Bible Questions Answered:
“....I don't think you preachers ought to condemn anyone, Jesus preached love!”
Bil/ Victoria, Australia
Bible Answer:
Jesus was not hesitant to expose and condemn sin.
Matthew 23:1-39 KJV
1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to His disciples,
2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe* unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
*Woe-Greek-Ouai (Oo-ahee): Exclamation of grief: “woe.”
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by Him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by Him that sitteth thereon.
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 sepulchers, 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.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Christ called the Scribes and Pharisees:
Blind – 3 times.
Blind guides- 2 times.
Fools- 2 times.
Generation of vipers-1
Serpents-1
Stonest them which are sent unto thee-1
Thou that killest the prophets-1
Thou that ...stonest them which are sent unto thee-1
Whited Sepulchers - 1
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 8 times.
Ye are children of them which killed the prophets-1
Ye are full of hypocrisy-1
Your house is left unto you desolate-1
Ye are full of ...iniquity-1
Ye shall kill, crucify, scourage and persecute.-1
Preaching often involves the unmasking of sin:
Psalm 139:7-12 KJV
7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Ecclesiastes 12:14 KJV
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Jeremiah 16:17 KJV
For Mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from My face, neither is their iniquity hid from Mine eyes.
Jeremiah 17:9,10 KJV
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Luke 12:2 KJV
For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
A servant of God, rebuked High Priest Eli:
I Samuel 2:27-29 NLT
27 One day a man of God came to Eli and gave him this message from the Lord: “I revealed myself to your ancestors when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt.
28 I chose your ancestor Aaron from among all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly vest as he served Me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests.
29 So why do you scorn My sacrifices and offerings? Why do you give your sons more honor than you give Me—for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of My people Israel!
Samuel rebuked King Saul:
I Samuel 13:13,14 NLT
13 “How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
14 But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of His people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
Nathan rebuked King David:
II Samuel 12:7,9,10 NLT
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul.
9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife.
10 From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised Me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.
Elijah rebuked King Ahab:
I Kings 21:20-22 NLT
20 “So, my enemy, you have found me!” Ahab exclaimed to Elijah. “Yes,” Elijah answered, “I have come because you have sold yourself to what is evil in the Lord’s sight.
21 So now the Lord says, ‘I will bring disaster on you and consume you. I will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel!
22 I am going to destroy your family as I did the family of Jeroboam son of Nebat and the family of Baasha son of Ahijah, for you have made Me very angry and have led Israel into sin.’
Zechariah rebuked Judah:
II Chronicles 24:20
Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood before the people and said, “This is what God says: Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands and keep yourselves from prospering? You have abandoned the Lord, and now He has abandoned you!”
It isn't the preacher that condemns, it is the word of God, that brings sin to light in the darkened hearts of men.
Proverbs 6:23 KJV
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
John 3:17-21 KJV
17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the Light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth Truth cometh to the Light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Hebrews 4:12,13 KJV
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Preaching God's Word; what did Jesus say?
Matthew 24:14 KJV
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Matthew 28:18-20 KJV
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (Age). Amen.
Mark 13:10 KJV
And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
Mark 16:15 KJV
And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Luke 24:47 KJV
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Acts 1:8 KJV
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Christian's, keep witnessing of your faith! Use every opportunity!
I Peter 3:15 KJV
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
Salvation Prayer
