Turn to the gospel according
to Matthew chapter 15 Matthew chapter 15 I'll read
the first about the first 20 verses I Will repeat this but let me
preface my reading with this statement, but I'm not going
to necessarily preach from Matthew 15 as verse by verse or anything
like that. It's kind of, Matthew chapter
15 gives us a snapshot that's very similar to many other snapshots,
and I mean by that this. In Matthew chapter 15, verses
one through 20, we have one of many encounters that Christ had
with the religious leaders of his day. In his condescension,
when he came down to this earth. We have here this account that
Matthew gives us. And it's just one amongst many,
but it has some pertinent things that are mentioned in it. The
title of my message is this, because this just stood out at
me. The Pharisees were offended. Think about that. these religious
leaders that Christ encountered, and encountered them on many
occasions. And there are very few encounters that I find where
Christ had much of anything positive to say to them. I think on one
occasion, if memory serves me right, and I may be off on that,
but he told one, I think he was a Pharisee, but maybe not, but
these were scribes and Pharisees, as we'll see, but he said, you're
not far from the kingdom of God. But as Henry Mahan pointed out,
being not far from the kingdom of God still means this, you
ain't in the kingdom of God. It's not like, you know, the
kingdom of God is not like hand grenades, just get it close.
No, you're either in the kingdom of God or you're not in the kingdom
of God, no matter how close you might be to the kingdom of God.
And that wasn't my message. Matthew chapter 15, then came
to Jesus, Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem saying.
Now think about this as I read these words. Picture if you can
in your mind's eye this event, this thing taking place. Why
do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? Why
are these men who follow you committing sin? You know what
they're saying? Let me tell you, religion will
make up sins to make you feel guilty. And it's usually things
they're pretty good at doing, but they'll make up sins and
things they know you have a tough time with just to point their
finger at you and look down their pointy noses at you. Why do thy
disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? Think about this,
for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. Now, when
you think about it, if you have any sense whatsoever, you think
to yourself, what does this have to do with anything? And yet, to these men, this meant
everything. Think about that. For they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. Now look at this. But he answered
and said unto them, why do ye also transgress the commandment?
He said, yeah, they have committed a sin against your tradition. They broke your tradition. No
doubt about it. He wasn't gonna argue that with
them. Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition? For God commanded, saying, honor
thy father and mother. He that curseth father and mother,
let him die the death. You know what that means, don't
you? Rock them to death. Stone them to death. And then
people today talk about they want to be under the law. They
need to be under the law. We need the law to keep us in
line. No, the law will keep you, one thing, dead. Dead, and if
it's carried out by those who were doing the carrying out,
it actually ultimately will mean our physical death. Somebody's
gonna end up rocking you. But ye say, whosoever shall say
to his father or mother, it is a gift, but whatsoever thou mayest
profit it by me, and I am not his father, it is mother. Now
see, now he's going on to something more serious than hand washing
before eating bread. And I'm not even gonna go into
this. Honor not thy father and mother, he shall be free. Thus
have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your
tradition. Now let's talk about another
tradition you got. And they had probably hundreds of these traditions. Ye hypocrites. Now these were
what we would call today moral people. They were moral people. They didn't fool around on their
spouses. They probably didn't go over to the Athenian plays
and go to the Colosseum to watch all the ruckus that may have
been there. These were moral people that kept themselves separated
from any of the defilements of the world. Ye hypocrites, well
did Isaiah prophesy of Usain. 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. Isn't that an amazing statement?
As long as you're worshiping God, and not if you're worshiping
in vain. He didn't say you're not worshiping
God. No, you're worshiping God, just like he told the woman at
the well. You worship, you do worship, but you worship you
know not what. but in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Now think about this,
they had just come to him. And then pointed out his disciples'
transgression of their tradition, and he flat lays it out to them.
