Woe to You, Hypocrites! – part 2
Matthew 23:16-24
September 23, 2012
As you know we are presently in the middle of Jesus stern rebuke
Of the false religious leaders of Israel.
We are told earlier in Matthew’s gospel
That when Jesus saw the people of Israel they were
“distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”
Obviously their state caused Him to be moved with compassion.
It also caused Him to be filled with indignation
At the shepherds who were responsible.
In Matthew 23 that frustration and indignation boils over.
We are now on Wednesday of the passion week
And Jesus is as public as He has ever been.
He arrived this morning and began teaching in the temple,
Was met with opposition, answered that,
And now has turned the tables against those who attacked Him.
It is one of the most brutal beat downs in all of Scripture.
• It is direct
• It is blunt
And because it comes from Jesus, who sees the heart,
IT IS TOTALLY ACCURATE.
7 times (8 if you count verse 14) Jesus uses the word OUIA,
Translated “Woe”.
As I told you last week, it really isn’t a word, it is more of an emotion.
It is a guttural word.
It is onomatopoetic. (it sounds like what it means)
It was a groan from the deepest parts of His being.
(It is like when you make a sound after smelling something bad)
It is like when Jesus was confronted with the doubters
Outside the tomb of Lazarus.
John 11:37-38 “But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?” So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.”
“deeply moved” translates EMBRIMAOMAI (em-bree-my-o-my)
That is another onomatopoetic word which means
“to snort like a horse” or “to snort in anger”
There Jesus blew out of His lips like a horse snorting.
That is what is occurring here OUIA
He is sickened, He is angered, and He is letting them know about it.
Now that does bring up a pretty good question for us.
WHY IS JESUS BEING SO HARSH?
John 3:17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
John 12:47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.”
I mean we know that about Jesus, but what do we do with this chapter.
If this is anything, it is judgment.
WHY?
Well, we know why Christian judgment is done.
(contrary to popular belief Christians are called at times to judge one another)
1 Corinthians 5:12 “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?”
1 Corinthians 6:3 “Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?”
And so we know that there are times when Christians
Are actually called to judge their brother.
But that purpose is always redemptive.
Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”
1 Corinthians 5:3-5 “For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”
As believers we do confront and condemn the sin that reveals itself in the lives of our brothers or sisters, but we always do it with a view to redemption.
The hope is that the confrontation brings about a sorrow leading to repentance and that they can be fully restored in holiness.
But clearly that is NOT why Jesus is confronting these men.
Jesus is not here trying to redeem them.
HOW DO I KNOW?
Because He has already pronounced their certain condemnation.
• In verse 15 He called them “sons of hell”
• Notice what He will say later:
Matthew 23:33 “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”
Jesus didn’t harshly confront these men
For the purpose of saving these men.
Jesus harshly confronted them
For the purpose of saving those who were following them.
The Jews of Jesus day were being led astray by these false teachers.
We already saw last week how they travel on land and sea
To make one proselyte and when he becomes one
They make him twice as much a son of hell as themselves.
We already saw that they refuse to enter the kingdom of heaven
And also seek to hinder those who would enter.
These men are false teachers, false apostles
Who have seated themselves in the chair of Moses,
But who in reality lead people astray.
They are like the false prophets of old.
Isaiah 3:12 “O My people! Their oppressors are children, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray And confuse the direction of your paths.”
Isaiah 9:16-17 “For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion. Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men, Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”
Jeremiah 23:13 “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.”
What those men and women were in the Old Testament,
The scribes and Pharisees have become in the New Testament.
And Jesus is here publicly and bluntly exposing them so that those who follow them will see the light and change course.
Now last week we already saw their:
• MANNER OF DECEPTION (14)
Namely that while putting on a good outward show of religion through their prayer, they are actually in direct violation of the will of God because they “devour widows houses”
• MINISTRY OF DISCOURAGEMENT (13)
For not only do they fail to enter the kingdom, but they hinder others as well.
• MISSION OF DEPRAVITY (15)
Although they are big on missions their converts would have been better off, if they had remained “unreached”.
And this morning we continue as Jesus continues to expose them.
Now one difference that we will notice this morning is that
Jesus here introduces a new accusation against them.
It has been heavily implied, but here Jesus gets specific.
Not only does He say “Woe” and not only does He call them “hypocrites”
Twice in our text Jesus calls them “bind men”
Twice He calls them “blind guides”
Once He calls them “fools”
The insinuation here is directly linked to their propensity
To give false information and take people in the wrong direction.
