1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:05,640 Hello and welcome to the Church Newtown Square podcast. 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:10,680 If we can serve you in any way, or if you'd like to learn more 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:15,600 about our church family or the X-29 Network, please visit us at 4 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,520 Church NSQ. Dot org. 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:25,920 That's CHVRCHNS q.org, and now let's listen in to today's 6 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:27,600 teaching. I don't know if you've ever 7 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,160 reached into the fridge looking for a sweet Halo orange. 8 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,360 You know, those big bags of Halo oranges that, you know, market 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,840 grocery stores try to get rid of this like 2 for $5 and like, 10 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,240 I'll take 2 bags. And you're never going to 11 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:43,760 consume that many Halos in, you know, in a week, you reach in 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,160 and you've only you've reached in for Halo. 13 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:48,240 And then have you ever seen those rotten Halos? 14 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:50,200 The ones that they've been sitting there too long, They're 15 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:51,880 squishy. They're kind of like, And then 16 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:53,920 you see the one that's got mold on it and rotted. 17 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:56,520 How about apples? You buy a bag of apples, you 18 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:59,560 reach in and there's the apple with the soft, nasty, squishy 19 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:00,920 stuff. You know what I'm talking about. 20 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,960 Yeah. Or pepper that's gone slimy or 21 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:09,800 cheese with mold growing on it. You know, once something's 22 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,720 rotten you, you do not want to draw near to it, right? 23 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:16,000 It was something's rotten you. You pull back and like, but then 24 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,280 hopefully you reach in and you throw it out. 25 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,680 You know, you get rid of the rotten stuff because really, who 26 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:23,240 wants to keep rotten food in the fridge? 27 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,000 Answer. Lazy teenage boys, that's who. 28 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:32,640 Not my boys, not my boys. And this is what makes sin so 29 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:34,720 painful. It's it's sin is a rottenness of 30 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,240 the heart. And when our nature, our sinful 31 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:42,840 nature spills out in frustration or anger or pride or despair, 32 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:45,040 what happens is our hearts are exposed. 33 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:49,400 Our our true nature is revealed to everyone, mostly our family 34 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,880 members. Sometimes it's hidden behind the 35 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,640 windshield when you're yelling at the person in front of you, 36 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,440 going way slower than they ought to, or perhaps it's under your 37 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,600 breath. But really we're repelled not 38 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,840 only by others rottenness, but we sometimes, most times are 39 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,000 even repelled by our own rottenness. 40 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,200 We say things like I can't believe that just came out of my 41 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,920 mouth or how can God love someone who thinks this way or 42 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:19,080 does these things? But thankfully, despite the 43 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,160 rottenness of our own hearts, God is not afraid to draw near. 44 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,920 Even though we have a rotten Halo heart, He draws near to 45 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:33,080 those with rotten hearts, not to condemn, but to save. 46 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,800 This is the image that I want you to keep in your mind as we 47 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,600 come to Matthew chapter 23. You know, God in the flesh has 48 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,320 come to his people. He's come to his own city. 49 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:44,880 He's come looking for good fruit. 50 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:49,160 But what he finds among Israel's religious leaders is not health, 51 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:54,840 not holiness, not life, but rot, not rotten fruit, but rotten 52 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,240 hearts. And before Jesus goes on to 53 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,880 speak in chapters 24 and 25, which is known as the Olivet 54 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,680 Discourse, it is about certain judgement to come. 55 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,240 The disciples will be like, look at all this stuff. 56 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:14,720 And he's like, yeah, it's, it's going to be gone before he gets 57 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,840 there. He exposes the rottenness of the 58 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,840 heart of Israel's religious leadership. 59 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:24,120 And the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees and 60 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,800 the Herodians and all of the religious leaders and the 61 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,440 political leaders of the day, they're all in the crowd. 62 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:34,480 And Jesus is turning to them and he's going to expose the 63 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,920 hypocrisy. He's going to, he's going to 64 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,280 say, guys, here's what's rotten in your heart. 65 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,440 They had turned following God into a performance, rules, 66 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,520 appearances, status and external behavior. 67 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:53,040 And Jesus is exposing rotten religion so that his people, 68 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,360 what he's doing is he's saying don't go this way, go this way. 69 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,400 Beware he'll he'll use he says in chapter 16, he says beware 70 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:03,880 the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees already addressed this 71 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:05,520 issue. When you say beware of 72 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:07,920 something, it means that you don't don't go near there. 73 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:11,640 There's danger because the Kingdom of heaven will not be a 74 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:13,760 place filled with rotten Halo hearts. 75 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:18,680 No rotten Halos in the Kingdom of heaven because rotten hearts 76 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,760 lead to a rotten future. Rot spreads. 77 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:27,200 So if you'd like to take notes, here's this this text. 78 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,360 This chapter is actually broken down into 3 chunks, verses one 79 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,360 through 12. Jesus makes it clear that we're 80 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,880 not to mistake religious appearances for real life with 81 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,360 God. You can mistake the outside for 82 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,840 what might be true on the inside, but Jesus says real life 83 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:46,680 with God isn't necessarily always seen on the outside. 84 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,280 Second, in verses 13 through 36, Jesus gives what's called the 85 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:54,280 seven woes, but they're warnings for the church. 86 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,200 You know, he gives woes to the, the, the, the Pharisees. 