Matthew 23

We're in Matthew chapter 23 this morning. Matthew chapter 23. We've been dealing in the last couple of chapters, particularly with the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish religious leaders. And it's all going to spill over today in this chapter, as Jesus is going to specifically and directly confront the religious leaders. So let's pray as we get into this. Father, we thank You always that we can come together as the body of Christ. Lord, we're so thankful that we can come and worship You, and have fellowship, and encourage one another, pray with one another. And Lord, we love the time that we get to spend in the Word. And we just pray that You would open our hearts to hear Your voice today. We want to tune our hearts to You. We get off frequency during the week, Lord, and so easily get fixated, and directed elsewhere. But Lord, this is our time to come back and get connected, reconnected with You. And we just really pray and ask that You would speak to us and talk to us, Lord, about the things that are most important. And guide us and direct us in what Your Word says. We pray that You would guide our hearts through this study in Jesus name, amen. Amen. Matthew 23 begins by, “…Jesus (it says here, He) said to the crowds and to his disciples,…” (ESV) And let me just pause there to say that while Jesus has been talking to His disciples privately about the dangers of the Jewish religious leaders and all that they were leading the people toward. And we'll talk about that. This is the first time that He's really done it publicly. This is the first time that He has come out to denounce the Jewish religious leaders. And what you're going to see in this chapter are 7 denunciations that begin with “woe to you” as Jesus speaks to the Jewish religious leaders about what they were doing, what they were saying, and how they were leading the people.

It's 8 woes if you have a New King James, because, we'll talk about that in a little bit. There's a verse that's in the New King James, that's not here in the ESV. Anyway, this is Jesus absolutely confronting human man-made religion and all the dangers that carry with that. So it goes on here and it says in verse 2, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, (this is Jesus speaking and of course that refers to the fact that they are teaching the law of Moses. And so He says) 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.” We have that phrase today about practice what you preach, and I'm sure it probably comes from here. This is the essence of hypocrisy and what Jesus is going to—He's going to say over and over again today. He's going to call them hypocrites. Right? Because these are the Jewish leaders who were teaching one thing, and they were doing another, and there was just no consistency in their lives. Now, I've noticed over the years that people like to level this same accusation against people in the church. And it's very possible that is a legitimate accusation. But what often happens when this word is used to describe people in the church, is somebody is just justifying the fact that they just don't really want to go to church. And so they'll say, I don't know, there's a bunch of hypocrites. And you've probably heard people say that. Maybe even you did at one time. And that may be the fact. If you've got people getting up and teaching the Word of God, of course that's my responsibility, and who are saying one thing and then doing another, then that is hypocrisy. What most people charge the body of Christ with when they use that word, hypocrisy is not hypocrisy. Because I find that most Christians who come to church realize that they're struggling to walk with the Lord and to do it well. And they know it, and they're not trying to be something, or trying to convey something that they're not. They realize they're sinners, they realize they mess up on a regular basis, and they're just perfectly willing to own up to it. What people often see in the church that they call hypocrisy, are Christians who believe in the Word of God, but are struggling to live it out in their lives. Okay. That's not hypocrisy. That's the Christian struggle. That's the struggle that all of us share when we mess up from time to time. But the fact is, we admit that we mess up, and we admit we are here in church because we need to be.

