Confronting Religion Pt 5

now then for our responsive reading this morning we are going to be in Psalm 2 looking at the new American standards so we sound the same if you need one should be one in a row around you and as you are turning to Psalm 2 and as Pastor Allen is making his way up here if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses Psalm 2 why are the nations in an uproar and the people's devising a vain thing the Kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us Tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.

Then he will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, But as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. Now, therefore, O kings, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that he not become angry, and you perish in the way. For his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Father, what amazing truth from your word there this morning. Lord, you are the king, and the only place for refuge is found in you. And so, Lord, help us to find that refuge in you and to rest in your sovereignty in the affairs of the earth. And so, Lord, as we spend time in your word this morning, I pray that you would begin to speak to us by the power of your Holy Spirit.

Father, as Jared mentioned, Lord, we need you. We need that. We need the working of your Holy Spirit in our lives. We need that power of your Holy Spirit to speak to us. And so, Lord, speak to us the words of instruction, the words of conviction, and, Lord, the words of comfort that we need to hear this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 23.

Matthew, chapter 23. The goal is that we will finish up. This series today on confronting religion. Jesus has been dealing with this issue of the religious the entire week that he's been in Jerusalem, this entire week before his crucifixion. And so, there's a handful of things that he's done. We've seen him identify dead religion. We've seen him illustrate dead religion.

We've seen him answer the questions of dead religion. Last week, we saw him expose the heart. Of dead religion. But today, he brings that final statement when he pronounces judgment, or woe, upon dead religion. I'm reminded of kind of how we started this study, and that's that we identified exactly what religion was. That religion is really just a series of practices and beliefs whose goal is to point us towards God.

When religion becomes dead is when we leave God out of it. When we are more interested in our practices and beliefs than the one that we believe in. That they are to point us to. And that's exactly what has taken place with the religion of Israel at this point in time. And I fear sometimes that it's the very thing that has taken place in the religion in our culture at this point in time.

And so, whether it's ancient Israel or modern day United States of America, I think that there is a call to all of us that are religious to pay attention to the judgment, to the woes that he pronounces upon the religious. Because I feel like if we don't take these things and allow it to be an examination of our own heart, then we have completely missed the point of why Matthew included this in his gospel. It's because he knew that within humanity, within religion, there would always be these tendencies. And I believe that Jesus pointed these out not just to pronounce the judgment upon the attitude, but hopefully to seek to change the heart of the Pharisees.

And so, Jesus begins by pronouncing these eight woes upon the religious. And we'll take each one of these individually. We're starting in verse 14. It says, But woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people. For you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Now, each of these woes is going to be somewhat similar.

He's going to begin each one with a very similar address. There's only a couple that look different. Where he addresses, He says, And then he addresses the issue that he sees in the individuals, the issues that he sees within these religious leaders. And so, as we begin, you'll notice that the word woe is used there. The word woe could also be translated, alas.

And there's a little bit of debate as to what Jesus' voice inflection was and the way that he pronounced this. Some see him as a heavy-handed judge, where he is pronouncing woe, a statement of judgment upon the religious leaders. Some see him as a compassionate critic, who is calling for repentance. As usual, I tend to fall somewhere in the midst of the two, because those who would only see Jesus as the compassionate critic here fail to understand and fail to remember that the same God who created us is also the God who will judge us.

The same Jesus who is the God of love is also the same Jesus who will stand as our judge. Oftentimes, those who see Jesus as the heavy-handed judge forget that Jesus is also compassionate and always willing that those who are, in sin, would come to repentance. And so, I believe that in the voice of Jesus here, when he pronounces these woes, there is, first of all, a strong statement that he makes. And we should hold the strength of the statement that Jesus makes, because Jesus has no problem calling out sin and calling out in a very harsh way, if necessary.

But as we've pointed out, the heart of Jesus in calling out sin is never just to prove himself right and to prove them wrong, but to bring those to repentance. And so, I want us to hold on to that feeling of what Jesus is stating here as we look at each of these woes. I want you to notice how he addresses them. But woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites.

He addresses them as individuals and then the thing that they struggle with. The scribes, of course, were the ones who copied down the law. The Pharisees were an entire class of men who handled the law and interpreted the law. But both of them, the scribes and the Pharisees, had one problem. They were hypocrites. We've defined this word quite a few times, but we'll define it one more time just for context's sake.