87 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,200 But really these are warnings for us. 88 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,560 We don't like look back and be like those guys. 89 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:04,040 You know, they should have known better. 90 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,480 We actually read this and like, no, these are warnings for us 91 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:10,280 because we could very easily fall into the same trap some of 92 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:13,920 us have. And finally, we see in verses 93 00:05:13,920 --> 00:05:21,920 3739, Jesus reveals his heart, his sorrow for unrequited love. 94 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,720 That's a fancy word for it has not been given back. 95 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,520 When we love someone and we pour our love out and it's just 96 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:30,240 unrecoited, it's not giving back. 97 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,160 It's not reciprocated to us. There's sorrow on God's heart 98 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:37,120 and then Jesus will leave the city. 99 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,400 So first verses one through 12, we just read that, you know, 100 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,560 Jesus is essentially saying here, hey, guys, the crowds and 101 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,240 to the disciples, he's not mainly speaking to the 102 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:49,840 Pharisees. This is kind of a cringey 103 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:51,680 moment. You know, it's like in, in if 104 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,600 you've ever been called out, none of you have, but I've been 105 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,880 called out in the middle of the the classroom when I was in, you 106 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:02,080 know, elementary school, teachers would often have to 107 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,840 say, Tommy, you know, I hate it when I'm called Tommy. 108 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,480 You know, it's because it reminds me of, you know, just 109 00:06:08,840 --> 00:06:13,160 these moments when I would have to be the one called out so that 110 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:14,760 everyone else would learn the lesson, right? 111 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:17,600 Is anybody with me on that? Has anybody been that person? 112 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,160 Oh, all 2 of you, Great, excellent. 113 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,640 So, you know, it's that cringy moment when the teachers talking 114 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,360 to somebody and everybody's like, oh, snap, you sit up and, 115 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:28,240 and you behave. That's what Jesus is doing. 116 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:33,080 It's warning ordinary people. He's, he's speaking to the 117 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,720 ordinary people that are around and the crowds are there to 118 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,320 listen to him And he's saying don't mistake religious 119 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,680 appearances with real life with God. 120 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:47,000 Look at verse 3 says do and observe whatever they tell you. 121 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:49,840 He says that they sit on Moses's seat. 122 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:52,920 That means that they speak from the authority of the scriptures. 123 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:54,920 The law of God was not the problem. 124 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,920 Moses was not the problem. God's word was not the problem. 125 00:06:57,920 --> 00:06:59,960 It's not like anything changed in God's word. 126 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,600 He's basically saying, hey, listen, when they teach from the 127 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:07,160 Scriptures, do what the scriptures the law tells you to 128 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:10,440 do. Remember Jesus said, I've come 129 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:15,560 not to abolish the law, but to fill it, to fulfill it. 130 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,720 The problem was that these men handled holy things while their 131 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:23,920 hearts were far from God. They preached truth, but they 132 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,240 did not live it. And what they said and what they 133 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:30,560 did were worlds apart. We'll look at look at what that 134 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,640 what that does in verse four. He says, well, because they they 135 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:37,000 tie up heavy burdens. They practice with they do not, 136 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,400 they do not preach. They they put burdens that are 137 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:41,680 hard to bear. They lay them on your shoulders, 138 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,480 but they themselves are not willing to move any of it. 139 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:48,840 This is what false religion does. 140 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,880 False religion loads people up, but it never it, it, it never 141 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,400 lifts them up. It, it, it, it pushes them down 142 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,360 and makes people feel the weight of guilt and pressure and shame 143 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,640 and spiritual exhaustion, but it really offers no relief. 144 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,320 A lot of people, a lot of us in this room know that feeling, 145 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,200 right? You've been under either a 146 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,280 religious system of your own or of man's religion. 147 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:13,640 You know, a church can also put this on people. 148 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,320 But you know, I know what I should be doing. 149 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,920 You keep telling me that, OK, I know the standard and I 150 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,880 internally know what I ought to do and what I ought not to do. 151 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:25,480 I know what a godly life is supposed to look like. 152 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:29,040 But I keep failing, I keep falling far behind. 153 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:33,159 I keep feeling guilty. No one has to tell me of all my 154 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:36,600 failures. I'm I'm very familiar of how bad 155 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:41,039 I am, how much I fail. But when there's a religion that 156 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:42,840 says, well, you know how you get rid of that? 157 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,080 You do this, you do this and this list of things. 158 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:47,680 And here's a way to to kind of shed that guilt. 159 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:49,680 And then you do those things and what's the problem? 160 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,880 Then you feel you're like, I either AI didn't get to do the 161 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:56,960 list, you know the to do lists, you don't get to them all the 162 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,520 time or you don't do them perfectly or you don't get 163 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:02,560 around to them. Or here's the thing, I don't 164 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:05,240 want to do them. I don't want to do them. 165 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:08,880 What do you do then? And then you get to the point 166 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:10,440 and you start to ask, well, what's the point? 167 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:13,760 And that's exactly the kind of burden Jesus comes to confront. 168 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,080 He does not come to say, hey, do more. 169 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,360 He's like, no, no, no, you're putting burdens on people that 170 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:19,920 were not supposed to be there. Look at verse 5. 171 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:22,560 Why do they do that? They do all their deeds to be 172 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:25,680 seen by others. They put burdens on people they 173 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:27,960 want to be see they love honor and they love recognition. 174 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,240 They love titles and greetings and status. 