Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm going to read the closing
verse of the sermon the Lord preached that led to the scribes
and the Pharisees saying, we're not going to listen to this man
anymore. We're going to put him out of
business. This sermon that the Lord preached more than anything
else, well, his whole life, but this sermon was the end that
led to his crucifixion. And I just want to read the last
verse of this sermon. He says in verse 33 to the people
he was preaching to, ye serpents, Ye generation of vipers, how
can you escape the damnation of hell? Harsh words from him who's too
wise to err and too kind to be cruel. Ye serpents, ye generation
of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Now, when is the last time you
heard a preacher speak like that? You may have heard one speak
that way in a rage, but this is he who is holy, he who is
without sin. He who is not given to emotional
displays of rage. He says, how can you escape the
damnation of hell? Now I've entitled this message,
False Religion and True Religion. It's found in the 23rd chapter
of Matthew and he gives 10 marks of false religion. And the opposite of those ten
marks, we have the mark of true religion. There is such a thing
as false, and there is such a thing as true. Now, the Lord says,
first of all, with regard to these Pharisees, verse 2, the
scribes and the Pharisees sat in Moses' seat, and they bid
you observe That observe and do, but do not ye after their
works, for they say, and they do not. Now here is the first
mark of false religion. They say, they're quick to tell
you what you need to do. They say, and they do not. They tell you to keep the law,
They don't keep the law. They tell you to repent. They don't repent. They tell
you to believe. And they do not believe. False religion is grounded in
this. They're quick to tell you what
to do. But they do not. Now here is the second mark. He says in verse four, they bind
heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's
shoulders, rules and regulations, but they themselves will not
move them with one of their fingers. But all their works, notice that
word all, all their works, they do for to be seen of men. In Matthew chapter 6, when the
Lord was giving what the believer is called upon to do, and he
talks about works of charity, giving of alms, works of devotion,
prayer, works of self-denial, And that is seen in fasting.
He talks about these works. He says, all their works they
do to be seen of men, to be recognized by men. And this is what false
religion is all about. They do what they do, not for
the glory of God, but to be seen. to be recognized of men." Now
look in verse 8, it says, or verse 6, it says, "...they love
the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats, and synagogues,
and greetings, and the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi,
Rabbi." They love titles. They love recognition. They like
to be called Dr. So-and-so, and the Right Reverend
So-and-so, and Pastor So-and-so, and the Right Most Holy Reverend
So-and-so. They love titles. They love recognition
that sets them apart from other men. This is a mark of false
religion. They love hierarchies. Now, look
what the Lord says about these people in verse 13. He says,
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men." Now here is what the false religion is
guilty of, shutting up the kingdom of heaven by preaching a false
message. He says, you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
ye them that are entering in to go in. You see, you cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven apart from the truth of the gospel. And they shut men out by bringing
a false message. They're not saved, nor are their
hearers. And then he says in verse 14,
woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, you devour widows'
houses. And for a pretense, for show,
make long prayer. Therefore you shall receive the
greater damnation." Now this is a mark abusing people for
personal gain. You take the average TV preacher. Who does he pray on? Widows. Who supports him? widows and
he tries to impress them with his long flowery prayers and
the Lord said they'll receive the greater damnation for that.
You see the truth is not about abusing people and seeking to
take from them, it's seeking to love them and give them the
truth. And then the Lord says in verse 15, woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, For you compass land and sea to make
one proselyte, one convert. And when he's made, you make
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. What's
the main emphasis of religion? Growth, numbers, proselytizing. You see, if I can get converts,
I can feel better about myself. I can say, look how God's using
me. I must be doing something right. It's not from preaching
the gospel itself. It's a self-glorying thing and
this thing of proselytizing. You proselytize, you try to gain
converts, and all you do is make them twofold more the child of
hell than yourself. Then he says in verse 16, Woe
unto you blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by
the temple, it's nothing, but whosoever shall swear by the
gold of the temple is a debtor. Now here's what they were saying.
They were saying the temple is, if you make a promise or a vow
according to the temple, it's non-binding. But if you make
a promise of the gold that you put in the temple, that makes
it binding. Now look what he says about this.
