Characteristics of Pharisees -1 By Zac Poonen

[Music] we're going to be thinking of the same theme throughout these three and a half days that you have over here led by the spirit and not under the law and we're going to have a series of three Bible studies in the mornings the first of which are going to do right now and the subject will be characteristics of Pharisees if you read the Gospels almost all of our study will be from the Gospels if you read the Gospels you will find that Jesus was in conflict with the Pharisees most of the time we read of three levin's that jesus warned people against the leaven of the Pharisees the leaven of the Sadducees and the leaven of the Herodians that's in mark chapter 8 Luke 12 mark matthew 16 and there are three different types of christians the pharisees were the people who had all that doctrines correct who emphasized holiness there are christians like that who got all their doctrines correct who emphasize holiness and the pharisees also got involved in missionary work and very exact in paying tights and keeping the law then there are other christians like the Sadducees or let's take the Herodians verse the Herodians we can say for the opposite of the Pharisees they were people who were worldly who for example we read in Mark's Gospel chapter six I think where Herod it says Herod enjoyed listening to John the Baptist and two verses later it says he enjoyed watching half naked salami his second wife's daughter dance on the dance floor and there are some Christians like that who can come to a meeting and really enjoy the message and go home and watch something filthy on television and enjoy that also these are the Herodians worldly Christians who can enjoy a meeting and enjoy a filthy movie at the same time they enjoy means they're not going to obey what John the Baptist says they like listening because John the Baptist is not a boring preacher like the para sees just because you like to listen to a fiery prophet doesn't mean you're a spiritual man Herod like to listen to fiery prophets who wants to listen to boring Peres sees so that's the Herodians the worldly people they don't have any laws they don't they'll they're not self-righteous they said we were Christians but we believed in enjoying ourselves then there's a third group and Jesus had very little conflict with the Herodians and then the third group of 11 was the Sadducees the Sadducees were people who didn't believe in angels and spirits and resurrection and in other words they didn't believe in the miraculous they are like Christians who don't believe God does any miracles if you have a problem you got to solve it from a human standpoint there's no way that God can do any miracles for you and there are many Christians like that so that three groups of Christians represented by the Pharisees the Herodians and the Sadducees one group is those who got all their doctrines right and preached holiness and another group is people who are worldly and they're not serious about obeying God but they come to meetings they enjoy meetings and they enjoy filthy movies at the same time and a lot of worldly things they enjoy and then the third group of people who don't believe in any miracles they study the scriptures and they come and share the scriptures where they don't believe in miraculous answers to prayer that and believe in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit they say it's all human effort so some people can be a mixture of these three Elevens also so you know which category you are in but among all these groups of people we would think that Jesus greatest conflict should be with the Herodians those are the worldly people Jesus should be hitting out at them all the time or he should be hitting out of the Sadducees who don't believe in miracles and got all wrong doctrines and all that but it's interesting you read the Gospels then he was always fighting with the Pharisees who had all that doctrines right and who preached holiness and the people who were really eager to crucify Jesus were not the Herodians not the Sadducees but the Pharisees they were the ones who crucified Jesus okay now apply it to it it today which of these three groups do you think you most closely fit into you know the answer if it is the Herodians well I'll tell you Jesus doesn't have much of a conflict with you he doesn't agree with anything you do you probably go to hell that's another thing but he doesn't have much conflict with you at least you're not leading other people astray everybody any sincere Christian can see you're a worldly person and nobody's going to follow you and if you're like the Sadducees the jeezum have a little bit of conflict with you but not serious you don't believe in miracles you don't believe any of the doctrines and a serious Christian won't follow you either but if you're got all your doctrines right and you're preaching holiness and it is a holiness of the law where there's no peace in your heart or no peace with other people and no joy and victory you are the most dangerous type of Christian on the face of the earth because you some sincere people will follow you they won't follow those other people they'll follow you and they'll go astray and if you are an elder brother like that boy your responsibility is 10,000 times more so it's very important for us to understand some of the characteristics of the Pharisees I wouldn't waste my time having a Bible study on the characteristics of the Herodians or the characteristics of the Sadducees more than just these few statements in fact we couldn't take a Bible study on it because there's not much written about them except these one or two things which I mentioned but when it comes to the Pharisees there's so much written about it in the Gospels that it must be that God wants us to study this subject so I think it will be good for all of us it settle be good for me because I don't want to be a Pharisee and I know that I seek to have all my doctrines right I seek for holiness so I know that my tendency is