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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to Matthew chapter 23. Matthew 23. Our focus this morning 
is specifically verses 34 to 36. Christ announces the impending 
judgment of Israel. This follows the giving of the 
woes. beginning in chapter 23 at verse 13. Very similar with 
the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 5, he declares a series 
of woes against the nation of Israel, and then highlights the 
fact that God's judgment will come to bear upon them. And that 
is precisely what Christ is doing in this section. I'll pick up 
reading in 23, verse 13. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of 
heaven against men. For you neither go in yourselves, 
nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, 
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, 
and for pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater 
condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to 
win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as 
much a son of hell as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who 
say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears 
by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it. Fools 
and blind, for which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies 
the gold? And whoever swears by the altar, 
it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he 
is obliged to perform it. Fools and blind, for which is 
greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore, 
he who swears by the altar swears by it and by all things on it. 
He who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in 
it. And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and 
by him who sits on it. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! For you tithe of mint and anise 
and cumin, 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. Blind guides who strain out a 
gnat and swallow a camel. 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. Blind Pharisee, 
first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside 
of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed 
tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full 
of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear 
righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and 
lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and 
adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, if we had lived in the 
days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with 
them in the blood of the prophets. Therefore, you are witnesses 
against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the 
prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of 
your father's guilt, serpents, brood of vipers, how can you 
escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you 
prophets, wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and 
crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues 
and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the 
righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel 
to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered 
between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all 
these things will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent 
to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together 
as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See, your house is left to you 
desolate. For I say to you, you shall see 
me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of 
the Lord. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father in 
heaven, we thank you for the written word and we pray for 
the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We ask that He would guide us 
now and lead us and help us as we look to Scripture, help us 
to understand this passage and its context, and help us to see 
how it applies to us in our own generation. We pray that You 
would forgive us for all of our sins and our transgressions. 
Whenever we come into the presence of a thrice holy God, we are 
mindful of our own waywardness and our own proneness to wander. 
So we confess our transgressions to You, we confess our iniquities, 
and we pray that You would cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And God, for any and all who have come here this morning 
that are outside of a relationship, a saving relationship with the 
Lord, we pray that today would be the day of salvation. That 
You, in Your mercy and in Your grace, would take the Word and 
apply it to hearts. That You would cause sinners 
to come to the Savior, believing that He alone is the one that 
can save to the uttermost. We pray that you would do this 
for your glory, and for your honor, and for your praise, and 
for the good of souls in this place. And we pray these things 
now through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as I said, 
and as Pastor Porter reminded us in the Scripture reading in 
Matthew 12, Jesus is indeed a prophet. When He comes into the city of 
Jerusalem in Matthew 21, in that triumphal entry, the people of 
Galilee announce that He is the prophet. And all throughout this 
particular section, the prophet does battle, at least by words, 
with the religious leaders. They challenge him concerning 
his authority in chapter 21. Jesus then reproves them with 
three parables that highlight the coming destruction that will 
come upon them. And then he gets into four disputes, 
very direct confrontations with these religious leaders. And 
then here in chapter 23, He warns His disciples, and He warns the 
multitudes in verses 1 to 12 against these religious leaders. 
And then in verses 13 to 33, He pronounces a series of eight 
woes, and He calls them hypocrites. He calls them a brood of vipers. 
He calls them blind guides. And He doesn't mince any words 
when He brings to bear upon them their sin and their depravity. 
And as I said, verses 34 to 36, He announces the impending judgment. And impending simply means something 
that's near, it's close, it's soon. And Jesus highlights that 
particular reference at the end of verse 36. And then, when we 
move on from this particular section, in verses 37 to 39, 
Jesus laments over the city. Again, very consistent with the 
old covenant prophets. They not only announced the destruction 
of Israel in the 8th century B.C. in terms of the Northern 
Kingdom, but as well in the 6th century in the Southern Kingdom, 
but they did it with a spirit of lamentation, a spirit of sorrow. Well, on the one hand, Jesus 
does not shrink back from declaring to them their wickedness and 
their vileness. Nevertheless, it's all tinged 
with that compassion, and that's what that lamentation over Jerusalem 
indicates concerning our prophet. But this morning, as we take 
up the impending judgment of Israel, we'll notice three things. 
In the first place, their rejection of the prophets. Secondly, their 
accumulation of guilt. And thirdly, the imminence, or 
nearness, or the impendingness of the judgment to come. Now, 
note in the first place the rejection of the prophets. In verse 34. 
After declaring the series of woes, Jesus says, therefore, 
indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. This is 
a wonderful statement. concerning many things with reference 
to our Lord, but we ought to consider its connection to the 
preceding. Notice, in verse 33, he says, 
how can you escape the condemnation of hell? Does verse 34 seek to 
correct that? Therefore, indeed, I send you 
prophets, wise men, and scribes to instruct you so that you may 
indeed escape the condemnation of hell. I take 34 as going with 
verse 32. In verse 32, Jesus gives them 
this ironic command. He says, fill up then the measure 
of your father's guilt. And then in verse 34, He highlights 
that He's going to send these prophets, these wise men, and 
these scribes, so that they can indeed fill up the measure of 
their father's guilt. France takes it this way when 
he says, more likely the connection is with verse 32. They are being 
sent so that the measure of guilt may be filled up when they are 
rejected and killed. Spurgeon saw it this way as well. 
