If you would, turn with me to
Matthew 15, Matthew 15. And I want to read verses 11 through
14 for now. Matthew 15, verse 11. Not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth,
this defileth a man. Then came his disciples and said
unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after
they heard this saying? But he answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Let them alone, they be blind
leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both
shall fall in the ditch. Our Lord here speaks specifically
here of the Pharisees that had just heard what he said. I think
the first verse, it says the scribes and the Pharisees, and
came to Jesus the scribes and Pharisees. The disciples wanted to make
sure that the Lord knew the Pharisees were offended by what he said.
Can you imagine that? We like to help God out, don't
we? Jesus Christ's response is this. God knows them that are
his because he put them where he wants them. If they are not
one of his, God will take care of them in his own ordained time. He then tells them what we read
here about those who want to clean the outside of the cup
while the inside is full of dead man's bones. What does he tell
us about those like this? Let them alone. This is a strong
command. Our Lord means for us to leave
those who are like this alone. Why? They are blind leaders. They cannot see Christ. Christ
himself tells us they are blind. They cannot see Christ and in
not seeing Christ, then they are not able to point men and
women to Christ and his truth and his gospel. All they can
see is flesh, works of the flesh. So we see here that there are
some who are blind and those who follow them are blind. The
result of this union is both will fall into the ditch. That
is a hole, and I can't help but think of the scriptures that
speak of the hole of the pit, that grave, when I read this
here. But the end of these will be
death unless God turns them. What is it that those who are
blind do not like to hear? I want to look at the following
things. The speech of the blind, or what is it that those talk
about who are blind, And what is the speech that the blind
do not like? What is the real problem? And the remedy for that
problem. This chapter starts out with
the Pharisees talking about their creeds, verses one and two. Then came to Jesus scribes and
Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying, why do thy disciples
transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their
hands when they eat. The word here for tradition in
Matthew 15 means precept, law, or ordinance. The word creed
means a set of beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions. We have these Pharisees with
us today. They are not all Jewish either.
They hold to their traditions above the word because they always
go to the creed instead of the word. They did this here as well
because our Lord tells us this. If the creed says what Scripture
says, why do we need the creed? Why don't we use Scripture? The
reason is it does not fully and completely say what the Scripture
says in most cases. I'm not saying that there's not
some good things in them that agree with Scripture, but they
are man-made, so they are flawed. If they were used as a writing
of man and judged based on Scripture, then that's fine. But these blind
leaders of the blind do not use them this way. It is their guide
on how they are to live in this world. It is of the flesh. God's word is not flawed. I remember
what a preacher said about this before. They say that they have
creeds as a summary of what they believe about God's word. We
are told in scripture that the Bible does not even contain all
there is to know about Jesus Christ. It says there would not
even be enough books in the world to contain it all. So the Spirit
of God summarized His word. Why does man think he can summarize
it any better in their creeds? Christ says they worship in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. What is it these Pharisees were
saying? They were talking about washing their hands, or rather
that the disciples of Christ were not washing their hands
before they ate. They taught that the worship
of God was in doing these things. They would not have stopped at
washing of hands had the disciples did, if they had washed their
hands, they wouldn't have stopped there, they wouldn't have went
on to something else. Because they were about washing everything.
What they were doing in fact was replacing the law of God
with their own law. The fact is they did not even
keep their own law, let alone the law of God. But they changed
the law of God to suit their desires. Is there anything wrong
with washing your hands before you eat? There is if you do it
thinking it will in some way make you clean before God in
any way. This washing of hands is not
the only things they washed or they had traditions to wash,
just about everything they had this tradition for. Mark 7, 8
says, for laying aside the commandment of a God, ye hold the tradition
of men as the washing of pots and cups and many other such
like things ye do. They washed cups and pots and
tables, all of this with the mindset that it is somehow sanctifying
them. Most of us wash our hands before
we eat. Most of us wash pots and pans
and dishes. It makes for a sanitary and clean
environment in this world, but not before God. When those who
see you not walking according to their creed, they will find
fault. If they are looking for fault
in us, it is not hard to find. The fault is there. But the fault
they think they find in us is not the real fault we have. The
fault they find in us is that we are not doing those things
which they think we should be doing to set us apart. This is
according to their creeds and traditions. What does Christ
tell them? And notice the Lord of glory
goes to scripture. These men go to their creeds
or traditions, but the Lord of glory goes to the scripture.