A hypocrite is one who is an actor on the stage of life, pretending to be one thing while on the inside they are something completely different. And it's important that Jesus uses the words that he uses here, especially calling them out as hypocrites, because in this we do get the idea that Jesus was not very tender in the way that he said this. He was actually very harsh in the way that he said this. But you know as well as I do that sometimes when you're caught up in the worst sin, you don't need a tender voice.

You need a harsh statement to say you'd better get your act together. Otherwise, there's consequences. And so Jesus calls out. He says, woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. And the thing that he tells them is that they have blocked the way to the kingdom of God. That's the first woe that he pronounces. They have blocked the way to the kingdom of God.

Notice what he says. He says, you have shut off the kingdom of heaven from people. For you don't enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Do you remember the very first thing Jesus preached when he began to preach the gospel? When he took over the ministry for John the Baptist, do you remember what he preached? He preached, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

In other words, repent, because the kingdom of heaven or the king of heaven is right in front of you. You see, the access to the kingdom of heaven is through Jesus Christ. That's why these religious leaders would not go in themselves. Because to enter the kingdom of heaven would be to go through Jesus. To go through not only his understanding, his interpretation of what the law actually was,

but to go through him as the savior. And in order to do that, they would have to first of all admit that they were wrong. And second of all, admit that he was right. Therefore, they blocked. They blocked the kingdom of heaven from people, first of all, by not going in themselves. But the second way that they blocked the kingdom of heaven from people is that they did not allow those who wanted to enter the kingdom of heaven to enter.

In other words, when people began finding themselves saying, you know, there might be something to this Jesus. There might be something to what he's saying here. I think I want to hear more of what he has to say. They began to tell them, if you do that, you will be ostracized from the temple. You will be ostracized from religion. You will no longer be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.

You will no longer be able to make sacrifices. And they blocked people from knowing Jesus. That's what their religion of the day did. And brothers and sisters, I don't think there's any single one of these that we should not ask ourselves. Number one, have I entered the kingdom of heaven? Because we need to know something. Just because you show up here on Sunday morning does not mean you're going to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Just because you own a Bible does not mean that you're going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Just because you know the scriptures doesn't mean you're going to enter the kingdom of heaven. Because you know what? The scribes and the Pharisees, they showed up to the temple. They owned the scriptures and they could tell you what it said, but they did not enter the kingdom of heaven.

And then we have to ask ourselves the second question. Do I do things to keep other people from knowing Jesus? Are there things about my life that defame the name of Jesus and therefore block others from knowing him too? It's things that we have to do. It's things that we have to do. It's things that we have to pay attention to as believers in Jesus Christ.

He says, number one, woe to you because you block the way to the kingdom of heaven. Number two is taking advantage of the vulnerable. Notice what he says in verse 14. He says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses. And for a pretense, you make long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation. In other words, you take advantage of the widows so that you can have their money.

It's the same thing that goes on in many churches today. It's the same thing that goes on in much of religion today. Religion becomes about what can I get from you? What can I get out of you? How can I fleece the flock? That, unfortunately, is so much of what religion is about today. I've shared with you lots of times that when I worked in construction and I told people I wanted to be a pastor, I said,

the statement was the same across the board. Of course you do. You want all of that money. Because that's what they knew people as. That's what they know religion as because they've only seen the worst of the worst when it comes to religion. They have seen that they devour widows' houses and then to cover it up, they make really long prayers. We might say to cover it up, they use really spiritual speech.

He says, you have taken advantage of the vulnerable when the vulnerable are the ones you should be taking care of. And he says, there's great judgment for you. As a matter of fact, you will receive the greater condemnation. Have you ever noticed that the people that Jesus is the most harsh with are those who were the most religious? Because the things that they did kept people from really knowing him.

The average sinner on the street, Jesus didn't let them keep living as they lived. He always pointed out their sin and pointed out how to be right. But anytime the phrase greater condemnation was used, it was always for those who kept people from him. Always for those who kept people from the true knowledge of God. And he says the same thing for those who would take advantage of the vulnerable.

And may I say, brothers and sisters, there is greater condemnation for some of these televangelists, YouTube evangelists, different individuals who are seeking only the money and none of the praise for God. He says, you will receive the greater condemnation. He says, you will receive the greater condemnation. Number three, woe that he pronounces is the corrupting of converts.