175 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:31,800 They want to look spiritually impressive. 176 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,760 But really behind all of that was just pride, just pride. 177 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:42,360 And then verse 8 Jesus says but you so he's turning that's 178 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:44,680 plural. He's he's saying you my 179 00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:50,320 disciples, you are not to be that do not become like these 180 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:51,680 men. You have one teacher. 181 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,200 The instruction that you were to receive doesn't get filtered 182 00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:00,040 through these guys. It gets filtered through no one 183 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:01,720 but Christ. You have one teacher. 184 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:03,560 You have one father, You have one instructor. 185 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:05,840 He is the Christ. In other words, there's no one 186 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,520 who can really, truly lead you to life with God. 187 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,280 It's not a religious celebrity. It's not the one who has the 188 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,800 most followers on on his their podcast, although having 189 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:20,640 followers and having an influence is not bad. 190 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,360 It's not how large or small that's not the issue. 191 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:28,000 It's when the heart is is wrong. It's when the heart is looking 192 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:32,560 for its own honor, its own celebrity, its own performance. 193 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:36,000 When the heart is hypocritical, when I say one thing but do 194 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,280 another, it's Christ. It's God himself. 195 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:42,120 You are never going to find God shifting in what he teaches. 196 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:45,560 We do not have a God that shifts like changing shadows, right? 197 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:49,120 James says he does not. He does not sway in what he 198 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:50,160 says. He lets his yes. 199 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:52,360 But yes, in fact, that's even what Jesus is addressing here. 200 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:55,040 And that's even what James is probably drawing from in this 201 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,920 particular teaching. James is probably drawn from the 202 00:10:57,920 --> 00:10:59,600 teachings of Jesus. Absolutely. 203 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:00,720 That's what he was supposed to do. 204 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,600 But when he thinks about the ways in which we're to treat one 205 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:05,000 another. The book of James which the 206 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,160 women are studying is an incredible commentary on this 207 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:11,160 passage in this section right here. 208 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:17,080 Those who teach Christ and Christ alone are being used by 209 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:18,760 Christ. The issue is not so much whether 210 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:21,000 we give certain people titles within the church. 211 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:25,680 You know, it's it's when that title is won so that I might get 212 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:31,320 honor is high holiness of the church in Newtown Square. 213 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,920 Dr. Reverend Tom Hazina I'm going to put that sign out front 214 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:40,000 right. If I ever do that, call members 215 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,920 meeting, fire me and hire someone that will never put a 216 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,400 sign out there like that, you know, that's what you know. 217 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,440 Call me high, holy Reverend or call me this, call me that. 218 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,800 There's a difference between called what the scriptures say 219 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:55,480 is these are your pastors, these are your elders, these are your 220 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,920 shepherds, these are your leaders and they are the 221 00:11:57,920 --> 00:11:59,560 servants of all. In fact, that's the fork in the 222 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:01,680 road. In verse 11, Jesus gives the 223 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:03,560 great reversal of the Kingdom. Look at verse 11. 224 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:06,960 He says, listen, you are not to act like this, but how are we to 225 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:08,480 act? And this should sound familiar 226 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:10,120 by the time we get to this point. 227 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:11,680 Friends, we've been studying Matthew. 228 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:13,960 This sounds like repetitive, right? 229 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:15,480 It's repetitive. Verse 11. 230 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,800 The greatest among you shall be your what servant. 231 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:21,640 The least of these will be the greatest of these. 232 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:24,440 And whoever wants to exalt himself is going to be humbled, 233 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:26,240 and whoever humbles himself is going to be exalted. 234 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:29,640 That is Matthew's way. And I think Jesus way of hinting 235 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,280 about what's right around the corner, because what's right 236 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:36,640 around the corner is Christ's exaltation on the cross. 237 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:39,680 He's been humiliated. I mean, the moment he came into 238 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:42,200 the womb of Mary, I mean, the eternal God comes in the flesh. 239 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,960 He's already shrunk. So his humiliation doesn't start 240 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,760 with the crucifixion, friends. His humiliation is the fact that 241 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,040 he has to like eat, sleep and breathe in this creation that he 242 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:52,920 created. He has to be constrained in the 243 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,120 flesh. I mean, he's he has to go poop 244 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:57,400 in the woods. You know, it's like how 245 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,520 humiliating is that when the king of the universe has to dig 246 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:01,640 a hole? You know what I'm talking about. 247 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,760 I want to put it in frames like he's already been humiliated, 248 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:06,560 but yet his exaltation is coming. 249 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:09,200 We look at the cross. We don't look at humiliation. 250 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,960 His exaltation is actually the moment of victory on the cross. 251 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:15,920 And then his double victory is when he raised from the grave 252 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:18,080 and says, Yep, death can't hold me. 253 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,200 So the fork in the road is verses one through 7. 254 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,560 Jesus like this is one way of living, friends, disciples, you 255 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:29,280 can live for yourself. You can look, make sure that 256 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,280 there's an appearance of holiness, but there's really 257 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:32,760 not. You're rotten at the core. 258 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,360 Or in verses 11 through 12, there's a way of humility, 259 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:41,280 surrender and service that may look like death. 260 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:44,240 In fact, what will happen is people will look at Jesus and be 261 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:50,920 like, yeah, he lost. It looks like death, but really 262 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:54,200 it is not. It's the most glorious victory 263 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,640 all the world will ever see. Looks like death on the surface. 