Tuesday-A Face-off With The Pharisees (Round 2)

All right, we are we are still on Tuesday of our Lord's last week on earth before he died and Tuesday is the day that has the most information about it in the gospel accounts There's a lot going on particularly in the in the temple as Jesus is teaching and as we have seen As he is teaching questions begin to be fired at him from different segments of the religious leaders and different groups One right after another they come at him. It's almost like one comes out of the shadows and then fades back into the shadows and asking him these what they feel are extremely difficult questions Designed to trap him designed to get him to say something which is either politically unpopular We'll get him in trouble with Herod or religiously unpopular and turn the crowd against him one way or the other They think they will trap him and get him you know where they can arrest him or something so He defeats them on every Count with every question he answers in such a brilliant fashion that they're not able to To pursue a follow-up question even There was a lawyer that asked him a question at the end of the three other questions that had asked been asked in Jesus answer That so brilliantly that the Bible says following that They did not ask him any other questions that you remember as we saw Although they would not ask other questions Jesus was not done Jesus asked a question of his own Which turned them inside out they couldn't answer it and then where we started last week Jesus launched into the most thunderous Denunciation of the religious leaders found anywhere in the Gospels this is as I said last week as In your face as you can get in our Lord's ministry I mean he is going eyeball to eyeball with the Pharisees and basically taking off their mask of hypocrisy The word hypocrite does literally mean to wear the mask and Jesus calls them hypocrites Eight times in Matthew chapter 23 we are in Matthew 23 tonight and so I invite you to open your Bible there and We'll look at these Marks of hypocrisy that Jesus points out in regard to the Pharisees There is a sense in which I wouldn't be dogmatic about this I wouldn't start a new denomination on it nor would I die for it, but there is a sense in which I think Jesus is Is is almost pushing the Pharisees and the religious leaders to go ahead and arrest him that week He knows God's timetable and remember we've already seen that in the Gospels They are afraid to move publicly on him because of the crowd and his popularity I think Jesus is in a sense Pushing them to the limit and if anything will push him to the limit Matthew 23 will Because he pushed he he up Tears off their mask of hypocrisy and demonstrates who they really really are Five marks of hypocrisy we looked at the first one last week Ambition ambition can be a good thing it can be a bad thing and Jesus obviously is talking about the bad kind of ambition A desire for recognition and we saw the three Marks of that kind of bad ambition last week a love of attention a love of position and a love of titles Now we'll pick up tonight with verse 13 Matthew 23 verse 13 for other marks of hypocrisy the first one tonight is self-centeredness Okay, what what Jesus is going to say in verses 13 to 15 I think can be summarized in that word the Pharisees and hypocrites in general are more concerned about themselves than they are about others They're more concerned about how they look their interest and concern is not really in the welfare of other people or ministering to other people or the hearts of other people they're more concerned about how they look and So it's a it's a self-centeredness a Jesus points out three ways that these people are self-centered first one is it is seen in hindering others look at verse 13 Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees you hypocrites You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces You yourselves do not enter Nor will you let those enter who are trying to So he's saying this self-centeredness that is focused on you is seen first of all in hindering others They are literally standing in the way of others getting into the kingdom now. How did they do that? What was it that they did that that calls them to keep other people from getting into the door of the kingdom? Okay, by the rules Okay Okay, all right as religious leaders they were no longer focused on God But on what they would attain themselves through self-righteousness through self-effort Okay, very good any other Ideas comments how did they shut the door and keep other people out? Pardon me Poor example. Yeah, for example, remember Jesus has already said in this same passage Do what they tell you in as much as it reflects teaching the law of Moses, but don't do as they live I mean obviously they were a very poor example of what the Bible taught Okay, anything else He really uses strong language here doesn't he says you shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in other people's faces It's like people who are moving toward that door trying to get the door you're shutting the door in their face and then he says Not only are you not entering but you won't let those enter who are trying to So there's a sense in which all of what you've said is a part of it their rules and regulations their fairsack You know standards the the many traditions and customs they laid as layers on top of God's word Which in their minds became confused with God's word and it became just as binding as God's word Obviously if you got to keep all that to get into the kingdom of heaven nobody's gonna make it And so they pile all that stuff up in front of the door and that keeps people from getting in people who did understand the simplicity of Salvation and of the gospel and of following Christ Were pushed away by all of these