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Take your Bibles once again and turn to Matthew 23 Matthew 23 now if you've been here for the last two weeks We've gone through Matthew 21 Matthew 22 now. We're up to Matthew 23 and really you could you could Put these these chapters side by side It's basically Jesus just going to head to head against his enemies You know just non-stop okay, and now that we get to Matthew 23 we get to the climax Well you know in Matthew 21 He's basically telling these Unsaved Christ rejecting Pharisees that the kingdom of God's been taken away from them And it's been given to another nation. It's been given to the spiritual nation of believers on Christ And then when we looked at Matthew 22 We saw that the Pharisees and the Sadducees would send their minions to go and try to trip up Jesus and his words and Jesus would come looking good You know answering their questions But never speaking In a way that they can attack him or arrest him or anything like that and he asks them a question at the end of It and they can't answer and the Bible says they don't ask him any more questions And then now in Matthew 23 Jesus just unleashes on them. He basically just calls them reprobate Okay, and this is a teaching that you don't hear very often There are a lot of churches that teach it But a lot of people just shy away from teaching this doctrine of reprobates and the doctrine of reprobates is someone Alright now let me just make something very clear before I say this when Jesus Christ came to die on the cross He died for the sins of all mankind of all mankind. Okay for for God So loved the world. Okay, everybody in the world from Abel to the last person that would be born You know Jesus Christ came and died for them But they can come a point in time where someone continually just rejects the Lord Jesus Christ Just rejects him just hates God Okay God has shown the light of truth to them and they reject him completely and what does God do when they reject him that far? Then God rejects them God rejects them and they become reprobate now think about this I mean anybody that is cast into hell is a reprobate once they're cast into hell without Christ There's no way for them to get out They're gonna be tormented forever and ever and ever in the lake of fire They're reprobate in that sense But there are people on this earth today that prior to being cast into hell fire They're still walking this earth, but they're actually reprobate already. They've already been rejected by God Okay, and one of one of the one of the groups of people that are this way in our world are the homosexuals You know are the LGBT community the reason they are the way they are It's not that they've committed a sin of homosexuality and God's rejected them It's that they were rejected by God because they rejected him and then they've gone into in their weakness in the last alone They're on hearts. They've gone into a wicked lifestyle This is the same thing for child molesters for pedophiles the same thing for serial killers those that are you know I'm not saying the one-off murder, but people that just sit there that they find satisfaction They find meaning in life to go and just kill human beings for no reason You know except for their own pleasure these people are reprobate They're committing like we all struggle with sin, but they're committing sins that the natural man does not want to do Okay, the natural man does not want to be with a little child the natural man does not want to be with a another man The natural man doesn't want to go around committing murder. You know serial murder and things like that Hey, these people are reprobate. They've been rejected by God and what we're seeing this chapter are these Christ rejecting Pharisees Now Jesus says to them. You're rejected. You're rejected by God, and if you're like come on pastor Kevin is that true? You'll see as we go through this chapter. It's definitely true. Okay. We'll see by this chapter Let's start off with let's look at verse number 13 first Matthew 23 verse 13 Just the first few words there it says, but woe unto you the title for the sermon tonight is woe unto you And of course these this woe would come upon these Christ rejecting Pharisees look at verse number one Matthew 23 verse 1 then spake Jesus to the multitude remember. He's in the temple. He's teaching his multitude of people there There's saved as unsaved as Pharisees all those kinds of things There's the chief rulers of the temple then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses as sits as it seats All therefore whatsoever thou bid you observe that observe and do but do not ye after their works For they say and do not Now here's the thing the Pharisees and the scribes they were teachers of the law They were there as religious leaders and Jesus is about them. They're in Moses's seats, okay in other words They've got Moses's authority Moses was a teacher Moses was a leader, okay, but they're not like Moses They're not like Moses. He says look whatsoever therefore Whatever they bid you observe that observe and do so what they're teaching is Okay, the things that they're teaching in the law of God is okay, he says yes, they're teaching okay things the things that you They're doing yeah Go and do it because they have the authority of Moses I said, but then he turns around says about them They but do not ye after their works for they say and do not so they teach they say hey You need to do this you need to do that you need to keep this law you need to whatever it is This is the way you do things in the temple But they themselves do not do the things that they teach in other words these guys are just full-blown hypocrites Full-blown hypocrites and one thing that I that I recognize as a pastor and it's something very important for you guys Whichever pastor you put yourself under that pastor or that teacher is in Moses's seat Okay, and you need to make sure the person you listen to the person you put yourself under is someone that says and does the word Okay, that's something that's a reminder for me as well as your pastor that I can't get so comfortable and just teach the word Of God without me trying to live out the word of God as well But does that mean that you know I'm perfect, and I'm never making a make enough Look we're all gonna make mistakes none of us are gonna be perfectly you know living in accordance to God standards We do our best okay, and just because there's something in the Bible that I need to preach But maybe I'm lacking in it doesn't matter my job is to teach the entire word of God But of course you know I'm not trying to and this is