more towards being a Pharisee than towards being a Herodian or a Sadducee so that's why I don't need to worry much about I don't enjoy watching filthy movies on television or on a screen so that's not my danger and I believe in miracles I believe in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit so Sadducees also is not much of a danger for me but Pharisees they believe in miracles they believe in angels they believe in spirit they believe in resurrection they believe in all that I'm more in danger of becoming a Pharisee and having acknowledged that I hope you have I say Lord that's what I want to study and there's such a lot written about it in the Gospels and I tell you if you come with a humble attitude and an honest attitude God may succeed at last in opening your eyes so let's come with humility so I'm really going to go through the Gospels and I want to mention in these three studies 55 zero characteristics of Pharisees all in the Gospels these are not my inventions you may find 49 of them fit you perhaps well then you have no doubt even if one of them fit you you have no doubt okay the first first we're going to look at is Matthew chapter 3 verse 9 a Pharisee is a person who glories in his connection to godly men I mean he may not be godly himself but he says I'm connected with brother so-and-so who everybody knows is a godly man see that's one characteristic of a Pharisee Matthew 3 verse 9 John the Baptist saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism and he told them don't say to yourself we have Abraham for our father but a lot of Christians like that today who glory not in their own life being godly but glory they are connected to a church that preaches godliness or a person who has a reputation for preaching godliness and they live off that reputation they are proud to say we have so-and-so for our spiritual father or we have we are connected with so-and-so church knowing that that gives them a certain reputation for holiness even though they may have zero holiness themselves this is one of the primary characteristics of a Pharisee he doesn't have anything himself no living connection with God but his glory is in his associations with certain people I mean he may mingle with certain people and he can think we you know some of you can go to a good church and you can think you're holy because you go to a good church I've often said to people who sit in CFC I personally believe some of you will go to hell I'll tell you why because you've got a grudge against somebody you don't talk to somebody you speak evil about others you back by it I don't care if you sit in CFC for 50 years you'll go to hell you glory in your association with CFC or with brother so-and-so and you think that condones God will therefore condone and ignore all your backbiting and evil speaking I'm sorry to say he won't you'll get a big surprise in the Day of Judgment maybe you were saved once upon a time but you probably lost today don't ever glory in your connection with godly people second I'm going to go through these fairly quickly but if you jot them down or you listen to the tape later you can meditate on each of them and there's a tremendous amount that you can think on in each aspect because when I say something like glorying in your connection with godly men it's not exhausted in three or four minutes maybe God has to speak to you for 20 minutes on just that one thing so I'm just planning a seed you know what you need to do water it so that each of these 50 characteristics will become a big tree in your understanding and you can chop it down from the roots secondly Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20 a Pharisee is one who glories in external righteousness now we come to that more often but that's one of the characteristics of a Pharisee Jesus said Matthew five and verse 20 Jesus said unless your righteousness surpasses that of the righteousness of the spera sees you will not enter God's kingdom now the right how can your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees if they passed it twice a week does it mean you go to pass three times a week if they paid 10 percent of their income does it mean you got to pay fifteen percent of your income if they prayed three times a day doesn't mean you got to pray four times a day no he was not talking about surpassing in number he was talking about surpassing in quality quality it's like cars it's not a question of producing more cars or more scooters but better quality cars better quality scooters you know the difference between made in India and made in Japan what is it is it because Japan produces more no they produce better quality so when Jesus said your righteousness must exceed the righteousness surpasses the righteous and the Pharisees it means the quality of your righteousness must be way beyond the righteousness of the Pharisees and then he said what did he mean he explained it in the next verses he's Aleks plenty what I mean he said the Pharisees righteousness was you shall not commit murder your righteousness must be you must not get angry got it verse 21 22 if you get angry and you don't overcome it verse 22 you will go to hell have you ever heard any preacher tell you that you get angry and you don't overcome it you'll go to hell Jesus preached it he died to save people from that hell he preached about in verse 22 I want to say to all of you because you'll never hear it another pulpit if you get angry and you don't overcome it you will go to hell and in the day of judgment when God sends you there don't tell him that I did not warn you about it anger is worse than AIDS nobody ever went to hell by getting AIDS a lot of people have gone to hell by getting angry secondly your righteousness he's giving examples of how your righteousness must be better than surpass the righteous and Pharisees he says the Pharisees righteousness was verse 27 don't commit adultery I say to you your righteousness must be you don't even lust with your eyes but if you keep on lusting with your eyes and