He says, the object of the king in sending his last representatives 
was that the guilty city should be left forever without excuse 
when its measure of iniquity should be full and its awful 
doom be sealed. So he highlights, or he tells 
them to fill up then the measure of your father's guilt. And then 
in verse 34, he essentially says that after he ascends on high, 
he leads captivity captive, he gives gifts to men. In this particular 
context, he says, I will send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. You will scourge them, you will 
kill them, you will persecute them from city to city, thus 
filling up the measure of your father's guilt and thus bringing 
to bear upon your own heads the wrath and fury of God Most High. But as we consider this rejection 
of the prophets, notice the source of authority in the New Covenant. 
It's an amazing thing, as I said. Therefore, Jesus says, indeed, 
I send you prophets. We see this in Matthew 9, Matthew 
10, and in Matthew 28. Christ has the authority to send 
men out in this new covenant era to proclaim the truth as 
it is in Jesus. As well, this is similar to Yahweh's 
practice in the Old Testament. Look at chapter 21 for a moment. 
Matthew chapter 21. You see something of a parallel 
with Old Covenant Israel. and with the new covenant situation 
established by our Lord. Notice in Matthew 21, beginning 
in verse 33, that parable of the wicked vinedressers. Christ 
tells about a vineyard, this obviously being the nation of 
Israel, God is the owner of it, and what does God do? Notice 
in verse 35, or verse 34, now when vintage time drew near, 
He sent His servants to the vinedressers that they might receive its fruit. 
And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, 
and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, 
more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his 
son to them, saying, They will respect my son. So you see, what 
Christ is doing is directly parallel to what Yahweh in the Old Covenant 
does. He sends prophets as prosecutors of the covenant lawsuit to call 
the nation to repentance and faith. When the nation fails 
to repent and believe, the prophet then announces the judgment that 
is to come, and God sends it against the northern tribes via 
Assyria, and against the southern tribes via Babylon. And he will 
do so in AD 70 against Israel as a whole via the Roman armies. And then this is confirmed in 
the book of Acts, this act of the Lord Jesus sending men in 
order to call the people of God, or call rather the people, to 
repentance and faith. In Acts 1, they pray to the Lord 
that he would replace the apostolate. We see in Acts chapter 9, it's 
Jesus who sends the apostle Paul on his task of preaching the 
gospel. And when we note these offices 
in verse 34, he says, prophets, wise men, and scribes. In the 
parallel, it says prophets and apostles in Luke 11.49. I think 
this is Old Testament language applied to New Testament offices. That's what Matthew Henry says. 
So when we read prophets, and we read wise men, and we read 
scribes, when Christ goes to heaven, He sends men. And He 
sends them into various places to proclaim His truth. And as 
Jesus prophesies or declares or announces here, the unbelieving 
Jews will take them and despise them. The unbelieving Jews will 
persecute them. The unbelieving Jews will even 
kill them. And the New Testament history 
shows that or demonstrates it very plainly. And as well, we 
ought to appreciate that what we've seen in our studies in 
the past, this is consistent with the Old Testament. 2 Kings 
17, God says, I sent you prophets, you rejected them. That's just 
at the dawn of the judgment by Assyria. In 2 Chronicles 36, 
Yahweh says the same thing. I sent you prophets, but you 
rejected them. And that's just at the dawn of 
the judgment via Babylon in the 6th century BC. So, as I've tried 
to make you understand, or help you understand, Christ is not 
doing anything new here. And it bears on our interpretation 
of the Olivet Discourse. When we get to Matthew 24, I 
submit that if we properly understand chapters 21 to 23, then 24 is 
a whole lot easier for us to understand. We don't have to 
try and tamper with it or tinker with it and see what part applies 
to them and what part applies to Jesus is very clear and very 
candid and very concise in the target audience of the destruction 
that is coming as He reveals it in Matthew 24. Notice as well, 
with reference to this treatment, verse 34, Jesus says, I send 
you prophets, wise men and scribes, some of them you will kill and 
crucify, some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and 
persecute from city to city. This highlights their solidarity 
with their murderous fathers, doesn't it? Why did they build 
the monuments and adorn the tombs of the prophets? To try and show 
that they were faithful witnesses or faithful 
recipients of the prophetic word. They try to distance themselves 
from their murderous fathers who put them to death. Jesus 
tells them that they are consistent or in solidarity with these murderous 
fathers, because when He sends these prophets, when He sends 
these wise men, when He sends these scribes, they're going 
to reject them. They're just like their fathers 
of old. As well, when we go through each 
of these particulars, we see them fleshed out in the book 
of Acts, the murder of the early church. Acts chapter 7, we see 
the murder of Stephen. Acts chapter 12, we have the 
murder of John, son of Zebedee. There's no specific reference 
to someone crucified in the book of Acts, but it may go along 
with what Jesus says in Matthew 10. If they reject the Master, 
then they will reject the servant. We see the scourging of apostles 
in Acts 5, verses 40-42. Remember that scene where they 
rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His 
name. When Paul is rehearsing his sufferings 
for the cause of Christ in 2 Corinthians 11, 24 and 25, he highlights 
that he himself had been scourged. So you see, what Jesus says here, 
in many respects, foreshadows precisely what the book of Acts 
is going to record. I will send you these gifts, 
I will send you these men, I will call you back to repentance, 
or call you, in repentance and faith, back to the kingdom, and 
you're going to reject them, you're going to murder them. 
