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Matthew 23:13-39 The Messiah’s Indictments Pt. 2 Good morning church, glad you all could come out this morning. We are going to continue our study of the Gospel according to Matthew. Last week we looked at the first 12 verses of Matthew 23. This week we are going to finish that Chapter. If you remember Jesus has turned His attention from the rejecting scribes and Pharisees, who sit in Moses’ seat of authority. They have been shut down through a series of dialogues with Jesus. Jesus, at the rejection of these religious leaders turns His attention to the multitude of followers and His disciples. And He begins to rebuke the Pharisees and the scribes. P a g e | 2

Now, I do not believe Jesus begin a session of gossip, or talking behind the backs of the religious teachers. I see them still standing within ear shot of all of this. And as Jesus tells His followers to listen to what these men teach from the Word of God, but he instructs not to do not do as they do. As Jesus tells His followers how these men practice a religion for man’s eyes alone, how they love the titles given to them by the people. I see their heads and bodies have completely turned back to face Jesus. And in verses 8-12 right there in front of these offended men, Jesus tells the future leaders of His church the way His new movement will be lived out. Matt 23:8-12 But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your P a g e | 3 servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Jesus tells His followers that His System will stand in direct contrast to that of the man exalting system set up by the Pharisees and scribes. And as Jesus exposed the heart of these religious men, I see them coming back here to vehemently defend themselves. But before they can get one word out, the Son of God will command authority over this scene. And Jesus, with the full attention of these scribes and Pharisees will now unleash a series of emotional indictments on these men. Some very smart scholars see this scene here with the scribes and Pharisees gone, and Jesus pronouncing these statements in their absence. But that is hard for me to accept, because when we see the statements, Jesus is talking directly too someone. P a g e | 4

He does not say Woe to THE scribes and Pharisees, But Woe to YOU. This is a face-to-face confrontation. And these men are silenced at the power and authority of these Judgments. The word Woe, is a very emotional word, Ouai in the Greek, speaks of Wrath and Grief both together. This is a very emotional Jesus we are seeing here, these men have rejected their Messiah, and Jesus in this rejection will let them know the reality of that choice. Maybe, some of you know the heartbreak of rejection, maybe you have loved someone so much, you have sacrificed so much, given so much to a person to reveal that love to them. Maybe after years of being married and putting your all into that person, you were rejected, and no matter how you would plead with that person to receive your love, they coldly rejected all of your tears and pleas. P a g e | 5

Now I believe that emotion right there is where Jesus is speaking from, a broken and angry heart. Ouai! speaks of a deep sorrow, and Jesus has been pushed by their stubborn human blindness. There is not only an air of savage denunciation; there is also an atmosphere of distressing tragedy. Barclay A. Plummer wrote about these Woes and said they are ‘like thunder in their unanswerable severity, and like lightening in their unsparing exposure… they illuminate while they strike.’ Let’s read the first of these eight Woes… 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Jesus, in His first Woe, calls these men hypocrites. This is the regular Greek word for actor in connection with the stage. It has a derogatory meaning of that of a pretender. P a g e | 6

These men live their lives acting as though they had a religion that earned them entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. With all of their elaborate phylacteries and enlarged tassels. With all of their meticulous observation of the law, they maintained a standard that kept people out of the Kingdom. Yet they failed to believe on the One who was the key to the Kingdom, they rejected Christ. They themselves have shut the door on themselves by trusting in a religion based on pride and arrogance. They obscured God’s Word with manmade traditions and ceremony; they denied the salvation that Jesus could offer. They held a position of authority, they had a God given obligation to truth, yet they chose instead to live for man and in their false pretenses, they influenced many and shut the door to the Kingdom. P a g e | 7

