1 00:00:02,902 --> 00:00:04,437 Just a quick question. 2 00:00:04,437 --> 00:00:07,507 Everybody here, the yard work that's going on back there. 3 00:00:08,375 --> 00:00:11,378 Listen, 4 00:00:11,378 --> 00:00:14,381 let's try to be good witnesses to our neighbors. 5 00:00:14,981 --> 00:00:18,118 Sometimes they get a little upset at what we do, especially on Sundays. 6 00:00:18,118 --> 00:00:20,754 So they schedule 7 00:00:20,754 --> 00:00:22,822 tree work on Sunday mornings during service 8 00:00:22,822 --> 00:00:25,425 and had a little bit of an issue this morning. 9 00:00:25,425 --> 00:00:30,196 So anyway, just let's just be praying that we're super gracious and good neighbors. 10 00:00:30,330 --> 00:00:31,798 Is that fair? 11 00:00:31,798 --> 00:00:32,032 Yeah. 12 00:00:32,032 --> 00:00:35,035 Don't park in front of his property on Sunday mornings. 13 00:00:36,436 --> 00:00:38,671 Let me just say that. 14 00:00:38,671 --> 00:00:41,041 Hey, next week is our 21st birthday. 15 00:00:41,041 --> 00:00:43,943 As a church, we finally are legal. 16 00:00:43,943 --> 00:00:46,846 And so we can start using wine in church now. 17 00:00:46,846 --> 00:00:48,782 So for communion, I guess that's what that means. 18 00:00:48,782 --> 00:00:53,453 No, it's just so I was I talked to I talked to the church this morning 19 00:00:53,453 --> 00:00:57,457 and my prayer time and the church said that all at once for its birthday is 20 00:00:57,490 --> 00:00:58,691 new chairs. So 21 00:01:00,060 --> 00:01:00,460 by the 22 00:01:00,460 --> 00:01:03,463 church of birthday present, $60 a chair. 23 00:01:03,630 --> 00:01:06,533 And we'll celebrate our birthday next week with brand new chairs. 24 00:01:06,533 --> 00:01:09,202 They show up on Tuesday, so I'm excited about that. 25 00:01:09,202 --> 00:01:11,237 The the entryway is coming. 26 00:01:11,237 --> 00:01:15,175 It it got delayed a couple of weeks again, but it is coming. 27 00:01:15,175 --> 00:01:19,813 And so I'm excited for kind of how we're able to make this place a little bit 28 00:01:19,813 --> 00:01:25,518 more accessible and deal with first world problems like comfortable chairs. 29 00:01:25,585 --> 00:01:28,521 When you talk about what's going on in Guatemala, 30 00:01:28,521 --> 00:01:31,224 these chairs are going to be given to one of our church plants 31 00:01:31,224 --> 00:01:34,561 in Fresno, inner city Fresno called Remedy Chapel with Pastor Sean. 32 00:01:34,561 --> 00:01:37,997 So we're just going to give him all these chairs they are in need to. 33 00:01:38,031 --> 00:01:41,401 So by your generosity with new ones, we're given the old ones away 34 00:01:41,401 --> 00:01:42,469 and blessing another church. 35 00:01:42,469 --> 00:01:44,437 And it's all good. 36 00:01:44,437 --> 00:01:48,274 I want to warn you right up front now, as you get into Matthew 23, 37 00:01:48,908 --> 00:01:49,976 we're all big people. 38 00:01:49,976 --> 00:01:50,810 We can handle it. 39 00:01:50,810 --> 00:01:54,681 But I just want to I want to warn you up front that 40 00:01:55,882 --> 00:01:56,583 at some 41 00:01:56,583 --> 00:01:59,586 point this is going to turn offensive 42 00:01:59,786 --> 00:02:03,690 and some of you are going to be maybe offended by it. 43 00:02:03,723 --> 00:02:06,693 You're going to be okay, you're going to handle it. 44 00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:09,696 But I don't know what another way 45 00:02:09,696 --> 00:02:12,699 to teach this passage of Scripture, 46 00:02:12,999 --> 00:02:16,436 this is this is the point in Jesus's earthly life 47 00:02:16,436 --> 00:02:21,174 where he really turns a corner and he's he's confronting 48 00:02:21,174 --> 00:02:24,177 religious establishment 49 00:02:24,277 --> 00:02:27,180 because they just don't get it. 50 00:02:27,180 --> 00:02:28,815 This is the final week of his life. 51 00:02:28,815 --> 00:02:34,721 From Matthew 21 through 24 or so is all takes place on Tuesday, all in one day. 52 00:02:34,721 --> 00:02:36,823 It's a huge day. 53 00:02:36,823 --> 00:02:41,161 And in chapter 22, sorry, chapter 23 is the follow up of chapter 22. 54 00:02:41,161 --> 00:02:44,664 And what happened in chapter 22 is you had these four religious groups 55 00:02:44,697 --> 00:02:48,902 the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees, and the religious lawyers 56 00:02:48,902 --> 00:02:52,906 who were questioning Jesus's authority and challenging his authority. 57 00:02:52,939 --> 00:02:54,874 And he handles all of it. 58 00:02:54,874 --> 00:02:57,977 He's very gracious, but he's very he's very firm. 59 00:02:58,611 --> 00:03:01,614 And in chapter 23, he's done. 60 00:03:01,614 --> 00:03:03,082 He's done with their questions. 61 00:03:03,082 --> 00:03:05,552 He's done allowing them to challenge his authority. 62 00:03:05,552 --> 00:03:08,721 And in chapter 23, he draws a line in the sand. 63 00:03:08,788 --> 00:03:13,293 And the term, if you read chapter 23, if you read it in 64 00:03:13,293 --> 00:03:16,629 its totality, you're going to see one word over and over and over. 65 00:03:16,763 --> 00:03:19,465 And it's the word hypocrite. 66 00:03:19,465 --> 00:03:21,668 It's the word hypocrite. 67 00:03:21,668 --> 00:03:24,871 And it's the key term that he uses for religious people, 68 00:03:24,904 --> 00:03:28,041 religious leaders, I should say, over and over and over. 69 00:03:28,041 --> 00:03:29,542 He calls them hypocrites. 70 00:03:29,542 --> 00:03:31,311 He calls them a lot of other things as well. 71 00:03:31,311 --> 00:03:32,579 He calls them snakes. 72 00:03:32,579 --> 00:03:36,683 He calls them a brood of vipers, which is a family of little baby snakes. 73 00:03:37,250 --> 00:03:38,985 He calls them blind guides. 74 00:03:38,985 --> 00:03:40,853 He calls them whitewashed tombs. 75 00:03:40,853 --> 00:03:43,723 He calls them fools, and he calls them sons of hell. 76 00:03:44,991 --> 00:03:46,092 And so he's, 77 00:03:46,092 --> 00:03:49,095 he's he's drawing a line in the sand. 78 00:03:50,063 --> 00:03:52,031 And I want to I want to 79 00:03:52,031 --> 00:03:55,335 simplify chapter 23 because it is profound. 80 00:03:55,335 --> 00:03:58,504 It's it's difficult for many. 81 00:03:58,771 --> 00:04:00,106 It feels offensive. 82 00:04:00,106 --> 00:04:01,975 And it may for some of you this morning. 83 00:04:01,975 --> 00:04:04,611 But I want to boil this down to one simple big idea. 84 00:04:04,611 --> 00:04:08,414 And the simple, big, big idea is this true discipleship begins 85 00:04:08,414 --> 00:04:12,986 with repentance in the heart and produces transformation in life. 86 00:04:12,986 --> 00:04:15,989 So here's here's what happens with religion. 87 00:04:16,189 --> 00:04:19,759 Religion tells you to change your life 88 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:23,596 and oftentimes doesn't deal with the internal. 89 00:04:24,297 --> 00:04:26,833 Jesus says, I want to start with the internal, 90 00:04:26,833 --> 00:04:30,670 because if the internal changes, the outside will be transformed. 91 00:04:31,638 --> 00:04:34,641 Religion says, just look, do better. 92 00:04:35,275 --> 00:04:39,412 Our problem is we can't do better for very long, right? 93 00:04:40,580 --> 00:04:43,883 We try and we do well for a little bit. 94 00:04:43,916 --> 00:04:44,550 We don't do this. 95 00:04:44,550 --> 00:04:46,919 And you're not supposed to do we do this, we're supposed to do. 96 00:04:46,919 --> 00:04:49,989 So we think for a little bit and then we we fail. 97 00:04:50,456 --> 00:04:54,360 And a life of that is a religious life. 98 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,330 And that's what Jesus is pushing up against here. 99 00:04:57,397 --> 00:05:00,667 He said, listen, the outside should change, no doubt, 100 00:05:00,667 --> 00:05:04,570 but the outside should change because the inside has been transformed. 101 00:05:05,071 --> 00:05:09,742 And to address this, he uses this word hypocrite of religious leaders. 