I need to hear what the Word of God has to say to me. I need the Word to transform. My heart. I realize my heart is not in the place that it should be and so forth. So what Jesus is doing again here, is He is confronting the leaders who preach one thing and do another. Verse 4, He says, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” All right, now we're getting down to what's really going on and what Jesus is confronting. Notice He says, “They tie up heavy burdens,…” This phrase refers to the fact, that over time, the Jewish religious leaders, the rabbis, whoever all else, they began to add to the Word of God. They took the simplicity of God's Word and they began to add rule upon rule, and guideline upon guideline, and commandment upon commandment. But these were just traditions. These are things they did. In other words, it was man-made religion. And, you guys hear me talk about this. I'm fairly passionate about it. Excuse me if I if my cup overflows a little bit here this morning. But this is something, that I just, I don't know, the Lord has just given me a passion for. Christians need to learn how to discern the difference between biblical Christianity; what the Word says, and what men have added to what the Word says. And we got to start asking questions like, is that in the Bible? That's one of the smartest questions you can ask. Or better yet, where can I find that in the Bible? Do you know how many Christians don't even get around to asking that question? Somebody comes up and they tell them something and they believe it. And they don't check it out. And they don't know whether it's been added to the Bible, or to the Word of God, or whatever. They just believe it. There's a lot of people in this world today who believe in a place called purgatory. And most of you know what purgatory is. You know that it's a place that they believe that after you die, you go there and you work off your sins before you can enter into heaven. A lot of people believe in it. There is not one single word in the Bible about purgatory, not one. Not only is there nothing in the Bible about purgatory, but the idea, the very idea of purgatory contradicts the idea that what Jesus did on the cross was finished when He said,

They believe that you have to go finish it yourself in purgatory.

Well, why do so many people believe that? Well, because somebody told them, this is the deal, there's a place called purgatory, right? Guess what? That comes under man-made religion. Nothing in the Bible about it, right? And, as Christians, we ought to have an attitude where, if it isn't in the Bible, I'm going to kick it to the curb. Right? I'll believe what's in the Bible. I'm fine with that, but all these other things that man has heaped on top of the Word of God? No way. Not going there. Not going to do that. I don't care who says that there's a place called purgatory. I don't believe it because God didn't say it. Right. That's the bottom line. So this is what Jesus is doing. He—this is what He's talking about when He says, and I guess partially, when He says, “They tie up heavy burdens,” on people that they themselves aren't willing to even lift a finger to carry. Heavy burdens; things you got to do. You got to do this, you got to do that. If you don't confess your sins over here to this person, then your sins aren't forgiven. And we tie up all these heavy burdens. Did Jesus talk about following Him as a heavy and oppressive sort of a thing? No, He did not. Let me show you what he said back in chapter 11. You'll remember this. He said,

That's one of the delightful things about following Jesus. It's not heavy and oppressive. It's light because He did all the work at Calvary on the cross. He did all the work. He bore your sin on the cross. Now you just have to come to Him and embrace it. That's not heavy. That's light. He continues as he goes on here to highlight the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He says, “5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,” Phylacteries were little things they put on their forehead that hold Scripture. I could go into all kinds of detail about what it is, but it doesn't matter because what it was about, was making themselves appear more spiritual than other people. In other words, having these external trappings. That make me look more spiritual than you and that sort of thing. And He says, “6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues (because they would reserve them for the religious leaders) 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.” Of course, rabbi just meant teacher, but it was a title that they loved hearing because it afforded them a place of honor and respect. And they loved it because it fed their flesh. And titles like this, do that. And we live in a world where titles set us apart from other people. In the military, if you're this level, in the military, then people are, they got to salute when you walk in the room, and you can tell them what to do, and on. And we just, we live like this all the time. And yet in the kingdom of God, there's no place for this. And yet, isn't it interesting that we've incorporated some of the same things in our world; our church world, even today? What's a modern day equivalent to this? How about reverend? The title reverend. I hate that title. And one of the reasons I hate it is because it's not biblical. You're not going to find the word reverend in the Bible. Why do we call people reverend? Do you know what it means? Let me put it up on the screen for you. “Reverend” is an honorific title, typically used before the name of a member of the Christian clergy, meaning “worthy of respect” or “to be revered”. The word “reverend” comes from the Latin word, “reverendus,” meaning “worthy of reverence”. “Reverend” is an honorific title, typically used before the name of a member of the Christian clergy, (this is taken from a dictionary on the internet) meaning “worthy of respect” or “to be revered”. (and it says) The word “reverend” comes from the Latin word, “reverendus,” meaning “worthy of reverence”. Yeah. What do you think about that? I—you know what I think? I think there's only one person who has ever walked on the face of the earth that was worthy of reverence. And that's Jesus Christ. And I don't think any other man deserves that title. And I think it's stupid that we came up with stuff like that. It's playing into this same thing that Jesus is denouncing about the religious leaders. They love to be called all these fancy titles because it exalts them above the people. How are we to be exalted and how are people exalted in the kingdom of God? We've already gone through this stuff in Matthew. We should know this. It's by humbling yourself and becoming a servant, isn't it? By getting down on your hands and knees and being willing to do whatever. Literally washing the feet of the saints if necessary. That's greatness in the kingdom of God. Listen to what Jesus says as He talks about titles. He says, “8 But you are not to be called rabbi, (which is teacher) for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” Now, people, this isn't saying you can't call your dad, father. This is talking about titles in a religious context. Okay. In other words, referring to someone as father or mother who isn't your father or mother, but you're referring to them in a religious context that elevates them. And that's what Jesus is saying. Don't— stop, He says, stop elevating people. Why are we doing that? Why are you putting people up on a on a pedestal? That's not what we do in the kingdom of God. And so He goes on in verse 10 to say, “Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be…,” in charge. No, it doesn't say that. It says, “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” And then the bottom line is given in verse 12, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” That's how you get elevated in the kingdom of God, by humbling yourself, and being willing to do whatever is needed. Okay. So that's where true greatness is. It's the opposite of what the Jewish religious leaders were doing, and that's what caused them to receive so many rebukes. And from verse 13 now, down through pretty much close to the end of the chapter, Jesus is going to give these denunciations; these woes, if you will. And he begins in verse 13 by saying, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”

