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During the last year of Jesus' life the legal community decided to set him up and frame him. They wanted him out of the way for he was making their life of ease extremely uncomfortable. He called them openly hypocrites and told the people that they are nothing but a bunch of scoundrels.
Matthew 23:13-39
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
ye them that are entering to go in.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows'
houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the
greater damnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and
land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the
child of hell than yourselves.
16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the
temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he
is a debtor!
17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that
sanctifieth the gold?
18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever
sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that
sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all
things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that
dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by
him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint
and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the
other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the
outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion
and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and
platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto
whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are
full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the
tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of
them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of
hell?
34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes:
and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge
in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from
the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom
ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them
which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children
together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
In the above scripture you can see how the legal community of Jesus' day and the legal community of today acts the same way. The mayor of Philadelphia is Jewish, and yet he embraces Louis Farakan a man who has openly called for the extermination of all Jews! Because it is ``convenient'' for him, he acts the same way that the Pharisees did with the Roman Government 2,000 years ago. The lawyers in Jesus' time only looked after their short time interest and couldn't see what was best for their long term interest. This is the same today!
I've heard people proclaim that if they were around during the days of Jesus that they wouldn't scream for his death and destruction. They certainly wouldn't call for his crucification. The Bible tells us that these very people are bringing damnation upon themselves!
Matthew 23:13-33
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of
them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of
hell?
Haven't you also hear this from some that you know? Don't you realize that the scriptures are true concerning the hypocrites in the world are the same as the hypocrites in Jesus' time? There are many in the world today who will embrace the wicked and spurn the righteous. I'm sure you've heard about the media proclaim the removing of freedoms from the ``right wing religious fanatics.'' As long as you go along with and agree with the left wing liberal community, you are entitled to all of the protections of the Constitution. But if you have a contrary opinion to their stance on abortion, adultery, and all other sin, then your freedom of speech needs to be silenced. This is going on in America today. This silencing of Constitutional freedoms has been endorsed by the Supreme Court! The climate that is being created by the ``liberal'' community is the same environment that was created in Nazi Germany and during the McCarthy era of the 1950's.
As far as the human element is concerned, people are the same today as they were in the days of Jesus. They are still swayed by emotional speeches by the legal community who tell the people that it is in their best interest to promote gun control, limit freedom of speech, and limit freedom of religion. People are told that taking away guns from the people is a good idea. They leave out that Nazi Germany took away the guns that the people owned. It may sound good in their speeches, but look at history and government enslavement of the people leads me to believe that the individual must search for the true meaning of why he is being told what he is listening to. Many of the members of the democratic Party use the same tactics that the slave owners used to promote the continuation of slavery. For instance Bill Clinton recently stated that the American people were not intelligent enough to invest their own money and that they needed the government to do it for them. The slave owners said the same things about the slaves in the 1850's, saying that the slaves needed the slave owner to take care of them for life.
Thus in the time of Jesus calling the lawyers and the legal community of the time hypocrites, he was upsetting them and they set out to discover a way that they could execute him. The lawyers of today are still against anyone who declares the truth about them.
Mark 14:1-2
1 After two days was the feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread: and
the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and
put him to death.
2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the
people.
3014 E Street Philadelphia, PA 19134 Church Office Phone: (215) 634-3637 Published by: Rev. LeRoy D. Cressy (215) 535-4037
Services:
Sunday School . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10:30 AM
Sunday Morning Worship . . . . . . . . . . 12 NOON
Sunday Evening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:30 PM
Wednesday Evening . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:30 PM