traditions and customs and rules and regulations and self-centeredness and all of that So yeah, they weren't entering themselves, but they were also piling a bunch of stuff up in front of the door That kept other people from from entering so Hindering others as a part of that self-centeredness We're gonna make it so tough for anybody to Get in that nobody will make it and they themselves look good on the outside but Hinder anybody else from getting through that door Okay, good any any questions or comments there about that hindering hindering others Yes, well You Yeah, I mean you push that into the book of acts and you see that's exactly what's happening People who come to Christ and start following Christ get thrown out of the synagogue You know they look at Peter and John in Acts chapter four and they say you're just ignorant fisherman who are you to be talking about the Bible? You know that was their their pride and self-centeredness. Yes Exactly and whenever you make the way of salvation or entrance into the kingdom of heaven Something that you do or that we do then you really shut the door and people's faces don't you? I mean because how who can know that they've done enough? If salvation is earned if it's by self-efforts, but if it's by anything I do then let's face it We will all go through life wondering if we've done enough and so effectively the door is shot Very good, okay Verse 14 Says this Well to you scribes or what do you teachers of the law and Pharisees? You hypocrites you devour widows houses and for a show make lengthy prayers Therefore you will be punished more severely Okay, the second way they showed self-centeredness was not only by hindering others, but by using others Using others Okay, you see what it says they were doing They were devouring widows houses What do you think that means What were they devouring widows houses were they? Taring down their houses were they eating their houses were they what were they doing with their houses? What does that mean obviously it's an expression that carries more to it? Okay Seizing their houses their property taking advantage of their Disadvantaged estate or state and society that could well be a part of it Yes, what else might come to mind? These religious leaders devouring widows houses Does it remind you of anything that might happen today? Think a little bit now Are there religious leaders who take advantage of Poor people who don't have much to build their empire Does that happen today of course it does? You know there are there are lots of people today who and this is just an expression devouring widows houses basically means taking what they have what might be their only means of taking care of themselves or What little they might have to give to the temple and and through some slight of hand through some means of deceit Getting it for themselves these religious leaders and and Lining their own pockets. I mean that it does sound like a lot of what happens today. I mean you've read the stories. We've all seen them Those who've been exposed for Just multi-million dollar lifestyles lavish lifestyles built on the fifteen or twenty dollar gifts of people who didn't have the money to get it You know we've all seen that happen and Jesus is saying that's what the Pharisees did Again self-centered isn't it Self-centeredness not only hinders others, but it also uses others For its own benefit That's amazing amazing I don't understand what he Okay, I figured that question would come up most of you will have it in a footnote, okay? Most of you have it in a footnote you will have it in in King James Can I go back and teach a little bit of doctrine of the Bible again like we did two years ago two three years ago Remember how we talked about the transmission of the text and and there are certain families of manuscripts and Many of the the older manuscripts may differ a little bit from some of the Later manuscripts the King James was written by 13th and 14th century Greek manuscripts The ones that go all the way back to the third and fourth century do not include this verse It is included in Mark's account and Luke's account and for that reason many think it was put into Matthew's account because of that by a scribe But in the original Greek text it's not there It is found in Mark and it is found in Luke and that's the reason why I went ahead and read it as footnote Because it's it's there in the story. It's just a question of whether or not it's in Matthew's account Okay Well, who's reading the footnote you know, I mean But that's the reason for that. It's not it's not like your Bible had a faulty printing or you know As many people say oh the NIV leaves out part of the word of God that's not it at all if you understand How the text was transmitted through the centuries you understand how those things sometimes happened If you're going to make a case for someone leaving out or adding something it was the King James translators who added something To the word of God because it's not in the the earliest Greek texts But again, it's in the story. It's in it's in Luke's gospel. It's in Mark's gospel. It's just not in Matthew's gospel Okay Now did I thoroughly confuse anyone with that? Okay, I hope not But I wanted to include it in the story because it is in the story. It is it. It isn't the other two gospels And so the the idea of using others as part of what Jesus said There's just no early evidence in the Greek text that Matthew included in his account Luke and Mark did Okay Third Way that they were Self-centered is in verse 15 and that is in misleading others Notice what he says here misleading others Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees you hypocris here's that word again um You travel over land and sea to win a single convert And when you have succeeded You make them twice as much a child