Wow! What Woe!

David Poland

Matthew: Kingdom Authority • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Matthew 23:13–39

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Sermon 74 in a series through the Gospel of Matthew

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Psalm of the Day: Psalm 17

Psalm 17 ESV

A Prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit! From your presence let my vindication come! Let your eyes behold the right! You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped. I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me. They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly. They have now surrounded our steps; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground. He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush. Arise, O Lord! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O Lord, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 118:1-4

Psalm 118:1–4 ESV

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

Sermon:

Good morning church. I was glad when they said to me, let us go and worship in the house Of the lord.

Well, today we make it to What is probably the portion of Matthew that i have been looking most forward to. Famously, It's the seven woes to the scribes and pharisees. In the passage we will look at, jesus Will be rather harsh. He will speak true words, but not easy words to hear If you were a Pharisee. One of the commentaries that i look at says this “He unmasks the pharisees. He takes up the strong words of john the baptist and he calls a spade, a spade. They are, for jesus words In verse 33, A brood of vipers. But yet, he loves them. And so he has to tell them to their face. He strips the mask off of these play actors, So that they may be seen as they really are.

I think this is a good way to start our sermon this morning as we think through what jesus is about to say. These are harsh words, strong words, painful words, In some ways brutally honest words. But yet, Jesus loves these people. Though he may be filled with wrath and anger towards them, there is still love. And so, as we read these, i think it's important We understand that heart first That as we go through and we walk through these seven woes. The goal is not to look at the Pharisees and say, oh look at how bad an evil they were. These jerks, these this that these others. But to hear… To hear the heart of our savior.

We will end this passage — We're going to go all the way through the end of chapter 23— but It ends with a A lament. An actual like literary lament. But i would argue that all of this is a lament. Jesus isn't happy to get to Call the pharisees out like this. But yet, he does What he must. this morning instead of what we would normally do, which is read the whole passage. It's a lot. It's a long one. We're going to break it into chunks and so before we start with anything else, i'd like to open with a word of prayer.

PRAY

Dear Lord, we do thank you for today. Thank you for your grace. And your mercy. We thank you for your kindness towards us. We thank you for Your love. That is greater than all our sins. Your grace that can cover and wash away all of the things that we do wrong. Help us to see clearly Not just the sins of others, but the sins of our own life often In these words. We pray that your holy spirit would bring illumination to our eyes to our lives — That we might see and hear clearly Your words for us. Then upon hearing them, I do pray that we would be those who live them out, who do What you have commanded. Help us to be good stewards and good servants. In jesus name, we pray Amen.

As i said, there are seven woes here but just as a note, if you're reading through in the esv, which is what i preach out of. Or, i guess i should say if you're reading. You know, maybe the king James, maybe the new king James you might count and you might think they're eight. Verse 14 is “missing” from the passage will be reading today. I don't want to get into all of that. We did a whole sermon a few weeks ago on these quote, unquote missing versus from Matthew. I'll just say this. It didn’t come out of nowhere. We could go to Luke and mark and see what they have to say on these things but Matthew, i don't think included that one so we're not going to look at it this morning.

But with that, With that being said, We're just going to dive in, but before we even read these woes, I like to ask maybe a higher level question. When we read things like woes, when we read things like jesus calling out this group of people and letting them have it, What should be our response? What is the proper response to the disciples of jesus As they hear this?

i think this is important to note and ask because Verse one of chapter 23. Jesus, we're told is talking to the crowds and the disciples. These are words to the people who will listen and the people who love jesus. There's no change in subject. It's not like we have a verse, that'll say, then Jesus, turning to the Pharisees. Let's them have it. These words though, they're directed to the Pharisees, i would argue they are for his disciples. What are they for Us to do? That becomes the question. And what i think we should understand is that WOES WARN US.

The Woes WARN Us:

The woes worn us. Jesus pronounces these woes as a way to make clear, the fate of those who will follow in the path and the ways of the Pharisees. But it's not just the Pharisees that need to worry about this. These sins lie in our hearts. Again, to read from a commentary because i don't think i could say it better than this:

How deep those seven indictments bite, and how dangerously up to date they are! Are we rejecting the kingdom ourselves and obstructing the entrance of others? Do we have a legalistic approach to church growth, interested only in our own neck of the woods? Do we break solemn promises if convenient or if the heat is on? Do we misconstrue God’s revelation by neglecting the central and going for the peripheral? Do we go for external things and ceremonial precision, but remain indifferent to the attitude within? Are we walking around as a living lie, a spiritual tomb, highly decorated, maybe, on the outside, but inwardly full of corruption and dead men’s bones? And keepers of ancient monuments? What a list! How important for Christian Pharisees to take it to heart, and for us all to note the tendencies to Pharisaism that lie embedded in each one of us!

