If you do turn then to Matthew chapter 23, we will attempt to cover the whole chapter, which would be the fifth discourse out of six in Matthew's gospel. And this discourse is right before the sixth discourse, which would be the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 and 25. We will not try to cover that in one sermon, but I think it makes some sense to cover this fifth discourse of Matthew 23 in one sitting. And it might also be helpful to give you a context and a review of the whole book of Matthew of the six discourses, four of which we've seen. One today, and then the last one starting, Lord willing, next week. The first discourse was the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. And you could entitle that discourse as Jesus' discourse on kingdom living. In fact, all of these discourses have something to do with Christ's kingdom. With the Sermon on the Mount speaking of the righteous life of the members of Christ's kingdom, as they live it out in the world. And so the theme of the Surname Out was Kingdom Living. Matthew 10 would be the second discourse, and maybe you've forgotten about that. It was the equipping and sending out of the disciples into the world with the Gospel, into the harvest, with the foretaste then in a teaching that there will be persecution to come for those who represent Christ. And we can call Matthew 10 then Kingdom Mission. It's a foretaste and a teaching of what we're to be doing now. Then in Matthew chapter 13 you have the kingdom parables. The parables on the soils, the wheat and the tares, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, and the dragnet. And much was said then about the gospel of the kingdom and how one enters in and the judgment that occurs at the end. Then Matthew chapter 18, which became one of my favorite chapters of the Bible, We see there in Matthew 18, life in the kingdom. You have kingdom living in the Sermon on the Mount, but you have life in the kingdom where Matthew 18 is speaking about the relational life, the relational life of the members of Christ's kingdom. But this is within the church. A wonderful passage, a wonderful chapter of speaking how Christ's people are His children. And we're to be looking at each other as His children, receiving one another, protecting one another, retrieving the straying one, restoring the lost one forgiving one another, in Matthew chapter 18. That takes us into Matthew chapter 23, the fifth discourse, which you might call, this discourse in Matthew chapter 23, kingdom rejection or kingdom judgment, because there's pronouncements of woes on those who've rejected the kingdom and the judgment that will occur. And then again, Matthew 24-25, you have the Olivet Discourse, which might be called Kingdom Future. But that makes us be then in chapter 23 today. And Matthew 23 acts as a bridge within the Passion Week. Remember, this is Tuesday of the Passion Week. It acts as a bridge between the Messianic entry of Christ and the Olivet Discourse that will come maybe next week, if we get there next week. And then after the Olivet Discourse in chapters 24 and 25, then you have the traditional events that occur prior to and then leading up to the arrest and the trial and the cross of Christ and his resurrection and his final words. But what we saw before, this discourse of Matthew 23. And I won't belabor it, because we probably have already in the previous weeks. But you have Christ's three symbolic actions, His three parables of the kingdom, and then His three questions that He bats away. We saw that last week. And all of those things, all of those things, those three threes, spoke of the Son of David coming in Jerusalem and He was greeted with, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, according to Psalm 118, which we'll see at the end of what we look at today as well. But His actions and His parables spoke of judgment to come against the leaders of Israel, and then also Israel herself, because of the fruitlessness and their disobedience, and the rejection of the prophets in the past, and their soon-to-be rejection of the prophet in Jesus Christ Himself. And from what we've seen beforehand with his actions and his parables, and even with his questions that he answered, he's saying that Jerusalem will be judged. And he's speaking already of A.D. 70, and there's now going to be a fulfillment from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. and a taking away of the kingdom from a specifically ethnic Jewish nation to one that would be Jews and Gentiles and sinners from all nations being gathered in by Christ through repentance and faith and salvation with the new covenant church. And even if the three questions given to Jesus, remember those were the leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, wanting to come before Jesus because they knew He was talking about them, and they didn't like it so much, and so they're trying to trap Him just like Psalm 140 speaks of, which is providential. They're trying to entrap Jesus so they could actually get Him to say something that they would think He should have said so they could have Him be arrested and taken away. But with those three questions that they gave to Jesus, He answered them fully. And the answer was Himself. They need to bow before Him. And as a result, it appears that the leaders were silenced. And it appears that the leaders now have walked away. And there may be some other Pharisees or Sadducees and scribes lingering in the crowd, but as a group, they appear to have left, leaving Jesus with a crowd and His disciples. That's the setting for Matthew 23. And so Matthew 23 is His last public address. The Olivet Discourse is given to the disciples. Here He's speaking to the crowd in the temple area on a Tuesday. And what we have with Matthew chapter 23, it's one of those chapters when you read it, you read it really fast, you can go on to the next step, because you think, this is confusing, this is hard, it's not very pleasant, and so I don't spend much time with it. So we're going to spend the whole sermon on it. But Matthew chapter 23 is Jesus pronouncing woes upon the leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees specifically, but