The Scribes and Pharisees

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The Scribes and Pharisees

• Devoted
• Zealous
• Knowledgeable
• Teachers
• Who were self-deceived

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Real Religion

• The pursuit of genuine faith must be ongoing

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How Do We Deal With Scripture?

• To control others?

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Matthew 151-2

• Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from
  Jerusalem and said, 2 Why do your disciples
  break the tradition of the elders? For they do
  not wash their hands when they eat.

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Matthew 234

• They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay
  them on people's shoulders, but they themselves
  are not willing to move them with their finger.

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How Do We Deal With Scripture?

• To control others?
• To comfort ourselves?

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Matthew 153-5

• He answered them, And why do you break the
  commandment of God for the sake of your
  tradition? 4 For God commanded, Honor your
  father and your mother, and, Whoever reviles
  father or mother must surely die. 5 But you say,
  If anyone tells his father or his mother, What
  you would have gained from me is given to God,

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How Do We Deal With Scripture?

• To control others?
• To comfort ourselves?

1. Whats comfortable for us?
2. Whats popular?
3. Whats easy?
4. Whats contemporary?

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How Do We Deal With Scripture?

• To control others?
• To comfort ourselves?
• With honest acceptance?

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1 Thessalonians 213

• And we also thank God constantly for this, that
  when you received the word of God, which you
  heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of
  men but as what it really is, the word of God,
  which is at work in you believers.

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Matthew 157-9

• You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you,
  when he said
• 8 This people honors me with their lips,
• But their heart is far from me
• 9 in vain do they worship me,
• Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

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Its Important That We Stay

• Teachable
  Because we do not understand it all
• Tender
  Because we do not live above sin
• Balanced
  Because none of it can be ignored
• Changeable
  The result of taking the first 3 to
  heart

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How Do We Treat People?

• The Pharisees discarded parents,

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Matthew 2314

• Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
  For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense
  you make long prayers therefore you will receive
  the greater condemnation

The Pharisees impoverished widows
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Matthew 263-4

• Then the chief priests and the elders of the
  people gathered in the palace of the high priest,
  whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and plotted together
  in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Plotted murder
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James 127

• Religion that is pure and undefiled before God,
  the Father, is this to visit orphans and widows
  in their affliction, and to keep oneself
  unstained from the world.

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How Do We Treat People?

• Pharisees discarded parents,
  impoverished widows plotted murder
• James spoke of true religion, and undefiled, as
  assisting those in distress
• In this BURGER KING world we think its all about
  us, and having it our way.

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Matthew 2026-28

• t shall not be so among you. But whoever would be
  great among you must be your servant, 27 and
  whoever would be first among you must be your
  slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be
  served but to serve, and to give his life as a
  ransom for many.

True religion adds value to the lives of others
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Matthew 1518

• But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the
  heart, and this defiles a person.

Ultimate purpose of religion is changing the heart
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Luke 1139-40

• And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees
  cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish,
  but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.
  40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside
  make the inside also?

Creator of outer man also made the inner man
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How Do You Deal With Your Heart?

• Can we examine it
• Admit our wrongs
• Confess our sins
• And conquer it?

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To Add Realism to Our Religion

• Follow the Scriptures,
  even when its difficult
• Treat people with respect,
  even when theyre difficult
• Examine the motives of our heart, even when
  others tell us were doing great