{"id":9685,"date":"2026-05-03T13:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=9685"},"modified":"2026-05-03T13:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T17:26:23","slug":"the-tough-words-of-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=9685","title":{"rendered":"THE TOUGH WORDS OF JESUS"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><u>THE TOUGH WORDS OF JESUS<\/u><\/b><\/h1>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Luke 11: 33-54<\/b><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>\u00a0by Rev. Richard Jones<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-9685-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/05-03-2026.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/05-03-2026.mp3\">http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/05-03-2026.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>An Issue of Sight<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><b>Luke 11:33-36 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">33 <\/span><\/sup><span class=\"ind\">\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">\u201cNo one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">34 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">35 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">36 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>John 1:9 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">9 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.<\/p>\n<p><b>John 3:19-20 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">19 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">20 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Three Woes to Pharisees<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><b>Luke 11:37-44 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">37 <\/span><\/sup><span class=\"ind\">\u00a0While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table.<br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">38 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner.<br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">39 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And the Lord said to him, <span class=\"JesusWords\">\u201cNow you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">40 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">41 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">42 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">\u201cBut woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">43 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">44 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">7 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0But the LORD said to Samuel, \u201cDo not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">LORD<\/span> looks on the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Micah 6:8 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">8 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0He has told you, O man, what is good; <span class=\"poetry2\">and what does the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">LORD<\/span> require of you<\/span> <span class=\"poetry1\">but to do justice, and to love kindness,<\/span> <span class=\"poetry2\">and to walk humbly with your God?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Psalm 51:6 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">6 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, <span class=\"poetry2\">and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.<\/span> <span class=\"poetry1\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Three Woes to Scribes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><b>Luke 11:45-54 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">45 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0One of the lawyers answered him, \u201cTeacher, in saying these things you insult us also.\u201d<br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">46 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And he said, <span class=\"JesusWords\">\u201cWoe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">47 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">48 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">49 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, \u2018I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,\u2019<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">50 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation,<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">51 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.<\/span><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">52 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.\u201d<\/span> <span class=\"ind\"><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">53 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things,<br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">54 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ind\"><b>Matthew 23:13-15 (ESV) <\/b><br \/>\n<sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">13 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">\u201cBut woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people\u2019s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. <\/span><sup><span style=\"color: #000000;\">15 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0<span class=\"JesusWords\">Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ind\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ind\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ind\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE TOUGH WORDS OF JESUS Luke 11: 33-54 \u00a0by Rev. Richard Jones &nbsp; &nbsp; An Issue of Sight Luke 11:33-36 (ESV) 33 \u00a0\u201cNo one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=9685\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,24,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-messages","category-sermon-series","category-sermons-by-rev-jones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9685"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9685"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9688,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9685\/revisions\/9688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}