The Scribes - Pastor Bruce Mejia

We pray, amen.

Amen.

Okay, we're in Matthew chapter 23 this evening.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

And the title of my sermon tonight is The Scribes.

I'm going to preach on the subject of The Scribes.

Now, Matthew chapter 23 is a very familiar portion of Scripture for us

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

because we often associate it with Jesus' condemnation on the Pharisees.

It's a very popular sermon that he preached against the Pharisees.

And when we often read it, we focus on the Pharisees and rightfully so.

But sometimes we forget that he's also addressing the scribes, right?

He actually says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees.

In other words, the Pharisees were very much guilty of all the things that Jesus was saying here in Matthew 23.

But we also see that the scribes were equally guilty of that as well.

And we're going to go through this chapter and just kind of highlight some of the sins and hypocrisy of the scribes

as highlighted here in Matthew 23.

Now, hold your place there. Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 36, if you would.

Jeremiah 36 · chapter mention

Jeremiah chapter 36.

Jeremiah 36 · chapter mention

Before we get started on Matthew 23, let's talk about the office of a scribe.

What is that referring to?

What did these men do in the Bible?

Because it's an office that we see not just in the New Testament,

but we see also pretty prevalent in the old.

Now, by the time we get to the 1st century AD, when dealing with the scribes,

they're actually pretty wicked. They have a really negative connotation attached to them.

They are false prophets. They're being preached against.

They are often conspiring with the Pharisees and the chief priests against Jesus.

And when we look at what the scribes or who the scribes are referring to in the Noom,

it's often used interchangeably to describe the lawyers, right?

The lawyers who have the scribes and then you have the Pharisees.

But here's the thing. When it comes to the scribes as compared to the Pharisees,

the scribes was actually somewhat of a legitimate office

that had somewhat of a practical function behind it.

The Pharisees did it. There's no need for Pharisees in the Bible at all.

There was no practical functionality when it came to the office of a Pharisee.

In fact, you could scour the Old Testament.

You'll never find a mention of Pharisees, right?

You'll never find a mention of God's sanctioning Pharisees or deigning Pharisees.

Now, you do find the office of a Sadducee because the Sadducee

were essentially the ones responsible for the tasks of the temple.

They're the sons of Zadok and they're the ones who are essentially carrying out the duties of the temple.

So that is a legitimate office.

That was a legitimate responsibility that they were supposed to uphold.

Now, obviously, we can see the Sadducees in the New Testament and they're apostate.

So even though it's a legitimate office, even though God sanctioned it in the Old Testament,

by the time we get to the New, they've already gone apostate.

How do we know that?

Because they're denying angels and demons. They're denying the resurrection.

So even though God sanctioned for that specific office to be held in Israel

to oversee the duties of the temple,

by the time we get to the 1st century A.D., they've already transgressed the doctrines of Christ.

They've rejected the Lord. They're super apostate.

And at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter.

Why? Because by the time Jesus Christ dies, the Old Testament transfers into the New.

There's no longer a need for a physical temple where the Sadducees are serving

because we are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which you have of God in your and not your own.

We are that priesthood, that holy nation and so forth.

So the Sadducees, though sanctioned in the Old Testament, it's kind of null and void in the New.

Pharisees, on the other hand, you won't find that mention.

Now what does Pharisee mean? It actually means the separated ones.

And when you look at it from a historical perspective because you actually have to go to history

to find the origins of a Pharisee because you're not going to find it in the Bible.

It's like you're reading throughout the entire Bible.

You get to the book of Matthew and you just hear Pharisees like, where do these guys come from?

These guys are in charge. They're in charge of the synagogues.

They have a lot of authority. They have a lot of power.

They can excommunicate people. People hold them in high regard.

And you kind of just want to go back in time and say, excuse me, sir, where'd you come from?

Like, apparently you're like really important in the nation of Israel.

But how did you gain this influence and importance to the point where, you know,

people look to you as being a legitimate religious authority in the nation of Israel?

Well, when you look throughout history, you see that they actually arose

after what's referred to as the Maccabean Revolt.

They're the second temple institution of religious zealots of Jews

who are essentially trying to preserve Jewish identity.

So they're trying to preserve it from Hellenization.

Hellenization meaning that they didn't want Greek culture to infiltrate

and they didn't want to lose their ethnic identity

and essentially become obsolete as a Jewish people.

So what they did is they formed this group known as the Pharisees, the separated ones,

in order to preserve that.

And you can think to yourself, well, that's kind of legitimate.

They're trying to preserve their ethnic identity.

They're in Babylon.

And they're just trying to preserve what their forefathers were,

what they did, their customs and so forth.

And, you know, arguments can be made as to why,

if it was legitimate for them to be an actual group of people

that were needed in the nation of Israel.

The problem is this, is that after that group arose to prominence,

somewhere along the way, by the time we get to the 1st century AD,

they somehow seized power over the synagogues.

And the synagogues, again, are not institutions that are sanctioned by God.

They're just kind of like a necessary evil.

And the reason I say necessary evil is because it's really for people

who can't make it to the temple.

So they have these groups where they get together,

they read the scriptures, they pray, they sing hymns.

And so it's like a chapel, so to speak, right?

You ever heard of a chapel service?

It's like, those are like chapels.

And so somehow the Pharisees ended up seizing power over these synagogues.

And then by the time you get to the 1st century AD,

the culture of synagogues and Pharisees is so embedded

into the history of Israel, no one really questions

whether it should be a legitimate institution.

Okay?

It's just kind of like accepted, these are the guys in charge.

These are the ones we need to look to.

We want to be a part of the synagogues,

even though there's already a temple there.

Because keep in mind, the synagogues were an alternative to the temple.

Not a replacement for the temple,

an alternative if the person could not physically make it to the temple.

So it's just like, oh, we live too far to make our pilgrimage to the temple.

We'll let's join the synagogue.

We can hear the law of Moses and so forth.

And this is why when you read the Book of Acts, for example,

you'll hear about synagogues in Asia Minor

and a lot of different Greek-speaking areas

because these synagogues were started as an alternative

for the temple if people couldn't make the pilgrimage to that temple.

And so 1st century AD, you have the Pharisees.

They are in charge of it.

They have political power.

They have religious power.

And they're the ones who essentially spearheaded the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Now here's the thing though,

but they have no practical functionality.

There's no need for them at all within Israel.

There's a need for the Sadducees,

even though they suck and they're apostate,

but it's okay.

They're going to go away soon.

But there is some sort of need for them

because God needed someone.

He sanctioned people to oversee the temple, you understand?

Whereas the Pharisees are like, you guys are here

and all you guys are doing is just lording over the flock of God.