These warnings these messages, though they are directed to the Pharisees, they are for us. Matthew included them for us. Jesus spoke them for us. And so we must hear and understand and note where in our lives we may be guilty or endanger of these things. The woes as we'll see, are easily grouped and so we will be looking at them in turn. Our first was one and two. Verses 13. Through 15.

Matthew 23:13–15 ESV

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

What's jesus saying here? I believe he is Warning us. That's what I've called. SHADY SHEPHERDING.

Woes 1+2: SHADY SHEPHERDING

These pharisees were supposed to be the rulers, the guides. They are the ones, Jesus said this last week, who sit in Moses seat. They are the guardians, The Judges, the ones who seek to bring forth and teach people the law of moses. But yet, they neither enter heaven themselves… And it's worse than that. It's not just that they don't go in as other people try to come in, they shut the door on them. They don't lead people to heaven. In fact, their teaching, the things that they say, take people further from heaven. This is a grave warning for us.

There are those who will teach Gospels, that are not jesus. Paul talks about this a lot. Ways to heaven that include your own goodness, Your own Self-worth, your own self-righteousness. Scripture teaches there's one way to heaven, It is through jesus christ alone. So to go around teaching people, oh, just be a better person. Not only are you, excluding yourself from heaven, but anyone that you teach and follows that-- You are condemning them as well. You are shutting the door.

I learned a while back. I hold this to be true. There is no more damnable lie. Then one that makes someone think that they're safe. To tell someone oh, the wrath of god won't get you as long as you… Try to live better. do just a little less of this or that, maybe do a little more of this or that… and you'll be okay. Instead of calling people, first peter 1, 16: “be holy as god is holy”. Instead of telling people there lives, one forever to intercede on your behalf. His name is jesus christ, Our lord. Turn to him — He has a perfect savior.

And then, as people begin to follow this false teaching, as they themselves, teach these same things. This is a grave warning. They become twice as much A child as hell as the one teaching is. One of the reasons false teaching is such a Condemned thing in scripture, Is because it's one of the sins that we commit that does not just condemn my soul, but it condemns, the souls of anyone who hears and follows my sin. So on one hand, this warning of shady shepherding should be for us to realize that these people exist. They are out there. But this warning, i think also serves to teach us: We may be guilty ourselves.

In what ways are we shutting the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. Do we look at others and think? They don't need to hear the gospel. They're not worthy of the gospel. They're not ready for the gospel. They'll reject the gospel. In what ways are we guilty of these things. In what ways are we guilty, At least in some way, of telling, people just live a better life. That's what you need to do. In what ways are we possibly guilty of this shady shepherd? Hear the pronouncement of jesus: “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites.” Made this not be true of any of us.

The second. Woes three and four. Matthew chapter. 23 verses 16 through 24.

Matthew 23:16–24 ESV

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears 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 cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Jesus here, i believe is warning us against What i would call LAX LEGALISM.

Woes 3+4: LAX LEGALISM

Let me start by saying this: legalism in any way shape or form will not get you to heaven. There is no law you could follow, No way that you could be good enough apart from jesus christ To get to heaven. So any sort of legalism is just right out. We we don't even think about that as a way to get to heaven. But what jesus is stressing here, when i think is important for us to see, is: he looks at the pharisees and said, not only do you teach legalism, you're not good at it.

You have crafted and framed these laws that you claim people must follow in such a way that you receive glory, but that you think you can be good enough. But yet others cannot. This goes back to jesus condemnation Last week. You tie up heavy burdens that no one can bear, But yet refuse to lift a finger. There are two examples Jesus gives here one oath giving (promises) and the second tithing.

