Matthew 23: 1-39
Jesus continues to teach in the tabernacle on Wednesday
prior to His crucifixion. He warns the Pharisees of their pride and
external righteousness.
What does Jesus reference the Pharisees sitting in?
the chair of Moses
Moses seat was a title for the
place of the primary teacher in a synagogue. He taught the Mosaic Law. The
chair of Moses. He was the one who was to articulate the will of God as
expressed in the Old Covenant.
In verse 6 what place do the Pharisees love? The place
of honor at banquets
and the chief seats.
In vs. 11 Who is actually the greatest? The one who is
a servant… and humble
Jesus addressed the false teachers:
They had no integrity. And it
will always be that way with spiritual leaders who are false. They may advocate
morality, the may advocate a system of ethics, but they'll never be able to
live it because they don't have within them the power of God to restrain the
flesh and promote righteousness. They can't stop evil and generate goodness.
Because that only can occur in a regenerated heart.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
- 1- Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for
you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against
men.
How do they shut up the kingdom?
- 2- Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for
you devour widows'
houses, and pray at length as a pretense….verse 14
The statements of verse 14 are
indeed true and come from those other texts, but do not appear in the original
texts of Matthew.
Everything was for the outside,
not the heart. All of their religion was for show. All of it was for fleshly
gratification
- 3- Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for
you travel land and sea to win/CONVERT one
proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as
yourselves.
What is a proselyte? A Gentile convert to Judaism.
the biggest burden of all for them was the works
righteousness system that said God is counting up your bad and He's counting up
your good and if your good gets better than your bad when you die you're going
to get to heaven and if your bad beats your good you're going to hell……John
MacArthur sermon The Characteristics of False Spiritual Leaders
- 4- 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."
Swearing by these things is like swearing by God
himself. In Matthew 5:34 It mentions not taking an oath. This is
forbidding the careless use of oaths in everyday speech.
- 5- Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for
you pay tithe of mint
and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:
justice and mercy and faith.
Herbs were not something that was to be brought to
sacrifice. Read Lev. 27:30
- 6- 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.
Their focus on external issues was at the heart of the
error. The lived as if external appearance was more important than
internal reality.
- 7- 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.
Tombs were often whitewashed to make them stand out.
But the inside was full of defilement and decay.
Sometimes people look good on the outside – but they are not
righteous, or humble with a true servants heart.
Who actually knows what in their heart?
How can we know what’s in their heart?
- 8- Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Because you build the
tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 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."
They tried to act like they were better than other
people.
In verse 33 what does Jesus call them? You brood of VIPERS
A viper looked like a stick from the outside……so people in
that area were often bit by the vipers who were disguised.
May you all have a blessed
week…. and we pray that the seeds planted in the heart of your child will be
watered and continue to grow
In Love …from Christ’s
Servants,
Mike & Kim Armstrong
“Hope itself
is like a star – not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be
discovered in the night of adversity.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Below are
some sermon links and blog posts that expand more on Matthew 23….
Grace to You:
Matthew 23 Sermons
Matthew Henry Commentary
on Matthew 23
Steven Lewis Johnson SLJ
Institute: Matthew 23 Sermons (Pastor Eric Bryan often quotes sermon info
form SLJ)
The Sins of the Scribes, Pharisees and Christians
Matthew 23:1-12
Dr. S.
Lewis Johnson discusses the characteristics of the Jewish elders in conflict
with Jesus, giving practical exhortations to Christians to avoid the same sin.
Audio Player
The Science of Hypocrisy and Christ’s Thunderous Wrath
Against It
Matthew 23:13-36
Dr. S.
Lewis Johnson expounds Christ's pronouncement of the "Seven Woes"
upon those who have rejected the Messiah in the name of the Hebrew faith.
Audio Player
Christ’s Lament Over Jerusalem
Matthew 23:37-39
Dr. S.
Lewis Johnson teaches on Christ's mourning over Jerusalem and its rejection of
their Messiah.
Audio Player
BLOG
POST: http://astonegatherer.blogspot.com/2010/06/7-woes-of-matthew-23.html
The 7 woes of Matthew 23
In my study of Matthew I am now to Chapter 23. The beginning
part of this chapter has helped me in the past, but I've not gone further in it
until now. In reading the 7 woes it became increasingly clear how they parallel
our culture today. And people say the Bible isn't relevant any more! I do not
claim to be a Bible scholar or even a good student of the Bible for that
matter. What I do have is a desire to know God and his Son Jesus more through
reading His word, and then sharing it in hopes that it stirs within someone a
desire to know him more as well. So with that being said, here is my thinking
on the 7 woes.
