1. “Woe to You Evil Shepherds…Blind Guides” MATTHEW 23:13-15

2. “If a man is characteristically an irritable, ill- tempered creature, notoriously given to uncontrolled outbursts of passionate anger, his anger is neither effective nor impressive. Nobody pays any attention to the anger of a bad-tempered man.

3. But when a person who is characteristically meek and lowly, gentle and loving, suddenly erupts into blazing wrath, even the most thoughtless person is shocked into taking thought. That is why the anger of Jesus is so awe-inspiring a sight. It is seldom that we find so unsparing and sustained an indictment as we find in this chapter when the wrath of Jesus is directed against the Scribes and Pharisees.” Barclay

4. Please Turn to Matthew 23

5. MATTHEW 5:3-8 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

6. VS. 13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

7. “HYPOCRITES”

8. LUKE 11:52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

9. MATTHEW 15

10. JEREMIAH 23:1-2 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the L ORD. Therefore this is what the L ORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the L ORD.

11. VS. 14 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

12. Mark 12:40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.” Luke 20:46 “Beware of the scribes… 47 who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

13. LUKE 16:13-15 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

14. ISAIAH 10:1-2 Woe to those who enact evil statutes And to those who constantly record unjust decisions, So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor of My people of their rights, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the orphans. Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation.

15. MATTHEW 6:5-7

16. VS. 15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

17. “There were those who were called the god-fearers. These accepted the conception of one God; they accepted the Jewish moral law; but they took no part in the ceremonial law and did not become circumcised. Such people existed in large numbers, and were to be found listening and worshipping in every synagogue, and indeed provided Paul with his most fruitful field for evangelization.

18. It was the aim of the Pharisees to turn these god-fearers into proselytes; the word proselyte is an English transliteration of a Greek word, which means one who has approached or drawn near. The proselyte was the full convert who had accepted the ceremonial law and circumcision and who had become in the fullest sense a Jew.

19. As so often happens, “the most converted were the most perverted.” A convert often becomes the most fanatical devotee of his new religion; and many of these proselytes were more fanatically devoted to the Jewish Law than even the Jews themselves. Barclay

20. “When a person believes that Scriptural authority extends beyond the statements of Scripture there is no limit to what else may be authoritative… The Pharisees’ interpretation of Messiah locked Jesus out of this role. ” Tom Constable

21. MATTHEW 5:20 8:11-12 12:24-32 15:12-14 21:43-44

22. JOHN 3:1-17 “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

23. “HYPOCRITES”