JESUS VERSUS THE PHARISEES
PHARISEE….One of a group of Jews who thought they kept all God’s command. They did not like the things that Jesus taught. They thought that their opinions about religion were always right. So many Pharisees became proud {EASY ENGLISH BIBLE DICTIONARY}
I remembered back in high school how senior students dealt with proud and arrogant junior class students. Senior students, having noticed a recurring display of arrogance and disobedience by a particular male junior student, make plans on how to humble him by inviting him over to their classroom and giving him a practically impossible task to do. For example, a car is drawn on one end of the chalkboard and he is asked to push the car to the other end of the chalkboard without using a chalk. He must not wipe the original car, only to push it with his hands. That is like asking him to perform a magic. It is something practically impossible to do and they’ve got punishment waiting for him if he couldn’t do it. It was all done just to humble him until he begs and cries out for help.
The Jews are a very proud set of people whose display of arrogance was irritating to Christ Jesus in His days. They believed they were so righteous because Abraham was their father and because they’ve kept the laws of Moses all their lives that they did not need Jesus to be their savior. The most pretentious sect of Jews were the Pharisees. They thought that they were too important and clever and so looked down on Jesus and opposed him forcefully. They felt they knew all the laws of Moses and kept all of them even though the truth was that they broke the most important laws. They believed their opinion about religion was the best and so countered Jesus’ teachings and tempted Him severally to see if he would fault the laws. They were perpetually arrogant. They felt they were the most righteous people on the face of the earth and that was based on their own assessment of how much of God’s laws they pretended to have kept.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. {John 8:3-6}
On the other hand was a meek Jesus who was sent by God the father to rescue these arrogant people from their sins even though they didn’t know they were living in sin. They were blinded by their self-righteousness and pride. They were in bondage but knew it not. When the TRUTH came to set them free from the bondage of the law of sin and death, they rejected Him and argued that they have never been in bondage and that they were Abraham’s seed. Abraham’s covenant partner stood before them in human form but they couldn’t recognize Him. They resisted Him with all the energy they had.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. {Matthew 1:21}
10 But although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. 11-12 Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted {John 1:10-11 TLB}
Jesus didn’t just come to earth to discover by surprise that His people were living in sin. He knew it before He left heaven to earth and it was because of their sins that He became flesh and dwelt among men. But surprisingly, the people He came to rescue from sin were claiming to be overly righteous. They rejected Him. He was amazed by their pride and arrogance. Listen to what they said to the One who came to set them free:
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35 And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me because my word hath no place in you. { John 8:32-37}
They sought to kill the one who came to give them life. They were servants of sin but refused to accept the truth. They were enslaved by the inherited monster, the sinful nature but pride blinded their eyes. Jesus proved again to them that He knew they were all sinners even though they pretended to be holy by keeping Moses’s law. Here is the proof of their sin:
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.{ John 8:7-11}
When Jesus said he that is without sin should cast the first stone, He knew they were all guilty of sin. If He didn’t know He would not have made such a statement because if peradventure one or two were righteous, they would have stoned the woman to death. But He knew there was none righteous among them all. He knew they were all born sinful from their mother’s womb. He knew they broke God’s laws every now and again. He knew sin was controlling their lives. Jesus, angry at their arrogance said this again to prove He knew they were dying in Sin.
24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. {John 8:24}
These same people who drank iniquities like water continued in their arrogance and pride. They believed so much in keeping the laws of Moses so Jesus had to focus on the Law of Moses since they didn’t want to accept His message of Grace. All they wanted was to obey the laws and reject Jesus. So Jesus needed to humble them by making the laws more difficult for them. He told them to obey laws that He knew were practically impossible for any man to obey. He needed to prove to them that they were all guilty of sin. He had to heighten their condemnation by heightening the demands of the law. He was asking them to do the impossible job of pushing the car on the chalkboard. He wanted to break their proud wings until they were humble enough to realize that they needed a savior. Now I am going to show you several instances where Jesus Christ heightened the demands of the law just to humble them and make them depend on Him.
16 Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Good master, what must I do to have eternal life?”
17 “When you call me good you are calling me God,” Jesus replied, “for God alone is truly good.[c] But to answer your question, you can get to heaven if you keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” the man asked.
And Jesus replied, “Don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie,19 honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself!”
20 “I’ve always obeyed every one of them,” the youth replied. “What else must I do?”
21 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 But when the young man heard this, he went away sadly, for he was very rich.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “It is almost impossible for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 24 I say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!”