You're just kind of, you know,

just kind of usurping authority, hating on Christ,

trying to undermine biblical authority,

teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men,

just perverting scripture.

You hate God's people, you know?

And at the end of the day,

the Pharisees ended up being the progenitors to modern-day rabbinic Judaism.

Okay?

So, you know, you have the Sadducees

and once the temple was destroyed in 70 AD,

they're out of a job.

Like there's no more temple, right?

So either get with the program, become a Christian,

or just join the Pharisees.

Because the Pharisees didn't really need the temple

in order to function as a group of religious Pharisees, right?

Judaism doesn't really need the temple.

Because after the temple was destroyed,

they can simply go into what?

Their synagogues and just continue with their authority,

ruling over the people.

And that's why Judaism ended up evolving into what we have today

because of the Pharisees.

Okay?

So they have no practical, you know, functionality to them.

There's no need for them whatsoever

other than what they did after, you know,

the Second Temple and the Maccabean Revolt

to preserve Jewish identity.

But after that, there's no need for them.

Now, the scribes, it could be said the same thing

of the scribes that it wasn't an office

that was instituted by God,

but it did serve some sort of practical functionality.

Why?

Because a scribe, and we're just talking about generally

what a scribe is.

A scribe is someone who is a copyist, okay?

They are a recorder.

They're like a secretary.

And not even in religious matters.

It could be for, you know, governments

and magistrates if they need to copy documents,

genealogies.

These are people who are very skilled in writing

because you've got to keep in mind,

you know, a lot of people back in those days

didn't know how to read or write.

Now, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands,

but I'm assuming a lot of you know how to read and write,

at least, you know, read the Bible, okay?

You know, I can read, I can write.

Now, I do write like a doctor

and you can't really understand my penmanship

and I'm working on that.

But, you know, the ability to read and write

wasn't as prevalent back then as it is now.

So, you have these scribes who were very skilled

in reading, writing, and copying accurately.

Very important, right?

They didn't have a copy machine.

They didn't have a printer.

They needed literal people to get the scriptures

and they would just copy it over and over again.

It's a very functional office, very needed, right?

Now, transfer that over to the Bible.

It's very needed when it comes to the scriptures, okay?

So, you have these scribes

who are assigned to governments and magistrates

in order to copy documents, legal things and such,

but then you also have scribes

who serve the purpose of dictating

or writing down what the prophet is dictating.

So, the prophet who is inspired by God

to preach the word of God, he's ripping face

and the scribe is just like, you know,

all right, oh man, whore, okay?

All right, you know, okay, whoa, you know?

And he's pending that down.

He's transcribing what the prophet is saying.

Very much needed, right?

So, you could even say that, you know,

some scribes are providentially inspired by God

because they've got to be accurate in their,

you know, preservation of the words of the prophet

that is coming from God, okay?

But then, you also have other scribes

who are simply responsible for copying the Bible,

okay, which is also important.

So, you have the prophet, he preaches the word of God,

the scribe pens it down, and then you have

another scribe whose responsibility

is just to copy that thing over and over again

so that people can have copies of the word of God, okay?

You think of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8

Acts 8 · chapter mention

when he leaves Jerusalem, he has a copy

of a chapter of the book of Isaiah.

How did he get that?

I'll tell you how.

There was a scribe who penned that down

and then sold that copy, you understand?

So, you can see how important that is

in the nation of Israel.

So, yeah, it's not necessarily an office

that was sanctioned by God,

but it was very much a necessary function

in the nation of Israel because we need the word of God,

people want a copy of the scriptures,

and it's important to just be accurate

when you're copying them down.

So, you know, there's a lot of good scribes in the Bible.

Now, if we were to just have the New Testament

and be like, man, all scribes are bad,

like these guys are just conspiring against Christ

or against Christianity,

but they didn't start off that way, okay?

Now, the first time a scribe is mentioned in the Bible

is actually in 2 Samuel chapter 8, all right?

2 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

Sarah Aya is a scribe under the rule of King David.

That is the first time a scribe is mentioned.

It doesn't mean that that's the first scribe there is.

It's just the first scribe that is talked about in the Bible.

Because, again, you have people in the Old Testament

who probably have this job.

They're copying the word of God and so forth.

Look at Jeremiah chapter 36, if you would,

Jeremiah 36 · chapter mention

and verse 13, it says,

then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard

when Beirut read the book in the ears of the people.

Therefore, all the princes sent Jehudai,

the son of Nathanaim, the son of Shalamaya,

the son of Kushai, unto Beirut saying,

take in thine hand the role wherein that has read

in the ears of the people and come.

So Beirut, the son of Nathanaim,

took the role in his hand and came unto them.

So we see that Beirut is not only responsible

for penning down the Scriptures,

he also has the skill of reading the Scriptures, right?

Skip down to verse number 16.

It says, now it came to pass when they had heard all the words.

They were afraid both one and another

and said unto Beirut, we will surely tell the king

of all these words.

And they asked Beirut saying, tell us now,

how does thou write all these words at his mouth?

So they're like, so tell us.

You know, you're reading the words of Jeremiah the prophet,

how did you do that?

How did you get this?

All right, you guys ready for the process here?

Verse number 17 or verse 18,

then Beirut answered them,

he pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth

and I wrote them down in the ink of the book.

Now, I don't know if he's just being facetious

or whatever, he's just like, well, get this.

He spoke it and I just wrote it down.

Big wow, right?

But this is showing us the responsibility

of this important scribe here

is that Jeremiah is preaching the word of God

and he's penning them down.

Now, there are instances in the Bible

where the Scriptures were recorded as such,

meaning that a prophet preached

and there was a scribe there alongside that prophet,

such as Beirut, who actually penned down what was being said.

But not all the time, okay?

Because, you know, sometimes people think,

well, you know, someone was following Matthew around

and Mark and Luke and as they were, you know,

as Jesus was, or excuse me, not following Matthew,

Matthew was following Jesus around,

Luke was following Jesus around,

and as he was preaching,

they're just painting this down from around the corner.

You see, do people really believe that?

I mean, that's what that stupid show is showing.

The chosen shows, like Matthew around the corner or John,

he's like in some dark corner

as Jesus is preaching to Nicodemus

and he's just like, oh, this is good, you know?

But no, that's not what happened.

And in the minds of these scholars, modern-day scholars,

they think that's how it had to happen

because in their minds, like, well,

in order to have an accurate translation,

in order to have an accurate depiction of what's being said,

the person had to be present.

Well, no, because at the end of the day,

all scripture is given by inspiration of God,

meaning that holy men of God is fake

as they're removed by the Holy Ghost,

meaning that someone can preach a sermon

and then years later,

God can supernaturally impose the content of that sermon

in the mind of the person who's writing it down

and he can be accurate when he writes it.

