Would you turn with me to the
23rd chapter of the book of Matthew? I'd like to read the first 33
verses. This is the Lord's last message
to the multitude. He had other instructions for
his disciples after this, but this was his last public message
to the multitude. And this was the message that
made the Pharisees say, we're putting him out of business.
We're not going to listen to this anymore. And he was crucified
a couple of days later after this particular message. So the
Pharisees, before I read it, remember the Pharisees represent
man's religion. I don't care if it's Buddhist
or Catholic or Baptist or Methodist or whatever it is, man's religion. The word Pharisee means separated
one. You think that something that
you do separates you from somebody else. And as we're going to see,
the Lord had nothing good to say to the Pharisees. I mean,
it's scary the way he speaks to them. If I would speak to
anybody like this, I'd get in trouble, and you would too, but
the Lord did. Let's read this message together,
beginning in verse 1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude
and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat, all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe,
that observe and do, but do not ye after their works, for they
say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens,
and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders,
but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
But all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make
broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief
seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and
to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi, for
one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ. But
he that's greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself
shall be exalted. But woe unto you. Can you imagine
if the Lord said woe unto you? I want you to put yourself in
these fellows' place. Oh, to hear him say woe to you. Now let's go on reading. He says
this seven times. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. For 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,
and for pretense make long prayers. 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, you blind guides,
which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it's nothing.
But whosoever shall swear by the gold in the temple, he's
a debtor, it's binding, you fools and blind. For whether it's greater
the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold. Whosoever
shall swear by the altar, it's nothing, but whosoever sweareth
by the gift that's upon the altar, he's guilty, you fools and blind. For whether it's greater, the
gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift. Whosoever, 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 alms, and cumin, 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, you blind guides,
which strain in that, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you may clean the outside
of the cup of the platter, but within they're full of extortion
and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which is within the cup of the platter, then that
the outside may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you're all like whited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward. but within are full of dead men's
bones and of all uncleanness. Even so, you 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 the measure of your fathers, you
serpents, you generation of vipers. How can you escape the damnation
of hell? Is there more scathing passage
of scripture in all of the Word of God than that? in Christ's
message to the Pharisees. Seven times he calls them, in
this public address, hypocrites. Three times, blind guides. You claim to be teachers of men
and you're nothing more than blind guides. fools and blind. Thou blind Pharisee, you're a
whited sepulcher, a whitewashed tomb, children of hell. And he ends up with these words
in verse 33, you serpents, you generation of vipers, How can
you escape the damnation of hell? And this is the one who knew. Now, what I'd like to attempt
to do in looking at this description he gives of false religion is see that the antithesis The
polar opposite of what he says regarding false religion is true
concerning true religion, if that word can be used. True religion
and false religion contrasted. Now first, in Matthew chapter
23, one for four, we see that here's a mark of false religion. They say, and they do not. Verse three, all therefore whatsoever
they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their
works, for they say, and they do not. They tell you about all
the things you need to do and they don't do any of them. They've got plenty of good advice.
They can tell you how to straighten up your life and they can tell
you what you need to do, but they do nothing. It's what's called hypocrisy. The next time you hear some religious
person telling you about all the things that you need to do,
Remember, this man is a hypocrite. What he's telling you to do,
he does not do. Don't be impressed. What he's
telling you to do, without exception, he does not do. They say and they do not. They will put others under the
law when they themselves are utterly lawless in their own
lives. Now you just write this down.
