All right, Matthew chapter 22. We're gonna finish out this chapter here this morning and get into chapter 23. Let's pray here before we get started. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just love you. Father, we just ask that you come with us here today, Father, and meet with us. Lord, I pray that you just speak through me, Lord. Give me the right words to say at the right time. Lord, I ask that you just soften up the hearts, Lord, of the people here. I pray that everything that's said and taught here be a blessing to some folks Lord's that that you would receive all the honor and glory for father We love you teach us something for your book now Lord and pray this in Jesus name. Amen All right, Matthew chapter 22 We left off in verse 40 So we're gonna pick up in verse 41 and we'll just read through the end of the chapter and get into the text here this morning. Matthew 22 verse 41 says, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them saying, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They saying to him, the son of David. Now just realize here that he's not saying, what do you think of me? He's asking them, what do you think of Christ, the Messiah? This person that they believe in from a prophetic standpoint, that's what he's asking them about. So they say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions. All right, so this comes right on the end of, obviously, the previous verses. But basically, Jesus Christ is being sharpshot by these religious leaders, by the scribes of Pharisees and Sadducees. We saw the political folks with the Herodians even come in earlier. And they're really just trying to catch this guy. And again, just for those of you who haven't been here for a little while, the timing of this is this is Tuesday of the crucifixion week. So things are wrapping up here. Probably within 24 hours, Jesus Christ is set to be crucified and dead and buried. So that's where we're at. So you'll see basically from really this point on to the end until the crucifixion happens, Jesus Christ is just downloading everything down to his disciples and those around him. A whole bunch of doctrinal stuff coming through here. But at the same time, these religious leaders, you can kind of see they're reaching the end of their rope as well. They're trying, all right, we've got to get a hold of this guy. We've got to catch him. We've got to find something that he's doing wrong so that we can have an actual excuse to put this guy to death. They've been trying for the whole book pretty much to find a reason to put him to death. And each time they feared the people. So now they've really got to, they're just stepping it up. All right, so they've basically, they've ended their questioning of Jesus Christ in verse 40, and now Jesus is turning on them and he's saying, what do you think about this? You religious people, you scribes, the ones who are supposed to be well-versed in the law and all the things regarding it, they're supposed to be the ones that are shepherding the nation of Israel with their relationship with God and following him. So they should know about this prophesied Messiah. So he asked him he says who's who's what do you think of Christ? Whose son is he? Of course, they know Bible verses. They know all that stuff from from the Old Testament, especially the law they said They say to him the son of David now if they were talking about Jesus Christ himself It wouldn't make sense why they got so upset just a couple days prior when he had his triumphal entry into Jerusalem he comes in there if you remember and the the multitude the people there they had the the palm leaves and the branches and they were welcoming him in as a king and saying, you know, Hosanna to the Son of David, to the King. But the Pharisees were sitting on the sidelines. They were furious that they were calling this man, calling Jesus Christ the Son of David. And so they're clearly, they know that there is a prophesied Son of David. They're just saying, we don't want it to be you. So Jesus here in verse 41, Jesus is in the process of basically busting up their huddle, the Pharisees there, and knew that they would make fools of themselves with his questioning. So, turn over to Psalm 110. This is the quotation, this is the passage that Jesus Christ is quoting to them. Psalm 110, we're gonna read the whole Psalm here, it's just seven verses, but you're gonna see here that this is the first half of this chapter of this Psalm here looks like it's God talking basically to himself, okay? So you've got a portion of the Trinity that's being represented here. And then the second half, We'll get into it, but it's more describing stuff. But the entire passage is 2nd Advent. The entire passage is the Messiah coming, the Son of David. So, Psalm 110, verse 1 says, "...the Lord said unto my lord," and here's the exact verse quotation, It says, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. So David here is writing, he's saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, and you see the difference in capitalizations there? If your Bible has the first Lord there, it should be in all caps. And that basically, that's a callback to Jehovah, you know, God the Father, basically. But if this was referring to, and this is just kind of a cultural kind of thing, if this was referring to a great-great-great grandson of David, of King David, David would not call him this man, this human, he wouldn't call him my lord. he would call him my son or something. You know, it's just in that culture, they would not refer to their descendants as Lord. They, as the ancestor, if you will, as the patriarch of that line, they would be the ones getting the respect. So it would be David that would