Sermon: Woe to False Teachers (Part 1) Matthew 23:13–22
Truth Taught- Jesus tells us that false teachers are very dangerous because they can lead us away from Christ who is the Key to the Kingdom of God
Introduction
Last time we were in Matthew, we began a section concerning false teachers. False teachers are a threat to God’s people.
We saw last time from the previous text,
A. Their Lives Do Not Support What They Teach
B. They create heavy burdens through man-made rules
C. They seek the approval of people, not God
D. False Teachers Love Impressive Titles
Humility, the Defining Trait of God’s Teachers
Today, there are many things happening in our world. We may view many of these things as threats. Whether it be socialism and Communism within our own government. Inflation, gas prices, evil within our government, the so-called pandemic, the Russian/Ukraine war and we could go on. However, there is another threat to God’s people far greater than any of these. This is the threat of false teachers.
Jesus, in His discourse with these false teachers has much to say to us today about this very real threat to the Church.
Why are false teachers a threat to the church? I mean can’t you have your Christianity and I have mine? Can’t you have your theology and I have mine? Can’t you have your truth and I have mine? What’s the big deal anyway?
Here’s the big deal…False teachers seek to damn your soul for their own material gain. Unless we get the Gospel right there is no salvation. So, in Jesus’ day the Pharisees and Scribes were teaching heresy as if it was God’s truth and the result was multitudes believed their teaching rather than God’s truth and those poor people’s souls were condemned. This is why Jesus really saves His most scathing rebuke and condemnation for these evil teachers.
Titus 1:10–16 (ESV)
10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Now, before we begin, it’s important to understand a couple of key terms Jesus will use throughout this section.
What does He mean by Woe and specifically, what does He mean by Hypocrite?
Woe- is the declaration of Jesus that permanent condemnation and death is almost here. Woe is the declared death sentence on the religious leaders. However, with the woe judgement also comes one last opportunity to repent. The opportunity, of course for the most part would not be taken advantage of and the vast majority refused to repent and come to Christ for salvation and the forgiveness of their sins.
Next, what does Jesus mean when He uses the term Hypocrite?
The religious leaders were malicious hypocrites. They taught lies and purposely kept people in the dark so that they would believe whatever they said was true doctrine. They did this for their own material gain. Part of their scheme was to look the part so to better be able to trick others into believing them. Our modern definition of Hypocrite is someone who says one thing but does another. That isn’t what Jesus meant. These people were putting on a show to ensnare their listeners in their traps and in the process getting rich.
Can you think of any religious leaders today who teach lies as God’s Word, look the part, and get rich? Jesus has the same words for them.
While Judaism as a religious system was officially condemned by Jesus, in God’s grace He would actually save a few Pharisees. It was, no doubt these harsh words of Jesus that woke some from their religious stupor to see through it to the truth.
John 3:1 (ESV)
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
John 19:39–40 (ESV)
39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
We have Nicodemus and, of course, the Apostle Paul but really not too many others.
Jesus’ words here are judgement to the Pharisees and directed as instruction to His disciples, the crowd and to us who would benefit from what our Lord declares.
There are seven woes declared in total. Today we will attempt to cover the first three.
Pray
Matthew 23:13–22 (ESV)
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
1. False Teachers Fail to See and Worship Jesus as the Messiah
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
They throw the Key to the Kingdom of God away. Have you ever lost your keys? If you ever have, you realize that your car is useless and if you’re outside your house, your house is useless if you cannot get into them, they are useless.
Luke 11:52 (ESV)
52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
The Key to God’s Kingdom is Jesus as Messiah. Beloved, Jesus is the Key. He alone opens the door to the Kingdom of God.
Acts 4:12 (ESV)
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus shows us that He is the opposite of the Pharisees. He opens the door to God’s Kingdom through His life, ministry and death on the cross. Jesus opens the door to all who would come to Him by grace through faith. Jesus stands holding the door open to all who would come to Him.
Have you entered into God’s Kingdom through Christ? Jesus must open the door for us. We cannot get into God’s Kingdom by our own efforts. We must realize we have nothing to offer God. We enter by faith in all Christ has done for us.
Matthew 5:3 (ESV)
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Have you entered through Jesus?
John 10:7–9 (ESV)
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
Jesus opens the door to God’s Kingdom while the False Teachers slam it shut. They don’t enter and slam it shut so others cannot go through either. They are working against Jesus, truly they are the spirit of anti-Christ. They are against Jesus.
1 John 4:1–3 (ESV)
4 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
They did not embrace their Messiah. They did not declare salvation by grace through faith. They rejected Jesus and taught a works salvation. They taught that you could enter into God’s Kingdom by your own merits. They had no righteousness nor did they teach others that righteousness comes only through the Messiah.