You may remember back in chapter 15 when they confronted Jesus
About His disciples not washing their hands
And Jesus exposed their love of tradition over truth.
After the skirmish we read:
Matthew 15:12-14 “Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Therein lies the problem with false teachers.
They don’t know where they are going,
So how could they possibly guide you?
They may stand and boldly proclaim they know the way to heaven,
But they are blind. They don’t know what they are talking about.
And in order to prove they don’t know what they are talking about
Jesus is here going to expose the inconsistencies in their lives.
If He can show how blind they are,
Maybe you will lose confidence in following them.
And so in our text Jesus points out that these men are deceivers.
They are blind guides, and He reveals that in two ways.
They Deceive by:
#1 THEIR RIDICULOUS DOCTRINE
Matthew 23:16-22
There we get it again, “Woe to you,” (OUIA)
Jesus is just giving yet another example by which they make Him sick!
“Woe to you, blind guides”
You’ve seen the commercials
About a man who all of a sudden shows up in an emergency room and starts performing a surgery on a person. A nurse asks, “Are you a doctor?” And the man answers, “No, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”
Sleeping in that hotel may make you feel CONFIDENT,
But in reality it does not make you COMPETENT for surgery.
Their confidence is a false expression.
Remember what Paul said as he wrote to condemn Israel?
Romans 2:17-24 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”
They were confident, but they were not competent.
They thought they could lead people to God,
The end result was that they led people farther away from God.
They didn’t cause the Gentiles to worship,
They caused the Gentiles to blaspheme.
They were blind to the truth and thus led people in the wrong direction.
That is exactly what Jesus is exposing here in the Pharisees.
And then He says why.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say…”
And so we understand that it is in regard to their doctrine.
This is their message.
This is what they preach to people.
“who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’”
It is admittedly a little difficult here to discern their point,
But what is obvious is that their point came from their own imagination.
They didn’t get this from Scripture.
Scripture is clear about when a person
Says they are going to do something.
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 “When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”
Psalms 76:11 “Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him who is to be feared.”
Deuteronomy 23:21 “When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, and the LORD your God will surely require it of you.”
And I could literally quote from 62 other verses
That regard paying your vows to God.
I mean it is obvious God requires integrity.
Now one thing you will notice in all of those instances is that
What you vow on, or what you swear by is of no importance.
You are to keep every vow, regardless of how or why you made it.
This is what makes the doctrine of the Pharisee a little confusing.
I’m not sure why they thought it was ok
To break a vow based on the temple, but not on the gold.
We do know that Luke 16:14 says that the Pharisees were lovers of money,
And so it is possible that in some way reclaiming the vow made on money
Was easier than reclaiming one made on the temple.
I’m not sure about their thinking.
What is obvious however is that they had developed a system
By which you could lie and get away with it.
“I had my fingers crossed.”
That is sort of what is going on here.
Jesus has already addressed this once.
Matthew 5:33-37 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’ “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.”
And Jesus point was that integrity mattered.
You couldn’t break any vow.
James 5:12 “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.”
Be a person of integrity.
And so what we had here was the Pharisees actually teaching people
That they did not have to keep their word.
Jesus obviously pointed out the ridiculous nature of this.
(17) “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?”
Jesus is saying that their doctrine is foolish and utterly absurd.
WHY WOULD YOU THINK YOU COULD BREAK A VOW BASED ON THE TEMPLE, WHEN YOU KNOW YOU CAN’T BREAK ONE BASED ON THE GOLD?
(18) “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’”
That is the same thing, an excuse for deception.
And again Jesus exposes it.
(19) “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?”
Again, your doctrine doesn’t make sense.
It is foolish and faulty at the core.
And then Jesus gives the correction.
(20-22) “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. “And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.”
The simple explanation is that to swear is to swear
Regardless of what you swear upon.
A vow is a vow regardless of the collateral.
In short, Jesus here just publicly revealed them as being foolish,
and He did so publicly in order to open the eyes of everyone
who had previously followed them.
And so Jesus first reveals that they deceive by their ridiculous doctrine.
They Deceive by:
#2 THEIR BACKWARD PRIORITIES
Matthew 23:23-24
You ought to be familiar with this one, this is one of my favorites that Jesus gives, because it makes almost a hysterical point.
Jesus exposes that their priorities are all backward.
In fact, they are filled with neglect.
Listen to what He says:
(23) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”
And there again we have that familiar address.