it represents the leaders of Israel. But it's not just the leaders he's using. This is also a pronouncement of woe, which means warnings of judgment, prophetic warnings of judgment against the leaders, but then also the nation of Israel because of their unrepentant sin, their impenitence. Jesus' soul is stirred, and you see the compassion of our Lord. Even though it seems harsh, His soul is stirred by the impenitence of the leaders and in Israel in general. Especially with all He has done over the last three years. But then even in this week, He has shown Himself to be the fulfillment of the Messiah. And through His teaching, He is warning them about what they're doing and who He is. But yet, they're not listening. And he has compassion upon the people because he realizes the leaders that he's referring to specifically, but again, it's broadening to the whole nation. The leaders had so much influence over their followers. And because of that, with the evil teaching of the leaders, the legalistic works righteousness, deadly poison teaching of the leaders, he has to address this with this last public address. And he does so then by exposing their eternally deadly teaching with the legalism and hypocrisy of the Scribes and the Pharisees. And in some ways Matthew chapter 23 is a repeat of the Sermon on the Mount, in some ways as a final warning against the false righteousness that leaders are presenting and the followers are taking. But the emphasis here is on the scribes and the Pharisees, and their teaching, and their hypocrisy, and the judgment that is to come as a result. But as we run through the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees, and the woes to the scribes and the Pharisees, and the judgment of the scribes and the Pharisees, which is a brief outline of what we're going to look at, By the way, if you look in your bulletin, you will see a more detailed outline. Because we're covering so much ground, I think it might be helpful here to have more details. So inside your bulletin, there's a more detailed outline to this sermon, this passage of Scripture than normal, but that's okay. In general, we're going to look at the seven woes and the one lamentation of our Lord at the end of the seven woes that He pronounces. but as we run through the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees, and the woes to them, and the judgment of them, plus Christ's lament over the souls of sinners, may we here today humbly turn from such falsehood to the truth of Christ and His Gospel, unto salvation and sanctification. May we be drawn all the more to Christ and His righteousness, and his compassion unto salvation and sanctification, as we look at this, what he's pronouncing upon the scribes and the Pharisees. This is much, and it is providential, it wasn't planned, but it's much like Psalm 140, where we're seeing the evil of evil men from their evil heart, and it's easy to lash out at that. But remembering it, Psalm 140 is actually used as part of the proof of the depravity of all men in Romans chapter three. And so we look at the evil of men, but we look at our own sin as well. as we look at this. So we'll look at the seven woes in verses 1-36, and we'll look at the lamentation at the end. So first of all, the seven woes. If you're looking at Matthew 23, the first 12 verses, it's kind of like an introduction to the seven woes that follow. The first 12 verses we see the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees. Why are we even having this discourse, and why are we talking about these things? Well, verses 1-12, Tell us why. And what we see in the first 12 verses, with the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees, we see an introductory comment of verses 1-3, but then we see that what their problem is, they have an extreme lack of sympathy, sincerity, and humility. That's verses 4-7. But then verses 8-12, Jesus now is turning to those who aren't scribes and Pharisees. He's actually telling everybody, including ourselves, saying, Since they have a lack of sympathy, sincerity, and humility, don't you have the same lack? It's characteristic of a Christian to have sympathy, compassion, sincerity, and humility. It's both evidence and characteristic of the Christian saved by the grace of Christ. So in v. 1-3, let me read those first three verses. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples. He said, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do." That's rather a positive statement. But, on the negative side, do not do according to their works, for they say and they do not do. So we're introducing the scribes and the Pharisees. They appear to have left as a group, and so Jesus is speaking to the crowd. He's already dealt directly with the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees in chapters 21 and 22. And so now he's making this discourse as a way to address their false teaching and their false lifestyle. for their sake, but then for the crowd's sake. And when He says that they sit in Moses' seat, it may be that in some synagogues you actually had a seat called Moses' seat. It would be like someone's the chairman of the board, so you sit in the chair of the one who's in leading. It may be, some commentators think so, that this would be the prominent seat that a scribe or a Pharisee would sit in. But it may be more likely that when Jesus says they sit in Moses' seat, it was probably symbolic of their purpose, the scribes and the Pharisees' purpose. And actually what they really wanted to have as a role as a scribe and a Pharisee, their purpose was to speak and teach in the place of Moses. To take Moses' writing of the law and then expound upon it, interpret it, and teach the will of God as it's revealed by Moses. And so the scribes and the Pharisees would be those who would be called to be in Moses' place to teach what Moses has said in his law. That was their role. And with much gusto, they desired that role, and to have the prestige of that role, it appears. And so, in verse 3, Jesus says, Therefore, when they teach you according to what Moses actually said, then obey it. Do it. But, at the end of verse 3, don't do as they do. In other words, they don't always