The Last Year Matthew 23 13 15 What

The Last Year

Matthew 23: 13 -15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. 15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell yourselves are!

What sorrow awaits you… • Woe to you… – Words of condemnation • What would bring about sorrow and judgement? – The way that they lived. – A call for us to watch how we live!

Hypocrites! • In classical Greek, it’s a noun and refers to an actor in a play • They were only putting on an act

Hypocrites! • In classical Greek, it’s a noun and refers to an actor in a play • They were only putting on an act • They wear a mask, and conceal who they really are inside – Are we wearing a mask? – Is our relationship with God just an

You won’t go in yourself! • Have shut the door. . . In peoples faces – The way that they live, and the things that they say, prevents people from truly following God! • They won’t go in! – They didn’t see the need to

Matthew 23: 16 -22 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple, ’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple. ’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar

Matthew 23: 16 -22 that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar, ’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple, ’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven, ’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.

Blind guides? • People who do not see the right way to go cannot lead others to the right path! • People who sounded like they knew what they were talking about, but actually had no experience with anything that they

They say it means nothing to swear! • The idea of making an oath about something by using God’s name – I am willing to be judged by God for what I am saying or doing

Matthew 5: 34 -37 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

James 5: 12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No. ” Otherwise you will be condemned.

They say it means nothing to swear! • The idea of making an oath about something by using God’s name – I am willing to be judged by God for what I am saying or doing • Using God’s name in anger

Exodus 20: 7 “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. ”

They say it means nothing to swear! • The idea of making an oath about something by using God’s name – I am willing to be judged by God for what I am saying or doing • Using God’s name in anger – What does it mean to misuse God’s name?

Some important questions that we need to ask today • Are we really hypocrites? – Are we masking what we do, or who we are? • Are we entering into God’s love? – Do we know that the door is for us, and that we have to use it? • Do we use God’s name the wrong way?