of hell as you are Oh You talk about in your face Okay, what he's saying is you're very zealous to make converts you're very zealous to win people to your way of thinking About religious things But when you do when you are successful in getting people to think like you do Then you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are What does that mean? Well, what do you think that means? You Okay, make them like themselves. That's the place to start with with this I believe make they make them like themselves What Okay, put those two thoughts together and I think we're getting I think we're getting what Jesus is talking about here Think think of this Jesus himself said it didn't he? um A pupil will become like his teacher right Okay, isn't it true that um A learner a disciple of someone Will typically take what his teacher or her teacher has taught and take it a step further Go further with it Be more zealous with it trying either to impress the teacher As the young protégé or disciple or Just getting so caught up in it maybe at a younger age with a little more zeal That they take it further than what the teacher took it Okay, now I think that's exactly what's happening here and and I think when you think in terms of of self-righteousness The pupil is going to be more zealous for that More proud or prouder of his or her attainments And set the standard even higher than the teacher did And so the person who who is persuaded by the Pharisees to follow their line of thinking takes it even further And in that sense is more deceived You know more blinded now than what even the Pharisees were and so in that sense Jesus says Twice as much a child of hell In other words, they're headed the same direction they're deceived But because they want to do more than the teacher did they're more so they're more prideful they're more deceived They're more blinded to the truth And so even in worse danger of Of being in hell and of realizing the Yeah, the tragedy of where they are so Self-centeredness is seen in in these three ways hindering others using others misleading others Okay, the next thing Jesus points out as a mark of of hypocrisy is dishonesty dishonesty now we're just going to read verses 16 through 22 and then we'll kind of come back summarize what Jesus is talking about here Follow closely and pick up on what he's saying verse 16 low to you blind guides You say if anyone swears by the temple it means nothing But anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that of You blind fools Which is greater the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred You also say here's another example of their dishonesty Verse 18 you also say if anyone swears by the author it means nothing But anyone who swears by the gift on the author is bound by that of You blind men which is greater the gift or the author that makes the gift sacred Therefore anyone who swears by the author swears by it and by everything on it And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it And anyone who swears by heaven swears by gods thrown and by the one who sits on it Okay now Let's back up a little bit from what Jesus has said here and and get kind of a bird's eye view the big picture View first and then we'll come back to exactly what Jesus is talking about I want to deal first of all with the practice of oaths And the practice that was so common in in that day Jesus had already addressed the subject of oaths back in the sermon on the mount Back in chapter 5 of Matthew you may recall this but let me just read it for you Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 33 again You have heard it was said to the people long ago do not break your oath But fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made and that was Old Testament teaching But I tell you Jesus says do not swear an oath at all either by heaven for it is God's throne or by the earth for it is his foot still Or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king and do not swear by your head for you cannot make one hair White or black all you need to say is simply yes or no anything beyond this comes from the evil one So what what Jesus is teaching there is well, what is he teaching? Some people have said he's teaching that you should never go under oath and accordive laws that what he's teaching I See some heads go in this way Is that what Jesus is teaching you should never Take an oath or take an oath of office Anything like that Right that that I think is the intent of that kind of an oath You know court of law or in an oath of office I would agree with those of you who shook your head no I don't think Jesus is referring to that is think is referring to the way we conduct our conversation Because what he's saying is that our conversation Should be and our lifestyle should be honest enough to where when we say yes people know we mean it We don't have to say I swear on a stack of bibles. Yes We don't have to say that because when we say yes people know we mean it Okay, and when we say no We don't have to say I swear to you by whatever When we say no people understand we mean it we're honest that what Jesus is saying is we should live such that we never have to use an oath To give punch to what we're saying people ought to know that when we say something it's honest It's true. We don't have to back it up with anything I don't think he's talking about a court of law or you know oath of office or something like that But he's talking about personal honesty Okay, but the custom of that time was to take oaths It was very common then to To take an oath or to swear by something or to bind yourself to something To to show that you really meant what you said that was a very common thing. That's why Jesus addresses it But the thing the Pharisees were very good at was distinguishing different kinds of