St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 15b; Sons of Hell

Our paragraph topic is:  (Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 9.  

How do you reach a lost soul?  How can you show them the error of their ways?  How is it possible to shock them back to a sense of justice that they might be able to see the mistakes that they made?  We all are human.  We all make mistakes.  We all are subject to the influences of evil.  In the time when Christ came, evil was rampant.  Evil was with men.  Evil was within the hearts of men and they had forgotten the God of their forefathers.

And this is why Christ called out the leaders, the Scribes and the Pharisees.  They were the ones who set the rules.  They were the ones who enforced the laws.  They were the ones who taught the people how to follow the laws of their forefathers, because they had the books written by the prophets.  They could enforce the laws the way that they saw fit and understood.  Christ called the hypocrites.  He told them:  "Because you traverse sea and land to make one convert; and when he has become one, you make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves."

He called them hypocrites.  They were masquerading as religious men but underneath the masks they were creating evil in the hearts of men.  They were creating sons of hell, doing the work of the devil, not the work of God.  

 How appropriate is this message for us today.  We go out and evangelize to bring others into the church so that they may be saved.  The church is something new for them in that there are guidelines that we live by to help us follow the life that God wants us to live.  These may be difficult for a new comer to follow or even comprehend if they see others who do not follow the same guidelines.

God our father gave us basic commands to follow to keep us away from harm, out of the way of evil.  He loves us and does not want us to be harmed, just as we love our own children.  We would tell our own children not to put their hands in the fire because it will burn them.  God wants to do the same for us.  We can not base our experience upon that which we see others do.  It is up to each one of us though, to seek a personal relationship with our Father so that we know in our hearts what his will is for us.  His love for us is the key.

Christ is our Lord and Savior.  It is through his passion that we were reborn into a new life.  He came down from his thrown in heaven to be with us, to walk with us and talk with us to leave a legacy that we might know that he is with us.  It is through him and with him that we have a spokesperson to the Father. He knows our faults and failures.  He knows our pains and our sorrows.  He knows our hopes and our fears.  He is with us and in us, if we open ourselves to him through the Holy Spirit.  His love is endless.  His love is boundless.  His love is fulfilling.  He is the be all and the end all of all our needs.  To be with him is to be at rest for all eternity.  

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.

St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 15a; Woe!

Our paragraph topic is:  (Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 8.  

Jesus was bold.  He was outspoken.  Only the prophets and those who were crazy spoke to the Pharisees this way.  No one would dare speak out loud to them in public for all to hear.  Yet Jesus did.  He spared no words and did not hold his tongue.  He wanted all to hear what he had to say of the Scribes and the Pharisees.  He wanted all to know of their wrongs.

They did not believe.  They did not see.  They did not understand that the kingdom of heaven was at their doorstep.  The Scribes and the Pharisees only heard the words of a man calling them out to the public, something no one dared do to their honor.  But Christ did.  He said to them: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!"

In this paragraph he calls them hypocrites three times.  He tells the disciples what they did and how they did it so that all will know their sins.  He gives them three times to repent of their ways.  Yet they do not.  They can not hear.  They can not see.  They can not understand what is happening before them.  They are deaf in their hearing.  They are blind in their seeing and their understand has been taken away.

Where are we today?  Are we in the same boat?  Can we hear the calling?  Can we see the miracles before us?  Can we understand the things that are happening around us that give us the opportunities to repent of our ways?  We have a choice.  God is merciful.  He is loving and forgiving.  He is patient in his mercy and wants all to have the chance to receive his love.  The choice is ours if we can only hear, if we can only see, is we can only understand the gift that is given to us. 

 I am so thankful that I heard.  I am so thankful that I was able to see.  I am so thankful that I was able to understand the gift that I have received, that I am here today to write to you about it.  Seek it and you shall find it.  Knock on the door and it shall be opened to you.  Know that you have a heavenly Father who loves you and who will come to you and embrace you with his love.  I am a witness. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.

St. Matthew, Chapter 23, verses: 14c; Greater Judgment.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees) Part 7.  

We are crying for the Scribes and the Pharisees.  Woe to them.  They are being called out to the public for their wrongs.  The spotlight of the kingdom of heaven shines upon them and they are being called out for their wrong doings to the people.  The kingdom of heaven is at hand and Christ is passing out mercy tickets to those who are willing to repent.  But the Scribes and the Pharisees are angry and will not relent in their desires to seek revenge upon Christ.

He calls them hypocrites to their face in public.  He tells them that they do not go into the kingdom of heaven but they close the door to the kingdom for those who want to go in.  They devour the houses of widows who have no means after their husbands die by praying long prayers.  And he gives them their judgment by telling them: "For this you shall receive a greater judgment."

He walked the earth and he talked to the earth.  He spoke to the wind and the rain, the sea and the sky, the trees and the fish and the grain.  He was here on this planet and yet we knew him not.  Even today we not know him.  For he is that which is within us, that which is without.  He is around us each and every day.  He has given us the means of being, the being of seeing and the reasoning to know him.  Yet we have not fully known that which we are.

Each waking day is an opportunity to discover.  What are we here for?  Why do we exist?  Is it just to be a part of the collective, to work, play, to love, to create, to procreate, to unify a family, to be a part of a community, a part of a church, a part of an organization?  Or are we given what we consider a greater purpose, to create something that will move humanity along the time line of knowledge and understanding?  Where are we going?  Why are we here?

We walk the time line of death knowing what the future holds for us.  Christ did the same knowing that this was why he was born, why he came, why he died.  Yet he conquered death.  He rose and ascended above the grave.  He tells us that we will do the same that we will have life eternal. Is this why we are here?  Is this our ultimate goal, to die, to rise again?  Should we not rejoice then!  Should we not be happy!  Should we not seek to know the how and the wherefore of him who made this promise to us?  


Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.