to Alwin from Swansea a friend of ours. The agony and the anguish in his heart as he spoke concerning the way that the church has imploded and declined over the last 30, 40 years.

He said to me that there is no answer but there is. There is an answer if the church will rise up and be that voice. Pharisees they are but there's always going to be a Christ to tell them the truth. If the Pharisees like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus will be confronted with the word of God through this message then with or without their consent they're going to be seen trudging the path to the Via Dolorosa.

The pathway of suffering the road to the cross. It will be a reboot from Christ but a reboot that will set their men free. Free from hypocrisy. Not every Pharisee is a Pharisee. But all of them were hypocrites.

Some of them were confronted by God Almighty. Confronted by the Christ. He put his finger upon their noses gave them that simple early message repent. Repent and come into the kingdom. How the word mercy is so misused today.

Listen to Christ extending mercy to the Pharisee. Woe unto you scribe and Pharisee you hypocrites. You pay your tithe of mint anise and come in and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment, mercy and faith.

These you ought to have done and not leave the others undone. This is the mercy of God. Mercy is always a challenge. Mercy is always an invitation. Mercy is never the turning of a blind eye. It is never the winking of a sin.

It is a challenge and it is an invitation. If God does not judge first his church then the church will continue to be plagued with the Pharisee. Hearts will be consumed with selfishness and personal gain.

The problem is not in the people that are in the church. It's in the way that we brought them in. We've led men into the church not telling them that this body, the church is the body of Christ. It's holy.

It's sanctified. It's hallowed. It's not to be messed with mister. We've made discipleship an optional extra. Therefore hybrid conversions produce hybrid Christianity. Men come to God seeking what God can do for them.

Will he make me happy if I give him my life? Will he give me children if I come to him? Will I get out of debt? Will I get out of jail? Will he make me happy? You see the church is full. Saturated with the spirit that wants only what is in the master's hands and cares nothing for the master himself.

This is why there's a problem in the church. We've led them in. Brought them to the table and said eat all that you can. But behind that table is a man there with nail scarred hands and a ripped open side.

Brought them to the table and not to the Christ. James says you ask and you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own lust. You adulterers. You adulteresses. Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God.

Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world he is an enemy of God. When will we learn this truth? When is the church going to learn this truth? When will we learn that the love for this world the love for worldliness is enmity with God after the rapture?

Perhaps. Let me tell you something. If we learn it not in this body you will suffer the meaning of these words in the lake of fire. He will not come back for a lukewarm harlot. He'll not come back for anything spotted with compromise.

He says today choose ye this day life or death. They can say they're born again on the TV. They may have worldwide ministries and a thousand converts every day. But their end is the lake of fire. Tradition and the curse of denominational tradition is always the greatest hindrance to spiritual life.

Cleansing the Inside of the Cup

Woe unto you scribe Pharisee hypocrites. You may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within you're full of extortion and excesses. Thou blind Pharisee first cleanse that which is within the cup and the platter that the outside of them may be clean also.

God's most glorious work is within the heart of his people. You listen now. It's on the inside. Always on the inside. He not only works towards the heart he works within that heart of a man. When a man is born again he and his spirit are become one with Christ.

That in union is inseparable. You cannot separate him now from the love of God. God deals with the inside with the unseen the emotions the thoughts and the intents of the heart. It doesn't matter one jot what I or anybody else thinks of you.

You and you alone knows what God sees tonight. You know what he's looking at tonight. The Pharisees hated the fact that Christ could discern their thoughts even before they acted. He knew their hearts he knew their lives he knew more about them than they knew about themselves.

He sees everything. For them he was to be the balm of Gilead but they would not have it. He knew that inwardly within that body there was a reservoir of poison welling up from within a well that was void of natural medicine.

So he gave himself to be their balm to be their medicine but they would not. So the only option for the Pharisee is to do away with Christ. They have to kill him. They have to attack his ministry. They have to tear him down.

I'm going to put him on a cross. They satisfy their conscience by first releasing to them another man another son of the father another Barabbas. The temptation for many Christians today is to find a church that will not challenge them in such a direct manner.

They will place themselves under the authority of a highland because they've counted the cost of walking with the true and living Christ and decided that they'd be better off in a place that cares only for the externals of religion.