Mr. Junior Church, Matthew chapter 23 this morning. As you're turning there, I want to give you a pastoral admonition. In our town this coming weekend is a gathering about the young boy and his father in a book, Heaven is for Real. The boy and his father that wrote the book are going to be here in town being promoted, and sadly, I'm saddened by people that are partaking in it. Heaven is real because the Bible says so. And if I could have one question with them, I'd ask them, your account from heaven greatly disagrees with the Bible account of heaven. Who do I believe? We have many options when we look at this, I know the first thing is you can't. How do you know? I know based on the authority of scripture, the book is a fraud. Because if I believe the book, I have to say God lied to me in the Bible. Well, God did not lie. Do not go to heaven, get a set of little wings, argue with God, you didn't like the wings and all the other things the Bible tells us what heaven is, it's filled with the absolute glory of God on his throne. And we bow down and worship him. That is what's taking place in heaven. I'm surprised at some, though, some that are supporting it, recommending it because it utterly undermines the authority of Scripture. If that book that that boy and his father wrote is true, then we can throw out our Bibles today, close down the church and go home because the Bible is not true. It's not an emotionally feel good thing. It goes into the theological realm of is God's word true or not? That is the question at stake in that. So I don't know if anyone here is planning to go see it, to hear the interview. I would caution you if you go to go cautiously. I would not go because I believe I would be putting my support on a book that undermines the authority of the Scriptures and would not be part of that. I'm left with numerous choices. It was a dream. Doesn't understand. That would be the best. It's a lie to make millions of dollars, which it is. Or worse, it was a satanic experience to deceive God's people away from the authority of Scripture. We live in a culture that is completely saturated with experience, and if I had the experience, you can't question it. And that's true, except for there's one thing that goes beyond experience, and that's the scriptures. Let God be true and every man a liar. If I get up today and I said in my sermon, I think it's good that everyone comes to church, they should wear a red suit. Let God be true and every man a liar. The scriptures must be the authority of heaven's not more beautiful, more real, because a little boy says he went there and came back. By the way, there were a couple of people in heaven that died, and when they came back, they did not talk about their selfish, how much I loved experience. There was never a time for someone to do that. We could have had Lazarus's statements. He didn't. They worshiped God because that is the center and being of heaven. We worship God. And so I've been asked about it a few times, followed it, surprised at some that are sponsoring it. In fact, some that are sponsoring it actually goes completely against their own statement of faith. I don't know if they realize it. But when it comes to the authority of Scripture. I will not be a partaker just because it would make me popular in my community. Scripture is true. And the descriptions of heaven and Scripture are true, and the behavior in heaven we see in Scripture is true. And therefore, I must choose between a book or the Bible itself. So I don't often give pastoral admonitions, but there is one today that one was free of charge. Matthew 23, we are going to finish the chapter today, OK, and I will get you home in a decent time at all at once. The last wall we're going to deal with here. Is the strongest. And I know when we look at some of the woes, we like, well, I think, you know, this one is stronger. This one's stronger. We're going to pick up reading in verse twenty nine of Matthew twenty three. Let's read there says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Because you build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous. 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. Wherefore, ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers. How can ye escape the damnation of hell? We've had this is our eighth. And every one of them has been pointed, but this one, he says there and when he says your your vipers and your generation service at the end, it says you cannot escape the damnation of hell. That word damnation means that you cannot escape the sentence of hell that is upon you. That is strong. That is powerful. That is bold. And so as we look at this last wall, let me just begin here a little bit. As we come to the last wall, we need to be reminded that these are not exclusively to the religious leaders of the Jews or the Jewish people. They are warnings to all of us as we are tempted with our self-righteous and humanistic view of self. These walls, listen, when we read the Bible, we're like, oh, yeah, more than Pharisees. They had problems back then. The Bible is applicable today. So these warnings, these charges that He is giving unto the religious leaders are to you and I as well. As much as people talk about Jesus and have created a Jesus that is their best friend, that never condemns anything, we are faced here with the Jesus of the Bible. One who is a friend and does condemn. One that is about His Father's business. One that connects love for Him with obedience to Him. Remember, Jesus said, if you love me, you'll do what? Keep my commandments. So anyone can get up and say, oh, I love Jesus, and you can't judge that. The Bible says, though, if you love him and don't obey his commandments, you don't love him. So we have this idea, I think in the book, the boy talks about how he climbed up into the lap of God on his throne. I guarantee you that never happened. Jesus is not a teddy bear. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And if there's any passage of Scripture you need to turn to to prove that is here in Matthew 23. Christ is not worried about being politically correct here. He's not worried about being accepted amongst the masses. He is pronouncing woes upon false teachers. When we talk about being transformed or as some would state, reformed, we need to acknowledge the source of this taking place in our lives. We are being transformed into the image of Christ by the Scriptures. It is the Scriptures that cause me to know God and cause me to be transformed to be like Him. Sola Scriptura, the Bible alone, is not a slogan. It's a theological belief that the Scriptures are the source of reformation. Therefore, anything that diminishes the Scriptures is, one, false, and second, an attack on the very authority of Scripture. If we don't have the Bible as God's central authority and word, what do we have? I'm the authority. I'm the one that's going to know best. Well, you can just find another preacher that believes different than me. You can find anyone to feed what you want. There must be one central, absolute source of God's authority, and that's the Scriptures. So on our day of denominations, movements and charismatic leaders, and I use that in the idea of their personality, we must filter everything through the Scriptures to see whether it is true or false. These were the religious leaders of the day. They were the ones you look to for religious advice. And Christ is saying they're false teachers. Well, how do we know they're false teachers based on Scripture? We need to set out to be biblical in our approach, then to think biblically in our practice, and lastly, to be biblical in our fellowship. The religious leaders of the Jewish people and the people themselves were not biblical. They were not thinking biblically. They were not fellowshipping biblically. They were self-righteous. They were legalistic. They were tradition-focused unbelievers. And thereby, they were the enemies of God, as all such who subvert the Word of God are. A pastor friend called me. I hadn't talked to him in many months last night. That usually means... They're fishing for something. You know, you have someone who never talks to you, and then all of a sudden, hey, how you doing? I just thought I'd call you. And you talk for about 20 minutes, and all of a sudden, you know, okay, conversation's going to where it really needs to go, you know? And we were talking about, he had an issue, a good old argument with another preacher that I knew about. Then he asked me some questions and I share with him. I said, number one, the greatest thing that I can describe that has changed in me and my ministry is I can enjoy other Christians now that are not just like me. I'm glad I can meet other Christians and have a great fellowship with two brothers in the Lord at a Starbucks on Friday. I don't like I walk in there and says, what would you like? I said, well, I don't like coffee. The guy looked at me and said, no, wrong place to be. And I've tried your hot chocolate. Don't like that either. So what do you have that's nice, but doesn't have that really nasty coffee taste? He's like, try a latte. All right. So I got a caramel latte with whipped cream and extra caramel put on it. He said that'll sweeten up the thing. Still tastes the same. It felt like I was drinking a coffee with a caramel hint of caramel to it. But I sat down with these two brothers and just had sweet fellowship. Before that I was working on some apartments with actually Ted Sadler's dad and the remodeling some apartments I was helping there and I and and there was a pastor there working I've never met I've heard of them a week We just talked and and and as soon as the conversation opened up. I was like we're different We had a great time on fellowship In the other room was another guy working, and he asked me, I said, you go to church somewhere? He goes, well, my son's a pastor. I said, really? He goes, yeah, he pastors The Rock. Have you ever heard of it? I said, no. You've never heard of The Rock? I'm like, oh, sorry, I didn't mean to. I just haven't. I guess it's in southern Michigan somewhere. I've never heard of it. But had a wonderful time as we broke bread and prayed before we ate lunch and stuff and fellowshiped. So I told this brother, I said, one of the biggest things I enjoy now is I can enjoy Christian fellowship. He said, what do I do with the situation? I said, well, this is going to sound strong, but you've got to come to the conclusion I did. This other brother is an enemy of the cross of Jesus Christ. Are you willing to come to that conclusion? Because he's doing damage and harm to the cause of Christ in order to promote himself. That's a strong statement. But that's what Christ is saying here. Listen, you religious leaders, you leaders of God's people, you have actually become the enemies of God. So let's briefly review the previous woes real quick. Number one, he said, woe to those that hinder people from entering the kingdom of God. Verse 13, he said, woe to anyone that keeps people out of the kingdom of God. Who are you to determine who can get in and who cannot get in? Is there a warning in that for us at all? I think so. The other night I was in my cycling class and I got done. The coach, she's like, I need to put some hooks in these cement blocks to hang bikes on so we leave our bikes there overnight. So