I think to follow what Christ and what he said and what he
does is a good thing, don't you? Mark 7, 6 he says, this is Christ
speaking. He answered and said unto them,
well hath Esaias prophesied of you, hypocrites, as it is written,
this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is
far from me. but they tried to pass off their
own tradition as God's law. Man's traditions, that is man's
commandments, because this is what the word means used here,
traditions means commandments, the creeds that men have are
the very same thing as what these Pharisees were doing. What does
Christ tell them? They were transgressing the law
of God and that would be the Ten Commandments by their tradition. This is what happens with the
traditions, creeds, or anything else that you set up as some
kind of guide as to the walk of a believer. Men write things,
and we are thankful for that. We read articles of some men.
We read books that have been written. But the child of God,
when they read these things, they look at these things through
the lens of the scripture, if you will. And I mean by that,
they try the spirits and look to see if what is being said
is in the scripture. So the scripture is their rule.
This tells them whether this spirit is of God or not. Are
they saying what God's word is saying? Not the other way around. They will have in these creeds
a lot of good things and a lot of good statements that do in
fact agree with scripture. But this is their device. They
make it sound good and then they throw in things like, you must
be circumcised. That's what happened in Galatians.
It was a very dangerous thing. Paul told them he was afraid
of them. What that means is Paul was afraid
that what he thought had been a work of God in them at the
beginning may have not been God at all. This is what he was afraid
of. It was concerning to him and
it ought to be of concern to us when we start hearing things
that man wants to add to Christ. But men hold up these types of
things, traditions and creeds, as if they are inspired of God
and they are not. The command our Lord went to
was really not dealing with cleansing or washing of hands directly
anyway. He spoke of their transgression of God's law by their tradition
of honoring their father and mother. I think the following
is what is meant that was said in verses 4, 5, and 6. Let's
just go ahead and read that, 4, 5, and 6. in Matthew 15. For God commanded, saying, Honor
thy father and mother, and he that curseth father or mother,
let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say
to his father or mother, It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest
be profited by me, and honor not his father or mother, his
mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment
of God of none effect by your tradition. And I think what is
being said here is, instead of taking care of their parents
like they were supposed to, they were saying, I'm offering this
or doing this with my money, and this is for you, for the
parents, and so they don't have to take care of their parents.
And I'm sure for these Pharisees and scribes, it benefited them
in some way that the money or whatever it was they did back
then to take care of their parents. They did this as an excuse not
to take care of their parents, that's what it was. Now regardless
of what exactly was meant by their tradition, there's one
thing very clear about it. It transgressed the law of God. Christ says so. God's commandments
have no give. You either honor your father
and mother or you will die. In not honoring them, you are
in fact cursing them. Christ says you shall die the
death. This is their speech. This is
the language of these Pharisees. And as I said, they still exist
today. What they espouse when it comes
to God's law is a following of God's commandments in a way that
were never intended by God. The law was not given to us that
we might keep it. The law entered that sin might
abound. Abound. It would get worse. These blind leaders of the blind
are all about man's work or man's doing and not God's doing. In their traditions or their
creeds said, if their traditions or creeds said what God's word
says, they would go to the scripture and not their tradition or creed.
What value is it to go somewhere else if what is being said is
in God's word? The opposite is also true. If
what is being said is not in the scripture, what value is
it to go to that which is being said? Now I fully realize they
do not say that what is in their creeds is not in scripture. But
I just read you what scripture says about the law and why it
is given. If they can get you to hold to their creed and use
that as the basis for walk, then you cannot question them in what
they are saying. Christ tells us they are hypocrites
and they themselves do not do what they tell you to do and
do not do what God tells them to do. Matthew 23 verses two
through seven we read, saying, the scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not do ye after
their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens
and grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders,
but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
But all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make
broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments. and love the uppermost rooms at feast, and the chief
seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and
to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi." What they do is give lip service
to God. That is what we read in our text,
verses eight and nine of Matthew 15. This people draweth nigh
unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. There is a reason why
they are like this, and there is a reason why we are like this. There are some who want to hear
this truth, but those who hold forth their traditions or creeds
as God's word do not want to hear this. So what kind of speech
is it that they do not want to hear? That which goeth into the mouth
defileth not a man, but that which cometh out of the heart.