get their teaching right, so be discerning, but they certainly don't get the rest right because their lifestyle does not match up with what they teach. And what he's going to say is, you need to respect then the office of the scribe and the pharisee, and respect the word that they're supposed to be teaching, but don't do as they do. because they lack sympathy, they lack sincerity, and they lack humility. Those are three terms that William Hendrickson I think wisely used to describe what's going on here. They lacked sympathy, sincerity, and humility. And so then verses 4-7 actually express how they lacked sympathy towards men and sincerity towards God and humility before both. So look at verses 4-7. Describing then, the scribes and the Pharisees, for they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. They lack sympathy. But all their works they do to be seen by men, they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They lack sincerity. And then v. 6, they loved the best places at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and they loved to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi, which is really another way of saying Master or Lord. They lacked humility. So, reviewing those things, they lacked sympathy. They demanded a legalistic, non-mosaic amount of burdens to be put upon the people. They actually interpreted the law wrong, and they tell the traditions of men. And so, they lack sympathy for men by placing these extra burdens on the shoulders of the people. But the scribes and Pharisees, according to Jesus, did not carry those burdens themselves. Or it could have even been that since their job was to do those things, it was pretty easy for them to pay attention to the hand-washing requirements and the legalistic righteousness. Because that's what they did, but the common man didn't have time to handle all of those things. So there's great burden put upon the back of the common person. And you might remember some of them even in the book of Matthew, and we won't review all of them, but you might remember in Matthew 12, when Jesus, as He's apt to do, taking the Sabbath to show their error. Not that the Sabbath was wrong, but what the Pharisees were doing with it was wrong. Don't pluck that grain out of the field even though you're hungry and crunch on the raw grain. That would be breaking the Sabbath. And no, it wasn't. Your disciples aren't washing their hands properly before they eat. Sinners! That was Matthew 15. Well, that was a wrong interpretation and application of the burdens of the law upon them. The Pharisees and scribes were insisting on a man-made letter of the law, but here's the key that runs the whole rest of the passage. But to the neglect of the heart, the neglect of the heart for God's law and the heart of God's law, they emphasized external righteousness. But it's interesting, the greatest burden that the scribes and Pharisees, the greatest burden that they placed upon the shoulders of the people, was if you would follow their teaching, not necessarily their lifestyle, but if you'd follow their teaching, you'd have a life without liberty and a soul without salvation. Because the burden of having a legalistic works righteousness salvation is unending. It doesn't work. They're still burdened with their sin. and burdened with a false understanding of the law that weighs them down day by day by day. And it contrasts to Christ who said in Matthew chapter 11, Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And Christ himself took the burden, literally, on the cross, the burden of sins, being in the place of the sinner and taking the wrath of God that those sins deserve, that yes, the burden could be released. And in His place, He puts the non-burden of righteousness, the covering of righteousness on the sinner for those who repent and believe in Him. Far different, the grace and the mercy of Christ from what the scribes and the Pharisees were burdening the people with. But then in v. 5, The Pharisees and the scribes, they lack sincerity. They're hypocrites. You'll see hypocrites at least six times throughout this chapter. Jesus describes these people. What they do do, why do they do it? Well, so they could be seen by men. And they didn't care about what God thought, but they wanted to be admired by men. Doesn't it remind you of the Sermon on the Mount? When Jesus in chapter 6 speaks about the leaders And they fast, and they pray in such a way to draw attention to themselves, so that many can say, what a pious man he is. But yet there's an insincerity, because they cared about what men thought, and they could care less about God, even in their prayers and fasting. When Jesus speaks about phylacteries, everybody knows what a phylactery is, don't they? Seems like something you go to a drugstore to get, but a phylactery was a small leather box that would be worn on your forehead or on your left arm. You think, well, why won't Deuteronomy chapter 6 take the law of God and put it on your forehead and put it on your arm? It's the idea of taking it with you everywhere you go to teach your kids and remind yourself. But they would have phylacteries with inside of the box, it would be portions of scripture. Maybe not a horrendous idea, But what the scribes and Pharisees would do is they'd make their boxes be big, which is almost funny, except for you're talking about eternal life here. So they have not just a little one that would just supposed to be a reminder perhaps, but a big one so everybody could see, look at the box of Scripture I have on my arm or on my forehead. And when he talks about enlarging the borders of the robes, I think in some of your versions he talks about making their tassels longer. Well, they were supposed to have robes with tassels on the end. That was actually supposed to be okay. But the idea is, well, if we have longer tassels and bigger borders, then people will notice us all the more. Look at the big box on their head and the border of tassels around their robe. That's how silly this is. But it shows that they lacked sincerity. And it makes sense that with a lack of sympathy for others, it makes sense there'd be a lack of sincerity as well. We're called to love