Our lesson this morning will
be taken from Luke chapter 11. I read all of these verses through
the end of the chapter last week. And this will be part two of
the same message, the religion of fools. And we'll take this
lesson from verses 40 through 45, and then Lord willing, we'll
finish it up next week. Let's read these verses together.
Luke 11, verse 40. Ye fools, did not he that made
that which is without make that which is within also? But rather
give alms of such things as ye have. And behold, all things
are clean unto you. But woe unto you Pharisees, for
you tithe of mint and rue, all manner of herbs, and you pass
over judgment and the love of God. These ought you to have
done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you Pharisees,
for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues. and greetings
in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men
that walk over them are not aware of them.' Then answered one of
the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying, thou reproachest
us also. Well, sure he did. That's who
he was aiming at. That's exactly who he was talking
to. He says, you fools. Who is our
Lord calling fools? Our Lord was very compassionate
toward men. When a prostitute came unto him,
he didn't call her a prostitute. He didn't use vulgar language
to describe her past. Who's he calling fools? He doesn't
often use words like that toward men and women. Who's he calling
fools? Is he addressing a bunch of young
rebels who have no better sense than to mock the Son of God? Is he talking to a band of heathen
idolaters who have no knowledge of the living God? Or a bunch
of drunks in a drunken stupor who have lost all sense? Who's he calling fools? He's talking to the highest ranking
officers in the Jewish religion. These were the only people on
the top side of God's earth who had any knowledge of the living
God. And these men were at the top. They were all the way at the
top. Most of the time when he's addressing Pharisees, he's not
addressing Pharisees in general. But he's addressing the Sanhedrim
that followed him everywhere he went, the High Council of
Israel. They were made up of Pharisees
and Sadducees and scribes and lawyers and there was all sorts
of men who belonged to that council and there's quite a few others.
And they followed him everywhere he went. And most of the time
when he addresses Pharisees and scribes, that's who he's talking
to, the High Council. But this is one of those remarks,
if the shoe fits, wear it. That's exactly how it was given. He's talking to the highest ranking
officers in the Jewish religion. He's addressing Pharisees and
scribes and experts on the law of Moses. And he doesn't commend
them for their service or recognize their station or bow to their
authority. But rather he says, ye fools. Do you know how far down that
cut this high-ranking official when he calls them fools before
the people? You fools. Oh, I pray the Lord
to teach us something here. Because a person goes to seminary
and gets a degree and he finds his way into a pulpit does not
make him the messenger of God. It just makes him religious.
Actually that word is superstitious if you look it up. That's what
it means. Because he dresses in some religious
apparel or he's accepted by the world. We have evangelists in
our days widely accepted by this world. Or he has a great following. That does not constitute his
calling of God. Such men, Paul tells Timothy,
Their ministry amounts to nothing but vain jangling. That's all
it is. Vain jangling. You've seen these
fortune tellers and things and they have that little thing and
they're dancing around with it and jangling those little sounds. It's just vain jangling. He said they understand neither
what they say nor whereof they affirm." Well, what is the religion of
a fool? What constitutes our Lord's remark
to them? He didn't say things simply to
slander. He didn't say things to them just like a saying or something
that he's trying to emphasize a point. He doesn't do that. But he has a reason for this. So what is the reason? What is
the religion of fools? Well, the religion of fools is
self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. Righteousness
is not something that a man can produce. Get it out of your head. I know religion has beat it in
there. Religion has told us that from the time we were able to
walk. They've included it in their songs and all of these
facts. Righteousness is not something
that a man can obtain by his own works. Listen to this, and I'm going
to show you why he calls it the religion of fools. Isaiah said
in Isaiah 64.6, now listen to this, We are all as an unclean thing. What's unclean? A dead man. He's unclean. If you handled
him or did anything with him, you had to go through the whole
process of cleansing yourself before God. You were unclean
just by touching him. A minstress woman. Unclean. And on and on it goes. We are
all as an unclean thing, and now listen, and all our righteousnesses,
not our sins, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we all do fail at least.
All our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. What are
these filthy rags? Dead men's clothes, a minstrel's cloth, or a leper's
pus-covered rag that he covered his mouth with. Filthy rag. That's our righteousness. I have no idea. I have no way
to even conceive how God looks upon the sinner if he looks upon
his righteousness as filthy rags. You see what I'm saying? For
a man to say, I can attain a righteousness acceptable of God, he's a fool. Because God has plainly told
him he can't do it. Job said, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? You can't do it. It's unclean. And this is how God the Holy
Ghost describes self-righteousness. Well, what is self-righteousness?
