DECEMBER 22, 2024

TEXT:  MATTHEW 23

1. The warning Jesus gave His followers:  (Mt. 23:1-12)
   1. He warns them about;
      1. The liberal religious leaders
      2. Their wicked religious works
      3. Their focus on recognition
      4. Not to follow their unbiblical example
2. The warning Jesus gave the religious lost:  (Mt 23:13-36)
   1. Warning them about:
      1. Keeping people out of God’s family
      2. Their own eternal damnation
      3. Leading people to Hell more than to Heaven
      4. Not seeing the person obedience is to be unto
      5. Making the letter of the law greater than the spirit
      6. Looking good to man over being good before God
      7. Striving to clean their flesh but not their soul.
      8. Rejecting God’s true messengers sent by God.
3. The warning Jesus gave of their own hardening of their hearts.  (Mt.23:38-39)
   1. His lament over the spiritual hardness of the Jewish people
   2. His desire for the spiritual tenderness of the Jewish people
   3. His challenge to the spiritual responsiveness of the Jewish people
      1. His challenge to them before…
         1. they crucified Him  Mt. 21:9
         2. His ascension back to Heaven  Ps 118:26
         3. He returns in His authority as King to reign – Isa 40:9-11′ Zech qw:8-14: 13:7-9; Rom 11:25-28;  2 Cor 3:14-18