oaths Okay, they did that with everything you know I it was a practice uh in legal terms called casuistry It's called debating fine points of of this is right, but this is wrong And that's what they did and they did it even with oaths. They said now there are certain oaths You can take and if you take those oaths you're bound by them But if you take another kind of oath you're not bound by it And that's why Jesus points out these illustrations He says I'll give you a couple illustrations of what you teach you Pharisees you say that If you swear by the temple Then that doesn't mean anything But if you swear by the gold in the temple then you're bound to that oath Okay, they became very good at distinguishing serious oaths and not serious oaths or oaths that you ultimately will be bound by and oaths that you can wiggle out from under Now They came up with a whole list of these kind of things Jesus just gives two examples But they came up with a whole list of these kind of things that the average person had no clue about And sometimes you kind of make them up on the fly, you know When you know how you play games with children When they play games they make up the rules as they go You know We just had some of our grandkids with us over Thanksgiving and I played some games with them kind of some of those makeup games, you know that you make up as you go along and the rules changed every five seconds You know because It and the rules were always changed to benefit them so that they wouldn't lose Now that's child's play we understand that it's exactly what the Pharisees were doing They would make this stuff up as they went along now What would be the only reason you would do that? It would benefit them for sure It would mean you could take an oath that you were going to do something and then you could get out of it conveniently Because you could say to the person oh No, no, wait a second. I didn't swear by the gold in the temple. I swore by the temple So I don't have to keep that up You see that's the way they operated So the the practice of oaths that was very common in that day what Jesus is addressing is the dishonest use of oaths and Basically what he's saying is For the average person who's not familiar with all your rules on oaths Which ones are binding and which ones are not you use that as a convenient way to lie To be dishonest to say you know in their minds you swore to do something and then You back up later and say well, I didn't Swear by the gold in the altar swore by the oh by the the altar Didn't swear by the gift on us were by the the altar so I don't have to keep that of that is Out and out dishonesty now since since we don't really face at least I don't think we face that much that kind of dishonesty the kind of Distinction between oaths that are binding and oaths that are not let's let's make it practical to us How do we in our culture and our day and our time Show this kind of dishonesty The fine print classic example the fine print you make it look good and sound attractive and like it's a great deal But then in this little print that you can't even read you have all these disclaimers and qualifiers that basically nullify the promise you made Okay, now obviously some fine print is necessary to you know to explain things. I'm not against all that but But certainly that can be used To say well, we didn't really mean what is up here in the bold print you didn't read down here did you? Yeah Oh A vow was primarily made to God An oath would be something in conversation with another person that you would you would use to back up a promise or a statement To try to make them realize this is true You know, so that that would be the main difference. I would think a vow typically is something that's between you and God and oath is between you and another person Okay Any other ways that we Fudge with the truth we're dishonest we make it look one way, but really it's not Hey Okay, that's interesting Yeah, it's the clever use of wording isn't it yeah, and and that happens a lot in marketing right Where wording is used to make you get an impression of something which is not really true I mean, that's that's a classic marketing technique Yeah, Greg So Could we say ulterior motives is a way of disguising the truth yeah That's great he thought he was going for dinner and he got roped into a big job Yes, Robin I Yeah, right Yeah, well that is so true And and if something kind of blows up in your face Then it's spun a different direction that this is really what was intended yeah There's a lot of that that goes on in politics and in many other arenas as well. I think we could go on and on there are lots of examples of how we do the same thing today It might not look quite the same as backing up a statement with an oath But certainly there are lots of ways that we shade the truth or qualify the truth and literally we're dishonest with that Disonist Just plain line. Yeah, that's that's the way to put it later just plain line Okay, let's move on to the next one externalism externalism look at verse 23 The dishonest use of oaths We don't have the PowerPoint tonight. So I've got to be a little more clear The dishonest use of oaths Verse 23 to 28 Jesus says the fourth mark of of hypocrisy is externalism What he's going to talk about here is an emphasis on the externals In other words on religious duties on legalistic codes Just making sure you look good that you do the right things regardless of what's Going on in your heart. So Jesus warns about a couple things here the first one verses 23 and 24 is the neglect of the heart Jesus warns about the neglect of the heart look at verse 23 He says what do you teachers of the law and Pharisees you hypocrites you give a tenth of your spices meant dill and cumin But you have neglected the more important matters of the law justice