I have a sincere message of honesty
and truth for you today, and I pray the Lord might cause all
of us to see the honesty and truth in this. If you have a
Bible handy, I do want to encourage you to take your Bible and look
at this with me because this is a very serious subject that
we're about to deal with. Our text is going to be taken
from Mark chapter 7, but I'm going to begin by reading something
in Matthew 7, if you'd like to turn there first. You know, we
are surrounded all day, every day, absolutely surrounded by
religion. It's everywhere. It is everywhere. We live in a particular part
of the country called the Bible Belt, and we know that that is
indeed the case. We are in the Bible Belt, and
everybody is in some form religious. Everybody takes part in some
way in religion, and unfortunately, that is not a good thing. That's
a bad thing. And I understand that's a very
shocking thing to hear, but that is not a good thing. Everyone
is religious and it's to our hurt. It's to our hurt. Now, the reason it's a bad thing
is because religion is nothing but lies. Religion
is not the truth as God declares it in His Word. The truth is
the truth. When we preach the truth and
believe the truth and cling to the truth, we're holding
to the truth. But religion is in many forms
and religion says many different things and if it's not the truth,
it's a lie. You drive down the road and you
see church building after church building after church building.
Most of those church buildings are houses of lies. You see why
I say this is a very, very important message, a very critical message,
a very honest and sincere message. We're being lied to in many forms
today, but nowhere are men and women being lied to like they
are in religion. Nowhere. Now in Matthew chapter
7 verse 13, our Lord said, enter ye in at the straight gate for
wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. Did we hear what he said? Wide
is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction. and
many there be which go in thereat." Now, when God Almighty says many
will be destroyed, many, do you think He means not very many? Is that what He means by that?
When He says many, many? In verse 14, he said, because
straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto
life and few there be that find it. Now, when the God of heaven
and earth, God Almighty says, few will find life. Do you think he means everybody
will be saved? Is that what he means? He said,
few. Phew, that's a shocking thing
to me every time I read that. Verse 15, he said, beware of
false prophets. Beware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing. They come to you in the name
of preaching Jesus Christ. But he said inwardly, they are
ravening wolves. At first, they seem okay. Everything
seems to be okay. Our Lord said they're not. They're
not. Beware of them. It sounds close. It sounds very close. They talk
about religious things. They talk about this man Jesus.
But as close as it sounds, something is not right. Now let me ask
you this. Have you ever experienced that?
Have you ever heard a man preach? Have you ever heard a message,
and while you're sitting there listening to it, something in
your heart is saying, this is not right. Something's not right. I cannot put my finger on it,
but something is missing. Have you ever said that? They're
not saying something. That man is not saying something. I don't know what it is. That man is adding something. I don't know what it is. I can't
put my finger on it. But something is being mixed
in to God's pure truth and something's not right. Have you ever said
that? Look with me at Matthew 24. Turn just a few pages over if
you're turning with me to Matthew 24. Verse 21 says, for then shall
be great tribulation. such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be, and except
those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved."
This is what our Lord is saying. He said, but for the elect's
sake, those days shall be shortened. For the elect's sake, they're
gonna be shortened. He said, then if any man shall
say unto you, lo, here is Christ or there, believe it not. For
there shall arise false Christs and false prophets. False preachers. And they're gonna show great
signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect. Here's the good news. of all
of this mess that we're in, this mess we call religion. God has
an elect. God has a people that He has
chosen to pull out of the lies of religion. He's going to have
mercy on some and He's going to call them out of darkness
into the light OF HIS TRUTH, THE TRUTH OF HIS WORD. DELIVER THEM FROM ALL THE LIES
AND TURN THEM TO THE TRUTH. AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GOING TO
SEE IN OUR TEXT. GO WITH ME IF YOU WOULD NOW TO
MARK, CHAPTER 7. OUR TEXT IS MARK, CHAPTER 7,
THE FIRST 13 VERSES. VERSE 1, IN THESE VERSES HERE,
OUR LORD IS PERFECTLY DESCRIBING RELIGION TODAY. EVERYTHING HE
SAID BACK THEN perfectly describes religion today. He's going to
expose the lies. And if you're like me, if you
love truth, I love the truth. Don't lie to me. I don't want
anyone to lie to me. Just tell me the truth. Whatever
it is, just tell me the truth. If you love the truth, you're
going to love this. Our Lord just exposes the lies. He points out all the error. And He teaches us in this the
difference between an empty show of religion. That's what religion
is. It's an empty show. And our Lord
is going to teach us the difference in an empty show of religion
and true heart worship to the Lord our God. All right? Verse
1 right here in Mark chapter 7. It says, then came together
unto him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes which came from
Jerusalem. Now the Pharisees, they were
the religious leaders of that day. They were the famous preachers
and they were the ones everybody listened to and followed and
we have some of those today. We have some just like they had.
