00:00 Introduction to Matthew Chapter 23

02:06 The Pharisees' Hypocrisy Exposed

03:22 True Humility vs. Pharisaic Showmanship

06:55 Serving Others with Genuine Faith

14:09 The Danger of Religious Hypocrisy

20:14 Jesus' Teachings on Hypocrisy

22:34 The Call to Genuine Faith

26:54 The Compassionate Judge

31:52 Jesus' Love and Sacrifice

33:24 Invitation to Embrace Jesus' Love

all right, Matthew chapter 23, we're gonna be looking at one of the,

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one of the wildest passages in the Bible.

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Um, we're gonna be looking at, at the

finale of Jesus verses the Pharisees.

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So remember in Matthew chapter 21 and

22, we were looking at, um, Jesus going

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back and forth with the Pharisees.

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And now in chapter 23, it, it kind

of comes, comes to a climax here.

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So Matthew, chapter 23, we're gonna

see Jesus get really, really, really.

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Emotional, and that's something you

might not have noticed about Jesus, but

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I want you to think what's the, what's

the, like, what are the peak emotional

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moments you've had in your life?

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Like maybe what's the saddest you've

ever been in your life, or what's the

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happiest you've ever been in your life?

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Or what's the angriest you've

ever been in your life?

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The, the, just the most emotion

you've ever seen from yourself.

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Someone did something to you and

you got so angry, or someone said

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something about you, or something

happened and you were so happy, or

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something happened, you were so sad.

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Think about what.

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Makes you the most emotional usually

is what matters the most to you.

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And so when we see in this passage of

scripture, when we see Jesus being,

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saying really strong things to people

and getting really sad about something

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and getting really even seemingly

upset about something that's, that

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means it's really important to Jesus.

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And what's really important to

Jesus should be really important.

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To us, your strongest emotions

reveal what you care most about.

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And what does Jesus care most about?

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Well, we'll see in Matthew chapter 23,

Jesus really cares about your heart.

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What gets Jesus the, the most

worked up, the most sad, the most

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angry, the most happy is your

heart, the state of your heart.

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How you feel about him, the desires

you have, the values you have,

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they're all coming from your heart and

that's what Jesus cares most about.

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So look with me in your

Bibles at Matthew chapter 23.

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We're gonna start with the first 12

verses, Matthew chapter 23, 1 to 12.

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And make sure you're bringing

your Bibles to true north.

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Every week.

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We, we love the Bible here.

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Bible is our middle name

here at Compass Bible Church.

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And so we wanna make sure

that we're using God's word.

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Um, not just seeing it on a screen, but

learning how to use it for ourselves.

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So Matthew, through chapter

23, so Jesus, he just finished

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talking to the Pharisees, right?

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They had their back and forth battle in

the temple that Pharisees tried to trick

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him, and he answered all their questions.

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And now chapter 23, Jesus then spoke

to the crowds and to his disciples, and

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he says something about the Pharisees.

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He says that they're in Moses' seat.

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And what that means is that the

Pharisees, they're in charge of the Jews.

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They're the religious leaders.

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They have authority.

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They're, they're teaching the law.

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They're the ones that, that say,

okay, here's what the Bible says.

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They're the pastors, they're

the, the seminary professors.

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They're the religious leaders of the day.

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And so he says, verse three.

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Therefore, do what they tell you to do.

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Do the things that they say

about God and about his word, but

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don't do the things that they do.

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Don't be like them.

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They know the right things.

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They say the right things,

but don't be like them.

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Why?

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Because they say things and don't do them.

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They don't do what they say.

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They just, they, they say

something and they do the opposite.

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Verse four, they tie up heavy burdens

and lay them on people's shoulders,

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but they're unwilling to even

help them move them with a finger.

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So they're, they're making

all these rules for people.

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They're saying, here's

what God says to do.

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Here's what we say you have to do, and

we're not even gonna help you do it.

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We're just gonna come with

all these rules for you to do.

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But verse five, that's what

I want you to focus on here.

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Verse five.

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They do all their deeds

to be seen by others.

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All the religious things they do, all

their, their Bible reading, they're

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praying, they're fasting, they're tithing.

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Everything they do is to be seen.

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They're trying to get noticed.

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They want attention from people and

then this, this word you probably

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have never seen before in your life,

for they make their phylacteries

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broad and their fringes long.

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What?

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What in the world is a fractory?

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Imagine if I said, Hey, draw

Flac on the plate, on your head.

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What a fractory is, or a fringe.

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So a fractory, if you remember from

Deuteronomy chapter six, remember,

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love the Lord your God with all

your heart, all your soul, your

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mind, all your strength, right?

