0:00:00 - 0:00:30 In Matthew 23 we have a gift from the Lord and a sermon that's directed to the scribes and the Pharisees. Now, uh what's interesting about this chapter is that it is extremely specific and explicit and yet it is not well understood by modern people because of the imagery used um in order to be explicit 0:00:30 - 0:00:55 and specific to that time and place or to those people, um The Lord had to use phrases and words that might not be so obvious to people today. That's one unavoidable consequence of specificity. If you're specific about one thing, you have to, by definition, be less specific about another. And so in being 0:00:55 - 0:01:17 specific to that time and place, the Lord had to be less applicable. I hope you know what I mean by that, not that his message was less applicable, but his language was less understandable, comprehensible to modern people. And so you could read this chapter 100 times and maybe you have and completely 0:01:16 - 0:01:39 miss just how well it applies to modern people. And that's unfortunate uh in a perfect world. I would take a couple of hours and work through this chapter line by line with you. But I realized that that exceeds the willingness of most people to sit through or to recognize the value of. And so I'm going 0:01:39 - 0:02:07 to zoom into a few verses that the Lord has highlighted to me to share with you. Starting at the beginning we read then Spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat. Now let's just start there. What was moses' seat? So seat here is a Greek word 0:02:06 - 0:02:34 that you could um you could interpret in modern language as being a a judge's bench. So what Jesus was saying was that the scribes and the Pharisees had taken upon themselves, the authority of Moses and um in their minds, they were in the place of Moses. Now, this is really interesting for many reasons 0:02:33 - 0:02:57 . So if you look at the Old Testament, you can see that there is a process whereby a person is called from heaven to a role such as that if you look at the book of judges, for example. So we're talking about benches, uh a judge's bench. The book of judges is a story of multiple people who were called 0:02:57 - 0:03:25 by God into that role. By the time of Jesus, there were no judges. So these people are impostors, they're devoid from the characteristic experiences that qualified their predecessors. Jesus correctly points out that they base their authority on Moses in, in the minds of these scribes and Pharisees, they 0:03:24 - 0:03:53 were one and the same. So they would tell people that their allegiance to Moses could be uh measured by their allegiance to them. What was the problem with that? They weren't like Moses, they weren't like Moses. Jesus says this in another place. So he says they were like their father the devil. So, um 0:03:52 - 0:04:23 how does this apply today? You should be exceedingly cautious of those who claim that historic figures are the foundation of their authority from God while being nothing like those historic figures. Now, the examples abound, we can pick on specific churches here if we would like the Catholics claim that 0:04:23 - 0:04:52 Peter is the the beginning of their so called line of authority. And yet the present Pope is nothing like Peter. Peter not only knew the Lord personally and very well, he sacrificed all he had for the cause. Peter preached the truth even though it cost him his life and he dedicated the balance of his 0:04:52 - 0:05:24 life after the death of the Lord to the service of the Lord Popes don't do that. Peter was called by God that um that situation is recorded in the New Testament. Popes do not know Him. They have not interacted with him face to face. As Peter did Peter knew Jesus so well as did all the apostles that he 0:05:24 - 0:05:51 was able to accurately describe his character as one man can know another. That was the extent to which he knew him. No Pope can do that. And so it's a funny thing to claim authority through um some historic figure to which you bear no resemblance. Now, this is as good a time as any to introduce another 0:05:50 - 0:06:14 aspect of this fallacy, which is that those that claim the authority from a historic figure bearing no resemblance to them will explain the differences between them as improvement. And so they'll say not in so many words, my authority comes from so and so who lived and died a long time ago, who apparently 0:06:13 - 0:06:35 had authority from God. And therefore I do too. But any difference between us is because I'm advanced compared to them or the world's a different place and in need of different instruction or whatever. But for some reason, it's better this these these changes, these differences are improvements. Now 0:06:35 - 0:07:07 , what's the problem with that? Never in the history of the world has a greater servant come through the authority of a lesser servant. It does not work that way when John the Baptist who incidentally uh demonstrated