by reading scripture as our custom
is, if you'd like to turn in your Bibles. Psalm 119, beginning
at verse 88. Quicken. For those of you who
don't know, and I think most of you do know, that means made
alive. Make alive. Quicken me after
thy lovingkindness, so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all
generations. Thou hast established the earth,
and it abideth. They continue this day according
to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. Unless thy
law had been my delight, I should then have perished in mine affliction. I will never forget thy precepts,
for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine, save me, for
I have sought thy precepts. I highly encourage you to have
your Bibles with you this evening, open to the book of Matthew,
chapter 23. But we have everything provided
tonight in our handout, including our text. But I encourage you
to have your Bibles open, because you may want to look. It's amazing
how the Lord will guide our minds, not just all in the same direction,
but each of us individually. You know, He's God, He can do
that. And I can recall many a time sitting there, and even now today,
I was sitting with Brother Norm Wednesday night. A couple of
words that he was bringing out, and all of a sudden the Lord
gives me something to think about, and I jump into the word where
maybe right next to what Norm was speaking about, and read
verses before and after. So that's why I encourage you
to always have your Bibles open. We may put it in the handout
to read it, but that's only to keep us from having to jump back
and forth and that we can spend more time concentrating on the
Word rather than the time it takes to move back and forth
in the Bible. So let's begin by reading the
first, starting in page one of our handout. And our title tonight's
study, Woe Unto Man's Religion. standing in the midst of the
temple. Get a picture of this. Standing
in the midst of the temple, in the middle of the temple there.
As we read back in verse 1 of chapter 23. Then spake Jesus
to the multitude and to his disciples. After addressing his own disciples
and the multitude around him, while he had the ear of the people,
Our Lord Jesus Christ turned to the scribes and the Pharisees
and in the most public manner possible denounced and condemned
them with these harsh words. These words were not spoken secretly.
Nor did he call the scribes and Pharisees aside for a private
conversation. Rather, he went into the temple
where they were regularly taught by the people, or where they
regularly taught the people, where they were most highly respected. And there he publicly condemned
both them and their religion in the harshest of terms imaginable. Eight times he called them hypocrites. Twice, he calls them blind fools. And lastly, he denounces them
as serpents and a generation of vipers. Have you ever wondered
why the Lord would use such harsh language? Could not the Lord
have said the same thing in a more polite, more loving, more acceptable
tone maybe? Of course he could. But it was
not his intention. to be polite, civil, or acceptable. It was his intention to be heard.
Remember, these are the words of the one man, the one preacher,
whose love, and forgive me for the spelling there, whose love
and goodness cannot be called into question. Everybody knows
that Jesus is a God of love. You cannot question that. Why
did our Lord choose to use such scathing language to denounce
and condemn those men and the religion they taught? Here's
why. Because the glory of God, the
truth of God, in fact, the very word of God. was at stake. Listen to these words from John
17, verse 17 through 19. Sanctify them through thy what? Truth. There's only one truth. Sanctify them through thy truth,
as thou hast sent me into the world, even so I have also sent
them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."
That's John 17, 17 through 19. The solemn truth to be learned
from this passage is quite clear. The doctrines The religion, the
spirit, and the practices of the scribes and the Pharisees
are an abomination in the sight of God. Plain and simple. That's
what he calls it. The religions of the world are
contemptible to God and should be to us as well. Yet let us
never forget the dark pit of religion. our great Savior delivered
us from. Page two. As we consider these
woes our Lord proclaims, let us always remember all of us
to some degree or another at one time were in the same boat
as these whom the Lord speaks of. So first, let's consider
the first woe. They shut up the kingdom. Our
Lord condemns these religious leaders for shutting up the kingdom
of heaven. And we have that right here,
verse 13 of Matthew 23, where it says, but woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men. For ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer you them that are entering to go in. Now, of
course, No man is able to literally shut up the kingdom of heaven,
the kingdom which God Almighty builds no man shall hinder. Yet many, like the scribes of
the Pharisees, persuade willing men not to hear those who preach
the gospel, and not to believe that which is obviously the truth
of holy scriptures. That is what the scribes and
the Pharisees did. They rejected the message of
John the Baptist. They refused the doctrine of
Christ. And they tried to keep anyone
from hearing and believing the Lord Jesus Christ and the Son
of God. Isn't that what they sent Paul
out with letters for? Was to persecute those who were
preaching Christ and Him crucified? Those who were preaching the
truth? Our Lord says in the book of John, He says to Peter, Matthew
16, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven, And
I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail.