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And then Moses goes on to talk about

having God's word before your eyes.

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Put it as a front lit for your eyes put.

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So it was this box that the Jews

would use to, to live out this verse.

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They would, they would have

something to do with the Bible

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verse and put it either on their

head or on their arms or somewhere

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to help them remember God's word.

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And what the Pharisees would do is they

would like, right, I'm, you know, I'm

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super, I'm a super godly Pharisee, so

what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get the

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biggest box and I'm gonna have the biggest

reminder of God's word to show you that.

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That's how committed I am.

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It's a holiness.

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It'd be like if you, like, let's say you

wanted to show everyone how awesome of

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a Christian you are, and so you brought

this like massive Bible to true north.

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You know, like the, the biggest

Bible you could ever find.

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You brought that to true North.

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Or like you, you came to school and

you like made sure I'm just gonna

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carry my Bible around in the hallway

just so people know I'm a Christian,

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or, oh, I'm gonna wear Christian

shirts only for the rest of my life.

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Like, that's what the Pharisees are doing.

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They're saying, look at me.

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I'm such a good follower of the law.

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So that's what they do with these things.

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And then verse six, they love

the place of honor at Feast.

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They love the attention that comes

from being a religious leader,

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and they love getting the best

seats at in the synagogues, right?

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At church, they, they sit in

the front row, they put their

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hands up in worship, right?

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They're doing it so that people see them.

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They want people to notice them.

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They're like, oh, look at us.

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We're so holy.

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And then they get greeted.

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They get called rabbi, teacher by others.

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So the Pharisees, they're doing all

this stuff to get attention from people.

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But Jesus, he contrasts that in,

in verses eight to 10, he, he tells

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his followers something interesting.

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He says, he says something about titles.

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He says, don't, don't be called

these titles like Rabbi or teacher or

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Father, but instead you should remember

that God is those things for you.

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You're not to elevate

yourself of above people.

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But you're supposed to remember

that you know what God is, is

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really the the one who's holy.

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God is really the one who is in charge.

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And then he goes on to say

something that we've heard before.

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Probably if you've been following

along with us in Matthew, the greatest

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among you shall be your servant.

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Whoever, exalts himself will

be humbled and whoever humbles

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himself will be exalted, right?

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The person who is, who is humble, who's

focused on other people, who's not

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worried about what other people think,

who's not trying to get attention.

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But who's trying to love people?

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That person, that's a truly great person.

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This is the question, none of you guys

could get in jeopardy last week, right?

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What's the greatest human quality that,

that Jesus says humility, humility's the

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greatest thing that, that you could have.

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And so what he's doing is he's,

he's setting up this contrast.

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He's saying the Pharisees are like this,

but you guys, I want you to be like this.

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If you're gonna be my follower,

I want you to be humble.

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I want you to use your, your religion,

your, your good deeds to serve people.

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To love people, not to

draw attention to yourself.

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Don't be like a Pharisee and do all

these things to gain attention, to

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look good, to get people to notice

you don't use it to get things.

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Use it to give things to love to people.

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So 0.1

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tonight, use your religion, your good

deeds, your your religious activity.

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Use it to serve people,

not to impress them.

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Use your, your religion, your religious

activity, right, your, your church

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going, your Bible, reading your worship,

singing your small group participation.

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Use it to serve people,

not to impress people.

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Jesus says that the opposite of the

Pharisees is a servant, someone who's

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doing things for, for the good of

others, not for the attention of others.

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And when I was thinking about

this passage, someone that I, I

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thought of was actually my brother.

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My brother, because my brother,

the way he played soccer,

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reminded me of this passage.

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See, my brother, he played

center defense, center back.

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And so if, if you're an athlete, that's

like playing o line in football, that's

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like playing catcher and baseball.

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No one's gonna notice

you until you mess up.

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No one's gonna notice until you,

until you let that guy through for

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a goal or if you give the ball away.

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But my brother.

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Was actually really, really good.

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But see, my brother,

he was good at soccer.

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He was good at the things that made people

actually want to play with him, right?

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I really didn't care how

many juggles he could do.

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He didn't care how many

fancy tricks he could do.

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He didn't care if he could hit the

crossbar, you know, crossbar challenge.

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He didn't care about all the cool

stuff that all the, all the, the

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fancy soccer players cared about.

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He didn't have the Ronaldo

cleats or the messy cleats, or

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the namar cleats or whatever.

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He, he just was really good at soccer.

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And you know what?

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Everyone wanted to play with my brother.

