House of Faith Ministries
HoFM

Let’s take a look at why John the Baptist and Jesus called the Pharisees and the Sadducees ‘brood of vipers’. It sounds offensive and humiliating and this comes from Jesus!

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Matthew 3:7-9 NKJV

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

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We first see in Matthew that John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and the Sadducees brood of vipers and asks them who warned them to run from the wrath to come. In order to understand what’s going on, we need to realize who the Pharisees and the Sadducees are. They are the ones who killed and tortured the prophets. These are those who think they know all and are the best. They justify their actions because they’re right in their own minds. Jesus warned us of these and called them brood of vipers.

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Matthew 16:11-12 NKJV

11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the [a]leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the [b]doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

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Anyone who thinks they know what is right and can justify hurting or killing someone because of being right is under a false doctrine. In fact, I will go further and say they are under the spirit of anti-Christ because these are people that want to stop Christ from spreading the good news because it wasn’t done their way.

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1 John 2:22 NKJV

22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

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1 John 2:22 clearly tells us what antichrist is and that’s what the Pharisees and the Sadducees are. They denied Jesus as their Christ and went so far as to manipulate the court system of their day to crucify Jesus.

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And know this…you see this activity still today. Just the other day, there was a third assassination attempt on President Trump’s life. Why? Because he disagreed with Trump’s policies. In fact, I’ll go further to say that he was manipulated by verbiage of those who hate Trump. He felt justified in killing because he believed he was doing the right thing for everyone.

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Here’s the thing though, no matter how much you disagree and even potentially hate someone else’s belief, there is no justification in killing. Let’s be upstanding human beings about disagreement and take actions, such as host debates, vote, get involved, etc.

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Here’s something to really see regarding this mindset. Your mind is not open to see what the other side is saying. That’s not healthy. In fact, without hearing what the other side is saying, you are telling everyone around you that your argument is not worthy of debating. The Pharisees and the Sadducees had this mindset. Let’s look at more scripture on this mindset because Jesus reveals it.

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Matthew 23:13-14 NKJV

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 [g]Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

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First, notice everything is about appearance. The Pharisees and Sadducees seem holy on the surface. They make long prayers and pretend to be holy. Jesus saw right through that.

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Another way to identify this is as a spirit of religion. The Pharisees and the Sadducees are extremely religious. In fact, because they were ‘the best’ religious people around they exude this atmosphere and feel justified in being at the center of what they believe is ‘goodness’.

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Let me ask you this, do you feel holy and good about consistent church attendance? Or how about consistent daily devotion, prayer, etc? You play church really well, but who are you in the secret place? You might even feel that you’ve not done anything really bad and because of that, your goodness earned you a special place with Jesus.

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Let’s take a reality check here and examine our hearts. Am I in religion or am I having a relationship with Jesus, my Lord and Savior? Let’s look further on what the Pharisees and Sadducees are by what Jesus said.

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Matthew 23:27-36 NKJV

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and [m]adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood[n] of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

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Like “whitewashed tombs”: who lives in tombs? The dead. Those walking in this religious state are ‘dead’. They have no life because they have no Jesus. Instead of humility of praying and watching for the times they were in, (because they should have known and recognized the Messiah – that’s for another teaching), they justified themselves that their ways were better. In fact, they felt so right that they killed Zechariah between the temple and altar…they believed no one saw them and no one knew what they did. Except Jesus saw and called them out on it. The blood of the dead speaks to God…that’s for another teaching. Here’s the important thing to realize, the people weren’t fooled. They recognized they had no power. This is why the church is in the condition it’s in today. Here’s a good reminder, Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship.

 

Let’s take a moment today to remember and acknowledge Jesus is the Son of God and all glory belongs to Him. Let’s pray for the church and Christians to walk in a relationship with Christ asking for His power to move. Who knows? Maybe this will ignite a revival!

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Dear Jesus, please forgive us for playing church and help us to walk in a relationship with You. All glory belongs to You, and I choose to put You first. I don’t want a closed mind to Your Word or to even think that I know what’s best. I put You first and will rely on Your Word. Your Word is truth and will always stand. In Jesus’ Name Amen!