102 00:05:10,176 --> 00:05:12,812 Now the word hypocrite is used seven times 103 00:05:12,812 --> 00:05:16,182 in this one chapter in the book of Matthew. 104 00:05:16,182 --> 00:05:21,254 It's used 15 times outside of Matthew and the rest of the New Testament. 105 00:05:21,254 --> 00:05:24,157 It's used a total of 19 times. 106 00:05:24,157 --> 00:05:28,695 So 15 of the 34 times it's used in the book of Matthew. 107 00:05:28,961 --> 00:05:32,265 And every time Matthew records the word hypocrite, 108 00:05:32,298 --> 00:05:35,535 he does so in quoting the words of Jesus. 109 00:05:36,002 --> 00:05:39,105 So Jesus uses this word a lot 110 00:05:39,138 --> 00:05:42,775 to talk about the religious leaders of his day. 111 00:05:45,111 --> 00:05:45,611 Let me ask 112 00:05:45,611 --> 00:05:48,581 this question just to get our minds straight. 113 00:05:48,915 --> 00:05:52,452 Do any of you have any of you ever known a hypocrite 114 00:05:53,453 --> 00:05:55,455 you like? Does someone come to mind? 115 00:05:55,455 --> 00:05:58,458 You think about word hypocrite. Yeah, yeah. 116 00:05:58,558 --> 00:06:01,561 Have any of you looked in the mirror? 117 00:06:03,096 --> 00:06:05,865 Let's get our minds right. 118 00:06:05,865 --> 00:06:08,534 I know that many people in this 119 00:06:08,534 --> 00:06:12,739 who can hear me are going to think, yep, hypocrites. 120 00:06:13,373 --> 00:06:15,675 You're going to think of somebody else. 121 00:06:15,675 --> 00:06:16,776 You're going to think of something 122 00:06:16,776 --> 00:06:19,779 they've done, something they said how their life doesn't match up. 123 00:06:19,812 --> 00:06:21,614 Our tendency is to think of somebody else. 124 00:06:21,614 --> 00:06:23,616 So here's the challenge. 125 00:06:23,616 --> 00:06:26,953 Let's let we can all let's not do that. 126 00:06:28,020 --> 00:06:32,625 My prayer in this, in this passage is that 127 00:06:33,626 --> 00:06:38,197 that God's Word would cut the messenger before it becomes a cutting message. 128 00:06:40,733 --> 00:06:43,603 You don't have to look very long in the church to find a hypocrite. 129 00:06:43,603 --> 00:06:46,305 You just have to look in the mirror at the church. 130 00:06:46,305 --> 00:06:49,475 So let's just acknowledge that many people are going to have 131 00:06:49,475 --> 00:06:52,412 their reasons and their excuses. That's why I don't go to church. 132 00:06:52,412 --> 00:06:53,913 That's why I don't believe in God. 133 00:06:53,913 --> 00:06:56,716 That's why I don't trust Jesus. That's why I don't like religion. 134 00:06:56,716 --> 00:06:59,652 That's why that's why. That's why we're all going to have those excuses. 135 00:06:59,652 --> 00:07:02,622 But please understand this. And I understand those excuses. 136 00:07:02,622 --> 00:07:06,592 But please understand that regardless of the excuse, nobody 137 00:07:06,592 --> 00:07:09,595 but you will have to stand before God one day 138 00:07:09,595 --> 00:07:12,598 and give an account for your excuse. 139 00:07:13,666 --> 00:07:14,700 And there's a lot of people 140 00:07:14,700 --> 00:07:17,703 use the excuse of hypocrites. 141 00:07:18,171 --> 00:07:19,705 And so let's just understand, 142 00:07:19,705 --> 00:07:22,675 let's let's let this cut us first. 143 00:07:24,544 --> 00:07:26,913 The word hypocrite comes from two Greek words. 144 00:07:26,913 --> 00:07:29,015 It's the Greek word hypocrites. 145 00:07:29,015 --> 00:07:34,754 And it comes from two words hypo, which means under or and which judge. 146 00:07:34,787 --> 00:07:39,826 And so literally the word hypocrite is to under judge oneself 147 00:07:39,892 --> 00:07:43,162 and thereby over judge somebody else. 148 00:07:43,963 --> 00:07:45,131 That's what is to be hypocrite. 149 00:07:45,131 --> 00:07:46,499 I'm going to judge myself. 150 00:07:46,499 --> 00:07:49,535 I'm on over judge others. 151 00:07:49,802 --> 00:07:54,474 It was used of in the theater world of someone who lived behind a mask. 152 00:07:55,074 --> 00:07:57,043 So the mask is in the one thing, 153 00:07:57,043 --> 00:08:00,012 but what was behind the mask was something different. 154 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:02,615 Hypocrite. 155 00:08:02,615 --> 00:08:06,018 It being hypocritical always involves 156 00:08:06,018 --> 00:08:09,856 inconsistencies in one's life, either in thought and word or deed. 157 00:08:09,922 --> 00:08:11,858 There's just inconsistency there. 158 00:08:11,858 --> 00:08:14,861 That's the idea of hypocrites. 159 00:08:15,895 --> 00:08:18,531 The truth is 160 00:08:18,531 --> 00:08:21,000 that if we define hypocrite, 161 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,571 as I point out in others, what I choose not to acknowledge it myself. 162 00:08:25,571 --> 00:08:28,107 This hits every one of us. 163 00:08:28,107 --> 00:08:30,309 And the Bible says in 164 00:08:30,309 --> 00:08:34,113 Isaiah nine, for everyone is a what? 165 00:08:36,482 --> 00:08:39,418 Do you realize the Bible said that every one of us 166 00:08:39,418 --> 00:08:42,655 hypocrites and an evildoer, and every mouth 167 00:08:42,655 --> 00:08:45,658 speaks folly. 168 00:08:46,259 --> 00:08:48,160 First Peter two once is therefore 169 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,464 rid yourself of all malice and all the seat of what? 170 00:08:52,031 --> 00:08:54,734 Hypocrisy, all kinds of hypocrisy, envy, 171 00:08:54,734 --> 00:08:57,737 and slander of every kind. 172 00:08:58,771 --> 00:09:01,274 I appreciate a pastor. 173 00:09:01,274 --> 00:09:03,509 His name's Gary. I listen to him a lot. 174 00:09:03,509 --> 00:09:07,580 I study a lot of his his his his, his writing, his teaching. 175 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:12,585 As I look through this passage, I tried to find a gentle way 176 00:09:12,585 --> 00:09:15,588 to go through Matthew 23, and there just isn't. 177 00:09:16,856 --> 00:09:20,993 And what I learned and kind of leaned into 178 00:09:21,794 --> 00:09:24,797 is this idea of hypocrisy. 179 00:09:24,864 --> 00:09:29,035 We live hypocritical lives in three different ways. 180 00:09:30,036 --> 00:09:33,439 One is just the hypocrisy regarding others 181 00:09:33,472 --> 00:09:37,076 that I have a standard for you and an exception for me. 182 00:09:37,743 --> 00:09:39,078 That's it. 183 00:09:39,078 --> 00:09:41,280 And we do that with others all the time. 184 00:09:43,015 --> 00:09:45,818 When when I hold you to a standard, I'm unwilling 185 00:09:45,818 --> 00:09:51,257 to live at myself or when I'm never wrong. 186 00:09:51,390 --> 00:09:53,960 Wrong. And you always are. 187 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:55,761 Tipple critical. 188 00:09:55,761 --> 00:09:59,465 The second way we live lives of hypocrisy is hypocrisy. 189 00:09:59,465 --> 00:10:03,235 Regarding myself, when there's a contradiction 190 00:10:03,235 --> 00:10:06,238 in what I claim to believe and how I actually live. 191 00:10:06,305 --> 00:10:09,942 So not only is there a different standard for the two of us is standard 192 00:10:09,942 --> 00:10:15,548 for you and exception for me, but even what I claim, I don't live. 193 00:10:15,715 --> 00:10:19,452 So there's a hypocrisy regarding others in a hypocrisy regarding myself. 194 00:10:19,452 --> 00:10:22,455 And then thirdly, there's a hypocrisy regarding God 195 00:10:23,389 --> 00:10:26,425 when I call right what God calls wrong. 196 00:10:28,561 --> 00:10:32,231 And so we live in these three arenas of hypocrisy. 197 00:10:32,231 --> 00:10:36,268 And until we start to turn the mirror on ourselves. 198 00:10:38,304 --> 00:10:41,307 We will forever remain unchanged 199 00:10:41,974 --> 00:10:44,977 and untrue. 200 00:10:45,177 --> 00:10:48,180 Now, now, please hear me when I say this. 201 00:10:49,982 --> 00:10:52,618 When we fail, 202 00:10:52,618 --> 00:10:56,222 there is no hypocrite where there is repentance 203 00:10:57,623 --> 00:10:59,959 in our failure. 