be called Lord in that regard. So David here is already acknowledging that there's something special about this man that's being prophesied and being talked about here. Well, this is God talking to God, God the Father talking to Jesus Christ here. whenever it says that, the Lord said unto my Lord, he says, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Now isn't that exactly where Jesus Christ went after he was dead, buried, and resurrected? We see there in Acts 7, Jesus Christ is standing there at the right hand of the Father. All throughout, he's at the right hand of the Father. So we know who this is referenced to. God the Father says to God the Son, he says, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. So that's millennial reign. He's not ruling today. He's not ruling in the midst of his enemies. That will happen during that millennium, during that kingdom of heaven there. Verse 3, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. So you've got the ten kings there in Revelation. With the Antichrist, he's going to strike through kings in the day of his wrath. If you back up to verse 3 again, it talks about the morning, kind of giving an idea of the prophetic time frame of when this second coming happens. Verse 6 says, he shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places. Now this is, I think it's verse... It kind of, the perspective changes. This is now, it looks like it's David kind of describing what he's seeing. So you had the quotation there from the Lord talking to the Lord. Verse four is now he's describing it. The Lord has sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever. The Lord, verse five, sorry, that's where it is. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads. There's the point directly to bruising the head of, or wounding the head of Satan there. He shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink up the brook in the way. Therefore shall he lift up the head. All right, so you see there that very, very heavy, heavy second advent. So Christ is using this passage here to point, obviously they know the Messiah is tied to the king and the kingdom. So that's all tied to the second Abbot. But he's basically saying, look, you guys have this idea of who this son of David is all wrong. It's not some physical earthly king that just happens to be from the bloodline and lineage of King David. There's something unique and special going on here. Both of those things are being fulfilled where it does come from the line of David, but also David looks at him and says, my Lord. So there's some sort of deity. There's some sort of respect there, obviously, for son of God. But David must be referring, as we know, looking back, he must be referring to the virgin-born son of David and not just his great-great-grandson. He wouldn't refer to him as Lord if that was the case. Dr. Ruppin put it this way, he says, once a man admits David's son is David's Lord, then he is forced to admit further that David's Lord must be David's God come down to earth in the flesh as one of David's descendants. Let me read that one more time. Once a man admits that David's son, now put this in the perspective of the Pharisees, this is where Jesus Christ is trying to get them to acknowledge this. He's trying to get them to understand this and accept this. They've still got a chance to accept him as their Savior, They still have a chance. So he's trying to point this out to them that this is something's different about than how they understand it. He says, once a man admits David's son is David's Lord, and you see that in Psalm 110, then he is forced to admit further that David's Lord must be David's God. come down to earth in the flesh as one of David's descendants. So you've got both, and that's the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. We don't understand that. I mean, you can try to wrap your head around the thing, but you're not fully gonna understand it, that this is the line of David, so he's a man, but it's also his Lord, his God. It's God himself come down. Somehow the two of those combine, and now you've got Jesus Christ. All right, so back in our text here, So you've got Jesus Christ saying, how then doth David in spirit? Notice you've got the Holy Spirit there as well. So you've got God the Father in Lord, God the Son in my Lord, and you've got David speaking through the Spirit. So you've got the whole Trinity represented by this Psalm 110. And Jesus Christ is pointing to all three of them at the same time. So David in spirit, how then doth David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? You see that? He's trying, again, beating this dead horse, but he's trying to point the fact out that it can't only be David's son. There's something godly, there's some deity that's tied into this thing, and he's got to get them to acknowledge that. Problem is, you don't see them accepting it in verse 46. It says, and no man was able to answer him a word. They didn't say a thing back to him. They didn't understand what he was saying. They didn't ask any questions, asking for more light, asking for more clarity. They didn't get it and they didn't want to get it. They're still refusing. No man was able to answer him a word, neither durst. It kind of means like dared. They didn't dare ask him from that day forth, ask him any more questions. All right. So Jesus shut them up so hard that they didn't even dare to ask anything. Now if you turn over to Mark 12, you'll see a parallel passage here. You'll see who did accept Jesus Christ's teaching here. Mark 12, look at verse 35. Jesus answered and said while he taught in the temple, Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David therefore himself calleth him