This is the mark of a Pharisee. They say, they tell you what
to do. They'll even tell you to believe,
but they never believe. They'll tell you to repent, but
they never repent. They don't even know what the
words mean. They pick them up out of the scriptures. They say,
and they do not. Verse 5, but all their works,
notice that word all, but all their works they do for to be
seen of men. They're putting on a show. I
mean, some go so far as to wear religious clothing. They make
broad their phylacteries. Anytime you see anybody wearing
religious clothing of any kind, write this down. He's a phony. He's trying to present some kind
of image. He's controlled by the lust of
the eyes. He does what he does to impress
men. He wants others to be impressed
with him. He loves recognition. He loves
greetings in the market to be called of men. Rabbi, Rabbi,
we want to hear what you have to say. Come teach us. His religion
is dominated by impressing men. No desire to tell the truth of
God, but simply to impress men. Verse 12, here's the bottom line. Whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted. Human religion is about self-exaltation. If I'm in works religion, I'm
in a religion that gives man the glory. That's all there is
to it. You give man the glory. Now let
me give you a real solid, concrete example of this. If I believe
that Jesus Christ died for everybody and some of those people he died
for or saved And some of those people he died for are lost.
You know what I'm doing? I'm giving man the glory in salvation. Now somebody says, I'm not doing
that. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are. There's no way
around it. Any doctrine that exalts the
flesh, that gives man any glory, is human religion. Who gets the
glory? In my salvation, who gets the
glory. I have no doubt that I'm a trophy
of His grace alone. He gets all the glory. But in
human religion, somehow, the religion of the Pharisee, something
you have done has separated you from others. Verse 13, But woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves,
Neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." Now in human
religion, in Pharisee religion, in false religion, nobody enters
the kingdom of heaven. You know what that means? Nobody
is saved. that believes that doctrine,
that there's something that you can do to separate you from others. Those who believe that do not
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Those who are influenced to believe
what they say don't enter in either. Now, this is how serious
this is. There is no salvation in human religion, in works religion. If I'm in works religion, I will
not be saved. If I'm not saved, you know what
that means? That means I'm going to spend eternity in hell. Now
that's how serious this thing is. They don't enter the kingdom
of heaven. Look in verse 14. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses,
and for pretense, for so make long prayer, therefore you shall
receive the greater damnation. For pretense, For a cover-up,
long prayers are made, but you've got some other motive, you've
got some other agenda. You want to get what belongs
to those widows. It's a religion of personal gain. For a pretense, you make these
long prayers that everybody can see and everybody is indeed impressed
with. What a prayer life that man has! How dedicated he is!
How devoted he is! But underneath it all, it's a
desire for personal gain. Now, there's not many TV preachers
anymore, but you remember back in the 80s and 90s when it was
a big thing, Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggart and all those fellas
and the TV preachers. Somebody says, well, you're a
TV preacher. I know I am, but not one of those guys. Here's
the point. Do you know how they funded their
big, quote, ministries? Widows. Widows. So many times, hearing of widows
sending money to these men. And the Lord tells us these men
are going to receive the greater damnation. Now those are the
words of the Lord. That tells us how serious this is. They'll
receive greater damnation. Verse 15. Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea and land to make
one parcelite. And when he's made, You make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourself. What is the
big emphasis of human religion? Growth. Converts. Proselytes. Let's see how big
we can come. Let's see how many we can have.
Proselytes. And when you make that proselyte,
when you make that convert, the Lord says you'll make him twofold
more the child of hell than yourself. Now that is what happens in human
religion. Indeed, they're proselytes, they're
converts. But when they're made, twofold more the child of hell
than yourself. Beginning in verse 16, we're
going to read 16 through 22. Woe unto you, you blind guides,
which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, it's nothing,
it's non-binding. If you say you'll give this gift
and you swear by the temple, it's okay if you don't keep your
promise. It's not binding. You don't have to give. But whosoever shall swear by
the gold in the temple, he's a debtor. You've got to give
that gift then. It's binding. Now, the temple
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. The gold is the gift we've given.
And what's more important, the temple or our gift? Well, if
you just swear by the temple, it's non-binding. It doesn't
even matter. What's more important is the gift I give. My gift,
my vow, my promise is binding. Verse 17, you fools and blind,
for whether it's greater the gold or the temple that sanctifies
the gold. It's the temple that's greater.
That's what makes the gold acceptable. That's what makes my gift acceptable.
But they put more emphasis on their gift than the temple itself.