how lesser servants recognize and respond to greater servants by telling his crowds 0:07:07 - 0:07:28 that Jesus was the son of God, which was his appointed mission to do. Jesus did not claim the authority of John. In fact, he explicitly said that that was not his authority. He said that he did not rely upon the witness of any man when he was specifically speaking about John, the Baptist and he made 0:07:28 - 0:07:50 a distinction between the duty of the people who said that they followed John the Baptist and yet did not follow Jesus who John testified of and his authority because he said that he does not need the witness of men. In other words, his authority stands independent of John's because it's higher than 0:07:49 - 0:08:14 John's. So this idea that somehow a greater servant can come out of a lesser servant. That's, that's false. Paul says uh it's contrary to the order of heaven for uh a lower servant to bless a higher servant. And that has more meanings than one because the word bless is one of many very rich ancient words 0:08:13 - 0:08:41 . And it refers to the covenant flow from higher to lower. Anyway, the Catholics aren't the only guilty party in this. You could go across different religions and basically any religious sect that believes in some semblance of priesthood uh has committed this sin. So Mormons, for example, uh they rely 0:08:41 - 0:09:05 on the authority of Joseph Smith uh or, or that's the foundation of their claim to a connection to God. And yet modern Mormonism doesn't teach and doesn't practice what Joseph Smith preached. And in fact, if you do that, they will boot you out of their church um as happened to me. So if you want to learn 0:09:05 - 0:09:31 more about that, um those ideas that will get you in trouble in the church in the latter day saint church, uh read the book teaching for doctrines the commandments of men tradition and modern Mormonism. So it's a very funny thing to claim authority of past, through past people while having zero fidelity 0:09:30 - 0:09:55 to the message they taught. And it's a funny thing to claim greater authority while having lesser works lesser fruit. It's a very funny thing. Now, Jesus made reference to this in continuing in Matthew 23. Um Although like I said, that the language is a bit cryptic Uh but he said, do not after their 0:09:54 - 0:10:13 works for they say and do not. I'm intentionally skipping over the beginning of the, that verse. There's a lot of controversy about what he actually said there. So we can just sidestep it. Do not after their works for, they say and do not now. And then we'll read the next one verse four for they bind 0:10:13 - 0:10:32 heavy burdens and grieve us to be born and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. What, what's that all about? Will they take the instructions from God through that predecessor? And they add to them many things. These are things that God actually 0:10:32 - 0:10:53 at best doesn't care about at worst at, at worst as, as uh Jesus said in another place, they teach for doctrines, the commandments of men, they contradict God's commandments with their tradition, but at best, and we'll leave it there. It's just, they're just things that God doesn't care about and they 0:10:52 - 0:11:15 so occupy they so cumber these people's time and resources which are limited that they drown out. They choke out the word. They drown out what these people could otherwise do in actual progress towards God. But importantly, they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. In other words 0:11:15 - 0:11:38 , these people who are in full time ministry, this is the only thing in their life that they have to worry about. All other burdens have been removed by, from them, by the gifts of the people. And yet even these people who have nothing else to worry about can't even manage to keep the rules that they 0:11:38 - 0:12:00 prescribe for others. Their sermons are full of, well, no one's perfect. We're all in this together. We're all sinners and we just try our best and yet somehow, even though they can't manage to live the things that they teach, they believe that they have some sort of special authority over you. This 0:12:00 - 0:12:30 is not the Lord's way, it never has been and it never will be. So the Lord came living what he taught and a true messenger always does. So, a true messenger from God will always live what they teach before they teach it. They seek first to obtain, which includes becoming his word before. They bothered 0:12:30 - 0:12:55 to try to impart it to others because they understand amongst other things that the holy ghost can only be conveyed up to the limits of the sincerity of the speaker And so, um these ideas, they're very important as we continue here, verse five. But all their works they do for to be seen of men. They 0:12:55 - 0:00:00 make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. Again, this is a reference, an ancient one. But um these were outward signs of