I got to tell you, this first denunciation just gives me the shakes in terms of standing before God one day, and having the Lord lay a charge at my feet saying, you kept people from coming to Me. And that's horrible. I mean, and the reason that this happened is because they had created so many man-made requirements, that coming to God was impossible. And that's what Jesus is denouncing them for. There was nothing wrong about just the Word of God. But you've added this and that, and you've added this rule, and this obligation, on top of it. And now it's like, it's impossible. I can't imagine. Now, as we move on here, this is where we have to deal with a verse that isn't in the ESV. I don't know if any of you here this morning have a New King James Bible on your lap. New King James is a great translation. If that's your Bible of preference, then good on you. But, your Bible has a verse 13 and the ESV does not, you'll notice here in the ESV. It just goes from 12 to 14 and the… I'm sorry, 13 to 15, there you go. Yours has a verse 14. That's the correct thing. And what the verse says in the New King James is yet another woe. And it goes like this.

Now that verse isn't in the ESV, and I'll tell you why it's not in the ESV. It's because when the ESV translators set about to translate the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament that they chose, that verse wasn't in there. People ask me all the time, pastor Paul, why do some Bibles leave out verses? Or why are verses taken out of the Bible? Verses are never taken out of the Bible, ever, okay? When translating committees sit down to translate the Bible, they choose an a Greek manuscript if, for the New Testament, and they choose the one that they think is the best. Okay. And the Greek manuscript that the ESV translators chose didn't have verse 14 in it. It's not there. It doesn't appear. Okay. Now here's, what's interesting. That very verse that I just read to you, it's word for word in Mark. Yeah. You'll find it in the Gospel of Mark. So Jesus said it and Mark recorded it. More than likely, what happened through the years is that a scribe saw that this was missing in Matthew's account, but it was in Mark's, and so he just wrote it in. He probably started over the years by writing it into the margin, and then over the years it just, in some manuscripts, it just got included in. But in the manuscript that the ESV translators used, which, by the way, they believe to be the oldest and most reliable, verse 14 wasn't there. But now, what's going on. Again, translators never take verses out. In fact, there's usually more verses. It's been said that we have 110 percent of what the biblical writers wrote. Seriously. We're going to move on to verse 15. It says,