Verse 18, and whosoever shall swear by the altar, that's the
place of sacrifice. It's nothing. It doesn't make
any difference. If you don't keep your promise,
it's okay. It's non-binding. But whosoever swears by the gift
that's upon the altar, oh, you're guilty then. You've got to keep
your promise. What's more important there? The altar that sanctifies
the gift or the gift? Well, the gift's more important.
A complete misunderstanding of sanctification. A complete ignorance
of sanctification. What is it that makes me accept
it? My gift? Christ. The temple. Christ. The altar. My gift is nothing
but sin unless Christ sanctifies it and makes it acceptable before
God. Christ is my sanctification and
they demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of sanctification. They put more emphasis on their
gifts than the temple and the altar that sanctified the gift. Verse 19, you fools and blind,
he says that again. I can see why they wanted to
kill him after this message. Look at the way he talked to him.
He fools and blind for where there is greater the gift of
the altar that sanctifies the gift. Whosoever therefore shall
swear by the altar. You know human religion is a
human of personal resolve. I'm going to swear. I promise
I'm going to do this. A religion of personal resolve.
And you know what? Anything I've ever personally
resolved to do, how well did I do it? It ain't ever happened. You know, the Lord said, swear
not at all. Let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. Anything
that comes out of this is evil. A religion of personal resolve.
And that's false religion. I'm going to do this. I'm going
to do that. Will you now? It's talk and nothing more. And whoso 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. You've left out what you should
have been talking about. Now, he doesn't say you were
wrong for paying tithe of a mint and anise and cumin. He said these ought you to have
done, but you certainly shouldn't have left the other undone. Now,
listen to these words very carefully. A false prophet is more clearly
identified by what he admits, by what he does not say. It may be that everything he
says is right on, but it's what he doesn't say. He doesn't say
that which is critical to the preaching of the gospel. That's
how a false prophet is identified. I mean, if somebody's a free
willer, you know right off the bat he's a false prophet. But
if somebody doesn't bring out the gospel, And everything he
says, you can agree with. That man is a false prophet.
They've omitted the weightier matters of the law. Mercy, faith,
judgment. Now they use these words even,
but they don't tell what they mean. They give a different meaning
than the Word of God does. They've omitted that which was
critical. Verse 24, you blind guides, which
strain at an act, and swallow a camel, You major on minors,
things that don't even matter, and you don't even bring out
what really matters. You strain at an ant, and you
swallow a camel. Verse 25, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make clean the outside
of the cup and of the platter. But within, they're 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, O new scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for your lack unto widened sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones and all uncleanness, even so you also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within you're full of hypocrisy and
iniquity." False religion is a religion of the outside, not
of the inside. He says, he uses two examples,
you're like a cup that's clean on the outside and it's filthy
on the inside. Do you want to drink out of that?
I don't. He said, you're like a whited
sepulcher, which you look beautiful, a beautiful garnished tomb, but
within it's full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Now this is human religion. This is a description of most
of what goes on under the name of Christianity in our day. And look at this last thing he
says, beginning in verse 29, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets, and
you garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we'd
been in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore, ye be witnesses
unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed
the prophets. Fill ye up the measure of your fathers." Now,
here is a dead giveaway. False religion brags on dead
preachers. and will not identify with living
ones. You know, you come across anybody,
they'll talk about, oh, Spurgeon and Calvin and Luther and those
men of the past. They'll talk about dead preachers
and they'll say, oh, they were great. You know, in the days
of the apostles, they hated the apostles and they bragged on
the prophets. In the days of the prophets,
they hated the prophets and bragged on Moses. Just, this is a sure
sign of a false religion, they'll brag on men of the past, and
they refuse to identify with any men of the present who are
actually preaching the gospel. You know, it's easy to identify
with a dead man. He can't say anything to you. That's what
that's about. He can't say anything to you.
