Matthew 23, verse 13. But woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. For ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses
for a pretense, make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive the
greater damnation. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you compass sea and land
to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold
more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you! ye blind guides,
which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, it's nothing.
But whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is
a debtor. Ye fools and blind, for whither
is greater the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And
whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing. But whosoever
sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilt. Ye fools
and blind, for whither is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies
the gift? Now in those verses, I'll call
your attention because they're kind of complicated the way he
states them here. What he's telling them is sin
is sin. But the danger when you begin
to categorize sin is that some sins then get excusable. They're permissible. And that's
what he's telling them here. You're saying that to do this
is permissible, but to do the other, you're guilty. In all
sin, you're guilty. I don't care what it is. Verse 20, Whoso therefore shall
swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whosoever 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 thereon. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint, and
anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the
law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you to have done,
and not to leave the other undone. You blind guides would strain
at a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrite, for you make clean the outside of the cup and the
platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the
cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto
whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward. but
are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness.
Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within
you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets
and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we'd
been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore, ye be witnesses
unto yourselves that ye are the children of them which kill the
prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of
your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of
vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore,
behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and
some of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them you
shall scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city
to city. that upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous
Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barthias, whom you
slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you,
all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them
which are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under
her wings, and you would not. Behold, your house is left unto
you desolate. For I say unto you, you shall
not see me henceforth till you shall say, Blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord. The words which I've just read
were spoken in public. They were not spoken in a private
council. He did not call the Pharisees
into a small room and counsel them privately. But these words
were spoken in public to the religious leaders of the Jews,
the scribes and Pharisees. They were spoken in the temple.
where crowds of people were gathered together, and he left no doubt
to whom he was talking to or what he was saying about them.
He spoke to them in the temple where they were the most highly
respected, in the place of honor. And there he condemned them publicly,
both them and their religion And he did it in the most contemptible
terms imaginable. No less than eight times in these
verses that I read to you, he uses this solemn phrase. And
you remember who he is. Woe unto you. This will one day be their judge.
Woe unto you. Seven times he calls them hypocrites. Twice he calls them blind. And then finally he denounces
them all together as serpents and those who followed them,
their proselytes, as a generation of vipers. These are the words
of our Lord. Why such public humiliation?
Why use such scathing language? Why? Could he not have been just
a little more considerate? Could he not have done this in
a little less embarrassing fashion? Could he not have chosen a more
private place, a more polite, civil, or an acceptable way of
doing this? Yes, he could. But that was not
what he intended to do. Not his intention to be polite
and civil, it was his intention to be heard. Folks get upset
at me all the time when I use contemptible language to describe
the religion of this world. And they say that I lack compassion,
and I lack love, and I lack common decency and courtesy. Well, let
me tell you something. You can accuse me of that, but
you can't accuse him. This one who used this language
against worldly religion against those who were hypocrites and
pretenders. He did no sin. He was perfect
in his motives. He was perfect in his heart. Listen to what he says at the
end of this. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how
oft would I have gathered, but you would not. You would not. Now, you think about the compassion
And yet, the contemptible language that he used. No man ever showed more compassion,
love, and kindness to sinners than this man. Now why did our
loving Savior use such judgmental language toward these men? Why
did He do that? Why did He do that? Well, I'll
give you three reasons. The glory of God. That's the
first reason. The first reason. The glory of
God. And the truth of God and the souls of men were all riding