You fools and blind, for whether it's greater the gold or the
temple that sanctifies the gold. And then he says in verse 19,
you fools and blind, for whether it's greater the gift or the
altar that sanctifies the gift. Now here's the point. They were
taking the temple and the altar, and they were saying, if you
swear by them, it's non-binding. You don't have to keep your promise.
But if you swear by the gold that's in the temple or the gift
that you've placed upon the altar, then it's binding. Now, what
these fellows were doing was inverting sanctification. They
were saying, it's your works, it's your gifts that makes the
altar effectual and the temple effectual. They were saying man's
works and not the personal work of Christ is what causes salvation
to be. He said, you've inverted sanctification. And then he says in verse 23
of this same chapter, he says, Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you pay tithe of men to denies and human and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy,
and faith. These ought ye to have done,
and not left the other done, you blind guides, which strain
at an ant and swallow a camel. False religion majors on things
of no consequence, and they leave out what really matters. And the Lord gives us these three
things that are the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy, and faith. Judgment. Salvation according
to the justice and judgment of God. Christ was judged on Calvary's
tree, the sins of those he represented were put away, and the very righteousness
of God demands their salvation. Judgment. Mercy can't come at
the expense of judgment. Judgment must first come. He's
a just God and a Savior, and then salvation by the mercy,
the free mercy of God. And faith, believing that message. He says, you've left that out.
You've majored on minors and you minored on majors. And then he says, woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you may clean the outside
of the cup. but within you're full of extortion and excess. And he says another few things
in the next couple of verses about that, but here's the point.
False religion majors on what you look like on the outside
and does nothing about what is on the inside, what God does
in a man. Just get the outside cleaned
up, look good, appear righteous to men and you're in good shape.
And they, Passover. what God must do on the inside. He said, you appear righteous
to men, but within you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity. He
says in verse 29, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
because you build the tombs of the prophets. You garnish the
sepulchers of the righteous and say, if we'd been in the days
of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with him
in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore, ye be witnesses unto
yourselves that you are the children of them which kill the prophets.
Now, false religion. Brags on dead preachers. We wouldn't
have killed the prophets. but they have no identification
with those who are living, preaching the gospel. And that's when the
Lord said, ye serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape
the damnation of hell? What stern words. Now, you can take those 10 marks
and turn them around and you have true religion, that which
is inspired by God, that which is true. And the first thing
is they say and they do. I do not call upon men to do
something I do not do myself. When I say believe the gospel,
I'm telling you to believe the gospel that I believe. When I
say repent, I'm telling you to do what I have done. I've repented
and taken sides with God against myself and looked to Christ only. Now, true religion is not occupied
with telling others what to do. They tell you what to do, but
they don't do it. But true religion is occupied
with self. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. Sirs, what must I
do to be saved? Like I said, false religion is
always worried about telling what others people want to do.
But in the truth, true religion, it's personal. What must I do
to be saved? And true religion is concerned
with what God sees, not what men see. He said, all their works
they do to be seen of men. Now, I would not be being honest
if I said I don't care what men think about me. I want men to
think of me as someone who actually fears God, someone who's a true
servant of Christ, someone who's real and not hypocritical. I
care what people think about me, but when it comes right down
to it, do it. If you think well of me and God doesn't, it's not
going to do me any good at all. And if God thinks well of me
through the gospel and everybody else hates me, that's fine. We're
more concerned about what God sees than what men see. And when
I preach the gospel, I want him to be pleased with what I'm saying.