I mean, that account of Stephen. That godly and that righteous 
man who stands before the Sanhedrin to testify, and what happens? 
They gnash at him with their teeth. They drive him out of 
the city, and they take stones and they cast them at him, and 
they murder this man. While he, being filled with the 
Holy Spirit, gazes into heaven, he sees the glory of God and 
Jesus standing at the right hand. But nevertheless, this vile and 
wretched mob is putting to death a godly and choice servant of 
our beloved Lord. Acts 12, John, the brother of 
James, the son of Zebedee. He loses his head under Herod. 
These men did not like the church. These men did not receive the 
truth. They did not receive the message concerning Messiah, and 
that is what Christ announces here. This persecution from city 
to city, you see it very clearly in Paul's first missionary journey 
in the book of Acts, chapter 13, verse 1, to chapter 14 and 
verse 28. I mean, everywhere Paul goes, 
Gentiles believe, Jews resist. Everywhere Paul goes, Gentiles 
cry out to hear the truth, and the Jews continue to mock him 
and blaspheme, and they even chase him down, and they stone 
him when he's at Lystra. They drag him outside of the 
city where they supposed him to be dead. So the persecution 
that goes from city to city, Christ tells of here, is fleshed 
out in the book of Acts. This is all very consistent with 
what Jesus says in Matthew 10 in terms of the missionary enterprise 
of His disciples. And then the statement of Paul 
highlights this as well. 1 Thessalonians 2. You can turn 
there because I think in 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul is following this portion 
of Jesus' teaching very, very closely. 1 Thessalonians 2. Note the same language that Paul 
employs in the same order that was employed by Christ. If I 
don't shake your hand this afternoon or this morning, it's because 
I feel like I've got a bit of a flu coming on or on. So don't 
come up and hug me or don't come up and shake my hand because 
I don't want you to get what it is I've got. 1 Thessalonians 
2, notice in verse 14, For you, brethren, became imitators of 
the churches of God, which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same 
things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, 
who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have 
persecuted us. And they do not please God, and 
are contrary to all men. forbidding us to speak to the 
Gentiles that they may be saved. so as always to fill up the measure 
of their sins, but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost." 
He follows Christ closely. The rejection of the prophets, 
the accumulation of guilt, and the declaration of impending 
judgment. I submit that Paul here in 2.14-16 
is very intimately connected to what Jesus is saying in Matthew 
23. Within Judea, unbelieving Jews, unbelieving 
Israel, is persecuting the Church of Christ. They killed the Lord 
Jesus, they killed the prophets, they are filling up the measure 
of their father's guilt, and wrath will come upon them to 
the uttermost. Paul tells us exactly what Jesus 
is declaring in Matthew 23. So going back to Matthew 23, 
we see that rejection of the prophets. Now notice, secondly, 
the accumulation of guilt. Verse 35, he's already said in 
verse 32, fill up then the measure of your father's guilt. Verse 
35, he says, that on you may come all the righteous blood 
shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood 
of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the 
temple and the altar, the measure of their father's guilt. The 
righteous blood is obviously, I mean, blood in and of itself 
is neither righteous or unrighteous, The righteous blood refers to 
the blood of those who are righteous before God. This idiom, may come 
on you, is an idiom for death or for judgment. We see it used 
in several places in the scripture. The parallel in Luke 11.50 draws 
it out even more, that the blood of all the prophets, which was 
shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this 
generation. So you see this righteous blood 
that was shed, it may be required of this generation. In Luke, 
Matthew gives us that it will come on you. The point is clear. It is retributive justice for 
their having violated the God of heaven and earth vis-a-vis 
by rejecting and murdering the very prophets that were sent 
to them. Later on, they themselves will 
employ this same idiom, and it's very shocking. If you understand 
Matthew 21 to 24, when you get to 27, and you hear this godless 
mob say, His blood be on us and our children, you will hopefully 
appreciate they don't really know what they're saying, because 
God would indeed bring it to bear upon them via the destruction 
in A.D. 70. Now note the history of blood 
guiltiness that they participate in. It says that on you may come 
all the righteous blood shed on the earth, and then two figures 
are given, two names. Abel, we all know him in Genesis 
chapter 4. His murderous brother Cain took 
him out, didn't he? Abel was the prototypical martyr. 