Well, I don't know if John really wrote John.

Who cares?

Now, I do believe that John wrote John.

I believe Matthew wrote Matthew, you know,

but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter

because at the end of the day,

the actual person itself doesn't matter.

Now, to the unsaved scholar

who knows more Bible than you and me, apparently,

because they're resting their faith upon history,

that is important because what?

Because they want to make sure that the apostles

were the only ones responsible for writing down scripture,

but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter

because who's the author, Scott?

And you know what?

God can supernaturally take the content

that he places in the mind of a prophet

and then supernaturally place it in the heart

and in the mind of a writer who's unknown,

unnamed and be accurate in his transcription.

Obviously, he's going to write it with his personality,

his writing style, but whatever it is that God says

is going to go down on that, you know,

that piece of paper, not paper, but you know,

that animal skin or whatever, that parchment.

The point being here is that we have an example of Beirut

who, yeah, you know, he did pen down the scriptures,

but let me just remind you later on,

those scriptures are thrown into the fire.

But it doesn't mean those scriptures are not preserved

because they're rewritten again, you know,

and so forth.

And so it's important for us to realize that Scribes,

you know, they did play an important role,

as noted here, that, you know,

he is following the prophet,

he's writing down the scriptures,

he's accurately depicting what is being said,

and even though Beirut is a sinner like everyone else,

you know, God is supernaturally leading him

to write down what needs to be put in the Word of God.

Okay?

Now go to Ezra chapter 7, if you would.

Ezra 7 · chapter mention

Ezra chapter 7.

Ezra 7 · chapter mention

Ezra chapter 7.

Ezra 7 · chapter mention

So in the Old Testament, Scribes played a functional role.

They were godly people.

They were righteous individuals.

They played a necessary role.

Even though it wasn't an office that was sanctioned by God,

you know, they did a lot of great works.

God used them in a great way.

And in fact, if you remember back in Matthew 23,

what does Jesus say?

I sentence you wise men and Scribes.

So keep in mind that a scribe, you know, in the Bible,

even in the Old Testament,

is not just someone who just writes down the Bible

and does nothing else.

Because we have an example here of Ezra,

who is a scribe, but he's also a priest.

So this is showing us that just about anybody

who can read and write can be a scribe,

whether it's a priest, maybe it's a high priest,

it's a prophet, it's just some regular Joe Shmo in the Old Testament.

If they have this capability, they can do so.

But Ezra is an example of someone who actually knew how to read.

He knew how to write, but he was also a high priest.

Look at verse 7, or verse 6, excuse me, of Ezra 7.

It says, this Ezra went up from Babylon

and he was already scribe in the law of Moses,

which the Lord God of Israel had given

and the king granted him all his requests according to the hand

of the Lord his God that was upon him.

So here we see that Ezra, though he's a high priest,

though he's a priest, he is a ready scribe.

Now what does that mean?

It doesn't mean that he's just ready to write things down.

This is referring to the fact that although he's a scribe

who copies, he writes things down with accuracy,

he's also someone who's ready to describe and teach

what's in the Word of God.

So we see here that this became, you know,

the scribe ended up being a transitional office

where they're not just penning down the scriptures,

but they're also teaching them.

And this is just the natural flow of things, is it not?

If you're constantly writing something down,

you're constantly writing that down over and over again,

you're eventually going to memorize what's being written down,

you're eventually going to internalize that which is being written down,

and you're going to end up studying that which is being written down.

Because folks, you know, the more you write something down

over and over and over again,

the more it's just going to be internalized

and you're going to think about it.

That's why I don't remember any phone number anymore.

I literally just started memorizing

my wife's phone number recently, you know what I mean?

Just because, you know, I think I just needed to for some reason.

I'm like, do I know my wife's number?

I'm like, I don't think I know her, you know?

Just because I'm so accustomed to just calling someone on the phone.

But let me tell you something,

when I was eight years old though, you know,

my memory was keen.

I had a lot of phone numbers memorized,

you know, because we'd write them down,

we'd mark them on the phone all the time.

Now we don't mark numbers, what do we do?

We just like call so, we don't even like dial,

we don't even press a button to, you know,

we just say, hey Siri, call so and so, you know,

and it just calls them, right?

And so, you know, the more you mark down those numbers,

the more you write it down, the more you're constantly,

it's before you, the more it's just going to be internalized.

And if you ask my wife right now, like,

hey, what was your phone number as a child?

She'll be able to tell you what the phone number was.

She remembers that.

And I'm sure some of you can probably do so the same.

Same thing with addresses, right?

You know, some addresses, they just kind of stay in your mind.

You know, but nowadays people don't really know addresses,

you know, because of GPS.

You know, some of you, if your phone was removed

from your pocket, you wouldn't be able to make it to church.

No joke, you know that's true.

If there was, if you had no phone

and you were expected to be in church,

you'd freak out.

You're like, I don't know where I'm going.

You know, just because you require GPS,

you just mark it in and you just follow that blue line,

it can lead you off a cliff and you would go off a cliff.

It can lead you to a liberal church

and you would freaking go to that liberal church

because you're so reliant upon that.

You know, if I were to just place you anywhere

in Southern California without a phone,

you probably wouldn't be able to find your way home.

You probably don't know your freeways.

You know, you're like, what's a 7-10?

You know, what's a 22?

I don't know what that is.

But it's because of the fact that technology

obviously has done that to us.

When, you know, in times past,

analog was more of an important thing

and people would write things down.

I mean, I remember like my mom, for example,

would give me an address

and she'd just write it down on an envelope

and she'd be like, just go here.

You know, this is this street right here.

Or if she couldn't remember the street,

like there's a tree, there's a store that says this

and you're like a pirate, you know, just looking for treasure.

You know, and I remember just like

in the early 2010s, okay, using MapQuest.

You know, printing out MapQuest

and being in an old IP church

having to visit new people

and I have like 10 sheets of MapQuest

and I'm just like, you know, where am I going here?

You know, and just trying to find the address or whatnot.

And so obviously a lot of people are spoiled now

because of GPS.

But the point that I'm making here

is the more you use something,

the more it becomes internalized.

So you have these scribes

whose job is it to just write down the Old Testament,

write down the Book of Leviticus,

write down Deuteronomy

over and over and over again,

what's going to happen?

They're going to end up internalizing that.

Why? Because they're constantly reading it.

Side note here, this is why it's important

to constantly read the Bible.

You don't have to write down the Bible,

though it would help to write down scriptures

on a three by five

and keep it with yourself

and read it over and over again.

But just reading the scriptures

every single day,

reading the Bible every single day

helps you to internalize the truths of God's Word.

