TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Part One
4. Blessing 3 and Woe 3 - The Meek vs. Proselyte Makers PART ONE INTRODUCTION Beware the Venom of the Pharisees
MAIN TEXT: Matthew 3:4-11 " 4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and [with] fire: "
JOHN AS HE
WAS PREACHING THE COMING KINGDOM WAS PREACHING REPENTANCE AND
BAPTIZING. AND AS A CONSEQUENCE, HE RAN HEADLONG INTO THE PHARISEES.
The prophet and the Pharisee will by nature come into conflict. The prophet has come with the fresh Word of the Lord bringing both conviction and hope, but the Pharisee thinks that they know all and have arrived already and don’t like to be told that there’s a problem.
Your traditions... your ideas won’t cut it! Your imbalanced views doesn’t impress God! Repentance and admitting that you need "HIM" does get His attention though.
The axe is laid to the root of the trees that do not bear good fruit. It is time to get connected into the true vine of Jesus Christ, and bring forth good fruit.
“O generation of Vipers”, or “generation of rattlesnakes” in my American terminology.
The devil is the great crooked serpent... John the Baptist was (and later Jesus would) equating the Pharisees with the "Devil". They felt so "righteous" and better than others, but God sees the hidden things.
Jesus would later tell these same groups of people this... John 8:44 " Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. "
THERE ARE TWO GROUPS IN THE CHURCH, EVEN AS THERE WERE THEN IN JUDAISM:
You see, those who think that they have already arrived are doing it their way either by being as worldly as they can get away with as the Sadducees, or by walking in their own Pharisaic traditions and making their way more important than the actual Word of God!
One thing you need to remember about VIPERS, they have venom and they can poison you if you are bitten. So, beware the venom of the Pharisees! The Pharisee thinks that their view is more important than the balanced preaching of God’s Word. In other words, God can’t even instruct them on how to live and serve God.
They are dangerous because they fight from inside the church. They try to do it in their own power and make up their own rules, and miss that we can ONLY be holy through the Holy Spirit.
This study is going to look at a comparison and contrast between those who are believers who are “blessed”, and those who are as the Pharisees that have “woes” spoken on to them by God. Those who are likened unto the Pharisees are likened unto serpents.
Why serpents? This is because serpents are symbolic of the Great Crooked Serpent or Great Red Dragon Satan. Satan is a serpent in Genesis and the Great Red Dragon in Revelation. He is called Leviathan and Rahab the Dragon, and the great crooked serpent throughout scriptures. He is a “cherub”, which is an angelic being that does not look human. He is described as a dragon or a winged serpent. His forces many times are described as serpentine.
Luke 10:18-19 (KJV)18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Psalms 91:11-13 (KJV)11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Mark 16:17-18 (KJV)17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Romans 16:20 (KJV) And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Jesus said this of the Pharisees and Satan concerning lying: John 8:41-45 (KJV)41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
This is important because Jesus was saying basically that they were of the spiritual family of the Devil (Satan) and that God (Yahweh) was not their spiritual Father. They were like their father and had attributes like their spiritual father, the devil. He was a liar from the beginning and they were as their father and would not receive that actual truth of God.
This is fundamental, and this study shows the fundamental differences between those whose Father really is God and those who are still a part of the Kingdom of this world with Satan as their true ruler. There are many who are religious and in churches and are not truly born again, but have go through the motions and like the Pharisees… elevate religious traditions and legalistic behavior above the true Word of God and totally lack any real love or grace in their lives.
BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS ARE GIVEN ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS
In Matthew 5, Jesus gives a list of blessings that the Kingdom of Heaven brings, and in Matthew 23, He brings a list of woes to the scribes and Pharisees.
Which list applies to you? Listen and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you.
Matthew 5:3 " Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "
1st Blessing - who’s blessed? The poor in spirit... those who need and know that they have need. Those who have need and seek God... those have the Kingdom of Heaven promised to them!
This is not the man who is financially poor, but it is the one who admits that they have a spiritual need… the poor in spirit. They turn to God for help and are not arrogant thinking that they have everything that they need already.