It's anything taught or believed or anything practiced or preached
whereby a person can attain a righteousness accepted by God based on his
works. That's self-righteousness. And
believers all have a righteousness in their Savior and their representative
head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Of God are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom. What? Righteousness. Righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. Paul calls it the righteousness
of God without the law. It has no consideration of the
law. The righteousness of God without the law manifested in
Christ, pictured in the law, prophesied by the prophets, pictured
in all the sacrifices. And it's also pictured in the
marriage union of men and women. Have you ever thought about righteousness
in that relationship? When a woman is joined by law
unto her husband, Whose name is she identified with now? His. His. Now there's laws today that
will grant a woman who's married to retain her name, her unmarried
name. Why any man would allow that
is totally beyond me. When we're joined together, we're
one person, are we not? Well let me show you that in
a couple of passages in the book of Jeremiah. You may or may not
have ever seen these. But turn with me to Jeremiah
chapter 23. Now we're talking about this
thing of righteousness, real righteousness before God. And
it's pictured in a marriage union. And we know that God's name is
who He is, His perfections, His attributes. And where His name
is to bear under the approval of God, His perfections in Christ. Jeremiah 23 verse 6. In His days,
this is a messianic prophecy talking about Christ. In His
days Judah shall be saved, And Israel shall dwell safely, and
this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness."
That's his name. That's his name. Now look over
a few pages to chapter 33. That's our husband's name. We're the bride of Christ. That's
our husband's name. Now watch this. Jeremiah 33,
verse 16. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. That's all. We bear His name. We bear His name. And Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness, the Scripture teaches, to everyone
that believeth. Paul calls it the righteousness
of God which is by the faithfulness or the faith of Jesus Christ
and it's unto all and upon all them that believe. And as the end of the law, it
speaks of the reason and purpose of the law. Our Lord exalted
the law and made it honorable. No man had ever done that. No
prophet had ever done that. Nobody had ever done that. But
Christ did. He exalted the law and made it
honorable. And can you imagine yourself
with your little watercolors, you're going to go touch up the
righteousness of God? Oh, my soul. I'll tell you what
you do with perfection. You sit back and admire it. That's
what you do. You admire it. Oh, my soul. The law, Paul said, having a
shadow of good things to come and not that very image, can
never with those sacrifices, and let me add this, by those
ceremonies, by that dress, by those commandments, by those
dietary laws, make the comers thereunto perfect. But the righteousness
of God does. By that offering, which is the
crowning work of His obedience, He hath perfected it forever,
them that are sanctified. That's what it says. Actually, the scripture says
in 1 Timothy 1-9, knowing this, that the law is not made for
a righteous man. What need have I with a law?
I'm righteous, and I have the love of Christ in me. Why do
I need a law? I don't need law. Law wasn't
made for a righteous man. It's made for lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and sinners, for profane, murderers, manslayers,
whoremongers, them that defile themselves of mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, perjured persons, and anything contrary to sound
doctrine. What is sound doctrine? That's
the righteousness of Christ alone. down doctrine. And any religion
that teaches, preaches, or practices self-righteousness is a religion
of fools. And the crowning work of our
Lord in the salvation of His people is the righteous obedience
of Christ unto death. He says, even the death of the
cross. We walk in such a way, Paul says,
that with the mind of Christ We serve the law of God. What mind? That mind that understands
that Christ has exalted the law and made it honorable and anything
else I do just takes away from it. It doesn't add to it. And
you cannot exalt, honor, or reverence the law more than you do when
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In our last study, I pointed
out several things which our Lord tells us about this religion
of fools. And the first thing is this,
they love to follow tradition. They're traditionless. They love
to follow tradition. I asked them one time after the
Lord's Table, they had a certain man picked out and he had to come and take what
was left over from the Lord's Table and he had to take it out
to such and such a place. It had to be secret. Nobody could
know anything about it. And then they would bury it out
there and say some words. That was how tradition. I asked them one time, I said,
why y'all do that? Well, we always have. We always have. They're traditionalists. They love tradition. Paul warns us. He said, beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after
the tradition of men and after the basic principles of the world
and not after Christ. And then secondly, the religion
of fools is all outward. It's all outward show, no inward
work. He said, you may clean the outside
of the cup, but on the inside, on the inside, Where does God
look? Man looks on the outward countenance.