if anyone becomes a religious leader if anyone takes on a leadership Role in a church especially the pastor you need to remember you're in Moses's seat and people are expecting you to do the things that you Teach all right, and if you don't well you're like these Christ rejecting Pharisees all right. Let's keep reading Let's keep reading verse number four for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and Lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers And they put all these rules and regulations on people's shoulders that they can't bear it They can't carry it and they won't do it themselves I mean that that's that's pretty pretty horrible keep your finger there and turn to the book of Acts, please acts 15 Because this is this gets covered a little bit in the book of Acts acts 15 Now In acts 15 there's a argument about about salvation about what does it mean to be saved? You know do you have to do the works of the Lord you need to be circumcised all these questions came up And this is what's addressed by Peter in acts 15 verse 10 Acts 15 verse 10 look look how it's very similar to the Pharisees says here now therefore Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples? Which neither our fathers nor we are able to bear But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We shall be saved even as they So verse 11 here we talk about salvation and Peter says look It's by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and verse 11 said But we believe that through the grace right salvation is by grace through faith All right, and there are certain people that were putting burdens on the disciples Well you've got to do this you've got to keep this law you got to be circumcised You got to keep the Holy Days you got to keep the Sabbath days They'll go in bringing people back under the law and these were heavy burdens to bear Because salvation is not by the works of the law it never has been look look that verse look at verse number 10 It's never it never has been look at this Now therefore why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples look at this which neither our fathers Nor we are able to bear so even the fathers of the Apostles even the prior Generations of the Old Testament they know they weren't able to bear the law. That's why they had to it says there That's why they believed That through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that I shall be saved Okay, you understand that so even the Old Testament Israelites knew they couldn't be saved with the law It's too much of a burden to bear and they knew that salvation was by grace through faith, okay? Go back to Matthew 23 Knowing that and seeing the similarity there, okay? Should we strive to be lawful people should we strive to do the commands of God absolutely? But what these Pharisees then messed up is saying well by these laws by keeping these commandments That's your way of salvation. That's how you get grace by God. No the grace of God is received through faith Okay now back to Matthew 23 verse verse 5 Matthew 23 verse 5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men They make broad the phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. Do you guys know what phylacteries are? In in modern-day Judaism I don't know if you ever seen where the Jews put a little box on their forehead a Little box and then they put like this this stuff around or maybe around their arm They've got a little box in their arm They wrap it around their arm, and they've kind of well that little box contains scriptures Okay, and they've taken something from the book of Deuteronomy I believe something that's something about you know keeping the the law of God Like on your foreheads in front of your eyes I'm like I kind of I'm paraphrasing a little bit now But they take it very literally so they get writings or scripture and put in a little box They can't read it anyway And they stick it to their heads and on their arms, and they think that that's they're being righteous by doing that okay? But what Jesus says here about doing that he says they do it to be seen of men Okay the Pharisees they pretend to be holy they pretend to be righteous to be seen of men And they enlarge the borders of their garments. I mean these guys are wearing dresses these guys are wearing skirts Okay, and this is something you'll notice we have a lot of false religion right? How do the priest the Catholic priest dress and they've got their long robes? They've got their dresses, right? I don't know what do they buy what do you buy that kind of stuff? You know and I mean there's so many even the Muslims They love to wear their long robes and their long dresses and walk around like that because they want to be seen of men It makes them feel like they're holy makes them feel like they're special in the eyes of God and look at me I'm so righteous because I've got my long flowing garments on and that's why I don't dress like that I don't put on a skirt right I don't put it well number one. It's a woman's dress right It's a woman's clothing, but number two Jesus commands us not to do it It's funny because everything that the false religions do it's like Jesus says don't do it, and they well Let's just do it. It's just it's crazy. It's so unusual. You know, but anyway verse number six What else do they do and love the uttermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues? Okay, they love the chief seats I love the important prominent positions why verse number seven and greetings in the marketplace and so to be called of men Rabbi rabbi they want to be called rabbi rabbi means master you soon see they wouldn't be called master They want to be elevated. They want to be important like a spiritual importance master rabbi rabbi And then verse eight, but be not ye called rabbi for one is your master even Christ and all Ye are brethren Jesus look you're all the same. You're all equal. You know I'm your pastor, but I'm your brethren I'm your brother don't come and call me master. I'm not your master the only master You should be calling master is Christ says they're even Christ says an all year brethren. This is important This is this is what's going to prevent? Religious leaders church leaders from being puffed up by remembering. Hey, I'm just a brother in Christ You know I'm just here to serve the brethren you know I'm here with an important position that God has given me but the only master the only one deserving to be called master of course is Jesus Christ and Then verse number nine and call no man your father upon the earth for one is your father Which is in heaven again the Roman Catholics? What do they