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MATTHEW CHAPTER 23 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Mat 23,1-39 (6l) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Expose hypocrisy in the Church – Jesus told the Pharisees the truth regarding their own darkness. If what He said to them wasn’t true, they could have cited Him for slander, but all His indictments were provable. They couldn’t claim innocence since everyone knew them, being public figures. They were brazen in their audacious exhibition of religious hypocrisy, and they didn’t care who knew, because they were able to justify themselves, not just because the people were ignorant, but also because they were taught to respect their leaders. Exodus 22-28 says, “You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.” Nevertheless, Jesus exposed their dark motives, refusing to respect their religious authority, but held them in absolute contempt. We get ourselves in all kinds of trouble placing respect where it doesn’t belong, protecting pastors and ministers who are caught in flagrant hypocrisy. There are many instances in Scripture that teach us to expose hypocrisy in the Church, not to deal lightly with it but to remove the stumbling blocks. See also: Hypocrisy; 178l (157g) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Deceiving and being deceived >> Deceiving -- Being that deception is also a spirit, it hardly matters whether we are the one deceiving or the one being deceived; we are partakers of a spirit of deception either way. To unravel the web of satanic deception is all but impossible. It resembles getting lost in the woods, unable to see the forest through the trees; we can't step back far enough to get a wide-angle view of our circumstances. Only God can unravel the twists and turns of bad religion for those caught in it. (178l) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Jesus rebukes the Pharisees >> Rebuked for having no love for God – Jesus made fools of the Pharisees. So horrified of Him were they that they had Him killed, though He was a man of peace. They never expected Him to come with a sword, yet feared Him more than standing armies, yet they showed no fear of God in their contempt. Jesus had a mouth that He used to slash His victims, so severely mutilating them that they would rather be run through by a gladiator, in that possibly they would heal from that, but how would they recuperate from Jesus words, being incapable of repentance? Their lives were ruined, telling them as much, who considered themselves religious leaders of Israel, but Jesus told them to their faces that they knew nothing about God to the point that virtually everything they understood was wrong. This is what sin does; it alienates people from God and if they continue in sin, especially for generations, it twists their minds into reprobates. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,1-36; 181k Mat 23,1-36 (181k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Deceiving and being deceived -- Jesus used the term "Key of knowledge" in His critique of lawyers to explain what they stole from the people (Lk 11-52). Another word for it is: obedience of faith. Jesus said in Jn 7-17, "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself," and so obeying the truth defines the key of knowledge. The Pharisees replaced obedience of faith with obedience of religion, so people wouldn't know the truth and expose them as hypocrites. Every alteration they made to God's old covenant law in their self-made religion pertained in one way or another to channeling money into their coffers. The Pharisees were obviously deceived, yet they knew the Old Testament inside-and-out. They were deceptive, and in the process they also deceived themselves (2Tim 3-13), and the consequence of self-deception is that truth is lost in translation. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,1-14; 198g Mat 23,1-14 (198g) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Having evil motives for seeking leadership positions >> In the ministry for personal gain -- These verses go with verses 23-36. Jesus’ main point to the Pharisees in verses 1-14 was their phony belief system; then in verses 23-36 He said that their entire lives were in direct violation of the Law of Moses. Meanwhile, they worshipped Moses instead of God, claiming to be keepers of the law. They considered themselves righteous and in touch with God, while they swindled people of their money, even stealing widows houses, one of the most egregious sins of all. If the Romans confiscated widows’ houses, the Pharisees would be in an uproar about it, but when they did it, that was perfectly justifiable. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,1-4; 23d Mat 23,1-7 (166e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Nature Of Man’s Wisdom >> Man’s wisdom is fixed on gaining personal advantage Mat 23,1-4 (23d) Sin >> Pride wants to be first – The Pharisees placed themselves in the chair of Moses by their own authority. Psychopaths do the same, placing themselves in chairs of political and corporate power using their charm, aggression and lack of empathy for the people they dominate and oppress. Jesus advised His disciples to follow the instruction of the Pharisees but not to follow their example. This indicates that technically they did not have the teachings of Moses wrong, being experts in the law, though they didn’t teach it in balance with the prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, who taught that compassion was greater than sacrifice. The Scribes and Pharisees read them as secondary to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, consisting of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, all written by Moses. They focused on certain laws that were easy to observe when people did not follow them, such as hand washing and the Sabbath, amending these commandments with extra rules, thus tying up the people like puppets on string, and making themselves appear indispensable. See also: Hypocrisy; 87b (87b) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word from the heart >> We have no choice but to be doers of the word – The Pharisees fixated on the Sabbath and made up a plethora of extra rules and demanded