Hope for the Hypocrite

Hope for the Hypocrite

Matthew 23:37-24:2

There are times in the Bible we see Jesus overwhelmed with emotion.

When He was at Lazarus funeral He wept (John 11:35)

When He stood outside of Jerusalem and looked at the spiritual state of it, He wept (Luke 19:41).

When He saw all the lost and sick people who needed mercy He was moved with compassion (Matthew 9:35-38)

When He saw the state of the Temple He was filled with anger turning over tables and running people out (Matt. 21:12-17).

Our text this morning is another example. The emotion we see in Jesus comes after He has preached His heart out.

Thank God for verses 37-39! If we didn’t have them, we would wonder if there were any hope at all for these people.

This morning I want to give some hope for the hypocrite.

Hypocrisy is not the unpardonable sin.

Jesus doesn’t end His sermon with condemnation, He ends it with an invitation.

I have had the privilege of baptizing many a hypocrite.

Some everyone knew they were a hypocrite.

Others hid it well.

But a great joy of my service as a pastor has been in seeing the transformation of a hypocrite into a follower of Christ.

That was the case with the Apostle Paul.

He was a Pharisee.

He was self-righteous.

He was lost.

But God saved Him. He transformed Him into a great man of God.

Perhaps there is a hypocrite out there who needs some hope today.

Perhaps you think the grace of God is not available for you. I pray this sermon makes its way into the heart of some hypocrite in need of hope.

1. Christ pleads with the hypocrite (37).

A. Jesus has taken the hammer out.

He has been pounding away at the hardened hearts of the religious leaders. We’ve never heard a sermon so convicting and so hard.

People would get up and walk out if they heard preaching like this today.

Jesus told them:

You’re not going to heaven and the people following you aren’t either (13)

You steal from widows and the hell you are headed to is hotter than the one others are headed to (14).

You are blind guides (16).

He calls them hypocrites seven times in Ch. 23.

He called them liars (18-22).

He told them they were filled with greed and self-indulgence (25).

He told them they were dead on the inside (27)

He called them snakes and asked them how they could escape being sentenced to hell (33).

He called them murderers (35)

That’s just a summary. He did this in front of everyone. He called them out.

There are times when the preacher must take out the hammer.

Hypocrisy hardens hearts. Listen, we’re not going to compliment people into heaven.

Can you break a rock with a feather?

Try it and see. Go all day.

There are some preachers who think they can break rocks with feathers. They look silly trying.

There are some who think harsh preaching is not acceptable. I will promise you hell is harsher than any preaching I could ever do.

When God calls the preacher to take out the sledge hammer, stand back and let him whack.

There are times sinners ought to leave church trembling. He ought to leave with a new heart or bruises on the old one.

B. Jesus’ heart is broken over the hypocrites.

Notice Jesus says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem”. The Hebrew language uses repetition to show emphasis. It’s meant to convey emotion.

Abraham, Abraham (Gen 22) to get Abraham to stop before he killed Isaac.

Moses, Moses (ex. 3:4-5) to warn Moses to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.

Samuel, Samuel (1 Sam. 3:10) when Samuel was called to preach.

When David’s son died, he cried out “O Absalom, Absalom” (2 Sam. 18:33).

When Satan was trying to get Simon Peter, Jesus said “Simon, Simon…” (Luke 22:31-32)

When Jesus knocked Saul to the ground to keep him from killing more Christians He said “Saul, Saul” (Acts 9:4)

When Jesus was on the cross, He said “My God, My God…” (Matt. 27:46)

This harsh message ends with tenderness. Jesus loves the leaders of Jerusalem.

Contrary to what our culture says, someone can tell you “No” and still love you.

The amazing thing is that Jesus is not feeling sorry for Himself. In just a couple of days He’s going to His own hell. He’s about to suffer like no other person in history. Yet he cares enough for these hypocrites to plead with them.

Now He pleads for them, soon He will bleed for them. Both prove His love.

Hypocrite, don’t think God hates you. He loves you. His heart is broken over you.

C. The hypocrite deserves hell.

They killed the prophets and other messengers sent to them.

Yet Christ would still receive them.

Think logically about what you have done.

Now stand in wonder that Christ would have you.

2. Christ calls the hypocrite to Himself (37).

A. The Jewish nation had many invitations.

In the past- Joshua “Choose ye this day…” (Josh 24:15)

Isaiah- Everyone who thirsts, come to the water (Is. 55)

2 Chr. 7:14 “if My people who are called by My name…”

In the present- For three years Jesus has been preaching to them.

He has preached “whosoever”

He has said “Come unto Me”

In the future- Look at verse 34. He will continue to send them preachers. They’re going to kill the preachers, but He’s going to keep sending them.

B. How does Christ call the hypocrite to Himself?

Through people. Look at the little word “sent” in verse 37.

God sends people to the hypocrite.

Now we don’t kill preachers anymore.

We fire them.

We gossip about them.

We even hate them.