And it says in verse 2, when they saw some of his disciples,
these Pharisees, these religious leaders, when they saw some of
our Lord's disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say
with unwashing hands, they found fault. They ate and they didn't
wash their hands. And these Pharisees were looking
at these followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and they thought, How unclean! What they thought
was, these men are sinners. I know why the Pharisees thought
that. It's because the followers of Christ were sinners. They
pegged them correctly. So verse 2 says, When they saw
some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say,
with unwashing hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and
all the Jews except they washed their hands oft. That word means
diligently with the fist up to the elbow. That's what it means. Diligently with the fist up to
the elbow. You've seen a surgeon scrub while
he's getting ready for a surgery. He scrubs with the fist all the
way to the elbow and then he holds his hands up. And that's
what these Pharisees were doing. They were scrubbing and holding
their hands up, saying to each other, I'm clean. I have made
myself to be clean." Does everybody see this? I have done what I
was supposed to do. And we can read through the spiritual
lines on this. They're saying, I have made myself
to be clean. They're boasting in what they've
done to cleanse themselves. Verse 3, for the Pharisees and
all the Jews except they washed their hands off to eat not, holding
the tradition of the elders." Do you notice that that does
not say holding the tradition of the Word of God? Do you see
that? Where did they get that? Our
Lord didn't tell them to do that. It was the tradition of the elders. That means some man And this
is what religion is. If you want to get to the heart
of religion, because all of these religions all say something different,
and they're holding to the traditions of their elders in each one.
What religion is, is some old man at some point who people
loved and respected, that man made something up, just pulled
it out of nowhere. His opinion on something. and
passed it down. And generation after generation
now passes that down. And at some point along the way,
people started believing this is the Word of God, when it's
not the Word of God. It's not what God said. It's
just what some elder said. Here's an example of religion.
This is an example of a tradition of the elders that's been passed
down. People say this. They say, now you know God helps
those who help themselves. People say that. They mean what
they're saying. They believe it to be the Word of God. Did
you know that that is not in the Word of God? Nowhere. Nowhere does it say that. That is a lie. God helps those
who help themselves. That's a lie. Somebody made that
up. Here's another one. People say,
God wants to save you if you'll let him. That's a lie. Nowhere. Does it say that in the Word
of God? Not one time is there anything close to that. Not one
time does anything insinuate that at all. If God wants to
save a person, God saves a person. He said, I will work and who
will let me? Who's gonna allow me to do what
I wanna do? So that's not in the Word of
God, that's a lie. That's something that somebody
made up and passed down. Here's another one. God wants
everybody to be saved. That's what people have passed
down. God wants everybody to be saved. That is not in the
Bible. That is not in the Word of God.
Nowhere does it say that. That is a lie of religion that
has been made up and passed down. Verse 3 says, For the Pharisees
and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not,
holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from
the market, except they wash, they eat not. in many other things
there be which they have received to hold as the washing of cups,
and pots, and brazen vessels, and of tables." They've made
up many things. They've made up all kinds of
things. They've made up tons of things. They've added much
to the Word of God. Verse 5, then the Pharisees and
the scribes asked Him, asked the Lord, Why walk not thy disciples
according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with
unwashing hands? They came to the Lord and they
said, why don't your disciples go with the flow like everybody
else? Why won't they just do the same
thing we're doing? We're all doing this. Why do
they have to buck the system? Why don't they fall in with the
masses? We don't understand this. This
is the tradition of the elders. We have to hold up the tradition
of the elders. Verse 6, He answered and said
unto them, Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites? That's what our Lord said to
them, bold. He said, Well hath Isaiah prophesied
of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with
their lips, but their heart is far from me. A hypocrite is an
actor. That's what the word means. Somebody
who is pretending. That's what a hypocrite is. Pretending
to be one thing when that's not what he is. It's important to
know if, just in case you're a sinner like I am, It's important
to know that in the scripture, the word hypocrite is never attached
to a person who is acknowledging himself to be a sinner. Never. Never. Not one time is a drunk
called a hypocrite. Not one time is a harlot called
a hypocrite. Not one time is a publican called
a hypocrite, not one time. The word is always attached to
the preachers every time in the scripture. God called preacher
after preacher after preacher. Hypocrites, you hypocrites. The Word is always attached to
those who are consumed with self-righteous religion. I have made myself
to be clean. Self-righteous religion. Those who try to make themselves
to be something when they are nothing. We're all sinners before
God and nothing. Our Lord said, here's the truth
about religion. The end of verse six, he said,
they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. There is no true worship in the
heart. There's no real love for Christ
in the heart. Solomon wrote, out of the heart
are the issues of life. Verse seven. He said, how be
it in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. And that's it, isn't it? That's
it. They're teaching for doctrines,
saying it's the Word of God, but it's actually just the words
of men. They're teaching the teaching of men and it's not
the commandment of God. Verse 8, he said, for laying
aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of man
as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things
you do. And he said unto them, full well
you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your own
tradition. And that's it. That's it. I don't think it'll ever cease
to amaze me how men and women can see what is written in God's
Word in black and white and looking right at it say, I don't believe
that. I'm gonna stick to what I've
always believed. You know, if what I believe is
not consistent with the Word of God, I need to change what
I believe. Time is of the essence. We're
about to go meet Him. We do not want to stand before
Him with a different view than His. Lord, whatever it is You
have to say, whatever Your will is, make that mine. Make me agreeable
to You. And if I don't agree with what
He has to say, I need to let go of my belief. Verse 10, He said, Moses said,
honor thy father and thy mother, and whoso curseth father or mother,
let him die the death. But you say," he's telling these
false preachers, you say, if a man shall say to his father
or mother, it is Corbin, that is to say a gift, by whatsoever
thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. And you
suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother,
making the word of God of none effect through your tradition,
which you have delivered, and many such like things do you."