sin sexually with your eyes verse 29 and you will go to hell or if you sin sexually with your hair right-hand verse 30 you will go to hell twice he says you'll go to hell if you sin sexually with your eyes or with your hands he who has ears to hear let him hear it's very clear Jesus didn't go into ugly details about sexual sin but he said and I tell you there are very very very few Christians who take these things seriously because they're Pharisees they glory in an external righteousness I don't do these things externally in other words I've got a good testimony before men it may not be just these areas this is a sample it could be in a whole lot of areas where your righteousness is on the outside everybody sees that you're holy the Lord says it must be on the inside what's your inside like not how do you dress how do you look what do people think of you on the outside what is your inside like where nobody knows your thoughts your motives your attitudes your attitude to money what is your you keep your accounts properly are you just showing other people you are generous or you're just a miser secretly don't glory in what reputation you have got before people that is a mark of a Pharisee who's got a good testimony before others because it was outside righteousness number 3 Matthew chapter 9 and verse 11 a Pharisee does not mix with sinful people he only mixes with his holy crowd of people and he thinks that he's only because of that see they looked at Jesus and they asked the disciples why does your teacher mingle with sinners Jesus mingled with sinners the Pharisees don't mingle with sinners is your holiness something that cannot Lingle with unconverted relatives cannot mingle with unconverted people because you'll be defiled you only sit with your own people all the time I want to say that's not all in this you may have fellowship with God's people that's true but if you're only friends Jesus was the friend of sinners can you be better than him no we're supposed to be the friend of sinners if we are like Jesus but if you're like the Pharisees you'll say ah um sinners there are another category we mingle with other Pharisees all our fellowship is with other para C's so if you're like that it's a mark of a Pharisee you know a lot of people think we must have nothing to do with our unconverted relatives that's what the Pharisee said oh I won't go to my unconverted relative's wedding reception Pharisees didn't that's not holiness it's a deception Jesus would have gone to an unconverted relative's reception the Oregon he went to sinners houses where they have all type of dancing and drinking he'd go there and share the gospel with those people he didn't defile him his righteousness was in word and so he did not avoid sinful people and think it was holy just because he mingled with holy people he is most of the time he spent with his disciples that's true he wasn't always hanging around with sinners no he most of his time he spent with really godly people those are the 11 disciples but he was a great friend of sinful people otherwise how would he win them how will you ever win sinners to the Lord if you don't seek to be friendly with them a good question you can ask yourself is very searching question in your own church in your own church how many people have been brought to your church by you okay please ask that question throughout throughout 2005 how many people have come to your church because of you probably the answer after 20 years is zero because you're so holy you will not mingle with sinful people and some of you may be elder brothers who've been elder brothers for years and you have not even brought one person to your church because of you you just stand up there and preach to them you're a Pharisee that's good to see that it's great hope for honest people and then number four number four Matthew chapter 9 and verse 14 the Pharisees are ascetics ascetics means one who disciplines their body they only eat and they want theirs well they emphasize a lot of fasting and now we also believe jesus also fasted the Pharisees also fasted but the Pharisees boasted of their fasting and they openly they try to show that we are ascetic so you know it's not only Christians who fast I hope you know that there are a lot of people in other religions who do yoga and fast and deny themselves even sex with their wives and all types of things they live like Brahma Cheerios even after they are married they won't have any sexual relations with their wife and thinking that they are very holy people it's all dog done got it dog done this type of external acestus isms self-control and I'll tell you what you need to control it's not sexual relations with your wife is just your tongue to start with your tongue and you'll be holy alright the rest is all rubbish you know what we we must control our thoughts and our eyes but Jesus you could enjoy a good meal he made so much wine which is the first miracle Jesus did one would think of most unnecessary miracle a fellow's already drunk so much wine why make more wine for them I mean he should have done some spiritual miracle like raising somebody from the dead or something but Jesus starts his miracle ministry by making more wine for fellows who are already drunk and he do you know how much he made he made about 600 of wine and maybe that family had there were maybe 200 guests each man three liters of wine dear almost three liters of wine making so much for you know why he did it because he came to devilish this religion of externals this religion of don't do this and don't do that and don't touch this and don't eat that and don't taste this other thing he came to demolition that's why he started with that miracle first but many Christians have gone back to the old one and they think they are holy they are Pharisees they're piracy ascetics they say we Pharisees fast but your disciples don't fast they're not like us maybe they were passing they didn't talk about it you know I have met certain Christians certain Christians in particular