In this sermon, Pastor Mike Neglia teaches from Matthew 23:29–33, where Jesus delivers one of His most sobering warnings to the religious leaders of His day. The Pharisees built tombs and monuments to honour the prophets of the past, but at the very same time they were plotting to reject the living Word of God standing before them. Jesus exposes their hypocrisy and shows how honouring the past without obeying in the present always shapes a dangerous future.
Drawing on history, culture, and Scripture, Pastor Mike illustrates the timeless relevance of Jesus’ words. From the story of Cork’s toppled statue of King George II, to reflections on the global removal of monuments, to insights from Edmund Burke and C.S. Lewis, this message demonstrates how every generation is tempted to say “we would never” while repeating the very same sins as those before us. We often admire past heroes and prophets once their voices are silent, but resist the challenging words of those God places in front of us today.
This sermon is about more than history lessons. It is about the human heart. We are quick to condemn the failures of past generations, but Jesus calls us to humility, repentance, and obedience in the present. Hypocrisy is not only a Pharisee problem – it is our problem too. We honour dead prophets but silence living ones; we imagine we would have stood firm in the past, yet excuse ourselves in the present. Jesus warns that this kind of self-deception shapes a dangerous legacy for the future.
But the gospel gives us hope. Jesus exposes hypocrisy not to destroy us but to call us to repentance and life. He offers us a new family line – not the brood of vipers aligned with the serpent, but adoption into the family of God. Even among the Pharisees, there was grace for Nicodemus and Saul of Tarsus. In the same way, there is grace for us. No hypocrite is beyond the reach of Christ’s transforming power.
Big Idea: Honouring the past without obeying in the present shapes a dangerous future.
Whether you have been hurt by religious hypocrisy, wrestle with generational patterns, or simply want to understand Jesus’ words more deeply, this sermon points you to the hope found in Him. Christ alone can break the cycle of empty tradition, present rebellion, and future judgment, and instead give us a legacy of grace, truth, and new life.
