Mo’ Material for the Moes (Self-righteous religious unbelievers)

1. All the material in Romans 1:18-3:20 is for them.
2. Read the Gospel of Matthew.  Pay careful attention to the things our Lord Jesus Christ says to the Pharisees, high priests, scribes & elders.  The Gospel to the Jews - Matthew - is full of damning statements about the unbelieving Jews.
3. Read Stephen’s defense before the Council in Acts 7.
4. What Jesus says about the Pharisee in his story of the Pharisee and the Publican in LUK 18:9-14.  Tell them the story. Ask them who they are.  Then give Jesus’ punch line.
5. Peter’s preaching to the devout Jews in ACT 2:14-36.
6. John the Baptist’s diatribe to the Pharisees and Sadducees in MAT 3:7-10.
7. BASIC STRATEGY = CHALLENGE THEIR CLAIM TO GODLINESS:

• You think that you are_________
• But God’s word says _________ (the opposite)

8. Tell them the light inside them is darkness: MAT 6:22-23
9. Jesus’s 8-fold indictment of the Pharisees (“Woe to you”) in Matthew 23.
10. In MAT 8:5-13, a centurion, a non-Jew, non-religious person, is praised for his FAITH by Jesus - greater faith than anyone in Israel.
11. How Jesus handled questions about the Sabbath with the Pharisees:  MAT 12:1-14, LUK 6:1-11; LUK 13:10-17; LUK 14:1-7
12. Tell them that “tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you”!  Said by Jesus to the chief priests and elders in MAT 21:28-32.
13. What Jesus told the Pharisees in John 8:  “you are of your father the devil”
14. This next one is great for practicing Roman Catholics.  “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?  MAT 15:1-14. This passage also includes that quotation from ISA 29:13:

THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS
BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME
BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME
TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN

15. The issue of MONEY.  Religious people often think that prosperity is a sign of God’s favor.  They often hoard money.  LUK 16:10-31.
16. ATTACK whatever it is they are holding on to for proof to themselves that they are under God’s favor and not His wrath (if it is not the blood of Christ!)