122 THE PASSION: SINCERITY

Matthew 5:7-8

October 11, 2025

Alright, we’ve now covered 4 of the eight beatitudes.

· We’ve seen that those who are poor in spirit are blessed

· We’ve seen that those who mourn over their sin are blessed

· We’ve seen that those who are gentle and submissive are blessed

· We’ve seen that those who hunger for righteousness are blessed

· Those are the only people who get to go to heaven.

· Those are the only people who get comforted by God.

· Those are the only people who get to reign with Jesus on the earth.

· Those are the only people who get declared righteous by God.

Tonight we want to move to the next two beatitudes.

(7) “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

(8) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Ok, so let’s recap our questions:

WHAT IS BLESSING?

· To be forgiven of my sin

HOW DO I PURSUE FORGIVENESS AND SALVATION?

· By believing in and submitting my life to Jesus Christ.

You’ve got those down.

Tonight let’s introduce a third question:

IS BEING RELIGIOUS ENOUGH?

That is one of the real misconceptions of so many in our world.

When God asks us to deny ourselves

And take up the cross and follow Jesus,

We try to strike a bargain and compromise.

Well, I won’t do that, but I will go to church more often.

I won’t follow Jesus, but I will get baptized.

I won’t follow Jesus, but I will give a little money to the church.

People try to negotiate something less than a life fully devoted to Jesus.

And what we want to know is if that’s ok?

Is it ok if instead of devoting my life to Jesus if I just get a little religious?

WELL LET’S SEE.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 23

Here is where we run into a group of people known as Pharisees.

If you don’t know who they are, they are

The most religious people in the world during Jesus’ day.

Look at the first few verses of this chapter.

Matthew 23:1-5 “Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.”

Let’s just make a few observations about them.

“have seated themselves in the chair of Moses”

· That means that they were the self-proclaimed experts of the Mosaic Law.

· They were the self-proclaimed bible scholars of their day.

· They were the self-appointed teachers of everyone else.

That’s why Jesus said, “all that they tell you, do and observe”

When they teach you the Law of Moses you should obey it.

Their problem wasn’t what they knew.

What was their problem?

“they say things and do not do them”

That is not the first time Jesus made this accusation about them.

Matthew 15:8 “This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.”

They say all the right things,

But in their heart there is no real devotion to God.

Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount

· Jesus talked about how they are devoted to giving money, but they only do it to impress other people.

· He talked about how they pray often, but only do it so that other people will be impressed by them.

· He talked about they fast, but only do it to be noticed.

THEY ARE RELIGIOUS, BUT THEY ARE NOT SINCERE.

And that is what we see in Matthew 23.

They are very religious.

Jesus said (5) “they do all their deeds to be noticed by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.”

This is really wild.

First of all a “phylactery”

Was a type of headband or it could be an arm band.

Kind of like what you’re wearing here at D-Now.

· Only theirs had a little pouch or even box attached to it.

· And in the box they would role up a piece of paper that had Deuteronomy 6:5 on it.

Deuteronomy 6:5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

The reason they chose that verse is because of Deuteronomy 6:6-8

Deuteronomy 6;6-8 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.”

What God meant was that this command

Should always be on your mind

And should dictate every work of your hands.

They took it quite literally and actually wrote it on a piece of paper,

Put it in a pocket and tied it to their forehead.

IT’S A LITTLE PECULIAR.

It would be like us asking, do you really have to be “poor in spirit” so long as you wear a headband that says “poor in spirit” on it?

Do you really have to be “gentle” so long as you wear a headband that says “gentle”?

OR MAYBE,

Do you really have to follow Christ if you wear a Christian T-shirt?

You get the idea?

But these guys didn’t just wear a headband,

They made theirs really big and wide.

They wore the widest headband!

THEY MUST HAVE BEEN REALLY DEVOTED!

And then Jesus said that they “lengthen the tassels of their garment”.

WHAT IS THAT?

In the Law God had ordained that to help you remember to obey Him you could sew a blue tassel on the hymn of your garment.

Numbers 15:37-39a “The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue. “It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes…”

So the tassel was a reminder.

Well, they got the biggest and longest tassels.

So that everyone could see how devoted they were.

Do you see the show they were putting on?

· They didn’t just wear a Christian T-Shirt they wore the biggest and best T-shirt.

· They didn’t just carry a Bible, they carried the biggest and best Bible.

