WOE UNTO YOU

Many only think of Jesus Christ as the loving, benevolent Son of God ... but we see in Luke's gospel that the Savior expressed uncompromising antipathy toward religious leaders who abused their power. 

The word 'woe' serves as an interjection to express a cry of intense distress, displeasure, or horror. Jesus uses it to convey three separate warnings of impending judgment to the Pharisees. 

Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue, and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. Luke 11:42

They disregarded the spirit of the Law and went about establishing symbolic rituals that had no substance. Pharisees ignored the truth found in Micah 6:8 ... He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Today, there are legalistic 'Christians' who are more concerned about changing a man's behavior than they are with his salvation. They judgmentally want people to stop sinning, yet won't lead them to the foot of the cross. It is pharisaic to emphasize the 'outward' at the expense of the 'inward'.

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Luke 11:43

Scripture declares that 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble'. One sure mark that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives is ... rather than comparing ourselves with others and concluding that we are basically good, we instead compare ourselves with God and conclude that no good thing dwells within us. Legalists don’t like the message of the cross, because it confronts pride. 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.” Luke 11:44

People who walked over unmarked graves became 'ceremonially' unclean. And those who walked in the teaching and ways of the Pharisees became 'morally' unclean. 

MacArthur - False religionists are going to be judged not only for their own iniquity but for the corruption and defilement of all those who followed them.

Legalists also contaminate the minds of the world's onlookers. Unbelievers are kept from seeing the true Gospel, which states that salvation comes by grace through faith. They reject the Lord because of the hypocrisy they see in a corrupted theology. 

So, the message is relevant yet today ... 'Woe unto you, Pharisees'. 

And it is signed by Jesus Christ Himself.