Notice what he says. He says, woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte. And when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. He says, you travel far and wide to make a proselyte. According to history at that point in time, the era that Jesus lived in was one of the greatest.

The greatest eras for Jewish evangelism in all of history. More people were seeking to make proselytes of Judaism than any other time in history. He says, but here's the problem. You brought them to your religion. You did not bring them to your God. You ride your bike all over town spreading your religion. You go as far as you can to try to spread your religion.

But the problem is you're not making disciples. You're not making disciples of Christ. You're making disciples of your religion. I think the most dangerous thing we can do as a church is to try to make a bunch of members of a church. I think the most dangerous thing we can do as the Western culture church is try to make a bunch of members of churches, to try to bring them to our religion,

to try to get them to think like we think. Listen, my goal is not to make members of a church. And the minute it becomes that, I should stop what I'm doing. I don't want to promote Calvary Chapel of Ark City. I don't want to promote any, I don't want to promote any other church. I want to bring people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And I want to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

He says, because what you've done, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, is you spend all of this time going out to make converts to your own religion. And when all is said and done, that's exactly what you've made, converts of your religion. But the problem is they become twice as much of a son of hell as you. Boy, can you imagine being the Pharisees at that point in time?

Can you imagine being the scribes and the Pharisees because Jesus just called you? A son of hell. And not only that, but you're making others yourself. Friends, our job, our goal is to bring people to Jesus. And the minute we start bringing people to ourselves or simply to our church or simply to our way of thinking, we've completely lost the point. We've completely missed the point.

And there's great judgment that goes with that.

He goes on to pronounce the fifth woe. No, excuse me. The fourth woe, false and deceptive oaths. Notice what he says in verse 16. He says, Woe to you, blind guides, who say whoever swears by the temple, that's nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated. You fools and blind men, which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?

And whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing. But whoever swears by the offering, he is obligated. You blind men, which is more important, the offering or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and him who dwells within it.

And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. This issue of making oaths seems to have been a pretty big deal amongst the Jewish people. I don't know that it's as big of a deal amongst the church today, although I'll bring up something in just a moment that I do think can sometimes be a little bit of an issue. But it was certainly a big issue amongst them at that point in time.

Remember, this is now the second time Jesus has addressed this idea of making oaths. He actually did so back in the Sermon on the Mount. If you remember correctly, he basically forbid the making of oaths. Actually, he didn't really forbid it. He more just said, that's a bad idea. Instead, let's hear, your yes be yes and your no be no. Well, now he addresses it again.

And he says, woe to you, because you make false and deceptive oaths. And they did so by saying, I don't swear by the temple. I swear by the gold in the temple. They were giving themselves an out in everything that they said. If you will, it was a way for them to be deceptive without really being deceptive, to make a commitment without really making a commitment.

It's the same thing that's in the heart of all of us when it comes to telling the truth. And that's why Jesus, when he deals with it, deals with the real heart of it. If you're gonna make an oath, it's binding. Because your yes should be yes, and your no should be no. I'm sure I used this illustration when we went through this back in Matthew chapter five, but I remember the very first time I ever bought a house.

And as you sit down to buy a house, all of you know, I remember they start showing me all of this paperwork. And there's always somebody who talks 90 miles, a minute explaining to you every piece of paper that you sign. And they're like, now this paper is like the micro machines guy, you know, like they just explain everything. And you're like, and by the time this person was done explaining every piece of paper, I said, so let me get this straight.

I just signed 35 pieces of paper saying, I'm gonna pay my bill. And they were like, yeah, basically that's what you just did. You know why? Because we don't live in a culture where we make our yes, yes, and our no, no. We live in a culture, much like this where we constantly are coming up with outs for ourselves to not have to actually keep our commitments.

I was watching this show and every time that they would try to get someone to tell them the truth, they would say, swear on the life of your kids. And I'm like, nothing's gonna happen to their kids if they swear on the life. If they're lying, they're lying. And if they're not, they're not. And yet sometimes those are the kinds of things that we could do. Only, you know what we say?

I swear to God, right? And the more you hear somebody say, I swear to God, swear to God, the more you know they have a hard time telling the truth. Right? Like that's the fourth I swear to God I've heard from you today. I don't think I believe any of your stories anymore. If you have to keep saying it, we have to start questioning it. He says, woe to you because you're no longer men of the truth.