And now, what does he do? He just leaves them right there. Does he not? He rebukes them,
tells them their tradition, makes of none effect the very commandment
of God, and he called the multitude. And said unto them, now he left
them alone, but he didn't leave it alone. Do you understand what
I'm saying? And he called the multitude and
said unto them, hear, listen now, and understand. Get a hold
of this, if you can. Not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth the man, but that which cometh out of the mouth,
this defileth the man. Now he's going back to what the
Pharisees' original charge was. They were saying their tradition
was you will somehow spiritually defile yourself if you don't
follow our rules. That was the whole thing of what
they were teaching. And one of them had to do, when
you eat food, you need to wash your hands first. And he says,
not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man, but that
which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth the man. Now notice it stops there a moment.
This defileth the man. What comes out of your mouth
is what defiles you. Now most people begin to think
of what? Cussing, swearing, and all those type of things. And
they would not be wrong. But if that's all you think about,
you're not getting the point. If self-righteousness comes out
of your mouth, that defiles you. But look, then came his disciples
and said unto him, this was evidently a brief multitude thing. There
may have been other words, but God says this is what you need
to know about. Mason, if he did say anything else, it's not pertinent
to what we need to know today. Look, then came his disciples
and said unto him, these Pharisees and scribes were the most respected
religious men of that day. Then came his disciples and said
unto him, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after
they heard this saying? And sadly, In our day and age,
we live in such a weak need, limp-wristed, effeminate world that nobody
wants to be offended by anything. If you offend me, you're wrong.
That's the attitude everywhere. Now, the fact is, it's all right
for them to offend you by saying you might offend them, but it's
not all right for you to offend them originally. But I could
argue all day long about that, because we're talking something
a whole lot deeper here. You can see, I can picture on
the disciples, and I'm thinking of maybe the 12 in particular,
probably the 11 in particular, but I'm thinking of those most
close to him. Don't you know? Don't you know? They didn't know he knew. There's our problem. It don't matter how long you've
been with Christ. It's still easy to think about Christ and
compare himself to you. See it? Know ye, look at it, he said,
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, so this lets
me know that every individual in this world is not a plant
of God. Some men are planted by God,
others are nothing but weeds. Some are beautiful roses created
by the grace of God, or whatever beautiful flower or plant, and
others are nothing but filthy, demonic weeds. But he answered
and said, every plant, every plant, not just a good bunch,
every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall
be rooted up. Let them alone. At least two ways this is true.
You don't join up with them. Isn't that true? And here's the
second one, leave them to themselves. Don't try to convert them. Who
was trying to convert Saul of Tarsus? Who was trying to convert
Saul of Tarsus? Now we know somebody preached
the gospel to him and he died because of it. Huh? Wasn't it? But he wasn't trying to convert
him. There are certain people in this world we need to let
alone. Let them alone. They be blind,
leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
Both shall fall into the ditch. And you probably have heard that
quoted on TV. In some movie or by some news
commentator or by whatever. Most people have no idea what
they're even quoting when they quote that. Let's just stop right there.
I said I'd go to 20, let's just stop right there. What did our
Lord go on to say? It's not what you put in your
mouth. It's what comes out of your mouth. And here's the problem.
What comes out of your mouth proceeds out of your what? Heart. And this is what he said. It
ain't what you put in your mouth. It ain't the food you eat. You've
heard the phrase, you are what you eat. Your body is affected
by what you eat. Now don't think that our Lord
didn't understand about human anatomy. He created us for man's
sake. and what you put in your body
will affect your body. But it's not gonna change your
heart. Your heart is what it is by nature. He's not talking
about the muscle, he's talking about the inner person. The inner
man, what I am by nature, who I am by nature, and no matter
what you do, bad or good, that doesn't change what's down in
here. You can eat the best foods or the worst foods, that ain't
gonna change your heart. Not what you really are. You can
drink chamomile tea or you can drink whiskey, it ain't gonna
change your heart. It ain't gonna make it any better or any worse
than what it already is. Look, for those things, verse
18, which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart
and they defile. The man. What defiles me is what's
already down inside of me. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, and this is just a partial list,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things
which defile a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth
not a man. No, this is serious business
because there are still people in this world. The pharisaical
religion is still alive and well in this world. And it's now under
the auspices of Christianity. You see, the devil's a slick
one. And those who follow him are slick ones as well. His angels
are ministers of what? righteousness and present themselves
as angels of light. They have now said, well, let's
take on the name of Christ. But they still teach their God
commandment, dishonoring traditions. And you think, but, and some
of the things I may mention, you may think it's silly. So
is washing hands before you eat. But there were people in that
day that actually thought it was going to make them worse
in God's sight. And Christ is saying you're already
as bad as you could be in God's sight because look what comes
out of your mouth. And that proves what's down in
your heart. He constantly, our Lord constantly
and severely rebuked this man-centered doctrine. Go through it and read
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and every time he met, on very few occasions,
every time he had great, great severity against these people. Theirs was but, as Isaiah prophesied,
lip service. Lip service. And I tell you what,
that concerns me. Because I wonder, is my worship
of God nothing but lip service? Now I think if it doesn't concern
you at all, then you better take a good gander back at yourself.
