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Okay, Matthew chapter number 16 look down at your Bibles at verse number 11 it says how is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread that you should be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees Then understood they how that he bade them not be aware of the leaven of the bread but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees and the title of the sermon this evening is a continuation of this morning sermon the eight woes of the scribes and Pharisees part number two and the reason I chose Matthew chapter 16 Just to show you that Jesus was constantly warning his disciples to be aware of the doctrine of the specific group of religious leaders Because of how dangerous they were their doctrine what they believed what they taught and how they tried to corrupt the people Now go to Matthew chapter 23 where we started off this morning Matthew chapter 23 just a couple chapters pages over. Let me just give you a bit of review in Matthew chapter 23 We see that Jesus is given this strong sermon Rebuking the Pharisees and the scribes we explained who these groups were the scribes were Basically the men that were used to pen the Bible and copy it and they were synonymous With the lawyers you often hear them called lawyers throughout the book of Luke but the lawyer scribes Pharisees and Sadducees were basically your Your false prophets of that day. Okay. These were the men who were the religious leaders and they often Portrayed and had a lot of characteristics and attributes and embodied what a false prophet was and we see that throughout The Gospels of things that they did and said and of course they were responsible for crucifying the Lord But in Matthew chapter 23, Jesus gives eight distinct woes unto them distress anguish Misery just condemning the fire out of them because of how wicked they were now We understand that we're all sinners right? We're sinners. We make mistakes We break God's commandments, you know, there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin is not However, the false prophets such as the Pharisees and the scribes had a whole new level of iniquity Okay, these men were not only guilty of being sinners But they were doubly guilty of fomenting iniquity and teaching others to sin likewise teaching others to reject Jesus Christ and Seeking to have an agenda to basically stop and impede the growth of Christianity. This is wicked now Look at verse number 13 Just a review real quick Look what it says but won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men? For ye neither go in yourselves neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. So the first world that we see Against these group of men was because of the fact that there were stopping people from getting saved You know, they were basically trying their best to try to Shut the mouth of Jesus and his disciples and keep people from believing on him This is a very wicked thing that they did And the Bible tells us that that there are enemies of the gospel verse 14 says won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites? For you devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayer. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation What do we see here? We see that they took advantage of widows, you know devouring their houses We're gonna look at someone how they did that in the coming verses and the Bible says that there for pretense to make long Prayers in other words, they want to show themselves They want to have a form of godliness by making these long prayers showing themselves that they're you know, super spiritual You know the Bible tells us also in Matthew chapter 5 that they would Disfigure their faces when they would fast and make themselves look like they were fasting. They would make long prayers They would sound a trumpet any time they would give alms why because they wanted the glory of man They want man to glorify them They want man to recognize them and give them that type of recognition like wow You're so spiritual man You pray for so long you fast for so long you give tithe of all that you have and you fast twice a day This is what they wanted from the people But the Bible says it was for a show. It's a pretense Okay, and this is why they're being condemned In fact, Jesus says therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation because of this verse 15 This is where we left off, which is the third. Whoa It says won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you can pass sea and land to make one proselyte? Referring to a convert and when he is made you make them twofold more a child of hell than yourselves So what does that tell us it tells us that they are children of hell Because when they you know, everyone produces after their own kind, right they bring forth after their own kind And so when they make a convert they convert someone they proselytize people They basically produce exactly what they are. In fact, they make them even worse than what they are Okay, twofold more a child of hell them themselves the Bible says in Matthew 7 ye shall know them by their fruits Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit Now the concept that we see in Matthew chapter 7 is not something we can use all across the board for all Christians Right to see if someone's saved We don't we don't check their fruit how many people they get saved or you know, what type of works do they do? That isn't necessarily confirmed that someone is saved, right? This is uh, this is basically a standard that God has for people who are in religious positions Such as a pastor an evangelist a religious leader They claims to know the Bible teaches the Word of God is making proselytes and making converts God says look at their fruit see if they're getting people saved. Look at the kind of people that they're winning to their soul supposedly winning and More often than not if these people are wicked the people they're producing are wicked as well Okay, you know, they don't produce grapes that produce they produce thorns and thistles They're incapable of producing the right type of fruit and others now go to Matthew chapter number 12, Matthew chapter 12 Now think about this they have the audacity to Literally come past sea and land. I mean they were willing to pay the fare take a ship to another country Another region just to teach false doctrine Just to lead people astray and get people to not believe in the one true God not to believe on Jesus Christ This is a wicked person. Okay, and look what it says in Matthew chapter 12 Why is it that they produce a twofold more child of hell than themselves? Look what it says in verse 43 of Matthew