Lord, and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. So you've got the religious leaders, you've got the hierarchy here, you've got the priests, the ones who we're about to get to in chapter 23, all the ones that love the praise, they love the glory of being in the leadership position, they love sitting in Moses' seat, they love the long robes, and they love the attention. They're the ones that reject it, but it's the common people that hear him gladly. They say, this is my king, this is my lord, this is my god. They understand, they accept it. And so you've got, I mean, you can easily draw parallels to today with other religions. You've got, you know, namely, I'm just gonna throw out the Catholic Church by name, because it's the most prominent. But other religions do the same thing with a hierarchy. Baptist churches will do the same thing, where you've got a pastor who must be referred to as Pastor So-and-So, because inside, he'd never probably admit it, but inside, he wants that additional position. He wants that status. He wants to hear it acknowledged. Again, he would never, maybe he would, maybe he would never actually come out and admit that, yes, I'm, you know, that's a bit haughty or whatever. He'd never admit that, but he'd also never admit that that's what he's looking for. But that's exactly what happens. You got folks that meet, you know, I'm pastor so-and-so. I heard it put this way that there was, you know, a lot of times conferences take place where you know, a bunch of pastors from all over the country or all over the region come together and it's, I'm pastor so-and-so from this church in that place, I'm pastor so-and-so from this church in that place, I'm reverend blah blah blah, and then you've got, you can easily see the heart of the people the pastors specifically, how they introduce themselves, how they present themselves. Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with saying, I am the pastor of whatever church. There's nothing wrong with that. It's the office of the bishop, right? But you can kind of tell and get a little bit of insight into where their heart is on the thing. There's another pastor in this illustration. Again, names don't matter. But this particular pastor guy says, I am so and so, first name, last name, pastor at such and such church. So you automatically kind of see where, look, nothing special in terms of like a hierarchy over the common folk. It's just, I happen to be the shepherd, I happen to be the pastor of, but you get this hierarchy and it's human nature that we come in and in the military and anywhere that there's like organizational leadership and hierarchy, it's easy for pride and that kind of stuff to set in and all of a sudden you just start looking for that recognition and that praise. Oh, I'm the leader of this organization or I'm I'm the deputy head or department head, not deputy, department head of this particular staff group or whatever, and you want to make sure that that gets thrown out there so that people, oh, okay, he's the big man on campus, he's the one in charge. And that's where these Pharisees are at. But it's the common people that understood and they heard him gladly. Brother Hoffman said it like this, he says, no religious hierarchy is necessary to understand the Bible. And folks, all throughout the Middle Ages, the Dark Ages, Medieval times, when the King James Bible was starting to get translated and printed out, that's what the goal was of getting an English Bible, was to get it into the hands of the common people. Because you got, again, big, big, big religions out there that will say, we don't want the common people to have access to the Bible, because they realize, oh, it teaches things that goes contrary with what we're trying to present and uphold. You can't read this Bible and get things like infant baptism. You can't read this Bible and get things like like Purgatory and things like that. It's it's completely made up and it's completely false And so if you get this in the hands of the common people They'll start studying that thing out and you'll have more people like like Martin Luther who come and say hold on here I've heard all this my whole life, but that's not what the book says The book says this, why are we doing it that way? And then you see the heart of them really start coming out when they start getting upset and they start getting offended and kicking you out and all this kind of stuff. So we don't need a priest to teach us and tell us what the Bible says, to teach us and tell us what God wants for our lives. We've got the book. And we, being saved, you are a royal priesthood, you can go directly to the throne yourself and interface directly with God the Father there and get something from him for your life. You don't need someone to say, here's what God has for you and go forth and do good things. We don't need that. All right, that pretty much wraps up the end of 22. It was pretty kind of straightforward. But chapter 23, we're going to read the first 12 verses here. So Matthew 23 verse 1 says, Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples. So now he's kind of turning his focus. He just got done questioning and shutting these guys up and silencing them. They're all grumbling and grumpy over there. He said, and so now he turns to the multitude, the common people that accepted him and his disciples, saying, verse 2, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi. for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." And it goes on and on. This is one of the chapters that Again, if you just read your Bible, if other denominational leaders would just read the Bible for what the Bible says, I don't know how they can get half of the doctrines