So we see here the severity that can come against someone who would create traditions of man, that obscure God’s Truths today. This here is a statement that should shake the very soul of the modern legalist. The person who would put tradition above Jesus, the person who keeps people out of church because of appearance or lack of Christian etiquette. Jesus tells these men, if they keep people from coming to Him, they will be kept out as well. The next Woe reads… 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. These men instead of truly mourning with the widows, offering true ministry to those who are hurting, they instead saw it as an opportunity in the name of religion and even using the guise of good stewardship, they P a g e | 8 took the widow’s houses for their own gain and prosperity. These men for a pretense or as part of their act, made long prayers to be heard by men and disregarded the God who they were supposedly speaking to altogether. Now I don’t know if you have ever been in a prayer meeting where a person is there that is praying a sermon for everyone in the room to hear, or praying for the praise and accolades of men. But it creates a weird and awkward atmosphere, and people pray these long drawn out prayers. There have been prayer meetings where two of these types have gone into competition and they go back and forth and try to one up each other, it seemingly kills all that the Holy Spirit is doing, and leaves people wondering when the meeting will be over. Jesus has strong words here for these Pharisees in this Woe, He declares they will receive a stricter condemnation. P a g e | 9

Now hell, eternal separation from God will be an awful experience for anyone, but we see evidence in the Bible in verses like this, that some will receive even greater punishment for eternity. You know the believer in Jesus will receive different rewards in heaven for the work done in Christ here on earth. It is not hard to imagine that reward system being reversed in Gehenna and those who were even more wicked in this life will receive greater condemnation. Remember Jesus said it would be better to have a millstone tied around your neck and tossed into the sea, then to go into eternity as one who has made of the little ones to stumble. Apart from grace, every wicked sin that is committed in this life will be judged accordingly with complete justice distributed out to each person. These men, had the responsibility to lead people to truth, and yet they kept people away from God, that P a g e | 10 seems to be one of the most severe of transgressions against God. Next Jesus says… 15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Jesus speaks out against these sectarians who sacrifice so much to convert one person to their special belief. They are willing to travel land and sea to win one person over, and when the person is convinced the Pharisaic traditions are truth, they become an even more devoted follower. Jesus says they are sons of hell, or Satan’s offspring. I do not know if you know someone who is caught in this mindset that his or her personal belief of religion or even perhaps doctrine of Christianity is the only and right way to believe. They will exhaust all energy and efforts to win over adherents to their sect of religion, they spend most of P a g e | 11 their time trying to convert other Christians over to this special secret they have found, and they miss the true message of the Gospel. And they disregard the masses of unsaved sinners, for the sake of reaching other churched people. The cults today prey all over the church, and try to win them to their mysteries. When any church thinks they have cornered the market on Christianity, and they are the only true way to salvation, they have found themselves in the company of the Pharisees. Our church, Calvary Chapel Victorville is one church among many churches within the Body of Christ. Jesus’ Universal Church reaches across denominational lines. In Lake Havasu Jess and I led a street witnessing team that was made up of Baptists, Pentecostal, and traditional Christians, many churches came and joined us. P a g e | 12

I have always understood Calvary Chapel is just one of many different parts of the Body of Christ. Even my father and I within Calvary Chapel have two distinct different ministries. He has a heart to reach police officers for Christ, which is one of his greatest passions. I on the other hand have a heart to reach the opposite side of society, I do not mind reaching police officers, I have many friends that are in Law Enforcement, but the Lord seems to use us for the most part on the other side of the social spectrum. It was brilliant when we ministered with one another, because we would have police officers sitting right next to those who were in the back of their car just a few months before. The criminal and the cop worshipping Jesus together. Derek and Jesse But we all have a distinct calling within the church, this is where I have always been more comfortable, within a Calvary Chapel. P a g e | 13

I love the Word of God, and the verse-by-verse approach to it. But Calvary Chapel is just the dysfunctional family I function within better than others. We never want to find ourselves converting people to Calvary Chapel, but to Jesus Christ. Even when Jess and I share with people in the Mall or the store or parks, we tell them what our church is about, and even give them options to other churches within the community. We want people to be in heaven with us, and we want them to grow in Christ in the church that is best for them. Yes of course we want our church to grow, and we do invite them here, but not as the place that Jesus singles out as His only church. We never want to be guilty of the possessive and arrogant attitude as these sons of hell here Jesus is rebuking. P a g e | 14

