Turn with me this morning to
Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, verses 37 through
54. The title of the lesson this
morning is, The Religion of Fools. That's what he talks about all
through here. The religion of fools. And there's no way I'm going
to get through this whole lesson, so we'll just call this part
one. And then we'll take up the second part when I get back. Let's read these verses together.
Luke chapter 11, beginning with verse 37. And as he spake, a
certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him. And he went
in and sat down to meet. And when the Pharisees saw it,
he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now
do you Pharisees may clean the outside of the cup and the platter,
but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. 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 you have, and behold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you Pharisees, for
you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over
judgment." It says, pass over the weightier matters. You pass
over judgment, and look at this, and the love of God. What did
they do? They passed over it. They totally
neglected the judgment of God. They just passed over that. You
remember what the rich young ruler said to Christ? All these
have I done from my youth up. He didn't even think about it.
He passed over the law. That's what our Lord is telling
these people. You pass over judgment and the
love of God. These ought you to have done
and not to have left 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,
for you are the graves which appear not, and the men that
walk over them are not even aware of them. Then answered one of
the lawyers and said unto him, Master, thus saying, thou reproachest
us also. We're offended. We're offended. You're talking
about us. You're singling us out. We're
religious leaders. People look up to us. Saying thus, thou reproachest
us also. And he said, woe unto you also,
ye lawyers. For you laid men. What's that
mean? That means they stack it on like
you laid an ass for a journey. You pile stuff on it. You laid
men with burdens grievous to be born. and ye yourselves touch
not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you, for you
build the sepulchres of the prophets." What's that talking about? That's
talking about honoring those that they hated and killed. That's
what that's talking about. And then you go out to the cemetery
and you put up a big monument and you say St. James on it. St. Paul. When he's alive though,
You killed him. You despised him. You couldn't
stand him. You took him out and stoned him.
But when he died, now he's Saint Paul. You build the sepulchers
of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly, you bear
witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers. For they indeed
killed them, and you build their sepulchers. Therefore also said
the wisdom of God, I'll send the prophets and apostles and
some of them They shall slay and persecute that the blood
of all the prophets which were shed from the foundation of the
world may be required of this generation. From the blood of
Abel, my soul, that's all way back to the beginning. From the
blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between
the altar and the temple. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be required of this generation. Woe unto you lawyers, for you
have taken away the key of knowledge. You entered not in yourselves,
and them that were entering in you hindered. You stood in the
way. You told them don't go over there.
That's a cult. They think they're the only ones
in the world who know anything about God. Don't go over there.
Don't go. Listen to me, don't go over there."
That's what he's telling them. It was the same in that day as
it is in this. And he said these things unto
them, the scribes and the Pharisees, rather as he said these things
unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently. and provoke him to speak many
things. They tried to make him angry
so he'd say something. Why'd they do that? Well, they
did that, verse 54, laying weight for him and seeking to catch
something out of his mouth that they might accuse him. I took my title from verse 40,
ye fools. The Religion of Fools. And these
verses are about self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is man's foolish,
ignorant, and vain attempt to make himself righteous. Paul said, I bear them witness
they have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, had not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. Self-righteousness is
the religion of fools. It is the hypocritical claim
of men and women that they attain or have a righteousness before
a holy God because they earned it. They worked it out. Paul tells us that he before
proved that both Jew and Gentile are all under sin. He said, I proved this to you.
How? From the word of God. From the
word of God. And then as he begins his explanation,
he does so with this statement, there is none righteous. No. He knew there was going to
be an argument. No, he said. Not one. Not one. Well, wouldn't we be fools if
we attempt to do something contrary to the Word of God, if He says
there's none righteous? None. I don't care who you are. Or what about the Pope over in
Rome, especially the Pope? There's none righteous. No, not one. Not one. It's insane to do anything contrary
to the Word of God. It's just vanity. And to show the folly of their
religious convictions, our Lord had a lot to say. He had a lot
to say. Now here's the picture. This
Pharisee invited him to come and have dinner with him. And the Lord agreed. He said,
OK, I'll go. So he come to the house and all
these religious folks, they peeled off to the side and they started
washing their hands and their face. They didn't just wash their
hands. This washing that they had was
a traditional ceremonial type washing. They washed their whole
bodies. Their feet, their hands, their face. Christ just went
in and sat down at the table. And I'm going to tell you something. Religious men of high standing
have a purpose behind everything they do. Everything. It was no
accident that the scribes were there and the lawyers. This was
a trap. This whole meal was set up to
catch him in some kind of error and expose him as a fraud. You
remember that last verse I read to you? Laying wait for him. That's why they invited him.
