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🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 🎵Piano Music🎵 Hey man, welcome to First Works Baptist Church. We're gonna get started with song number 245 as you find your seats. Song number 245, thank you all for being here this morning. And let's all stand together for our first song. Song number 245, the old account was settled. We'll see it on that first verse, there was a time on earth, sing it out. 🎵There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven🎵 🎵An old account was standing for sins yet unforgived🎵 🎵My name was at the top with many things below🎵 🎵I went unto the keeper and settled long ago, long ago, long ago🎵 🎵I guess the old account was settled long ago🎵 🎵The record's clear today for he washed my sins away🎵 🎵When the old account was settled long ago🎵 🎵The old account was large and growing every day🎵 🎵For I was always sinning and never tried to pay🎵 🎵But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and hope🎵 🎵I said that I would settle, I settled long ago, long ago, long ago🎵 🎵And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away🎵 🎵When the old account was settled long ago🎵 🎵When in that happy home, my savior's home above🎵 🎵I'll sing redemption's story and praise him for his love🎵 🎵I'll not forget that book with pages wide as tall🎵 🎵Because I came and settled, and settled long ago, long ago, long ago🎵 🎵Yes, the old account was settled long ago🎵 🎵And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away🎵 🎵When the old account was settled long ago🎵 🎵Oh, sin or trust the Lord, be cleanse of all your sin🎵 🎵For thus he hath provided for you to enter in🎵 🎵And then if you should live a hundred years below🎵 🎵Up there you'll not regret it🎵 🎵You settled long ago, long ago, long ago🎵 🎵Yes, the old account was settled long ago🎵 🎵And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away🎵 🎵When the old account was settled long ago🎵 Hey man, wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear godly father, we thank you so much to God for every soul that made it to church this morning. Lord God, I do pray that you please just have a special blessing for them as well. And I pray that also, Lord God, for the people that weren't able to make it today, I pray that you would please just be with them, Lord God, if they're sick, Lord God, I pray that you would please just heal them. And Lord, I pray that you would please just be with us today, Lord God, that you would please help us, Lord God, to sing unto you. And I pray that you would also just be with the preaching of your word, Lord God, most of all. I pray that you would please just fill our pasture with the Holy Spirit, Lord God, guide them through the scriptures, Lord heavenly father. And I pray that you would please also just be with us, help us to be attentive, Lord God, help us to take the message to heart. And I pray that you would please just bless us for it now. In Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. Song number 246, Redeemed. Just a page over. Song number 246. Song number 246, Redeemed. Sing it on that first verse. Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed through his invented mercy, His child and forever I am. Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus, No language can ever tell, I know that the light of his presence With me doth continually dwell. Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am. I think of my blessed Redeemer, I think of him all the day long, I sing for I cannot be silent, His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am. I know I shall see in his beauty, The King in whose law I delight, Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps, And giveth me song in the night. Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, Redeemed, Redeemed, His child and forever I am. 397, if you want to get that ready in your songbooks. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand. One of the ushers can get one for you. Important information on there, of course. Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 10, 30 Sunday evening, 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. We are currently going through the book of Matthew in the New Testament. So we hope to see you there for our midweek service. We are a family integrated church and so infants and children stay with their parents in the service. But for your convenience, we do have a mother baby room located in the back of the building. Should your child need some diversion there, there are changing tables available as well as screens and speakers. So you can still tune into the preaching. And then today is the first Sunday of the month. And so we're going to celebrate the birthday breakfast, or excuse me, the birthday is for the month of April. And we had the birthday breakfast there in the back. I think we did have donuts, right? I didn't get a chance to check. Were the donuts good? Are you guys happy? All right, cool. I know we failed you last month. And so I wanted to redeem ourselves for this month. And so whose birthday is in April? And no April Fool's joke either, right? OK, all right, one right here, one there, got one right there, one there, one there. OK, two right here. All right. All right, anybody else? All right, let's sing Happy Birthday to those in April. Here we go. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. All right. Hope you enjoyed those donuts and my solo. All right. And then the next couple of things here, of course, the list of expecting mothers, if you can continue to pray for them. The important reminders there at the bottom. And then, of course, the upcoming church events next Sunday. Starting upon us is our Easter service. Hey, man, that'll be on the ninth. We will be having a breakfast potluck prior to the service in the morning. So you can show up nice and early with your with your visitors to get some good breakfast. And then there will be an Easter egg hunt after the service as well. You can see my wife for details regarding the Easter egg hunt or brother Ulysses Hernandez. I want to encourage you to bring your family, friends, co-workers. We want to break attendance that day, of course. But most importantly, we want to get a lot of people saved. And so, Lord willing, we'll see a lot of people believe on the Lord Jesus Christ next Sunday and possibly maybe even some baptisms as well. And so please pray for our Easter service that we'd have a great, great service. Looking forward to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Monday, May 1st is the Barstow zoning that resumes. And if you want to participate in that, you can see brother Ulysses Hernandez for more details. And then the end of school picnic is coming up on Tuesday, May 30th. The regular reminders there at the bottom. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. And that is it. Let's go and sing our next song. Song number 397. Little as much when God is in it. Song number 397. Song number 397. Little as much when God is in it. Sing it on that first verse. In the harvest, heal now, ripen. There's a work for all to do. Hark the voice of God is calling. To the harvest calling you. Little as much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll go in Jesus' name. Does the place your call to labor seem so small? And little know it is great if God is in it. And he'll not forget his hope. Little as much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll go in Jesus' name. Are you laid aside from service? Body worn from toil and care. You can still be in the battle. In the sacred place of care. Little as much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll go in Jesus' name. When the conflict here has ended. And our face on earth is blood. He will say to all the faithful. Welcome home my child of God. Little as much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll go in Jesus' name. Amen. Wonderful singing at this time. Our ushers will be receiving the offering. Please turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 16. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Good evening. We're in Luke chapter 16 this morning. And the chapter reads And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man which had a steward and the same which accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee, that thou mayst count thy stewardship, thou mayst be no longer a steward? And the steward said within himself, What shall I do, for my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship I cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his Lord's debtors unto him and said unto the first, How much oil is thou unto my Lord? And he said unto him, A hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill and sit down quickly and write fifty. And said he to another, And how much oil is thou? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill and write fourscore. And the Lord commanded the unjust steward, because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is not unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust to true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. And at first he also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves or men? But God knoweth your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, comitteth dultry, and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, comitteth dultry. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fed sumptuously every day. There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, and full of sores. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and said, Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and in thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence, to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. He said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would have sent him to my father's house, for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the King James Bible dear God. We thank you for this wonderful church you've given us. We thank you for our pastor, and please bless him as he preaches your word unto us this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, we're in Luke chapter 16 this morning, and look down at your Bibles in verse 14. Excuse me, it says in verse 14, And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things, and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. And the title of my sermon this morning is What a Pharisee is and isn't. What a Pharisee is and what a Pharisee isn't. You know, this phrase or this word, this title Pharisee is often thrown around a lot and quite frankly, it's weaponized against fundamental Christians. It's weaponized against Baptists in general where other Christians or other type of denominations will point to pastors like myself or churches like ours and say, Well, you guys are just a Pharisaical church. You're a Pharisee because of X, Y, and Z. And this narrative is pushed so much nowadays that people basically don't even go to the Bible to confirm if that's true or not. They just believe it. They just think, Well, yeah, they're judgmental or they do these particular or have these particular attributes and characteristics and therefore they're a bunch of Pharisees. But I want to clarify for you this morning what a Pharisee actually is and what a Pharisee isn't. And we're going to look at the Word of God this morning. We're going to look at some of the characteristics of the Pharisees and really see, does that fit our church? Does that fit our doctrine? Does that fit me or you? And who truly in 2023 really fits the bill of being a Pharisee? Now, before we get into the actual attributes and characteristics of a Pharisee, let's talk about what are they, period? Where do they come from? Because when you look at a Pharisee in the Bible or a Sadducee, it's not necessarily an office that's clearly described in the Bible. There's no office designated by God as being a Pharisee. People aren't ordained as Pharisees. You don't see them or this particular office or position being talked about in the Old Testament, for example. It's not like the offices of the Pharisees or the Sadducees are something that's instituted by God. They just kind of pop out of nowhere. You're reading the Old Testament, you finish up with Malachi, you get into Matthew, and all of a sudden these Pharisees are there. And it's not like, hey, they're there propagating the Word of God, they're preaching the Bible, getting souls saved. They automatically start off on a bad note. You basically see immediately that they are wicked, they're evil, they're going against Jesus Christ, they're going against John the Baptist, they're essentially in opposition to the true religion of the Bible. And we see that not only that, but they adhere to a false religion known as Judaism, and ultimately we see that they're the ones responsible for crucifying Jesus Christ. So the Bible doesn't paint the Pharisees in a good picture. Now obviously, let me make this disclaimer, not every single Pharisee in the Bible was wicked, not every single Pharisee in the Bible was a bad person, and in fact, the Bible records many Pharisees believing on Jesus Christ. Believing on him, getting saved, and obviously they're kind of wimpy about it though, because after they got saved they didn't want to confess him openly for fear of the Jews, they didn't want to get put out of the synagogues, so they definitely respect our people, but hey, some of them got saved, they believed on Jesus Christ, whereas you have others on the opposite side of that spectrum that were not children of God, and in fact, Jesus Christ himself said of them, ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father will ye do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth. And then he basically condemns them, calling them a generation of vipers, and things of that nature. And you think to yourself, well, you know, people try to use that verse to talk about Jews just in general, that was only directed towards the Pharisees, but let me just say that that title was given to the Pharisees, yes, who were the propagators of Judaism, but also to those who were following Judaism who agreed with them, because he calls them the children of the devil, but then you go to Revelation 2 and 3, and he basically says the same exact thing. He calls them of the synagogue of Satan, those who say they are Jews and are not, so on and so forth. And so, they're not necessarily painted in a good light, is what I'm trying to say. They're not the heroes of the story, they're definitely the antagonist of the New Testament, and even after Jesus Christ is crucified, he resurrects and ascends to be with God the Father, they're still around causing trouble for the Christians of the New Testament. I mean, throughout the book of Acts, the main enemy of the Gospel were the Pharisees. They were compassing land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, he is made two-fold more a child of hell than themselves, the Bible says. They followed the Apostle Paul to Thessalonica, to Athens, all over Greece to try to subvert the converts of that area. And one of the biggest things that we see in the New Testament is the Apostle Paul preaching against the Pharisees, even though at one point he was a Pharisee. Albeit he was unsaved, but he got saved and forsook that office and forsook that way of believing once he got saved, but we see him writing a letter to Titus, just completely ripping on the Pharisees and talking about how they're false prophets, so on and so forth. So, obviously, you know, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, if you've read the Bible, you know that the Pharisees are just not good people, right? Now, let's talk about this for a minute before we get into the actual characteristics. Where do they come from? We don't see them in the Bible other than in the book of Matthew and the Gospels and thereafter already in Israel, just carrying out the work of the devil, so to speak. But where do they come from? Well, when you actually research the history and the origins of the Pharisees, there's not a whole lot out there that can really validate or confirm their exact origin, okay? It's not like at this point in time is when the Pharisees rose up and, you know, and they started leading Israel or something like that. All we can do is essentially speculate based upon historical events and when they became prominent in Israel, okay? Now, what took place is that in the Old Testament, let me just give you a little bit of a historical background of Israel when it comes to the Pharisees and possibly where they came from. In the Bible, you have the children of Israel as usual, you know, forsaking the God of the Bible, serving false gods, really displeasing the Lord, and God had already warned them over and over again, hey, if you do this, I'm going to allow a foreign nation to come over and take you over, take you into captivity and punish you. I mean, this is something that the prophets would constantly talk about, constantly preach about, and of course, they didn't listen. And so what you have is the children of Israel going into Babylonian captivity at the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar, okay? Which is a pretty prominent character in the Bible, right? We know about King Nebuchadnezzar. And they go into captivity from 597 to 593 BC, that's when they're in that Babylonian captivity, okay? So you have King Nebuchadnezzar, he's taking him over, he takes him into captivity, Israel's forsaken, it's left desolate, it's part of their punishment. Well, a little after that, you have King Cyrus who takes over Babylon, and he takes over Babylon, and he permits the Jews to come back to their land, right? And so he permits them to come back to the land, rebuild the temple, with the exception of there wasn't going to be a king there, okay? Because obviously previous to the Babylonian captivity, you had kings ruling over Israel as instituted by God, but obviously part of the punishment was that they weren't going to have that anymore because too many bad kings were rising up, doing their own thing, causing the children of Israel to err, worship false gods, etc. So King Cyrus allows them to come back, no king, okay? They can rebuild the second temple, and so what you have here is a vacuum of leadership, okay? Because although you have this foreign king known as Cyrus from afar, when it comes to what was taking place there in Jerusalem, you didn't really have necessarily a spiritual authority who's ruling over the people. So what happened was the priests essentially, by default, became the leaders, okay? And even when they were in Babylon, when they're in Babylon, because they don't have a centralized place of worship of the temple, that's how synagogues were created, okay? Because they needed specific areas to worship in, so they created these synagogues. Now, synagogue simply means an assembly, okay? You know, you think of church being a called out assembly, a synagogue is simply an assembly. The difference is, it's just filled with unsafe people, okay? And so, you had all these synagogues, they would gather there, they would worship there, and so that's where that practice came from. But when