Well, let's open our Bibles to Matthew 23, Matthew 23, verse 13. Matthew 23, verse 13. Well, in our passage today, starting here at verse 13, we see the Lord Jesus as we have not seen him before at all in this Gospel of Matthew. We don't see him here as the good shepherd. We don't see him here as the wise teacher. We don't see him here as the compassionate ruler or healer. What we see in our passage today is the Lord Jesus as judge. And here he unleashes a scathing condemnation of the Jewish leaders using some of the strongest language you can find anywhere in the New Testament. And in this passage, we're going to see three major things. We will see, first of all, the rebuke of the Pharisees. And the Lord Jesus is going to bring several indictments, several judgments on the Pharisees, on the scribes. And these are the leaders of Judaism in Jerusalem at that time. And then we will see the prophecy of the Pharisees. And the Lord Jesus is going to make a prediction about what the Pharisees are going to do after they have him crucified and after he is raised and ascended into heaven. And the Lord Jesus will predict that. And then finally, we have the city of the Pharisees, Jerusalem. And the Lord Jesus makes a number of statements concerning the city of the Pharisees, the city of Jerusalem. And so number one is the rebuke of the Pharisees, the rebuke of the Pharisees. Now, the Bible says all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable. And what that means is that wherever we turn in the Bible, we can be sure that the message there is from God. It may not have been written to us. For example, today we're looking at some prophecies in the book of Isaiah in Sunday school. Not written to us, but written for us. And there are timeless principles in every passage of scripture that make the Word of God profitable and useful for us wherever we're reading. And we find this here. Now, in this chapter, starting at verse 13 and going on through about verse 33, It really appears to be a very heavy passage, negative really, and shocking in many ways. And we wonder, what is the profit there for us as New Testament believers? And one of the important Bible study tools, in fact, it's important to have the right tool for the job. Yesterday I was taking my old planer apart. And before I could do anything, I had to take a big hand wheel off. And before I could do that, I had to get a little set screw out of there. And I realized I didn't have the wrench I needed. What am I going to do? Well, I have another tool called the smartphone. So I called a buddy of mine. He had one. I went over and borrowed it, and that made the job pretty easy. And there are Bible study tools that we use as well. And one of them has to do with much of the Bible, which is made up of what we would call stories, true stories, the true stories of all kinds of people, good people, bad people, all kinds. And in these stories are timeless principles for us. And in these stories are good examples that we can imitate. but also in these stories are bad examples that we should avoid at all costs. And what we have here in these indictments of the Pharisees and the scribes are bad, bad examples of some of the worst people who have ever lived. But what we see here are some positive lessons for us. One of them is this. In the negative example of the Pharisees and the scribes, We have a picture of false religion and false religious leaders of every time in history and today as well. It helps us to know them when we see them. And so we'll have here a vivid, inspired picture of false religious systems and their leaders. And then also, their negative example shows us how not to do the right thing. And we'll draw out from Scripture what is the right thing to do, the opposite of what their negative example teaches us. So we'll look at that this morning. We'll draw out some positive, useful things from this very negative sounding passage. So number one, we have the rebuke of the Pharisees, the rebuke of the Pharisees. And the first thing we see about them is typical of the Pharisees and scribes, but also typical of false religions of all kinds, from that day to this. Verse 13, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people, and you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. And so the Lord Jesus says, woe to you. And woe is a Hebrew word, it's just brought directly over into our English Bibles without translating it. And it is a word that describes Anguish, wrath, sorrow, judgment. It's a very strong language concerning judgment. And the Lord Jesus is announcing judgment on the Jewish leaders. And their offense is that they shut off the kingdom, literally that they have closed the door to salvation for people who are seeking the Lord, seeking for eternal life. They've closed the door and they don't allow anyone in to be saved. And how do they do that? Well, they do that with their false message of salvation. And their message is this, that salvation is not a gift that we receive by faith, but it is earned by our own efforts. In fact, I just heard in Sunday school today, you really need to come to Sunday school, we learn all kinds of things. But we heard about a news story about a group that teaches just this. And the religion of the Pharisees is being copied today in different ways around the world, even in our own country here. There are many religious groups that teach that salvation is something you can earn. Well, that message, of course, closes the door to salvation. A person believes that, they participate in that system for their entire lives, and they don't realize that the door to heaven is closed and locked because they don't have the key. And the key is faith in Jesus Christ. When we trust in Christ, the way to salvation is open for us. Well, what happens today? Well, false religions are blocking the way to salvation, but we have the way to salvation. We have the gospel message. Jesus said this, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, even to the remotest part of the earth. You know, when I'm driving around here, I think I can see the remotest part of the