Leaven of the Pharisees

Pharisees are people who are critical, judgmental, and faultfinding. They point their fingers at people, but they themselves do the same. The leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. They are religious folks.

Hypocrites can discern a lot of things, but they can’t discern things concerning the Body of Christ. They can discern nothing concerning the Spirit. Jesus said to them: "You can discern the sky, and the weather but you cannot discern this time," the prophecy being fulfilled right in front of them: Jesus! It is the same with the anointing. It is the same with the power of God. It is the same with the Spirit of God, but today Pharisees wear different clothes but are still among us.

Hypocrisy is the leaven in everything that the religious people said. They look righteous, using the Word of the Bible, but they are living in unrighteousness! They miss right judgment, mercy, grace and Truth. They are worried about everything else but miss all of that. The most important thing is the heart, focusing on your little thing while they have lots of bigger things going on.

We are supposed to judge spiritually, to discern and test spirits but not judge by the flesh. This is up to God! The Pharisees did not judge rightly at all. They look clean from the outside but inside they are filthy. They are white sepulchers. Jesus did not let the Pharisees influence Him. Walking corpses knowing the letter and walking with the Word are two different things.

They find that little speck and judge you for everything. Scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites are full of self-righteousness. Pride blinded them. They think everyone else needs to repent but them. They are the only ones right. They are so high that they can't see Christ because He is so meek, lowly and awesome.

Everybody would be like the worse sinner without Jesus. When you have that leaven in you, you thank God for not being like them! They ignore the power of the cross. All goodness about them was gained by dead works, by their own efforts and their own sects. People full of the leaven of the Pharisees – hypocrisy - better stop judging because God will judge them. Our righteousness is still as filthy rags without Jesus.

Here is a great example: Someone will see some people smoking cigarettes then they say to them, "If you don't stop right now that is going to kill you. You will go to hell. You should be ashamed." Then they spew the tobacco out of their own mouths because in their own eyes, smoking tobacco is way worse than chewing it! Pharisees and Sadducees are hard to reach because they think they have arrived. They think they are holy but only in Christ are we able to be perfected.

When the woman was caught in sin, they only saw her sin because they were right in their own eyes. But Jesus called them out. They, one by one, had a moment of clarity concerning their own filthiness. They left dropping their rocks. That conviction touched them. They wanted to judge her to death because of the letter, but through Jesus she found redemption. He told her: “Go and sin no more.” But you see they did not repent. Religious people don't repent. They keep looking to accuse the righteous. The minute the woman was forgiven, she became righteous.

We should not judge any man after the flesh because you will become self-righteousness. Jesus’s judgment is right. The religious spirit is antichrist, and the more Christ you have in you, the more they will hate you, persecute you, and revile you! They will say all manner of evil against you for His sake.

If you come against the Truth, there is no righteousness in you. Who killed all the prophets? The ones full of leaven! Jeremiah, Ezekiel, John the Baptist…they killed all the set apart people, but they themselves are all dead. Dead men in a dead system. That leaven killed them all! Their leaven killed the son of righteousness. Surely, they will receive My son? No. They said, "Let’s kill Him and share the inheritance." So, who is in you? They hate Holy Spirit. They said: "So let's kill with the spirit of Cain, the spirit of murder."

Except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the religious people, you shall not enter in the kingdom of heaven! Our righteousness has to exceed theirs because they have none. Theirs is filthy rags! The only righteousness we can find is in Him! We can’t deny the power of the cross! Or we will strain a gnat, swallow the camel. They can’t even see it, but we have the chance to see it now!

God will show us His righteousness if we are hungry for it. This is the white garments we need to put on: Christ! When we are hungry for it, He will fill us with it! Some of us put ourselves in prison because we are ignoring the righteousness that comes from Christ. You keep trying to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. There is no way to do it without Him!

Give us strong discernment concerning self-righteousness, Father. Cleanse us! We surrender for trying to get any righteousness without you. In that, we are as filthy as the scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees. But in Christ, abide in love, Truth, grace and mercy. We are clean. "God, we desire clean hands and a pure heart," and the only way to have it is to abide in Him.

Luke 12 - Matthew 23 – Matthew 7 – John 8 – Matthew 5

Click here to watch the full message: Leaven of the Pharisees