God and to love neighbor according to the law of God. But the scribes and the Pharisees and those who are unregenerate, they instead love self. And so they lack sincerity before God and sympathy of men. And then lastly, verses 6 and 7, we see there's a lack of humility. It makes sense. It all puts together. It's related to the other two. They pridefully love the best places, the places of honor, the best seat. They'd even be escorted to the best seat in the synagogue when they would come in. They love being greeted as rabbi. They love the title of rabbi, scribe, Pharisee. And so they had no sympathy towards men, but they had an insincere desire of attention and praise and honor from men, and without any humility before men or God. So that's the root causes of this discourse against the Pharisees and the scribes, but it was a root cause of their sinful heart, which is also representative of the nation of Israel. So in verses 8-12, Jesus now is speaking to the crowd and he's saying, don't you have this lack? And this is speaking to you and me as well today. This is not how we should be. And so he says, but you, in verse 8, Do not be called rabbi. In other words, he's not saying, let's say you're a pastor, so it doesn't mean you can't be called a certain title. In the context, it's saying, don't you have this ungodly yearning to be called rabbi and have this position, not to be seeking a position for a position's sake, so you could be admired by men. Don't you be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your Father who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." In that last couple lines there, Jesus repeats that a lot in the Gospel of Matthew. Probably because we need to hear that a lot. So here, in verses 8-12, He is saying, don't you lack sympathy, and sincerity, and humility like the sinner? They yearn for the rank, and the honor, and the recognition of being called Rabbi, or Master, or Lord, but don't you do that? Do not insincerely, and unsympathetically, and pridefully seek such special rank, and do not seek to deify those who are in such a high ranking position. Instead, what Jesus is saying, seek Christ, seek Me, who is the real Teacher and Master. And through Him only, God Himself becomes your Father. And then God's sons and daughters are then provided to you as a new family, a new brethren. So in v. 8, He's saying, show sympathy to your fellow brethren. You have brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God. You're equal with them. We're on the same plane. Just like the children in chapter 18. Show sympathy to your fellow and equal brothers and sisters. And in v. 8-9, he's speaking about the sincerity of then seeking Christ as your leader and seeking the Father's glory. And in v. 10-12, the emphasis is on humility. in loving God and loving neighbor, and serving them both, especially verses 11 and 12, repeating what Jesus says often. He said it in Matthew 18, with the first and the last, and the humble will be exalted through having an unselfish, sacrificial, loving lifestyle towards others, towards God, with Christ, as our leader, with God as our father, with our brothers and sisters as our family. And what Jesus is saying here indirectly is that if you're a Christian, this sympathy towards others, this sincerity towards God and this humility towards both must be characteristic and these are evidences of the one who's been saved by the grace of Christ and brought into his kingdom. So that's the background, that's the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees, and I already have a prescription to those who are listening. Now in verses 13 through 30, we actually have the bulk of the chapter, which would be the seven woes pronounced to the scribes and the Pharisees, but it's also being prescribed to Israel and to sinners in general. With this foundation, then, Jesus pronounces seven woes, but they're actually prophetic warnings of judgment and denunciation. And even though it seems harsh, they're compassionately given. They're meant to be a call of repentance to the leaders and to the people who are listening. He really does connect then the warnings of the fig tree and the three parables that he mentioned before, which were warnings to Israel of the judgment to come if they do not repent. And prophetically saying what's going to happen, even to the point of Jerusalem being sacked. And so as we go through these seven woes, do not just think of them as neat things to look at and see what the Jews had to face, but see them also as warnings and reminders to us all as well for our sin. And if you look in your bulletin, I do have it sort of divided into ways that might be easier to follow. But what we can look at with these seven woes, and by the way, verse 14 is most likely not part of the original, so if you count verse 14, if your translation actually does, that would make eight woes, but we think verse 14 was actually added later. It's not necessarily untrue, but we don't think it's what Jesus actually said here. And so if you look at the seven woes, we can look at these as three pairs, plus one left over at the end, Three pairs of woes, and then a final woe at the end that acts almost like a summary and leads us to the lamentation that Jesus gives us at the end. What we can see at the first two woes, we see the close of the kingdom and the corruption of converts. With the third and fourth we see the lesser is chosen over the greater. With five and six we see the outside is chosen over the inside. And with the seventh woe, then we see You think you're superior, but you're actually the same as your fathers, and actually you're worse. That's the division of this. So we'll look at the first two as a pair that go together, looking at the closing of the kingdom, but then the corrupting of the converts. Let me read the first two woes. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Sounds harsh. For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. Remember the keys of the kingdom in Matthew 16 and 18? The Pharisees and scribes thought they were door openers, but with their teaching, with their conduct, they 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. And v. 15, "...Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, one convert, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." This isn't necessarily pleasant. But the first woe is that you close up the kingdom of heaven against men you can't go in and you don't allow anybody else to go in. You're supposed to be a door opener. But with your teaching and your conduct, you keep yourself out and others out as well. The teaching of legalism and the conduct of hypocrisy. You've locked yourselves out, and you don't allow others to go in either. This gives you some indication why it seems harsh. Why does he say hypocrite at least six times? Why does he call them blind at least five times? Fools at least twice. He even calls them snakes twice in this discourse. It seems harsh. But we're dealing with eternal life and salvation and the sake of eternal souls. And so he starts off with these first two woes to show what's at stake here. What we see here is that salvation is indeed by the sovereignty of God. But our sovereign God uses the means of the gospel message and gospel messengers to see men and women be brought into the kingdom. So, brother and sister, we must get the gospel message right and hold fast to it. And we need to be Christ-like messengers as well. That's the means that God uses to usher sinners into the kingdom of Christ. A right gospel message and Christ-like messengers. The second woe then is, but when you do have a proselyte, and in fact you go all over the place to try to get a convert, that might surprise you, but even in Jesus' time there was quite a bit of missionary activity. You don't think about that. But even with the synagogues and the Septuagint, The Old Testament then is now being written into Greek so that pagans could read the Old Testament in their own language. And you had synagogues then being placed in different places. And you had pagans, Greeks, Romans coming into the synagogues to actually hear the message of Judaism with the blessings of the Scripture. And so there actually was some missionary activity. And these scribes and Pharisees were even part of that. They wanted to see people be converted But unfortunately, they were converting him to their brand of Judaism, which was not according to the Scriptures. Even when you win a proselyte, even when you get a convert, you corrupt him to be twice a son of hell as yourself? Ouch! We do have evidence of converts, and usually they were called God-worshippers or God-fearers. Think of the centurion in Matthew 8. Think of Cornelius in Acts 10 or Lydia in Acts 16. They didn't know everything, but they were God-worshippers. They were devout with what they knew. But with the Pharisees and the scribes' false gospel and false law and false conduct, their converts were corrupted to be like their teachers and even worse. Isn't that how it works though? There's that saying, what you convert them with is what you convert them to, which I think is a very apt thing. We have to be careful. We don't just fuzz up things so we can get people to be Christians. We have to be careful. What we convert them with is what we convert them to. And often then the student surpasses the teacher with his zeal, to the point of excess. But today's new theology, slightly new understanding of the law of God, turns into tomorrow's antinomianism or legalism. We have to be careful. It's even true with our children. Don't you notice that maybe the worst characteristics of yourself turn out to be even more amplified by your kids because they see that and they think it's okay? And we see it in the scripture. Abraham lied a little bit. Isaac lied more. Jacob really lied. So it shows the importance of a confession. in a stable foundation of biblical principles in the church and in the home, because by nature we slide away to whatever else is going on. So the first two woes were judgments because they were closing the kingdom and even corrupting their converts. In the woes three and four in verses 16 through 24, we see the emphasis is, this is really the heart of this whole matter, we're emphasizing the lesser over the greater, we're emphasizing the external over the heart. And so look at v. 16-24. This is in the case of oaths and tithes. They rationalize oaths and they impersonalize the tithes. V. 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's obliged to perform that. "...fools and blind, for which is greater the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 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, fools and blind, for which is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift. Therefore, he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. And he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him, God who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, he swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and come in the smallest of herbs and seeds. But you have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone, blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. The gnat and the camel being the smallest and the largest unclean animal. And you strain out the gnat and swallow the camel. They even sound alike in Hebrew, so Jesus is making a pun here in his criticism. So here what you have is the emphasis on the lesser over the greater, which is the heart of legalism and heart of our selfish pride when we want to pursue God how we want to. They rationalize oaths, they swear on the lesser but not the greater, and it might remind you of Matthew chapter 5, when Jesus is speaking about the same thing about oaths and swearing. And basically the idea was that the Pharisees had formulas by which they could swear, but not be bound to it. So if you swear on the temple, you don't have to do it, but if you swear on the gold of the temple, you do have to do that. If you swear on the altar, now you don't have to do that, but if you swear according to the gift on the altar, well now you're obliged to do that. That's the kind of thing we saw in Matthew chapter 5. That's what's going on here. The problem is it took the issue away from the heart of the matter, which is honesty and integrity. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. And it focused on the external vow itself, the technical means of what was the vow about, not where is your heart. It's foolish because isn't the gold of the temple meaningful because it's the gold of the temple? So he had it backwards. Isn't the gift on the altar meaningful because it's on the altar of God? Not the other way around. And isn't the altar of the temple meaningful because it's God's temple? That's where he dwells, it's his altar. And in fact, if you swear on anything, you're swearing upon God because he's the owner and creator of all things, is what he's saying here. It's how stupid this is, how foolish this is. But the scribes and the Pharisees, and therefore the people, they rationalized their oaths and swearing in this way to avoid truth, just like they did with most everything. It displays no sympathy towards others. When you care so little about the truth, it shows no sincerity before God and no humility either. It should be a warning to us as well. And then verses 23 through 24, he now goes from oaths to tithes, and I think now it's the idea of impersonalizing the tithes. They're obsessed with the lighter things. We're making sure, look, we have these herbs and seeds that we've grown in our garden. We're going to make sure we tie them exactly. And can you think of just measuring out exactly a tenth of these things and making sure we have those. But what's going on? They neglected the weightier matters of the law, of justice and mercy and faith. Isn't that a perfect example of our own legalistic righteousness? It's so much easier to have our checklist Christianity and say, oh, I've done this and this and this in the privacy of my own room. But God says, no, but what are you doing for your brother and your sister? What are you doing for your neighbor? What about justice and mercy and faith? It's much harder to personally love God and to love people in humility and compassion and sincerity than it is to check off the things you think you're supposed to do. One side note, notice Jesus doesn't say, don't tithe. He actually says, pursue justice and mercy and faith without leaving the others undone. So it's not an either or, you do them both, but the emphasis is on the greater, not the lesser. In the last pair then, verses 25 through 28, it's very similar. You get the pattern. So we'll spend less time. We have the outside versus the inside. Verses 25 through 28. Woe number five. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites, for you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. I think you know what's going on here, but here the emphasis is on the ritual, the rituals that they go through, the ritual cleansing. You have to cleanse, even like the hand-washing, maybe earlier in Matthew chapter 15. It's rather a hard-to-get pun here, actually, but he's saying you're worried about cleaning the outside of these cups and these dishes, but the inside is full of extortion and self-indulgence. What does that mean? You hypocrites! Your cups are clean, but your lifestyle is such that your greed is filling what's in the cup. You're getting things from the people in ways you shouldn't be doing. And when you do have it, you have no self-control. You're a glutton. You're greedy and you're a glutton with what's inside the cup. And that's more important than the cleansing of the outside of the cup. It also means it's not your actions, but where's the heart? That's the source of everything. And so then the sixth low in verses 27 and 28, he really, really gets to the heart of the matter. Makes it more personal. He says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you, he's not talking about cups and dishes, you, you are like whitewashed tombs. And that was appropriate during Passover week. they would especially go throughout the city and actually dust with the limestone dust and make sure all of the tombs would be especially whitened. And that was so you wouldn't mistakenly touch one. So Jesus is actually using something that would even more so stand out. You are like whitewashed tombs which appear beautiful outwardly, but inside you're full of dead man's bones and uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Your heart is dead. This is the Scribes and the Pharisees. This is the Israelites. This is anyone here outside of Christ. Your heart is dead. Outside the tomb looks nice. The inside smells rotten, has bones and uncleanness. There's a remedy for that. Jesus Christ can raise dead men's bones, give them new life, and give a new heart, and clean up. Come to him. And then lastly, the last woe. Now he turns to superiority, you think, but you're actually the same. And then he eventually says, no, actually you're worse than your fathers. This is the pridefulness. We've seen a lack of sympathy and sincerity. Here we see the pride. Woe to you, verse 29, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets, and you adorn the monuments of the righteous. You give homage to the great men of the past. That's a way of making yourself look good. Look, I'm making another monument for David, or I'm making sure these remembrances of these great men that we admire in the past are looking good. Look how good I am by doing so. And you do that, but then you 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. If we had existed back in the days, and Jesus was just talking about how you killed the prophets year after year, generation after generation, We wouldn't have done that because we are far better. And you can tell because of the big boxes on our heads. But basically they've condemned themselves. Jesus has already said, you're going to kill me. You're going to put to death the greatest prophet ever. He's already said that in the last two chapters. And so not only are they not superior, to their fathers. And not just the same, they're actually worse. They were happy to see John the Baptist be put to death there. Jesus knows that they had been and they are plotting to kill him, even at this moment. And he prophesied this would happen. So they are truly blinded hypocrites. And as we look at these seven woes, this is a hard sermon to preach. I think it has to all go at the same time. It's almost too much to take over more than one sermon