the people to follow them, laws that were black and white, so that if the people obeyed them or violated them, it was perfectly obvious, though personally the Pharisees didn’t live by them. Their invented rules were oppressive and turned the people’s lives into a living hell one day a week, the Sabbath, the very day God gave as a blessing, prompting Jesus to quote to them Isaiah 29-13, “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: this people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Mat 15,7-9). Religious hypocrites never consider the intent of the Law, which was to give the people a break one day a week from their labors. When Jesus came and preached the message of faith and love, He didn’t sound Jewish to the ears of His own countrymen but sounded more like someone who came from another culture, nation and world. They didn't recognize the Law of Moses when Jesus taught it, indicating just how far the people had drifted from it. If they saw someone working in the field on the Sabbath, it was a clear violation, but when it came to loving God and their fellow man, they failed to recognize the significance. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23-2,3; 90h (162kb) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> In bondage to the burdens of men >> In bondage to freedom (licentiousness) KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 23-2,3 (73a) Respect Authority (Key verse) (73d) Authority >> Respect Positions Of Authority In the Church -- Jesus taught that there are positions of authority that we must respect, regardless if the person who fills that position is respectable. The book of Proverbs further teaches that a wise man is able to learn even from a fool. This means that we should practice the art of learning from both good and evil in every situation. (90h) Thy kingdom come >> Keeping the law >> Righteousness of the law >> We must keep the law because it is righteous -- Had the Pharisees honestly compared themselves to their own law that they knew came from God, which they claimed was the center of their lives, they may have realized that they had deviated from it, but the Pharisees didn't search their souls because they were not about righteousness. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23-11,12; 77i Mat 23-3 (172f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Hypocrites among the just >> Talkers among the walkers Mat 23-4 (1g) False burden (Key verse) (1l) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Carrying a false burden >> Taking on responsibilities that are not yours – False burdens are what make people falter in Christianity. Jesus said, "For I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." If we don't know our mission in life, we will invariably pick up false burdens and carry them for miles, until they get too heavy to bear and drop them. There, lost, directionless and with very little left to carry our true calling from God, we go back to the Bible and prayer and rededicate our lives to finding our true place in Christ. We have a special place prepared just for us that when we apply ourselves, we will find it. Mat 23,5-7 (169h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Seeking the glory of man >> Loving the approval of men rather than the approval of God >> Love to be noticed by men (175d) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Prestige gives a false sense of godliness -- With money comes prestige. It doesn't matter how we acquire it; we could be leader of a drug cartel or a televangelist. With money we can portray ourselves to be almost anything and people will have a natural tendency to respect us. Money acts as a kind of seal that says, 'I wouldn't have this money if I didn't know what I was doing.' Wealth is inherently deceitful. We don't need to be important when we have money; money is important. Consequently, people with large sums of money feel they are inherently better than others, and think they have a right-of-passage into the next life. Money buys any service we want, and thus any lifestyle; it buys authority and makes connections; it buys nearly anything, except truth. (240e) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Beware when all men speak well of you >> Natural disadvantage of seeking popularity – There are multitudes of rich people who claim to believe in God, but Scripture disagrees with them, though the Bible does not condemn them for being wealthy; rather, there are many obstacles in the way of their salvation. It is even more difficult to be popular in this world and hold to a sincere faith in Jesus. With the rich there are always exceptions, but with famous people we could almost say they have the sentence of hell stamped on their foreheads. It is extremely rare to find celebrities in this world who have a devout faith in Jesus Christ, for it would be evident in their speech, and their faith would invariably offend people, closing the door to popularity. This suggests that fame is a greater curse than fortune, though these two are usually found together. Rich and famous people, such as the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day, love the accolades and perks that went with their position. Those who love the approval of man and are content without God and see no deficiency in themselves and find it hard to acquire a genuine faith in Jesus. They believe in themselves instead of God; they are their own religion. Mat 23-8 (109j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit the teacher >> Spirit of truth is our teacher – Jesus said not to be called “teacher”, for one is your teacher, who is Christ, and you are all brothers. He was saying the very thing that Paul tried to drum into the Corinthians and the Ephesians, that there should be no strong central leadership in the Church, for we are all brothers and we are to learn from Christ through each other. Christ is our leader, and we are to learn from Him. So, does that mean we shouldn’t have any teachers? What about the pastor of our church, isn’t he a teacher? Paul told Titus to teach and preach with all authority, “Let no one disregard you” (Titus 2-15), so we have teachers, but we should not consider them our teachers, in that we have only one teacher who is Christ. Jesus