When the Bible says,

let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly,

we could apply it to just reading the Bible

every single day.

Give attendance to reading,

to exhortation, to doctrine,

making sure that the Word of God

is being hidden in our heart,

making sure that we're thinking about the Word of God.

That's so hard.

Not if you read it every single day at all.

And not if you read large quantities

of the Bible throughout the year.

On a daily basis,

you end up internalizing the truths of God's Word.

The Bible says,

if any man speak,

let him speak as the oracles of God.

You're like,

how can I speak about the Bible so naturally

and with fluid power?

How do I do that?

By just reading the Bible every single day.

Because as you're reading it,

yeah, you're not writing it down

because it's already written down for you.

It's printed for you.

But as you read it more and more and more,

you end up embedding the content

of the Bible into your heart.

And so that's important.

And you have Ezra here

who the Bible says is a ready scribe.

It doesn't mean that he's ready to pin it down.

He's ready to talk about and teach

what's already been pinned down.

Skip down to verse number 10.

It says,

for Ezra had prepared his heart

to seek the law of the Lord

and to do it

and to teach in Israel

statutes and judgments.

So this is a very spiritual man.

He's a very spirit-filled man.

Ezra is not just your run-of-the-mill scribe.

He knows how to read.

He knows how to write.

But he also knows how to seek the Lord.

He also knows how to prepare his heart

to seek the Lord, right?

To teach the statutes and judgments.

So we have the example of Sarah Aya

as being the first scribe mentioned

in 2 Samuel chapter 8.

2 Samuel 8 · chapter mention

You have Baruch,

who is in Jeremiah,

particularly in chapter 36.

We have him describing the process

by which he would pin down

what the prophet is saying.

But then we also have Ezra,

who's a ready scribe,

meaning that he not only knows

how to keep track and records

of the genealogies,

keep track of all the documents

of those who went into exile,

but he can also get the Word of God

and preach it as well.

Go to Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Nehemiah chapter 8, if you would.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Nehemiah chapter 8

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

in verse number 1 says,

And all the people gather themselves together

as one man into the street

that was before the water gate,

and they spaken to Ezra the scribe

to bring the book of the law of Moses

which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

And Ezra the priest brought the law

before the congregation,

both of men and women,

and all that could hear with understanding

upon the first day of the seventh month.

It goes on to say in verse number 4,

And Ezra the scribe stood upon

a pulpit of wood which they

had made for the purpose.

Beside him stood Mattathiah and so forth.

So we see here that when Israel

wanted to hear the Word of God,

who did they call? They called the ready scribe.

And how can we apply this?

Well, we need to make sure

that we're ready scribes as well.

Not necessary to pen down the scriptures

because we already got it,

but just be ready to teach

what the Bible actually says.

Meaning that you should be ready

to preach the gospel at any given moment.

No matter where you are,

no matter who asks you,

you're not like, well, let me get my tab Bible

real quick. Let me make sure I get my

which, you know, if you're a brand new soul winner,

that's what you got to do. That's what you got to do, amen.

But you want to get to the point where you

use the Bible so much

preaching the gospel that

your Bible already kind of works with you.

You know what I'm talking about?

We're like, you have that soul winning Bible

and you use it so much that right when you open it,

it already goes to Romans 3.

You know what I'm talking about? It's just like kind of already

accustomed to go into

Romans 3-23, Romans 6-23,

Romans 5-8, it goes to Revelation 21-8,

it goes to Acts 16,

it goes to John 3,

it's kind of like an extension of you, right?

It's like already,

you're like a ready scribe

ready to preach the Word of God at any given moment.

But you know what? That also indicates that

you should be ready to preach the gospel

even if you didn't have a physical Bible.

Right?

Be ready to give an answer

always of those who are asking

the faith that is in you with meekness and fear.

Meaning that, you know,

if you are presented

with an opportunity to preach

the gospel to someone, maybe not in church

in a different type of atmosphere

but you don't have the Word of God,

you should be able to quote scripture.

So yeah, you want to know how you can go to heaven

when you die? I can show you, I can quote the scriptures to you.

You know, this is what the Bible says

and preach with confidence. That is a ready scribe.

Okay?

So these people are asking

for the understanding

of the Word of God. Look at verse 8 if you would.

It says,

So they read in the book

in the law of God distinctly

and gave the sense

and caused them to understand

the reading. Ezra played an important role

in teaching those

who came back from exile the Word of God.

He was responsible

for being a skilled writer,

a copyist of the genealogies

making sure he's checking everything

to make sure it's accurate,

but on top of that he was just accurate

in his explanation of the Word of God

and so forth. Go back to

Matthew chapter 23.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 23.

Matthew 23 · chapter mention

So you can see why

the office of a scribe

though not sanctioned by God

is an important office.

These are the printers

of the

Old Testament. These are the individuals

who are making

sure the Word of God is

abounding in the synagogues.

These are the reasons

why the law of Moses

is being read in Thessalonica.

They're being read in Asia Minor.

They're being read in various parts

of the world outside of Israel

because there was a ready scribe,

a very skilled writer and copyist

who was pinning these things down.

Here you go. Here's a copy

of the Word of God and so forth.

So they were very much important, but here's the problem though.

You have these scribes.

They're pinning down the scriptures

and because they're pinning them down so much

they're intaking the Word of God.

They're internalizing it.

Now look folks, the more you read the Bible

the more your faith has increased

in the Bible.

Faith coming

by hearing, hearing by the Word of God.

But what if you give the Word of God

to someone who's just not saved?

What if you're just giving

the Word of God to someone

and they're just writing it down

they're pinning it down

they're copying it over and over

and over again, but they're just

completely rejecting what's being written down.

What's the danger there?

Apostasy is what's the danger

because this person is supposed to be a ready scribe

they're internalizing the Word of God

they're giving it to other people

but they themselves are rejecting the Word of God.

Well this is what happens

by the time we get to the New Testament

because by the time we get to the New Testament

the office of a scribe

is no longer some sort of

a humble lowly position

of an individual who's just skilled

in reading and writing

so that others may have the Word of God

now they're like the upper class

of scholars

because by the time we get to the New Testament

you hear scribes

but they're not necessarily pinning anything down

they're just interpreting the law for you

but hold on a second

you're writing the Scriptures down over and over again

so why aren't you believing on Christ?

