Condemning the Religious Hypocrites

 

 

"¹⁶ Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ ¹⁷ You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? ¹⁸ And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ ¹⁹ You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? ²⁰ Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

²³ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

²⁷ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹ "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?"

Matthew 23:16-33

 

Good Morning my beloved,

 

We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my honor and great privilege to come together with you for the study of God's Word. I humbly ask you to continue to share the ministry website and social media platforms as you feel lead. God has been blessing your efforts in reaching the lost and the deceived. May God continue to bless our growth together with the knowledge of His Word with all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Many people today wear their religion like an old comfortable pair shoes that can be easily be removed whenever it is convenient. Those who seek the approval of this dying world, whose hearts are unchanged, whose lives have not been transformed, must not imagine that God will commend them. Jesus' most scathing words, His harshest words of judgment, condemnation, and wrath are reserved for those who masquerade themselves as representing God, when in fact, they are liars, deceivers and hypocrites. Such false teachers claim to give people the Truth, the Bread of Life, all while they are depriving them of life saving true salvation. Scripture repeatedly warns about teachers who are void of the knowledge of God that they claim to offer to others.

 

Matthew chapter 23, is a relentlessness, unmitigated condemnation of false spiritual leaders. Consequently, it is an unsettling passage that many preachers avoid, because it stands as a strong warning for those who misinterpret, misappropriate the truth, with their misleading, damning heresy.

 

Let us pray

Heavenly Father,

Father, we are thankful for Your Word for us today. Lord, as we look at the church today and we know we’re in dangerous times. We pray for those spiritual leaders who lack humility are under the influence of Satan, who are undermining the truth, to tickle the ears of a worldly congregation to serve their own needs. We need not name names, You know who they are. We pray that You would convict their hearts to the point of repentance. We pray for those congregations, who are sitting under false teachers, grant them spiritual wisdom and discernment. Father, bring them into the true knowledge of saving faith and the Savior Who gave His life for them. If you don’t yet know Christ, come to the Savior today, confess your sin, ask Him for forgiveness and to take control of your life while you still can. Don't be shut out of God's Kingdom. 

We ask and pray this in Jesus' name, trusting the results to You.

Amen

Today's Message: Condemning the Religious Hypocrites

Jesus condemning words, His strong warnings of impending judgement is for those who outwardly appear to be very religious, they dress the part, wearing robes with extra long tassels, they speak the part, sounding like righteous saints, when in reality, they are inwardly spiritual frauds, religious counterfeits. Jesus is exposing the lies and distortions that had been tolerated, even approved, by those who should have known what they should teach. Earlier, He cautioned those who listen, to avoid those who are false as well as their teaching. I believe He is giving the same warning to all of us today.

Open your Bibles to the twenty-third chapter of the gospel of Matthew. Matthew 23:16-33. I invite you to follow along with me, as I read these verses to you. There are a lot of verses in this portion of Scripture. So let's get started with the Spirit's leading and see how far we get. Let's open our hearts and minds, and hear what the Spirit of God has to say to each of us today.

 

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?"

Jesus' words are so powerful, so direct and so precise, there's really not much that I can add here. I pray that we will pay close attention to His words, because these are very serious warnings. Remember that I'm simply the messenger, I didn't write these blistering words.

Let's look at verse 16, "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’"

 

They would make vows, saying "I vow to do this before God and all of you people," in a moment of piosity, they would make promises to God and they would say, "I swear by this or that." Then, they would later decide they wanted to do something else, and because they didn't swear on such and such, it didn't count. So they developed a system in which they could lie. We used to do basically the same thing when we were kids, we'd promise, swearing to keep it on a stack on Bible, and later say, "It didn't count, had my fingers crossed!" That's how their system worked. Keep your word to God, or don't say it. 

 

God hates lying. Do you remember what God does to liars? In Acts 5, He killed Ananias and Sapphira in front of everyone.

 

In Matthew 5, Jesus said, "But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil." False spiritual leaders always subvert the truth, they're filled with lies, untruths, and broken promises. They found a way to lie and still appear to keep their integrity before men.

 

In verse 17, Jesus confronts their ridiculous system, "You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?" Notice He calls them fools and blind men, confronting their stupidity and ridiculous method of violating their vows, pointing out they are blind leaders trying to the blind. They prided themselves on their religiosity and spiritual leadership. The answer should be obvious.

