Jesus knew this would be a problem.

No—He knew this would be the problem.

He saw it coming centuries before it happened. And He addressed it not with a gentle word, but with thunder.

The greatest danger to the church would never be atheism. It wouldn’t be government persecution. It wouldn’t be false philosophies or Hollywood or Darwin.

The greatest threat would be from within: religion without heart.

People who sang the songs and quoted the Scriptures but didn’t know the God of either.

Jesus didn’t save His strongest rebukes for prostitutes, tax collectors, or even the Romans. He saved them for the Pharisees.

The Bible says He was full of compassion—until He ran into a cold-hearted, performance-driven religious system. Then His tone changed.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” —Matthew 23:25

It’s almost jarring to read Matthew 23. Jesus, who healed the leper with a touch, who welcomed little children, who ate with sinners and wept over cities—suddenly sounds like a prophet calling fire from heaven.

Seven times in one chapter He repeats the line: “Woe to you, Pharisees…”

He calls them blind guides. Whitewashed tombs. Snakes. A brood of vipers.

Why so strong? Why so sharp?

Because hollow religion is a lie wrapped in spiritual language.

Because false holiness confuses people about who God is.

Because the pseudo-church drives people away from grace, all the while claiming to represent it.

The Pharisees weren’t robbing banks or throwing parties. They were tithing. Praying. Fasting. Teaching. And Jesus said they were children of hell (Matthew 23:15).

Let that sink in.

Jesus didn’t say, “You’re a little off.”

He didn’t say, “You mean well but are misguided.”

He said, “You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you do, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

Why?

Because hollow religion is not a mild deviation—it’s a spiritual cancer.

And Jesus, the Great Physician, knows you don’t treat cancer with nice words. You cut it out.

The Real Problem Was Never Rome

Most of us would think the greatest threat to Jesus’ ministry was Rome. They had the power. The military. The cross.

But Jesus never led a protest against Caesar. He never organized a campaign to change Roman law. He didn’t rail against paganism or politics.

He confronted His own people.

Why? Because it wasn’t the pagans who were keeping people from God—it was the religious gatekeepers.

“You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” —Matthew 23:13

In other words, the pseudo-church of Jesus’ day was not outside the synagogue. It was the synagogue.

And He wept over it.

When He stood outside Jerusalem, His heart broke—not over the sin of the city, but the rejection from the temple.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” —Matthew 23:37

This Wasn’t a Surprise to Jesus

Jesus didn’t just know this would happen. He warned us that it would.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” —Matthew 7:21

He goes on to say that many will claim religious works—“Did we not prophesy in your name?”—but He will say, “I never knew you.”

That verse should terrify us—not because we might not be doing enough, but because we might be doing the wrong things in the wrong spirit.

Jesus told parables about this. The parable of the ten virgins—where half had no oil. The parable of the fig tree—full of leaves but no fruit. The parable of the wheat and tares—where false crops grow right next to the real thing.

Over and over, Jesus made one thing clear:

The greatest spiritual danger is not being far from God and knowing it.

The greatest danger is thinking you’re close to God and being miles away.