And we know that this rock that the Lord is speaking of is that
Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, as Peter had answered.
We understand that nothing, by what we just read there in the
book of Matthew chapter 16, that nothing can, the gates of hell
shall not prevail against he who builds his church. So the
kingdom of God, which Almighty built, no man shall hinder. Yet
many, like the scribes and the Pharisees, persuade willing men,
we're back in mid page two, shall persuade willing men not to hear
those who preach the gospel, and not to believe that which
is obviously the truth of Holy Scripture. That is what the scribes
and the Pharisees did. They rejected the message of
John the Baptist. They refused the doctrine of
Christ, and they tried to keep anyone from hearing and believing
the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Secondly, they had
a pretentious religion. Our Savior condemned these men
for being pretentious, abusive, and self-serving. Woe unto you,
it says in verse 14. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites
again, for you devour widows' houses and for a pretense make
long prayer. In other words, pretending that
they're holy, making everyone to believe that, oh, look how
holy I am, making long prayer. Therefore, ye shall receive the
greater damnation. These men wearing the mask of
piety and devotion devoured widows' houses. They took advantage of
the most unsuspecting. Does that not sound like what
the world is today? I'm not afraid to mention Joel
Oglesteen has seven different jets. Who do you think pays for
those jets? The poor that come to his church
for hope. They took everything they could
get from the weak, unprotected, elderly women. The slickest and
the most vile conmen in the world are those who run a scam upon
the souls of men to enrich themselves. Stop there for just a moment.
I remember one time I was sitting in a hotel room in Oregon with
a couple of other drivers. We'd gone up to Oregon, spent
the night, and come back. One of them's father was a, uh,
a pastor for a Southern Baptist church. And I asked him, I said,
well, do you go to church now that you're older? He said, no,
I quit going when I was 16, after I heard a conversation between
my dad and the elders. And I said, what was that all
about? And he says, I was sitting in the next room, and I heard
him sitting around the kitchen table conjuring up ways they
could grow their church so they could have more money to build
more stuff for the church. so that his dad could have more
money in his pocket. They could give him a raise,
and he could earn more money to put his family through whatever
it is they needed at that time. That's what this is talking about.
The most vile con men in the world are those who run a scam
upon the souls of men to enrich themselves. Men who enrich themselves
back in their handout by the work of the ministry are not
God's servants, and they are not ministering to the people.
They are using them. God's servants come to serve
the souls of men, not to be served by them. Listen to these words
of Matthew 20, verse 26 through 28. But it shall not be so among
you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant. even as the Son of Man came not
to be a minister unto, but to minister and to give His life
a ransom for many." Remember what it says over in Philippians
chapter 2, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and
took upon Him the form of a servant? That's our Lord and Savior. Listen
to these next words here, bottom page two. For we are not as many
which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity. But as of
God and the sight of God speak we, page three, in Christ. I kind of messed that up a little
bit, didn't I? That's all right. 2 Corinthians 2, 17. And this
one here in 2 Corinthians 4, 5. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. Thirdly, He gives them a woe
of false religion. The Son of God condemns the scribes
and Pharisees and all of their successors in today's world for
destroying the souls of men with false religion. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites. There's a third time for the
hypocrites. For ye encompass sea and land to make one prophet
alike. And when he is made, you make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." That's
verse 15. You know the biggest thing that
I ever heard of my mother about that church in Pollock Pines? I think I've shared this with
you before. Every time I talk to her about what, you know,
I would ask her, you know, how to go to church today. Oh, we
brought 13 people to the Lord today. I think I shared this
with you, too. She got real mad at me when I
asked her. I said, how many of those 13 were the same that you
fed last week? They feed the homeless up there.