groups they're always talking about their passing anytime you meet them sometimes they say you know the other day the Lord spoke to me when I was on a 21-day fast main point in the conversation is I fasted for 21 days what is this Pharisees to the core and these are some of the most self-righteous people I've met in the pace of the world I'm sick and tired of them when I hear them jesus said when you fast don't let anybody know when you pray don't let anybody know but the para seas are as settings okay number five if you want to get liberated this is the place Matthew chapter 12 verse 2 the Pharisees are people who are very critical of other people in small matters why do your disciples break the sabbath rules why do they pick heads of grain Matthew 12 verse 1 and 2 and eat them on the Sabbath day I mean they are hungry and according to the law you are permitted to pluck grain when you walk by anybody speed that is permitted under the law that's not the point the point is why did they do it on the Sabbath day so the Pharisees are people who are always very critical of other people in small matters this particular thing that person is wrong and this other particular thing they are wrong and if you are an elder brother like that I tell you I can without seeing your church I can say your church is just a bunch of Pharisees because the church becomes like the elder brothers if you don't believe that read Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 when the elder brother lost his first love in Ephesus the whole church lost its first love when the elder church elder brother was lukewarm and self-satisfied in Laodicea the whole church became lukewarm and self-satisfied when the elder brother was following the principles of Balaam the whole church followed that that's how it is in Pergamos and natira what you learn from Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 is a church becomes like its elder brother if the elder brother is free from legalism the church will be free from legalism if the elder brother is legalistic the whole church will be legalistic and I have seen it with my own eyes in the last 20 years and I would say to all of you dear brothers if your elder brother is legalistic please do not follow him submit to him when he tells you to stand up now we're going to sing number song number 45 sing song number 45 don't sing 46 obey Him in all these when he tells you now we will sit down sit down and when he tells you meeting is on Wednesday come on Wednesday don't come on Thursday all these things follow him but please don't follow his life unless you want to destroy yourself like he's destroying himself with his legalism okay it's my advice if you want to really follow Jesus do not follow a legalistic person even if he's the senior most elder brother they are critical of other people in small matters they're watching why another place you know how they said why don't your disciples wash their hands that's another thing they asked in Matthew 15 verse 1 why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders small small things you know this little thing that little thing they're always examining pea this thing that now we go to the twelve verse nine to thirteen various live BA or six fact you know them who was healed it was going to be and G the heel on the SAP pull say what is cook say get this and they check up the rulebook and say no you can't do that and do that because H we have certain you can't do that does your rule book say I don't know they're different rules different people have Jesus says what is your rule book say so and they ask this question you know they asked Jesus this question actually is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him see that's the thing then they have a spirit of accusation and they live by rules in order to catch somebody who's not obeying those rules so they can immediately accuse that person and say hey we caught you it's very easy to catch people if you live by rules and take this matter of covering the heads the person who have really seen covering the head properly is Mother Teresa her head comes up to here nobody in our church is anywhere in any church does that if we live by rules we'll just bring everybody into bondage and I have seen elders who are very particular about this who don't correct their own wives they they're critical about other people rules I see if you want to follow that rule follow Mother Teresa she's the only one I've seen who really covers her head properly but to me that's not a rule it's a principle it's a symbol I believe a sister should cover ahead but I'm not going to examine is I can I see one hair underneath there hey I see one hair there this is the Pharisee I see well you know I saw five hairs there I saw half an inch of your hair there under your covering dear me my brother sister don't follow such elders you destroy yourself and you'll destroy all those who hear you because you know you very often these Pharisees they they are very lenient towards their own family members but very strict on other people it's a mark on Pharisee very critical about live by rules no unsure this if their own family members violated the Sabbath that's what Jesus said if your donkey falls into the pit on a Sabbath day what do you do what rule have you got you'll pull out that donkey but when somebody else comes who the poor needy person who's got a withered hand you won't let him be healed on the Sabbath day be very careful my brothers and sisters that you make rules for your own family which are lenient I've seen so many elder brothers in our churches who have extremely partial towards their own family members were very strict with other people who are so tolerant of their wives but are very strict with other people but they would don't have the guts to open their mouths to their own wives that's exactly the type of person whom Jesus spoke about your donkey falls into the pit you pull it out but this poor person he's got a withered hand you're not bothered about him I want to