chapter 12 It says when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man he walked it through dry places seeking rest and finest none Then he saith I will return into my house from once I came out and when he has come he findeth it empty Swept and garnished. So what do we see here? we see that basically a spirit leaves a man we can consider this to be an unclean spirit, right and What we see here is that when he leaves he returns he finds the vessel Empty swept garnished in other words. It was reformed, right? Look what it says in verse 45 then go with he and take it with himself seven other spirits More wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first Even so shall it also be unto this wicked Generation so this is picture-perfect of the ministry of the Pharisees Because what the Pharisees what they emphasized was the outward appearance, right? They wanted to make they wanted to look like whited sepulchres beautiful on the outside, but we know that in the inside There are full of dead men's bones. They're full of extortion and excess. They were very wicked people on the inside However on the outside, you know, they were adorned they look spiritual They made long prayers they fasted they gave tides of all that they had they had all these outward Externals but inwardly they were wicked people and so when they would go out and make a convert What were they teaching them? They were teaching them to look just like they looked To behave just as they behaved and what happens is you reform the person they get out of sin They stop drinking they stop, you know, worshiping some some false God and they clean up their lives But what happens actually seven other spirits come back into that person right because they come that spirit comes back and he finds the vessel swept garnished and Empty and then the last state of that man is worse than the first Okay, go to second Peter chapter number two, by the way folks. This is why Organizations like for example victory outreach. These are dangerous organizations because victory outreach for example Is about reforming people Okay, they're all about getting people to repent and they use salvation as a carrot to change their lives It's like well if you want to get saved you have to like repent of all your sins You you got to stop gang-banging You have to stop drinking you have to stop smoking and fornicating You have to stop selling drugs and you have to stop doing all these things if you want to be safe So a lot of these guys who go into these types of organizations and so-called churches They reform their lives, you know, they get out of the gang life, even though you know, their church looks like a gang You know, I mean, it's just like they still look like cholos. It's like a cholo Church, right? They still go there and they clean up their lives But in actuality, they're not even saved and if that person gets out of church, they actually end up being worse They actually go into sin even worse Than when they first came in Why well because of the fact that when that unclean spirit was removed from that person that spirit returned with seven other spirits more wicked than itself and they returned to a vessel that's empty its Garnish, it's swept. The life is clean and because there's no Holy Spirit dwelling within there He invites seven other more of his buddies That's why folks, you know when we get saved the Bible tells us that we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until the day Redemption we can never be possessed, right? We already possessed by the Holy Spirit himself. We belong right to him We are that, you know, he is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchase possession the Bible says You know God owns us he's bought us with the price and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit comes to live within us Therefore we could never be possessed now. Can we be oppressed can you know Satan discourage us cause us to be depressed? Can he cause us to be fearful? Can he cause us to have? Imaginations can he cause us to be hindered in the work of God or even in our roles as a father as a wife as As a mother whatever may be of course he can do those things, but he can never possess us However, the person who reforms their life Stops drinking no more smoking weed and they think that they're saved That person when they get out of church or when they stop doing the Christian thing Often become worse their last estate is worse than the first because there's no Holy Spirit to begin with You know, I'm all about reforming people after they get saved. Amen It's like get saved get the Holy Spirit of God living within you and then clean up your life Right repent of your sins get right with God start growing in your faith, you know But you have to be saved victory outreach is a very wicked Church and I remember It's a very wicked organization I remember I knew someone who went to that organization that went to that church and this person was murdered Okay, and you know, he was involved in the gang life and he was murdered and we went to his funeral and literally, I mean there's nothing but victory outreach type people there and And I remember I'm person after person after person and this guy was saved Like I remember him getting saved at our church, but he ended up leaving our church for whatever reason He got hooked up with victory outreach and he was just there and he had a lot of buddies there And he got murdered when they did his funeral and they were giving you know They're I think it's called the eulogies right when they're when they say a couple words They're like, you know salvation is a process. It doesn't happen at once in one moment. You know, it's a process. It's a process It's a process like what in the world are you guys talking about and they they see it as well you first You know rule number one get out of the game, you know rule number two, you know You know stop cussing rule number three Stop drinking and smoking and being with those and hanging out with those that do and all these things and that's how they determine You know if someone is saved or not, and it's an unfortunate Type of atmosphere that people get caught up in but this is the ministry of the Pharisees Okay, this is why when they would make proselytes they'd make them worse than themselves Because they would add, you know They would basically get these seven other spirits to cling on to and look at 2nd Peter chapter 2 and verse number 18 Speaking of false prophets. This is a false prophet chapter right here giving us all the distinctions of them and the descriptions It says in verse number 18 for when they speak great swelling words of vanity talk about flattery They allure to the