Cyrus allowed them to come back, they rebuilt the temple, there's a vacuum of leadership, and therefore you have these priests, particularly of the sons of Zadok, the high priests, who became what's known as the Sadducees, okay? Because they came from Zadok, right? Now, you have this taking place, but then in later on down the road, about 4th century BC, around there, circa 4th century BC, you have Antiochus Epiphanes essentially taking over and kind of dismantling the temple there and removing things, and what you have is what's known as the Maccabean Revolt, where a lot of the Israelites basically rose up and they wanted to be separate from whatever culture or doctrines or institutions that Antiochus was putting forth, so on and so forth, and that's why they say possibly is where the Pharisees came from, because Pharisee means separated ones, okay? Now, here's my opinion of potentially where they actually came from. They came from Babylon, because what I believe is taking place is that when they go into Babylon, they're there for a really long time, the Babylonians begin to intermingle with the Israelites, along with their belief systems, their customs, and then they come back, right? After King Cyrus releases them and brings them back, builds the temple, then you have this group of apostate Jews coming back to Israel, emphasizing what's known as the oral law, not necessarily the written law, but the oral law, and essentially they're the ones accredited for the Talmud, also known as the what? Babylonian Talmud. So in my opinion, because when you look, it's just like, where do these people come from? Like, who are you? Like, Pharisee? What is that? Well, it's an institution that was not set forth by God. They're infiltrators. They're infiltrating the nation of Israel, intermingling apostate Jews, who don't have the God of the Bible as their God. They have a false God, because the Babylonians were pagans. Now what happens is you have these Pharisees essentially ruling over the people, and they essentially put themselves forth to be these religious leaders, but also these political leaders. So it was like a political movement with these political ideologies intermingled with the oral tradition that they're promoting, and of course they're claiming that they're of Moses, they're claiming that they've put forth the teachings of Moses, but when you read the New Testament, you see, oh, actually they're lying. You know, we follow Moses, we are of Abraham, they say all these things, but it's all lip service because they don't really believe the law of Moses. And in fact, Jesus said, if you would have believed me, you would have believed Moses because he wrote of me. Essentially saying, the fact that you're rejecting me is proof that you're rejecting Moses, because Moses is on my side, is what he's saying. But they hated Jesus Christ. How do you know they hated Jesus Christ? Because they crucified him. Okay? So you have the Pharisees and the Sadducees already essentially dominating Israel and having an established authority in Israel by the time Christ came, and it's been like that for quite some time, and obviously, you know, they're essentially the precursors to rabbinic Judaism of what we have today. Okay? So all of the Jews of today could essentially accredit the Pharisees of these eras for the creation and the stability of their false religion. And so I want to make it very clear that the Pharisees are not Christians. They're not believers. They're not part of biblical religion, the religion of the Bible. It's an amalgamation of Christianity, or should we say, biblical religion, along with Babylonian religion. And of course, the Talmud is not one specific book. It's about 38 different books that has a bunch of blasphemous things. People will say, well, it's a commentary on the Torah, you know, and it's just supposed to clarify some things, but really, that's a complete lie. Because when you actually research the Torah, you see that it's a very blasphemous book specifically against Jesus Christ. And I'm not going to go over everything that it has because time would not suffice today to just go over every single blasphemous statement made about Jesus Christ. And so that's possibly where they came from. And it's just interesting to me that, you know, you could look at all the offices, biblical offices, in the Bible and you can point to an origin, right, where those offices are found, whether it's the priesthood, whether it's the office of a bishop, a pastor. There's always some sort of origin to it. It's not like it's just sprung out of nowhere from someone's imagination. Because God, when God instituted it, he said this is what's going to take place. Whereas, when it comes to the Pharisees, you don't really find a biblical foundation for it. It took place somewhere in a foreign field with pagans and they integrated into Israel. So that's essentially the origins of the Pharisees. And when you study them in the New Testament, you see that they have a lot of clout within the people. I mean, they have a lot of influence with the common man along with the political leaders. So they're actually given a lot of power. And so that was essentially the norm here. Now go with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter number 7. Of course, we started in Luke 16 just to kind of show here that what Jesus said of them was that they were those who justified themselves before men. And God knew their hearts. They were highly esteemed among men. That means people in Israel viewed them as being people who were important, people who were credible, people who had authority. But when you look at what God thought of them, it's like, oh, they're an abomination in the eyes of God. Look at Matthew chapter 7. Let's give some practical things here now that I just bored you with all that history of the Pharisees. Because we've got to give a balanced diet here, right? I'm sure there's people who would like that. But now we're going to get into the practical ... there's people who are just yawning like, okay, but what are we going to learn today, you know? Alright, first things first, okay? And this is the most obvious one. And that is when people point to you, me, or our church, they'll say we're Pharisees. Why? Because we're being judgmental. So any time we pass judgment on another person, on another church, on a doctrine, one of the quickest things they'll come out with is you're being a Pharisee. How many of you can raise your hand and say that's absolutely true, I've heard that, whether by myself or any other churches, they'll say we're just being judgmental. But let me clarify something. A Pharisee was a hypocrite, not a judgmental person. We need to know the difference between the two. Don't allow people to just call you judgmental, oh you're judging, oh this and that, but they don't even know what the definition of judgment is. And they don't understand that the Pharisees were not guilty of judging, they were guilty of being hypocrites. Now, Matthew chapter 7 is the progressive Christian's favorite verse. Not favorite chapter. We understand the chapter is a chapter, right? But this is their favorite verse, verse 1. Before we read it, let me just say this. You would think if they just get one verse, they would quote it correctly, but they don't even quote that one verse correctly. It's not like they're trying to memorize the entire chapter, it's just one verse. Because how do they quote it? Judge not, lest ye be judged. They don't even bother to go to the Bible to actually see if that's what it says, because that's not what it says. It says in verse 1, judge not that ye be not judged, and then just forget every single verse thereafter. They just stick to that one particular verse there, and oh you're being a Pharisee, you're passing judgment, judge not lest ye be judged. But let's get context. Verse 2 says, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. What is he saying? The same exact judgment that you're dishing out is the same exact judgment that people are going to dish out to you. So you better make sure that you're not guilty of the same sins that you are judging. That make sense? He says, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. Verse 3 gives us an illustration here of how that looks. And why behold the moat that is in thy brother's eye, but consider is not the beam that is in thine own eye? He says, why are you looking at the splinter at your brother's eye, and trying to get him to get that splinter, that fault, that sin, that error out of your brother's eye, but you're not even considering the redwood that's in your eye. So you've got a person here with the redwood in their eye, and they're kind of getting on you for the splinter that's in your eye. We would call that a hypocrite. So if you're guilty of judging others, calling out others, of things that you are guilty of, you're not being judgmental, you're just being a hypocrite. Because folks, the Bible throughout the word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, is filled with God's people judging others. And in fact, there's an entire book called the Book of Judges. You get what I'm saying? It's just like, God's not about numbers. There's an entire book in the Bible called the Book of Numbers. There's an entire book called the Book of Judges. The Bible tells us that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he known for their spiritually discerned. It says that the spiritual judges all things. And in fact, judgment is an attribute that God wants us to have, because he wants us to judge righteously, not judge at all. God's not saying, hey, don't