heal him Jesus said and I don't care for any of your rules okay number 7 Matthew chapter 12 and verse it says here about I want to speak about something which is implied here verse 14 the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how they might destroy him Pharisees are motivated by jealousy hatred and which leads to even thoughts of murder maybe you don't go as far as murder but this is a progression jealousy hatred murder you may have taken only first step jealousy like Cain Cain was how did Cain progress to murder jealousy hatred murder the Pharisees here verse 14 the Pharisees are people who begin with quite jealous of other people that can lead to hatred and it can even lead to murder it depends how far you go in Cain's case it was jealousy hatred murder you may take only step one but it is step one which leads to murder finally you may never go as far as step three but you may go to hatred why were they jealous because Jesus could do something they couldn't do if you're jealous that somebody can preach like you can't preach or somebody can do a miracle which you can't do you can be jealous of them and you can be critical of him because he's violating some small rule that's how the Pharisees were they couldn't heal the man with the withered hand in their own church but they were so critical of Jesus who could do it so that's another mark of a Pharisee you jealous of somebody who can do something which you can't do and this comes again I'll show you later jealousy hatred murder just like it's Cain's religion in the right in the beginning of the Bible you have two religions the religion of Abel the religion of Cain and one is you know with a blood covenant with Jesus with the father Jesus follows in that footsteps Abel and the piracy is followed in Cain's religion this is Jerusalem and Babylon so if we follow Cain's religion we'll ultimately build Babylon even if all our doctrines are right ok number 8 Pharisees are those who are suspicious and assume the worst about other people a godly man will assume the best but a Pharisee assumes the worst Matthew 12 verse 24 when a demon was cast out they were suspicious how does this man cast out demons and they assume the worst it must be because he is the Prince of demons that's what I mean assuming the worst they don't assume the best Oh perhaps it's because he's the Messiah they don't assume that you know human nature is such that we assume the worst about other people even when somebody is doing a good thing they say ah I know you must be doing it with some ulterior motive we always have this tendency to assume the worst about other people and that is a mark of a Pharisee and I really believe we got to change this way of thinking when you see somebody doing something right or wrong and you always assume the worst you know you're a Pharisee now the interesting thing is when you see your own children do it you don't assume the worst when your own children are doing it you assume the best oh brother but there must be some reason why my son did that or why my daughter did that you deserve to go to hell for being such a partial person towards your own family members and so critical of the other poor brothers and sisters in the church I tell you you deserve to go to hell I will support God's decision if he sends you to hell for being partial towards your own family members and being critical of other poor brothers and sisters who don't happen to be your family members beware of that suspicious assuming the worst why do you assume the worst do you know anything about how he's casting out demons do you know anything about his inner walk with God do you know anything about why he's doing that what is the motive why do you assume that his motive is the worst why not say I don't know I don't want to be suspicious I don't want to judge sir Pharisees are extremely suspicious and if you're the suspicious kind suspecting that other sisters are like this other brothers are like that well that's a Pharisee all right okay number 9 Pharisees are very careless in their speech they carelessly say rude hurting things and even pass judgments in their speech the same verse he is casting out demons by Beelzebul imagine saying like that about the most godly person that ever walked on the earth perhaps you also sometimes carelessly say against a godly brother ah he's like this have you ever spoken like that I remember reading an article when I was a young Christian written by I think it was I'm not sure whether it was by AV Simpson he said there do you have a sickness which is not being healed despite all your prayer medical treatment and everything okay you tried all that we've tried the doctors and medicines consider this possibility have you disobeyed the command in Psalm 105 verse 15 which says do not touch my anointed and don't do any harm to my prophets and I read that article he said have you ever touched God's anointed have you ever spoken against God's prophets maybe that is why you have a sickness which will never be healed till you rectify that you carelessly speak against God's anointed and you carelessly speak against God's prophets you carelessly judge people who have done ten thousand times more than what you have done for God and you sit in judgment over somebody who's done ten thousand times one more than what you've done for God and who probably is ten thousand times more holy than you are that is a mark of a Pharisee careless in their speech but what is the attitude of a godly man towards this Pharisee see what Jesus says he says okay I'm just an ordinary man verse thirty-two if you spoke against me you're forgiven but make sure you have not insulted the Holy Spirit make sure you have not spoken against the Holy Spirit Jesus forgave them but do you think God forgave those Pharisees no you know in every sin like that when you speak against somebody there are two elements to it one horizontal that man has to forgive you the other more difficult vertical you have sinned against God and speaking against a child of