anyway, but as we're doing this, it's easy to do like the Pharisees and the scribes are being told that they're doing by Jesus to say, but we're not like that. We would never do that. We need to analyze our own hearts for our sincerity and our sympathy and our humility before God and man. And we need to be careful of the, yeah, but we're not like them, or we would never do that. Don't utter those words, but run to and cling to Christ and His Word. And so now we get to verses 31 through 36. Which is then, we've gone from the sins of the scribes and the Pharisees to the woes pronounced to them, and now the judgment on them. And this judgment on them is actually not just a judgment on them, it's actually a prophecy as well. I think it's a marvelous reading, and we're going to try to do it very quickly, but it's both saying this is what you've done, this is a judgment you get, and it's also prophetic of what's going to happen, and it's a call to repent. And we should see that as well here. It's a call to repent. It's never too late to repent. And even all or most or some of verses 31 through 36 could have been attached to the last woe. It's that much connected, but I think it's better to take it out and show it as a summary of all of the woes and a prophecy of what would happen and a call to repentance. to not just the scribes and the Pharisees, but to Israel. And really what you see here is what Jesus is going to say in verses 31 through 36. He's going to say, no, you are murderers. They just said they weren't. You are murderers. And yes, you will murder me. And you will murder and mistreat my messengers. And then lastly, and you will be judged this generation as a result. That's listed in the bulletin. First of all, you are murderers, verse 31. Therefore, Jesus says, you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. You said you're not like your fathers, but no, you're sons of your fathers. You're sons of those who murdered the prophets. He's basically saying you witness against yourself because, yes, you're plotting to kill me now. So you're lying. And he knows they will kill him. In fact, he predicted three times on the way to Jerusalem, if you remember, that we're going to Jerusalem and the leaders are going to take me and arrest me and kill me. He even named them by name. And the parables reiterate the same thing. They are sons of murderers, just like the second woe, they're twice the sons of hell as their father, because of what they're going to do. And then verses 32 through 33. You will murder me. Fill up then the measure of your father's guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers, which means sons of snakes. Your sons, alright. How can you escape the condemnation of hell? He's saying, so since you're sons of your fathers and sons of snakes, you will fill up the measure of your father's guilt. You can't escape the condemnation you're going to have because your hearts are hardened. You've determined you're going to do this. And this is much like Jesus telling Judas after he gives him the piece of bread, Satan enters into Judas and Jesus says, what you do, do quickly. In other words, you're determined to do this. Do it. There's nothing left I can do. Here what he's saying to the scribes and the Pharisees, he's saying, since you've hardened your heart against all warnings, the responsibility is now all yours. And as you determine to carry out this crime to kill me, do so, and you will suffer the pronounced punishment that I've said. It's a warning, but also a prophecy at the same time. What that means is when they do carry out what they're about to do in the remainder of the book of Matthew, They fully know what Jesus has said and they choose it anyway. In verses 34 and 35, though, he then says, and you will murder and mistreat my messengers. He's now looking ahead. This reminds us of Matthew chapter 10 when he's sending the disciples out as missionaries. And he says, you're going to be persecuted, and flogged, and beaten, and mistreated, and even killed. He's looking then at what's going to happen in the book of Acts. And now Jesus is saying the same thing in verses 34 and 35. Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. And in Luke 11, where he says basically the same thing, he says, I send you apostles and prophets. I think this is speaking of Christ's messengers who will be sent out. He's also mimicking, and you have to look at this sometime when we have more time, in Jeremiah 7, verses 21-29. You might read that later today. In Jeremiah 7, verses 21-29, what Jesus is saying here is mirroring exactly what God pronounces through Jeremiah to the Jews of that day. I don't care about sacrifice, I care about obedience, but you've turned away. And I sent you prophets, and you mistreated them. Therefore, I'm going to judge you on this generation." That's what Jesus is saying here. And a Jew, when he hears what Jesus says here, he knows he's referring to Jeremiah chapter 7. We know He's looking to see what's going to happen in the book of Acts. So therefore I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city." Think of Paul and the Christians in the book of Acts. "...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, which is probably not to be there. That was put there wrongly by a scribe at some point in time. It's just from the blood of righteousness of Abel to the blood of Zechariah. And what that is, Abel was the first martyr in Genesis. Zechariah, this is the priest Zechariah, the son of Jehuda. In the Old Testament, at the time of Jesus, the book of 2 Chronicles was the last book in order in the text. And so this is from A to Z of martyrs. You have Abel to Zechariah from the first part of the Scriptures to the last. All of the blood of the martyrs is now going to be cumulative upon your head now when you actually then kill the greatest prophet. And what's going to happen following? And so then he says, assuredly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. So lastly, you will be judged this generation. It's pointing to AD 70 when Jerusalem was sacked. This generation will be the judgment of all of this. And so now we look at the very end at the lamentation in verses 37 through 39. At the end of the discourse then, we see the heart of our Lord as he cries out in sorrow over lost souls. He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. And when you repeat things like that, it's from the heart. There's sadness, there's sorrow. You see our God, man, Savior saying, 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 are not willing. Your hearts are hardened and set against it. See, your house is left to you desolate. Speaking of not just the temple, but Jerusalem. 