lust of the flesh through much wantonness those that were clean Escape from them who live in error while they promise them liberty They themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same as he brought in Bondage is it doesn't that sound like the Pharisees? I mean they are commanding those they're laying burdens on their shoulders Grievous to be born and they themselves are not even willing to lift it up with one of their fingers Exactly what we see here. They themselves are promising them liberty But they themselves are servants of corruption verse 20 for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world You know, they reformed their lives through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They are again entangled They're in and overcome. Look what it says and the latter end is worse with them than the Beginning it says for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness Then after they have known him to term from the Holy Commandment Delivered unto them. He said well, hold on a second You know, how is it that they can become worse if these false prophets don't even give the truth Well, here's the thing. The false prophets are given the truth. It's just mixed with lies So they talk about Jesus they talk about salvation They talk about all these biblical terms, but they put their own twist and perversion to it and therefore they reject Jesus Christ You know reprobates out there don't didn't become a reprobate by being in some independent fundamental Baptist Church some people became reprobates going to a Catholic Church and You know, they heard the name of Jesus. They heard about the Bible They heard about God and they just completely rejected it all and then they became reprobates. They became worse. Okay? Whatever it may be now He calls them twofold more a child of hell than themselves because of the fact that the the Pharisees themselves were snakes they were vipers the Bible says that they're a generation of Vipers and they were the blind that were leading the blind, you know That's why these guys had nothing of value to teach anybody from the Word of God Number one because they're using the Talmud, but number two, they're blind themselves the Bible tells us that okay Go with me. If you go back to Matthew 23, Matthew chapter 23 I'm gonna read to you from John 8 44 says he are of your father the devil and the lust of your father Will you do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth? Because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it if you remember Elimis the sorcerer in Acts chapter 13 Paul rebuking them says all full of all subtlety and all mischief thou child of the devil Thou enemy of all righteousness Wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord and is it any coincidence that he was a Jew? Okay bar Jesus the Jew Now that is one of the woes there that he's given to them because of the fact that they are producing wicked fruit look At verse 16. Let's look at the fourth one He says woe unto you ye blind guides Which say whosoever shall swear by the temple? It is nothing but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple. He is a debtor Okay, so why is he giving them this? Well, why is it saying anguish and you know misery and Agony upon you because this is what you said. Well, I'll tell you why because they're adding to the Word of God First and foremost swear not at all the Bible says, right? But what they're saying is this if you swear by the temple, it's nothing. I Know Jesus said swear not at all. Well, we're saying is it's nothing Well, let's add to that. Look what it says, but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple. He is a debtor Now he is a debtor is not in the Bible Right or it says or if you swear by the gold and you're a debtor That's something that they are adding to the Word of God. Why because they're covetous folks You know, they they're trying to get their their They're trying to get their portion. So it's like well if you swear by the temple, it's really nothing I know the Bible says we shouldn't swear at all make any type of oath, but here's the thing Let me just clarify this for you It's if you swear by the gold of the temple, then you're a debtor then you owe the temple Then you owe the temple something now, why would they say that because they're living of the temple looking for 17 he fools and blind for what there is greater the gold or the temple to sanctify at the gold and Whosoever shall swear by the altar it is nothing but whosoever swereth by the gift that is upon it. He is guilty so what are they doing they just keep adding to the Word of God and They're putting all these stipulations that the Bible does not put God just says don't swear at all Verse 19 he fools and blind for whether it's greater the gift or the altar that sanctify at the gift who so therefore shall swear by the altar swereth by it and by all things are on and Whoso shall swear by the temple swereth by it and by him that dwelleth therein and he that shall swear by heaven Swereth by the throne of God and by him to sit it there on what is Jesus saying? Look doesn't matter what you swear if you swear by the temple by the gold still swearing If you swear on earth if you swear in heaven, it's still swearing God forbids you to swear Let your yay be yay and your Navy name don't make oaths. Don't swear at all. Okay Whereas they're saying well, let's just put these stipulations to it. Don't swear You know if you do it by the temple not a big deal It's just that if you do it by the gold if you do it by the altar not a big deal But if there's a gift on the altar, then it's a big deal. Why is it that they're so interested on the On the they're so interested in the gold and the gift because of the fact that they are filled with covetousness Okay It's what they're striving to get now go to Revelation chapter 22 If you would go to Revelation chapter 22 hold your place there in Matthew chapter 23 Do we see a pattern here with the Pharisees and money, you know? They're constantly trying to make these stipulations and rules and Commandments so they can benefit benefit from it Financially now why is Jesus saying woe unto you scribes and Pharisees because of these things Well, look what it says in Revelation 22 and verse number 18 This is for I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto the plagues and unto him the plagues that are written in this book the Bible says Well, you said well that's referring just to the book of Revelation. No, it could it could be applicable to the entire Bible You know God has somewhat of a sense of humor It's like all you want to add to my word that I'm gonna add to you the plagues of Egypt Okay and this is why Jesus