Anything you change on the outside, I can see it. But I can't see
your heart. But I'm telling you, God can.
He can. He understands your thought of
far off the scriptures. It's all outward show. The religion
of fools always seeks the approval of men. And when they get it,
they call that the favor of God. All these people can't be wrong. That's what your wife told me
one time. All these people out here can't be wrong. Oh, yes,
they can. Yes, they can. And I thought
the same thing. When I was in religion, I thought,
well, this is contrary to everything I've ever seen in my whole life.
Can all these people be wrong? Yes, they can. And then last
week, we talked about a spiritual understanding. Believers are
men and women in whom God works. It's God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. You couldn't do
a single thing when it comes to worship or faith. You couldn't do anything except
God works in you. You can't produce it. Listen to this, I have not seen
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man. That's
mankind he's talking about. He doesn't use the word man,
he said man. All men. The things that God
has prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed them
unto us. That's the only reason we know
them. God hath revealed them unto us. Great mysteries, dark
mysteries, unknown things by all that are around us, mysteries
of grace and mercy and election and predestination, eternal covenants. I never heard the word covenant
until I heard the gospel. Mysteries. Heaven and hell and
the dark history of man and the glorious light of the second
man and the religion of fools is a religion of ignorance. Ignorance. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. Ignorance. They had no spiritual
understanding. Alright, so this morning I want
to add a few things that our Lord points out to these men
and especially his disciples. These men didn't understand what
he was saying, they just got offended and got mad. But he's
teaching his disciples something about the religion of fools.
And the first thing I want to talk about this week is that
the religion of fools love trifles. I ain't talking about that strawberry
dessert I bring to the fellowship, that's a trifle, but I'm talking
about things of little importance, no value, trifles, trifles. They'll split a church over a
trifle. They'll split a church over whether or not you sing
hymns out of a book or sing the songs. They'll split a church
over whether or not you have a piano or you have to sing a
cappella. They'll split a church over church
government, over a presbytery versus a pastor. Any little thing,
how you cut your hair, how long your dress is, any little thing,
they'll split a church over it. They're sticklers for trifles,
and they lay aside things indispensable. Our Lord said, you ignore the
love of God. My soul, the whole law hangs
on the love of God. Doesn't it? Isn't that what our
Lord says? Love is the fulfilling of the law. And you just overlook it. You act like it's nothing. We
don't need that. If you got it, okay, but if you
don't, it's okay. Really? and sticklers for triples and
lay aside things indispensable. He said you give alms out of
your abundance and then you feel clean and holy because of what
you did. You wash your cups and platters
and then you fill them up by devouring widows' houses and
then again you give alms out of what you devoured from the
widows and you give those alms and again you feel clean. Ignorant men, self-righteous
men do not understand and therefore they cannot reason that God is
just and the only way He can deal with you is on the basis
of perfect justice and righteousness. You say God loves His people. Yes, He does, but it's a just
love. It's a just love. It's a righteous love. Only in Christ is that justice
satisfied. And in religious matters, they'll
swaddle a gnat and swallow a camel. They'll split hairs over policy
and ignore the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. I can't
even talk to them about it. A religion of fools is a religion
of trifles. And then secondly, it's a religion
of recognition and praise. Our Lord said, Woe unto you Pharisees,
for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues and greetings
in the marketplace. Now he's not talking about going
down to the grocery store and seeing somebody you know and
they say, Oh, hey Winston, how you doing? No, that ain't what
he's talking about. He's talking about when they
go down with their broad phylacteries on, and their gowns, and their
little medals hanging down, and their dress, and you look at
them and you call them Father. Good morning, Father. Good morning, Reverend. Oh, my
soul. That's what they love, the greetings.
When they come in, oh, this is the pastor of the First Baptist
Church. You need to come up here and sit up front with me. You
love the chief seats in the synagogues. You love recognition. You love
it. And then thirdly, the religion
of fools weaves for themselves a covering for their corruption. Look at verse 44. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you are the graves which
appear not. Now if you go out to the cemetery,
all the graves appear graves. They all have markers on them.