204 00:10:59,959 --> 00:11:03,229 When there's repentance and we allow the Holy Spirit to transform 205 00:11:03,229 --> 00:11:05,097 us, we're not living hypocritical lives. 206 00:11:05,097 --> 00:11:08,868 We're living human lives that are repentant 207 00:11:08,868 --> 00:11:11,871 and saved by the mercy and grace of God. 208 00:11:12,772 --> 00:11:17,376 But when I live in sin and refuse to call to such and refuse to repent of it 209 00:11:17,376 --> 00:11:21,681 and act as though I'm righteous and right, that is hypocritical. 210 00:11:21,714 --> 00:11:23,182 Do you follow? 211 00:11:23,182 --> 00:11:27,186 So though every one of us can claim, yeah, I'm the hypocrite 212 00:11:27,653 --> 00:11:31,624 when I claim that and repent of that and allow the Holy Spirit to transform me. 213 00:11:31,624 --> 00:11:34,627 Now I'm no longer living hypocritically. 214 00:11:35,194 --> 00:11:37,663 I'm living in repentance and in repentance. 215 00:11:37,663 --> 00:11:40,933 God gives all that grace will allow. 216 00:11:42,835 --> 00:11:44,570 And so the safest place we 217 00:11:44,570 --> 00:11:47,640 can be is to live with the realization and the admittance. 218 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:54,113 Yes, I am hypocritical, but I repent of it and I allow God to do it. 219 00:11:54,113 --> 00:11:58,584 Only God can do which is transform me and then give me unmerited 220 00:11:58,584 --> 00:12:01,587 grace and favor. 221 00:12:02,021 --> 00:12:05,224 And so Matthew 23. 222 00:12:07,660 --> 00:12:08,627 Jesus. 223 00:12:08,627 --> 00:12:10,463 This chapter begins with Jesus. 224 00:12:10,463 --> 00:12:13,199 He's surrounded by all these religious leaders 225 00:12:13,199 --> 00:12:16,469 and by all these people and disciples who are listening 226 00:12:16,502 --> 00:12:19,505 to these exchanges that he have with all these religious leaders. 227 00:12:19,505 --> 00:12:21,440 And so Jesus began. 228 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:25,745 Chapter 23 begins with Jesus addressing the people and the crowds, 229 00:12:25,745 --> 00:12:26,912 not the religious leaders. 230 00:12:26,912 --> 00:12:28,814 And this is what he says. 231 00:12:28,814 --> 00:12:31,584 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 232 00:12:31,584 --> 00:12:34,920 the scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses's seat. 233 00:12:34,954 --> 00:12:39,158 So do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. 234 00:12:39,158 --> 00:12:41,627 For they preach, but they do not practice. 235 00:12:41,627 --> 00:12:45,064 So he's addressing the people, and he's he's going to turn his 236 00:12:45,064 --> 00:12:48,467 his anger and confrontation against the religious leaders. 237 00:12:48,467 --> 00:12:50,803 But now he addresses the people 238 00:12:50,803 --> 00:12:54,540 and he says, listen, these leaders sit on Moses's seat. 239 00:12:54,573 --> 00:12:59,712 Now, Moses's seat was the term that they used in every synagogue, 240 00:12:59,712 --> 00:13:03,482 which in their day was like their local, their local gathering place 241 00:13:03,482 --> 00:13:07,019 or their church, if you will, where they would learn God's Word. 242 00:13:07,052 --> 00:13:12,158 The rabbi would sit on a stone seat and all the people would stand. 243 00:13:12,158 --> 00:13:15,494 So if you really wanted to be biblical, you would all stand up while I'm teaching. 244 00:13:15,895 --> 00:13:17,797 Aren't you glad we're not back then? 245 00:13:17,797 --> 00:13:20,733 Or maybe it's that they couldn't afford $60 chair, so they had to stand. 246 00:13:20,733 --> 00:13:22,101 I don't know which it was, but. 247 00:13:22,101 --> 00:13:28,774 So they called it Moses's seat because that was the place of authority. 248 00:13:28,774 --> 00:13:32,378 And the rabbi would teach from that stone seat. 249 00:13:32,378 --> 00:13:37,950 And what they would teach was primarily the law of God recorded by Moses. 250 00:13:37,950 --> 00:13:41,821 So it became authoritative as Moses's seat. 251 00:13:42,254 --> 00:13:46,592 And so what he said, they teach from Moses's seat, the, the, the law. 252 00:13:46,625 --> 00:13:50,029 In other words, they teach with authority not because they are 253 00:13:50,029 --> 00:13:53,899 people of credibility, but because the word is authoritative. 254 00:13:53,933 --> 00:13:56,836 We use this same term in our day. 255 00:13:56,836 --> 00:13:57,970 For instance, 256 00:13:59,471 --> 00:14:00,539 the Catholics. 257 00:14:00,539 --> 00:14:06,078 The Pope is said to speak X cathedra from the seat or from the chair. 258 00:14:06,579 --> 00:14:08,280 It's the position of authority. 259 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:13,752 The word cathedral used primarily by the Catholic Church, that is, the, 260 00:14:13,752 --> 00:14:18,557 the, the, the place of authority of the bishop of the area. 261 00:14:18,757 --> 00:14:21,760 That's his seat of authority, 262 00:14:22,494 --> 00:14:26,298 even in our universities systems, the lead of a department 263 00:14:26,298 --> 00:14:29,468 is called the chair of the department, the authority of the department. 264 00:14:29,468 --> 00:14:32,338 So we use this same idiom today. It was used back then. 265 00:14:32,338 --> 00:14:34,106 They sit in Moses's seat. 266 00:14:34,106 --> 00:14:37,576 They sit as someone speaking the authority of God. 267 00:14:37,576 --> 00:14:40,346 And what God, what Jesus says is listen to what they say, 268 00:14:40,346 --> 00:14:42,281 because what they're saying is 269 00:14:42,281 --> 00:14:45,251 because it's God's words just don't live like they live 270 00:14:46,318 --> 00:14:48,354 because they don't practice what they preach. 271 00:14:49,521 --> 00:14:52,591 In other words, don't let 272 00:14:54,426 --> 00:14:57,429 the Word of God lose its authority 273 00:14:57,930 --> 00:15:01,133 because the person who's teaching it doesn't live that way. 274 00:15:01,133 --> 00:15:06,438 The word still has authority, even though the one who's giving you 275 00:15:06,438 --> 00:15:09,441 the word is not credible. 276 00:15:09,441 --> 00:15:13,379 The person's lack of practice doesn't 277 00:15:13,379 --> 00:15:17,149 nullify the power of the Word of God, is what he's saying. 278 00:15:17,182 --> 00:15:20,719 Second Timothy 316 is still true regardless of the person. 279 00:15:21,754 --> 00:15:24,189 The Word of God is breathed out by God. 280 00:15:24,189 --> 00:15:27,192 It is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, 281 00:15:27,192 --> 00:15:30,796 and training in righteousness regardless of the one who's presenting it. 282 00:15:31,163 --> 00:15:34,266 The authority comes in the word, not in the presenter. 283 00:15:34,300 --> 00:15:35,501 Do you follow? 284 00:15:35,501 --> 00:15:36,535 Do you follow? 285 00:15:36,535 --> 00:15:39,738 And so this is his warning to everybody right up front. 286 00:15:39,772 --> 00:15:43,509 Don't invalidate the truth of the and authority 287 00:15:43,509 --> 00:15:47,079 of God's Word because of the broken vessels who teach it. 288 00:15:47,746 --> 00:15:50,582 So this is the danger right now. 289 00:15:50,582 --> 00:15:53,652 This is the danger right now with some people even in this place, 290 00:15:55,020 --> 00:15:57,523 you're going to say, I see too much contradiction 291 00:15:57,523 --> 00:15:59,959 between those who teach God's Word on what God's Word says. 292 00:15:59,959 --> 00:16:01,627 So I don't believe God's Word. 293 00:16:01,627 --> 00:16:04,229 That's a mistake. 294 00:16:04,229 --> 00:16:07,232 The authority comes from God's Word, not from the prisoner of it. 295 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,302 Do you follow? 296 00:16:10,302 --> 00:16:13,906 And so he's going to say, these people, they're giving you truth, 297 00:16:13,906 --> 00:16:15,107 but they don't live it. So don't. 298 00:16:15,107 --> 00:16:18,077 So listen to them, but don't copy them. 299 00:16:18,077 --> 00:16:21,080 And then in verse five. 300 00:16:22,381 --> 00:16:23,382 They do all their deeds. 