Print Friendly

The heart of the Pharisee is a heart that seems to be so right from the outside but inside is death and murder. What is it that stirred the anger of the Pharisees so much? What did Jesus do that they wanted to kill HIM? He questioned their spirituality!

But still I want to make this great statement that Jesus loves Pharisees. He does not love their heart but He still died for them. And we can see that there were some Pharisees that converted (Acts15) and the greatest example is Paul.

One of the main problems of the Pharisees was that they thought they were better than others. They did not want to go into the water of John´s baptism because if they had gone into the water, they would have told all the sinners and publicans and prostitutes that they are all same. But instead they said in their heart: "Praise God that I am not like these sinners."  In return the sinners said, "Oh God Almighty, have mercy with me such a sinner."

But what could you accuse you a Pharisee of? He fasted twice a week, he always read His bible and knew the Old Testament better than many of us, they prayed and so on. They were highly esteemed of men. They were giving a lot of money even. From the outside they just looked perfect.

Neglecting the Inside of the Cup

There was one special name Jesus called them with again and again. Hypocrites! This word means to play act. They were playing a role that they were not. They were not these holy people they pretended to be. Jesus said:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Matthew 23:25-26

They just cared for the outside and neglected what is inside the cup.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Matthew 23:27-28

Yes, even Jesus said that they appear beautiful outwardly.

I could imagine that "dead men´s bones" refers to the murder inside of them. Jesus said:

For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders. Matthew 23:4

They brought the law, they taught the law and with this they brought just the letter and the letter kills (2. Cor 3).

But all their works they do to be seen by men. Matthew 23:6

Mark 3:1-6 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they kept silent.   And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Modern Pharisees

Pharisees had a spirit of condemnation and accusation. Jesus was so grieved and angry about their stony hearts. They wanted to kill Him.

 A modern Pharisee has this too. We need just a justification for our evil stony hearts and we will go on a way that seems to be right but at the end it is a way that leads to death. In our hearts we may think that we really are not like the other person and therefore they will get our anger. They deserve the anger. We too need to go into the waters of John´s baptism and say that we are no different than any other person.

We even may think that we are really not a Pharisee and in truth are so deceived. The main way how to know how much we have a Pharisee in us is to see your reaction (in your heart) when someone questions your spirituality. What is your reaction? Does anger rise up inside of you or a knowing that there is really nothing good in you (Romans 7:18). What is your reaction when someone does not really think that you preached so good this time or that you lost a bit of your anointing when you played the piano? Do you know that you are just a vessel for His glory or do you think you are the source? 

He who hates, disguises it with his lips,

and lays up deceit within himself;  

When he speaks kindly, do not believe him,

for there are seven abominations in his heart;

Though his hatred is covered by deceit,

His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.  Proverbs 26:24-26

When you hate in your heart you will disguise it with your lips. We need to come to truth about what is inside of our hearts. As we uncover our horrible hearts Jesus Christ will cover our sins but as we hold on to our pride God has to reject us, because He said that He will give grace to the humble but He will reject the proud because every proud one is an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 16,5; 1Pet 5,5). Confess your sins so that you may be healed (James 5,16).

Another aspect of a Pharisee is that they fear men. The Pharisees were afraid of the people. Jesus asked them whether the baptism of John was from heaven or from men. They said that they would not know because they feared to say that it was of men because the people thought that John was a real prophet. The fear of men is a snare around our necks. Pharisees are afraid that people see what is really inside of them.

Truth Sets You Free

It was the perfect love of God that Jesus rebuked them so hard. How could they ever have known how wrong they were if Jesus had not told them. By the way Jesus was not "nice."  Jesus was real and true. A nice person would never say "If you fathers, being evil…" The truth always sets you free!

Jesus called them "twice a son of hell" and said that their father is the devil. He called them whitewashed tombstones. He was not "nice" with them but real. Sometimes we need a word of truth of someone or a prophet exposing our true condition inside. God knows what is best for us.

Often people with a heart of a Pharisee try to hide something deep inside. They have feelings buried deep inside. There is this anger and pain inside that they never could release. They were hurt and now they do everything to never feel this pain again. They do not want to show anyone what is inside. They live to their best and ask themselves why they do not feel the love of God. What more God do you want me to do, they say.

There is also a heart of unbelief attached to this. Self-righteousness leads to unbelief and it makes your heart hard. Holy Spirit was sent to convict us from our sin and sin, because we did not believe.

