Anyone who has been in church at anytime at all has heard of the religious group in the time of Christ called the Pharisees. You probably know that it was the Pharisees' high court that arranged for Jesus to be crucified and that severely persecuted the Early Church. You have probably heard of how both John and Jesus confronted them in their teachings and how that Paul who was first Saul was the most respected teacher of the Pharisees before his conversion on the road to Damascus. The scriptures give us quite a bit of information about the group known as the Pharisees and unfortunately all most people focus upon is their negative aspects. In fact, when people hear the term "Pharisee" they automatically think "bad." That is because we tend to focus on the areas of scripture where Jesus tried to correct some who had errant beliefs, but a careful study of scripture reveals that those impressions of ALL Pharisees being bad are not exactly true. Despite writing the majority of the New Testament, Paul never condemned the order of the Pharisees. In fact, a careful read of our text in Matthew chapter 23 reveals that Jesus was actually pronouncing woe upon only those Pharisees that were hypocrites or, in other words, did not practice what they preached! Not all Pharisees were hypocrites and not all of them were evil. Jesus told His disciples that the Pharisees had every right to teach the Word of God:

"The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat." In other words, just as Moses was the teacher of the Law and the Word of God to the people, so the Pharisees had the authority to teach the Word of God in that day. They were the replacements of Moses in the Jewish Law system. And Jesus told His disciples: "whatsoever they bid you observe, do it!" In other words, when they teach you from the Word of God, you need to heed it and obey it because they are speaking with the authority of God. The problem was not with the Pharisees' teaching of the scriptures, it was with most of their actions in how they lived out the law. Jesus was saying, "listen to the Word of God but don't follow their examples in obeying it, because most of them have missed the point of it!"

Some Pharisees missed the point badly, but others were very close to the kingdom of God. For example, when arrested Paul did not say that he "had been a Pharisee" but that "I am a Pharisee" (Acts 23:6). The point that I want to make is not that Paul was still actively trying to live like a Pharisee and by their rules, but by living as a true Apostolic Christian, Paul could honestly say, "I have kept the Pharisical lifestyle!" In other words, most of the things that the Pharisees taught about lifestyles were not in themselves bad and Christianity did not come to do away with their teachings but rather to get beyond them! Jesus, Himself, said in the verses preceding our other texts:

Jesus was not condemning the Pharisees but rather showing that the Apostolic way of living that He was introducing was the fulfillment of that law that they taught. I understand that we are not under the strict law of Moses in the sense that we wear robes and have a literal temple with a big sacrificial altar and offer up blood sacrifices any more. But that is not because the law has been "done away with." If that was so, then Old Testament scriptures would serve absolutely no purpose to us any more. But when you live according to this glorious Apostolic way of life, you are "fulfilling the law." Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice of all time. When you are baptized in Jesus' name, you are fulfilling the law of the Passover and are applying the blood of Jesus, the spotless lamb of God! When you sin after you are baptized, and you fall at an altar and repent, you are fulfilling the law of Moses that said a man who accidentally sinned had to take a trespass offering, a clean animal, to the High Priest and offer it's blood for that sin because the scripture tells us that when a child of God confesses that sin in repentance, the blood of Jesus covers it once again just as it did in water baptism (I John 1:7-9)! Jesus is our High Priest! We haven't done away with the law but simply fulfilled it! Jesus Christ is our Lamb and High Priest and we can now fulfill the spirit of the Law without literal animals being killed because Jesus Christ completely fulfilled that part of the law!

The law of Moses commanded that every male had to be circumcised to be considered a Jew and a child of God. When Moses sort of dragged his feet about circumcising his own sons, God almost killed the entire family! The only thing that saved them was when Moses' wife performed the operation on the spot (Exodus 4:24-26). Now, under this dispensation of Grace, both men and female are spiritually circumcised by being baptized in water baptism and receiving the precious Holy Ghost (Colossians 2:11-13). That spiritual circumcision is what makes you a true child of God! Water Baptism in Jesus' name and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is not optional scriptural teaching but is your "Day of Atonement" the day that you get your past right with God and is also your day of "initiation" as becoming a part of the kingdom of God. Under the law, if a person claimed to be Jewish and yet was not circumcised, then they were only fooling themselves and were not allowed to partake of the land of Canaan that God had given them for inheritance. It is the same today, you must be spiritually circumcised by being born of the water and the spirit, or you are not truly an heir of the inheritance that God wants to give His people! We have not done away with the Law and it is still in effect, it is just that we fulfill it in a spiritual way in our lives! Now everyone, both man and woman can be spiritually circumcised and partake of the blessings of God! That is why Joel and Peter both said that God would pour out His Spirit upon "all flesh." And that the "sons AND DAUGHTERS" would prophesy! Being anointed of God and proclaiming this message is not just for a priesthood of men anymore, but in the Apostolic Church God will fill and call women as well! Women can prophesy and preach and speak in tongues in church! The law has been fulfilled not abandoned!

