This episode and the next several focus on the 8 woes of Christ against the Pharisees in Matthew 23. The series has so far demonstrated that "good works" are contingent on a good heart. Extrinsic goodness or outwardly good works must flow from a good heart in order to be characterized as good. Since none has a good heart (Romans 3:10-12), no one can produce "good" works, based on God's standard. Christ's 8 woes against the Pharisees underscore this point, recording possibly the most devastating rebuke of hypocrisy in all of Scripture. Christ essentially concludes that all the Pharisees' outwardly good deeds were in fact corrupted because they arose from a corrupt heart. Christ commanded "first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, SO THAT the outside of it may become clean also." (Mt 23:26) Outwardly "good" works are unclean when the inward condition of the heart remains dirty. The rest of Scripture provides the answer with a new clean heart provided in regeneration.