301 00:16:23,382 --> 00:16:26,352 He was seen by others, for they make their full actors broad in their fringes. 302 00:16:26,352 --> 00:16:27,019 Long. Okay. 303 00:16:27,019 --> 00:16:30,155 So how many of you brought your full actors with you? 304 00:16:31,223 --> 00:16:33,792 Does anybody know what a full actor he is? 305 00:16:33,792 --> 00:16:34,793 Yeah. So? 306 00:16:34,793 --> 00:16:37,863 So I need to translate this into our verbiage. 307 00:16:38,263 --> 00:16:42,234 He's talking about two to the full actors and fringes. 308 00:16:42,234 --> 00:16:47,773 And what is referring to is what was what was in in Scripture 309 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:52,678 back in Deuteronomy 11 and numbers 15. 310 00:16:52,711 --> 00:16:57,383 And in those two verses the word of God says, Keep God's 311 00:16:57,383 --> 00:17:02,254 Word on the front of your forehead and on your right hands at all times. 312 00:17:02,254 --> 00:17:02,788 In other words, 313 00:17:02,788 --> 00:17:05,791 let's keep it in the front of your in front of your face and at your hand. 314 00:17:05,791 --> 00:17:06,592 Do it. 315 00:17:06,592 --> 00:17:09,962 They understood that to mean by the letter of the law 316 00:17:10,496 --> 00:17:14,466 to take Bible verse, scripture verses and put them in boxes 317 00:17:14,466 --> 00:17:18,504 and fix them to their foreheads and headbands, and wear them 318 00:17:18,504 --> 00:17:21,874 as tassels on their or as bracelets, so that they would 319 00:17:21,874 --> 00:17:25,711 keep the Word of God forever on their foreheads and off the right hand. 320 00:17:25,711 --> 00:17:28,313 And so they made these little leather boxes 321 00:17:28,313 --> 00:17:32,718 and had a couple different scripture references in these boxes. 322 00:17:32,851 --> 00:17:36,255 One was the great hero of the Lord, was one of the Lord is God. 323 00:17:36,255 --> 00:17:39,658 And they would put that in a little box and fastened to a headband on their front 324 00:17:39,691 --> 00:17:40,459 on the foreheads. 325 00:17:40,459 --> 00:17:43,228 And where is it? Dangly box on their wrist. 326 00:17:43,228 --> 00:17:46,799 And so Jesus is saying, some of them love this so much, 327 00:17:46,932 --> 00:17:48,400 they're like, hey, I'm going to be real spirit. 328 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,669 I'm gonna get a real big box. 329 00:17:50,669 --> 00:17:54,073 So everybody would see, wow, they love God's Word. 330 00:17:54,106 --> 00:17:57,076 Look how big that flattering box is. 331 00:17:57,076 --> 00:18:00,212 And these tassels, old Testament law. 332 00:18:00,279 --> 00:18:04,216 Make sure at the edges of the corners, the four corners of your garment, 333 00:18:04,216 --> 00:18:09,588 there's a blue cord to remind you and symbolize the authority of God 334 00:18:09,588 --> 00:18:11,790 in his great provision and comfort and rule in your life. 335 00:18:11,790 --> 00:18:14,026 And so every garment had a blue. 336 00:18:14,026 --> 00:18:18,497 The show would have a blue thread running down it to remind them of this. 337 00:18:18,530 --> 00:18:21,533 Jesus, we believe, had this war the same thing. 338 00:18:21,533 --> 00:18:23,035 And that's actually what the woman 339 00:18:23,035 --> 00:18:27,372 with the issue of blood reached out and touched the hem of his garment, 340 00:18:27,439 --> 00:18:31,376 the blue cord, because that was the symbol of the presence and compassion 341 00:18:31,376 --> 00:18:32,978 and authority of God. 342 00:18:32,978 --> 00:18:34,713 And so Jesus like, look, 343 00:18:34,713 --> 00:18:37,749 some of these guys, they got their big old boxes on their forehead, 344 00:18:37,783 --> 00:18:41,720 like Amazon just showed up and their blue chords are like huge 345 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,190 because they want to look, look out religious. 346 00:18:45,190 --> 00:18:45,858 I am, 347 00:18:47,626 --> 00:18:49,561 you know, we know what those 348 00:18:49,561 --> 00:18:52,831 people are like with their real big Bibles or the real gaudy covers. 349 00:18:52,831 --> 00:18:55,534 So everybody knows that they're carrying, you know what I'm saying? 350 00:18:55,534 --> 00:18:58,437 Like, look at how really look how spiritual I am. 351 00:18:58,437 --> 00:19:02,441 I want you to know how godly I am. 352 00:19:02,875 --> 00:19:05,010 And he said, this is who these people are. 353 00:19:05,010 --> 00:19:06,612 It's all for show. 354 00:19:06,612 --> 00:19:08,947 Nothing's changed inside. 355 00:19:08,947 --> 00:19:10,349 It's this ridiculous. 356 00:19:10,349 --> 00:19:14,653 And then look at what he says verses nine, ten, 11 and call no man 357 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,756 your father on earth, for you have one father who is in heaven. 358 00:19:17,789 --> 00:19:20,025 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor. 359 00:19:20,025 --> 00:19:23,295 The Christ, and the greatest among you shall be your servant. 360 00:19:23,295 --> 00:19:26,198 Whoever is also in self would be humble, ever humbles himself, will be exalted. 361 00:19:26,198 --> 00:19:27,666 He said, all these guys want to do 362 00:19:27,666 --> 00:19:30,903 is exalt themselves in their spiritual superiority, 363 00:19:30,903 --> 00:19:34,506 and so they make you call them your father. 364 00:19:34,706 --> 00:19:37,276 Now Jesus is not saying don't have titles. 365 00:19:37,276 --> 00:19:40,712 He just say, make sure that the title that you claim 366 00:19:40,712 --> 00:19:44,016 doesn't elevate yourself to some spiritual superiority. 367 00:19:44,082 --> 00:19:46,852 Now, I'm a reverend. 368 00:19:46,852 --> 00:19:49,855 I don't allow anybody to call me Reverend 369 00:19:49,922 --> 00:19:53,859 because it's used one time in the Bible is not used of pastors. 370 00:19:54,159 --> 00:19:58,630 The reverend is the title man gave me to acknowledge 371 00:19:58,630 --> 00:20:02,134 my authority, my education, and my calling. 372 00:20:02,501 --> 00:20:07,573 But it's you used in our culture as a as a spiritual superiority title. 373 00:20:07,639 --> 00:20:09,041 This is one pastors 374 00:20:09,041 --> 00:20:13,545 that Catholics have a real problem with because they don't call anybody father, 375 00:20:14,980 --> 00:20:17,416 because it's used in that context 376 00:20:17,416 --> 00:20:21,353 to indicate someone who has spiritual superiority over laity. 377 00:20:21,453 --> 00:20:24,423 Do you understand? 378 00:20:24,423 --> 00:20:26,758 Listen, quit showing off. 379 00:20:26,758 --> 00:20:28,961 It's not about you. 380 00:20:28,961 --> 00:20:31,930 Quit trying to look ultra religious and spiritual. 381 00:20:42,874 --> 00:20:47,746 And so he's going to press in now to these hypocrites and these religious leaders. 382 00:20:47,746 --> 00:20:52,050 And the first time the hypocrite word is used is in is in verse 13. 383 00:20:52,050 --> 00:20:56,521 And so this first issue, hypocrisy regarding others. 384 00:20:56,755 --> 00:20:59,458 Let me just read a few verses to you. 385 00:20:59,458 --> 00:21:02,160 This is when you're going to turn on the Pharisees and the religious leaders. 386 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,330 But what are you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites? 387 00:21:05,797 --> 00:21:08,700 For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces, for you 388 00:21:08,700 --> 00:21:12,170 neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 389 00:21:12,337 --> 00:21:14,906 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 390 00:21:14,906 --> 00:21:18,810 For you travel across sea and land to make one single proselyte. 391 00:21:18,810 --> 00:21:22,314 And when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell 392 00:21:22,314 --> 00:21:22,881 as yourselves. 