like to be called father? Father they don't even get married. They're not allowed to have kids they can't have kids and they won't be called father What in the world? You know they want to be called father now look this is some people get this wrong say well Can I not call my earthly father father? No, of course the context is important here the context is the religious leaders the spiritual titles you give to religious leaders don't call them father because of course we have one father that's God the father which is in heaven and Verse number 10 neither be ye called masters for one is your master even Christ But he that is greatest among you you shall be sorry among You shall be your servants and whose server shall exalt himself shall be abased and he that shall humble himself Shall be exalted so Jesus Christ he teaches about humility and what's the opposite of humility? Pride basically saying these Pharisees. They're full of pride They're puffed up you know and again if you ever take a position of leadership in a church You got you can't be someone of pride now am I gonna say you're never gonna have pride We all have pride we all have an ego. We don't like being told we're wrong we don't like that you know usually the flesh gets in the way, but we need to be people that are able to put that Aside and humble ourselves and again when I stand here preaching the Word of God yes I have the authority in the church But I do that as a servant you know the reason I go and study the Word of God is not to show off I don't want you guys to think I'm great You know what I want you to do is just Appreciate the Word of God and know when I put a lot of study when I preach with my heart you guys know Pastor Kevin's doing this because he loves us pastor Kevin's doing this because he's trying to serve us the Word of God He's serving us as a servant to the brethren and that's the position of leadership in a church For you to be a servant to the Brethren not for you to show off the only person I'm going to be boasting about is Jesus Christ you know and him crucified So this is lessons of humility the Bible said there in verse 12 whoso shall exalt themselves himself shall be abased And of course that happens many pastors many preachers lift themselves up with pride And then you find out some horrible truth something comes out and now they're being abased by God Okay, they lifted themselves up and God is the one that brought him down, okay? And it says he that shall humble himself shall be exalted, so I'm going to do the best I can to humble myself Hopefully the Lord was exalting me in his due time wherever that is you know it doesn't matter as long as it's the Lord doing it I don't want to be doing it myself verse number 13 And this is the first woe but woe unto you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men He says look you're preventing people from going into the kingdom of heaven Okay, what they're preaching a false gospel. They're preaching a gospel of works of keeping the Old Testament laws Okay, they're rejecting Christ. It's Christ the only way you can be saved They're rejecting him it says look you're turning people against the king of heaven It says for ye neither go in yourselves neither suffer or allow ye them that are entering to go in So there are people that want to go in they want to know what must I do to be saved and these Pharisees are Preventing them from knowing the truth there are people coming to know Christ. Oh Jesus is at the temple I want to go there and listen to him preach. I want to see what he says the Pharisees no no no He's a false prophet. You know he doesn't know what he's talking about hey They're preventing people from knowing the truth all right now You know I always tie in soul winning somewhere, and this is what I'm going to tie it in okay Because there are if you're not soul winning if a New Life Baptist Church is not soul winning I tell you who's soul winning the Mormons okay the Jehovah Witnesses Okay, they're the ones going out giving their false gospel Okay, and they're causing people to be shut up from the kingdom of heaven I mean how have you ever knocked on the door of a full-blown JW? Or a Mormon they're almost impossible to get saved Okay, they're so hardened against the the scriptures. They're so hard and against the gospel of Christ You know they've completely swallowed the false teaching and what you soon see here is Oh, we'll cover it soon in verse 15. Let's just keep reading. Let's keep reading verse 14 Well unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you devour widows houses and for pretense make long prayer Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation Look is this saying you got a chance to be saved you still have a chance as long as you're breathing Pharisees you know just to the last moment before you die you can still be saved no Jesus here Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation Are you gonna receive it? There's no days. It's too late for you You start to see this as we go through the chapter okay, but it says here that they devour widows houses now I don't fully understand this. I don't know what kind of authority the scribes and the Pharisees had over widows My takeaway on this is is potentially because widows obviously that don't have a husband. They don't have that male leadership Perhaps they've entrusted the religious leaders the Pharisees and trusted them with their property That's what that's how I see it. They probably entrusted these religious leaders with their property as you look after me. I'm a widow I don't have a husband. Can you please help me out and these guys yep? We'll do it, and then they take it under them completely take away the property for themselves and leave these widows without homes And of course Jesus Christ says they also make long prayers You know that they like to be seen as holy making long fancy prayers And it says you receive the greater damnation okay verse number 15 now look at this Woe unto you the third woe woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites For you can pass sea and land to make one proselyte what that means is you you go to all lengths To convert one to your faith to you convert one to your religion you go land and see you you do everything you can To have a convert for yourself, but then it says and when he is made You make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves He tells look to the Pharisees you're already a child of hell and these converts that you're making They're twofold more the child of hell now. This is I'll show you soon. This is a reprobate Okay, keep your finger there and turn to the book