Because when God gives you just a little peek of what you are
down in here, and then he lets you know some of it by what comes
out of this, you have to say, no matter what I do, I'm already
defiled. How can I be clean before a holy
God? Wash my hands before I eat? Doesn't help. Doesn't help. Theirs was lip server. Their
holiness dealt with outward things. And here's the problem, and they
denied the inner corruption of the heart of fallen man. That's the problem. This anti-God,
anti-Christ religion, as I said, yet thrives today. It denies
man's inner defilement, and it makes outward things their standard.
Does it not? And in some places, in some denominations,
they'll even make up sins. They'll even make up things that
are sin. And I'm not gonna try to go into all of that. It's
not the point. Here's the point. Do not underestimate
God's abhorrence of it. Turn to the book of the Revelation,
chapter 18. Do not underestimate God's abhorrence
of this lip service religion that seeks to find a way to escape
defilement by what it does in outward religious deeds. You
see it? It don't have to be just washing
hands. He mentioned another problem
they had, and I am sure there were probably hundreds more,
but listen to how serious it is. Book of the Revelation, chapter
18, and after these things, I saw another angel come down from
heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with
his glory, and he And he cried mightily with a strong voice,
saying, Babylon, the great, is fallen, is fallen, and has become
the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit,
and a cage every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations
have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The
kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the
merchants of the earth are wax rich through the abundance of
her delicacies. And I heard another voice from
heaven saying, look at this, come out of her my people. You see, that's how serious it
is. Let me tell you something, folks. We are not reformers. We're not trying to reform the
old whore. This was a fallacy of many of
the old places, men and groups of people that are now known
as reformers. That was a part of their problem.
Now many of them found out they couldn't reform it. But let me
also teach you or tell you something. The reformers were wrong when
they thought it was only Rome. They were wrong. It's all a false Christianity,
is this great whore. She sits upon what? Many waters. And it's explained in the book
of the Revelation, the many waters means what? Many peoples. But
he says, another voice said, come out of her, my people. Now do you see why Christ said,
let them alone? Huh? Don't try to join, if I could
just get inside, maybe I can help. Let it alone! Come out
of it! Escape it! Run from it! Flee from it! Run to Christ! Run to Christ, because I want
to tell you, by nature, we're all there. By nature, we're all
under the auspices of this Babylon, the great. Mystery Babylon. I've heard another voice from
heaven saying, come out of her, my people, that you be not partaker
of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues. For her sins
has reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded
you, and double. Does that sound like God's just
kind of, well, this is kind of bad, but, no. Never underestimate God Almighty's
abhorrence of false, religion, of man-centered religion. Consider these things. Man-centered
religion does this. Let me give you just a couple.
They expect us, and I mean me and you and people who watch
me on TV, hear me on TV, they expect all of us, here's what,
they expect us to honor their titles of themselves. Father. There's one whole denomination,
if you can call it that, that loves, that has certain men and
everybody else are supposed to go around calling them father.