Cain was the prototypical Pharisaic wretch. And Cain takes Abel out. He murders him. This reference 
to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, most likely refers to the Zechariah 
given to us in 2 Chronicles 24. Now, there he's identified as 
Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. And some suggest that this just 
couldn't be the case, that he's the one that fares in Matthew 
23. But many of the older commentators, 
and I agree with them, highlight that it was not untypical for 
persons to have two names. And based on what Christ is saying 
in this particular instance, I think it does give us impetus 
to highlight that this was Zechariah, the son of Berechiah. 2 Chronicles 
24. So what's the significance? From Abel to Zechariah. Now, 
they didn't have a hand in the actual murder of these men. They 
didn't have a hand in the actual whatever it was that Cain used 
to slay Abel. They didn't have a hand in that. 
They weren't there physically when Zechariah was put to death. 
Do you see what Jesus is doing? He is saying, by the fact that 
they are going to reject him, the great prophet, the Lord Christ, 
they are going to reject all the ones that he sends up until 
their destruction in A.D. 70, they are in solidarity with 
their murderous fathers. So they are in that mass of humanity 
that opposed Abel and that opposed Zechariah. And the significance 
is seen just here. In the Old Testament, the first 
book of the Bible is Genesis. In the Hebrew canon, the first 
book is Genesis, and the last book is 2 Chronicles. So, in 
essence, though there were persons that died after Zechariah, to 
be sure, in essence, what Jesus is saying is A to Z. Now, it 
happens to work out in English that way, but it doesn't in the 
original languages. No A to Z. There's no Z at the 
end of the Greek alphabet. But what we have is an A to Z 
from Genesis to 2 Chronicles. that on you may come all the 
righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel 
to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered 
between the temple and the altar." So from the first book in the 
Hebrew canon, the book of Genesis, to the last book, 2 Chronicles, 
you find your place with those men who murdered the righteous. who murdered the godly, who murdered 
the servants of the Lord Most High. This is all culminating 
in their murder of the Lord Jesus Christ, and after He ascends 
on high, He leads captivity captive, He gives gifts to men, they're 
going to reject and murder those men as well. And something interesting 
about both Abel and Zechariah is their call for retribution. Their call for judgment. Remember 
what God says to Cain in Genesis 4.4.10. He says, the voice of 
your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Intriguingly, 
when Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, is put to death, as he died, 
2 Chronicles 24.22, he said, the Lord look on it and repay. France notes that this marks 
out these two deaths as not merely martyrdoms, but martyrdoms requiring 
retribution. Their blood remains to be accounted 
for. So just stepping back for a moment, 
summarizing up to this particular point. Here's the eight woes, 
here's how you guys are hypocrites, here's how you men have rejected 
the covenant that the God of heaven and earth has imposed 
upon you. Because of that, you are going to fill up the measure 
of your father's guilt I am going to send you prophets. I'm going 
to send you wise men. I'm going to send you scribes. 
But instead of repenting, instead of believing, you're going to 
murder them. You're going to crucify them. 
You're going to scourge them, and you're going to persecute 
them from city to city. You are going to fill up the 
measure of your father's guilt such that all the righteous blood 
that has been shed, from Abel to Zechariah, will be required 
at your particular hand. And now notice, in the third 
place, he highlights the imminence of judgment, or the nearness 
of judgment, by saying in verse 36, "...assuredly I say to you, 
all these things will come upon this generation." Note the prophetic 
assurance, this amen, or this assuredly. This isn't up for 
grabs, this isn't a debatable point. This isn't something that's 
just suggestive. It's not something that he just 
sort of throws out there, that if the stars all align properly, 
then judgment is going to befall you. Now, this, as I'll argue, 
takes place specifically against the Jewish nation in the first 
century A.D. Brethren, it applies equally 
to each and every one of us. When the Bible tells us that 
there is judgment to come, When the Bible assures us that we 
will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account 
of deeds done in the body, whether good or evil, those things aren't 
just, like I said, a suggestion or a possibility. You need to 
understand that there is something that is in your future. You need 
to understand that there is something that is inevitable. In America, 
and I think in Canada, we say there's two things that are absolutely 
essential, or two things, rather, that are inevitable, death and 
taxes. I've said it before, you cannot 
pay your taxes. I don't recommend that, but you 
cannot pay your taxes. If you're happy with living in 
prison, you cannot pay your taxes. But death and judgment are the 
two things that we have that are inevitable. Look at the prophetic 
assurance that Jesus gives to them concerning this judgment 
that is to come. Assuredly, I say to you. It's 
our word, Amen. Truly, truly. He underscores 
the reality of the situation and highlights the inevitability 
of this. And again, I want us all to consider 
the fact that one day we will all stand before the judgment 
seat of Christ. I'd hate it to be the case that as we set up 
the specific context to understand all of that, somebody here might 
say, well, you know, none of this applies to me. It all applies 
to you. Every jot and tittle of it. If Christ dealt this way 
with the covenant people, the old covenant people, Christ dealt 
that way with them, he's going to deal this way with us. You're 
all made in the image of God. You've all been called upon to 
do what God says. You've all been told to obey 
perfectly, exactly, entirely and perpetually the law of the 
living and true God. Now, none of you have done that, 
but God in His grace and in His mercy has indeed provided a way 
of salvation. As we sought to see last week 
in verse 33, how shall you or how can you escape the condemnation 
of hell? I tried to explain how. And I 
hope that you didn't forget it, and I hope that you pondered 
it, and I hope that you think about it today as well. If you 
continue in your sin, how can you escape the condemnation of 
hell? There's one way. It's interesting, the language 