is condemning them because of the fact that when someone adds to the Word of God and There's especially if they're doing it for self-gain if they're trying to receive something from it some unjust gain from it You know that person is reprobate. Okay This person is a wicked person and they are reprobate The Bible goes on to say if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written In this book now, wouldn't you say that there's people in hell today? They did not add to or take away from the Bible, right? So this is obviously is a pretty strong damnation and condemnation to those who do Now keep in mind these Pharisees they were teaching this this is part of their traditions. Okay now Go with me if you would to Go to John chapter 12 John chapter number 12 This wasn't a problem that first started off in the New Testament This was already like in the Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah where you had the religious leaders The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 6 that from the least of them even to the greatest of them Everyone is given to covetousness from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely The following chapter in chapter number 7 says that they were saying this Trust ye not in lying words saying the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord are these Did they really care about the temple? Absolutely not what they cared for was the gold the gifts that were in the temple because of their covetousness They were just using the temple and the altar as a cloak Okay, they're basically using the church as a read as a means to make money Now a good example of this bad example, but a good example of a bad example would be Judas Iscariot, right? Look what it says in verse number one of John chapter 12 It says then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was which had been dead whom he raised from the dead There they made him a supper and Martha served but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard very costly and Anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment Then saith one of his disciples Judas Iscariot Simon's son, which should betray him Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said not that he cared for the poor But because he was a thief and had the back and bear what was put therein So he's using the poor as a cloak to basically get the money that was that Mary was giving right? Just as the Pharisees were using the temple or the altar, you know As a means to basically get the gift and the gold the same thing is what Judas is doing here Judas is basically a Pharisee in a sense, you know, they have that same characteristic where they're covetous they're using this cloak of you know, a Good deed and all in order to get something from the innocent the Bible tells us in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 You don't have to turn there in verse number 5 for neither at any time use we flattering words as you know Nor a cloak of covetousness God is witness, you know, why don't you say that's a that's a flattering word to say because we think of flattery Flattery is often, you know complimenting you and said it's an insincere compliment to get something from you You know, but the Bible also talks about flattering the Lord, right? We said all the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord But in actuality you're using flattery in order to get the gold that goes into that temple understand Very wicked. Okay, go back to Matthew 23 Matthew 23 if you would so they're adding to the Word of God, okay Look what it says in verse 23. Look. Let's look at the fifth. Whoa He says won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the way to your matters of the law Judgment mercy and faith these ought you to have done and not to leave the other Undone you blind guides with strain and a nap and swallow a camel now. What is it that's being done here? Well, they're basically telling you what's important in the Bible and what's not Right there say well, it's important to tithe You know, it's like churches today All they want to talk about is tithing The sermons on tithing is tithing month. It's the giving month, you know before the guy comes up to pray for the service He talks about money Before you know when the ushers come down and take the offering they're talking about money they want you to tithe of Mint and anise and cumin, but they really omit the way to your matters of the law Don't do they not now look tithing is important. Amen We should always tithe because it's commanded of God, but you know what? Let me say this I'll tell you what's important to the man of God is what he's always talking about And if he's constantly talking about money constantly talk about tithing constantly talk about your so-called free will offering even though he's like guilt-tripping you into giving You know, obviously what's in his heart is money and Because he's constantly emphasizing that eventually he's gonna omit the way to your matters of the law I mean think about churches today where all they talk about is money, but they don't they never talk about judgment They don't want to talk about you judging people or what the Bible says about judgment what the Bible says about God's wrath Injustice and judgment. They're omitting that and they tell the people. Well, we need to be balanced You know, it's just like they tell us God is love it's like well God is judgment too you see what God did Yeah, but that's God You know, it's like well You know Jesus went into the temple of the money with the money changers and overthrew the tables and made a whip and everything Yeah, but that's Jesus You know, we have to be the type of Jesus the part of Jesus. That's only loving and Compassionate we can't get angry, you know, what are they doing? They're omitting The way to your matters of Jesus They're what you would say called cherry picking. All right, well they say well this attribute of Jesus is important It's the one that we should emulate but not this one because that's that's that's Jesus only he can do something like that We're not allowed to to act like that. We're not allowed to talk like that You know when we talk about preaching and we're foaming at the mouth and we're preaching hard and preaching hard against sin Well often say well, you know, that's how the prophets of the Old Testament were like, yeah, but that's the prophets You know, we need to speak the truth and love You know We need to make sure that we are kind and compassionate and try not to scare people away and try to do this and that But you know, they're they're they're judging the Word of God They are basically saying this is the standard Whereas the Apostle