earth. We're close to it around here, possibly. We're far from Jerusalem, and it's our turn now. It's our opportunity to bring the gospel to people who need to hear, to use the gospel to open the doors to heaven rather than to close them and keep people out. So think about it yourself. Do you know someone who needs to know the Lord, someone who needs to be saved? What better time than today to share the gospel with that person? And then secondly, number two, these false teachers and their system, they are driven by predatory greed, predatory greed. Someone has said, if you want to know what's really going on, follow the money, follow the money. And the Lord Jesus follows the money with the scribes and the Pharisees and their false religious system. Verse 14, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Now, these are predators who target the most vulnerable. And it is interesting that in creation, Predatory animals don't look for the strongest one in the herd. They look for the weakest, the most vulnerable. And that's what these spiritual predators do. They look for the most vulnerable person. And that person in that day was the widow. A widow was a person who usually was very poor. When her husband died, she had no social safety nets, and she had no way of supporting herself, and she was very, very poor. Think about Ruth and Naomi, both widows, and they were living on gleaning. They would follow the harvesters through the fields. pick up what was left, and that was what they lived on at that time. So widows were very poor, very vulnerable. And along would come a scribe or a Pharisee. And they would say, you can trust me, I'm an expert in the law, in the rules of the Bible on finances and all those things. Why don't you let me take care of your property and your assets, and I'll help you with that. And so this unsuspecting widow says, yes, I'll do that. And what happens? Well, over time, Jesus says that you devour women's houses. This is not like the monster movie where the big monster eats a house, but the house is her estate, her assets, her property. And what they do is they gradually devour it by embezzlement and other clever tricks that they have. They devour her house, they devour her assets and leave her completely broke. Now, not everyone's broke in this picture. The Pharisee or the scribe is doing quite well by taking her money from her without her knowing it until it's all gone. And so the Lord Jesus condemns them for their sinful practices and they cover it up with an elaborate spiritual demonstration. Verse 14, for a pretense, you make long prayers. And history tells us that those long prayers were long, sometimes three hours long. They would just pray and pray for long hours. And the idea was, you know, he's saying, I'm the most spiritual person you'll ever meet. I'm going to pray here for three hours and just show you how spiritual I am. But in fact, They're not spiritual at all, but they're spiritual predators. Now God places a high priority on the care of widows and orphans. Deuteronomy 24 says, You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow's garment in pledge. Say a widow needs to borrow money and she needs to put up collateral. And so the last thing she has is her coat. And the lender says, we need collateral. We'll take your coat. No, the Bible says you can't do that. She needs her coat to stay warm. People slept in their clothes to stay warm, and she had to have that. And then also, Deuteronomy 24, when you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. And the harvesters, the farmers at that time, had a rule to follow. Don't harvest every last little bit, but leave something behind for the widow, for the orphan, for the truly helpless people, so they could go out and gather something for themselves. And God says, you won't lose anything by this practice. He says, the Lord will bless you in all the work of your hands. You won't lose anything. but you'll gain God's blessing in the course of it. So the scribes and Pharisees stole from the widows who were precious to God, and Jesus says, you will receive greater condemnation, serious, serious sin. And what was true of the Pharisees of that time is true of false religions and their leaders in every age, including today. When a religion is marked by predatory greed, we can know that it is a false religious system. Well, the Pharisees were driven by greed, and we're called to be different. Hebrews 13 says, make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have. Now, I heard something on the radio yesterday, I guess it was. And they were saying, you know, you can bet on sports. And of course, there's a lot of sports going on now. And we'll give you information right up until the beginning of the game so you can bet on sports. Well, why would a person bet? Probably lots of reasons. But one reason is they want to get rich quick. Maybe they're in love with money. I don't know what makes a person gamble, but the Bible says, make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. God will never desert us. We don't have to worry about that. And be content with what he's given. Well, the Pharisees were in love with money. They lived for it, and there was never enough. Unlike them, like the penny says, in fact, it's going to be hard to get a penny now. They stopped making them. So if you find a penny, hang on to one. Because, you know, it says on our money, in God we trust. And that's a good motto for us. We don't trust in our money, we trust in God. And certainly we'll trust and be content with what he provides. Number three, aggressive recruitment. And this is a mark of false religious systems. Jesus says this, verse 15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte. There was a whole list of Pharisees, but I didn't find on any list the sailing Pharisee. But apparently there were sailing Pharisees. They would travel around on sea and land for what? To track down one proselyte, one Gentile, who wanted to convert to Judaism. And they would take a journey who knows how much it would cost, and how long it would take, and how dangerous it would be traveling by