that Christ uses in verse 35, that on you may come all the 
righteous blood shed. He uses the same language later 
on when he's on the Passover when he institutes the Lord's 
Supper. What does he say? He speaks about his own blood 
being shed for the remission of sins for many. Brethren, friend, 
that's the way of escape. How shall you escape the condemnation 
of hell? It's to flee to the Righteous 
One who shed His blood for sinners. Believe on Him and you shall 
be saved. There is a prophetic assurance 
concerning the judgment to come upon Israel, but there's a prophetic 
assurance concerning the judgment that is to come upon every single 
man, woman, boy and girl. You need to understand this, 
and you need to realize that what Christ is doing here is 
not simply suggestive. He's not simply tossing out ideas. He is speaking as the authoritative 
prophet of God Most High, announcing to them that judgment is coming. Now notice, "...assuredly I say 
to you, all these things..." I take that as a reference to 
the judgment, the retribution, the requitement of this righteous 
blood. "...I say to you, all these things 
will come upon this generation." the reason for the judgment of 
these men. As I said, Genesis 15, Daniel 
8, Daniel 9, 1 Thessalonians 2. The Bible envisages this idea 
that when the measure of the fullness of guilt is filled, 
then God sends forth His wrath. Davies and Allison said, the 
answer lies, if we ask the question, why them? Verse 36. Why them? The answer lies in verse 32. 
Those who overflow the measure of allotted wrath are those upon 
whom that wrath will fall. France says, it is because the 
current generation is continuing in the same tradition of hostility 
to God's messengers that it now faces judgment. And that judgment 
results not only from their own failings, but from the whole 
tradition, from Abel to Zechariah, to which they are willing heirs. 
You can't say, well, this just isn't fair. They are acting in 
the same manner that their murderous fathers did. They are participating 
every bit as much as Cain did and as those who murdered Zechariah. 
They are rejecting the prophet, the Lord Christ. They are going 
to crucify Him. They are going in the space of 
a couple of days from this vantage point. This is the Tuesday. We 
get to the Friday and they say, away with Him, away with Him, 
crucify Him. They show their solidarity with 
these men who murdered the prophets of old, and it's going to come 
upon them. Now notice, he says, I say to 
you, all these things will come upon, not just the religious 
leaders, not just the scribes and the Pharisees, not just the 
Sadducees or those who challenged Christ, not just the Sanhedrin, 
but all these things will come upon this generation. That means most of Israel. I think there was always a remnant 
even in this. Obviously, Matthew was a believer. Obviously, Paul was a believer. There was the remnant to be sure. 
But in terms of generalities, this generation as a whole sided 
with the religious leadership. And so Christ announces the judgment 
to come, and it will come upon this generation. The religious 
leaders are targeted in the woes, however, the nation as a whole 
is under judgment. Note the words, this generation. 
Some have tried to evade the clear meaning of this to try 
and offset it or put it to the generation that's living when 
Jesus comes. It's interesting, every time 
Matthew uses this generation in his gospel, it refers to the 
contemporaries of Jesus and his disciples. Notice in Matthew 
11 at verse 16. Matthew 11, verse 16, but to 
what shall I liken this generation? Who is he talking to? He's talking 
to the people that he was right there with, his contemporaries. 
It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling 
to their companions. Notice in chapter 12, Pastor 
Porter read this this morning. the specific or the general reference 
to an adulterous and, or an evil and adulterous generation in 
verse 39, then notice he hones in in verses 41 and 42, this 
generation. And then again in verse 45, this 
wicked generation. 16.4, not this generation, but 
a reference to that generation. 16.4. A wicked and adulterous 
generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to 
it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Notice in 17.17. Jesus answered and said, O faithless 
and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How 
long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me. 23.36, 
our particular text. Assuredly, I say to you, all 
these things will come upon this generation. And then notice in 
24.34. Assuredly, I say to you, this 
generation will by no means pass away till all these things take 
place. My argument is that Jesus meant 
this generation. That when Jesus says, this generation, 
He's talking about first century Israel that will call down the 
wrath of God for their treatment of Christ and their treatment 
of the prophets. Matthew Henry, when he comes 
to deal with verses 34 to 39, he says, we have left the blind 
leaders fallen into the ditch, the woes, Let us see what will 
become of the blind followers and particularly of Jerusalem. That's 34 to 36 according to 
Matthew Henry. We've left the blind leaders 
in the ditch, the woes. Now let's see what happens to 
the followers of those leaders. Verse 36 indicates this generation. That means the bulk of the people 
in Israel in that first century setting followed these religious 
teachers. Henry's reference is obviously 
to Matthew 15, 14. They are blind leaders of the 
blind, and if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into 
a ditch. That's why Jesus will lament 
over Jerusalem. Because it's the city that rejects 
the prophets. It's the city that stones those, 
that scourges those that are sent to them. It's the city that 
would reap the judgment of God Most High, so He laments over 
that. So that when we get into Matthew 
24, we ought not to be amazed, when we argue that it refers 
to that destruction in A.D. 70, that all these things did 
take place. Note this generation brackets 
the Olivet Discourse, 2336, 2434. I suppose and I'll argue that 
everything in between did take place in that generation. It was according to the promises 
of God outlined in the book of Deuteronomy. There are blessings 
if you obey, there is curses if you disobey. Christ does the 
same thing when He comes in Matthew. There's blessings, beatitudes, 
Matthew 5. There's curses, woes, Matthew 
23. Christ is acting consistent with 
Yahweh of the Old Testament. Christ is acting consistent with 
the prophets of the Old Testament. They came, they announced the 
judgment of God. If the people of Israel did not 
repent, then the wrath and fury of God would come upon them. 