that they hold on to. This chapter right here very clearly calls out many, many things. It's almost like many of these false religions came to this chapter and said, all right, let's figure out how we want to build our doctrines, build our churches. Don't call them master, all right. Call me master. Don't call him father. Call me holy father. Don't beware of them that walk around in long robes. All right, let's make them drag the floor. This is a laundry list, a shopping list for them to figure out how to build their churches, apparently. When at the same time, Jesus Christ is saying, avoid this. Watch out for these people who look for this. And that shows you the state of just humanity, even. get the book, read the book, and you're going to learn so much about what the Lord has for you and what to avoid and doctrines of devils and all that kind of stuff. This is very clear. This doesn't require, like I said, it doesn't require a pastor or a priest to explain what Christ is teaching here. It's pretty clear English here. So anyway, so Back up to verse one, it says, Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. All right, so the sitting in Moses' seat. If you turn over to Exodus 18, the scribes and the Pharisees, they sit in the seat because they seek the power. Exodus 18, you'll see the seat that Moses was sitting in, the responsibility here. Exodus 18, look at verse 13. This is with Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He's come now to Moses. Verse 13, it says, It came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto evening? And Moses said unto his father-in-law, because the people come unto me to inquire of God. Here's the responsibility that Moses had in this seat. When they have a matter, they come unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. So that's really the task that Moses had. God told him, you are the one. I will speak through you. You will present my statutes and my laws to them. And this is before the giving of the law, by the way. So this is God directly speaking to Moses, directly speaking and translating that and turning that into something for the common people there. But they turned to Moses for that authority. Moses had the authority to solve these disputes, these common disputes among the people, to help them understand the laws and the statutes of God. That was Moses' responsibility. You can read through the rest of that story there. Jethro actually kind of presents Moses with, looking back on it, presents him with a a wrong way to do things because the Lord didn't tell him you aren't able to do this. The Lord didn't tell him you can't handle this much work. The Lord can make us able if the Lord wants us able, wants us to be made able for a task. He can empower us and give us the right abilities and the right wisdom and all that. So Jethro comes in and is recommending this, hey, bring in some additional counselors, bring in people that you can delegate these tasks to. And from a humanistic kind of standpoint, that kind of makes sense. Moses over the entire house of Israel. That's a lot of people, a lot of things to cover. So yeah, why not have some delegated authority and have them deal with stuff? The problem is that's not how God set it up. God said, you're going to be my man. I'm going to speak through you and you only, and you're going to interact with the people. That's how God wanted it. And if Moses would have just turned to God for any sort of emotional distraught or distress that he was feeling from dealing with the murmurings and disputing to the people, because we know he felt it, the Lord would have been right there for him. And he was every time Moses had gone to him up to that point. So anyways, what I'm saying there is, I point all that out because that was the start. That's where the seat of Moses broke and it became the seat of many counselors. It wasn't just the seat of Moses. But the seat there represents that authority that was given. It isn't the authority, it doesn't give them the authority, but it represents authority. Look over in Esther 3, Esther chapter 3. The seat represents authority. Esther chapter 3, verse 1, you got Haman here. Esther 3.1, after these things did King Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hamadatha? the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him." So that seat there represents the authority that was given to Haman. And then also look over in Revelation 13. Now Haman, we know, obviously, he's a good type of the Antichrist persecuting the Jews. Revelation chapter 13, in verse 2, you kind of see the prophetic fulfillment of what we just read there in Esther 3. Revelation 13 too, and the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard and his feet were as the feet of a bear and his mouth as the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power. and his seat and great authority." That seat there, again, that seat represents that authority that is given to you. So a king has a throne. You look at the throne without the king present, that throne does nothing. It's a chair, right? But it represents the power that the king holds and that the king maintains there. So you've got the seat of Moses here. Again, that seat, just because these Pharisees took over that seat of Moses, they put themselves in that position of authority, doesn't mean they actually have the authority. But it's a representation of the authority. Does that make sense? Like, God did not come down and say, okay, scribes and Pharisees, you guys have got it, do the best you can, good luck. No, but they've taken that seat and that represents. So the common people look at that and say, oh, these must be them, they're the ones providing the counsel and the understanding