righteousness. They were uh publicly demonstrable aspects of a person's allegiance to God. And what this is saying, what the Lord is saying here is, 0:00:00 - 0:13:47 these people devote everything they do to the things that are visible to others and inwardly, what does he say? B they're full of hypocrisy and iniquity. This is jumping down to verse 28 even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. What is inward 0:13:46 - 0:14:19 righteousness? And how important is it the only thing that any of us have to offer God is our heart without the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit that is what we desire and why nothing else that we can do will be received as a or honored as such, he asks of us and nothing less will do 0:14:19 - 0:14:50 . And so you can fill your life with outward signs of what should exist inwardly and yet be completely devoid of the motives of righteousness. This is blatant hypocrisy and it was, it was common then and it's very common now, particularly amongst the leadership of these flavors of religion. Now, in organized 0:14:49 - 0:15:15 churches in general, I should say. And so three scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. What's a hypocrite? It's someone who pretends to be something. They're not something better than they actually are for. You. Pay tithes of mint and anise and cumin, which those are spices and they're tiny little seeds and 0:15:15 - 0:15:37 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. In other words, you should do everything that Lord the Lord instructs you to do. But make sure that as you do it, first and foremost, your heart is in the right place 0:15:37 - 0:16:04 . This is why in another place, Jesus said before you give a gift on the altar, make sure that you're ok with your, your brethren, the people that you know, because if you have something against them, you better fix that before you come to the altar. Because if your heart's not in the right place, you 0:16:04 - 0:16:30 can't accept the sacrifice that you make. So these men and women increasingly uh as they take up these same positions, their hearts are not in the right place. And ironically, they are committing the same exact sin as the ancient Jews who killed the prophets and then pretended generations later, whose 0:16:29 - 0:16:50 I should say, whose, whose fathers killed the prophets and who pretended generations later to be the epitome of what those prophets stood for, even though their hearts were in the same exact place as their ancestors. And so Jesus said, and in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers 0:16:49 - 0:17:07 with them in the blood of the prophets, wherefore you be witness unto yourselves that you are the Children of them, which killed the prophets. In other words, that's exactly what your wicked father fill you then up the measure of your fathers. And so what's the token of whether or not you would have 0:17:07 - 0:17:33 participated in the murder of the prophet's past? The token is whether you take them as your example of how to be more like God or not, whether you're living as they would in your place as way points. This is what prophets are way points on the path to God. The sin of every um every sect that understands 0:17:32 - 0:17:59 some semblance, sem semblance, semblance of priesthood is to separate an example of someone who's more like God from the fruits of their ministry. This is not unique to prophets as with all things. The prime example is the Lord. What did people do? They tried to separate, eating his flesh and drinking 0:17:59 - 0:18:21 his blood or in other words, living as he would in your place from the loaves and fishes and miracles that he provided. They wanted the bread, they wanted the fish, they wanted the healings, they wanted to feel good of hearing his wisdom as long as it didn't criticize them personally, but they didn't 0:18:21 - 0:18:45 , they were not interested in actually, improving and becoming more like him. And so to the modern generation, I say, fill ye up then the measure of your fathers because your hearts are in the same exact place as those who killed the prophets in the past, repent. Take upon yourselves the name of Christ 0:18:44 - 0:19:11 . Change what you do to perfectly align with what you believe the Lord would do in your place and in everything where you're not sure spend your resources to find out, ask him what he would do, study the scriptures. Find those who are um living that example and emulate it and until you do this and unless 0:19:11 - 0:19:36 you do this, you are subject to the same exact criticisms that the Lord levied against these people anciently. And by all means, if you find yourself in a religious organization that's guilty of these sins yourself from that, if your organization is built on the authority claims of an ancient figure 0:00:00 - 0:00:30 In Matthew 23 we have a gift from the Lord and a sermon that's directed to the scribes and the Pharisees. Now, uh what's interesting