said in Jn 10-2, “He who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep,” and if we want to be one of His, we must enter through the door. When we enter, we become shepherds of one another and sheep of His pasture. This is what Paul taught (1Corinthians chapters 12-14 and Eph 2,19-22; 4,11-16), and throughout all his epistles this is what he had in mind. We all have an obligation to teach one another about God through the Scriptures and through our personal relationship with Him, yet we have only one Teacher, who teaches us the truth. However, the Church was corrupted in the third century, and the Catholic Church was formed, which considers itself to this day to be the only True Church, insinuating that all the protestant churches are false. The Catholic Church invented the idea of strong central leadership. Then the Reformation came in Martin Luther, who brought faith back to the Church. Now we understand that we are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2-8,9), but church structure was never addressed, so the Church has maintained strong central leadership to this day. It carried over from Catholicism, but the First Century Church was not like this. Mat 23-9 (173c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Scripture that contradicts the catholic faith >> Catholic doctrine versus the Bible -- Jesus spoke these words in prophesy about Priests who would want to be called Father, knowing that Catholicism would arise soon after His departure to replace His truth with their religion. Jesus in this verse is entreating the world throughout time not to adhere to the Catholic faith, since no one in good conscience can address their priest as Father after Jesus said this. If anyone is a staunch Catholic, their priest stands in front of the congregation every week and perpetuates the illusion of spiritual authority. Mat 23-10 (240a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Pastor (Shepherd) >> Jesus is the chief shepherd – Catholicism was born in the third century, and it maintained strong central leadership throughout its existence, and then the reformation came in the sixteenth century, and the protestant Church broke from Catholicism, but it maintained strong central leadership to this day. This should have changed and didn’t, yet people today think nothing of the pastor standing behind the pulpit every week and giving the sermon, while everybody passively sits in his pew, and then goes home none the wiser. The people never grow; the Church is spiritually stunted, and nobody knows how to fix it. The problem has gotten so bad that people are actually starting to wake-up to the problem, but they are not to the point of considering solutions. The idea of fixing strong central leadership is never addressed, because the pastor jealously defends his paid position and jealously protects his indispensability with the people by suppressing the ministry of the saints regarding the word of God. Therefore, we say that strong central leadership is what keeps the saints from growing. When we look at Israel in the Old Testament in the days of Moses, they raised up judges, and God’s will was done so long as Moses was alive, but after he died and the Israelites were established in the promise land, they demanded a king in order to be like all the nations, but it was not the will of God that Israel should have a king. 1Samuel 8,4-8 says, “All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ‘Look,’ they said, ‘you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.’ But when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us,’ their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king. Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.’” God was the king of Israel, but when the people demanded a king, they replaced God as their king. The Church has done the same thing, electing a pastor to rule over them instead of Christ. Judges in Moses’ day acted like deacons of the First Century Church, who interceded for the saints with their problems and complaints, helping them come to fair settlements and performing other function to maintain peace, unity and resolution among the people. In contrast, the people hold their pastor responsible for their relationship with God, as though he were their mediator, but the Bible says, “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tim 2-5). This dispels the concept of strong central leadership in the Church. See also: Protestant services model after the Catholic Church; KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 23-11,12 (13k) Servant >> Serve God though small in stature >> Greatest is the least (77i) Thy kingdom come >> Tapping into the power of God through humility >> The most humble are the greatest servants -- Jesus explained three things and embedded one into the other: (1) He explained that the most humble are the greatest servants; (2) He rebuked the Pharisees by contrasting humility against their unrivaled arrogance to illustrate how far off the mark they veered; and (3) next chapter points to the signs of Jesus' return. Maybe the signs of His return started in chapter 23. Actually, Jesus started His dissertation on endtime prophecy starting in verse 23 of chapter 21! In other words, Jesus warned us that in the last days His Church would be run by religious Pharisees (Mat 24-4)! As He speaks against the Pharisees, He speaks to us who live in the last generation that the reason we are suppressed as Christians is that the Church has waxed cold from a lack of lay ministry. Actually, the term "lay ministry" is an insult, suggesting that those without a degree in cemetery school are amateurs. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that we the people are in fact the ministry, meaning the clergy has stolen the ministry from the people, starting in the third century with Catholicism. After the Reformation of the fifteenth century, the protestant Church did not return to the first century manner of spiritual fellowship; instead, they maintained the ritual form of strong central leadership. Although there should be leadership in God's Church, the ministry belongs to the people. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,13-33; 154i / Protestant services model after the Catholic Church; 2Tim 2-15; 108c Mat 23-11 (56ka) Paradox >> Opposites >> Least are greatest >> Least are the greatest servants Mat 23-12 (56f) Paradox >> Opposites >> Humble yourself for the right motives Mat 23,13-36 (166g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Nature Of Man’s Wisdom >> Man’s wisdom contradicts itself Mat 23,13-33 (154i) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against hypocrisy – Hypocrisy is a common problem, linked to false priorities and exemplified in verse 24, "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" They strain out a gnat by arguing for hours about a certain doctrine and then swallow a camel by the way they live. Therefore the best description of a Pharisee is someone who considers the showiness of doctrine to be more important than the obedience of faith. That is, they think knowing the Scriptures is more important than living by them. In other words, the Pharisees thought that having a proper understanding of the law was more important than keeping it, but they didn’t understand that living wrong is the result of wrong thinking and produces false doctrine. So, the person who obeys the law knows the law better than the person who studies the law but doesn’t keep it (Jn 7-17). Paul said in 1Tim 6-3,4, “If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language [and] evil suspicions.” Nobody owned a Bible back then, and the Pharisees controlled the manuscripts, and they became well acquainted with them. They figured that since they were so affluent in the Scriptures and had superior knowledge of the law that they were able to please the Lord better than others, but this is simply not true. A person with minimal literacy skills and minimal access to the Bible can be just as pleasing to God as the Bible scholar, for God looks at the heart, not at the mind. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,16-26; 248i Mat 23-13,14 (175b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Using religion as a front -- These verses go with verses 23-28. Jesus was in the process of eliminating the place that the Scribes and Pharisees held in society as leaders of the old covenant. A new covenant would replace it, which offered new leadership, which did not attract the old leaders, since they were unpaid positions, which offered very little personal gain. There was no comparison with the leaders of the new covenant to the Chief Priests, Scribes and Pharisees. The only motive people had to believe in Jesus was the hope of eternal life; there was no money involved, no hope of making a financial profit from the gospel. How things have changed since then! Mat 23-13 (75k) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Jealously manipulating people – Jesus became angry with the religious zealots of His day. He wouldn’t bother with them until they confronted Him, and then He would let them have it. Jesus had ventured into Jerusalem, which was a death sentence, especially after he rebuked the religious establishment, something He did to ensure His death, which was predestined from the foundation of the world. We can trace the motive of His enemies who delivered Him to the Romans soaked in jealousy, being how the Jews treated all the prophets over the centuries. In fact, Jesus in this very chapter said they were guilty of their forefathers' murdering the prophets, for they behaved the same way as them and obeyed the same demonic entities their forefathers served. (178d) Hypocrisy (Key verse) (240c) Hindering The Kingdom (Key verse) (240i) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Taking away the key of knowledge >> Hindering people from entering the kingdom – Jesus defended the people who were trying to enter the Kingdom of God, saying that their leaders were shutting off the kingdom to them, while they did not enter in themselves. They ostracized the people from the temple and from their local synagogue, which was the Old Testament version of church. Being ostracized was equivalent to being expatriated and losing their national identity, for if they couldn’t practice their Jewish faith, then who were they? What the people didn’t know was that God was in the process of giving them a new covenant and a new identity in the Christian Church, where they could redefine themselves as believers in Jesus. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 23,14-39 (183a) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Sin is the incubator of witchcraft >> Through rebellion – We see on TV horror movies about witchcraft, but very few of them parallel the Scriptures, and the ones that do are scariest of all. Witchcraft is a violation of the conscience, the act of using God to satisfy our flesh. We do this in three ways: through our belief in false doctrine, through the abuse of God’s people, and through sins committed under pretense of God’s will. Witchcraft is not in false doctrine itself, so much as in the fact that we believe it, knowing on some level it is false. Instead of repenting, we assign God’s approval to our corruption, knowing full well that we are hurting people, defiling the name of God and corrupting His gospel. We don’t have to make up false doctrine to practice witchcraft; false prophets do that for us; we as heretics only need to believe in them and teach them to others. Mat 23-14 (48e) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your deeds >> In the day of judgment – The Pharisees couldn’t hear Jesus’ word because they were not of His sheep (Jn 10-26). Jesus described the Pharisees as outwardly appearing righteous, suggesting that most would consider them as upstanding citizens, but Jesus knew their hearts. There are people in Christendom today who act just like them, televangelist who exploit old women through the airwaves, talking them into giving all their money to the point of being unable to pay their taxes, and as a result losing their house. Do these “Christians” feel bad about what they do? There will be hell to pay! (v33). Mat 23,15-24 (177d) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Doctrines of the precepts of men -- The religious leaders of Israel deceiving and being deceived is a complicated matter. There are some aspects of deception that are straightforward and some that are not. For example, it