They know that they have need and they are turning to God for help and the Lord becomes the source of their supply.
John 10:10 (KJV) The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Ephesians 1:3 (KJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
You have a choice in life. You can take two positions in life in relationship to this. You can be poor in spirit and recognize your absolute need for the Lord, or you can be full of flesh and proud.
Matthew 23:11-12 (KJV) “ 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. “
Matthew 5:4 " Blessed [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. "
2nd Blessing - who’s blessed? Those who are hurting! God’s heart is to you when you have suffered loss... if you are hurting, then God will reach out and comfort you. The Holy Spirit is our comforter and loves us... God cares about us!
This word in Greek means literally having a totally broken heart and is as hurt and broken as is possible.
Luke 4:18-19 (KJV)18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Isaiah 61:2 (KJV) To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
This applies both to those who are personally hurting. It promises that Jesus Christ will heal their broken hearts and heal them. He is your answer. It also in Isaiah has to do with those who mourn over the sins of the nation or their own sins, and the sins of others in their nation.
The person who is truly repentant will mourn over sin. When you or I sin, if we are truly a child of God, it breaks our hearts and we know that it breaks God’s heart. It makes us mourn at times and pray and intercede, and Jesus said that the person who does this shall be blessed.
This applies both ways, for the answer to both personal pain and tragedy, and the answer to forgive the sins of others and yourself is found in the Lord! There is blessing for the person who mourns.
Matthew 23:13 " But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in [yourselves], neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. "
1st Woe - Scribes, Pharisees... hypocrites who pull people away from the true gospel through your false teaching of legalism and traditions, and ways keep others from receiving Jesus Christ and the Kingdom.
You don't enter into the kingdom of Heaven yourselves and don't want anyone else doing it either. You get angry when we don't go your way, but believe the Gospel instead.
The poor in spirit has the kingdom of Heaven, but the Pharisees by pulling people away from the simple Gospel to their traditions literally rob others of the kingdom.
THIS IS ONE RADICAL CONTRAST BETEEN THOSE WHO ARE PART OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND THOSE WHO ARE PHARASAIC AND STILL A PART OF THE KINGDOM OF “THIS WORLD”
Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life… the living door to God the Father and the Kingdom. But false Pharisaic (and the more liberal Sadducee-type) teachers are like a living obstacle to that door trying to keep people out of entering into the Kingdom through Jesus Christ.
John 10:1 (KJV) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
They take the simple gospel of Jesus Christ and complicate it and even use the name of Jesus many times, but they make it something that the Bible never has and preaches another gospel. WOE ON THEM!
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (KJV)3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Galatians 1:7-9 (KJV)7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Whoever preaches another gospel and another kind of Jesus Christ than the true one and changes the message, let them be accursed. That is what a woe is, it is a curse.
We have New Age type Sadducees teaching a greed gospel today that is another gospel with another kind of modernized Jesus to fit in with the world. Let them be accursed to preach that lie. We have others that try to pull you into Pharisaic legalism that puts the believer into bondage and preaches again another gospel than the simple truth given by Jesus and the Apostles. Let them also be accursed who preach that other side of a lie. The truth is in the Word of God!
We are not lawless or worldly, and we also are not justified by the Law of Moses. Romans 8:1-4 (KJV)1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
We are not to be Pharisees or Sadducees (legalistic or liberal), but we are to walk in the Word of God and the Spirit.
Matthew 23:14 " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
2nd Woe - Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites who Devour widow's houses... you take from the widows who can't afford it under holy pretenses. You make a pretence of long prayer to be seen of others... you make a big deal to show your own holiness.
Instead of holiness, you receive a greater damnation for your self-righteous prayers. It would be better to pray, "Lord have mercy on me a sinner" than to pray arrogantly and to impress other people. To play church will bring a greater damnation than just being an outright sinner.
END OF PART ONE
GO TO: PART TWO PART THREE PART FOUR HOME TOP OF PAGE
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Copyrighted
©
2007 by James Dale Coldiron
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