MATTHEW 23:13-31 WOE TO YOU … HYPOCRITES (4)

In our last lesson, we were discussing the subject of hypocrisy in Matthew 23 and we saw that hypocrisy is a sin that has catastrophic consequences. When Jesus said, How will you (scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites) escape being condemned to hell (Matthew 23:33)? or He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 24:51), the message is clear. The fate of the hypocrites is to go to hell. Therefore the problem of hypocrisy has to do with the very matter of salvation. If we do not deal with it, there is no salvation to talk about. There is no hope for salvation. Knowing this, we want to do everything possible to stay away from hypocrisy. But we become more nervous when we know also, as we saw the last time, that hypocrisy is part of the human nature. No one is immune from it. So how do we deal with this problem? Let’s turn back to Matthew 22:41-45 to seek an answer. In this passage, the Lord Jesus initiated a question on the identity of the Messiah.