On the first Sabbath of the month, we normally have what I call Sabbath Bible study, and we've been going through Matthew's five discourses. And we're down to the fifth, and we've covered...we began the fifth discourse, and it's by far one of the most powerful, especially in the first...well, it's powerful all the way through, in Matthew, Chapter 23.
And we covered that first section, which is verses 1-12. And in the first section, Jesus is instructing his disciples on how they're to relate to the religious leaders that were in the nation. And he explains how they're to relate to each other. And that is extremely valuable teaching, and many of you found it very helpful, and that's encouraging. Now he addresses the religious leaders of that day, and he begins to address them very directly and pointedly. Let's remember, this is only a few days before the crucifixion. And he said, in the Old Testament, that he would judge the wicked to their face. And that is going to be done individually, but here he is in the temple at the virtual end of his earthly ministry, and he's going to tell it like it is. In very strong terms, that really the commentaries wrestle with because it is so strong and so powerful. So let's go to Matthew, Chapter 23.
And we'll start in the second section, and he begins the eight woe-to-you statements that Christ pronounced on the scribes and Pharisees. Eight of them. Verse 13, But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Now this is in the temple in the public. For you have shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. I'd like you to note the parallel account in Luke. It's in Luke 11 and verse 52. And the way Luke states it, I think you'll find interesting, and I'd like to expand that a little bit.
But he said in Matthew's account, But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for neither you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Now he states it a little differently. He says you were against men. Notice in Luke 11 and 52. Woe to you, lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered. Isn't that something that those who were entering into the kingdom were hindered by these men?
The Oldman Bible Dictionary says lawyers, an authoritative interpreter of the Mosaic law. Characterization of the lawyers is especially harsh in Luke's Gospel. Now remember Luke worked with Paul, and it seems Paul would have influenced Luke's Gospel. And it says the characterization of the lawyers is especially harsh in Luke's Gospel. Well, why don't we see what's in Mark's? Yes, he's pretty harsh too, as we'll see. But they're pointing on Luke's. He said, They rejected God's purpose for themselves by refusing John's baptism. I'll show that to you in a minute. It's chapter 7 and verse 30. They refused John's baptism. They burdened others without offering any relief. And he quotes Luke 11, 45 to 46. They not only refused God's offer of salvation, but hindered others from accepting it. 11.52. They refused to answer Jesus' questions concerning the legality of Sabbath healings in 14.3. So I spent considerably time trying to understand Jesus' statements. He said, You have taken away the key of knowledge. What exactly does that mean? Expositors suggest the implied subject of knowledge is probably the kingdom of God which people were seeking to enter. So they said, probably. I wanted to find something more than probably. Mr. Armstrong taught several things on Bible study. And one of the most important, one of the ones I hope we all remember, is that the Bible interprets itself. That's an important thing to know. That keeps you from going up some private interpretation, going off down a road somewhere, and going the wrong direction. The Bible interprets itself. So, it had to be something the lawyers had taken away. And it also had to be something that prevented them and others from entering into. Those are the two statements that Jesus made. So I searched the Scriptures to find what he meant by the phrase, the key of knowledge. You may be interested to know that in all four Gospels, the word knowledge appears twice. In all four Gospels, the word knowledge only appears twice. And even more interestingly, from my perspective, they both appear in Luke's Gospel. We just read one, the key of knowledge. The other one is in Luke chapter 1. Let's go over there and see how Luke himself used the word. Luke chapter 1. We're going to be reading a prophecy by a priest named Zacharias, who had his son that we know of as John the Baptist. Not everybody realizes John the Baptist was a son of Aaron, and therefore of the priestly group within Levi. But John the Baptist was a Levite, and he was a son of Aaron. So let's look at the end of Zacharias' prophecy. When I was doing this, I got all tangled in it because this is quite a prophecy, but I'm going to try to simplify it for our purposes today.
