The Seven Woes: Why Jesus Condemned the Jewish Leaders
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
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Scripture Reading
Prayer
Introduction:
Let me tell you a story from my childhood
Review
Two weeks ago we talked about the introduction to the passage that we are looking at today.
Interesting Structure
Introduction (vss. 1-12)
A. First woe (vs. 13)
B. Second woe (vs. 15)
C. Third woe
D. Fourth woe
C. Fifth woe
B. Sixth woe
A. Seventh woe
Conclusion (vs. 33-36)
Exposition
“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.
The first “woe” and the seventh “woe” go together
Based on all the context for the last several weeks and leading up to this, clearly these religious leaders have failed to recognize Jesus as messiah
Reminder, “scribes and pharisees” stands for all Jewish leadership
They have failed to recognize the kind of King he came to be and the kind of Kingdom in which they claim to want to enter.
Not only do they refuse to recognize the King or enter His kingdom but they actively seek to prevent others from doing so.
“Enter the kingdom of heaven” is used in Matthew to talk about ultimate spiritual salvation
They claim to sit in the seat of Moses but are actually fighting against the one who truly does.
Illustration
This situation is similar to one that happened to my family recently...
But with dire consequences
Restaurant with broken credit card machine.
Transition to second text of first point
So in verse 13, the pharisees miss the way to be part of the kingdom
In verses 29-32, as we are about to see, the pharisees, while missing the messiah, actively proclaim that, if they had been living in the Old Testament days, they would not have missed the forerunners of the Messiah, the prophets.
Read with me...
“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.
Jesus circles back to this teaching in the seventh woe.
They believe that they are different than those who came before them.
They see themselves as the hero’s in the OT Scriptures rather than those who failed
But they are the Israelites when Moses went to the Mountain top
They are David when he sinned
They are Solomon when he turned to idols
They are those who failed to recognize and embrace the prophets just as they failed to recognize the King and enter His kingdom.
Illustration
“I keep expecting the Chargers to not be the Chargers any more”
I. Realize that Jesus is the prophesied King and enter His kingdom(13; 29-32)
I. Realize that Jesus is the prophesied King and enter His kingdom(13; 29-32)
Application:
The question is, who are you when you read the Bible? Do you identify with the Hero or the sinner?
Let me tell you, I identify with the sinner, the one who failed.
Jesus is the hero
When you read the Scriptures, yes, learn from and emulate the good examples but recognize that you have failed just as everyone else has failed but where we failed, Jesus succeeded.
Exposition 2
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.
We don’t think of Pharisees seeking to make converts
They did
In fact many scholars believed that Pauls time as a Pharisee uniquely prepared him to be the great evangelist that he was.
Notice, Jesus doesn’t criticize them for trying to reach the lost but for leading the lost to be a “child of hell” rather than a kingdom citizen
The Pharisees led their converts to a false
“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.
II. See that Jesus’ righteousness is more than a superficial cleaning, it is a transformation of heart. (15; 27-28)
II. See that Jesus’ righteousness is more than a superficial cleaning, it is a transformation of heart. (15; 27-28)
Exposition 3
“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 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.
“You clean the outside of the cup and the plate” should be “You empty the cup and the plate:
Shammaites, Hillelites
Jesus is pointing away from “ceremonial cleaning” and pointing to actual cleaning.
III. Recognize that the Word of God does not give guidance simply to sanctify things but to sanctify hearts (16-22; 25-26)
III. Recognize that the Word of God does not give guidance simply to sanctify things but to sanctify hearts (16-22; 25-26)
Exposition 4
“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!
IV. Learn that God’s Word and His righteousness are fundamentally good and radically transformational (23-24)
IV. Learn that God’s Word and His righteousness are fundamentally good and radically transformational (23-24)
Exposition 5 (Conclusion)
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.
Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Serpents/brood of vipers
“Hell” Gehenna
V. Know that apart from the grace of God, none can escape being sentenced to hell (33-36)
V. Know that apart from the grace of God, none can escape being sentenced to hell (33-36)
Is following Jesus a crutch?
No, a crutch implies just a help to move on our own.
If Jesus must be compared to a medical device He is more like a defibrillator, bringing to life that which is dead