sea in those small ships that they had. And so they would be aggressive in their recruitment. But here's the problem. When he becomes one, that is, when he converts to your false system, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. And so the Pharisees, converts, believed in a false religious system. They thought they were being saved by following the Pharisees' rules. But in fact, they were lost. Jesus calls them sons of hell, young men who would not be headed to heaven, but to hell. Think about that. And they expended all kinds of energy and all kinds of expense to do this. And false religions are constantly recruiting new members with false messages that won't save. Well, today we're called to be seeking those who are ready to trust in Christ and really with a message that will save. Jesus said this, go and make disciples. Literally, he's saying, as you're going, make disciples. And what he's saying is this, no matter where we are, we're in the right place to proclaim the gospel to that person who needs to hear. You may have heard of St. Francis of Assisi, and there's a story told about him. And he said to one of his young disciples, one of the young monks, he said, let us go down to the town and preach. Well, this novice was delighted at being singled out to be the companion of Francis, and he obeyed right away. So they passed through the main streets, turned down some of the side streets and alleyways, made their way into the suburbs, and after quite a long time, returned by a roundabout route to the monastery gate. As they approached it, the younger man reminded Francis of his original intention. He says, you've forgotten that we went to the town to preach. And Francis says, my son, we have preached. We were preaching while we were walking. We have been seen by many. Our behavior has been closely watched. It was thus that we preached our morning sermon. It is of no use, my son, to walk anywhere to preach unless we preach everywhere as we walk. And what he's saying is this, we preach with our words, but we also preach with our lives. And our lives should agree with the message that we proclaim. So as we're going, preach the gospel. As we're going, make disciples. And then there are false promises. And the Pharisees and scribes were great at making promises, but the promises were false. I remember working for a guy, and I was doing some work on his place, and he spent the time telling me about his checkered past. And we got all done, and he said, I'll write you a check. And I said, can I get cash? I wasn't sure his check would be worth anything. And he says, all I have is my checkbook. I said, okay, thank you. So I got the check. It was before five o'clock, so I went around the corner to his bank and thanked the Lord the check cleared. Wow. But I thought I had in my hand a promise that maybe was not going to be kept, but he kept it and I got paid. That was good news. Well, the Pharisees and scribes made a lot of promises that they never intended to keep. And this is a mark of false religious systems and their leaders, and that is what they do with the truth. They make promises they never intend to keep. Verse 16, woe to you blind guides who say, whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated. you fools and blind men, which is more important, the gold of the temple or the temple that sanctified the gold?" And the Lord Jesus is saying they used clever word tricks, clever loopholes to get out of promises they made. They would swear or swear an oath saying, I will do this or I will do that. And they said, I swear by the gold of the temple. When we were kids, a kid would make a promise and then he wouldn't keep it. And somebody said, well, You didn't cross your fingers. How come you broke your promise? Well, my toes were crossed and my hair was crossed. And so they had these little loopholes for breaking, you know, dumb little promises that kids make. Well, the Pharisees did it in a very sophisticated and convincing way. And then also, he says, you blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering. So they would swear by the altar. Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by him, that is God, who dwells within it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and him who sits upon it. And so they were using clever tricks, clever loopholes to make these elaborate promises, these oaths, but they never kept them. And so again, When we think about false religions and how they operate, one of the things they do is they don't really respect the truth. Jesus said this, you've heard that the ancients were told you shall not make false vows, but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. By this time, though, of course, the whole concept of making vows and swearing oaths had gotten so corrupted, Jesus says this. I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be yes, yes, or no, no. Anything beyond these is of evil." And so as believers, we're called to be people who tell the truth, to say what we mean and mean what we say, and not obscure what we're really saying with elaborate statements and odes and things like that. And then also, number five, false religions major on the minors. Verse 23, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin. And so they are very scrupulous. There were three different tithes that the Jewish people paid at that time, and the Pharisees were very scrupulous. They would tithe down to the spices in their kitchen, mint and dill and cumin. So think about that. Now a jar of mint doesn't weigh, I wouldn't say it doesn't weigh anything, but if you dropped it on your foot you wouldn't know it, unless the jar would hurt, but the mint wouldn't hurt. It's almost weightless. And they would take a tenth out of these spices and they would bring it to the temple and they would give it to the Lord. And they made a big elaborate show out of this. And it made them look like they were very spiritual. But they were majoring on the minors. They were experts on giving. But in fact, the more important things, the majors, they were overlooking entirely. He says, instead, what you do