·
Woe #1 - "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you
neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in."
The teachers and leaders
of the day had made a religion of their own. It became a religion made up of
rules and false ideas of what God had established. The religious leadership had
added to and taken away so much from God's laws that not only were they not
entering the kingdom, but they were keeping those who would enter from entering
through their false teachings. How often have we in the past and still continue
to make up rules within the church that have no biblical standing? How often do
we lay burdens on others that we ourselves do not have to carry because of
Christ? Are we missing it? Are we missing Him in our religiosity?
·
Woe #2 - Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a
proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
The teachers and leaders
are able to convert some to their way of thinking, and even go to great lengths
and faraway places to do so, but in doing so with false teaching they have just
converted someone who is destined for the same place they are. There is no
Truth in their teaching. How many people have been converted to a wrong way of
thinking because of untruths that have been taught throughout generations? How
many have been led to believe they are saved without that saving knowledge? How
many are feeling good about themselves because of the false teaching of someone
who cannot accept the God of scripture?
·
Woe #3 - Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by
the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he
is bound by his oath.' You
blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the
gold sacred? And you
say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the
gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! For which is greater, the
gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it
and by everything on it. And
whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the
throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
They have it backwards.
Their focus is on the superficial and not on the significant. How often do we
put our focus on the things man made within our churches and not on the truly
important things of God. Our focus is on the simple, while missing the amazing.
Our focus is on earth, while missing the heavenly, and in doing so leading
others astray in our blindness.
·
Woe #4 - "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters
of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done,
without neglecting the others. You
blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
They did all the right
things for all the wrong reasons. They again focused on the rules and missed
the blessings. Tithing is important, Yes! But when you focus on the tithing,
when you make it all about how much or how little, what should be included in
the tithe you have missed the point. Stop focusing on these small matters,
focus on what is important to God: Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness. Funny
thing, if the latter were focused on the former would not be an issue.
·
Woe #5 - "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of
greed and self-indulgence. You
blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the
outside also may be clean.
Don't we all look nice
on Sunday? We cover so much with a veneer. We look all shiny and clean, but the
heart, the heart! Self indulgence, so much of society today screams this! We
want what we want when we want it (My word look at the those
"W's"!!). How we try to clean up and make it look right on Sunday,
when in fact, just like the leaders of old, our insides are not clean.
·
Woe #6 - "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but
within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to
others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Whitewashed tombs.
Tombs, they hold dead people don't they? Are our churches whitewashed tombs?
Are we? Do we ourselves appear righteous to others, but within are we full of
hypocrisy and lawlessness? Are we kidding ourselves? Do we know the drill, and
how to talk the talk, but walking it faithfully is a mystery? Are we any different
then those Christ is admonishing here?
·
Woe #7 - "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the
righteous, saying,
'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with
them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you witness against yourselves that
you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are
you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men
and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in
your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous
blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah
the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will
come upon this generation.
How often do we say "We would never have done that"?
We are more civilized, more enlightened then our ancestors. In the church how
often do we say, when going through a conflict, "we would never do what so
and so are doing"? Yet we do. Here the leaders paid homage to the dead
prophets, killed by their forefathers. Saying they would never do the same, but
at the same time plotting to kill The Christ. How often are we blind to our own
hypocrisy?
Church of Jesus Christ WAKE UP! Let go of all that hinders (Hebrews 12:1) and run the race for Him! He is crying out to us too! He longs to gather us as children under his wings. Let God open our eyes and ears so that we can say we have persevered, and are not like the scribes, Pharisees and Hypocrites! By blogger, Sola Dei Gloria, Kim
Church of Jesus Christ WAKE UP! Let go of all that hinders (Hebrews 12:1) and run the race for Him! He is crying out to us too! He longs to gather us as children under his wings. Let God open our eyes and ears so that we can say we have persevered, and are not like the scribes, Pharisees and Hypocrites! By blogger, Sola Dei Gloria, Kim
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