You're no longer men of integrity. And let me use a word that I think really fits well here. You're no longer men of sincerity. In other words, you're not, you're not who you say you are. The word sincerity in the Greek literally means to be without wax. Let me explain what that means. Amongst the Greeks, there were many sculptors. And if they were in the process of sculpting a statue

and tink, tink, tink, tink, oh no, there went part of the nose. That's gonna take me six more weeks and this is due Thursday. I know what I'll do. I can take a little bit of wax and I can fill in that little spot on the nose and I can do it. No one will ever know the difference. Except in a Mediterranean culture and a Mediterranean climate. You know what happens in the afternoon?

It gets really warm. You know what happens to wax when it gets really warm? It melts. And so that wax would begin to melt and they would say that statue lacks sincerity because it has wax in it. And so when someone would get a statue, they would make sure that it was sincere, that it was without wax, that there was nothing fake about it. And Jesus says, woe to you,

because you lack sincerity. And you come up with every way that you can to try to hide the deception that dwells in your heart. Brothers and sisters, the thing that our world needs right now is believers that are without wax. Believers that are sincere. I don't know about you, but I can struggle with this sometimes. I have a hard time being who I really am in front of people.

I have a hard time with people seeing all of the warts on me. But eventually God just says, just let them know. The wax is going to melt eventually anyway. We must be who we really are and we must be people of our word. And he calls them out for it. Along those same lines, he continues on with number five, which I've called majoring in the minors. He says, woe to you,

scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier, provisions of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. But these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Jesus tells them, listen, woe to you guys because you major in the minors.

You are willing to tithe of all of the herbs in your herb garden. Can you imagine what this would have looked like? Right? I don't have an herb garden. I tried to one time and it died. So I couldn't tithe off of any of it. I was like, well, Jesus, it's yours now. So, but can you imagine you produce a bunch of little herbs, right? And you're taking the herbs and,

you know, I won't tell you what I think. I'm going to think of this, but take a little, a little knife and you're dividing out. There's 10% of it. That's for Jesus, right? That's for the temple. There's my 10% of the herbs. Can you imagine that? You're so meticulous that you're tightening off of every little herb that your herb garden produces. He says, but here's the problem.

You've neglected the point. You've missed the weightier matters of the law. Matters like justice and mercy and faithfulness. You've completely missed the point of all of those things. You should have done the first things because tithing was the right thing to do in those areas, but you shouldn't neglect the other things. And I believe in these next two or three things that we see

is where we really start hitting at the heart of the church in the United States. Because in the church in the United States of America, we are really good at majoring in the minors. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. My wife and I both have worked with young people for a very long time now, her much younger than younger than me. Not only is she younger than me,

but she works with people younger than me. But one of the things that you deal with when you work with young people are two words that I don't like at all. Dress codes. You don't like about dress codes. I like a dress code. Don't get me wrong. I, I want there to be modesty. As a matter of fact, my philosophy as a youth pastor was modest is hottest, right? That's what I would always tell.

I'd always tell all of them. Like, listen, remember we're going to the water park today and remember Ryan's philosophy. Modest is hottest. I don't want to see it. Right? And so, and so that's the understanding. That's the weight of the law. But here's what you end up seeing people do. You see people nitpick outfits, right? Oh my gosh. Can you believe that? Oh my gosh.

Can you believe that? Can you believe what she's wearing today? She's dressed like a hooker today. I can't believe it. Well, you've completely missed the point. You're judging someone based on the clothing that they're wearing. And that's not the point of the dress code. And we see it happen all the time, especially with kids. Kids outgrow clothes. I don't know if you notice that or not,

but kids outgrow clothes all the time. And they wear the pair of shorts that they wore for the past six weeks. But all of a sudden they hit a growth spurt. Listen, I don't know what growth spurts are like, because I never actually hit one in my life. But from what I understand, when you hit a growth spurt, you outgrow clothes really fast. Really fast, right?