me and another guy and another guy, we're working on this and drilling in here and putting the anchors and trying to put the hooks in. Couldn't get the anchors in. I said, do you have a hammer? She brings out a hammer. It's about that long. It's got a little hammer. And the other one's a bottle opener, you know, where the nail caught the bottom. Really? This is a hammer. You know, like, I mean, it's embarrassing to use this thing. And she was not mine. It was Cheryl's, another lady that works there and has her own classes and stuff. So I get a five pound weight and I'm hammered in with that. And this girl, Cheryl, walks up. That she does, she is a part of the bike thing, but she does some other training there and she goes, yeah, that was my gay gift. My gay gift. I didn't know how to respond to that, because I'm thinking, okay, that means they were making fun of you for being gay, and I don't want to be part of that. I don't want you to think that I'm, you know, picking on you. Does she deserve to go into the kingdom of heaven? She does. But it would be very easy to say, no, I don't think they deserve to go into the kingdom. I don't think we're going to give them the gospel. But if we do, and they accidentally, one of them gets saved, they can come to church, but they got to sit in a corner in a glass bubble away from everybody else. I mean, we wouldn't say that, but is that not how we'd almost approach it? So maybe there's a warning here for us, too, and the Pharisees, they kept people out of the kingdom. They determined who could enter. Maybe there's a warning for you and I. I just spent yesterday reading Baptist history during the Civil War. And number one, it's utterly amazing to me the mindset they they were having a discussion at this association meeting. What do we do with a a female slave that is a member of our church whose master sells her to another master in another town? So she has to go there, leaving her husband, who's a slave and children behind. And that new master makes her marry another slave to have children. Do we let her stay a member of the church? We're just worried about whether it's OK to let an axe murderer in our church. I mean, we got easy things to solve. That's what they were discussing. I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, the things that they were they were having to debate and discuss. And, you know, because once you're sold to the next and different things like that. And some of the answers are good, some of them were appalling, but maybe there was a time in our history where churches determined who got into the kingdom based on their race. So I think there is a warning here for us. Secondly, woe to those that take advantage of people under the guise of spiritually caring for them. Remember, if you give money to the widows' houses, I'll make long prayers for you. We don't have anybody today that's on television saying, give me a thousand bucks and I'll pray for you. Number three, woe to those that make corrupt converts. Because they were corrupt, because after they made them to be like them, they were still lost. They were without Christ. Number four, woe to those that trivialize religion. Number five, what are those that corrupt religion in order to be seen of men? Number six, what are those that use religion for self-indulgence? This is where they were cleaning the plate in the cup, but it was full of excess. In other words, they were using, they were making sure their dishes were super clean according to the ritual of cleansing, but then they would serve food that was stolen. What are those that have a system of religion that ignores the wickedness within? And this is where we left off last week, the whited sepulchres, because you go out and you whitewash the sepulchres, they're beautiful, but within, they're full of rotting, decaying bodies. He says, your religion fixes the outside, where the real need of mankind, though, is what? A heart change, that only God can do that. You don't offer that to them. So we see these behaviors around us today and maybe even within us. Let me say this. It is a fearful thing when we become the judge that determines the worthiness and priorities of religion in a person's life. The admonition I gave you before my sermon, I thought long and hard because it is a stinging admonition that what is going on is false. And I'm going to answer to God for that admonition. I made sure. Am I really defending biblical truth when I do this? It's not that people never judge people. But it's a fearful thing when you do, because what happens if you pronounce someone to be of the devil and you find out they were of God? And we stand before God and say, you actually resisted what I was doing. Imagine preachers in the 1700s that withstood George Whitefield, because he had long hair and he was an Anglican minister. Yeah, I stood against him because he wasn't like us. And God says, but I was using him. I was pouring my spirit out in him to reach thousands with the gospel. Why would you withstand the gospel being going forth? Are we really prepared to stand before the judge of all? and tell him why we conducted our religion in such a manner as to judge, malign, and reject other man's religion simply because it is not like us. Now, religion that denies truth must be dealt with. But just because it's not like me, I discount it. While we will have to judge and we will have to rebuke, it should be done with the utmost caution, certainty of Scripture, It just might be that God is actually pleased with that person or system we just condemned. So we must be cautious. So we now look at the last woe in the conclusion of the chapter. Verse 29, we find this. Woe to