That's the setting. That's the stage. That's the 
context by which we are to understand all of that. France says, this 
generation, which Jesus has already condemned repeatedly, is the 
generation which is about to reject the Messiah, God's final 
messenger. God's judgment on his rebellious 
people can no longer be delayed. And if you prefer an older commentator, 
John Gill says, and which came to pass. There's verse 36, judgment. Listen to Jesus. Assuredly, I 
say to you, all these things will come upon this generation, 
Gil says, and which came to pass and had its full accomplishment 
about forty years after this, in the utter destruction of Jerusalem 
and the whole nation, so that many now living were personally 
involved in that temporal ruin, as well as escaped not the damnation 
of hell, in verse 33. Well, brethren, I don't want us to just look 
at these chapters as the context for the Olivet Discourse. I mean, 
they hold out enough information and instruction and encouragement 
and challenge to us apart from our understanding of the Olivet 
Discourse. But having said that, there's a whole lot of sort of 
confusion about the end times. Sort of a last days madness as 
Gary DeMar refers to it. People are just perplexed over 
the eschatological scheme and trying to answer those questions, 
they posit a whole host of things that just don't have any warrant 
in the Scripture. We need to understand the context 
in order to help us understand the actual discourse. Well, in 
conclusion of our message this morning, we see in the first 
place the covenantal consistency of God. the covenantal consistency 
of God. I've already said, Deuteronomy 
28, blessings and curses. Israel was told very specifically 
and very clearly, here are the demands of the covenant, here's 
how you're supposed to function, here's what you're supposed to 
do. If you do it, you will live long and be blessed in the land. 
If you do not, you will be cursed, you will be judged. Toward the 
end of Deuteronomy 28, it speaks at length about exile. In 722, 
the northern tribes were exiled. 2 Kings 17 records the fall of 
Israel. The Assyrians come, and they 
destroy. They take the survivors back 
to their homeland. They leave some in that particular 
region, but there is a judgment wrought by God. Isaiah 10, we 
see that God uses Assyria to bring judgment to bear upon the 
northern tribes. In 587, 586, the southern tribes 
are judged by Babylon. God announces it through the 
prophets. God calls them to repent. God calls them to forsake their 
sin through His messengers, the prophets. How do they respond 
to the messengers, the prophets? They kill them, they refuse them, 
they scourge them, they reject them. So God uses Babylon to 
bring judgment to bear upon the southern kingdom. You would think, 
and you would hope, that once they'd been judged twice, they 
would come out of the captivity and they would be a wholly harmless 
and undefiled people. But no, that's not what happened. 
I mean, post-exile, they return to Judah, and what do they do? 
They build the temple again, but when Malachi the prophet 
is prophesying, what is the problem in Israel? It's the same sort 
of stuff that Jesus condemns here. They're coming to the temple 
in order to sacrifice, but they take the worst of their animals. 
They take the mangy one, they take the lame one, they take 
the blind one, and they bring that to God. And worse yet, they 
steal sacrifice on the way to the temple. If you ever steal 
money to give it to the church, you've got big problems. If you 
find yourself in a position where you're stealing money in order 
to give it to a charitable cause, hopefully something will dawn 
on you to think, this is just not right. Well, that's what 
they did in the Old Testament system. This is post-exile. This is after Babylon. This is 
under Malachi the prophet. You steal an animal to bring 
it as a sacrifice to God? God says, I am a great king. God says, I am a great Lord. 
Where is the worship that is due me? He says to that old covenant 
people, why don't you try to pay your pagan governor with 
a crippled animal? Why don't you try to pay your 
taxes with a crippled lamb? Why don't you Canadians try to 
pay Revenue Canada with something that they don't receive? See 
how that's going to go over? And God through the prophet says, 
yep, that's how you treat me. So we go into Judah, we go into 
the time of Messiah, Christ comes to His own and His own receive 
Him not. It's just like Matthew 21, we read just a bit of that. 
The father, the owner rather, of the vineyard sends prophets, 
he sends servants. They despise them, they reject 
them, they beat them. And then the owner of the vineyard 
says, I know what I'll do, I'll send my son. They'll certainly 
receive the heir, but they don't. They despise him, they reject 
him, they ultimately kill him. Well, that's Christ, brethren. 