264 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,680 See, it looks like life on the surface, but death on the inside 265 00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:04,320 Looks like death on the outside. Service, humility, no fame, no 266 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:08,480 fortune, no celebrity, but life and glory inside. 267 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:11,920 We struggle with that. We all have. 268 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:13,960 We live in a culture of appearances. 269 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,920 We, we, we post this post that dressed like this, dressed like 270 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:20,240 that, we're worried about who's doing what. 271 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:21,920 We compare ourselves to one another. 272 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,800 The Oscars are a huge picture of this. 273 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,720 Everybody shows up on the carpet and they're they're dressed to 274 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,120 the nines and they put this appearance in the world just 275 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:35,160 says this is this is glory. But really there's, there's 276 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:40,640 death and rot apart from Christ. So then Jesus, what he'll do is 277 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,480 he'll give 7 warnings. He says, this is what you need 278 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,040 to look out for. Here's 7 warnings for the 279 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:48,800 church. In verse 13, he starts to say, 280 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:53,480 whoa, whoa, not whoa. Like WHOA, like whoa, that was 281 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,560 cool. Like whoa, woe to you. 282 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:01,840 One theologian called the sustained denunciation of the 283 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,440 scribes and Pharisees the Rolling Thunder of Christ's 284 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:06,800 wrath. Rolling Thunder. 285 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:09,280 Like when you hear the You know, in the summertime, one of my 286 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:13,800 favorite things to do is to sit outside and watch a storm come 287 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,160 in before the rain. Just just torrential downpours. 288 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:19,800 You can hear it off in the distance, the Rolling Thunder. 289 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:21,760 You see the crack of the, the light. 290 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,840 And then you hear like, you know, used to count 11000 two 291 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,240 1003 with that see how close the storm was coming. 292 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:31,080 You hear the Rolling Thunder the, and it, and it echoes. 293 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,200 This is to echo in our hearts and our minds. 294 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,560 Jesus turns and gives 7 woes. And just so you know, this is 295 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,640 not just anger. It's not anger. 296 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:45,040 You might picture Jesus like wagging his finger and yelling 297 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:49,800 at these guys. Whoa, whoa, actually, we know it 298 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:51,320 just popped in my head. You know it. 299 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,360 The Princess Bride, you know, the witch, Boo. 300 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:57,520 Does everybody know what I'm talking about? 301 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,000 Boo, Queen of Pew dresses. There's spit on coming out. 302 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,840 You know, Jesus is not, you know, in a beard. 303 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:14,280 Like whoa, you Pharisees, sinners, poor Marie, I'm sorry. 304 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:17,160 This is why no one sits up front. 305 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:19,120 This is why no one sits up front. 306 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,200 I do apologize to some people last week. 307 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:23,200 Hey, I'm sorry. I looked at you way too much and 308 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,440 they didn't come back. They literally didn't come back 309 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,480 now in this it's not quite that I'm sure he's angry, but mixed 310 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:37,120 into this is the anger that is that is drawn from grief, deep 311 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:39,400 sorrow. It's parents is when you have to 312 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,720 you know, you have you have you have sons or daughters who have 313 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,960 done something and and you're just grieved by the impact of 314 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,120 their sin and they're old enough to understand and you're you're 315 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:50,960 you're like even be not be yelling. 316 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:55,600 You might be angry kids, friends, teenage sons and 317 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:57,120 daughters or all of us. I've heard this. 318 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,480 I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at what you did right. 319 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,840 You know that it's a grief there. 320 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:07,839 That's what Jesus is is doing. It's sorrow over ruin. 321 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:09,960 He's not merely denouncing these men. 322 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,760 He's exposing a deadly way of life and he's calling people not 323 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:15,880 to to follow. So look at the first world verse 324 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,160 13. He says you scribes and fairies, 325 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,720 you're hypocrites, you hypocrites, you, you, you're 326 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,520 wearing a mask and acting a different way. 327 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:26,960 You shut the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces. 328 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:33,280 This is devastating because if, if God is opening the Kingdom of 329 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,480 Christ, if he's welcoming people into the promised Kingdom, and 330 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,720 these men were standing in the doorway blocking the entrance, 331 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,480 that's not a good thing. You do not want to stand in 332 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,840 between God and life. He will ruin you. 333 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:50,160 He's done it before. See also Egypt. 334 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,920 You want to keep my people? I will just rain fire down. 335 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,640 I'll plague after plague after plague until you yield and then 336 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,000 I'm going to rescue my people and you're going to come after 337 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,560 them again. I will ruin you because I love 338 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,760 these people. They were standing in the 339 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:08,960 doorway blocking the entrance. And that's also what false 340 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:10,400 religion does. It blocks doors. 341 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:12,960 It takes what God has made open and starts adding barriers. 342 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,560 Jesus says come to me, all you who are weary in heaven meeting. 343 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,080 But false religion says no, no, no, not yet, not yet. 344 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:22,640 Clean yourself up first. Clean yourself up. 345 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,120 Do do a little bit more. Prove yourself first before you 346 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,160 can come to him. And that's what the Pharisees 347 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:29,800 had done. They'd taken their traditions. 348 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:31,120 They treated them like scripture. 