The lesson this morning will
be taken from Luke chapter 20. It will be the last lesson in this chapter. It will be taken from verses 39
through the end of the chapter. And the subject of the verses
is the God of the living. Let's read these verses together. Then, that is after these prior
confrontations of the Sanhedrin, the whole Sanhedrin was represented
in these confrontations. Then certain of the scribes answering
said, Master, thou hast well said. Now they didn't recognize
him as their master. He did a lot of things that they
did admire, but as far as calling him their master, this is all
just a charade that they're putting on. And after that, they durst
not ask him any question at all. And he said unto them, how say
they that Christ is David's son? He's going to ask them a question. And David himself saith in the
book of Psalms, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my
right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David
therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son? Then in the
audience of all the people, he said unto his disciples. He's
talking to his disciples, but he's saying it in a loud voice.
so that all who were gathered there could hear it. Beware the
scribes, those who just said, Master, thou swayst in. Beware
the scribes which desire to walk in long roads and love greetings
in the markets and the highest seats in the synagogues and the
chief rooms at feasts. which devour widows' houses,
that is, they take their property from them for ungodly collections. They devour widows' houses and
for a show make long prayers. The same shall receive greater
damnation. Now at the opening of our text
in verse 39, the Holy Ghost records the words of certain of the scribes. Even though the whole of the
Sanhedrin was being represented here by Pharisees, Sadducees,
and on and on the list goes, the priesthood, the high priests,
the whole of the Sanhedrin was being represented in these verbal
confrontations. And along comes the scribes,
and they're the smoothies. They're going to smooth things
out. They've already started a fire, but now they're just
going to smooth things out. That's common in religion. They
like to stir up a mess, and the same people who stirred it up
like to smooth it over. They're going to smooth things
over. And so they commend him on his answer to the Sadducees.
They were lawyers. And I don't mean to use that
term distastefully. My daughter-in-law's a lawyer.
I've known a lot of lawyers in my life. But what I do mean to
do is to define their station. They were lawyers. They were
experts on ecclesiastical law, as well as civil law. Ask them
any point concerning the law of God, and they could give you
an answer. They were well-studied, experienced, and seasoned men. So what's the problem? They were
well-versed in the Word of God. So what's the problem? Well,
the problem is that spiritual truth is a revelation. You're
not going to go to school and learn these things. It's a revelation. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 7, the Apostle
Paul said, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Before this
morning's out, Lord willing, I'm going to declare some things
to you that are a mystery to everyone who's not a believer. It's a mystery. They can't unravel
it. They can't figure it out. It
don't make sense. It doesn't enter into their reasoning
because they can't see it. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, who hid it? God did. Which God ordained before the
world unto our glory. He's going to show you, He's
going to abound toward us in all wisdom and truth, but not
to this world. which none of the princes of
this world knew. That's who's addressing him,
people that was considered by everybody around them to be princes. They elevated them. They were
learned men, seasoned men, men of God, men they trusted. But
none of the princes of this world knew this, for had they known
it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it
is written, Eye hath not seen. Well, it's written in a book.
Yeah, but they didn't see it. It's written in the scrolls.
The prophets lived and said these things to them. God gave it to
them in picture and type. Eye hath not seen. Nor ear heard. Now listen. Neither have entered into the
heart of man. Not men. The heart of man. Mankind. the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them
unto us by Spirit. Hath there must have known they
were revealed. Revealed. God hath revealed them unto us
by Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. And the Spirit of God, using
the ordained means of God, reveals to God's elect the mysteries
of His gracious will. And these men were void of spiritual
truth. Now, the Lord's answer to their
questions had shut them up. They couldn't answer His questions.
They didn't think He could answer theirs, but He did. But they couldn't answer His. And he would not allow them in
their smooth talk to draw his hearers away from him. They durst
not ask him any questions at all from that time on. But he had one for them. How
say they that Christ is David's son? David himself saith in the
book of Psalms, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my
right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Now, if
David, the king, called him Lord, then how say you that he's David's
son? And here's a basic question that
he's asking these learned men. These are men with the answers.