is you have overlooked or neglected the weightier provisions of the law, justice, that is treating people fairly, mercy, helping the person who's in real misery, forgiving those who need to be forgiven, and faithfulness, being a person who is reliable, who is honest. And these things you should have done without neglecting the others, your blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Imagine drinking some water from some water source. Oh, and that. And you get that thing out of there, and you just swallowed a whole camel. What's he saying? He says, you're majoring on the minors, but you're overlooking the major issues. That's what he's saying. And this can happen. J. Verna McGee tells the story of a lady and just, you know, it's nothing against ladies, but this is how he tells it. And there was a woman who railed against the use of lipstick. She said, no one should wear lipstick. But she was a terrible gossip. So what was she doing? She was majoring on the minors. She made lipstick this huge issue, almost a sin. But in fact, the major thing, gossip, which is very serious, she thought nothing of. She was quite a gossip. And sometimes people do that. The Bible says this. He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. These are the majors. And in our Christian lives, may we major on the major issues. And then also hidden sin. Now, the Pharisees and the scribes carefully hid their sins from others, but they kept an elaborate spiritual facade. Back where I lived in New England, we had salt on the roads, and as a result, we had rusty cars. And there was a type of car you could buy at a discount, which you would not be smart to do. And it was known as a Bondo Buggy. What's a Bondo Buggy? Well, it's a car with a nice, new, shiny coat of paint. It's a somewhat older car. The paint is smooth, but not totally. And if you look carefully, there's places that look like they've been filled in with Bondo, which is body filler. And what would happen is you'd hit a couple of potholes and the bondo would fall out and part of your car with it. And so a bondo buggy, I drove one, I owned one once, and it had a nice coat of paint, but it covered a real nightmare. And that can happen. And so as you think of the Pharisees and scribes had nothing to do with cars here, but hidden sin. And they were very, they worked very hard at hiding their sin. Verse 25, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside may become clean also. " One of my jobs at the Boy Scout camp, among many things, one year we got jobs in the kitchen. And I was not the chef, but the pot washer. That was the last stop for anything that was used in cooking. And of course, we were feeding 500 kids. It was a real, real busy place. And I would get this hot cocoa pot, big hot cocoa pot, with what on the bottom? Burned on hot cocoa. Now I could clean the outside of that pot in two seconds, beautiful shiny aluminum pot, but getting the inside clean, that was a job. You know, I just tried different things and eventually I couldn't give it back to the chef. Because he would give it back to me if there was anything stuck to the inside. So the outside was clean, but the inside had to be clean as well. And what Jesus is saying about the Pharisees and the scribes, they've done a good job of cleaning up their lives, even down to the clothes they wore, the language they used, the elaborate prayers that they would pray out on the street corner, all those things. But inside, the sin was still there. In fact, verse 27, he says, you are like whitewashed tombs. Clean on the outside, you appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Now, tombs were all over Jerusalem, and to kind of make them look better, they would put a coat of whitewash, and they'd look beautiful. You can imagine in that desert environment there, you just have that dry environment, those bright white tombs, just beautiful. But inside, of course, there are remains of people who have died, and in the biblical system, that's unclean. And so on the outside, beautiful tomb. On the inside, uncleanness. Jesus said, the Pharisees, the scribes were just like that. They had plenty of sin. They covered it up just like a whitewashed tomb, but the sin was still there. Now, the Lord Jesus knew their guilt and knew their sin. He knew they were planning to kill him. And when we think about it, hiding sin is something people have always tried. David tried it after his sins concerning Bathsheba, adultery and murder. And he said this, he tried to hide his sin. It looked like he'd succeeded. But he didn't because he knew it was there in his heart and God knew it was there. Verse three of Psalm 32. This is David's own testimony of this. When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. And he was not just sick. God was working for Day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with this fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I'll confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the guilt of my sin. And this is really the prescription for someone who has sinned. They think they've done a good job of hiding it. And the Lord, the Bible says, David says it from his own experience, confess it to God. He'll forgive. He'll take it away. You can make a new start. over again. So that is the indictments of the Pharisees, or the rebuke. Then we have the prophecy of the Pharisees. And now the Lord Jesus still focusing his attention on the Pharisees. He knows that they're going to kill him, he's predicted that, and this violence will not stop with his death. In fact he says here, In Matthew 23, he predicts the death that they're going to bring on him. He says here, verse 31, you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. So they're saying, we would never do what our ancestor did. We would never kill the prophets like that. But in fact, they have, and they will. In fact, he says this, verse 32, fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. And Jesus is saying he knows that they're planning to kill him And they are as guilty as their ancestors who built these beautiful tombs for the prophets as a