his that was not forgiven for that a person has to repent he must confess to God and to men so even when some oddly man forgives me he doesn't mean I escaped the judgment because God hasn't forgiven me till I have repented before him and asked forgiveness if the Pharisees had gone to Jesus and said if one of those Pharisees had said Lord I'm so sorry one year ago I also joined those people who said that you're casting out demons by Beelzebul and I'm really sorry Lord will you please forgive me then he would have been cleared not otherwise so that's something important for us to remember carelessness and speech number 10 a Pharisee is one who neglects his family responsibilities in the name of religion he neglects his family responsibilities in the name of religion Matthew 15 verses 1 to 9 Jesus said to them when ER they asked him a question verse 3 onwards why do you also disobey the commandment of God because verse 4 God clearly says respect your father and mother and anyone who denounced his father and mother should be killed but what do you say you get around that by saying if anyone says to his father and mother you know I I need to support you financially but I'm sorry I can't do that because I've given that money to God oh ho what a holy person the money is supposed to send to his poor father to support his poor father who's struggling financially he is given for missionary work so let his poor father be sick and die because this holy man has given his money for missionary work God says you hypocrites that's not respecting your parent you have canceled the Word of God you are the fellows about whom Isaiah said these people make a big show of all their religion but their heart is not in it they say they are worshiping me but they don't mean it they just using God as a cover for doing whatever they want to do and teach what they wanted to teach do you neglect your responsibility towards your wife by saying oh I've got to do this I have to go for a meeting so I can't help my wife at home you're a Pharisee all right you heard me say the example of the man who is reading the Bible having a quiet time early in the morning when his wife is struggling trying to send the children to school the baby is crying she's got to cook breakfast and everything else in the kitchen the man is studying the tabernacle in Exodus chapter 26 holy man and his Lord speak to me and he doesn't hear what God is saying shut your Bible and go and help your wife in the kitchen he doesn't hear that he's trying to analyze what the tabernacle means hypocrite these are the Pharisees they neglect family responsibilities in the name of religion though I'm serving the Lord I can't help you I'm busy doing this I can't help you in all these things sorry I don't have time to look out of children God's called me to serve Him hypocrites spirituality is to help your family members the Bible says in 1 Timothy 5 I think it's verse 8 if a man does not know how to take care of his own family's needs he's worse than an unbeliever it's true if a man does not know how to take care of his own family's financial needs and says I'm serving the Lord he's a hypocrite a humbug he's a Pharisee he's worse than an unbeliever number 11 a Pharisee is one who is easily offended Matthew chapter 15 verses 12 to 14 the disciples came and said to Jesus do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement Jesus said something and the Pharisees are offended I want to ask any of you brothers and sisters are you offended when the Lord speaks to you are you offended when the Lord speaks to you in a meeting are you offended when the Lord corrects you through an elder brother are you offended some mark of a Pharisee I decided many many years ago that I'll never get offended in my life no matter who says what who doesn't say what I'm not going to get offended I live before God's face because I know that getting offended is the mark of a Pharisee and I want to say this my brothers and sisters nobody may know it you may not act that offended but if you're offended by some correction I know people in CFC who being terribly offended because they were corrected they wouldn't talk to me they wouldn't even talk to my wife after that because they were offended for a long time they're offended by some correction I know young people were offended because they got some correction and the way they manifest they're getting offended is they won't talk great I hope you will turn on from up from your way to hell before you reach there I tell you you're on your way to hell if you get offended and you can't talk to somebody you better repent Pharisees are on their way to hell don't think that because you sit here and sing in the choir you're going to go to heaven no you're not if you don't know how to get over getting offended brother/sister you're not on your way to heaven I'll tell you that Pharisees got offended you know what Jesus told his disciples about the Pharisees and that's what he's told me also wonderful words leave them alone don't go running after them oh brother are you offended sister are you offended let's set it right leave them alone let them go verse 14 leave them alone they are blind and they are trying to lead other blind people and they will all finally fall into the pit of hell those are not my words Jesus said it in verse 14 what to do with people who are offended I'll give you good advice leave them alone let them go to hell if they want to they hear enough of of what we have spoken about in the church they hear enough and if they don't respond let them go to hell so that's number 11 number 12 Matthew 15 verse 14 again Pharisees are spiritually blind spiritually blind that means they can't see maybe they can read the Bible they study the Bible like anything but they are blind they don't know where they are going and here's he speaks in verse 14 about Pharisees who are elders and when an elder brother is blind just picture on the road one totally blind man leading a bunch of fifty blind men can you picture this in