in the balance. That's why. That's why. Now, I'll tell you something. These big logging trucks that
come by here, sometimes they even disturb the service when
they come by. I don't ever say anything about them. But if you,
somebody I knew, were sitting in the middle of the road and
this truck was coming down the road, I'd say something, wouldn't
you? Could you be cold-hearted enough just to stand back in
the shade and watch somebody get hit by a truck? That's why
I use such contemptible language towards religion because I know
something about the evil of it and the danger of it and the
fatality of it. He said, when you search sea
and land to make a proselyte, and he said, when you made him,
he's twofold more the child of hell than you are. Now, there's
eight things that our Lord tells us which make both them and their
religion contemptible to all who truly believe. The first
thing is this. They shut up the kingdom of heaven
against man. They close the door. They close
the door. How do they close the door? Well,
they close the door when they reject the redemption of Christ,
this particular redemption. You shut the door. If you reject the doctrine of
election, you shut the door. Now, there's none among fallen
men who seeketh after God. So if God don't choose you, you're
not going to choose Him. There's none that understandeth,
and there's none that seeketh after God. You slam the door
on election, you just shut the door to salvation, what you done. When you deny a particular redemption,
you deny the effectual redemption of Christ. Now if God loved all men and
Christ died for all men, then His love and His death meant
nothing. Is that right? That's exactly
right. And so those who shut the door
on that shut the door on God's mercy. Those who preach the works
of men over the grace of God, they shut the door. Grace is
an open door. Lection is an open door. Particular
redemption is an open door. You deny those things, you refuse
to preach those things, you shut the door on men. And that's the first thing I
see here. They didn't want to go in, but that wasn't enough
for them. They didn't want anybody else to go in either. You ever
notice that? Now God's sovereign, and no man
can actually prevent the Kingdom of God from taking its course.
He said none can stay His hand. He doeth according to His will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
But worldly religion does all that it can to keep needy sinners
from entering into a saving relationship with Christ. And they do that
by teaching things contrary to the truth of God, contrary to
the means of God. Now, I know that there are some
who question the means of preaching the gospel. They question that.
They question that. The preaching of the gospel.
It's plainly declared in the Word of God, but they still question
it. They question whether that's of God, or is this just one way
that God does? If you deny the means of God,
you've shut the door, ain't you? Huh? It said it pleased God through
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. But
if I tell men and women that that's not so, you can be saved
this way or this way or this way, I've done shut the door
on God's means. You see what I'm saying? You
take the truth of God and begin to replace it with options and
other things, you shut the door on God's mercy. And that's what
these men were doing. The disciples didn't realize
it. They still honored these men. They still wanted to give
place to these men. They thought these men were just
wrong on a few points. They didn't realize that these
men were serpents. They didn't realize that these
men were dangerous. That they served in the devil's
ministry. That's right. That's right. And
so this is why our Lord stood up publicly. He stood up in the
temple. In the temple. And He gave them
these eight woes. They do everything in their power
to keep men and women from hearing God's messengers and the gospel
of God's grace which they preach. And they can't defend their message
or means by the Word of God, so they slander. slander. That's how they do it. They slander.
They came in the previous chapter and tried everything they could
try. They allied with their own enemies,
with the Sadducees. And they approached Christ with
these lawyers and all these things, trying to trick Him and trap
Him. Because they couldn't defend their message, so they'd slander
Him. They tried to set Him up. Finally,
they wound up having to hire false witnesses against Him.
Now you think about that. And the world listened to the
false witnesses. In John 5, verse 43, our Lord
said of these same men, He said, If another shall come in his
own name, him you will receive. Everything about worldly religion
seems right to the fallen man. It just seems right. That is
why another can come in His own name and they will receive Him. Listen to the Scriptures. Proverbs
30, verse 12. This is a generation that are
pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness. They are pure in their own eyes. Now, nobody can be pure in their
own eyes. who hadn't been washed from their
filthiness, but a pretender and a hypocrite. That's what he tells. Proverbs 16, verse 25, there
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. And then Paul warns the Colossians,
he said, beware, lest any man's folly through philosophy and
vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudimentary
principles of the world, and not after Christ. Actually, the
Gospel is contrary to the flesh. The flesh can't stand spiritual
truth. It's like fingernails on a blackboard. It just can't tolerate. It can
tolerate any kind of foolishness under the sun on the TV. But
you tell the flesh, you declare to the flesh the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And those principles lay down
in this book, and it just goes all over. You ever seen that? Beware. Beware. In Galatians 1, verse 11, Paul
said, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. It's not after his applause.