Paul said for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God No matter how sweet or how bitter it is, right? They have become the standard of what is important and what is not, you know, God told Jeremiah Diminish not a word No one they say we use cuss words You know We cuss beyond the pulpit because we say bastard and piss and hell and damn and they're like, oh you can't say it's like It's in the Bible. Yeah, but God's couldn't say that Not you know, you know the the Jesus can say these things, you know, the prophets can say these things But you should not say this according to who the Bible says to preach all the counsel of God you know all scriptures given by inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine for approved for correction and Instruction in righteousness the Bible says okay So and Jesus basically tells them these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone So what does it say we need to be balanced we need to have both Don't say that only tithing is important But the law judgment faith and mercy is not both of them are important The problem with the Pharisees is they're saying one is more important than the other because of the fact that they're benefiting from that which is In regards to tithing etc. Okay Go with me if you would to let's see here go to Jeremiah chapter 9 Jeremiah chapter number 9 So what do we see about these Pharisees man? They were corrupting the Word of God They were basically rejecting the commandment of God so they can keep their own tradition and their traditions What their traditions were were just filled they were filled with caveats for the Word of God You know these caveats where it's like well, yeah, that's what the Bible says But if you do this You can kind of circumvent that commandment and not be punished for it and still be able to keep the traditions of man Okay, and That's what some churches will do. Well, look what the Bible says about in Jeremiah 9 24 But him that glorieth let him glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness judgment and Righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight sayeth the Lord So the Bible's telling us the person who understands and knows God understands and knows lovingkindness Judgment and righteousness. Okay now go back to Matthew 23, Matthew 23 Matthew chapter 23 So, why is he giving them these walls? Why is he saying won't you scribes and hypocrites? Well because of the fact they're adding to the Word of God. They're omitting from the Word of God They're just they got their own agenda going and they're trying to get God's Word to fit their agenda So that they can consume it upon their own lusts Okay, now let's look at the sixth woe here it says here in verse number 25 Well into you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within They're full of extortion and excess thou blind Pharisee cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter That the outside of them may be clean also now the fine irony You know, Jesus said Luke 18 11 the Pharisees are excuse me the when he's telling the parable It says the Pharisees stood and prayed that's within himself. God. I thank thee that I am NOT as other men are extortioners Unjust adulterers or even as this publican. So what is this Pharisee doing? He's basically portraying what he is Right because when you read the Gospels the Pharisees were actually guilty of all these things, right, right They're guilty of extortion by devouring widows houses and using their position Pushing their way to basically get money. They're unjust. They're adulterers. Why because they're always looking for a reason to divorce Wicked people, okay so they're full of extortion and excess and Why is it that they that Jesus is saying that they're full of extortion and excess well go through view What's a map Mark chapter 7? Let's look at an example of this mark chapter 7 Mark chapter number 7 Extortion is referring to the fact that they were using their religious position to basically take advantage of other people, okay Excess because they were basically gluttons. They wanted, you know, they had eyes full of adultery They were laden with sins. Okay, they were just filled with excess Let's look at an example of this. Look at mark 7 verse 7 It says in verse 7 how be it in vain do they worship me? Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men for laying aside the commandment of God Ye hold the tradition of men as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things you do and He said unto them full well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition So now he's gonna give us an example of this What he's saying is this look you are completely rejecting the Bible and you're doing it So you can still keep your little oral Talmudic Talmudic tradition says in verse number 10 He gives us an example for Moses said honor thy father and thy mother and who so curseth father or mother Let him die to death. So we know that to be true The Bible says that you know It's the first commandment give him a promise that we may live long in the earth is we should honor our father and mother Now what does honoring mean? Well To honor someone often we think of it's just having a proper reverence respect for someone, you know Just having the right type of attitude or perspective about someone just honoring them or showing them reverence But it's also synonymous with giving of your resources to that person. Okay, you know This is why God says we should honor our father and mother because of the fact that as our parents get older and they're incapable Of working they don't have the finances to pay for their bills to pay for their food or whatever Maybe the responsibility falls upon us as their children to take care of them, right? You know, we ought to take care of our parents and offer that to them You know if they're incapable of doing so I try to do that for my mom, you know I came from a single-parent home and my mom lives by herself and I always tell her look you can always Come and live with me. I'll take care of you. You won't have to pay rent. You don't have to pay for groceries I want to do the best to basically honor my mom as much as I possibly can You know, and that's a commandment from God. You said why do you do that? Well, because that's good insurance Amen that I should live long on the earth, right? So we know that honoring is synonymous with with giving because if you think of the proper chapter 3 It says trust in the Lord with all thine heart lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him He shall direct thy paths and it says honor the Lord with thy what? Substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase and if we don't take