349 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:33,560 They they treated their traditions of the elders as if 350 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,760 it was scripture and it was blocking the door. 351 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,480 They were they were turning people's eyes and even their own 352 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:41,720 eyes away from Christ. They were blocking the entrance 353 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:42,560 to life. There. 354 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:44,040 He was right there. And they're like, you're not the 355 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,400 Christ, you're not this, you're not that. 356 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:48,280 Look over here. The traditions. 357 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,560 I mean, I think about it is if you know, you got an all 358 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:58,120 exclusive pass to Disney, Hershey Knoebels, I don't know, 359 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,800 Dutch Wonderland and you know, hey, you've got an all day pass 360 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,760 and you've got VIP parking. You're able to go and you got a 361 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:08,960 full food package. You just go in and enjoy the 362 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:13,000 park and you've got that ticket. And the Pharisees are pretty 363 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:14,800 much saying like, Hey, listen, that's great. 364 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,200 You've got an all access pass, your food's covered, your time's 365 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:20,120 covered. You've got your, your fast 366 00:19:20,120 --> 00:19:22,640 forwarding in front of people. Tell you what, why don't you, 367 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:26,640 just just in case, why don't you park the furthest from the 368 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,520 entrance just to prove that you're thankful to God. 369 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,440 And you know what? Probably you should wait an 370 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:34,000 hour. Wait an hour before. 371 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,760 If you get there, wait an hour. Control your kids, by the way. 372 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,560 And if they get excited and angry and fight in the hot sun, 373 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:43,680 calm them down. And then calm. 374 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,760 So park far away, Wait an hour, calm your kids down. 375 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:48,920 Then, when everybody's approaching, walk to the 376 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:51,720 entrance. Also, if you get to the entrance 377 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,680 by 12, it's too late. You should probably wait an 378 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,320 extra day, start again the next day and be early. 379 00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:59,960 You don't like what? Are you kidding me? 380 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:02,920 No, they're blocking the entrance. 381 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,080 Jesus came to remove barriers, not add them. 382 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:09,120 And this is a stern warning for the church that wants to add 383 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:12,880 extras to the gospel. When we add extras to the 384 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,080 gospel, we're putting barriers in front of when we're doing 385 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:17,960 things, when we're holding things that are higher than they 386 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:21,560 ought to be, and we're keeping people from experiencing the 387 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:25,360 life giving fruit of the gospel. We are. 388 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,320 We are being warned. Don't add extras to the gospel. 389 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,360 Look at the Second World. They also make rotten disciples. 390 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:41,440 You travel to make a single proselyte, but what happens you 391 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:46,920 make them a child that is twice as much a child of hell as 392 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,080 yourselves. Wow, that's strong language. 393 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,480 Basically he's using prophetic language here. 394 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,120 Hyperbolic language is saying like you, you travel land and 395 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:58,800 see you go to a lot of effort to make this one disciple, but what 396 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,360 happens is you make them twice as much. 397 00:21:01,360 --> 00:21:03,400 Which is another way of saying super zealous. 398 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:05,960 Remember when we came to Christ and we were excited, we would 399 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,360 share with a tree. We came to Christ, we'd share 400 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:09,720 with our friends. We were bold. 401 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,200 We were we were excited. We're like, this is a new found 402 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,000 religion. This is this is life giving. 403 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:16,520 OK, I'm I'm doing something to earn God's favor. 404 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,360 He's like, you make them twice as much as a child of hell 405 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:21,080 because that's where you're leading them. 406 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:25,240 Their zeal was real, but it was misdirected. 407 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:26,840 They were not leading people to God. 408 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:31,040 They were reproducing blindness. Their teaching was being 409 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,160 replicated and it still is to this day. 410 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,880 It still is to this day that matters because the people who 411 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,560 teach us about God shape the way we see God. 412 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,440 Think about the first people that taught you the Bible, 413 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:48,000 taught you certain convictions. Some of us hold on to those 414 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,760 because the impact that the first person we heard, the first 415 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,160 pastor, the first message, the first book, we're like this is 416 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,240 true. You just soak it up and you 417 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,920 absorb it and you tend to follow that the rest of your life until 418 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,600 someone counters it with something that's different or or 419 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:07,040 you learn in your growth. That's why it is such a gift 420 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,040 when you were born into a family that points you to Jesus early 421 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:14,240 on. This is why, moms and dads, it 422 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,720 is a gift to your kids that if you're trusting Christ and 423 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,240 you're following Christ, parents matter. 424 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:22,240 Pastors matter. Churches matter. 425 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,840 Your friends matter. Books matter. 426 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:29,640 The voices we trust matter. When someone points us to Christ 427 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,280 and is truly Christ, it matters because left to ourselves, we 428 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:37,400 would not find him. God moves towards us. 429 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,840 God seeks us out. It's through people. 430 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,680 He sends people to speak to us. He's speaking to you right now 431 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,520 in the words He's speaking. He's moving towards you right 432 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:47,880 now. Anything you hear that's of Him 433 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,840 is him moving toward you. And zeal for the wrong thing 434 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,640 sends people to hell. That's a heavy statement, isn't 435 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:58,240 it? L Ron Hubbard, the founder of 436 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,200 Scientology. Plenty of people are zealous 437 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,520 about that. People that we know that are 438 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:10,000 famous actors and musicians, they're zealous for it. 439 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,560 And this man has caused people to be zealous for it and it will 440 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,240 send them straight to hell because they are going in the 441 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,600 wrong direction, trusting in the wrong things. 