of Jude June verse 11 the book of Jude Now if you're familiar with the book of Jude the book of Jude is about false prophets false teachers You know wolves in sheep's clothing, okay? If you want to know what a false prophets like just read the book of Jude It'll give you a lot of information about it, but let's go to Jude verse 11 Remember they make their proselytes or their converts It said twofold more the child of hell than yourselves twofold more. What is that about look at Jude 11 and Remember how Jesus said to them woe unto you now look how Jude 11 starts off woe unto them Okay for they have gone in the way of Cain remember Cain killed Abel He tried to be saved by his works. He brought his offering of works. Hey, this guy was unsaved This guy had a false religion But then it says and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward So they're after money and perished in the gains saying of Corey From the story about Corey. He was basically the earth opened up Swell them whole and they went physically down into hell. Okay, so these are people that are damned, but let's number 12 These are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear Look they want to feast with you feeding themselves without fear Clouds are they without water carried about of winds trees whose fruit withereth without fruits twice dead Plucked up by the roots Hey these false prophets twofold more the child of hell and twice dead Okay, this is the same teaching being taught here now. This is what I want you to understand Your regular unbeliever out there your regular unsaved person or when you were unsaved, okay? You were dead spiritually. Okay, every child that's born into the world is alive Spiritually if you read look read Romans 7 this will make make sense to you But when they understand this sinful condition when you understand that you've broken the laws of God you die spiritually Okay, you're once dead is what I'm saying. You're once dead. Okay, you die once spiritually But of course you're going about life in your physical body. All right. Now if you were twice dead Let's say you were dead spiritually and then you die physically Where are you gonna be you're gonna be in hell you're gonna be definitely hell, okay This is why it's important for you to be born again. Okay, the new spirit must be born again. So when this old flesh dies The living spirit will go and be with the Father and one day God will give us the new resurrected bodies Okay, so he's saying look these guys they're walking the earth. They're not physically dead, but they're already twice dead They're already damned like they're not physically in hell But as far as God's concerned They're in hell as far as God is concerned. They're damned the woe is upon them and There's no chance for them. They're not gonna make it anymore They're twice gone twice dead and that's what these Pharisees are doing by their teaching They're teaching of works the teaching of being anti-christ Okay, turning people against Christ is causing the bear converse to be twice dead You know twice the child of hell as it said in Matthew 23 Go back to Matthew 23 now Matthew 23. I hope you can see that if you have any questions, of course You know, you can always ask me Okay But as we get toward the end of the chapter you'll see clearer You'll see more and more of the clarity of these people being reprobate verse number 16 Verse number 16 the Bible says woe unto you you 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 dead tongue now before I keep reading I just explain what this means might go over your head a little bit But the Pharisees were teaching if you make a promise if you swear, you know I not not swear like cussing but like swear like you make an oath you make a promise to God about something He says if you made the promise by the temple and if you say well, you know God I promise You know by this temple that I will Do this for you? They're saying That it is nothing in verse 16. Like if you break that promise, it's okay But then they say what they're teaching is but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple He is a debtor. So if you say God by the God of this temple, I promise to do X Y and Z Then you have to keep it. Okay. So what they're saying is the gold essentially is more important than the temple Okay. Now what now what does Jesus say you can just say I mean, these are just silly teachings, right? You can just see but look at verse 17. What does Jesus say about their teaching? You fools and blind for whether is greater the gold or the temple that sanctify of the gold Okay, what's more important? Like if you just had gold? Yes, it's valuable. But if you just if I just got a lump of gold bang there. Yes, it's valuable But what's more important the gold or the temple which is the house of God, you know in accordance to the Old Testament? Now the house of God in the New Testament is a local congregation. It's the church, you know What would be more important you think the gold or the church? Of course Church is more important than money Church is more important than than wealth Okay, but what makes the gold in the temple important is the fact that it's in the temple It's being used for temple use it's being used for worship and service of the Lord So they've got their their priorities are mixed up and got Jesus just showing them their hypocrisy just showing them their error So if that makes sense you keep reading here verse number 17 verse 18 sorry 18 and whosoever shall swear by the altar Now the altars where they would offer sacrifices remember that swear by the altar It is nothing but whosoever swereth by the gift that is upon it. He is guilty So if you made an oath by the altar the same way if you break it, it's nothing But if you swear by the gift the the sacrifice that's on the altar. Well now you got to keep it Okay, and again, it's the same idea, you know a sacrifice, you know a let's say an animal Let's say a sacrifice of an animal creature the shin of blood You can do that anywhere. It's it's not important where it is important in the sight of God in the Old Testament Is that it would be offered upon the altar. That's the altar that gave the sacrifice importance Okay, and Jesus Christ is teaching them this and I'll take a practical lesson for us very soon But then verse 19 verse 19 you fools and blind for whether is greater the gift or the Altar that sanctify of the gifts who so therefore shall swear by the altar Swereth by it and by all things there on okay So gold and sacrifice is meaningless without it being in its proper place when it comes to worshiping the Lord Okay. Now I know this is Old Testament