care of those of our own household The Bible says that we're worse than an infidel. We have denied the faith That's not only referring to our wives and our children as referring to our parents as well Because the Bible says here that we should honor them. Okay so he says Moses said honor thy father and thy mother and who so cursed father or mother let him die the death but You Say if a man shall say to his father or mother it is Corbin That is to say a gift by what's over thou mightest be profited by me. He shall be free And he suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition which he have delivered as many such like things you do So what is the same? Yeah, you know the law of Moses says you should provide for your parents However, there's a little caveat to this, you know There's a little way you can circumvent that that commandment there where you're not gonna suffer the consequences You can still live long on the earth Got yourself that insurance still and this is what you do the resources that you were going to give to your parents you can give it to the temple and You just say it is Corbin. It's a gift. It's for the Lord Right, and he says it is Corbin has to say a gift by what's over that mightest be profited by me He shall be free So in other words if you take that what you're supposed to give to your parents and you give it to me I mean to the temple You can be free from the consequences of disobeying that commandment. Okay. Now, this is wicked Because he's basically saying don't take care of your parents You know, hey, that's a large sum of money. You got the what are you gonna do with that? They're just like I'm gonna give this to my parents. They need help It's like well, why don't you just not give it to your parents and give it to the temple. Just say it is Corbin Or it's like why don't you just give it to the temple? It's like well because I need to provide for my parents the Bible says honor thy father and thy mother And they're just like well, here's a little caveat. Just say this Corbin It's a gift and you're not gonna suffer the consequences of it. This is very evil. It's very wicked. Okay He says and he shall suffer him no more to do odd So they basically make the Word of God of none effect through their tradition their tradition made exceptions so as to fulfill their own desires and Lusts, okay, like man, that's really bad. Yeah, but you know what people still do that today Let me give you an example You have churches where the Bible clearly says in John chapter 4 make not my house a house of merchandise I'm not gonna deny that it's in the Bible They're like don't make the house of God a house of merchandise and then this is a what about the bookstore Well, that's different because it's a Christian books Christian CDs Christian books. This is the exception to the rule it is Corbin you Know it's just like yeah, but I thought we weren't supposed to sell anything in the house of God Yeah, but it's different we sell this so we can put it back into the building So we could put it back into the work of God so we could buy tracks and all these things. It is Corbin So what do they do? They make the Word of God of none effect through their tradition because they learned that from some Bible college. It's home to do that You know, they learned that from some traditional independent fundamental Baptist greedy a filthy Luke or pastor Who taught him to do that? So we think of like, you know, the Pharisees they came up with this, but it's still being practiced even today Where they say well can't make the house of God the house of merchandise and they criticize they'll even criticize, you know independent bookstores Then have you know books and maybe they might have Catholic books and Mormon books and Christian books But yay, they still have bookstores in their church Selling this Material and it's like hey, I thought you weren't supposed to do that It's just like yeah, but they're Christian so it's different. We put a Christian label. It is Corbin. It's a gift Therefore we're not going to suffer the consequences of turning the house of God into a house of merchandise You know because it's different it has a Christian label on it People still do that. Okay How about this that you know, they'll say they're they're against sheep stealing Right Like oh you shouldn't do that That's wrong And how can your church be built off of other people's sheep and all this stuff and it's like well, don't you have a Bible college? They're like, well, that's Corbin That's different. We're training them for the ministry That's different. It's like don't you have people flying from all over the country? Don't they like come to your church? Don't you don't they start tiding to your church? Don't they serve in your ministry these people from different local smaller churches right smaller churches you take the labors from their churches their sheep and most of the time those students actually end up staying there because They like being in a big church or whatever it may be and it's just like they ended up transferring their membership Isn't that sheep stealing pastor and they're like, well, no it is Corbin It's a Bible college Corbin Baptist Bible College Right, it's Corbin. We're training them for the ministry. This is different Or it's just like they preach against going to university They preach against you know, putting your kids in the public fool system, but it's like well, don't you have a Christian school? It is like yeah, but it's Corbin though It's Corbin. It's it's a Christian school. It's a lot different Okay, so what are they doing? They're making they're basically Rejecting the commandment of God So they can keep their own tradition Okay, so this is still this concept is still alive and well amongst even independent fundamental Baptist churches You have pastors who basically like they will preach against fornication. No, do you think you asked them? Like what do you think about fornication? It's wrong. It's sinful. It's like don't you have like a bunch of fornicators in your church? And they're like, it's Corbin. We got to disciple them. We got to like help them out We got to let them stay and grow how long does that take three four or five six years or whatever, you know? It's like well, would you allow your children to do something like that? Oh, no, absolutely not Then why do you allow your members to do that because it is Corbin It is Corbin. Okay Corbin Baptist Church, so when we say Corbin what I'm referring to is this is the exception To the rule. Okay, and look the only person who can make an exception for God's Word is God himself And look you see sometimes in the Bible that God will make exceptions for certain things