I'll be happy if you're pleased, but the one I'm concerned about
pleasing is him, not you. In the truth, you're more concerned
about what God sees than what men see. And you know, we read
in that passage of them loving to be called rabbi and master
and recognized in the marketplace and taking the chief places and
so on. False religion loves titles and
recognition. True religion hates it. Somebody
that believes the gospel does not want to be exalted above
his brethren. All ye are brethren. And we hate
this thing, this false thing of clergy, laity, titles, and
so on. Don't want to have anything to
do with it. It's not real. True religion has the message
that opens the kingdom of heaven. He said, you shut out men of
the kingdom of heaven. The gospel opens the kingdom
of heaven. Now, please listen to this real
carefully. In John chapter 14, verse six, the Lord said, I am
the way. He is the way into the kingdom
of heaven. I am the truth. He is the truth
of how one enters the kingdom of heaven. I am the life. It's only those who have his
life that enter the kingdom of heaven. Now that is the truth
of how one enters the kingdom of heaven. Christ alone It's
my life, my perfect obedience that is given to every believer
that brings them into the kingdom of heaven. It's my life being
put to death, my death as the sin payment of everybody who
enters the kingdom of heaven. It's my life raised from the
dead, meaning God accepted what I did and everybody I did it
for, and they're all justified by what I did. My life is the
way of entering the kingdom of heaven. It is my life at the
right hand of the Father, interceding for all those people that I died
for, is the way they're preserved. You see, the Gospel has the way
opened into the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ Jesus and Him crucified. And in the Kingdom of Heaven,
in true religion, there's not a devouring of widow's houses. It's not a religion about personal
gain. It's not a religion about me
getting what is yours. It's not a religion where there's
the pretense, the act of prayer to impress people. No, in the
gospel, we really love people. We really do. We love the brethren,
we love everybody who loves Christ, and we love everybody in the
sense we want everybody to believe and be saved. It's not just trying
to take people and proselytize and so on. That's the next point.
In true religion, there's not proselytizing. Now I'm preaching
the gospel and I'm praying that God will be pleased to save people
through it. I really want that. But Paul
said, Christ sent me not to baptize, not to get results, not to proselytize,
but to preach the gospel. You see, I know I can't save
anybody. It's up to God to save you. I can't save you. Somebody
says, I won that person to Christ. No, you didn't. If somebody saved,
God saved them. You didn't save them. You might've
been an instrument in telling them the truth, but this salvation's
of the Lord. And this whole idea, I've won
so many souls to Christ, that's utterly offensive. This whole
thing of proselytizing, trying to look out, God's using me,
that's not in the kingdom of God. In true religion, we preach
the gospel and leave men alone and trust God. to take care of
the results. And in true religion, You don't
have this thing of inverting sanctification. Now, I've already
touched on what false religion does. It says the gift on the
altar is greater than the altar. It's the gift on the altar that
makes what the altar work. And that's really the message
of the false gospel. It's not Christ's death that
saves you. It's what you do with Christ's
death that saves you. I mean, he can die for you and
you wind up in hell anyway if you don't make your works, What
he did worked for you. That's an inverting of sanctification.
It's not the gift that sanctifies the altar, it's the altar. It's
the person and work of Christ that sanctifies the gift. And
in true religion, you don't have this thing of omitting the weightier
matters of the law. You major on the majors. Now
these fellows were talking about tithing. Preachers love to talk
about tithing. They try to lay guilt on people
to try to get them to give, and they love to talk about tithing.
Now, tithing was in the Old Testament. Tithing is not taught in the
New Testament. Now, that's just so. You're to
give as God has prospered you. You're to give willingly, but
as far as this 10% tax, no. But these fellows, they were
quick to pay tithes of everything, but they left out the weightier
matters of the law. Judgment, mercy, and faith. Now
listen to me. This is the message of the gospel.
Judgment took place on the cross. Now, the carrying out of the
sentence on Judgment Day has not yet taken place, but I was
justified by what Christ did. Judgment was taken care of. My
sin was put away. I was given perfect righteousness
and the holy law of God counts me as just. And what comes out
of that? Mercy. Salvation by the mercy
of God. Now the only way you can receive
mercy is if you don't have anything to recommend you to God. Your
only hope is Him having mercy on you. You know that if He gives
you what you deserve, you'll be sent to hell. But thank God
for the mercy of God. Because judgment has been accomplished,
God now shows mercy freely for Christ's sake. Thank God for
the mercy of God. And the third thing he mentions
is faith. Faith believes that. Faith relies on judgment, the
judgment that God accomplished on Calvary's tree. Faith relies
on the mercy of God. Faith believes the gospel. Now
he says, these ought you to have done and not left the other undone.
