Matthew chapter 23. This will
make the fourth message that I've brought from this sermon. And what we have here, and I
like to think about this, the Lord, His words preaching to
us. You want to know what a sermon
is like preached by the Lord Jesus Christ? Read Matthew 23.
That's his sermon to his people, warning them about the way of
salvation by works. I'm going to use for a title,
the last words of our Lord in the temple. For it says there
in chapter 24 verse 1, Jesus went out and departed from the
temple, never returned again. And the temple was destroyed,
never to be built again. This is the Lord's last public
sermon spoken to this religious crowd of Jerusalem while in the
temple. Just in a few days, the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to lay down his life for our sins These
are his last warnings to these lost, very religious Jews. His last word to them. Sad. It's sad. These are some
of the most solemn, stern spoken words by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Words of rebuke. Words of condemnation. Words
of judgment. And not toward his people. but
toward those who would seek salvation by what they do. He calls them
in verse 33. Now this is how to grow a congregation. This is how to gain a following. Just call everybody serpents,
vipers, how are you going to escape the judgment of hell?
That'll sure get you a following, won't it? The Lord was not interested
in gaining a following. He's interested in telling the
truth. And God's servants today are not interested in, they always
talk about different ways to grow your church. I'm not interested
in growing the church. I'm interested in preaching the
truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he calls them
serpents, vipers. He says, you're going to hell.
Just plain and simple. And then he says over in verse
38, he said, your house is desolate. Notice it's your house. your
house, your temple, your way, desolation, desolation, no life,
no salvation. Now why such judgment? Why such
judgment? Because of their willful, sinful,
wicked, unbelief, and rebellion against the way of salvation
in Christ alone, grace alone, and faith alone. It's either
all grace, the way of Abel, Christ, His blood, or it's Cain and works. It cannot be both. We know this
book teaches salvation in Christ, the way of grace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But they willfully rejected the
way of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that eternal
life is the gift of God. And I mean by that, salvation
is by the will of God, the way of God, the work of God. Of his
own will beget he us with the word of truth. Eternal life,
as we read in the book of God, is by the sovereign grace of
God. The sovereign grace of God. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. but of God that shows mercy. Eternal life is by the work of
God, God's work through the Lord Jesus Christ that he successfully
finished for us. He prayed in John 17, Father,
I've glorified thee on the earth, I've finished the work you gave
me to do. And this is eternal life, that
they might know thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ. He performed all things for us.
That makes salvation. That's a free gift to us, justified
freely by his grace. So eternal life is the gift of
God. Eternal death, is by man's will,
by man's work, by man's sin against God. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. The wages
of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of what we've earned
is death. It's only by His free grace that
we have salvation through Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 34. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the gracious, long-suffering Savior. He's long-suffering to
us. He said, Wherefore, behold, I
send, this is the King in His kingly office. saying what he's
going to do. I send unto you prophets. What do prophets do? They show
the way of salvation in Christ. Wise men, scribes, and he says,
I'm going to send these men to you, and you won't believe them.
You won't receive their message. He said, you're going to kill
them, crucify them, beat them, and persecute them. Now the Lord
knows what's going to happen to those whom He sends, and yet
He sends them anyway. Why? Because there's a people
out there that must hear the gospel. That must hear the gospel,
that must be called to the Lord Jesus Christ. You would think
after pronouncing such a bold statement of judgment against
them, in verse 33, How shall we escape the damnation of hell?
You would think that the Lord would never send another gospel
preacher among sinners in this world, but because God is gracious
and merciful and long-suffering, He's been sending sinners out
to preach the gospel these last 2,000 years. He keeps sending
sinners to tell other sinners where salvation is found, in
whom salvation is found. Someone said, a sinner saved
by the grace of God is sent out to tell other sinners about God's
grace. One beggar telling another beggar
where he found bread. Many of you remember Pastor Scott
Richardson, who pastored Katie Baptist Church for over 50 years.
He was a good, good friend of Brother Henry. Pastor Mahan. But there's a picture of him
in my study, just recently taken of him before he died, recently
before he died. And he asked this question, what
is a preacher? And here's what he said. A preacher
is a nobody, a nobody, who tells everybody about the one somebody,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who can save anybody. That's what I am,
I'm just a nobody telling everybody salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice
in verse 34 he said, I send, I send, I send you prophets,
I send you wise men. And the Lord has been sending
out God's preachers in this world. He said, go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. And I'll tell you exactly
when the end is coming. I'm going to tell you exactly
when the end is coming. You want to know? Look at chapter
24, verse 14. Chapter 24, verse 14. And this
gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for
witness unto all nations, Then shall come the end. That's when
it's going to happen. When the gospel is preached to
all the world and God's last elect sinner is granted and given
faith and made a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord's coming back. That day must be very soon. Must
be very soon for we're living in the last days. The Lord executes
his kingly office to send out messengers of salvation. And
the Lord has ordained this as a means to call out His people.