442 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,880 And this is the tragedy of this chapter, because these men had 443 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:27,880 the scriptures. That's why Jesus gets the most 444 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,320 phrase like you have the scriptures in them. 445 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,560 You think you'd find life. But it points to me, I'm right 446 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:40,680 here. Jesus was standing right in 447 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,080 front of them and they still wouldn't see him. 448 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:44,600 The third woe is that they swore in public, and that's not the 449 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,760 kind you think they were swearing in public. 450 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:52,360 Look, verse 15, I'm sorry, 16 woe to you blind guides. 451 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:55,280 If you, if you shift there, if you, if you go down, just 452 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:58,360 highlight or circle a look. How many times do you just use 453 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:01,320 the word swear? You, you swear for this, you 454 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,400 swear for that. They swear a lot, but it's not 455 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,080 the swear you think they're not like using expletives. 456 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:10,080 I could no, I'm not going to use examples of swearing, but they 457 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,680 had created elaborate distinctions about what counted 458 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:15,120 and what did not count, what bound a person and what did not 459 00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:17,280 bind a person. Jesus saying that this is just 460 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,320 another form of blindness. You, you, you're turning 461 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,160 truthfulness into a technical game. 462 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,280 Well, technically it's you. You, you said, you gave me your 463 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,280 word that you would do this. But the law says this. 464 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,200 And So what we need to do is, you know, you swore. 465 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,480 And so you all be $10. What? 466 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:40,720 They were just creating this confusing system of swearing by 467 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:42,240 the temple, swearing by the gold. 468 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:46,560 And what happens is, is, is they were actually turning something 469 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,600 that was super obvious. Like, hey, how about your yes, 470 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,240 just be yes. Like why don't you just worship 471 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,920 God by your truthfulness? Give to God. 472 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:55,400 What's God's right? Give to Caesar's. 473 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:56,960 What's Caesar's give to God's, what's God's? 474 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,560 And God does not want clever evasions. 475 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,840 He wants truthful hearts. How many of us, if we're honest, 476 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,040 are fairly duplicitous in our conversations with some people 477 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,080 either in our families or Co working? 478 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:11,680 Even if as Christians we tend to tell a white liar we you know 479 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:16,160 what, like someone sent you a text and you see the bubbles and 480 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:18,200 they go away and then you ask, Hey, did you get my text? 481 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,200 Like, Oh no, I didn't see it. Liar. 482 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,840 I saw the bubbles and it even said was red, right? 483 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,360 It's true. Apple tells you when it's red. 484 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:34,440 God says just speak the truth always. 485 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,600 These men sounded religious, but underneath there was dishonesty. 486 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,480 This is a warning for us to just just be honest, just to let our 487 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:46,720 yes be yes. We we don't need to be 488 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:52,040 duplicitous like the 4th will. They majored on minors and they 489 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,520 ignored the majors. You tithe MIT and Dill. 490 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,640 You set aside these tiny little things, but you've neglected 491 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,720 weightier matters, justice and mercy and faithfulness. 492 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,800 You failed to help the poor and the marginalized. 493 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:09,960 You've you've done so many things that are obsessed with 494 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:12,600 details, while you've neglected those things that matter the 495 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:14,800 most. This is such a vivid picture 496 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,480 because he's saying like you strain out a gnat, but then you 497 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,000 seek to swallow a camel. He's using the imagery there. 498 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,640 He's like, he's like, you're going to, you're going to like 499 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:25,800 strain out a gnat so that your wine won't be unclean for the 500 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,720 sacrifice, but you're going to like swallow a camel, which is 501 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:35,600 like a nasty, dirty big animal. You can be incredibly precise in 502 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,480 small religious matters while remaining deeply out of step 503 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,840 with the heart of God. We can just drill down on the 504 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:46,400 most obscure theological issue or debate secondary and third 505 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:48,400 issues. Well, I think the Lord's coming 506 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,560 back at this time. Oh, well, naturally he's coming 507 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,560 back at this time. Well, actually, I think a third 508 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:55,320 way. And those who think the first 509 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:59,800 way, they're heretics. No, actually there's room for 510 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,200 debate. But why are we drilling down 511 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:03,680 these things? Like when's the last time you 512 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,120 went and served at a homeless shelter? 513 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:07,560 Or when's the last time you comforted A fellow member? 514 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,360 When did you serve at church? When did you, you know, there's, 515 00:27:10,360 --> 00:27:12,920 there's far weightier matters and thinking about these things 516 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:14,480 that we tend to get drawn out on. 517 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:16,560 And Jesus is saying, don't be like that. 518 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,800 Let the main things be the main things. 519 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,040 They were so rotten in their hearts. 520 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,280 That's what rotten religion does. 521 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,600 It becomes hyper careful in the externals. 522 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:30,680 We're a church that dresses like this. 523 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:33,560 We're a church that sings these songs. 524 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:36,080 We use this version of the Bible. 