So this is the next charge that Jesus levels against them. They were full of zeal. Just because somebody has a lot of zeal about something doesn't mean they're correct. So there is such a thing as zeal without knowledge. And Jesus is saying that these guys would travel all over just to find somebody that they could draw into their way of thinking. And once they do, they turn him into an even a more legalistic person than they are. And twice as much, He says, a child of hell. And that word for hell there is Gehenna. Twice as much of a child of Gehenna. He says,

And this is just more evidence of the ridiculous rules that the religious leaders had heaped upon the basic idea of swearing an oath. Which by the way, the new Testament says, don't even do it because it was basically because people didn't believe what they said that they had to swear an oath. Someone would make a statement. Well, dah-dah-dah-dah-dah. And somebody else would come along and say, I don't believe you. And so the person who made the first statement says, I swear to God, or I swear on the temple, or I swear by heaven that what I'm saying is truth. It was a way of convincing people that you were telling the truth. And the Jews got into this elaborate way of swearing oaths and it just got stupid. And so Jesus is saying, you guys have added all these dumb rules upon this stuff that don't make any sense at all. And elsewhere, He said, you know what? Just don't swear at all. If you're going to say something, say it. And if somebody doesn't believe you, that's their problem. Just leave it alone. If they don't want to believe you there, you're probably not going to convince them, even if you swear an oath. I swear on a stack of Bibles, we used to say that when we were kids. We didn't even have a stack of Bibles, but we would talk about doing it. But that was somehow, we were trying to get people to believe us. Verse 23,

Once again we're dealing here with the traditions of the elders that said that you were more acceptable to God if you tithed everything that you own. And there was nothing wrong with tithing under the law because under the law, tithing was commanded. You guys know that it's not commanded in the New Testament, right? There's a lot of pastors and teachers who are telling their people that it's still a command of God to tithe. It is not. That is a bold faced lie. In the New Testament, we are told to give what we have decided in our heart to give, because God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7) Tithing is not commanded. In the Old Testament, God said, give me 10 percent. In the New Testament, you know what God says? 100 percent of you belongs to Me. 100 percent. Now that doesn't mean you give a 100 percent. You are to give what you have decided in your heart to give. Okay? Right? I know that makes it a little more difficult. People want, people would rather have a command: Just tell me, what do I need to give? No, you got to pray about it. You got to ask the Lord. What does He want you to give 1 percent, then give 1 percent. 10, 20 percent, then that's between you and God. It doesn't matter, right? The point is, you're to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. But in the Old Testament, under the old covenant, they were commanded to tithe. And the word tithe means a tenth. Okay. Well, they're sitting there meticulously going through everything they own and thinking that by this act of tithing and so forth, that they are making themselves more acceptable to God.

And He said that's fine. The whole idea of tithing was fine, but you've neglected the more important issues. Did you notice what He mentioned? What are those more important issues? Well, God had told them about those more important issues previously in the Old Testament. It's in the Book of Micah. Let me show you this on the screen.

See, this is what the Pharisees and religious leaders forgot. They forgot about the whole issue of walking with God, and it was all doing according to rules and regulations. And that was the extent of their relationship to God. We call that a judicial relationship with God. You don't want to have a judicial relationship with God. You want to have a personal relationship. A judicial relationship is this, I'll do this, God, and You bless me. Why? Because I have obligated You to do good because I did good. You get it? That's a judicial relationship. And a lot of Christians live under a judicial relationship with God. And they will do their best to live a good life, and then get really angry when things go wrong. And the reason is, because they think God owes them. And when people come to me and they say what happened? What did I do to deserve this? I know what I'm talking about or what they're saying to me. They're saying, I have a judicial relationship with the Lord. It's not a personal one. It's not one based on grace. It's one based on works. I do good. God blesses me. I do bad. God punishes me. That person has no concept of grace, right? So they're doing all these things, right? And yet choosing to ignore the more important things. Verse 25, he goes on to say,

dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Isn't that something? These men believe that they were keeping the law and yet Jesus charged them with lawlessness in their hearts. They were lawless. It really is incredible. Well, of the verses we just read, if you're going to look for the key words in those verses, the key words are: inside and outside. And the reason is, they were fixated on what things looked like on the outside, but they were ignoring what was going on the inside. What is the inside? It's your heart. It's your heart. What's going on in your heart? We still do this today guys. We can get totally fixated on the outside and ignore the inside. People ask a lot pastor Paul, is it okay if I do this? And then whatever that thing that they want to do or feel like they need to do or whatever. And my response is always the same. I'll say. Well, why do you want to do that? What's your motivation? A woman might come to me and say, pastor Paul, is it okay if I divorce my husband because this is what he did, so can I do this? My question is, why do you want to divorce your husband? I know what you're saying. It's because he did this. But that's just your justification. I want to know your motive. Because you see, here's the deal. God always looks at the heart. He's far more concerned about your heart and why you do things, than what you're doing. We get fixated on what we're doing. That's external. God is more concerned with why you're doing it. And we rarely even ask the question. We rarely, I mean, why we're doing something doesn't even appear on our radar. And yet this is what made David a man after God's own heart. He prayed prayers like, search me and know me, and see if there be any wicked way in me. (Psalm 139:24) In other words, he was saying, check my motives. Check what's really going on inside my heart that motivates me to do what I want to do. Right? So the issue is not what you're doing. It's why you're doing it. And that's really what Jesus is talking about here. You Pharisees, you religious leaders, you're all concerned about the outside, and the inside is full of corruption, and death, and uncleanness. You're like a whitewashed tomb. You paint it and make it look all pretty, but you open the cover and there's death inside there and corruption. He says, be more concerned about what's on the inside than what's on the outside. We're so concerned about what's on the outside. Back in the 60s when the first Calvary chapel down in Southern California was doing their best to just teach the Word of God. Pastor Chuck was cruising along and all of a sudden these hippies started showing up to church. And they would come to church barefoot. You guys don't realize back in the 60s how that was awful. I mean, for somebody to come to church— I was raised in the 60s, okay. 60s and the 70s were my decades. And I remember, and my parents, they got us ready for church every Sunday. And I put on a suit and tie. It was a clip on, but it was a tie, okay? And my dad, I've told you this, he would put me and my brother up on the bench, and shine our shoes every Sunday! Every Sunday. And they'd slick down our hair with greasy kid stuff. I hated that stuff. It was like motor oil, putting on your hair. It was just awful! But that's what— there were certain things you just had to expect. And nobody, and I'm not trying to get on anybody, but nobody ever wore a hat in church. I don't care if you wear a hat, it doesn't, I don't, God doesn't either. But, oh, that was a big deal in the 60s. Now imagine all of us sitting there in our suits and ties, right? And looking all proper. We got our Sunday go to meeting clothes on, and we're all looking holy and righteous. And somebody walks in barefoot with a tie dyed shirt and hair that's unkempt. And what would you do back in the 60s? You know what they, a lot of churches did. They said, you need to go get a haircut. And you need to go get a nice set of clothes and then you can come to church. Cause church is for nice people. Yeah. Fortunately, there were a few churches and Calvary Chapel was one of them, who just simply opened their doors to anybody who wanted to come and hear the Gospel. And Calvary Chapel wasn't the only one, there were others. But those churches that opened their hearts to people and stopped looking on the outside and caring how long their hair was. Or what their clothes looked like, or even how they smelled, or whether or not they were wearing shoes. Those churches exploded, exploded. At one point, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa had a membership of 30,000 members. Yeah, but what was the reason for it? They stopped looking at the outside. They stopped saying, and you know what they… Pastor Chuck's philosophy was this. Let's let the Lord clean up the inside and the outside will follow. That was his philosophy. We're going to let the Holy Spirit do what He wants to do first with the heart of these kids. And a lot of these kids went on to serve and become pastors and lead churches of their own. But anyway, the point is, stop looking at the outside. I say that to all of us because it's this thing that just can happen very easily.