It pleased God through the preaching of the gospel to call out His
people. The ascended Lord, it says in Ephesians chapter 4,
the ascended Lord, when He ascended and He sat down, He gave gifts
unto His church. Pastors, teachers, evangelists.
Aren't you thankful the Lord sent you a gospel preacher? I'm
sure thankful the Lord sent me a gospel preacher to hear the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says there he sends prophets,
he sends wise men, and he sends scribes. Prophets declare the
way and will of God in salvation to him, give all the prophets
witness. They're determined to preach
the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul says, woe unto me if
I preach any other than Christ in him crucified. The Lord sends
out wise men, wise men who are made wise by the word of God,
made wise into salvation to preach the wisdom of God in the gospel,
how God can be a just God and Savior, how he can be just and
the justifier. Aren't you glad the Lord sent
you a wise man? And dude with knowledge from
on high to tell you about the just God and Savior. And then
he sends out scribes like Ezra of old was a ready scribe. Or
like Paul who was made ready, the Apostle Paul who was made
ready to declare the gospel to all that will hear. He said in
Romans, for as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel
to you who are at Rome, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. It's the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believes, to the Jew and also to the Gentile, for therein
is the gospel revealed. But notice the Lord adds, some
shall be killed, crucified, scourged, and persecuted. Now, it's a dangerous
thing to preach the gospel. It's a dangerous thing. This
was true of all the apostles of God, Peter, James, and John,
all martyred for the gospel. Most of the reformers in the
days of Luther and Calvin and many others were burned to the
stake for preaching the same message that we're preaching.
Many down through church history have suffered great harm at the
hands of religious lost men. Hold your place there and let
me show you this over here. And here's the reason why. Turn
over here to John 15. John 15. John 15 verse 20. they will also persecute you.
If they've kept my saying, they will keep your sayings. But all
these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because
they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken
unto them, they had not sinned. But now they have no covering
for their sin, for he that hateth me hateth my father also." They
have persecuted the Lord unto death. And they will do the same
to God's servants. And they did in that day, didn't
they? Now look at verse 35. That upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth. Talking about believers
who are made righteous in Christ. Whenever you see that word righteous,
You know, talking about Christ, our righteousness. "'Cause righteous
blood shed upon the earth when the blood of the first martyr
for the gospel, Abel, brother Abel, he was killed over the gospel
of how God saves sinners by his grace. Unto the blood of Zacharias,
whom you slew between the temple and the altar. They killed him
because he dared to preach the truth. They killed him because
he said the way of idolatry is wrong, wrong. Those who have
heard the gospel message, the good news of salvation, the salvation to sinners are without excuse.
and they are accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ. God has appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man." Now hold your place there and turn over here to the
book of Hebrews and I want to read two references here in the
book of Hebrews, the first one in Hebrews chapter 10. It's a dangerous thing to hear
the word of God and not believe it. It's a dangerous thing to
hear the gospel of God and not submit to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look what it says here in Hebrews 10 verse 28. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sore punishment,
suppose you, shall be thought worthy who have trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and have done despite to the
Spirit of grace. For we know him that has said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Now it mentions the blood of
righteous Abel, and right here in Hebrews, we read just chapter
10, right across the page, in Hebrews 11, it talks about Abel. In Hebrews 11 verse 4, by faith
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and he being dead, he yet speaks to us, doesn't
he, about the way of salvation in Christ. The blood of righteous
Abel cries out against them who would go the way of Cain, the
way of works, and not grace. In the book of Jude, we read
this statement, woe unto you who have gone the way of Cain,
the way of works, the way of self-righteousness. John writes
this in 1 John chapter 3, for this is a message that we've
heard from the beginning, that you should love one another,
not as Cain, who was of that wicked one who slew his brother.
Wherefore slew he him, because his own works were evil." You
remember, he brought the offering of the cursed ground, his own
works were evil, and his brothers, righteous. Abel brought that
blood sacrifice of a lamb that's typical of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is also the message there of the man, the prophet of God,
named Zacharias. who was God's prophet in that
day, who condemned Israel of old for their willful idolatry.