525 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:41,720 We do these things and Jesus is like, OK, well, I'm not looking 526 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:43,840 for externals. I'm looking what? 527 00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:45,520 Why do you do those things? What are you doing? 528 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,000 What are you doing to reach the loss in your neighborhood? 529 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,920 How much do you gathered together to pray for the lost in 530 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:52,080 the neighbor? How much do you pray for the 531 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,040 world? How much do you give generously 532 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,720 over in a bun you're already giving? 533 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,720 How much do you spend time knowing and loving Christ? 534 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,120 He gives the 5th woe. He says you guys clean all of 535 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:09,800 these dishes, but the things that you put on those dishes, 536 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:14,200 you know how you got those cups and plates filled? 537 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:16,600 You're full of greed and self indulgence. 538 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,680 He's calling them out saying like you are greedy, you're 539 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:25,760 greedy, clean up the outside because what you're doing on the 540 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,560 inside and the reasons for all of your things, he calls them 541 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:30,760 whitewashed tomb. That's a 6th woe. 542 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:33,880 Whitewashed tombs were for the sake of travelers. 543 00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,360 Remember they're all going up to Jerusalem. 544 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,880 They would paint the tombs white because sometimes people were 545 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,720 randomly buried and in the Levitical law, if you came in 546 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:46,400 contact with dead bones, you were unclean ceremony unclean so 547 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,840 you could not worship. They would they would wipe them 548 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,840 out so that you could see them like, oh, there's a grave and 549 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:52,840 stepped over. He said. 550 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,480 You guys are like those. You're whitewashed tombs, but 551 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,440 you're dead inside. You're full of death. 552 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,280 That's what hypocrisy is, is death wearing makeup. 553 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,880 My dad always used to call our used cars, you know, turds 554 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,360 painted white. You know, it's like you can 555 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,760 paint something up that's a piece of crap, you know, but 556 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:14,800 it's still a turd. Sorry, I'm just giving you the 557 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:21,920 pictures. It's biblical the 7th row this 558 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,080 woe is that they used to build tombs for the prophets. 559 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,720 Verse 29. What they would do is they would 560 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:31,280 honor these previous prophets that were honored. 561 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,360 But what Jesus says you, you actually are in the line of 562 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:36,560 those who killed the prophets. Why? 563 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:41,680 Because you're about to do that. You're not just the physical 564 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:43,440 sons of those who killed the prophets. 565 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,120 You're also the spiritual sons, the ones that rejected the word 566 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,840 of God when God sent prophet after prophet after prophet. 567 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,320 You're about to do that right now. 568 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,760 In just a few days, they're going to get the people to say 569 00:29:54,760 --> 00:30:00,320 crucify, crucify, crucify. This man said this, he's a liar 570 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,560 and Jesus will be silent and he'll let them do it because 571 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:07,280 it's part of the redemptive plan of God. 572 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:10,800 He says you're about to nail me to the cross. 573 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,560 You're going to you're going to kill another prophet and I'm 574 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:18,640 kind of more than a prophet. I'm the son of God, which is why 575 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:23,600 when he brings it down to this question in verse 33 says how 576 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,800 are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 577 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:33,160 One, when we read that, we ought to understand that when Jesus 578 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,840 affirms hell, that means that hell is a very real place. 579 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,800 Jesus points them to the reality of hell. 580 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,080 How are you going to be escaping this? 581 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,360 You're about to crucify the Son of God. 582 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:57,080 How will you escape judgement? There he is right there. 583 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,960 There's no excuse. He's taught them. 584 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:03,680 He's spoken to them. He's pointed them to the 585 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:05,680 Scriptures. He is there in the flesh. 586 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:07,920 He's done miracle after miracle after miracle. 587 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:12,320 I don't know how much clearer you can be than to do all that. 588 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:16,200 Price is done. How are they going to escape 589 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,520 hell? Well, the answer is the same for 590 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:24,920 them as it is for us. It's only the mercy of Christ. 591 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,200 This is what makes this chapter so searching. 592 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,680 The point is not look at those terrible Pharisees. 593 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:36,360 The point is man apart from grace. 594 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,200 This is what the human heart becomes. 595 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,400 We make up religions, we're proud, performative, blind, put 596 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,320 burdens on people, we're unclean, we're unresistant or 597 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,240 resistant, we're unwilling. And if left to ourselves, this 598 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,280 would be our end. But that's not what God does. 599 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:00,400 If they continue to do this, He's saying crowds, if you 600 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,000 continue to do this, this is your end. 601 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,640 The guilt for the bloodshed of godly men like able to secre 602 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:14,040 every godly man that's come there are equally responsible 603 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:17,880 for killing because their hearts were rotten. 604 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:23,160 And as you end in chapter 23 there see it says a lament over 605 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:24,360 Jerusalem. If you have a title. 606 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,320 Jesus says O Jerusalem, the city which is representative of the 607 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:32,360 people there. He says how often I would have 608 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:36,920 protected you, gathered you as children together as a hand 609 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,760 gathers her brood. He's using motherly language 610 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:41,840 there, protective language. But look what he says. 611 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,360 He says how often I would have done this for you, but you were 612 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:49,800 not willing. Friends, that's not spite. 