They do not want to hear that man is as bad as he can be. He
cannot get any worse and he's not going to get any better.
This flesh I'm talking about, this flesh will never improve. God has never intended to improve
upon this flesh. God tells us in his word that
which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of
the spirit is spirit. Just like grace and works, there
is no mixing the two. It's like this. did it one time,
like this, not like this, it's like this. They're totally opposed.
They cannot come together in any way. One of the biggest reasons why
they do not want to hear this kind of speech is because this
leaves them in a place where they can do nothing of themselves.
It leaves it all up to God to change this and to sustain this. Because the leper cannot will
to change his spots. What does Christ tell Peter in
Matthew 15, 19, and 20? For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man. The
real problem with man is his heart is only evil continually. Man as he is born in Adam will
never do anything to improve this heart. A man or a woman
who has not been given faith will not improve on this heart,
but also no believer who has been given faith will ever improve
this heart. We are told by the Spirit of
God that we must deaden, or that is, mortify our members, this
all being done by His Spirit. The real problem is that without
God, we can do nothing. We are not going to work any
works worthy of God, therefore we will not work any work to
save ourselves. If we are to perform any good
works, it will be by his power, his power that works in us both
the will and to do of his good pleasure, but not this flesh. As we have seen, the model of
good works is this, bowing down at Jesus Christ's feet, shedding
tears and wiping his feet with those tears and anointing him
or that is giving him honor, praise and glory in total submission
to him. But we are also told in scripture
that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11, five
and six we read, by faith Enoch was translated that he should
not see death and was not found because God had translated him.
For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased
God. But without faith it is impossible
to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. The heart we have is what? Deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I heard someone say that a believer
is not as bad as we can be. That is not a correct statement
at all. The believer is absolutely righteous before God. but his
flesh is as bad as it can be and it will manifest itself if
God does not enable you to mortify it by his spirit. So what do
I do? What is it that will clean the
inside of the cup, if you will? We read right here, although
it may not be apparent at first, but we read the remedy of the
problem right here in verse 13. Verse 13, I read it, I think. But he answered and said, every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Now this is in the negative,
but here's what this verse is saying, and I'm gonna interpret
it scripture with scripture. John 6, 45. It is written in
the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me. The word for planted there in
verse 13 means to instill doctrine. He is the husband and he dresses
and keeps what is his. All those who are not his, he
will clean out of the garden, if you will. God will get all
the weeds out, the ones that are of no value. We have this
issue with this old Adamic heart which will never change. Notice
what it says here in this passage in verse 18. Let's read that. Verse 18, but those things which
proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they
defile the man. It does not say unless God fixes
it up or until God fixes it up. God nowhere says he is going
to fix up our old heart. He must give a new heart. This
new heart being that new man which is created in true holiness,
Ephesians 4.24. and that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. We all know here what the remedy
is. I mean, we know that here. We
hear it all the time here by God's grace and by his grace
it will continue to be heard here and repeated over and over
again. Jesus Christ is the remedy for
a fallen sinner who is an offense and an abomination in the sight
of God as he is born. It is by the faith of Jesus Christ
that any fallen son or daughter of Adam will ever be able to
please God. Because of what he did, we are
made the righteousness of God in him. We are righteous in Jesus
Christ, but God will clean the inside of these pots. We are
saved by grace through faith and that, that is the grace,
the salvation, the faith is all a gift of God. I know I have
said this a lot lately, but I'm going to keep saying it because
it's not irksome or slothful, and it's safe to say these things
over and over again. It is the faith of Christ and
Him having that faith, knowing what He was to do to please God
the Father, that is to be the perfect sacrifice which would
satisfy God once for all time. That justice which the law demands,
he was set to satisfy that demand, which is this, the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. Christ was promised or was given
of the Father a people for his name and this from before the