We need desperately Holy Spirit to convict us of our evil hearts. Everyone has the evil seed of the snake in their flesh. Good master, what do I need to do to get to heaven. Why do you call me good? No one is good except God!

Jesus Christ quoted the scriptures saying "this people honors Me with their lips but their hearts are far away and distant from Me: In Vain are they worshipping Me when they teach for instruction the commandments of men."  As a Pharisee you are far from God in some way (Acts 17: He is not far from anyone of us). You do all the outwardly righteous and beautiful things but inwardly your heart is distant from the Lord. The point is that Jesus never sought only our good deeds but He always wanted our heart. Religion tells us that good deeds are enough but we are all the same in the heart (whether with good deeds or not) without a supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ.

A Pharisee knows the scriptures but not the WORD. They tried to find everlasting life in the scriptures but when the Word and the Everlasting Life stood right in front of them they wanted to kill it, because they still had the veil upon their eyes. They cannot receive the Word. They love knowledge but do not know what to do with love. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. They did not see the Word because of all the traditions and the commandments of men. We should always be open for the new things the Lord reveals to us.

A Pharisee will do everything "for God" unless it could hurt their image or it is something to hard for them. They are not obedient in detail, they are obedient as far as the people think highly of them. They never give everything, they will not lose their lives. Jesus told the young rich man to give everything to the poor and to follow Him. He did everything that is written in the law, he said, but He could not lose all. Jesus told Peter to send out the nets and Peter just send out the net, not plural but singular.

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

Luke 5:5-6 But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net."  And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

Peter disobeyed in a small detail that no one could see only Jesus knew it. The fear of men is greater in a Pharisee than the desire to obey God.

Luke 7:36-50: Pharisees do not know how much they are forgiven.

There is Hope

Normally Pharisees do not know how much they owed God. They have not yet seen the horrible condition of their heart. They are also unable to love. They have many times the feeling that they are not able to love God or men. Here I want to give every Pharisee hope. I believe one cause that they fall into legalism and neglect love and mercy is because they grew up in an environment of perfectionism and hardness. Oftentimes Pharisees did not get much body contact (hugs, kisses and so on). It is called contact deprivation. One scripture for this is when Jesus told Simon the Pharisee that the woman kissed Him but that he did not give Him a kiss as it was a ritual. There is also self - hate in a Pharisee. Why? Because they do their best to please God but see that they do not feel His love and this is why they feel bad about themselves. Inside of them is a fire raging with anger and murder but they do not want to take the blame for this anger, because they believe that it is not their fault. They need to release this anger before the cross and receive healing and forgiveness. They need to take the blame of what is in their hearts.

Do we now see why Jesus had to rebuke them so hard. They were in such darkness and deception that He had to tell them the truth to set them free. What love did Jesus show them.

"My son, Do not despise the chastening of the LORD! Neither be weary of His correction, for whom the Lord loves He corrects, even as a father the son in whom he delights!" Proverbs 3:11

I mean why would Jesus say this? God is love and love never seeks its own. This means that Jesus was not trying to get some satisfaction in rebuking them, no, this would have been selfish, but He rebuked them out of pure love. As He was rebuking them He was in a very strong battle. He could just have said nice words and would have been in this strong spiritual battle. 

Again I want to say that a Pharisee just needs a justification for his evil heart to come out. For the Pharisees in Jesus´ time it was the law. This is why they always tried to find Jesus breaking a law. Pharisees want sacrifice and not mercy but Jesus wants mercy and not sacrifice! What is our justification that our evil hearts manifest?

Again religion is the way that seems right but in reality it leads to death.

A Pharisee can really think that he serves God like Paul but His heart is so evil. We may be thinking that we serve God but our hearts can be so far from Him. Maybe we have killed many brothers and sisters with our thoughts and words. We should all prove ourselves to see if we are in the faith and whether we are a Pharisee or not. How do we prove it? By a test. When circumstances rise against us how do we react? When someone questions your spirituality how do you react? When God tells you to do something through which others (especially other Christians) would think bad about you afterwards(maybe it will make you look not so holy), do you obey or listen to the voice of the fear of men?

Prayer: Lord, we need brokenness. Please send Holy Spirit to break our hearts over our evil inside. Heal every wound and bad brokenness inside. Let us be able to release everyone that hurt us and to release the anger (oftentimes even murder) and pain inside! Lord make straight the way in our hearts. Let there be no left or right turns (iniquity) and no mountain or valley in our hearts (pride and pain) but only your love and mercy for YOU, others and ourselves.

God bless!

Benedikt Schwabe