Always beware of any person who is trying to convert you to their special church or special belief. The Gospel is wide open to all who would believe on Jesus Christ. Jesus is where we narrow our thinking down too, of course we do not believe Jesus is One of many ways to salvation, we believe He is the only way to salvation. And we can have fellowship with Baptist, Pentecostals, and everything in between, as long as they preach Jesus, being the Son of God, coming as a Man, being Crucified, raising from the dead, and being the only Way to Salvation. We cannot complicate the simplicity of the gospel by adding our own special regulation or ungodly honor to our ministry. So next Jesus says… 16 "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.' 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, P a g e | 15 the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.' 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. Jesus exposes these men and their illogical thinking. Always beware of anyone who lays greater stress on the secondary things rather than on the those of major importance. These guys would make an oath on the gold of the temple, and they maintained the gold was of more importance than the very temple God Himself dwelt among them in. P a g e | 16

In the same spirit they put more weight on the offering then the Holy Altar that sanctified the gifts placed upon it. To swear by the altar would be to swear by all that was on the altar. To swear by the temple would be to swear by the One who dwelled within it. In the Law, in the 10 Commandments God commanded them… Ex 20:7 "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Any oath was to be to God, but over time they had developed loop holes to God’s Law. They had devised ways of oath making that when they made these oaths they had their fingers crossed behind their backs. These men, who were in positions of leadership, the people depended on their word to be good, yet they P a g e | 17 talked deceptively, and they used Holy overtones to excuse their lies. Even today in our own vernacular, we say “I swear to God.” To assure our statement is valid. We will make an oath to the throne of God most of the time without thinking twice about it. I’ll tell you this, it is more and more common even in the church today, that people’s word means nothing. I have found even the most outwardly dedicated Christians cannot keep their word. Jesus already instructed us in Matt 5:33-37 33 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. P a g e | 18

If you make a commitment, keep your commitment; let your yes be yes. Even if you cannot make your commitment, at least call and explain you will not be keeping your word. The world seems to be better at keeping their word than the church at times. I cannot tell you how many times, someone has had me waiting, with no call, no message, no explanation and they just do not come. An even worse tragedy in my experience that pastor’s and church leaders are notorious for this. It is so difficult to get a yes out of anyone today. The terms are “if I can, I hope so, I’ll try,” anything but a simple yes or no. We have allowed similar terms of uncertainty to be a part of our language with one another. We use the same Pharisaic overtones that Jesus is rebuking here. P a g e | 19

We should have a better reputation for our word then the world does. Let your yes be yes, all oaths are before God, and you are accountable to Him for them. Next Jesus says… 23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Jesus tells these blind guides that they tithe even of the cheapest of herbs in the garden, and this was quite right in itself. But they did this and advertised themselves as those of having a remarkable holiness. Jesus says you take the time to follow the law down to the scrap of a tithe, yet the things of greater importance were neglected. P a g e | 20

Jesus says they are willing to strain out a gnat, which would be unlawful for them to eat anything with its blood, and they observed this to the extreme to run their wine and drinks through a strainer before drinking them. Just for the chance that a gnat might be in the drink. It seemed every spring, during baseball season, out here in the desert for me growing up, those gnats would be drawn to me. I would be standing there on first base, and I would have about a thousand of those little bugs flying over my head. You must know what I am talking about, if you go to the parks during the spring or the summer time here in the desert, those pesky things are everywhere. Well Jerusalem, is actually a zone 11 just like us here in the High Desert. So it would not be uncommon for these religious leaders to understand the implication of Jesus’ words here. P a g e | 21