way of covering up their guilt. But they didn't succeed. And so Jesus has exposed their guilt, and he's done that. So again, when we sin, don't try to hide it from the Lord. Confess it to him and be forgiven. So now we come to the prophecy of the Pharisees. And the Lord Jesus now has predicted that the Pharisees and scribes will have him killed. But this violence won't stop with Jesus' death. after his resurrection, after his ascension into heaven, the violence will continue. Verse 34, Therefore behold, I'm sending you prophets and 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. And the Lord Jesus is predicting now what's going to happen after he ascends into heaven, And the Pharisees and the scribes will continue with their violence during that time. And we know that's true from the book of Acts. Stephen was killed by the Jewish leaders for his preaching. Paul was persecuted for many years and others as well. All just as Jesus has predicted, all in the book of Acts. So the scribes and the Pharisees were Jesus' enemies, enemies of God, and they never did repent. Now there were some who did believe, but many did not. And then finally, number three, we have the city of the Pharisees. And the Lord Jesus now is going to turn his attention to Jerusalem, the city of the Pharisees. And just as the Pharisees rejected Jesus as their king, the city did as well. So he speaks to Jerusalem about their past. First, he speaks to them about their past. And what he says is that he loves lost sinners. Jesus loves lost sinners. Verse 37, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen And so the Lord Jesus loved the people of Jerusalem. They were God's chosen people, the people of Israel. He wanted to gather them up just as a mother hen would gather and protect her chicks. He wanted them to believe and be saved. But again, they would not do it. And like the Lord Jesus, we should have that love and concern for the lost person who doesn't know him and bring the gospel to that person as well. And then he turns to their future. And the message here is this, to reject Christ today brings judgment tomorrow. Jesus loved the people of Jerusalem, but they rejected him, and judgment would come to that city and the people in it. So again, he says, you were unwilling. They rejected him. Verse 38, behold, your house is being left to you desolate. Now he looks into the future. About not quite 40 years from that time, in the year 70 AD, the Roman general Titus was sent to Jerusalem to stop the uprising that just would not end there. after some time it was decided that the city had to be invaded, and eventually the city was destroyed, the temple was destroyed and burned, many people were killed, others were scattered out of the city, and that was the first huge scattering of Jews who never returned, and they scattered, they were gone out of the city, out of the land for nearly 2,000 years until 1948. And so there was a terrible, tremendous judgment that came on Israel and at that time because they had rejected their Savior and their King. God offers eternal life to any who would trust in Christ. Jesus said this, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. That's God's free offer for anyone. It's nothing to work for, nothing to earn. It's a free gift. But then he also says this in verse 18 of John 3. He who believes in him is not judged. There's no judgment for the one who has trusted in Christ. But he who does not believe has been judged already. Why is that? Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And so why would a lost person be judged? Because of the sin of unbelief. They reject Christ and that judgment is coming. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD is an historical fact, and it stands today as a sobering reminder of the consequences of rejecting Christ. Today is the day of salvation, and now is the time to receive Christ, to believe, and to be saved. And then finally, the Lord Jesus looks farther ahead into Israel's eternity. He said, and there is hope for Israel. That's the lesson here. There is hope for Israel. Now, John said this, he came to his own and his own received him not. And Israel had rejected her Messiah, her King, her Savior. And yet God was not through with his chosen people. The message here in the Lord Jesus says it himself, God has a future for Israel. Take a look at verse 39. He says, I say to you from now on, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is a prophetic prediction of what the people of Israel will say after our time in the church age. after the coming tribulation. But at the end of the tribulation, the beginning of the kingdom, when Jesus returns, a believing remnant of Israel will greet their King, their Messiah, their Savior, and they will say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Zechariah tells us what happens. I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication so that they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son and we bitterly over him like a bitter weeping over a firstborn. So there's going to be a great revival in Israel, in Jerusalem when Jesus returns. And this believing remnant will welcome him as Savior and King and Messiah. And they'll go into the kingdom and live for him and live with him for eternity. So many of God's own chosen people and their leaders rejected Jesus Christ when he came. But God is not through with Israel today. He has an amazing plan for them. His promises are real. He'll keep every one and there will always be In Israel, there will always be a Jerusalem and there will always be a people of Israel. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and how it tells us the things that really matter. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus teaching here. These are hard truths, but we thank you for the lessons we have from the negative examples of the Pharisees and scribes. help us to be unlike them and like Christ in all we do and say. And Father, we thank you for your chosen people. Thank you for the plan you have for them, that you are faithful and you will keep your promises. In Jesus' name, amen.