Laying weight for him and seeking to catch something out of his
mouth that they might accuse him. That's why he's invited. But this was the God-man. He
could discern the very thoughts and intents of their hearts. He knew what was coming. He knew
what was coming. So let's look at the basis of
all these woes that he pronounces upon them. and the snare that
he sets for them and his rebuke of their ways and means. When
the Lord came to the Pharisees' house, he went straight in and
sat down to eat, and they marveled that he not first washed before
dinner. Why didn't he wash? You reckon he never washed before
he ate? Oh, sure he did. Several places,
he said, when I come in, you offered me no water to wash my
feet. This woman has washed my feet
with her tears and dried my feet with her hair. Sure he washed. Why didn't he wash on this day?
Because he's going to set a snare that's going to snare them. That's
right. He just went in and set out. You want to watch somebody choke
to death, go out with a religious man and have a meal, just sit
down and start eating. He'll just about choke to death. Don't you think we ought to offer
thanks? Yeah, I did. Didn't you? Oh, I didn't hear you. I wasn't
talking to you. I'm talking to the Lord. We give
thanks to the Lord. We don't go through earthly priests.
And I don't pray to please you. If I pray, it's to give thanks
unto God and to praise Him, not you. Well, do you always feel that
way in public? No, not always, but most of the time. Most of
the time. He'd been touching men and women,
shaking their hands. Who knows what he had on his
hands? I wash my hands if I can before I eat." But he didn't
wash his hands because he was setting a snare for them. And
when asked, here's what he said, verse 39, Now do you Pharisees
make clean the outside of the cup and the platter? You're all
worried about your hands and your face and how you look and
your appearance and what men think of you when they see you
and the things you do. That's what you're concerned
with. You might clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but
on the inside, that's where the filth and the wickedness is,
on the inside. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts. That didn't just pop up on the
outside, it come from the inside. When leprosy appeared in the
skin, it began inside. That was just the effects of
it on the outside. That's just the evidence of it.
You can clean the outside all you want to. It don't do one
thing for the inside. Self-righteous religion thrives
on tradition. Washing their hands was a tradition. They said, why do you violate
our traditions? He said, why do you violate the
word of God with your traditions? False religion thrives on tradition. I belonged to a church one time
and after we had the Lord's table, a deacon was the only one allowed
to touch it and he'd come get the bread and the wine and he
had to take it out to a secret place and dig a hole and pour
it in there and bury it and say, and then bring everything back
and then wash it all and put it up. Tradition. Tradition. Self-righteous religion
thrives on tradition and it ignores the Word of God. Throughout the entire history
of worldly religion, they've held tradition superior to the
Word of God. They always have. It's not something
new. And most of the time, they do
so pretending to be honoring and defending the Scriptures. What are some of these things?
Holy water. They've never been to Taylor,
I'll tell you that. I come home, that water's been
sitting in the pipes for a few days, and he turned it on, and
I thought the sewer got in my water. Holy water. And then you have to make a cross,
you know, and then you have to say some holy water. Where's
that in the scriptures? You haven't read anything about
cleansing in the labor since the tabernacle. But those things
have been fulfilled. The washing I need is in the
Word of God. The washing I need is in the regeneration of the
Spirit. Washing I need is in the blood of Christ, not in a
birdbath with some water in it. Holy water. I'll tell you another
tradition, church covenants. Boy, when I first started preaching,
I was studying the church covenants. Boy, I was looking at all them
church covenants, church covenants. This is the church covenant right
here. We're ministers by the Spirit
of God of the New Covenant. The New Testament. I don't need to sit down and
write out a bunch of rules and regulations. You do this, you'll
be accepted. You don't do this, you're out
of here. No, we just use the Word of God for that. I'll take
care of it. I'll take care of it. Creeds. Confessions. Pledge cards. Can you imagine
Peter on the day of Pentecost? He gets all done preaching and
then here they come out with these big sacks full of pledge
cards. Now, everybody get a card. You
have to agree here now to follow all the church's covenant. You
have to agree here to tithe. You have to agree here on attending
so much. If you don't, we've done you
for the tithes. I didn't say that to be a joke.
