This afternoon, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew 23, This morning we were looking at the fact that Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and then we looked at Monday and Tuesday after that, and how he encountered the scribes, the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees, and various things that happened. And he was in turn teaching the people the truth of his word, and they were challenging him.
And as we ended the service today, one of the people here commented to me, he said it was interesting, the last thing that was said in that particular passage is in verse 16 of chapter 22, after Jesus had answered them with answers they could not answer, and he wasn’t deceived by their deceptive attacks, or caused to stumble. It says that in verse 46, And no man was able to answer him in a word, neither did any man from that day forward ask him any more questions. They saw that they were the ones that were having problems, not Jesus.
And this afternoon I want to look at chapter 23, where Jesus really comes down hard on the scribes and the Pharisees. If you look at, we were looking this morning and last Sunday morning, we were looking at the political climate, the religious climate, what was going on in Jerusalem during the last Passover week when Jesus entered on Palm Sunday. And one of the things we saw is that the scribes and the Pharisees were often associated together because the Pharisees claimed that they followed and took God’s word quite literally.
They were the literalists of their day. And the scribes were responsible for writing the word and making sure that every jot and tittle was recorded, that the word was recorded exactly correctly. And if they made an error, they had to start over so that the errors were not made in the writing of the word.
So both of these groups of men claimed to be quite literal in their interpretation of God’s word and in the importance of believing and following God’s word. However, Jesus understood the hearts of both of them. And even though on the outward they appeared to be very religious and righteous, inward they had a problem.
And when Jesus compares them, and we’ll get into some of the comparisons that he makes and things that he says in the text this morning, or this afternoon rather, but he calls them whitewashed tombs. And if you’ve ever been down south where they have high water levels, they have these beautiful marble and ornate tombs on top of the ground because they can’t bury the caskets in the ground because the water is so high. And if you look at it, they’re beautiful ornate things and the cemeteries are very beautiful works of architecture and art.
But if you opened up one of the tombs, you’d find rotten bones and flesh and it would be disgusting. And that’s what Jesus is talking about. What is our heart like? And that’s what he’s going to be addressing today.
The hearts of the scribes and the Pharisees. So let’s just take a look beginning at verse 1 of chapter 23.
Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2 saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Now, what is Moses’ seat? Moses’ seat, when Moses was leading the nation of Israel, the word of God was given to Moses and Moses in turn directed it to the people, instructed the people and told them how they were to live and what God was saying to them through his word on what he wanted them to do. Jesus is saying the scribes and the Pharisees, that’s the position that they are supposed to have. They are supposed to instruct the people in the word of God.
They are supposed to be quite adamant about the people following the word of God as God intended it to be followed. And that’s the key that we’re going to be looking at here. How did God intend it to be followed? Well, Jesus goes on and he says, All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.
But do not ye after the works, for they say and do not. And what he’s saying is they tell you one thing, but they live their lives totally different. And they expect you to do what’s right, while they in turn get to make up the rules as they live them and they can do whatever they want to do.
Now what the Pharisees especially did is they added to the word of God and they made it so that it was impossible for anybody to live or understand how they should live with the rules that they made up that were added to the word of God. And they did this to control people. Now in verse 4, For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
And what they do is they would tell the people, You have to do all of these things. And if you don’t do them, then you’re spiritually in trouble. But at the same time, they would go out of their way to do what they wanted to do while they were saying they were doing that which is righteous.
We’re going to see, Jesus is going to give some examples of how they did this and what it means. But all their works they do for to be seen of men, they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at the feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues. Now, what is he talking about the phylacteries and the borders on the garments? Well, if you go back in the Old Testament, the Bible tells us that there was a way that the men were supposed to have their garments or robes done, and those that were in spiritual leadership were supposed to have them done this special way.
And there was to be a sign of their following the Lord. And it was tied to the law of God. Well, what they did is God said that there was a certain way that these were to be constructed and that they were to be worn.