judge anybody, keep your own backyard clean, and make sure you don't expose anything, don't be that way. Wrong, false. Because first and foremost, we have clear statements in the Bible that tells us to judge, but then on top of that, we have examples of prophets, men of God, Jesus, you know people say, what would Jesus do? Jesus would judge. The entire gospels, all four gospels, is a ministry of Jesus' judgment on Israel. Plain and simple. And let's say you just go to the most non-offensive gospel. I would say one of the most offensive gospels is probably Matthew, which we're going to go over on Thursdays. But let's say you go to the most non-offensive one, John. Because John, you know, John the beloved, right? He's very non-offensive, he's kind of a little passive. Wrong, he's not. Because the gospel of John has some of the most condemning things about Israel and Jews, by the mouth of Jesus Christ. So when we look at the example of the Bible when it comes to judgment, God is in favor of judgment. God is in favor of judging others, judging churches, judging sin, because when you have no judge, then every man does that which is right in their own eyes. You have to understand something, folks. You need someone to stand up and say this is wrong. Because if you don't, then you're going to have ten people saying, well I think this is right for me, and what's right for me may not be right for you, and so I think we could just all do, according to the dictates of our own conscience, wrong. There is a standard of right and wrong, my friends. And we often need leadership and people saying this is right and this is wrong. That's called judgment. Whereas the Pharisees were telling the disciples or telling others to keep the law when they themselves would even keep it. That's called being a hypocrite. Now what is the solution to that attitude? Look at verse number four. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the moat out of thine eye, and behold, Abim is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, by the way, Jesus is saying this, by the way. So wouldn't that be considered judgment? He's judging them. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye. So even when it came to the Pharisees, God was still in favor of judgment. Because he's saying, you know what, what you need to do is actually take out that splinter out of your eye, and then you can see clearly and then you can make judgment on X, Y, and Z. You understand? So again, in favor of judgment. Now what's funny is that you'll make a post, preach a sermon, you tell people what you believe about the Bible, and then people will tell you, hey, you're being judgmental. But define irony. Why? Because didn't that person just pass judgment on me? Oh, you're a Pharisee. Well, aren't you... Hey, bro, don't judge. Are you judging me as a Pharisee? You know what, though? But that's being a hypocrite. Go to John chapter 7, if you will, John chapter 7. So Pharisees were not judgmental, they were just a bunch of hypocrites. They weren't judging righteous judgment. He favors judgment. He loves judgment. He's a God of justice. He's a God of loving kindness, but he's also a God who rejoices in judgment. Because this nation, churches, cities, need to be told what is right and what is wrong, my friends, according to the Bible. Look at John chapter 7, verse 19. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? What go ye about to kill me? People answered and said, Thou hast the devil, who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. Moses, therefore, gave unto you circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers, and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken, and are ye angry at me because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment, he's saying. And what he's condemning him for is the fact that they pose upon individuals biblical laws of things that they don't even believe themselves. He says you're not judging righteous judgment because a righteous judge would not be guilty of the same thing. You understand? And so you know what? It's our responsibility to preach on fornication. It's our responsibility to preach against drunkenness, against fornication, against drug abuse, against violence, against violence against children. Amen? You know, churches need to get up on Sunday morning and start preaching about what happened in Nashville where this sodomite took the lives of six innocent people, three of those being children. And you know what? We don't need to hear from, as the progressive Christians, these Pharisees who want to stand up for the transvestite who took the lives of these children. I mean, that's hypocritical. But you have political leaders saying, oh, they're in danger now. And look, the left is always for taking away guns, right? Always for that. Take away the guns. But then they're also for take away the guns but put them in the hands of the transvestites because they're the ones who are really in danger. Folks, it's nonsensical. It's backwards. And why won't the President of the United States actually get up and make a logical statement of mourning? Why does he get up when he's addressing the Nashville shooting and talk about ice cream? Laughing it off, talking about ice cream in light of the death of these people. I mean, it's sick. It's ridiculous. You know, it's nonsensical. And progressive Christians, I'm telling you, will get up, well, you know, let's just not pass judgment here. We need to mourn. We need to do both. People are like, we only need to mourn, not judge those people. We need to do both, my friends. We need to do both. And it's not like we can mourn. We can't mourn without judging. You can do both. Because someone needs to stand up and say, this is wrong. This is sick. This proves what the Bible says about them, about these reprobates. This is what the Bible says. How much more proof do you need when you have a sodomite going into a Christian school and taking the lives of innocent people? And look, I don't buy this whole, oh, it's a false flag. Don't come at me with that nonsense, by the way. Well, I just think it's a false flag. In one particular scene, they're wearing Pumas, and then the other one, they're wearing pants. I don't buy it. I say, why? Well, first of all, it's CCTV, my friends. This is not 4K resolution. So things are going to be kind of obscure. But one thing that Vans does have, my friends, on the back of the shoe is what? The Vans logo. The red Vans logo. And in that first image of the Pumas, so-called, you have the Vans logo right behind that. So you know what? Obviously, we're not going to buy into what the left is saying. How, oh, the true victims are the trannies. That's what they say. Well, you know what? I'm not going to buy into what the right says either. Because the right will just say, well, it just never happened. Because they're more interested in keeping their rights and their guns than showing and proving what the Bible actually says about these monsters. You understand? And so, it's wicked, my friends. And you say, why are you so mad about it? Because I've got kids. I have a six-year-old. You know, the three children that passed away, I think they were like six and seven years old. What do they do? Why isn't anybody up in arms about that? You know, there's a mother and a father out there today, on Sunday, right before Easter, just living a complete nightmare because they just lost their children. While everyone else is just happy and defending these sodomites and defending these wicked people, they have to bury their children. I mean, think about that for a second. It's wicked. So, we don't need you progressive. Why don't the progressive Christians just shut up? Keep your mouth shut. Let us deal with it instead of you defending wicked people. You know what? You may not agree with us about the sodomites or whatever, but you know what? I'm sure you agree that sodomites shouldn't be killing children, and we definitely shouldn't be defending sodomites when they do. We need to pray for their salvation. No. I'm not praying for that. You try to tell that. Go ahead and say, tell the parents of those who lost their children, pray for the salvation of these trannies. They're going to think you're disrespectful. They're going to think you're going to have mental disease. I don't care what people think of us as a church. This is common sense, my friends. They're the hypocrites. We don't need you to post anything online or make any videos defending these reprobates just because you're scared, which is one of the reasons why they do it, because they're scared. What we need is more Christians standing up, actually saying the truth, so that these people realize there's more of us than them. There's more people who believe right, especially in this regard, than there are of them. There's more people who are sick and tired of what's going on with them than they realize. We need to make sure that don't allow these people to get up. Look, you see a post that says something like that, rebuke that person sharply. They deserve a strong rebuke. I saw a post where it was just like, well, that school created a lot of trauma for this person. I don't agree how they did it, but it's understandable. When is it ever understandable to take the lives of three innocent children? Never. You're a reprobate, too. Nonsense. But you don't think it's a false flag? Because there's been false flags in times past. Folks, whenever the deeds of the person matches up with what the Bible says, and I already knew, once this took place, I'm like, the right is going to get up and say that it's