about this chapter is that it is extremely specific and explicit and yet it is not well understood by modern people because of the imagery used um in order to be explicit 0:00:30 - 0:00:55 and specific to that time and place or to those people, um The Lord had to use phrases and words that might not be so obvious to people today. That's one unavoidable consequence of specificity. If you're specific about one thing, you have to, by definition, be less specific about another. And so in being 0:00:55 - 0:01:17 specific to that time and place, the Lord had to be less applicable. I hope you know what I mean by that, not that his message was less applicable, but his language was less understandable, comprehensible to modern people. And so you could read this chapter 100 times and maybe you have and completely 0:01:16 - 0:01:39 miss just how well it applies to modern people. And that's unfortunate uh in a perfect world. I would take a couple of hours and work through this chapter line by line with you. But I realized that that exceeds the willingness of most people to sit through or to recognize the value of. And so I'm going 0:01:39 - 0:02:07 to zoom into a few verses that the Lord has highlighted to me to share with you. Starting at the beginning we read then Spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat. Now let's just start there. What was moses' seat? So seat here is a Greek word 0:02:06 - 0:02:34 that you could um you could interpret in modern language as being a a judge's bench. So what Jesus was saying was that the scribes and the Pharisees had taken upon themselves, the authority of Moses and um in their minds, they were in the place of Moses. Now, this is really interesting for many reasons 0:02:33 - 0:02:57 . So if you look at the Old Testament, you can see that there is a process whereby a person is called from heaven to a role such as that if you look at the book of judges, for example. So we're talking about benches, uh a judge's bench. The book of judges is a story of multiple people who were called 0:02:57 - 0:03:25 by God into that role. By the time of Jesus, there were no judges. So these people are impostors, they're devoid from the characteristic experiences that qualified their predecessors. Jesus correctly points out that they base their authority on Moses in, in the minds of these scribes and Pharisees, they 0:03:24 - 0:03:53 were one and the same. So they would tell people that their allegiance to Moses could be uh measured by their allegiance to them. What was the problem with that? They weren't like Moses, they weren't like Moses. Jesus says this in another place. So he says they were like their father the devil. So, um 0:03:52 - 0:04:23 how does this apply today? You should be exceedingly cautious of those who claim that historic figures are the foundation of their authority from God while being nothing like those historic figures. Now, the examples abound, we can pick on specific churches here if we would like the Catholics claim that 0:04:23 - 0:04:52 Peter is the the beginning of their so called line of authority. And yet the present Pope is nothing like Peter. Peter not only knew the Lord personally and very well, he sacrificed all he had for the cause. Peter preached the truth even though it cost him his life and he dedicated the balance of his 0:04:52 - 0:05:24 life after the death of the Lord to the service of the Lord Popes don't do that. Peter was called by God that um that situation is recorded in the New Testament. Popes do not know Him. They have not interacted with him face to face. As Peter did Peter knew Jesus so well as did all the apostles that he 0:05:24 - 0:05:51 was able to accurately describe his character as one man can know another. That was the extent to which he knew him. No Pope can do that. And so it's a funny thing to claim authority through um some historic figure to which you bear no resemblance. Now, this is as good a time as any to introduce another 0:05:50 - 0:06:14 aspect of this fallacy, which is that those that claim the authority from a historic figure bearing no resemblance to them will explain the differences between them as improvement. And so they'll say not in so many words, my authority comes from so and so who lived and died a long time ago, who apparently 0:06:13 - 0:06:35 had authority from God. And therefore I do too. But any difference between us is because I'm advanced compared to them or the world's a different place and in need of different instruction or whatever. But for some reason, it's better this these these changes, these differences are improvements. Now 0:06:35 - 0:07:07 , what's the problem with that? Never in the history of the world has a greater servant come through the authority of a lesser servant. It does not work that way when John the Baptist who incidentally uh demonstrated how lesser servants recognize and respond to greater servants by telling his crowds 0:07:07 - 0:07:28 that Jesus was the son of God, which was