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Matthew 23

Kevin Colvin
08/13/23 - Podcast

And now, a minute with the Word…

How can I avoid some of the same pitfalls of the Pharisees? Am I a hypocrite? Do I preach God’s word, and actually live it myself? Do I seek the praise of men? Do I create stumbling blocks for others, effectively preventing others from entering the kingdom of heaven? Do I try to win others for myself or for God? Do I neglect the weightier parts of God’s law like justice and mercy and faith? Am I more concerned about appearances or about my heart? Jesus ends the chapter with scathing rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees. He condemns them for being just as murderous and rebellious toward God as their descendants, that they and their descendants are guilty of all of the righteous blood shed from Abel, in Genesis 4, all the way to Zachariah at the end of the Old Testament. For these centuries of rejection, and ultimately, the rejection and murder of God’s Son Himself, the Jews in Jesus’ generation would experience God’s wrath and righteous judgment. While this has a very literal application to Jerusalem and the first century, it should not be hard to imagine the application to those who reject God’s Son today. “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful, expectation of judgment and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses law dies without mercy on two or three witnesses. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trample the Son of God under foot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said vengeance is Mine I will repay, says the Lord, and again, the Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:26-31).