Saturday Sermonette - Without a Doubt: Pharisees

Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” John 9:16, NKJV

The Pharisees were probably the most influential bunch in the Jewish religion. They made it a point of pride to know and follow every law and rule dreamed up by the lawmakers. God gave the ten Commandments, Moses (with God's help) wrote a LOT more--really more clarifications than additional laws. Scribes down through the years between Moses and Jesus added hundreds of other rules, and the Pharisees proudly followed them all--at least when folks could see them.

They sincerely believed God liked them best because they did follow the rules. Never mind that they put the rules before other people's needs and before God Himself. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs--painted and clean on the outside but filled with rot inside.

Filled with self-importance and scornful of those who disagreed with them, they could make life pretty miserable for others. The longer Jesus was around, the more the Pharisees disliked Him. He rocked their religious boats, and this was one storm they intended to get rid of.

They were without a doubt--but they were wrong. Just like you and me on occasion. If they had truly known the scriptures, they could have seen the ones that pointed to Jesus. When we first get acquainted with Jesus, we tend to take the word of anyone who preaches--dangerous. No one is one hundred percent accurate. Test the scriptures. Don't jerk one out of a story and use it to prove your point. Like I did above, by the way. The difference is that there are a lot more to substantiate what that one scripture says.

What if I took one verse that said to kill all the non-Jews in the country?

See what I mean?

Lord, please open our eyes to see what You see. Give us Your heart to understand what You really want from us, not what someone else thinks is "righteous." For Your sake we ask it, and we give You all the thanks and praise!
Amen.