is easy to fool young children, because they don’t yet know how life works, but when we become adults and get deceived, there is some level of culpability involved. It is this guilt that can turn religious deception into a muddy playground of motives. We could say that the Pharisees were duped; however, they didn’t believe the truth because they didn’t want to believe it. The truth was unattractive to them; they preferred their religion, because it had given them positions of power and prestige. The Scribes and Pharisees were some of the most renown people in all Israel; being a theocracy, they were both religious and political leaders of the people, and they didn’t want anyone tampering with their affluence. This was their motive for rejecting the gospel, and they didn’t want anyone else believing in Jesus either, because the more popular He became, the less important they seemed. People looked up to them as their leaders, so of course they were not interested in the gospel, because it threatened to eliminate everything they cherished, and they hated Jesus for it. Mat 23-15 (198c) Ordained By Man (Key verse) (198e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Men place themselves in positions of authority >> Men raising up men – In Israel everyone followed the teachings of the Pharisees but no one wanted to be a Pharisee. They had affluence and money, but it was still not enough to attract people to the ministry, because they lacked one thing, a soul (sort-of-speak). When Jesus said they make their proselytes twice as much a son of hell as themselves, He was referring to indoctrinating them with their twisted precepts that have deviated from Scripture to the point of being unrecognizable. When they couple their skewed teaching with their subsequent behavior, it sealed their fate, so when Jesus visited them, they didn’t recognize Him as their Messiah. Mat 23,16-26 (169c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blinded by Satan’s thoughts >> Blinded by a false sense of sight (248i) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Valuing God >> Do not value things that devalue God – Jesus thinks getting our priorities straight is important in that our priorities speak volumes about us. Jesus proved the religious leaders of Israel were lovers of money rather than lovers of God by exposing their value system. They set a higher priority on gold than they did on the temple. By their own words Jesus condemned them as hypocrites. They said they loved God more than anything else in the world, but Jesus didn’t buy it. When we listen closely, we can hear the lies and deception exuding from the religious hypocrites even of our own time. The Pharisees taught that the offering was more valuable than the altar or the temple or any other aspect of their religion. If we jumble our priorities, everything turns to mud; even a small shift in priority can have disastrous consequences, like bumping into a telescope focused on a galaxy can move it millions of light-years off course (the parallax effect). For example, had the Pharisees maintained that the temple was more valuable than the offering, they wouldn't have taught that money was more important to God than faith, but that is exactly what they taught. They switched priorities and opened the door to the belief that tithing epitomized our faith; does that sound familiar? They trained the people that the more they gave, the more God was blessed and glorified; this is basically what people teach today! They make great boasts about their faith, but under their breath they teach that money is more valuable, and that is how they live. See also: Priorities; Mat 23,23-36; 198g / Hypocrisy; Mat 23,25-28; 159a Mat 23,16-22 (203a) Denying Christ >> Running from God >> Wicked men cannot approach the throne of God >> God chases them away from His presence – Jesus was familiar with the things that the temple represented, God’s throne in heaven, because He came from heaven and He sat on His Father’s throne as the Ancient of Days. The Pharisees knew that the temple represented God’s throne, but these facts grew distant from their thoughts, enveloped by worldly interests. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 23,23-36 (198g) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Ordained by man >> Having evil motives for seeking leadership positions >> In the ministry for personal gain -- These verses go with verses 1-14. If you are thinking about becoming clergy, do everyone a favor including yourself and search your heart for the reasons you want to become a minister, because seeking the position of a shepherd with the wrong motive is disastrous for everyone involved. With the wrong motive it is inevitable that you will hurt people, which is probably the opposite effect you intend. At best you will be ineffective, and at worst some peoples' faith will be eroded if not corrupted. See also: Priorities; Mat 23-23; 123f Mat 23,23-28 (171g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Decorating the outside to simulate the inside >> Playing the part to be accepted by God (175b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Using religion as a front -- These verses go with verses 13&14 (175g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Ignorance >> Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) >> Evading the heart of the matter Mat 23-23 (123f) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Spiritual affection >> Compassion is greater than sacrifice -- God's compassion for mankind was greater than the sacrifice of His Son, suggesting that any sacrifice greater than compassion denotes a fundamental flaw in priorities. It signifies a dead religion that does not serve God, much less their fellow man. When we meet people like this, chances are they don't know God any more than the Pharisees. They have yet to meet God's Son who sacrificed every drop of His blood in compassion for His creation, but through His compassion we now have hope, and have been commissioned by Him to have compassion for others. See also: Priorities; Mat 23-24; 63e (235c) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Tithing >> Be faithful in your tithes >> Unfaithfulness nullifies your tithe Mat 23-24 (63e) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Exaggerate