You're like

you're writing it down

you're writing the prophecies

it's right before you

but then Jesus the Word of God

in the flesh comes to you

and now you're conspiring to kill him

this is an example

of someone who has the Word of God

they possess the Word of God

but they don't possess salvation

so the point that I want to make

aside from what we're going to look at

here in Matthew 23

is that just because God uses

a group of people

to preserve the Bible

to pass it down

to generations

it doesn't lend veracity to the righteousness

of that group of people

look scribes

thank God for the scribes amen

scribes of the Old Testament

great job, thank you for preserving the Old Testament

thank you for doing a good job

for being spear filled

great job

but hold on a second

once you begin to deviate from the Bible

that you've copied

that you have accurately interpreted

or accurately copied

and then you actually reject the Gospel

I have no need for you anymore

because now a printer

can do exactly what you're doing

and just because

they were used to preserve it

just because they copied it a hundred times over

doesn't mean anything if you rejected the Christ

now

how do we interpret this

how can we apply this today

well Matthew 23

is a major condemnation

of both scribes and Pharisees

and if we were to compare

who the Pharisees were

to people today

we would say the Pharisees are like Catholics

because they teach for doctrines

the commandments of men

they wear the long robes

they have to be called father

we're going to go through these passages

here in chapter 23

and it's just like man

that's like a picture perfect example

of Roman Catholicism

scribes are a perfect picture

of Eastern Orthodoxy

of the Orthodox Church

so just as the Pharisees

fit the description of Catholics

the scribes fit the description of Orthodox people

okay

and when you read this you're like

well they're kind of one of the same

yeah amen

Orthodoxy is kind of the same

I know you guys are at war with one another

one has a Pope one doesn't

you both are heretics

you both are not saved

okay

and you know what

both of you have been used by God

yes for positive things

but the positive things that you've done

doesn't lend veracity

to your beliefs

because think about Catholics for example

and you know I don't hate Catholics

I absolutely

abhor Catholicism for sure

and I'm not ashamed of that

but I don't hate Catholics

we win Catholics for the Lord every single week

but you know

they've done some good things though

you know for example

if you've ever been to a hospital

it's likely that it was started by a Catholic

so how do you know

St. Mary's

St. Jude's

a lot of these hospitals

were started by Catholics

did you guys know that? I hope you know that

unless you're illiterate or something

that's an interesting name for a hospital

I want to

you know

no it's part of you know

they give to charity

they start these hospitals

you know as a kid I was stitched up

in a Catholic hospital

a lot of babies were born in Catholic hospitals

now I was born in a Presbyterian hospital

so at least I have that going for me

in that regard you know

but you know they started a lot of hospitals

and you know that's something Catholics like to point to

you know how many hospitals we started

you know

Catholics are responsible for

giving you know

millions of dollars to charity

and starting hundreds of hospitals

and it's like oh so that just

automatically lends veracity to your institution

no it doesn't

because we don't look at what they've done

to demonstrate whether they're saved or not

we look at what they believe

because it doesn't really matter

how many good works they've done

it doesn't really matter

how many good institutions they've started

if they rejected the biblical gospel

they're not saved

because they're still teaching for doctrines

the commandments of men

and look maybe we could look at the Pharisees

in the Bible and say hey but you know

they kind of helped start these synagogues

where people have gone to

they've heard the law of Moses

they're worshiping God

and make no mistake about it

there are people in the synagogues

during this time that were saved

we can point to people

and instances in the book of Acts

and throughout the Bible

where people were saved

and they were in the synagogues

they were attending the synagogues

because this is just an institution

where they were going to

where they were hearing the law of Moses

a scribe came

a wise man

an evangelist came and won them over

and they just kept attending the synagogue

but here's the thing

just because that happened

it doesn't lend legitimacy

to the Pharisee

because bro is still a flaming heretic

because he rejects the gospel

and we need to make sure

we're not respecter of people

in that regard

yes synagogues were started

it was a great alternative in case people could

make it to the temple

but you know what Jesus Christ is here now

the churches have been started

it's time to throw out the synagogue

it's time to throw out the Judaism

it's time to get with the program

and get with first century Christianity now

I think I'm going to stick with the synagogue

because that's the original

that's where it all started

you know

but hold on a second

the New Testament supersedes that though

and at the end of the day

upon this rock I will build

my church

not my synagogue

okay

and so

you have Catholics of course

they've done good things

but guess what just because they've done good things

means nothing

because you know what the false prophet in Matthew 7

did many wonderful works

right

he cast out devils

he prophesied in his name

he did many wonderful works

and the Lord wasn't like oh man why didn't you mention that

why didn't you say so

I didn't know that

get out of the way guys let him in

this guy did many wonderful works

he's just like and

and

depart from me, ye that work iniquity

I never knew you

because your works don't justify you

in the eyes of God

as demonstrated clearly by

Matthew chapter 7

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

which is funny because people use Matthew 7

as a way to prove oh see

belief is not enough

that guy never even mentioned belief

the one thing

necessary to be saved is the one thing he just left out

let's talk about

how great he was

what do we see from Matthew 7

he's just a self righteous person which is exactly

what the Pharisees are

what does it mean to be self righteous

it means that you believe you married eternal life

based upon your own righteousness

it's just like the guy

who went down to the temple

and he's praying

and he's just like I thank God

that I'm not as other sinners

you know I fast twice in a day

and you know he talks about

all his exploits that he's done

and the other guy went home justified

rather than the other guy

the other guy is in hell right now

so he

talk about tithing and fasting

twice in a week

that really didn't do him any good

because works can't save you

but here's the thing

is that you know Orthodox they did some good things too

and if we were to look at this

in a carnal perspective

I would even say

that the Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox probably did more good

than Roman Catholicism

believe it or not

you're like how so

well in 330 AD

you know you have the Byzantine empire

and they had

what was called the scriptoriums

in what's referred to as

Constantinople

and these scriptoriums existed

for a thousand one hundred years

up until 1453

when the Ottoman Empire took over

and destroyed them

but you say well what's the deal with that

well for those thousand one hundred years

in these scriptoriums

these Eastern Orthodox

scribes what are they doing

they're just copying the Greek New Testament

over and over again

just making tons of copies

of the Greek New Testament

and not just of the Greek New Testament

also of other Greek literature

sermons

liturgy

just all types of things

hymns just whatever

content that was out there during that time

they were doing that in the scriptoriums

but the most important thing that they were copying

was the Greek New Testament

so

during this particular time

they're copying this and they're very accurate

because not only are they

copying the Greek New Testament

they're speaking the language of the Greek New Testament too

so it's not like

so and so down the road

that pronounces Kini Koine

I'm copying

Koine Greek or something

no like they're actually speaking the language

they're living the language

they're communing with people

in Kini Greek

like they're very much

involved in the language of that day

so that when they're copying

the Greek New Testament in these scriptoriums

it's accurate

and they have a thousand one hundred years

of just constantly

copying constantly copying

and you know what? Praise God for that

right

now let me tell you something though

it doesn't lend veracity to orthodoxy at all

because God uses evil people

for his own purpose

he does

he used the diligence

the hard work

the intelligence

the scholarship of orthodox

for a thousand one hundred years

so that when they were taken over by the Ottoman Empire

they would eventually take those scriptures

go to Italy

it would go into the hands of Erasmus

and then we would have the underlying

Greek text that makes up the texas receptors

which is why we have the King James Bible today

and you know, riddle me this

you know, if orthodoxy

was so favored by God

then why did God allow him to be taken over?

the Ottoman Empire

just destroyed them

took it over, ran them out

well it doesn't look like you have God's favor

on your life

doesn't look like God is with you

because you got ran out

even though you were faithfully

transcribing the New Testament

over and over again

you know what it was, it was basically God saying

alright, I think we have enough copies here

right?