25 This remark confounded the disciples. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked.
26 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, no one. But with God, everything is possible.”{Matthew 19:16-26 TLB}
Now this young man came to Jesus thinking he was already perfect because he has kept some laws. He came with pride to prove to Jesus that he was perfect only to discover that it was impossible for him to be perfect without God’s help. He hasn’t killed, committed adultery, stolen neither has he dishonored his parents nor hated his neighbors but he was still not perfect in God’s sight. Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor before he can become perfect. Now that was impossible for him to do because he had great possessions. I believe that even if he did what Jesus asked him to do, he would still not be perfect because Jesus would have asked him to do another almost impossible thing until he realizes that he can’t be perfect by himself.
When the disciples saw how impossible it is to be perfect, they cried out “who then can be saved?” Jesus’ answer to them was profound. It is a statement you hear people make every day but not even church leaders have understood the real meaning of that statement. Here it is “Humanly speaking, no one. But with God, everything is possible” What Jesus was saying was that for human beings, it is impossible to be perfect or be saved by yourself but when you accept Christ it becomes possible for you to be perfect. If you remember He had preached to the people “be ye perfect even as your heavenly father is perfect”. In fact, He made that statement at the end of Matthew chapter five after He had spent the entire chapter heightening the law and making it more difficult and almost impossible for anyone to obey.
The most surprising part was not that He made the law’s demands almost impossible to meet but that He asked them to be as perfect as God the father. If it was possible for anyone to be as perfect as God the father by their own effort, why then did He leave heaven to come die for us? If when the law’s demand was seemingly moderate to bear, mankind was condemned to be sinners by it, how possible is it that anyone can become perfect now that its demands have been heightened and made almost practically impossible to obey. He knew what He was saying. He knew it was impossible for anyone to be perfect without God’s help. He knew He was going to make them perfect if they accept Him as their Lord and savior. Most preachers believe that He meant that we must keep all the laws of Moses before we can be perfect. No! Not all. He knew the impossibility of keeping all the laws of Moses. He knew that for Humans it is impossible, that was why He came to fulfill all the laws for us so that by having faith in Him we also would have fulfilled the demands of the law. He knew that only His death and resurrection could make us perfect. He alone perfected us and it is forever.
48 Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. {Matthew 5:48}
12 Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever, and then he sat down at the right side of God. 13 There he now waits until God puts his enemies as a footstool under his feet. 14 With one sacrifice, then, he has made perfect forever those who are purified from sin. {Hebrews 10:12-14 GNT}
Let’s look at another scenario where Jesus heightened the demands of the law. Please notice that before Christ came people have been battling with fornication and adultery even till date. Now you must understand that before any fornication or adultery, there must have first been lust for women. You must have looked at a woman lustfully. Some men, however, have looked lustfully at women but didn’t have sex with them. The ones who felt they were righteous because they only lusted but didn’t have sex would have accused the ones who had sex of sin. Now Christ shows up and says if you look at a woman lustfully, you have already had sex with her in your heart, therefore you have sinned. That will now increase the number of sinners, not only those who had sex are sinners now but also those who lusted without having sex. Now my question is this: Did Christ come to save His people from their sins or He came to increase the number of sinners and make sin exceedingly sinful?
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. {Matthew 5:27-28}
You can read all the other verses{21-48} of Matthew chapter five and you will see how the law’s demands were heightened and how sin was made exceedingly sinful.
You see, people of God, all this was done so that sin will become exceedingly sinful. So that all men will be condemned under sin and realize the need for a savior. He said all that was said in His preaching so that no man can boast of keeping the entire law. He wanted the man to need Him so He had to increase conviction because until you are convicted of sin, you don’t see the need for repentance.
You only need a savior when you recognize how helpless and incapacitated you are. What Jesus did was to block every angle where their pride and self- righteousness could come from so that they would know that without Him no man can see the Father. When that has been done He can now say to them like He said unto Thomas in John chapter 14 verse 6
” I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life, no man cometh to the father except through me.”
It is only by Him that men can get to the Father. No one can get to heaven by keeping Jewish laws.Perfection is only possible through faith in Christ Jesus.
12 How different from this way of faith is the way of law, which says that a man is saved by obeying every law of God, without one slip. 13 But Christ has bought us out from under the doom of that impossible system by taking the curse for our wrongdoing upon himself. For it is written in the Scripture, “Anyone who is hanged on a tree is cursed” (as Jesus was hung upon a wooden cross[a]).
14 Now God can bless the Gentiles, too, with this same blessing he promised to Abraham; and all of us as Christians can have the promised Holy Spirit through this faith.{Galatians 3:12-14 TLB}
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