But the Pharisees went above and beyond what they were supposed to do. They enlarged the borders on their robes, they made them so that it was quite obvious what they were doing, and that they were really righteous men because they had these large borders on the bottoms of the robes. And they also had the phylacteries, which they made, increased their phylacteries, which were things that hung from them and showed that they were righteous.
And then not only that, they wanted the seats of honor, the seats of importance, and they wanted to be noticed. It was very important for them to be noticed. Jesus gave examples of the Pharisee who came to the temple and prayed, and he made sure that everyone could hear him.
Because he wanted the attention of the people, he wanted to be viewed as righteous in the eyes of the people, and how he had this great relationship with God when he really didn’t have one. And also when they brought their offerings, Jesus gave the example of the man who brought his offering, and he put in coins so that he could make sure that everybody heard when he dropped the coins in the offering place, so that they all would be aware that he had given his offering to the Lord. But they really, they would do that for the observation of men, but they did not do what God wanted them to do.
And actually at times, they would go out of their way to violate God’s word. Verse 6, verse 7 rather. And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, but be not called Rabbi, for no one is your master, even Christ and all ye are brethren.
And so he’s saying they wanted to be in a position of authority over you. They like to be called Rabbi. Today even you can see that especially amongst the Orthodox, they put much, they look much to the Rabbis, and they’re placed a notch above everybody else.
Jesus is saying, that’s not my kingdom. You’re brethren, you’re brothers one with another. And you aren’t to seek a place of authority over other people.
Yet this is what the Pharisees were doing. And they loved it when people acknowledged that. But be not called Rabbi, for none is your master.
And then down in verse 9, and call no man your father upon the earth, for one is your father, which is in heaven. And again, father was an acknowledgement of a position of authority over the people’s spiritual authority. And he’s saying you have only one that’s your spiritual authority, and that’s God in heaven, your father in heaven.
One can look at much of what the Catholic Church does today, and they really incorporate much of the law, and the teachings of the temple worship into their worship. And then they also incorporate much of the Pharisees’ beliefs as well. They love to be called father, or bishop, or have titles and authority.
They love to be placed in a hierarchy over people. They want to make sure that the people are accountable to them, and not to God. And that’s exactly what the Pharisees were doing.
Matthew 23:10
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
And so Jesus is telling us it’s the exact opposite of what men would do.
Today in our world, the world is this way, they say get the position of authority, and get there however means it takes, and make sure that you’re the one on top. Jesus is saying no, if you’re going to be the leader, you need to be the greatest servant of everyone. Jesus did this, and set the example in the upper room, when he put the towel around himself, and washed the disciples feet.
Made the same statement through his action, as well as his words before his disciples. He wanted them to understand it’s the exact opposite. The Pharisees were really influenced tremendously by the world spirit, and not by God’s word.
Well going on it says, now he comes with woes, and he gives woes unto the scribes and the Pharisees. And this is interesting. He drove the money changers out of the temple, and turned over the tables, and we saw that this morning.
That was mainly done by the Sadducees. But he was much harder on the Pharisees, with his condemnations verbally, than even he was on the Sadducees. The Sadducees didn’t believe the scripture.
And because they didn’t believe the scripture, they didn’t claim to have any relationship with God. It was all a political ploy for them. And they used religion as a means by which they could gain power and authority.
The Pharisees on the other hand, used the guise that they were spiritual. And that they believed God, and they did what God was calling them to do. And that’s why he’s much more hard on them, because he’s saying to them, but woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither after ye them that are entering to go in.
And so he says, the kingdom of heaven you claim about it, but you’re a hypocrite. You really don’t want to know God. You don’t want to be acknowledged how God wants to work in the hearts of men.
Now what is this coming on? And this is set on the background of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Passover week, on the Sunday before he would go to the cross. Why is he saying that statement? Well, the scribes and the Pharisees are the ones that claim they know scripture. I should have brought it.