--- Even Samuel in the Old Testament was charged with looking on the outside. You remember when God told him to go to the house of Jesse and to anoint a new king over Israel because Saul had completely become a whack job? And so he went to the house of Jesse and Jesse started parading his sons in front of Samuel. And you guys remember what happened, right? Let me put it on the screen. It's in 1 Samuel chapter 16. It says, 1 Samuel 16:6-7 (ESV)

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. (look at this) For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Guys, this is not just a random passage in the Old Testament. This is a key to understanding and interpreting the Bible. I'm serious. You keep this verse in mind and you will be ahead of the majority of people who are trying to figure out what the Bible says. If you will simply remember this idea, the Lord looks at the heart, you will be miles ahead of everybody else in interpreting the Scriptures. Right. All right. Let's keep going. Verse 29. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” ---

Why does He say that? Why does he say that all of this is going to come? That this responsibility is going to be leveled against this generation? Well, it's because they were saying, well, if we had lived back when our forefathers lived, surely we would not have persecuted and murdered the prophets that God sent. Oh no, not us. And they were at the very same time plotting to kill Jesus, the Son of God. And so Jesus saw right through their duplicity. Yes, you would have done what your fathers did because you're now doing it to one who is even greater than the ones your fathers killed. You're just like your forefathers. It really is incredible. I need to also tell you something. This very passage has been used to justify anti-Semitism. I don't know if you knew that. This whole idea where Jesus denounces the Jews and essentially says, this is it. Your blood be on your head sort of a thing. People have used this to justify persecuting and hating the Jews. And by the way, there is a spiritual uptick in hatred of Jews today. I think you guys know that, right? I mean, it has not been this high since Hitler. We thought we were over what happened in Germany. At the during the second world war? No, no, no. It's alive and well. Anti-Semitism is alive and well. But people, it's not just a lack of education. It's not just a worldly sort of a thing. This is a demonic spiritual thing that's going on. Okay. And the church needs to battle against it in the spirit. We don't battle against flesh and blood. We battle against principalities and powers and rulers of this present darkness, right? (Galatians 6:12) That's what's going on. This is a spiritual thing. Okay. These kids that are getting caught up in all this antisemitism, these college students today and so forth, this is spiritual. It's not physical. It's not educational. It's spiritual. They're literally getting pulled over by demonic spiritual powers. And that's what's happening. But Jesus, rather than— I know there's a lot of denunciation going on here. There's a lot of woe to you and so forth, but don't think that Jesus isn't heartbroken about what's going on here with Jerusalem and Israel at large. He is. Look at verse 37. It goes on to say,

There's just a couple of things I want to bring out on this as we get ready to close. And the first is this statement that Jesus makes in verse 38, “See, your house is left to you desolate.” Now, what Jesus is doing is He is making a prophetic statement, foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, which would happen about 30 to 35 years from when this statement was made. In A.D. 70, right, the Romans had just finally had it up to here, with the rebellion of the Jews. And they broke into the city, destroying it, literally slaughtering people. And then they destroyed the temple and the temple has not been rebuilt since A.D. 70. Of course, you guys know, there's still no temple. In fact, there's a mosque where that temple used to stand. But the point is Jesus is speaking prophetically when He says “your house is left to you desolate.” Why? Because they didn't recognize their Redeemer when He showed up on the scene. But I want you to see here how Jesus is broken hearted over this. All of these woes and all of this denouncing of the religious leaders, this is heartbreaking stuff you guys. This isn't God pointing the bony finger and saying, oh man, I'm going to enjoy watching you guys fry in hell. He is heartbroken. And this is expressed in something that Luke recorded. Let me show you on the screen from Luke 19. It says,

And when he drew near and saw the city, (this is Jesus, He comes for the last time to see Jerusalem, look at this) he wept over it, (people, Jesus cried over Jerusalem) saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you (he’s talking about the Romans) and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