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Everyone was like, I

want that guy on my team.

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One.

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'cause no one wants to play defense.

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So everyone wants a

defender on their team.

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But also because everyone's

like, you know what?

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That guy's actually good for our team,

the things that that guy does, right?

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That guy, he guards people.

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He runs, he gets loose balls, he

takes he, he makes good passes.

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He doesn't hog the ball.

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The things that my brother does

are actually good for everyone.

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The things that my brother does as a

soccer player are good for the team.

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The things that maybe other

soccer players do, right?

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They, they try to do fancy tricks.

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They, they're like, oh, I'm, I

can do a hundred juggles without

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letting the ball touch the ground.

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My brother would look at those

people and be like, all right,

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you're not gonna drill past me.

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I don't care how many juggles you can do.

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It doesn't matter, right?

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You're not gonna be able to actually

do anything helpful on the field.

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He didn't use his skills

to draw attention.

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He used his skills to actually

help the team and to play better.

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See, as Christians sometimes.

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Or maybe even as someone who's not

a Christian and just at church,

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you can do all your religious

things and not really help people.

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You can do all your religious

things and just for you, just

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'cause you want attention.

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You are like, oh, well I'm

so good at reading my Bible.

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I, I feel so good about, about

my, my Bible reading streak.

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Or, I read my Bible every day or whatever.

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But if you're not actually loving people

with what you've heard from God's word

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and putting it into practice and, and

serving people and caring about them,

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that's not really doing you any good.

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You just have this, this good

feeling, oh, I did my Bible reading.

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I I'm a good Christian.

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So it's really about you.

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It's not about God, it's

not about other people.

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So I want you, you to think about

why do you do the good things you do?

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When I say religion, why do

you do the, the good religious

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church things that you do?

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Do you do them for you or

do you do them for, for God?

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Do you do them to impress people

or because you love people?

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So think about maybe your, your prayer.

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When you pray, are you praying just

to make your parents happy or are you

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praying 'cause you actually wanna pray

for people, you actually want to grow, you

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actually love God and want to talk to 'em.

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Or maybe when you serve at church, maybe

you serve in kids' ministry on Sundays

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or maybe you, you want serve on, in,

in the worship team, or maybe you want

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to serve VBS or maybe you, you want to

help out at the, the church in some way.

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Is that for you to say, oh,

look at me, I, I get to do all

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these cool things at church.

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I'm so good.

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I can play this instrument really well.

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Or, or I can, I'm so good with these kids.

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Or look how involved I am.

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Or Oh, you can tell your college, on your

college app, you can be like, oh, I look

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how many community service hours I did.

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Or Are you doing it 'cause you

actually love the church and you

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care about people and you're saying,

I, I'm here to serve these kids.

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I'm here 'cause I love these

kids and I want to teach them and

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help them learn from God's word.

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Or I wanna really help

people worship and sing.

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And that's why I play my instrument is

to, to help people sing to the Lord.

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Or maybe it's your, your talents, right?

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The talents that God's given you, the

instrument you play, or the sport you're

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good at, or the, maybe you do speech

and debate, or maybe you have all these,

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these, these talents and maybe you're

doing them just so people can look at you.

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Or are you using your talents

as a way to bless people?

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So that's, I know that's not a

church activity, but that's still a

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religious activity because if you're

doing it for the Lord, it should

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be a, it's, it's religious, right?

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It's a good thing that you're doing.

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So, who are you using your good deeds for?

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Are they about you or

are they about others?

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Because Jesus would say if they're

about you, if they're trying to

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impress people and, and gain favor

and, and attention from people,

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then you're just like the Pharisee.

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But if you're someone who's, who's

following Jesus, you should be doing

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them humbly out of love for others.

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I I'm not gonna try to

draw attention to myself.

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I don't even care if people notice me.

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I don't care if people know

how many times I serve.

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I don't care if people, people can

tell how good I am at my instrument

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or, or how much I read the Bible.

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I just gonna do it because I

love God and I love people.

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So I want you to think about what would it

look like to do those things for others?

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Maybe what would it look like to

come to True North, to love people?

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Maybe you come to your small group

instead of coming to your small group

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saying, I, I'm here to, to have fun and

to make people laugh and to get attention.

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Or, I'm coming here to show off my

Bible knowledge or show how good of a

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Christian I am, or impress my leader.

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Maybe you should come thinking about

how can I love my friend and my small

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group who's, who's having a hard time?

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Or how can I be a good example

to people who, who don't

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follow Jesus in my small group?

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Or how can I encourage my

leader and, and bless her?