As people who don't live at the times of the pharisees, a lot of the ins and outs of jesus, oath keeping our little weird to us. This idea, If you swear by the gold and the temple, but not the temple itself. What's going on here? Here's your modern sort of translation of this. It would be as if, we all remember being as little kids, you were to say, And being dead serious here: Well, you can make a promise, But if you cross your fingers behind your back, you don't have to keep that promise. The crossing fingers, doesn't negate your promise your words should be your words? We seem to know that in this case, but the pharisees would go around saying, well, You know, it's important, we keep sacred things sacred, if you swear by, you know, the gold and the temple You're bound by your oath because that's important. That's how we pay… well Us the scribes and the pharisees. But jesus says the temple is what makes the gold sacred. Why are you making this Fake distinction here? This idea of the altar and the gift on the altar, it's the same idea. There's no distinction here. Your words should be your words. If we go back to the sermon on the mountain let your yes Be yes. And you're no be no.

The point here is you're trying to make these ways you can get out of your oaths and get out of your promises. True holiness requires that every word of our mouth be pure. So you're teaching this sort of legalism that that some people might be able to achieve others probably can't and thinking it's good enough. This goes with tithing too. You tithe, the mint and dill and cumin. And the example, here probably means the Pharisees took their tithing to an extreme level.

You often hear the question, as a pastor At least i hear the question... Not as much because I don't know I think people might know how it respond to a question like this.. but Should i tithe off of the net or the gross? Do i have to tie it off? Money received before taxes after taxes. How do i figure out my 10 percent? The pharisees had thought this through to the extreme. It was 10 percent of everything, so your income. Yes. But also, if you were to grow, right? You know, you grow your mint and basil plants. You can buy the plants at Walmart and they grow and you just pick off the leaves and you have fresh things as you're cooking. What you'd have to do is every plant that grows in your house, you would pick off 10 percent of the mint in the dill, and the cumin, and the basil, whatever thing that's growing. And then you would give that to because 10 percent of that. You get a birthday gift, 10 percent of that, so that gift card that you got for 25 dollars. Well you have to give 2.50 of that back to the church. They took care to tithe on every little thing, but yet, There's no justice. There's no mercy. They weren't faithful to god.

Sure, you had the outside appearance of following the law, but you relax. You weren't following the waiting matters. You weren't giving honor and praise to the god who is seated. In the throne of heaven, you were not giving attention to the things He's truly commanded. Love justice, mercy faithfulness — these things. You claim to be following the law, making up your own legalism… but you aren't even good at that.

So we then must ask: What ways might we be guilty here? In what ways do we care much more about Following a certain set of rules that we seem to neglect the importance of, proclaiming the mercy, grace, justice, and faithfulness of God. Where might we be guilty of these sins.

Woes five and six verse 25 through 28. This phrase myself familiar to us. Jesus keeps repeating it.

Matthew 23:25–28 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

these two woes are jesus warning Of HALFWAY HOLINESS.

Woes 5+6: HALFWAY HOLINESS

The scribes and Pharisees were really good at cleaning the outside. They were the type of person that all the friends and neighbors, everyone around, them would look at and say that person's got their life together. That— that's a good man. They were only halfway there. For they clean the outside, but the inside was full of death, decay, Injustice, uncleanness, greed, self-indulgence, Hypocrisy, lawlessness. That was their heart.

In all of these, what jesus is getting at here — What's being said in these two woes in particular— is that this external outward picture of holiness that you're trying to show is not good enough. it's always your heart. As we pile these on top of each other, they're they're giving bad teaching about god's law. They're not calling people to holiness. Their sort of legalism that they're trying to proclaim is legalism of following certain rules but other ones for whatever reason, those don't count either. And we have this sort of lax legalism. and here we get to sort of the heart of the matter which is the heart.

Pharisees won't clean their heart. It's too hard fact. It's impossible. And they can only get halfway to holiness. So, they're unclean. If you think through these two examples they're rather heartbreaking. Imagine you have a beautiful cup outwardly, it's clean. We've all seen this. Imagine you are somewhere, that you go to a restaurant. And they bring you a cup and it looks clean. Then you pick it up to your mouth and you start seeing some Floaties Inside of your drink. I'd much rather the outside of my cup be dirty than whatever's inside. But yet the pharisees take this great care. But inside, greed and self-indulgence. Take care of your heart. Jesus says, And the rest will follow.

It's not just your unclean. You're dead. You're dead on the inside. You are like whitewashed tombs. Sure, the outside looks great, but it's still a tomb. Inside is full of bones and all uncleanness. And if you yourself are full of unclean, this, that means you are unclean. You scribe and Pharisees that take these great lengths. If we start adding this to what jesus said before: you have your long fringes and your huge phylacteries. You have all of these things yet. You are dead inside. You're full of hypocrisy.

Following anything other than christ can only get you here: halfway to holiness. And it's not good enough.