Our Lord just illustrated what He is saying to them, what these
false preachers are teaching. The Lord gave a law to Moses
that said, honor your father and your mother. We know that
law, don't we? The Lord gave that, honor your
father and your mother. Part of what the word honor mean
was take care of them as they have taken care of you. Take
care of them physically and take care of them financially. Whatever
they need, pay for it in their in their old age. And when people
could not give money to the church because they were having to take
their money and care for their parents with it, these false
preachers started saying, I tell you what, if you say it's a gift,
well, I've already, I would take this money and care for my parents,
but I've already promised it to the church. I've already given
it to the church. They said, you say it's a gift
and then You'll be freed of your responsibility to the church
and the Lord will take care of your parents and we'll get your
money. It'll be a win-win for everybody. That's what they were
telling people. And our Lord himself said, you're all liars.
You're liars. You've lied on me. You've lied
on my word. And he said, making the word
of God of none effect through your tradition. And that's what
men have done. This web of religion is luring
men and women to their eternal grave. And my prayer is that
God will deliver us from the lies of it. Lord, deliver us. Now, how can I know if God has
delivered me? Well, the difference in a show
of religion And true worship has everything to do with his
heart. That's what we read at the end of verse 6. It's of the
heart. The heart. If it's not going
to be in vain, it has to be of the heart. And here's the difference.
Religion can go to work on a man's pride and his appearance and
his morality, but it'll never go to work on the heart. Only God can move on a heart. And when God moves on a heart,
this is what it will look like. Over in Psalm 51, this is a wonderful
psalm, David, this was a man after God's own heart. God moved
on his heart. And the first thing God does
always is He breaks that heart. That proud heart that said, I
have made myself clean, all of a sudden is broken. And David
cried in Psalm 51, have mercy upon me, O God, according to
thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my transgression. He's crying, forgive me, have
mercy on me. He said, wash me throughly from
mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. He said, I acknowledge
my transgression. My sin is ever before you. ever
before me, before you. He said, you're right in whatever
you do to me, you're justified. But he said, purge me with hyssop,
purge me with your own blood and I'll be clean. Lord, I'm
begging you for mercy. That right there is not religion. That's called grace. That's called
grace when God spares a sinner from these lies of religion.
He breaks that heart. He moves on the heart. The grace
of God is shed abroad on the heart, and the first thing that
that heart does is cry, Lord, have mercy on me. Peter, when
the Lord came to Peter and called him to be an The Lord did something
and revealed to Peter who he was. And at that moment, Peter
fell to his knees and he cried, Depart from me, I'm a sinful
man, O Lord. Oh, I'm a sinful man. That right
there is not religion. That's grace. The Apostle Paul,
he said in Philippians 3, I was in religion. Read that for yourself. Go to Philippians 3 and read
That whole chapter. The Apostle Paul said, I was
so caught up in religion. He said, I was a Hebrew of the
Hebrews. I was of the tribe of Benjamin.
He said, I had all these things I did right. He said, and then
God came to me and he broke me. The Apostle Paul fell from his
horse crying, Lord, what would you have me to do? And he said,
now I count it all done that I may win Christ and be found
in him, not having my own righteousness, which is before the law, but
the righteousness of God. He said, I just want to die with
Him. I want to be buried with Him. I want to be risen with
Him. And when a heart says that, that heart has been freed from
religion. Grace has entered that heart
and it'll count everything done. Everything done. That heart will
say, you are in sovereign control. Just like the Apostle Paul said
in Romans 11, he quoted Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion.
Lord, you sovereignly will save whom you will." That is a heart
that is not in religion. That is a heart that has been
given grace. Just like Jonah said, salvation's
of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. When
God saves a soul from the bondage of religion, that soul cries,
salvation's of the Lord. TO THE LAMB ON THE THRONE, ALL
THANKS TO THE BLOOD THAT WAS SHED. YOU ARE MY GOD AND I BOW
TO YOU. MAY THE LORD CONVINCE OUR HEARTS
OF THAT, SPARE US FROM RELIGION AND SHOW US THE TRUTH. UNTIL
NEXT WEEK, MAY HE BLESS THE WORD TO OUR HEARTS.