I could go on and on about the law and how we spiritually obey it. When you praise God and offer that "sacrifice of praise" you are fulfilling the daily sacrificial law. When you pray to God and your cry rises into the throne room of heaven, you are fulfilling that law that said that incense had to burn continually before the Lord! When you come and listen to the preaching of the word and read it at home, you are eating the shewbread of the temple that is their for your nourishment! When you receive the Holy Ghost, your body becomes the temple of the Spirit of God and so you fulfill the law that commanded to build God a place to dwell upon earth! The law has not been abandoned but is being lived by the true Apostolic Church in the way that God desired! "What about all those unclean animals, preacher, that they couldn't eat back then?" "We eat all kind of stuff nowadays that they could not, what about that?" When you go to the 10th chapter of Acts you will find that God allowed all of those dietary rules of unclean animals to represent the Gentiles. He showed many unclean animals in a vision to Peter and told him to "arise, kill, and eat." When Peter refused, God told him "what I have called clean let no man call unclean!" It was at that moment that Peter was summoned to go preach Jesus Christ to the Gentile household of Cornelius and before it was all over, all of those Gentiles in the house had spoken in tongues as the Holy Ghost filled them and were baptized in Jesus' name! Through the cleansing power of the Holy Ghost and the blood of Jesus, God had taken unclean "creatures," the Gentiles, and made them holy and fit to be a living sacrifice unto Him! Do we fulfill the dietary laws of Moses, today? Yes, because everyone of you in here are Gentiles! How is it that God has accepted your life as a living sacrifice? He has taken the unclean creature and the clean! Thank God that He did not just save the clean animals on the ark but also the unclean and when this world winds up, there will be some unclean creatures "the Gentiles" on board the ark of safety! The law has not been removed, but simply fulfilled!

What is the point preacher? The point is that if you are a true Apostolic, child of God, then you are really living a pretty close life to the Pharisees way of living! That is why Paul could stand up and say at the end of his life "I am a Pharisee." Because by living for God according to the Apostolic lifestyle, you are living the law. That is why Nicodemus could come to Jesus by night, be converted, and yet still serve on the Jewish council as an acting Pharisee! Nothing that his new found way taught him caused him to contradict the Pharisees, but instead he was living more righteously than them!

I hope that I am getting across to you that the laws of the Pharisees were not bad in themselves. The other two groups of that day had their teachings condemned by Jesus Christ. The Saducees did not believe in life after death, or a heaven and hell, or a resurrection of the dead. The Essenes, which were basically monks, were never sanctioned by Jesus Christ. The Judiazers or Zealots, who taught that the Jewish people should revolt against the rule of the Romans were completely rebutted by Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ ate with the Pharisees. He did His best to teach them. They believed in heaven and hell and the sanctity of marriage. They believed that children should obey their parents and should be taught the ways of the Lord by the ministry. They believed that you could worship God outside of the Jerusalem temple and started the concept of public worship in the street and the local synagogues. They taught that God could do the miraculous and that people needed to be taught and study the Word of God. They taught that a Messiah was coming that would be the salvation of the world. They taught that you needed to fast weekly and pray every day, and pay tithes and offerings, and be faithful in your attendance to church, and dress modestly, and make God the center of your life. They taught that their was only one God and that following the commands of the one God was the only religion that was going to get you to heaven. Jesus not one time condemned them for these things. He only condemned those among the Pharisees who were hypocrites.

And so in our text, it is the sermon on the mount and Jesus is talking to the great multitude of believers that have come to hear Him preach. I want you to realize that He is not talking to the disciples or ministers only but to all of the followers that professed to believe in Him. And He states that their righteousness must EXCEED that of the Pharisees and scribes in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven!