Jesus comes to His own. His own receive Him not. He pronounces 
these woes upon them, and then He announces their coming destruction, 
consistent with what we have throughout the Old Testament. 
God the Lord is not mocked. God the Lord will not go away. You continue to reject and rebel. You continue to rebuff. You continue 
to refuse. One day God will come to judge 
you. This is a terrifying thing. This 
is why Paul says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade 
men. The thought of standing before 
a holy God. Have you ever considered that? 
Have you ever, ever considered that? Someday I'm going to stand 
before the God of heaven and earth. A God whose eye is too 
pure to look approvingly on any evil. The Bible says I'm nothing 
but evil. That can only produce terror 
in the hearts of sinners, I would hope. And yet, for some reason, 
man, we live as if there is no judgment to come. We live as 
if God isn't consistent. We live as if God isn't going 
to visit us in His wrath. We live as if God is gone. You can't live that way. God 
is a consistent God, and God brought judgment to bear upon 
Israel. In the Old Covenant, He brought 
judgment to bear upon Israel in A.D. 70. We ought to appreciate 
as well, with reference to the authority of Christ, the fact 
that he sends more servants. The fact that he sends more servants. 
I think this bears on the whole Islam thing. They say that Muhammad 
is a prophet greater than Jesus. If we properly understand verse 
34 and assume that Muhammad was a prophet, which I don't, but 
if we assume that, it's Jesus who sent him. How is the one 
sent greater than the sender? Jesus didn't send Muhammad, by 
the way. Jesus sent the prophets, the 
scribes, or the wise men and the scribes. He sent the apostles 
to teach the truth as it is in Christ. The Spirit used those 
men to pen Scripture. Now that those apostles are gone 
and that canon is closed, we don't look for further manifestations 
of prophets. We don't need a Joseph Smith. 
We don't need a Muhammad. We don't need any Mary G. Ellen 
or Ellen G. White. We don't need any of them 
because we have the closed canon of Holy Scripture. And may I 
advance it one step further, we certainly don't need tongues 
and prophesying because we have the closed canon. Prophesying 
in tongues in the New Testament were revelatory. What is prophesying 
in tongues today? As Owen says, if private revelations 
agree with Scripture, they're useless. If they disagree with 
Scripture, they are blasphemous. Christ sent the last authority 
structure vis-à-vis the apostles. Now that they have written, now 
that we have their word, that is what we rest our souls upon. 
Christ is the authority behind the sending of the servants. 
Christ is the authority in calling Israel to repentance and faith. 
Christ is the authority in bringing judgment to bear upon these covenant 
breakers. Christ is the authority in sending 
out the gospel to the four corners of the earth. And Christ is the 
authority in being the object of faith for those who would 
indeed escape the condemnation of hell. And then finally, with 
reference to the church, as we've treated these woes, we've seen 
how they not only show us the terrible state of the first century 
Jewish leaders, but hopefully they serve as a helpful warning 
to us in the church today. In the first place, we ought 
to recognize that hypocritical religion is repulsive to God. It's repulsive to God, hypocritical 
religion. I mean, isn't that what the woes 
are all about? Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Don't 
we struggle with this in the church today? Don't we struggle 
with these elements of hypocrisy and the way that we conduct ourselves? 
We need to listen to the warnings of our Lord Jesus. We need to 
see them applied in that first century context, but we need 
to take from them things that will hopefully serve to correct 
our behavior. I mean, all the stuff that is 
indicated here. You shut up the kingdom of heaven 
from men. You devour widows' houses and 
for pretense make long prayers. You scurry about to try and make 
men gain proselytes. You make them twice as sons of 
hell as you. You have this whole convoluted 
way of dealing with biblical texts vis-à-vis oaths. You've 
got all these, you know, emphases on things that, you know, really 
don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Or you tithe your 
mint and your anise and your cumin, but you neglect justice 
and mercy and faith. He doesn't say, don't tithe. 
He says, you shouldn't leave those undone, but what about 
justice, mercy and faith? You like those whitewashed tombs. Looks beautiful on the outside, 
but on the inside it's full of dead men's bones. You're like 
a cop. On the outside, it's all shiny 
and bright, but on the inside, it's filled with garbage. You actually have the gall to 
build up monuments and testify concerning your fidelity to the 
true prophets of God Most High, and yet, you don't live like 
that. You don't conduct yourself like them. Your doctrine is aberrant. 
Your doctrine is heretical. You don't hold to the truth as 
it is in Jesus. You see, the church needs to 
listen to these woes so that we don't fall into the same practice. As well, we need to understand 
the necessity of hearing teachers who teach the truth. If Matthew 
15, 14 is true, and it comes from the mouth of our beloved 
Savior, They are blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind 
leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch. It is incumbent 
upon us to find teachers who teach the truth. Ryle says, when 
such were the teachers in this first century context, what must 
have been the miserable darkness of the taught? He pronounces 
the woes on the scribes and the Pharisees, but He says the judgment 
comes upon this generation in total. Why? Because that generation, 
instead of receiving Messiah, instead of bowing to Christ, 
instead of confessing Him as Lord, listened to these heretics. We're not supposed to listen 
to heretics. We're supposed to find teachers 
who preach and teach the truth of God's Word. We're supposed 
to evaluate them based on Scripture. We're supposed to be of that 
Berean spirit in Acts 17 that examines daily what Paul was 
teaching. Have you ever considered that? 