a false flag because they're afraid of losing their guns. Look, I'm not taking away any guns. I'm not for the government doing that. I'm not for trying to disarm people of their weapons. But you know what? I'm not for people disarming people of their Bibles, either, in a Bible doctrine. And what that is, I'm telling you, when this happened, what that is is Satan's ploy to try to get people to undermine what the Bible says about these individuals. Like, how do you know? Because the right is filled with them, too. They're just cleaner than the ones on the left. That's just it. And so, I just needed to address that real quick. In case, lest anyone should wonder what I think about the Nashville shooting, here's what I think about it. The person's burning in hell today. He's a wicked individual. And you know what? I'm not sad about that. I'm sad about the children. My soul is vexed. I'm vexed over the fact that children died this week at the hands of some monster. You know what I'm vexed for? I'm vexed for these parents. We're here in church, we're enjoying, we're singing, we're here preaching, we're going to laugh afterward, but you think the parents of those children feel that way? Their lives are ruined, my friends. You can revisit them in 30 years and they're going to feel the same exact way. You should never have to bury their children. Nonsense. Oh, you're judging. You know why? Because I'm not guilty of killing children. Let's move on here. Go to Matthew chapter 23. I know I did that podcast on Friday, but I'm still mad about the whole thing. I'm mad about it, and I know what the Bible says about these things, and I'm upset and I'm frustrated at Christians who don't want to wake up to this. But you know what? There's a lot of Christians who saw what happened. They're just like, you know what? Maybe those fundamental Baptists are right. All along, I guess. Man, maybe I should tune into that sermon. What was that sermon called again about reprobates or what? This actually confirms that this is true. But here's another thing that people will judge us on, that they're being hypocrites. They'll call us out for calling people out. Define irony. They'll literally call you out and say, this person's being a Pharisee because they're calling out names or whatever. Well, that's what you're doing, hypocrite. Look at verse 23. It says here, verse 23, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye payth tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. So what were the Pharisees guilty of? Being imbalanced in their obedience to God's laws. And in fact, according to this verse, my friends, what do they omit? Judgment. So don't call me a Pharisee because the Pharisees weren't judging. Jesus Christ was condemning them saying, you've omitted, by the way, it says the weightier matters of the law. All of God's laws are important, but there's certain things that God upholds as being very important. Weightier, which is judgment. So, you know, it seems as though these Pharisees kind of fit the bill of these people who judge us for being judgmental. Because if they're omitting true judgment, righteous judgment, they're doing exactly what the Pharisees did, they're omitting them as well. And look, he's not saying that we should obey these things at the exclusion of the other. Because people will point to us and say, you're not loving enough, but I think we could be loving and judgmental at the same time. Me judging what the Nashville shooter did is confirming that I love the children, the innocent people that were murdered. Right? Go to John chapter, actually, you're in Matthew, go to Matthew chapter 19, if you would, in Matthew chapter 19. Let me move on here. So, you know, Pharisees are hypocritical, they're not judgmental. It would have helped if they were judgmental, because then they can judge that their religion was false. They can judge that Judaism was a false religion, getting Israel away from the true God of the Bible. They were creating a segment of apostate biblical religion that was going to lead many people astray, at this point had already led many people astray. But not only that, let me say this is that the Pharisees rejected the Bible, not followed it to a T. Because people will point to us and say, you know, we quote verses well the Bible actually says this, this is what the Bible actually says, here let me show you what the Bible says, and they'll automatically label you as a Pharisee because the Pharisees are so strict about the Bible. Because they want to take a looser interpretation of the Bible, they want to be more loose in their obedience to God's word, they don't want all the verses and all the Bible. Bro, you're being too legalistic. That's too much legalism, right? Let me just remind you, the Pharisees didn't even like the Bible. They preferred the oral traditions of the fathers, that it's not biblical, over the word of God itself. Now, where did I have you go? Matthew 19? I'm sorry, go to chapter 7, and then we'll go to Matthew 19. Okay, Matthew chapter 7, oh I'm sorry, man, I'm getting mixed up here. I have Matthew here, but it's not Matthew 7, it's Mark 7. Go to Mark 7. So Mark chapter 7, let's look at an example of this. Mark 7, and look at verse number 5. So let's see if these Pharisees were just Bible-toting, leather-lung, adherence to the word of God according to Jesus. Look at verse 5. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked them, why not thy disciples walk according to the word of the elders? No, to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashing hands. He answered and said unto them, Well hath the Zaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honorth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Now what does that verse mean? It means that they pay lip service to believe in the religion of the Bible, but they don't really believe in their hearts. Their heart is far from them, because you believe with your heart, amen. It's just like the prophet of the Zaias spoke about you guys, saying that you would obviously pay lip service to the righteous religion of the Bible, but you're actually rejecting the righteous religion of the Bible. Look at verse 7. Howbeit in vain did you worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of God? No, 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 ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition, the Bible says. It doesn't sound like they really like the Bible. I mean it says that they lay aside the commandment of God, and then verse 9 says that they reject the commandment of God. It doesn't sound like these people are Bible believing Christians. They're more interested in their tradition. In fact, their tradition is held on a higher pedestal than the Word of God. They claim to believe the Bible, because they claim to believe in Moses. But in actuality, they pay lip service to believe in the Bible, but they actually don't. Because they're talking about washing pots, making sure you wash your hands before you eat, and all these things. Which obviously, nothing wrong with these things, but their teaching for doctrine is the commandments of men. So in other words, if you didn't wash your hands before you ate a meal, you were like an unrighteous person. You were ungodly, you're not right with God. Now I would just say you're not sanitary. It's kind of nasty, man. You just use the restroom and then you go eat, you wash your hands. Employees in this establishment must wash their hands before leaving the restroom. You guys seen those signs? That's a good recommendation. It's a good recommendation, it's a good habit, but it's not the commandment of God. And so we see here that they actually rejected the Bible. So when people pointed at us and said, oh, you're being a Pharisee for quoting the Bible? Wrong, the Pharisees didn't quote the Bible. They quoted the oral tradition. They didn't follow it to a T. They actually disobeyed the word of God. Turn with me, if you would, to go to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. People will point to us and say, no, you guys are so strict. I know Baptists are a bunch of Pharisee churches because you guys wear shirts and ties and suits and you guys are so strict or whatever. First of all, the Pharisees wore dresses. They wore long robes. We don't wear long robes here. Secondly, they weren't strict on the law because when you study the actions of the Pharisees, they were always looking for loopholes in God's commandments to justify their actions. You know, it is Corbin. Or how about when it came to this matter of divorce and remarriage? They were just like looking for a reason to divorce, to put away their wives. So it's not like they really truly obeyed the Bible and wanted to be strict about it. No, they were actually always looking for the escape clause in the Bible because they didn't really believe the Bible. Just like a lot of these Christians who judge us as being Pharisees, many of them reject much of what the Bible says. They find the Bible offensive. Like you quote something from Jesus. They would rather quote Gandhi than Jesus. I mean, think about that. There's something wrong with that. They would rather quote some godless, pagan, some unsaved person rather than Jesus Christ who has the words of eternal life. Why? Because the Bible is offensive to them. But you know what? Jesus Christ was offensive to the Pharisees. They stumbled at the stumbling block, the Bible says. They rejected the cornerstone. But look at Luke chapter 7. What's another characteristic here? Because they'll look at us and say, Oh, you guys with your shirts and ties and traditional