Matthew / 23

  • Humility and Exaltation

    Matthew 23:5–12

    Matthew Henry comments, “It is a gracious ambition to covet to be really more holy than others, but it is a proud ambition to covet to appear so. It is good to excel in real piety, but not to exceed ...Read More

  • Pharisaic Hypocrisy

    Matthew 23:1–4

    As we have seen, many Pharisees had an inflated view of their own goodness and were unaware of their own need for mercy (Luke 18:9–14). Yet the truly pious, “being conscious of their own weakness…kindly forgive the ...Read More

  • Jesus Leaves the Temple

    Matthew 24:1–2

    It is a terrible thing to think that the Lord can become so fed up with those who claim to be His servants that He departs from their presence. God sometimes seems absent to us because we have grieved Him ...Read More

  • Jesus Laments Over Jerusalem

    Matthew 23:37–39

    We are not perfectly holy and have no inherent right to execute wrath. How then can we take pleasure in the death of the sinner if God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked? Our hearts should be ...Read More

  • Beware of Idolatry

    Deuteronomy 4:15–31

    Their denial of biblical authority makes it easy to accuse liberals of committing refined idolatry. The evangelical church in our day, however, can also build refined idols. Those who believe in a “God of love” without acknowledging His just wrath ...Read More

  • Persecutors of the Prophets

    Matthew 23:29–36

    Matthew Henry says it is easy for us to assume that we would be unlike the scribes and Pharisees and follow Jesus willingly. Yet even centuries later, he writes, “Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is ...Read More

  • Dead Men Walking

    Matthew 23:27–28

    Truth be told, there is a bit of hypocrisy in all of us. We often try hard to impress other people with our piety, trying to get the pastor and other people to notice our willingness to pray and serve ...Read More

  • Inward Cleanliness

    Matthew 23:25–26

    According to Matthew Henry: “those sins must be conscientiously abstained from, which the eye of God only is a witness to, who searches the heart.” We can easily think we are being obedient if we do many good deeds, however ...Read More

  • Weightier Matters of the Law

    Matthew 23:23–24

    John Calvin writes, “The Law is kept only when men are just, and kind, and true, towards each other; for thus they testify that they love and fear God, and give proper and sufficient evidence of sincere piety.” Commitment to ...Read More

  • The Sanctity of Vows

    Matthew 23:16–22

    John MacArthur comments that “swearing by those things [temple, altar, and so on] is tantamount to swearing by God Himself” (The MacArthur Bible Commentary, p. 1,169). Any godly commitment we make must be honored, for the Lord prizes truth ...Read More

  • Increasing Another’s Guilt

    Matthew 23:13–15

    As we preach the Gospel to our friends and neighbors we must always stress grace, otherwise we can convert people to a Christianized form of moralism that implies it is possible for us to get right with God through our ...Read More