It's not after his feelings. It's not after his logic. It's
not after his natural inclinations. It's not after man. It's the
declaration and commandment of God. That's what it is. And describing those who reject
the gospel of Christ, Paul wrote, the natural man, the natural
man, That man left to himself, that man with no inward change,
that man who has not the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God, the
natural man, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Why wouldn't he receive
these free gifts? They're free. They're free. They're merciful. These are gifts
of God's grace. Why wouldn't he receive them?
Because of their foolishness. Foolishness unto Him. Natural religion appeals to natural
men who naturally receive it. False religion does everything
in its power to prevent men and women from entering into the
Kingdom of God. And then secondly, he calls these
men pretentious. Pretentious. Now let me tell
you something. We can pretend without knowing
it. Yes, you can. You can be deceived. But if there's
no true work of God in you, everything you do is a pretense, isn't it? Is that right? If there's no
work in me and I say there's a work in me, I'm a pretentious
man. And I may not know it. I might
be as serious as a heart attack. But if there ain't no work in
there, There's no other way for me to describe it except under
pretense, under pretense. Now, it's either Satan deceiving
me into this pretense, or it's I myself pretending one or the
other. Either one is as fatal as the
other. They pretend by their costumes
and public prayer to be servants of God. And these men take advantage
of the poor and the unexpected. And most of what passes today
in the way of public evangelism on the airways is geared for
causing their hearers to send money. Isn't that what he said? Before he talks about this pretense,
he talks about them devouring widows' houses. How do they do
that? By making pretense. That's how. Making pretense. Somehow you
have to convince your audience that you're of God. That you're
a godly man. That you're more godly than anybody
else around. You need their gifts. You need
their gifts. After the raising of Lazarus
from the tomb, These same men, these chief priests and Pharisees,
had a council. They had a meeting right after
he raised him from the dead. And they said, if we leave him
alone, if we leave this Jesus of Nazareth alone, we don't bother
him, if we don't interfere, if we don't find some way to stop
him, all men will believe on him. And then the Romans are
going to come, and they're going to take away our place. We're
going to lose our jobs. We're going to lose our jobs.
and we're going to lose our nation. False religion is full of pretense,
and it's geared to deceive men and women for their applause
and for their support. And then the third thing our
Lord says about these men is that their religion is damning
to the souls of men. I've had lots of folks over the
years tell me about their sons and daughters moving away into
the military, going here and going there. And I said, well,
do they go to church? Well, there's a Southern Baptist
church there. I know they're not preaching
the truth, but it's better than nothing. Oh, no, it ain't. Nothing
is a lot better. It's a lot better. These men,
when their work's finished, you're two-fold more the child of hell
than they are. It's damning to the souls of
men. False religion is damning to
the souls of men. It's poison. Of course, worldly
religion is the most dangerous enemy an unexpecting sinner can
have. Your adversary, Paul said, the
devil, or Peter, has a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom
he may devour. And false religion has Satan
as its father, and its ways are his ways. It's damning to yourself. And then the fourth thing our
Lord says about these religious pretenders is that they compromise
the Word of God with their explanations. I know that there's things that
need explained. I know sometimes we have to take
a word like divers, and that's not a word we use in our everyday
language today, and we have to define it. And there's other
things that when we're dealing with it, we have to define it.
But when it comes to explanations, the gospel is a revelation. It's not an explanation. It's
a revelation. If God gives you the revelation
of Christ, he'll give you understanding. He'll give to you understanding.
You'll understand what these things mean. You'll understand
why they had to be this way or that way. But when you start categorizing
things, like sin, this is what they did. They put sin up here,
and now they're going to tell you what this sin is. And every,
I don't care if it's Catholic or Protestant, every church who's
ever attempted to do that, they wind up telling the folks that
it's OK to do this. OK to do this. But it's not OK
to do this. All of these from this point
are so low, God won't even pay attention to them. But from this
point on, look out. And that's what these men were
teaching the people. And the Lord said, you're going
over the deep end here. Sin is sin. If it's a tiny sin
or a great sin, sin is sin. Back in Matthew 5, verses 35
and 36, our Lord plainly declared that it was not alright to swear. It's wrong. Plainly told. But here's these
Pharisees saying, now if you swear on this, it's okay, but
if you swear by that, it ain't. You see what I'm trying to say?