conservative services, you guys are just a bunch of holier than thou's. Right? And this phrase is actually found in the Bible. Isaiah 65 is a phrase that's found in the Bible. It talks about holier than thou. Now, what is a holier than thou? A holier than thou is a self-righteous person who pontificates and thinks that they're better than other people because of whatever. Their race, their religion or whatever. Now, no one in here doesn't or should never think that they're better than anybody else. We're better off. Why? Because we're saved. We have the word of God. But at the end of the day, we're not better than anybody. We believe in better doctrine. You see, well, see, that's a holier than thou. No, because the Bible literally says that the New Testament is a better covenant established upon better promises. We have a better God. We have a better savior. We have a better Bible. But it doesn't mean just because people believe in those things that they're automatically better themselves because there's Christians who don't live according to the Bible. So a holier than thou is someone who looks down on you for who you are or what you do or whatever and they don't esteem you as being someone who is important. They think they're superior to you. We obviously understand that Christianity is a superior religion, but we don't have a superiority complex. Now, you say, well, who does? Well, again, a lot of these progressive Christians. Because you're like, oh, you guys judge. We love people here. You guys judge people, but we love people in our church. We're not like you guys. Well, what does that mean? It means that they're holier than us because us fundamental Baptists are so angry and judgmental and holier than thou. No alcohol, no weed, no fornication. No fun for you. It's just like they think we're just like, I don't know, boring or something. I don't know. And it's just like, yeah, you know, you guys with your dress codes, we don't have a dress code here. We have someone going to our church and literally claim that we have a dress code. Did you see a sign somewhere that says you shall wear, you know, a shirt, suit and tie, you know, or else you can't come into this congregation or something like that. No. There's never been a time where we enforce any type of preference on anybody in regards to dress. Even with women. We don't say, hey, get those pants off, put on your skirt. That doesn't exist in our church. Now, if someone ever did that in our church, it's not because I told them to. It's because they're just immature. They don't know the word of God and they need to grow up. No one here should ever be telling people, part your hair, wear a dress, wear a shirt and tie, because it's wrong, my friends. At that point, you're teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. You understand? You say, then why are you guys all dressed the same? Well, first of all, we're not dressed the same. Secondly, I'll tell you why men wear shirts and ties and suits in our church, because they think church is important. And if you had a court date or if you're going to meet some important official, you would probably wear your best clothing that you have in your closet. And so when you come to church, we just have the opinion, well, we're here to worship the God of the universe. We are here to hear the eternal words of life, to talk about Jesus Christ. This assembly is important to us. Therefore, we're going to wear our Sunday's best. And if you think this is good, just wait till you see Easter. Why did you see everyone on Easter? That's when everyone pulled, they go get their dress, the girls go get their dresses and hats. You know, the guys that get it, I don't know, maybe buy a tie or something like that because they want it. Why? Because we're celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's important to us. Stop judging us. You're being judgmental. Just because we decide to wear a suit to church, doesn't make us holier than thou's. It makes you a holier than thou because you think you're superior to us for doing so. And I'm telling you, I've had people approach me, for example, at a public gym. And I was at a public gym and I had KJV only on my shirt, King James only. And I'm not bothering anybody. I'm like struggling on my third set. I'm like praying unto the Lord. I'm just like, I can't wait till this is over. I'm so weak. You know, I'm getting old now. And then, you know, someone comes up to me and they're just like, Oh, you're King James only, aren't you? Yeah, I used to believe that, too. But then, you know, I kind of graduated out of that. What is that? A superiority. Like you poor peasant. You're stuck with that archaic Bible or whatever. And obviously I could have just easily spouted off historical facts, biblical concepts, but I'm just going to let them talk because I got to finish my sets. I'm just like, Yeah, I guess I'm just, you know, old fashioned. I'm not going to waste my time dismantling him or whatever. You know, I got better things to do. I got I got back workouts and all that. So but here's the thing. That's the attitude that people have. They think they're better than you. Oh, you guys use that old Bible, that old King James. Yes, we do. So but when they say that, they think they're better. They condemn us for using it. So this is a holier than thou attitude. Look at Luke Chapter seven, verse 37. It says, And behold, the woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears, did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now, when the Pharisee, which had been in him, saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what man or woman this is that toucheth him, for she is a sinner. It's like, what are you? So what is he implying by that statement? I'm not a sinner. She's a sinner. I'm not a sinner. I'm superior to this woman because of the fact that she's unclean. I'm not. I'm a I'm a separated one. I'm a Pharisee. Now, this is a wrong attitude. And, you know, Christians can get involved in that type of attitude, right? Where they have a superiority complex. And let me just say this. Let me just mention this. Your race doesn't make you superior to anybody. Because if you're unsaved and you are still that race, you know what? You would split hell wide open as soon as you died. And that race that you hate, that race that you're against, if they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they'd go to heaven. Never want to turn into a church where we think one race is superior to the other. You know, it's just like, well, you know, it's all about that white power. It's all about that Anglo-Saxon. You know, if you ain't white, you ain't right. And I like white people. Of course I do. No one believes me, but my wife is a white person, you know. But you ask certain white people, they're like, well, that depends on what, is it Italian? Because Italians are the black people of the whites or whatever. Because they have that philosophy. And then he's just like, well, she's white. And he's just like, yeah, but she looks Hispanic, so she's just automatically Hispanic. I mean, it's crazy how people think. But it's just like, you know what? We're Christians is what we are. We're believers. Don't be a holier than thou. Thinking that you're superior to anybody else because of whatever. You know, your social status, your financial status, because your geographical status where you live, it's wrong. Go to, let me give you another example. Go to Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. By the way, another way of saying holier than thou is hyper spiritual. Because the Pharisees were hyper spiritual. They may bra their phylacteries, they had their phylacteries that they would tie around their arms and keep little scriptures there just to show everyone how spiritual they were, how much they believed in the word of God, things of that nature. That's called hyper spiritual. And let me just say this. Any time someone is exerting the qualities of a hyper spiritual person, that's a red flag. Pay attention to that. Pay attention to when people are being hyper spiritual around you. It's a red flag off the bat. And you know what? You don't even have to correct it. Just let them be hyper spiritual. Let them rack up that reputation of being a hyper spiritual person. You say, why are people hyper spiritual? Because they're trying to deter attention of who they really are. That's why. The Pharisees, the reason they were hyper spiritual is because they didn't want anybody knowing that they were a generation of vipers. That they were covetous people, they hated Jesus Christ, they were devils at heart, so therefore they had to put this persona that they were super spiritual, holy, praying at the corners of the streets with their hands. They fast, they do all these things. Why do they say this? Because they're trying to deter attention from who they really are. Look what it says in verse number nine. Let's look at an example of this. Luke 18 in verse number nine says, and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. By the way, let me just side note here, a publican in the Bible isn't looked at in necessarily a good light either. They were kind of like, I don't know, they were just kind of not necessarily evil people, but they were kind of looked upon as being just greedy individuals, covetous people, people who were about money, and so you have this Pharisee who you would think, oh this is a religious holy person, and then you have this publican. Spectrum, supposedly. Verse 11, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not as the other men are. Oh man. So right off the bat, he's like, I am so thankful that you made me like this. I'm not like these other people around here. Extortioners. What do you mean you are an extortioner? Unjust adulterers or even as this publican? So let me just say this, when people begin to spout things off like this, this is basically they're telling you what they're guilty of. Or even as this publican, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. So they're literally trying to justify themselves before God. I mean this is how delusional the Pharisees were. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes into heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. So this publican who was not esteemed in the eyes of the public, he understood that he was a bad person in the sense that he was a sinner, and he wasn't going to try to like spout off any good works that he did. What did he do? He was so grieved with himself, he was like smiling upon his breast, he was like, I just hope you're merciful to me, because I know I'm a sinner. I mean this is humility, right? Verse 14, I tell you this man, referring to the publican, went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. So the one who came out winning was the publican because he was actually the one who was humble enough to get saved. Whereas the Pharisee, like in Matthew chapter 7, is just talking about his great works and everything that he does and how much he goes out and preaches the gospel, how many works he does, how many times a week he fasts, and all these things, that means nothing to God if you're not saved. And so beware of the hyper spiritual, beware of the holier than nows, let the red flag go up when you see it, and stay away from that person. The Bible tells you you don't have to turn there, Matthew 23 verse 4 says of the Pharisees, verse 4 says, For they bind heavy burdens, grievous to be born, and they lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works, listen to this, they do for to be seen of men, and make broader phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. So why do they do? Do they serve God because they love the Lord? Do they do these works because they believe in the Bible? No, because they want the applause of men. They want people to see them what they're doing. They want the praise of men more than the praise of God. Alright, let's move on here. Go to Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. What's another thing of the Pharisees that people accuse us of, or characteristic and attribute? Well let me say this, the Pharisees were just easily offended. They're actually very easily offended, very sensitive. And when you study the Pharisees, you always see that they're just getting offended at everything that Jesus says. Look at Matthew 15, verse 7 says, Ye hypocrites, well did his eyes prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, on earth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teach him for doctrines the commandments of men. And he called a multitude and said unto them, Hear and understand, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the man, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples and said unto him, Knowest out that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? So it's just like a basic teaching. Right, just a real basic teaching of the Bible. There's nothing even offensive about what he said about that which goes into the mouth, comes out of the mouth. It's just like a basic teaching and the Pharisees are just like, I don't like what he said. They're offended. Verse 13, But he answered and said, I need to go apologize to him because I didn't come at them with the right spirit. Oh wait, that's not there, huh? He answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. Let's win them over little by little. Let's work with them a little bit. No, they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. It doesn't sound like Jesus is very apologetic about what he said. They're probably there expecting an apology or something. Jesus is like, we're blind leaders of the blind. Let them fall into the ditch themselves. Now when people accuse us as being Pharisees, they're absolutely wrong because I don't get offended at the Bible. When I read Leviticus 2013, I rejoice. When I read the Scriptures, even the most so-called offensive Scriptures, I rejoice in the word of God because the word of God is pure. The law of the Lord is perfect. Enlightening the eyes, the Bible says. Whereas the real people who get offended are the ones who accuse us of being Pharisees. Because when they see the Bible, when you quote the verse, when you show them what the Bible says, they don't like that. It rubs them the wrong way. But the Bible says this, folks, listen to this. Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Let me say that again. Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. When someone loves the Bible, they love the law of God, the preaching can be as hard as possible and it's not going to offend them because they rejoice in the truth. Whereas, unfortunately, a lot of Christians out there, you could even quote John 3.16. I don't know, they might get offended. I don't know. It doesn't matter how heavy the content is, if it's the Bible being preached, they might just get offended at that. Because they don't like what the Bible actually has to say. Let's move on here. Go to Matthew chapter 9. Let me say this, don't get offended at preaching. The Bible says love prophesying. And you know what? If I preach on something and it happens to be on your particular sin, let me just make some disclaimers here. Number one, no one told me about it. Your wife or your husband didn't say anything to me before the service. I don't get people coming up to me and saying, hey, if you could just throw this in there. Throw this into one of your points. I'll throw in an extra tithe or something if you just can mention this. I don't take requests. I don't take favorites. If you feel like there's something that's being said and you feel like it's directed towards you, number one, I don't know about what's going on in your personal life. Number two, it's probably God who's trying to get a hold of you, trying to get you to get right with God. Number three, if you get offended, let that be an indicator that you need to get in the Bible a little more. Because again, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Essentially, when offenses come and you're offended at the Bible, it's just showing you, you know what, I need to get into the word of God more because this is rubbing me the wrong way and it shouldn't because it's God's word. The word of God is offensive to this world. The preaching of God's word is very offensive to this world because it goes against the ideologies and the philosophies of this world. But it shouldn't go against our ideologies because we believe the Bible. I mean, our faith is from the Bible. So there should never be a time we read the Bible and it's just like, I don't care with that. It should be like, wow, like I've never heard that before, but I see it right there. Lord, help me to understand. Help me to accept this truth. You know, the Bible calls it renewing your mind. Right? If you get offended at preaching or at the Bible, it's like, oh, you're just taking it out of context though. And let me just say this, that argument is such a cop out because for every person who tells me you're taking it out of context, I immediately answer with, you tell me the context right now. They won't be able to tell you the context. They don't know what the chapter is about. They don't even know where the book of John is. They say that as if they're like scholars of the Bible, like they've memorized the entire word of God or something like that. But they don't. They don't know what the context is about. They don't know what the chapter is about. That's just their card that they dish out to try to say, oh, you're speaking out of context of the Bible. You're taking it out of context. That's not what it means. Then tell me what it means then. Quote to me the verse before and the verse after and tell me what that means. They won't be able to do it. Let me just say this. That is translation for I'm offended at what the Bible says. You know what, if you're offended at the preaching of God's word, you need to turn off the television. You need to turn off your that podcast or whatever ideology is being pumped through your ears and through your heart. You need to get rid of the world's ideologies that are causing you to think that way. You know, if you're sympathizing with wicked people, baby killers and all these things, and you're offended at the preaching today, you know what? You need your mind to be renewed, my friends. All right, here's one of the last ones. Let me just breeze through this. The Pharisees didn't have the right spirit. Now they'll claim that we don't have the right spirit. You guys are Pharisees because you have a bad spirit. I agree with what you say, but it's just how you say it. But you know what, I can say the same exact thing in a nicer way and you probably still get offended. Like I could say, they're wicked! Or I could say, they're wicked. But the meaning isn't lost. And so, and here's the thing, you know the Pharisees you say, well what do you mean like the Pharisees didn't have the right spirit? Well they claimed Jesus had an unclean spirit. Based upon his works and based upon his preaching, they said he had an unclean spirit. Now I'm not saying that everyone who says that to us claims that we have an unclean spirit, but that's the argument they always bring up. Oh you just