Matthew 24.1-14

As we begin this study of the Olivet Discourse, we have to keep one thing in mind. What are the questions that Jesus is answering? Look how this Sermon begins:

 ¹ Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ²“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
 ³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”


It had been a very successful day in the Temple, starting back in Matthew 21. Jesus cleansed the temple, defeated the Pharisees by telling parables about their rejection, rebellion and the need to repent, as well as answering all their questions and stumping them with his. Then he chewed them out in Matthew 23, judging them and Jerusalem with tears.


Jesus had won the day, and the disciples were excited!!! As they left the temple, they were probably looking around at all the buildings, thinking about what it will be like when Jesus is reigning in these temples, and I'm sure James and John were calling dibs on which office was theirs. They were not thinking about the destruction of these buildings when someone said to Jesus, "Dude, check out that building!" 


Then Jesus said: 


 ²“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”


This was shocking news. They thought that the kingdom of Jesus would include reigning over these buildings. And they, as Jews, equated the destruction of the temple with the end of the age. That is why they ask the next three questions:


³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”


To us, these are three different questions. 

1. when will the temple be destroyed
2. what will be the sign of your coming
3. what will be the sig of the end of the age

But to the disciples, these three questions were one and the same. They equated Jesus' kingdom coming, the destruction of the temple and the end of the age all being one and the same event. They thought these things would happen simultaneously. 

Yet, these all occur as separate events. The temple was destroyed in AD 70 and we are still awaiting Jesus' second coming. Jesus makes a distinction between these two events. He answers their question by showing what the signs of the destruction of the temple will be (24.4-35), and then he tells them that no one will know when the end of the age, his second coming will take place (24.36-44). 

So...Jesus' answer is actually quite simple. There will be numerous signs that will occur before the destruction of the temple, but there will be no signs before Jesus' second coming, it will happen unexpectedly. 

Today, we are going to look at the birth pains, six signs that show the destruction of the temple will take place soon. The first three are found in Matthew 24.4-8. See if you can recognize them.

⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Did you recognize the three signs?

They are:

1. False Christs
2. Wars and Rumors of Wars
3. Famines and Earthquakes

And all of these three occurred before the destruction of the temple in AD 70. In the book of Acts, we see a few false Christs: Theudas and Judas (5.36-37); an Egyptian (21.38); Bar-Jesus (13.6-8) and even Simon Magus (8.9ff). The Jews were threatened during this period by three consecutive emperors of Rome: Caligula, Claudius and Nero. But the bigger threat was the internal civil wars that were occurring within the Jews. And lastly, in the years AD 46 or 47, 51, 60 and 62 or 63 there were earthquakes and famines. 

All of these three signs occurred before the destruction of the Temple. And the same is true of the next three signs. Can you recognize these three?

⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

The three signs are:

1. Persecution
2. Heresies (False Teachings)
3. and Preaching the gospel to the "whole world"

Just reading the book of Acts and the epistles (the letters of the New Testament; Romans-Revelation) will show you that Christians were persecuted during this time. Not only persecution, but there were false teachers that were "worming their way into" all the different churches that Paul planted. These included the Judaizers of Gal. and Acts 15, as well as the gnostics of 1 John, and even the Colossian Heresy. 

And now we come to the last sign, Preaching the gospel to the whole world. 

When we see this, we think, "There are still tribes in South America TODAY who haven't heard the gospel, so this can't be referring to a sign BEFORE the destruction of the Temple 2,000 years ago. 

This is not what Jesus meant when he said, "The whole world." Jesus did not mean that every person in every corner of the globe would hear the gospel, but what he is saying is that the gospel would reach to all KNOWN nations. 

The word Jesus used for "whole world" refers to the "inhabited known world", specifically the Roman Empire. The bottom line is this: Paul claimed that the gospel had reached the "inhabited known world" in Romans 1.8; 10.18; 16.26; Col. 1.6, 23; and 1 Thess 1.8. 

All of these six were signs to the Christians that the destruction of the temple was going to take place soon. The key to what Jesus is trying to do is found in verse 13, which says:

¹³ but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

This is not referring to salvation, per se, but to surviving the destruction of the temple. Those who stand firm and believe Jesus and obey him, when all this goes down, they will have fled the city of Jerusalem already. This is what we will see tomorrow. Yet isn't this a universal principle.

If we believe Jesus and trust him in obedience, we will come out a lot better than if we don't. We will be saved, gain life, not just in a temporary not being killed sense, but in a salvation, eternal life sense. 

So Stand firm, believe Jesus, trust him with obedience. 

Intro into Olivet Discourse

After Jesus completely destroyed the Pharisees, he leaves the temple and goes up to the Mount of Olives. On this Mount, Jesus preaches this sermon, which we call the Olivet Discourse, which has come to be one of the most controversial passages in the New Testament.

