We are sinners by the corruption of the heart; and it is a fatal mistake to suppose that we are so only by the commission of sin. Our guilt does not then begin to exist, when it is brought into action, but to appear; and what was always manifest to God, is now become so to ourselves and others. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
The essence of what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (at least in one sense) is that the heart of Christianity is the heart. The driving issue that Christ dealt with was the heart. We can also think back (or read) through the Bible and know that God shows people their hearts or what their hearts are really like by giving them trials of faith. In the Parable of the Sower we see different kinds of seed that responded in different ways depending on the soil (the heart) and the circumstances that God brought to them. We see people (especially in the Gospel of John) believing in Jesus, but then falling away because they loved money or wanted comfort.
One issue with the Pharisees was that they made the fatal mistake that Adam speaks of above. They believed that people were corrupted by the deeds that they did. Whatever their so-called creeds or intellectual theology was, their practice had to do with the actions and not the heart. What the Pharisees either did not recognize or at least did not want to recognize is that men are sinners and that sinful heart can be demonstrated in religious actions as well as outwardly sinful actions. They would pray in order to be seen by men and yet thought that was true prayer. They would give money to the poor in order to be seen my men and yet thought that was an act of righteousness. They would fast in order to be seen by men and yet thought that was fasting unto God. So the Pharisees lived by sinful and corrupt hearts and all they did was sinful though they deceived themselves into thinking that they were corrupt only if their deeds were corrupt. Instead of that, however, their sinful hearts made all their religious actions corrupt and vile in the sight of God.
Apart from a person coming to the stark realization of his or her own heart being evil and corrupt to the depths of it, there is no real hope for that person’s conversion. Until that happens, regardless of a person’s theological profession, that person will look to self in some way instead of losing all hope in self and looking to Christ alone. It is utterly fatal for a soul to be deceived by its good actions and as such think of itself as something less than corrupt in all of its parts. Part of this deception is pride which tries to hide a corrupt heart from itself and others. This is why the Pharisees and the religious elite of the day hated Jesus so much. In His life, deeds, and teaching their corrupt hearts was being opened up to them and their self-righteousness was being exposed for what it really was. Self-righteousness is nothing but the manifestation of a corrupt heart and sinful nature and is but a thin veil that tries to cover a filthy heart.
The teachings of Jesus which the crowds loved were hated by the Pharisees because it opened their hearts to them and demonstrated to them how thin a veil their own righteousness really was. It also threatened their honor and positions before the people precisely because of those things. Oh how their hearts would rise when Jesus would teach on the real issues of the heart and on what true righteousness really was, but instead of going to war with their own flesh they wanted to strike out at Jesus. Thus their actions demonstrated for all to see that they were wicked men who were trying to cover over their own corrupt hearts with external actions. Their hatred for Christ demonstrated just how much they hated true love (Christ incarnate) and true righteousness (Christ incarnate). The true heart of the Pharisees was put on display by their opposition and hatred of Christ. The true heart of the Pharisees is also alive today and yet the true Christ is not being taught, so the hearts of the modern Pharisees are still being hidden beneath robes of self-righteousness. Oh how we need true preaching today.
God Loves... Himself 
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