Okay, it's very rare and you often use it to prove a point or to illustrate a biblical truth But you know what at that point? Yeah, it is only God who can make that exception. Okay Not yourself. Not anybody else, you know, and so we see this practice even today You know, they try to circumvent the Word of God and God's commandments in order to fulfill their desires and what they want You know, I guarantee you there's no church. No old IV Church than that's Criticizing YouTube and live-streaming today Right. Oh, you just got a YouTube industry. Well, what do you got now? right Well, you know Corbin coronavirus Corbin right Coronavirus Corbin. Okay. This is the exception to the rule Criticizing pastors new IP preachers like oh, you know You guys are just a bunch of internet pastors and you upload your service to YouTube and you just got a YouTube ministry What do you got now? This is different This Corbin, you know the coronavirus you expect us to meet and stuff like that and look I know the churches even in our movement who are not meeting and praise God for that let them do that But you know what? I'm talking about the old IFP churches who criticize Pastors like pastor Anderson pastor Jimenez myself or whoever because we have these online ministries Which we don't even call it on and we just call it uploading our sermons Okay, and they're like, oh, you know you just put in there hey well now guess what I guarantee you you're uploading Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday Thursday night because of your Corbin tradition, right What I'm saying is this is that the the reason God is Condemning these people is because of the fact that they really don't care about the commandments of God They just want to fulfill their desires and they want to circumvent They want to find the loopholes using their tradition so they can still keep doing what they're doing still live in excess and riot unruly just being Extortioners and still kind of like be within the confines of God's Word. Well, you're completely rejecting it Okay Let's look at the seventh one go to go to Matthew 23 in verse 27 He says here in verse 27 won't use scribes and Pharisees hypocrites For ye are like unto whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward But are within full of dead men's bones and all and of all uncleanness even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity Again what we reiterated earlier, which is basically they have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof now Just look at the last one and we're pretty much done Look at verse 29 won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous And say this is funny if we had been the days of our fathers We would have not been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves That ye are the children of them which killed the prophets fill ye up then the measure of your fathers She's like, well you just go you just went ahead and condemned yourself. You just Condemned yourself confess yourself. Do you belong to the people who actually killed the prophets? so this is the last condemnation that he gives them and What is the combination that he's giving them? He's basically saying By the words that shall be justified and by the words that shall be condemned Because you're admitting That you are the generation of them which killed the prophets and you know The the prophets that God sent unto his people now. This is very common with the Jews folks They have no problem whatsoever passing on their iniquity to the coming generations because what do the Jews say when they're about to crucify Jesus his blood be on us and our children man His blood referring to Jesus and they're not talking about like, you know, let his blood be upon us as in like cleanse us Like we'll be guilty of that His blood be on us and our children And look I'm Gary I guarantee you this is what the fathers of these people of these Pharisees were saying when they were killing the prophets of them of old time Like his blood be on us and on our children We don't care and look you talk to any modern-day rabbi They are not ashamed that the Jews killed Jesus I'm not ashamed of it. They just don't like it when you talk about it They just don't like it that you blame them for it, but they're not ashamed of it at all They're not ashamed to say that they don't like Jesus or they you know to say that he deserved it that he was a heretic That he you know was some heretic who died because he was trying to cause Some revolt against the government. They're not ashamed to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ Why because the blood of Jesus is still on them? Right, they're still guilty of the blood of Christ. And this is why Let me turn there in Matthew 23 He says in verse number 35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel Who's responsible for slain Abel Cain right Cain was the one responsible so Cain sin and iniquity was put on their account Think about that for a second just as the righteousness of Jesus Christ who existed who was on this earth 2,000 years ago His blood is put to our account so that we may be saved The bloodshed The guilt of King for shedding it the blood of his brother Abel is put on the account of the Pharisees and the Jews And anybody whosoever will Whosoever hates Jesus whosoever wants to blaspheme his name whosoever wants to reject Jesus Christ and deny that Jesus is the Christ Guess what? The blood of righteous Abel shall come upon them as well And it says righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barakas whom ye slew Between the temple and the altar, isn't that interesting? They didn't even exist when this guy was alive and yet he said whom ye slew Just like when Paul's preaching he talks about whom the Jews slew and delivered up You know These these people are basically just as guilty and responsible for the death of Christ as the ones who actually physically delivered him up This is how serious God takes this. Okay, so He says look you can build the tombs and you garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, but you're the ones responsible For his death just as your fathers were responsible. Now. What does this remind me of? Well reminds you of like Baptist pastors today Were they like, you know, I remember in Bible college. They had this class called biographies of great men Okay, and they would talk about all these hardcore Baptists from back in the day and they're like man We're just we want to be just like them and you know, they even had awards like how many have ever heard of J Frank Norris That dude was hardcore He was as gangster as they come. Okay, you know, we're talking about the guy who basically Scooped up brains from