I didn’t bring it. There’s a book that we’ve got that lists all of the prophecies told about Jesus from the Old Testament, and how they were fulfilled in the New Testament. And anyone who had studied the Old Testament as much as the scribes and the Pharisees say that they study it, should have known all the prophecies that dealt with the coming Messiah.
And they should have known that there was two comings. The first one was coming that week, even to the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem, it was foretold and prophesied. Yet, they were the ones out there saying, tell the people to stop saying, Hosanna to the Son of David.
Hosanna, Son of David, help us. They were telling Jesus, save us, and they were acknowledging him and calling him the Son of David, which is a Messianic term. The Pharisees shouldn’t have been the ones condemning them for doing that and asking Jesus to silence them.
But yet, they were at the head of the list of people going to Jesus saying, you’ve got to get these people to stop this. And they had no desire to know the Messiah, or they would have seen who he was. You remember when Nicodemus came to Jesus in John’s Gospel.
When did he come? He came at night. Why? Because he did not want to be observed going to talk to Jesus by the other Pharisees. Because they would harass him and they would make life difficult for him.
He was also part of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body. And when he came to Jesus, Jesus explained to him what it meant to be born again. And Nicodemus was having a hard time understanding this and he said, how shall I enter a second time into my mother’s womb? And he was merely thinking of physical birth.
Jesus said to him, Nicodemus, aren’t you who are a leader of Israel and you don’t know these things? Well, Nicodemus, like the other Pharisees, had really not examined the Word of God in light of how God wanted them to interpret it. So he was struggling with what it meant and Jesus had to explain to him in great depth what it meant to be born again, what it meant to be a follower of Christ. And we see that Nicodemus did get it because he and Joseph of Arimathea went and got the body of Christ and took it off the cross and it was buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s grave who was also a Pharisee.
And we see that these men did get it but they were in the minority. The vast majority of the Pharisees did not because they really didn’t want to know. Then we see verse 14, the second woe.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Jesus also calls these men hypocrites. And a hypocrite is someone who says one thing but does another. They put pretenses on their life and try to get you to believe they’re one type of person when really their heart is totally different.
And Jesus is strong. These are strong words he’s using. Hypocrites is not an easy word and it’s a word that is very filled with condemnation.
And he says woe is also another word which means judgment come upon you. Judgment come upon you, you scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites for ye devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Why did they make long prayers? So they could be noticed.
It wasn’t that they really wanted to communicate with God. They wanted people to say wow, is that guy a prayer warrior? Can that guy pray? He really must be close to God. But they really weren’t close to God at all.
And the other thing is it says that they came against widows’ houses. Well, what did they do? How did they do that? You devour widows’ houses. Well, there was a term that they had and if they said this term it meant that you couldn’t that the money or the thing would be given to the temple.
And when they had even their own parents they would use this term so that their inheritance they could get early and then they’d say they were giving it to the temple but it would end up lining their pockets. And they really would the very things that he’s accusing the hypocrites of is what false teachers in the church do today. They devour women’s houses, old women’s houses.
You have the prosperity gospel today where they say if you just give us your money God will bless you. Give us your money. Send us $1,000 and God will have to give you X number of dollars back.
Send us money and we’ll send you a handkerchief that we’ve prayed over so that you’ll know God answered your prayers request. Lies. And they do it to gain the money and wealth of women and they really they’re the ones that they’re supposed to be looking out for.
The Pharisees did the same thing. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye compass the sea and land to make one proselyte and when you made him ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. What is Jesus saying? Aren’t we supposed to go out and proclaim the gospel? Well we are but we’re not supposed to go out and proclaim a false gospel.
And you see that even today you see people in the church that proclaim a false gospel and they get people to believe in all kinds of wrong doctrines and they don’t look to God but rather they look to the the instructor or the teacher. When you look at the letters that Paul wrote to the church it’s interesting. I was talking to one of the speakers up at Winnipeg a number of years ago and we were talking about New Testament writers and he said do you know something when you go to Israel and if you talk to if you get some of these rabbis to talk to you they’ll say the one person I really have a problem with in the New Testament what you refer to as your New Testament is this Paul.
And the reason they do is Paul speaks against everything that they are standing for. Paul talks about the fact that he teaches the true gospel he talks about the fact that he was just like them and was going about seeking to destroy the Christians and yet God saved him and when he saved him he made an apostle for the Gentiles and he brings the true message and he talks about not to be like the world or have the attitudes of the world and put religious terms on them but rather were to truly be transformed by the character of God. They don’t like that.
They like to be the rabbis that we listen to our rabbis we don’t quote the scripture but we quote rabbis so and so says such and such and that’s why we live the way we live. Well he calls them hypocrites and they take and teach their disciples that they make how to live that way as well and they take them closer to hell than heaven because the only way you can gain heaven is through Jesus Christ and they will not acknowledge him. Verse 16 Woe unto you ye blind guides which say whosoever shall swear by the temple it is nothing but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple he is a debtor.
Ye fools and blind for whether it is greater the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold and whosoever shall swear by the altar it is nothing but whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it he is guilty. Ye fools and blind for whether it is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift. Whosoever therefore shall swear by the altar swear by it and by all things therein.
Here is a cleaned-up, structured, and more readable version that keeps your meaning and strengthens the flow:
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Now, first of all, if they truly believed the Word of God, they would not be swearing by anything at all. We are not supposed to swear by anything—our “yes” is to be yes, and our “no” is to be no. That is what the Scriptures teach.
Yet they were swearing—and not by what was greater, but by what was lesser.
Jesus points this out: when looking at the temple, do you swear by the temple itself, or by the gold of the temple? They chose the gold. They looked at the beauty, the riches, and the outward splendor—and swore by that. But they would not swear by the temple itself.
Why? Because the temple represented God. It was the symbol of His presence and His relationship with the nation of Israel. To swear by the temple meant acknowledging that relationship. Instead, they chose the gold—missing the entire purpose of the temple. It was never about the gold; it was about a relationship with God.
The same was true of the altar. They emphasized the gift, but not the altar. Yet the altar is what sanctifies the gift. The gift is placed upon the altar—therefore, the altar is greater.
Jesus makes it clear: whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by all things upon it.
We are reminded of Abraham. When God made a promise to him, He swore by Himself—because He could swear by no greater. God’s promises are grounded in His own nature. He is true, and His Word is true.
But these men would not tie their commitments to God. Instead, they tied them to things associated with men—lesser things.
Jesus teaches that whoever swears by the temple swears by the One who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.
The lesson is clear: always look to the greater, not the lesser.
But that is not our natural tendency. We often elevate what we can see—people, possessions, outward things—above God. We hear men speak, but neglect God’s Word. We give more weight to the visible than to the eternal.
Jesus is calling us back: look to what is of God, not what is of man.
Then He continues:
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law—judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”
They were meticulous in the smallest details. They would count out their spices to the exact tenth—not one seed more, not one less. They were determined to get it precisely right.
But while they were careful in the smallest matters, they neglected the greatest ones.
They showed no mercy.
They lacked true judgment.
They had no real faith.
They did not believe in Jesus. They did not trust Him. And they refused to show compassion to others. Through His parables, Jesus exposed them—again and again—and they knew He was speaking about them.
They had reduced godliness to outward precision—counting seeds—while ignoring the inward reality of a heart right with God.
Jesus says, yes, they should have tithed—but not at the expense of what matters most.
Then He gives a striking picture:
“You blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.”
They were careful to remove the smallest impurity—the tiniest “gnat” of what they considered unrighteousness. Yet at the same time, they were swallowing a camel—embracing things far more serious that were leading them away from God.
And they could not see it.
It is like the man who tries to remove a speck from another’s eye, while a beam is in his own. He is blind to his own condition, yet focused on the smallest fault in someone else.