Even if we did kill them God would send another. God will find us.

Illustration- Walking streets the other day and saw a man sitting in his car. Approached him and startled him because he was smoking dope. I spoke to him anyway. The Lord sent me to him.

They keep killing the preachers, God keeps sending more. You keep firing them, God will send more.

You can even hide but God will find you.

This is the age of grace. There will come a day if you are not saved that no one will be sent to you. In hell no one will come for you. But while we live between heaven and hell God will send people for us.

A mother, a father, a grandparent

A friend, a coworker, a stranger

A pastor, a teacher

Do you ever wonder why you keep running into these people? It’s because they are sent. This is the providence of God.

C. How often have you been called?

Have you ever thought of that?

It matters.

If you have not come to Christ, then however many times you have been called is how many times you have rejected Him.

Start doing that math.

How many times has Christ rejected you? None!

3. Christ offers the hypocrite hope (37).

A. He offers protection.

The analogy of the mother hen.

The hen may be the kindest of all birds. We’re glad that she is because her babies are very vulnerable. They walk as soon as they hatch and are oblivious to the dangers of a barnyard.

The hen begins speaking to her babies before they even hatch. They learn her voice. When danger comes, she communicates with her babies and they run to her and gather beneath her for protection.

Perhaps it’s bad weather coming. Or perhaps it’s a hawk flying over the barnyard. The mother hen sees danger and calls her little ones to herself for protection.

Jesus is calling out to the hypocrite hear. He sees the danger.

Death is coming quickly, like a hawk.

Death is coming unseen, like a hawk.

Death is coming with no pity, like a hawk.

Death is coming to take us away, like a hawk.

The only hope we have is to be under the protective wings of Christ!

B. He offers love.

Those baby chicks could not be closer to their mother. They literally touch her. She is their covering. They are one.

God wants to close the distance between Himself and the hypocrite. What is there to fear?

A mother hen will risk her life to save her babies from a snake is in the pen. She will fight until the snake is dead and gone or she is dead herself. Those babies will watch their mother go to war. She will sacrifice herself ro those babies.

This reminds me of the love of Christ.

Here comes that old serpent the devil.

He is after God’s children.

Here comes Christ. He has positioned Himself between Satan and His children. Christ crushes the head of the serpent.

He is beaten.

He is crucified.

He dies.

He resurrects.

All of this is for His children.

This is the love offered to the hypocrite. Why would you not come and rest beneath the wings of Christ? No one else loves you like that.

C. He offers family.

He gathers His children together.

You say, “But those folks ain’t like me!”

Yes, they are! We have all been hypocrites!! We are all sinners.

Peter came back to the family!

Paul came to the family!

Where else will you gather?

You’ll find no better place to gather than with the people of God.

You’ll find no better place to gather than beneath the wings of Christ!

4. Without Christ the hypocrite has no hope (23: 38- 24:2).

A. Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem.

Look at 24:1-2. The disciples are amazed at the Temple and the surrounding buildings. It was magnificent.

These building didn’t impress Jesus. He told them not one stone would be standing on another soon.

Less than 40 years later the Romans under Titus invaded the city and destroyed everything including the Temple.

The entire place was desolate.

Everything these hypocrites trusted in would be removed.

The Temple was their hope. Without it they had no hope at all.

B. What does it look like when Christ departs?

Not one stone is left on another.

What will a life without Christ look like?

It will eventually be demolished.

I’m sure there were people who didn’t think God would allow the Temple to be destroyed. But He did.

There are some who think God will not allow a person to go to hell. But He will.

Without Christ, nothing you do matters. Everything is destroyed, ripped apart. Nothing is left standing.

What does the rich man in hell look like? He looks like the poor man in hell.

What does the good man in hell look like? He looks like the criminal in hell.

When Christ departs everyone looks the same. There is nothing left. It all falls apart.

C. The hypocrite will see Christ.

Verse 39 is the third time Psalm 118 has been quoted in the last couple of chapters (21:9; 42). This time Jesus is talking about when He returns.

The point is eventually all of Israel will recognize that Jesus is the Messiah.

Some will do this in salvation.

Scripture teaches as we near the end that there will be a turning of many Jewish people to Christ (Romans 11:11-ff).

The Jewish leaders killed the prophet Zechariah. Jesus rebuked them for that in 23:35. Zechariah said of the end days in 12:10

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

Many in the Jewish nation will one day recognize their Savior as the One they pierced. They will come to Him n faith and repentance.

Some will see Christ in judgment.

How Christ receives you is dependent on how you received Christ. To be rejected by Him is the worst thing that could happen.

The Bible says to be without Christ is to be without hope (Eph. 2:12).

For many, hope is all they have.

For themselves as they lay dying in a hospital bed. They have hope!

For others, as they watch the one they love slip away. But they have hope because the one they love knows Christ.

But to die without Christ means no hope.

When the lost person dies, they see Christ and He says “Depart from Me.”

Christ offers hope. Even to the hypocrite.