I think that's enough

got the Ottoman Empire

and just destroyed them

and ran them out

because you know what, God uses evil people

for the good

sometimes of the world

or just to help us

because you know, Bible-believing Christians

probably didn't have those resources to do that

right?

they don't really have the resources for that

you know, and so

the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just

so God will often use evil people

in order to carry out his will

and his will was that

the Greek New Testament would be copied

over and over again

by these orthodox scribes

accurately because he knew one day

we would need

a

Greek New Testament

the textual receptors that would make up

what we have today for our King James Bible

okay?

and you know what, it's just like oh man

they were used in such a great way

God providentially used them

to preserve the scriptures

but once he was done with them

he was done with them

once he used the wisdom

and the knowledge

the diligence and the hard work

of those orthodox scribes

he's like alright, you guys are done

so the point that I'm making here

is that you know what, the scribes in the Old Testament

they had their place, they had their role

but you know we don't really need that anymore

and just because they played

an important role in the Old Testament

doesn't lend legitimacy to their position

in the New

oh no, these are the scribes though

these are the ones who are responsible

for penning down the scriptures

and copying the scriptures and preserving the scriptures

yeah but they're heretics

we don't got no beef with what they pen down

we don't have beef with

the scriptures that they pen down

we got beef with them

it's them

and you know what, if they're

so selected by God

if God is so pleased with them

then why are they so heretical even though they copy the Bible over and over

and over again

same thing with the orthodox

you know

the orthos had a thousand one hundred years

of just

penning down the scriptures

hearing about believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

and thou shalt be saved

writing down John 3

16 over and over and over again

penning down he that believeth on the sun

hath everlasting life

just over and over and over

for over a thousand years

folks, think about that for a second

when you're

when you're penning down Ephesians 2

obviously they didn't have those references

but I'm talking about the actual passages

within these references

when you're penning down Ephesians 2 verse 8 through 9 over and over again

Ephesians 2:8–9

and you're just still unsaved

right?

when you're just penning down John 3 16 over and over again

you think God's not mad at that

it's like wow

a thousand one hundred years

and you guys can't seem to get your doctrine right about my son

you can't seem to believe

in the right salvation

you're still worshiped

you know a thousand

one hundred years listen to this

little children keep yourselves

from idols

and then you're just like

kissing the icons

right?

a thousand one hundred years of saying

keep yourselves from idols, flee from idolatry

and they're just like

what the heck

it's like it's insanity

oh man it was just the tragedy

what happened in Constantinople

no actually maybe God was trying to get a hold

of you know these eastern

orthodox people

and you know obviously he's working all things together

for good he knows that he's going to use

their hard work to eventually preserve

the scriptures so we can have it in our

English King James Bible

but you know he's also giving him a lot of time to just

hey you know did you think about

what you wrote down

what do you think about that verse

that says you know not to

not to have idols

what do you think about the verse about not

baptizing babies

you know hey those

times that you guys pen down the scriptures over and over again

did you see any babies getting

did you write about any babies getting baptized

and they're just like

you know

they write down the thief on the cross

they write down Roman 7

they write down

Matthew 28 and they're just like

because they do it like three times right

so it's just like

what in the world

so it doesn't really matter how they were used

because obviously they didn't

you know what they were used to do

didn't affect their belief system much

just like the scribes here

so the scribes they were prominent figures

in the New Testament

people respected them

they were well learned

they had wisdom

they were skilled in reading

and understanding

and so the Jews are just like wow these guys are just

these are the guys here

what does the Bible mean about this

you know you have King Herod calling over the scribes

to figure out information

about the Messiah

you know you have these people

just claiming to know the Word of God

understanding neither what they say

nor where they affirm

they're desiring to be teachers of the law

they don't know what they're talking about

and so they're held to a higher standard

because it's not that they were ignorant

of the scriptures they possessed them

but they never possessed salvation

you know what the same goes for

the Orthodox from

330 A.D. in Constantinople

to 1453 when they were taken over

by the Ottoman Empire

they were given a lot of time

I mean thousands and thousands and thousands of copies

of the scriptures are being penned down

and boom you know

it just didn't affect them at all

and so this is why he's preaching against them

so look at verse 1 if you would

that was all introduction

so let's get into the crux of the brass tax here

some of you chuckled nervously right now

then spake Jesus to the multitude

into his disciples saying the scribes and the Pharisees

sit in Moses' seat

all therefore whatever they bid you observe

that observe and do

but do not ye after their works

for they say and do not

now compare that

with Ezra the scribe

who he sought the word of God

and he sought to do it

whereas these scribes

we're not talking about the Pharisees

they're telling other people to do things

that they are not willing to do

you know what they call that? a hypocrite

they're talking about

the law of Moses says

they're talking about believing on the Messiah

and they don't believe it

hypocrites he says in verse 4

for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born

and lay them on men's shoulders

but they themselves will not move them

with one of their fingers

now specifically this is addressing the fact

that they're telling people

you need to keep the law of Moses

but they don't keep the law of Moses

you can't be a thief but they're stealing from the widows

you know oh covetousness

is a sin but yet they're

some of the most covetous people

in the New Testament

so what they're saying is not bad

what they're saying is actually true

right?