I'm 42 years old. I'm still waiting for my growth spurt. It's starting to happen the wrong direction in some wrong areas. But anyway, I'm still waiting for a major growth spurt. But what you see is some young lady comes to school and her shorts are a little bit too short. And you're going, now I have to say something to her about, about the dress code. And instead of pulling her aside and saying,

Hey, listen, the shorts you've been wearing for the last six weeks, pretty sure you just hit a growth spurt. Those don't fit you anymore. Instead of somebody being kind and pulling them, aside and saying something like that, they blast them in front of the entire class. And then they talk about them in front of all of the teachers. You see, they paid attention to the code,

but they missed the weightier things. Like the fact that that young lady has feelings, like the fact that that young lady has a spirit that you've just destroyed because you've just talked so bad about her. And we're so good at doing that as the church. Are we not? We know the things that we're supposed to do. We know what modesty or, what it looks like to be someone who's a part of the church.

And when somebody shows up, that doesn't look like everybody else in the church, what do we do? I can't believe the way that they look today. Is it important to be modest? Is it important to begin to have the outside of your appearance match the inside of your heart? Yes. But is that the weightier matter of the law? No. What matters is that I'm showing love and grace and allowing God to change the outside.

After he changes the inside. He says, woe to you. You've majored in the minors. And I think that all of us as believers in Jesus Christ, before we start saying, yeah, I know some people that do that should look at our own hearts first and say, what ways do I do that? Well, he goes on from there to talk about, wait, hold on. I can't go to the next and hold on.

I can't go to that because I forgot. One of the funniest things that he does here. What I appreciate about Jesus is that he interjects humor into this whole thing. He says, as a matter of fact, you majoring in the minors, it's kind of like the fact that you are willing to strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. I can't help it. That's a funny picture, right?

Okay. So just, just for a little bit of context sake, a gnat and a camel are two unclean animals. According to the book of Leviticus, the gnat is the smallest of the unclean animals. The camel, of course, is the, uh, largest of the unclean animals. Now he paints this word picture for us by saying you major in the minors. He says, you are willing to strain out a gnat from your wine cup.

Can you imagine doing that? Well, first of all, I do it sometimes. I'm like, Oh, not out of my wine cup, but out of my coffee, right? My coffee sitting outside in the morning. Cause I like to sit outside in the morning and the bugs buzz around and I'm like, Oh, and so I get those bugs out of there. He goes, but while you take all of the time in the world to strain out a gnat so that you don't end up eating something unclean,

unclean, you're taking down the largest animal in the world. You are just one bite at a time, swallowing a camel, right? And of course my, I've watched way too much, uh, Looney Tunes in my entire life pictures, a camel going up in the air and a guy's mouth getting really big and just swallowing down this whole camel in his stomach on. That's how ridiculous it is that you're majoring in the minors.

I had to have thought that Jesus looked at his disciples and was like, that's a funny thought, right? We moves on from there to go to the next, but now we go to the next slide. Religion without repentance. Notice what he says. Verse 25. Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self indulgence.

You blind Pharisee. First clean the inside of the cup and the dish. So that the outside of it may become clean. Also religion without repentance. He says, woe to you because you've got a really clean looking outside. In other words, you know all of the right words to say, you know the right clothes to wear, you know the way that you're supposed to act in church.

But the problem is when you leave church, there's no real repentance in your life because you keep living just like you used to and you keep living just like the rest of the world. He says, you're like a cup that looks, really pristine on the outside. But when you look in the inside, it's disgusting and filthy. And you know what I fear sometimes in the church that we are a part of in the Western culture today is that there is so much religion without any real repentance that there is so much religion without any real changed hearts, that there is so much religion without it ever affecting the way that we live our lives.

After all, doesn't Jesus want me to be happy? And if that sin makes me happy, then wouldn't Jesus. Jesus want me to take part in that if that lifestyle makes me happy, wouldn't Jesus want me to take part in that if that thing brings joy to my life? Isn't that what God would want for me? Because after all, doesn't God want me to be happy and there is religion without repentance.

But before we look at everybody else, all of the churches that might teach that some lifestyles are okay, we should start with our own life. I should start with my own life and say, what sins am I unwilling to? Repent of while making myself look as pristine as possible on the outside. What sin am I hiding from the rest of the Christian community? Because it's my own little thing that I like to do.