teaching. Okay, Old Testament teaching But uh, let's have a look Sorry, let's let's read verse 21 Let's get read verse 21 verse 22 verse 21 and who so shall swear by the temple Swereth by it and by him that dwelleth therein and he that shall swear by heaven Swereth by the throne of God and by him that sit if they're on so Jesus basically saying Regardless of where what you swear on, you know, you've got to keep you got to keep that You know, if you make it off you make a promise you you swear to do something, you know Especially before the Lord you ought to be someone that carries it out regardless of what you swear it on Okay is what he's saying, but you say well, is that what we should do? Should we go around swearing and making promises and oaths, you know to the Lord, you know, like the you know, the you know the Nazarites, you know of the past like Samson, you know where he would you know Swear an oath basically to not cut his hair not to eat grapes and and not to eat honey and do all these things Because he was called to be a judge for the Lord, you know, should we be should we be making swearing things? Should we be doing that? Well, if you can go back to Matthew 5, please Matthew 5 we already covered this before but just to remind ourselves Matthew 5 verse 33 Let's just see because we saw basically what the Pharisees are teaching But we want to see what Christ teaches about swearing and oath. Okay, Matthew 5 33 Matthew 5 33 Again you have heard it you sorry you have heard that it had been said by them of old time Thou shall not forswear thyself, but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths, but I say unto you Swear not at all Neither by heaven for it is God's throne Nor by the earth for it is his footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great King Neither shall thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black Let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh for evil So what Jesus teaches is basically don't swear at all don't make offs don't make promises let your conversation be yay Yay, nay, nay, you know someone comes and asks you to do something and you can do it. Yes I can definitely do this. Yay. All right, and if you can't do it nay That's how that's how Jesus says we ought to be but we shouldn't make an off say, you know brother You know pastor Kevin can you do this for me? I know I can't or it's gonna be very difficult. Yep I'll do it, you know, I promise to do that Hey, that would be wrong of me because I don't really know if I'm able to accomplish that I'll do that Okay, so basically, you know the teaching of Jesus is that if we're confident we can do it Yes, if you're not confident just say no let's say no is what Jesus teaching, you know Don't make these these vain oaths that you can't keep So that's the teaching of Christ I just wanted to show you the comparison of Christ teaching with the teaching of the Pharisees Now this is also why we don't have altar calls in the church Do you guys know what altar calls are if you've been to churches in the past? Maybe some other Baptist churches what sometimes happens a lot of pastors find Success if they can get people to come to the front and pray and confess and commit and make oaths All right, this is why they call it the altar call right and and in order to do that They'll preach a very emotionally driven messages, you know, really just want to get to your heart brother I just want to you know, get you on the conviction if I get you under enough conviction. We've enough emotion Maybe you'll come to the front here and and commit to the Lord or you know Give yourself to the Lord or something like that. Look, I don't do this in this in this church And I don't even believe it's biblical. Okay. I don't believe it's biblical to do that They call this an altar call. Okay, come into the front. There you go. You care pastor Kevin You're losing your mind take your Bible and turn to Hebrews 13, please Hebrews 13 First of all lesson number one Jesus says don't make offs Okay, and that's what the altar call usually is Someone will come to the Lord and say Lord I'm gonna I'm gonna serve you for the rest of my life I'm gonna I'm going to I'm gonna take on full-time ministry, you know I feel like calling me to do that and Lord on that's what I'm gonna do people make those Promises that people make those oaths and oh so many people don't keep them. Okay, and that's what it is It's the altar call and we already saw that point number one. Jesus says don't do it. Let your conversation be yay Yay, nay, nay, okay point number two turn to Hebrews 13 verse 10. I think you guys turn that ready Hebrews 13 verse 10 And if you know the book of Hebrews, it's a it's very important book, you know He clarifies the differences with the Old Testament practices and the New Testament and in this chapter, you know Paul is I believe it's Paul that writes the book of Hebrews is Explaining the Old Testament altar versus the New Testament altar and he says here in verse 10 We have an altar Hey New Testament Christians you have an altar Okay, is that the altar call? Yeah, you know to come here guys and come again and and make your commitments to the Lord Is that the altar? No, it says you have an altar. We have an altar and then Whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle because of course if you know that how things operate under the Old Testament The sacrifices I will put on the altar, you know, they would then be taken by the Levites and be eaten No beef their food, you know, there would be the food that would be given to the tribe of Levi as well. And so he says look this is an altar where they don't eat off It's not a place where you come and and and give your sacrifices and eat of the food and then it says in verse number 11 For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are Burned without the camp So it gives us this illustration that once the sacrifice was over that would take all the leftovers of the animal the guts The fat whatever would be left that wouldn't be eaten They'll take that outside of the camp and burn it to a crisp totally burn it, you know outside of the camp Wherefore verse 12 wherefore Jesus also So Jesus also did the same thing that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gates So just like that Old Testament Sacrifice that would be burnt to a crisp outside the camp the Bible says that Jesus suffered without the gates Hey, he suffered outside the gates of Jerusalem. He was whipped He was tried in Jerusalem But then when he was crucified he was taken outside of the gates of Jerusalem That's what it's saying yet without the gate or outside of the