they're actually sitting in Moses' seat

meaning they're coming in the authority of Moses

they're telling people what Moses said

but they don't really believe what Moses said

and it's not because they're confused about it

it's because inwardly they're trying to deceive people

you know they

hold to their traditions

more than they hold to the word of God

okay

it's essentially they're masquerading

is what they're doing

as righteous people

and why are they doing this

look at verse five but all their works they do

for it to be seen of men

they make brothel phylacteries

and enlarge the borders of their garments

love the uppermost rooms at the feast

and the chief seats and the synagogues

so why are they doing this

well because of the fact that they want other people

to esteem them as being righteous people

now look folks

we all to a certain degree want that

let your life so shine before men

we want to make a good impression before people

we want to be a good testimony

but here's the thing is that inwardly

we also want to please the Lord too

we love the Lord

we want to please the Lord

these are two things that we want to accomplish

we want to do right because we love the Lord

we also want to do right because

it's an example unto others as well

right

here's the difference between us and the Pharisees

they only want to do right before people

not because they want to help people

because they're just self-righteous

Pharisees

who want the admiration

of the multitudes

and so this is why they make

broader phylacteries they enlarge the borders

of their garments they wear the dresses

because they want to portray themselves

as being righteous people

this is what 2 Timothy 3 means when it says

that they have a form of godliness

but they deny the power they're of

meaning from the outside it's like

oh okay you got a long dress

got the wizard dress

or whatever seems like a righteous person

but they're only

outwardly appear such

in order to deter attention from the fact

that they're actual wolves

and in fact look at

go down to verse number

25

it says

which is within the cup and platter

that the outside of them may be clean

also won't you scribes and Pharisees

hypocrites for you're like unto

whited sepulchers

which indeed appear beautiful outward

but are within full of dead men's

bones and of all uncleanness

so what is he saying you know you guys

with your broad phylacteries

and your robes and your outward

appearance you're just like a really beautiful

sepulcher a casket

but inwardly you're just dead

and in fact they're twice dead

plucked up by the roots

oh Jesus Christ you're going to get across

you look alive on the outside

but you're actually dead on the inside

not even saved and they're more concerned

with portraying themselves

to be alive

trying to look like they're super spiritual

trying to have the garments of a spiritual

person but there's

no life inside

go back to

the beginning here

it says in verse seven

and greetings in the

markets and to be called of men rabbi rabbi

but

be naive called rabbi for one is your master

even Christ and all you are brethren

and call no man your father which is upon the earth

for one is your father which is

in heaven neither be called masters

for one is your master even Christ

but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant

so what is the motive

that these scribes have as to why

they're doing this well it says

here that they basically

love to have

the acclimations of the public

meaning that they want to have the titles

and they want to be called

rabbi they want to be called master

they want to be called father

now look folks

this is not prohibiting

these titles from people

who actually deserve them

for example

my dad deserves to be called father

because he's my dad

and in the bible

master is synonymous

with what boss

so it's not prohibiting

employees calling

their employer master

because we actually see in Colossians

chapter three to obey

your masters paul what are you doing

man hey what do you mean hey

didn't you read Matthew 23

so is this a contradiction

no it's just that you're too stupid to interpret

to understand is to know

that when Jesus says call no man

master rabbi or father

he's addressing spiritual leaders

not biological fathers

not employees

or employers excuse me

he's referring to spiritual leaders

who want these titles

this is why we should not go for

our masters of divinity degree

you know and we should not

be called father and so

you quote this to a catholic

you quote this to an orthodox

and they just like

I guess what do you call your dad

well I don't call him father because

I'm just you know that's just

2026 I was just like father

you know call him dad

or I call him pops

but this is referring

to spiritual leaders and you know

they'll they will up and down

quote verses from the bible

of people using the term father

but they'll never actually tell you what this verse actually

is

they'll never tell you like well okay

so what did Jesus mean by that then

what did he mean

they can't tell you

because they want to continue in their traditions

okay

skip down to verse number 13

it says

what is the same

so this essentially separates

the wickedness of a scribe

from the wickedness of just

your regular unsafe person

because an unsafe person

is wicked in the eyes of the lord

in the sense that he's unregenerated

he's walking according to the

course of this world

he's fulfilling the lust of the flesh

and of the mind right

he's just an unsafe person

the scribe on the other hand

not only has that

but they add on top of that

perverting the gospel

and hindering those

from hearing the gospel

or hindering people who already believe in the gospel

from going further into

their Christian growth

because when it says they're hindering those

who are entering in

it means that they're intentionally

trying to stop people who are saved

from doing the work of God

that's what it means

so make no mistake about it

if you are a person

who

you're attacking men of God

you're trying to stop people from preaching

the word of God

you're trying to stop people from preaching the gospel

you're wicked

you're a godless individual

who according to the Bible

you kind of fit the description of a scribe in a Pharisee

who was not saved

because look folks there's a lot of false prophets out there

that I don't like and I call out

but I don't spend my life

trying to stop their ministries right

I don't just spend my life trying to stop their ministries

you know you call them out

and then we just go with the program as usual

but there's people out there that do

there's people out there who think that we're false prophets

and they will do everything

humanly possible to try to stop the message of God

what are they

they're the ones who are not

entering into the kingdom of heaven

and are hindering those who are going in

from doing so

so they're trying to hinder the work of God

they're trying to turn

they're trying to turn the truth

of God into a lie and so forth

he says in verse 14

woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites

for you devour widows houses

and for a pretense

make long prayer

therefore you shall receive the greater damnation

what does it mean when it says pretense make long prayer

it means these Pharisees like we gotta look real spiritual here

so in order to look real spiritual

we just gotta pray for a really long time

in public

in order to demonstrate how spiritual we are

pretense means like as excuse

is like as a way to just

deceive people

they pray long

in order to make it look like they're actual righteous people

all the while

they're robbing widows

bless you

verse 15 says woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites

for you can pass see and land

to make one proselyte and when he is made

you make him two fold more the child of hell

than yourself

so aside from the fact that they're hindering people

from those who are entering into the kingdom of God

they're also

you know converting people

to become reprobates

so they're actively

trying to damn people to hell

so these are like the Mormons

right

oh they're so nice though

you know they're just so nice

and you know I just you know

they're not really rude about anything

yeah but they're dandle heretics though

they teach a false gospel

okay

no applause please

you know they're

dandle heretics that teach a false gospel

they teach in a cursed gospel

okay so it doesn't really matter how

nice they look

you know it doesn't really matter

how white they are

how blue their eyes are or whatever

you know how geeky

they look on their 10 speeder and innocent they look

the Bible says that they're actually

the workers of iniquity

you know these are the ministers

of Satan according to the Bible

because if they convert people to Mormonism

they're essentially making them two fold more child of hell

than themselves

okay

let's skip a couple parts here

go down to verse number

29

this is won't you

scribes and Pharisees hypocrites because

you build the tombs of the prophets

and garnish the sepulchers of the

