Welcome to our new project, the Daily Bible Devotional. The goal is to help you understand and

apply scripture as you go through a New Testament Bible read five days a week, Monday through

Friday as we move from Matthew straight through to Revelation. In under four minutes each morning, we will recap the chapter,

make some application, present thought questions for the day, and offer a prayer together.

I'm excited about exploring God's word with you, so let's get started.

Welcome today, let's jump in on our study from Matthew chapter 23. In the final week before Christ's

crucifixion, he tells his disciples about the dangers of the scribes and Pharisees. After three years

of patiently teaching these men, it's time to tell the world about them. Jesus first tells disciples

to observe what the scribes teach if it is from God,

but Christ warns them not to do what the Pharisees do. They seek to be noticed by men and to have

places of honor because they lack humility. Jesus calls them hypocrites repeatedly,

speaking about their lack of mercy and the underlying desire of their hearts to serve

themselves. He addresses them openly and directly as serpents. And yet, as Jesus looks at them and all of

Jerusalem, he is sorrowful that they will not repent and be gathered to him and saved.

Here's some thoughts for our benefit.

It is easy to read this chapter and think about other people, but it is wiser to use this list of the Pharisees' failures as a test for our own lives.

In Matthew 5, Jesus told his disciples their righteousness must exceed the Pharisees if they are to be in his kingdom.

These men were self-righteous. Jesus calls us to be humble servants. They were hypocritical,

but Jesus asks us to live out our faith. They were legalistic. We must be led to obey from a godlike heart of mercy. They were superficial. We must be honest

about what's happening in our hearts. They became obstacles for others. We must live and speak

to draw people to Christ. Let's look at some questions that can help us focus on that today.

Question one, will you do the hard thing today of looking

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