Matthew 23:1-39
Sermon Notes
Woes
April 9, 2017
Lynchburg, Virginia
EXHORDIUM
This chapter
introduces the final blow to the Pharisees. And in the next chapter, Jesus
starts lays out the details of the downfall of Israel. In that chapter, He also
sets out the hope and promise to those who faithfully serve Him. Something new
is happening and His disciples need to be ready for it.
These
two chapters, delivered on Tuesday of Holy Week, ramp of the confrontation with
the Pharisees. They have to submit to Jesus or kill Him.
Jesus
provoked this confrontation.
EXEGESIS
Then spake Jesus to the
multitude, and to his disciples, 2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in
Moses’ seat: 3 All
therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do
not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
You
can obey the Bible without copying the one delivering the Bible. However, it is
better if the preacher obeys the Bible, too!
Rom.
2:17 Behold, thou art called a
Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18 And knowest his
will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of
the law; 19 And
art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which
are in darkness, 20 An
instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge
and of the truth in the law. 21 Thou therefore which teachest another,
teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost
thou steal? 22 Thou
that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou
that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through
breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the
Gentiles through you, as it is written.
4 For they bind heavy
burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but
they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
A
leader who wants everyone else to do the work is no leader. These Pharisees are
hypocrites. What they tell you to do, they will not do. Sort of like Congress
passing laws that they do not have to obey.
5 But all their works
they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge
the borders of their garments, 6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and
the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called
of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
The
demand for respect is like this. Many are afflicted with this sin. Preaches,
professors, politicians, to name a few. Are you enamored with acclamation?
Watch out.
Make
broad their phylacteries, scriptures written on and placed in a leather pouch
and worn on the forehead.
Exod. xiii. 2-11; Establishment of Passover.
Exod. xiii. 11-16; The firstborn belong to God and teaching your
children what this means in the deliverance from Egypt.
Deut. vi. 4-9; Shema, Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one Lord. Deut. 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one
Lord: 5 And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this
day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy
children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them
for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them
upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Deut. xi. 13-21. The blessing and cursings for faithfulness or
disobedience in the Promised Land.
8 But be not ye called
Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man
your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called
masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
This
is a creeping problem, not just for religious leaders but also for every area
of life. We like to be called by our titles because our titles give us honor
from men. A pastor is what a do but I should not insist to have the honorific
name. I should not be offended if someone calls me Virgil, or Mr. Hurt. Um,
it’s Pastor
Hurt.
How
often do we see this? Only everywhere. Are you a Dr.? Good for you, well done
in your work. But what is that Dr. for? Is it to have others serve your august
person? Or, is it a degree earned or a skill earned, so that you can serve
others?
Colonel
Blakey, what a great and humble man. Engineer Officer USS Enterprise Carrior. Came
from commanding a warship to doing toilets at Logos School. He had been the
Captain of 350 men on a warship and now he was known as Patch, the janitor,
cleaning the toilets for 350 students at a tiny little school in North Idaho.
11 But he that is
greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be
abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
We
tend to do the opposite of what Jesus suggests. We do not want to abase
ourselves. We want to exalt ourselves. It is hard to be like Jesus. Jesus wants
to exalt us. He is not interested in grinding us. But when we humble ourselves
before Him, then we know that when we are exalted, it is He who has done so. Who
would not want to be exalted by Jesus!
But WOE!
Woe 1- You shut up heaven.
God’s ministers should open heaven.
Matt.
23:13 But woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men:
for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are
entering to go in.
Woe!
Woe 2- Devour widow’s houses.
God watches!
Make
long prayers. Showing off to impress men.
14 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence
make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Woe!
Woe 3- Make disciples like
yourselves, sons of hell instead of sons of heaven.
15 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte,
and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than
yourselves.
And
you are glad if they are worse than you.
Woe!
Woe 4- Blind guides that lead
people astray. Swearing and oaths are amiss, based upon your greed and pomp.
16 Woe unto you, ye
blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing;
but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17 Ye fools and
blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the
gold? 18 And,
Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by
the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is
greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 Whoso therefore shall
swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear by
the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that shall swear
by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
You
don’t even understand the basic workings of the world, the scriptures or
doctrine. They are greedy and so the gold is more important to them than the
alter or the temple that sanctifies the gold. They are fools and blind. Harsh
words!
Don’t
swear at all. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
Woe!
Woe 5- Tithe down to mint
sprigs but are unfaithful, unmerciful and unjust.
23 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides,
which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Tithers
beware. These are greedy men but persnickety. And yet, they cannot judge
fairly, grant mercy where it should be granted, nor exhibit faith in Almighty
God. Tithing is fine as far as it goes, but not if you are unfaithful,
unmerciful and unjust.
Woe 6- All show outside but
inside extortion and excess. They don’t deal with their own sins!
25 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the
platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind
Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that
the outside of them may be clean also.
All
show. Inside, dead and empty.
Woe 7- Beautifully dead.
Imagine a life-like looking corpse. That’s a Pharisee.
27 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and
of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous
unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Not
even a well embalmed. The worms are already eating him.
Woe 8- Deny that they want to
kill the prophets while planning to do so.
29 Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and
garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our
fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the
prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves,
that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the
measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of
vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
The
Pharisees and scribes know that their fathers killed the prophets. They try to
make up for it by building memorials for them. They claim that they would not
kill the prophets but they are liars. They opposed John Baptist and they oppose
Jesus. They are glad to kill them both just as their fathers killed the
prophets of old. As long as they persist in resisting the men that God sends to
call them to repentance, Jesus condemns them to the damnation of hell.
Matt. 23:34
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and
scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of
them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city
to city: 35 That
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood
of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew
between the temple and the altar.
Just as their fathers condemned the prophets,
so, too, will the scribes and Pharisees condemn Jesus’s prophets, wise men,
apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. And as they do so, they
will heap on themselves a pile of blood that must be accounted for. God takes
note. The result will be not only judgment upon the Pharisees but judgment upon
the entire nation of Israel.
EXHORTATION
36 Verily I say unto
you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Jesus wept over Jerusalem. It was His desire to
gather His chicks but they rebelled. They would not. He says, “How often would
I have gathered.” The Lord had been trying to gather these wayward chicks for
millennia. But they would not! His grace is deep. It covers a multitude of sin.
But He does have an end of His long patience. At some point, there is judgment.
When the Lord lets us have our way, we are in
great danger. First of all, He no longer protects us from falling headlong into
deeper sin. He backs off. Secondly, He stops protecting us from the world, the
flesh and the devil. Thirdly, if we still will not repent, He comes in judgment
Himself, which is worse than the judgment of the world, the flesh and the
devil. He is the one who can condemn body and soul to hell fire forever.
38 Behold, your house is
left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me
henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of
the Lord.
The house of Israel is left desolate. We see
this come to pass in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroy the city and
the temple. The form of Judaic worship ended forever. There are no more
sacrifices.
But that is good for this is only one sacrifice
for all sin for all time, the Lord Jesus, Himself. Blessed are all those who
embrace Him, saying “Blessed is He who come in the name of the Lord.”
So, let us all do so. Repeat after me. “Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Amen.
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