And then in verse 25, He said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you may clean the outside
of the cup, but within you're full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the
cup and the platter. The outside of them may be clean
also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You're
like whited sepulchres, you're like grays, which indeed appear
beautiful on the outside, but within you're full of dead men's
bones and of all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within you're full of hypocrisy and
iniquity." Now, let me be as plain as I can. Your inside and
my inside, what God sees is bad, and it cannot be changed or improved. Genesis chapter 6, 5, God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now if you tell me here's what
you need to do. You need to change the inside. You need to start
thinking good thoughts. You need to quit having sinful
desires and sinful passions. And you need to straighten up
on the inside. You need to change on the inside.
You know what you've done for me? You've given me no hope.
I can't change my heart. There are quote ministries called
changed lives. And they talk about the evidence
of God's work is this change of the inside. Now listen to
me. I don't need a changed heart. My heart's no good. I hear preachers
say, give Jesus your heart. What would he want with that
thing? What would he want with it? It's evil. You're going to
give him that? You think he's going to accept
that? I've heard preachers say, won't you invite Jesus into your
heart? Where's that in the Bible? You don't invite Jesus. He'll
come and knock down your heart and give you a new heart. But
as far as inviting him into the heart, that's not scriptural.
Here's what I need. I need a new heart that only God can give. David said, create in me a clean
heart, oh God. God said in Ezekiel 36, a new
heart also will I give you. Now what this is talking about
is the new birth. when he gives you a new heart.
This is that pure heart that the Lord speaks of when he says,
blessed are the pure in heart. I need a new heart, a heart that
loves God, a heart that can see sin, a heart that believes the
gospel. I need a new heart. And this
is what the gospel is concerned with, not an outward morality.
You can look good on the outside and be full of dead men's bones. I don't need a cleaned up outside. I need a new heart. And the only
one who can give me that is God. False religion is concerned with
what men see, how it appears to men, how righteous it looks
on the outside. The true gospel is concerned
with the inside, that new heart that God gives in the new birth. And then we read in verse 29,
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build
the tombs of the prophets, and guard us, the sepulchres of the
righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers,
we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the
prophets. Wherefore, you be witnesses unto yourselves that you are
the children of them which killed the prophets." Now, they are
the ones who bragged on the prophets. We wouldn't have killed them
the way our fathers did. And the Lord says, you admit
that you're the children of them that killed the prophets. You
brag on preachers that are dead. You know, I hear people doing
that today. They brag on Charles Spurgeon
or John Calvin or Martin Luther, but they wouldn't have identified
with them when they lived. And they do not identify with
the gospel today. Now, what does the Lord say to
them? He says, you serpents, ye generation
of vipers. How can you escape the damnation
of hell? And the fact of the matter is,
you won't if you are in false religion. But if you are in true
religion, the religion that comes from God, what James called pure
religion and undefiled before the Father. If you're in that,
let me give you the opposite of what the Lord said to the
scribes and Pharisees. He said, he that spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
freely given to us all things." Now, there's no way that a man
or woman in false religion can be delivered from the judgment,
the damnation of hell. But there's no way someone in
true religion can be anything but saved, because God gave His
Son and paid for their sins. And since all their sins are
paid for, since they have a perfect righteousness before God, what
could possibly prevent God from freely giving them all things? Now, which religion am I in?
Which religion are you in? The false? Many are on that road. Many have entered the broad,
this wide gate and the broad way that leads to destruction.
Or are you in the true? that looks to Christ alone. May the Lord give me and you
both grace to be in the way of the truth. Now we'd like to invite
you to services at Todd's Road Grace Church. Our services will
begin at 1030 this morning, six this evening, and seven on Wednesday
evenings. And we'd love to have you come
out and hear the gospel. This is Todd Nybert, praying
that God will be pleased in his mercy to make himself known to
you. That's our prayer. Amen. To receive a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.nybert at
gmail.com Or you may write or call the church at the information
provided on the screen.