your mind have you ever seen it you'll never see it but you come to some of our churches you'll see it one blind man leading 50 blind men and I know where they are headed I would say my brother sister please please please please don't follow such a blind man as I said sing song number 45 when he says sing fortified when he says stand up stand up when he tells you sit down sit down like these PT masters stand up stand up sit down sit down follow all that but in when it comes to the real issues of life of godliness please do not follow a blind man unless you want to fall into the same pit he's going to fall into [Music] look for a man whose vision is clear who knows how to love people who's not condemning people a man who loves Jesus who sees Jesus so clearly that he can lift up Jesus and shown to you that's the person I want to follow that's the person I want to admire and say boy I want to be like that but don't ever follow a blind person so Pharisees are spiritually blind then number thirteen and this is the most well known characteristic of Pharisees a Pharisee is a hypocrite jesus said about the Pharisees in in you know in Matthew chapter 16 verses 6 to 12 he said beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy Luke chapter 12 makes that clear in verse 1 that leaven is hypocrisy and the word hypocrite means an actor hypocrite is not an English word you know there are certain words in English which have been imported from other languages if you look up an English dictionary you may find the word Dobby there but you know that Dobby is not an English word it's an Indian word which is really important in the English language you know what a dhobi is a washerman but in the same way hypocrite has been imported from the Greek and it means actor if you went to Greece in those days and said to people where are the hypocrites oh they say go there the theater is there all the hypocrites meet over there you know they have regular shows where the hypocrites will get on the stage and do their hypocrisy for a couple of hours and they collect the money and then they go home that's the meaning of hypocrite hypocrite means an actor I mean like if you went to some place and so where's all the actors hear you say yeah they're in Bollywood there you know they're all the hypocrites are there but today we have the hypocrites in the church where there's acting going on for two hours everybody's acting holy everybody's acting as if they are praising the Lord you should hear them the rest of the week oh boy if you listen to the rest of the week you know the whole thing on Sunday morning is only an act it's only an act pretending to praise the Lord they're not praising the Lord the rest of the week they're just going through an act and jesus said beware of that Pharisees are actors that means their life is different at different times that fellow is acting like John the Baptist one day he's a drunkard the next day that's only for the Hollywood movie he's acting like Moses or John the Baptist but then he goes back to his he's divorced three or four times and he's a drunkard and a gambler and this is hypocrisy we're for the for the period of the shooting which is sometimes Sunday morning 9:30 11:30 the shooting goes on and they do all their performance and then after that is over they are back to the old lie are you like that acting a particular part when the shooting is going on and then when that's film shooting and then then you live your same old line and then definitely that's the clear smart of a Pharisee okay number 14 is asperities are those who seek to catch other people in their words they seek to catch people in something they say and catch them and say hey you said this Matthew chapter 19 and verse 3 you read that the Pharisees came to Jesus testing him you know ask him a question let's see if he can trip him up is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife you know they were trying to catch him as you read later on in chapter 22 and verse 15 we read in Matthew 22 and verse 15 the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap him in what he said I've had people who have come to my house not from our churches but then you know they have heard this word that goes around brother Zack is preaching some strange doctrine so they come to try and catch me in something I say so that they can go and publicize hey we heard him say this I mean this is exactly how the Pharisees were they came to Jesus trying to trap him in some word that he said and they'll take it out of context and say ah he said this do you find do you find you do that sometimes the Pharisees were like that I want to just read one more verse in that connection that's Luke chapter 11 verse 53 and 54 Luke 11 verse 53 and 54 they verse 54 particularly they plotted against him to catch him in something that came out of his mouth and if you are a person who's always listening carefully to what somebody is saying and you got some half a sentence in what that person said and then you go and tell other people ah this is what I heard him say hmm you are piracy of the Pharisees he was yours to hear let him hear you know how Jesus would listen that's why I want to listen I say here I don't want to catch a person in some sentence or half a sentence but a word that he said and then quote him to denounce him no I say well maybe he was just being casual in the way he spoke and maybe he wasn't serious about what he said or maybe that's not what he meant maybe what he meant was something different from what I understood I mean a fantasy will never make that type of allowance no no no no no I heard with my own ear what he said that's why it says about Jesus in Isaiah 11 verse 3 he would not judge by what his ears heard or what his I saw I thank God for that verse I I decided I will not judge but what my ears hear what were my see because I could be wrong okay number 15 it's going back to something which we looked at earlier in Matthew 15 verse 8 Pharisees are hard-hearted hard-hearted Matthew 15 verse 8 these