And they do this all along. They find compromise in all the
doctrines, little by little by little. They compromise the Word of God. And actually, sin is a nature. It's a nature. It makes everything
we do an abomination to God. Sin is
a nature. Sin will turn your prayers into
an evil act. Sin will turn your worship into
an abomination. Sin turns your righteousnesses
into filthy rags. Sin is a nature and it affects
all that you do. And then fifthly, our Lord describes
the religion of the hypocrite as one which exalts trifles and
overlooks the weighty things. Verse 23, these men were fanatics
about tithing, but they overlook things like judgment, and mercy,
and faith. He said, you blind guides, you
strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. And that's exactly,
they weren't talking about the little cigarette. He's talking
about the animal. They swallow it. Swallow a camel. The religion of this world, both
then and now, completely overlooks the judgment of God. God's judgment
of Adam and the human race in the garden, the judgment of God
in the reprobation of evil men, the judgment of God in catastrophes. Oh, that's not God. Let's don't
pin that on God just because a hurricane comes. You could really have
comfort and peace thinking that nature is just free to do what
it will? I tell you, if I believed that,
I'd go home and get me a chair and pull it over by the window,
turn the weather channel on, and I'd just look out the window
and look at the weather channel. I'd just keep looking. I'd be
scared to death. Judgment of God in the last day. Me and I'll preach for a national
recognition a good Friday. and ban the eating of meat, but overlook the judgment of
God. The religion of this world denies
the sovereign, eternal mercy of God, but demands the consent
of all men to the doctrine of man's free will. The religion
of this world, both then and now, overlooks completely the
divine gift of faith, but demands a universal consent to the works
of man in the salvation of his soul. And then, sixthly, he describes
their conversion as outward rather than inward. There has to be
an inward change before there's any outward change. Has to be
an inward change. And that outward change is the effect of what happens
inside. And it has to be that way. If
it's not that way, then it's an abomination to God, because
then it turns into the work of men rather than the work of God.
And most of what goes by the name of Christianity in our day
is no more than just ceremonial worship and outward reform. And
then the seventh thing our Lord says of worldly religion, false
religion, is that it always seeks the approval of men. That's what
it's geared for. It's geared for men. It's not
geared to honor God. It's not geared to glorify God.
It's geared for your approval and for your acceptance. And
that's why you have to be careful what you say. Everything in and about false
religion is to be seen and honored of men. And everything about
true religion is there for the glory of God. And then last of all, our Lord
points out that all false religion despises the gospel. They despise
it. They kill the prophets. They
kill them. They persecute them. They put
them to death. And as soon as they die, as soon
as they die, they honor them. I tell you, Paul and Peter and
these men who were hounded by these Jews, I couldn't tell you
the contemptible language that they used on these men. As soon
as they died, they called them saints. That's Saint Paul and
Saint Peter, Saint Luke, all these things. You can hear them
talk about them yet today. Same thing. But look at how they
treat the living prophets. That's what our Lord said. They
despise the gospel. And so he tells them, that I've
exercised my means. I've sent you prophets. I've
sent you men. And I stand before you even now. And I would, as a mother hen
gathers her chicks, I would gather you. But you won't do it. You won't come. You won't receive
me. You won't have me. You won't
bow to me. And now behold, verse 38, your
house is left desolate. desolate, empty, vain, condemned,
waiting for the penalty to be carried out. And that's it. And
I tell you almost every time I stand up here, I warn you about
false religion. It's condemned of God. The wrath
of God abides on it. And it's deadly to your soul.
Leave them alone. That's what our Lord said. Leave
them alone.