There are so many different opinions and interpretations as how to divide this sermon up. Let me just summarize the main idea that is going on in this sermon: Jesus is preparing his disciples for the last days.

Now when I use the phrase, "last days", I am not referring to the few months or years before Jesus' second coming. The Biblical definition of "last days", is the period between Jesus' first and second coming.

We are in the Last Days now. We have been in the last days for the last 2,000 years, since Jesus ascended into heaven.

And in this sermon, Jesus is wanting his disciples to be prepared when he leaves them. Because of this, Jesus feels it necessary to inform them how to handle two different events that are going to occur during the last days: 1. The destruction of the temple; and 2. Jesus' second coming.

This is where the controversy begins. There is a lot of different ideas and suggestions as to what parts of this chapter are about the destruction of the temple and what parts of the chapter are about Jesus' second coming. Because I don't want to bore you with all the technical arguments, I am going to show you my cards right up front. (Here is a couple of links that have a lot more in depth analysis's of this chapter)

Mark Moore's Lectures on Matthew 24 (Section 139)
Mark Moore's Links on Matthew 24
Shane Wood's Lectures on Matthew 23-25
Shane Wood's Matthew Class Lectures (including Mt. 24)
Mark Scott's Lectures on Mk. 13 (Parallel on Matthew 24)


I believe that Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple from Matthew 24.4-35, and he predicts his second coming in Matthew 24.36-51. The basic ideas with each of these predictions is NOT to just tell the future, but to prepare the disciples how to live in the midst of these events. And the way that they are to live in the midst of these events is found in Matthew 25, three parables that teach us how to: 1. Be ready; 2. Be faithful; and 3. Be loving.

Here are these two chapters placed together:

Matthew 24

Signs of the End of the Age

 ¹ Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” ³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
 ⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,^[a]’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.
   ⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
   ¹⁵ “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’^[b] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. ¹⁸ Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. ¹⁹How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! ²⁰ Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. ²² If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ²³ At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. ²⁵ See, I have told you ahead of time.
   ²⁶ “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.²⁸ Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
   ²⁹ “Immediately after the distress of those days
   “‘the sun will be darkened,
   and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
   and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’^[c]
   30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. ³¹ And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
   ³² “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ³³ Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it^[d] is near, right at the door. ³⁴ I tell you the truth, this generation^[e] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Day and Hour Unknown

    ³⁶ “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[f] but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.   ⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
   ⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷ I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 25

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

 ¹ “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.² Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.   ⁶ “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
   ⁷ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
   ⁹ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
   ¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
   ¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’
   ¹² “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’
   ¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

The Parable of the Talents

    ¹⁴ “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents^[g] of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷ So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸ But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.   ¹⁹ “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
   ²¹ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
   ²² “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
   ²³ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
   ²⁴ “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
   ²⁶ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
   ²⁸ “‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. ²⁹ For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The Sheep and the Goats

    ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.   ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
   ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
   ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
   ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
   ⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
   ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
   ⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matthew 23.37-39

We have now come to the conclusion of Jesus' sermon against the Pharisees. It starts off with Jesus setting the stage by revealing to his disciples the problem that the Pharisees are dealing with...pride. Then he tells seven "woes" or judgements that the Pharisees are guilty for, which is summed up in the last one, that they are internally dead. Finally, we will see in these three verses, two things: 1. What these kind of people do, and 2. What will happen to these kind of people.

Let's read the text:

³⁷ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’"


Jesus is sad and upset about the fact that he has spent the last 36 verses ripping the Pharisees a new one. He isn't upset that he chewed them out, but he is upset that he even had to.


He loves them.


He love the Pharisees and wants them to repent and not reject Him. But he knows that if they don't, they will be judged. 


And this is also true of the entire people of God. 


If the nation of Israel as a whole does not repent of their lip service and hypocrisy and religiosity, Jesus knows that God is going to judge them as well.


That is why these three verses serve as a transition between Jesus' warnings against the Pharisees (Matthew 23) and his warnings against Jerusalem (Matthew 24). 


But the question we need to think about is this: Are we as broken about the lost and rebellious as Jesus is?


We tend to take one of two extremes when dealing with the lost. On one side of the spectrum is those whose focus is on Grace. 


There are those who will not speak truth or confront someone no matter what kind of lifestyle they are living, just so they don't come off unloving. Yet, when we allow people to live lives that hurt themselves and those around them and we don't say anything, that in and of itself is unloving. Grace does not mean not confronting sin, but it does mean forgiving when someone has sinned against you.


The other spectrum is that of truth. Some people see the error in being too "Gracious", and so they decide to be God's hammer to those who are lost. They are confronting everyone about their sin and they  are doing it in an "holier than thou" type of way. This is wrong as well. When we confront sin, that confrontation needs to be sprinkled with grace, but stern. 