What do those markers say? There's a dead person down here. There's a dead person lying down
here under this ground. There's a dead person. And we
reverence that. You know, we don't go out there
jumping up and down playing baseball in the cemetery. It marks you. But their graves are garnished
on the outside and they're made to appear not to be graves. So
men just walk by, they don't even know they're dead. And that's
what he's telling them. You fools. You're walking around
as a dead man and nobody knows it. Nobody knows it. They just pass by and don't even
realize that they're talking to a dead man. He gives us a similar analogy
over in Romans 3 verse 13. And there he's describing our
sinful nature, what it is to be dead in trespasses and sins. And this is what he says in verse
13, Romans 3. Their throat is an open sepulcher. It's an open grave. Nothing there but dead men's
bones. The religion of fools weaves
for itself a covering, and it works very well before men, but
God looks on the heart. And while there are many that
highly esteem these men, many. His disciples esteemed him highly. They said, did you know you've
offended the Pharisee? I think he knew. I think he meant
to. While many highly esteemed these
men, the scripture said they are an abomination. And then fourthly, the religion
of fools is always offended by Christ. You can talk to them
about Easter, you can talk to them about Christmas, you can
talk to them about walking an aisle, you can talk to them about
living right, talk to them about anything that don't concern Christ. But you can't say anything true
about Christ that they'll receive. Nothing. I'm not talking about the Christ
of their imagination, but the Lord Jesus Christ as He's testified
by God in His Word, as He's manifested in this world, and as He's preached
in the Gospel of Christ, Christ crucified. They won't receive
it. When they talk about the Gospel,
they just use the word Gospel. Now if you're here and you ever
fill in for me, any of you men, I don't want you to get up here
and just say, Gospel, Gospel, Gospel. I want you to tell them
what the gospel is. I heard the word gospel from
the time I was that big. And then I got trapped in an
invitation for a man to come to church and he said, well,
if you know the gospel, what is it? And I didn't know. Preaching is telling me what
the gospel is. It's a person. It's a person. Describe who he is. Use God's
testimony. You don't have any information
other than God's testimony anyway. They're always offended by Christ. And it's not the Christ of their
imagination. Don't lead men to their imagination. Tell them what it is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ as
he's testified by God in his Word. And having stated the truth about
their self-righteous covering, they said in verse 45, Master,
what you said reproaches us. Are you aware that you have offended
us? I think he was. Took them long
enough to figure it out. The Pharisees and scribes and
lawyers were offended by everything that our Lord had taught. Why?
Because he taught them out of the scriptures. And he tied them
up in knots. They were experts. They were
scribes. They hand transcribed the scriptures. They knew wherever jot and tittle,
every apostrophe, question mark, period, whatever it was, they
knew exactly where it went. That's jot and tittle. They knew
every word, they knew every name, they could trace their ancestry
all the way back to Adam. He taught them out of the scriptures,
and it was contrary to their natural reasoning, contrary to
their traditional understanding, and contrary to the religion
of self, and contrary to the principles of this world. It went south of everything,
didn't it? Everything he said. A man or woman will tolerate
most anything until it threatens his refuge. Oh my, don't tear down my refuge
now, I'll bite you with that. Safe behind their imagined walls
of their refuge, they live a happy and secure life until the truth
comes. Then they begin to see their
hiding place exposed and confronted, and they'll defend it any way
they can. Paul said, the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. There is no physical
way for me, even through philosophy, to convince you of anything.
I can't touch that refuge. But the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God. To what? To the tearing
down of strongholds. Tears them down, stone by stone,
tears them down. Brings into subjection every
thought to Christ. You can't do that physically.
And you can't do it mentally. It has to be done spiritually. Self-righteous works religion
will not mix with the truth. It's like water and oil. They're
both present. I can make them both present
in a bucket, but I can't make them mix. They won't mix. They won't mix. And it don't
take long. It don't take long. Let a little
oil come in among the water, and you'll see. You can stir
it all you want to, but it won't mix. It won't mix. All right. Next week, Lord willing, we'll
look at four more characteristics of the religion of fools. I don't
particularly enjoy talking about the religion of fools and things
like this, but our Lord, our Lord judged it necessary to instruct
his disciples on these matters, and I think we need instructed
too. I think we do. We need to know how to deal with
these people and when to deal with them and so on. There's
some wisdom involved we need to learn. All right, bye.