a car accident from a from a drunk driving accident took us to took it to his church and preached against alcohol Talk about J. Frank Norris who shot a man in his office you know the guy came because you know, J Frank Norris was was calling out his Political buddy and he's like go take care of that guy so that guy came to J Frank's Norris office and was threatening J Frank Norris and J Frank Norris told him to get out the guy reaching his pocket. He's like reaching in your pocket. I'm gonna shoot you and The guy just reached in there and J Frank Norris pulled out the gun from his from his desk You know and just capped the dude shot him right in the stomach and killed the guy and he was acquitted too Talk about J Frank Norris who basically he he would put in those days They would put he pastor two of the biggest churches in America at that time mega churches and he would put billboards You know where people would go and train because he would travel back and forth through trains and he put billboards to say, you know I'm gonna reveal, you know five adulterers of this bank People men who are cheating on their wives or whatever, you know Come hear the sermon tonight because I'm gonna call him out by name And people would flock to his church to go listen to and then right before service He would have a couple bankers come up to and say please don't say that It's me, you know, cuz every banker during that time was involved in that. I mean this guy was crazy. So today you have Christian schools who will even have the J. Frank Norris award, you know for the these these academic Students who do well in school you get the J. Frank Norris award because you're so zealous about your academics They have the Jack Howes Award But here's the thing. They build the tomb of the prophets they garnish them with awards But here's the thing We're just like them But yet they hate us You know, we seek to preach I mean Are you gonna make an award called the Bruce Mahir award? I think not I tro not You know J. Frank Norris was he was using slot before like I mean back in in the 1920s bunch of slots You know just ripping face and they're like, oh, yeah, you know J. Frank Norris That's who we want to be like at the zeal and it's just like well, we have the spirit of J. Frank Norris You just you you just you're just a hate preacher that's what they call J. Frank Norris back in the day That's what they called brother Hiles. That's what they call Jesus. That's what they call John the Baptist You know, it's funny how they uplift these prophets of old like John the Baptist who preached against the political rules of that day Hey, you know wild honey and locusts and yet, you know, they criticize us it's basically what we see here and They'll say like if we had been to the days of our fathers We wouldn't have you know gone against J. Frank Norris. We wouldn't have gone against Jack Hiles It's like you're admitting that you're part of the people you're part of the problem. You are the children of the weakling compromising pastors of those days You're admitting that you're just like them, okay So, you know, they'll say well, you know the pastors the the Christians of the ancient Baptist world of Europe We would just be just like them. It's like no you wouldn't you would hate to have those people in your church Cuz we're like the embodiment of those people You know, we had that spirit of Elijah We preach just like they preach we seek to do great exploits and be Controversial just like they were and you don't like us you think you're gonna like them Your witnesses unto yourselves that you are the children of them that criticize those prophets They criticize and you know set all manner of evil against them, you know I'm sure there's people back in those days. Oh, you know, you shouldn't talk like that. No, you're not that the Pharisees were mad You know at your saying You were with them you were put you that those are your father's spiritually speaking Okay So this is why he's condemning them for this and that's my last point So what do we see with Matthew 23 and the woes of the scribes and the Pharisees? Well, this is a pretty hot sermon here. Okay, and I'm sure Jesus didn't have any protection You know, he was just kind of letting it rip in front of all the scribes and Pharisees because he's bold as a lion He's the lion of the tribe of Judah and he's telling it like it is, you know Let's give heed not only to the delivery of this wonderful sermon But let's give heed to even what he's condemning them for because you know some Christians could even be guilty of the things that the Pharisees were guilty of and We need to make sure that we stray from that and not be a part of that and not be Coupled in with the compromising pastors of you know today and and seek to criticize, you know, hardcore pastors I remember my pastor used to say this pastor Esposito used to say this He says I will never criticize another pastor who's further to the right than I am He's like I just hope I can be just like that he gives me something to strive for He says if there's someone who's a Baptist pastor who's more hardcore than I am. I'm not gonna criticize that man You know, I want to I'm gonna let that man challenge me is what he used to say All that we would have pastors today that would have such an attitude. Amen Spire has another word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word. Thank you Lord Jesus for giving us a great example of what a hot sermon is and just Letting it rip and and getting all those false prophets and thank you so much for putting those characteristics in Matthew 23 so we can watch out for people like this and pastors like this and Leaders like this that we would not turn a blind eye to these attributes, but we would give heed to them and help us Lord to be leery of people like that and to be alert and Lord I pray father God that we would never be the type of people that would ever criticize another pastor for his strong stance And maybe they're further to the right than even we are. Amen to that May they challenge us and help us to become better and I pray Lord that you bless us as we go on our way Please Lord continue to protect our church From even the coronavirus Lord. I know people make light of that. But the reality is is that Our life is in your hands and our health and we can do everything we can in our part But at the end of the day safety is of the Lord We pray you place a hedge of protection about our city here in Omani But also about our church and our end of the individuals within the church That you would protect us and help us to continue to meet as long as we possibly can We love you Lord, and we thank you pray these things in Jesus name. Amen