 

In verse 18, He elaborates, "And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’"

 

He saying your method is completely ridiculous, what good is your gift if it isn’t on the altar? The gift by itself is nothing. It’s only when it’s offered in the temple that it becomes something. The gold is only rendered sacred when you bring it to the temple where God dwells. So, if you think you're able to break your word by swearing on the gold alone, you’re wrong! They're both binding being connected to God.

 

Verse 19, "You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?"

 

It's a rhetorical question. The emphasis is have you forgotten that God is everywhere? Your reasoning is illogical. You're still bound by your oath no matter which one you swear on! So, you'd better keep your word.

 

Verses 20-22,"Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it."  

Jesus is really driving His point home, making it clear, "Your blinded to the truth! Whatever you swear by that represents God, God is a witness, it is all binding. You can deceive man with your web of lies, but you can't deceive God." They had no shame. No one ever criticized the scribes and Pharisees, can you just imagine how devastating Jesus' word must've been to them? He's calling attention to their misconstrued self-importance, everything they did was before men was to call attention to themselves. Oh, how they loved the limelight. Jesus had very little tolerance for pretentious behavior. There are no loopholes with God. Best we all remember that. You better embrace God's Word as He defines it.

 

Just in case they hadn't gotten the message yet, He goes on to say in verses 23-24, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"

 

In the Old Testament, God instructed His people to give one-tenth of all their crops, and their products. It was one of the forms of taxation. That's how the theocratic government was supported. These guys were really something else, they would grow the herbs, mint, dill and cummin in little pots in the kitchen and give God a tenth of that. They were really good at taking things to the extreme, it made them feel so pious counting it out to the leaf. I mean, you just hear these guys, "One for God, nine for me, one for God, nine for me."

 

Then He says, you "have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness." By the way, He didn't just pull these three things out of the air, this is right out of Micah 6, "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" They knew what God said, yet they were unjust, unmerciful and unkind. They piled on the heavy burdens on people. They had no sense of shame, they had no humility.They were proud and arrogant. 

 

He wraps up verse 23, saying "But these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others."

 

He wasn't saying they should have disregarded those other commands, He's simply saying giving the proper attention tithe matters but they were still required to obey the weightier commandments. 

These guys really missed the point. They had ought to have done without neglecting the others. By the way, the tithe is mentioned twenty-six times in the Old Testament, three times and the Gospels and two or three times in Hebrews alone. It is never once mentioned in the New Testament as binding on the church.

 

2 Corinthians 9:7  says, "Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." I do not believe a pastor should be manipulating people into giving them more and more money, but trusting the Holy Spirit to put on their hearts to give as he is able   to give.

 

Verse 24, "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"

 

We are all familiar with gnats, those small little insects. Most of us are familiar with camels, they're big. In fact, camels were the biggest animal commonly seen in those days. And, according to the Jews, they are both unclean. If you look at the context of what Jesus is saying, He's pointing out how ridiculously disproportionate their priorities are. Again, He's using familiar terms. When they would make wine and crushing the grapes, those tiny little gnats would be flying around, they would get into the wine. They would strain the gnats out so they wouldn’t be defiled. In doing do, they would end up swallowing a camel, the biggest unclean animal of all. They thought that because they were so meticulous about small little things, they are holy men. In reality, they were so far from what God seeks.

 

Religious phonies always get caught in the small details and neglect the bigger ones. Don't kid yourselves, just because you to church, volunteer and give your tithe, God looks at the way we handles our finances, He looks at the way we treat our parents, our siblings, our children, our co-workers and neighbors. He requires justice, love, kindness, and to walk humbly with Him. I believe we all need to take a good look at ourselves. 

 

Verse 25, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence." 

 

I've has some people ask, "What do cups and dishes have to do with anything?" Jesus is talking about extortion, by point out the fact that they milked people for every dime they could get out of them. They may have cleaned they cup and the dish ceremonial, but what good is that if they're stolen? They were using people for their own gain  They were unscrupulous, greedy thieves.The word robbery in the Greek is the word "harpagḗ ," it means to plunder, fueled by violent greed, to seize by force. Jesus is saying that everything they've gained is stolen to satisfy their filthy desires, unrestrained desire for gain. They essentially rape those they are supposed to be caring for. What a harsh indictment!