In verse 76, Luke 1 and verse 76, Zacharias' prophecies help us understand Christ's statement on the key of knowledge. In verse 76, This indicates that Zacharias understood that his son John was the Elijah to come.
I will send an Elijah prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day. And he would prepare his way before. Expositors notes that. It says, When compared with Isaiah 40 verse 3, Malachi 3, 1, and 4, 5, clearly links him with Elijah, dispelling any doubts about the recognition of the link in Luke. So here he's saying, Verse 77, Now notice that. Knowledge of salvation is one thing, and that's important. But part of that is to know that salvation comes by the remission of sin, by sins being covered, taken away.
John would give knowledge of salvation, of course the Messiah would as well. But John would begin to give knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins. Surely salvation, the opportunity to live forever the kingdom of God, is the most important knowledge to know.
Therefore, it seems clear to me that it's the key to knowledge. It's the purpose of human life. Why man's on the earth in the first place? And it's so important to know. And then John emphasized the need for repentance.
If you want to skip over to Luke 7 verses 29 and 30, an amazing prophecy, an amazing statement, I should say, not prophecy. Luke 7 verses 29, I'll read it to you from the new Revised Standard Version, Luke 7 verses 29 to 30. And all the people who heard this, including tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God because they have been baptized with John's baptism. Let me just point out that he's saying just about everybody that heard John was baptized.
Am I misreading that? And all the people who heard this, including tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God because they've been baptized with the baptism of John. John's baptism was very big on the scene. It was well known. And it said all the people respected John. Remember that? John's baptism was a big deal, to say it in more modern terms. Verse 30 now, But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves.
They refused to be baptized by John, even though most everybody else in the community did so. And they acknowledged the need to be cleansed from sin. These guys didn't. To me, that's just astonishing. Verse 77, To give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercies of our God, with which the day spring, and my margin says dawn, the Messiah, the day spring from on high has visited us, the Messiah from on high has visited us.
To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death from their sins. To guide our feet into the way of peace. So, going back to Matthew 23, these teachers of the law should have been the first to respond to Jesus. You would think they would have been. Matthew records many prophecies that Jesus fulfilled completely. There are many more, but Jesus fulfilled completely.
In Matthew's Gospel, up to this chapter, ten times does Matthew write that it may be fulfilled, which is written by the prophet and whatever it was going on. Ten times before this. And then, after this, in Matthew's Gospel, five more are listed that it would be fulfilled, which was spoken of by the prophets. So, Matthew's listing all the things that are fulfilled by the prophets, and these gentlemen are still rejecting the teaching.
On top of that, he healed people in front of their eyes. He was healing everywhere. And that was one of the signs of Messiah, that he would be healing. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He cast out demons, which they denied, claiming he did it through Satan. His teachings were irrefutable. Think about it. Try to refute Christ's teaching. He answered all their questions, and they couldn't answer his. They were without excuse. But to accept him, they had to humble themselves and admit that he was right and they were wrong. Isn't that what repentance is? God's right, I'm wrong.
And we saw where Luke said they refused to do it. So, it's very strong. So all their efforts were spent in denouncing and denying him to the people. That's where their energies went. And they were put out of the synagogue. Anyone who confessed him. You'll read that in John 9.22. Now, brethren, we all know the only way to enter the kingdom of God is through Jesus Christ.
That's the only entrance to the kingdom. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That's pretty plain. By the way, our modern teaching that all religions lead to God doesn't work. It's not the truth. I'm getting in the way of my cane. I'll maybe hang it better next time. And then he said, Paul, sorry, Peter said to the high priests and to the Sanhedrin, Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved.
So the only entrance is through Jesus Christ. And this is the one they are denying, or they were denying and trying to turn the people away from. Expositors notes that the Greek phrase, Nor do you allow those who are entering to go in, indicates that some who are seeking to enter the kingdom of God were hindered from doing so.