If you needed an answer, you went to them. But these weren't
just people who walked in off the street. These men were trained.
They had diplomas. They were masters of theology. They all had degrees. They could
all tell you who taught them, who was in charge of the school
that they went to. And here's the basic question
which every believer knows and rejoices in, yet is never present
in the minds and hearts of the enemies of God. Jesus of Nazareth
is both God and man. That's what our Lord's telling
them, I'm God and I'm man. He's both God and man and one
glorious person. He is, Revelation 22, 16, now
listen to this, the root and the offspring of David. He's the root. He's the firstborn. of all creation, and especially
the firstborn of all those that believe. Of all the brethren,
of many brethren. He's the firstborn. He's the
root of David. But he's also the offspring of
David. Jesus of Nazareth is God come
into the flesh. God condescending to dwell in
the body of a man. And Mary in her flesh. And under the influence of the
Holy Spirit, said, my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Oh, my. That make her the mother
of God? No. But she's the mother of Jesus,
who is the Christ. The angel Gabriel was sent from
God to this young virgin Mary, espoused to be married told her
that she would conceive in her womb and bring forth a son, and
they're going to call his name Jesus. That's New Testament for
Joshua, Savior. And you're going to call his
name, now listen, the Son of the Highest. That's what he's
going to be. He's the Son of God. He's the
root and the offspring of David. Well, why would God condescend
from glory? Condescend from spirit into flesh. Leave the glory of heaven to
dwell in this miserable body that's wanting for everything.
It's thirst, it's cold, it's hungry, it's too hot. This body
is needy, isn't it? It's in constant need. Why would
God leave the realm of spirit and clothe himself in human flesh. Why would he do that? Why would
he leave all the glories of heaven and dwell in this miserable world?
And here's the answer. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4.
When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son. Now listen to this. Made of a
woman. Now wait a minute, he sent his
son. Yeah, he did. And he was made of a woman. Made
of a woman, made under the law. To redeem them that were under
the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. God has predestinated all His
elect unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. And
to receive that adoption, He must come in the form of a man,
in the form of a servant, be made under the law. And all of this, He says, according
to the good pleasure of His will. Paul tells us there's one mediator. He's going to mediate the will
of God. He's going to mediate the difference
between God and this people. One mediator between God and
men, the man, Christ Jesus. And here's a verse I've quoted
to you many times. Listen to it again concerning
His appearance in this world as the revelation of God. In
1 John 5 verse 20, he said, and we know. John just kept all through
that book. I love to read 1 John. All through
that book, he just keeps saying, and we know. We know. We know. And that's what I'm telling you
this morning. It's a revelation. What you know, nobody else out
here knows. You assume they know it. And
you get upset when they don't. We know. We know. that the Son
of God is come, now listen, and hath given to us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true, that we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. He said, no man knoweth the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The revelation of God is in a
person. You can't know God apart from
Christ. You can know about God. You can
read all the things that are recorded in this book about God,
but you can't know God. apart from Jesus Christ. And
the scribes and Pharisees, the high priests, the Sadducees,
all those opposed to Jesus of Nazareth, thought they already
knew God. When I'm talking to men and women
who come in here to visit, most of them think they already know
God. Satan has deceived this world.
They think they know God. The problem is they don't know
God. Paul told these men. These men
were absolutely convinced. Everybody thought they knew God. And they went to them with their
questions. They went to them to observe
the things of God, the priesthood. And Paul said to these men, Thou
restest in the law. You find rest in that law. There
isn't any rest in the law. But he said, you rest in it.
You make your boast of God. We are of God. Isn't that what
they told Christ? We'd be not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God.