I mean that. They will send a man out and
gun you for the tithes that you signed the card promising to
put in. Just like a bank. So what's wrong with all these
things? Well, denominational customs and historic theology
become the basis of faith instead of the Word of God. That's what's
wrong with it. The traditions become the rule
of faith as well as the basis of it. And those who will not
conform are put out. At the very heart of their creeds
are three things. Here's how Paul sums it all up.
And boy, if ever there was a man who knew about these things,
it was the Apostle Paul. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
And he sums them all up, touch not, taste not, handle not. Listen to this, he writes to
the Colossians and he tells them in Colossians 2 verse 20, wherefore,
if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, the
basic principles by which this world operates, If you be dead
with Christ from the rudiments of this world, why, as though living in the
world, are you subject to ordinances? Does the world dictate how I
live, what I believe, how I act? That's where the Lord found me.
But He delivered me. I called you out. Come ye out
from amongst them. Be ye separate, saith the Lord.
That's where He found me. He didn't leave me there. He
pulled me out of that mess. And why as though living in the
world are you subject to ordinances, now watch this, touch not, taste
not, and handle not, which are all to perish with the using
after the commandments and doctrines of men. which things have indeed a show
of wisdom. How? In will worship. What we got today? What's out
here on every corner? Will worship. They have indeed a show of wisdom
in will worship and humility, outwards humility. Oh, how humble
the Pope. He gets out of a car specially
designed for him, comes from a palace designed for him. He's
got his entourage with him. Nobody on earth pampered like
the Pope. And then he gets out and tries
to be all humble. And neglecting of the body. Not in any honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. These are worldly things, natural
concepts, reasoned by men who don't know God. Earlier in Colossians
2, he warns us, he said, beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy. And vain deceit, cunning deceit. Where'd they get it? After the
tradition of man, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Everything required of the believer
is taught in the Word of God. And the Scripture is given by
inspiration of God and it's profitable for doctrine. I don't need to
go to a church covenant for my doctrine. The Word of God is
sufficient for that. Reproof. Correction. instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect and truly furnished unto all
good works. The rule of faith and practice
is the word of God and the wisdom of it is revealed in Christ.
And he tells us that you have received Christ Jesus the Lord
so walk ye in him. Rooted and built up in him and
established in the faith. And then the second thing I see
here is an ignorance of what salvation is. If they knew what
salvation is, they wouldn't do what they do. They don't know
what it is. Scripture says they have a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof. They're ever learning,
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. They read every
book on the shelf, but they still don't know anything. They're
no wiser. Man not defiled by what he eats, but what's on the
inside. Our Lord said, you Pharisees
may clean the outside of the cup and the platter. Over in
Mark 7, he tells us that many other things there be which they
have received to hold in their traditions as the washing of
cups and pots and brazen vessels and tables. They wash the outside
of the cups and the platters, but within, In their inward part,
it's full of ravening and wickedness. As I said before, out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, theft,
covetousness, adultery. I was building my boss's house,
big house, almost 10,000 feet. And he built on his property
this huge patio to entertain guests and stuff. It would rival
anything in Hollywood. Big fountain about eight foot
in diameter and a swimming pool, I don't know what all out there.
And then on the other side of that was what they called a carriage
house. It was about 4,000 square feet
and that was for guests to come. And we were out there working
on the carriage house. Got his house done, out working
on the carriage house. And I don't know what happened,
but the safety tank was stopped up. And he called me and said,
I don't know what happened. One of the grandkids probably
put something down there anyway. He said, see if you can fix it.