And after all, that makes me happy. It's just my struggle and I'll make every excuse in the world for it. Jesus says, woe to you because you have all of the right, right religion on the outside, but you lack any repentance on the inside. He says, first of all, begin to repent on what's inside of you begin to repent of what really is going on on the inside. If you all of the theft,

all of the lust, all of the malice, all of the deceit, all of the covetousness, all of those things that are on the inside of us, we need to repent of because if all repent of what's on the inside, then the outside will begin to match. You know why? Because if I've repented of the act in my heart, then I'm not going to perform the act with my hands. You see, we get it wrong all too much, don't we?

We want the outside to look good and then we'll deal with the inside later and then we'll deal with the inside at another time. I used to do a lot of construction cleanup when I, when I worked in construction and the first thing everybody wants to do when they do construction cleanup is this. Everybody wants to vacuum the carpet. You know why? Because the first thing that you see when you walk in a room is what?

It's the carpet. The carpet looks clean. The room must be clean. Problem is all the windows are dirty. There's dust all over everything else. And once you start messing with all that, it makes the carpet dirty. And so my boss used to always tell us the same thing. I do not want to see a vacuum cleaner in here until I first see ladders in here because you have to start from the top and work your way down.

Because if you don't, the place isn't really clean and you'll be back doing it again. That's the way we are as believers in Jesus Christ. We're like, Hey, I'm a Christian. Now I'll put on the right clothes. I'll own the right Bible. I'll make sure I say all the right words, but that whole living thing, that's a different story. Instead, it should start with Lord,

what do you need to change in my heart? And then it'll handle everything else on the outside. That's one of the things I always appreciated about Pastor Chuck and the way that he handled things and really Pastor Mark, the way he handled things and the way hopefully I try to handle things is that I don't care how you look when you show up here. I really don't.

You can come in dirty. You can come in smelly. I may have to stand a little farther away from you if you come in smelly because of really strong nose, but I don't care. You may have to come in with an ankle monitor on your, I don't care. I don't care about those kinds of things. What I do care about is that your heart is changed because I will promise if you begin repenting of all of the sins on the inside,

everything on the outside will take care of itself. If you're, if Jesus wants you to cut your hair, you're going to cut your hair. If Jesus wants you to take the piercings out, you'll take the piercings out. If he doesn't want you to get any more tattoos, you won't get any more tattoos. All of those things will change. If you change what's on the inside first.

But if we only worry about what's on the outside, then it's simply religion without repentance. Well, the second thing that we take note of is almost, or excuse me, number seven is almost the same. He says religion without regeneration. Verse 27. And woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you were like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful,

but on the inside are full of dead, men's bones and all uncleanness. So you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Religion without regeneration. I fear too many people want to come to church without ever getting born again. They want to be able to name a religion without ever really being born again. being born again. They'll start saying, yes, I'm doing really good because I attend this church

now. I'm like, I don't care if you attend church now. Are you born again? What does that mean? Well, we better start there, shouldn't we? But you don't understand, I've been baptized. I don't care. Have you been born again? But I've been baptized. I don't care. That's whitewashing a tomb. Have you been born again? Because otherwise, you just took a dunk in the water for no good reason.

But I take part in communion. It doesn't matter. You just ate the saddest snack in the world for no good reason. You're a whitewashed tomb. You see, in Jesus's day, they would paint the tombs on the outside white so that they would look a little bit more brilliant, so that they would look a little bit prettier. But you know as well as I do exactly what's inside of that tomb, and that's

dead men's bones. And if you've been a part of us, a part with us for any of our study in the Old Testament, you know exactly what happens when you touch dead men's bones. They are unclean. And so Jesus says, you may look really good on the outside, you may have really good religion, but if there's no regeneration, then you're still full of death. You still need

to be born again. That's why when Nicodemus came to Jesus there in John chapter 3, and he said, hey, we know you're a really good prophet. Who sent you? Jesus got right down to the heart of the issue, and he said, unless you're born again, you will never see the kingdom of heaven. He says, there's religion without regeneration. On the outside, you look great, but on the inside, you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And then number

eight, he says, you honor the dead, but you murder the living. Trust me, I'll bring this one to a point. He says in verse 29, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets. And you adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, if we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.