That's the thing with false spiritual leaders, they appear to be so pious, while making merchandise out of those they claim to serve, all for their own personal gain. It's no different today, they tell people the more money they give, the greater the blessing they will receive. They'll be blessed with health, wealth and happiness. That's one of the many reasons I get so frustrated with false spiritual leaders, I see right through their deception, always playing on the vulnerability of those they claim to serve. Tragically, those who follow often realized the deception far too late.

Now we come to verse 26, here Jesus really personalizes His words to the religious leaders, attacking their deceptive practices, saying you better make sure that not only the dish and cup are clean, but the inside as well. Your outside is clean, but you contaminate people with your corruption inside. You aren’t what you claim to be, your religiosity and holiness is all an illusion. You contaminate everyone you touch! "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also."

 

Verses 27-28, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

 

According to historians, they whitewashed the entire tomb in some cases. In other cases, they whitewashed the outside, so that the Passover visitors wouldn’t touch them, otherwise, they would be considered ceremonially defiled, rendering them unable to worship. The streets are literally packed and it's not unusual for them to walk along the paths where the dead is buried. He's saying you are supposed to be genuinely filled with godliness on the inside, but instead, you are spiritually dead, full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. You can do whatever you want to the outside, but inside, there's nothing rot, decay and decomposition! God hates pride. Let this be a lesson to all of us today, please do more than hear it; God's not impressed by what's on the outside, He cares about what's going on inside! You can't ignore the inside. Jesus isn't sugar coating His condemnation, they must be judged because of their terrible practices of ignoring deeds of mercy and justice and faithfulness.

Verses 29-30, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’" 

They claimed to be better than their fathers, considered themselves to be so much holier than their fathers, saying they would have never killed Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the righteous prophets God had sent, yet they didn’t even see the reality of their hypocrisy, that they were plotting to kill One far greater than the prophets, the son of God. 

Verse 31, " So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets."

Jesus is condemning them for being so consumed with their own lies and deceit, they didn't see they were following in the same footsteps of their ancestors, in fact, they were far beyond them. 

Verse 32, " Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers."

He's saying go ahead, keep testifying that what they did is wrong, even as you're scheming to kill the greatest Prophet of all. You're no better than your fathers, in fact, you're worse. You are are just condemning yourself all the more! So, go ahead with your plans and do it.

Let me tell you something, self-deception is a horrible thing, it will absolutely destroy you! Then in the next verse, He pronounces a curse.

That brings us to verse 33, "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?"

Notice He's exposing their wickedness, using the same description used by John the Baptizer to condemn them, indicating they are not only the children of snakes, they are snakes themselves. What a scathing indictment! They subverted the truth, rather than leading people to heave, they're keeping people away from God, sending them to hell. Making them as evil as possible, double sons of hell. Now, He damns them to hell. This is a prophetic statement, He's saying though it hasn't happened yet, do not deceive yourselves, divine judgment awaits you.

They deceived themselves, thinking they were better than everybody else, they were entrusted to bring people to the kingdom of heaven, but they kept people out. They were guilty of the same things their fathers did and more. They were themselves blind men, blindly leading those who followed them. They were a bloodthirsty, blood guilty people. If there was to be any hope for them, they must heed these warnings. 

In Closing..

I believe much of Christianity today, is little more than human religion with the name of Jesus attached to it. Failing to teach the true Word of God, neglecting to transform the lives of their followers, but leading them further and further away from God, keeping them out of the kingdom of heaven. If you're blessed to be in a church with true spiritual leaders, teaching the truth, helping you to identify your potential areas of weakness, even though it may be uncomfortable to hear, rather than complaining, be thankful that God has given you true leadership.

If someone is only teaching that Jesus loves you and He accepts your sin, I strongly encourage you to examine the Bible more carefully. Please be willing to take a good, honest look at yourselves. Do not deceive yourselves, taking Jesus' words lightly because they're unpleasant to hear. Don't neglect the opportunity to better yourselves spiritually. Instead, submit yourself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

May it be so..
 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 
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