Christ said don't do it. Isn't that what he said? Don't do it. There are those
who, they love the title of minister. Now, that seems simple enough,
but you know, in the scripture, that word is never given as a
title. It's a verb. It defines what
a company of men called of God do. They serve God's people. They're not called minister,
they minister. And somebody says, well, you're
being picky. Let me tell you something. When you tell a man,
well, you're not a very good Christian because you don't honor
my title and my position. Your position? Your title, they
love to be called doctor, don't they? Don't they? And you, I
mean, you go to some places and their church is great because
they have a doctor as their pastor. Go and look up sometime what
the word doctor includes. Just go look it up. They love
to even be called reverend. And if you don't reciprocate,
if you don't call them by that title, if you don't give them
their reverence, they say that's a sin. You're disrespecting God. You are defiling yourself. Do
they not? Do they not? Hmm, reverend. I find two things here about
reverend. One, holy and reverend is God's
name. Period. And I find that a wife
is to reverence her husband. Thus saith the Lord. That's what
it says. But how many times do you hear
them talking about that when they talk about reverence? It's
even now I've heard the right reverend. I think it was more
of an older phrase, but it's the right reverend. Like there's
a, what, a wrong reverend? I don't know. And we think, but
that's so silly, I mean, why would men do that? Because they
love to have their tradition as their doctrine, rather than
the word of God for their doctrine. Joe, you said it the other day,
and I love that phrase, and I may have it a little bit wrong, but
something like this, most men and women are not gonna let scripture
get in the way of their theology. And they'll tell you, I know
what I believe. It doesn't matter what you believe,
what does God's word say? These Pharisees and scribes knew
what they believed. I can guarantee you they were
willing to die for it. Think about this. They insist
on public display of prayer. You hear what I'm saying? Public
display of prayer. Not just public prayer, but public
display of prayer. When you go to the restaurant
to eat, you've got to let people see you pray. Right? And if you ever sit down and
watch people and say, well, I didn't see that one pray, so I wonder
if they're a Christian or not. Now think about it, but then
you see another one bow their head and they take their little
time and they'll pray. And you think, well, you know that they
think they're a Christian. Right? But the one bowing their
head may be a part of the Pharisaical religion, and the one you've
never even seen bat an eyelid may be sitting there thanking
God for the food they have, and have offered up far more effectual
prayer than the one over there making a show of what they did.
We've got to pray, listen to me, we've got to pray at the
ball game, or you're not being good Christians, right? Now there's
nothing wrong for praying, it's the ball game, but why do most
of us do it? So the whole world can know we're a Christian. Gotta
pray at the council meeting, right? Gotta have prayer before
the Congress gather. Whatever, you gotta pray and
it's gotta be done publicly. Now hear what Christ wrote about
that. Matthew chapter 23. Then spake
Jesus to the multitude and to his disciples saying, the scribes
and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Oh, therefore whatsoever
they bid you observe, now are we thinking he's talking about
gotta wash your hands before you eat? No, he's talking about
would they actually give you what this word says, what God's
word says. Whatsoever they bid you observe,
that observe and do, but do you not after their works, for they
say and do not. And every person who said, we
got the Sabbatarians, we keep the Sabbath day, no they don't.
They meet on the Sabbath day. They say we're supposed to worship
on the Sabbath day. And my brothers and sisters,
the Sabbath day under the law is still Friday evening at sunset
till Saturday evening at sunset. And they think they're keeping
the law because they gather to worship sometime between Friday
evening, sunset, and Saturday evening, sunset. The law of the Sabbath is not
you're supposed to gather. The law of the Sabbath is to
rest. do no serve our work therein. Isn't that the law of the Sabbath?