393 00:21:22,881 --> 00:21:27,185 Now some verses skip what may be in your Bible 394 00:21:27,219 --> 00:21:30,455 or some translation of skip what may be in your Bible as verse 14, 395 00:21:30,656 --> 00:21:34,426 because in the earliest manuscripts of verse 14 wasn't in there, 396 00:21:34,426 --> 00:21:38,297 but some translations included because it is in some translations, 397 00:21:38,297 --> 00:21:41,600 and it just adds more color and flavor to what Jesus said. 398 00:21:41,633 --> 00:21:45,170 So if you have verse, if verse 14, verse 14 399 00:21:45,170 --> 00:21:48,440 says this, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, 400 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,511 for you to vow widows houses for and for a pretense. 401 00:21:52,511 --> 00:21:55,747 You make long prayers, therefore you receive the greater condemnation. 402 00:21:55,747 --> 00:21:59,551 And he just lays into these guys because they're hypocritical 403 00:21:59,551 --> 00:22:00,319 regarding other people. 404 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:01,987 Here's what here's what he's saying. 405 00:22:01,987 --> 00:22:04,556 Your religious rules are all about your 406 00:22:05,957 --> 00:22:07,159 tradition and your 407 00:22:07,159 --> 00:22:10,162 spiritual superiority, and you actually keep 408 00:22:10,162 --> 00:22:13,131 people from the kingdom of God by your religiosity. 409 00:22:14,099 --> 00:22:16,935 You're all about winning them to your culture 410 00:22:16,935 --> 00:22:20,072 and to your cause, but not winning them to the kingdom, 411 00:22:20,072 --> 00:22:23,875 because you have not submitted to the Christ, nor the authority 412 00:22:23,875 --> 00:22:25,610 of God's Word. 413 00:22:25,610 --> 00:22:28,313 And you're keeping people from heaven. 414 00:22:28,313 --> 00:22:31,383 And when Jesus uses this idea 415 00:22:31,383 --> 00:22:34,619 in verse 14, you rob widows of their houses. 416 00:22:34,619 --> 00:22:36,722 Here's what we believe was going on. 417 00:22:36,722 --> 00:22:42,027 These widows were in desperate need, and so they would ask the religious leaders 418 00:22:42,027 --> 00:22:46,598 for prayer, and the religious leaders would pray for them for a big donation 419 00:22:47,899 --> 00:22:51,203 and death, because they knew that desperate people 420 00:22:51,203 --> 00:22:54,172 will pay big money for help. 421 00:22:54,706 --> 00:22:56,441 And so that's what they were doing, 422 00:22:56,441 --> 00:22:59,778 literally robbing widows of their livelihood 423 00:23:00,812 --> 00:23:01,480 to get them. 424 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,483 And we've seen this in our day, right? 425 00:23:04,816 --> 00:23:07,552 Just saved your faith with a gift. 426 00:23:07,552 --> 00:23:10,655 And I'll send you a prayer cloth in the name of Jesus. 427 00:23:11,189 --> 00:23:14,593 I could be a televangelist, I think I could pull it off. 428 00:23:14,593 --> 00:23:15,994 I'll get a wig. 429 00:23:15,994 --> 00:23:17,996 I'll wear some, you know, slack. 430 00:23:17,996 --> 00:23:20,999 Like I could do it. 431 00:23:22,667 --> 00:23:23,602 And Jesus says, you're 432 00:23:23,602 --> 00:23:26,571 a bunch of hypocrites, man. 433 00:23:28,073 --> 00:23:31,510 You're you're denying you're 434 00:23:31,510 --> 00:23:35,147 keeping people out of your sin of people to hell by your religion. 435 00:23:38,617 --> 00:23:41,620 You're so hypocritical regarding others. 436 00:23:43,321 --> 00:23:44,990 You're doing all this stuff for show, 437 00:23:44,990 --> 00:23:48,627 and it has no transformative fact on life because it's not test 438 00:23:48,693 --> 00:23:52,030 to the authority of God and the authority of His Word. 439 00:23:52,631 --> 00:23:55,200 It's all for your own well-being. 440 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,803 And then he says this. Look at verse 23. 441 00:24:00,372 --> 00:24:02,841 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 442 00:24:02,841 --> 00:24:05,710 For you tithe mint and Dylan come in and have neglected 443 00:24:05,710 --> 00:24:09,181 the weightier matters of law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. 444 00:24:09,214 --> 00:24:13,118 These you ought to have done without neglecting the others, you blind guide, 445 00:24:13,118 --> 00:24:16,121 straining out a net and swallowing a camel 446 00:24:17,122 --> 00:24:19,758 like Jesus knows how much he's pressing. 447 00:24:19,758 --> 00:24:23,462 He's he's doing this to set the religious leaders off, 448 00:24:23,462 --> 00:24:27,332 to drive them out of their minds in conviction. 449 00:24:27,799 --> 00:24:32,170 So they'll have one of two responses either repent, although crucify him 450 00:24:32,170 --> 00:24:36,541 and he knows he has to go to the cross, and so he knows he's being heavy. 451 00:24:36,875 --> 00:24:37,442 And he says, 452 00:24:37,442 --> 00:24:42,881 you guys are so ultra religious that you tithe mint and deal and cumin. 453 00:24:42,881 --> 00:24:45,550 Now here's the thing. 454 00:24:45,550 --> 00:24:48,220 Tithing was a practice 455 00:24:48,220 --> 00:24:52,624 in Scripture 430 years before the law of tithing was ever given. 456 00:24:52,991 --> 00:24:54,893 So it supersedes the law. 457 00:24:54,893 --> 00:24:57,095 But then it was commanded in the law. 458 00:24:57,095 --> 00:25:01,633 But tithing deal and and was never part of the command. 459 00:25:02,234 --> 00:25:06,505 Tithing was never to include Old Testament was in the spices. 460 00:25:06,505 --> 00:25:09,541 And so these religious people are going over and above 461 00:25:09,541 --> 00:25:14,412 in their generosity, their tithing stuff that they're never commanded to tithe. 462 00:25:14,746 --> 00:25:16,414 And Jesus says, look it. 463 00:25:16,414 --> 00:25:19,417 I approve of your generosity. 464 00:25:20,185 --> 00:25:23,822 I disapprove that you're trying to buy your way into the kingdom 465 00:25:23,822 --> 00:25:28,593 because you've neglected justice and mercy and faithfulness, he says. 466 00:25:28,593 --> 00:25:33,698 So you should tithe anybody who claims that tithing is an Old Testament command, 467 00:25:33,698 --> 00:25:38,470 not a New Testament command, has not read the Bible and is not read Matthew 23. 468 00:25:38,703 --> 00:25:42,941 Anybody who says the tithing does not apply to New Testament Christians. 469 00:25:42,941 --> 00:25:44,075 You haven't read the Bible. 470 00:25:44,075 --> 00:25:48,146 If it didn't apply, Jesus could have set the record straight right there and said, 471 00:25:48,146 --> 00:25:51,149 you don't have to tithe, just make sure you love people. 472 00:25:51,316 --> 00:25:52,551 He didn't say that. 473 00:25:52,551 --> 00:25:57,055 He said you should do those former things without neglecting the latter things. 474 00:25:57,122 --> 00:25:59,991 Do you follow every follow? 475 00:25:59,991 --> 00:26:03,828 Not only tithe, you should be extra generous because that's 476 00:26:03,828 --> 00:26:04,596 what they were doing. 477 00:26:04,596 --> 00:26:07,032 Just don't neglect the greater things as well. 478 00:26:07,032 --> 00:26:09,434 So let me just put this in our terms. 479 00:26:11,503 --> 00:26:13,672 It's hypocritical 480 00:26:13,672 --> 00:26:17,442 for the Christian to say Jesus is my Lord. 481 00:26:17,676 --> 00:26:20,712 He's just not the one that rules over my finances. 482 00:26:22,714 --> 00:26:25,717 Hypocrite. 483 00:26:26,851 --> 00:26:29,554 Follow. 484 00:26:29,554 --> 00:26:32,557 Lord means sovereign ruler. 485 00:26:33,291 --> 00:26:35,560 It typically critical to say Jesus is my Lord, 486 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,530 but he doesn't control our family schedule 487 00:26:39,264 --> 00:26:42,267 typically. 488 00:26:44,269 --> 00:26:47,872 Spurgeon says this will you lose anything that you give to God? 489 00:26:47,872 --> 00:26:50,875 Never depend on it. 490 00:26:50,909 --> 00:26:52,344 He will be no one's debtor. 491 00:26:52,344 --> 00:26:56,715 God never fails to see, to record, and to reward. 