Hypocrites are Sons of Hell

In Mt. 23, Jesus said this, “Woe to you teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are”. Sobering words. The Pharisees were very religious and evangelistic… they wanted to share their religion with others and weren’t afraid to go long distances to do so. However in their religiosity they were guilty of hypocrisy. They judged certain classes of people as unworthy of God’s grace. Specifically, they condemned Jesus for doing what they would not do… socialize with the dregs of their society… prostitutes and tax-collectors. The Pharisees were too good for that, they would rather traverse land and sea to locate morally good people and convert them to Judaism. Unlike God… they were “respecters of persons”. We can make the same kind of mistake today if we ignore the morally bankrupt in our own neighborhoods and focus our attention on supporting Evangelists in China, Mexico, Africa and other far- away places. It’s not wrong to support Evangelists in foreign countries but it is wrong to give up on those who live around us who are in desperate need of God’s grace. Hypocrisy makes us “sons of hell”.