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Rather than try to just draw attention to

myself with, with how good of a Christian

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I am or, or how dramatic my problems are.

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So think about when I come to

True North, what, what would that

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look like to come to love people

and not to be noticed by people?

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And maybe some of you, you, you've

never even thought of that before.

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You've never thought about

how on the way to True North,

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how can I love someone today?

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Maybe that's a really good

place for you to start in the

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car on the way to true North.

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Maybe even ask your parents, Hey, hey mom.

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Hey dad.

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I, I want to think about my small

group on the way to true North.

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Can we stop and pray on the way to

small group and, and on the way to true

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north or on the way to church on Sunday?

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And just pray.

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God, please help me to focus on

other people and not on myself.

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That would be such a good place for

you to start applying this point, and

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maybe you're thinking, okay, well,

doing good things for the wrong reasons.

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That can't be as bad as,

as other sins, right?

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Maybe you're thinking, well, I,

I, I know that maybe I'm prideful.

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Maybe I do some, some church things

for, for myself and draw attention,

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but it can't be that bad, right?

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Like, there's, there's people

out there that are doing, they're

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not even coming to church Lewis.

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They're doing terrible things.

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You should see what those

people at school say.

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You should see what, what those, those

people on my sports team say, you should

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see what they do, what they talk about.

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They're, they're not as bad as me.

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I'm at least at church.

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Well, I want you to see what Jesus says.

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About those type of people.

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So let's keep going in Matthew Chapter 23.

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All right, look back on your Bibles.

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This section right here, um, there's

this word that's gonna come up a lot.

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It's the word woe.

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WOEI always think of

that scene from ice age.

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I don't even know which one, where

they come up to the, I think it's

317

ice age three, with the dinosaurs,

where they come through these plates

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and they're the plates of woe, and

everyone's like, whoa, not that

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type of woe, woe in, in the Bible.

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When you see WOE, it's

the opposite of blessing.

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So when, like, remember the

beatitudes, Jesus was like,

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blessed are the porn spirit.

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Blessed are the meek, and it's

this like, blessed means happy.

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Blessed means joy.

325

Blessed is good.

326

Blessed is, this is awesome.

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Woe is the opposite, right?

328

Cursed, or sometimes even worse, right?

329

This is God's instead of God's

happiness and God's favor, this

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is gonna be God's judgment.

331

These people are on the,

the wrong end of God.

332

They're not gonna get

anything good from God.

333

That's what woe means.

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Okay, so in this section there's, I'm

not gonna be able to read all of it,

335

but there's, there's these, Jesus says,

woe to you, Pharisees, woe to you.

336

He says it a bunch of times here

in this, in this section, and

337

then he calls them this word.

338

He says, scribes and pharisees.

339

Hypocrites.

340

Hypocrites.

341

What does that word hypocrite mean?

342

Well, what it means is it

comes from this idea of someone

343

who's like an actor in a play.

344

Someone who's putting on

a face like a hypocrite.

345

So you think of someone who's

putting on a mask, pretending

346

to be something they're not.

347

They're just playing a game.

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And so Jesus is getting really

upset and, and really intense about

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these Pharisees being hypocrites.

350

He really cares about, about the

fact that they're trying to, to

351

put up an, a face or an image.

352

They're, they're trying to look one way,

but really they're living another way.

353

This is one example of that right here.

354

Woe to you, scribes and pharisees,

hypocrites for you are like

355

whitewashed tombs, right?

356

There's dead people inside, but they

look really pretty on the outside.

357

So they're, they're unclean, right?

358

They're gross.

359

You don't want to go in there.

360

They're, they're dead inside,

but outside they look great.

361

And that's what he says in verse 28.

362

Outwardly, you appear righteous.

363

To others, but within, you're

full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

364

So even though you think you're

keeping the law, you're really not.

365

You're really not.

366

Even though you're putting on this face

of, look at all the good things I'm doing.

367

Look at all the, the Bible

verses I've memorized.

368

Look at all the good deeds that do.

369

Look at all the tithing I do.

370

That's what the Pharisees were saying.

371

He says, really?

372

You're not even keeping the law.

373

You're, you're full of lawlessness inside.

374

And what does he say that's

gonna happen to these people?

375

This is what he says in

verse 33, you serpents.

376

That's not a, that's not a compliment.

377

Us serpents, you brew to vipers.

378

Remember John the Baptist said that

in Matthew three, you brood to vipers.

379

How are you two?

380

Escape being sentenced to hell?

381

Jesus is intense.

382

Jesus cares a lot and he's, he's

warning them because he cares.

383

He's not warning them

because he doesn't like them.