There is a balance between Grace and Truth. 


And Jesus has it here. 


Jesus is confronting the Pharisees about their sin, but he does it with eyes filled with tears. He does it from the foundation that he loves them and wants what is best for them. There is no way to fake this, the only way to confront sin the way Jesus did is to have the same heart for the lost that Jesus has. 


Here is my challenge to you...make a list of people who are living sinful lifestyles or are doing things that hurting themselves or others, and pray over these people. Cry for them, get upset at them, but more importantly, love them. And the best way to love them, is to confront them....with tears. 

Matthew 23.13-36

In this passage, Jesus gives seven "woes" concerning the Pharisees. Basically, this is a kind of indictment. Jesus is upset with the Jewish leaders for a number of reasons, and finally he lets them know what the reasons are. The word, "Woe", basically is a statement of judgment, but judgment done through tears. Jesus is saying, "you are cursed, and I am so sad that you have brought this judgment on you." And after each "Woe", he tells them what he is upset about. As you read these woes, ask yourself if you are guilty of any of the following.


1. Woe, because you keep people from God


 ¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.


The Pharisees would choose who they thought was worthy enough to be a part of God's kingdom. Yet, these judgements are nowhere commanded by God and are completely out of line. God has invited ALL people to come into his kingdom.


Who, if they repented and became a Christian, would you be upset with? Who do you think does not deserve to get saved? A child molester? A man that cheated on his wife? A manipulative prom queen? The homeless? We all have those people that we think should not be shown mercy, yet this is exactly what Jesus is upset with the Pharisees about. 


2. Woe, because they had zeal to corrupt. 


   ¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.


In the first century, when someone who wasn't a Jew expressed interest in converting to Judaism, the Pharisees would all flock to him and try to get him to convert to their specific type of legalistic religion. 


It's like if we find out there is someone who wants to become a Christian, and all the different denominations race to try to convert him to their flavor of Christianity. Whichever one he chose, they would make him think all the others are wrong and aren't "REALLY" Christians. 


The same thing was happening then, but with Judaism. 


Have we become so legalistic as to say that if you don't adopt our particular type of Christianity, you are going to hell? This seems like the exact same thing Jesus was upset with the Pharisees about. 


3. Woe, because they used religion as an excuse


 ¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. ²² And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.


Jesus was upset with the Pharisees because they were completely focused about splitting hairs, instead of focusing on blessing the nations, like God had called them to do. That is why they are arguing about what to swear by, the altar or the gift on the altar. 


Jesus HATES it when we focus more on rituals and religiosity instead of carrying out his plan to undo all the evil in the world. Are you guilty of playing the religious game instead of living a life following after Jesus? 


4. Woe, because they majored in the minors. 


  ²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.


The Pharisees were so legalistic, that not only did they tithe, or give a tenth of their money, but they would give a tenth of even their spices in the food pantry, just to show that they were more legalistic, or serious, about their faith than others. 


They majored in the miners. 


They got tithing a tenth of their belongings down, but they ignored taking care of the poor, spending time with orphans and widows, and even reaching out to the blind, the downtrodden, the lame and even the tax collectors and gentiles. 


Here is something my Granddad always told me, "The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing."


Yes, we are called to tithe a tenth of our belongings, but don't become legalistic to the extent that you focus on making sure you tithe exactly a tenth of EVERYTHING, but you don't meet the needs of people. 


Towards the end of this indictment, this sermon about the Pharisees, Jesus sums up all the other woes with these next two. He says, 1. They are internally corrupt, and 2. they are internally dead. 


5. Woe, because they are internally corrupt.


 ²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.


The word, "hypocrisy", was a term used to describe actors in the Greek plays. What would happen would be that the actor would play more than one role, and for each role they would wear different masks that would serve to distinguish between the two roles. They were play-acters or, "hypocrites". The word literally means to pretend to be something you aren't. 


And this is what Jesus is saying the Pharisees are doing. They are making sure that on the outside they look good, but they don't pay any attention to what is going on in there heart. 


Is this you? 


Do you focus on how you are perceived by others around you or do you care more about what God sees in your heart. God is in the business of changing hearts, not appearances. Give God your heart. 


6. Woe, because you are internally dead. 


²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.


This is basically what is going on in all of the above situations. The reason that the Pharisees keep people from God, corrupt people, that they major in the minors and are internally corrupt is ultimately because they are internally dead. They have not truly given their lives over to the lordship, or authority, of God so that he can change them from the inside out. 


This is the boat we are all in, unless we fully submit ourselves to Jesus and allow him to change our hearts. We are dead, and we will continue to be dead until we submit our hearts to him. 