So my first thought was something got in the leach field. So I
opened up the lid to the safety tank. And this young man was
working with me. He didn't know what a safety tank was. And so
he jumps down on his knees real quick and sticks his head down
that hole. And he came out rolling across the grass, throwing up
all he did. That's what happens when you
find out what's in here. I don't have words to describe
what's in here. What's in here. And what's out
here is because of what's in here. The old guys used to say, it'll
leak out on you. And it does. It does. In Job 15, 14, the Holy Ghost
writes, what is man that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous. Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints, them who know the truth. Them who walk with God,
them who have the Spirit of God, he puts no trust in his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable, oh
what a word, abominable and filthy is man that drinketh iniquity
like water. He drinks iniquity to satisfy
the thirst and lust Evil heart. He just drinks it. Not even a
thought to the consequences. The outside appearance is a reflection
of what's inside. Our Lord said, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. How shall you, being evil, say
good things? You can't do it. Can't do it. And then, after that whole list,
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, all these
things. Wicked thought. He says all these evil things,
not some of them, not some of them, all these evil things come
forth from within and defile the man. The religion of fools is filled
with traditions and it's based on traditional reasoning. And
the religion of fools always looks on and deals with the outward
appearance, not the inward disease. And then thirdly, they're spiritually
ignorant. Look at this, Luke 11, 40. Here's
his first words, ye fools. Ye fools. Being ignorant is having
a lack of knowledge, not knowing, not understanding. Hith not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things that
God hath prepared for them that love him." None of these men, none of these
women knew anything about God. If they had, he said in 1 Corinthians
2, they would not have killed the Lord of Glory. They wouldn't
have crucified the Lord of Glory. Had they known, they didn't know,
they're ignorant. Ignorance is not the same thing
as stupid. Ignorance means you lack knowledge. You don't have
it. You don't know it. You're not
born with it. It's something that God gives.
He gives it. And you can be a brilliant person
and be ignorant of spiritual things. In 1 Corinthians 2.14 Paul writes,
but the natural man, I don't care who you are, He could be
Einstein. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them. Why? Because they are spiritually
understood, discerned. Natural men walk in the vanity
of their minds, Ephesians 4, 17 and 18, having their understanding
darkened, being alienated from the light of God. through the
ignorance that's in them because of the blindness of their hearts.
And you can be a staunch Calvinist and be totally ignorant of spiritual
things. Now I know firsthand, firsthand. That verse I quoted in 1 Corinthians
2.14 is followed by this statement, verse 15. But he that is spiritual
judgeth, what's that mean? He rightly judges, he rightly
discerns, he understands all things. He understands why God created
the world. He don't speculate about it,
he knows. He knows. He knows what that light is.
When God said let there be light, he's talking about the light
of Christ. Spiritual man knows that. He knows that. He knows why man was created.
He knows why man fell. He understands all things. But he himself has understood
no man. And then he quotes this old scripture.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct
him? Now listen. We have the mind of Christ. Oh
my, oh. We have the mind of Christ. With the mind, Paul said, with
the mind of Christ, I serve the law of God. I don't fear it anymore. I don't fear it anymore. I see
in Christ the very law of God, honored and exalted to its highest
position, fulfilled in every jot and tittle, and I serve it
that way. Rejoice in it that way. And religious men and women
had no spiritual discernment. And they're offended when you
tell them that. You shouldn't say that. I didn't.
God did. God did. There's none that understand
it. Ain't that what God said? What
he said, not me. Spiritual discernment is how
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Now I'm telling
you, because I've been there, you can walk in the doctrines
of Calvinism and not know anything about the love of God. Just cold-hearted,
dry letter. The letter killeth. It's the
Spirit that giveth life. The Spirit of God reveals these
things and now you can taste them, if so be you tasted at
the Lord's grace. How do you do that? Through the
Spirit. Through the Spirit. They have
no spiritual discernment and they are offended. Spiritual
discernment is what enlightens the heart. Spiritual discernment
is how the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts and spiritual
discernment is what conveys the forgiveness of sin, sprinkles
the blood on your conscience. Surely when you read that you
didn't envision some invisible something coming in there with
its fingers. No, no. It's the enlightenment
of the Spirit. You see what that blood's all
about. That blood from that red heifer that made that leper clean,
purged him, that same blood, that was the blood of Christ,
and it purges our conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. Spiritual discernment makes us
aware of our adoption. He said, because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying,
Abba, Father. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, these are the sons of God. We've not received the Spirit
of bondage again to fear, but you've received the Spirit of
adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bearing
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And
if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ.
Now, I'm out of time, but Lord willing, we'll take this back
up in our next lesson and try to finish these verses out. Thank
you.