384

He's warning them because

he, he loves them.

385

He cares about them.

386

And he's, he's giving the warning, look,

guys, you are, you're on the receiving

387

end of, of God's judgment right now.

388

If you keep playing this game, putting

up this face, living one way with the

389

appearance of one thing, and really

on the inside being the other way,

390

this is where that's gonna take you.

391

Jesus is serious and he's intense

about it, and that's because he cares.

392

He, he loves hypocrites

enough to warn them.

393

And he might be warning

some of us tonight.

394

So point number two, beware the

judgment for religious hypocrites.

395

Beware, right?

396

Be careful.

397

It's scary.

398

You should be afraid of the

judgment for religious hypocrites.

399

So maybe you are that person

who's saying, well, you should see

400

what, what the other people do.

401

I'm here at church.

402

I'm a good kid, even though I'm maybe

living for the approval of others.

403

But you should see what those people do.

404

Jesus says, you are still gonna be on

the receiving end of God's judgment.

405

I was thinking about hypocrisy and

I, I saw this article and it was an

406

article about people, it was a bunch

of college students, and they were

407

complaining that their professors

were using AI to teach the class.

408

And I thought that was, I was

like, that's really funny.

409

'cause you hear about all like,

oh students, you know, don't use

410

chat GBT to do your homework.

411

Don't write your paper with ai.

412

Don't do this.

413

Right.

414

You hear all that, don't let

AI do your schoolwork for you.

415

And then these college students

were like, wait, my professor's

416

using ai that's not okay.

417

And they like, were trying to get

their money back from the school.

418

They were like, we paid, you know,

$65,000 to go to this school for one year.

419

And now my professor's

not even teaching me.

420

He's using AI to, to write his lecture

and his presentation, and they wanted

421

their money back 'cause they felt like

their professor was being a hypocrite.

422

Right?

423

The professor, like, you told me not to

use ai and now you're using ai, right?

424

Imagine if you found out that your math

teacher or your English teacher used

425

AI to like write all their lectures.

426

They had done anything all year.

427

All they had done was just read their

like AI classroom plan for, for the year.

428

You'd be like, are you serious?

429

What are you doing?

430

Like, do you do anything all day?

431

Like, what are you supposed to do?

432

You, you would be like, like you sense

something's totally wrong with that.

433

Like, you're telling me not

to use AI and you're using ai.

434

That's not cool.

435

That's not okay.

436

You'd be so upset.

437

Now think about just the, the hypocrisy

that you might have in your own life.

438

You might be just like that professor if,

if you claim to be a Christian or you at

439

least claim to be a be a good church kid,

you might be just like that professor.

440

So I wanna ask you, are you a hypocrite?

441

Am I a hypocrite?

442

That's the, that's what Jesus is

putting before us right here, because

443

remember who he started talking to

at the beginning of this passage?

444

He started talking to the

crowds and the disciples.

445

He didn't start talking to the Pharisees.

446

He said, you guys disciples, you

guys crowds watch out for this.

447

So let's look at one of these

other woes here in Matthew 23.

448

He says, woe to you, scribes

and Pharisees, hypocrites.

449

For you, and here's what he, he says,

you tithe mint and dill and cumin,

450

so some spices and have neglected

the weightier, the maybe even

451

more important matters of the law,

justice and mercy and faithfulness.

452

These things like the, the

tithing, tithing, the, the

453

small, tiny spices, right?

454

No one cares if you're like,

are you tithing your cinnamon at

455

home under your spice cabinet?

456

You're like, well, I gotta give

10% of my pepper to the Lord today.

457

You're not doing that right.

458

But the Pharisees did that.

459

They were like, I wanna make sure

I give 10% of everything to God.

460

So they're like, imagine that

you scoop like everything out

461

of your like spice cabinet.

462

You got like your, your teaspoon

thing and you're like putting it out.

463

All right, 10%, this is for God.

464

This is for God.

465

You'd never do that, right?

466

You'd be like, that's crazy.

467

Well, they're doing that 'cause they're

saying, this is how much I love God.

468

He's saying, you're doing

that, but you missed the point.

469

Right?

470

You're not loving people, you're not

compassionate, you're not faithful.

471

You don't trust God.

472

He said, you should have done the

small things, but you shouldn't

473

have neglected the big things.

474

You guys are blind guides, and I

love this picture straining out a

475

gnat and swallowing a camel, right?

476

You're, you're like, oh, did

I imagine you're like eating,

477

uh, this isn't gonna work.

478

But imagine you're like eating your

cereal and there's this little tiny

479

bug in it, and you're trying to get the

bug out and the whole cereal's rotten.