You remember what it said when we went through the other discourse, Matthew's fourth discourse, Matthew 18, verses 6 and 7? It says, But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses, for offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes. Now here, Jesus said in Matthew 23, verse 13, But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
This is pretty serious stuff, as you can see. And he's really got their attention, I would hope. So, as Jesus Christ said, they themselves weren't striving to enter the kingdom of God, and they worked hard to prevent anybody else from entering in.
You wouldn't want to be in their shoes, folks. You wouldn't want to be in their shoes. Matthew 23, verse 14, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers, therefore you receive a greater condemnation. A greater condemnation. Now, before going further, I should explain that you won't find verse 14 if you have the NIV. It's not in the NIV. And there are other translations, the more modern ones, that come from the same Greek text the NIV comes from. They all only have seven woes, so you can get a discount.
You don't get eight woes, you get seven. But it is in the majority text, the majority of the 20,000 or so texts that everybody agrees are the official ones, they all have it in. However, even a few of those have verse 13 and 14 reversed. Only a minority of them, but so the way it is is the way it's in King James and New King James. And they correctly have eight woes. So, verse 14 is the second one.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you devour widows' houses, and for our pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. JF and B comment on that taking advantage of the helpless condition and confiding character widows, they contrive to obtain possession of their property, while by their long prayers they made them believe that they were raised above filthy lucre, so much the greater condemnation awaits them. What a life-like description of the Roman clergy, the true successes of these scribes. It's interesting, the prize-accommodators always see the Romans, the Catholics is the problem, as the similar, they don't see themselves in that context.
I think we all agree that stealthily or deceitfully taking advantage of the weak while publicly praying long prayers, while others look on as hypocritical. It's terrible. He says, therefore you will receive greater condemnation. When we began this fifth course in Matthew, I took some time to show how God holds His leaders to a stricter judgment. I took a little time on that. I thought you needed to see how strong God is in the Old Testament with some of His leaders that went way off, not people who made mistakes, but people who were deliberately misleading, relying, or deceiving, or not taking their responsibility seriously.
He dealt with. And James tells us, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing we shall receive a stricter judgment. In Matthew 23, the Son of God in the flesh reveals God's judgment on the corrupt leaders of that day. Okay, Matthew 23, 15. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when He is one, you make Him twice as much the Son of Hell as yourselves.
There are many indications that Jewish leaders of that day worked to gain many converts. That's what word proselyte means. But what did they seek to convert them to? The truth? The answer is Phariseeism. They wanted them to be instilled with the same legalistic view of God's law and the additional burdens of the oral law. And new converts, as you know, are often more zealous than the teachers. You see somebody with a new convert, they're usually very zealous in what they're going after. Expositors suggest that these new converts would seek to out-pharisee the Pharisees.
That was their view. But the Pharisees teach them, align them against Jesus Christ's teaching. And they were working against Jesus Christ, so they were trying to get people to follow them against Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ's teaching is the one that would guide them on the path toward eternal life. Now, brethren, we need to know that teachers, particularly religious teachers, often try to instill in their students their own views on any subject. It's just the way it's going. It's the way it is. Such teachers end up reproducing themselves, right? They end up going along that certain way.
And Jesus said in Matthew 15, 14, when the blind lead the blind, they both end up in the ditch. They're going in the wrong direction. The key here for everybody to understand is that God's teachers are not to lead people to follow them. That's the key. When somebody's trying to get you to follow them, there's trouble. God's teachers are to teach them to follow God and His teaching.
Following human teachings leads to error and stunt's growth, if not, kills it. Following God's teachers enable members to grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. They grow to be like Christ.
A verse that's in Luke that I've used many times and I've used many times in the pastoral care classes, it's Luke 6, 40. I hope everybody knows Luke 6, 40. Luke 6, 40 says, A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. Who's your teacher? If it's Jesus Christ, you'll be like Jesus Christ. If it's somebody else, some human, you'll be like that person.
