Ah, the law of Moses.
There's nothing we Pharisees like more than the law of Moses, or any law really. They keep everybody else in their place and our assistance in doing so makes us feel superior over "them" and better about ourselves.
Seriously! What makes us feel better about ourselves than seeing the sins and failures of others and then pointing them out to our circle of friends? Nothing. "That is NOT GOSSIP, I tell you. I'm just telling the truth!"
And the icing on the hypocritical Pharisaical cake is being able to confront a "sinner" in front of others.
I have an "inner Pharisee" who is just bursting to get out and wreak havoc across the land. And havoc is exactly what the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and lawyers wreaked, or should I say, wreak. They wreaked havoc all the way to Calvary. It's a good thing for them that it was Jesus that they wreaked upon: He forgave them.
Have you read John 8, verses 1 through 11 recently? Well, take a few minutes to read it now, please?
The scribes and the Pharisees were right, kinda sorta. The law of Moses does indeed call for death in the case of Jews caught in the act of adultery (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22-24). But what they intentionally overlooked (and that's what hypocrites do) was the bigger truth found in the law that except one keep the whole law, that one is just as guilty as the adulterer and just as damned (Deut. 28:58ff; Roms. 3:19-20; Gal. 3:10; 5:3).
Jesus' words had some temporary effect on them when He very poignantly reminded them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." Ouch! At least they walked off with their tails hanging between their legs.
Stones in the temple; stones in their hearts of stones
Beloved, we do not have hearts of stone. Why do we respond to our brothers and sisters as if we did? Why do we turn to the law of Moses when we should turn always to the finished work of Jesus? Now there certainly are times when we must and can judge and rebuke and correct our brothers and sisters in Christ (1 Cor. 5; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Gal. 6:1-5). But every Christian, every one who has by the grace of God come to faith in Jesus Christ, has been given a new heart, a heart of flesh, the new creature in Christ, the inner man (Eze. 11:19; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:1-10; Acts 15:9; Rom. 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:22. And many more).
"There is no place for stones in the new heart of flesh."
It shouldn't surprise any of us that we sin in the same manner as the Pharisees. If we believe that the law still holds sway over us and we vainly try to keep it, any part of it, then we have given our sinful nature the power it needs to cause us to be such hypocrites (1 Cor. 15:56; Rom. 7). The "strength of sin is the law," indeed, but the strength of righteousness is grace.
Be gracious, beloved. And I'll try my best to be so as well. Put down those stones.
There's nothing we Pharisees like more than the law of Moses, or any law really. They keep everybody else in their place and our assistance in doing so makes us feel superior over "them" and better about ourselves.
Seriously! What makes us feel better about ourselves than seeing the sins and failures of others and then pointing them out to our circle of friends? Nothing. "That is NOT GOSSIP, I tell you. I'm just telling the truth!"
And the icing on the hypocritical Pharisaical cake is being able to confront a "sinner" in front of others.
I have an "inner Pharisee" who is just bursting to get out and wreak havoc across the land. And havoc is exactly what the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and lawyers wreaked, or should I say, wreak. They wreaked havoc all the way to Calvary. It's a good thing for them that it was Jesus that they wreaked upon: He forgave them.
Have you read John 8, verses 1 through 11 recently? Well, take a few minutes to read it now, please?
The scribes and the Pharisees were right, kinda sorta. The law of Moses does indeed call for death in the case of Jews caught in the act of adultery (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22-24). But what they intentionally overlooked (and that's what hypocrites do) was the bigger truth found in the law that except one keep the whole law, that one is just as guilty as the adulterer and just as damned (Deut. 28:58ff; Roms. 3:19-20; Gal. 3:10; 5:3).
Jesus' words had some temporary effect on them when He very poignantly reminded them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." Ouch! At least they walked off with their tails hanging between their legs.
Stones in the temple; stones in their hearts of stones
Beloved, we do not have hearts of stone. Why do we respond to our brothers and sisters as if we did? Why do we turn to the law of Moses when we should turn always to the finished work of Jesus? Now there certainly are times when we must and can judge and rebuke and correct our brothers and sisters in Christ (1 Cor. 5; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Gal. 6:1-5). But every Christian, every one who has by the grace of God come to faith in Jesus Christ, has been given a new heart, a heart of flesh, the new creature in Christ, the inner man (Eze. 11:19; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:1-10; Acts 15:9; Rom. 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:22. And many more).
"There is no place for stones in the new heart of flesh."
It shouldn't surprise any of us that we sin in the same manner as the Pharisees. If we believe that the law still holds sway over us and we vainly try to keep it, any part of it, then we have given our sinful nature the power it needs to cause us to be such hypocrites (1 Cor. 15:56; Rom. 7). The "strength of sin is the law," indeed, but the strength of righteousness is grace.
Be gracious, beloved. And I'll try my best to be so as well. Put down those stones.