480

Why do you care about the bug?

481

The whole cereal's rotten.

482

Maybe, maybe that's you.

483

Maybe you're looking down on that person.

484

You're like, oh, I can't

believe they make those jokes.

485

I can't believe they say those words.

486

And in your heart, you're

so prideful about it.

487

That's being a hypocrite.

488

That's the type of person

Jesus is talking about.

489

Or maybe you're saying, oh,

well, you know that person.

490

You know, they, they don't, they

go to that church, they go to that

491

youth group, and that church is.

492

But then you're the one

who's looking down on them.

493

You're the one talking bad about them.

494

You're the one gossiping about them,

or, oh, this person, you know, they,

495

they, they, they play these video

games and in your head, you actually

496

wish you could play those video games.

497

That's being a hypocrite.

498

You're the people that

Jesus is talking about.

499

So I wanna ask, all of us

are, are you a hypocrite?

500

There's, there's things in this

passion that Jesus points out about

501

being a hypocrite, one in them.

502

Right here, we see that hypocrites,

they, they do the external things right?

503

The things that people see.

504

They do those things right, but

their motives are all wrong.

505

Maybe you do all the church things, right?

506

If, if, if we ask your parents or

your small group leader, oh, do are,

507

do they follow the rules at church?

508

Do they do the good things at home?

509

Do they, are they a polite person?

510

Are they, are they doing the

things you ask them to do?

511

They'd say, yeah.

512

But in your heart, you're bitter,

you're resentful, you're anxious,

513

you're angry, you're prideful.

514

You're being a hypocrite.

515

Also, what we see as passage is

that the Pharisees or Hypocrites,

516

they look down on people.

517

Instead of loving them,

518

they're saying, oh, why that person does

that, and they don't love that person.

519

If they see someone sinning,

they're like, oh man, I'm so

520

glad I'm better than that person.

521

I'm so glad that person exists

'cause they make me feel better.

522

Maybe you don't say it like that.

523

Maybe that's how you really feel

like, well, you know, I, I'm

524

not like those other people.

525

I'm not like those people at

school or on my team, so I must

526

be, I must be good with God.

527

That heart posture is exactly

what Jesus is talking about.

528

There's other things in this

passage that we could talk about.

529

Hypocrites are, are people who cover

sin instead of confessing and repenting.

530

The Pharisees, we talked about them

being like whitewashed tombs or

531

people who earlier in the passage,

people who clean the outside of the

532

cup, but the inside is all gross.

533

They're covering the sin.

534

They wanna look like they don't have

sin, but they're not doing anything

535

about it 'cause they wanna keep it.

536

So maybe you're in small groups and

you're saying, well, you know, I,

537

I, yeah, I don't have any struggles.

538

I'm not really struggling with this.

539

I don't have this issue.

540

You don't tell anyone your issues,

but on the inside you love them.

541

And the reason you're not telling

people is 'cause you wanna keep 'em.

542

You don't wanna bring 'em to the light

'cause you don't wanna get rid of them.

543

That's being a hypocrite.

544

Another thing that, that this passage

will say about being a hypocrite

545

is that hypocrites care more

about their group than about God.

546

They care more about being

part of the right group.

547

Than about being right with God.

548

Like, oh, well I'm part of

this church so I must be good.

549

Or, I'm part of, I'm friends with

these people, so I must be good.

550

Or My parents are, are this

way, so I must be good with God.

551

Hypocrites also make their

rules more important than God.

552

Right?

553

Well, I, you know, I don't, I don't

do these five things, so I must be

554

a good person or a good Christian,

but really on the, you're, you're

555

also sitting in these other big ways.

556

Hypocrites also come up with their

own righteous reasons to disobey God.

557

Maybe, maybe that's you, you, you

know that you sin in certain ways, but

558

you're like, well, actually, you know,

it's not that bad because X, Y, and Z.

559

It's not that bad that I do this because,

well, you know, it's okay for me to,

560

to, to be with these bad friends because

I'm really trying to to love them, and

561

you've never said anything about, they

don't even know you're a Christian.

562

Or maybe you're saying, oh, well

it's okay for me to be mean to my

563

brother because he's just annoying.

564

Or all he needs to grow up, so I'm

gonna be mean to him or my sister.

565

You're being a hypocrite.

566

You're justifying your sin.

567

And lastly, we we'd say hypocrites are

are people who are blind to their own sin.

568

That's what verses 29 to 31 are about.

569

Hypocrites are people who

are blind to their own sin.