people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me the heart cannot melt because it is far from God you know if you put butter in the freezer it just will never melt but you put butter out in the Sun keep it close to the stove the closer it comes to the stove the hot plate the quicker that butter melts but the further away it's from the stove and it's inside the freezer it's as hard as ever it can melt but it's hard it can be like rock you know you can freeze butter to the point where it's like rock you need a chisel almost to break it if it's frozen hard enough and a person's heart can be like that when he's far away from God God is a fire and the closer you come to him anything will melt rocks will melt in in the presence of God leave alone butter even rocks will melt there's no person who can have a hard heart if he's living close to God and when you are hard towards other people you can be pretty sure your miles away from God yeah Pharisees were hard because they were miles away from God their heart was far from me but their words with their lips they honor me O Lord we honor you thou art worthy and all the right songs they sing but their heart was hard they were hard towards other people they were hard towards listening God speaking to them they did not know how to judge themselves a person with a soft heart how do you know you got a soft heart listen you will judge yourself and never judge other people that's the mark of a man with a soft heart what is the mark of a man with a hard heart he doesn't judge himself or his wife or his children but he judges other people severely but his wife and children will escape some people may even judge their wives but not themselves they won't judge themselves but I found my observation most people are tremendously lenient with their own wife and children they're very hard on others we've had examples like that in CFC of people who would say ah what's the use of sending our children to college because their children was still in school he must be wholehearted we must live for God and all that and then the children came to college-going age then they sent the children to school and say yeah brother I changed my mind then there were people who said ah we must never go to Gulf or America and all till they themselves years later got an invitation to go to Gulf or America brother I've changed my mind now change your mind after what after putting people in bondage for 25 years you change your mind hypocrite Pharisee of the Pharisees when it comes to yourself and your children you change all the rules these are the first Clause Pharisees and we've got lots and lots of them in our churches who make laws for other people hard-hearted hard-on others very soft on their wives and their children and themselves I hope will change I'll give you a little bit of advice don't go around telling other people nobody has ever heard from me in 30 years not to go to the Gulf or not to have a television or not to have not to go to America or not to have this or not to have that I say I have my convictions you have yours I'm not here to tell you what you should do but there are a lot of people who are much much younger to me who made rules like this and later on they've had to eat their own words because they do the same thing themselves because their children are grown up or they got an invitation to go somewhere or something like that and do you think they became Pharisees named they were Pharisees from the beginning and the sad thing is they don't even get light on it even later they're still imagine they are proud instead of humbling themselves to the dust and saying I'm a rotten old Pharisee they don't even get light on that even after they see their Pharisee ISM and that's why it never goes well with them even after that it's really sad so don't be hard number 16 Pharisees are people who cannot appreciate true worship and praise Matthew 21 verse 15 Matthew 21 verse 15 we read about people in the temple shouting and praising God and saying hallelujah Hosanna the son of David it says here the children began to shout in the temple who sent her to the son of David and the Pharisees were angry saying what is all this loud noise and praise and worship don't you know God is holy God and we must be silent in his presence they don't really appreciate we have a lot of Pharisees today who can't appreciate noisy praise and worship no no you mustn't make any noise you mustn't play any drums or have loud music or anything just softly Jesus was so happy when he heard it you know why he was so happy listen because it reminded him of heaven ah at last I heard something that sounds like heaven innocent children with clear hearts saying praise the Lord that's the closest to heaven because heaven is a place of praise it says in Revelation that such loud noises like thunder we haven't got there yet in our praise and worship but some people are offended you don't like you know for I'll give you an example supposing I say something really good and somebody's out there says hallelujah everybody would look Brown who's that saying hallelujah in a holy place to say hallelujah or I say something was really true and somebody said Amen was that saying Amen shouldn't say such things in in church don't you know this is church it's not the place to say hallelujah or I mean this is the place to sit like you're in a funeral and remember that remember that Jesus has died he has not yet risen from the dead he's died we must sit seriously God have mercy on us God have mercy on us let's pray we'll continue Heavenly Father open our eyes to see ourselves our need things which are so clearly written in Scripture deliver us from Paris ISM the pray in Jesus name Amen you [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: SermonIndex.net

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Keywords: Zac, Poonen, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: ZQMWOL9KsFM

Length: 58min 40sec (3520 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 23 2010