I'm not putting that down. I'm thankful they do. But that's
not the gospel. And if I was hungry and needing
to eat food, I would go there as well and say, I'm getting
called again to the Lord. Why not? I'm getting fed. It's
not costing me anything. Back in our handout again, page
three. Our Lord is not condemning what is commonly called proselytizing. If you care for men's souls,
you will do everything within your power to make proselytes
of them. That is, to bring them out of false religion to the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we do by preaching
Christ and Him crucified. It's not the encompassing of
of the land and the sea to make a disciple that our Lord condemns,
he commands us in Matthew 28 verses 18 through 20 to go into
all the world and preach the gospel. What he's condemning
here is the destruction of men's souls by false religion, causing
others to believe a false gospel. Listen to this, O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you, says Paul, that ye should not obey
the truth. before whose eyes Jesus hath
been evidently set forth, crucified among you." That's Galatians
3, chapter 3, verse 1. Getting people to make a profession
of faith who have not experienced grace, giving people a false
peace and false assurance and then a false hope. You know,
that's why you see the same people coming down to the front of those
churches. Have you ever sat and watched one of those services?
It's the same people that come down. My sister's been down to
the front and she's been baptized five times. Why do they keep
coming to baptism? Why do they keep coming down
to the front? It's because they have a false hope. Their hope
is not in Christ, but in what they're doing. Deceitful religious
leaders, back in our handout. do not do what they do from a
desire to benefit the souls of men or to bring them to the knowledge
of the living God. Their object is to swell their
own ranks, build their churches, increase the number of their
disciples, and to make themselves a name. Their religious zeal
arises not from a desire for the glory of God or the salvation
of men's souls, but from their own self-serving interest. Fourthly,
we see the Lord condemning them for categorizing sin. He condemns
the scribes and the Pharisees for categorizing sin. Listen
to these words. Woe unto you, ye blind guides! which say, whosoever shall swear
by the temple, it is nothing. But whosoever shall swear by
the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. He fools and blind
for whether it is greater the gold or the temple that sanctifyeth
the gold. And whosoever shall swear by
the altar, it is nothing. But whosoever sweareth by the
gift that it is upon it, he is guilty. fools and blind, for
whether is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifyeth the
gift. Whoso therefore shall swear by
the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And who
shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth
therein. And he that shall swear by heaven,
sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth on the
throne." Folks, our Lord plainly declares that we're not to swear
at all. But I say unto you, swear not
at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the
earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it
is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy
head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. Matthew 5, 34 through 36. The
scribes and the Pharisees taught that some swearing was all right.
That's what the Lord said back there in verse 16 through 22.
They say it's OK. You just can't do the gold. Our
Lord says don't do it at all. They were teaching that it was
all right, that it was sometimes OK to take God's name in vain,
so long as one did not swear by the gold in the temple's coffers
or the gifts upon the altar. Let a man, a church, or denomination
forsake the teachings of Christ, and it is impossible to place
a limit upon the heresies and the foolishness to which they
will turn. Without question, some sins are
more grave than others. Some will be punished more severely
than others. But whenever self-righteous religious
men start defining and categorizing sin, they make the Word of God
of non-effect and imply that certain sins, lesser sins, are
permissible. Someone once stated that 10 commandments
are not 10 suggestions, but 10 commandments. And they are not
multiple choice. We also see this fifth point,
where the scribes and the Pharisees, like the religionists in the
world today, exalted small things while ignoring the most important. For that, they were condemned.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe
of mint and anise, and come and have omitted, page five, and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy,
and faith. These ought ye to have done.