gate verse 13 and Before I read verse 13, that's our altar. Okay when he was taken outside of the gate. He was crucified on the cross That's our altar that's our sacrifice Okay. So if you say man, are you gonna have an altar call in the church? Well, the altar is salvation because you better apply that sacrifice that God gave us You better believe in the Lord Jesus Christ on the shedding of blood because that's your altar That's where you're meant to you know, commit yourself to because you're placing your faith there on Jesus Christ and verse 13 Says let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come by him Therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name But to do good and to communicate forget not for we've such sacrifices God is well pleased. Hey, what is now now that we've accepted the sacrifice of God We've placed our faith upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. What's our sacrifice? What did it say there? It said to do good Commune and to communicate forget not for such sacrifices. God is well pleased Sorry, we also said there in verse 15 the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name Hey when we come to church and we sing the praise of God when we give thanks to God That's our sacrifice back to God That's our altar because we're looking at what he did for us and we're thanking the Lord for what he's done for us That's our sacrifice. Okay, not you coming and making some emotional decision. That's not going to help you in life What's going to help you in life what God appreciates the sacrifice he wants from you is his praise and his worship Thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus Christ Now turn to Exodus chapter 20, please Exodus chapter 20 last point last point point number one Jesus says don't make oaths point number two. Is that our altar is that is the cross not this bench or Whatever it is, you know in front of a lot of churches, but point number three Exodus chapter 20 verse 25 Exodus chapter 20 verse 25 Because the altar of the Old Testament There were certain instructions given about how it should be built and in Exodus chapter 20 verse 25 It says and if thou will make me an altar of stone Thou shall not built it on hewn stone for if thou if thou lift up thy tool upon it thou has polluted it Neither shall thou go up by steps unto mine altar Says look when you make an altar, yes, make sure it's of hewn stone, but also Don't make any steps Don't make any steps. Okay, you know why because it says look It said there in verse number 25 For if they'll lift up thy tool upon it thou has polluted it Okay, they were meant to just take stones of you know, and just place them on top of each other and that's how they made The altar but if they brought their tools to make it all nice and perfect. It's been polluted. Why? Because that's a picture of works salvation. You're bringing your labor. You're bringing your works to it Okay, and if you put steps on the altar, you know, you're making that effort to climb the steps Salvation is not by your efforts. It's not by you working Okay, or by making steps and here's the weird thing about it. Is that many churches that have their altar calls? It's on a platform. It's on a step or maybe several steps and they say come to the altar They come and there are several steps. Look Jesus said the altar is to have no steps Okay, so look the reason we don't do all the calls here those three reasons Jesus is don't make offs Okay, number two we have an altar that's the cross and number three the altar that's been done in many just day is Contrary to how God wants it an altar to be in the first place Alright, so there's a lot of traditions of men that our churches need to do away with we need to get back to biblical practices Back to Matthew 23, please. Matthew 23 verse 33 that 23 Matthew 23 23 Matthew 23 23 if you have any questions about that, please ask me. Okay, because that's obviously Not very popular teaching. Okay, but that's just how it is Matthew 23 23 Matthew 23 23 Jesus says to them once again woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tithe of mints and anus anus and Common and have a mint of the weightier matters of the law Judgment mercy and faith these ought ye have done and not leave the other undone So the Pharisees are doing something right, okay, they're given their tithe Okay, they're even given their tithe of the small herbs the little mint and common the things that they grown in the garden They're doing the right thing. They're given a tithe of that But Jesus says look you've omitted the weightier matters of the law. You're not doing the more important things, you know And what are they it said here? Judgment mercy and faith Hey, they had poor judgments. Okay, they would do things and they wouldn't do things in accordance to God's standard Mercy, they didn't have mercy for those that did not live up to their standards. We already saw that they devoured widows houses Okay, these guys had no mercy for the poor for the unfortunate and it says and faith and of course They had no faith their faith was not wasn't resting on Jesus Christ Okay, their faith was on their own performance their faith was on their own righteousness Okay, they were missing the most important things, but they were doing the little things of the Lord given the tithe now It's hard to import it. Okay. It's not saying that the tithe is wrong It's just saying that they should be doing both those things Okay, but that but they're missing the most important things verse number 24 verse number 24 Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel Okay, like they find something in the Bible to some little minor thing and they argue that what does that mean? We need to do it like that, you know, and they they it's like they That is a small little insect right and they end up swallowing a camel meaning it takes up all their time It takes up all their effort They're probably so overwhelmed but that minor detail and they're missing the things that are clear and obvious in the scriptures Let me just encourage you guys as you read through your Bibles That's you're not always going to understand what it says, okay, there are certain chapters you're gonna read It's just gonna go over your head. Don't don't stress about it. Don't strain up than that Okay, focus on the things as you read the Word of God. This is a living book It's a living book if you have the Holy Spirit in you the Holy Ghost will help you understand And if there's something you don't understand, maybe the Holy Spirit just doesn't want you to understand at this point in time Maybe the Holy Spirit just wants you to