If they were walking down the road and one of these little bugs as they do sometimes flew into their mouth, they would make a huge scene trying to cough and gag this thing up. The people all around them would see how dedicated they were to follow God’s Holy law, yet Jesus says they swallow a camel. The weight of this analogy would have a huge impact on their hearts and minds, as they can imagine a gnat flying in their mouths, but the thought of a camel going down would bring out the point Jesus was trying to make. If they truly followed God’s Law, things like mercy and faith would be at the forefront of their minds. And instead of enforcing strenuous religious works, they would teach the people about God’s mercy, and lead them to a faith in God, instead of a reliance on religious works. P a g e | 22

Today the modern legalist is no different; I have been in conversation with such a legalist who will judge a TV show someone is watching in their home. The legalist will boast on his pure entertainment intake, yet the very same man will treat his wife with great hostility and anger, living his life far from the Biblical duty to love his wife as Christ loves the church. The modern legalist still today finds security and a haughty stance in the small things, while neglecting the more important issues. Next Jesus says… 25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Jesus now uses dishes to bring home the next point. These men spent their energy presenting the outside to everyone as clean and pure. P a g e | 23

But Jesus sees the true motives of their deeds, it is to gain selfishly for themselves. Jesus challenges these men to clean the inside of the cup first. This is a quick way down for any ministry. When the religion is requiring outward appearances to be a certain way, certain dress codes, certain actions, certain looks, people quickly fall in line to please man, instead of God. In our house, we have 3 little slimy, goober filled children, when they grab one of our cups and drink, we know without a doubt the inside is now defiled. Jess will sometimes joke, “Oh I skipped lunch today, because Freedom drank some of my drink, and left a whole meal floating in it, and I drank without looking.” I personally have a weak stomach when it comes to drinking out of a dirty cup. Now performing religious works, holding your hands high during worship, keeping a holy and humble demeanor as you move about the church, to keep a P a g e | 24 presentation of having all together, is like scrubbing only the outside of your dishes and disregarding the more important issues within. How many would rather use a dish with the inside clean and not the outside. I would rather be around believers whose outside is a little rough and dirty, but they are cleansed on the inside. They are more pleasant to be around then a phony outwardly expressed believer. You almost fill safer around a Christian who presents themselves honestly. Those who keep a religious guard about them create an insecure environment. Jesus next says… 27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also P a g e | 25 outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Jesus masterfully illustrates the same point as the previous one with this picture. At this time in Jerusalem, there were pilgrims coming from all over the empire to celebrate the Passover. If they defiled themselves by touching something unclean like a dead body, they would not be able to participate in this important feast. To help safeguard the Pilgrim from touching an unclean tomb which would be along the wayside of the roads, they would white wash the tombs. So at this particular time these tombs would be bright white with powdered lime dust. Jesus says those who practice righteousness before men yet within they are full of dishonesty and lawlessness, they are like a tomb full of death and decay on the inside, while the outside is presented as something pleasant and even perhaps majestic. P a g e | 26

It is a false presentation of what was the true contents were. Jesus next pronounces the last Woe… 29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' 31 "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the P a g e | 27 temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Jesus rebukes the foolishness of them building monuments to the prophets of old. The Pharisees thought, “Surely if we had lived in the days of the prophets we would not have killed them like our forefathers did.” They testify themselves they are the sons of those murderers. They identify themselves with those who were guilty, and Jesus further identifies them with Satan’s family. They are the sons of that Serpent of Old, the devil. They are claiming to be workers of God, yet they work to advance the kingdom of their true father, Satan. What a statement, and I wonder how many today, convinced that religion and ceremony are the means to pleasing God, how many so-called Christians are actually working the agenda of that lying serpent. P a g e | 28