and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides which strain
at a gnat and swallow a camel. Verses 23 through 24. They put
the last things first, is what they were doing, and the first
things last. They made a great issue about
tithing, even on the herbs of their gardens. That would have
been OK, except for one thing. They ignored judgment, mercy,
and faith. the justice of God, the mercy
of God, and the faith in Christ. Can you imagine anything that
more properly describes this religious generation today? Religious people in our day,
like the scribes and the Pharisees, are very particular about outward
form of godliness. They place great importance on
the outward behavior. dress codes, tithing, church
attendance, and countless customs and traditions while ignoring
the most basic elements of the gospel and of true religion,
the sanctification of justice by the sacrifice of Christ. Listen
to these words from Romans 3, verse 24 through 26. Being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through
the forbearance of God, to declare," I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. That's what's important. That
right there, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus through his
blood, through faith in his blood. This is what's important. Listen
to this. They ignore the mercy of God
flowing to the needy sinners through the sacrifice. Listen
to how important it is here in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins. This is what's important. according
to the riches of His grace. And they disregard faith in Christ. Listen to this from 2 Timothy
1, verse 9 through 10. Who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and brought life and immortality to life through the gospel."
Page six. The religion of the scribes and
the Pharisees was condemned by Christ because it was an outward
religion of rituals and ceremonies rather than an inward spiritual
heart worship of God. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees
and hypocrites, for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of
the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the
outside of them may be clean also. For most people, Christianity
is an outward system of creeds confessions and ceremonies, but
Christianity, while never ignoring God's instructions nor His ordinances,
is primarily an inward spiritual matter of the heart. Listen to
1 Samuel 16.7, But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his
countenance, for on the height of his stature, nor on the height
of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth
not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. It's a heart matter. Listen to Romans 10, verse 9
through 10. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth unto the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Philippians 3
verse 3, For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit,
and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh. Our seventh woe for tonight,
our Lord condemns as utter hypocrisy all religion that has for its
object the approval of men. Now before we read that, I just
want to point something out. I've not met one of God's ministers,
not one, who preaches the truth, who likes to stand at the back
of the church except men as they walk by to make their comments
of what they make. Not one. And I'm included in
that. That was the most difficult thing
for me to get used to, was standing at the back of the church when
people exited. Pastor Gene had to teach me that
it's not me. It's not about me back there.
It's about what the Lord spoke to the hearts of his people as
they leave the church, to give the pastor a word of, that was
a great message. It talked to my heart in this
way or that way. I had to learn that. Not one
single minister, and I think Norm would agree with me about
this, not one minister of God's truth I know of likes being back
there, but we have to for the people who have heard God's message.
Now, let's look at the words there at the bottom of page 6.
Matthew 23, 27 through 28. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye are like unto white sepulchers, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones. and of all uncleanness. Even
so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within
you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." Page 7. The religious
works and ceremonies which are performed and promoted to show
men how holy, zealous, and devoted they are, are an abomination
to God. That's what we just read there.
Listen to Luke 16, 15, ye are they which justify yourselves
before men. But God knoweth your hearts,
for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in
the sight of God. A true child of God simply walks
with and serves our God and Savior. We seek to live for his glory. And really, it doesn't matter
whether anyone other than God himself sees it. We want to glorify
our Father before men, to live honestly, to do justly, to walk
humbly with our God by faith in Christ. But we do not want
men to look at us and say, oh, there's a truly humble man or
woman who lives for the glory of God. If we seek the approval
of men, we are not seeking the honor of God and do not believe
God. John 5 verse 44, how can you
believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor
that cometh from God only. The eighth thing the Son of God
here condemns As a crooked and perverse generation is a snake
of snakes and vipers, all who exalt the names and honor of
dead prophets while despising those who preach and teach the
gospel, the message of those prophets. What was the message
of those prophets? In Luke chapter 24, we read what
the message was. Verse 27, and beginning at Moses,
this is the prophets. This is the prophets that the
Lord is talking about right there. In beginning of Moses and all
the prophets, he, the Lord Jesus, expounded unto them, the two
men, in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. That's what preaching Christ
and him crucified is. Yet people hate us for preaching
that very thing. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites again, because you build the tombs of the prophets
and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. And say, if we
had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers
with them in 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 a measure of
your fathers, ye serpents, ye generation of vipers. How can
ye escape the damnation of hell? That's our text, verses 29 through
33. The scribes and the Pharisees built monuments to dead prophets
and revered the memories of God's saints who lived in other ages.
