Slide 1
means acting in accordance with your own stated beliefs, values, or advice to avoid hypocrisy.
Today: the Holy Ghost is calling us into a deeper walk with Him. We will be in Matthew chapter 23.
This is where Jesus condemns the Pharisees as hypocrites. Jesus named them as hypocrites because their focus was on trivial religious rules.
Lord help us not be bogged down with the small stuff, but help us to be searching for the people who need to be pulled from the fire. Amen
Slide 2
The Pharisees or the hypocrites could not understand grace. They were convinced that the rules were the most important ideas of their time. They were so bogged down that weightier matters: like justice, mercy, and faith were not experienced.
Jesus even calls them “blind guides” and “whitewashed tombs,” because they looked good on the outside but spiritually they were dead inside. I say, “Lord let us not be like these hypocrites.”
Let us not be a blind guide, but have a vision. Let us not only look like a Christian on the outside , but also on the inside. 
Let’s read the following passage and discuss it a little.
Matthew 23:23-39 (New Living Translation)
23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,[a] but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.
Pastor, you asked question “why are some matters of the law more important than the others?”
Let me give a worldly example: core rules —such as the Constitution, is our fundamental right. Thus the constitution is the necessary foundation that the entire legal system is built.
Though all of God‘s law is important. Jesus asserted that all the law and the prophets hang on the Commandments to love God, and to love our neighbor as yourself. Jesus accused the Pharisees of focusing on minor details while neglecting the main point of the law.
Slide 3
24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel![b]
This proverb is spoken by Jesus in Matthew 23:24. On His last trip to Jerusalem, Jesus spoke at length about life under the oppressive reign of the Pharisees. The religious leaders tested Him continually “and plotted how to entangle him in his words” (Matthew 22:15). In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounced seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees, accusing them of hypocrisy, laying heavy burdens on the people, exalting themselves, and preventing people from entering God’s kingdom. He was especially harsh in His assessment of their strict adherence to the laws of tithing while they “neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matthew 23:23). He concludes by saying, “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” (verse 24).
Slide 4
Let me give you a church hypothetical example. someone comes in a minute late for church and someone else jumps all over them.
First, they fell to ask the pastor.
But they should have addressed that the true problem at hand which was their gossiping.
And this was the true issue causing problems within the church.
Sometimes we look at the tiny thing rather than going after the larger things.
In other words “We strain a fly out of your drink, but swallow a camel!”
The Jews had a law that forbade eating any flying insects that did not have jointed legs for hopping (Leviticus 11:20–23), and in this they were strictly observant. Because water could have insects and insect larvae in it, pious Jews were careful to strain the water through a cloth before drinking it. They did not want to accidentally ingest an unclean insect and thus violate the law. Jesus mentions this practice in His proverb and then contrasts it with a hyperbolic picture of gulping down a camel. In this way, Jesus accused them of taking great pains (straining out gnats) to avoid offence in minor things of little importance, while tolerating or committing great sins (swallowing camels) such as deceit, oppression, and lust.
Next let’s continue to read verse 25 and it says:
25 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence!
Sorrow awaits these Pharisees. They are condemned as “blind guides” who shut the door to heaven, exploit people, disregard mercy and are filled with inward greed and corruption.
God wants us to wash away the dirt so we can have a clear focus. Jesus wants us to be spiritual clean and not just clean on the outside.
Slide 5
God desires a genuine relationship. Don’t you? Who wants a friend that is a back stabber?
Who wants a friend that says one thing and does another?
Who desires a friend that focuses on the little things and can’t see the bigger things?
Not me. We would classify those friends as hypocrites.
26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish,[c] and then the outside will become clean, too.
Allow the Holy Ghost to wash you inside and then the outside will catch up.
27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Slide 6
As I grew up, we visited the graveyards on Memorial Day. (primarily to decorate and remember the people that were influential in our past)
We were taught walking across the grave was disrespectful. Some superstitious relatives always said that walking on graves would bring bad luck. However, as I got older, the only bad luck I can see here is the fact that if a grave is not dug properly and covered properly; then, when walking across it, the grave might actually fall in and someone could get hurt.
In Jesus‘s day whitewashing, of the tombs was an important event.
The graves were whitewashed annually—often before Passover-to make them clearly visible. This practice prevented people from accidentally touching the tombs, which would make them ceremonially unclean according to Jewish law. Jesus used this image to highlight hypocrisy.
Key Reasons and Context:
- Preventing Ritual Impurity: Touching a grave caused severe ceremonial uncleanness (Numbers 19:16), hindering participation in religious festivals.
- Visibility: Tombs were often located along roadsides, and the whitewash allowed them to stand out, especially to visitors arriving for Passover.
- Jesus’s Metaphor: Jesus called the Pharisees “whitewashed tombs” because, while they maintained a beautiful, righteous appearance on the outside, they were “full of dead men’s bones” (hypocrisy and wickedness) on the inside.
29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. 30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’
Jesus condemns the Pharisees and teachers of the law for hypocrisy, noting they decorate tombs of past prophets to appear righteous, while actively rejecting God’s messengers in their own time. Their claim that they would never have killed prophets, while plotting to kill Jesus, proves they are in fact spiritual heirs to their ancestors’ violence.
While acting holy, their hearts were full of the same murderous rebellion as their ancestors.
Slide 7
31 “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started.
Jesus was angry because of their hypocrisy. In this chapter Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites six times. The religious leaders had exchanged the holy for the hollow. They concerned themselves with their appearance rather than substance. They made a show of obeying God‘s law, but consistently violated the spirit. Worst of all, they were leading other people to do the same things. Jesus, by contrast, said that he desires, genuine, spiritual commitment.
Slide 8
33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?
Last Sunday, Pastor Larry had us in Luke chapter 10 and God spoke to my heart and confirmed today’s scripture. – but these creatures mentioned in this scripture and chapter 10 of Luke are symbols of the presence of evil. It was then a figurative way to speak of evil. Nonetheless, today some people believe this this to be a literal promise of physical protection; thus we have snake handling churches and those who temp their life because they entertain others by playing with snakes and vipers.
Well, let’s get back to scripture and reverse 34.
Slide 9
34 “Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. 35 As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation.
Much like our DNA that is passed down from generation to generation, their actions revealed a heritage of rejection regarding God‘s messengers. Jesus’s acknowledgment of what they would do to the profits and teachers that he would send to them, reiterate the legacy of rejection that leaders sadly embodied. Although their lives appeared holy, and their words were saturated with talk of God, they were unable to hear the prophetic message from God through God‘s spokespersons. 
Why couldn’t a sovereign God, overrule an unwilling city?
Jesus could have, but he wanted the people to accept his love because they wanted to, and not because they had to. Jesus did not force his love Jerusalem. God desires all people to turn to him in faith, but he leaves our personal choice as part of the equation. God‘s sovereignty does not diminish human responsibility.
Slide 10
Jesus Grieves over Jerusalem
Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 38 And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate.[d] 39 For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
In this scripture, I pick up on Jesus‘s tone of judgment. Final judgment comes at the second death.
However, today judgment does not have the final word, redemption does.
Sin does not have the final word, but grace does.
Despair does not have the final word, but hope does.
God’s ultimate desire is not to condemn the world, but to restore it to wholeness.
Our mistakes are never the end of our story, only the beginning of our recovery.
We have the assurance that no person is beyond the reach of grace.
He invites us to lay down our fear and trust in a love that pursues us into the broken places.
Mercy triumphs over judgment, inviting us to embrace a future not defined by our past failures
