Pharisee,- or ashamed of the Gospel?

Today i am grateful to God, because He died for me,He loves us so much,that's why He did it, so we don't have to pay the price for our sin,Praise Him, i had yet another sleepless night, the night before last,seems it just something i have to put up with, part of life i guess!!I was reading last night from MATHEW 22.Jesus was talking about the Pharisees, and how they put burdens on others,yet not on themselves, the part which stood out most to me was where He condemns the 'scribes and Pharisees', i was just wondering who the modern day Pharisees were, Pharisees were Priests in Biblical times,i suppose its too easy to point the finger at church leaders, and some do seem keen on the letter of the LAW, and not the SPIRIT,at the time it happened i thought the Pastor who brought me to the Lord was harsh to keep the the BIBLE STRICTLY, ,but now i would do the same!! as far as I can anyway,at the time i would have thought of him as a Pharisee....and yet i have been to churches where the 'difficult' and challenging, things where not talked about, Hell,etc, in fact i even heard the Pastor say 'oh, that's from the old Mosaic law' as if it wasn't relevant!!!