We'd be of God. You make your boast of God and
you say, I know His will. And I prove the things which
are most excellent being instructed out of the law, and are confident,
he said, that thou art a guide of the blind, a light of them
which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher
of babe, and ye have a form of knowledge." You do. You have
a form. Intellectual religionists have
a form of knowledge. They have the facts and terms
of Bible knowledge, but our Lord said, you will not come to me
that you might have life. Do you want to be religious? It's
easy. It's easy to be religious. It's impossible to be a child
of God apart from Christ. But it's easy to be religious. They don't have a knowledge of
Christ. He's the stone that said disallowed of the builders. And
here's the thing. Everything God has for chosen
sinners is in His Son. If you don't have the Son, all
you got is religion. You don't have life. You don't
have any peace. You don't have any understanding.
You don't have any joy. If you don't have Christ, you
don't have God. There's nothing about anything where Christ don't have
the preeminence. Is that right? He's preeminent
in creation. Nothing was made without Him.
Nothing. Everything that you see out here,
He made. He had preeminence. He has preeminence in God's providence,
arranging all things, all situations and circumstances. Think about
it. It's so deep, it's beyond your
reason. Well, who's doing this? Christ. Christ is. He has the preeminence
in providence. He has the preeminence in salvation. creation, providence, all things. He's preeminent. And all that the Father has given
Him, He said, is going to come to me. That's one of them. Then came the Jews of Sanhedrin
and they said unto Him, Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Now He just told them about the good shepherd and sheep, didn't
he? He even told them, I am the good shepherd. And they said,
if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you,
plainly. Weren't you there when I raised
Lazarus from the tomb? Weren't you around when I turned
the water into wine? Didn't you have a committee out
there watching me when I cleansed that leper? Cast out those demons? I told you plainly. But you believe
not. How come? Because you're not
my sheep. As I said, only my sheep hear
my voice. And I know them. And they follow
me. Let me tell you something. It's
not election or particular redemption or even predestination concerning
God's saints that lay at the root of man's ruin. It's his
own unbelief. It lies at your door and at my
door. Unbelief. God's grace and mercy
is openly declared. It's plainly written. And God
is in no way under any obligation to save all men. I'll never forget
hearing this preacher. I've just started to see a few
things in the Scriptures about this, and I was listening to
this old man preach. He'd been there all his life.
And he said, God's only obligated to call you one time. God's not
obligated to call you at all. And there's multitudes of men
that He's never called at all. He just left them to rot over
in the jungle dancing around a totem pole. Left them out in the plains doing
the same thing. There are multitudes of men God's
never called. They've never heard the gospel.
They have the light of creation, they have the light of conscience,
but they won't even follow that. God's not under any obligation
to save any man. And all those who preach such
things are deceived and are enemies of your souls. Don't listen to
them. They're blind leaders of the blind. The picture I get
in my mind when I think about a false prophet or a false preacher. I don't know how many of you
have ever been to Niagara Falls. Maybe none of you. I don't know.
But I got to go one time and see that mammoth falls. And I'm
telling you, it's eerie just to stand and look at it. And
I get this picture of a man on a log. and he's got a rope, and
there's four or five men, and he's just about to go over the
falls, and he's throwing the rope. Get the rope, I'll save
you. You're both going over the falls,
either on the log or in the water, but you're both going over the
falls. You're both going down to the precipice. That's salvation
by false preaching. Take hold of this rope. Take
hold of my hand. Kneel down at this altar. Come
down to the front. There's no end to it. Salvation's not in those things.
Salvation's in Christ. And sin lies at the door. False religion is just that. It's false. But now listen, our Lord's been
patient. He let them ask Him all those
questions and He answered them, every one of them, answered their
questions. And in such a way that they were
left speechless. But listen now as our Lord points
the finger of judgment at these men, verse 45. Then in the audience
of all the people. Now people tell me all the time,
you shouldn't talk about religion that way. Our Lord did. His apostles did. Save yourselves
from this untoward generation. That's what Peter preached. Paul said if they come preaching
anything else, let them be accursed. He said it twice. But then in the audience of all
the people, verse 45, he said to his disciples, beware of the
scribes. They're phony. They're not genuine. They're fraudulent. They're pretenders
of the faith. They're men called of men, men
called of themselves, men approved of men. And they have neither
the calling nor the message of faith. They're proud knowing
nothing, Paul said. Beware of the scribes. And here's
how you're going to know them. They walk in long roads. How
many times have I turned the TV on and seen these men in those
ridiculous roads walking out from some high place in the church,
and there they are on the camera, and the camera follows them all
the way to the pulpit. They raise those arms and those
big robes hang down and they look so, I don't even want to
use the word godly, but that's how they hope to be seen. They walk in long robes, one-of-a-kind
dress, stand out as special. They enlarge the borders of their
garments, the Scripture said. They make broad their phylacteries. You know what a phylactery is?