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. when he says, how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. It's a wonderful picture of say a chicken hawk is coming to swoop down and get the baby chicks and the hen says, no, not under my watch. And she calls out to the chicks and covers them and rushes them away to safety. Or maybe it's a storm that's coming with lightning and hail and rain. And again, the mother chick says, come. And she covers the chicks and takes them to safety. Jesus has warned them with pronouncements of impending doom, the impending storm of judgment to come because of their unrepentant sin. And he's called them with his identity and his authority as the Messiah to come and have my covering, but they would not listen. He says, but you are not willing. It means you refuse to come. due to their obstinate, impenitent hardening of hearts. They are blinded and foolish, the answer is before them, but they refuse to come. And therefore what follows will be a result. Your house is left to you desolate." The house meaning Jerusalem with the temple inside. It speaks of AD 70. It's no longer God's house. It's now your house. It's yours. Because God has deserted it at this point. He's left it desolate for you, O Israel. For I say to you, you shall no more see me till you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." It's true that at the beginning, when he comes into Jerusalem, they said, Hosanna, son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. They're welcoming him as the Messiah at that time. But what he's talking about here is the actual fulfillment of that. That's a foretaste. The actual fulfillment is when he returns as judge. And blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Christ Jesus. What Jesus is saying here in verse 39, 38 and 39 really, he's saying that after the events of the Passion Week, he will not again specially reveal himself to the Jews. The time of favor, the time of special opportunity for the Israel nation will be past until he comes again. And when He comes again, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At that point in time, those who have repented of their sin, Jew and Gentile, and come to Christ, will be joyfully gathered by Christ. Gathered by the only One who could and did take their judgment and give them new hearts and new life. But the tares, those who are not willing to bow before Jesus, At any point, they will be gathered for eternal torment and judgment. And so as we close, when Jesus says you are not willing, but you refuse to come, doesn't this seem completely foolish? Even stupid? Can you see why He says you blind Pharisees and scribes? He's saying you blind sinner The truth has been laid out before you. Jesus has stared His audience in the eye and declared to them their guilt and promised them what their judgment would be and He's offered them a covering and a salvation in the hymn as their Savior, King, and Messiah. And their response is, Nah, I'm not willing. And so their judgment is fully their choice and their responsibility and they have no excuse. So the question that has to be asked is, what about you? What about today? Jesus through His Word and by His Spirit has plainly declared the same thing to you today. How can you look back at Jesus and say, nope, I've got better things to do. I'm not willing. You, like Jesus' audience in Matthew 23, you are a sinner condemned already. And your sin is against the infinite holiness of Almighty yet long-suffering God. And your refusal to come is a sin against the infinite love and mercy of a compassionate Christ. And your eternal judgment, if you keep saying nope, will be completely owned and earned by you." How foolish. I don't know how else to say it. How stupid. How blind. Come and know sins forgiven, and wrath propitiated, and grace given. And know God as your Father and Christ as your Savior. And have a whole bunch of new brothers and sisters galore as your new family. And if you are a Christian, let us love our God and our Savior and one another all the more in response to what we see here. Seeing the sympathy and the sincerity and the humility and the holiness of our Savior, let us by His Word and Spirit together Together, seek to know and to show such sympathy, sincerity, and humility and holiness, holding forth the word of life with love and joy, the gospel message of Christ as proper and purposeful messengers of Christ. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I do pray that you teach us This was a purposely long sermon over a long passage of scripture that seemed to be no other way it could be given. Give us the patience and the attention span and desire to dig into this and to understand for our soul's sakes and for your kingdom's sake. We do pray, Lord, that those who are outside of Christ would come running and change the note I don't have time. I refuse to, oh please, in a bowing before repentance and faith, work upon the sinner that they would see their sin and the judgment they deserve, but they'd see the beauty of Christ and his sincerity, his sympathy, his humility to save sinners from their sin by taking it upon himself and relieving their burdens as only he can and help us who are in Christ to love him more, to love the gospel more, to love the privilege and opportunity to be gospel messengers all the more, that we together as brothers and sisters under the same Father, with the same brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would take the gospel message that can only give life to sinners and souls, to a lost and dying world. And please use our efforts, Lord, and make it fruitful as only you can. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.