Israelites, Pharisees & Sadducees In The 21st Century Church

(d) The more plausible the pretence put upon a wicked course of action, the
greater the sin (and the punishment. Christ say that they will “receive the greater
damnation”.
7. Pharisees Make Many Converts, But Not to the Genuine Gospel
The Pharisees had a blind zeal to poison others with their errors and make converts to
their sect (v15).
(a) False teachers are more busy to draw others to their error than teachers of
the truth are diligent in drawing others to the truth.
(b) The more effort and haste in false zeal that someone shows in perverting
others from the truth, the more wrath abides on him.
(c) The more someone advances in error and superstition, the more he is the
child of hell and Satan. Such errors have their origin in hell and Satan is the
father of error, superstition and heresy. Christ said that the Pharisees made their
converts “the child of hell”.
(d) Young converts who drink in superstition being persuaded by learned false
teachers are far more taken with their false opinions. They are more addicted to
these false superstitions than their teachers because they believer them to be the
truth.
8. Pharisees Define Sin According to their Own Ideas
The Pharisees actually believed they could take the name of God in vain. They said that
if they swore an oath “by the temple” it was not binding but if they swore “by the gold of
the temple” it was (v16). Christ shows (v20-22) that this was altogether wrong.
(a) Church leaders that corrupt religion and fearfully mislead people become
“blind guides”. This is despite the fact that their office requires that they should be
wise and seeing guides.
(b) These corrupt hypocrites fostered swearing by created things such as by the
temple, altar, gold and gifts.
(c) Corrupt Church leaders make things to be sin or no sin as it serves their
purpose. Here they made an oath by the temple to be nothing and an oath by the
gold of the temple to be binding.
(d) To make light of any oath as not binding opens a door to superstition and
perjury.
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