613 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:55,360 That's not petty anger, that's not cold condemnation. 614 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:59,000 That's love. Jesus is looking at them. 615 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,120 He's saying that you just were not willing. 616 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,240 This is this is the heart of Christ. 617 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,400 He's exposing them because he loves the people they're 618 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,960 hurting. He's not just doing this because 619 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:11,840 he wants to throw them under the bus. 620 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:13,400 He's like, you are hurting people. 621 00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,640 You are you yourselves are rotten and you're passing this 622 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:17,760 on. It's got to stop. 623 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,080 I'm here to stop it. I'm right here. 624 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:26,960 You're building barriers. When Jesus comes, he comes to 625 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,040 sweep all those barriers away. When all the man made barriers 626 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:32,920 are removed, when we remove physical barriers, when we 627 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,040 remove all the rules and the traditions, guess what's left? 628 00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:43,000 There's only one barrier left. It's our own unbelief, our own 629 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:48,400 unwillingness to repent and that's the tragedy. 630 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,640 Jesus, God himself says, I would, but you were not willing. 631 00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:58,160 It's not that Christ was unwilling to receive, not that 632 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:03,000 he was unwilling to save. He was, they were not and he is 633 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:08,120 still willing and many are not. And that's the great dividing 634 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:11,199 one. Jesus does not lament over this 635 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:13,960 city that sought in mercy and could not find. 636 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,840 It's not like I said, Jesus, how do we, how do we follow you? 637 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:19,800 Some people were saying but the city as a whole represented by 638 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,400 the religious system is like no, we'll have none of it. 639 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,719 Jesus was lamenting over a city that was pursued by mercy but 640 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:33,040 would have none of it. Some of you have family members 641 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,719 and friends and Co workers that you've you've prayed for and 642 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:40,280 have shared with and begged them to trust Christ and they're just 643 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:45,000 what unwilling? The sorry you feel is infinitely 644 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:48,960 the amount of sorrow that God feels for people who are 645 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:55,040 unwilling to come to him. But I just want to end with 646 00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:57,280 this. Lest we think that these men 647 00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:06,480 were hopeless. Think about Paul, Paul, these 648 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:10,760 men who rejected Christ. Think of the think of the worst 649 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:13,400 person you know who you've been praying for, someone that you 650 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,920 know that just has rejected Christ, and you think that 651 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:19,320 they're hopeless. They're like Will Ferrell and 652 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,560 spirited. Am I unredeemable? 653 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:29,520 Had to squeeze a song in there. Are these people unredeemable? 654 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:35,440 Is anyone unredeemable? In Galatians chapter one, verse 655 00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,240 13 through 16, Paul says, you've heard of my former life in 656 00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:40,640 Judaism. He's writing to the church in 657 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:42,560 Galatia. He said how I persecuted the 658 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,560 Church of God violently. I tried to destroy it. 659 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:47,600 I killed them. I imprisoned them. 660 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:51,920 I was advancing in Judaism. I was beyond many of my own age. 661 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:55,040 I was zealous. I was twice the disciple for the 662 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:58,240 traditions of my father's. I was a Pharisee of the 663 00:35:58,240 --> 00:36:01,920 Pharisees. I was I had a Harvard MBA in 664 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:09,600 Pharisaical law. But when God, who had set me 665 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,320 apart before I was born and who called me by His grace, was 666 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:19,560 pleased to reveal his Son to me, that's one of the most hopeful 667 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:23,440 turns in the Bible. But when he revealed his Son to 668 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:28,200 me, I was saved. He was not beyond the reach of 669 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:32,120 grace because God drew near to him. 670 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,480 The wonder of the gospel friends, and if you want to 671 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:39,560 clarify this for anybody that you know and love, the wonder of 672 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,920 the gospel is that Jesus is not repelled by rotten hearted 673 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:47,480 people like us. Instead he draws near. 674 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:59,200 He exposes our rot not to shame us, but to save us in the end. 675 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,200 The only people that are shut out of the Kingdom are not those 676 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:05,560 who are too sinful. You can't be too sinful to enter 677 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:07,840 the Kingdom. You can't be too dirty or too 678 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:10,840 hypocritical or too broken. The only people that are shut 679 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,800 out of the Kingdom like these men, like the Jews of his day 680 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:19,200 and and the Jews of today, and anyone else in the world that 681 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:25,960 are unwilling to come. Those who are shut out because 682 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:29,160 Jesus has the door wide open and he's being proclaimed 683 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:31,520 everywhere. Won't you come to Christ? 684 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,520 Won't you come to Him? Don't be unwilling. 685 00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:42,400 Don't be unbelieving. You will find that He is more 686 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:46,120 willing to receive you than you are willing to receive Him or 687 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,120 even to be received. That's the good news of the 688 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:52,880 gospel. God is willing to receive us 689 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:54,160 even though we have rotten Halo hearts. 690 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:55,840 And then what He does is He renews our hearts. 691 00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:59,600 He gives us His own heart and we no longer have rotten Halo 692 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:03,240 hearts, but we've got a big, plump, juicy, sweet, delicious 693 00:38:03,240 --> 00:38:07,560 Halo heart. The sermon you've just listened 694 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:10,760 to is a presentation of Church Newtown Square. 695 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,440 To find out more about our church, check out Church 696 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:23,480 nsq.org, That's CHVRCHNS q.org. You are welcome to copy and 697 00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:26,560 distribute this sermon to others as long as you do not do it for 698 00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:30,680 commercial purposes or alter, transform, or build upon this 699 00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:31,880 talk in any way.