Full of Hypocrisy and Wickedness

Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Matthew 23:23-28 KJV

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier [matters] of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 [Ye] blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 [Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men's] bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) For what three (3) reasons did our Lord refer to the religious elite as hypocrites in this passage of Scripture? (v.23-28)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
2) Are you more concerned with appearting to be righteous than you are with actually being righteous?

LIFE LESSONS
3) The ultimate test of our righteousness is whether we do "good" to earn the approval of others, or of God.