Message Notes

INTERMEDIATE SUNDAY SCHOOL
STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Text: Matthew 23

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

Matthew 23:27-30

1. More words of rebuke

a) The Lord Jesus issued more words of warning to the scribes and Pharisees

b) The main word was “hypocrisy”

c) Additionally, they were guilty of “lawlessness”

2. Why were these rebukes given?

a) The Lord was holding them accountable

b) The Lord was not making false accusations

c) He was stating obvious truths

d) He rebuked them so that the people at large would not be further deceived

e) He exposed their hypocrisy so that people may not fear them

f) These words of rebuke were given so that the scribes and Pharisees might repent of their sinful ways and turn to God for forgiveness and cleansing

THE IMAGERY OF TOMBS

1. Tombs were burial places

2. They were considered “unclean”

a) Hence, tombs were always whitewashed

b) They can be seen from afar

c) The wayfarer would then avoid these tombs

d) To come into contact with a tomb would render a person “unclean”

3. The scribes and Pharisees

a) They were compared to whitewashed tombs

b) They are beautifully whitewashed

c) But internally, they were full of the bones of the dead

d) The scribes and Pharisees were like unclean corpses

4. Externally

a) They appeared to be righteous

b) They were keeping the religious rituals of the law

5. Internally

a) They were full of hypocrisy

b) Their lives were unclean

EXTERNAL PIETY

1. There was a show of piety of the scribes and Pharisees

a) They build the tombs of the prophets

b) They adorn the monuments of the righteous

c) They declare that if they had lived in the ancient days,
They would not have been partakers of the evil of slaying the righteous

2. The reality

a) They were persecuting the Lord Jesus

b) They were harassing Him

c) They were plotting to kill Him

d) They proved themselves to be hypocrites

IMPORTANT LESSONS

1. Hypocrisy is to be rejected

2. It is wiser to admit that we have

a) Weaknesses

b) Flaws

c) Sins

3. It is totally unwise to pretend

a) To be righteous

b) To be good and wise

c) Greater would be the rebuke