 A lot of people are quick to call others Pharisees, but what really is a Pharisee? In the Bible during Jesus' day, we see one particular group that kind of shows itself to be an enemy or an opposition to Jesus, to the work of the Lord. So we want to look at one who they are, and then two, when people call others today Pharisees, what do they mean and then even more importantly, if when they call someone Pharisees, one who's the one that are calling people Pharisees, but then also what does it mean to be a Pharisee today and if what they're calling someone is that accurate? In the Bible, these Pharisees, these are group of Jews who want to obviously adhere to the law, but what we see happening and developing was not just an adherence to the written word, but there was there was becoming more and more increasingly a reliance on oral traditions. These were in many cases of traditions of them, of the Jews, as they went along different rules to kind of keep them in line, to kind of keep them adhering even to the written word, and what ends up happening is those oral traditions, those traditions of the Pharisees of men ended up taking authority or priority over God's written word. Anytime, whether it be then or now, when you see someone that wants to replace their understanding, their traditions, their thoughts, their philosophies over God's word, well, then we have a problem. This is in keeping with what a Pharisee is. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that we should not take away from the word or add to the word. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean by actually writing in over the scriptures or erasing what's in the scriptures, that could be a part of it as well, but his point is adding to his word is to add to what God has stated. If he says, do A, B, and C, and then you say, do A, B, C, plus D, E, F, well, then that's what he means, or take away. No, you don't have to do all three of those things. That's really what he meant. And so let's go and look at one of the scriptures that brings about this out in Deuteronomy. In chapter four, verse two, he says, you shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I command you. And clearly these words are important. We hear that your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sit against you. Well, his word, not our word. And so let's be careful that we don't do the same thing. Pharisees, on the other hand, that was something that was pretty much indicative of what a Pharisee would do. They would take the traditions, their own traditions that were added to them, even though they've got the written word, tell them not to do that. They would do so and they would adhere to it more and judge you, not according to the written word, but judge you according to their own traditions. We see Jesus rebuking them for this in Matthew chapter 15. In verse one, he says, then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders for they do not wash their hands when they eat bread? Now notice they talked about the tradition, but look what Jesus says. He says, in response, he says, why do you yourselves, in verse three, transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? One of the things you're going to notice, because people will call someone a Pharisee because they want to adhere to the word more and more. The issue is, though, that's really not what Pharisees did. Pharisees did not align themselves strictly with the word. Jesus, we won't find a scripture where Jesus commends them for keeping the word, even for keeping the law. They were not good at that. As a matter of fact, one of Jesus' bigger gripes against them was the fact that you people who are Pharisees, you're supposed to know these things and you don't. As a matter of fact, we see Jesus even calling them foolish or stupid or ignorant. In Luke 11, 30, 90, he says, but the Lord said, now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but inside you are full of robbery and witness. He calls them foolish ones, or we might call someone in the same word, maybe stupid or ignorant. You foolish ones did not he who made the outside make the inside. And the point isn't so much real the context, although the context is important, but his point is he's constantly calling them foolish that they don't know. Now, even in the context of this passage that we just looked at, they're talking about, Jesus is talking about looking good on the outside versus on the inside. And that is something that you'll notice about Pharisees that they do. As a matter of fact, think about it as it relates today. There are people who will call others Pharisees because they want to adhere to the word, but in many cases, many of these same people want to be seen. They want folks to see what they're doing. They want people to hear them. It might be their loud, boisterous tone. It might be the fact they're pointing to things happening in their church or their so-called signs or wonders and so forth. Why? Because they want to be seen. Well, Jesus also addressed this regarding Pharisees. In Matthew 23.5 he says, but they do all their deeds to be noticed by men for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogue and respectful greetings in the marketplace and being called rabbi by men. They love to be called something special. They don't defer to it. They're not like, like we see the apostles in Acts when they thought that Paul and Barnabas were some sort of gods and they said, no, we're just like mere, we're mere men just like you do not worship us, but you don't see these men really turning down. They'll tell you that that's not what they're after. But in secret, at least by the way that they take it on, they seem to relish and glory in these things. They love to appear righteous before men in terms of what they do. They love to be seen as someone that's holy, someone that's full of the spirit. We're going to talk about this issue about being full of the spirit and if modern day people who call other Pharisees, if those who are called modern day Pharisees, if they actually are versus those who are calling them, who is the one that seems to be more in line with the spirit? But Jesus says this in Matthew 6.1. He says, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your father who is in heaven. So there are these guys, these people who want to be noticed before people. They want to be seen as a matter of fact. They want you to see them and they want you to see what they're doing. They tend to placate. They tend to arouse or bring upon the interest of people who are looking for signs. They themselves want to look for signs. They want to do signs. They want to be seen as somebody. They give a sign on the sorcerer who sees what's happening in Acts 8 in Samaria. He wants the exact same gift for who? For his benefit to be seen because he himself, the Bible says, thought that he was somebody special and wants others to think they're special. But Jesus addresses this issue of people who want to seek a sign. In Matthew 16.4, he says, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And a sign will not be given except the sign of Jonah. In other words, if you want a sign, I'm going to give you one. The one that you should relish, the one that you should point to is that of Jesus, that burial and resurrection. When you see someone who does not focus primarily on Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, why he came to bring us life, then that might be an indication that that person might be at least Pharisee or co in their sense. Now, we tend to say that the person is Pharisee or a Pharisee because we want them to adhere to the word of God. That's not being a Pharisee. As a matter of fact, that's being God. But remember, the Holy Spirit is the one that gave us the word. And so, if a person is not going to