learn some of the way to your things first Maybe wants you to understand the clearer things first the foundational things first And then when you have subsequent readings then those other things will start to become clear to you Okay, but don't don't strain it than that and swallow a camel. All right verse number 25 Woe unto you I mean how many woes are them losing count well into your scribes and Pharisees hypocrites For you may clean the outside of the cup and on the platter But within they are full of extortion and excess Thou blind Pharisee cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter That the outside of them may be clean also Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye alike unto whitened sepulchres Which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity Now this is the idea of wolves and sheep's clothing Hey on the outside. They looked beautiful on the outside. They look righteous on the outside. They look like Christians Okay, and we need to be very careful. Okay, because We can have people in our church that appear very godly very righteous on the outside Okay, and let's say that's a bad thing Hey if on the outside you're reflecting Christ if on the outside you look holy and righteous You're doing the best you can to serve the Lord. That's a great thing Okay, but there are people like that that I have that are basically dead on the inside dead men's bones Okay they believe salvation is outward reformation if I can just clean up my life if I can just be a good person if I can Just walk in the ways of the Lord that outward reformation. They think that will make them right with God Okay, but salvation starts inside Salvation starts by believing in your heart okay, salvation starts with a new man the new spirit walking in the spirit and Then as you walk in the spirit as you grow as you mature the outward will start to change as well Okay, the outward will start to change now one thing that I When I started the church in Queensland, I didn't I wasn't wearing a tie. Okay, I wasn't wearing a tie I was kind of pretty much the way I'm dressed but I didn't have a tie on and then I thought no Because there's a lot of churches on the Sunshine Coast that are very, you know Pentecostal they kind of look like the way I dressed. All right, so no No, I better put them I'm gonna put on my tie so I can differentiate myself Okay, and then I started to instruct all the men in the church when you get up to preach I want you to wear a tie as well. Okay, but here's the thing. Here's the thing I didn't want people to put on a tie and a nice jacket, you know and To appear righteous on the outside and be dirty on the inside You know one thing that I instructed the men in my church was When you do get ready to get up here and preach when you put on your tie and you realize hey I look nice on the outside You better go and make sure the insides clean if you have any unconfessed sin before the Lord you better go sort that out Okay, so just as a reminder when you put the outside clothes on make sure that the inside is clean. That's more important Okay, so the inside is clean and then that will come out on the outside. All right, so verse number 29 verse number 29 Why won't you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites because you build the sorry you build the tombs of the prophets and Garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. Okay. So these Pharisees one thing they would do is they would Build tombs for the prophets of the righteous people in the in the Bible. They would look after the tombs You know, they will clean it they would put flowers You know They make it look pretty right and and they're trying to uphold the men in the past and look up to them as it were Okay they're doing that they're looking after the pit their tombs and then in verse 30 Jesus says and say What do they say? Once they look clean up the tombs and fix them all up and say if we had been in the days of our fathers We would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets So these Pharisees are basically saying hey, we wouldn't have put these prophets to death if we lived in days our father But hey if you remember as we read through the previous chapters these guys were plotting to put Jesus to death Okay, like they're saying we're not gonna like our fathers, but they're trying to put the Messiah to death I'm trying to put God to death. I mean, they're even worse. They're worse than their fathers verse 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that if ye are the children of them which killeth the prophets Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Look at this. Ye serp- Look at this if these these guys are reprobates get this in verse number 33 ye serpents ye generation of vipers How can ye escape the damnation of hell? Hey, that's a rhetorical question He's saying you're not going to escape the damnation of hell. Okay, you're damned to hell is what it's saying He's not saying like you still have a chance. I'm still here. You can still believe on me Okay. No, how are you gonna escape them? You're not going to escape them. That's what he's already saying Okay, you're not gonna escape these guys are damned to hell. Okay, and if you want further proof, come on Yes, look they can't escape. There's no escape for them. Okay. Now look hypothetically if they believed on Christ Yes, of course, they'd be saved. Okay, but the thing about a reprobate again, remember they've rejected Christ Okay, it's not that they've rejected the gospel once they've just they're wicked They've got into a part where God's done with them and God's rejected them and they can't believe Okay, it's not that if they believe they can't be saved. They can't even believe that's why they can't even believe on Christ They have God face-to-face. They have the Messiah face-to-face with them and they can't see it. They can't see it. Okay verse 34 verse 34 Wherefore behold I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucify And of course as we get to the book of Acts and we see the works of the of the Apostles Some of them were put to death by the leaders, right? I mean even even um Paul All right consented to the death of Stephen remember that and You know, these guys were persecuting the early church and indeed they're saying we wouldn't be like our fathers But then they are the ones persecuting the New Testament Church and Jesus basically prophesying of that happening And verse 34 again. Sorry. I didn't read all of it I think and some of them you shall scourge in us in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city That Upon you look upon you Pharisees