of the law and God's statutes. They're the ones that are doing that. But again, if things go contrary to what the law says, if things go contrary to what the book says, it doesn't matter who's sitting in the seat. You follow the book, not the man. Right? So it doesn't matter. The scribes were more than just glorified record keepers. And we're going to do a real quick cross-reference to some good scribes throughout the Old Testament. But they're more than just people who write things down. They don't just scribe things and write things down. They had some authority, some responsibilities, really. Look at Ezra. Ezra chapter 7. Probably one of the most well-known scribes in the Bible. We'll just get a little job description, if you will, for these guys. Ezra chapter 7 and verse 6, alright, so it says, this Ezra, hold on, a bunch of people still turning, Ezra 7 verse 6 says, this Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe, he was ready, it means basically he was He was prepared, he was ready to receive and understand. He didn't have his heart made up and heart set on a thing. He was ready to receive the things from God. That's what that insinuates there. He was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. Look down at verse 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." That's the role. That's the expectation of those scribes. And that's not what these scribes here in Jesus' time are doing. Turn over to Nehemiah chapter 8. You'll see it again. So Nehemiah 8, still talking about Ezra the scribe here. But you'll see Ezra in action. Nehemiah 8.1 says, And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate. And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before the men and the women and those that could understand. and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." That's from morning to midday, folks. So, you know, come here for a few 30-minute sessions or hour-minute sessions here coming up in a couple weeks. There's no excuse not to be able to do that and be attentive unto the book of the law. Verse 4, Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mattithiah and Shema and Ananiah and some other men on his right hand and on his left hand some more men. Verse 5, And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, not because of his status or his pride or his ego, And when he opened it, all the people stood up. He was above all the people so that they could see him and they could hear him. It's kind of like something like this, right? If I was sitting down here at Brother Ralph's level, he could hear me, the front maybe a couple rows could hear and see, but the rest of you folks would be peeking around the heads of other people and trying to hear. So, it's not a thing of being lifted up in pride or lifted up above other people from a status standpoint. Anyways, verse 6, Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Verse 7, also, Yeshua and Bani and a bunch of others, they caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense, they made sense of it. They helped people understand what does this mean. So it made sense to them and caused them, there it is, to understand the reading. That's the role, that's the expectation of these scribes. It's more than just someone who writes stuff down. It's more than just a, oh, you don't understand your scriptures? Come to me, I'll give you the answer. It's not a degree that they get from a school. They have expectations from God to teach, guide, mentor, counsel, shepherd the nation of Israel. That's a huge lift, a huge task. Lastly, look over at Malachi 2. Lastly on this point. Malachi chapter 2, this is right before what's commonly known as the 400-ish year silence period. So God says here, He says, Okay, so we know who He's talking to. Jump down to verse 7. Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts." And if you read the rest of that, including the verses we skipped over, it talks about the curses that would come if they did this thing and how the Lord obviously doesn't want them to do it. But it's all about these priests, these pastors, these common hierarchical kind of religious leaders falling into apostasy and not following the book, not following the law that they're expected to teach and to counsel the people with. So anyways, that's an idea of what scribes and priests were expected to do. Now, you and I, post death, burial, and resurrection, that's you and I. We are the scribes and the priests, if you will. That is us. So use those even as a good way to take a look at your life and your relationship with the Lord and say, do I fit within these bounds here? Now, obviously, we've got more than just the law of Moses that we need to understand. We've got to rightly divide the thing. We've got the whole New Testament and Church Age doctrine and all that kind of stuff, but the expectation stays the same, I believe. I don't think there's any change in the expectation for us to dig in the book, get in the book, figure out what it says, and properly teach it to others, counsel others, obviously witnessing and soul winning and all that stuff, but being able and willing to get into the book and just allow the Lord to show us something from it without our minds being made up on the thing. That's where so many Christians today fall short. All right, back in Matthew 23, so that's the scribes there, and these are the ones that are sitting in Moses' seat. Verse three says, all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. So he's saying whatever they tell you, you should do. So Jesus is even acknowledging that these men, they do know some things from the scriptures. They do have still some position of authority that he, as God, still expects these