mercy and faithfulness Okay, do you see the point he's driving at they're very good About tithing giving a tenth of everything they possess even the little garden herbs that grow alongside their fence rows and their their Their walkways You know little little They'll take a tenth of that. I mean that's really getting Down to the the real essence of tithing everything you're very meticulous about that. He says but You neglect the more important matters of the law that the internal the heart issues Justice mercy faithfulness now notice what he says he says you should have practiced the latter In other words, you need to you need to get honest about justice and Mercy and faithfulness the interior matters of the heart But then he says without neglecting the former. I'm not saying that the the outward is wrong But he's saying you ought to start with the inward and then it affects the outward. We'll see how he says that even more in just a little bit But verse 24 says you blind guides you strain out a net but swallow a camel What do you think you meant by that I mean think think of the the imagery itself You The really big things yeah, I think that's the point but the imagery is Is so amazing. I mean? This is one of those passages that that leads me to believe Jesus had a great sense of humor Because people who were imagining this just thinking of it brings a smile to your face. I always the laugh Especially if you're in that culture Camel was pretty much the largest known animal in that part of the world Compare that to a net Okay, a little net that you can hardly see and what he's saying is you go to great pains to make sure you strain out A net so a net doesn't get in your drink, but then you swallow a whole camel And his point is so vivid That you are so concerned about some little tiny details of the externals But when it comes to the real heavy stuff in the heart you don't care about that Yeah More easily seen isn't it and you can you can point to it and brag about it and I did this many of these and You know that that's the idea Than the neglect of the heart Legalists those who are like the Pharisees who are concerned only about externalism Are sticklers for details with the externals And they will call you on the carpet for not doing everything just right they'll strain out of that But when it comes to matters of the heart they'll swallow a camel it didn't matter I mean that doesn't even concern them And so that's Externalism at its worst and the neglect of the heart, but then he also deals with the defilement of the heart This is also a part of externalism the defilement of the heart Verse 25 What do you teach us the law on Pharisees you hypocrites you clean the outside of the cup and dish But inside they are full of greed and self indulgence Blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup and dish then the outside also will be clean now Obviously again using visual imagery When you set it a table and everything looks beautifully clean you know a cup Um, and then all of a sudden you pick it up and you look at the inside and it's got all kinds of gunk in it I mean that that's the visual imagery here. That's the picture outside Just looking at the exterior. It looks great Really cleaned up But look at the inside it's full of junk And and so he says clean the inside of the cup And the outside will be good too start with the inside he's saying and obviously he's talking about again External as compared to the matters of the heart the inside of the person Gives another example verse 27. What do you teach us the law on Pharisees you hypocrites? You are like white washed tombs Now let me explain what that that means In in that day grave You would obviously according to the mosaic law you would be ceremonially defiled If you touched a grave if you walked over a grave and so one of the ways they marked graves was to whitewash them And so that they would stand out. It's kind of like our grave markers today or footsteps or Some way that we mark out a grave They would often mark them by whitewashing them so like even at night you could tell okay I don't want to walk there. There's a grave. I'm getting into a section of graves and so On the outside whitewash that's the the visual imagery here of whitewashing a grave Look beautiful on the outside But on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean in the same way on the outside You appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you're full of hypocrisy and wickedness What an amazing picture of where they were you know with their everything looking good outwardly But it's really just a tomb that's got whitewash on the cover on the outside of it because on the inside is There's dead people So the idea is on the outside you look good on the inside you're dead you're rotten to the core on the inside So it is possible To look good on the outside to be clean on the outside and to be defiled on the inside To be unclean on the inside It's possible for what everybody sees to look okay But on the inside your heart is wasting away and it's very wicked That's what happens when you neglect the heart the heart becomes defiled I remember having a professor in seminaries a Hebrew professor and he was a Chicago Cubs fan. He was also a huge coffee drinker In fact some of us one day put an IV bag on his office door with coffee in it because We thought that'd be a better way for him to take it He had a Cubs cup It was a coffee mug brought to class every day. I mean he shook hands like this. I mean His hand was permanently formed that way and He had he had that mug and it was beautiful because I was a Cubs fan too still am Believe it or not. I mean that's die hard right there, but I I love Chicago Cubs And so I loved that mug, but one day I was in his office talking with him and I got a look at the inside of