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. And Paul wrote to the Romans in verse 8, 29, Romans 8, 29, For whom he foreknew, whom he called before he's calling everybody else, He predestined, he sent him on a journey, to be conformed to the image of his son. Paul didn't teach him to be like Paul. He taught him to be like Christ. Follow me as I follow Christ, so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
They're all like Christ. They're Christ's disciples. A disciple of Jesus Christ is one who was taught by Jesus Christ, not by other men under him. Now, they may have teachers, but God's servants are to teach him to be like Christ. And Christ's words are the standards. That's why I want to go through his discourses, because we want to understand the words of Jesus Christ. Okay, Matthew 23. This next section is several verses long, 16-22. Woe to you blind guides who say, Whoever swears by the temple, it's nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obliged to perform it.
Fool's and blind, which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he's obliged to perform it. Fool's and blind, for which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctified the gift? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it, and all the things on it. He who swears by the temple swears by it, and by him who dwells in it.
And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it. Remember, they say, if you swear by the temple, it means nothing. And he says, if you swear by the temple, he who swears by the temple swears by it, and by him who dwells in it.
But they said it meant nothing. Now, we partially covered this when we covered Matthew 5, verses 33-37, where he talked about these things previously. But let me just, just a brief review. The message of Matthew, which is put out by the, oh, I can't think of the name. Anyway, it's one of the signs, isn't it? The message of Matthew, in this passage, Jesus returns to the cynical causality, which means specious reasoning, of the Pharisees, who are not really interested in the temple, but are very interested in the gold of the temple. They're not interested in the altar, but are very interested in the gifts on it. They wave the binding nature of the former in order to enforce the latter to their own advantage. The gifts, the gold. JF&B, woe to you, blind guide, striking expression this of the ruinous effects of erroneous teaching. Our Lord here, in some following verses, condemns the subtle distinctions they made as to the sanctity of oaths. Distinctions invented only to promote their own avaricious purposes. Avaricious means greedy. Which say, whoever shall swear by the temple that is nothing. He has incurred no debt, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, meaning not the gold that adorned the temple, but the corban set apart for sacred uses, he is a debtor. And that is, it's no longer his own, even though the necessities of the parent might require it. We know who the successors of these men are, back to JF&B with their view. The temple priests of that day used convoluted reasoning. They were not certain, their main concern wasn't keeping your word, which you'd think the commandment, you shall not bear false witness, would, you know, give them a hint, at least. Their focus was on the formula used when stating the vow. So they concluded that one must keep his word if he mentioned God's name, for another context, as we covered in Matthew 5, in the statement. But if a person didn't mention God's name, keeping one's word wasn't as important, and they split other hairs. As we know, Jesus taught that the formula used is irrelevant. Whenever you swear by involves God anyway, heaven, earth, Jerusalem, one's own head, as he mentioned in 5, if divorce was permitted because of human hard-heartedness, swearing was permitted because of human deceitfulness, the servants of the living God do not need to employ oaths. Their word itself is reliable. Their yes is yes, and their no is no. The focus on oaths reveals humanity's tendency toward dishonesty and duplicity. One little point before leaving this point is that it says, it says, swears by him and by him who dwells in it. The New King James margin has a note. Majority texts dwelt past tense. This is revealed, this is also in the summary of the majority text, which says, having dwelt in it. Again, past tense. We'll see the significance of this at the end of the chapter because it is significant. Jesus is saying, God dwelt, which implies no longer dwells in it. Matthew 23, 23-24. This one's pretty well known. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. In summary, they were fussy about the insignificant things, but oblivious to the really important things. And that can happen to any of us. We can get into that same frame of mind as well. Now let's look at this word, justice. It's the Greek word, chrisis. K-R-I-S-I-S. And it is most often translated, judgment, not justice. In fact, in the New King James, it's translated that way 41 of 48 times. In his Gospel, Matthew used chrisis 13 times. In the King James, it is never translated justice in Matthew.
In the New King James version, it is translated justice 3 times and judgment 10 times. Let me show you the first place where the word chrisis is used in the New Testament, which is often a key to how the word is to be understood. And that's in Matthew 5, verses 21 to 22. Matthew 5, verses 21 to 22.