So you see how men twist? And then you got others who say,
well, we keep the Christian Sabbath, that's Sunday. Do you rest? Do
you stay at home? Do you not walk over so many
steps? Well, but, you know, we've changed
that now. You see how we make up our own
rules? You see how we make up our own rules? You see how we're
all still trying to wash our hands before we eat? Look, for they bind heavy burdens,
grievous to be borne. Now think about it. Think of
the law of God. That's a heavy burden that even
Peter said we cannot bear. Go back to Acts chapter 15, look
at it. And yet religious men will put
upon other men even more burdensome weight. Add things that they
know certain people can't do. because they can keep you under
the boot. Look, for they bind heavy burdens, grievous to be
born, and lay them upon men's shoulders, but they themselves
will not move them with one of their fingers. They're not trying
to help you. Look, here it is. But all their
works they do for to be seen of men. If I give because I want somebody
to know about it, I've got my reward. If I pray because I want
somebody to see me do it and know I'm a Christian, I've got
my reward. Whatever it is, if I go out and
witness for the Lord because I want people to know I'm a Christian,
I've got my reward. Go on and look at everything.
They love to be called what? Rabbi, Rabbi. They like the titles. I didn't just pull this out of
thin air. But look, wait a minute, they make broad the phylacteries.
They go into the hospital to visit somebody. Now there's a
Bible probably in every room in that hospital in that little
side table. But they've got to carry a great
old big Bible with them when they go in. What are they doing?
They're making broad the phylacteries. Look, I'm carrying the word of
God. I'm out doing the Lord's service. Why do they do that?
To be seen of men. They love the uppermost rooms
and feast, and the chief seats in the synagogue. They all sit
up front. No, don't they? They all sit
up front. And greetings in the markets,
and be called to men, Rabbi, Rabbi. And then it goes on. Look, you can read it. But be
ye not called rabbi, for one is your master. And notice what
he says. Even, who? Not just God. Because these Pharisees were,
of course God's your master. Christ is your master. You see
it? Even Christ, and all your brethren. And call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ. But
he that is greatest among you, let him become your what? Minister. You see it? Minister. And whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble
himself shall be exalted. And I'm not bored, look, woe,
woe, woe, woe. And look at the, and you will
see men doing many similar things today in the name of Jesus Christ. Against which Christ said, woe,
woe, woe. And I understand now, people
say, but such language offends people. Right? I dare say, when this hits the
waves, if it does, there will be those who are offended. The
disciples realized that. Lord, they were offended when
you said that. Yes, they were! And it is meant to be. Turn with me. If you turn to
1 Peter, I said, it is meant to be. 1 Peter chapter two, this is
what Peter said about it. I figured Peter was probably
one of, Peter was always speaking up. I don't know this, but I'm
kind of wondering if Peter wasn't the one that maybe said this.
But look at what it says, look at what Peter wrote. later, under
the inspiration of the spirit God. First Peter chapter two,
look at verse, let's look at verse six. Wherefore also, it
is contained in scripture, behold, I lay in Zion. Who's the I there? God. God. Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief
cornerstone. Elect, precious, and he that
believeth on him shall not be, what, confounded, or what, offended. That's what it's all about. You
go look up the word, to make the blush. That's the meaning
of the word there. I can see him remembering this
account back here, what happened. We were so concerned that the
Pharisees were offended, and then all of a sudden it dawned
on him what God's gospel is, who his Christ is. Now look,
unto you therefore which believe, he is precious. But, do you see
that? The small little conjunction
makes a whole world of difference. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. God did this. You wanna be mad
at me, God may give you the ability to do whatever you want to me,
but this is still God's truth. You may silence this preacher.
You may silence me, but you will not silence God Almighty. And
you will not change God Almighty's ordained way for his Christ and
his gospel, and it is meant to be to some a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense. even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Now, who am I to try to stop
that? Oh, God help me never to be the
one that tries to stop it, but just proclaims it, proclaims
it, proclaims it, and lets the chips fall where they may. You
see, the truth of the gospel is both offensive and a stumbling
block to the religious and the proud. But it's ordained to be. Think about it. Man's full absolute
corruption is both offensive and a stumbling block to those
who are self-righteous. Right? You telling me I'm totally
depraved? How dare you? At least I'm not
like, oh, wait a minute. We had an account of that with
the Pharisee, didn't we? Looking down your nose. Those who trusted
in themselves that they were righteous and they despised others. You don't live your life like
I live my life, therefore you're less than me. Isn't that still
alive and well today? This false religion, this false
Christianity. The truth of man's absolute corruption
is both offensive and it is a stumbling block to them because they think
themselves to truly be right in God's sight. Think about it. The election of grace is both
offensive and a stumbling block to those who think they deserve
to be chosen. How dare God not maybe choose
me, right? How could God dare not choose
this one or that one? He didn't choose any of the angels
that fail. And they will go to hell and suffer torment. That's
what this book teaches, does it not? And how many of us human
beings worried about them? Oh, but we're worried about ourself.