492 00:26:58,717 --> 00:27:01,252 If you and I 493 00:27:01,252 --> 00:27:06,858 want to call Jesus Lord and not be a hypocrite, he must be Lord. 494 00:27:07,392 --> 00:27:10,161 Of the two most important things in our life our time 495 00:27:10,161 --> 00:27:13,131 and our money. 496 00:27:15,834 --> 00:27:16,835 In our day. 497 00:27:16,835 --> 00:27:21,773 It is hypocritical to have a standard for others that's different for ourselves 498 00:27:22,907 --> 00:27:26,211 or to judge others sin and not our own. 499 00:27:27,746 --> 00:27:30,515 So, for instance, 500 00:27:30,515 --> 00:27:33,718 it's hypocritical to judge someone else for how much do they drink 501 00:27:33,918 --> 00:27:36,921 while we overeat? 502 00:27:39,157 --> 00:27:41,426 Hypocrite. 503 00:27:41,426 --> 00:27:44,763 It's hypocritical to judge someone for their foul mouth 504 00:27:44,763 --> 00:27:47,732 while we gossip. 505 00:27:48,533 --> 00:27:51,202 Hypocrite. 506 00:27:51,202 --> 00:27:54,839 It's critical to chastise someone for cheating on their taxes. 507 00:27:54,839 --> 00:27:58,877 When you steal from your employer by showing up late and leaving early, 508 00:28:00,578 --> 00:28:03,581 hypocrite. 509 00:28:03,615 --> 00:28:06,051 It's hypocritical to degrade people 510 00:28:06,051 --> 00:28:09,320 because they're lazy and yet you're completely out of shape. 511 00:28:12,157 --> 00:28:15,160 Hypocrite. 512 00:28:16,194 --> 00:28:18,496 It's hypocritical to say health is really important to me 513 00:28:18,496 --> 00:28:21,499 and then live and eat unhealthy. 514 00:28:22,801 --> 00:28:25,970 It's hypocritical to live by the law of materialism, 515 00:28:25,970 --> 00:28:29,274 a credit card debt, and then beg God to get you out of financial trouble. 516 00:28:32,410 --> 00:28:33,511 It's hypocritical 517 00:28:33,511 --> 00:28:36,948 to live a sick life and ask God for healing. 518 00:28:41,453 --> 00:28:43,254 A standard for others. 519 00:28:43,254 --> 00:28:44,823 Exceptions for self. 520 00:28:45,890 --> 00:28:48,193 True discipleship 521 00:28:48,193 --> 00:28:51,830 is a transformed life because there's been an interior 522 00:28:51,863 --> 00:28:54,866 change. 523 00:28:54,933 --> 00:28:56,901 D.L. Moody, 524 00:28:56,901 --> 00:28:59,904 one of the great evangelists and preachers 525 00:28:59,971 --> 00:29:02,974 of the 19th of the 20th century, the last century 526 00:29:04,042 --> 00:29:04,642 wanted. 527 00:29:04,642 --> 00:29:08,012 He'd never met Charles Spurgeon, and he really wanted to. 528 00:29:08,113 --> 00:29:11,549 And so Dale Moody decided he would go over to 529 00:29:11,583 --> 00:29:15,253 to London to meet Spurgeon unannounced, 530 00:29:15,420 --> 00:29:18,423 two of the greatest preachers in evangelists 531 00:29:18,623 --> 00:29:21,392 of the last hundred years. 532 00:29:21,392 --> 00:29:22,360 And D.L. 533 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,196 Moody showed up at Spurgeon House unannounced, knocked on the door. 534 00:29:25,196 --> 00:29:29,901 Spurgeon opened the door with a cigar, smoking a cigar, and Dale Moody 535 00:29:30,869 --> 00:29:34,105 said, how can you, man of God, do such things? 536 00:29:34,839 --> 00:29:37,542 And Spurgeon, looking at D.L. 537 00:29:37,542 --> 00:29:40,979 Moody, who was a portly large man, 538 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,282 padded Dale Moody on his belly and said, 539 00:29:44,282 --> 00:29:47,352 and how can you, man of God, do such things? 540 00:29:49,554 --> 00:29:49,988 See, when 541 00:29:49,988 --> 00:29:52,991 we have a standard for ourselves that's different from others? 542 00:29:52,991 --> 00:29:55,460 Hypocritical. 543 00:29:55,460 --> 00:29:58,463 Do you follow? 544 00:29:58,496 --> 00:30:00,865 And so 545 00:30:00,865 --> 00:30:03,501 the same could be said 546 00:30:03,501 --> 00:30:06,971 of worry and fear that you carry 547 00:30:07,672 --> 00:30:10,975 when we claim to trust the sovereignty of God and claim 548 00:30:10,975 --> 00:30:14,179 to believe in Romans 828, that God works all things 549 00:30:14,179 --> 00:30:17,715 together for good, and yet live with worry and fear. 550 00:30:18,983 --> 00:30:20,652 Hypocrite. 551 00:30:20,652 --> 00:30:23,655 Do you see how quickly this hits home? 552 00:30:31,996 --> 00:30:33,932 Therefore, you have no excuse, old man. 553 00:30:33,932 --> 00:30:36,901 Every one of you who judge 554 00:30:36,901 --> 00:30:39,437 for a passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself 555 00:30:39,437 --> 00:30:43,508 because you, the judge, practice the same, very same things. 556 00:30:43,541 --> 00:30:47,712 We know that judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 557 00:30:48,112 --> 00:30:51,950 Do you suppose, oh, man, you who judge those who practice 558 00:30:51,950 --> 00:30:55,820 such things, and yet do them yourselves, that you will escape the judgment of God? 559 00:30:56,855 --> 00:30:57,589 All we have to do 560 00:30:57,589 --> 00:31:00,592 is look in the mirror and find a hypocrite. 561 00:31:00,625 --> 00:31:04,596 So the questions we ask ourselves is this what am I requiring from others 562 00:31:04,596 --> 00:31:07,599 that I'm excusing? And myself? 563 00:31:08,132 --> 00:31:11,135 Am I harder on others failures than I am on my own? 564 00:31:12,370 --> 00:31:14,272 What standard do I proclaim 565 00:31:14,272 --> 00:31:17,275 better than I preach and practice? 566 00:31:18,276 --> 00:31:20,745 Those are the questions. 567 00:31:20,745 --> 00:31:24,582 The sign of a hypocrisy is this I always have a rule 568 00:31:24,582 --> 00:31:27,585 for you and a reason for me. 569 00:31:34,759 --> 00:31:35,760 Listen, I know what time is, 570 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,763 but we're going to get through this. 571 00:31:40,031 --> 00:31:42,533 You blind guy string out a that and swallowing a camel. 572 00:31:42,533 --> 00:31:44,302 This is where Jesus lightens the mood. 573 00:31:44,302 --> 00:31:46,037 This is a joke. 574 00:31:46,037 --> 00:31:49,240 Hebrew Hebrew humor was exaggeration. 575 00:31:49,307 --> 00:31:51,709 So at this point, it's like, look, I know that you're getting, 576 00:31:51,709 --> 00:31:54,212 like, a little uncomfortable, so let me lighten the mood. 577 00:31:54,212 --> 00:31:56,681 And he says, look, it's like straining in that and fall on the camel. 578 00:31:56,681 --> 00:31:58,416 And they're like, that's so funny. 579 00:31:58,416 --> 00:32:01,853 Jesus, you crack me up because this is funny. 580 00:32:01,853 --> 00:32:04,122 And so they would literally cover their cups 581 00:32:04,122 --> 00:32:06,291 with a little cloth so that a gnat wouldn't get in, 582 00:32:06,291 --> 00:32:10,094 because the Old Testament law says you can't have any blood in an animal 583 00:32:10,094 --> 00:32:10,962 when you eat it. 584 00:32:10,962 --> 00:32:12,630 And so they're afraid there might be a little bit of blood 585 00:32:12,630 --> 00:32:14,832 in a nat and accidentally swallow than that. 586 00:32:14,832 --> 00:32:16,267 And so they've ingested blood. 587 00:32:16,267 --> 00:32:18,636 And so break the command. 588 00:32:18,636 --> 00:32:19,570 And Jesus is like, look, 589 00:32:19,570 --> 00:32:23,041 you go to that extreme for some things, but yet you swallow a camel. 590 00:32:23,074 --> 00:32:24,275 Are you kidding me? 591 00:32:25,810 --> 00:32:28,379 So he's just putting the throttle down and watch this. 592 00:32:28,379 --> 00:32:29,948 This the this next. 593 00:32:29,948 --> 00:32:31,950 This goes pretty quickly here. 594 00:32:31,950 --> 00:32:33,217 There's not a lot of explanation 595 00:32:33,217 --> 00:32:34,786 I have to make over these next few passages, 596 00:32:34,786 --> 00:32:37,789 but I want to point out these next two ways that we're hypocrites. 597 00:32:37,822 --> 00:32:40,625 The second way is this 598 00:32:40,625 --> 00:32:43,828 hypocrite regarding myself when my inside life doesn't 599 00:32:43,828 --> 00:32:47,031 match my outside life, where my heart doesn't match my habits. 