OUIA – HUPOKRETES!
Uggh! Fakes!
And just like we saw last week, He calls them fakes because
They abandon a true spiritual reality
And replace it with a man-made one.
Previously they neglected widows, in fact they foreclosed on their houses, while giving the pretense of long prayers.
IT IS NO DIFFERENT HERE.
The pretense is clearly seen.
“you tithe mint and dill and cumin”
While tithing the crops of the field was a requirement
There is some debate over whether or not tithing garden herbs was included.
But even at that, the display they put on here was quite a display.
These were garden herbs, garden seeds,
And they were exceptionally small.
And the picture here is of a Pharisee (in order to make a good show)
Would meticulously separate out one of every 10 seeds.
A process like that must have been painstakingly monotonous.
But Pharisees weren’t put off by a little hardship and monotony
So long as it produced a good deal of glory.
• They didn’t mind offering long prayers…
• They didn’t mind neglecting their appearance…
• They didn’t mind giving…
• They didn’t mind broad phylacteries…
• They didn’t mind long blue tassels…
SO LONG AS IT PRODUCED GLORY
And that is why they did it.
It really looked good.
But Paul would say about such show:
Colossians 2:23 “These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
In other words, what they are doing looks good, but it doesn’t make you any closer to God or any more holy in His sight.
Yet that is what the Pharisees did.
AND THAT IS NOT THE PROBLEM.
If a man wants to get that meticulous about his tithe then so be it.
THE PROBLEM IS WHAT THEY NEGLECTED.
“and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness;”
If you want to tithe garden seeds, so be it.
But these attitudes are non-negotiable.
You must be merciful, you must be faithful, you must love justice.
Matthew 9:10-13 “Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. “But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION,AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Again in chapter 12, after they cornered Him about His disciples eating grain on the Sabbath. He closed the conversation by saying:
Matthew 12:7 “But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”
This is what mattered to God.
Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
And so obviously the Pharisees had missed the whole point.
You really think its about tithing seeds?
NO!!! Be compassionate, be merciful, be just!
Which is why Jesus goes on to say:
“but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”
In other words mercy and justice and faithfulness are the priorities,
Tithing seeds is secondary.
Would you really assume that God cared more for receiving seeds
Than for you being faithful?
Of course not, God can have all the seeds He wants,
He wants you to be faithful.
Your priorities are way out of line.
And then comes the point that I believe
Would have made everyone listening chuckle.
(24) “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
You are well aware of the Jewish dietary requirements.
• They could only eat animals that split the hoof and chewed the cud,
• And they could only eat insects that had jointed legs with which to jump.
• The gnat was considered unclean because it had no jointed legs.
• The camel was unclean because it did not chew its cud.
Together what they represented was
The smallest and the largest unclean animal.
Some Pharisees would actually drink wine with clinched teeth
To make sure no gnats in the cup passed through.
And that was certainly a picture of tithing mint, and dill, and cummin.
You are meticulous about little things, but you miss the main thing.
It is comparable to straining a gnat out of your drink,
While you feast on a camel steak!
• Do you really suppose getting rid of that gnat is going to help you when you are so grossly breaking the Law by eating the camel?
• Do you really suppose tithing a little seed is going to help you when you so grossly break the Law by neglecting faithfulness and mercy?
No wonder they made Jesus sick.
OUAI – HUPOKRETES!
They had a show of religion, but it was all fake.
And certainly we examine our lives to make sure our religion doesn’t fall into the same category.
But also, we understand the point of this sermon,
And it was to open our eyes to the reality about false teachers.
• False teachers are those who put on a show of religion, but neglect what matters.
• False teachers are those who are public in their ministry, but carnal in their private life.
• False teachers are those who love the glow of the spotlight and yet avoid the hassle of ministry.
Paul said it like this:
2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.”
And the danger of these men is that they were teaching others.
They were guides.
They had seated themselves in the chair of Moses.
But they were blind guides.
Remember when Jesus confronted Nicodemus?
John 3:7-10 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?”
That was the problem.
You and I should certainly examine our lives,
But also examine those who stand to proclaim the truth.
• And those who are false must be found to be false.
• And those who are leading men astray must be exposed as such.
For not only do they sicken our Lord,
But they also close off the kingdom from those who would enter
And secure others as sons of hell.
And if our Lord exposed them, we must as well.
I would close with a very revealing passage in this regard.
Jeremiah 23:25-32 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ “How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other. “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.”