may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel Look Abel all the way in the book of Genesis Abel the first not first born the second born of Adam and Eve, okay unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barakas whom ye slew between the temple and the altar So basically Jesus says look all the prophets from A to Z from Abel to that all of them Okay, you that's gonna come upon you now. They didn't go and kill these prophets They're not the ones it was their fathers But he's saying because you've rejected me because you're you're the children of your fathers The same judgment will fall upon them as though they were the ones that had killed these righteous prophets from Abel to Zacharias Look at verse 36 Verily I say unto you look look do we believe the words of Jesus or not look this is verily I say unto you truly All these things shall come upon this generation Okay, they're gonna face the judgment of the Murder of the prophets of the past from Abel all the way to Zacharias upon this generation That generation of Pharisaical Christ rejecting Jews they were done They're not going to escape the damnation of hell and they're going to face the full brunt of the wrath of God Okay, hey, they're still walking the earth They're reprobates. Okay. This is a true doctrine that you can be walking the earth and you've been rejected by God There's no chance for you. You're just as well as damned. You know, there's no chance for those people All right, Jesus is verily all these things shall come upon this generation It's not like maybe if you get saved, no, then they're not gonna get saved. Okay, they're done. They're done. All right Verse number 37 verse 37. Now. Here's the thing. Of course Jesus did come for the whole earth Of course, Jesus even died for the sins of these Pharisees Okay, and this is where you see the compassion of the Lord Okay, because do you think truly God wants people to go to hell of course not Okay, that's why Christ came Okay The love of God came and you can see the heart of Jesus once he's rebuked them once he's just told him like you're damned You're reprobate. You're not it's gonna escape hell. He says this about in verse 37 Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem Thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gatherer for chickens under her wings and ye would not So you see Jesus he made an effort, you know, he wanted to be says how often he says He tried over and over again as a mother hen to bring little chickens under her wings. He tried to be loving Compassionate he tried to give them time. He tried to be patient with them. This is but you would not okay You would not you know verse 38 behold your house is left unto you desolate and the house He's referring to Jerusalem in verse 37 because if you know your history in 70 AD Jerusalem would be burnt. The temple would be destroyed and Jesus basically prophesying of Roughly 40 years after after this what's going to happen to Jerusalem be totally wiped out, you know that great temple they rejoiced in totally destroyed the city will be burnt up to a crisp and Then verse number 39 for I say unto you You shall not see me henceforth Till ye shall say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Okay, so just to give you the timing here This is about two days before he's crucified Jesus Christ is crucified says look you're not gonna see me anymore Basically, so he says to these Pharisees Till you shall say this is an interesting thing till you say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord When you say those words, then you'll see me. That's what he's saying. What's that about? Well, if you remember when he came into Jerusalem riding on the donkey What were all the all his believers saying they were saying exactly that right? They were saying blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, right? They're saying Hosanna to the highest they were saying those exact words as a believer as believers But here's the thing even non-believers even those rejected even those in hell one day are going to acknowledge that Jesus Christ Came in the name of the Lord that Jesus Christ is Lord We'll end on this please take your Bibles and turn to Philippians chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 verse 9 Because you might be wondering is that is he saying that well he's just damned them to hell He's saying now Well, maybe you will get saved if you say blessed be blessed to see that comes name Lord. No go to Philippians 2 verse 9 Philippians chapter 2 verse 9 The Bible says wherefore God also have highly exalted him speaking of Jesus and given him a name Which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Okay, so the Bible tells us in verse 10 Every per every creature in heaven every creature in the earth and everything under the earth. What's under the earth? Hell, okay, everyone that's been damned every reprobate will bow their knee one day and just say Jesus Christ is Lord They're just gonna have to accept it. They're just gonna put you know, but instead of except, you know saying it enjoy Man, it's gonna be in torment and it's going to be it's gonna be a disaster for them to finally acknowledge That's who Jesus Christ was we rejected this him the whole time we're doomed forever, you know, we're a child of hell forever and So I hope that's given you an interesting take of Jesus Christ These are the verses that a lot of people don't want to preach on Okay They like to preach on Christ compassion and his healing and his great teachings like the Sermon on the Mount But when it comes to his harsh words against the false leaders a lot of people just like to avoid that Okay, cuz hey, that's that's that's the Jesus Christ that saved us. That's the Jesus Christ of the Bible to know what is like Yes Great love but also great vengeance on those that would reject him and especially those that teach false Gospels Especially those that lead others to hell, you know, and of course you can understand then why they become reprobate How long can you go rejecting Christ, you know at some point God's gonna give up on you, you know And and the teaching here guys is if there's anyone here that is not saved you say I don't know if I'm saved I don't know if I'm going to heaven look I don't want you to become reprobate, you know either on this earth or even in hell, you know Your time is limited. You don't know when that might be, you know You better make a decision and place your faith on Christ, you know say today blessed be he that cometh in the name of Lord I want you saying that today about Christ then when you're in hell, okay, so let's leave it there. Let's pray