It's a little leather pouch. And on the side of their robe,
they'd take special text of scriptures and they'd put down in that phylactery,
down in that leather pouch. And the Pharisees made broad
their phylactery. They had great big phylacteries.
We read and study a lot. We know a lot. And we have to
have this. Proud, knowing nothing. They
make broad their phylacteries. That's so people think they're
wise. They love, listen to this, they
love greetings in the marketplace. I grew up in a place where Catholic
religion was very prominent and others very close to it. Very close. Anybody who held
a position in that church, they wore special dress, had special
collars, special names. Most of them were called Father. And when they went out to shop,
they always wore that special dress so everybody would know
who they are. And they'd just smile and they'd call them Father
Donovan or Father whoever. And in the stores and the markets
and different places where they'd shop. Our Lord said they loved
the highest seats in the synagogue. They got special seats. They'd
usher them in, bring them up here and sit them down in a special
seat. They loved that. They loved the chief rooms at
feasts. They'd set off by themselves
in a room and that way they could overlook everybody else and they
could talk to one another about them. Looked out there at our Lord
and here's this woman washing his feet. You know what that
woman is? If he knew God, he wouldn't allow
her to touch him. They love being the center of
attention. Verse 47, they devour, they swallow up widows' houses. They take it as a debt owed to
the church, owed to them, a sacrifice that must be given. And they
added this, and they devoured widows' houses. And then when
the widow cried and brought it in and gave it to them, they'd
kneel down and pray with her like they felt sorry for her. I'd make long prayers and it
was all a show. The whole ministry was a sham.
And then our Lord said this, He described them to a tape.
You recognize them, you see them around town. The same, He said, shall receive
greater damnation. Greater than what? Well, He said
over there in the book of Matthew, He said, it's going to be easier
on the people in Sodom and Gomorrah than it's going to be on them. Who's he pointing to? He's pointing
to Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees. Beware of the scribes. They're
cursed of God. Now it's common reasoning among
men and women, and they assume that anyone religious is blessed
of God. I never heard this when I was
growing up, but now whenever you leave a store or you buy
a sandwich or something, they say have a blessed day. They think anybody religious
or even acts religious is blessed with God, and that's a lie. Most
of what this world calls religion and appears as such is Antichrist. And our Lord said to these men,
you are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you'll
do. Now this, what I'm reading to
you this morning, this is the last of our Lord's ministry to
the Jews. It's the last time he confronted
them. The only other thing we read about as far as his ministry
to men after this is when he sat down and lingered there after
all this was said and done and watched the widow come in and
put a mite into the offering. That's the only other thing. It's the last of our Lord's ministry
to the Jews and the only other thing was the widow's mite. But
I want to say this to you. He talks about a greater damnation. There are no degrees in heaven.
We're all saved by grace. There are no degrees, no big
I's and little U's. If He saves me, He will save
me the same way He saved Peter and Paul and the rest of the
apostles. Same way. I'll have as much merit
and glory as they do. Because all my merit is Christ.
There are no degrees in heaven, but there are in hell. There
are in hell. And our Lord said it'd be better
in the judgment for them than those in Sodom and Gomorrah.
And a man may, he said to me once, he said, all I want is
what I got coming. Well, get ready, because that's
exactly what you're going to get. Everything you got coming. You don't want that. You don't
want that. Scripture said they'd be judged
according to their works. And as I studied this, I wrote
this down. May the Lord be pleased by His
grace to keep us from such men and from such doctrine and from
such an understanding and save us by His grace. All right, we should go. All
right.