The word for "righteousness" here in the Greek is dikaiosune (dik-ah-yos-oo'-nay) and means "the doctrine and actions by which a man can live his life acceptable to God." I understand that our righteousness is as filthy rags compared to God (Isaiah 64:6), but that verse goes on to talk about how that God is the potter! We must constantly be moving forward and allowing our lives to become more like what God wants us to be! There can be no mistake in these verses: we must have a way of living and thinking that exceeds the lifestyle and mentality of the Pharisees in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven! It must EXCEED their righteousness!

Jesus was saying the commandments of the Pharisees was a good starting spot, but a Christian must do more than just blindly follow rules! According to the Talmud (the handbook of Pharisical teachings) there are seven types of Pharisees:

1. Shechemites - who keep the law for what it will profit them.

2. Tumblers - always hanging down the head and dragging the feet.

3. Bleeders - who to avoid looking at women, shut their eyes and so bump their heads.

4. Mortars - wearing caps in the form of a mortar, covering the eyes from seeing impurities.

5. What-am-I-yet-to-doers - who as soon as one law is kept, ask what is next.

6. Fearers - who keep the law from fear of a judgment.

7. Lovers - who obey Jehovah because they love him with all the heart.

It was the first six that Jesus condemned but the seventh that Jesus Christ wanted us to be like and even exceed! Jesus was reiternating the seventh commandment when the Pharisee sent a scribe to Him:

Now notice what the Pharisee said unto Him (we know that it was Pharisee because of the companion scripture in Matthew 22:34-40).

Jesus realized that this man that was asking Him the question was sincere and was very close to the "kingdom of God!" That is, he was close to exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees by not just following a list of rules but by obeying the commandments of scripture because of his great love for God! You cannot earn your salvation by blindly following a list of rules, but you must love God with all of your heart! When you really love God with all of your heart, then the commandments of God are no problem! I'm here today to declare unto you that willful disobedience to God's Word is not an authority issue an it is not a submission issue. It is really a love issue! How much do you love God? Jesus said:

Your ability to obey is directly tied to your love for God! Do you love Him today? Enough to do anything that He would command you? Do you believe that this Bible is the Word of God? Then there should be no area of teaching here that would cause you to not to want to obey! If there is a teaching of this church that you do not particularly agree with or follow, then you need to fall in love with Jesus Christ! Why can I say that? Because we strive to teach the entire Word of God and only the Word of God! This is more than a religion of men, but it is the Apostolic way! If there is something that you are struggling with in living for God, then you need to fall in love with Him again! You need to get a love for Him that will cause you to get beyond your personal opinions and obey His Word! God wants us to be a Pharisee today: a love Pharisee! Someone whose righteousness goes beyond just following a set of rules for rules sake but who does so because they love God with all of their heart!

When you read through Matthew chapter 23, you will find that Jesus did not criticize them for what they were doing, but rather that some taught one thing and lived another! He criticized those Pharisees who really did not teach the things of God because of their love for God! He criticized those who were modest in their dress or public in their prayers only to be seen of men and so that people would call them "Master" or "Great Teacher!" It was their motives for being righteous that Jesus criticized!

________________________________________________________________________

Here is what I could find about the lifestyle of the Pharisees that were good and mentioned in scripture. Remember that according to Jesus' words, we must exceed this righteousness in order to enter into heaven! Here, then, is the righteousness of the Pharisees:

1. They understood that God was worthy to be worshipped everywhere, at home, at job, and other places apart from church!

The problem was that they tended to do it to try to get other's respect and not in sincerity! To exceed this, we must also worship God everywhere but we must do it out of a love for God!

2. They prayed every day and even in public places.

Paul commanded the same thing and gave us direction on how to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees' prayer:

In other words, do not do it to be mean to someone else or for personal motives but pray in faith!

3. They gave liberally of their finances and believed in tithing and "alms" or offerings.

Tithing is of course still important today under Grace, but we must also "exceed" the Pharisees by giving sacrificially beyond our normal tithing and offerings.

4. They attended church at least twice a week (The Sabbath morning and evening).

Another reason why we have three services a week plus Bible Studies and activities often available!

