Christ the Terrifying Judge (Matthew 23:13-15).
length: 39:52 - taught on Oct, 26 2025
Class Outline:
Sunday October 26, 2025
Main idea: Jesus’ judgment upon the scribes and Pharisees is a result of their failure to lead the people to Him, and it motivates us to devote ourselves to leading people to the door of eternal life by faith in Christ because the alternative is fiery hell.
MAT 23:13-33 [Verse 14 is not in the original Matthew.]
Organization of the seven woes.
3 groups of 2 followed by the 7th = hell.
God’s creation was “very good” and led to Shalom (life surrounded by happiness and blessing in the presence of God).
The woes are also a contrast to the beatitudes.
False religion has a grave effect on people. It honors the wrong things and desires to please the wrong people. It ends up in death and not life.
The ongoing reality of false religion and the activity of the devil prowling around, seeking someone to devour, motivates us to devote ourselves to leading people to the door of eternal life by faith in Christ because the alternative is fiery hell.
Woe 1 and Woe 2: Blind leaders to hell.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people …”
The reason these leaders are judged and not the Romans, or any others, is because these were God’s shepherds, appointed to care for His flock, leading them to Him.
God judges His shepherds.
"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds," declares the Lord.
We show in our lives and with our words that Jesus is Lord of all. He is salvation and He is the Judge. We are all called to witness of the gospel to the world around us, and thus we become shepherds, each of us, leading sheep to Christ.
'Thus says the Lord God, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? 3 "You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock.
for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
They do not enter: MAT 5:20; ROM 4:5.
The text also says that there are still those who are entering despite the fact that they are not allowing them.
Woe 2 matches woe 1 in that after they say the right way is off limits, they then lead the people another way, which is to hell.
Verse 14 is not in the original Matthew.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
Woe 2: Puts loads of effort to make proselyte and lead him to hell.
A proselyte is a Gentile that is converted to Judaism.
The point of the woe is how aggressive the Pharisees and scribes are to get just one proselyte, and then they heap on them the enormous load that they will not help to bear.
Connected to woe 1 where they tell the people that the actual door to the kingdom of heaven is shut, in woe 2 they now lead to the people to the door to hell.
Energetic evangelism: false teachers can be energetic and persuasive.
In the church, God has opened up His roster for leaders, not just positions of authority.
The responsibility of a leader is great.
“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.”
God has called every believer in the age of the church to be a witness and a discipler.
Christ as Judge. Christ is Judge.
He is loving them. He has shown Himself to them. They have gone beyond repentance, perhaps not all, but they as a group are going to murder the Messiah, and He knows it.
He is judge. We are not.
"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Christ does love His enemies, of course He does. But unlike any other person, He is THE Judge. He must judge them because He is God.
“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,”
Christ is God and Man. All judgment has been given to Him. This passage is Him as a terrible Judge because He is God and must judge the world.
Hell is a real place and the final place for some.
Gehenna: a reference to eternal damnation, rather than to Hades
God’s judgment is not like ours.
We measure out each crime and try to give each one a just sentence.
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;
God sees each transgression reaching back to the beginning.
But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
The gospel in your heart is THE thing that makes the difference between life and death.
Conclusion:
God has called every believer in the age of the church to be a witness and a discipler.
"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
You lead others in your midst to salvation in Jesus Christ by teaching the gospel to them, to the kingdom of heaven that is to come. You also mentor and disciple other believers that God puts in your life to a greater understanding and maturity.
Do you see in Jesus’ sermon how we can fail at these two callings? What did the Pharisees and Scribes do? They lived for themselves, they exalted themselves, they cared nothing for others, they cared nothing for God.
On the heels of Christ’s teaching on loving God and loving our neighbor: call out to your neighbor and lead him to the Lord.
How?
Prayer.
Alert.
Unselective.
Concern.
Courage.
Love.
Make this a part of your daily life.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
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