570

The Pharisees were like, look, if

the prophets, you know, if Isaiah and

571

Jeremiah and all those people were alive

today, we would've listened to them.

572

We, we would've listened to 'em.

573

And we love Isaiah, we love

Jeremiah, we love Ezekiel, we

574

love Hosea, and Joel and Amos.

575

We love all these prophets.

576

And then Jesus comes saying the

same thing the prophet said,

577

and they're like, we hate Jesus.

578

And maybe that's you.

579

You're like, you know what?

580

If Jesus came back today, if I saw

Jesus, I would become a Christian.

581

But you don't love the Bible.

582

You don't love his people.

583

You don't wanna pray to him.

584

You don't wanna hear from him.

585

So what makes you think you'd

love Jesus if you saw him?

586

If you don't love what he says in his

word, he's not gonna be any different.

587

So hypocrites are usually blind

to their own sin, and Jesus is

588

giving these strong warnings.

589

And maybe you're like, man, Lewis,

this is my first week at your north.

590

What's happening?

591

Why, why is this so aggressive?

592

Because Jesus wants you to see that your

sin is gonna lead you to destruction.

593

It's gonna lead you to death.

594

And he loves you too much to

let you keep going that way.

595

And so he says some strong words to

grab your attention and, and, and shake

596

you awake and say, I love you too much.

597

To let you keep doing that.

598

I love you too much to let you keep

passing over your sin and ignoring

599

it and sweeping it under the rug

and pretending like it's not there

600

or it doesn't matter, or you can

hide it or you can get away with it.

601

Jesus loves you too much to do

that, and so he's gonna tell you,

602

Hey, there's a big problem here.

603

'cause I love you.

604

And that's what we'll see here.

605

Even though Jesus is extremely, he's

coming down really hard on the Pharisees.

606

He's not like, oh, I'm so glad I get

to put these Pharisees in their place.

607

So let's look at this last section here,

608

Uh, Luke says that Jesus

is weeping in this section.

609

And so he says in, in verses

37, 39, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

610

the city that kills the prophet.

611

And stones, those who are sent to it.

612

So that's what Jerusalem's known for.

613

Jerusalem is known for rejecting

God, for rejecting his word

614

and for killing his messengers.

615

He's saying that that type of city, right,

the, if you think about it, these are

616

some, these are the worst people, right?

617

There's they, they hear God's word

and they say, we don't want it.

618

We're actually gonna kill

the people who say it.

619

Then here's what Jesus says about them.

620

How often would I have gathered

your children together as a hen,

621

gathers her bro under her wings.

622

He's like, I, I wish you

guys could come to me.

623

I would love to embrace you.

624

I would love for you to follow me, to

love me, to have a relationship with me.

625

I would love that.

626

That's how much he cares.

627

And but you were not

willing, you didn't want it.

628

I would.

629

I, I'm standing here with open

arms inviting you to come to

630

me and you're just like, no.

631

I don't want to.

632

And then he, he, he

pronounces some judgment.

633

Verse 38.

634

See your house, your, your, you know,

your, your legacy is left to you desolate.

635

It's gone.

636

It's gonna be destroyed for I tell

you, you will not see me again.

637

This is your last chance, Jerusalem.

638

I tell you, you won't see me

again until you say blessed is

639

he who comes in the name of the

Lord until Jesus second coming.

640

Right?

641

We, people said that at his first

when he walked into Jerusalem

642

on, um, in, in chapter 21.

643

When, when Jesus.

644

Comes or chapter 19 when

he comes into Jerusalem.

645

Um, and now he's saying, this is it.

646

You're not like, this is

your last chance, Jerusalem.

647

There's, there's judgment

coming and I would love for

648

you to repent, but you won't.

649

And that's our third point here.

650

Respond to the plea of

the compassionate judge.

651

See, Jesus is, is the judge.

652

He will come back to these

Jews who've rejected him.

653

He will tell them, I

never knew you, right.

654

Depart from me.

655

But he's not doing it like, oh, he's

not excited to send people to hell.

656

And maybe that's your impression of God.

657

Maybe you've been like, oh, well God

is just, he's just mad at all the

658

sinners and he wants 'em to go away.

659

That's not the Jesus of the Bible.

660

That's not the God of the Bible.

661

The God of the Bible isn't like.

662

Trying to get rid of all the sinners.

663

'cause he can't, he just doesn't

want anything to do with them.

664

He's, he gives them more than enough to

come to him, but they were not willing.

665

See that picture of like a, of a bird

and, and her gathering her chicks

666

maybe you like, are like, what?

667

What in the world?

668

Like why would you pick that?

669

Jesus.