5. The continually studied, searched, and memorized the Word of God.

They did so more to show others that they were studious and to appear smart! We exceed their righteousness by continually studying and reading the Word of God in order to learn more about the way that He wants us to live!

6. They devoted their lives to teaching others in some way the Word of God and they were committed to converting others to their way of life.

We must devote our lives to winning others as well to this Apostolic lifestyle! The Pharisees won others primarily to convince others that they were right, but we must exceed that motive and be driven to taking people to heaven with us!

7. They were careful to not eat from any dirty vessel or with unclean hands.

Jesus condemned the literal meaning of this commandment of cleaning plate and bowl (Mark 7), but we are commanded as children of God to be "holy." We should guard our spiritual man from eating and drinking from contaminated and vile sources! What kind of books do you read, what kind of movies do you watch, what do you do for entertainment? What kind of conversations do you conduct with friends? What kind of places do you "hang out at?" What do you allow your eyes to see and your ears to hear?

8. They fasted in some way for two days weekly.

This entire sermon has been the product of God dealing with me in this area for the past few weeks. The Pharisees fasted two days every week (Luke 18:12) and usually fasted from sunset to sunrise but sometimes went all day. They fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. History teaches us that the Apostolic Church fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays as half days (for a 12 hour period) plus periodic calls to special fasting. We, as modern day Christians, should also fast regularly. The Pharisees usually fasted to receive something that they wanted and proclaimed that they were fasting to everyone. But we should exceed this by fasting weekly simply because we love Jesus and want to draw closer to Him! If we fast only when we need something, then we have not exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisees! Of course, if we fast one day a month or only when the preacher calls a special fast, then we have not exceeded them either!

9. They sanctioned the family and marriage and believed in teaching their children and families to love God!

Your family being at the house of God should be priority on your list beyond your personal desires and wants! The Rapture of the church needs to be a family affair, but too many children hear their parents make the mistake of the Pharisees in hearing what they are supposed to do from their mouth and seeing something else with their life! Telling your kids that they need to come to church is not nearly as effective as showing them! Telling your family that you must pray and be faithful to the things of God do no good unless there is an example! Teaching your kid a scripture about how to praise the Lord is not effective if you do not do it in front of them! We must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees!

________________________________________________________________________

In closing, then it is obvious that much of the Pharisees way of life is applicable to Apostolic Christians! And Jesus said that we must exceed their righteousness in order to enter into the kingdom of God! If you do not regularly do these things that we have been talking about, I ask you why not? Could it be that you need a closer relationship with Jesus Christ!? How are you going to exceed the righteousness of Pharisees if you do not even do these things?

For those of you who do these things, I want to remind you that why you do them is also very important. Just as there are different kinds of Pharisees, so are there different kinds of Christians. What kind are you? Are you a:

1. Shechemites - who keep the law for what it will profit them.

That is you only obey the commandments of God if you think that you will benefit from it.

2. Tumblers - always hanging down the head and dragging the feet.

You keep the commandments of God grudgingly and have a bad attitude toward them!

3. Bleeders - who to avoid looking at women, shut their eyes and so bump their heads.

Instead of dealing with the issue of the heart, you refuse to even acknowledge that there is even an issue and thus only hurt yourself further. In other words, they blind themselves to the problem rather than deal with it!

4. Mortars - wearing caps in the form of a mortar, covering the eyes from seeing impurities.

The only time people wear mortars today is when they graduate. They are square-shaped hats. They used to be worn low over the eyes to partially block the view. Christians like Mortars are those who only refuse to obey some of the commandments but blind themselves to certain things that they do not obey!

5. What-am-I-yet-to-doers - who as soon as one law is kept, ask what is next.

These are the Christians who say, "well, I'm working on this other area of my life, so when I have it perfected, then I'll obey that one."

6. Fearers - who keep the law from fear of a judgment.

We cannot live for God simply out of fear!

7. Lovers - who obey Jehovah because they love him with all the heart.

If Jesus were to condemn an Apostolic Christian it would be because they made this lifestyle into a set of rules and not a relationship. It would be because they lived for God for any reason except because they loved Him! We must fall in love with Him with everything that we have! We must live for Him and do these things because it hurts us to hurt Him! We must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees!