Today on the Verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Hypocrite denotes a fraud, a pretender, especially one who pretends to be pious, spiritual, virtuous, and religious.
Someone who pretends to be more spiritual than others. We would say that a hypocrite is a phony. Welcome to the Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. Did you know that some of the strongest words of condemnation by Jesus are directed against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees? Today on the Verdict, we continue our study in Matthew by taking a closer look at the warnings given by Jesus and the characteristics of hypocrisy.
So let's join Pastor John Monroe as he introduces his message. Woe to you, hypocrites! Very few of us would admit to being a hypocrite, but the reality is that often we are hypocritical. It's very easy to see hypocrisy in others. People try to be extra spiritual, but what about their heart?
All of us try to look good, as it were, in certain circumstances, but outright hypocrisy is a serious sin and condemned very strongly by Jesus, as we'll see today. We're looking at Matthew twenty-three, where Jesus clearly condemns the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees.
Now, this is a strong warning, isn't it interesting? That the greatest denunciation by Jesus is not to the corrupt tax collectors or the immoral prostitutes, but to religious leaders.
So let's listen to Jesus as he denounces hypocrites. A common reason that's given for people not coming to church is that they say the church is full of hypocrites.
Well, I'm a pastor. I know the kind of people who come to church, and I readily concede that there are hypocrites in churches. And today we're going to learn about hypocrisy. It's a serious message, a serious passage. One of the most convicting, I think, in all of Scripture.
So I invite you to open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 23. Here Jesus is condemning the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees. Matthew refers to hypocrisy much more than Mark and Luke. John in his gospel never mentions it, but here in Matthew chapter twenty-three, Jesus gives seven woes against hypocrites. Look at verse thirteen.
Now remember, here is our Savior speaking. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Verse fifteen, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Verse sixteen, woe to you, blind guides! Verse twenty three, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Verse twenty five, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Verse twenty seven. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Verse twenty-nine. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Strong, strong words. Hypocrisy is a very serious sin. And here in Matthew chapter twenty-three, we learn that Jesus sharply and strongly condemns hypocrisy.
Now, none of us like hypocrites. We all say we like authenticity. We want reality. We want honesty. And this Greek word, hypocrite, was first used, as some of you know, to describe someone who acted apart in a drama, an actor who spoke as a word under a mask.
And so the word began to be used for someone who pretends, someone who is acting a part, someone in fact who is putting on a false appearance. And here in Matthew chapter 23, hypocrite denotes a fraud, a pretender, especially one who pretends to be pious, spiritual, virtuous, and religious.
Someone. Who pretends to be more spiritual than others? We would say that a hypocrite is a phony. Any phony here? Sad reality is that this kind of hypocrite is often blind to his or her.
Hypocrisy, and as we will read, Jesus uses this word "blind." These are blind men, blind fools. He says, "Blind guides." You tell your children not to cheat at school, but do you cheat in business? You sing hymns and praise we've done this morning, but what about your language at home? Is it profane? Is it vulgar at home?
On the basketball court, when you're with your buddies, with with your friends, how do you speak then? Hypocrisy is very, very serious, and we want to take a closer look at it and listen to the words of Jesus. I'm going to say that there are five characteristics of hypocrisy.
Now, as we go through this, this is very, very convicting. I find it very convicting because it's specially written. To those who are in spiritual leadership, so as we go through this, I want you not to think of others who you think are hypocrites. I found myself doing that. I thought, well, I know that person; that's a hypocrite.
That's not the point. The hypocrite always looks down on others. The hypocrite thanks God that he's not like so and so.
So I don't want you to do that. I want you, all of us, as we go through this, to be praying to the Spirit of God to reveal any hypocrisy in my life, and don't say there is none. First of all, one characteristic of the hypocrite is that there is a difference between telling and doing, a difference between what the hypocrite says. And what he or she actually does. Let's read the first twelve verses.
Matthew twenty-three, verse one. Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.
So do and observe what they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice." 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. They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace and being called rabbi by others. But you. Are not to be called Rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself. Will be exalted.
The difference between telling and doing. The scribes and the Pharisees considered themselves the custodians, the interpreters of the Mosaic law. They knew their Bible. They studied it. They memorized it, and they interpreted it.
But did you notice verse three? Do and observe whatever they tell you. But not the works they do, for they preach but do not practice. That's hypocrisy, isn't it? Telling people to do one thing and then you yourself doing the other—hypocrites, as Jesus explains, make life very difficult for others.
They give heavy burdens to others, but they don't help. Do what I say, but don't do what I do. And notice verse five. Very key. They do all their deeds to be seen by others.
They want others to look on them and say, "Here is a spiritual man. Here is a spiritual woman." They make verse five. Their falactory is broad and their fringe is long.
Some of you have been to Israel. You have seen this. You see these little boxes. That's a falactory. You see the.
Arm wrapping, little pieces of scripture are in these boxes. You see, why would they do that? Deuteronomy chapter six. We looked at it a couple of weeks ago. As we thought of the great Jewish Shema, the confession of faith, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and your might," and so on.
And then verse eight. You shall bind them, the commandments, as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
So here we call them the phylacterys.
So here are these scribes and Pharisees. They've got huge boxes. They've got they've got a lot of strapings on their arm. The point, of course, of Deuteronomy six is that the word of God should be central. Here, these scribes and these Pharisees take this very literally, and they want others to know how spiritual they are by having a broad phylactery.
And having long fringes, long tassels on their clothes. In Deuteronomy fifteen, the instruction was: you are to remember the commandments. And one way to do that was to put, as it were, a fringe on your garment, so that the word of God would be central. It wouldn't just be read in the synagogue, but it would be before you. That's the point of it.
Ah, but the hypocrites. Wants people to admire, wants people to applaud their spirituality. Look how spiritual I am! They want the best seats in the synagogues. They love to be greeted for their spirituality.
They love their titles. You know, this lot of people like the title. Here is the rabbi. Here is the father, and so on. They want to be the authority.
They want a personal following.
Now, Jesus is not saying that we don't have respect for our teachers and their fathers. Obviously, we do. We know that. But the point is, all of us are imperfect people, and we are. Says Jesus, "You are all brothers." I remember when I was fourteen or fifteen.
In the soccer team, we went to Malaga, Southern Spain, beautiful city, and we were playing a team in Malaga. And before the game, we were told we were going to be presented to the bishop. He had ornate clothes on, and he had his ring, and the teams were presented to the bishop, who was going to watch this display of our great soccer prowess. And we were meant to kiss his ring.
So I'm at the back of the line, watch the boys kissing the bishop's ring. The best player in our team was a man called was a boy called Solomon Garçon.
Solomon suggested, "You're right. He was Jewish." So I said to Sol, "I don't know about you, but I'm not going to kiss the ring." He said, "No, neither am I." Here was the most reverent, your grace, your excellency, bowing and kissing a ring. No, we show respect to those who authority, but we have only one father. We don't call someone father, so and so. Don't call me Father John in a spiritual sense.
No, we're all equal before God. God is our master. We serve the Lord Jesus Christ. We bow and we worship Him. And the reality of our faith is not demonstrated by titles, not by lording it over.
Did you notice verses eleven and twelve? Jesus says, "The greatest among you." You want to be great in the kingdom of heaven? We've seen this before. Be your servant. Don't have people kissing your ring.
Wearing some ornate clothes, so people can admire you and bow to you. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Here's the first characteristic then of the hypocrite: the difference between telling and doing. Second difference, verses thirteen through twenty-two, is the difference between the spiritual and the material.
Verse thirteen. But woe to you!
Now Jesus is speaking. This is strong, isn't it? 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.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. The difference between the spiritual and the material. Verse twenty, verse sixteen. Woe to you blind guides who say, if anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing.
But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he's bound by his oath. You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, if anyone swears by the altar, it's nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift that is that is on the altar, he's bound by his oath.
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it, and whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it, and whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. That stuff, isn't it? Jesus is saying to these men, these religious men, you're hypocrites. Not only will you not enter the kingdom of heaven yourself, but through your hypocrisy, through your deceitful words and actions, you're shutting out others from the kingdom of heaven. You're making it very difficult for others to come.
Here's John the Baptist. Here's the Lord. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. And these men, who should have been advising and helping people, To understand that in their very midst was the Messiah, they reject it. They are spiritually blind.
Jesus calls them blind fools. Verse seventeen, verse nineteen: "You blind men, blind to who is in your midst—the Messiah. Spiritually blind. Notice what Jesus says in verse fifteen." You make that person twice as much a child of hell as yourself. Religion impressing others—they're actual fact, children of hell.
Hypocrites concerned with the material trappings, the gold, the money, the offering, but they neglect the spiritual. One of the characteristics of the hypocrite, one of the characteristics of the false teacher, is materialism, is love of money. And so, one of the qualifications for the elder in the church is that he is not to be a lover of money. But the hypocrite loves money, and the use religion. To exploit people for their own benefit, for their own material benefit, Paul refers to those who are peddlers of God's word.
Second Corinthians two. They use religion, they use Christ, they use the church to manipulate people to get what they want. The difference between the spiritual and the material. Here's the third one. The difference.
Between focusing on the minors and focusing on the majors, just think of it. Applying these things to yourself, are you someone in your faith in the Christian life? You're majoring on the minors, and in so doing, you're neglecting that which is major and that which is important. You see what you mean, verse twenty-three. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law—justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat! And swallowing a camel. The difference between focusing on the minors and focusing on the majors.
Here are the scribes and the Pharisees. They know their Bibles. They know they're to give a tithe of all they have, and they are so meticulous that they, in fact, Give a tithe of the herbs, the mint and dill and cumin. Was that wrong? No, that's not wrong.
That's right. What's their problem? Not that they tithe; that that's according to the to the mosaic law, but they neglect the very essence of the law. Oh, they are very pedantic. They're very particular.
They're very meticulous. Notice, I'm even giving ten percent of the herbs that I have. Jesus is saying, "Yeah, that's good, but in so doing, you're neglecting the weightier matters of the law. What are these? Justice and mercy and faithfulness." That's the law.
To be just, to be honest, to be authentic. Are you just? Are you a just person? How about mercy? You someone who extends mercy to others?
Dads, do these children see mercy in you? Your hard taskmaster. Those employers here. Do you show mercy to an employee who's messed up in our relationships with others in the church? People stumble, people mess up.
How do you respond? Justice, mercy, and faithfulness—that's it. Being a person of your word, person of commitment—you you follow through. You're a faithful person. That's what's important in the law.
And their legalistic and meticulous interpretation of the law demonstrates their hypocrisy. See, the hypocritical legalist wants everyone to know how meticulously they observe the minor issues. Straining out a nut—no one wants to swallow a nut. That's a nasty little thing. No problem in straining out the nut.
The problem is, as you do that, you are swallowing the camel. Do you get the point? The trivial becomes the most important. That's where you focus, and when you are focusing on that, you are swallowing the camel. Nut being the smallest creature in Israel at the time, the camel being the largest.
It's a brilliant illustration by Jesus, isn't it? And you know, and I know, in a Christian life, we sometimes are guilty of that, aren't we? You may be guilty of that in raising your children. We may be guilty of that as a church. It's very easy, isn't it, to get caught up with the outward legalistic practices and rituals.
And neglect compassion and justice and love and righteousness. Rules and regulations and laws and rituals and policies must never become an end in themselves. Majoring on the minors without a living relationship with God in faith that breeds hypocrisy. That's the third one. The difference between focusing on the minors and focusing on the majors.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? This is a tough passage, isn't it? We may feel condemned. As in all likelihood, there is some hypocrisy in our lives. As I went through some of the characteristics of hypocrisy, how did you come out?
Do you find yourself saying one thing and doing another? Is there a big difference between what comes from your lips and what is deep in your heart? Praise God that Jesus comes not to condemn the world, but to save the world.
So. Confess any sin today, and look to the Savior. Thanks for joining us today on the Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