those that murder the messengers of God. Wow. I say the same thing. Woe to people that kill preachers. I just kind of have a personal attachment to this passage here. He says, woe to you. Verse 29, he says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hippards, because, why am I saying this? Because you build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of righteous. You make these beautiful monuments to them. And you even 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. So they're admitting their fathers killed the prophets. And he says, Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, but ye are the children of them which kill the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?" He says, you will do that, you have done that, and you will do that. They made great honor and tribute to the prophets of old that were killed by their fathers, yet they neither listened to the message of the prophets, nor would they have been guiltless of killing them. So they're saying, they're making these huge monuments to the prophets that were killed by their fathers. And they would give speeches and saying, if we were around, we would not listen. They hadn't even listened to the message of the prophets. They have recorded the message of the prophets and they won't listen to it. So what makes you think they wouldn't kill him? He says, in fact, you would have been partakers with them. They presume that they were better than their fathers that came before them. They thought higher of themselves than they should have. It's easy to hold a position when that position is the accepted norm, but talk is cheap. It's easy to hold a position when it's accepted in our culture, but it's another thing when it's not. Think about our constitutional rights for all, as long as they suit us. We all love the way of our Constitution, about our constitutional rights. Do we want to give it to all people? Because all Americans get the same rights. Remember, I was asked one time, remember there was a time they were going to build a mosque like a block away from where the towers were in New York City. I got asked about that. What do you think about that? I'll tell you as a person, I can't stand it. But as an American and as a Christian, I recognize the government should have no business saying where a church or synagogue or a mosque can be built. Because our Constitution guarantees that right. And if I, out of my hatred for what they did, forbid them to build their mosques there, what's to say in ten years when they're the majority, they then tell me where I can and can't have my Baptist church? That's a hard thing for me to come to grips with. Because me, as a red-blooded American, I'm thinking, I don't even want any mosque in my country. You know, the largest mosque outside of the Middle East is right down the road in Dearborn. Well, they shouldn't even be allowed to have that mosque. Are we not undermining, then, the very Constitution I waive when I say I want my rights? Sometimes talks can be cheap for us. Religious freedom enough so that you have it, but not others? I like this in America. We believe the majority rules until we're in the minority. I don't like the majority rules. You know, the president we have today was elected by the majority of Americans, so he is the duly elected president. I don't like his policies. Well, what happens if maybe the next election, the guy I like wins? I'll be sitting there saying, you all need to just listen to him because he was elected by the majority. Wouldn't I say that? Because my side won. Knowing that their fathers had killed the messengers of God, the modern leaders would make long speeches about how they would have acted justly. It says so in verse 30. Monday morning quarterbacking, we call it. Hindsight's 2020. Notice, Christ exposed their heart and declared that they would indeed have killed them and will kill messengers of God in the future, beginning with Christ the Messiah. Look at verse 31. Wherefore, ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them that killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Verse 32, it says, fill ye up the measure. Is this you saying, go do it? You're going to go kill? Go do it. Kill the messengers of God. In fact, fill it up to the brim when you do the ultimate killing of God's messenger, when you kill me, the Messiah. They have already plotted to kill Christ. That's what's amazing. They're saying, we wouldn't kill. Have they not already plotted to kill Christ? Yes. They just haven't figured out how they're going to do it yet. Judas hasn't come to them. But they've already had their meetings. We've got to kill him. The sanctimony of their actions. But they didn't think Christ was a messenger from God, so that gives them the right to kill them, right? That's what they're thinking. We would not kill the messengers of God, but you're not one of them. Maybe they are false teachers sent by God to accomplish the plan of redemption. They're going to kill Christ, the ultimate prophet, the Messiah, the Son of God, the messenger of God. They are going to kill Him. Maybe these false teachers are actually sent by God, then, to accomplish this. Look at Acts 4, 26 and 29. I think it'll be on the wall. The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. For of a truth against the Holy Child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Both Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak the word." He says, Pilate, Herod, the Gentiles, the children of Israel, they were all part of your plan to crucify your son. I don't know if that's fair. It's almost as though they didn't have a choice in the matter. Acts 2, verse 22, helps