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