the truth to make a point -- This thing that Jesus said, "Straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel," is the result of majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. People tend to care about things that don't matter, and the result is that foolish things are done well, and important things are left undone or cobbled. This stems from a lack of wisdom and points at our priority system as something which we need to give higher priority. See also: Priorities; Mat 23,16-26; 248i (175e) Dodging the Issue (Key verse) Mat 23,25-28 (16f) Sin >> Man’s willingness to be evil >> Using sin to achieve your goals – The Pharisees built a religious empire from deception and used sin to succeed in their business. (74j) Thy kingdom come >> Heart of man is sinful >> Sin is conceived in the heart (159a) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit godliness >> Love sickening sweet >> Mask over the real self – The Pharisees adorned the tombs of the prophets while at the same time planned to crucify the Prince of Peace. This level of hypocrisy is downright spooky! The heart of man is God’s home, even as He lived in the Ark of the Covenant, a box in the inner sanctuary of the Jewish temple of worship. If we invite Him to live in us, He will come and stay, and He will clean us from the inside-out, according to Mat 13-33, but the Pharisees had blackened hearts that had turned to stone, who were in no condition to house the God of heaven. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23-27,28; 145g (174h) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Self righteousness >> Appearing righteous before men – Inwardly, the Pharisees devoted themselves to comprehending the Scriptures, and outwardly they devoted themselves to cleaning the cups and saucers according to their law. God commanded them through Moses to cleanse their kitchenware long before people learned about germs. Louis Pasteur discovered germs in the 1800’s, but God called Israel to cleanliness over a thousand years before Christ to avoid salmonella, ecoli and other diseases. The Pharisees seized on this rite as a showing of their religion, and many others have copied them over the millennia according to the phrase, “cleanliness is next to godliness.” Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for believing this, yet this aphorism is popular in society today. They think they are Christians because they make their homes neat and orderly, as though it were a way of seeking favor with God. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 23-26 (246a) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm superimposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> The outside is a manifestation of the inside -- The Pharisees were full of robbery, deceit and fraud, but they portrayed themselves as devout worshippers of God. We cannot hide our real identity for long; it will eventually surface. For some, the real self emerges as a soft glow of a radiant relationship with Jesus, and for others, it emerges as a thick sludge of human deprivation. The treasures of the heart issue from the body as words and deeds according to the spiritual principles of Scripture, which Jesus augmented as an inescapable fact of life. Jesus wasn't speaking to the Pharisees; they were already dammed. He was instructing us through them to instead of modifying our behavior, work on the inner person of the heart through the word of God and prayer, so that the natural flow of words and deeds emerge as fruits of the spirit. This teaching is of course contrary to the philosophy of the world who wants to tweak human behavior and leave the inner man unchecked (behaviorism). Mat 23-27,28 (145g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Demon possession >> Human state >> Filthiness >> That which Is unclean -- It seems likely that the Scribes and Pharisees who had Jesus murdered were demon possessed. However, if they were, then why didn't Jesus simply exorcize their demons? The Pharisees identified with the demons after they had made inroads and woven themselves into their hearts so that God would need to override their will to extricate them, and God is unwilling to do that. Satan's preference is to provide spiritual undercurrents within society that he uses to train humanity to believe in a naturalistic world (secularism). See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,29-36; 93m Mat 23-27 (26a) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death >> Dead to God through sin (170e) Outward Appearance (Key verse) Mat 23,28-36 (185c) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> Having no grounds for your hate >> Hating the Church without a cause KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 23,29-36 (40m) Judgment >> God is glorified >> God defends His righteous ones through judgment – Jesus spoke a principle of genetics in these verses: as generational sins accumulate in the individual, so they accumulate in society among nations throughout the world. In AD 70 when the Jews lost their temple and their nation, God forgave the Jews for crucifying His Son, but He didn’t forgive them for rejecting His gospel. Jesus was looking at the Pharisees when He spoke these words, but He was more looking through them. He was talking to the spirit of murder in the Pharisees, which also resided in their great grandfathers, who murdered the prophets centuries earlier. He was talking to generational sins, saying they were about to be judged in one generation. The Father took all the sins of mankind from Adam to the last man to be born in sinful flesh and placed them all on Jesus as He die nailed to a cross, but after His resurrection, the clock began ticking again, and God began adding up the unrepentant sins again. Man's judgment has been growing over the centuries since the cross, and they will be judged in the last days by the most horrendous events that have ever befallen mankind (Mat 24-21). The offense of sin exponentially increased through man's rejection of God's mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Although millions of Christians have been saved over the age of grace, they are a select few compared to the sea of humanity that will never see the Kingdom of Heaven. In