But not worried enough to seek God's mercy because we know we're
corrupt and depraved. Election? Really? God may not
have chosen me. give me a reason why he should
have chosen you. Think about it, imputed righteousness,
the truth of imputed righteousness is offensive and a stumbling
block to those who think they already are righteous. Why do
I need imputed righteousness by faith? I'm already okay. And isn't it amazing how we can
always find some other old poor schmuck to put down in the dirt
further than we are to make ourselves feel pretty good. Isn't it? You can almost, now, granted,
eventually, somebody's gotta be on the bottom, but almost
every one of us can find somebody else that we think just a little
bit worse off than us. But think, out of all of our
hearts flows forth these what? Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications. If this small group right here
could really know what you thought just yesterday, you would be
ashamed and run and hide in shame. And if not, I'm afraid your conscience
is seared with a hot iron. Think about it. The sovereignty
of God is offensive and a stumbling block to those who do not truly
know he is the creator. How many people you know of that
profess to be Christians and don't believe God created the
heavens and the earth, but yet they despise the sovereignty
of God? Wait a minute. If he's the creator, then he
has the right to do with his creation what he would. He had
the right to put that tree in the garden, knowing, he knows
all things, that Adam and Eve would fall and plunge us all
into ruin. Why didn't he just keep it out?
Because it wasn't his will to keep it out. Yes or no? Did God make a mistake? Well,
you ain't got much of a God if you think that you're God. That's
the problem. Men who say, you can say you believe God created
the heavens and the earth, not if you don't believe he has the
sovereign right to do with his own creation as he wills. You might as well be an evolutionist
full bore. Because your doctrine of I believe
God created the universe is of no more value if you deny God
Almighty's absolute sovereignty. Think about it. Today Christendom
walks aisles and bows down at altars. Now this probably won't
go on the TV. It's too bad it don't. And they
are proud of it. They demand of other men and
women to do it, right? Do you understand how idolatrous
that practice is? Well, you know, I used to kind
of make light of it and I understand that, but this is serious. They
walk aisles and bow down and think they're meeting God at
some man-made altar. and professing Christians call
it our altar. You need to come to the altar.
No, you need to come to Christ. He is the altar. You look at Hebrews chapter 13,
specifically verses nine through 15, you'll see that. And let
me tell you, those people out there, they got no right to eat
at our altar. Because our altar is a person. Now, think about
it. There were altars in the Old
Testament ordained by God. And the writer of Hebrews said
those altars are gone. They're of no value now. They're called
dead works. And God's purged your conscience
through the blood of Christ to put away those dead works, right? Now, how much more an altar than
a man makes up today that has no script? There is no place
in this book that teaches us walk the aisle, bow at an altar,
and you can meet God. And yet, that's exactly what
so-called professing Christianity is teaching people today. Am
I right or am I misrepresenting them? Somebody said, you're getting
worked up. No, God Almighty abhors this
insanity, this spiritual insanity. Think about it. Regeneration,
that is God giving a new heart first, is both offensive and
a stumbling block to those who think, well, my heart's not that
bad. God just work on my old one.
My old one's all corrupt. There's nothing there to work
on. What, are you gonna make your adultery a little better?
I won't commit it but twice this week rather than four times.
Hallelujah, I'm holy now. And you don't even have to go
lay in the bed to do that. You can think about it up here. God
help me. Think about it up here. Christ
said you've already committed it in here. Why? Because it's flowing out of here. The friend, give your heart to
Jesus. The only one I have got by nature is that defiled one.