So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your father. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes, and you will not be able to escape the sentence of hell. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and

persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. He says, you honor all of the prophets that have gone before, because many had gone before, and many of which had lost their lives for their faith and lost their lives for their message. He said, you adorn their tombs, and you think to yourself, if we had been living then, we would have never done what our fathers did. I've thought about this a few times, and what I always think about

is this. Have you ever studied much in the Old Testament, especially with the children of Israel when they complain? All the time. Have you ever read through some of those? And every time you see them complain, you think, I cannot believe how much the children of Israel complained. I mean, every time they turn around, they were complaining about something. I would have never been like that. And you know

what we call that? A false statement. Because we all would be like that. You see, they were lifted up with some of their pride, because their religion was so great. They were whitewashed tombs. Their religion was so pristine. They were a beautiful cup on the outside, but they failed to see the fact that they were full of those dead men's bones. They failed to see the fact that they were full of lawlessness and unrighteousness. And because of that, they were

revisionists in their understanding of history. They said, our fathers did terrible things when they did all that to the prophets. We would never act that way. And Jesus said, not only would you act that way, but you're gonna act that way. Because after all, what were they in the process of plotting right now? Death of Jesus. The one that all of the prophets who had been killed for their message, the one

that they all had spoken about. The one that they all prophesied of. Oh, brothers and sisters, we have to be so careful in our own lives of forgetting what we are capable of as believers in Jesus Christ, as human beings. One thought that has plagued me for quite a few years now, and I'm just glad that I didn't live then to give into this. But I've always thought as someone who

grew up in the church, as someone who grew up in a religious home, if Jesus were walking around today, who would I be more like? Would I be like one of his disciples who wants to follow him? Or would I be like one of the Pharisees because he doesn't match my picture of what Jesus looks like? It's a question I've asked myself a lot, especially over the past few years.

Again, I've always lived most of my life thinking I would have never acted like one of those Pharisees. And it's almost like God, in the back of my mind, has sort of been going, I think that's true. You think that's true? Do I really look like your picture of what you think I look like? Because every now and then, the Jesus that I think looks a little bit different

than the Jesus from the Bible. Every now and then, my conservative Jesus looks a little bit different than the Jesus from the Bible. And we always have to ask ourselves, do I really believe in the Jesus that the Bible declares? Or is it the one that I've come up with in my own mind? Jesus says, you say you would have never acted that way, but not only would you act that way, but you will act that way. As a matter of

fact, you're going to fill up the guilt of your fathers. Your fathers who were guilty of all of those murders. From Abel, if you remember, Abel was the very first man killed for his faith by his brother Cain, to the last one that he mentions, which is Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the last martyr mentioned in the Old Testament, at least the Hebrew Old Testament, which is the end of 2 Chronicles. He said, all of those, this generation will be held accountable for.

You will fall on that guilt. Once he pronounces these, the last three verses are his lament over Jerusalem. And that's what I titled this section. Notice what it says in verse 37. He says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather together, gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold,

your house is being left to you desolate. For I say to you from now on, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. As Jesus begins this lament, he does so with a very broken heart. When he cries out, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Here's what I picture here. I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm in line by saying this because even the way he

states Jerusalem twice in a row is a Hebrew idiom for the way that they were declaring their emotion. And I think this is him speaking his emotion over the nation of Israel. What I picture is somewhat similar to what God did in the garden when Adam and Eve were in the garden. Do you remember that scene, that dramatic scene when Adam and Eve had partaken of the fruit that they were not supposed to partake of, and they realized that they were naked and they covered themselves with the fig leaves. And it says, when God came to walk with them in the cool of the afternoon, like he did

every day, they had hidden themselves from God. Do you remember what God said? He said, Adam, where are you? And I don't think it was a statement of, Adam, where are you? I think there was great emotion in the voice of God, tenderhearted emotion when he said, Adam, where are you? It's exactly what I pictured with Jesus speaking over Jerusalem right now, because as he has pronounced these eight woes that I don't think, while I think he pronounced

them, he did not pronounce easily. As he pronounces these eight woes over them, he simply looks over Jerusalem, looks at the men who had been leading Jerusalem into a false dead religion, and he says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stone those who are sent to them. Man, all I wanted to do is just gather you to myself like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. That's the tender heart of Jesus towards the people that he loves so much. As he says,

all I want to do is protect you and pull you close. All I want to do is protect you and have you as close to me as you can. He says, but you were unwilling. You weren't willing to come. And now, and now judgment's going to come. As a matter of fact, the judgment that will come upon Jerusalem will find its fullness in 80, 70, when Jerusalem is destroyed by the Romans

and the children of Israel are scattered. He says, whoa, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, all I wanted to do was draw you close, but you would have none of it. You were unwilling to do so. Your house is left desolate. And from now on, you will not see me until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And now I think is the challenging question that comes for us as believers in Jesus Christ. Where do you find yourself in this chapter?