670

I never would've pictured

Jesus as a chicken, so I

671

wanted to give you a picture.

672

Jesus is not a chicken in that sense.

673

He's not a scaredy chicken,

but this is what it's like.

674

See, look at that.

675

Look how cute these little birds are.

676

That's the picture, right?

677

Jesus wants you to be one of these people.

678

Jesus wants.

679

Jesus wants to be this for you.

680

That's what he's saying And

what's the point, right?

681

Why do these little cute birds come

under here for protection, right?

682

This, this, this.

683

Mama chicken cares a lot

about these birds, right?

684

This, this chicken would die for

these birds, these little chicks.

685

In fact, I found a news story that

was actually really hilarious.

686

So this goose, someone set

fire to like this area.

687

Apparently on purpose and she would

not leave her eggs like geese are mean.

688

Geese like try to kill me when

I go to the lake with my food.

689

Geese are mean, but they,

they love their babies.

690

They will die for their babies.

691

Jesus is saying, I'm like that.

692

Or rather those things,

those birds are like me.

693

He made the, he made mama

birds to help you see how much

694

he cares about his people.

695

Jesus loves his people.

696

He wants his people.

697

He puts himself out there for his people.

698

He came and lived a, a regular life.

699

He left heaven and came and

lived a regular life so that

700

people could come to him.

701

And then he, he died on the cross.

702

He, he endured rejection and, and shame.

703

And punishment and the wrath of

God because he loves people and

704

he wants people to come to him.

705

That's the picture that Jesus is painting.

706

He has this intense love.

707

Yes, he has holy, fierce justice.

708

He will judge sin.

709

He will come again and there, there

won't be a, a second chance at that

710

moment, but at the same time he

is, is he deeply cares about you.

711

He wants you to come to him.

712

I had another picture about a mama

animal, but really I just wanted to

713

show you guys these cute puppies, right?

714

Aren't these, don't you wanna

be one of these puppies?

715

You could be right.

716

No, but that's the point, is they,

they care so much about they're

717

young and if, if an animal right,

if an animal can care that much.

718

Imagine how much Jesus cares about you.

719

Jesus wants everyone to come to him.

720

Even the people who

have been rejecting him.

721

Maybe you're thinking, well, I've

rejected Jesus my whole life, or you

722

don't know how big of a hypocrite I am.

723

You don't know what sin I've been hiding.

724

Lewis, you don't know what, what

I've been thinking in my head.

725

You don't know what I've said in my heart.

726

You don't know what I've said out loud.

727

You don't know what I've texted.

728

You don't know what I've.

729

Thought, you don't know what I've clicked.

730

You don't know what I've watched.

731

Maybe that's what you're saying.

732

You're saying you don't know.

733

If you found out who I really

was, you wouldn't want me.

734

Jesus wouldn't want me.

735

And what Jesus is saying is, is the, the

only thing that's stopping you is you.

736

He's there.

737

He's ready.

738

The only thing that's preventing

you from coming to him is you.

739

Either you're hardhearted and

you're saying, I don't need Jesus.

740

I wanna do things on my own.

741

I wanna live my own way

because I know better.

742

Or you're saying, I'm too

dirty, I'm too sinful.

743

I can't come.

744

The only thing that's

that's stopping you is you.

745

So Jesus will come again to

judge and he will get rid of sin.

746

And if you are not covered by Jesus blood.

747

You will be sentenced to forever apart

from him in hell, but you don't have to.

748

Jesus is ready and willing to save

and he, he desperately loves his

749

people and wants them to come to him.

750

So let's pray and we'll

go to small groups.

751

God, we're so grateful that you love us.

752

We're thankful that it's

your idea to save us.

753

We are so unworthy to be loved by

you, but we're so grateful that you

754

don't love us because we deserve it.

755

You don't love us because

we're, we earn it from you.

756

We don't, you don't love us because

we love you a certain amount,

757

and then you start loving us.

758

You love us because you decided

to, because you are a loving God.

759

And so I pray that for anyone in this room

who feels unlovable by you, maybe they're

760

a Christian and they just feel like, uh,

as a Christian, they've sinned so much.

761

I pray that you would encourage them with

your love, that you are compassionate.

762

God, if there's anyone here who

feels like they can't become a

763

Christian because you wouldn't want

them, I pray that you help 'em.

764

See just how much you love them and

how much you, you care about them,

765

and how ready you are to forgive

them no matter what they've done.

766

Help us to have a good time.

767

Small groups help us to focus,

um, and, and be a blessing

768

to the people in our group.

769

In Jesus name.

770

Amen.