Oh, I'm right with him. So it says in verse 33, he generation,
he serpents, he generation of vipers, How can you escape the
damnation of hell? What a message. Now, understand
this, that true religion, and there is such a thing as true
religion. I don't know if that's a good term or not. I know he
talked about pure religion in James 1, so I guess we can use
that term, true religion. True religion is the polar opposite
of what I just described. First, true religion does not
say and do not. When I tell you to believe, I believe. I believe what I'm saying. I'm
relying on the Lord Jesus Christ. When I tell you to repent, I'm
in a state of repentance. When I tell you don't look to
your works, but look to Christ only. I better be practicing what I'm
preaching. I better be somebody who looks not to myself in any
way, but to Christ only. In true religion, you don't have
people saying, and doing not. People binding burdens on people,
putting people under the law and they won't go under, won't
touch it with a little finger. You have people who say and do. It's real. True religion only cares what
God sees. And does that mean I'm indifferent
about what you think about the doctrine I preach or the truth
I preach or the gospel I preach. No, I want you to believe it.
But I know this is so with regard to me. And if you're a believer,
it's so with regard to you. All you care is what God says.
And if you think that I'm preaching to impress men and to please
men, if you're a believer, you know what you'll do? You're out
the door. You don't have any part of that. We care with regard
to what God sees. We preach in the sight of God. And the one that I want to be
impressed with what I'm saying about His dear Son is God Himself. It's not a religion about pleasing
man. We care what God sees. And true
religion exalts Christ and humbles itself. Oh, the importance of
true and genuine humility. God, what's it say in verse 12? Whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Now remember what it means to
humble yourself. It means to have a just estimate of yourself. That's all humility is. It's
a just estimate of yourself. I am what I am by the grace of
God. That's a just estimate of yourself. This is almost hard to say, but
I'm a sinner. And I'm a sinner by the grace
of God. I'm not glorying in my sin when I say that. I'm not
saying that flippantly. I'm not saying that as kind of
a saying. The only reason that I know that
I'm a sinner is because God, by His grace, has revealed that
to me and caused me to see Christ as the only hope I have. I'm
a justified sinner. Yes, I'm a sinner, but I'm a
sinner without sin, without guilt, with perfect righteousness before
God, and that's by the grace of God. I'm a believing sinner.
I believe the gospel. I'm relying on Jesus Christ right
now. And that's by the grace of God. Now that's what humility
is. I am what I am by the grace of God. It's not some kind of
fake phony pity porch party. No, that's not humility. Humility
is I am what I am by the grace of God. And you humble yourself
in His presence. True religion opens up the kingdom
of heaven by the preaching of the gospel. Only through the
preaching of the gospel. And I love what our Lord said,
by me, he said I'm the door. What's the door for? Well, it's
to let people enter in. It's also to shut people out.
It's also to keep people in. And it's also to let people out. What a description of the Lord.
I'm the door by me if any man shall enter in. If you come in
by him, you'll be saved. And he is a closed door to all
works religion. And he's a closed door in the
sense that he keeps his people in. If I'm kept in, it's because
he keeps me in. And he's an open door, a door
of liberty. The Lord is that Spirit, and
when the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And there's
true entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven through the preaching
of the Gospel. The message of the Gospel is
the Spirit and the Bride say, Come! Come just as you are to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't wait for anything. Don't
wait to get better. Don't wait till you've given
up some sin or started doing some good work. Come right now
just as you are to Christ. The Spirit and the Bride say,
Come. And let him that heareth say,
Come. And let him that's athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. entrance into the kingdom of
heaven comes through true religion, the gospel. True religion is not in pretense.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows'
houses and for pretense, for Some other motive, for a show,
make long prayer, therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. Now, I want to be careful how
I deal with this when we think of pretense. Every time I'm around anybody,
there's some pretense going on. You too. We want to present an
image. Everybody does. You don't want
people to know what you really like and you're going to act
in a certain way and conduct yourself in a certain way to,
you know, be, you know, semi-accept, okay, all right, all right. So,
all of us, you know, anytime I hear, anytime I call somebody
a hypocrite, I think, you hypocrite, you hypocrite. So, all of us
have a measure of this pretense. The Scripture speaks of unfeigned,
unfaked faith. I really do believe that Jesus
Christ is all I have in salvation. That's not fake. Unfeigned, unacted
out love. I really do love the Lord. Now,
the Lord knows whether I really do, but I love Him just as revealed
in His Word. And I love his people. Everybody
loves him. I love. I love. I just admire anyone
who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Unthanged. It's not pretense.
