PT-2 "Intro to Matthew 23:13-33

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/12/2023 9:14 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Matthew 23:13-33

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                               Reference: Matthew 23:13-33

 

            Message of the verses:  I mentioned in my last SD that I would not be putting all of these verses onto the introduction of them because of the length of them.  If anyone is interested in looking at these verses they may go back to my Spiritual Diary from 10-11-2023.

 

            Many true Christians today have different kinds of fears like the things that are going on in our country, the things that are now going on in the Middle East, and other things like these.  Yet those kinds of evil as great as they are, do not together pose the threat to Christianity that false shepherds and pastors do.  I mentioned about one of the false shepherds in my last SD who was saying that it is alright to kill unborn babies.  False shepherds are a problem that if one follows them can cause a person to end up in hell.  In one of John MacArthur’s sermons on this section of verses he told the story of a young man who had called him to tell him that he was leaving the church in order to go to be a Mormon.  After hanging up the phone he quickly went over to this young man’s house and got there before the Mormons got there.  MacArthur proceeded to tell the Mormons the truths found in Matthew chapter thirteen as these truths go entirely against what they were trying to feed to this young man.  This is a good plan to have when one of these cults come knocking on your door.  Once a person gets hooked into one of these cults it is very difficult to leave them as they have their hooks deeply implanted in to all of their converts.   

 

            Don’t be afraid to confront these cults when they come to your house or don’t be afraid to confront other false teachers of their so-called gospel, which is false when you come face to face with them.

 

            John MacArthur writes “The godly prophets of the Old Testament were constantly opposed and often persecuted by ungodly prophets, who invariably drew many of the people after them.  Isaiah declared, “the people will be like the priest” (Isa. 24:2).  Jeremiah wrote, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority, and My people love it so!” (Jer. 5:31) and “Many Shepherds have ruined My vineyard, they have trampled down My field; they have made My pleasant field a desolate wilderness (12:10).’”

 

            In this section of Matthew 23:13-33 Jesus relentlessly gives a scathing condemnation about these false prophets of Israel, and mostly to the scribes and Pharisees, and Jesus does this while speaking to the crowd who was at the temple, and these false teachers heard it too.  I have failed to mention in many of my last SD’s about which day it was that Jesus is talking to these false teachers.  We began looking at the last week of our Lord’s life on planet earth a very long time ago which began on Monday of what is called Passion Week when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt.  This is commonly called Palm Sunday, but according to MacArthur it was on a Monday.  I have heard different interpretations about this last week of Jesus’ life as far as which day He came into Jerusalem, and even which day that He was crucified as some say it was on a Wednesday and others say on Thursday, and of course many say it was Friday.  Anyway by going by the time table in MacArthur’s commentary all these events that we are now looking at took place on Wednesday a day after Jesus cleansed the Temple.

 

            By speaking the truth about the false teachers of Israel in this section Jesus also gave the apostles themselves a final example of the confrontational stance they would soon find it necessary to take in their proclamation and defense of the gospel.  I am sure that after the resurrection of Jesus back into heaven, after the Holy Spirit came upon those in the upper room the day that the Church was born that the Holy Spirit brought back to their minds these things that Jesus was saying about these false teachers of Israel.  All one has to do is to listen to the sermon that Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost and one can see some of these same elements in that sermon.

 

            I will end this SD with a paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary.

 

            “The unbelieving scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus addressed in the Temple stood alone in their sin and were condemned along in their guilt for misappropriating and perverting God’s law and for leading Israel into heresy, just as the false prophets among their forefathers had done (vv. 30-32).  But they also stood as models of all false spiritual leaders who would come after them.  Therefore what Jesus said about them and to them is of much more than historical significance.  It is essential instruction for dealing with the false leaders who abound in our own day.”

 

10/12/2023 9:48 AM