It's Paul teaching! And yet, they examine the Scriptures 
to make sure that what Paul was teaching was accurate. It ought 
to be the case that you survey the Scriptures when you're listening 
to preaching, that you flip to the text, that you see it for 
yourself, that the preacher or the teacher is able to show you 
how he gets that from the text. If you're left scratching your 
melon going, man, how do you ever get that out of there? Well, 
that's not good. Hopefully, the task of the preacher 
or the teacher is simply to help you, lead you along and say, 
this is what's there. And you say, oh yeah, that's 
what's there. If a blind man leads a blind man, then both 
will fall into a ditch. There's this mindset today where 
as long as we have this compartment covered, we have teachers up 
here, I don't really need to know theology. Yeah, you do. 
You need to understand the truth as it is in Jesus so that you 
can rightly scrutinize whether or not you're being taught the 
truth. And if you're not, don't sit 
under it. It's always amazed me. 19 years I've been here. 
I've met people that have born up in bad churches for years. None of you. I'll just get it 
out of your head. You guys are all great. But, 
you know, you talk to somebody, you know, I've been in this church 
for 10 years and the preaching, it's not good, it's not, you 
know, it's bad. Why ten years? I'm all for faithfulness 
in church life. Brethren, I think that's a bane 
on our society, this church-hop mentality, where we go from place 
to place to place, and we don't become members, we don't grow 
roots, we don't thrive and flourish. I'm all against that. But I am 
certainly not for someone sitting under heresy, because they've 
got some strange notion of loyalty to a particular denomination 
or structure, and yet they're being led into a ditch. That's 
one of the reasons and one of the blessed benefits that we 
have a confession of faith. It roots us to the historic Christian 
church. That's orthodoxy. It's not infallible, 
it's not authoritative in the way that the Scripture is, but 
that summary of things most surely believed among us tells anybody 
and everybody who comes into this place, we're not teaching 
anything new. we are rooted in and tapped into 
and vitally connected to the Catholic Church. And I don't 
mean the abomination of the Roman Catholic, but the Catholic, the 
church universal, the people of God through all ages and in 
all places. It's a benefit. Some say, oh, 
you've got that confession. That makes you mean and vicious 
and hard-hearted. I think it's mean and vicious 
and hard-hearted to present a church with the minimal amount of doctrines. 
Present the maximal amount of truth so that we can have camaraderie 
founded on those doctrinal convictions. Brethren, find men who teach 
the truth. Thirdly, we need to recognize 
that God sees the mistreatment of His servants and will punish 
those who mistreat them. Abel and Zechariah cried out 
that God would repay. What do we learn? It may take 
time, it may not be overnight, but God will visit with judgment 
those who persecute His servants. And then we need to finally appreciate 
the reality of what we find in verse 32 and in verse 35. The understanding that the mercy 
of God does run out. When the measure of guilt is 
filled up, God brings His wrath. It's a good place for us to end 
today. thinking about the wrath of God, thinking about the judgment 
of God, thinking about the vengeance of God, because I don't think 
we do this enough. We don't sing hymn 240 enough. We don't contemplate the realities 
of another age enough. We don't contemplate the fact 
that we will stand before a holy God on the day of judgment. For 
those of us who are in Christ Jesus, praise God Almighty, that 
day we'll be most blessed. We'll be hidden safely in the 
hollow of his hand. We will find our refuge in that 
rock which is Christ. We will find our safety in that 
one who lived and died and rose again, so that sinners might 
have life. If you are not in Christ, you 
will face the judge of all the earth, and that will be a terrifying 
thing. Verse 33. How can you escape 
the condemnation of hell? May I just encourage you as I 
try to every week, every Lord's Day that we're together, may 
I just say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be 
saved. That's it. I can't write you a check and 
say, present this to God on that day and that'll buy yourself 
into heaven. No. I can pray for you and trust 
that I do pray for you, You've got to come to Christ. You've 
got to look and live. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent, 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. When that serpent was lifted, 
it was a look and a live. I love the simplicity there. 
It wasn't drag yourself over there and kiss that brazen serpent. 
It was a look and live. Look and live. Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says, Believe and 
you will live. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank 
You for Your Word, and we thank You for its clarity, and for 
its beauty, and for the fact that You have not left us as 
orphans in this world. You've given us the Spirit, You've 
given us Your truth, and we pray that You would help us to improve 
upon it by meditating, by contemplating, by reading, by studying, by filling 
our hearts with the Word of Truth. For any and all who are outside 
of Christ, we know ultimately, God, it is your will, it is your 
sovereignty, it is your supremacy and power. And we know that what 
is impossible with man is possible with you. So we pray that you 
would save today, that you would get glory for your name through 
the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ. And we pray in his most 
blessed name. Amen.