In other words, God bent over backwards to foretell the coming of Messiah to the Jewish people, and they ignored. They ignored His Word. And they closed their eyes and plugged their ears. And that's why Jesus said, these things are now hidden from you because you've chosen not to listen. And then one final note about the words where in verse 39, where Jesus says, “…I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” People, you need to understand something. This is a quotation from Psalm 1:18. And you really need to be familiar with Psalm 1:18 because it's a Messianic Psalm. What we mean by that is, is a Psalm that speaks prophetically of Messiah. And this statement in the Psalms is one that Jesus is using at this time. First of all, not only to clarify that He is the Messiah, but secondly, it's to declare that He will be returning. Notice He said, “you will not see me again, until you,… (learn to cry) ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” People, let me ask you a question. How do we learn to cry out for God? Well, I don't know about you, but I learned how to do it through hardship. I've told you guys for 34 years around here that what brought me back to the Lord, or to the Lord, was literally the demise of my marriage. I'd been married for 5 years, Sue and I had just grown apart, and we were just on the precipice of divorce. And we weren't walking with the Lord, we never went to church. As kids we did, but once we got married, we stayed away from church. And our marriage suffered to the point where we were right at the precipice of getting a divorce. And I had to personally look at my marriage and say, I did this. This is me. This is what I can do with a marriage. And I had to realize it. And the realization broke me and I cried out to the Lord. And I know that if many of you had an opportunity to get up and give your testimony, you'd be able to probably say something similar. How you went through a really dark season of life and you learned to cry out and say, Lord, I need You. I need You. Well, guess what? Jesus is saying, “you will not see me again, until you…” learn. Learn to cry, “…‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” And what it's going to take for the people of Israel is the great tribulation. Because what's happening in their early history, I mean, like I said, 30 to 35 years from where, when Jesus is saying these words, the Romans are going to come, they're going to break into the city, they're going to destroy it, and destroy the temple with And that destruction from A.D. 70 is going to be but a foreshadowing of a greater time of tribulation that the Bible refers to as the great tribulation. And we know from Scripture that Israel is going to be treated horribly, horrifically, during the great tribulation, as all of the nations of the world are going to come against Israel to wipe it off the map. And there's going to be a battle that's going to take place, and it's going to appear very much like Israel is losing. And then suddenly, the Messiah will return. And He will fight on behalf of Israel in a battle that's called, the Battle of Armageddon, and He will destroy the enemies that come against Israel. But it is only when they have suffered so intensely, and they see their Redeemer, that they will learn to cry, “…‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” And as I've told you many times, it is then that they will recognize this was the One who came before. And as Zachariah tells us prophetically, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son. (Zechariah 12:10) So that's what's going to happen. And you know what? That's what the next chapter is all about. It's about Israel going through the great tribulation. And there's a lot of misunderstanding that goes along with Matthew chapter 24. And we're going to sort it out next week. So Stay tuned, amen. Let's stand together. As always, if you need prayer for any reason, come on up front after we're done here and we'll have some folks ready to pray for you. Let's commit this all to the Lord. Father God, we are in awe of Your Word and the clarity, and the wisdom, and the insight that it brings to us. And Father, we are also made aware in this chapter about the danger and destructiveness of man-made religion and traditions of men that violate the Word of God. So Father God, I ask in Jesus name that you would make us a discerning people to know and understand when we're dealing with true biblical things and when we're dealing with things that are man-made and have no basis of authority in the Word. And Father God, may we be people of the Bible who hold to the Bible and reject the traditions of men that are coming against and violating the Word of God.

Make us strong people, courageous people, who walk with You in humility and open heartedness, recognizing Lord, that we are nothing without You. Thank You Father for the reality of our understanding that comes through the Word. And we ask in Jesus name that You would fill us with truth each and every day as we go through this week. Guide us and direct us by Your Spirit. Teach us Your ways. Fill us with insight and wisdom. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our savior, and all God's people said together, amen. Have a good rest of your Sunday.