Now, brethren, I'm sure you'll agree that people need to know that God's judgment is coming so that they can prepare for it. So Jesus put this first, judgment.
As we'll see as we go through Matthew 24 and 25, the subject is judgment all the way through. So he says people need to know that God's judgment is coming when you know you can prepare for it.
When we covered Matthew 18, we read Deuteronomy 32, 34 to 43, the Song of Moses that emphasized God's coming judgment.
Paul, writing in Hebrews 10, verses 30 to 31, quotes those verses. So have a look, if you wish, to Hebrews 10, verses 30 to 32, where it's written, And again, the Lord will judge his people. Those are both quotes from Deuteronomy 32. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The scribes, which are also described as teachers of the law, and the Pharisees did not tell the people about the coming judgment. They didn't emphasize that.
Instead, they talked about the importance of tithing on mint and anise and cumin.
You get the feeling that they wanted every source of income possible.
That's been called in past years, majoring in the minors.
God's ministers are to explain the right application of God's laws and principles so his people can be prepared for the judgment.
I mean, look at this in Revelation, chapter 20. We usually only cover these verses at the Feast of Tabernacles, and I'm not sure that they're covered as fully as they need to be about the judgment.
Revelation, chapter 20, which as I mentioned in previous messages, is the last book of the Bible that God gives us. This comes first and that comes next.
Remember that? He explains to us in Matthew 19 and 20 the meaning of the last four holy days.
This is the Great White Throne Judgment. Matthew, Revelation 20, verse 11.
The judgment comes and he says, the earth and heaven flee away. What's that mean?
It means that after the judgment, the earth and heaven are going to flee away. They're going to be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth.
And the only one that's going to live on that is the one who passed the judgment.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. Remember I said you'll judge them to their face?
And the books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.
And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.
I've been struggling, not struggling, but I've been thinking lately about how that's going to be. You're going to be in a new place, and God's there.
And the idea that God doesn't exist is gone. No chance.
And then you're back together again.
And you're going to...what would that be like to come back from the dead and stand there and find out, Oh, there is a God. He does have a law. His Bible's true. I mean, it's going to be...I think God's going to get a great harvest here.
I think He's going to get an enormous harvest. Anyway, but if they don't want to do that, He says they were judged by the...the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books.
We understand that to be the Bible itself, the books of the Bible combined.
And the word is beblos, by the way.
The sea giveth the dead which are in it. Those passengers on the Air Asia flight, they're going to be standing up in the resurrection.
Together. Whole.
The sea giveth the dead which are in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, each one, according to their works.
Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and anyone not found in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
That's an amazing thing. We have to know the judgment's coming.
At the feast, I try to emphasize that every year.
Let me show you something on judgment that you may have forgotten or maybe don't know, or maybe it's clear in your mind and you read it this morning.
Let's look at Ezekiel chapter 3.
So many times I'll do a sermon, some passage I'll quote, some passage I'll say, you know, I was just reading that this morning.
Well, we have a device that can tell what you're reading, and then I put it in the sermon. No, kidding.
Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 16.
These verses used to be better known than they are today. They're still the same as they were before.
Now, it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me saying, this is to Ezekiel, Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Now, what is amazing about that is that he was with the captives in Judah, and he never could go to Israel.
Now, he wrote it down, and the Israelites were able to read it.
But God, at the end of the age, raised up somebody to read it again to the children of Israel.
Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, hear a word from my mouth and give them warning from me.
When I say to the wicked, you will surely die.
See, now, that's judgment, right?
To the wicked, if you're wicked, you're going to die. Okay? I say that to them. And you give them no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked ways, to save his life. That same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Oh, he's going to require... Here's again, requiring a stricter judgment.
Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked ways, he shall die in his iniquity, but you've delivered your soul.
And again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sins, and his righteousness, which he has done, shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.
How would you like to hear God tell you that?
Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning. And also you will have delivered your soul.