By perverting the Gospel, they led people away from Jesus. When Jesus healed and accomplished miracles, they were very quick to condemn Him as a fake or as a devil. They called Him a lawbreaker and a blasphemer. They called Him a sinner because He associated with those who needed God’s forgiveness.
False teachers are evil no matter what they look like. False teachers today are no different. Be very careful because they will lead you astray and shut the door to the Kingdom in your face while using very smooth words and looking very impressive.
2. False Teachers May Be Devout, but In Their Zeal They Bring Great Harm to Others
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
Jesus shows us something very important here. Being zealous and devout does not make one a true Christian. Someone who is very zealous can be zealous for a false gospel. Zeal, in other words, does not equal truth. In the case of the Pharisees, they were very zealous to turn others into their disciples where they would teach them the same false gospel, they believed themselves.
These disciples were called proselytes For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte
These were non-Jewish adherents to the ethics of Judaism.
Jesus tells these that their converts are children of hell. This is a Semitic saying that meant they too were destined for hell like their teachers were.
What’s interesting here is that the proselyte’s zeal may even outdo the teacher’s zeal but the same holds true, zeal does not equate to truth.
It does not matter how devout or zealous someone is when they teach heresy it’s still heresy. It does not matter if they seem to love others, do good deeds, are a part of some social organization, serve the poor or the needy, all this does not equal the true Gospel. We must not get taken in by these wolves in sheep’s clothing.
No matter what they look like and no matter how devout and zealous and no matter how sweet their words may be, if they are not speaking truth from the Bible they are evil and wretched sinful false teachers.
3. False Teachers Twist the Scriptures for Their Own Gain
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
Here, Jesus doesn’t call them by name but He is still referring to the Scribes, Pharisees as hypocrites. Now he does also call them blind guides. A blind guide cannot lead anyone anywhere. A guide is supposed to have the correct answers, know the direction, and able to lead people to the place they desire. This Pharisees and Scribes could not lead anyone into God’s Kingdom because they were spiritually blind and they themselves stood on the outside. They had never entered themselves, so they could never lead anyone into the Kingdom in which they knew nothing about.
Regarding oaths, Jesus told His followers that it is best not to swear an oath at all.
Matthew 5:33–37 (ESV)
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
The Pharisees had a game. They taught that as long as you did not swear using God’s name then your oaths were not really binding. They sounded impressive but when the one making the oath failed to fulfill their oath no one could rightly accuse them of lying because they would say, I did not swear using God’s name. If I had, then I would have fulfilled my promise. This was common among the leaders.
Here’s a few examples…
rather than saying As God is my witness, I swear I will pay you back by tomorrow.
They might say something like…As heaven is my witness, I swear I will pay you back by tomorrow. When they failed to pay you back then they would say, well I didn’t swear in God’s name I said heaven…
Here in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5, Jesus explains the utter nonsense and complete absurdity of their logic.
What makes heaven sacred is that God’s throne is there. Heaven does not make God sacred; God makes heaven sacred. The earth also was used in swearing an oath. Even the earth is in some ways sacred because God created it and as Jesus tells His followers it’s as if God rests His feet there.
Our Lord recommends that we don’t swear at all. Rather just say yes or no and keep your word. That is a much safer practice.
In our text today, Jesus uses the temple example to teach how foolish their reasoning was. They said you could swear by the Temple but not the gold in the Temple or you could swear by the altar and it doesn’t count but if you swore by the gift on the altar then you were bound by your oath. How completely foolish is this whole system of loopholes.
So, they twisted the Scriptures for their own advantage.
Here’s what the Bible told them…
God taught the Israelites to guarantee their veracity by swearing, with God as witness, to tell the truth. He commanded,
Leviticus 19:12 (ESV)
12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
Numbers 30:2 (ESV)
2 If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
Deuteronomy 23:21–23 (ESV)
21 “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23 You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
By invoking God as witness, the Israelites called him to judge and avenge if they failed to perform a vow. So, they thought they would set up some sort of very sneaky scheme whereby they could make a vow and not be held by their promise.
They were guilty of twisting the Scriptures.
Conclusion
Here Jesus gives us some very useful tools to help us discern truth from lies or error and true teachers from false teachers…
1. False Teachers Fail to See and Worship Jesus as the Messiah.
Ask yourself, does this person I’m listening to believe Jesus is the Christ? Is he worshipping Jesus as Messiah? Is he teaching me to worship Jesus as Messiah?
2. False Teachers May Be Devout, but In Their Zeal They Bring Great Harm to Others
Ask yourself why do I listen to this person? Is it because he is very entertaining? Do I like his accent? Is he fun to watch? Or does he speak the truth?
3. False Teachers Twist the Scriptures for Their Own Gain
Ask yourself, does this teacher say what the Bible says? Does he go beyond the Scriptures and claim extra knowledge? Does he view the Bible as God’s Word authoritative and the source of truth?
Resources Used:
Matthew by Leon Morris
Matthew by R T France
Matthew by Ryken