Again, first peter 1:16, we ought to be as holy as god is. Holy That's the standard. Halfway is not good enough. Woe to us. For our hearts Remain unclean.

Then we move to the last. Woe. Verse 29.

Matthew 23:29–35 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

The Pharisees here - There's a lot about prophets and witnesses and what jesus is going to send to them. I think the fundamental issue that we need to understand here, is that this woe is condemning what I've called DEPRAVITY DENIAL.

Woe 7: DEPRAVITY DENIAL

At the heart of this woe is the pharisees thinking: they're just not that bad. They go around building shrines and altars tombs of the prophets monuments for the righteous. They want to claim: “we stand in the lineage of Isaiah. We stand in the same vein as Jeremiah. We are the guardians of the words of these people. If we had lived at the times of our fathers, there's no way we would have murdered these prophets.”

Really?!? The one greater than Moses and Elijah is standing right in front of you. You're going to kill him. Son of god. Holy, just, perfect, Righteous one is standing in front of you, you are filled with hatred and discussed and you will seek to kill him. You're really think you wouldn't kill the prophets too. They stand here, saying, verse 20. If we'd lived in the days, if if we had been there, we wouldn't sin like that, we're not that bad. We're not sinners, like they were. Yeah, you are. Jesus will send more. They'll kill them All. They'll kill jesus, they'll kill his disciples, they don't care. They can't see The depth of their own depravity. They think they're mostly good people. This woe get the heart of all of it.

We to be careful what we teach, and who we allow to teach us because we are wretched evil, sinners. Our ears want to be tickled by teaching that sounds good to us. The hard truths of our wretched, sinfulness are difficult to bear and so we much rather find those who would teach us, and please us, The depravity of our hearts is what leads us astray with the shady shepherding. Our wretched, evil hearts know that pure holiness is impossible. So we settle for some lax less-than standard. Our evil hearts are what desperately need to be cleaned. Not just cleaned, we read in scripture, they will be replaced at the work of christ. That's what needs to be dealt with, but we can only clean the outside in our own strength. So, our inward depraved heart is what leads us to halfway holiness. The denial of the depth of the weight of our sin is the root of all of these issues. So woe to you scribes and pharasees, hypocrites!

No one is righteous, No not one, no one seeks God.

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god

the wages of sin is death. That is what we all deserve. There's no denying these truths. So woe.

These warnings should stir in our heart. In what ways are we guilty? In what ways do these woes speak to our heart? Because then jesus ends With a lament.

The Lament INFORMS us:

Matthew 23:36–39 ESV

Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

Jesus moves to a Lament, and I think this lament serves to inform us.

There is a weight to being guilty of the woes. Jesus doesn't just say these because it's man, i wish you weren't like this pharisees. We should could do a little better. Here's your woes. The very word, woe. Carries with it, a weight and a depth of the judgment and the heaviness of what god has said. But this lament serves to tell us, it's Really, really bad. These things don't just pile up and become like, oh, here's your “problem.” These things pile up and send you to hell. That is what we just read. How then, verse 33. How then are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Verse 36, all these things will come upon this generation. There is wrath and judgment for those who are not in price. The lament is here to teach us. Of the FATEFUL FALLOUT.

The FATEFUL FALLOUT

There will be a judgment. Jesus pleads with the city of jerusalem. Again, you can hear the heart of love. Jesus declares the miseries that the people of jerusalem are about to bring upon themselves. What's interesting is, As he faces His own suffering, And pain, And misery.. That is not his lament. He laments his people. He pictures them and himself as a hen gathering his people under his wings. It shows his tender love for those who trust in him. His faithful care. In lamenting in this way, he is calling them to turn from this fallout. He's calling them to come to him to take refuge in christ. Your options are: face the fallout of the woes or be hid under the wings of your savior. He will keep you safe. Nourishing you. Giving you eternal life. But verse 38 still rings True. See that your house is left to you desolate. that is ultimately the fallout. You can gain the whole world and loose your soul, you will be left with nothing and desolate. But here too I think we need to be careful to note that even these words were not just for the people back then, they are still for us. Matthew Henry writes this As he reflects on this passage: But ere long. But, before long... Deserved vengeance will fall on every church, which is christian and name only. In the meantime, The savior stands, ready to receive all, who come to him. There is nothing between sinners and eternal happiness, but they're proud and unbelieving Unwillingness.

Turn to christ. Or face this fateful fallout. Let's pray.

PRAY

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