Those that are dead, they hate those that are alive. This is what the last woe is about. Jesus talks about how these internally dead Pharisees persecute God's internally alive messengers. This is the last woe. 


7. Woe, because they persecute God's messengers. 


²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!


This makes Jesus very upset because he knows that they are opposing the very thing that will save them. So he basically says, "FINE!, have it your way, persecute and kill the prophets and messengers I am going to send you." And this actually turns out to come true. This is what he says:


³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.


Jesus is predicting the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Jesus is saying that since you are internally dead and have rejected God's messengers, you will be judged. 


The same message is true for us today. If we remain internally dead and reject God's messengers, we will be judged. 


The main thought I get from this sermon is simple: Don't be like the Pharisees. 


Yet, I know when I read about the Pharisees, I see myself a lot of times. 


Remember, "the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing."

Matthew 23.1-12

The first part of this last sermon serves as a connection between the challenge to Jesus' authority and his sermon of preparation for the last days. Chapter 23 serves to condemn those that opposed Jesus and challenged his authority, but also to transition into how to handle living in the midst of this judgement on the Jews. It is divided into three sections:

Matthew 23.1-12--Introduction of the Pharisees' False Righteousness
Matthew 23.13-36--Confronting the Pharisees' False Righteousness
Matthew 23.37-39--The Epilogue, Transition, into the Next Sermon

Today, we are looking at the first twelve verses.

¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
   ⁵ “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’
   ⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.


As I stated earlier, the context of this passage is that Jesus claimed to have authority from God by the triumphal entry and cleansing the temple. Only the Messiah, the King, was supposed to do these things. Because of this, the Jewish leaders challenged his authority, Jesus affirmed it and now is condemning the leaders for their pride and hypocrisy. He addresses their pride first, for their pride is the source of their hypocrisy. 


In the first four verses, we see Jesus, sarcastically, telling his disciples to obey the teaching of the Pharisees, but not to follow their way of life. He says:


¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.


The Pharisees had made up THOUSANDS of laws on top of all of the laws in the Old Testament that were supposed to keep them from breaking any of the Old Testament laws. These oral traditions were written down in a book called the Mishnah, which fills 1137 pages of rabbis arguing about how to obey all the commandments of Moses. This is the load that Jesus is talking about. The Pharisees had so many rules and regulations, that no one really knew what was right and what was wrong. So Jesus is saying, with a little tongue and cheek, to obey their teaching, to the extent that they teach what Moses taught. But don't live like them, for not even they practice what they preach. 


That is why Jesus says:  ⁴ They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.


These guys are dysfunctional, they are good teachers but bad examples, which ultimately makes them bad teachers. The reason why the disciples shouldn't live like them is because of their hypocrisy. They say one thing, but do another. They put on a show, and this is what Jesus accuses them of doing in this next section:


  ⁵ “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’


Pharisees do everything to be seen and applauded by others. This, according to Jesus, is wrong. He talks about their phylacteries and tassels. What are these?


According to Deuteronomy 6.8 and 11.18 which says, "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." The Jews interpreted this verse to literally make small boxes with copies of Bible verses such as Exodus 12.2-16 or Deuteronomy 6.4-9, and they would roll them up, and put them in these small boxes and tie the boxes on the back of their hands and foreheads. They still do this today. It looked like this:

The bigger the phylactery, the more "spiritual" you were. This is what the Pharisees were doing. They were making huge phylacteries to put on their head to show that they meditate on God's law all day long. They also would make huge tassels. 


At the end of their prayer shawl, they would have tassels in which they tied knots. Each knot represented a certain prayer that they would pray, kind of like a rosary. The longer the tassel, the more time, apparently, the person spent in prayer. So the Pharisees would make these really long tassels to show off their "Spirituality". They look like this:

The main point is this, the Pharisees hypocrisy was wrapped up in what people think about them. That is why they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogue. That is why they love to to be greeted and to have people call them, "Rabbi", "Teacher" and "Father". 


Jesus condemns this entire hypocritical, arrogant way of life, and he teaches his disciples that:

¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Jesus wants his disciples to see the pride of the Pharisees that leads to hypocrisy, which, as we will see tomorrow, ultimately leads to their condemnation. He wants his disciples to see this pattern, this road, and run away from it. He wants them to be humble, to be a servant, to humble themselves, for that is what citizens of his kingdom look like. 

This is a lesson we all need to learn. The way we are viewed by others does not achieve anything. We need to be content living for an audience of one, God the Father. And the way to please him is to humble  yourself and be a servant, unlike the Pharisees. 

So what does this look like for you?

Are you trying to make yourself into a certain image in order to receive applause from men or are you humbling yourself before God so that he can use you for his kingdom?