foundation of the world. By his work, by his effort, by
his cleansing, our debt is paid. Then in Him, we are made clean
before God. We, by what He did, were made
righteous, made the righteousness of God in Him, 2 Corinthians
5, 21. We were made that righteousness
which is without the law. We are totally, absolutely righteous
before God, although I don't much feel like I am. But God
says I am. I believe God. Hebrews 10, 14
we read, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Jesus Christ has accomplished
the sanctification of those for whom he died for. What else about
those who Jesus Christ has done this for though? They don't just
wake up one day in heaven and wonder how they got there. Christ
tells us that you must believe that Jesus Christ is or you will
die in your sins. So what are we told in 1 John
3 about those who God does a work for in time based on his work
on the cross? 1 John 3 verses 7-9. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God. There is a birth that takes place. That one who has been given the
new heart, life before God, conceived by God, But that one is then
birthed forth in believing by faith when God sends them his
word, his gospel. So this new man does, does this,
so this new man, does this new man created by God then begin
to keep God's law, the Ten Commandments, as a way of life or maybe even
these traditions of men? The scripture is quite clear.
The law does not give righteousness. The law does not give life. God
gives life. The law entered that sin might
abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. No,
it does not mean that we begin to keep God's law. It does not
mean the new man as a believer begins to walk after the law
as his way of life. Colossians 3, 4, we read, when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear Then shall ye also appear
with him in glory. It means he believes God and
in believing God he fulfills that law. Because love is the
fulfillment of the law. Scripture teaches us this and
if anyone says any different, if anyone begins to tell you
you are to follow anything else other than Jesus Christ, they
are blind. Do not follow them. This will
lead you into the pit. But this new man created by God
has a new heart. This new man has eyes to see.
This new man has ears to hear. All created and given by God. This new man is given a faith,
the faith of Jesus Christ. And in hearing the gospel that
God also sins, and He does this through His sent messenger, we
then see Jesus Christ in the gospel and we believe Him. 2
Timothy 1.10 we read, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and
hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And that life and immortality
is Jesus Christ. We do not see life in the law
in any way, shape, or form. We see life in the gospel because
it speaks of Jesus Christ. The gospel is not God enables
me to keep his law. That's not the gospel. The gospel
is Jesus Christ and him crucified of which Paul said he was determined
not to know anything else among them. works of this flesh, and
if you are intending on trying to keep the law of God, the Ten
Commandments, it will be this flesh that is involved in that,
because the law was not of faith. The works of the law are the
works of the flesh. Galatians 3, 2 and 3, we've seen
this before. This only would I learn of you,
received ye the spirit of the works of the law, or by the hearing
of faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun
in the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? We must
believe Jesus Christ and it is that for which God gives us that
enables us to believe that is counted for righteousness. Because
it is of Christ. Romans 4, 5. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. And Walter's already said this
before again, but I'm gonna say it again. We are accounted righteous
because it is there to account, because He's given it to us,
given by God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 9, 30 through
33 we read, what shall we say then that the Gentiles which
followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith? But Israel which
followed after the law of righteousness hath not obtained to the law
of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for
they stumbled at the stumbling stone. As it is written, behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. If there's anyone who
talks to you and they are telling you Jesus Christ is not enough,
they are blind. Salvation is not of the works
of man. Does that mean a man who is given
life of God does not work? No, he does work. But he works
to rest. Rest where? In Christ. Amen. Dear Lord God, thank you
for allowing us to be here today, dear Lord. All things are of
you. Forgive us of our sins, dear
Lord, our shortcomings. There are too many to even number,
dear Lord. Thank you for what you sent your
son to take care of those sins, to pay the debt, the penalty
that we owe, dear Lord. Open our hearts, minds, hearts,
and ears, dear Lord, that we may attend to the words spoken
of those who proclaim your gospel, no matter whether it's here or
it's elsewhere, dear Lord. May it be that we attend to those
things that are of Christ. all these things we ask in Christ's
name, amen.