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Intermediate Sunday School : Lesson 142

Text: Matthew 23:23-26
13 April 2025

INTERMEDIATE SUNDAY SCHOOL
STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Text: Matthew 23

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Matthew 23:23-26

1. The sin of hypocrisy

a) Tithing
i) It was a good Mosaic Law
ii) It was meant to help the believer to be responsible and caring
b) It was taken to extreme ends by the Scribes and Pharisees
i) They counted Mint leaves
ii) Star Anise plants
iii) Cummin (Cumin) seeds

2. Weightier matters of the law

a) Justice
i) Justice was to be upheld
ii) The poor needed to be helped
iii) Often, the poor were bulled by the rich
b) Mercy
i) Mercy ought to be practised
ii) Those who needed mercy was often denied it
iii) The poor suffered the most
c) Faith
i) Faith was to be cultivated
ii) Often faith was set aside
iii) The focus tended to be obtaining wealth
d) These things were often left undone
i) Neglected
ii) Worse, cast aside

SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS

1. The scribes and Pharisees

a) They were blind guides
b) Spiritual leaders were expected to guide people
c) But how could they lead if they were blind guides?
d) They strain the gnat (an unclean insect)
e) But they swallow the camel (an unclean animal) Leviticus 11

2. The problem of hypocrisy

a) They clean the cup and the dish on the outside
b) But the inside is unclean
i) Extortion
ii) Self-indulgence
c) Hypocrisy is to pay attention to the outside but not the inside

3. Cleansing must take place

a) Cleansing must cover both sides
i) Outside
ii) Inside
b) The sins of the scribes and Pharisees remind us of God’s rebuke of ancient Israel in the days of Isaiah
11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
12 “When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
13 Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
17 Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:11-17