They claim to be children of God, yet they too are the Brood of vipers. These Pharisees are rejecting the One the prophets spoke of, and they will soon murder Him. Jesus says they will fulfill this verdict pronounced on them when in the future Jesus will send His prophets, wise men, and scribes of the New Testament, and these men will persecute, and even murder them. And Jesus says the blood of Abel all the way to Zechariah the final prophet that was killed in the Hebrew Old Testament, the blood of every prophet killed in the name of religion was on their hands. Now Jesus boldly declares to these men, face to face all that would come upon them, those there listening to Him. These men rejecting Him has stirred our Savior’s emotions up. And although the judgments had no fluff, they were filled with hard truths, we will now see Jesus’ heart behind them next. P a g e | 29

He spoke every one of those Woes from a heart of despair. Let finish this chapter out… Jesus Laments over Jerusalem (Luke 13:34,35) 37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" Jerusalem, the city of the great King, did not know the time of their visitation. Jesus would have saved them and brought to them the blessings of the Kingdom. His true heart is shown here, as He pleads with them, “I am here to gather you to Myself, as a hen gathers her baby chicks under her wings.” P a g e | 30

Yet, they rejected the love being offered to them. Jesus says their rejection will be costly, He will leave their house desolate. Jesus, and His mission of building His Kingdom will move from the rejecting Jews, and Jesus explains that they will not see Him again, until the second coming, where after a Great Tribulation, a time Jeremiah refers to as Jacob’s Troubles, the Jews eyes will open to who Jesus is. But because of the rejection here in Matthew 23, their rejection of His first coming, Jesus rejected them nationally up to the present time. He set them aside, to accomplish His work through the Church. When we go through the Book of Revelation after Matthew, this timeline and separation will become even more clear. But know now, this present Era or dispensation is the dispensation of Grace. P a g e | 31

This is a time period where the Gospel is open to all mankind, all are welcomed to come. But there will be a day, when that last person says yes to Jesus’ offer of salvation, the last sinner will repent and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And in that moment, God the Father will tell His Son to go get His Bride. And those who have placed their faith in Jesus will be raptured in a moment to meet Jesus in the sky. There will be a great reunion between those who proceeded us in death, and we will all enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The Rapture will then be the beginning of Jacob’s Sorrows our Troubles in Israel. A World leader will come on the scene, and a satanic persecution against the Jews will ensue halfway through the Great Tribulation, after they nationally recognize Jesus as their Messiah. God will supernaturally protect His people once again, and although many will be martyred and killed, many P a g e | 32 believers in Jesus, in particularly the Jews will be given a haven of protection. At the end of the 7 years of tribulation Jesus will come back, the Bible says every eye will see this, and He will come onto the Mount of Olives and it will split in two, The Jews will welcome their King with the praises from Ps 118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! It will be the glorious beginning to Jesus complete rule and reign here on earth. The church will be those who assist Him in this New Kingdom. It will be a glorious time. Now the Jews rejection was costly for them as a people group. But you see this same Jesus today holds out His loving arms with an offer of salvation. Every one of us in this life are here to respond to His offer. P a g e | 33

The consequence of rejection is costly. You see He gives every man the free will to come and love Him. The offer is given, and man must respond. Jesus will not force anyone to come to Him, He desires a genuine response and a genuine love given back. Jess and I would not have much of a marriage relationship if when I proposed to her, I held a gun to her head, and said “Marry me or else.” I want my wife to be with me because she desires to be with me, she chooses to love me back. The same with Jesus, He wants a genuine response to His Grace. When you respond to His love, and receive all that He has for you, you find salvation, when you repent of those sins that your heart is having an affair with, and you turn from those things, and ask for forgiveness the Bible says you will be saved. P a g e | 34

Now if you have never done this, I am willing to say that you are here for a reason this morning, come to Jesus, and enter into this relationship offered to you. The elders will be up front during this last song, come forward and pray the prayer of salvation. If Jesus is drawing you this morning, respond, we just learned the severity of rejecting Him, and the heartbreak Jesus goes through. If you have any prayer needs this morning the elders will be available, please come forward and get prayer, do not leave here with the burdens you came in with.