Last Sermon to American Church — E.A. Johnston

Matthew 23:33 and the Reading of God's Word

If you will turn in your Bibles, friends, we will be in Matthew's Gospel, in chapter 23 largely, but in verse 33 particularly. Here now is the Word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of His Holy Word.

Jesus' Rebuke of the Religious Leaders

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Well, those are strong words. Let's examine our text this morning, friends. Who spoke these words? Well, we see very clearly that Jesus is the preacher here.

Jesus Addresses the Scribes and Pharisees

And to whom is He preaching to? Who is He addressing? Why, He's addressing the religious leaders of His day, the scribes and Pharisees, the ones who were the religious ramrods, who held the reins of power and authority in the Jewish church.

The Meaning of Serpents and Vipers

Jesus is addressing these very leaders as if He'd be speaking to the heads of our religious denominations today. And how does Jesus refer to them? He calls them serpents and vipers. Imagine serpents and vipers, He says.

Jesus always chose His words very carefully and for the right effect. A serpent refers to Satan, who very cunningly deceived our first parents in the garden, and deception is his game. So Jesus calls these men serpents.

In another place, when speaking to them, He states that their father is the devil. So you can see the reference He's making to them by calling them serpents. And He also refers to them as vipers, of vipers very deadly, full of poison, and attack stealthily without warning, biting the heel and injecting life-killing poison.

Condemnation of Blind Religious Leadership

Well, what is the content of His sermon to them? It's one of condemnation. Here, Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees, calling them blind guides, referring to their useless and fruitless ministry.

And He calls them serpents and vipers, who are deadly and dangerous. Why, there's nothing more dangerous in the world, friends, than a lost religious person. They crucified the Son of God, and they will crucify you if you stand against them.

How many times have I faced angry deacons in the sanctuary of a church after I preached a hard message on repentance and said to them, unless you repent, surely you'll go to hell. I've seen the fire in their eyes and the venom in their voice as they denounced me.

Christ's Solemn Warning and the Need for Repentance

Well, what is Jesus here primarily saying to His audience? He says, there are but hell-bound lost religious men on their way to damnation in the devil's hell. It's both a denunciation and a warning, a solemn warning.

But the scribes and the Pharisees were incorrigible. They did not repent from the solemn warning of Christ to them. And then if you read a little further, friends, in the text, you'll find quite a remarkable thing.

Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem

When Jesus ends His discourse, He weeps. He weeps, much like George Whitefield would weep over his hearers after a sermon, commenting, If you won't weep over your sins, I will weep for you. And Whitefield would stand before them, his head thrown back, his whole body trembling, and he would weep and weep and weep until he was so overcome, he had to take several minutes to compose himself before he could proceed.

And we see the Son of God weeping here. It's an incredible sight. The angels are leaning out of heaven to take sight of it themselves. And not only is He weeping over His hearers for their great crimes and grievous sins, but He's weeping over an entire city, Jerusalem.

He's weeping, in a sense, over an entire nation. We hear His cry. 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.

A Solemn Warning to the American Church

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, 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. Well, I will pause here, friends, and step aside from Christ addressing His hearers to addressing my hearers today.

And I say this, in all sincerity of heart, friends, if I had but one day left to live, and I had only one text left to preach, and I had only one audience to preach to, I'd preach to the American church.

I would choose this very text as a solemn warning to the American church and to the nation of America. The church lies in a spiritual slumber upon pillows of conformity and compromise because of a false gospel, meaning our churches are yet unregenerate individuals.

Apostasy and Spiritual Decline in American Churches

And there are unfortunately many. We live in a day of unconverted ministry as well. And because of all the apostasy within our denominations, we nominate men to lead when they're blind themselves. And the whole ball of wax ends up in a ditch.

And the church in America today is in a ditch. She's lost her influence with society at a time when she needs revival the most. She's least interested in the subject. Very few are praying or longing for revival today.

I've been a Christian since 1968. And in these last 57 years, I can honestly say, friends, I've never seen our churches in worse spiritual shape than they are now in. I've never seen society more corrupt and perverse than it is now.

Moral Corruption and the Coming Judgment

We're no longer in a moral society but an amoral society. There's no moral compass anymore at all. We all do what is right in our eyes. And like the Jewish temple and the Jewish nation in the times of Christ, we face utter destruction because we've filled the cup of our iniquities to the brim.

The God of the Bible Must Punish Sin

We no longer serve the living God of the Bible, but we serve a fantasy god, our own imagination, who, like Santa Claus, just exists to condone our sins and to bless his little darlings. But the God, listen to me, friends, the God of the Bible is a God who must punish sin.

When the cruel Roman soldiers fastened the Son of God to that cross, as they lifted their hammers and drove in the nails to his hands and feet, every stroke of the hammer was an exclamation point crying out, God must punish sin.

God must punish sin. God must punish sin. If the American church does not repent and lead this nation back to God and experience revival, then, then, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?