· THEY WERE TOTALLY DEVOTED TO RELIGION.

AND THAT IS WHAT WE ARE ASKING.

IS BEING RELIGIOUS ENOUGH?

Well these guys were certainly religious.

So if it is, then these guys should be blessed shouldn’t they?

But here is where it gets very real from Jesus.

Jesus DOESN’T use the word “blessed” when He talks about them.

In fact Jesus USES the opposite word “Woe”.

Look down at: (13, 14, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27, 29)

Jesus used it a lot!

“Woe” is the Greek word (OUI)

Now let’s suppose you’re at the swimming pool and someone does a belly flop off of the high dive.

What do you say when they hit the water? (Oh!)

WHY?

It’s the only way to express the pain and horror of what just happened.

That’s the word Jesus uses here.

When He looks at where they are headed and what they will receive

He doesn’t say they are blessed, He says OUI.

He also calls them “hypocrites”.

That is also an interesting word.

It is (hoo-POCK-ree-TACE)

What occupation is Chris Pratt?

What occupation is Robert Downey Jr.?

We say they are “actors”.

What does that mean?

· It means they pretend to be someone they are not for the entertainment of

someone else.

· They put on a show to impress the crowd.

· Robert Downey Jr. isn’t really Iron Man, he just pretends to be to entertain you.

Well that is what a (hoo-POCK-ree-TACE) was in Jesus’ day.

IT WAS AN ACTOR.

And that is what Jesus calls these men.

They are actors, simply putting on a show.

They are religious, but it isn’t working.

In fact earlier Jesus told the crowd:

Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Even though they were very religious, that was not enough.

There is but one thing God accepts

And that is perfect righteousness.

He will not accept religion in its place.

Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

And the problem with these Pharisees is that they were all for show.

They honored with their lips but their heart was far away.

Look down at verses 23-24

Matthew 23:23-24 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”

They did the lesser things

But not the more important things like “mercy and faithfulness”

Look down at verses 25-26

Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”

Everything was external, not internal.

Look down at verses 27-28

Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Do you see the problem?

GOD IS NOT INTERESTED IN APPEARANCES.

All sin must be atoned for and righteousness is required.

Now look back at our beatitudes here.

(7) “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

Well that was one of the problems of the Pharisees wasn’t it?

· They were religious but they neglected mercy.

What does that have to do with being sincere?

If a person is unwilling to show mercy to others

It only reveals that they do not understand the value of mercy at all.

That reveals a person who has never truly grieved over their sin.

That reveals a person who has never truly begged for forgiveness.

If they don’t offer mercy,

There is zero chance they have ever cried for it or received it.

A merciless person is not real.

(8) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

And that one is so clear.

God is not looking for an involved person,

He is looking for a genuine person.

He is looking for the person who loves Him with their whole heart.

Only those with pure hearts get to see God.

Only those who show mercy receive it.

So now, let’s go back to our question.

IS BEING RELIGIOUS ENOUGH?

Answer: No, perfect righteousness is required.

BUT WHERE DO I GET THAT?

You get it from the exact same place

Where you get forgiveness and atonement: Jesus Christ.

I read you this verse last time, but we didn’t discuss it.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life.

· He is the only human who ever earned a righteous standing before God.

· Twice from heaven God said about Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

· Ultimately God proved the righteousness of Jesus by raising Him from the dead.

· We see Jesus’ righteousness on display in the wilderness when He resisted every single temptation of Satan.

JESUS WAS RIGHTEOUS.

Well here is the transaction when we trust in Jesus.

He takes our sin upon Himself and pays for it on the cross.

· He dies to pay the debt for our sin.

· That’s what Paul meant when he says, “He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf.”

God treated Jesus like He lived my life.

But the rest of that verse is also important, “So that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

When you trust in Jesus,

Not only will He take your sin upon Himself and pay the price for it,

But He will place His righteousness upon you

So that you gain access to God.

Romans 3:21-22 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;”

Being religious is not enough.

· You must be pure in heart.

· You must receive mercy.

But if you turn to Christ,

He will make you righteous, and that is acceptable.

WHAT IS BLESSING?

To be forgiven of my sin

HOW DO I PURSUE FORGIVENESS AND SALVATION?

By believing in and submitting my life to Jesus Christ.

IS BEING RELIGIOUS ENOUGH?

No, perfect righteousness is required.