us with this, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know him being delivered by the determinate counsel That's the Sadducees, I'm sorry, the Sanhedrin, they delivered him to be crucified and he was delivered according to the foreknowledge of God. You have taken by wicked hands and have crucified and slain. So this is all God's plan. This is an amazing thing that God, the creator's plan is for his son to die. That was not an accident, folks. Gee, we're about to celebrate the Christmas holiday, when we remember the birth of Christ. That birth happened exactly as God decreed, for one purpose, that He would die. We just sang the song, Born to Die. He didn't send Christ here to be king, but they wouldn't accept Him, so they crucified Him. Well, I guess I'll make something good out of this anyways. This was his plan, Acts 22, before the foundation of the world, according to his foreknowledge, that his son would come and die and pay the price for sin. What an amazing God we have. They were all about to fill up the total measure of their rebellion against God by killing the Messiah. He says they were a generation of snakes. They were akin to the serpent in the garden trying to destroy God's creation. However, they were actually accomplishing the whole purpose of God's creation. That's the amazing thing. Sometimes I think that if we don't do everything just right, we're going to mess up God's plan. I promise you, we will not mess up his plan. There's great comfort in that, folks. Because I don't know about you, but I've made foolish decisions in my life, one or two. Maybe three, maybe a fourth one. I'm not quite sure about number four, but one or two for sure. Third one, fourth one, I don't think so. I've made foolish decisions. I'm thankful because of that I did not alter the plan of God. I remember growing up, it was so pushed that there's one person out there for you to marry and only one, and you have to find only that one. That's a lot of pressure when you're in like seventh grade. They hear that at a youth rally. It's one of these in here or is it one of those? Better start evaluating now. I mean, I got to figure this out, you know? And I mean, so I dated all of them. I got to find out somehow. Every girl in my high school I dated except one. And she's sitting right there. Saved the best for last. I mean, if I marry the wrong one, my whole life's over. No, it's not. Because we have a sovereign God that knew every decision we would make and makes good out of everything in his plan will be accomplished. I'll be honest, I don't know how people sleep at night without understanding the wonderful truths of the sovereignty of God. What if we vote for the wrong president, what are we going to do? I bet he's factored that in. In fact. I think it's Proverbs or Psalms tells us that he raises up leaders and puts others down. So maybe the president we have is exactly the will of God. But does it make sense? Why would if you ever read the Bible and said it doesn't make sense? If you're reading it with an open mind, you're going to be like right here, this isn't fair. You're rebuking them for killing Christ, but yet it was ordained that they would kill Christ. We'll get to that in a minute. These would, in fact, murder God's messengers, starting with Christ, then the apostles, and all those that promote Christ. Look at verse 34 now. He gives a statement, and then verse 4, he goes, Wherefore, behold, I send unto you... He's talking future tense. This is what's going to happen. I'm going to 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. Read the appalling epistles. Everywhere the church went, these Judaizers followed them to harass them. that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of the righteous, able unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barakias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. Throughout the corridors of history, starting with Stephen to the Christian martyr of last week somewhere in the world that died, God's messengers have been killed, persecuted, and maligned for their message of repentance and faith. He stated here in verse 34, I'm going to send forth messengers, people declaring the gospel of Christ. You are going to kill them. You're going to purge your sin. I would never kill. You're going to do it. He ordained that they were going to do so. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us that they were maligned, tortured, killed for the message of the gospel. You see, I think we've got to realize the gospel message has two effects, and we don't do a good job of acknowledging this. The gospel message has two effects. Number one, it draws men to Christ. You hear the message and the Spirit of God is drawing you to Christ. God uses the gospel message to draw men unto him through the quickening work of the Holy Spirit, whereby God awakens the dead sinner to the amazing grace of God. These that are quickened respond through faith and repentance and become the children of God, they receive a new heart that seeks after God and desires the holiness of God. These that are drawn and quickened become a workmanship in Christ Jesus that exists for the praise of His glory. That's the one effect. That's what we call the positive effect, amen? The good news of the gospel. It draws men to Him. In fact, He gives us this demonstration in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 4-10. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, in as much assurance as ye know what manner of men ye were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord. Heaven received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad, so that ye need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entry we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who has delivered us from the wrath to come." Here is the positive effect. It draws sinners, dead sinners, to Him, awakens them, and they become followers of God. They turn from idols to serve the living God. It makes no sense why I'm here. I could find a lot of other things to do on a Sunday. It makes no sense why I deprive myself of some of the pleasures of the world. I mean, the flesh loves those things. So how do we make sense of it, because the gospel draws that center and awakens them and quickens them and plants in them a new heart that desires to please and worship God. And we accept this. All these that are drawn are raised victorious with Christ in the last day. John 6, 37 to 40 says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sends me. And this is the father's will with has sent me that all that of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it again the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me that everyone that seeeth the sun and believeth on him might. my everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. I am thankful that my faith is not rooted in the ability of Matt McPhillips, but it is grounded and settled in the work of God in my life." And he says, those that I have drawn, I will raise up victorious. I'll quote here, when man receives God's Son and are saved, he is glorified because his grace is vindicated. The attribute of grace is vindicated in the saving of lost people. There's a second effect of the gospel. One, two. Second effect of the gospel. It drives men away from Christ. Have you ever stretched your head and said, why will this loved one not get saved? It's a wonderful message. It's a good message. Why would they not receive Christ? In fact, it seems like the more I share of the wonderful news of Christ, the madder, the angrier they get towards me. It's because the gospel also drives people away from Christ. Some hear the gospel and are drawn, others hear the gospel and are moved further away. Second Corinthians chapter two, verse 15 and 16 explains this. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, referring to the believer. in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the saver of death unto death, and to the other the saver of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?" He says, all things are to the saver of Christ, the one who goes from death to life, and the one that is lost, is a sweet-smelling saver to Christ. And I read that, and I read that, and I'm thinking, I'm getting this. Because God's just not gracious, God is holy. And when sinners are judged, holiness is vindicated. And just as grace is exalted and praised when it saves a sinner, holiness should be exalted and praised when it condemns the sinner. There's a verse in Proverbs where it says God is satisfied... I'm going to mess it. God receives glory in the death of the wicked. That's a tough verse, folks. How is it possible? Because of its other attributes of holiness, it is vindicated when sin is judged. You know, one of the greatest glories of our justice system is when an innocent person is set free. And another great glory of our justice system is when a guilty person is condemned. Justice is done. It's a good thing when justice is done. And my friend, the gospel is about God's justice being done. The holiness of God is vindicated and God receives glory. I quote from Barnes's notes. We are the occasion of deepening their condemnation and of sinking them lower into ruin. The expression used here means literally to the one class we bear a death conveying order leading to their death. a savor, a smell which under the circumstances is destructive to life and which leads them to death. It seems like today people are enraged, because I just want to be a Christian and live for the Lord. When that lady said, you know, that was my gay gift, I didn't turn around and hit her on the head with a hammer and say, get away from me! I had no problem, okay? Why? She's a sinner that needs Christ. If she was my neighbor, she's my neighbor. When God said treat your neighbors right, he said treat your neighbors right. That meant neighbors, all neighbors. Because she needs Christ. But I also understand my lifestyle. My message will be an affront to that very same person. and it can even drive them further away from Christ. When someone hears me, especially someone that is gay, that I'm against gay marriage, that anchors them and it drives them further away from wanting to hear the gospel message. When we stand for righteousness, folks, we actually anger the sinner and push many of them further from the gospel. Because this truth is difficult even for believers to hear. Paul asserted that he would not peddle the Word of God just to please men. At the end of 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17, he said this, For we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. We're not going to be like the ones, this is a tough message, it's hard to hear that, that God receives glory in the death of the wicked. But we're not going to corrupt the word of God. We're not going to twist the word of God so that we can receive the applause of men. But as sincerely out of sincerity. In the sight of God, we will speak Christ the truth. So here are the words of Christ ring true for all of history. There are those that attack the kingdom of God as though they are defending it. These are not an accident, but they are the means of God demonstrating not only his grace in the life of the believer, but His holiness in the life of the lost. Either way, God is glorified, grace is