Why in God's name would I offer that to him, Neil? Think about it, walking in good
works. Here, Joe, I'm just gonna give
a little. You preached on an able message,
Joe. Thank God for it. Walking in
good works, foreordained by God, and that's the only way you'll
ever walk in one, is He'll foreordain it for you. Walking in good works,
foreordained by God, is both offensive and a stumbling block
to those who think their will and their way is sufficient.
Why do I need God to foreordain my good works? I can figure out
what they are. I got the power to do it. I have
the will to do it. Huh? We have as mankind two main problems.
Two main problems. You, me, and everybody else. We'll sum it up. Man, we have
two main problems. You, me, and everybody else.
It's this. We think well of ourselves. I didn't say we think too well
of ourselves. You can't think too well, even to think well
of yourself, you're thinking too highly already. Do you hear
what I'm saying? Think about it. We think well
of ourselves. When if God's ever opened your
eyes, you know to some degree what you are in here. Mason,
I can't think well of myself. Because I fear even when I walk
in those good works that God before ordained that I should
walk in them, the rest of me is still right there with it.
And while I'm performing the good work and maybe don't even
know I'm doing it, one thing I do know I'm doing, I'm thinking
about me. I'm thinking about where my next meal's coming from.
I'm thinking about where my bills are gonna get paid, am I gonna
get a raise, am I gonna do this? Me, me, me, me! Even when I witness
to people. God help me, there's so much
me in it. You ever been there? That's one
of our main problems. We think well of ourselves. And
that's as far as you can take. You go that far, you went too
far. And here's the second one. We think even less of the holy,
sovereign, immutable God. Now don't we? We think even less
of him. We put ourselves up pretty high.
And then we think, well God ought to be just so happy. He's up
there just shaking in heaven that I'm so great. We think that,
that's silly. That's scary, but there are people
out there caught up that's like that. They think God is just
waiting for them to come and let him do something with them. My problem, folks, is me. And
my problem goes from the inside out. That's my problem. My problem with all these outward
things The reason I can't stop, I know some people think I'm
a Christian now, I don't do this or that. You may have stopped
certain outward things, but deep down inside you're still corrupt.
My problem is me and it's me from the inside out. If I could
change the inside, the outside would take care of itself. Didn't
Christ teach that? But I can't make my heart clean.
And God's not gonna make your heart clean. He won't give you
a new one or you'll never have one. My problem is me and your
problem is you. What about it? You gonna stand with the Pharisees
and cry out and act like you're talking to God but really be
praying to yourself and bragging to God about how great you are
and how you're not like other people? Well, boy, so and so
did that. I've been there. You ever been
the Pharisee after God saved you? I don't see how they did that.
Look at yourself. No, look out. God moves his restraint
off of you just a smidgen. You will start in a downward
spiral from which you cannot restrain yourself unless God
Almighty restrain you. I'm not preaching down to you.
I'm telling you I've been there. About the time you think you're
something, you begin to look down your nose at other people.
How could they do that? Just hang around a little while.
God will show you what you are again. But you know what? That's a good thing. Ain't it
good to be constantly reminded of the evil, wicked Phariseeism
that comes from down in here? You see, my problem with religion
ain't religion. So I got too much of an affinity
with it down in here. I'd really rather get along with
it, Joe, than my old man. I'd rather not have to debate
and argue and fight. Would you? Do you want to? I want to go out and defend somebody
today. If you do that, you're already proud. It's the truth
of God that offends people. Christ is the stumbling block.
He's the rock of offense, not you. And yet I found myself feeling
pretty proud until somebody got angry about what I said. God
help me. Joe, there's enough Phariseeism
in me to damn a million worlds. To damn a million worlds. And I'll just leave it laying
right there. Oh Father, save us from ourselves. We know you
have in your son. And oftentimes, we feel as though
the experience of that is maybe far too little, but Lord, we
know that you have your wise, sovereign purpose for us in this
world, and it's right. The way you're doing this with
us is right. Lord, help us to know it, even if we don't understand
it. In Christ's name, amen.