The scribes and the Pharisees did not warn the wicked about the coming judgment.
They didn't talk about judgment.
They talked about Mint and Anas and Kuman.
He said, the way they are matters a lot, judgment.
Mr. Armstrong believed these verses applied to him as God's end-time watchman.
I do, too.
That's why he spoke so boldly and pointedly.
He wanted to be sure everybody understood there's a judgment coming, and everybody's going to be called into account. So he spoke boldly and pointedly. My British friends used to say, because Mr. Armstrong used capitalization, and bold and italics and all that kind of stuff, remember that? He's shouting at us in print, they'd say.
And I guess in a way he was.
But he didn't want to receive what the scribes and Pharisees of Christ-time received. I don't blame him. Tell him boldly. I explained to the pastoral class elders that we as pastors must remind the brethren about the coming judgment. That's our responsibility.
God is the one who sets up the watchman to go out and warn all Israel. But the pastors have to take care of their congregations and remind them about that, too.
That's a serious little bit, isn't it? Now, what comes after judgment? Mercifully mercy.
We must be mindful of the coming judgment, but we also know we need to understand God's mercy.
Let's go back to the book of Exodus.
Exodus.
Do you remember when Moses was coming down the mountain and he saw Israel dancing ludily around a golden calf?
Moses had kind of a fiery disposition, it seems, and he got hot. And he took the two plates that God had made and he threw them in the ground and broke them. And he went down and said to Aaron, What happened to you?
He probably put it more emphatically than that.
So God says, come back up the mountain, Moses, after they dealt with it, and it was all dealt with, and I covered that about stricter judgment.
So he's going to make them two more tablets.
Let's go back to Exodus 34 and verse 4.
Exodus 34 verse 4.
So he cut two tablets of stone like the first one. Then Moses rose early in the morning, went up the mountain as the Lord commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.
Now, if you had broken the first ones, and you're going back to God, how would you be feeling about that point?
I think I'd be feeling just a little, you know, scared.
Verse 5. Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him. He had asked God to pass before him, and he'd already known that he'd been given mercy on that, but he asked God to pass before him. And he proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and mercy.
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression by sin. By no means clearing the guilty. They've got to repent. They've got to acknowledge they're wrong. Right? We all do. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped.
After judgment, which God has just, but he's willing to forgive, that we have to understand mercy. Being forgiven of our sins and comprehending God's mercy makes us merciful toward other people.
We're aware of his mercy, which we all need. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, The brethren, as I said, the ministers need to know of God's coming judgment, and they also need to know of God's great mercy. We need to know about that. James wrote in chapter 2, verses 12 and 13, So speak, and so do, as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. Judgment. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown mercy. And so do those who will be judged by the law of liberty. Judgment. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. We all need mercy. We all should be extending mercy. So speak, and so do, as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. We have to live like we know will be judged. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has showed no mercy. So we must be merciful to receive mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. So we had judgment, and we have to understand judgment, and we had mercy, and we have to understand mercy, and the third one Jesus mentioned is faith. Judgment. Mercy. Faith. Martin Luther taught that if you have faith, there's no need to keep the law. Jesus taught that faith is one of the weightier matters of the law.