have a bad spirit. You're naughty, naughty, naughty, naughty, naughty. You're being mean. You're being angry. You're not loving the way Jesus loves. That's not the way Jesus would say it. But they're wrong. Because when you read the Bible, you see that Jesus was one of the hardest, if not the hardest, preacher that has ever lived. And every preacher and prophet that came before him preached just like Jesus. And you know, if you think my preaching is hard, you have not read the preaching of prophets of times past. Those guys were hardcore. And I'm not, I don't mean just like in our lifetime or in our within the last 200 years or whatever, because there's been some hard preachers. I'm talking about even in the Bible. And so we do have the right spirit because the spirit that we have is the Holy Spirit. That's the spirit that we have. You say, yeah but why do you have to yell and scream and get all bug-eyed or whatever, you know. That's what everyone always tells me. They're like, the one common thing you do Pastor me is you always do this. And I have to have people tell me, like, you just started doing that. But let me tell this brief story real quick. My nephew just came to visit me from Seattle. And he was here last week. And we used to take care of him as a little kid, as a baby. He lived with us for a while. And he told me, he's like, uncle, one thing that I always remember you doing is anytime you'd react to something, you'd go like this. I'm like, dude, I've been doing that since the very start. That's just what I've always done. Part of my personality. But people look at that and they're just like, oh, why do you got to get all bug-eyed and wild? Well, first of all, that's just my personality. One, so don't judge me, okay. But number two, God actually gave commandments to the prophets on how to preach. He actually told them how to do it. And one thing you won't see, you know, he didn't say, make sure you get yourself a glass pulpit. Number one. Number two, speak softly. Not too harsh. We don't want to scare people. We don't want to run people away from Christ. We don't want to chase people away. Speak softly. Be kind. Just kind of talk to the people. There's never a commandment like that. He's like, lift up, cry out loud and spare not, show my people their transgression. He's like, shatter from the housetops. He told Ezekiel, stop, put your hand on your thigh. I mean, he's telling them just go crazy when they preach. Like, why would they do that? Because that gets your attention, that's why. There's never a time when Jesus is just like, you know, just when he's preaching, he's just like calmly telling people, especially when it comes to sin, you see exclamation marks. Which means that he's like yelling, you know. You say, what would Jesus do? There's a couple instances in the Bible if you really want to know what Jesus would do. He went into the temple and just drove everyone out with a scourge of small cords and flipped over tables. Do you want me to do that here? It's like, you need to be more like Jesus. Well, I don't know if you want me to do that because then there will be no one in this church or something. I don't want to get mad or something like that. Chase a bunch of people out with just cords and smacking people. I mean, what a sight to behold, right? There's Jesus running around, he's like whipping people, he's like, and he's like, he's going, he's angry. The progressives would lose their mind. And so, you know, that's the spirit that we have. And he commonly talked about the spirit of Elijah. That was on John the Baptist. Not John the Presbyterian. Not John the Lutheran. John the Baptist. And not John the Baptizer either. Here's the last thing. Let me just say this about the Pharisees. The Pharisees did not know Jesus. They didn't know who he was. So for you to say that I'm a Pharisee or our church is a Pharisee, you're claiming that we don't know who Jesus Christ is. But of course we know who he is because we believed on him for salvation. I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the Bible says, search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are which testify of me. He says, beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto him in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. So over and over again, it's just like the Bible is Jesus Christ and we know who Jesus Christ is because he saved us. Not by our works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works the steady man should boast. And you know what? Not only do we know Jesus, but he knows us. Not because of our works, but rather because we're saved. Because once you get saved, then you're known of God. You see, the Pharisees the Pharisees wouldn't know Jesus if they had been in the first century A.D. and he would have came to them. And they were like the religious leaders. Oh wait, yeah, that happened, huh? He came in the first century A.D. God was manifest in the flesh and they mocked him. They said, oh, who's this carpenter son? We'd be not born of fornication. Saying all these blasphemous things about Jesus. They didn't know who he was. Not only did they not know who he was, they wanted to kill him and they did. So don't call me a Pharisee because I know who Jesus Christ is. But here's the thing. Let me say this. If the Jesus of the Bible were to walk into one of these progressive churches, they would probably cast him out. Because they don't know who he is. The Jesus of a lot of progressive Christians is not the Jesus of the Bible. Their Jesus is like Gandhi. Their Jesus is Caesar Borgia. He's like, you know, this lovey-dovey God who just doesn't judge. There's no such thing as hell. Folks, our Jesus went to hell for three days and three nights to pay for our sins, resurrected on the third day. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He's our Savior. He's coming again. He's going to redeem our bodies one day. He's going to rule and reign here for a thousand years. I mean, that's who the Jesus of the Bible is. And by the way, the Jesus that we know didn't look at the Old Testament was just like, oh, you know, the Old Testament. All those commands in the Old Testament. He reinforced the Old Testament. Yeah, but not the death penalty. No, yeah, and the death penalty. You know, he quoted, he said, who shall curse his father and mother, let him die to death. That's called the death penalty. He didn't look at Moses and say, well, you know, Moses, he gets a little excited from time to time, but I'm here to level things out, tell you that you shouldn't listen to him or anything like that. Wrong. Wrong, my friends. And so before anyone starts dishing out you're a Pharisee, let's learn what a true Pharisee is and recognize that that term is being weaponized against Bible-believing Christians, against Bible-believing Christians to claim that, oh, we act like the Pharisees in the Bible wrong because the Pharisees in the Bible were not saved. Just like the ones who are claiming that we're Pharisees, most of them are not saved. But at the end of the day, folks, obviously the goal for us as a church is to preach the gospel, get people saved, turn people to righteousness, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but just recognize that you will be judged for it. It's better to just go all into the Bible because even if you were to go 10% in, there's a group out there that's going to judge you and still call you a Pharisee. So you might as well just go all in and say, I just believe the entire Bible. I believe every doctrine. I love the law of God and I'm not ashamed of his word. I believe it from cover to cover. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word and I pray that you bless our understanding of the Bible, Lord, and please help us as your people to be in awe of your word and never to be ashamed of it, never to be offended by it, Lord, but that it would guide our steps as we lead our families, as we raise our children, as we love our spouses, Lord, and I pray that you'd bless us with a great Easter service next week, that we'd get a great harvest of souls in here to hear the word of God, that many of them would be saved, and maybe even some of them get baptized, Lord, and we pray that you bless it. Bless our time now in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Song number 19 is our last song. Song number 19, There is a Fountain. Song number 19. Song number 19. We'll sing it on that first verse. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's face and sinners watch beneath that blood lose all their guilty sins lose all their guilty sins lose all their guilty sins and sinners watch beneath that blood lose all their guilty sins. The dying thief rejoices that fountain in his face. And there may I know the last thief, wash all my sins away wash all my sins away wash all my sins away And there may I go, vow and seek wash all my sins away Dear dying man, thy precious blood shall never lose its path. Some church of God he saved to sin no more he saved to sin no more He saved to sin no more through all the ransomed church of God he saved to sin no more There since my faith I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply Redeeming hope has been my theme and shall be till I die and shall be till I die and shall be till I die Redeeming hope has been my theme and shall be till I die. Then in an over sweeter song I'll sing thy power to save. And this for this space every time my silence in the grave, my silence in the grave my silence in the grave. And this for this big staring tongue my silence in the grave Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.