adhere to the very word that the Holy Spirit gave us, the ones that Paul says are say on no spots, which is God breathe, well then that person might be indicating that they're not interested in God's word, but their own, whatever their own is, maybe their own growth, their own brand, their own marketing, who it is, what they do, those sort of things. But a Pharisee does not rely on the word. So, when someone calls the person a Pharisee who is looking at the word and comparing what they're doing, that's an indication that person themselves might be the Pharisee, not the person who wants to look at the word. Because remember, as we said and we saw before, Pharisees developed this oral tradition and this this tradition of elders that ended up surpassing you know, relevance as far as their concern, the actual written word. They knew of the written word, they didn't study the written word, they were never accommodated or spoke up highly by God for knowing the word. Now, as a matter of fact, God constantly calls them ignorant, foolish, they don't know the word and so forth. Think about when the question came about about divorce. Well, Jesus says that was never so, but because the hardness of you all's hearts and so this tradition develops. You'll see this over and over and over again when someone wants to challenge what someone is doing and they're using the word, the response is not to call that person a Pharisee. The person really is to call that person more Berean than Pharisee equal because they are going, they're searching the scriptures and they don't see what you're doing that lines up with the scriptures. And so the put down, which is what a person would do who might not know the word themselves, which is what Pharisees did. Pharisees did not like to be challenged. Pharisees were irate when people challenged them and so if a person wants to challenge you and your response is something on the line of that you cannot be challenged or to put them down or to call them Pharisee, you yourself might be a Pharisee. Now, remember there are, there were some Pharisees who did believe. All the Pharisees in that time were not all bad. There were some that believed, well talk about a couple of good ones, but there are also those that believe sort of. Remember there were some that believed that sort of believed. I say sort of, not the Bible's word in mind, but you'll see why I have sort of because we'll see what type of belief they have. In John 1242 he says, nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for they fear they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. And so we had rulers, we had Pharisees, we had other people who were in religious leadership who intelligently had a mental ascension to know that, yeah, what Jesus is saying is true, what he's doing is true, but they, that's as far as he would with them. Why? Because they loved as he says, the praise, the love, the adoration of men, and they were afraid of what the other Pharisees would do or think. Pharisees tend to be bothered or concerned about what other Pharisees think. As a matter of fact, more to the point, Pharisees tend to be bothered by what you think, what others think. A true person of God tends to move away from what others believe. I know it can be difficult sometimes, but the person that's actually a Pharisee gives more regard. They're worried about someone who might call them out. That's a problem to them. They're worried about someone who might rebut them, give a response. We see this on YouTube, we see response videos and so forth. They're the ones that have done it and said, well, they will block you, they'll ban you, they'll hit you with all sorts of things to make sure that you don't say what you don't see. I don't see what you're saying in the scriptures and so they would rather, they would rather not have that brought to light. They don't want anyone thinking ill of them and so what they tend to do is, oftentimes, just like we saw in the Bible, the Pharisees, even though we've had, we have this split with the Pharisees, you've got Pharisees who are more hardcore, who wanted to abstain from anything having to do with Rome or any non-Jew. You have some that are a little bit more liberal, a little bit more open and they didn't get along. Now, there were times where they did get along as a matter of fact with other factions of religious groups and oftentimes what you would see is you would have this alliance that would come together for the benefit one for their own self-preservation because they don't want even those who are might be in leads with the other group, they don't want to be thought of negatively and so one other hallmark of a Pharisee especially today is that they want to be admired, they will come together, that you would see these alliances with this person and that person and that person in many cases for the sake of unity so they can all one grow in their in today's case branding, which is why you don't see many Pharisees calling out other Pharisees, same today, you don't see a lot of false teachers calling out other false teachers. Now, they will say things that look like that they are actually believers, that they are actually promoting God. Jesus addresses as well, he says in Mark 7.7, but in vain do they worship me teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandments of God, you hold to the tradition of men. So in vain they'll say things, they'll say things on the outside but they hold on to their own teachings, their own understanding, those are the more important things. Now, I said before that not all Pharisees were bad Pharisees, there are some Pharisees who did end up placing their faith in Christ and were in leads with Christ. Obviously, we know of Nicodemus, but now even Nicodemus, Jesus rebukes him for his not knowing the word. Remember in John 3, he says to Nicodemus in verse 10 of chapter 3, he says, Jesus said to him, are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Jesus is responding to him or speaking about being born again, being born from above and Nicodemus has no idea what he's speaking of, even though this is literally written in the text. The problem is Nicodemus had been taught or been schooled and he's more familiar with the actual traditions of men. Nicodemus, obviously, we know more about him going forward than he's there at the crucifixion and so forth, and so he's helping with the burial. Nicodemus, also another person on the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, some of these men do actually believe. Paul himself was a Pharisee. So being a Pharisee in and of itself, that isn't the bad thing, but what was indicative of Pharisees as a whole we see that today. And so I want to caution anyone who would call others Pharisee if they are pointing to the scriptures. Pharisees do not point to the scriptures. True Pharisees avoid the scriptures and will condemn you for doing so and what now today they would say things like you don't have the spirit. You're not as godly. They would point to their righteousness, they would point to their growth, their numbers and so forth, but that's not what a true person of God would do. You may have growth, you may have some numbers, you may have substantial following, but that doesn't mean anything. What's truly a sign of someone who is of God is that person's adherence to the word. Pharisees do not enjoy sticking to the word. And so I hope that's been helpful. This issue of someone being called a Pharisee negatively has become kind of a sport today, but I want folks to be aware of what an actual Pharisee was and what a modern day Pharisee would look like. It's not the person that wants to go to the scripture and delve deeper, the Berean. That's not the Pharisee. No, the other one, the person who's opposite of the Berean, that's the Pharisee. Amen.