Do you know that faith is a matter of the law? As I like to ask, I've asked that before. What law is that? Where's the law that you have to have faith? The first commandment. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. God's servants look to Him for everything. They follow Him. He's our God. They trust Him with their very lives. And so they're faithful to Him. They have no other God but Him. If you're going to have no other God but Him, you're going to be faithful. And it's interesting the word faithful. Expositors notes that faithfulness is a better English translation. Faithfulness. This is reflected in Hebrew. The Soncino commentary on Habakkuk 2.4, which says, The just shall live by faith. Soncino commentary, the Jewish commentary, says, The Hebrew word emunah does not signify faith in the Bible, but steadfastness, faithfulness. It is used of Moses' uplift hands, which were steady, faithful. They were held up there, and they were stayed, they were solid. They were steadfast. And the men in charge of the money in the temple, who dealt faithfully, it's what they did. It wasn't something just inside their head. It's what they did. They dealt faithfully. What is Soncino continuing? What is here intended is, The righteous Israelite, who remains unswervingly loyal to moral precepts, will endure, although he has to suffer for his principles. Whereas the wicked, who enjoy a temporary ascendency, through their violation of right, are in the end overthrown and humbled. I.e. judged. It gets back to that again. And many people today think faith is only a New Testament teaching. It's like faith didn't exist in the Old Testament. And yet Hebrews 11 shows that all God's servants live by faith. Hebrews 11 mentions Old Testament servants of God, who are examples of faith. So faith is an Old Testament concept from the very beginning. Abraham was the first, and he was justified by faith. Faithfulness. And Hebrews 11 mentions Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Daniel, and Samuel. David and Samuel, sorry. They all serve God faithfully and steadfastly. And I think we're all familiar with Micah 6-8, which says, He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly? To love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. These principles are the same throughout the Bible. To walk humbly with your God, steadfastly and faithfully. It's just right there. The message of Matthew, chapter 20, page 243 says, The gnat is a tiny insect that breeds during the fermentation process. So here we get the picture of these worthies, no doubt dressed in their ministerial robes, putting their wines through gauze strainer after strainer to ensure they are not infected by any impurity. While at the same time swallowing the biggest unclean object in the world, a camel.
I think a whale may be bigger, but that's the message of Matthew. And they have a little footnote that I've got to bring out to you. It's on the same page. They say, the ironic humor is even sharper and Aramaic. There is a pun in qualma, Q-A-L-M-A, which is gnat, and gamla, G-A-M-L-A. It's the same letters, but doesn't it slightly their word, camel. So he says, they strain out a qualma, but swallow a gamla. It's in the Aramaic there, and I had to bring that out.
Matthew 23, verses 25-26. This is the sixth one. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside may be clean also. Extortion is a very interesting word. At least I find it interesting. Extortion. He said, you're full of, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
The word root, they're torte. T-O-R-T means to twist. To twist. Think of torture. Think of torque, the French version. And tortellini, a little twisted thing. X means out. So think of exhale, exhume, and exit. These leaders would find a way to twist out wealth for themselves and their friends. Today we have leaders that twist out wealth for themselves and their friends, too. We find it in commerce. The last few years we've seen a number of scandals with CEOs going to jail or other high officials. And they end up with some scandal and it all comes out and they end up in a slammer. We find it in government. We find it with the IRS and VA officials are well paid and given good bonuses. But the vets and the voters, and some of the voters, don't always receive the care and attention they seek. So the top guys are well off and the guys in the bottom of the heap, not so good. In academia, tuition keeps rising faster than inflation. Of course, the students take on the debt. That's the way it is now. I'm reading many articles about the problems with this. Then the government, in effect, pays the tuition to the universities in full and when the semester begins, they get paid in full. The student gets the debt. If the students default, the universities don't lose a penny. The taxpayer will carry the loss.
And they can take any course they want. Whether it's profitable, wise, foolish, they'll give them the money anyway. Whatever you want. No risks, say, well, we'll find it's this, we're not going to find it's that. They're just running along like that. Meanwhile, university administrators are hiring more staff and building bigger and finer facilities. Dormitories, swimming pools, cafeterias, they're building all over the nation. Because they got all kind of money coming in. They're doing great. And I've also been reading that the system is being gained. I know you'll be surprised at that. Illinois is supposed to be the most indebted American state. But don't worry, the politicians and their supporters are being paid well and punctually.
It was the same back then in the temple. Some things don't change. Extortion, to twist out for yourself.
Self-indulgence. The New King James margin has that the majority text has unrighteousness. However, it's not the usual Greek word for unrighteousness. In fact, the words only used twice in the New Testament, and the other being in 1 Corinthians 7.5, where it's translated lack of control, which fits the context.