righteous and say if we had been in the days

of our fathers we would have not

been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets

so this is always a funny

funny passage of scripture when I read this

because what it demonstrates is like

false prophets will just tell you

what they actually believe

you just got to pay attention to what they're saying

you say what do you mean

well they're garnishing the

sepulchers of the righteous meaning they're trying to make everything

you know they're honoring

the prophets of the Old Testament they go to the

tombs and the sepulchers of the Old Testament prophets

and they honor them

and they put flowers there

and they honor them with their lips

and then they say this if we were there

in the days of our fathers

we would have not been partakers in the blood

of the prophets so basically

they are divulging

admitting

that they're related to

the dudes who kill the prophets

it's like so are you

saying that you're spiritually

like related to

these false prophets who killed

the righteous prophets that's basically what they're saying

they're a generation

of vipers

and look folks sometimes you just need to pay attention

to what people say

because out of the abundance of the heart

the mouth speaketh

a good man out of the good treasure of his heart

bringeth forth good things and evil man out of the evil treasure

of his heart bringeth forth evil things

by their words thou shalt be justified

by their words thou shalt be condemned

you know what that's why I'm not afraid

to just get up here and preach the word

of God with no notes because I know

that I believe the truth

and I'm not just have to read through a script

here just to make sure I don't say anything weird

or something because I'm just going to preach

to you the Bible

I'm just going to preach you what the word of God says

I'm going to speak as the oracles of God

but you know what these false prophets they have to have

like an entire script available for you

you know and obviously I have

notes sometimes and just to kind of help me

not deviate from you know the structure

of the sermon that's completely

normal and I'm not telling the new preachers to do

what I'm doing right now you need to be preaching

for another 10 years before you start doing that

but you know have notes but I'm talking

about people who literally will have notes

and they just read word for word everything

that's on those notes because

they don't want to give away to their false prophets

because you know what you know what's going to happen

they're going to eventually say something they're not

supposed to say they're going to preach

dandable heresy they're going to deny

the doctrines of Christ because

that's exactly who they are oh if we had been

the days of our fathers we would have not been partakers

of the blood of the prophets

and look what he says in verse number

31 wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves

that ye are the children of them

which kill the prophets

fill ye up the measure of your fathers

he's like fill up the shoes of your

dads you know if these are your

fathers if these are the people you associate

with then fill up the measure

of your progenitors

you serpents

you generation of vipers how can

ye escape the damnation

of hell this is why sometimes you need

listen to these pastors

and they preach something and it's just like

what did he say?

what did he say? you know he's just like

what? that's literally what they believe

and I'm not saying that sometimes

you know you're going to be up here if you're preaching

you might have a slip of the tongue

you might say something inaccurate I'm talking about like

weird stuff dandable heresy

that you know

essentially demonstrates that you are a wicked person

ok

you know this is what they do

verse 34 says 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 ye shall scourge in your synagogues

and persecute them from city to city

so what we have here

is the fact that

scribes played an

important role in Israel

but you know

because they didn't obey

or believe

the words that they were

penning down for others

they received the greater damnation

you understand

and this is showing us to whomsoever much is given

of him shall be much required

ok go to Jeremiah chapter 8 we'll finish off

Jeremiah 8 · chapter mention

in Jeremiah chapter 8

Jeremiah 8 · chapter mention

Jeremiah chapter 8

Jeremiah 8 · chapter mention

if you would

Jeremiah chapter 8

Jeremiah 8 · chapter mention

and you know if you walk away from the sermon

learning anything just learn just know this

just because an institution does something good

doesn't lend veracity to that institution

you know what

it lends legitimacy what do they believe

now if you get someone who believes right

and does right and does great works

it's a great combination

right

if someone believes the right gospel

they believe the right doctrine

and they're doing righteous works praise God for that

I'm just saying if there's an institution

who expects for you

to believe that their righteous based upon their works

but they believe something completely different

from the gospel of Christ

they are idolaters

they are

godless people and their doctrine

then you know what it doesn't matter what they do

they're unto every good work reprobate

yeah

because their works do not justify them

in the eyes of God

you know what it doesn't justify them in our eyes either

because at the end of the day

what you believe is actually the most important thing

look at Jeremiah 8

and verse 8

and let's see how this fits

this sermon about the scribes it says in verse 8

how do you say we are wise

and the law of the lord is with us

low

certainly in vain

made he it

the pen of the scribe

is in vain

so this is like oh man we're the scribes

we have the law

we know what the bible says we spent so much time

copying it

distributing it

but you don't believe it so it's in vain

those thousand

100 years of copying

the Greek New Testament in the Byzantine Empire

in vain

not in vain for us

we benefited from it

like thanks for doing the work for us

right

that's what it was

we'll go ahead and just take all that

and benefit from it

and look keep in mind in the bible

God does this all the time

he literally

just he's like Robin Hood

to a certain degree

he takes from the wicked

and he gives to us poor

really yeah look at Canaan land

he's like wipe them all out

and you guys take the houses that you did not build

wells that you did not dig

vineyards that you did not plant and just enjoy it

that's what he did

is that Canaan land it's yours

we'll call it Israel

right

does it all the time

what do you do with the lepers

you know he chased out

the army the camp there

and then just were able to go in and just eat all the food and just use it

gold, silver, everything

and by the way same thing in the millennial reign

the third temple

fourth temple whatever temple is going to be

that the anti that these

Zionists are making for the Antichrist

you know when Jesus comes

he's going to be like I'll take this

he's just like

flicks him into like a fire

and he's like

that's the temple of the Antichrist

that was the temple of the Antichrist

now it's now it belongs to the Lord

and so you know we're going to be able

also inherit things in this world

like you know whatever

mansions or whatever it's going to be ours

we just take over

you know it's just going to be ours

why because the Lord a principle in the Bible

is that he uses the wicked

now hopefully you know the wicked

when they are being productive

in these areas hopefully it moves them

to seek out the Lord

and then eventually get saved

that's the goal

but at the end of the day most of them will not

and so God's like okay

I'll you know I'll kill two birds

with one stone

I'll use this to try to reach you

but if it doesn't reach you

either way the product is going to be used for my people

as noted with what took place

in Constantinople in 1453

you know it

the pen of the scribes was

in vain

there was righteous scribes in the Old Testament

but unfortunately they didn't believe the words

that they were writing and therefore they went apostate

let's pray Father we thank you so much for your word

and we're thankful for the ready

scribes such as Ezra

righteous scribes and obviously

Beirut wasn't perfect but

he was used of the Lord

to pen down the words of the prophet

and Lord we're thankful

for how you use the wicked Lord

we're not to envy the sinners

because the sinners will be used by you

to accomplish your will

and Lord we're thankful for what took place

in Constantinople in 1453

were it not for it the scriptures wouldn't have gone

out and we would have

not had the underlying

Greek texts that makes up

the King James Bible

and so we're thankful for that Lord

I pray that you'd help us to be a ready scribe

to be ready to just not just

read the word of God on a daily basis

in order to internalize the truths of God's word

but also to expound upon it

when it calls for it Lord

and I pray you bless us as we go on our way

we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name

Amen