magnified, and holiness is vindicated. You see, Paul anticipated the struggle we'd have with this truth. Paul anticipated the struggle with this contrast of God's grace and His holiness, and they seemed to be at odds with one another sometimes. And he answered the very question we and others would ask. How is this fair? He answered it in Romans chapter 9, verse 20. Nay, but, O man, who art thou that questions God? It says reply us against God, but he's basically saying, who are you to question God? Kind of Paul just put them back in their place. Whoa, whoa, time out. We'll discuss theology, but we're not going to question God. But nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to the thing that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and to make another vessel unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared on the glory? The struggle we come to as we look at this passage in chapter twenty three and these woes is that we get to the end and we find out God had ordained them to crucify Christ before the foundation of the world. And we said, but that's not fair, God. That's not right, God. You can't determine that, God. And Paul anticipated that in Romans nine and said, who are you to question God if God wants it? By the way, Pharaoh. I think there's a guy named Pharaoh. I think there's a story of Moses coming to Pharaoh saying, let my people go. And he didn't let him go and a plague would come. I mean, you read some of them plagues. My wife and daughter are freaked out now. Frogs all over our house. We got problems, you know. And then it says something happened to Pharaoh. The plague would come and you think, OK, this is it. Pharaoh's going to say, fine, get out of here. He doesn't. Does anyone know what the Bible says happened to Pharaoh? It says God hardened his heart so that he would not let the people go. The next plague comes. God hardened his heart so that he would not let the people go. What is the ultimate plague? The firstborn male child of every family is put to death that does not have the blood applied. And when that happens, God opens his heart and he lets the people go. That's a struggle. Because Pharaoh couldn't let the people go until God changed his heart to do it. So Paul says, let me just answer this. Who are we to question God? Notice the conclusion of our chapter. It's a lament. It shows a humanity side of Christ. I mean, would you not say Christ is kind of unloading on them? He is just boom, boom, double barrel. Now we come to the end of the chapter and Christ laments. He says, Oh, 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. Behold, your house is left unto the desolate. 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 conclusion of this chapter gives us a picture of Christ considering the Jewish people and lamenting the judgment that is going to come upon them. Forty years from this point right here, the nation of Jerusalem is going to be destroyed by the Romans. They're going to destroy everything. And Christ is discussing that. But he also talks prophetically, he says, I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth. You will have a veil, a blinder over your eyes. Until you will say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, referring to Christ, until you will acknowledge Christ as the Messiah. It is prophetic of their destruction and the eventual return of the Messiah, where a remnant of Israel cry out in repentance and faith and be saved, but only after great tribulation. Listen, the nation of Israel, will not be saved because they are the nation of Israel. They'll be saved because a remnant cries out and says, blessed be the name. They cry out in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the same for all of us. What a sad conclusion to this rich people that had more of the knowledge of God than any other people in the earth. They're the prophets. They have the Old Testament. They're the keepers of the oracles of God. Chapter 24 will deal with the woes unto them as a nation, the tribulation, the judgments that will come. It's a sad ending. They're about to crucify the Messiah, which needed to be done, which is ordained by God to be done. But to sit here and I mean, we have traveled with these people for four years now. And they've rejected him. Just as people have sat in church. Week after week that have grown up in a Christian home that have known Christians, they grew up in America, you you can stumble and find the gospel in America. And yet they will reject him and die without Christ and face the judgment of God. What a sad reality. To be so close. And yet they're so far away. The gospel business, the gospel life is not one of acceptance and ease, it is one of submission of worship to the creator. He pronounces these woes. They've had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. They will stand before God as rejecters of God and His grace. They will stand before God as those that cried out, Crucify! Crucify! Crucify! So, think of Judas. He walked with Christ and yet rejected Christ. If that's the same with some of us in here that sit here and we have heard from Christ over and over and over and over. But because we don't think God is fair. I said something today that upsets you. You're still hung up on the introduction about the heaven is for real book. And how dare I say that about that little boy? You will look at that and you will reject the grace of God. And you, too, will be like Israel someday. So close, but yet you're so far away. His grace could be magnified in your life. But if not, his holiness will be vindicated in your condemnation. Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Let's pray. Father.