Change your heart, Change your life.

ME:

One of my favorite verses in scripture is James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

“Come near to God, and He will come near to you.” (NIV)

God is not a violator of a person. He waits patiently for you to “Draw Near to Him.”

I am not sure why but this was not one of my wife’s favorite verses.

She said that she had a hard time with the latter part, “Cleanse you hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.”

She told me once that it was a very kind of “in your face” verse.

I can’t disagree with her .... it is “in your face.”

I would say that it was an, “in your heart” kind of a verse.

I think what she struggled with was calling someone a sinner or a double minded person.

The thing I was drawn too when I read this verse was .....

Cleanse your hands - Outside (exterior)

Forgiveness of your sins commited

purify your heart - Inside (interior)

Change the heart so you don’t commit those sins anymore.

Change your heart, change your life.

Transitional Statement: This is a wonderful passage for explaining salvation and sanctification.

WE:

Sanctification is what we would call a “heart cleanse.” (Heart Purity)

It is the second works of grace ....

.... Salvation (First)

The house key

Living in the Love and Grace of God

.... Sanctification (Second)

The whole set of keys

Living in the power of God (Holy Spirit)

When one lives in the power of God, Love and Grace is the byproduct of it.

Quote from Dr Mervin Smith (DS) “I don’t believe the enemy is too upset when people get saved. Its when they get sanctified is when he become deeply concerned.”

Transition Statement: If you are sanctified, salvation is not something you worry about (Your in).

GOD:

Christ makes this very clear to the Scribes and Pharisees.

This morning I want to start to look at the 7 Woe’s Jesus issues to the Scribes and Pharisees.

Last week we kind of had an introduction to this section.

Matthew 23:13–36 (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.

“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!

“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.

“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. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”

This morning I want to focus specifically on Matthew 23:25-26 ““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.”

“plate” - (Paropsis) A side dish consisting of delicacies used as a condiment or sauce.

“Woe” - (OUAI) A primary exclamation of grief

an onomatopoeic exclamation of pain or anger

the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz, hiss, bang)

Woe’s of judgement not lament

“Hypocrites” - (HYPOKRITES) in the NT it means a moral or religious counterfeit.

You are not the real deal.

Here is what He is talking about ....

“Clean” - (Katharizo) to cleanse, render pure, purify. This was in association to rituals and religious events.

We find this word used 3 times in this verse.

All 3 times it’s the same Greek word.

The weakness that characterized the Pharisees: their concern for outward cleanness at the expense of equal attention to inner cleanness.

Ref. found in Mark 7:4 “and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.”

But when the inside is said to be “filled with greediness and self-indulgence” it becomes clear that the ritual cleanness of objects is being used only as an analogy for moral cleanness.

It is possible to appear righteous outwardly while in fact that appearance covers an inward uncleanness.

You can appear righteous on the outside but be inwardly unclean.

Since the root cause of unrighteousness is internal, it is useless to be overly concerned with external cleanness.

Internal purity must precede external purity.

“Greed” - (Harpage) the act of plundering, robbery, greediness

Ref. Luke 16:14 “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.”

Ref. Luke 20:46-47 ““Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.””

“Self-indulgences” - (Akrasia) Lack of self-control in the sense of perseverance, steadfastness, or restraint with reference to sexual matters.

We find reference to this verse in Luke 11:39-40 “And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?”

(Matthew 23:26 “You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”)

“Blind” - (typhlos) Blind, mentally blind.

Jesus gives them wisdom to be able to see again ....

“First clean the inside of the cup and the plate...”

Pure, holy, Righteous

“..... that the outside also may be clean.”

This naturally takes place.

Transition Statement: Change the Heart and everything exteriorly changes as well.

You:

What does this mean for us today?

Are you desiring a change in your life?

“I need to change _________!” (You fill in the blank.)

Change the way I think

Change the way I act

Change the way I talk

Change the way I respond

Change the way I work

Change the way I play

Change the way I live

Change your heart, change you life!

You can dress differently,

try to think differently,

try to act differently,

try to talk differently,

make the decision to respond differently

work harder or less

from this moment on you can make the decision to live differently,

But if you don’t start with the heart, cleans the heart, it won’t work, it won’t last, and you will find yourself right back in the same position, if not worse than before.

Transition Statement: Look what Jesus stated: “First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”

ME:

The inside needs to be clean (purify) and the outside will follow.

But the one who can purify the inside is God!

Let’s not forget, God commanded I Peter 1:16 “since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””

The only way for this to happen is by the power of God (the Holy Spirit dwelling within us).

ALL OF THIS CAN TAKE PLACE TODAY!

If you are desiring a life change ..... come and get the heart change!

Because when you change the heart, you change your life!