He said unto them, you cannot prosper worshiping idols. And
he said, God's gonna judge you because you've forsaken the Lord,
and he will forsake you. Not too many years after that,
the Lord sent another army and invaded Jerusalem and Israel
from Babylon and carried destroyed that first temple and carried
them away into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Judgment came to the house of
Israel that day. Like in the days of the early
church, Stephen was stoned to death for preaching Christ as
the way of salvation. And those old Jews, what did
they do? They picked up stones. And they stoned him. And that
day that Stephen was stoned, do you remember who was standing
there holding the coat of those who were pitching the rocks?
One sinner named Saul of Tarsus, who was later saved by the marvelous
grace of God and made the Apostle Paul. Look at verse 36. Matthew 23, verily I say unto
you, all these things shall come upon this generation. Those who reject the Lord Jesus
Christ, judgment came on that generation, the following generation,
the following generation, and this generation, no different.
God has not changed. Those who reject the Lord Jesus
Christ willfully in rebellion against Him, judgment's coming. It's appointed unto man, wants
to die, and after that, what? Judgment. Judgment's coming.
All these things shall come on this generation, the just and
holy judgment of God for rejecting the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it says in Romans chapter
1, they are without excuse. Our Lord is also saying the violence
done against God's servants and God's people are done towards
Him. Did you know that? Hold your
place there. I want you to turn and see this
with me. We looked at this when we studied through the Gospel
of Luke. Turn over there. Luke chapter
10, I believe it is verse 16. Luke 10, 16. What they did to those servants,
son of God, was exactly the same thing as doing that to God Himself. Look what it says there. Luke
10, 16. He that heareth you, heareth
me. He that despises you, despises
me. And he that despises me, despises
him that sent me. Touch not my anointed and do
my prophets no harm. Remember from the psalm? Let's look at verse 37. Now,
the Lord Jesus Christ is weeping over this city as the God-man
mediator. Remember, He's a real man. He's
a real man tempted and tested in all points like as we are
yet without sin. He knows what's going to come.
He knows that judgment's coming. He knows what's going to happen
to these people who are trusting themselves for salvation. And
He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill us, the prophets, and
notice this present tense, you are killing prophets, you're
stoning them, which I've said unto you, how often would I have
gathered thy children together? And he gathered many of them
together, didn't he? How often he gathered them together
to preach the gospel unto them, even as a mother hen, as even
as a hen would gather her chicks under her wings, and you would
not have it. You would not have the way of
salvation in Christ. Now, listen to me carefully.
Many have used verse 37 to use this verse. Many have used this
verse to promote what is known as salvation by the free will
of sinners. Many have tried to use this verse
to say that the sovereign, powerful, almighty will of God can be resisted
by the puny creature. But really, just the opposite
is true. The opposite is true. It is showing
us, it's just showing us how totally depraved we are. Man's
will is never toward God naturally, but it's always just the reverse.
Man's will is always selfward, downward, never Godward and upward. As one old writer said, man's
will is like free running water, always downhill. It seeks the
lowest course. Man's will is not free, it's
in bondage to his wicked nature. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. Enmity against God. Now turn
to the book of John with me for just a minute. John chapter 5,
and look what it says here. John chapter 5 verse 39. John
5, 39. He says to this same religious
crowd, John 5, 39, search the scriptures, or you do search
the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life.
They are they that testify of me, and you will not come to
me that you might have life. You will not. You will not come
to me. Turn one page. Not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy. Look at John
chapter 6, verse 43, Jesus therefore answered and said unto them,
murmur not among yourselves, no man can come to me. except the Father which sent
me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. His people
must be made willing in the day of his power. It is written in
the prophet, and they shall all be taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and learned and hath learned of the
Father, they come to Christ. He said, you will not. And then
he said, no man can. So that teaches us what? No man
has the ability, no man has the want to. He said, you killed
the prophets, you stoned them, and you will not come to Christ
for all salvation and receive him. Why? Because they loved
their sins, they loved darkness rather than light. They trusted
their own righteousness, that they were righteous, not submitting
to the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. They would not
submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. You see, a will to repent
and believe the gospel is only given by the sovereign grace
of God. The apostle Paul preached the
gospel to those Jews, and they turned from it. And Paul turned
to the Gentiles and preached to them, and he said, as many
as were ordained to eternal life, they believed the gospel. Nothing left but judgment if
you look to someone or something other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, look to me and be saved. You look somewhere else, trust
something else, no salvation there. Now what about this statement
the Lord gives here in verse 37 where He says, now listen
to it carefully, how often would I have gathered thy children
and you would not? Now he does not say, I would
have gathered you, and you would not. He does not say, I would
have gathered thy children, and they would not. But rather, how
often I would have gathered thy children, and you would not. You prevented. You stood in the
way. You would not let this happen.
Now remember back to, Matthew 23, verse 13. "...Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites! 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." You shut
the door. You hinder the way. They stood in the way. Now, there's
another reference here I want you to turn to. Turn over here
to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11. Turn over there,
verse 49. Luke chapter 11, verse 49. I hope I've got the right verse
here. 1149. Yeah, this is it. 1149. Therefore also said I, therefore also said the wisdom
of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them
they shall slay and persecute. Same message, that the blood
of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the
world may be required of this generation from the blood of
Abel and to the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar
and the temple. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be required of this generation. Woe unto you, verse 52. Woe unto
you, lawyers, scribes, Pharisees, all included, for you have taken
away the key of knowledge, Christ, and you entered not in yourselves,
and them that were entering in you hindered." You stood in the
way. You stood in the way. You hindered them. Our Lord,
as a God-man mediator, had compassion and pity on the sick. He healed
all them that had need of healing. The common people seemed willing
to attend to his ministry, but these leaders threatened them
with death and expulsion from the synagogue. If you follow
Jesus Christ, we're going to put you out of the synagogue.
which meant a whole lot in that day. We know that the scriptures
teach that all of our salvation is by the sovereign work of God,
by the sovereign will of God, for us and in us. No part of
our salvation is determined or dependent upon us. It's God who
saved us. It's God who called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works. but according to his
own purpose and grace, not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. All those
chosen of God in the eternal covenant of grace shall be everlastingly
saved by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his righteous
obedience unto the law of God. We know that none of the sheep
of Christ can perish. The Good Shepherd, the Great
Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd will bring all the sheep home. How many will He lose? How many
will He lose? The Good Shepherd, does He lose
any sheep? Well, let's see if we can find
out. Turn over to John chapter 6 this time. John chapter 6.
Can any perish for whom Christ died? Is someone able to stop that
or hinder that? John chapter 6. I'll go to verse
37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and those that come to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he had
given me I should lose nothing. I should lose nothing. but raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone would see it, the Son, and believe
with on Him, may have everlasting life." I'll raise Him up. I'll
raise Him up at the last day. Can we look at one more? Turn
to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. It was at Jerusalem,
verse 22, John 10, 22, at the Feast of the Dedication, and
it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple on Solomon's porch.
Then came the Jews, riled about him, and said unto him, How long
dost thou make us to doubt? If ye be of the Christ, tell
us plainly. And the Lord answered them, I
told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. Now look at verse 26 carefully. You believe not. because you're
not my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither can any
man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one, then, The Jews took up stones again
to stone him. And he said, many good works
have I showed you from my father. From which of these did you stone
me? Do you stone me? And the Jews answered, for good
work we don't stone thee, but for blasphemy. Because that thou
being a man, you make yourself God. No, he declared himself
to be God. Now back to Matthew 23. Matthew
23. So, he says in verse 38, behold
your house, Matthew 23, 38, behold your house is left unto you desolate.
Your house, your body, desolate. Your temple, desolate. Your city,
desolate. Your heart, desolate. Depraved,
dead, barren, no life. Well, what judgment? There's
nothing but judgment outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is a way that seems right unto men, the end of that way is death.
Since you will not hear the truth, since you reject the way of salvation
in Christ Jesus, there's nothing left but judgment. Behold, your
house is left unto you desolate, desolate. Verse 39, for I say
unto you, you shall not see me henceforth, You shall not see
me till you shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name
of the Lord. There will be a final day of
reckoning when the Lord returns. Remember we studied in Revelation
1, behold, he cometh with clouds, every eye shall see him, and
they which pierced him and all kings of the earth shall wail
because of him. Even so, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus
Christ." When the Lord comes back, every knee will bow, every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. In Philippians, it tells us about
that. Let's read this for our closing
scripture. In Matthew 25, In Matthew 25
verse 31, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and
he's on his way, behold he cometh, the Lord is on his way. When
the Son of Man shall come and all his holy angels with him,
Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him
shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats, and
he shall set the sheep on his right hand and his goat on the
left. Then shall the king send them
on his right hand, come ye blessed to my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Look at verse 41,
Matthew 25, 41. Then he shall say to them on
his left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting
fire. Prepare for the devil and those who follow him. Verse 46,
thee shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life. Who are the righteous? Those
who are made righteous in Christ, right? those who are made righteous
in the Lord Jesus Christ.