his appointed mission to do. Jesus did not claim the authority of John. In fact, he explicitly said that that was not his authority. He said that he did not rely upon the witness of any man when he was specifically speaking about John, the Baptist and he made 0:07:28 - 0:07:50 a distinction between the duty of the people who said that they followed John the Baptist and yet did not follow Jesus who John testified of and his authority because he said that he does not need the witness of men. In other words, his authority stands independent of John's because it's higher than 0:07:49 - 0:08:14 John's. So this idea that somehow a greater servant can come out of a lesser servant. That's, that's false. Paul says uh it's contrary to the order of heaven for uh a lower servant to bless a higher servant. And that has more meanings than one because the word bless is one of many very rich ancient words 0:08:13 - 0:08:41 . And it refers to the covenant flow from higher to lower. Anyway, the Catholics aren't the only guilty party in this. You could go across different religions and basically any religious sect that believes in some semblance of priesthood uh has committed this sin. So Mormons, for example, uh they rely 0:08:41 - 0:09:05 on the authority of Joseph Smith uh or, or that's the foundation of their claim to a connection to God. And yet modern Mormonism doesn't teach and doesn't practice what Joseph Smith preached. And in fact, if you do that, they will boot you out of their church um as happened to me. So if you want to learn 0:09:05 - 0:09:31 more about that, um those ideas that will get you in trouble in the church in the latter day saint church, uh read the book teaching for doctrines the commandments of men tradition and modern Mormonism. So it's a very funny thing to claim authority of past, through past people while having zero fidelity 0:09:30 - 0:09:55 to the message they taught. And it's a funny thing to claim greater authority while having lesser works lesser fruit. It's a very funny thing. Now, Jesus made reference to this in continuing in Matthew 23. Um Although like I said, that the language is a bit cryptic Uh but he said, do not after their 0:09:54 - 0:10:13 works for they say and do not. I'm intentionally skipping over the beginning of the, that verse. There's a lot of controversy about what he actually said there. So we can just sidestep it. Do not after their works for, they say and do not now. And then we'll read the next one verse four for they bind 0:10:13 - 0:10:32 heavy burdens and grieve us to be born and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. What, what's that all about? Will they take the instructions from God through that predecessor? And they add to them many things. These are things that God actually 0:10:32 - 0:10:53 at best doesn't care about at worst at, at worst as, as uh Jesus said in another place, they teach for doctrines, the commandments of men, they contradict God's commandments with their tradition, but at best, and we'll leave it there. It's just, they're just things that God doesn't care about and they 0:10:52 - 0:11:15 so occupy they so cumber these people's time and resources which are limited that they drown out. They choke out the word. They drown out what these people could otherwise do in actual progress towards God. But importantly, they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. In other words 0:11:15 - 0:11:38 , these people who are in full time ministry, this is the only thing in their life that they have to worry about. All other burdens have been removed by, from them, by the gifts of the people. And yet even these people who have nothing else to worry about can't even manage to keep the rules that they 0:11:38 - 0:12:00 prescribe for others. Their sermons are full of, well, no one's perfect. We're all in this together. We're all sinners and we just try our best and yet somehow, even though they can't manage to live the things that they teach, they believe that they have some sort of special authority over you. This 0:12:00 - 0:12:30 is not the Lord's way, it never has been and it never will be. So the Lord came living what he taught and a true messenger always does. So, a true messenger from God will always live what they teach before they teach it. They seek first to obtain, which includes becoming his word before. They bothered 0:12:30 - 0:12:55 to try to impart it to others because they understand amongst other things that the holy ghost can only be conveyed up to the limits of the sincerity of the speaker And so, um these ideas, they're very important as we continue here, verse five. But all their works they do for to be seen of men. They 0:12:55 - 0:00:00 make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. Again, this is a reference, an ancient one. But um these were outward signs of righteousness. They were uh publicly demonstrable aspects of a person's allegiance to God. And what this is saying, what the Lord is saying here is, 0:00:00 - 0:13:47 these people devote everything they do to the things that are visible to others and inwardly, what does he say? B they're full of hypocrisy and iniquity. This is jumping down to verse 28 even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. What is inward 0:13:46 - 0:14:19 righteousness? And how important is it the only thing that any of us have to offer God is our heart without the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit that is what we desire and why nothing else that we can do will be received as a or honored as such, he asks of us and nothing less will do 0:14:19 - 0:14:50 . And so you can fill your life with outward signs of what should exist inwardly and yet be completely devoid of the motives of righteousness. This is blatant hypocrisy and it was, it was common then and it's very common now, particularly amongst the leadership of these flavors of religion. Now, in organized 0:14:49 - 0:15:15 churches in general, I should say. And so three scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. What's a hypocrite? It's someone who pretends to be something. They're not something better than they actually are for. You. Pay tithes of mint and anise and cumin, which those are spices and they're tiny little seeds and 0:15:15 - 0:15:37 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. In other words, you should do everything that Lord the Lord instructs you to do. But make sure that as you do it, first and foremost, your heart is in the right place 0:15:37 - 0:16:04 . This is why in another place, Jesus said before you give a gift on the altar, make sure that you're ok with your, your brethren, the people that you know, because if you have something against them, you better fix that before you come to the altar. Because if your heart's not in the right place, you 0:16:04 - 0:16:30 can't accept the sacrifice that you make. So these men and women increasingly uh as they take up these same positions, their hearts are not in the right place. And ironically, they are committing the same exact sin as the ancient Jews who killed the prophets and then pretended generations later, whose 0:16:29 - 0:16:50 I should say, whose, whose fathers killed the prophets and who pretended generations later to be the epitome of what those prophets stood for, even though their hearts were in the same exact place as their ancestors. And so Jesus said, and in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers 0:16:49 - 0:17:07 with them in the blood of the prophets, wherefore you be witness unto yourselves that you are the Children of them, which killed the prophets. In other words, that's exactly what your wicked father fill you then up the measure of your fathers. And so what's the token of whether or not you would have 0:17:07 - 0:17:33 participated in the murder of the prophet's past? The token is whether you take them as your example of how to be more like God or not, whether you're living as they would in your place as way points. This is what prophets are way points on the path to God. The sin of every um every sect that understands 0:17:32 - 0:17:59 some semblance, sem semblance, semblance of priesthood is to separate an example of someone who's more like God from the fruits of their ministry. This is not unique to prophets as with all things. The prime example is the Lord. What did people do? They tried to separate, eating his flesh and drinking 0:17:59 - 0:18:21 his blood or in other words, living as he would in your place from the loaves and fishes and miracles that he provided. They wanted the bread, they wanted the fish, they wanted the healings, they wanted to feel good of hearing his wisdom as long as it didn't criticize them personally, but they didn't 0:18:21 - 0:18:45 , they were not interested in actually, improving and becoming more like him. And so to the modern generation, I say, fill ye up then the measure of your fathers because your hearts are in the same exact place as those who killed the prophets in the past, repent. Take upon yourselves the name of Christ 0:18:44 - 0:19:11 . Change what you do to perfectly align with what you believe the Lord would do in your place and in everything where you're not sure spend your resources to find out, ask him what he would do, study the scriptures. Find those who are um living that example and emulate it and until you do this and unless 0:19:11 - 0:19:36 you do this, you are subject to the same exact criticisms that the Lord levied against these people anciently. And by all means, if you find yourself in a religious organization that's guilty of these sins yourself from that, if your organization is built on the authority claims of an ancient figure 0:19:35 - 0:19:59 , seek that ancient figures example, if you have access to it through scripture or whatever, or find someone alive today, that's more like that person than you, that chain will lead you straight to God as you follow it through cascading examples of people to the Lord himself.