Jesus doesn't play mind games and he means what he says. The wicked men of the worldly church system routinely deny the teachings of Jesus, nullifying them, distorting them, twisting them, or turning his teaching on its head. And they do this because they choose to satisfy their own wills, their own fleshly desires, over and above the will of God the Father. And so they delude themselves into supposing things can be done their way rather than God the Father's way.