“FREEDOM COMES FROM THE INSIDE” Matt. 23:25-28
FBCF – 7/30/23
Jon Daniels
INTRO – Read Matthew 23:25-28 (p. 829)
Do y’all know what this is called? (drop a mic) It’s what someone does when they want to emphasize that the discussion is over & the definitive point has been made. It’s a way of saying, “’Nuff said!” This is what is about to happen in Jesus’ last extended teaching time in these chapters in Matthew’s Gospel. Basically starts in Matthew 22:34-40 – Greatest commandment. One the Pharisaical experts asked a trick question to try to trap Jesus – “test” means “to trap; attempt to catch in a mistake.” In asking which is the greatest commandment, the lawyer was trying to lure Jesus into pulling one of the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law out of the air & declaring that one law to be the most important of all. That would have degenerated into barrage of arguments, disagreements, & disputes from all the religious leaders.
Instead of doing that, Jesus reached back beyond the Law into the singular, foundational biblical truth of all of the people of God. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5. It’s called the Shema & is part of the one of the most famous prayers in the Bible & is a prayer that every Jewish person would recite daily. It’s the basic & essential creed of Judaism. Talk about a mic drop moment! No Jew in his right mind would argue w/ that.
But He didn’t stop there. In this final discourse before His betrayal, arrest, mock trial, & crucifixion, Jesus exposes the Pharisees for who they truly were. He didn’t pull any punches! As we start chapter 23, we see Him turning from the scribes & Pharisees to address the disciples & the crowds that were there. And His address to them was a warning about the scribes & Pharisees & how they were leading the people astray. It doesn’t get much clearer than what He said in v. 3: “…do & observe whatever they TELL you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.”
- “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.” (MSG)
And from this, we get our application for today:
APPLICATION – You’ll never be truly free on the outside if you’re not truly free on the inside.
From v. 13 through v. 36, Jesus issues 7 “woes” to the religious leaders – “woe” – “horror; how dreadful.” It’s an exclamation of grief in which Jesus pronounced judgment of these leaders & their false lives. “It is horrifying that you would do this. It is dreadful that you would live like this.”
He calls them “hypocrites” 6 times. “hypocrite” – “pretender.” And in verses 25-28, we see Him making it clear that a true hypocrite is someone who tries to pretend that everything is good on the inside by putting on a show on the outside. And those who do that are not truly free no matter what they say or what they do. Jesus basically saying, “Quit playing the game. It ain’t working. You might fool some of the people around you some of the time, but you’re not fooling God & you never will! You are not free!”
DON’T TRY TO PRETEND YOU’RE CLEAN WHEN YOU’RE NOT – v. 25-26 – “In denouncing [the scribes & Pharisees], He was also opposing all religious hypocrisy & the uselessness of empty outward forms of religion” (Phillips commentary).
So many times, we get ourselves all cleaned up on the outside, hoping that folks won’t notice the junk that’s on the inside of our lives.
- I collect coffee cups. Over 200 of them in my colledtion. On shelves in my office. Look so nice & shiny on the shelves. Take one down to use to get a cup of coffee. Looks great on outside. Look on inside & find a dead roach, or dust, or mold from old coffee that was left in there.
This is the analogy that Jesus is using. We want to look respectable outwardly, but it’s useless to do that when we are still in bondage to “greed & self-indulgence” inwardly.
- NLT – “inside you are filthy”
- “full of greed” – We tend to dismiss greed as not being that big a deal. But Colossians 3:5 tells us that greed is idolatry. “…put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.” (CSB) God hates idolatry!
- “self-indulgence” – Just getting whatever YOU want, fulfilling whatever desires you have.
DON’T TRY TO PRETEND YOU’RE ALIVE WHEN YOU’RE NOT – v. 27 – Jesus continues w/ the graphic imagery as He presses the point further. He’s already made the point of how ludicrous it is to clean the outside of a inwardly filthy cup. Now He makes the powerful point that it is just as ludicrous to pretend you’re alive when you’re dead on the inside. You can paint the outside of the tomb up all you want to, but it doesn’t change the fact that there is a putrid dead body inside.
- Commentator William Barclay says this is a precise picture of the Pharisess: “Their outward actions were the actions of intensely religious men; their inward hearts were foul & putrid w/ sin.” (The Gospel of Matthew, p. 328)
The Savior of the world, who is “the way, the truth, & the LIFE”, stands ready to replace your inward spiritual death w/ His eternal life. He will reach into the tomb of your life & place HIS life inside of you! Only He can make you alive on the inside!
DON’T TRY TO PRETEND YOU’RE RIGHTEOUS WHEN YOU’RE NOT – v. 28 – Jesus continues building on the craziness of trying to look righteous on the outside when there is nothing but hypocrisy – remember this is pretending - & lawlessness – pure unadulterated wickedness – on the inside. You look like you’re a just, fair, upright person who is living according to the Bible. But you’re really just faking it. It’s SELF-righteousness – which is really NO righteousness. You’re NOT right w/ God b/c you are not truly free inside.
- Julian Lennon – John Lennon’s son who was abandoned by the great Beatle singer at the age of 5, said this about his famous father: “I felt he was a hypocrite. Dad could talk about peace & love out loud to the world, but he could never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife & son. How can you talk about peace & love & have a family in bits & pieces – no communication, adultery, & divorce? You can’t do it, not if you’re being true & honest w/ yourself.”
How many people talk about being right w/ God but they’re really not? “I’ve made my peace w/ the man upstairs” – “I’ve tried to live a good life” – “I believe in the good Lord” – Those are all just empty words if there hasn’t been a true change on the inside that only Jesus can do.
CONCLUSION – Being unclean, unalive, & unrighteous are all horrible, spiritually fatal conditions. But JESUS will set you free from all of that.
- That’s why He died on the cross
- That’s why He paid the price for your sins
- That’s why you need to call out to Him & be saved today.
- That’s why you need to repent & come back to Him today if you’ve strayed away.
Quit pretending & come to Jesus today! Let Him save you & set you free today!
And then there are those who are saved but are not walking w/ the Lord. You want everyone to think you are, but inside you know you’re not. Quit pretending & repent today. Rededicate your life to Christ today & get back in fellowship w/ Him.