However, we can expect those who lack self-control will also be unrighteous. Right? Doesn't those two go together? So the scribes and Pharisees were focused on solely outward appearances. Dress, rituals, actions to appear righteous before others. They did not focus on what was going on inside their hearts and minds. But God looks on the heart. Remember what God said to Samuel?
But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees. For man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. That's where God's focus is, but that's not where human focus tends to be. Paul, a former Pharisee himself, learned to focus on the insight.
He wrote in Romans 12, verses 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable servants. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Christians who will focus on renewing their minds, that renewing their minds, thinking a new way, God's way, will not be full of extortion, taking her mothers, and self-indulgent. I think that's pretty plain. Matthew 20, verses 27 to 28, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead man's bones and uncleanness.
Even so, you also appear righteous to men. They did appear righteous to men. But inside, you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And this is the normal word for lawlessness. The message of Matthew, page 244, When the pilgrim season began in Israel, that was just before Passover, they used to paint the tombs with whitewash to make them very obvious so nobody brushed up against them, got ceremonially defiled by accident. If you brushed against it, the law says you touched the dead or things considered with the dead or a stone, you're defiled. And if you're defiled, you couldn't take the Passover. So, they used to paint the tombs with whitewash to make them very obvious so nobody brushed up against them, got ceremonially defiled by accident.
The contrast, therefore, is between the fair-seeming exterior of these men and the corruption that festered in the spiritual death below the surface. But the subsidiary message was also clear. Don't get too near these people, you'll be defiled. Barnes notes on the New Testament, says, The law considered those persons unclean who touched anything the belonging to the dead.
It's Numbers 19-16, if you want to see the verse on that. Numbers 19-16. Simplicers were therefore often whitewashed so that they might be distinctly seen. Thus, whited, they appeared beautiful, but within they contained the bones and corrupting bodies of the dead. So the Pharisees, their outward conduct appeared well, but their hearts were full of hypocrisy, envy-pride, lust, malice, filthy represented by the corruption within a whitened tomb. So the implication is, contact with these people, like contact with whitewashed tombs, would leave you unclean.
It's a very strong teaching from Jesus Christ. Matthew 23, 29-32. Number 8, the last one. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would have not been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Therefore you are witnesses against yourself, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt. Once again, monuments are external things which people see. Their ornate monuments were intended to convey respect for God's faithful prophets and other righteous.
The scribes and Pharisees wanted to be perceived as the spiritual descendants of the prophets, and not the spiritual descendants of the persecutors. Because of their unrelenting hostility to Jesus, Jesus knew they were actually the spiritual descendants of those who killed the prophets, because they were at that moment trying to kill him, working against them every way they could. So while they were building ornate monuments to honor the prophets, they were hypocritically plotting the murder of the greatest prophet, the most righteous man that ever lived.
It's really ironic. And he says, fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt. And this is a very important little phrase, brethren. You want to pay attention to this one. Expositive Bible commentary, the conclusion is defiant and ironical. The idea behind the measure of sin is that God will only tolerate so much sin. And then, when the measure is full, he must respond in wrath.
And he quotes Genesis 15, 16 and 1 Thessalonians 2, 4 to 16. Genesis 15, 16 says, this is God speaking to Abraham, but in the fourth generation, they shall return here. Remember, the children are going to go over there, they're going to be the country, and then he's going to return here. For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.
The iniquity had to get to a certain spot before God dealt with it. When he got to that spot, he dealt with it.
Now, if in 1 Thessalonians, also quoted there, he said, For you, brethren, became imitators of the church of God, which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus Christ and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they do not please God in our contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so always to fill up the measure of their sins. That's the point where God steps in. But wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. It's really... wrath is going to come. God's wrath builds up, and then it gets to where he's had enough, and then he steps in. We don't know where we are on that scale here in this country, but we're certainly going in the wrong direction. We'll finish up Matthew 23, which I think you'll find really interesting, and we'll pick it up next month.