that mug It was black and I don't think he ever cleaned the inside He's rinsed out, you know the coffee you what was it never really cleaned it and it was black with coffee stains And every time I read this passage. I think a doctor foulers mug You know that it was it was clean on the outside look great. But you look at the inside is black It's just black with coffee stains Well, that's what Jesus is saying these people are like Clean on the outside dirty on the inside Quickly one other thing we need to finish this this passage and that is Hip hypocrites are marked by animosity Okay, what they say is different from what they do. Okay. Look at look at what they say in verses 29 and 30 Woe to you teachers of the law of Pharisees you hypocrites you build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous and you say if we had lived in the days of our ancestors We would not have taken part with them and shedding the blood of the prophets. Okay. That's what they say What they say is we've interated the prophets. We love the prophets of the Old Testament We build them, you know fancy tombs and we certainly wouldn't have been a part of what our ancestors did to them and killing them and So far we wouldn't have done that But what they do is totally different What they say is one thing what they do is a different one verse 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets go ahead then and Complete what your ancestors started or fill up what your ancestors started Because who were they about ready to kill You Who were they wanting to kill that very day the son of God so they can say all they want to about Venerating the Old Testament prophets the very one the Old Testament prophets prophesied they they hate and they want to kill him So what they do is the opposite of what they say and he goes on to describe Verse 30 No, it's not verse 30. Where are we verse? 33 you snakes you brood of vipers how will you escape being condemned to hell Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers Some of them you will kill and crucify others you will flog and your synagogue and pursue Town to town and so if on you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth from the blood of righteous Abel the first man mentioned as being murdered in the Old Testament to the blood of Zachariah son of Barakai the last man mentioned in the Old Testament as being murdered Whom you murdered between the temple and the altar truly I tell you all this will come on this generation Wow, these are heavy words, aren't they? But basically what Jesus is saying is First of all you're ready to kill me, but I'm going to send you prophets. I'm going to send you apostles I'm going to send you men in the book of action. You want to kill all them too So what you say is one thing what you do is another and that kind of animosity professing That you love those who are righteous but in reality hating them because their lifestyle challenges and convicts you By the way We need to be careful about that ourselves Sometimes a person Obviously a person who is self-righteous can get under your skin for for good reason But sometimes a person who is truly godly Will great against us because in our hearts we're not very godly And we can become very critical of that person We can become very animosity toward them When in reality it's because they convict us of our own lifestyle That we're upset with them. So animosity toward the godly we have to be careful about By the way This one last thing and then we'll stop Um Jesus has been pretty rough on these guys in this chapter wouldn't you agree The way he's talked to them the way he's been very in their face about you're going to hell you're dragging other people with you You're your blind guides of the blind your bipers were brewed a snake your hypocrites eight times your hypocrites Okay, he's been pretty tough on them But I want you to see that all that was in the context of a very compassionate and loving heart Because look at how he ends this chapter these words verse 37 Jerusalem Jerusalem you who killed the prophets and stone those sent to you how often I have long to gather your children together as a hen Gathered her chicks under her wings and you were not willing Look your houses left to you desolate for I tell you you will not see me again until you say blessed as you comes in the name of the Lord Psalm 1826 the last thing in that psalm that introduces them aside of the nation and they will say this again when Jesus comes to set up his kingdom But he says you've ruined your chance you've missed your opportunity and you will not see me come again till I come a second time in my kingdom But he said all of what he said in chapter 23 in the context Saying to them Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem. I would have gathered you like a hen gathers his chicks, but but you wouldn't And that heart cry for them is really behind these stern denunciations So I think we need to keep that context in in mind Banner does it time to go? Okay, all right Let's close in prayer Father thank you for your goodness to us in giving us the record of your son's life on this earth And Lord we've read some harsh words tonight, but very true words And Lord I know the temptation for me and maybe for others in this room will be to think of other people when we think of these words That they're addressed for so and so and or they need to hear this Lord help me and and others of us who may feel that way not to to do that Help us not to let ourselves off the hook so easily help us to see Jesus words director to us and the The deep layers of pride and self righteousness. We harbor in our own hearts So deliver us from deceiving ourselves But our own hypocrisy and self righteousness and pride Make us more like your son is our prayer It's in his name we ask it amen