people to follow. Basically he's saying if it's right, do it. If it's wrong, don't. So he says, Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. They can preach it, but they don't practice it. But what they're preaching, if it's right, do it. There's no reason you should just outright rebel against it. If it's right, if it's according to the law, if it's according to scripture, do it. That's fine. A common saying is chew up the meat and spit out the bones. We're men, we're humankind, we are fallible, all that. There's things that are going to be said from time to time, hopefully less often in places like this where we're ideally open up to the Lord, but there are going to be things that you hear that are not going to line up with Scripture. And maybe that's myself, right? Maybe I'm teaching something that's not exactly according to Scripture. Okay, if I tell you to do something that's against Scripture, don't do it. If I tell you something that isn't Scripture, do it. It's that simple. Where Jesus is coming from here, again, it's right from that perspective. He's not saying that you happen to be doing it. No, it's a command. He's saying that, observe, and do. Do these things that they say to do, and they line up with Scripture. But what he also is trying to highlight here, he says, but don't imitate the scribes in the Pharisees' lives, because they're not doing what they're saying you should be doing. They've got all these requirements and stipulations and traditions and all these things that you need to uphold as the common folk, but they themselves don't live that way, because they're too worried about being up in the high rooms and getting the praise. Again, goes back to the point, don't follow a man, follow the book. Don't follow the man. So the whole world out there, they'll use phrases like Ruckmanites and even Larkin has certain followers and all these big men that we oftentimes quote or follow some of their studies and teachings, but you don't follow their studies and teachings because they happen to say it. You study because that's what the book says and it aligns up with it. And that's the end of the line. That's where all that discussion should stop. So, but Jesus says, basically, it's for they say and do not. That's the whole do as I say, not as I do mentality. That's in homes with parents and kids. Parents will give all these stipulations and expectations of their children, yet the parents themselves won't follow through with even what they expect their kids to do. Do as I say, not as I do is a huge problem here today in common. It sounds like it's been a problem throughout history. It's just a human problem. It says in verse 4, for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. They won't lift a finger to do the workload that they're expecting you to maintain and to carry. But legalism is all throughout religions. It's even in Bible-believing churches. It's all throughout any sort of religious kind of thing. Customs and traditions will send a man straight to hell if it impedes his faith and belief in Christ. It doesn't matter how closely you align or follow any man or any tradition or any custom. It doesn't matter. And as a matter of fact, if it keeps someone from hearing the actual gospel and actually being taught properly, they're going to go, like Pastor said, they're going to go to hell like a bullet. And so we've got to be able to teach those things properly and separate the legalistics type stuff. It doesn't matter if someone shows up with crazy colored hair or tattoos or wild clothing. It doesn't matter. It matters what the Lord does in their heart. It matters what the Lord does in their life. You let the Lord deal with those things from a personal conviction standpoint and change those things. There's a number of folks in here that have made testimony to that very thing. I once was this way before or after being a Christian, doesn't matter. I once was this way, but now the Lord showed me this over time, over relationship, over teaching, over time. The Lord showed them this thing and now they live this way or now they dress this way or whatever the situation is. But the second that we start looking at people kind of out of the corner of our eye, oh, look at that person. They look kind of different and weird. Let's avoid them. Folks, you're going to kick these people out of church and not even have to say a word to them. And these people are going to go right back to the world and say, well, I at least get accepted there. It doesn't, I'm not saying that we need to be accepting of everyone's lifestyles and everyone's, the decisions that everyone makes. That's not what I'm saying. But if they, let's say for example, right? Someone comes in and we know that they live a certain way. Let's say that they're, I don't know, let's do something extreme. They're a crazy drug addict, right? And they just, they shoot up every opportunity they can. Maybe they even come in here a bit high, a little tipsy on some stuff. The second that you say, hey, come here, buddy. Look at what the Bible says about this. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, wrong. You're wrong, you're evil, you're wicked, all that kind of stuff. You are shutting them off before the Lord has even had a chance to soften their hearts to it. You're completely shutting them off to the things of God. And you can apply that to any sort of lifestyle kind of choice or whatever. Allow the Lord to do some stuff. If they come to you, for example, and say, I want to think about this. Perfect example. Maria, I've heard, you know, with the tattoo stuff. And you guys have said this from the pulpits. I'm not going to say anything new or weird or anything like that. But the Lord showed her. Shortly after she got saved, she got a new tattoo. And it was in line with other tattoos that she had gotten. I think it was a heart. But she made this one represent her relationship with the Lord. Now that she's saved, she wanted something special and unique for her and the Lord. Folks, the Lord can use that, right? The Lord can use that. Does it line up perfectly with Scripture? Maybe not, right? But let the Lord deal with her. It would have been much more difficult for her to have the end result like we're familiar with now. Had Ty and Katie at the time just been like, well, sister, let me tell you, you done messed up again. Look at what the Bible says about the markings and all this and that. Let the Lord deal with the people's heart, and it'll sink in a lot deeper, and it'll last a lot longer, guaranteed. So legalism is what we're trying to get at. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4. So Jesus is saying that these men, they're saying, you have to do these things, you have to uphold these kind of standards and traditions, but they themselves don't even keep themselves to it. 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, common passage here, we've quoted it several times. It says, Now the Spirit speaking expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith. They were in the faith and they're going to depart from it. Why is that? Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. So he's given some examples of doctrines of devils. These things are a legalistic kind of thing. They have nothing to do with your salvation. They have nothing to do with your relationship with the Lord. But it's being taught to these churches that they are to follow these requirements and these things. Folks, you and I today, we have liberty in Christ. So if your conscience is clean and the scripture is clear on it, and it doesn't clearly tell you that this particular thing is wrong, and you can go to God and stand before Him and say, yep, I did it this way, I believe I'm absolutely right, then do that thing. You've got liberty with Christ. I think of the common example is Christmas. Do you celebrate Christmas or not? Do you put up a tree or not? Folks, if you feel comfortable doing that, and you've got scripture or you don't have scripture that specifically says you can't do that thing, and if Jesus Christ was literally standing right there next to you today and you could show him your beautiful Christmas tree and the presents under the tree, then do it. If it's going to bother you, then don't. We have liberty in Christ with these things. That's what we're pointing out. As long as the Bible doesn't clearly say this is wrong, you likely have some liberty in the thing to allow your conscience to be clean before the Lord. Legalism is, like I said, is gonna kill and separate and break apart churches more than doctrines will. Look at Romans chapter two. Romans chapter two, verse 25. For circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law. But if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. It's no good, it means nothing. Verse 26, therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? It's like, the important thing here is, in this case, in Romans 2, he's talking about Old Testament salvation and stuff. The important thing was maintaining, keeping that law. And for you and I, it doesn't matter these works, these traditions, all that kind of stuff. If you're not keeping God's law, if you're not saved, and you're not trying to live righteously, it's like dung, Paul says in other places. The traditions, the works, you can look at Galatians chapter 3, the whole chapter there is all about the works that are trying to creep into the church of the Galatians there. But these people that Jesus Christ is talking about in Matthew 23, they require a lot. He says they bind heavy burdens. They require a lot, but they don't even lift a finger themselves. All right, verse 5. Verse 5 says, but all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. All their works they do is for it to be seen of men. You can look back at Matthew chapter 6, Sermon on the Mount, several different times and places Jesus Christ is talking about the Pharisees out there doing things to be seen. They give their alms to the poor, but they do it such that, hey look, you know, hey brother Daryl, you see offering plate here? There it is. They're giving these alms to the poor to be seen of men. And then Jesus says, give your alms so that your left hand doesn't even know what your right hand is doing. The teaching there is that the point is not to be seen of men. But that's exactly what these guys are doing. Now the phylacteries, make broad their phylacteries. Phylactery is a little box with scripture inside. That's simple. They had a little thing. Sometimes I've seen places where maybe it was wrapped around their wrists, perhaps. Sometimes it was around their neck, maybe. But it was something that had scriptures in it. Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 6. You'll see kind of where this came from. I've seen other places where this really started after the Babylonian captivity. They got into some of those Babylonian traditions and started bringing some of those things back as well. But Deuteronomy 6 verse 8 says, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, the statutes, the laws, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates. Other places it talks about you'll write them on the stones of your heart. The point is have these things readily available. Have these laws, these statutes, have them inside. Have them internalized. Carry them around if you have to so that you can have access to my laws. That's how important they are. It's not so that you can carry around the massive family Bible and say, look, my Bible is bigger than yours. I must be more religious and more spiritual than you. That's not what he's talking about, but that's what it's turned into with these traditions. I saw something, I think we were at, I can't remember, it might have been when we were at Focus on the Family. And this is nothing against them or their store, but somewhere recently I saw this massive, it was literally called the Family Bible. It was no kidding. Like, I'm not exaggerating. It was this huge. It was about that thick, hard back. I mean, the thing was beautiful, right? But it's literally one of those Bibles you just, you know, you hear the illustration, you walk into Grandma's house, and boom, there it is right there on the coffee table. And it's just, those pages hadn't turned, folks. It's not about the size of the phylacteries, the boxes here with the scripture. Not about what you carry around. It's about what's in your heart. What's in your mind. Are you referencing those things? That's the spirit of the law, if you will. There's other passages in Exodus. Exodus 13, 16 talks about it as well. Look at this passage. Look over in Proverbs chapter 3. I like Proverbs because it's practical for all times. But Proverbs chapter 3. Verse 1, There it is. The point that's being taught in Proverbs and in Deuteronomy and in Exodus and that Jesus is pointing out here, get them in your heart. If you have to carry it around with you all the time so that you can reference it, do it. But the point is it's for your heart, it's for your relationship with God. It's not so you can show other people how spiritual and religious you are. That's where these guys are falling short. So the idea of how they make broad their phylacteries, to make it broad is to make it large so as to be seen. It also says, Jesus says there in verse 5 again, He says they enlarged the borders of their garments. Numbers chapter 15, for the sake of time I won't turn there, but Numbers 15 verses 37 through 41 talks about the borders of their garments, the hem of their garment. They were to make a blue border basically around it. And the point is it was supposed to remind them of going back to the law, of getting back to the statutes that God had established. It wasn't a matter of showing how religious they were. They were all supposed to have it. The priests, they were supposed to have that thing around the border, around the hem. And when they see the blue, because it stood out like a sore thumb, when they see the blue, God's laws. I need to be living that day in, day out, every second of my life. Especially the priests, the scribes, the ones that were supposed to be setting the example and teaching the nation of Israel. If there's one thing you walk away from this lesson here this morning, that's our responsibility is to constantly be putting God's law in our heart, in our minds, living it day in and day out, not just referencing it when we happen to show up to church, if we happen to show up, not just referencing it when we happen to be asked a question out in the world, but it's to be constant, just part of your life. The more your life it is, number one, the happier you're gonna be, but number two, though, the easier it'll be to actually answer a man according to the hope that is within you when you're asked. All right, we are going to close with these last thoughts here. The idea of these garments, the borders of the garments, is intended to be on the fringes as a personal reminder. But these Pharisees, this is the point here that Jesus is making, they wanted to ensure people saw their blue borders. So they enlarged their phylacteries, the boxes they're carrying around, they enlarged the borders of their garments. They wanted to make sure that people saw those blue borders. These long robes and clothing, Mark 12.38 and Luke 20.46 talk about the long robes and the clothing specifically here. They've become traditions and symbols of religious piety and status. It has nothing to do with their actual relationship. It has everything to do with saving face before the people and showing their position. So you've got other religions, even some of the Baptist churches, they'll do these. I even personally, this is a personal thing, this is not Bible, this is personal, I don't like choir robes. So you've got these choirs where the choir members, they get up there and you've got like 50 people up there and they've got these beautiful choir robes and they're all in uniform. Folks, what's your point? Are you supposed to look good or are you supposed to lift up your voice to the Lord and sing some songs in praise to Him? But you're trying to draw attention to yourself. But those choir robes, oftentimes they've got these borders and there's bright colors and it's to be seen of men. I am a member of the choir. Or you've got the priest or the rabbi or whoever who gets up here and he's got this crazy long big robe on with unique special colors and they mean things and all that kind of stuff. It's to stand up and stand out among the crowd, to be something that they're not. And Jesus says here in verse 8, says, For one is your master, even Christ, all ye are brethren. You're all peasants, folks. Jesus is the master, he's the king, we're all just peasants in his kingdom here, right? So from a spiritual standpoint, obviously. But we're all the same. Now the Lord obviously puts people like pastor into positions of authority to help shepherd and guide and direct, right? But it doesn't mean that he's any some special thing with God that you can't be or you aren't. We're all brethren, we're all peasants together. All right, we're gonna close there and be dismissed in a word of prayer.