But by their treatment of Christ, his disciples, and his people,
they demonstrated that they were of one mind with those who killed
the prophets. Religious serpents. We have now
seen eight solemn woes denounced upon the very men who trusted
in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. These stern words of condemnation
were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, the meekest man who ever
walked this earth, the one who was in the very embodiment of
meekness and humility. They were made by that man by
whom God shall judge the world in righteousness in the last
days, as we read in Acts 17 31. And I leave that for you to read
on your own. He calls these men and all who
follow them by names which identify them as a people whose father
is that old serpent, the devil. whose damnation is sure. He says, ye serpents, ye generation
of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Nothing
is more damning to the souls of men than self-righteous works
religion. We read in the Word of God about
many who were converted by God's almighty grace. We read about
idolaters, harlots, thieves, publicans, soldiers, and many
who are possessed of devils have made everlasting trophies of
God's omnipotent grace. But in all the Word of God, we
find only two Pharisees who were converted. Nicodemus, and Saul
of Tarsus. And I've listed several scriptures
listed for you there. In your own time, you can go
read those. Two Pharisees. Only two are set before us in
Holy Scripture who escaped the damnation of hell. Aren't you
thankful? Thank God there were two, lest
any despair. How did these religious serpents
manifest their hatred of the Son of God? What did they do
to bring upon themselves such tremendous words of condemnation? They were not immoral in their
outward behavior. They could not be charged with
any open sins. They prided themselves in being
very moral. They did not neglect the ordinances
of divine worship, either in public or in private. They prayed
three times a day, fasted twice a week, paid tithes on everything
they obtained, and went to church every time the doors were open.
I know many like that in today's world as well. What was it then
that brought upon these men the Lord's most severe words of condemnation? It was their proud self-righteousness,
their legal righteousness, that caused them to despise the righteousness
of God in Christ. How dare you tell me I have no
righteousness of my own. That's exactly what it was. Page
nine. Following after the righteousness
of the law, going about to establish their own righteousness, such
men show both their ignorance of God's righteousness and their
determination never to submit themselves to the righteousness
of God in Christ. Listen to Romans 10.4. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. And that's not all. They taught
others to do the same. Remember what we read back in
the first verses there, verse 13? They shut up the kingdom
of heaven against men. The Lord told them that they
compassed the sea and the land to make one proselyte. And when
this was done, they made him twofold more the child of hell
than themselves. They were teaching false religion
to willing believers of lies. That is, they labored to undermine
the necessity of salvation by Christ, and setting up and teaching
others to do the same. a righteousness of their own.
And thus, by denying the fall of man and the necessity of recovery,
by grace they set up the kingdom of Satan, and like children of
hell, fought against the kingdom of grace. Nothing is so completely
opposed to the gospel of God. Nothing is so opposed to the
cross of Christ. Nothing so despises the blood
and righteousness of Christ. Nothing is so hardening to the
heart of a man. Nothing is so damning to the
souls of men. Nothing is so obnoxious to God
in heaven as self-righteousness. When teachers and preachers and
religious leaders of any age are engulfed in the darkness
and delusion of self-righteous free will works. How great is
the darkness of that generation. God hates hypocrisy and the show
of religion. Let us ever pray as David did,
let my heart Be sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed. Psalm 119 verse 80. Let us be
found in Christ, not having any righteousness of our own, but
only that which is accomplished by the faithfulness of Christ,
our surety, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Next week, or two weeks from
now, we'll finish off chapter 23. And then we're going to see
our Lord's works in detail of what He has done for you and
I. rather than leaving us to ourselves
as these Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes were by His grace. We are saved. Amen.