It's so easy to find ourselves caught up in dead, it's so easy to be religious on the outside and lack it on the inside. It's so easy for us to look religious on the outside and lack repentance on the inside. It's so easy to completely miss the point of Jesus in our religion. And in the process of us doing so, Jesus will always do the same thing. Come back, come back to me. I just want to gather you close. And if that's you this morning,

if you have found that your religion has gotten in the way of your relationship, if you have found that your religion has prevented you from repentance, if you have found that your religion has prevented you from seeing your Savior, then today's the day. Today's the day to say, Lord, I don't want that to be me anymore. I don't want to just live a religious life. I want to live a life where I love you with all of my heart, with all of my soul, and with all of my mind, and with all of my strength. So Lord,

bring me back to my first love. That was the statement that Jesus made to the church that had me. And I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. He said, listen, you started off so well. I know you know the truth and you can teach other people

the truth, but you've left your first love. Therefore, repent and do the first works. Let me put it in a little different phrase. Come back to Jesus. Come back to Jesus. Amen. Well, this morning is communion Sunday. So I'll invite the worship team to come up. And as they come up, I'll begin explaining. Talking about communion here for just a moment. But communion is just that. It's all about Jesus.

It's coming back to Jesus because it's coming back to the heart of exactly what we do as believers in Jesus Christ. Because we are not just a group of people who gather so that we can be a part of a holy club, nor are we just a group of people who gather because it's the right thing to do on a Sunday. At least we shouldn't be. We're a group of people who gather because we have a Savior who loved us enough to die for us.

And our heart's desire is to know that Savior and to see him more clearly. And that's exactly what we do when we take communion. We are reminded, we declare not only to ourselves, but to anybody else who's present that our great hope is in his body that was broken for us and his blood that was shed for us. And we are told to do so in a worthy manner. So if you've been playing religion, if you are like those,

Pharisees, where you're religious on the outside, but completely lacking anything of sincerity or reality on the inside, then today's the day. Today's the day to repent. Today's the day to come to Jesus and say, Lord, I've been playing a game this whole time and it's not been real. I've been playing a game this whole time and there's been no true regeneration.

There's been no true repentance. I have never really been born again. Today's the day for that to happen. And it's as simple as you crying out to Jesus and saying, Lord, forgive me in the midst of this. The moment you do, he will come in and make you brand new on the inside. He will come in and make his home inside of you. And you won't just be a clean cup on the outside. You'll be pristine

on the inside. But for those of us that haven't been playing religion, but we still see the weaknesses in our hearts. We still see the areas where we fall short. But to partake in a worthy manner is to make sure that the inside of that cup is staying clean. To make sure that the inside of that cup is staying clean. To make sure that the inside of that cup is staying clean. To make sure

it's still full of repentance. So come to Jesus and say, Lord, you know the areas where I've battled with hypocrisy. You know the areas where I've continued to live in sin, even though that's what you've delivered me from. You know my areas of weakness. Here they are. Forgive me. And scripture tells us that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.

So I'm going to invite the ushers to come down and disperse the communion amongst us. When you receive your elements, if you would please stand and we'll partake. Father, we come to you, Lord, and we thank you so much. Thank you so much for who you are and for what you've done for us. Lord, for your continued patience with us. And Lord, for the new life that

we have in you. Father, for the unity that we have with you and the unity that we have with each other. I thank you for this family. So Lord, I thank you for your body that was broken for us. Broken because of our sin. Lord, I thank you for your blood that was shed for us. Your blood that was shed not only for our sin, Lord, but also to make us brand new in you. And so Lord, help us to always keep these things

in mind. Lord, give us clean hands and give us pure hearts, we pray. We just thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake. Would you bow with me one more time? Lord, as we depart this place, as we leave here this morning, Lord, may we leave here with hearts renewed, renewed in you. Lord, may we leave here with a desire to follow you more closely, to know your word more, to know you more. Father, may only the things of you continue to do their

work in our hearts. And Lord, may you just marinate us in the truth of your word so that we come out smelling just like you. Father, we thank you for that. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.