It's real. It's real. You know, I hate being
around people where I feel like I'm under their microscope. And they're judging me and watching
me and wanting to find fault. And I guess one of my biggest
problems is I want to give them something to find fault with.
I wouldn't throw out a ghost looking for something to eat.
I wouldn't throw him out a can and let him chew on it a while, you know?
I mean, that's not right, I don't reckon. But the point is, this is not pretense. And it's
not about personal gain. It's not about personal gain.
It's not trying to buy our widow's houses. It's not trying to manipulate
people and try to get what belongs to them. Verse 16, where he talks
about the temple, No, proselytizing, verse 15. Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! You come from sea and land to
make one proselyte. You know the verse. Now, I want, if it's
the Lord's will, I'd like for him to make us till we have a
thousand people, or ten thousand people, if that's his will. This
is not about not being indifferent about people coming to a saving
knowledge of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to
see people saved, don't you? I want to see people genuinely
saved by the grace of God. But if that becomes my purpose, I'll accommodate my message to
try to reach that end. Paul put it this way, Christ
sent me not to baptize, not to get results, but to preach the
gospel. And if I ever do anything other
than that, I will compromise my message in order to get results. True religion is not about proselytizing. It's about telling the truth
of God. And then the verses 16 through
22, I probably already said what I need to say about that, but
it's about sanctification. I know that the only reason I
can be accepted is because of the temple, the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, as I'm found in Him. I know the only gift that I have
that can ever be accepted, if I give Him, when I put a check
back there. You know why it's accepted? For
Christ's sake. Because the altar, the sacrifice
of Christ, made it acceptable. When I pray, you know why it's
accepted? The sacrifice of Christ. the
temple. We understand this thing of sanctification. He is my sanctification. He's made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. True religion
does that. And true religion doesn't omit
the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Now, judgment. All judgment's
already taken place. When Christ said it is finished,
all those who do not and will not and did not believe were
judged. All those who do believe, did
believe, will believe, they were justified. Absolute, in the gospel,
perfect judgment is meted out. If I'm saved, it's because I
deserve to be saved because Jesus Christ's righteousness is mine.
God's justice demands it. If I'm damned, praise be to His
justice. I'm getting exactly what I deserve. God is just. Mercy. The only way a sinner is going
to be saved is by the sovereign mercy of God. Faith. The just shall live by faith.
That's brought out in true religion. Ye blind guides, verse 24, which
strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, In true religion, the most important thing is the
most important thing. I determine not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In true religion,
it's about the inside. He talks about those scribes
and Pharisees who paint up and make good the outside and indeed
appear righteous and beautiful to men. but on the inside you're
full of hypocrisy and iniquity. True religion begins on the inside
when God gives a new heart. And that's what affects the outside.
It's not about cleaning up the outside. It's the new heart that
he gives. True religion begins on the inside. Not on an outward reformation
and cleaning up your life. It begins on the inside. And let me say this too. True
religion, I'm going to say two more things. Number one, true
religion, it identifies with wherever the gospel is being
preached. It's not so much taking up with
bragging on dead preachers. Birds of a feather flock together. I want to identify with anybody
who preaches the gospel. Forget those dead preachers.
What about so-and-so and so-and-so? What about this one and that
one? Who cares? They're dead. I really don't
care. Well, what do you think about
what so-and-so thought? I don't care. I really don't.
But I do want to identify with wherever the gospel is being
preached. True religion desires to do that. And lastly, true religion cannot
be condemned. He said to the Pharisees, how
can you escape the damnation of hell? But in true religion,
how can you be anything but justified, sanctified, and glorified? In Christ, there is no condemnation. True religion always saves. It doesn't damn. It always saves. Now, there's the true and there's
the false contrasted. Beloved, I want to be in the
true, don't you? Let's pray.