600 00:32:47,832 --> 00:32:51,469 And so Jesus says here in verse 25 and following. 601 00:32:51,869 --> 00:32:53,871 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 602 00:32:53,871 --> 00:32:54,138 For you 603 00:32:54,138 --> 00:32:55,573 clean the outside of the cup and the plate, 604 00:32:55,573 --> 00:32:59,210 but the inside are full of greed and self-indulgence, you blind Pharisee. 605 00:32:59,277 --> 00:33:02,814 First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside may be clean. 606 00:33:02,814 --> 00:33:05,416 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for 607 00:33:05,416 --> 00:33:08,219 you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, 608 00:33:08,219 --> 00:33:11,222 but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 609 00:33:11,222 --> 00:33:14,692 So you also outwardly appear righteousness, or righteous 610 00:33:14,759 --> 00:33:17,762 others, but within your full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 611 00:33:17,762 --> 00:33:19,998 He says, you're outside doesn't match your inside. 612 00:33:19,998 --> 00:33:23,101 Outside you look clean and polished inside your dead. 613 00:33:23,601 --> 00:33:24,836 And this is easy for us to do. 614 00:33:24,836 --> 00:33:27,038 We look great on Sunday morning, right? 615 00:33:27,038 --> 00:33:29,841 We're all smiles and happy and joyful. Trust God. Oh, 616 00:33:30,875 --> 00:33:32,410 and inside we're just. 617 00:33:32,410 --> 00:33:35,413 We're a mess. We're broken, we're dead. 618 00:33:35,613 --> 00:33:38,950 During the Passover time, they would paint all these roadside tombs 619 00:33:38,950 --> 00:33:40,585 so that they were painted white and they looked good 620 00:33:40,585 --> 00:33:42,587 so that people wouldn't accidentally touch 621 00:33:42,587 --> 00:33:46,057 what hell, deadness and defile themselves before they sell the Passover. 622 00:33:46,057 --> 00:33:47,859 That's what I was during this time. 623 00:33:47,859 --> 00:33:49,961 And he says that's what some of you are. 624 00:33:49,961 --> 00:33:51,429 You look great on the outside, 625 00:33:51,429 --> 00:33:55,133 but there's nothing but dead and decaying rot on the inside. 626 00:33:55,199 --> 00:33:57,835 Take care of the inside before you adjust the outside. 627 00:33:57,835 --> 00:33:59,737 He's not saying don't address the outside. 628 00:33:59,737 --> 00:34:03,341 He say make sure the outside his address, because the inside has been transformed. 629 00:34:05,276 --> 00:34:08,479 Because true discipleship is the transformation of the outside. 630 00:34:08,479 --> 00:34:10,748 Because the insides been transformed. Do you follow? 631 00:34:16,721 --> 00:34:19,757 We have to ask ourselves, what do I say? 632 00:34:19,757 --> 00:34:22,760 I believe that my life says I don't. 633 00:34:23,194 --> 00:34:25,063 Hypocrisy. 634 00:34:25,063 --> 00:34:28,866 How far is the distance between my confession and my conduct? 635 00:34:30,468 --> 00:34:32,470 Hypocrisy. 636 00:34:32,470 --> 00:34:35,907 If one were to watch my life without hearing my words, 637 00:34:35,907 --> 00:34:38,976 what would they think is the highest priority of my life? 638 00:34:41,679 --> 00:34:44,682 To follow? 639 00:34:45,416 --> 00:34:46,818 Is there a gap between what I say 640 00:34:46,818 --> 00:34:49,821 and how I live? 641 00:34:49,954 --> 00:34:52,757 Is that football practice last week and there's one of our guys in our team 642 00:34:52,757 --> 00:34:58,663 is wearing this shirt under his pads and says, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King. 643 00:34:59,263 --> 00:35:02,600 Oh my God, I like the shirt and he's in the huddle. 644 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,770 You get your. 645 00:35:07,171 --> 00:35:10,174 So between plays I walked up and pulled a shirt. 646 00:35:10,308 --> 00:35:13,144 Listen, if you're going to wear that, clean that up. 647 00:35:16,314 --> 00:35:18,816 It just 648 00:35:18,816 --> 00:35:21,452 if there's a discrepancy, there's there's some hypocrisy. 649 00:35:21,452 --> 00:35:22,720 Now here's the good news. 650 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:25,690 I'm so thankful that God forgives hypocrites, 651 00:35:25,990 --> 00:35:28,993 because if he didn't, I'm damned. 652 00:35:29,460 --> 00:35:32,430 You follow. 653 00:35:32,430 --> 00:35:34,398 Lastly, 654 00:35:34,398 --> 00:35:37,401 hypocritical regarding God. 655 00:35:38,669 --> 00:35:41,672 Look at this. 656 00:35:43,341 --> 00:35:45,343 What do you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites? 657 00:35:45,343 --> 00:35:46,310 For you 658 00:35:46,310 --> 00:35:47,678 build the tombs of the prophets 659 00:35:47,678 --> 00:35:49,380 and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, 660 00:35:49,380 --> 00:35:50,882 if we had lived in the days of our fathers, 661 00:35:50,882 --> 00:35:53,851 we would not have taken part with him in the shedding of blood of the prophets. 662 00:35:53,918 --> 00:35:57,155 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered 663 00:35:57,155 --> 00:35:58,122 the prophets. 664 00:35:58,122 --> 00:36:00,458 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 665 00:36:00,458 --> 00:36:03,161 You serpents, you brood of vipers! 666 00:36:03,161 --> 00:36:05,863 How are you to escape that being sentenced to hell? 667 00:36:05,863 --> 00:36:08,633 Therefore I send the prophets and wise men and scribes. 668 00:36:08,633 --> 00:36:13,538 Some of you, you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues, 669 00:36:13,538 --> 00:36:16,574 and persecute from town to town, so that on 670 00:36:16,641 --> 00:36:19,677 you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, 671 00:36:19,677 --> 00:36:22,947 from the blood of the righteous, able to the blood of Zechariah, 672 00:36:22,947 --> 00:36:26,384 the son of Bakura, whom you murder between the sanctuary and the altar. 673 00:36:26,417 --> 00:36:29,554 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 674 00:36:29,554 --> 00:36:30,521 He just lays into them. 675 00:36:30,521 --> 00:36:33,090 He says, you're bunch of snakes and brood of vipers. 676 00:36:33,090 --> 00:36:36,093 Satan is called the serpent. 677 00:36:36,194 --> 00:36:38,829 Baby snakes are baby Satan's. 678 00:36:38,829 --> 00:36:41,832 You follow? That's what he's saying to them. 679 00:36:41,899 --> 00:36:45,002 He said you've killed every profit from Abel, the righteous one, 680 00:36:45,036 --> 00:36:48,139 whose the Bible says his blood cries out from the earth to Zechariah, 681 00:36:48,139 --> 00:36:51,275 not the prophet Zechariah, but the son of Bakura, listed in Second 682 00:36:51,275 --> 00:36:55,146 Chronicles, which is the last book of the Hebrew Old Testament Bible. 683 00:36:55,379 --> 00:36:56,681 From beginning to end, 684 00:36:56,681 --> 00:36:59,650 he says, you've killed the prophet, you've killed those, you've crucified him. 685 00:36:59,817 --> 00:37:02,820 And I think he was pointing to himself because he knew what was coming. 686 00:37:03,254 --> 00:37:06,157 And he says, you have the audacity to say, how do we live? 687 00:37:06,157 --> 00:37:10,027 Back then, we wouldn't have been as bad as they are hypocrites, he says. 688 00:37:10,461 --> 00:37:11,762 We say the same thing. 689 00:37:11,762 --> 00:37:14,065 How could they miss it so badly? 690 00:37:14,065 --> 00:37:15,600 If I'd have been a disciple, 691 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,669 if I'd have seen Jesus move, I would have done what they did. 692 00:37:18,669 --> 00:37:20,137 He says. Hypocrites. 693 00:37:20,137 --> 00:37:24,342 You're worse than them because you're redefining what God has said. 694 00:37:26,110 --> 00:37:29,113 See, we have to understand. 695 00:37:31,582 --> 00:37:32,817 Isaiah 29, 696 00:37:32,817 --> 00:37:36,020 these people draw near to me with their mouths and honor me with their list. 697 00:37:36,020 --> 00:37:39,023 But their hearts, they're so far from me, 698 00:37:39,824 --> 00:37:42,827 hypocritical towards my father. 