the last days when God judges mankind, He will heap upon the world all the unrepented sins committed since the cross. See also: Generational sins; 49f / Sin has accumulated since the resurrection of Christ; Rev 18-24; 242a (49f) Judgment >> Enemies of the prophets are destroyed – Jesus accused the Pharisees of being born to their respective families who murdered the prophets. They did not choose their mother and father, yet Jesus accused them of ancestral sins. He accused them of being sons of murderers, referring to their DNA. Genetically, they inherited a predisposition for murder. They had three forces working against them: their DNA gave them inclinations for murder, they were trained by their murderous parents to do the same, and they were already making plans to murder Jesus. Jesus was talking just as much to the devil as He was to the Pharisees when He spoke about judgment of the cross. God judged Satan at the same time that He judged man, making no distinction between them, showing that in the eyes of God there is no difference between the sin of man and the sin of demons, for it is all rebellion, being why He sends them to the same hell. See also: Generational sins; 61i (49k) Judgment >> Judgment day >> God judges the world >> The great tribulation (61i) Paradox >> Three implied meanings – God's judgment is prophesied to fall: On Jesus / On the nation of Israel in 70 AD / On the whole world in the last days – Jesus said that every sin will be charged against “this generation.” When He said that, it refers to three separate generations: His own as He hung on the cross, the very next generation in A.D. 70 when Israel would lose their temple and their nation and the very last generation in which we are living. The Father placed upon His Son all the sins that man had ever committed or would ever commit and wiped their slate clean so the nations could begin anew without a mounting pile of generational sins charged against them, but un-repented sin has been accumulating against the nations for the last 2,000 years. Although Jesus paid the penalty of sin, the fact that man has not met God with the proper response of faith has nullified His grace and mercy in those who have not believed. When Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation,” He was speaking in part about the last generation, referring to the judgments of the seven Seals, Trumpets and Bowls written in the book of Revelation. See also: Generational sins; 93m (93m) Thy kingdom come >> Following Jesus >> Exception >> Following evil along the broad way – A person can inherit a genetic predisposition for certain sins. In conjunction with being born into their respective families and their parents modeling negative behavior, the children have little hope of escaping their familial inclinations, yet some children determine not to go down that road, but Jesus did not give the Pharisees this escape. Instead, they followed in their father’s footsteps by evidence that they hated Him, the very person they had been longing to see since Moses prophesied to the nation of Israel, “I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you [Moses], and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18-18). See also: Generational sins / Hypocrisy; 157k (157k) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Having a murder spirit – The Pharisees stood in front of Jesus, glaring at Him with bloodlust, but they were not responsible for the blood of Zechariah who was murdered in the sixth century BC, yet Jesus insisted that they were. How could He make this assertion? Jesus was talking about Himself when He said, “all these things will come upon this generation.” The sins of the whole world would be heaped upon Him while nailed to the cross. God through Christ was about to forgive the whole world for all the sins ever committed, even forgiving the sins that were yet to be committed. The Father was wiping man’s slate clean and giving him a new start as though the world had never sinned, as though Cane never murdered his brother Able, and as though Adam and Eve had never ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden on that fateful day. See also: Generational sins / Hypocrisy; 180g (163f) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Used by Satan to destroy the word of God >> Used to destroy the mouthpiece of God (180g) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves steal, kill and destroy >> Wolves have a killer instinct – This is the most profound statement in the Bible about generational sins. Jesus said that the Pharisees were sons of those who murdered the prophets, and that they had a tendency to behave similar to their forefathers. This is partly based on genetics and partly based on environmental influences. We were born to a certain family, we have received their genes and have a tendency to adopt their ways, so we have both nature and nurture working either for or against us to influence our behavior. There is a fairly new field of study called epigenetics that goes a long way to explain how we genetically receive behavioral traits from our parents. Jesus essentially said that it was inevitable the Pharisees would murder Him, because their forefathers did the same to the prophets of their time. They had their genes and adopted their viewpoints and lifestyle. Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘You are no different from your relatives who murdered the prophets.’ We can rise above these familial influences, but it is an uphill battle. More often than not we just surrender to them and follow the rut into our parents’ mistakes. However, the born-again Christian who follows Christ can escape these forces through God’s help. With the indwelling Holy Spirit and a willing heart, God can make us whatever He desires, but it takes obedience and faithfulness, which were things the Pharisees did not have. See also: Generational sins; 40m / Hypocrisy; Mat 23,32-36; 218c (245ll) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Manifestations of the devil >> Manifestation of the spirit of murder KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mat 23,32-36 (62n) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> Jesus deceives the lost (217g) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> When God gives up on you, you are already in hell (218c) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> You cannot control the judgment of God >> You cannot control how God responds to persecution – The religious Jews persecuted Paul and Barnabas from city to city, and they said to those who refused to believe, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Act 13-46). The Jews said at Jesus’ crucifixion, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Mat 27-25). The Pharisees who had Jesus crucified had less hope of eternal life than the Roman soldiers who butchered Him. Those who ran the whip across His back and those who pounded the nails in His hands and feet were more likely to repent before the religious Pharisees, though it was unlikely they did. A centurion guard stood below His cross and watched Him die and showed a contrite heart, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Mat 27-55). See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23-33; 186j Mat 23-32,33 (47h) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Prison of the bottomless pit Mat 23-32 (48g) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your standard of measure Mat 23-33 (186c) The Reprobate (Key verse) – Most people who seek God for eternal life are not worse sinners than the apostle Paul, who became God's standard of grace and mercy for the rest of us (1Tim 1,13-16), but there are some who have crossed the line. They don't have to be terrible sinners, suggesting that the formation the reprobate mind really has nothing to do with the amount of sin committed but the type of sin committed. When a person has repeatedly blasphemed the Holy Spirit, eventually his heart irreparably hardens to stone. If we have not done this, salvation is still on the table, regardless how many sins we've committed, but if the Holy Spirit speaks to us and we reject Him, knowing it is God, that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. We can do that and still be saved, but every time we do, our heart grows a little more distant from God, and we ebb a little closer to the line that only God knows, marking the point of no return. Those with a reprobate mind may not have broken God's laws more than the average person, but they have forsaken the voice of God who spoke in their hearts, continually disobeying Him. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness” (Heb 3-7,8). Remember Israel. They are an example of blaspheming the Holy Spirit and look what happened to them. To this day they still can’t believe in Jesus. God will not strive with us forever (Psalm 103-9), but will wait us out and lead our children to the promise land. Those of a reprobate mind project their own faults onto God. Therefore, at the heart of the reprobate mind is arrogance to actually accuse God of personality problems and character flaws. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 23,1-39; 6l (186j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> God’s role in forming a reprobate >> Marked out for destruction – The Pharisees were reprobates, which is essentially a religious psychopath, someone who cannot repent or be saved or believe in God. Those who have heard the voice of God and rejected Him as the Pharisees did, have no hope of seeing heaven. They are less than snakes, lizards and scorpions, the most debased of all creatures. Each time they resist the Holy Spirit, it decreases the opportunity they will ever hear His voice again. Only God knows who has blasphemed the Holy Spirit to the point of developing a reprobate mind. Jesus condemned some of the Pharisees who demonstrated a deep-seated hatred for Him and eventually killed the very embodiment of life and truth, which guaranteed them a place in hell, a place that befits a person who would try to kill God. It would be unjust for Him to let anybody into His heaven who hated Him, and God can’t change their hearts without forcing it upon them, and He refuses to un-create man in His image after giving him an eternal soul. Nobody ends up in hell by mistake; people determine in their hearts to go there, and the same is true for those who go to heaven. Everyone has resolutely set their face toward whatever destiny they achieve, and they will let nothing stand in their way. Mat 23,34-37 (242a) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Killing God’s prophets – The common people who lived in the region surrounding Galilee loved Jesus (Mat 15,29-31), but Jerusalem had a history of martyring the prophets and stoning those sent to her. Jesus was basically accepted everywhere and by everyone with the exception of the religious leaders of Israel. He didn’t perform many miracles in the city limits; His reputation followed Him there. Had Jesus kept His distance from the city, He probably wouldn't have been crucified, but He went there expressly for that purpose. Jerusalem was the hub of Israel’s religion, the hometown of all the priests of the temple and the high priest, along with many of the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees, and while He was there, He told them what they deserved to hear, which sealed His fate. Mat 23-34,35 (151e) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> New Testament bears witness of the Old >> The Patriarchs >> The Old Testament prophets Mat 23-35,36 (37a) Judgment >> The cross >> God judged the sin of the world through Christ Mat 23,37-39 (50da) Judgment >> Last Days >> Great Endtime Revival >> Jews lead the wo rld into revival >> Israel prophesied to believe in Jesus at the end of the age – Israel has always been the most hated people on the earth, not because of what they have done, but because of their identity as God’s chosen people according to the flesh. The Jews since they were chosen through Abraham have been through more turmoil, hardship and persecution than any other people in the world. In these verses Jesus prophesied that the Jews would lose their place and their nation and prophesied that the Jews overall would not repent of their unbelief until the end of the age during the Great Endtime Revival. Then they will say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” God will use them to call the gentiles to salvation by the hundreds of millions. See next page