This is our nineteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.
Matthew 23:27-28
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Observations
The explanation of Jesus is quite clear. The Pharisees worked to make themselves look good and righteous, but inside their heart they were spiritually dead, and therefore all their attempts to make themselves look righteous were wicked and hypocritical. They were phonies, people in masks. People who could not be trusted, unreliable.
Application
We ought always to watch out for these types of people. We should do what we can to test them. And if we are thinking about going to a church, always ask questions about the pastor and teachers. As for professors of a college, it may be harder to get around those who you think are as Pharisees, but in most cases you can do what they say, but you don’t have to do what they do.
This is our eighteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.
Matthew 23:25-26
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Observations
The Pharisees lived as if external appearances were more important than what was inside of the life. They cared more about appearances than about the heart. They cared more about the body than the soul. Of course, they cared nothing about the soul because they were not converted; they had no spiritual life in them. All they knew to do was to clean up what they could see and what other could see. They were blind to God. They had no spiritual eyes.
Application
If we want to be pure and holy for the Lord we must start with the inside of the live. First, give yourself to God and His son. Believe in Him. Then use His word to clean up your heart and soul, and your mind and thoughts. And pray regularly. As you do this you will find that your body will be healthier too.
This is our seventeenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we will look at how the Pharisees tithed.
Matthew 23:23-24
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Observations
It is a little puzzling to me why the Pharisees concentrated on the little things as the spices but neglected the larger and spiritual things. But here are my ideas. Maybe they thought people would be impressed with them, that they were so diligent in giving a tenth of their spices; or maybe it was all they knew how to do; they were just doing things as they were taught. As for neglecting the larger things of justice, mercy and faith, I suggest that it was because they were unconverted and they did not understand those spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14).
Application
We should regard first the things of the Spirit and His kingdom. First give your life totally to Him and then He will direct you in what else to do. Never do things to impress people, but only to obey God in love.
This is our sixteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we will look at how evil the Pharisees were.
Matthew 23:13, 15
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Observations
The Pharisees must have known how to enter heaven, or else they would not know how to shut it off to others. It wasn’t out of ignorance that they missed heaven. They plain out rejected it. And when they made converts, they made them not for heaven but for hell. It sounds to me like they had some kind of a bitterness against God and His Son that they would be so rejecting of God.
Application
Beware of this kind of teacher. And stir others away from this kind of teacher, who will try to keep them from true conversion to God.
This is our fifteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we will listen to what Jesus said to His disciples about how to regard the Pharisees’ teaching.
Matthew 23:1-7
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 “And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi.
Observations
Jesus taught here that because the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat and have authority as a teacher, they must be obeyed. But Jesus also warned the people not to follow their example, because they were hypocrites. Then Jesus showed them how to spot a hypocrite: 1) they are not willing to do the work they demand of others; 2) any deed they do they do to be noticed by others; 3) they try to make themselves appear spiritual; 4) they love places of honor; and 5) they love respectful greetings and being called Rabbi.
Application
First, we must respect anyone in authority, like a teacher or professor. Second, we are not obligated to follow anyone’s example. Jesus is the one we should follow. Third, be careful to do all things for the glory of God, not to be noticed by others, to appear spiritual or to get the respect of others.
This is our fourteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we see how Jesus turned the tables on the Pharisees—how He tested their weak faith.
Matthew 22:34-46
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.” ‘
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Observations
After the Pharisees tried to stump Jesus by asking Him which was the greatest commandment in the Law (and Jesus not only told them which was the greatest, but also the second greatest), He then had a question for them. He asked them whose son was Jesus. They answered correctly: the son of David. He them asked them, why then did David in the Spirit call Him Lord (in Ps. 110:1). It is obvious here that Jesus was pointing out His own deity. But still the Pharisees would not accept it. They understood what He was saying, but they refused to believe that He was the Son of God.
Application
The application for the Pharisees is to believe. The application for us today is the same. We must believe that He is the Son of God—the Lord, our Lord.
This is our thirteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we will focus on how Jesus responded to the Pharisees when they tried to trap Him.
Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Observations
Both the Pharisees and the Herodians (mainly Sadducees) wanted to trap Jesus in His words as to paying taxes. If he said no to their question of paying taxes, the Herodians would charge Him with treason against Rome. And if He said yes, the Pharisees would accuse Him of disloyalty to the Jewish nation. His answer amazed them both. He said to pay the tax to Caesar because it was his anyway (according to the stamp on the coin), but all the things that are God’s should go to God, which would include the hearts and souls of people. Caesar cannot touch people’s souls. They have the mark of His image on them.
Application
No one can touch a person’s soul. All are created in His image and belong to Him. We all have His mark on us and so all should give themselves to Him.
This is our twelfth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we will focus on the meaning of the parable of the landowner.
Matthew 21:33-46
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Observations
This parable speaks to the Jews as nation and particularity to the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees who killed the prophets (the servants) and would kill Jesus (the Son). The verdict given by the Pharisees upon the vine-growers (vs. 41) was a verdict made upon themselves. Yes, they who were the vine-growers in the parable convicted themselves. The other tenants who would be given the vineyard (or the kingdom) would be the church (v. 41, 43). So, this parable speaks prophetically about the end of the Jewish program and the beginning of the church (Rom. 11). The stone whom the builders rejected would be Christ (v. 42). The Pharisees were not stupid. They understood that Jesus was speaking about them and they wanted to kill Him.
Applications
The obvious application for me that I see is in verse 43. I am part of the church and my purpose is to produce fruit.
This is our eleventh study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we will focus on the Biblical teaching of divorce.
Matthew 19:3-9
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Observations
The Pharisees asked Jesus about divorce, as always, to test Him—to see how much He knew. And they may also have been looking for more information for their own debates. The Rabbis Shammai interpreted the law as permitting a man to divorce his wife only for sexual immorality. But the Hillelites permitted divorce for any reason.
Jesus appears to side with the Shammai, but He also gave them more informaation than they asked for. He instructed them on what the original intent of marriage was—to be of one flesh. He also corrected them on what was said about a command of divorce. He said that Moses didn’t command divorce, he permitted it, and only for one reason, adultery.
Applications
I think these verses should definitely be studied by any couple who is thinking about marriage. And it is my opinion that if they can’t be serious about staying together for life, they should not be married. It is better to remain single.
This is our tenth study on this topic. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we will focus on the false teaching of the Pharisees.
Matthew 16:5-12
When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”
8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Observations
First of all, we have to understand what Jesus meant by the term yeast (or leaven). In the material sense it is a substance added to dough to cause it to rise. If leaven bread dough is left too long before baking, it will ferment or sour. In Hebrew culture (in Mosaic Law) it was strictly forbade to use leaven in baking because it signified impurity, corruption or evil.
In this text when Jesus said, “Be on your guard against the yeast (or leaven) of the Pharisees, He was saying, be on your guard against corrupt and false teaching (which mainly was that they were too concerned with the external and not enough with matters of the heart). However, Jesus’ disciples completely misunderstood Him. They thought He was talking about bread—not having enough bread.
Applications
The clear application here is that we ought to be on our guard against any false teachers; they are everywhere. And there are many who are just like the Pharisees, who appear to be so righteous and knowledgeable, but they leave out the deep spiritual matters of the heart—things that are vital to our relationship with God.
Stephen Nielsen 