699 00:37:43,761 --> 00:37:46,530 So the questions are these 700 00:37:46,530 --> 00:37:49,700 where have I decided that my opinion outrageous. 701 00:37:49,700 --> 00:37:52,036 God's word 702 00:37:52,036 --> 00:37:54,772 critical. 703 00:37:54,772 --> 00:37:57,942 What does God clearly call right and wrong 704 00:37:58,109 --> 00:38:01,112 that I want to redefine? 705 00:38:02,613 --> 00:38:05,182 Tip critical. 706 00:38:05,182 --> 00:38:07,518 The question is, am I submitted to Scripture 707 00:38:07,518 --> 00:38:10,821 or am I editing scripture until it agrees with me? 708 00:38:13,858 --> 00:38:14,458 Hypocrites. 709 00:38:14,458 --> 00:38:17,461 Every one of us. 710 00:38:18,996 --> 00:38:20,598 The great sign of hypocrisy 711 00:38:20,598 --> 00:38:24,235 is calling Lord, calling Jesus Lord, while over 712 00:38:24,602 --> 00:38:27,571 reserving the right to override him. 713 00:38:27,972 --> 00:38:31,075 So clear a sign of hypocrisy, calling Jesus Lord 714 00:38:31,075 --> 00:38:34,078 while reserving the right to overrule him. 715 00:38:35,212 --> 00:38:37,315 He cannot be Lord. 716 00:38:37,315 --> 00:38:39,450 If we have the right to overrule him, 717 00:38:40,551 --> 00:38:41,352 it's a clear sign. 718 00:38:41,352 --> 00:38:44,355 Hypocrisy. 719 00:38:46,223 --> 00:38:49,226 So may our prayer be the prayer of David. 720 00:38:50,061 --> 00:38:54,065 Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness. 721 00:38:54,332 --> 00:38:57,335 Give me an undivided heart. 722 00:38:57,335 --> 00:39:00,137 A hypocritical heart is a divided heart. 723 00:39:00,137 --> 00:39:02,973 Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. 724 00:39:02,973 --> 00:39:05,676 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart. 725 00:39:05,676 --> 00:39:08,679 I will glorify your name forever. 726 00:39:09,313 --> 00:39:12,316 My dear friends. 727 00:39:13,017 --> 00:39:14,318 We ought to make it our prayer. 728 00:39:14,318 --> 00:39:17,321 God revealed to me 729 00:39:17,421 --> 00:39:19,623 the duplicity and hypocrisy of my own life 730 00:39:19,623 --> 00:39:22,626 that I may repent. 731 00:39:22,693 --> 00:39:26,430 And friends, in repentance is wholeness and forgiveness, 732 00:39:26,430 --> 00:39:30,301 and in repentance God gives all that his grace can allow. 733 00:39:31,302 --> 00:39:34,305 But it doesn't come without repentance. 734 00:39:34,739 --> 00:39:39,176 No one in the Bible who repented was ever turned away by God. 735 00:39:39,610 --> 00:39:42,880 Everyone in the Bible who repented was shown mercy and grace 736 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:47,251 and the unmerited favor of God, but it came through repentance. 737 00:39:50,554 --> 00:39:52,256 Hypocrisy is not just 738 00:39:52,256 --> 00:39:54,859 messing up because we didn't live up to our beliefs. 739 00:39:54,859 --> 00:39:57,862 That's human and that's sin. 740 00:39:59,697 --> 00:40:02,700 In repentance is forgiven 741 00:40:03,434 --> 00:40:05,503 because of God's grace, because of the blood. 742 00:40:05,503 --> 00:40:08,272 Jesus said on the cross, 743 00:40:08,272 --> 00:40:11,275 when you and I fail is not hypocrisy. 744 00:40:11,575 --> 00:40:14,578 If we repent. 745 00:40:15,513 --> 00:40:18,516 And plead the blood of Jesus over our sin, 746 00:40:19,817 --> 00:40:23,387 please understand this that God's grace 747 00:40:23,387 --> 00:40:27,091 is infinitely greater than my sin and your sin. 748 00:40:27,691 --> 00:40:30,294 And God loves to forgive more 749 00:40:30,294 --> 00:40:33,297 than you love to sin. 750 00:40:33,330 --> 00:40:36,333 That's good news. 751 00:40:37,001 --> 00:40:39,437 So repent 752 00:40:39,437 --> 00:40:42,440 and be made new. 753 00:40:43,574 --> 00:40:43,941 Aren't you? 754 00:40:43,941 --> 00:40:46,944 Pray with me. 755 00:40:47,578 --> 00:40:47,912 Father. 756 00:40:47,912 --> 00:40:49,113 I thank you that you love us. 757 00:40:49,113 --> 00:40:52,283 And regardless of our hypocrisy and duplicity, 758 00:40:52,316 --> 00:40:55,319 your love for us doesn't change. Thank you. 759 00:40:55,986 --> 00:40:58,989 We're doomed if you would love us based on our performance. 760 00:40:59,623 --> 00:41:01,459 So thank you that your love remains. 761 00:41:01,459 --> 00:41:06,063 And because your love remains, you offer us a way for healing and wholeness. 762 00:41:06,063 --> 00:41:08,466 And that comes through repentance. 763 00:41:08,466 --> 00:41:10,434 And so I pray in this moment, 764 00:41:11,802 --> 00:41:13,270 Holy Spirit, I ask in this moment 765 00:41:13,270 --> 00:41:18,242 that you would convict us who need to be convicted, 766 00:41:19,577 --> 00:41:23,614 that we would set aside our pride, set aside our arrogance, 767 00:41:23,681 --> 00:41:28,185 set aside our hubris, set aside our agendas, set aside 768 00:41:28,185 --> 00:41:31,188 everything that would keep us from repentance. 769 00:41:32,990 --> 00:41:34,758 That would be authentic 770 00:41:34,758 --> 00:41:37,761 with ourselves and before you, 771 00:41:37,828 --> 00:41:40,831 and repent 772 00:41:40,898 --> 00:41:42,299 of our sin and hypocrisy. 773 00:41:42,299 --> 00:41:45,302 Every one of us, father. 774 00:41:46,871 --> 00:41:48,739 And father, in repentance, 775 00:41:48,739 --> 00:41:52,910 would you grant all the favor and blessing that your grace will allow? 776 00:41:54,712 --> 00:41:58,415 Jesus, thank you for sharing your blood on the cross so my sin could be forgiven. 777 00:41:58,482 --> 00:42:00,150 I admit my hypocrisy. 778 00:42:00,150 --> 00:42:03,153 I know I'm a hypocrite 779 00:42:03,187 --> 00:42:05,956 and I'm pulling the blood of Jesus over me in repentance. 780 00:42:05,956 --> 00:42:06,790 Father. Forgive me. 781 00:42:06,790 --> 00:42:09,793 Thank you. 782 00:42:09,894 --> 00:42:12,997 Father, I ask for me that you give me all that your grace will allow. 783 00:42:15,533 --> 00:42:17,101 I don't want to leave. 784 00:42:17,101 --> 00:42:19,670 Live a hypocritical life, a life of duplicity. 785 00:42:19,670 --> 00:42:21,238 Father, I want to be full of integrity 786 00:42:21,238 --> 00:42:22,973 as far as my relationship with you is concerned. 787 00:42:22,973 --> 00:42:25,376 So thank you. 788 00:42:25,376 --> 00:42:28,379 And I plead the blood over me and over us. 789 00:42:30,347 --> 00:42:33,017 Lead your people to repentance. 790 00:42:33,017 --> 00:42:35,119 In your name I pray. Amen. 791 00:42:35,119 --> 00:42:36,987 Friends, I realize what time is. All right. 792 00:42:36,987 --> 00:42:39,757 Don't worry about it. 793 00:42:39,757 --> 00:42:40,257 This is. 794 00:42:40,257 --> 00:42:43,027 This is more important than a clock right now. 795 00:42:43,027 --> 00:42:44,295 There's going to be people up front. 796 00:42:44,295 --> 00:42:47,197 There'll be people in the back to. 797 00:42:47,197 --> 00:42:48,999 You can absolutely go to God. 798 00:42:48,999 --> 00:42:51,435 It's in your own life, in prayer, 100%. 799 00:42:51,435 --> 00:42:55,639 But it is even more powerful when we solidify that with somebody else. 800 00:42:55,639 --> 00:43:00,544 So I encourage you, set aside whatever is holding you back from just approaching. 801 00:43:00,544 --> 00:43:02,746 Someone said, just would you just pray with me? 802 00:43:04,214 --> 00:43:06,150 I want to get rid of some of this. 803 00:43:06,150 --> 00:43:08,752 Would you just pray with me and let them pray with you? 804 00:43:08,752 --> 00:43:10,721 While we sing 805 00:43:10,721 --> 00:43:13,691 during the song and after. 806 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:17,428 I just. 807 00:43:17,428 --> 00:43:18,228 I feel like 808 00:43:18,228 --> 00:43:22,132 some of you are on the verge of God doing some incredible stuff in your life. 809 00:43:22,132 --> 00:43:25,135 If you would just 810 00:43:25,536 --> 00:43:28,539 repent. 811 00:43:28,572 --> 00:43:29,807 Man, don't miss it.