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Topic: The Heart of the Pharisee By Benedikt Schwabe
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Author
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Julie Gilbert
Senior Member
Joined: 07/29/2007
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2593
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Posted: 10/10/2013 at 1:18am
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The Heart of the Pharisee By Benedikt Schwabe
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 Johnīs 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 menīs 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 Johnīs 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 Jesusī 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
benediktschwabe@gmx.net
__________________
See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing
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Deanna Harris
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Joined: 03/12/2007
Location: United States
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Posts: 177
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Posted: 10/10/2013 at 3:06am
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Thank you, Julie, for posting this. This was for me. The Lord is dealing with me on this. He is so right, no hugs and kisses as a child.
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Julie Gilbert
Senior Member
Joined: 07/29/2007
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2593
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Posted: 10/10/2013 at 3:15am
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well I just decree Papa's hugs and kisses to your
children within right now... I pour in the oil ...and the
wine ... in to the wounds of your soul, into the holes in
your soul... and I decree BE HEALED .. be restored ... be
regenerated within ... may the Son of Righteousness arise
with healing in his wings and light beams.... may his
Glory light shine on each and every wound of your soul
and cleanse them of the 'bacteria and infection' meant by
the enemy to hinder your freedom in Christ....
Be healed and made brand new in your soul man that you
would prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers
...
__________________
See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing
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